la casa del cazador

Spare no expense

2010-12-01T14:20:00.000-08:00

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

2010-08-22T08:48:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-08-05T15:37:00.001-07:00

Utah Trip

2010-08-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-19T20:38:00.000-07:00

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!!

2010-04-01T10:17:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-28T11:16:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-27T07:31:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-03-07T08:34:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-02T08:03:00.000-08:00

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.

2010-01-18T14:55:00.000-08:00

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.

An Incredible Story!

2009-08-04T15:14:00.001-07:00

This is truly an incredible story!

In 1986, Peter Davies was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Northwestern University. On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed, so Peter approached it very carefully. He got down on one knee, inspected the elephants foot, and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it. As carefully and as gently as he could, Peter worked the wood out with his knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down it's foot.

The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments. Peter stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but the possibility of being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away. Peter never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.

Twenty years later, Peter was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his teenaged son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over near to where Peter and his son Cameron were standing. The large bull elephant stared at Peter, lifted its front foot off the ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man.

Remembering the encounter in 1986, Peter could not help wondering if this was the same elephant. Peter summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing, and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder. The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Peters legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.

Probably wasn't the same elephant.

Road Trip

2009-05-19T10:27:00.000-07:00

I've decided that if I can't be a cowboy and own a horse, maybe I should buy a Harley and live my mid-life crisis that way. There are always going to be a few detractors that will say it's too late for a mid-life crisis and that there is no way I will live to be a hundred and twenty eight. Others, (Nancy in particular) will say that there is absolutely no way I am going to get a murder cycle. And others, like my buddy Gary Hadley, who has more toys than F.A.O. Schwartz, will help me pick out the model and color and then order one for himself.

What inspired this latest of my many delusions was our ward 50's party. As part of the decorations they brought in a pretty nice bike for people to have their pictures taken on. It wasn't a Harley, but it served the purpose. When I put on that leather jacket and the "do rag" I heard a voice in my head saying "you can live this dream". I also heard Nancy whispering in my ear to "not get any crazy ideas". We'll see which voice wins out.

I mentioned that the party was a 50's theme. You can't tell that by my outfit. I wore my wranglers and cowboy boots and topped it off with a hawaiian shirt. When people questioned my choice of clothing, I just told them that I was quite certain that this was what a hawaiian cowboy looked like in the 50's. They couldn't argue with that logic and I was far more comfortable than a lot of people in their tight blue jeans and phony side burns.

Anyone for a road trip?

Birthday Girl!

2009-04-28T07:40:00.000-07:00

Today is Nancy's birthday and for the last couple of weeks I have been planning a surprise birthday party for her. Because this birthday is a milestone sort of day, she was not particulary keen about even acknowledging the day, let alone having a surprise party, so it came as quite a shock for her. I won't mention exactly how old she is, but it is the square root of 3600. I contacted a bunch of our old friends and arranged a dinner at the El Adobe de San Juan Capistrano. Nancy thought we were meeting J.R. and Casey, and Adam and Jennifer there for a quiet dinner, but when she arrived she was greeted with a chorus of "Happy Birthday" by most of our dearest friends. We had a wonderful dinner and she was roasted/honored by comments from each of them during the meal. She was very pleased and enjoyed it immensely. At the end of the meal our servers had her don a sombrero for another chorus of "Happy Birthday". It created the perfect photo op. She's pretty cute for someone who is 8.5714 in dogs years.

Easter, San Clemente

2009-04-15T07:40:00.000-07:00

On Easter Sunday we were lucky enough to have some of our children and grandkids join us for dinner and an Easter Egg hunt afterwards. Nancy prepared the traditional ham, but with a new sauce as well as a new version of honey yeast rolls, both of which were a hit with everyone. We had Adam, Bailey, Jennifer, J.R., Casey, Mackenzie, Kayla, Ethan and Casey's sister Amy and her two children Brendan and Erin join us for dinner. Nancy puchased about 75 plastic Easter eggs that had to be stuffed with various forms of chocolate, miniature candy bars and jelly beans, so I become the official egg stuffer for the afternoon. Adam, J.R. and I then hid the eggs and candy bars in the back yard for the kids to discover.

Earlier in the day, we attended our Easter services at church. We enjoyed some great talks and lessons at church. I even succumbed to my version of "Catholic Guilt" and sang in the choir. I did it for the Christmas program as well. The choir director invited me to sing with them on a regular basis, but I told her she had come to the well one too many times.

March Update

2009-03-24T07:21:00.000-07:00

Seeing Sunny's recent post motivated me to update my blog. If she has time to do it, then I should be able to take a few minutes to update mine. The last 30 days or so has been quite busy. We had a visit from Sunny & Steve and the three little ones, We took a trip to Utah where we attended the Draper Temple open house with Rosemary. We also had a wonderful time in Park City where we stayed in one of the luxury condos that Harmon's company built. We played in the spa and the heated swimming pool with the Toblers and I even went skiing for the first time in about 25 years.

My brother, John, joined us for the day. I managed to get down the hill several times without any broken bones, and finally figured out how to get up after falling. I was impressed with Lacey's ability to ski and enjoyed watching her fearlessly charge down the mountain. While we were on the mountain, Nana stayed home with the little ones and played in the spa.

