Finally Back Home!

Here are a few facts that you might be interested in when it comes to hunting in North Dakota. A North Dakota non-resident waterfowl license costs $149. You get to hunt two-seven-day periods and are allowed to shoot 6 birds each day. But not just any ducks. You are limited to certain species and within that species you are often having to identify males and females. 

 The regulations read like this:

The daily bag limit on ducks (including mergansers) is 6 with species and sex restrictions as follows: 5 mallards of which only 2 may be hens, 3 wood ducks, 2 redheads, 2 canvasbacks, 1 scaup, 1 pintail. Note: An additional 2 blue-winged teal may be taken September 23 through October 8 only. The possession limit on these restricted ducks is three times the daily limit.

So, you have to know how to identify birds on the fly, many times as they are flying by at 40-60mph.

Friday was the last day of my seven-day period. It found me standing by myself on the edge of a slough. Bob was standing at another slough with his friend Warren who had arrived from Minnesota the day before. 

It was cold! 30F with 30 mph winds. The birds were flying fast in that wind, but we managed to drop a few despite the fact that I could not feel my fingers. 

Can you tell which way the wind blows here?

We had a great shoot, filling out the rest of my possession limit to take home. 

Me, Ember and Warren. Can you tell it is a bit chilly?

As many of you know, birds have very unique and complex coloring on their feathers. Here are a couple of close ups of a Gadwall. Just look at the intricate detail nature created.

We returned to the shop to find the cat had taken up residence in a tote on a wool hunting jacket. So cozy!

That night, Chris's friend Seth came over for pizza and poker. Oh man, what a night. We finally shut down the night at 2am knowing we had to get up in a few hours for the pheasant opener. 

Here is a picture that Holly took. I forget what is going on here. Seth was either smelling me, or itching his nose, I forget. 

We played Texas Hold'em with a $5 buy in. Once you lost all your chips, you could quit or buy back in for another $5. The caveat being that you had to take a shot of Fireball to buy back in. I bought back in 4 times, Warren and Bob 5-6 times each. Chris and Seth did not buy back in at all. Seth ended up being the big winner taking home $80. 

The next morning came way too soon! We were all pretty quiet, working out our grogginess during our first field but after an hour we were all awake and ready to walk the rest of the day. By the way, a pheasant is not covered in your waterfowl license. They require another $100 license giving you two seven-day periods to hunt them. The limit is 3 birds per hunter per day, roosters only.

Young Gavin joined us proclaiming he was going to hunt with us all day! By the end of the second field, he was ready to go home. Although it was in the 30's the dogs worked hard and took breaks whenever they found a water hole or mud puddle. 

Ember taking a break as Gavin and Bob look on.

We ended up with 11 pheasants and 3 Hungarian partridge on Saturday.  I swear, pheasants are the most beautiful birds in the world. 

We had enough for 4 pheasants each, enough to keep us fed for a while. So, with my freezer full of birds, I decided to head home a day early. I sent Barb this picture as I passed through Douglas. 

I knew she would recognize two things in this picture. The elevator in Douglas and the hedgehog on our dash. That little guy has ridden from coast to coast for over 10 years in two different trucks. I did not hit the road until after 2:00pm, meaning I would not get home until 10:00pm or so. I listened to the Vikings lose and the Twins win as I headed south. This guy kept following me most of the day until he faded away as the sun set. 

After driving for a few hours, I officially declared an accident/getting stuck/breaking something free visit to the farm! It is a rare event and does need celebrating! I did have two incidents; one leaving the auger open and on while carting resulting in me shooting 60-100 bushels of wheat on the ground (we were able to salvage most of it) and I overfilled a grain bin. Luckily that only resulted in a broken shear bolt and no spilled grain. Although avoidable, both were relatively minor inconveniences rather than major incidents. That said, there, is always the possibility that I will be blamed for something after I am long gone!

The same cannot be said for Farmer Bob who sent this to me just two days after I arrived home. 

Apparently, this is what happens when you hay ditches that are a little steeper than initially thought! I am sure somehow this was my fault, even though I was hundreds of miles away. 

Once I got home, Barb and I talked for a bit, but I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep. So good to sleep in my own bed! When I awoke the next morning, Barb was excited to show me her purchases and projects. That's what she does when I leave, work on things and buy something for the house. 

