Pre Season

This year was a little different from our usual fall elk hunt.  We had drawn a limited draw elk license for the Uncompadre Plateau.  The areas we typically hunt are classified OTC (over the counter) by the Colorado Division of Wildlife, meaning anyone resident or non-resident can head over to Walmart and purchase an elk license. This often results in overcrowding and forces us to hunt miles from any road to escape the hoards.  This unit is a little different, because this area is managed by the division as a “trophy” area and they limit the number of licenses to 75 archery tags per year, we essentially had the area to ourselves.  Of course the tradeoff is that to hunt this area licenses are awarded on a lottery basis and we had been applying for this license for the last 10 years.

We found out we would be hunting this area sometime around June and immediately begin our planning.  This is an area none of us had ever stepped foot in before.  Our usual hunting spots we know intimately and know, or try to guess, what the elk are going to do when us hunters show up.  Hunting country sight unseen would definitely present a challenge.  I immediately began the research.  Luckily we have some good friends (Zack and Ty) who have hunted the area with friends in previous years so they were able to get us going in the right direction.  I basically spent my summer trying to find guys who had hunted the unit and would be willing to share information.  Elk hunters guard their information like no other group known to mankind.  Even though the area takes 10 years to draw, many were still very tight lipped about what they knew of the unit.

Jasmine, Drew & Big Ron

Wendy & the B's

There’s no better way to learn new country than by burning a little boot leather, so we planned a Fourth of July camping/scouting trip.  This trip ended up turning into more of a family camping trip than a hardcore scouting trip but it still gave us a good idea of what we were getting into and I firmly believe in “family first” so spending time with the Wendy and the boys, the grandparents, Drew & Jasmine and Zack & Windy was time well spent.

Opening & Labor Day Weekends

We’d been told that hunting this area was difficult, at best, opening weekend but we couldn’t exactly sit at home watching TV on the couch, so Drew and myself headed out to give it a shot.  We saw lots of wildlife but it turned into more of a glorified scouting trip than anything else.  This wasn’t all bad considering the lack of scouting that happened over the fourth.  We did see quite a few elk, although most were from a distance.  We also saw some turkeys, deer and bear.

The following weekend was Labor day weekend so us four tag holders; Drew, Big Ron, Tim and myself made another six hour drive from Denver across the state.  We arrived in camp about 2 am the first night; I use the term camp loosely since we just pulled off the side of the road and rolled out our sleeping bags.  That morning we woke to the sound of elk bugling from multiple directions around “camp” always a good sign!  While hunting that first morning we all continued to hear lots of bugling  and were into elk but nobody had any close encounters.  We all met back up at noon and decided to move camp to the bottom of the drainage we were hunting since hunting uphill and packing out elk going downhill sounded better than the other way around.

On the ride over to our new spot we ran into our good friend Ty Faber who was up from Pagosa Springs filming a friends’ elk hunt in the area.  After swapping information about what we’d seen we continued down the road and set up another makeshift camp.  We all hunted close to camp that night and saw a few elk and heard a few bugles but there was nothing too exciting to report.  This lower county was filled with thick scrub oak and tons of bear scat.  Hunting through brush so thick you can only see a few yards ahead at anytime, and seeing piles of bear scat everywhere definitely put us on high alert.

The next morning we all went out on our own.  I decided to explore a little further to the north and see what I could find, and I ended up standing on the edge of a large drainage listening to about five different elk bugle.  I didn’t really want to drop down the near vertical sides but I hadn’t come this far to walk away from bugling elk.  Using the branches of the scrub oak as rappelling lines, down I went.  I made my way to the closest of the bugles.  The bull would sound off, I’d cow call back, and then I’d literally push my way through the brush, making all the noise of a full-grown elk.  I finally made it to within 15 yards of the bull but the hillside was so choked full of scrub oak all I could see was an aspen swaying that he was raking his antlers against and bits and pieces of brown.  I finally saw a little opening where the scrub oak started to open into aspens and tried making my way.  But for whatever reason he knew something wasn’t right and started heading out the same direction.  When I hit the opening he was a good 50 yards ahead of me and running, he was a good bull but was already too far off for any kind of shot.  I thought I might be able to stick with him and make something happen.  So down the hillside I went, both hanging on and sliding at the same time all the way to the bottom.  Covered in sweat and without the ball cap I had on at the start of the chase I decided the bull won that battle.  It was a tough hike back up to the top.

