I heart Fall

A few weeks ago we headed out to the Dykstra farm for some good fall fun. It was a perfect day to see all of the kids in their costumes. Rogue's costume hadn't come in yet but we were able to borrow one from her cousin Jordyn, so no spoilers here. I thought she made an adorable little ladybug.




Of course we had to head to Crane's orchard on a nice fall day as well. It was a bit chilly but we got to walk through the orchard and taste some yummy apples while we waited to eat. Rogue got to pick out her first pumpkin just down the road too. I just love fall and all the fun it brings. I don't think there is another season like it.

Two More Down

It has proven to be a successful start to the season. My dad took this nice seven point buck from the lucky, bank tree stand on Monday night October 5. It was about a 30 yard shot (to the power lines). If you take a close look at the picture, you will notice the shot was a little further back than preferred. Dad was hoping for a double lung shot and ended up with a beauty of a gut shot. Chad and Dad tracked blood for a little over a hundred yards before the trail disappeared and the sun went down. Needless to say the night ended in disappointment. The next morning I got a call from my dad saying he found the deer, ah relief. It was a couple hundred yards from the tree stand and reeked of gut shot. It was no treat dragging this monster up to the van, but the head mount will look nice on my wall.

I went quad riding in Manistee with some Friends on Saturday October 10. On the way up, I couldn’t help but think what a beautiful morning it was for hunting, and I could only imagine what I might be missing in the woods. We had a good time riding the trails, but I made sure the next morning that I was in that same lucky tree stand that has proven to be very productive. Around 9:00am this spike came walking in from behind me and presented an irresistible shot at 15 yards. I took the opportunity and put one right through the vitals. It only had 4” spikes, but it was a surprisingly large bodied deer. Good Times!

Early Kill

I decided to try out the early doe season this year and I found success.

It was Thursday night, September 17 the first day of the early season for doe. I decided to sit in my lucky treestand at the bank with my bow. At 7:20pm I decided it was too warm and I most likely wouldn't see anything. I was about to leave my stand when this doe came trotting in. It gave me a perfect broadside shot at 20 yards, and I took advantage of the opportunity. It was a good double lung shot and she went down about 50 yards from where I shot her. I guess you can call that a good start to the season.

Catching up again

I've been meaning to blog about a few things including Allegan County Fair and Pumpkinfest but just haven't had the motivation until now. In early September we went as a family to Allegan County Fair. Man, is that fair big! I can't remember ever going there before and there was lots to see. Rogue loves animals, she constantly bugs Hildee and Boone, so it was no surprise she took a liking to the pigs. One pig was very friendly and she got to touch is nose a bit. She would just laugh and laugh. It was really cute. The nice thing about Allegan was that they had wash stations after almost every barn so we could wash up after petting all the animals.



This past Thursday while Bryan was at school I met up with my family for a little while and had some dinner then met up with the Van Bragt's and even ran into the Dykstra's. We made a feeble attempt at getting pictures of all three of them but as you can see Leah is missing and Rogue was getting a tad frustrated by all the long grass. Thankfully the rain held off just long enough for us on Saturday to head out and watch the parade. I was very impressed at how long the parade was. Rogue even got her first "parade candy", smarties, she wasn't too impressed.




I just thought I would include this picture of Rogue. The other day Bryan had to do some work on the glider since it had gotten a severe squeak and about drove us nuts when we rocked Rogue. Now that Rogue and Bryan fixed it its like brand new!

9 month Well Child

Today was Rogue's 9 month visit even though she's pushing 10 months. Everything checked out perfectly and she is growing right on track. Here are her stats:

Height - 28 3/4inches 75th percentile
Weight - 19lbs 11oz 52nd percentile

Way to grow Rogue!