Her main project for the past few weeks was filling the woodshed for the winter. Cutting down trees, cutting them into fireplace sized pieces, splitting them and stacking them in the woodshed. At first glance, that might not seem like a lot of wood, but when you consider that it is 5 rows deep, that is a lot of wood! Did I marry a good woman or what?!?!

She also bought two wardrobe cabinets for the loft in the garage. Up until now, we kept all of our seasonal clothes in totes which worked fine but you always had to search through multiple totes to find what you are looking for. Now she has everything organized in the wardrobe cabinets! These things weighed over 75lbs each, so she had to take each piece out of the box and bring it up the loft stairs before she put them together. Did I marry a good woman or what!?!?

Next up was the garage. I have a shelving until that is kind of a catch-all for tools and nuts, bolts and screws. She went through and organized the whole thing separating the nuts, bolts and screws into separate containers. 

Then she took me up into the loft in the house where she showed me all the auction items we won. I knew about these but had not seen them yet. My next project is to build a bookcase in our bedroom, and I wanted to fill it with some good books. Well, she found an online auction with lots them! One of my favorite outdoor author is Gene Hill. Whenever we go to an antique store, we always look for his books. They are very hard to find and if you do, they are $20 or more. This auction had 10 of them in one lot! I did not care how much she had to pay, I wanted them! As far as I can tell, that is all the outdoor books he wrote. She had to fight for them, and they went for more than any other book lots, but they are now ours! She ended up winning them for $12.50 each.

The next book I wanted was Hunting Trips on the Prairie by Theodore Roosevelt. This book was published in 1885 and is in great shape. Online, it goes anywhere from $100-$300, she got this one for $70. Some might call me crazy, but I wanted this book!

I started reading it already. I have to program my mind to read late 1800's writing. Very different from the writing of today. Here is the first page just to give you an idea how things were written back in the day....

She also won two decoys, adding to our collection. We like the old working decoys, not the prettiest but they have a lot of history and character. They are the goose and canvasback on the right side. 

Last but not least is the gazebo. She installed lights around the outside, installed fencing to keep Zoey in, and bought two very cool liquor storage units made from old whiskey barrel and refinished an old Buffalo Trace whiskey barrel top into a wall hanging. They are the perfect addition to the gazebo. She also got Dakota a raised bed for when she is out there, so she does not have to lay directly on the concrete. Did I marry a good woman or what!?!?

There were also fall decorations scattered around the house, this one was my favorite....

It is so good to be home. The first order of business was to clean the camper. I apologized to Barb before she even set foot into it. My intension was to clean it before I came home, but leaving a day early changed that. She set foot into the camper and immediately started opening windows saying it smelled like a man has been living in it for the past 6 weeks. Funny, I did not smell anything. 

A few hours later, it was clean with a candle burning in it, I am sure she will give it a deep cleaning before our next adventure. 

In the meantime, I was not even home an hour before Zoey found her spot on my legs as I sit on the couch. I think I will just sit here for a few days, relax, soak in the scenery and just enjoy being home. Life is good!

Finishing Harvest and Moving onto Fun!

 Cool, wet and foggy. Just the way it should be while hunting waterfowl in North Dakota. Each morning I awoke well before sunrise in eager anticipation of what the day might bring. I silently thank the Lord for gracing me with yet another season as I sit in the slough waiting for the sun to hit the horizon and the ducks to fly overhead on the first day of the season. 

I did not grow up in a hunting family. Well, my dad did go pheasant hunting once a year down in Iowa taking my sister Becky and brother Bob with him. I do not know how old I was when I was finally allowed to go, but I still remember those trips like it was yesterday. I had a great-aunt who lived outside of Buffalo Center, Iowa who we would go and visit. Aunt Effie. What I remember about her the most was her ill-fitting wigs and her TV.  I feel like she had the Lawrence Welk show on 24/7. I remember driving around with my dad looking for pheasants. I remember a motel in Forest City, Iowa we used to stay at, and I remember a nameless restaurant that had the best burgers in the world. I looked forward to that trip every year. Soon, my sister went to college, my brother too and it was just dad and me. Then Effie died and we never went back. But that was the beginning of the hunting bug for me. 