I forgot to mention that most of the areas we ended up hunting were physically punishing to say the least.  The unit starts off the “divide road” which runs along the top of the Uncompadre Plateau.   But as soon as you step foot off the top of the plateau you’re into some grueling terrain.  Our buddy Tim hasn’t hunted with us in years and hasn’t been elk hunting period in almost 20 years and I think with Drew and myself constantly dropping into every canyon we could find caught him a little off guard.  By the end of the weekend he had nicknamed us the Billygoat Brothers and took to calling me Maaaatt.

Even though I’d had an exciting morning, overall everyone wasn’t very impressed.  One of the guys from my archery club had told me about another “hot spot” so we picked up camp again and moved another 20 miles to the south.  As soon as we arrived an afternoon thunder shower rolled through so we took a quick nap in the cabs of our pickups.  After the storm cleared we decided we had pretty good sneaking weather, so we each headed out to see what we could find in this new country.  No more than 30 minutes into my afternoon hunt I walked right up on a nice 5×5 bull.  I’d like to say “snuck up” but I’m really not that sneaky and just got lucky with perfect stalking conditions.  This is a situation I’d normally be ecstatic to find myself in, perfect wind, animal calmly grazing with no idea I’m there.  However this was a tag I’d waited ten years on and didn’t want the hunt to end this early.  With all my willpower I decided to let this bull walk.

After making the decision I thought I should try to get some good pictures since he was in such close range.  And after fumbling with my camera for a few minutes I heard some branches cracking and some cow calls coming from the direction the bull had just came.  Thinking this might not be the best time to be screwing around with my camera I put it back in my pocket.  Just then a MONSTER of an elk stepped out of the trees, I couldn’t believe the size of this thing, his body seemed twice the size of the bull I had just let pass.  I couldn’t believe my good fortune, everything was perfect and I had a monster bull only 30 yards away, calmly feeding towards me.  But as so often happens when bowhunting, things didn’t quite turn out as I’d hoped.  I may have been able to take several shots but I didn’t want to force a shot just because this was a huge bull.  I wanted to do it right.   I thought he’d follow the same path his little buddy had just taken but of course he picked another path through the trees and never presented an ethical shot.  That one haunted me for a couple days and will likely haunt me for quite some time to come.  But it’s one of those experiences that will forever be etched in my memory and an encounter only hunting with a bow at close range can produce.  He was a tremendous bull.

Our final day resulted in a few more close encounters but no dead elk.  I did happen to walk blindly into a flock of turkeys and somehow managed to get off a shot.  At least if nothing else came of this weekend, I had finally defeated my nemeses species!!

Finally...

The Final Chapter

From the start of our planning back in early June the “real” trip was scheduled to begin the third week of September and we planned on hunting the entire week.  We’ve found this to be the most productive time to be in the elk woods.  The rut is usually in full swing and the elk are  most vulnerable.  An unfortunate turn of events left me camera-less for this trip, and everyone knows I rely heavily on pictures to fill up the blank space on the blog.  Luckily everyone but me had their cameras.

This trip started with Drew, Big Ron, another buddy Kyle who hopes to draw the same license next year and myself.  Tim planned on meeting us in camp a few days later.  On Saturday BR and myself headed one direction and Drew and Kyle headed another.  As a side note, my elk hunting journal was somewhat incomplete during this week due to the nonstop action.  Right outside camp BR and myself called in two 5×5’s.  I was calling and BR was the designated shooter.  Very seldom do our calling setups work out how they’re suppose to, so to call in two bulls in one setup was a great sign.  BR says he saw the first bull and started to get into position but was busted by the second bull at 30 yards, claiming this bull snuck in without ever making a sound.  However I have to question this statement since he only heard one bugle for every 20 the rest of us heard.  The rest of the day was pretty slow.

