Too cute for words...

Here is a shot of Grant and Emily we took on Easter. Is there some way we can keep them both exactly the way they are right now? I mean really, have you ever seen a more precious picture of a brother and sister?

A perfect day of Walleye fishing!

Thanks to the generosity of a friend from church (Jim - the guy standing second from the right) I recently had an opportunity to "jig" for Walleye on Lake Erie. The dude to the far right is none other than "Mr. Michigan Out-of-Doors" in the flesh - Jimmy Gretzinger (another friend from church and the guy who single-handedly got me into hunting).

Jim had purchased a half-day charter and invited Jimmy and I along. We had a perfect day. The water was very calm, the sun was bright, and the temps made it into the 60s. I had never jigged before (gee, I thought that was some kind of dance?), but once I got the hang of it I started catching some very nice fish. It took us a few hours, but we managed to limit out before lunch time and head back in.

And I must say, pan-fried Walleye is probably the best fish I have ever eaten. I am not usually much of a seafood guy, but this Walleye was excellent. We cooked it up fresh the next day and I suddenly discovered that I had more friends than I had realized (and they were all willing to help me eat the fish!) We had enough to share and I can't wait to go back and catch some more.

Turkey hunting report...

Well, a picture says a thousand words, and this picture says it all. My turkey hunting results for this season? Zip, nada, nunca, nothing!

Actually, that's not entirely true. I did call in a gobbler, and he was gobbling the entire way. He stopped at about 50 yards out and just looked over my decoy set up. (I made the mistake in this situation of including a jake decoy - this Tom didn't want to fight for love, he wanted it to come easy.) So, after strutting for a bit he started walking past. I went ahead and took the shot, but did not put the bird down. Bummer! (There was some brush between the bird and my position, but I still believe it was a good shot with this gun - just needed a bit more skill and a little more "luck".)

Oh well, as my friend Pat says, "that's why they call it hunting".

As every faithful Lions fan has learned to say, there's always next season.

Happy Birthday Sandi!

Well, my beautiful bride turned 39 recently! (You must admit, she looks great doesn't she? Especially compared to that wrinkled dude in the blue shirt...)

We took Sandi out to dinner - we started at P.F. Changs, but after we were told that the wait was over an hour, we relocated to Outback. By the time we finally sat down and ordered some food, we were very hungry and a tad grumpy (yes, I'm talking about myself). Note to self - we must make a reservation next year!

The kids gave some nice gifts to Sandi, and we ended up having a very good day together. Sandi is closing in on the big 4 - 0, but as far as I'm concerned she truly becomes more beautiful every year...

Happy Birthday honey, I love you.