Bow Fishing

Sunday afternoon, July 11 us four guys decided it was a nice enough day to go see if we could shoot some carp with our bows. We headed out to our usual lake (Allegan Damn Lake).

The water was a little choppier and a lot dirtier than we would have liked, but we managed to get eight carp in the bucket. My dad took the trophy for biggest fish. I would have to say this is the biggest fish I have seen shot with a bow yet.

All in all, it was a nice day and we all had a good time. What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon?

18 month Well Child Visit

This past Monday we headed out to Rogue's 18 month, really 19th month, well child exam. I'm happy to report that all is well and Rogue is growing like a weed. Some how we missed some routine blood work that was supposed to be done at 15 months so we had to head to the lab for a quick blood draw. Except is wasn't so quick. Every time they sent us to a different room to wait Rogue decided to scream louder. And louder. Thankfully there was a very kind woman waiting with us and she said "she remembers those days". The blood draw itself really wasn't that bad for her and she was very intrigued by the pretty band aid they gave her.

Rogue was wearing a dress that day since she had to have a vaccine and I thought it would be easier than shorts. When Bryan came home Rogue and I were playing outside, and Rogue decided to pull up her dress and show her father the band aid and say ouch repeatedly. I guess kids don't forget so easily!

Her stats:

weight was 27lbs 5oz in the 75th - 90th%

height was 33.75 inches in the 90th%

Critter Barn

It was a beautiful Saturday on the 4th of July weekend and we were looking for something fun for Rogue to do, so we decided on going to the Critter Barn. We could hardly keep up with Rogue as she ran through the barn looking at all of the animals. I would say her favorites were the chickens and the room full of cats.

We got to watch a goat get milked, feed the chickens from a bucket of corn, and watch a herd of sheep run right past us as they went out to the pasture.

Handicap Hildee

Thats right, Hildee is hurt again. This time the neighbor dog was not involved. No dogs were involved at all.

Rogue and I decided we were going to go for a nice quad ride down the road. Well, Hildee also wanted to come along, but there is no room for her on the quad so like any normal dog she ran along side of us. Unfortunetly, the trip was a little to harsh for Hildee's fragile old body. We got to the end of our road on the corner of Adams and 72nd and Hildee called it quits. She walked down into the ditch and laid down. Luckily, it was about time for Katy to be getting home from work so I called her and told her she needs to pick up Hildee because she would not fit on the quad and she was not going to move on her own.

Once we got her back home in the Jeep, Katy examined hildee and found that all four of her pads were worn completely off. Ouch!! I guess I worked her too hard. Anyway, for the next two days hildee would not leave the bed or couch. We catered to her every need. You can see in the picture we wheeled her out in the wagon to go to the bathroom and we brought food and water to her on a regular basis.

You gotta take care of your dog. Especially, if their injury is your fault.

Third Annual Shadow Hawk Cruise

The Shadow Hawks took flight for the third year in a row (left Thursday night June 24). This time with more people than ever. With 12 riders we doubled the amount of people that attended the first year. All of the original six (Chris Malda, Marty Hulst, Terry Prins, Beaver, Kurt Kuyser, and Me) were present. And Larry Stob who joined us on the second year was there. The rookies were Vern Dryer, Jack, John Buursma, Rick Van Bragt, and Mark Reitsma. This year we headed up to the Macinaw Bridge. We made a quick stop in St. Ignace because their annual car show was going on.

The ride went very smooth thanks to Marty's fine navagation Skills. He had the entire trip plotted out on his GPS unit. But even with everything planned perfectly you can't avoid the occassional rear ending. The only two bikes that were not Honda's got into an accident. Beavers Kawasaki smashed into the back of Buursma's Yamaha. Now thats Karma considering the name of the group was derived from the original six memebers Honda bikes (Shadows and Night Hawks). We all learned a valuable lesson. Give Beaver plenty of riding space.

Backyard Buck

Lately, I have been seeing a few different small bucks and several doe in the feild to the south of my house. I wanted to try and get some pictures of them on the trail cam so I could see how often they are around and at what time of the day they are out and about. I hung the camera in the feild and I got 364 pictures of the trees moving. I moved it to a different location in the feild and had little luck. I had two pictures of doe in one week. Finally, I decided to move it in my woods a little further and to my surprise, this is the beauty I captured. I hope this one sticks around until October. It still has a couple of good months of antler growth to go yet.