Tag Soup?

What is Tag Soup you ask? Those of you who are hunters know all too well what tag soup is. It is by far the most expensive soup you will ever have, and it is far from delicious. Simply put, it is the soup unsuccessful hunters make. It usually consists of potatoes, maybe some carrots and chicken broth. Doesn't sound too bad right? Then you add the last ingredient. The hunting license that you waited 10 years to get, paid thousands of dollars for, not to mention the new clothing, boots and maybe even a new gun for the hunting trip you have been waiting a decade for. 

Did I have to make Tag Soup this week? Read on to find out...

I have not even opened my computer in two weeks. Well, maybe once or twice to check my trail camera photos but not long enough to read or write a post. At least one or two of you were concerned enough to check on me. The past two weeks have been more or less getting up at 4:45am having breakfast and jumping on my side by side at 5:45am for a 1 hour 15-minute, 26-mile ride into the Bighorn mountains of Wyoming in the dark in quest of the mighty bull elk. A behemoth of a creature that possesses over 300" of antler. He awaited me up there and who was I to stand him up by sleeping in and not making our long-awaited appointment?

But let me start at the beginning. This adventure started on October 17th when late in the afternoon, my good friend Doug and his brother Dan arrived at our house from Wisconsin. Near as I can remember, Doug and I met in 1987 or '88 and have been good friends ever since. He is the best taxidermist I have ever met and has mounted every animal you have seen in our house. We have been on many a hunting adventure together and we were about to take on another one!

We left the next morning for the small town of Lysite Wyoming, population 80, most of or maybe all of the residents are in the cattle or oil business. This would be my third time hunting elk in this area and Doug's, maybe 6th or more.  We hunted a few hours that afternoon refamiliarizing ourselves with the area and as I said, headed out the next morning for our first full day of hunting. 

What beautiful country. Hunting at an elevation of 8,800ft, it is definitely cooler and windier than the lower elevations. 

We hunted sunrise to sunset, 7am-ish to 6:30ish each day. Add 2 1/2 hours of travel on the ATV's and that makes for a long day. Monday afternoon, all day Tuesday, Wednesday Doug, Dan or I had not seen an elk. I will not bore you with the details of each day other than to tell you that I had a badger, red squirrel and a weasel all come within feet of me to see what this crazy man was doing on their mountain. I saw countless mule deer and antelope. What I did not see the first three days were elk. 

Day 4, I woke up with a cold and sore throat, that's not good, but I told myself I can be sick at home or sick out here elk hunting so I may as well go hunting. And finally, that day we saw elk! Doug saw 4 and I saw 3. The closest they got to me were 750 yards which is way too far for a shot. Doug and Dan left for Wisconsin the next day. I stayed one more day, throat getting sorer and cold getting worse. I figured I better take it easy for a few days so I headed home for the weekend.  

After a few days of recuperating (and pampering), I felt better and headed back out. Certainly, the mountains will reward my persistence. Day one I ran into another group of hunters who said that they had not seen anything either but did get a report that there was a herd of 1,500 on a neighboring ranch that does not allow hunting. Well, that explains a lot!

Sitting out here you really realize how small and insignificant we really are in the world. Your views go on forever, but it is not the forever views that made me think this. It was this picture......

At first glance you would think that is a wooded mountain with cliffs and to some creature it might be, but in reality, it is an area less than a foot square on a ledge where I was sitting. Just to the left of my binoculars below......

The next day, my last I woke up to 2" of snow, that will help those elk show up! Now they cannot hide and will be oh so visible against the white background. Getting up to the top was a little sketch as the snow made it pretty slippery. More than once I questioned my sanity, being that far back there by myself. Even something as simple as a flat tire could be disastrous. 

What a beautiful day. The prettiest so far. Alas, I saw no elk and headed home. The drive home felt longer than any other I had taken back or forth. Maybe because it was likely my last trip out there. If it takes another 10 years to get a tag, I will well into my 70's. Or perhaps it was the stop I had to make at the grocery store to pick up the potatoes and carrots for my Tag Soup. Either way, I am home now and focusing on deer hunting. 

I do have a couple of good news items to report; Farmer Bob and his son Dylan each had elk tags for the same area I was in. They both hired a guide who had access to land that I did not have access to and they each got elk! Their pictures are at the end of this post, so if dead things are not your thing, you can skip it. Speaking of Dylan, he and Sydnie had a gender reveal the other day and are having a boy!

The other bit of good news is that the garage doors for the new garage were installed while I was gone! So nice to have that behind us!

Oh, I almost forgot, Barb went to Bingo while I was gone and won $200!!! Not the $200,000 we were hoping from Queen of Hearts, but we will take it! 

It's good to be home, the girls and even Barb missed me! The sunrises are beautiful and the girls dressed up like witches for Halloween!

Now for the elk pictures......

