Together is my favorite place to be...

Today is August 5th, 2016 and the picture below is of my best friend, my partner in life, my everything, my wife - Rebecca Joy. 

You see when I was a little boy I walked into school one day and was immediately overwhelmed by the cuteness of this little girl with her long braided hair. I may not have understood at that moment how deep my feeling ran as I was just a little boy myself but I knew she was the girl of dreams.

My childhood came and went and before I knew it I was graduating high school and while she may not have been ready to date me at that moment, I was grateful to have that little girl from so many years ago as my friend.

Rebecca, I can still remember the details of how we became a couple, the moment I asked your parents permission to date, our first kiss, what you were wearing on our first date and so many of the moments between then and now. You see, while I may enjoy my quiet time alone, guys night out, or hanging with our kids, my favorite times in life are the moments that I get to spend with you - my wife.

21 years ago today I made one of the best decisions I could have have made, I said "I do." I promised to love you in good times and bad, in sickness and in health till death due us part and its a promise I never intend to break.

Rebecca, Over the years we have expanded our titles from husband and wife to include parents, mom and dad. I am grateful for the years we had to grow together before we started our family but I am forever amazed when I reflect back on both of your pregnancies and how beautiful you were as our children grew in your womb. I am sure the kids feel as blessed to have you as their mother as I do to have you as my wife. Over the years I feel that we have had a life and a relationship together that would make others envious. Yes, there were moments where we struggled and may not have had enough money to do the things we wanted. Despite those moments I can look back and say that I love our life together and the fact that we always found a way to have fun and make the best of each and every moment.

The past couple years we have been blessed to spend time together doing things I would never have imagined we would do and in places I never dreamed I would get to go. The vacations are always fun but only because I have you by my side to experience them with me.

Together is my favorite place to be, it doesn't matter if we are on vacation on an exotic island or browsing the isles of the local grocery store, I love every moment we spend together!

We have grown together and have morphed each other into the people we are now. I have learned to be a little more behaved while in public and you are no longer the shy girl by my side. I remember how nervous we both were that first night together as husband and wife when it finally sank in that we were starting a journey of our own. Over the years you have stood by me when times were tough, you cared for me through times of sickness. You have been an encouragement to me when life gets me down and on many occasions a voice of reason. I am thankful to have you as my partner in all I do. You may not have ever imagined 21 years ago that you would have ended up raising chickens or that you would have helped drag deer out of the woods on multiple occasions and then process said deer to feed our family with. Despite never imagining it you can say that you have done those things and you did them well. You have stepped up to the challenge each and every time and shown us all what a strong and amazing woman you are.

 Over the years we have seen friends come and go and while it hurts to think of how some people have taken advantage of you and treated you poorly I want you to know if nobody else wanted to bother with us I would be happy to have the company of you and you alone. You are my best friend, my lover, my wife and I look forward to sharing another 21 years of marriage together and many, many more after that!

Thank you for choosing me to be the man who gets to walk through this life with you hand in hand. I love you with all my heart and I hope you know each and every day how much you mean to me. I hope every single day that goes by you feel loved and know that I couldn't get through this journey without you. Thank you for being the cornerstone of our family. I hope that things continue to get easier during the next 21 years and that we can afford much more time of relaxation together. No matter what the next 21 years have in store for us I want you to know that as long as you are by my side they will be great and  I will cherish each and every moment spent together. I love you with all my heart, Happy Anniversary!

Too much to list...

Today I was reflecting on how much different life was today compared to a year ago. This time last year I was still using a cane and a walker to get around. I was stuck in the house, unable to drive and the only time I was able to enjoy the outside was being taken to my follow up appointments with the surgeon. There were a few occasions when Rebecca was at work I was able to convince Alex into help me into the upper section of woods on our property where we cut down small trees for making walking sticks!

