Weekend Visit from the Protégé

Well, this weekend Michael Parker decided he wanted to come down to Ames for a visit and to just hang out. I figured I would have no issues finding things to do.
Friday afternoon I took a quick visit to the doc office to check out a possible sinus infection. Thankfully, a quick visit, stayed a quick visit and I was able to get some meds. Micheal walked in the door and pork steaks and a flat iron steak for Rachel went on the grill. It was a wonderful evening just hanging out and being well medicated. Rachel said once Michael shows up we can watch hunting shows. More deer stories and hunts to get us jacked than I think I could have handled.

Saturday morning, Nick got us permission to hunt the sacred dove field again, so I took Michael out. I was hoping for an even 10 birds. It was a beautiful cool morning in the mid 40s. We ended up with 2 birds.

Not the most productive morning but the thought of breakfast was just as exciting as shooting birds. We got back to the house and Rachel was going to make is breakfast. We both decided to cook as Mocha was a muddy mess and I would do anything to not give her a bath. Rachel took care of that while I started food. Bacon, and eggs. When Rachel was done with the pup we got pancakes. Doves went in with bacon. A nap ensued.
This last spring Michael and I doubled on jakes and I just couldn't bring myself to separate the birds. Together at death; together forever. I made a fantastic double mount on a cedar slab with the picture epoxy inlay-ed. Each fan is on the respective side of the of the picture.

  This was to be sent off to Michael's own trophy room.
While I had a difficult week I was unable to work on the next deer mount that Michael and I have been talking about for some time. That worked out just fine as we were both able to work on it and it is a buck Michael found this last spring while shed hunting. This gave me an opportunity to practice on a non-harvest deer head. I built and reserved a table for Michael (free of charge; Micheal has done more than enough for me) and we mounted it up.

I have been super excited about this mount for a long time. I always said the best part about finally harvesting a nice buck is grabbing those antlers and gawking over them. My mounts do a great job of showcasing a hunt and experience, but I wanted something that would allow the hunter to enjoy that feeling of holding those antlers again. This mount has two pipes that fit slug one over the other. I put the brass pipe in the skull, and a copper pipe in the table. It pivots so when you want a different angle because you are in a different mood, and want change. Then when you want to pick it up and gawk again, or show it off to a friend, you just pull the head off the table. It just puts another spin on euro and pedestal mounts.

After finishing up this mount Megan, Ryan and Kidlets showed up to 'watch' the Cyclones game with us. Well, because paying an arm and a leg for cable is still not enough for the scum sucking bastards, we did not get the channel the game was on, so we listened to it instead. No matter, my Cyclones got beat anyway.

Sunday morning I was met by cinnamon rolls in the oven. If I haven't said it yet I will say it again, my wife is the greatest. After enjoying those, Michael and I settled ourselves into the man cave to wrap and re-fletch his arrows. His blaze orange camo wraps with orange and white offset fletching looked amazing. The only way to know if they would shoot was to actually shoot them. A couple shots in the basement showed the fletchings held up. A trip to Soper's Mill outside of town showed us they shoot as good as they look. It was nice to fling some arrows again.

After shooting we had to try and find us a smallie. This was the first time I have been able to fish the Skunk River this year. First cast gave me a slab green sunfish that smelled like mud.
The big hole produced nothing.
Micheal finally un-skunked us on the Skunk. Nothing huge but a smallie nevertheless. I finally pulled on in as he was on the opposite bank un-hooking his. Next cast I lost a pounder. I ended up with three total and it was homeward bound.

The best way to cap off the weekend was to come home to a homemade batch of chicken noodle soup made by the loving hands of my wife. Michael and I could smell it when we got out of the car. I have been craving this for a couple of weeks. It was legendary batch, dumplings and all.

I all but bailed on my wife to "play" all weekend. I was blessed by great food and a smile whenever I came up for air. I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful wife.



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