Farmer Bob

Dylan

So You're Telling Me There's a Chance!

 As some of you know, that famous line is from the 1994 classic movie Dumb and Dumber. For those of you with refined taste in movies here is the clip. This was the theme of the week as we awaited Friday night. But more on that later. 

It was a better week. Dakota and DeAnne were still on our minds every day. Barb still vacuums every day, more out of habit. Never have we had a dog that shed as much as Dakota did. She would literally fill of a vacuum container every day. Even then we had hairballs randomly float out from under the couch. Now, there is nothing. Nary a white hair in the vacuum. Our socks are not covered with Dakota hair looking like fur-covered slippers. Bittersweet for sure.  

It was also a quiet week in a matter of speaking. At least compared to the week before when we got together with someone every night. Sometimes more than on couple each day. We were peopled out and we kept our heads low. We did have 5 events which, now that I think about it is not really "laying low", but it is less than the week before. 

The first was neighbor Jim who came over for breakfast one morning. Carmen is down in Mississippi visiting her mother. Whenever she is out of town we try to have him over for breakfast. I think that was Thursday morning. Friday we went down to Edgemont and got together with longtime friends Mike and Mary Jo who were out antelope hunting from Wisconsin. Mike and I first met in '79 or '80. He was my boss when I worked loss prevention at J.C. Penney from '81-83 and we have been friends ever since. We went down to Edgemont where we had supper at their VRBO. The next day they came up to our place and spent the afternoon in the gazebo catching up. Very good people and we miss them. 

Tuesday, Chad (former owner of Pasha Lake Cabins and former co-worker at Cub) spent the night at our place while on his way to Wyoming for a hunting trip with his son Cavin. We look forward to this pilgrimage each fall and the opportunity to see him. 

Most of the week was spent getting ready for my next big adventure which starts next week. Elk hunting in Wyoming! There is a group of us who have been applying for 10 years now, and we were finally drawn this year! Farmer Bob and his son Dylan went out there earlier this week and are hunting with a guide. My friend Doug and his brother Dan arrive here today and are spending the night before we all head west tomorrow. 

I am beyond excited! Speaking of excited, Queen of Hearts was $252,000 this week with only two cards left; the queen of hearts and a joker which is a redraw. So, whoever's ticket is drawn is guaranteed to win! This has been going on for 52 week and tonight's the night!

People are going crazy with multiple people buying thousands of tickets. There is reports of one guy who has bought 2,000 tickets for the past several week. With a estimated 150,000 tickets sold this week that means we have a .0133% chance of winning this week. So, You're Telling Me There's a Chance!

Town was an absolute mad house when we arrived. We met Dan and Bonnie, Merrell and Vicki, Neighbor Jim and Carmen, Former Neighbor Doug (Jim and Carmen bought their house) and his son Sam and a new to us couple Doug and Wendy at a watering hole near the VFW. At 6:00 we wandered over to the "W". There were twice as many people than we have seen on its busiest night, an absolute madhouse. Then they drew the ticket, a yellow ticket. Barb had 5 yellow tickets! They called the first number, 6. Barb's yellow started with 6! That's when it went downhill. 

Same for the rest of our friends. Some local woman won which is nice, the money will stay in the community and another $252,000 goes to a local charity. Soon it all starts again!

No pictures this week, not sure what is wrong with me in that category. I'll do better next week, I promise, as I will be in the hills of Wyoming in search of the might bull elk to fill the freezer for the winter. And as long as there is a cartridge in my rifle and an elk in the mountains, I have a chance!

Distractions

To grieve is to have loved, how sad would it be to never have grieved. 

Those words spoke volumes to me this past week. Distraction is sometimes the best way to not necessarily deal with grief but help pass time which does help you deal with it. 

Dakota's spot in the living room lay bare. No dog bed, no Dakota. I asked Barb if we could move one of the other dog's beds over there, it just seemed too bare and as many husbands know, since Barb is in control of everything inside the house, I best ask permission before moving anything. 

As part of our distractions, we decided to get out of here for a few days. Part of it would be part of the grieving process; the rest would be true distractions.  We headed north to attend DeAnne's funeral. We did not make it far though, only to Rapid City where we spent the day shopping and visiting friends. In the shopping category I bought myself a cross bow. With this most recent injury I could not pull my bow back without pain and reinjuring myself. Plus the fact that I have been fighting pain for the past several years when I use it. It was time to try something new. 

From there we went to The Hairy Cow Brewery where we met our friends Doug and Lisa. While we text every few weeks, it has been almost a year since we have seen them and what better place than a brewery we where we wanted to try their food!

The beer was good, the company was better, the food...mah... okay. Even a little disappointing. With the brewery being a harvest host, we were able to spend the night right there in the parking lot. The following morning we carried on to North Dakota. We were taking our time, we did not want to get to the farm too early, they had a bunch of family there and did not need us there. Instead we stopped at Sheep Creek Recreation Area a couple of hours south of the farm. What a great spot! Free camping, with electric and water for up to 14 days!    