On the way to Utah, we stopped to visit with Mao and Cathy and see Hunter and their new daughter, Isabella. She is a beauty and Hunter really loves his baby sister.

We also had a visit from Harmon and Dan who came to California to participate in the sealing of his sisters two adopted children. (I'm not sure what that flag is all about, but they carried it with them wherever they went). We went to their meeting on Sunday to witness the blessing in their ward. We have had additional visits from Jade, who was here for a little break, and from Alex Patterson and his friend and Hillary Jones and a couple of her friends who were here for spring break.

When we got back in town, we got to celebrate Kayla's fourth birthday. She is such a cute, spunky birthday girl!

In the mean time, Nancy and I continue to keep fairly busy with all that we have to do. In addition to my work, I serve in the temple on Tuesday evenings, teach the High Priest group on Sundays, teach a temple prep course on Sundays, serve as the 11 year old scoutmaster on Wednesdays and teach a class every Wednesday night to the single marines down at Camp Pendelton. Nancy's responsibility as Relief Society President keeps her busy constantly, and occasionally provides me another opportunity to assist.

My Three Sons

2009-01-15T21:41:00.000-08:00

During the Christmas Holiday, we had Sam and his family in town and he put together a flag football game with his family and friends in the Long Beach area and invited J.R. and Adam to play. I rarely get a chance to see the three of them together and we had a great time. My little boys have grown into outstanding young men and fathers.

NFR

2009-01-15T21:27:00.000-08:00

Early in December we made our annual trip to Las Vegas for the National Finals Rodeo with our good friends, Gary and Sue Hadley. We always have a great time attending the rodeo and then shopping at the Cowboy Christmas at the convention center. We also joined up with my brother Roy and his wife Candice and Mao, Cathy and Hunter for lunch at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. Mao proved to be a great negotiator during our shopping. He saved Gary about $200.00 on a leather coat for Sue.

These ain't "Pond Poodles"

2009-01-15T15:01:00.000-08:00

I just read where the PETA people are trying to rename fish. Instead of calling them fish, they are now referring to them as "sea kittens". The idea being that if people start thinking as them as warm and fuzzy kittens, they will be less likely to want to "drive a hook through their heads". You can't make this stuff up! The next thing will be calling cows "pasture puppies" and ducks and geese will be "pond poodles".

My buddy John Anderson and I went to Mexico last week and spent a couple of days relaxing and hunting geese, ducks and doves. We would hunt ducks and geese in the morning, take a break for lunch and a quick nap, then go out for an afternoon dove shoot. It would have been a vegan's nightmare. Our meals consisted of steaks, ducks, doves and shrimp, with an occasional vegetable added for a little color.

The attached photos show me with some ducks and geese taken the first morning and my dog, Abby, all decked out in her new Cabela's camouflage neoprene vest, alongside a few ducks I took the second morning. Abby is the one with the mustache.

Adam in Mexico

2008-11-13T19:53:00.000-08:00

We were finally able to put a trip together where Adam could accompany me to Mexico. We went down early Friday morning and hunted Friday afternoon, Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon. Mid day Saturday we watched the BYU/San Diego football game. In my book, that's a pretty good day. We got a few pheasants, quail and a bunch of doves. Although Adam is not a "died in the wool" hunter, I think he can be talked into going again. The photo shows Adam with a some quail and a pheasant he killed on Saturday, and Kenny, the son of our guide, Rigo.

South Dakota, 2008

2008-11-06T07:57:00.001-08:00

This wouldn't be my blog unless I have a few pictures of my latest hunting trip. My best friend, Gary Hadley, and I drove to South Dakota for our annual pheasant hunt. We drive for two days, hunt for three days, and then drive another two days to get back. Too much driving, too little hunting. If you are a hunter, and appreciate wildlife, it is a very interesting drive. We saw literally thousands of antelope, hundreds of deer, flocks of turkeys, and even a bald eagle.

My pictures include images of the first morning hunt, and some of my little house in South Dakota.

Gordon, we'll miss you

2008-10-24T21:57:00.000-07:00

I lost a brother today, and my world has been diminished. Ever since he joined our family, Gordon Smart has had my love and admiration. He was one of the finest men who has walked this earth. He was a devoted son, a loyal brother, a compassionate father, a devoted husband, a favorite uncle, a good friend and a valiant leader. He was generous and without guile. He was my fishing buddy and my friend. My life has been enriched because of my association with him.

I will miss his corny jokes and his funny stories. I will miss the opportunities to sit and talk with him about his latest fishing trip or the accomplishments of his children. I will miss his phone call on my birthday and the birthday songs he would sing to me. I will miss his wisdom, his sincerity and his humility. I will miss his laugh.

As I struggle with our loss, I can't fathom how his family will deal with their lives without Gordon. I can't find satisfactory answers to my questions of "why now, and why Gordon?", but I have to trust in God's wisdom and hope that my questions will be reconciled. The only comfort I presently have is that Gordon lived his life in such an exemplary way that he will be weighed in the balance and not be found wanting.

I heard a song by Jeff Bates that seems appropriate for how I feel. I've modified a couple of the lines, so my apologies to the songwriter.

If there ever was a morning when the fish might bite, it would be right now.
Any other time we'd have had our lines cast out.
Sippin' on a soda, castin' for those trout,
Why couldn't today be like that?

