Quest for #1 (and #2)

Those of you who know me probably think that I am talking about I am on a quest for #1 refers to my quest for the biggest buck in the forest. And I am, but that is not what this post is about. 

This post involves our quest to conquer the #1 peak in South Dakota.  As some of you may recall, we are hoping to hike the highest 100 peaks in the state. That has been put on the back burner since we left for Alaska in April, then the farm, but now that we are all home for a while, it is time to get back to business! 

Black Elk Peak, formerly known as Harney Peak, is the highest peak east of the Rocky's and west of the Pyrenees mountains of Europe. Barb and I have been up here once before in the early 90's when we rode our horses up to the top while on vacation in the area. 

First order of business was to convince Forrest and Somer to go with us. That was the easiest part. Next up was Lily, a little more difficult. Somer gave us a little insight into how to convince Lil's; never, ever use the word "hike", instead replace it with "walk". She was a little more skeptical than the other two asking questions like, "Where is it?" "How far is it?". Using vague answers, we were able to get her to agree to go on a "walk" with us. 

The morning of our hike/walk we had to decide which route to take. There are several to choose from. We decided on the Cathedral Spires trail, not necessarily the easiest, but it is the shortest in distance. After parking, donning our packs filled with snacks and waters and grabbing our hiking, I mean walking sticks, away we went! Now, if you ever come to the Custer area, the Cathedral Spires area is a must see, even if you only drive through, there is no drive like in the world!

Walking through the spires is incredible, over the next 4 hours (including rest time), we hiked and hiked and hiked. The terrain was a combination of up and down, mostly up. Lily was really a trooper, she asked a few times, "How much further it?" or "Is this it?" Our answer was always the same "It's just around the next corner". But she had fun feeding nuts to the chipmunks on the trail, fighting with her dad and basically being a kid on the trail. 

At one point, I could see our destination across a valley on the opposite mountain, so I grabbed Somer and said "Don't tell Lily, but that is our destination". Somer said something like "All the way over there? I wish you would not have told me that either!".

See the red circle in the each of these pictures? (Click on them to make them bigger) That is our destination! Both Lily and Somer made the comment that they thought this was going to be an easy hike since they were going with a couple of old people!

Carrying on, up we went, taking rest breaks every 1/4 mile or so. Little by little, step, by step, we were getting closer.

Even though it was a little over 2 miles to the peak, it was a rough 2 miles with over 1,100' in elevation gain. 

Forrest took this video just as we were reaching the top.

Finally, 2 hours later, we made it to our destination!

 The views up there were incredible. Looking Northwest we could see Bear Butte over 50 miles away.  The bonus of this hike is that you knock off two peaks in one hike as the 2nd highest peak (McGillicuddy Peak) is just 800' west of the Lookout Tower. 

We took a 30-minute breather up top to have lunch and enjoy the view. 

Then it was time to head back down on the same trail. 

What took us two hours on the way up, took us a little over an hour on the way down. Lily and I were battling to see who was in the lead on the way down. If I was leading, she would wait for an opportunity and bolt past me running down the trail. Then I would do the same. This ended up in an all-out race with both of us running down the trail. Probably not a smart move on my end. What I envisioned as graceful parkour type moves down the rocks, Barb described as an old man in an uncontrolled stumble down the mountain on the verge of catastrophe. 

We changed leads a half a dozen times on the way down until she got tired of toying with me and just kept running resulting in a 100-yard lead. Anytime I would get close she would just sprint out ahead again. 

Lily and I arrived back at the jeep huffing and puffing 15 minutes ahead of everyone else.

3 hours 30 minutes actual hiking 4.2 miles, averaging 1.3 mph. Great scenery, great exercise and memories that will last a lifetime. 

It's a Dog-Eat-Dog World

We have (had) 7 kids in our family 3 boys, 4 girls, all born between (I think) 1952 and 1964. Plus, mom lost one somewhere in the 50's before I was born. 7 kids under 12 would make for one crazy household. 

Now, all of us are in our 60's and 70's with me living the furthest away. I would not say we are a close family, 6 of 7 of us will call and text on holidays and other special occasions and each of us know we love each other.  Well, we lost one of our sisters this week. My sister Beth, who turned 70 this past September, passed away on the 17th. With a family of our size, one cannot help but wonder who would be the first one to go, she had heart trouble that caught up with her. 

