Kiersten Jane

Bill & Wendy have sent me some updated pictures of my beautiful niece ... and she happens to be wearing my Christmas presents (with a little help on the one from Ricky and Melissa, but the sun dress was all me :) ) ... so I thought I'd share.  They seem to think that this makes her 'hick,' I am trying to convey to them that's only relative, she'd be picking up all the guys down here :)  Enjoy, I did!

It's About Time ...

Yes, yes, I know, I've been slacking on the blog.  I was sick, sorry.   I have had a great last couple of weeks.  My birthday was really good.  I went to church in the morning and then to Cracker Barrel for lunch and cake with the Hutchison's afterwards.  After gorging myself, I went coyote hunting with Ricky up in Tennessee.  We didn't see any coyote's, but we did see two owls.  The owls were beautiful, they came in really close and were there for a while.  They're lucky they're protected :)  The day finished with another great home cooked meal from Melissa.  I tried keeping my birthday a secret from everyone at work, but when Eddy found out he forced me to take a half a day of work which we spent at the shooting range then went to his house and enjoyed a great cigar and steaks.  

The weekend following my birthday, Ricky and I went down with some other guys at work to a private deer hunting area that Stump brought us to for the last day of deer season.  As most of you know, I've been immersing myself in the 'Southern' (i.e. Redneck) culture as much as possible ... this has taken the cake thus far.  We stopped by the Mossy Oak store in Mississippi before we headed down to York, AL (middle of NOWHERE) where the lodge was at.  The gentleman that owned the lodge was probably in his 80's and had lots of great, 'southern,' stories.  The first story that Ricky and I heard was told with *proof* from his trail camera that his land had some HUGE bobcats on it ... only thing was, Ricky and I had seen thos

e pictures several times during this winter in an email that goes around pretty frequently and the true story is on Snopes.  We had a lot of fun, and came back with a lot of great stories and jokes, and I got my first deer.  I had 3 does and a cull buck (it had a 3 point on one side and a stub on the other) in front of my shooting house for about an hour and a half that were close enough that I could hear them pulling the grass out of the ground as they were eating.  I was hoping for a larger buck but as it started to get dark, a turkey spooked the deer and I took a shot at the buck.  One of the does stayed and about 5 minutes later another one came back and I shot one of the does also.  I ended up not finding the buck, which we believe was the same buck that Ricky had shot earlier in the day (hence it's nickname 'Bionic Buck') but the doe dropped within 10 yards.  Stump got the deer back from the processor yesterday and I had some jerky made with my first deer today.  It was a lot of fun and provided some great stor

ies for my first deer.  I took a bunch of pictures and you can see them here (note the warning on the albums).

Work has slowed down a bit.  It's very strange not working 50-60 hour weeks so I'm trying to find things to do with my time (I'm updating my blog, aren't I?!?!)  It's a nice break and I'm sure that the busy times will be back very shortly.

Maybe if I actually get to updating this more often I will remember all of the funny things that happen routinely to provide ya'll with some entertainment :)

I hope everyone is well and miss all of you!

Boring Week

It's been one week since my last confession...hahaha.  Nothing too exciting happening this week but I did promise I'd be better at updating my blog.  I've watched some good movies the last week or so.  A friend and I went and watched Grand Tourino this weekend.  The movie was great, but outside of Clint Eastwood, I thought the acting was horrible.  The Dark Knight and The Happening were also both good.  Blue Ray and a 52" HDTV are awesome :)  I got my first bow this week so I've got lots of time to practice before next season - and according to some of the guys at work my neck is staring to turn pretty red.  I explain it is just me balancing out this 'pretty boy' reputation that I have somehow gotten :)  I am heading down to south Alabama on the 31st to go deer hunting with Ricky and some other guys from work  It will be my last chance to leave the season not being empty handed.  I'm definitely not complaining, I've learned a lot my first year hunting.  OH!  And I finally am supposed to get my hair cut tomorrow, that is if she doesn't call in sick this time haha.  I guess that's all that has been going on this week.  Hopefully I'll be able to provide some more humor at my expense next week.

