A Growing Family

Deer Processing

joseph — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:33:04 +0000

The crew of hunters on the property I was on for the week harvested six deer total (yes the new guy got two of them). On the Monday after the season several of us gathered to process the meat. This was great learning experience to see (and touch) the creation that God has made for us. The buck I got on Thanksgiving was huge and made up the majority of the meat for ground venison. We got chops, round steaks, and tenderloin for everyone as well as over 180 pounds of misc pieces we use for ground.

We also brought a tenderloin offering over to the neighbors that were really noisy on Thanksgiving day and probable the reason the big buck came wondering my way. The cool thing about this part of the season is that you learn so much the animal. For instance we learned that if I would have shot a couple inches lower the buck would probable still be alive (see picture with the arrow. We did a little CSI Rhinelander to show the trajectory of the bullet. When cutting out the tenderloin back strap we also learned that the buck was shot by an arrow the previous year and the tip stopped right at the back bone.

The Deer Hunt

joseph — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:23:33 +0000

This is the update of my hunting adventures. I spent around 30 hours in my deer stand for this season and had a great time being quiet and looking out the window. I had a package of tea candles to keep me warm and learned the fine art of wax consolidation to keep the wicks burning longer. Overall I harvested my first two deer of my life. A nice size doe on Monday and fairly large buck on Thanksgiving afternoon. What a great experience!

The Real Winter Hunting Season

joseph — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 21:34:29 +0000

Yes I love to hunt for animals but the greatest of all hunts is the one I have been doing for for the past 24 years. The hunt for the Christmas tree. This has also become our Friday after Thanksgiving tradition since we got marrieds. Over the past years I have only hunted on 3 different properties. This year we had to find a new hunting ground and we did that. With some great recommendation we went to Bergstrums Tree Farm out on G in Rhinelander. What a great place with the best prices and best groomed racks we have ever experienced.

We ended up tracking and harvesting a 10 footer. We like the extra bows on the bottom for decorations. As is tradition we all took a hack at dropping the greenery.

The Shack

joseph — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 23:01:01 +0000

The hunting stand is a very important part of the hunting season and I got set up with a very nice one. Because of proprietary purposes I am not allowed to show you everything or the exact location. But here is a glimpse of where I was for a week. I was on a hill about five feet in the air, had window on all sides and roof over my head. The hardest part was keeping the window from fogging up and keeping the swivel chair from squeaking.

Les Miserables

joseph — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 22:35:21 +0000

I got Christy tickets for the 25th Anniversary showing of Les Miserables that was showing this year in Appleton. We saw this show for a special date while we were in college in Minneapolis. At that point in my life I knew nothing about the story, book, music, or the themes it would touch on. I didn’t care for musicals but dutifully went that evening and it was an evening that would turn my life into a different direction.

I have since read the full book twice and parts of it a number of times. We bought the sound track from the tenth year and it would be one of the few Cd’s we would keep. The story is so powerful and gripping in its portrayal of forgiveness, redemption and the struggles of law vs grace. The priest at the beginning of the book (and a smaller role in the musical and movies) is mandatory reading for those that are going into church ministry… I could go on.

Needless the evening we had a wonderful. We shared it with Christy’s sister Julie and husband Gary. After dinner at the house and the mandatory prom photos we were off. It was everything and more. There were nice subtle changes, added songs, and the classic moments you expect. The sound and staging was really great. The lighting was a little off as it was the first night and I think there was someone with the shakes running one of the spotlights.

The coffee shop was closed that we planned on going to afterwards so we just went back home.

Trip to the otherside

joseph — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 21:12:12 +0000

Since we have moved to Wisconsin we have been planning a trip to the other side (the west side). I grew up on the Minnesota border and we spent the first years of our marriage in Minneapolis. We wanted to share with the kids the place where I grew up. So we spent some time at our college, the Mall of America, drove by the first home we bought, by the places where my grandparents are buried, some of the places I used to mow lawns, the coolest used bookstore in the world, the schools I attended, the waterfall I would run under, and even the village pizzeria. It was a great couple of days minus that part when we realized our favorite ice cream shop was closed for the winter.

Halloween 2011

joseph — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 20:43:56 +0000

Halloween is always a fun time of the year for our family. We love to meet our neighbors and walk around. This year would be different because we don’t have that many neighbors and we would be out-of-town anyway for the 31st. But not to be detoured we took part in the Hallelujah party we had the Wednesday night before hand at our church. 100′s of people came out for games and candy and most of them weren’t party poopers like some and actually dressed up.

Fishing

joseph — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:01:33 +0000

This summer we spent lots of time fishing our bay. Off the dock or from the canoe it didn’t matter. We caught lots of panfish and few bass. Look forward to getting out on the ice in the winter.

First day of school 2011

joseph — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 20:53:33 +0000

Oh how time flies (insert all other appropriate phrases about how kids grow up quick you heard older people saying when you were young. They are all true). Amelia-8th grade. Elliot-7th grade. Samuel 3rd grade. Elliot is just a little shorter than the pictures indicate because he likes to stand on tip toes to look older than his sister.

The place where we met

joseph — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 21:50:33 +0000

We had the joy to return back to the camp where Christy and I had met. Crescent Lake Bible Camp is where we would have our Northern Wisconsin kids camp. Well our kids had a youth activity out here on a beautiful fall evening. We got to wander around after we dropped them off and took the long way back home reminiscing about how far we have come.