I wish this was a riverbank instead of a graveyard,
Wish we were sittin' and fishin' and this wouldn't be so hard.
It was my favorite thing that we used to do, but now we can't.
I wish you were here, I wish this was a riverbank.

I remember the day that we were casting out of float tubes.
I got a big bite that almost yanked the pole out of my hand.
Well you jumped up and grabbed a net and we both almost fell in.
Yeah we got wet, but we got him.

I know you wouldn't want me sittin' around being sad.
We both know better than that.
So I'm leaving now and gonna head on out and try to catch a few
and while I'm there I'll cast a few lines for you.

I wish this was a riverbank instead of a graveyard,
wish we were sittin' and fishin' and this wouldn't be so damn hard.
It was my favorite thing that we used to do, but now we can't.
I wish you were here,
I wish you were here,
I wish this was a riverbank.

God bless Gordon Smart, and God bless his family.

Arts and Crafts

2008-08-30T20:27:00.000-07:00

I decided I wanted a better knife sheath for my bone-handled hunting knife, and I wanted something to look like it might have belonged to an Indian. I made an inner sheath, then covered it with an outside layer of thinner leather, then added the bone beads, horse hair and silver cones, etc. When I showed it to Adam, he said it looked like it belonged to a gay Indian. He's just jealous.

Things to Come

2008-08-30T20:22:00.001-07:00

This picture was taken during Steve and Sunny's recent visit to California. She is holding J.R. and Casey's new son, Ethan, and Sam and Charlie were none too happy about sharing their mom. In a couple of weeks, this will be their reality as Steve and Sunny's new baby daughter, Gracie, will be born the first week in September. Good luck Sunny. You're going to need it!!

Sage's Big Day

2008-08-30T20:17:00.001-07:00

We recently travelled to Utah to be with Sage for his baptism. He was baptized by his Grandpa Orvis and confirmed by Papa Dickson. It was a great day for all of us and we were so proud of Sage. We learned that his favorite bible character was Noah, and he was counseled by his grandmothers to try to be like Noah and to always be obedient to God's commands.

Read Your Thank You Cards

2008-08-30T19:29:00.000-07:00

Nancy got a thank you card yesterday. It was from a lady in the ward that Nancy had taken the time to take to lunch as a thank you for her service as a pianist in the Relief Society organization. It was a simple act, but it required some time out of her busy life. The lady thanked Nancy for the personal time that she gave to her and concluded by saying that she felt the Savior's love for her through this act of kindness.

The reason I mention this, is that Nancy gets a thank you card about once a week from someone she has befriended or assisted. They all acknowledge that the small acts of service meant a great deal to them and let them know they weren't struggling with their problems alone.

Several years ago, a good friend of ours said that if you want to know how you are really doing in this life, read your thank you cards. What she didn't need to say, was that if you don't have any thank you cards to read, maybe you are not doing so good.

In my various callings in the church, I have had the opportunity to help others struggling with their challenges, which resulted in the occasional thank you card. Lately, I haven't been receiving many thank you cards, which has caused me to evaluate how I am doing as "my brother's keeper".

You might ask yourself, "When's the last time I got a thank you card"? If it has been awhile, perhaps you need to look around you and find a way to do a little good in the world today. It will bless your life and the lives of others around you.

Our Outer Banks Trip

2008-07-01T07:41:00.000-07:00

As you visit the blogs of our children, they have been including photos and comments about our recent vacation to the outer banks of North Carolina. I won't bore anyone with more comments about the trip except to say that it was one of the finest vacations that I have had. It was great to be with everyone and to simply relax and enjoy each others company. It is so fun to see all of our grandchildren together at one time and to be able to spend some quality time with them. Knowing that Nana (Nancy) has posted a bunch of pictures, I am only going to post a few of my favorites. I believe that between Nancy and I we took about 400 photos. Mom took about 36o of them. I am already setting aside funds for the next trip.

OBX Images

2008-07-01T07:36:00.001-07:00

Ruminations

2008-05-27T10:17:00.000-07:00

It's graduation season again and we have been getting a few announcements from children of friends and relatives. I wish them well. As I am about to celebrate another birthday in a few days, I am also very much aware of how fast time passes by. With that in mind, I would like to share some words from Baz Lurhman, who created this song a few years ago. The wisdom of what he says, rings truer to me now than it would have forty five years ago.

"Wear Sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proven by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience... I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh never mind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now, how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked... You're not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing everyday that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind... the race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, please tell me how.

Keep your old love letters; throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium.

Be kind to your knees, you'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe, you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else's. Enjoy your body, use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it, or what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance...even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents; you never know when they'll be gone for good.

Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you hold on to. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geopgraphy and in lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you'll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair, or by the time it's 40 it will look 85.

Be carefull whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen..."

Mother's Day, 2008

2008-05-18T20:32:00.000-07:00

On Mother's Day, last Sunday, Adam and I were preparing our evening meal while we were waiting for J.R., Casey and the girls to arrive. The door opened and in walked Sam, Lindsay, Reed and Max from North Carolina. We were blown away! It turns out that they have been planning the surprise visit for some time, knowing that they were coming to California to meet Lindsay's family to go on a family vacation to Maui. We had a wonderful, but short visit, before they had to leave for the evening. It was the first opportunity to have the "Dickson Boys" all in the same photo, so I am including a few flicks taken that evening.

