Spare no expense

As a life long outdoorsman and hunter, I have managed to hunt several species of large and small game in various parts of the world. Most hunts result in great companionship, the opportunity to see some of the more beautiful and/or desolate parts of the world, and usually the chance to harvest some wild game. As I have done this over the years I have usually shot only animals that I would be willing to eat, although there have been a few exceptions to that rule. The badger I shot in South Dakota is an example of this.

I normally enjoy the meat much more than my family, although most of them have eaten their share of venison, elk, caribou, pheasant and quail. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the next hunting season, there is still more wild game in the freezer than has been consumed. Which brings me to the point of all this. I spend a great deal of time and go to a lot of effort to bag this game, and my family doesn't appreciate the value of what it is I have been doing.

I discovered this early on in my marriage. Nancy and I had been married about a year when her uncle, Beech Adams, invited me to come to Idaho with him for the pheasant hunt. I eagerly accepted. I bought ammunition, out of state hunting licenses, travelled to and from Burley, Idaho, paid for hotels, food and gas. The resulting expense was about $150.00. This was a goodly sum for two full time college students. I was able to bring home six pheasants from the trip, which was the possession limit at that time. Rather than being excited about the fresh meat for the table, Nancy sat down with her calculator and determined that these birds cost about $17.00 per pound. It left a bad taste in her mouth and ruined the meal.

This has gone on over the years. We have fish that cost $30.00 per pound, elk that cost $15.00 per pound, South Dakota pheasant that cost $60.00 per pound. ( The cost of the house, and travel to SD escalate the cost considerably. I am not even including the Mexican doves, ducks and geese, that I don't bring home, but give to my guide and people in the village where we hunt.

You would think that if I am going to the effort of providing all of this high priced meat, my wife and family would at least show some appreciation.

These efforts aren't limited to my hunting trips. Last week was Thanksgiving and I decided to provide my family with a treat by smoking a turkey as part of our Thanksgiving dinner. We purchased a 12 pound turkey for me to put in my smoker. It only cost a few bucks because of the promotion at our local Ralph's grocery store. I bought some hickory chips, prepared some spices for a rub, and got up early Thursday morning to prepare the turkey and the smoker. It was then that I discovered that I no longer had a propane tank. It must have been given away as we moved to San Clemente. Off to Lowe's to purchase a tank with propane in it. I hooked up the propane tank to my smoker, placed the marinade and wood chips in the smoker, placed the turkey in it and fired up the smoker.

Twenty minutes later, the temperature had barely risen in the smoker. I adjusted the air valve on the smoker and within a few seconds my smoker burst into flames. After hurriedly turning off the propane I discovered that my propane hose had a leak in it. No problem. I taped it with duct tape and fired it up again. More flames, combined with the smell of burning duct tape. My only recourse was to race off to Walmart and buy a new smoker. Steve Wright and I put it together within about 45 minutes and I was able to get the turkey in it and got it cooked in time for dinner. Luckily we started dinner about 45 minutes later than we had planned it.

Cost of Turkey $8.00

Cost of Mesquite Chips $8.50

Cost of Propane Tank $51.00

Cost of New Smoker $150.81

Total Cost per Pound $18.19

Look of appreciation on my families faces: Priceless

We travelled to Utah and Idaho early this last week to attend the funeral of Harmon Tobler, Lindsey's father-in-law. Harmon was a man I admired immediately, and we have been friends since the kids were engaged. It was a wonderful funeral and it gave the honor due to such a good man. He will be long remembered by his family, friends and the many young men he sponsored and mentored over the years.

On the way back we got a phone call from Mao letting us know that Cathy had given birth to their third child. they had a baby boy on August 18th. He was about 8 lbs., 6 oz., and he was 22 1/2 inches long. They have had a difficult time deciding on a name. When we first talked to them they were going to name him Christian, but they hadn't decided on a middle name. They still were not in agreement on a name when they left the hospital, so they left the name blank on the birth certificate and referred to him as "the baby" or "the boy" for the next couple of days.

After spending a few hours with books about baby names they have seemed to conclude they will name him Landon Luca Hernandez. At least for the time being. I am not sure if we will know for certain until he is officially blessed.

