End of month ramblings

Usually February is the month that seems to drag on forever (despite being the shortest), but this felt like an extra-long January. I'm not sure someone didn't sneak some extra days in there somewhere!

I got a good start on my reading challenges by completing seven books this month! That's great for a slow reader like me. I usually do well to get three or four read in a month. (still contemplating the idea of someone slipping in some extra days)

Remember the donkeys I featured in a Shadow Shot Sunday post earlier this month? They're gone!! Turns out our livestock partner found a taker for them. They left before I even knew we were giving them away! I'll miss hearing them bray in the mornings. My husband says he won't miss them. They were greedy and got in the way when feeding the cows.

Duck season is over for another year. After all my enthusiam at the beginning of the 09/10 season, I haven't been back since. Oh well. It's gotten where I prefer dove hunting and I did get to do that several times last fall. Speaking of.... it's time I pull some of the little birds out of the freezer and prepare them for my husband. He loves my dove in mushroom gravy.

Mabel had a rough weekend. She must have eaten something in the yard that she shouldn't have. Projectile vomiting is one thing, but projectile diar...... well, I won't go into detail. Let's just say I don't know who I felt worse for, her for being sick or me for having to clean up after her!

Moving right along, it's been a month filled with wild swings in temperature. Hot, cold, warm, cool. Saturday it got up to 73F (23C). Another cold front is coming, though, and by tomorrow night it's supposed to get down to 25F (-4C) with a high Wednesday of 35F (2C). What I really dislike is when it's very cold at night, yet warms up considerably during the day. Makes it hard to know how to dress.

Enough ramblings for one day!

Mooooo!

I came home from Bible study today to find a note on the counter:

"Gone to get cow food. Be home ASAP"


Something about that just made me smile. I never dreamed 30 years ago I would live in the country, enjoy hunting and fishing, and have livestock.

Life is good!

A Day at the Farm

The first weekend in September is traditionally the opening of dove season in Arkansas. I haven't hunted the past couple of years and the last time I did it was right here at our house. This year my husband, his brother, and I decided to drive over to the Mississippi River Delta to hunt. Legal shooting begins a half hour before sunrise, so we began our journey in the dark.

As we drove through the night, I gazed up at Orion (my favorite constellation) thinking how glad I am that I live in the country. I don't believe I could be happy again in town where the lights dim the stars. The faintest hint of daylight was appearing just as we reached my favorite part of the drive... where the Delta begins. It's a noticeable change in topography as the forest gives way to flat farmland.

I was glad I had the sense to take a long-sleeved shirt as there was a definite nip in the air. Perhaps Fall isn't far off! Overall, it was a fun morning. We've definitely had better hunts, but still got enough for a few meals. I'll be honest... as much as I enjoy hunting, I'm getting pretty soft-hearted in my old age. There were moments when I was torn between shooting with my gun or with my camera. Here are a few offerings from the latter. Click on them for a larger view. Don't worry, no dove pictures.

One of several nests I saw.
The sun had not broken the horizon at this point.



The sun rose quickly behind the grain bins.



While watching for dove I photographed some of the farm equipment.

A massive track hoe!

We have loads of dragonflies around our house, but the ones in the Delta put ours to shame! Veritable B-52 Bombers!!
Theirs may be larger, but ours are prettier.

Isn't this beautiful rice?!

Duck, Duck, Goose

The first time I went on a duck hunt was eight months into my courtship with the man I later married. For me it was an opportunity to be with the guy I was infatuated with. For him I believe it was an attempt to “cure me” of something he didn’t really think I was cut out for (though he denies that to this day). At the time he had a hunting membership at a dead-tree reservoir. I borrowed clothing, gun, shells and chest waders (about four sizes too large) then allowed myself to be plopped down next to a stump in about three feet of water. Lo and behold, I discovered the beautiful sight of ducks flying against a gorgeous sunrise, hearing them answer to a call and watching them cup their wings against the wind while coming in for a landing. I loved it!

During the first year of our marriage we invested in a rice farm in the Arkansas Delta with some friends and family. This provided us with ample opportunities for field hunting ducks, geese and dove. When our first wedding anniversary rolled around, my husband gave me what I still consider to be one of the best gifts I ever received: my own shotgun! I’ve acquired a number of firearms over the years, but that’s still the gun I prefer to use when hunting, whether it be duck, dove or deer.

That following year I hunted as many days of the season as my schedule allowed. Once our kids arrived, however, my time and priorities changed. It was just too hard to get away. The sleep deprivation of raising small children left little desire to voluntarily crawl out of a warm bed long before the crack of dawn. Duck hunting would have to be put on hold until the proverbial “empty nest” arrived.

The youngest chick flew the nest last year, but for one reason or another I still didn’t feel ready to step back into duck hunting. Those who read this blog on a regular basis know that my BOW weekend this past September changed that. Hearing the instructor talk about all the sights and sounds of an exciting hunt got me fired up to experience it again for myself. That was reinforced when my husband called from the farm this week and told me there were more ducks there than he’d seen in a long time.

The 2008-2009 duck season opened in Arkansas this weekend and I was a part of it. I had forgotten just how much fun it is!! My husband was right… I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many ducks in my entire life! Literally thousands and thousands of them!! Mallards, teal, pintails, black ducks, widgeons, gadwalls, and equal numbers of speckle-belly and snow geese. The weather conditions were totally different the two mornings we hunted. On Saturday it was 23 degrees with a cloudless sky. My husband said it was the first time he could remember having to break ice on opening day. Today was twenty degrees warmer and totally overcast. Although we limited out early both days, the ducks were working better today.

The beauty is not just in the ducks and geese. We saw dove and red-winged blackbirds, red-tailed hawks and at least five bald eagles (always a spectacular sight!). Yesterday morning while sitting in the blind waiting for legal shooting time we could hear thousands of geese in a nearby field. Huge flights of teal zipped around us, turning on a dime and masses of mallards talked to us as they checked out our decoy spread. Even then, before the first shot was fired, I knew the weekend had been worth the price of admission.

I hope it was just the first of many more hunts.