I can't wait for the OBX trip. It will be so nice, and so noisy, to have all of us together. I have visions of the photographer we hired, pulling her hair out trying to get all of our clan to look at the camera at the same time. Can't wait to see all of you.

My Bucket List

2008-05-18T20:21:00.000-07:00

I think that Nancy has determined that my "bucket list" includes seeing every Bass Pro Shop and Cabelas outlet in the Continental United States. Now that I mention it, she is probably right. We took a trip to Phoenix this weekend and in between seeing a Diamondbacks game, golfing, a lunch with Marti and Doug and their family, and a dinner with Reed, Marge, and Doug, Marti and Barbara, I managed to convince Nancy to accompany me to the new Bass Pro Shop in Mesa. We did some shopping for my upcoming Birthday and wandered the store adding to my wish list. There is also a new Cabelas in Phoenix, but alas, that will have to wait until next trip. Knowing that it is there, we will likely visit Phoenix again sooner than later.

More puppy flicks

2008-03-16T16:42:00.000-07:00

The pups are getting old enough to start taking solid foods now, so all the work begins. In another 10 days they will be weaned from the mom and I will be doing all the work. I put them out on the front lawn for the first time and they weren't sure they liked it at all.

Puppy Love

2008-03-09T08:03:00.000-07:00

Mao and Cathy visited recently and Hunter immediately fell in love with the new puppies. He always wants to see the dogs when he comes, but now that there are new puppies, you can't keep him away from them. They are just starting to get up and around and playing with each other. I have found a couple of them outside the whelping box in the morning, so the work will start pretty soon. I will begin to feed them in about a week and that's when the mom starts to let me take over. I am not looking forward to all the mess. I know that you are all feeling sorry for me.

Puppies Have Arrived

2008-02-14T10:31:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, Feb. 12th, I came home just before having to leave for the temple, to check on Billie to see if she had any pups. There were no pups, but she hadn't eaten hear morning meal, so I knew they were imminent. I worked at the temple until about 7:30 then I drove to the Long Beach airport to pick up Nancy from her Boston trip. We drove through a Wendy's for a quick meal then headed home. When we got there at 9:30 I checked on Billie. When I opened the door to the whelping box, there were puppies everywhere. She gave birth to 11 puppies!! There were 8 orange and white males, 2 black and white males, and a black and white female. The female is the one closest to the camera. Unfortunately, one of the orange and white males was either born dead or died shortly after birth. The remaining ten seem to be doing well, although a couple of the orange & white males are a little smaller. Billie seems to be a good mother, but she is a little goofy at feeding time. I have doubled her feed, but she still seems to be ravenous. For the next four weeks she gets to do all the work, then when I start feeding the puppies I get to do most of the work. Needless to say, Nancy is thrilled. I don't understand her. It seems that most women would love to have 13 dogs running around the house. I tried to give her pick of the litter for her Valentine's present, but she (not very politely) declined. Like the song says, "She didn't say no. She said HELL NO".

My Latest Project

2008-01-26T20:49:00.000-08:00

A couple of months ago we were with the Smart family and Brooke had a knitting loom with her. I mentioned to her that I had been trying to find one of those looms in our area, but hadn't had any luck finding one. A few weeks later, when we were with Gordon and Rosemary for the National Finals Rodeo, Rosemary presented me with a gift from Brooke of the knitting loom I was looking for.

Today, I found some camouflage yarn and started to make my first knit stocking cap. It was so fun that I worked for about two and a half hours until I finished it. It is not high tech, but it is therapeutic. Guess what everybody is going to get for Christmas!

Uno Mas

2008-01-13T14:21:00.000-08:00

I was able to sneak down to Mexico one more time this weekend. Gary Hadley and I went down Thursday night and we hunted all day Friday, then came home early Saturday morning. It would have been nice to stay for Saturday because they had a duck hunt planned, but I needed to speak at the Saturday afternoon session of our Stake Conference. My assigned topic was about providing service to our fellow man. We got to apply the principle on Thursday night near the end of our trip. As we were travelling on the darkest, roughest section of dirt road we came upon a man and a woman waving us down. We stopped and discovered that they had been drinking and had driven their car off of the road and almost into a deep canal. We drove them back to their car, assessed the situation, then drove to John Anderson's house and got a tow strap. We were able to pull them out with my truck after a couple of attempts, and got them back on the road. Hopefully, they didn't kill anybody on the rest of their journey.

We got a bunch of doves Friday morning and then hunted pheasants in the afternoon. We saw lots of pheasants, and Abby had a lot of good points, but most of the birds were hens. We managed to shoot three roosters, but John couldn't find the one he knocked down. That night we had a meal of pheasant, dove and sirloin steak. I cooked some sweet potatoes so that we had some vegetables. Real man food.

Give your babies an extra hug

2008-01-07T19:22:00.000-08:00

Kirk & Jenny Hess buried their son Russell today. Kirk is the oldest son of Kyle and Karen Hess. He is one year older than Adam and is a new Bishop in the Santa Margarita Stake. When Kirk was nine years old, his father died in a scuba diving accident at Catalina Island. I was hired by Williams Insulation Company to replace Kyle and that is what brought us to our Lake Forest home. Kyle was also my brother John's brother in law as they both married sisters. Kirk's mother was pregnant with her fifth child when Kyle died, and raised her five children by herself, never remarrying.