 Mid-November 2013

This year I was able to take both my kids hunting, enjoy several days in the woods with some great friends and even shoveled the driveway after both of the snowfalls we have had so far which may seem like no big deal to some but I am obsessed with a clear driveway and although I was appreciative of  Rebecca and the kids taking care of it last year I will admit it drove me crazy not doing it my way!

There is so much to be thankful for but here are a few of the things I am most appreciative of:

My wife Rebecca  She is the glue that holds our family together and makes it complete. She is my best friend and every day that we are together is better than the last.

My Kids Ariel and Alex  I never dreamed I would grow up and be responsible enough to have kids of my own some day and here I am the father of two teenagers. I may not always have the answers to life's questions but I love learning them with you both hand in hand.

My health  Now part of this is thanks to Rebecca although I still sneak a little extra butter into my cooking every now and then! Just over a year ago I was really struggling with the pain I was in and I know there were a lot of people praying for me. I was scared about the surgery and what the outcome was going to be, I never imagined I would recover as well as I have and that alone is something to be extremely thankful for.

My talents  I am thankful that I have the talent of cooking. There is something about making a meal that brings me joy. I love creating food and am thankful for the ability to feed my family the way I do. Last year I managed with the help of Rebecca to prepare our Thanksgiving meal something I always took for granted, this year I reflected on that fact as I prepared the Turkey and Ham for our annual feast!

The ability to hunt and fish  Last year one of the things that bothered me the most was not being able to go hunting or ice fishing. This year I was not only blessed to spend time in the woods during archery and the beginning of gun season, I even managed to put a couple deer in the freezer so far. I was able to enjoy some time on the water this summer with my cousins, my kids, my friends and even spent a day kayaking with just Rebecca.

My friends  I have a lot of acquaintances but there is a core group of people that I consider friends and in the past year thanks to homeschooling our kids, Rebecca and I both have made some new friends that are near and dear to us and I look forward to a life long bond with each and everyone of you.

It is so easy to get caught up in the daily hustle and bustle of life and even though there are special dates like Thanksgiving that we stop to reflect on everything we have to be thankful for I have realized that there is importance in taking time each and every day to give thanks for everything I have been blessed with, especially on the days when life has me down!

The student becomes the teacher

Well after taking a long hiatus from writing I have finally decided to start sharing my life with everyone again. After losing Navarre in March I not only lost my desire to write I honestly couldn't bare clicking on the blog and being reminded by his pictures that he was no longer here.

The past 8 months have been very eventful and included two trips which I never dreamed I would ever take, daily life and everything in-between. It has been just over a year since my surgery and my back continues to heal and despite having occasional bad days I am grateful for how well I feel considering everything I went through. I have continued to dabble with photography and while I still have a lot to learn I have gotten better at taking pictures that capture life's moments to reflect on for eternity.

What finally bought me back here though is two of the loves of my life, hunting and my kids. Last year it pained me beyond words to miss hunting season especially because Alex was so excited to finally be able to participate as a licensed hunter. But as we all know life goes on and despite not being able to hunt with the help of my friends Jayson and Seth I was able to reduce my meat purchases last year with venison they both donated to my freezer.

After what seemed like an eternity November is finally here. I was able to get a few trips into the woods during archery season but what I was waiting for was the Youth Deer Season opener which happened to be this past Saturday. With much anticipation and very little sleep I woke the kids and watched them gear up in their camouflage long before the sun made its appearance to kiss our faces with warmth.

Upon arriving at the meadow Alex headed off for his first deer hunt with Seth and Ariel and I made our annual trek to the grand stand beneath the brightly shining full moon. It was a quite morning and despite the deer failing to show themselves the time spent nurturing the kids with the love of the woods was time time well spent.

Ariel and I participated in afternoon stand together and laughed when we spotted 8 deer in the middle of a moonlit field while driving home. I was able to share with her the story of my dad and I spending a week and who knows how much money on a hunting trip up north only to return and have Nonnie fill the freezer after hitting an 8 pointer with her car just a couple miles from our house the weekend we returned home.

