Normal days...

 

Merrick is in Full swing with Golf prep in his weekly simulator league, and still getting out snowboarding when the weather permits.  El Nino winter has kept the snow limited and the temperatures mild to high.  Grace finished up the JV season last night and will play with the varsity in the playoffs.  She got some PT during last nights Varsity game and quickly wrapped up two rebounds, two shots, and two points.  La Crosse starts soon and we are trying to get her driving hours in before April...but it is hard to find the time.  We had Merrick's junior meeting and everything appears to be on track for him; and we scheduled a couple campus tours for him during Spring break.  All Four of the kids found humor, the older two via text, the younger two had to live through it....I found "Chicken Paws" for $4 at the store and left them in the fridge with the promise that it would be dinner.  Amy even showed Grace and Merrick a Dim Sum chicken feet recipe she was going to try...so long as they helped 'declaw' the feet.  They were both good sports about the prospect and relieved when I didn't actually make them for dinner!  Karma always comes around to get the prankster however, as the oven went out...so now I have to get a little more creative with planning.

Time is a fleeting beast....

 

Time marches on and I get lax in recording the details.  It is almost the end of January so Holiday recap is more that due.  We spent the mid weekend in EC for Xmas...well actually some of us did.  Sophia had finals (again) and couldn't make it and Grace popped a positive covid test...two of them, so Amy stayed home with her, while Merrick and I drove to EC.  Ella joined us on Saturday and her boyfriend made a showing in the evening...daring dude to drive into that chaos.  Although truth be told the whole even was pretty subdued and only about half 'the people' were there.  Mark, Stef and the Boys all made it.  Becky and Brad brought only Nolan and Evan showed up later Saturday....we all fit around the table.  The following weekend was actual xmas and we did cookie baking and frosting, the big spaghetti dinner with the whole family, after making our final trip to Chatterhouse for pool and pull tabs.  It will apparently have a new location next year (the old Ziggy's) Everyone was there to open gifts on Christmas day even though we had to wake them up before heading to TR.  Between the Holidays Amy and I made an overnight trip to Milwaukee while Grace as playing in bball tournament and Merrick was in CO...but other than that we did a lot of well earned, deserved, and required lounging on the couch.  Grace is in the middle of her Bball season and playing strong (although she is missing a game tonight due to a fever).  Merrick is getting some miles on HWY 29 for snowboarding trips with friends.  Sophia headed back to school 'early' to take a Winter term class and start a job.  We did spend MLK day in MKE watching a Marquette Bball game from the Box Seats and work mingle. Ella just headed back last weekend with Bob and Nancy after they came for a visit and some basketball watching (and Packers too).  Time keeps marching and each day seems uneventful until you look back and see all the little important aspects that made it important; and such is life.

A Seasonal Return

 

The Thanksgiving holiday has come and went, with just enough leftovers that we don't have to cook tonight.  Most importantly all the kids came back  Ella caught a ride to and from GB with some friends and hung out for a few days.  Sophia came back and brought a boy...a point that everyone choose to pick on Ella a little bit about her boy making other plans.  We bought a tree from our favorite lot on Friday after the Amy and the Girls did some Black Friday shopping.  Saturday they headed out for the day for a girls craft show tour.  I started to prep a big Thanksgiving day meal and get the house ready for the meal was salty, but the smoked turkey was really moist and likely found a winning way to do if from now on. After the belated T-day meal on Saturday, Amy got her wish to watch all the kids decorate the tree for the next holiday.  We laughed a bit as the kids choose different poses for a Christmas card and Sophia's boy kept decorating the tree long after the other four called it quits. I was able to revive the tradition of complement the "Star putter upper" and made the kids all say something that the appreciated about me before placing the star.  They still played along.  We had some pie after the tree was finished and then played some poker.

We did our Part...

Hunting is an agreement between predator and prey...we held up our end of the bargain, but the deer are not to be trusted.  Headed out early on Friday and made the woods by 10ish.  Grandprize was already there and fully set up with his Nappin' Cabin; having kicked around in his own empty house long enough that morning.  The boys all showed up in their normal order and we set up camp and then went to check our stands.  Merrick was hunting all on his own this year, headed out down the north road to set up a popup blind while I headed west toward the grouse trail before heading north to come at Merrick and my area from different route.  Our plan was to leave the area between us 'unsoiled' in the hopes to have more deer come through.  The weather was amazing and it was the most relaxing opening weekend in a long time.  Both of us sat all from dark to dark on Saturday and were back out before light on Sunday...we did our part.  There was signs of another hunter near my stand and I wanted to get there as early as possible to stake my claim.  Somewhere during Flatcar's chili and chit chat I set my watch wrong, apparently the whole tent was relying on my alarm as nobody was up at 4:45 when our intention was to leave at 5.  Hitman & Paulo had similar concerns with their stands, but Merrick felt he was in the clear but was planning on heading out with us anyways.  At any rate we rushed to get ready and packed a muffin in my mouth on the way out the tent flap.  Merrick and I were able to communicate via text from stand to stand which was a nice way to check in and made me feel better knowing he was had arrived.  It also let him text to ask if he could shoot a turkey as they were putting and gobbling like crazy in the predawn light.  Ultimately I saw nobody and did see a deer around 1ish...It was Merrick's last year to shoot a doe under the youth hunt rules, but it would have been illegal for me to shoot a doe on his tag and I couldn't be sure the deer I watched for 15-20 mins was a small...small buck or a doe. So, it wandered off with a limp from a previous injury.  Standard Saturday night conversations, jokes, songs, and poetry.  Filled with Hitman's carnitas' made us all ready for bed fairly early.  Double Tap and FlatCar wandered off for a nightcap but the rest of us were lights out before 9.  Sunday was a quite morning although Merrick did hear a guy holler "WooHoo!!" after he shot and the others talked about being boxed in.  Even though we didn't see any other hunters they were clearly around and maybe keeping the deer away.  I meet Merrick at his stand on Sunday morning and we walked out and down the road talking about changes for next season.  It was a great way to end 2023 deer season.