Adam and I were the first members of the family to actually see him. We stopped at the hospital to visit them on our way home from Utah. It was perfect timing on their part which enabled us to see him so soon. The baby was sleeping in his isolette when we got there and Isabella had finally decided to take a nap on a chair in the room, so we did a lot of whispering and took a few pictures without disturbing anybody.

That gives us thirteen boys and thirteen girls who call us Nana & Papa. Who is going to step up and break the tie?

Utah Trip

Two weeks ago, we took a quick trip to Utah with our friends, Gary and Sue Hadley. We left on Thursday and drove straight through, stopping long enough at Mao and Cathy's to have dinner with them. Mao barbequed some steaks and we had a very enjoyable meal with them and the kids. Cathy was finally looking like she might be carrying a baby even though she is eight months along.
We drove to Park City where we stayed at the Hadley family cabin. The next morning we had breakfast in town and then drove to the base of the Uintah mountains past Oakley to the Smith and Morehouse area at the head of the weber river. We had been told of some forest service trails that were particulary nice to ride. We unloaded the four wheelers and took a beautiful ride up in the mountains where we stopped to have a little lunch before heading back down the trail.
The next day we drove to the Homestead Inn for breakfast then made our way over to Strawberry Reservoir and found some dirt roads and trails that headed up into the mountains west of the reservoir. The roads were pretty dusty and dry and not as pretty as the first day, but we had a great ride. No one managed to roll a quad on either day.
We then loaded up the quads and drove to Daniels canyon where we had booked a room at Daniels Summit Lodge. We washed a little dust off of our faces and changed shirts then hurried over to meet with a wrangler that had agreed to take us up into the mountains on his horses. All of the horses were good looking, well mannered animals and we had a great time. We rode for about two and a half hours up into the quakies and pine trees. Because it has been a relatively wet spring and summer the area was very green and lush and quite beautiful. We saw a few deer and lots of deer beds. Our only incident on the trip was when we topped out on the ride and were giving the horses a chance for a breather when suddenly Gary's horse dropped to his knees and started to roll over. Gary managed to avoid getting rolled on but the horse stepped on Gary's foot as it got up which resulted in some pain and a blackened toe nail.
We came down off the mountain, took a quick shower and then met for dinner at the dining area at the lodge. The food was great and the rooms were excellent.
Nancy and I got up fairly early the next day and drove to Sunny's where we helped make some breakfast for the kids and picked up Jade for the trip back to California. We packed a lot of activities into a couple of days and had a great time.

Falling Rocks

I got a phone call today at work. When Nellie transferred the call to my office, she informed me that the caller was my cousin, "Falling Rocks". I knew immediately that she was referring to my Navajo cousin, Larry Bennett.

Larry came into my life when I was about 12 years old. He and his brother Leslie were taken into my Uncle Bill and Aunt Ruby's home as part of the Church's Indian Placement Program. They had them every school year and then they would go home to Arizona for the summer. There finally came a time when Larry didn't want to go home for the summers so he started to stay all year round. He eventually graduated high school then went on to college and became an engineer for Utah Power and Light. He married a local girl and raised a beautiful family.

He has always been my cousin as far as I was concerned. We fished and hunted together and spent family vacations in the Uintah mountains. Larry could spot a deer further away than anyone I ever knew. Not only could he spot it, but he could tell you if it was a buck or doe before anyone could get binoculars on it to see for ourselves. One of my favorite memories was a horse back trip into the Indian lands in Arizona. His dad arranged for some horses and we spent four days and three nights exploring Anasazi ruins and old Navajo sites. We carried only what we could put in our saddlebags and slept on the ground. Larry claimed that it would be warm and that we wouldn't need a sleeping bag. He was so wrong. I spent three miserable nights trying to keep from freezing to death. Larry, on the other hand, was quite comfortable in his sleeping bag and space blanket.