Kirk married a great young woman and they had five children, a daughter and four sons. Russell was his third son and would have been 5 years old this month. The entire Hess family had gathered in Utah for one of those rare occasions when they were all together. They stayed at a family cabin and had a wonderful Christmas. They then went to Provo and stayed with a relative for New Years and went sleigh riding on New Years Day. Kirk and Russell came down the hill on a sled and at the end of the run Kirk had to steer the sled off the run to avoid hitting another child. The sled hit a tree and even though Kirk tried to protect Russell, he slipped out of Kirks hands and his head hit the tree, causing severe brain damage. Priesthood blessings were performed and he was rushed to the hospital, but did not regain conciousness. They buried him in his Power Rangers costume.

There is a song I listen to on the radio. It is about a man who lived to be a hundred and he was asked what advice he would give people about how to live their lives. His answer: "Don't Blink". By this he meant that life passes by so quickly that we shouldn't even blink because we will miss something important. After hearing about today's events with the Hess family, I think it is also a warning to not blink when it comes to protecting our children. They are so very precious and we have to do all that we can to keep them out of harm's way. Nancy and I pray for each of our children and our grandchildren on a daily basis. We pray that they will be safe and have joy in their lives and that they will make proper decisions. I remember a statement that I heard years ago. The message was that sending our children off to school or play without a daily prayer is like sending them out into a blizzard without a coat.

I pray that no one in our family has to experience what the Hess family did today. Give your children two extra hugs today. One for you and one for Nancy and I.

New Year's First Sunset

2008-01-01T17:42:00.000-08:00

As the day was winding down on the first day of 2008, we looked out our back windows and saw this beautiful sunset. After the cold weather of Utah, we were happy to be back home and the warmer climate. As you are toughing out the winter in Utah, Boston and North Carolina, we hope that this doesn't make you too jealous. I'm convinced that every time they show the Rose Bowl Parade on January 1st, there are people in Montana, Minnesota, Michigan, etc., that start packing their bags to move here. I'm also certain that after experiencing the traffic on Southern California highways, they move back after a month or so. Last year 90,000 more people left California, than moved here. If the Governator keeps raising taxes, it will be worse next year.

Have a happy and prosperous New Year!

Rock Stars

2007-12-30T10:38:00.000-08:00

We spent Saturday evening at Harmon & Lindsey's home after eating dinner at Market Street Grill in Draper. Steve brought his guitar from their Wii game and Harmon had theirs so they fired up the system and we spent the night rockin' out. Steve and Harm really get into it and it's entertaining to watch them play the game. The adults love it as much as the children do and have become pretty accomplished. Lindsey and I had two different competitions, and much to her dismay, I beat her both times. Like the song says, "I may not be as good as I once was, but I am as good once as I ever was".

Everybody decided that we would make sure to bring the games and guitars to the Outer Banks house so that we can all enjoy these games. Mom and I think we will have to buy one if we hope not to be embarrassed by our lack of ability.

We will be driving home tomorrow morning and be back in San Clemente by New Years Eve. Have a happy and successful new years everyone.

2007-12-28T04:36:00.000-08:00

Nancy has never been where she has had a "White Christmas". Even during the years that she went to the "Y" in Provo, Christmas was always spent in Phoenix. This year we decided to go to Utah to spend Christmas with Adam, Sunny and Lindsey and their families. We arrived early in the afternoon on Christmas Eve, and, as if on cue, the snow began to fall. It snowed all during the night and we awoke to about six inches of fresh snow. It was absolutely beautiful! We even saw deer tracks in the snow. We looked for tracks of Santa's sleigh, but we didn't find them. Even so, he obviously visited and all of the families had a wonderful Christmas day. Quigley, Steve and Sunny's Bernese Mountain Dog, loves the snow and spends most of his day playing and rolling in it.

2007-12-28T04:26:00.000-08:00

Christmas day at the Wright family home. Sunny and Steve provided a wonderful celebration of Christmas and we enjoyed crab legs on Christmas eve and a turkey dinner on Christmas day.

2007-12-28T04:22:00.000-08:00

The Dickson girls got to open presents three times. Once at our house, once at Nana & Papa Cards, and once Christmas morning.

2007-12-28T04:18:00.000-08:00

I took this family photo when we celebrated Christmas with J.R., Casey and the girls.

National Finals Rodeo

2007-12-15T07:59:00.000-08:00

I have been advised that I need to put in something other than hunting pictures. If I had a housefull of adorable kids, I would be putting in pictures of them, but no such luck.

Mom and I traveled to Las Vegas for our annual NFR trip. The Hadleys couldn't join us this year, so we invited Rosemary and Gordon. Mao & Cathy joined us on Friday night. We had a great time! It was the first time that Rosemary ever saw team ropers that could actually rope both hind legs of a steer. She got to see it several times at this great rodeo.