When we got back to camp that night it sounded like Drew and Kyle were into lots of elk, I know Drew passed several bulls, as he was holding out for a bigger one as well.  BR and I decided that the next day we would load up our bivy gear and planed on staying out for a couple days.  When the alarm clocks rang the next morning we loaded into the truck and drove to the end of our camp road, which would be our jumping off spot.  As we were pulling out packs and bows he heard a couple bugles not far from the truck.  I looked at BR and asked if he would stay back and bugle, hopefully, keeping the other elk talking and I would try to sneak in for a shot.  So without ever putting on my pack, off I went sprinting towards the bugles.  The wind was almost perfect and I needed to only slightly hook around to where the bugles were coming from in order to get the wind right.  Within a quarter mile I was right on top the elk.

What we didn’t know from the truck was that a satellites bull had been harassing the herd bull.  Satellites are lesser bulls than constantly “orbit” the heard hoping to sneak in to breed a cow when the herd bull is otherwise preoccupied.  It’s pretty cool to be standing 40 yards from all of this watching it play out.   High definition TV and Dolby Surround sound doesn’t have anything on the real deal.

I could hear the satellite raking a tree with his antlers and see some of the cows that were with the herd bull.  When the satellite bugled the herd bull stepped out and screamed back at the challenger.  I thought he’d run the other bull off but he didn’t want to leave his cows.  I was bummed because I had a great shooting lane if that scenario played out.  After staring at the challenger for a couple minutes he ran back to his cows.  I decided I needed to get in closer and push the situation but I got a little too aggressive making my way towards the herd and a cow busted me. She spun and took off, taking the rest of the cows with her.  The bull didn’t know what had scared them and I believe he thought it was the satellite, but for whatever reason he hesitated a little too long.  I came to full draw and tried to find a shooting lane.  I moved left to right, up and down, making sure I’d clear all the branches in my way.   When I had a clear path I sent my arrow sailing.

At the shot, I lost track of my arrow in flight and only heard a loud CRACK.  I’d thought for sure I’d hit a tree and was already hanging my head.  The satellite was still bugling less than 50 yards away and for a brief moment I thought about heading his direction.  Knowing that wasn’t the right thing to do, I decided to go dig my arrow out of a tree.  When I approached the spot where the bull was last standing, looking at all the trees for my arrow, I noticed blood on the ground.  So I had hit the bull but I was unsure of where, never a good thing.  When archery hunting, even with a perfect hit, you should wait at least 30-45 minutes before tracking the animal.  With a marginal hit that time can be up to 6 hours or more.  I decided to back out and head back toward BR.  Right then I realized this all happened on the same trail we were planning on hiking that morning so I started making my way back but after only 50 yards I saw my bull piled up on the edge of the meadow.  The loud “crack” I’d heard was my arrow hitting the off shoulder of the bull after cleanly passing thru both lungs, a perfect shot.

Matt's Bull

BR knew something had happened when I came back without my bow.  We swapped out bivy gear for butchering gear and headed back to the spot the bull had fallen.  I told BR he should continue hunting and I’d take care of the elk, but he wouldn’t have it.  Elk were still bugling when we got back to the downed bull and BR tried sneaking in for a shot but the wind was wrong and the elk went crashing away.  We got to work on the bull and just as we were finishing up another bull bugled just off in the distance.  I told BR to grab his bow and I sat back and cow called.  The bull bugled again even closer this time.  After about 10 minutes BR returned shaking his head, saying he would have also filled his tag, if in the excitement he hadn’t put his release on backward.  Ouch!  We spent the better part of the morning taking care of my elk.

