Happy B Day To My Best Friend, and My Attempt At Baking

We are finally the same age! This girl makes me happier than I have ever been. She's the best example of kindness, smiling, and fun that you could ever imagine.

So when she said she wanted a chocolate cake for her B-day I decided I better do my best to get it done.

How hard could it be right? Well it turned out to be damn Hard!

I immediately thought of this cake, that I found on my, gourmet cook, sister's blog.

Well two days, lots of curse words, three times the amount of frosting to patch all the holes, and a dozen phone calls to my sister later we had this!
J shares her B-day cakes with her twin brother who is pretty cool too!

Doesn't quite look like my master chef sister's cake, but I thought it was pretty good for a first time cake baker.

Special thanks to my big sister for listening to me rant and curse on the phone for two days.

North Dakota Pheasant Hunting

Day three was as great as day one and two. We hunted some great CRP. The birds were really running, but Lady still managed to pin a few of them down. She also managed to bump a few of them too. One of the many highlight was when Lady made a retrieve on a pheasant that dropped in a pond.

We hunted with our friend Tom on Thursday and he just went on and on about how well Lady obeyed, worked the cover, relocated on moving birds, and found downed birds. Needless to say Dad and I were pretty proud of our little GSP/Brittany mutt this trip.

North Dakota Day 2

Every day we hunt Lady does fantastic, today was no exception. Point after point after point. The weather was a tad bit warmer and the birds were running on us. Lady did wonderous at locating birds and relocating birds after they would scoot on us. We must have had close to thirty points.

It took us a little longer to get all our birds, I guess our shooting luck wore off a bit. We also let a lot birds fly so we could keep hunting and working the dog longer. I limited out first so I became the camera man.

Below are some pics of two of my favorites, Dad and Lady.






Look at Dad's smile and tell me he doesn't just love it!


p.s. I have a confession to make. The only thing that could make this trip more perfect is if my fiance J were here. I really miss her.

North Dakota Update

Dad and I we used a total of 7 shells for our 6 bird limit today. We are typically really bad shots and that is why we drive twelve hours to hunt in an area with hundreds of pheasants, we need lots of opportunity. We started hunting at about 10 and we were finished by 12. We started passing up roosters and only shot birds that Lady pointed.

Here is a pic taken from my dad's Blackberry.

Gone Hunting

My Dad goes on one pheasant hunting trip a year. Years past we have always headed to South Dakota (dad likes to see lots of birds). Because of my school schedule this week made better sense to head out looking for pheasants so we are heading to North Dakota. I know you're probably thinking "that is a stinking long drive", or that "the bird numbers are way down this year in North Dakota." That is okay with us. If we see a handful of pheasants that will be more than we have at home in the great state of Utah.

We have some private ground lined up to hunt on and we are pretty darn excited. Years past we have hunted with neighbors, uncles, and cousins. This year it will just be Dad and me. It should be a great opportunity to spend some quality time together.

I almost forgot our dog Lady will be with us too.

If I can I'll update you throughout the week.

Hopefully we see a lot of this...

Endings

Saturday was one of the worst days. My horse, Echo, that I raised and trained since he was born, eleven years ago, died. Echo was a horse with personality and was in his prime. Not many horses actually want to be ridden, but Echo did.

When we were together in the mountains there was a connection, peace, and understanding between the two of us that cannot be explained.

I have never felt so free at anytime in my life than I did when I rode on the back of Echo. I hope heaven has a place for a good horse.

In Search of Grouse, Trout, and Autumn Leaves

September is about as glorious as could be. I've spent some days Dove hunting, Grouse hunting, Trout fishing, water skiing, working at my job, and also attending classes and doing school work. Hence my lack of posts on this blog.

My roommate pointed me in the direction of some Grouse "right out the back door of my parents cabin." Is what he said. So I scoured the hills for hours and no grouse. Later that day he called me and said he shot two with his bow in the front yard of his cabin. I guess I was just too ambitious and hiked up the mountain behind the cabin. Grouse were a bust but take a look at the view of where I started hunting.


Last friday I had the day off so I spent the afternoon chasing cutthroat trout up the canyon. Holy Cow! They were hungry for my fly. My fly was a mixture of a Beetle and an Ant with a green stripe down it's body. The fishing was incredible almost every other cast they would try to attack the poor thing. Just as I thought to myself "it couldn't get any better...", and I was right. At that moment I lost my half Beetle half Ant fly in a tree. So I tied on the next best thing an Ant. I spent the next hour flogging the stream with no luck! Here is a pic of the fly that didn't catch any fish!


