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.

And then Summer was over...

 

August became a slow blur of back to school activities.  We did sneak Grace out to a concert "at the Ledge" to see TLR.  Great show, beautiful night even though we had a 20 min down pour of warm summer rain.  It sort of added to the evening.  Grace and Merrick 'held down the fort" at the pool and kept everyone safe once Sophia moved back to Lax.  Sophia is fighting landlords about bats, bad HVAC, and poor showers...standard student living conditions. We moved Ella back to EC in time for band practice to start so she can entertain the city again.  She has a great place right on Water street.  We ripped a door off the closet to fit everything into her room, but that will be a concern for move out day.  All of them were compliant enough to get us back to school pictures from their respective "first days."  Grace had her first football band performance last night and Merrick was in the stands cheering.  I have no idea who won and was in bed before they got home....it all goes quick.

They're Here, They're Here!!

 

It was the annual summer meeting of the clans with LaX, EC and OH making the drive to GB on Thursday.  We hit the Winery for music the first night, eating at the food trucks and drinking from the brewery and winery.  Friday was a pretty slow recoup from travel day. We made some food runs, played pass the baby (Finn) and generally chit chatted our way through the day and evening.  Not having all been together since Christmas. Saturday had an uptick as we made it to the farmers market downtown, titletown district, and even Coccon before coming back for a solid Kubb tourney.

Summer is in full Swing

 

Summer is in full Swing and Merrick has gotten me out to the golf course several times.  We have hit the driving range a few times, the par three course and even a early morning July 4 full 9 at Hilly Haven.  The good news is that I haven't gotten any worse and still play with the same consistency that I did in my youth...the bad news of course is that I was never very good.  Merrick had  plenty of laughs at my errant balls but still had a few surprises when I managed to hit one straight.  He on the other hand is playing fairly often both in reality and virtually.  The kids did challenge use to Kubb game in which Amy and I pretty much crushed them, but it was fun evening that included appetizers that everyone picked out at the hoggley-woggley.  Plenty of campfires but smore's aren't much of a draw anymore so that is mostly Amy and I.  Work is in fully swing for the kids, Grace, Merrick and Sophia at the pool and Ella at the factory.  Grace has a Basketball Team Camp and has been working the youth basketball camp as well so everyone is plenty busy.

And That's a Wrap

The time has gotten away from me so this is more of an update than an embedded report. But the middle of June arrived they way we knew it would, a mix of lacrosse, basketball, golf, banquets, and part time jobs.  Ella and Sophia are both back in town so we catch glimpses of them.  Ella is waiting for her job to start and Grace is waiting to get certified for lifeguarding.  Merrick and Sophia are putting in plenty of hours on the pool deck waiting for the college kids to return and new workers like Grace to get certified.  Grace finished up her Bball traveling team / tournaments in Waukesha and won Offensive Rookie of the year for her LaCrosse team. They made it to the third round of the playoffs and had to travel to Verona with essentially just their JV team.  The game even got statewide newspaper coverage due to some organizational politics, scheduling snafus no seniors could make the game.  Tough loss but the girls took it with smiles.  Grace also marched in the Memorial day parade and Amy and I rode our bikes to watch her play.  She got some extra mileage walking towards home until we caught up with her on the bikes.  Ultimately her and Amy walked while I hoofed it back on the bike to get the truck and some cool drinks.  Ella and Grace both played in the alumni LaCrosse game, with a kid on each side of the field we still could just cheer for #22!

 

Starting to wrap things up.....

 The academic year is starting to wrap up.  The older two are done for the school year; Sophia moved into her new and likely final college house over the weekend and I loaded up Ella and brought trailer full of stuff back home.  Golf is all done for Merrick and finished up his last meet taking 3rd on his team.  Grace has her last regular season Lacrosse game tonight and Shelley has been in town and will get to see her play too.  She will get a playoff schedule soon, her team is second seed so there should be a couple of home games.  Her basketball traveling team played in Appleton area over the weekend and she even found time to sneak a band concert into calendar....she has been running pretty hard and a summer "slowish" down will be good for her.  Both her and Merrick and gearing up for summer jobs at the pool and getting their orientations and certifications taken care of.  The weather is warming up and we are trying to get outside when we can find the time to enjoy a fire or work on the yards plantings and gardening.

Three for Four

The weekend brought us guests.  Bob and Nancy came to watch Grace's lacrosse tournament and brought Ella back for a surprise as well.  With her birthday upon us we worked in a meal at 1919 as we have done for the past several years.  Admittedly she picks that place because she can't think of another place to go. Either way it was perfect and we scored some ice cream cake on the way home.  Merrick had a golf tournament earlier in the week and found time to veg and warm up after our unseasonably cool temps that included rain and snow.  He was second on his team and happy with those results.  He passed on a few other tournaments this upcoming week due to tests and also that he wasn't that interested in playing in tournaments.   Grace has kept us running between lacrosse and basketball.  She often has overlapping practices and is finding ways to split time between them.  She is force to be reckoned with on the LaCrosse pitch and picked up several goals during the four games on Saturday.  Sunday we headed down to Appleton for three basketball games and she added several points to the board as well.  The last game came down to a double overtime and hers was the only game left playing in an empty gymnasium of 7 other courts.  The extra time was only required because the refs wanted to play too....leaving confusion and sourness in everyone's mouths.  This week will be more of the same, although less Ella and more band as Grace puts on the spring concert on Thursday.  Merrick past on to his next karate level. Driving himself over to test out....as I wasn't yet prepared.