BR and I went back out later that afternoon and that’s when I found out exactly how much his hearing, or lack of, was affecting his hunting.  We decided to hunt the same area I’d shot my bull that morning since it seemed to be holding lots elk.  As expected we heard a bull bugling.  I was again the designated caller and hung back trailing BR by 50-60 yards.  We had a bull responding, I’d cow call, he bugle and we’d sneak in closer.  At one point I saw BR drop down on a knee and knock an arrow, I knew he’d seen something and we were getting close.  Since I was hanging back, my focus was on BR and I was trying to guess what he was seeing in the lead.  For whatever reason the herd decided to keep moving and the next bugle I heard was from further up ahead so we starting trying to sneak in close again.  The next time the bull bugled I could tell they moved up and around us to our right but at the bugle BR took off to the left!?  I thought maybe he knew something I didn’t but after a few minutes I realized what was happening and hurried to catch up to him.  With only decent hearing in one ear he’d thought the last bugle came from the exact opposite direction.  From then on we decided BR needed two guides, one to hang back and call and one right at his side letting him know which direction the bugle was coming from.

I spent the better part of the next day getting my meat down to a butcher in Montrose.  Then Kyle and I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing which pretty much consisted of drinking whiskey, PBR’s and scoring my bull.  We did manage to prepare dinner (tenderloins, sautéed onions and jalapenos) for BR and Drew who were still out hunting.

Tuesday Drew and Kyle headed out to another area, the spot where we had camped over the Fourth of July weekend.  BR and I headed down to the end of our camp road where we’d been finding elk every time out.  We ended up finding some exactly where we’d expected to but they managed to move off ahead of us, as they had every time in this particular location.  The rest of the day was slow, at least until Drew and Kyle showed up later that night with the MONSTER bull Drew had shot.

Drew's Bull

From the story they told it sounded like their setup worked out perfect, locating the bull with their very first bugle.  Drew was able to sneak around and come at the bull from another direction while Kyle hung back and called again, which enticed the big bull to walk right out in front of Drew with a perfect 20 yard broadside shot.  There was much celebration that night in camp.

Campfire Celebration

Wednesday morning Kyle had to head back home and Tim had arrived in camp late in the day Tuesday.  Drew and I spent the next few days “guiding” for Tim and BR, we were into lots of elk, with many close calls and a few missed shots.  You could tell who missed the most shots at the end of the day when Drew and I would try to trade our “clients” to the other “guide” for someone who hadn’t missed.  Even though we joked about the close calls and misses, we were still into elk like none of us had ever been before.  If you blew an encounter you only had to travel a short distance before the next.  It was unreal.

We’d decided that we would hunt Saturday morning until noon then call it a trip and start packing up camp.  We were optimistic at first since we’d heard more bugles Friday than any other day so far.  We’d also called in several bulls Friday, so we thought the rut was in full swing, but when Saturday arrived it was like someone had turned the switch off.  We maybe heard one or two bugles, where the day before they numbered in the hundreds.  Tim and I did manage to call in a cow to about 10 yards, which is always exciting.  But it was starting to look like that might be the end of the trip with no more tags filled.  But then we got a call on the radio that BR had shot a bull, we were PUMPED!  With that bull on the ground that made two consecutive years that the Dworak boys all filled tags.  With the statewide bowhunter success rate hovering right around 10%, two years at 100% is something to get excited about.  We were hoping to have a trifecta party back in Denver that night but by the time we took care of BR’s elk, broke down camp, picked up meat from the processor and made a visit to the taxidermist (for a trifecta picture) it was about 11:00pm by the time we rolled into Denver.

Dworak Trifecta

In all the excitement of having a third bull on the ground I only got parts and pieces of the story of BR’s bull.  But I did hear that Drew and BR were working a bull with cows when BR heard another bugle coming from another direction.  Drew didn’t hear this bugle and saw BR heading off in the opposite direction, he’d heard the story from a couple nights before and figured BR was once again hearing things.  But as fate would have it BR actually heard the bugle coming from the right location and was able to get into position for a shot.  During the trip we were having fun giving him a hard time about his faulty hearing, mainly because he couldn’t hear us!  But in the end he pulled through like an old pro.

