Well, I guess my "I'll update in 48 hours" plan fell through the floor. Things got crazy, including but not limited to, my internet connection. It seems with this new air card that I need to be either in the living room, or at Pat's house. Pat's house is stellar, because, I have a 3G connection there. It's beyond ridiculous how much faster the connection is there compared to here (home).
SPRING TURKEY SEASON:
Shawnee and I were super stoked to have the same week for turkey season. Shawn had everything all planned out, including how were going to get "a double". (2 turkeys, same time) A very hard feat to pull off. Our season started April 14 and ran until April 18. I was all set to go out opening morning with him, and sit in the blind. The area looked very promising, as there were turkeys there every day! Unfortunately, a trip to the ER for me, destroyed our opening morning plans. I did get out that afternoon for the night hunt. We sat in the blind, and we had hens only 10 feet away from us. They never had a CLUE we were there! It was amazing to be that close! Then the toms stepped out of the woods....oh, the blood started to boil then! Shawn wanted to get one with the bow, so he was already for that. The toms stayed about 60-70 yards out, which is waaaaaay too far away for a bow shot. So we went home that night happy to have been so close to the birds without them knowing or frightening them off.
Day 2 we went out in the afternoon again. We moved the tent to the back of the corn field (Ryan's east end of property) and we put it right inside the wood line off the corn field. Every tom we saw, was back there at one point. I figured we couldn't go wrong. So we sat in the tent again, and Shawn was getting antsy. He kept calling and calling and calling. I told him to settle down and just be quiet for awhile but he was calling again in 2 seconds. As we were in there, a small line of showers moved through, which brought about a 5 minute down pour. We were laughing because we really thought it was funny. Not good for the turkey movement though. Day 2 was in the books.
Day 3, Friday, night hunt. Shawn and I decided to split up. He took the north fenceline in the hopes he could cut the birds off if they came down the trail by the ponds. I stayed in the blind knowing that if we were patient enough, those birds would come out of the NE corner, and either one of us could get a shot. It was really windy and cold that day. Shawn texted me several times that there was no movement where he was. I had the same situation. There may have been some very distant gobbles, but that was it. We were getting really cold now. I physically had to hold the tent down so it wouldn't blow over. Shawn was texting me asking if we could quit. I asked him to hold out til at least 6:00. So it was quiet until then. So he texted me again saying he was cold and I texted him back, can you hold out until 6:30? If you don't want to stay then walk over to the tent by me. No sooner than he got that text and he was flying out of that wood line. LOL He came to the tent, we put all the gear where it needed to be, and we exited. As we were walking across the filed, Pat pulled up to pick us up. We didn't see him motioning for us to "get down" because we were too busy talking strategy and how freaking cold it was. Then we saw him and OH CRAP, the toms were strutting right down that trail where Shawn wanted to cut them off. By the time we saw Pat and figured out what was happening, it was too late, they high tailed it out of there. After that disappointment, Day 3 waas in the books.
Day 4, Saturday, Shawn went out in the morning with Scott. I wasn't there to witness it, but he nailed his tom!! Scott said it was an awesome shot (with the shotgun) and he stopped the bird in his tracks.
So that afternoon, I went to check it out, after we decided to take the night off and go out to eat with Keith and Felicia to the Texas Roadhouse. It was a good time, but it was raining pretty much the whole time, so we just decided to head home after that. Pat and I went home and snuggled in bed and were asleep by 8:00. It felt good.