Yes...I am still alive

It has been a crazy month.  I had a great Christmas in Florida with my mom, dad, Tom & Mandi.  In all reality, how could Christmas not be great when you play golf in the mid-80's :)  Dad and I decided we would run out and play a quick nine holes before we had to go pick up Mandi and Tom at the Tampa airport.  After nine holes, I was beating my dad by one stroke.  Mind you, this was the first time I have played since exactly a year ago when I was down there last Christmas.  I figured this was the best Christmas gift ever, since I have never beat Dad before.  We were just going to play 10 since my parents house is on the fairway and that would give mom and opportunity to see us play.  Needless to say, Dad decided we'd just go ahead and finish the back 9 and I ended up losing by a couple of strokes.  I'm sure he only decided to make the turn just to be able to spend more time with me, it had NOTHING to do with him being beat :)

Since I wasn't able to spend New Years down there with Tom and Mandi, we decided we'd hit up the local pub for a few drinks.  My parents don't live in a "Retirement Community," but 99% of the people that live there seem to be retired.  Including all of the people that would frequent this bar which is within the gates of the community.  We had a great time and I picked up some tips on how to pick up women from some of the guys in the bar.  I think I'm going to start with unbuttoning the top few buttons of my shirt and hoping my chest hair grows some more.  

Tom and I also developed a new mantra to live by...whenever we are unsure of what to do in a certain situation, we just ask ourselves, "What would John Daly do?"  I think it will get us both far.

New years was a new one for me, yet another 'Southern Tradition' to knock off the list of things to do :)  I was at Ricky's at 3:15 on New Years day to go to Tennessee to deer hunt.  While we didn't see Bambi or any of her relatives, Wile E. Coyote didn't make it.  Now, there have been some vicious rumors about me shooting Mr. Coyote.  For the record, it was my second time deer hunting, I didn't know I was supposed to shoot coyotes since I was hunting deer, and I hit him hard enough to roll him over and keep him down for 15-20 seconds.  That's all I'm saying on that subject :)

After hunting we went back to Ricky's where I got to have my first Southern New Year's meal.  Melissa cooked an awesome meal, as always, but the highlights are the parts that you have to eat every New Years.  You have hog jaw for health, collared greens for money, and black eyed peas for good luck.  While the hog jaw and the collared greens weren't really included in the 'awesome meal' statement, the black eyed peas were good :)  After last year, I'm willing to try anything for the coming year hahahaha!

Lets see, what else exciting has been happening.......I was finally supposed to get my hair cut on Wed. after not having it cut since July, but the girl cutting my hair called in sick and still isn't back to reschedule yet.  So, it looks like the 'fro might be around for a little while longer.  Earlier this week I got a streak of motivation and decided I needed to spring clean my apartment.  I'm pretty much done now, my bedroom no longer looks like a bedroom/garage/hunting store and now looks more like, well, a bedroom.  I did manage to throw away an entire truckload of stuff that I decided I no longer need.  I also have a bunch of stuff to donate.

That's all I can think of to ramble about now.  I'm sure I've missed a bunch of stuff I wanted to put in here but that will leave something for next time.  I promise to try and be better about updating now that the holiday's are over.  I also didn't put any pictures in here because I figured it would just be easer to include a link to all of them this time.

Christmas Time

Mom and Dad stopped by on their way to Florida.  It was great to spend the evening with them. We went to a Christmas party for church and they got to meet Tim and Sis.  Hopefully they'll be able to stay longer on their way home and I'll be able to show them around more and introduce them to some more friends.

I just got finished getting Christmas cards all ready to send out.  I got 50 sent out today and have the last 30 ready to send out tomorrow.  I sent them out a little earlier last year, but I'm still on time.  I'm not a big Christmas decorator, but I do enjoy sending cards out.  Last year I didn't have any decorations but this year I'm on the ball ... I have TWO!  Kristie was selling Poinsettia's for church so I got one, that I've actually managed to keep alive for over a week!  And today Melissa got me a really cool camo santa so they're keeping each other company. 

For your entertainment purposes, I've included a picture of my bedroom/garage.  The people that have been in there the last few weeks have thought it was pretty funny so I thought I'd share.  I think it's about time to get a house....

Busy Times

This last month has been a blur.  I have been slippin on the blog, I haven't had much time to relax.  I'll start with today's excitement since, in all reality, it's probably the most interesting thing that's happened.  I got a call at 5:30 this afternoon at work from one of my neighbors that there was a fire at the lady's apartment below me.  She is an older lady and has some problems (alcoholic) and put something on the stove and passed out on the couch.  Luckily for me, and the rest of my neighbors, someone caught it in time and it didn't spread.  Unfortunately, my apartment now smells like smoke.  It could have been much, much worse, so I'm not too upset.  It's a good thing I have a lot of candles and it's a lot warmer here than it is in MI.  I've got all the windows open, fans going and all kinds of candles burning.