Big Ron's Bull

It was definitely a trip none of us will soon forget.

I know this is already a long read but we did find a few interesting things while wandering through the woods.

Claw marks

Bear claw marks on the aspen tree.  We found quite a few of these up there.

Fat Fred's Grave

We found this grave while hiking on one of the many trails in the area.  We didn’t know if Fat Fred was a person, horse, dog??  I tried doing a little research and believe Fat Fred was a biker.  They now hold an annual Labor Day motorcycle race in the valley below his grave in is his honor.

Forest Fire

This forest fire was caused by a lighting strike while we were hunting opening weekend.  The fire ended up burning several hundred acres.  We were hunting about 20 miles south while it was burning but the actual fire was essentially right where we’d camped over the Fourth.

By now some of you may have heard about the “incident” with our chicks, may they rest in peace.  Due to a breakdown in communication the dogs were allowed in the chicken run unsupervised, which resulted in crime scene of sorts.  We knew we were facing a steep learning curve, going from city slickers to chicken farmers, we just weren’t expecting catastrophic failure so early into our new venture.

Not to be deterred by our little setback, we’ve restocked our flock.  This time we elected to go with mature (14-24 month old) birds and have two different varieties.  Three – Barred Rocks (white with black stripping) and three- Red Sex-links, which are a cross between a Rhode Island Red and a White Leghorn (who knew there were so many breeds of chickens?).  Some of the qualities we were looking for were:  good layers, docile, bears confinement well and can handle our cold winters.

Before

After

We were able to build a pretty decent coop (Wendy says it’s better than our house) with minimal investment (thanks to the Dworak’s Landscaping’s recycled materials program).  The birds will have close the 4 sq ft. per bird, they’ll share two-nest boxes, all the walls and roof are insulated with R-7 rigid insulation, the doors on the side open for easy cleaning and the front and sides are screened with hardware cloth for plenty of ventilation.  It’s even wired with 120 volt power for a wintertime heat lamp and water de-icer.  I also plan on converting the pop door (chicken door) to open and close at dawn and dusk via a photocell, but that’s another project and blog entry.

The finished product

The beauty of the mature birds is we already have a supply of fresh eggs.  We also don’t have to worry about the neighborhood cats, as the birds are too big for the cats to bother with.

Fresh Eggs

We gathered five fresh eggs today and we’re pretty excited about that kind of production.  We also think it will be great for the boys, actually knowing where eggs come from.

Store bought vs. backyard

The eggs are brown and light brown (white ones in the back are from the store), we haven’t figured out which breed is laying which egg.  The lighter brown eggs are about the same size as the store bought eggs and the dark brown eggs are jumbo sized.  I also picked a couple fresh peppers from the garden tonight, looks like we’ll be having a couple fresh omlets for breakfast tomorrow.

Hopefully we won’t have any more “incidents” to report.

Barrett & the ladies

Beau trying to smile for the camera

It’s official, we’ve incorporated chickens into our backyard farm. Three Rhode Island Reds and three Ameraucana’s.

They’ll be two weeks old on Wednesday and will be living in a box in the basement for the next couple weeks.   In the meantime, we’ll have to figure out where the coop is going. We’re hoping to be eating fresh omelets in about six months.

The garden is also coming in nicely. We doubled the size this year and are up to about 400 sq. ft. We’ve got cucumbers, beans, potatoes, onions (red), garlic, tomatoes, peppers, peas and carrots.

Turkeys 6 – Matt 0

I just returned from yet another unsuccessful turkey hunting trip to Nebraska.  I’ve been making this pilgrimage now for more years than I care to admit (ok about six).  In that time I’ve introduced multiple guys to the sport who now successfully harvest birds year after year.  To make matters worse they’ve started giving me pointers trying to help me get my bird.  That only makes it all the more discouraging.  I guess I’ll continue to call turkeys my nemesis species.