For our last official Saturday of summer J and I took a ride up to Jackson Lake hoping for some Autumn leaves. We found a few leaves, but we couldn't believe how great the weather was sunny and eighty degrees. We laid a blanket out on the rocky shore and soaked up summers last rays of sun. Then we snuggled up and watched, as an afternoon thundershower bounced it's way over the Tetons. When the rain came we left, otherwise we just might have stayed in that spot and time forever.


Tonight starts the Utah Muzzleloader Deer hunt, wish me luck!

Dove Mignon

Food and hunting are two of the three things I absolutely love!

A family tradition we have is that on New Years Day my Mother wraps bacon around chestnuts and then she smothers them in her homemade bbq sauce. We only have it once a year, because it is so unhealthy that if you ate it often you would die of a massive heart attack.

Today I invented a little dish I like to call the Triple Bypass! I took five of my doves that I shot on Tuesday, wrapped each breast in a whole piece of bacon, and then I stabbed them with a tooth pick. And then I smothered them in homemade bbq sauce which I invented up (after a phone call to my Mother). This would be a great appetizer and a great way to cook up your doves.





Recipe is as follows:

3 parts catsup
2 parts brown sugar
1 part soy sauce

Cover bacon wrapped doves with bbq sauce and bake at 375 for one hour.

I guess if you use enough bacon everything tastes good, but I have to say that these little buggers were spectacular. My big sister Lisa would be proud.

This week I heard a rumor of a spot in Southern Idaho that is infested with Grouse! I'll be checking it out tomorrow morning. Good luck to all of you chasing birds tomorrow!

Sunrise and Doves

Yesterday I spent the day chasing doves with my uncle Dan! We had a fantastic time! We were three short of a limit, but we weren't in it for the the numbers.

The dogs worked great! Lady did a fantastic job retrieving, better than she has in years past. It never ceases to amaze me how she improves every year.

My dad started feeding a cup of Eukanuba mixed with Iams this week, so I guess that means it is officially my favorite time of year. I believe Eukanuba helps Lady's scenting ability in amazing ways. Even though it was hot and dry she found all my downed doves.


The dogs taking a dip in a watering trough and enjoying a mud bath.


This is the sweetest girl in the world helping me carry my gear inside after the hunt. I could get used to seeing her with a gun in hand and an orange vest. I really am the luckiest guy on earth.

Fresh Water Surfing

P.S. We are engaged!

Weekend In Idaho!

New Hunting Rig

Apology to all my hunter readers, lately my blog has looked like a, "fun date ideas" blog, but today I'm sharing some pics of my newest purchase. It should haul me and the dog on many adventures.



It isn't new, but it is to me. A 1994 Toyota extended cab with a V6. Story has it that this 15 year old truck only got driven once a week, by an old guy who only drove it to the store and back. Hence the truck only has 52,000 miles. I got a sweet deal on it and sold my car the same day.

Making the switch from my car to this truck was a smart choice. Especially since my previous car was German made and I felt like I was donating my left testicle every time I had to pay the repair bill. So here is to keeping my left testicle!

Rope Swings and Teeter Totters

Somewhere in Idaho...

Girl Can Ski!

Special thanks to my sister Lisa and Bro-in-law for letting us join their family vacation. The water was amazing and so was the food my sister cooked while we were there!

Dang we're cute!

Playing Cowboys and Indians

LOVE MY GEORGE

I have loved George Strait music for as long as I can remember. I think I can sing-a-long with almost every George song (and there are a ton of them). George is coming to Utah this friday night for a concert at the Usana Amphitheater. It is rumored that he hasn't played a concert in Utah in twelve years.

A bunch of buddies and I have tickets and we are all getting pretty excited. Sunday night we all sat on the porch and tried to think of what songs he might play and we have no idea which handful he'll pick. One thing is for sure we'll be singing-a-long in the cheap seats (but the cheap seats were pretty damn expensive).

Fishless Fishing!

My cousin Andy invited me up for an evening of fishing near Bear Lake, about two weeks ago. We fished Bloomington creek. It was a great time and really good to spend some quality time with my cousin. No fish for me, but Andy caught one and had a few on! Here are some pics Andy snapped of me flogging the stream.