Fast forward to this morning. I took a couple vacation days to relax in the woods with the kids in anticipation of them filling the freezer and taking the pressure off of me during the regular firearms season. We decided that Alex would take the morning stands and Ariel would take the afternoon stands - well with her being 16 its like morning stand for her as she is usually just rolling out of bed at the crack of noon!

Alex and I made our way into the woods and were settled into the buddy stand about thirty minutes before legal shooting time. It was an unusually quiet morning with nary a squirrel and very few birds other than the droves of geese flying overhead. With the ever present technology I took several "selfies" which kept our mind off of the cold nip in the air as we laughed at our expressions. I suggested that Alex settle in and if he wanted to take a nap as I wanted to sit for another hour or two. It was just after 08:00 when a sound captured my attention, I looked around but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Moments later I heard leaves and caught movement in my peripheral vision.

I slowly garnered Alex's attention to alert him of the deer that was walking along side of us. He was amazed at how quickly the creature had materialized out of the thick brush. He raised his gun and when I stopped the deer by grunting the shot rang out. I watched the deer bound into the thicket and eventually up the hill. I was perplexed that it was able to bound off with such ease.

I focused my attention to Alex who was still shaking like the birch tree leaves which danced in the wind each time it gently blew. He was excited yet worried, his thoughts were focused on praying the deer didn't suffer. We gathered our emotions and I descended to the forest floor where I made my way to the point of aim. I could see where the deer jumped in the soft swampy ground but there was no signs of hair or blood. I slowly made my way through the brush were I saw the animal go able to see it's tracks in the wet leaves.  I carefully searched for any sign of a hit and while making my way over the hill Alex watched from the stand as the deer doubled back and ran towards the hardwoods.

I worried about how he was going to react to the news that he missed. I made my way back to where the deer was when he shot and after looking closely it became clear the he had shot just under the deer. Despite me telling him the disappointing news he still had a smile on his face. He unloaded the gun and lowered it down to the ground and climbed down to meet me. I assured him that there was no need to worry about the animal being injured and I showed him where his shot impacted the ground between the legs and just behind where the deer had been standing. We replayed the moment he took the shot and determined that despite me warning him not to he had picked his head up as he pulled the trigger - something I have done on more than one occasion!

We made our way out of the woods and once we were in the field we started talking again. It was during this walk back to the truck that my son taught me a lesson without even realizing he was doing so. I have been in his shoes, I have missed deer that seemed liked they were destined for my freezer but every time its happened to me I have been miserable filled with emotions of displeasure in myself and disappointment. Here walking next to me was a young man who was just grateful for a day spent with his dad and amazed that he even saw a deer. Yes he was bummed that he missed but kept exclaiming to me how exciting it was.

Wow, all I could think was Wow! I was transported back to the days as a kid when my dad would let me skip school to spend the first week of archery season in the tree with him. I realized that those mornings are part of who I am, part of the reason I love hunting and in essence the reason I want my kids to hunt with me. Sure the goal is to harvest a deer but enjoying the time together is what really matters. Thanks to my son's enthusiasm I found myself renewed with joy and the self made burden of pre-harvest pressure has been lifted.

So now here I am writing this reflecting on the past couple mornings realizing that what really mattered was the moments spent one on one with my kids, the time spent cuddling together to stay warm in the buddy stand, the silly jokes and never ending innuendos we fabricate out of nothing, the blessing of a front row seat watching nature prepare for winter and seeing animals behave in their natural habitat that so many people will never experience except though a television documentary.

Thank you Ariel for sharing my love of the hunt and if I have ever made a single moment of  our time spent in the woods un-enjoyable please accept my apology and call me out on it if I ever do!