We stayed at the Excalibur Hotel. It was okay, but not great. We also spent Friday morning at the Cowboy Christmas show at the convention center. Mom got a couple of new shirts and some levis. I got a couple of shirts, a knife and a hat from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. (I'm sure the last item will make everybody jealous)

We will open some Christmas presents with Mao and Cathy today because they will be in Colombia for Christmas. We'll then drive home; hopefully before the traffic gets too bad.

Mexico again.

2007-12-13T10:10:00.000-08:00

Gary Hadley and I went to Mexico a little over a week ago. We were going to hunt Friday and Saturday, but it started raining on Friday and turned all of the roads to slime. In fact, Friday afternoon we were hunting pheasants and having a great time, even though it had started to rain pretty hard. The pheasants were holding tight in the alfalfa fields and we got some really nice points over the dogs. Bud had some exceptional points later in the day, producing nice roosters for easy shots and retrieves. It was great watching the dogs. After a while I decided we needed to call it a day because I feared the roads would become to muddy. Unfortunately, I was right, but about an hour late. As we started to leave the hunting area, our tires became caked with thick, sticky mud and we had absolutely no traction. Within less than a quarter of a mile, we slipped off of the road, down an embankment, and almost into a ditch. There was no getting out! Our guide had to walk about a mile in the dark and the rain to find a friend of his who brought a large tractor and a chain and pulled us out of the ditch. He ultimately towed us the mile out of the area to get us back on paved roads. Our tires and undercarriage were so caked with mud that we couldn't drive over 50 miles per hour without violent shaking. The next morning we had to stop at a car wash and jet spray about thirty pounds of mud off of the tires. When I got home I got out the power washer and removed about an equal amount of mud from underneath my truck.

The picture was taken Friday morning after our morning hunt. We ended up with about 11 pheasants for the day.

Latest Mexico Trip

2007-11-17T19:22:00.000-08:00

I went to Mexico Friday and decided to just take the new pup. It allowed me to work with her individually and see how she did. She didn't disappoint me. She found several pheasants and retrieved some doves and quail. She even made a retrieve out of a canal. I wasn't even sure if she would go into water, but she didn't mind it at all. At the end of the day, John Anderson knocked down a big rooster, but it was still alive and fell into thick alfalfa hay. Billie spent about five minutes hunting for it, and eventually went on point. As I stepped toward it it took off again and she chased it down, caught it and retrieved it to me. I think I'll keep her.

Veterans Day

2007-11-06T10:06:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I spent my Saturday catching up on some neglected chores around the house. It was the first weekend we have had for quite some time where we haven't been out of town or been involved with a lot of family activities. I found myself at the hardware store purchasing a new hose and a high pressure nozzle for the back yard. As I left the store I noticed a veteran sitting at a little table selling the artificial poppies in memory of our military veterans. He didn't notice me coming out of the store, so when I dropped a five dollar bill on his table he was a little surprised, but he quickly made sure that I had a poppy to take with me.

As I climbed into my truck, I took a look at the poppy with it's little "in memorium" banner and said out loud, "That's for you Buck", speaking of my dad. I suddenly found myself tearing up, and for the first time since Dad's funeral, I cried. I sat in my truck for the next five minutes thinking of the good things that my dad had done in his life, and allowing myself to feel gratitude for them. It was a good experience and I think a little healing took place.

Charity is defined as "the pure love of Christ" and if we feel charity towards others, the pure love of Christ enables us to look beyond their shortcomings or circumstances and to see them in the light of their relationship to you and to our Father in Heaven. By dwelling on my dad's alcoholism and it's effect on our relationship I have put myself in a position of judging him and thinking negatively of him. I hope that I can get beyond that and start to think of him in more positive ways. I am reminded of the very last verse in the 9th chapter of Luke where it tells us that "no man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God". From that, I know that if I consider myself to be one of God's servants, it is up to me to forgive the things of the past in order for me to progress to what I should be. We all need to remember this in our relationships with each other.

At the county office buildings in Morgan, Utah, there is a little square outside where they have erected monuments to the men from the area that served in the various wars since World War I. If you ever find yourself there, take a minute to stop and read these names. Burke Dickson's name is displayed there. He willingly served his country and fellow men by enlisting in the Army Air Corps. He placed his life in jeapardy as a pilot of a B-24 bomber and was decorated twice for his efforts. He returned home, married, and raised four sons, providing for their care and education. He was faithful to his wife and was ultimately sealed to her in the Ogden Utah temple. For all of this, I am grateful.

The next time you find yourself at a rodeo, or a Nascar event, or a ball game, and they play the National Anthem, I hope that each of you will remove your hat, cover your heart with your hand and think about the words that are being sung. We live in a wonderful land, and we enjoy freedoms that others can only dream about, and we owe much of this to the men and women who have fought and died for us. Please, don't ever forget that.

Heinz's Farm Hunt, Second Day

2007-11-03T22:43:00.000-07:00

There are 64 roosters in this picture. Our hunt was over in about 45 minutes.

South Dakota Trip

2007-11-03T22:35:00.001-07:00

This is a picture of the birds we got the first hour of opening day. As I counted the number of birds in this picture it represents about the same number I personally shot during my three day hunt. I was lucky to be where the birds were flying and I did quite well compared to most of the other hunters. We had a great time and enjoyed good weather for all of the hunt. It was a long drive. We spent four days driving and three days hunting, but it was worth it.