Larry has never lost his Navajo accent, and he was always a little difficult to understand. When we spoke today I noticed that he was harder to understand. We exchanged greetings and then he asked, "Guess What"? I said, "You sound like you have been drinking". He said it was worse than that. He had suffered a stroke three weeks ago. He had been feeling poorly and went to see his doctor on a Friday, but was checked out and sent home. The next day he was in his home when he suddenly wasn't able to stand and fell to the floor. They got him to the hospital and they diagnosed the stroke. He has lost the use of the right side of his body. However, they have been working with him and he has already recovered the use of his leg, but his arm is still quite useless. He has made great progress, but still has a long way to go. He's working hard to try to overcome this.

We're all pulling for you Larry. We'll keep you on the prayer list until you get back to normal. At least as normal as you're capable of being.

I have the best wife!!

Yesterday mom and I were scheduled to attend the Orange County Mormon Orchestra and Choral presentation at the Segerstrom Center in Irvine. It was awesome! Afterwards we ate dinner at the Claim Jumper in the mall across the street and had a nice meal. It was a great evening, but it got a lot better.

On the way home, she asked If I wouldn't mind if we stopped by the Hadley's house because she needed to pick up some stuff that would help her on a lesson she had to prepare for church. When we got there, we were greeted at the door by Su and "her" new dog. I was excited to see that she had located an adult male Wheaten Terrier from a rescue organization and it was a real beauty. While I was playing with it Nancy informed me that it wasn't really Su's dog, but that she had finally given in to my begging for a house dog and that she and Su had been working to locate one for me. I was absolutely floored! Knowing Nancy, this isn't anything that I would have dreamed she would do for me.

He is 1 and 1/2 years old and is neutered. He is house broke and kid friendly, and best of all, he doesn't shed. I know that Nancy is not as excited about this as I am, and I will probably have a big payback that I will owe her in the future, but it will definitely be worth it. I have already decided on a name for him. I am going to call him Ed, which is short for Special Ed.

On to the Sequoias

As a continuation of our trip, we got up the next day and travelled to Sequoia National Forest. We had to go west toward Fresno then south on Hwy. 99 until we got to 190 East and went back up the mountain toward the forest. It was a beautiful day. The sun was out and the sky was cloudless, so despite the snow in the higher elevations, it was really pleasant. We made a couple of stops for photo ops and took some pictures of the wildflowers that were blooming everywhere.

We were a little higher, so the snow was quite deep. There were times it felt like we were driving through a tunnel of snow because it was five or six feet deep right next to the road. We even put some snow in our little cooler to keep our drinks cold.

The giant sequoia trees are really amazing. We saw the General Grant tree and the General Sherman tree, two of the biggest on record. They are almost 2900 years old and are immense. A person standing at the base of one of these giants is really insignificant in size. It is like a mouse looking up at a six foot tall person.

After spending some time up there we headed down the mountain taking an alternative route that brought us out in Visalia. We had a late lunch at the Black Bear Cafe in Tulare. As we went into the cafe, I noticed a sign advertising a horse sale, so I asked the waitress if she knew where it was. She told us it was at the fair grounds, so after lunch I talked Nancy into driving there to check it out. We got there for the end of the sale so we only saw about four animals auctioned off. The last ones into the sales ring was a couple of pack mules that seemed to be great animals but they only sold for about $150.00 each. Nancy was afraid that she would have to restrain me from bidding on them.

After the sale, we jumped in the car and headed home. We arrived about 8:45 pm. We were tired, but we had a great time on our little weekend adventure. I think we both decided that we would try to do this a little more often.

Yosemite Trip

Nancy and I are combining a business trip with a little pleasure trip this weekend. We left yesterday morning and drove about four hours north to Visalia where we did an enrollment meeting for one of our larger clients. We then traveled another two hours north to Merced and did another meeting. We then ate a quick lunch and travelled east and drove to Yosemite. We had never been here before, so we thought it would be a pretty drive. We were not disappointed.

As we headed east into the mountains we drove through beautiful green hills past cattle ranches and horse farms. We saw a lot of orchards where the most common crop was almonds. When we got into the pines it was equally picturesque. We made several stops to enjoy the view. We really enjoyed Bridle Veil Falls. Not only was it beautiful, it was impressive to hear the sound of the water pounding the grainite at the bottom of the falls.

We stopped in a little town called Oakhurst, where we located a Shiloh Inn with a vacancy and booked a room. We found a little mexican restaurant called El Cid where we had a great meal and watched the end of the Michigan game and the Duke game.