I wasn’t going to document this trip because I hate to admit defeat.  And even though I’ll once again be eating tag soup this trip was well worth making.  I was thinking over the weekend about all the guys who say it’s not about killing an animal but everything that goes along with it.  And while I certainly agree that I hunt for many more reasons than simply killing an animal, I’ve decided the guys who make this statement might just be making an excuse for an unsuccessful hunt.  Because, lets face it, if you didn’t get anything it’s really just camping.

I think the real inspiration for this post was the following pictures.  Wendy happened to find these on the computer when looking for pictures of the boys and said she was laughing so hard she couldn’t believe I didn’t hear her from down in the basement.  When sitting in a turkey blind the main objective is to stay hidden in the shadows of the blind.  That means black clothes, hat, jacket, bow, the more you look like a ninja the better.  So I was trying to black out my face with camo face paint and was using the digital camera to check my coverage.  Did I need to check the coverage with the camera?  Probably not, but when you spend, oh about from 4:30am until about 8:00pm sitting in a confined space, you tend to dream up things to pass the time.

Even though I’m starting to despise turkey hunting I do truly enjoy “camping” in the spring.  I’d encourage everyone to make a point of getting out this time of year.  In the early mornings the woods are absolutely alive with all the sounds of spring, it really is an amazing time of year.  As a consolation to not bringing home any turkey dinner for the family, I was lucky enough to find some morel mushrooms.  Maybe next year I’ll be eating wild turkey with fresh morel mushrooms.  I’ll keep you posted.

We just got back from visiting Wendy’s family in Ohio and had a great time. Although, I have now decided to call it the “Seattle of the mid-west” since gloomy skies and rainy weather have pretty much been the norm every time I’ve been there. Well, maybe one trip was sunny?

The B's

It was nice to see the family and Beau had a great time playing with his cousins, Ben & Luke. They’re six and seven and played pretty well with Beau. I couldn’t believe the patience they had when it came to playing with the little guys. We had a great Easter egg hunt on Sunday, you forget how much fun little kids have looking for eggs.

We also had the pleasure of using Jake and Marylou’s summer cabin in Kent Ohio. Their place is located on Brady lake. So we had access to fishing gear, boats, docks and all the comforts of home. I was hoping the bluegills would be biting, thinking that would be perfect for Beau but the weather didn’t cooperate. He probably had more fun throwing rocks off the dock anyway.

Beau & Barrett

Fishing at Brady Lake

The one thing I’ve decided I love about the Cleavland area is their vast system of metro parks. The parks follow the major river valleys thru Cleavland the the surrounding area and are filled with running trails, lakes, rivers, nature trails. All free for anyone to use.

Nature trail thru the Metro Parks

Drew, Zack, Trent, Big Ron & myself made approx. 135 lbs. of sausage last weekend.   Everything from summer sausage, brats, polish and various Italian (hot and sweet).

Big Ron doing some prep work

We tried adding fresh ingredients (jalapenos, garlic, onion and cheddar cheese) to the summer sausage this year and were really pleased with results.  This was our first attempt at making bratwurst and it tuned out pretty good.  We’ll be adding some extras to this as well next year, I’m thinking some jalapenos and cheddar or maybe a little Havarti?  Hello high cholesterol!

Zack working on the brat assembly line

Uncle Dan was kind enough to loan us his smoker again this year, which worked great!  That thing is a beast.

Dan's Smoker

I love to  watch the neighbors check us out of sausage day.  Driving by real slow, heads turned all the way around.  Actually most of them have seen us in action since this was year three, they’re pretty much use to me during something unusual.

I decided at 2 ½ years Beau was old enough to go deer hunting. Actually it may have had more to do with giving mom a break, either way. This is the third year we’ve been deer hunting in western Nebraska. And since the Klepper’s have a cozy cabin out there it seemed like a trip I could take Beau on without too much trouble. This year it would be Drew, Big Ron, Ramon, Beau and myself.  Ramon operates a small landscape company in Denver and works with Drew and Big Ron on occasion.