Thank you Alexander for opening my eyes and renewing my spirit. Today was fun, it was exciting and thanks to your positive attitude I will cherish every moment of it forever. You see you taught me that I am never too old to learn something and today you proved that you are never too young to be the teacher. I look forward to the day when I get to watch you harvest your first deer, It may take some time or it may be tomorrow but whenever that day comes I will cherish the moment spent together and am thankful that you share my love of the woods and hunting as does your sister.

Ariel, I know that hunting was "our thing" to do together so I thank you for not discouraging your brother from participating. I have been blessed that you have helped fill the freezer the past couple years and will always smile and laugh thinking about our "Don't tell Mom" moments and conversations!

Here is to many more hunts, countless memories and positive lessons learned - no matter who is teaching and who is learning!

In sickness and in health...

In what seemed like a blink of an eye another year has come and gone. I have to say Rebecca is the one who seems to be stuck keeping the promise of loving me during sickness most of the time! The past several weeks have been one full of trials but she has cared for and pampered me every step of the way. I am feeling a little guilty that I wasn't able to make today extra special but I did manage to get out of the house for a little while today for some fun and a nice dinner.

I would have never imagined that we would eventually get married the moment this picture was taken the day we graduated from high school. Boy did our plans for life change after that night!

 

I can still remember what you wore on our first date and thank God every day that you finally gave me a chance to win your heart. I love each and every moment we have together and hope you know that even after all these years I am still enamoured with everything about you. I am proud to proclaim to the world that you are my wife and I am blessed to declare that you are the mother of my children. I can't imagine going through a single day without you in my life. You have spoiled me by making me the richest man in the world because I have your love all to myself. Thank you Rebecca for loving me and for saying "I do" 18 years ago. 

I look forward to the next 18 years and pray that in health outweighs the in sickness! Thank you for being one of the strongest cornerstones in the foundation of our family - I couldn't do it without you! I love you as much today as I did yesterday and will continue to love you tomorrow and the next day until our lives both end. Happy Anniversary My Love. XOXOXO

Aiming for the 10 ring

Everyone knows how lucky that I am to have a family who shares my love of all things shooting sports. Today I felt like the proudest daddy in the world as I watched my daughter Ariel working on her qualifications for the Venturing shooting sports award.  She was attentive to the instructions, handled each weapon safely and showed her determination to eventually become an expert marksman or should I say woman. She fired a multitude of different weapons ranging from handguns, long rifles and the oh so popular in the news AR style rifle. When she was done we spent some time shooting the M&P that I got for Christmas along with her Marlin XT that she received as a Christmas present as well. Her safety and skill caught the attention of another group at the range and they invited her to punch some paper with their AR's as well. It was a great morning spent together honing our shooting skills and just hanging out as a father and daughter. It ended up being about 20 degrees colder than originally predicted so her hand warmers that Aunt Jackie made her for Christmas came in very handy as you can see in the pictures!

Walking in a winter hunters land

It is the end of December 2012 and the freezer is full of fresh venison thanks to Ariel's skill with her .243 and several well placed shots with .35 caliber. While Ariel loves deer hunting with her dear o'l dad,  Alex has not been bit by the deer hunting bug due to his dislike of sitting still and being quiet for extended periods of time. Earlier this year Alex inquired about getting his hunting license but made it clear he only wanted it in case he decided to try deer hunting in the future. I asked him why he wasn't interested in deer hunting and he explained his concerns with me. I then informed him that there were lots of other types of game that we could hunt together. While my schedule doesn't allow me to spend as much time pursuing smaller tasty critters as I use to I still love any time I get to spend in the woods.

Last night I was reflecting on how long it's been since I had a couple squirrels cooked up nice and tender in a crock pot. I decided to see if the kids wanted to go out in the morning and try out the new guns we got for Christmas while attempting to put more tasty meat in the freezer.

My alarm went off at 06:30 this morning and after waking both the kids from their peaceful slumber Ariel decided that she wanted to get some more sleep so Alex and I headed out together. We went to the farm Ariel and I do most of our deer hunting at which has plenty of hard woods and an abundance of squirrels and  rabbits.

