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!