Since keeping tabs on Beau is a full time job I elected not to hunt and was just looking forward to getting out of house for a weekend. I figured it would be good for Beau to go play outside at the lake and hang out with the boys. We lucked out and had gorgeous weather, especially for mid November. Friday afternoon we meet Drew in Fort Morgan and carpooled out together. He bribed Beau with some candy and we had a nice ride.

Friday night we ate posole that Ramon had brought. This may be my new favorite dish. It’s a Spanish soup with pork, hominy, chili powder garnished with fresh onion, cabbage, lime and hot sauce. Something about the chili sauce and lime give it a flavor all to its own. Before leaving I asked Ramon for the recipe and the first ingredient he listed was pigs feet. I quit paying attention at that point because while the pigs feet didn’t bother me I knew Wendy wouldn’t cook or eat pigs feet. I did have an epiphany at home that we could use a pork shoulder instead of pigs feet. So we tried making it and it turned out great. Not quite as good as Ramon’s but still pretty good.

After dinner we all relaxed around the TV and watched Beau’s favorite movie, Cars. It’s probably the only time in the history of hunting camps that all the grown men are sitting around watching a Disney movie.

Ramon and Big Ron had shot their deer Thursday evening. Big Ron shot a 2-point and Ramon shot a doe. So the three of us spent Saturday afternoon butchering the deer. While we were butchering Beau did discover one of Big Dan’s rat traps he had set outside the cabin. I had just turned the corner when I heard a snap, followed by a loud scream from Beau. I ran over to find him crying with his hand sticking out and a rattrap dangling off his little finger. I quickly pulled it off and diverted his attention by running him to the swing set, which seemed to ease his pain. Luckily it didn’t do any damage other than give him a good scare. He still mentions something about the cabin and mousetrap; apparently in his mind they’re one in the same. Drew spent all day hunting with no luck.

Sunday morning Drew went back out but still didn’t have any luck. We all walked out to the woods to set up Dan’s new ladder stand. Overall we had a great trip. Beau seems to be on his best behavior when he gets to a new environment, at least for the first couple days. So I really lucked out and had good trip with Beau, not the usual terrible two’s we sometime endure around the house.

I’m looking forward to making this trip an annual tradition. I just can’t wait until both boys are old enough to go!

This weekend we made the yearly pilgrimage up the hill for the our freshly cut Christmas tree. I suppose we’ve been doing this for about four years now and it’s become one of our few family traditions.

Only you can prevent Forest Fires

We first started going because we were lured by the thought of super sized $10 trees. We learned pretty quick that by the time you factor in $40 bucks worth of gas and a half days effort, it’s best not to do it for economic reasons. This year the McGuire’s joined us so Beau was happy his friend Reuben was going to the mountains with us.

The McGuire's

The snow was pretty deep for the little guys but we all still had a great time and with all the snow Beau got to do a little sledding.

Mom pulling the sled

Well by now the doors have actually been open for a while but I still wanted to get something on here to mark the occasion.  Thanks to all those who came out to celebrate this momentous day with us, it’s great to know we’ve got such great family and friends.  Either that or we hang out with folks that just like to party??

For those that haven’t heard Wendy has decided to start her own structural engineering firm, TD Structural Engineering.  The TD stands for Thomas-Dworak, Thomas being Wendy’s maiden name. For now she’s working out of the basement and we’ll likely continue with that arrangement for some time.  That was part of plan, she could work part-time from home and still take care of the kids.  In the future we may look at building an addition to the house for her office, or may look at some commercial space but for now we’re not trying to get too far ahead of ourselves.

Since she’s officially started, she’s almost been overwhelmed with work.  I’d say she’s off to a great start, especially considering our timing with the current economy.  So far we couldn’t be happier with the decision and look forward to the opportunities ahead.

Event Photos

Grandma got a new digital camera for her birthday and we tested it out taking a little video of Beau chowing some cupcake. As usual it’s pretty silly, not sure why he stuck it to the table then tried to lick it?