Well when I'm deer hunting there is always an abundance of squirrels and rabbits, now that we were looking for them they were nowhere to be found. Alex and I spent over 3 hours working our way along the edges of the fields and eventually made our way through the hard woods. We would walk a short distance and sit down to observe the world around us. Eventually Alex saw one grey squirrel but it was on the adjacent property so we watched it from a distance as it disappeared into the woods. While we didn't see any other game we took advantage of the snow on the ground to figure out what kinds of critters were in the woods around us. Of course there were lots of deer tracks but we found lots of other animal tracks which made the morning exciting. We found coyote tracks, raccoon tracks, squirrel tracks, rabbit tracks and the most exciting find was bobcat tracks!

While we didn't end up harvesting anything the time I got to spend with my son was precious. We talked about the different types of trees surrounding us, I helped him identify the multiple animal tracks in the snow and speculated where the different animals were coming from and where they were going. We marveled at all the geese flying overhead and discussed how the ones in the back of the flock make lots of noise to encourage the lead goose and how they take turns leading the draft. I was able to spend time reinforcing the importance of safe gun handling and share my love of the great outdoors with him in a way that he enjoyed as well. Much to his surprise we spent time sitting quietly on snow covered logs observing the forest floor all the way to the tops of the mighty oak trees without making any sounds. I am proud to say that during the 2013 hunting season I will have a new partner for small game and hopefully some waterfowl hunting. Who knows by this time next year maybe he will have changed his mind about deer hunting but if not that's okay too. I'm blessed with two kids who enjoy the great outdoors in their own individual ways and I'm happy that together we make memories that last a life time much like we did today.

As we were leaving the farm the 4 young bulls took an interest in us as we were driving down the access road so I stopped the truck and Alex went to get a better look. Two of the bulls came right up to the fence and not only let Alex rub their snouts but one kept coming over and licking Alex's hand. This one time I decided there was nothing wrong with Alex playing with his food!

It's days like these that I am glad there are grocery stores to pick up dinner at on my way home so we don't go hungry but I wouldn't change a moment of the morning I got to spend with my son walking, sitting, talking and just plain enjoying a winter hunters land!

Thanksgiving two days early!

Last week I was on vacation and despite getting some much needed rest and the pile of wood in the side yard split I was disappointed that I didn't succeed in harvesting a deer. As you all know I missed a doe on the first day of the season and the deer just seemed to disappear the following days. On Friday night I decided to sit out back and it didn't take long before the deer were all around me. I had 5 does and the biggest buck I have ever seen while out hunting. After what seemed like an eternity they were finally coming close enough for me to take a shot and just as I was calming my self down to do so my neighbor's kid came screaming down the hill on his quad and in disbelief I watched all 6 deer disappear over the ridge line.

Despite it being a short work week my schedule is packed solid with customers wanting to get their maintenance done before the long holiday weekend. While I love this time of year leaving for work in the dark and after a long day coming home in the dark really cuts into my hunting time, actually it completely eliminates it!

Yesterday and today I began counting down the hours until Thursday morning when I could once again settle into the woods with my daughter for our annual Thanksgiving tree hugging convention. And yes Rebecca doesn't even flinch anymore at the mention of Thanksgiving morning hunts despite the never ending memory of our first turkey day as a married couple. If you don't know that story let me know I am comfortable with talking about it now that we have been happily married 18 years!

Today was going well and before I knew it I was on my way home. I was sitting in traffic on the Parkway watching the deer taunting me on the side of the road for what seemed like an eternity. But once the trucks picking up all the road kill cleared the right lane traffic began flowing and before I knew it I was almost home. I called and had Ariel check what time sunset was and much to my delight I had an entire hour to sit in the woods when I pulled in the driveway. In a flash my work shirt was off and my hunting jacket was on, I grabbed my trusty .35cal and ran to my tree stand. It wasn't going to be a long hunt but the fact of the matter is we had entered into the magic hour and I couldn't wait to see if there were any deer in my neck of the woods!