Evel Kowalski

2007-10-13T23:25:00.000-07:00

We had quite a scare on our last ride on Saturday morning. Nancy was riding up a narrow trail and took her eyes of the trail for a second and drifted to the left and hit a boulder about the size of a bushel basket. It tipped her almost over and the quad righted itself, but she still had her thumb on the accelerator, causing her to veer to the left up the side of the trail. That caused the quad to tip over and launched her off on the down side of the trail. The quad rolled over on it's back and then tried to roll over onto her, but the little trees prevented it from going any further. She ended up with a bruised knee, ankle, and wrist and thumb. No cuts or torn clothing. I ended up with a myocardial infarction watching all of this happen right in front of me. She was very lucky not to have been seriously hurt. Gary, Bryan and I tipped it upright, and other than a couple of scratches, the quad was in great shape. The whole thing could have been a whole lot worse. Needless to say, Nancy drove a lot more tentatively the rest of the trip.

Fall Colors in Utah

2007-10-13T23:22:00.001-07:00

After our trip to New Hampshire to see the fall colors, I wasn't sure if I would see anything as pretty, but the scenery on our quad trip to Utah was spectacular. This picture was taken at Copley Campground on the Fillmore Loop of the Paiute Trail. It was just starting to rain. We had a wet ride back to the trailers.

More from the Paiute Trail

2007-10-13T23:17:00.000-07:00

The Paiute Trail

2007-10-12T19:25:00.000-07:00

Nancy and I loaded our trailer Wednesday evening and traveled with Gary, Sue and Bryan Hadley to Fillmore, Utah. We checked in at the KOA and spent the night, then today rode about 47 miles up over the Fillmore Loop on our quads. It was a beautiful trip with lots of stream crossings, great fall colors and some glimpses of the local wildlife, including several deer, an eagle, a bobcat and some hawks. We had a lunch on the trail and enjoyed great company and a wonderful experience. We will take another ride tomorrow morning and then load up and head home so that Nancy and I can take care of our church responsibilities.

Adventures on the East Coast

2007-10-08T20:15:00.000-07:00

We have had the most wonderful trip to Boston this weekend. Mom and I left Wednesday evening and took the red eye flight to Boston and arrived about 5:00 am. Todd picked us up and we went to their home and caught about three hours of sleep before we started our day. The boys are so cute and it is so nice to spend some time with Ashley and Todd. Ashley had a bunch of stuff planned for us including a trip to New Hampshire and Maine for some "leaf peeping". The leaves had started to turn but they will be better in a couple of weeks. It was so beautiful. On Friday we visited New Hampshire, spending the night there, and then went to Maine on Saturday. There we went to Freeport, Maine, which is the home of L. L. Bean. We did some shopping, had a great lunch, then headed back to Boston before the boys were so tired that we would have to feed them to the bears. We went to a great park in Boston by the pier on Sunday afternoon after watching conference, then returned home for dinner. Today it rained so we went to a mall up near Wellesley and then went apple picking at this wonderful farm. The boys played at the petting zoo and had a great time, although Ben got his fingers nipped by an Emu that he was trying to feed. He probably won't be doing that again soon. We ended the day with our third evening of hearts. We finally ended up seeing Todd as the loser after being the champion for the first two nights. He wasn't getting worse, we just got a little better. We won't be seeing this family until February or March, so we are really going to miss being around them, but we are so glad we came.

Memorable Weekend

2007-09-24T08:41:00.000-07:00

Nancy & I had a nice weekend. Friday evening we went to Dove Canyon Country Club to celebrate Blaine & Joy Lindahl's 60th wedding anniversary. Many of our old friends, including the Gladwell's, Hoggan's, Fausetts, Parks, Steinert's and Schoney's were there. It was a great reunion. Blaine and Joy have been such great friends to us from the time we moved to Lake Forest. He was a wonderful Bishop, and really helped us develop in the church. They have been a great example on how to have a successful family and marriage. Their service in the ward and the stake and the temple has benefited the lives of so many people. I hope that each of my children will have the same type of success and longevity in their marriages.

Saturday was a rainy day, but in between showers, I was able to clean my trailer in preparation for a weekend in Richfield, Utah in a couple of weeks. We are going to go with the Hadley's and spend the second weekend in October riding the Paiute Trail on our four wheelers. I bought another four wheeler from Gary this month so that Nancy and I will each have our own to ride. It will be a busy month for me. I will be in Mexico this weekend, Boston next weekend and Utah the following weekend. The weekend after that I will be in South Dakota for the Pheasant Hunt. Poor old me!

We had dinner yesterday with J.R, Casey and the girls. The missionaries also joined us for dinner. While I was grilling a tri-tip roast, the girls took the opportunity to dangle their toes in the pool. I've attached a couple of photos.

Sunday Swimming

2007-09-24T08:39:00.000-07:00

Cooling her dogs

2007-09-24T08:34:00.000-07:00

Kids say the funniest things

2007-09-18T07:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had the pleasure of a short visit by Casey and 2 1/2 year old Kayla at our office. I, of course had to immediately treat Kayla to an unending supply of M&M's and was rewarded with hugs, kisses, and a very polite thank you. As she sat in my office chair eating candy off of my desk top, she started to observe the stuffed owl, quail, pheasant, etc., in my office. As her eyes were attracted to the massive European Wild Boar's head, she said "funny piggy, broken piggy". We couldn't figure out why she was calling it a broken piggy until we concluded that she was seeing only the front half of a pig, therefore it was broken. What interesting insight.