I am not writing this for condolences as I have not seen or talked to Beth in almost two decades. She lost touch with our family some time ago and did not wish to reconnect. Any condolences should go to her kids who lost a mother, grandmother and great grandmother. We had a lot of good times together back in the 80's and 90's when we hung out together quite a bit and I choose to remember her from those times rather than the later years. One thing I will always be grateful to Beth for, (although I do not remember it) was saving my life in the early 70's, if I had to guess, I would say I was probably 8 years old. 

I remember the incident, but not the aftermath. My brother Bob and I were in a small boat on our lake place in Wisconsin when the motor caught on fire, and we had to abandon the boat. I did not know how to swim and was told that Beth swam out and drug me from the bottom of the lake to shore. All I remember is panicking in the water and waking up on my parents' bed. So, for that, Beth, thank you. I hope you are happy and at peace. 

Now, on to happier news. We currently have 6 dogs in our household. We are watching our nieces two dogs and along with our two and Forrest and Somer's two, that makes for chaos. You know what else it makes for? Dog videos!

This is what our house looks like in the morning before Forrest and Somer get up and their dogs join us. 

Don't let the peaceful and tranquil photos feel you, when they get ramped up, it is chaos! You can usually find one or both of the Frenchie's on our laps as in the picture above where they are both on Barbs lap. As you can see, Loki still has leg problems, the poor thing is going on months now with braces or casts on his leg. But he has come to like our couch and seems quite comfortable up there. 

Sophie is very vocal, her breathing alone is very snorty and when she does not get her way, she lets you know it!

This is pretty much a daily occurrence. Actually, several times a day. Zoey is the boss of all of them and as you will see, sometimes, she needs to lay down the law!

At other times, they just chill like little angels

I'll tell you what this week has done. It has cured me of wanting a large breed dog for our next puppy. Over the past week, I have come to love Loki, but OMG, I just do not have the energy to keep up with and train a puppy. The bad: running into screen doors, not once, not twice, but continually thinking that the screens is going to disappear all by itself. Not listening at all when called, pulling on the leash and trying to drag you around on a walk, jumping up and scratching doors when you go into the bathroom, bedroom or go outside, barking in the middle of the night for no reason at all. 

The good: The loving look he gives you like you are the only thing in the world that matters will melt your heart, the nose nudges in the middle of the night as he comes up to the bed to make sure everything is all right. The willingness to please and learn. He is a very lovable dog and when his leg issue is behind him, they can really focus on training. 

Friday night/Saturday morning was a s#$tshow. Loki woke up at 2am wanting to go outside and of course Sophie wanted to go too. Dakota and Zoey just looked at both of them like they were crazy and stayed in bed. I turned on the lights and waited for the deer to run away as we don't need the dogs to see the deer and try to chase them. Coast clear, I picked up Sophie and led Loki out to the pen at the gazebo, release the dogs and close the gate, what I did not see was the rabbit also in the enclosure, but the dogs did!

The chase was on! That poor rabbit ran to and fro bouncing off the fence as it tried to escape. It looked like a pinball bouncing off the fence on one side, then the other, then another, with the dogs hot on its tail. Finally, it ducked under one spot and disappeared into the darkness. Sophie tried to duck under as well and Loki tried to go over, I am sure my yell woke up the entire neighborhood! Luckily, they stopped, turned around and smelled around for another rabbit to chase. 

After getting them back into the house I was now wide awake, as was Barb, as was now, Dakota and Zoey. So, we decided to take a soak in the hot tub (Barb and I, not the rest) before going back to bed. 

Poor Zoey had a traumatic week as she had to go into the vet and get a few teeth pulled. The trouble started a few months ago when we began noticing her breath started smelling like something crawled in there and died. Then when Barb found one of her teeth in bed a few weeks ago she made an appointment to get her looked at. The vet said she could not tell how many teeth were bad until they put her under, but it would be approximately $100/tooth and set up the appointment. Well, that appointment was this week and 7 teeth later, her breath no longer smells like @ss, and our pocketbook is a little lighter.