It felt good to be in my tree stand, all my thoughts and concerns from the work day were distant memories and the crisp air with a hint of smoke from peoples wood stoves made for a relaxing, stress free outing. I kept watching my right flank expecting to see the deer to appear at any moment but they never came. Today they decided to surprise me and came from the left. It was a rare occasion in that I heard the deer before I saw them - they sounded like Captain Caveman stomping through the woods and I half expected to see people due to the amount of noise. I waited for the doe to jump over the stone wall and when she was only 15 feet away I took aim and gave thanks that my family was just provided with fresh, healthy venison for the upcoming year. As I was composing myself I turned to see that there was 2 more deer coming over the wall. Once again I calmed my breathing, took aim at the front deer and gently squeezed the trigger. Once again my aim was true.

I realized that I still had my cell phone in my pocket so I called to share the good news with my kids. Shortly after Rebecca called me and once I told her the good news I asked if she would take a walk out back to assist with getting the deer to the house. Not only was I blessed with 2 beautiful deer to feed my family with I have also been blessed with a wife who appreciates natural food and is willing to assist with the processing of the animals and this time she actually helped with dragging them out of the woods - There is no man luckier than me and that's a fact!

Preparing for a long cold winter

Today I decided that I would work on splitting some more of the wood I had in the side yard. Ariel had the day off from school to go to an all day event with some friends so I decided that Alex could have the day off too. I would rather look at it as he was out of the class room and learning one of life's important lessons - how to put in a hard day's work and embrace the challenges of becoming a man. Well maybe splitting wood doesn't really make you a man but it can teach you a life skill that will be used to keep your family warm in the future and it can always be used as part of obtaining the required credit in PE!

When I was a kid I can remember my father getting a big tri-axle of logs dropped off at the house every year for my brother and I to split. And we did it the hard way with an maul no gas powered machines to aid in our chores. I admit I was younger and didn't really do a lot of the splitting I did most of the moving and stacking of the logs. I of course was also the one who was responsible to get the wood down stairs and stacked on the far wall so there was never a shortage to be fed into our stove.

Now as much as I love splitting wood by hand there was way too much for me to do in one week without cutting into my hunting time so Uncle Tony made it easier on my by letting me borrow his log splitter again.

At first Alex was less than thrilled to be spending his morning performing physical labor but once we got going he cheered right up and we got into a steady rhythm taking turns running the machine and placing the logs. Before I knew it the pile of split wood was growing and the whole log pile was shrinking at a steady pace.

I realize that this next part may cause some controversy but I can remember getting a forbidden treat once in a while growing up such as nip of blackberry brandy at breakfast after a cold morning spent in the woods bow hunting or one of Aunt Concetta's flammable rum balls at Christmas. While I may not have benefited me in any way it sure didn't cause me any harm. This is the same reasoning that I used today when I let Alex have an ice cold Monster Energy drink. As you can imagine he ran up the back stairs to get us each one and partook of it throughout the morning and early afternoon, savoring each tasty sip!

I must admit Alex surprised me today. He really stepped up to the plate and showed me that he is willing to work hard and actually requested that we keep going until all the wood was split. He worked hard loading the truck when we picked up and moved the wood and like a champ assisted with stacking the first cord and a half several weeks ago and proved to me again today that he wasn't afraid of a little hard work. I am proud of my children but today was special in that I watched my son act like an adult and was rewarded with a sense of accomplishment when all the wood was done.

Thankfully we have 4 cord of split wood for the winter ahead, hopefully Gabriel will allow us to use it considering he claimed it as his own before we could finish!

Next week I just might give the kids another day off from the classroom to teach them about stacking wood which of course can be turned into a math lesson about how much wood is in a cord, or the science of proper stacking and defeating the powers of gravity! Plus stacking wood and drinking Monsters beats running laps around the soccer field any day!