We are on our way to see the giant sequoia trees today, and then we will be home later this afternoon.

Swallows Day

We made our annual pilgrimage to San Juan Capistrano to watch the Swallows Day parade and participate in some of the festivities. The parade starts at 11:00 am, so we usually leave our house at 6:00 am to take my truck over to park it along the parade route. This year we found a place in the Ralph's parking lot and I backed my truck into a spot facing the street. Then at 10:30 we drove back and unloaded the cooler and snacks and lawn chairs and set up our viewing stand in the back of the truck for the best seats in the house. J.R. and Casey and their kids joined us just as the parade was starting.

It's always an interesting parade. There are lots of equestrian entries along with the usual bands, clowns, baton twirlers, and dancing groups. I'm a big fan of the horses. Ethan seemed to have the same interests, although he was equally interested in the frosted cookies and licorice in the cooler. The girls liked the colorful costumes and the horses. This year's parade had 192 entries, so it was longer than we had patience for. About two hours into it we folded up the chairs and crossed the street to the Mercado to get some lunch and look at a few of the booths. We had a great time, and it was a good excuse for me to put on a cowboy hat and my boots.

Looking For a Recipe!

Yesterday Nancy and I were running a few weekend errands and after going to the OC Swapmeet we stopped at Omar's Birds on El Toro Road and purchased a few things for Tango, our African Grey Parrot. We bought his normal mix of seeds, some wood chips for the bottom of his cage, some extra goodies including peanuts, some seed he particulary likes, and two different mixes that you soak and then warm as an extra treat. You would have thought we had ten birds when you looked at all the stuff on the check out counter. It cost a small fortune.

While we were there we saw some large parrots climbing all over a cargo net that they had draped over some large tree limbs that were part of an out-of-cage play area. It looked like the birds were having a lot of fun with this net. In fact, I was so intrigued by it that when we got home I drove over to Lowe's and purchased about 50 feet of 1/2" hemp rope with the goal in mind of building my own mini cargo net to create a climbing area inside Tango's large cage.

After about 45 minutes I had created the net and the next step was to hang it inside his cage. I opened the door to let him crawl out and then with the assistance of Nancy, I began to secure it to the cage. Tango was watching me rather intently from the top of the cage as I began to tie the net to the top right corner of the rear of the cage. Suddenly he dove at my hand and clamped on to my left thumb. I reacted by jerking my hand away. Unfortunately for him, he didn't let go resulting in him being jerked from the top of the cage and into the wall and then falling to the floor. The end result was two large wounds in my thumb and a parrot with some likely body bruises and and an expanded vocabulary of cuss words.

Nancy has talked me out of just killing him and throwing him in the garbage, but I have decided that after spending all that money on him and his upkeep, I am going to cook and eat him. Does anybody have a recipe for parrot? The nearest thing that I have found so far is a recipe for cream of asparakeet soup.

Carranzita Revisited

It had been too long since I have been hunting in Mexico, so this past weekend I loaded my dogs and my gear in the truck and joined my buddy John Anderson in Carranza. It normally takes about 3 1/2 hours to make the trip there, but this time the border guards decided that John must have looked suspicious because they decided to search his truck and the utility trailer he was pulling. They also had to inspect his guns, ammunition and paperwork, so we spent an extra half hour while they satisfied their whims.

We grabbed a couple of tacos from a roadside vendor about a half an hour south of the border and then got to Carranza about 7:30. After putting the dogs in the kennels we laid out our gear for the morning shoot, watched a little T.V., and wandered off to bed.

On Friday we had a morning hunt and an afternoon hunt for doves. Rigo, our guide, had located a harvested maize field that had a lot of feed left in it and the doves were swarming to it. We probably saw four thousand doves that day. Between John and I we reduced the population by 200 birds which means that we shot around 500 shells.

Saturday morning we went to the lagoon where we hunt geese and ducks. It was a beautiful morning. We set up the goose decoys by the light of a very bright full moon and then watched a beautiful sun rise. We killed a few ducks at first light and then waited for the geese to arrive. We were able to call in about four small flights of snow geese and we downed four geese. This late in the season they are pretty suspicious and several groups wouldn't even take the time to examine our decoys. We were able to get a few more ducks after the geese stopped coming in, so we ended the morning with four snow geese and ten ducks. Not bad for a late season hunt.