That night we headed to the VFW as the Queen of Hearts is still going strong at $36,000. We met Dan, Bonnie, Merril and Vicki as well as Forrest, Somer and Lily. The game still continues as no one won! We then headed to The Beacon for open mic night. 

Then Saturday night we had neighbors, Jim and Carmen over. I brought out a dozen or so of my new bourbons for Jim to try. By the end of the night he was feeling no pain, we went from all smiles to head down on the counter in a matter of minutes at the end of the night!

Sunday was...... Football day! I do not know how many jerseys Barb has but when she saw I was watching football at 8am in the morning (the London game), she asked who was playing. I told her, and the next thing I knew out she comes with a Jacksonville and Panthers Jerseys! She said she purposely put the Jag's jersey on Zoey as she thought they were going to win, and they did!

Then she asked who the Vikings and 49'ers were playing as The Vikes are Alana's favorite team and the 9'ers is Ryan's team. Out she comes with two more jerseys for each of their opponents and dressed their little Sophie up in each. And you know what? Barb went 3-0 with each of these teams winning. I am pretty sure Vegas is going to start following our blog to see who is going to win each week!

Sunday is also Somer's favorite day as she can watch football... A l l....D a y....L o n g. She was so excited to see football on the TV when she came in, she asked "How many games do we get to watch today", I replied "With this early London game, we can watch 4 games, 12 hours of football!" Her response of "Yay" could have been a little more enthusiastic, but I think she hadn't fully wakened up yet. So, she settled on the couch to watch 12 hours of football with three of her 4-legged friends.  

When Lily came in, she ignored the game on TV and went straight to her puzzle. She, Barb, and Somer have been working on it all week long. Pretty soon she says, "Everyone come here". We get up and go over to the table to see her holding the final piece of the puzzle!

She was so happy! She and Barb immediately went online and ordered a new 1,000-piece puzzle! 

Then it was off to Kevin and Cheryl's to see their mini donkey. Ever since Forrest was a little boy he wanted to mini donkey and apparently, he is still infatuated with them 30 years later. We should have called first as when we got there, no one was home. But we made the most of it by taking selfies with both Festus and Zeke.

We had a chance to check the trail cameras since getting back from North Dakota. One decent(ish) buck and several other interesting photos of squirrels, turkeys, birds and several coyotes, two of which have turkeys in their mouths. Hard to tell in the pictures, but the feathers on the ground near the camera tell the rest of the story. 

Check out the shadow behind this deer, I don't know how the shadow was created as at 5:14pm, the camera would be pointing directly at the sun and be behind the deer. it must have been caused by reflection off the water....

Tuesday morning, we packed up Loki and Sophie and headed to Rapid City for the big exchange. The house is quiet now. Almost too quiet and I kind of miss the big guy. Maybe a large breed dog isn't so bad after all. Ouch! Barb just hit me on the head trying to knock some sense into me!

Quack, Quack, Cackle, Cackle

Being a glutton for punishment, Forrest and I went to McDonald's again this week. It was morning, I entered the building confidently thinking "I got this". Afterall, I only wanted a sausage biscuit meal. 

I approached the kiosk and started pushing buttons. I push "meals". Surely, a simple sausage biscuit meal would be in that section. Nope. I search a little more, nothing. Finally, I turn around and walk up to the counter. A girl comes up to me and says "Can I help you?" "I would like a sausage biscuit meal, no egg". "Did you use the kiosk?" she asks. "I could not find it on there", I respond. She starts pushing buttons.  "Meal?" she asks, "Yes, sausage biscuit, hashbrowns and a coke". "No egg?, she asks again, "No egg". "What would you like to drink?", "A coke". I then pay for it thinking, "I did it, I defeated the system, I did not use the kiosk and am getting exactly what I want". 

We get our orders and return to the truck and head on down the road (we were headed home when we stopped). I open my bag, unwrap my sandwich and what do I see? I got my sausage biscuit all right, but with a f*#%ing egg! and not one, but two hasbrowns. I promptly take the egg off and flip it over my right shoulder to Dakota. She worked hard over the past week and deserves a little extra treat.

