Hunting pheasants

Barlie has been playing and growing and we've been working with her and pheasants or chuckers. We had grand intentions of getting out there in the field with her on New Year's day, but it was raining. So Sunday we went out to the field. It started out with Todd, me, Barlie and a shotgun - he wanted to make sure she wasn't afraid of the noise the shotgun would make.



Not a chance - she knew what she was supposed to be doing. But....Todd felt that he needed to be with her while she pointed at the chuckers. And someone needed to shoot them out of the air once she flushed them so she could retreive them.



I offered to shoot the gun....but Todd said ....you need to be able to HIT the flying bird and bring it down... and I am not a very good shot at moving targets:)



So we called on a good friend of ours, Andy, who in turn brought his 2 kids along for the fun.



Barlie spent lots of time running back and forth....

Until she would find the chucker and point at it:

One got away into what we call "the swamps." We let her run back and forth in there for a few minutes to see if she could find where it landed ......

There's a bird in here somewhere...

Andy stands ready with the shotgun

Of course, the little boys had to pull out their bb guns....

I spy a birdie.....

And if you are 7 and 6, and get bored, you can always make sure the chucker that was shot is really dead.....

And another birdie....

This is getting fun....

The grand total? Out of 5 birds, 2 were shot and Barlie "sort of" retrieved them.....she is not really good yet on coming when called but......Todd says his uncle's 2 german wirehairs aren't really good at that either, and they have a number of years on Barlie.....

If the weather cooperates we will be out there again with her one night this week after work and a few more birds.....

Barlie

Remember that sweet, little, puppy?

Well, she has spent the summer, growing, running and playing, and has turned into this:

Who got to play with birds for the first time last Saturday:

She quickly figured it out:

And would point at the birds when she found them:

This should come as no surprise, as she's been pointing at the cat and the cows for the last 4 months:

I do think she got a little aggravated at the birds that flew away when she got too close. But as Todd said to her, it's not your job to catch the birds, it's your job to flush them out of hiding so I can shoot them!

Todd didn't have the gun out there with him - he wants to take it slow and easy with her so she does not become gun shy. Believe me, a gun shy bird hunting dog is not a good plan.

But she is going with Todd back to PA for the next 2 weeks while he goes black bear hunting and deer hunting, so I'm sure they will find some birds to play with while they are back there.

Meet Barlie

It was a wonderful drive, but llllloooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggggggggggg!

The mom and dad of our puppy.

Add to the fact, I had to do some driving, means I didn't get a whole lot of crafty time. Which is OK, as my neck and back would have rioted if I had tried to do any more.

And yes, her name is now Barlie, which in german means "little bear." So she fits right into our Bair (pronounced just like the animal) family. Thanks Mary for the reminder to post what breed she is - she is a German Wirehair Pointer, and will hopefully be a good little pheasant/bird hunting dog here later on this summer/fall.

I didn't take any pictures of scenery. 1 - I drove through all of Indiana and most all of Wisconsin and I didn't think Todd would appreciate my skills driving down the road at 75 mph and taking pictures; and 2 - as we went through Chicago on Friday, I was just praying that some of the idiots would avoid us. The rest of the time? I was knitting or it was dark.

However, I did get quite a bit done in the two days - most of the back of a sweater I am test knitting for Thea Coleman - Calvados:

I just have 2 more inches to do on the sleeves and the back is done and I will move onto the fronts. It was hard to get a good picture of the yarn color wise, but think varigated green, brown, beige and grey and you'll get the idea:)

While we were involved in some marathon driving, the kids went to my parents house and Jessie made candy with Grandma. Homemade peanut butter cups. Which were so good, the ones that I brought home when I picked them up were gone in....about 10 minutes after walking in the door. So last night, rather than cook dinner, I made these:

You can find the recipe here. Although I did BIG ones, and used crunchy peanut butter. And out of the 24 that I made (I had to triple the recipe), I think we may have 13 or 14 left.

Have a good one,

Kris

Our puppy has landed

I dont think it's a big secret that Todd loves to hunt. Anything that can be hunted, will be hunted during the appropriate season.




Last February, our Jack Russell died. Todd's rabbit dog (a beagle) is gun shy. And his bird dog (a german shorthair pointer) passed away a few weeks ago, but really, hasn't been able to be hunted with for the last few years due to old age.

We put off getting another dog, mainly because I was enjoying not having a dog in the house. We could go away for the weekend and not have to worry about a dog being inside, or sending the dog to either be boarded or to other people's houses.

But this fall, Todd started talking about wanting to buy another bird dog. A German Wirehair Pointer. Supposed to be good hunting dogs, and yet, good with kids (which is a must in our house). So I said fine, go ahead and look.

Um.....yeah.

Around the 1st of the year, he looked, he talked to a bunch of breeders, one of them being a breeder in MINNESOTA, and I ended up mailing off a check for a deposit on a female puppy. Who was born yesterday.

So here the middle of March, Todd and I will be driving to Minnesota (to a point just south of Minneapolis) and back over 2 days to pick out and pick up our puppy. And no, the kids are NOT going with us. Rather, they will go to my parents for the weekend. I'm not that with it to haul 2 kids 13 hours away in one day.

What was I thinking?

Snow, basketball and painting....

... that was pretty much my weekend!

The kids didn't have school on Friday - so I got a "snow day" too. I really can't tell why they didn't have school - we were out and about and while the roads were snow covered, they weren't really slick.

Saturday was Jessie's first basketball game - what a HOOT! 10 girls got at least 18 fouls called on them (that we caught) for being too aggressive.

We lost - 14 to 8, but they tried. Our girls just aren't consistent with actually making the baskets yet. If we had made every basket that was attempted - our score would have been 44.