We gave all of our doves and most of the waterfowl to the guides and their families. We grilled up half of a goose breast for lunch. It was very tasty.

It was good to be able to get down there again. I didn't do it very much this year for various reasons. As I sat in the blind watching the sun rise and listening to the sounds of the blackbirds and the coots as they awoke to the new day, I was reminded of the comments of a friend of mine who was an officer in the marines. We were enjoying a similar morning a few years ago, and as he observed the beauty around us he said, "We ought to do something like this for the enlisted men". On similar occasions, my Grandpa Dickson, who barely had two nickels to rub together, would often say, "I wonder what the poor people are doing today".

It's a privilege for me to be able to get out from time to time and have these kinds of trips. I know that I feel like a twenty year old when I am watching my dogs work and enjoying the outdoors. I'm looking forward to some trips with my grandsons if I can talk their moms into letting them go. The world is different now than when I grew up.

I just noticed that I haven't had any entries here for over five months, and it's mostly because I always like to include a photo or two and I have been having camera problems. My digital SLR has had problems with the software and won't recognize the lenses on the camera, thus everything that is automatic, including the focus, speed and light has not been working. I have sent it in twice, and hopefully it is now fixed.

A lot has happened since my last post; Thanksgiving and Christmas, the birth of a grand daughter, a couple of deaths in the extended family, the ups and downs of the economy and how it has affected our company, etc.. In the mean time, I have been a little involved in facebook and I waste too much of each day checking in there. For every good thing that you read, there are about 10 things that are marginally interesting or just plain dumb. I have decided to check it once a day, and never at work.

We had a wonderful Christmas season this year. Even though the funds available for Christmas were a little tighter this year than seasons past, everybody seemed to appreciate the gifts under the tree and I don't believe anybody felt deprived. What was really special is the number of children and grandchildren that shared our holidays with us. We were able to visit Mao and Cathy just before Christmas and get hugs from Hunter and skeptical stares from Isabella. We also travelled to North Carolina to visit Sam and Lindsey and their boys and see their new little Ruby. We also opened a few Christmas presents with them. We then spent Christmas with almost everybody else. Besides Adam and J.R. and their families that live in our area, we were lucky enough to have Ashley & Todd and the boys, Sunny & Steve and their 6 youngest, and also a surprise visit from Lindsey & Harmon and their kids. Sunny and Steve and their family spent most nights at the Price family beach house, and Harmon and Lindsey and their kids spent a couple of nights with us and the other nights at a good friends beach condominium. We would often have breakfasts as a group and evening meals together. Nancy and I would make daily food runs to Costco, and we would fill our garbage cans with paper products, etc., about every two days. When garbage day arrived I had to deposit the overflow that wouldn't fit into our cans into three different neighbors cans that were sitting out by the curb.

What great fun we had and what beautiful grandchildren we have been blessed with. It was total chaos at times, but what wonderful chaos. It is so nice to be able to spend time with the little ones that we don't get to see often enough. There were a couple of things that stand out in my memory. One, is seeing about 16 or 17 grandchildren in my pool all at once. The other was our lunch at Ruby's cafe in Laguna Beach up on the open air room above the cafe. There were children everywhere and lots of smiles and laughter. What great memories!

We have a new year in front of us and I hope that we will all have the things we hope for and accomplish the things we have set out to do. I gave a talk in church a couple of weeks ago and spoke about the resolutions we should make if we truly want to be happier in the new year and for the rest of our lives. It was built around four distinct areas. I suggested that we all resolve to do the following: Resolve to expand our intellectual horizons and to increase in wisdom by reading out of the best books. Be resolute in preserving and strengthening our physical health. Resolve to be truer friends and become socially acceptable to people of high standards. And finally, to grow spiritually and increase in favor with God. I hope that my children and my older grandchildren will review this and determine ways that they can apply this in their lives.

I have also resolved to be a better blogger. My camera is now working properly and I will make better use of it. I will also spend less time watching t.v. and wasting time. It is going by way too fast.