Net Balance

 

Grace Bball is in full swing and has a few games under her belt already this season.  She has been playing both squads and got her on court Varsity debut tonight.  She put up four points and racked up two fouls...so her plus/minus is unaffected. With new shoes for the rest of the season we expected plenty more in both categories and on both teams.  The team dynamics have changed but she is having fun.  She has found time for a boyfriend amidst the Bball, band concerts, volunteering, and lacrosse practice....We think she is studying sometimes too!

"Winter Cometh"..at least Autumn

Yesterday the seasonable weather came in, the morning was in the 70's and by the evening the wind and temps were both in the 30's.  We are not sad by any means as the fall has been glorious.  Little rain has also meant that the fall colors have held strong to the trees and we have been busy.  Two weekends ago our little family pack headed West to separate destinations. Amy and Grace headed to Farmington, MN for a Lacrosse tournament, complete with costumed competition. The Friday night drive was met with news that the area had had a massive multi-day downpour and the school cancelled the tournament to preserve the fields.  They did all the traveling teams to each play two games on Saturday morning to help off set the drive time.  Grace enjoyed it, but they were both back home by Saturday night.  Merrick and I, headed to the deer hunting woods for the annual scouting/camping/screwing around weekend.  We drove over Saturday morning and the day just kept getting nicer.  We checked our stands and found good sign, repaired our debris stand cover and spent the early afternoon tromping the swamps for grouse and woodcock.  I expected to flush many but in the end we only heard multiple drumming grouse and didn't see a single flush or get a single shot.  Merrick did see a nice grey squirrel, but had not interest in shooting it with his shotgun...and that was a fine decision. Early in the walk I thought I heard a deer 'blow'...but Merrick informed me it was only him trying to breath.  To be fair for some strange reason he had put all of his clothes on...two pairs of pants and like three shirts/jackets...it was cold when we started but didn't take long to heat up.  Back at camp we ate, chatted, prepped dinner and shot some clay pigeons.  

We have been busy and while that was two weekends ago. Last weekend was equally fun.  Early Saturday morning Grace, Amy, and I drove to Lacrosse to have brunch with Sophia and see her place.  Then we headed to Great River Bluffs State park in MN picking up "DuBecks" on the way.  The fall colors were beautiful, the walk was easy and it was a great way to spend an early afternoon before heading back to the Bryan homestead stopping first to buy some disgusting 'candy' at the local ethnic store.  We chatted and waited for B-rad to bust out his hibachi skills.  With our bellies stuffed with pho we all slide into the hot tub.  Sophia came over too when she was done with work and soaked, chatted, and laughed with us.  Sunday morning found us not yet ready to head home...we headed north through the beautiful Arcadia ridge and picked up Ella at her place on Water street and then headed to Bergen Ave for Daryll's 90th birthday party and say hello to the Wold Clan.  Ella had picked a nice brunch spot for us to go so we invited Grandma Nancy and Grandprize along and wonderful  meal and chit chat before driving back home.

Back to this weekend....Merrick and I are going to go sight in our deer rifles under a sunny sky...Grace is going to continue to heal, having had her wisdom teeth pulled yesterday.  Ella is in St. Louis with the band and Sophia is planning on playing Halloween in LaX.

More like "Hotober..."

The weather has been crazy warm with temps hitting the high 80's and low 90's.  The trees are changing color even though if feels like summer.  It was Homecoming week for Merrick and Grace; they both headed out with friends for fancy dinners and looked great all dressed up.  Grace (and her band) performed at the half time show of the football game, and I think they won but was really only there for the band.  After the show Grace had a bunch of friends over for pizza and a campfire so the overall weekend was pretty busy just not in the normal way. We also sneaked out mid week for Amy's bday meal, and with the temps so warm it felt like mid summer and we were able to dine on the patio...don't let the blue umbrella's fool you dear reader, it wasn't Culver's ...the restaurant was a little more upscale.