The funeral was bittersweet, DeAnne looked at peace. There were so many friends and family they filled the church, the loft, and even livestreamed it over to the Senior Center. 

The weather cooperated; overcast and cloudy with just enough rain for the occasion. I stole many of these pictures from one of DeAnne's daughters Facebook page. I am glad that she took a few pictures, while I thought about it, I didn't take any. 

They brought DeAnne's two VW bugs and her golf cart to the service and the school even donated a bus to transport the family from the church to the cemetery. Everyone was encouraged to wear pink. Four of the grandchildren got up and did readings. The entire service was very touching and plenty of tears were shed. DeAnne was baptized and married in this church. 

We left early the following morning and headed east to Dino and Lisa's house! Just a one-night stay but we made the most of it! We had lunch at their place then jumped into truck and went on an adventure. 

Our first stop? A brewery of course!

We then went on a troll hunt! This area has a series of trolls throughout the area. Each has its own story as well as clues to where you can find the next troll. We only had time for two, it will give us a reason to come back again!

It was a great day and the perfect distraction. We always have fun together. After breakfast the next morning we were off! 4 hours later we pulled up to a friend of Barb's in New Richmond Wisconsin. Melanie lost her husband a couple of months ago and we were not able to make it to his celebration of life. It was great to spend a couple of hours with her. 

That evening we stopped at our niece Katie's place who lives less than 5 miles from Melanie. They took us out to supper at 45th Parallel Distillery for a couple of pizzas and then next door to a brewery. We spent the night in their driveway. They had both left for work by the time we woke up the next morning. Of course, I forgot to take pictures at either of these events.

Then it off to my sister Judy's house in Balsam Lake where the whirlwind of activity continued. They have an absolutely beautiful place on the lake, and the leave were changing adding to its beauty. 

 We used to live in this area as well and have several favorite places we like to go. One of our mainstays was The Thirsty Otter, and it was Thursday and that only means one thing; All you can eat rib night! We were joined by another niece Kris who drove over from Minnesota to see us. 

For those of you who noticed the weird angle of my arm, that is not actually my arm. Brother-in-law Mike was playing prankster behind us. Another thing we miss about this area is the bars. There is nothing quite like a northern Wisconsin bar where you know no one yet know everyone at the same time. Wise Guys in Milltown is just such a place. Of course, it helps that our favorite bartender of all time works there! Jules always has a smile on her face and is such a good person. 

I took several random pictures of the bar to capture its essence.....

No stop at a Wisconsin bar is complete without doing shake-a-day!

Friday was golf day! Several months ago sister Judy had called and asked if I wanted to join them for my dad's memorial golf outing. My dad used to gold the Spooner Golf Course several times a week and as a youngster we each joined him on many occasions. In addition to Mike and Judy, we were joined by my brother Bob, sister Becky and her husband Murray. 

Neither Barb or I are golfers, and I did not do my shoulder any favors, but in honor of my dad golf I did. And not well. 

Last year, they had spread some of my dad's ashes on the course. It is nice knowing that part of him is now part of the course. 

Saturday, we trekked over to Somerset to spend the day with our good friends Doug and Connie. We spent the day sighting in the new crossbow, exploring their property and just catching up. 

Sunday, our last day in the area was the reason we came out here in the first place. The wedding of my brother Rod's stepdaughter! The irony of the week was not lost on me. The ending of one life and the beginning of something new. This is the first time that our entire family has gotten together in several years. 

This first picture is of Brother Bob, Greta, Mike and Barb.

Sister Carol, Sister Becky, Brother Rod and Sister Judy. I have always called them "Brother/Sister" like that, not sure why, I just do. 

Never in my life have I seen a groom so emotional over getting married. It started with a quiver of a lip as he waited for his bride to be to walk down the aisle. Soon, it was full out sobbing. He held it together for most of the actual ceremony. Very, very touching. 

They asked us not to take pictures during the ceremony, but here are a couple from the reception.

Bride Rachel and groom Noah

Brother Rod and Rachel

The next morning we were homeward bound! But not before stopping to see another couple friend Tom and Shelly along the way. Tom and I have been friends for over 40 years and do not get to see each other very often. Of course, no pictures. 

How are the dogs doing? Great! This was Masie's first travel adventure and we could not be happier with how she did. She threw up between our house and Rapid City during the first hour, but after that no more sickness. They just laid on Barb's lap most of the day and slept. 

Now we are home. It seemed like a month ago that we left, but it was really only 11 days. Keeping busy and the distractions were just what we needed to keep our minds occupied. The house is a bit emptier; I still look in the corner for Dakota and still look for her in front of the bookcase in the bedroom. While her body is not there, I like to think her soul still is staring at us while we go about our day(s).