On the go!

     In the past week and a half Kelli and I have had just enough free time each day to give the constant spinning of our heads a short rest!  In that short time we locked up a rental in Coeur d'alene and moved almost all of our belongings over there.  Now we are back in Missoula for one final load, Kelli's last day of work, and to close on our old house.  T say the least it has been a bit of a whirlwind!
     As was the case for our last move, we could not have done it without the help of our family!  Kelli's parents helped us load up in Missoula and then followed us over where Jill and Ryan were there to help us unload.  Before we could unload anything though we had to do a little cleaning.  Only those fortunate enough to be part of this clean up can begin to explain to you how much fin this was!  I like to think that I am a relatively calm person but due to the condition of the house a few lucky people got to witness a couple of my rare blow ups!  Spewing enough obscenities in a 30 second rant to make most truckers blush was not exactly my proudest moment:)
     Even with the blow ups though we managed to hold it all together and get settled in, we all had a fantastic thanksgiving dinner which was followed by watching my beloved Cowboys send me into yet another rant, then spent the rest of our weekend attempting to relax.  After all of our help had went home and it was just Kelli and I we were reflecting on all that has happened combined with all that continued to go on, and we both began to feel a little overwhelmed.  This all changed when we walked into the Fred Meyer store near our house and we could hear music, as we got closer we were surprised to see the beautiful tones were coming from the Salvation Army bell ringer who was singing carols!  All by himself, completely accopella and in perfect harmony, his voice had quickly changed our attitudes!  I dropped some change in the bucket which prompted him to stop singing just long enough to tell me "god bless you", and we left the store in a much better place than we entered.  The bell ringer probably has no idea just how well received his voice was by us!
     It's made both of us realize that we were probably far from over the speed bumps of this move, but no matter what we one across along the way, nothing will be impossible!  We simply have to remind ourselves each day just how great full we are to be where we are in life and never loose sight if the fact that we are not in this alone!  I hope each of you approach the speed bumps in your own life the same way and don't let anything get you down, I know more than anyone how difficult this can be at times but if we keep the faith it will all work out in the end!

Remember, anything is possible if approached with the right attitude:)

Hello winter!

     Last weekend Ryan, a friend of ours Kris, myself, and Duchess embarked on another swan hunt to Freezeout lakes near Fairfield.  Last year during, our inaugural season, Dad was with us and we got two swans along with a few ducks and had a great time!  Kris is a die hard waterfowler so it seemed to be a no brainer to invite him to this years event.  Ryan was the only one of us who had drawn the swan tag but we knew there would be plenty of other birds in the air.  As the week drew longer and I kept a watchful eye on the weather, my excitement grew with each day.  Our first winter storm of the year was moving in and I just knew it was going to get some birds moving!  Freezeout lakes is one of the major fly ways for all of the migratory birds heading south for the winter, one of which is the snow goose.  When the snows migrate through they do so by the thousands and it usually happens in about a weeks time.  In all the years I've hunted there I've never timed it right, with the weather starting to work in my favor I just knew this was going to be the year.
     Ryan and Kris met me in Missoula and we loaded Duchess up and headed north.  The weather had already begun as we traveled on icy roads nearly the whole way!  We got to Fairfield just before dark and when we pulled out to the lakes all we could hear and see was geese!  It was just as I had imagined it, the sky was littered with snow geese!  My excitement was short lived however as I noticed that nearly all of the water on the lakes had froze already, there was a small patch of open water on the main lake still which meant we still had a shot.  So we headed to the hotel and made a plan to come back in the morning and sit as close to the open water as we could all day and see what happens.  You can't really decoy swans in so your only shot is to set up near the water and hope to have one pass by within range.
     Sunrise brought with it single digit temperatures and snow!  We bundled ourselves up for the day and headed to our spot.  We were not even fully set up yet and six swans flew right over the top of us, Ryan was caught completely off gaurd yet somehow got off two crack shots with his ten gauge as they flared away.  We quickly settled in for what we all knew was going to be a great day!  As the day went on the birds kept coming, we got a few chances at passing ducks and geese, Kris capitalized on a shoveler in one group so we didn't get skunked.  The swans appeared to be growing wiser as the day grew longer however and Ryan got a few more shots but each one was either too far away or too surprising to bring anything down.  Most of the birds would come in from behind us with no sound at all so by the time we noticed them it was already too late!  The most heartbreaking part of the day for me was that I had finally got to Freezeout when the snows were there, I was just a little too late as all of the birds were too high in the air.  We literally saw thousands of snow geese and canada geese, but with the water all mostly frozen they were coming back form feeding in the fields too high to shoot at.  It was still a remarkable sight to see though.

      We headed for the truck at dark with our one duck and our minds full of birds, the temperature never did get into double digits so we were all ready for a hot shower and a good meal!  Even though the water had all disappeared we decided to give it one more shot in the morning and when we woke up to -17 degrees we knew we were in trouble!  We all had a pretty good idea what our chances were of even seeing any birds on a day like this, but we bundled up and headed out anyway.  It only took an hour and a half and two small flocks of honkers so high in the air we could hardly tell what they were for us to decide to pack it in and head home!  The first leg of the trip home was fairly quiet as we all pondered what had just happened, then just like any good hunter we immediately switched our thoughts from what we could have done different this year to what we will do different next year!  I know we may not have brought home a lot of birds, but I'm sure we all brought home enough memories to get us through until next year!

Remember, all hunting trips are more beneficial for the time shared with friends and family than they are by the success of the hunt!

Heading in the right direction

     After a few weeks of looking at our option between renting a place for a while or buying right away we've decided to rent.  I have been commuting back and forth for work and Kelli has been packing up and manning the fort with all of our animals.  In my travels for work I have been inside a couple homes with a realtor and I have quickly realized that the indecisiveness Kelli and I share, combined with the ample supply of houses on the market that closely match our criteria, that we need to rent for a while first so we can take our time for the next house we buy.  
     I scoured the internet and drove through countless numbers of neighborhoods in search of a rental that would accept our small zoo of animals we have.  After finding two houses that would work and looking at them with the help of my mother I felt like we were heading in the right direction.  These houses were both listed through a property management company however and they felt it necessary to have our complete bank account numbers, we had to agree to disagree on this issue as we didn't feel too comfortable giving our numbers out to anyone other than an employer who wants to direct deposit checks into it, so those two houses were out.  Meanwhile Kelli had found a house for rent on Craigslist that she wanted me to look into, I called the lady and tried to set up a time to look at it, she never returned my phone call though so I figured it was already taken and I headed home to Missoula for the weekend.  I got a phone call the next day from the lady with the house apologizing for not returning my call, she was at the hospital all night welcoming her first grandchild into this world, a legitimate excuse I guess:)!
     So once the new baby was home and safe and I was back in town we set up a showing and it is perfect, we only had one major criteria to meet in that it would take all of our animals!  We agreed to a six month lease and hopefully will be able to move in by the end of the month!  The six month lease will be perfect as we will be able to check out every little bit of the area before we decide to buy!  
     The last few weeks have been a little crazy in our house for sure, but Kelli keeps telling me that we are going to reach a peak in the roller coaster at some point and everything will be on the homestretch from there, I feel like now that we have an actual forwarding address to go to that we might be there!  We might be finally heading in the right direction!!

Remember, God has a plan for all of us, the hard part is having the patience to allow it to happen!