And yes, they ended up on the ground more often than not fighting over the ball. But they had so much fun.

As one of Jessie's friends who happended to stick around after his game to watch her play said - there is no way I am playing basketball with these girls - they fight too much!

Tyler wanted to go hunting with Todd in the worst way this weekend - it's muzzleloader season and pretty much Todd's last chance to hunt this year. But...with highs of 11 for Saturday and 18 for Sunday, we didn't want him sitting out in the woods all afternoon.

So Todd and Tyler went back in the woods behind our house. No deer were seen, but they did see lots of tracks where apparently the deer were coming right up around the house!

Yesterday I spent getting ready to paint the laundry room. We are getting a new cabinet for above the washer and dryer on Friday, so I had to take down the old metal shelf, pull off the wallpaper and paint. I thought I was going to have to call in the HazMat team when I pulled out the washer and dryer. Apparently I don't clean behind those 2 appliances enough:) But it is nice and clean now, the walls are painted and we are ready for the cabinet.

I am not sure that I am sold on the color - it's got a pinky/grey tint to it - I'm thinking I may want something that is more a brown/yellow tint, but I'm waiting to repaint it until after the cabinet is in and everything is painted white (cabinet, trim, etc.) and distressed. We'll see.

Enjoy this sunny day....although I hear we will be heating up to the mid thirties by the middle of the week in Ohio. I cannot wait!

Kris

0 degrees

It is freaking freezing here. When we got up this morning, 0 degrees. We had to jump start Todd's truck. We've know the battery was getting weaker but.....you tend to put things off that aren't an absolute necessity - especially in the winter and at Christmas time. Today he will go buy a new battery.

Yesterday was extremely cold. Come to think of it, Saturday was cold here too.

Saturday was spent at play practice - and cleaning and doing a little sewing. I'm making headway on the gifts. Todd also went hunting and shot an 11 point buck - at 8:30 a.m. Which was perfect - then he didn't have to sit outside all day!

Our church's Christmas Play was yesterday - here is a video of 1/2 of 1 of the songs they sang. I would have so loved to video the entire thing - but I left the video camera sitting at home on the kitchen table (when I put it down to go get the camera - rather than put it in my pocket!?!)

Afterwards I tried to get a nice picture of Jessie and Tyler in front of the tree they decorated during the play - and this is what I got:

Afterwards, my parents came over because we had seen these birdies. Mom cut them out, and I sewed them. Then Jessie wanted one - so I did the bright pink one for her. They are now sitting in our Christmas tree on the branches - but I forgot to get a better picture. Hopefully my Mom took better pictures (of both the Christmas play and the birdies!)

I would show the gifts I have finished so far, but someone showed Jessie how to get onto my blog, and she was reading back posts and I don't want to show what I have finished that is hers or Tylers. So on the 26th I will do a show and tell of every single present I've made.

And next year.....I'm so starting this in January. or February.

Kris

Blond Moments

I'm not blond .....but sometimes......it sure seems like it!

And I'm undecided. I have 4 (yes 4) teacher gifts that need finished by next Thursday and Friday. The problem is, I CANNOT settle on making any one thing for any of them. Maybe because I don't really know any of them well enough.

And this weekend will be packed. Tyler is going hunting in PA with daddy tomorrow, Jessie is having 2 little girlfriends over tomorrow night to spend the night, Saturday sometime I have to go help decorate the firehouse for a Christmas party, Sunday morning is church and play practice, and the fire department Christmas party is Sunday afternoon.

Any suggestions out there for quick, easy to make, nice looking appropriate teacher Christmas gifts? (I'm not asking for much, am I??)

In other news, our tree is finally up! After we ate dinner tonight, I put it together, figured out the lights, and the kids hung ornaments all over it.

I think the tree skirt makes the tree .....don't you?

Have a good evening!
Kris

January 17, 2008

I’ve been slowly but surely working my way through this tablerunner:

I’ve had the top done for a few months now, but needed to decide on quilting it. I have always quilted "in the ditch" and for this one, broke out of my usual mode and did a meander pattern all over. I think I like the meander quilting - on this one it went very quick. It took me 2 nights to sew the binding on, as we were watching a mini-series on TV and I couldn’t do both at once.

Tyler had to go outside "hunting bunnies" right when we got home from work/daycare. Hunting is very big in our family - I always say it is the mad exodus to Pennsylvania the weekend after Thanksgiving when Todd, his father, brother, brother-in-law, and nephews pack up for 4 or 5 days and go. But, it puts meat on our table all winter, in addition to beef and pork, and helps to control the deer population. Tyler cannot wait until he is old enough to go but in the meantime, he pretends with his play gun. Of course, while he was tramping through the woods, he had bunnies running every which way (Todd lost count at 13). Why don’t they run like that when Todd and his friends actually take the dog out to hunt? Even at 4, Tyler is very conscientious about gun safety, and such a careful little person. But that is good for his future as a hunter, as gun safety is extremely important.

Jessie had cheerleading practice last night - the elementary school kids get to practice with the varsity squad for 4 nights, and then cheer at one of the Varsity basketball games. Such a klutz she is (she cannot walk and chew gum at the same time without tripping) but she so enjoys it. She is anxiously waiting for spring soccer to start up here in another 6 weeks. She has tried gymnastics, tball and soccer, and we think the soccer just might stick. Her favorite position is goalie, but since she can run, she gets put everywhere. She's #10.

I could really get into being a "soccer mom" - although I will never be able to drive a mini-van, as our driveway drifts too much in the winter with any amount of snow, and being a 1/4 mile long, we need 4 wheel drive, but I'll be the soccer mom in the Durango. Tyler also played, but he is young enough that it was more just running around for him.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day in bloggerland!!

Kris