Opening morning

It was not until high school when Bob S and I met that I really got into duck hunting. Now 43 years later, I cannot remember a duck season that we have not hunted together. I am sure there is one, but I cannot think of it. This year was no different as we awaited sunrise a few yards apart along with Bob's lab Ember.  As the sun rose the ducks flew. We missed some easy shots, made some difficult ones but overall, just enjoyed being out, watching the birds, watching Ember doing what she was bred to do. Retrieve birds.  

Each morning and each evening we went out to see the sun rise and set. It did not matter how many birds we got; what matters is that we were out there. Most of our hunts were on sloughs or lakes. 

One morning we hunted in a harvested wheat field. You have to drive out well before sunrise to set up the decoys and blind by the lights of the truck. 

That is our blind in the upper right corner

Another foggy morning

A Pintail and a Redhead

On another hunt, Bob and I brought three-legged stools to sit on. Shooting from a sitting position is typically not a problem but on one occasion a bird was flying directly overhead as we both shot at it. After we were done shooting, the duck continued on its merry way, and I looked over at Bob who was on his back in the mud. Apparently, you should not lean back while shooting overhead on a three-legged stool!

On yet another hunt we were setting out decoys, the water was a little deeper than anticipated and we did not bring our waders. No fear, Bob just took off his pants and waded right in!

But the real star of the week was Ember. Watching the joy in her eyes and actions is worth getting up early and sitting in the wetness. She would often see the birds before us as her eyes follow them across the sky. On a couple of occasions, I swear she was looking at us in disgust when we missed an easy shot. 

The week was not all hunting however, we still had crops to get in! We got back into the field on Friday finishing the one field we were on. Then we moved to another field later on Friday and half the day Saturday after our morning hunt. 

Finally, back in my chariot!

Holly was nice enough to bring us supper a couple of days. Everything tastes good when you are out in the field, but her homemade pizza is to die for!

The moon was absolutely huge last week. I took a picture of this harvest moon from the tractor while actually harvesting!

Sunday afternoon found us finishing the last of the soybeans, getting done just as the sun was setting. The 2023 harvest is a wrap!

Here are a couple of pictures I took in the shop. This picture gives you an idea of how big the sprayer is. I think you could drive DeAnne's bug right under it!

Speaking of DeAnne, she and her sister Peggy stopped by and spent the night with Barb on their way back from Denver. No one got any pictures however. 

This next shot is of Farmer Bob's newest toy that he picked up on Wednesday. A 1931 Ford Model A Roadster! This little beauty is going to be his new parade vehicle. 

Nellie is continuing to improve. She can walk on her own but is still confined to her crate when she is not outside going to the bathroom. 

Back home in South Dakota, Kevin is not fairing as well. Last Saturday he and Barb were going on a trail ride organized by our friends Elizabeth and Alan. Kevin was to ride his horse Waylon while Barb was riding his other horse, Willie. Just as everyone was getting ready to head off on the ride, Waylon decided to pitch a fit, throwing Kevin. When Barb secured the horses and went to him, it was apparent that he had taken a pretty hard hit on his head. Those that know him may not be concerned as he is very hardheaded. But not as hard as we thought, he did not know where he was or how he got there. Barb would tell him, but he would immediately ask again and again. 

Since they were at a remote location, Barb played ambulance driver and got him to the ER in Custer where they performed x-rays and a CT scan. They were able to answer a question that many of us have wondered. Kevin does indeed have a brain. Barb says she thinks he may have had a brain transplant at some point as she heard the nurse mention something about having an Abby Normal brain, whoever she is. 

Poor Kevin

They released him a few hours later and Barb stayed with him until Cheryl drove 8 hours from Minnesota to take over nurse duties. Now, 6 days later, he is still recovering. Better, but not entirely recovered. He still has headaches, nausea and his body feeling like it was, well, bucked off a horse. 

Barb has been busy with other projects as well. She has been looking for a picture or wall covering to cover a service panel in the laundry room. She could not find anything the right size that she liked, so what did she do? She made something! 

Using some scrap wood and different color stains she made a cover that is not only the perfect size, but it also looks great. She has been up to a few other projects, but this is the only one she will share with me. Makes me more than a little nervous wondering what else she has been up to. 

I will find out in 4 days, as after 6 weeks of hard labor at Pen-Finken I am finally getting released to go home! But first, tomorrow is the opener of pheasant season. I hope to add a few of these tasty birds to our stories to help us through the winter!