Day 5, Sunday...the FINAL day I had to score a bird. Pat and I went out early, around 3:00. It was a long sit until 5:30...about the time the action usually starts. It wasn't until about 6:00 when the birds showed up. One hen at a time, from the NE corner of the field, which was directly to our right. I remember seeing the toms work that edge more than once, so I was SURE they would do it again. I was counting each hen, one by one...when finally, I looked, and yelled (in a whisper), "TURKEY ON THE FIELD! OH MY GOD! IT'S A TOM! HE'S COMING! HE'S COMING!!" So, obviously, Pat was going to be the one with the level head in this situation...he said, "get your gun up"...so I did. I was shaking SO BAD! I had to laugh at myself because typically I don't get all worked up and shaky until AFTER the kill...this was a serious rush! And to make matters worse...there were TWO toms coming! Right down the wood line, just like I had predicted! The turkeys were SO CLOSE, you could literally see their eye balls moving...turkeys have impecable eyesight, so I'm really not sure how we pulled this one off without them seeing us first and bugging out. The toms were working their way toward us, I had the gun up, SHAKING MISERABLY, and the choke tube was actually sticking so far out the tent, I should have been able to tickle their beards! LOL The first tom came by...I didn't take the shot because I wanted to see what "Number 2" looked like first...and then Number 2 showed up...he was beautiful...after flashbacks from my first turkey hunt, I told Pat to the back of my shoulder so I didn't flip over when I took the shot... So with Pat whispering "SHOOT!" in my ear, I tried to steady myself and take a deep breath and "WAH-WHOOMP!" The shot was fired...I couldn't even see what happened after that, other than Pat bolting out of the blind... When I regained my scruples, I saw him standing next to my bird...I dropped him where he stood...I was finally able to breathe again! I came out of the tent and that is when the BEST part of the hunt happened....Pat smiled at me and said, "YOU DID IT! YOU DID IT!" And he picked me up and hugged me and picked me up right off the ground! I never felt that he was so proud of me before! After the adrenaline wore off, only a couple minutes later, that's when I started crying, then laughing, then crying...I'm a freaking basket case after I kill something. Go figure. I couldn't even dial my cell phone to give mom the news. Pat had called him mom who I assumed asked if I was happy, and Pat replied, "she's in tears". Ahhhhh...I delivered for the mafia and bagged an awesome bird too. :)
Now the pressure was on for the rest of the boys! Shawn and I had set the bar pretty high...a DOUBLE! We didn't get it like we had planned, but we still did it!
MAY 1, 2010 TINA'S SURPRISE GOLDEN BIRTHDAY PARTY
Mom had planned to throw Tina a surprise golden birthday party at Kelly Lake. Wonderful! She had told me who she wanted to invite, and that Tina knew we planned to just do "dinner" that night. So we set out to inviting her friends from work. Only, she, herself, had invited a few herself! So she pretty much knew everyone coming. LOL Little shit...our plans were foiled! We managed to round up a few more couples, and told her Alice and Clarence weren't coming due to a casino trip they were going on. Her chin hit the floor when she heard that! Hahahaha! Take that little sister! I took it upon myself to get things in place for her cake. I called Sheryl, the woman who had done Tina and Ry's wedding cake, as well as a birthday cake for Alice and Clarence and just last year, one for my dad's 60th birthday party. They were always so yummy, that I had no doubt that's where I would go. I arranged for Tanya and I to pick it up the Friday night before the party. No problem. Tanya and I were going on a secret mission! When we got there, the cake wasn't at all how we had discussed, but it was still cute. Instead of the purple flowers and gold leaves, Sheryl made it look like two presents stacked on top of one another...which was cool. And it had a big gold fondant bow on top. Previously, I had ordered a balloon bouquet from the Flower Shoppe and also arranged for Tanya to pick that up. (I owe this girl big time). Tanya texted me and told me she had gotten the bouquet, but when she stopped by her parents afterward, the balloon that was the centerpiece of the whole bouquet, a giant purple butterfly, had popped...NOOOO!!! So after panicking and assuring Tanya it wasn't her fault...I called the Flower Shoppe in Gillett (as the one in OF was already closed). The man there was SO nice. He drove all the way to OF to see if there was another butterfly balloon. And while there was not, he said there was a purple dragonfly. So I took that. He brought it back to Gillett where Alice and Clarence agreed to pick it up and bring it right to the party. WHEW. Crisis averted---almost.
TO BE CONTINUED....
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