But that was not my only mind-boggling encounter with technology this week. I had another one when I borrowed one of the trucks to go to town. Everything was going normally until I stopped at my destination and turned off the truck. The display then flashed "Check backseat for infants". I do not remember bringing an infant with me, but I checked anyway just in case one magically appeared during my drive. One had not. But during each one of my stops it asked the same question, each time I looked, but no infant. Imagine my horror had I turned around to find an infant staring back at me! I get it, I know why it asks and if one baby's life is saved from it, it is worth it, but I did find the messaging amusing. 

But, back to my week with Forrest. We had a great time! We arrived Tuesday evening and met Dylan at the Pour Choices bar in Max for supper. After getting set up back at the farm we went to bed with alarms set for 5:30am. I slept in Chris and Holly's big 5th wheel while Forrest took the camper. I will not go into each individual duck hunt, but we set the alarm for 5:30 all 5 mornings we were there. 

We hunted fields, we hunted water, we made some great shots, missed some easy ones. Had a lot of laughs and filled the freezer with birds. I don't remember the last time Forrest and I shared a duck blind.... over a decade for sure, so it was so nice to settle into the blind with him that first morning after setting up our field decoys. We are joined by Dylan, Pete, and Chris. 

I will warn you now that the rest of the post has some dead bird pictures, it also has lots of dog pictures and yes, a couple of videos. Dakota went along on most trips, she is not a fan of hunting on land, but get her near a muddy slough and she is in heaven. You can tell in the picture above, she is not entirely loving it as we were on land. The rest of the photos were taken when we were water hunting so you will see a noticeable difference. 

As many of you know, there are two different classifications of ducks; dabblers and divers. Dabblers are what most people see in parks; Mallards, Gadwall, Teal, Widgeon, Pintail..... These ducks are the ones that tip their butts up in the air and put their heads under the water when eating. Then there are the divers who dive when they eat. These include the Scaup, Redheads, Canvasback, Bufflehead and many more.

To me, the dabblers eat better than the divers, so we try to go for them as much as possible, but depending on where you are hunting, they might not be around. 

You are only allowed 6 birds a day 5 of which can be mallards and of those mallards, only two can be hens. You can only shoot 2 canvasback and redheads, 1 scaup, and pintail. So, not only do you need to be able to identify the species on the fly, in some cases, you need to identify the gender within that species. Not always possible so a lot get passed on. 

One evening we were hunting big water where a lot of divers hang out. Big water is fun as it allows Dakota the opportunity to really get out there and swim while retrieving the birds. Here is a video that Forrest took of her retrieving one. 

We were just getting ready to wrap up when this bird comes zipping across in front of us and Forrest shoots it. Upon retrieving the bird, (a female canvasback) we noticed that it had a band on its leg! This is super rare, I have only shot one banded bird one time in my life, many have not shot any. 

When you shoot a banded bird, they ask that you call in the date and location of the harvest so they can use that data for their records. They in return send you back the information on the bird. 

Each morning we went out to various potholes or fields throughout the area. All the hunts were fun and memorable, but the most fun ones for me were the ones where Dakota got to get in on the action. Just look at the expression on her face.....

One spot we were hunting was kind of out in the open and the ducks kept flaring as they got close to us. We finally figured out that while we were in camo, that white dog down there was scaring them. Solution? Cover her with a decoy bag!

Saturday was another big day, the pheasant opener! So, we switched from ducks to pheasants. We put on miles and miles walking across the fields in search of these elusive birds. Dakota is not a pheasant dog, so she sat these hunts out, but we had fun watching the other dogs. These birds proved to be our nemesis, most of them getting away, but between the 7 of us we managed to get enough for each of us to take a few home for the table. 

One morning it was crazy windy. It was almost mezmorizing walking through the grasses watching the grass sway in the wind. The birds held super tight, but we still managed to miss more than our fair share. 

That night, the winds died down, making for one of the most beautiful settings you will ever see in a pheasant hunt. What an end to the day. 

Our week was over way too soon. Well, not really, we had plenty of birds, sore feet and were ready to sleep in. So, again at 5:30 in the morning we woke up, loaded up and hit the road back home. 9 hours later we pulled into our driveway, stretched out legs and opened the back door to let Dakota out. I wish I had taken a picture, but what do you think I saw in the floor next to Dakota? Some of you may have guessed it, but there on the floor, uneaten, was the egg from my "eggless" sausage biscuit. It might be a sign that I should not go to McDonalds anymore if even a dog will not eat their food!