I had an awesome Thanksgiving weekend.  I got to experience all this fantastic southern Alabama hunting that I've heard oh so much about.  It started out on 

Thanksgiving morning at 2:00.  Ricky, his son Chase, and I went to Lake Guntersville to go duck hunting on opening day. We were able to hunt the same spot they hunted last year because Ricky's cousin got there at noon the day before and camped out.  Now, this is the place that for the last few years they were packing up and leaving by 8:30 because they limited out.  Needless to say we left about 11:00...with one duck between five of us.  It was really strange, I don't know that I've ever seen so many ducks at one hunt.  But NONE of them were working.  It was a lot of fun, though.  I haven't been out in several years and I really miss it.  The young ma in the picture above got a duck opening morning...but we didn't :) 

We then went to Ricky and Melissa's where we took a nap before dinner at 2:00.  Or was that 1:00?  Melissa?  We were a tad bit late to dinner at Melissa's families house because of a slight miscommunication :)  But it was amazing.  Great meal, her family is awesome and they welcomed me like I was one of their own.  I had a great time and really appreciated them allowing me to share the time with them.

Friday Ricky and I went to TN and went deer hunting.  I got my first chance to see a deer through a scope, which was really cool.  I saw a doe and a four point, but it was pretty small so I didn't shoot it.  Although Ricky was prepared for me to shoot over his lap and was really anxious for me to get one.  It's a lot of fun to have someone like that to be teaching me what to do because he gets at least as much enjoyment out of me being out there getting one as he would if he was getting it himself.

I have jumped into the shooting/hunting hobby with both feet, as I usually do with a new hobby.  This includes learning as much as I can about the rifles and all the related equipment and doing it as much as possible.  I now have a bumper sticker up in my office that reads 'God Bless Our Troops - Especially Our Snipers' :)  Thanks, Eddy.  Speaking of Eddy, he is my reloading mentor.  Yes, I am now reloading my own bullets.  I told you I was in with both feet.  He, also, gets as least as much enjoyment out of teaching me how to do it as him doing it himself.  I have such great friends.  One of the perks of having Eddy help me is his wife's Jen's cooking :)  I experienced pecan pie for the first time last week and it's official...I'm never moving back up north.

I now have a new fish - he's an oscar.  I've actually had him for about a month or so now but have been afraid to tell to many people before I knew he'd make it.  For those of you that don't know, I lost five fish (that I had for a couple of years) in a matter of two days a few months ago for some strange reason.  Those that had been to my apartment in the couple months following got a kick out of me having a 'water tank' instead of a 'fish tank.'  To make sure I got all the bad stuff out I kept it with just water for a few months after cleaning it really well.  I haven't named him yet, so if you want to leave me some suggestions, leave a comment below.

I'll leave you with the obligatory picture of my beautiful niece, Kiersten :)  Roll Tide!

Great Weekend!!

I just got back in town Tuesday evening from visiting my family in Michigan where a lot of exciting things happened. On Friday, my brother, Bill, and sister, Wendy, welcomed a beautiful baby girl, Kiersten Jane Crishon. She was 8 lbs 14 ounces, 20" long, and absolutely beautiful. It's already obvious how wonderful Bill and Wendy are going to be as parents. I was floored at how laid back they are about her, as I was absolutely amazed by so many other things having to do with her. They're naturals. Also coming with the baby has come a friendly competition between the four uncles for 'best uncle.' For those of you that have seen the pictures, you can see I think I've taken the early lead hahaha (for those of you who haven't ... here's a link). I'm so proud to be an uncle and can pretty much tell you that I'm going to be the embarassing one taking all the pictures :)

Also this weekend, I was honored to be asked to be my other brother, Tom's, best man for his wedding to my future sister Mandi. (Enough with the Katherine Heigl - 27 dresses jokes ... I've heard them already :) ) They're getting married August 9 in Florida. They have a website (http://www.mandiandtom.com/), which has all of their information on it. Tom did an amazing job with the website and I would recommend checking it out (make sure you check out the slideshow with your volume up). I'd put some sappy comments in here about how perfect they are together, and how much I'm envious, and how much I love them ... but I've got a best man speach to write :)

I did realize that, as much as I miss my family and friends who are still up there, I definitely do NOT miss the cold or the snow! (But, as Ricky is quick to point out, it's colder in Alabama) My blood has definitely thinned out. I thought it was funny at the Alabama - Mississippi State game last week how cold everyone I was with was ... they wouldn't have made it for the Cleveland game on Saturday. Football the way it was intended to be played, in cold and snow. Too bad no one told the Browns there was a game Sunday, they sure didn't show up.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful, and blessed, Thanksgiving. I'll be starting my day bright and early at 2:30 when Ricky, his son Case, and I head out to go duck hunting (season opens here tomorrow). Tomorrow afternoon, Ricky and his family have been kind enough to invite me over for Thanksgiving dinner with their family. I'm going to try to eat enough to start gaining weight :)

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!