National holidays, 2005

Deer season, that is! This is how it started, with a magnificent orange sunrise. All the snow on the trees had an orange glow, not the cold blue of earlier pix. The day gradually warmed and most of the snow was gone by the end of the day.


An unusual thing happened in gun season this year. Carlo actually got a buck!!!
First morning, back in the wilds of Ottertail country.


Of course, it's not the huge macho buck that would win the buck contest at work, but I am convinced that it its going to taste simply great.


Now you might think that hunting with this crew might be easy. Well, that's not EXACTLY the case. Notice the personalized orange suit on this guy. The monogrammed name reads... "Ivan Tushutealot". Go figure. Also has a compass stitched on. He looks down and sees that he's going North. Hmmm....


This was in the middle of the cooking of the trout. Saturday night Mike cooked up a mess of trout. Unbelievably good..... we also had potatoe salad, beans and bread rolls. Oh, yeah, and Milwaukee's Best Light. Dan had brandy. Did I mention that Dan had a lot of brandy?



After a day of hunting, the food was really welcomed and the first quiet spell of the day occured. Probably the only quiet spell. There was salad and some beans left over, but the fish disappeared!


Again, it's not necessarily easy, but the experience of this hunting crew is not to be missed. Here you see what we're up against. Way to go, Todd.


The required game of Texas Hold 'em in progress. Notice that Ivan and Todd are busted, and Tom is sitting pretty light. Soon after, Mike took the last of my chips on an all-in, and a few hands later Lee took it all home for the win. I hate cards.


So here we are on Monday evening. The crew is scattered for a few days til Thursday, when the gang rides again. Four deer in the freezer and much more beer to be consumed. Here's a cute little fuzzy critter. And the deer is kind of cute,too.

Tuesday after work I go for a flying session. I'm hoping that after this one, I'll have the landing part well in hand. Then I'll be able to solo and complete the remaining requirements, like a pile of take-offs and landings, a cross country and a few other things. Yee-haaaa!!