Nancy and I love those little visits and we miss having Lindsey and her kids dropping by for a short visit. It was always a highlight of the day. We love the family blogs and the treat of seeing current pictures of our beautiful grandchildren. Lindsey and Sunny need to drop by Jennifers house and show her how to set one up so that we will have everybody represented.

By the way, congratulations to Adam regarding his new job within the Garff auto group. He was recently recommended by his corporation for a position as finance manager of the Mitsubishi, Hyundai dealership in Salt Lake. He met with the GM there and was immediately offered the position, which he accepted. He will likely have to stay at his present situation for two weeks while they find a replacement for him, but he will be moving there soon. This new dealership sells about eight times as many cars per month as his current dealership, so he will have a much more lucrative situation.

Mexicali Trip, Sept. 14,15

2007-09-16T13:04:00.000-07:00

I was able to go to Mexico this weekend, but I had to go alone. John Anderson had a family deal he couldn't get out of, but I have a key to the house in Carranza. I drove down Thursday evening. I went out with our guide, Riggoberto Guererro and hunted Friday morning and afternoon, and then again on Saturday morning. I had a wonderful time and enjoyed the solitude for a brief time. It was a little cooler this weekend and the temperatures on got to about 98 at the hottest part of the day. I hope to have it cool down a little more so that I can take the dogs down without the risk of them having heat stroke.

39 Years and Still Counting

2007-09-06T09:57:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken 39 years ago at our wedding reception. Nancy's dad asked a friend in their ward to take our wedding pictures. He brought one roll of film and took 36 pictures so we were lucky to have any that turned out. Nancy made her beautiful wedding dress. How may girls can say that today?

You'll notice that my hairstyle is exactly the same today, although I have a little less to comb and there are a few gray hairs in the mix. I also weigh exactly the same today as I weighed then. Who would have thought that I would be able to say that? The weight may be the same but the body proportions are a lot different.

Nancy is more beautiful today than she was then. She is the love of my life and I am so grateful that she has stood by me all these years. I'm sure that we won't have 39 more years together in this earthly life, but we are hoping for another 25. What we are really striving for is an eternity together.

You want a piece of me?

2007-09-05T19:43:00.000-07:00

Nancy captured this altercation taking place on the trampoline. Even though the little boy was larger and older than Riley, the look on her face made him think twice about duking it out. Instead they just spit at each other.

Pool Party

2007-09-05T19:40:00.000-07:00

Sunny and Steve had about seven different families as well as our families come to their house for a Labor Day pool party. It was a lot of fun and they have such great friends.

Riley, Sam & Jessie

2007-09-05T19:37:00.000-07:00

Sunny has a lot of help from the other children. The twins rarely cry for more than a second or two when somebody volunteers to pick them up.

Can you tell which team lost?

2007-09-05T19:34:00.000-07:00

Tristan's team played the best team in the league for their season opener, and they showed us why they are considered the best. They'll do better next week.

The Newest Additions

2007-09-05T19:29:00.000-07:00

We went to Tristan's first football game this Labor Day weekend. Sam, Kate and Charlie shaded up under a beach umbrella. Could anything be cuter?

Quality Time

2007-08-30T13:18:00.000-07:00

I love the theme of this painting. As summer ends and the kids start back to school and our lives return to a more "normal" pattern, I hope you take a breath and reflect on what you are doing to make memories with your children. As I look back on raising our kids a major regret is that we didn't take the time for the little vacations. By that I mean the day trips to the beach or a weekend camping that we could have sneaked into our busy schedules, but we didn't.

Time slips by so quickly, and soon the opportunities to build those precious memories are lost. Just ask Adam. With Jade going off to college this year, his time with her is dramatically changed. I'm sure he would like to hold onto her a bit longer, but our lives march forward and there isn't a lot we can do about it.

I am always pleased to see the photos you guys take that capture those special times. The day at the beach, the picnic at the park, the soccer and softball games are all opportunities to build memories of good times together as a family. These will be the anchors that your children will cling to during troubled times. Most of these kinds of activities don't involve spending a lot of money, they just require an investment of time and a realization of what our important priorities should be. Do all that you can do so that they can be all that they should be.

One of my favorite photos

2007-08-29T20:44:00.000-07:00

We got a lot of great photos with the kids on the horses at Grand Camp this year, but this picture of Toby, Ashley and Ben on the Merry Go Round is one of the best I have taken. I hope we all take advantage of the opportunities to build memories with our families.

Freak Quail/Truck Accident

2007-08-29T20:14:00.000-07:00

In November of 2006, my Buddy, John Anderson and I traveled to the Valley of Trinidad in Baja, Mexico. In about 1 1/2 hours we harvested over 60 quail. John insisted on stacking them on my windshield for this picture. As if my truck doesn't get dirty enough down there!

Me and Bud

2007-08-28T15:25:00.000-07:00

When my wife saw this picture, she said it made me look old. I said I've earned it. This was taken at a training session at Prado Dam in Riverside, CA.