Gawkers beware

Well, tomorrow is the first day of Elk season in the Cascades. I have 1 week to find one of those Gawkers I have been blogging about the last few months and put him in my freezer. I have done a little scouting to try to find where the Elk, Gawkers or Runners, have been hanging out. That way I would know a good place to start looking. All I have seen are other hunters doing the same thing. So after a week of looking, I still have no idea where the elk are or where to hunt for them. I know where some were about 2 months ago, but even a Gawker won't stand still in one place for that long! They tend to move around a lot.
Since the first weekend of October, it has been deer season. I have, to this point, failed to see a deer to shoot at. Today I was within about 20 feet or less of 2 deer, but the brush was so thick I could not see them even that close! They were apparently runners, because they took off like a flash and I heard them bouncing away for a while and never could get a peek at them. It did not matter anyway, because I did not have the rifle with me. I thought I might actually see a live animal if I left my gun in the truck. It almost worked!
Enough about deer. That season is over now, until after elk season, so lets talk about the bigger variety of Gawkers. I do have to shoot a bull this year, as I did not draw a cow tag. The last 2 years I have drawn cow tags and was successful both times. Bulls are a little harder to find.

I am not going to be greedy and wait for one with the big trophy size antlers, like the guy in this picture. Can you see him? I would be over joyed to find this during hunting season.

This would be the ultimate dream in a hunters life. Those are all bulls. The only problem is this pic was taken in April and hunting season is in October. Why can't they do this for me when its hunting season? So barring a scene like this, the first legal Gawker that steps in front of my sights is the one I am going to try to get. Remember, those horns don't taste very good. I just want to get more meat in the freezer. I have been praying that God would provide for us by helping me have a successful hunt and I would get an elk to fill the freezer for another year. But I know that even if I do not bag an elk, God will provide for us in some other way. He always does. (It should be obvious to anyone that has seen me that I don't miss too many meals or go hungry very often.) I will just enjoy the time I have hunting and if I am successful, Praise God. I just have to remember not to get frustrated when all I see are the hind ends of runners disappearing into a nasty brush hole. If you do not read anymore blogs about Gawkers in the next week, I did not get one. Otherwise, stayed tuned for a Gawker report. If you venture out into the woods in the next week or so, make sure to wear lots of orange and try not to look like an elk or deer! Theres a lot of crazies out there, and they all have big guns.

Finally, the earth moving is done!!

The earth moving is done at the Jayne house. (at least in the front yard) I got all the extra dirt moved out and smoothed out the rest. We had to haul off about 10 wheelbarrow loads to the neighbors back yard and I took about 5 loads to our back yard. (great more work!) It is not totally flat, but it is a vast improvement from what we had before. The best part is that all the grass coming up in the picture is coming up on its own. I have not put out any seed yet. I guess thats what happens when you get the dirt from a grass seed field. Now I just hope that the Oak trees and Oak leaves do not kill the grass. It was a fun project and a lot of work. The girls liked to try to help as much as they could and Brooke was able to come out a couple times and push the wheelbarrow around. This was a true family built project.

The other project I did this last summer was the railing on the front porch. I wanted to do something a little different than the normal everyday railing. So I borrowed an idea from a friend and modified it a little and this is what it became. I think it turned out good. What do you think?
Now I have to fix up the back yard. That will have to wait until next summer. I think I'll come up with some woodshop projects for the winter so I can stay dry and not muddy. That happens to me enough at work.

Digital Blues.

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Here is a nice picture of nothing. It was going to be a cool picture of some cool scenery I saw at work the other day. But my compact flash card decided to crash on me and all the pictures I took are gone forever. Digital is really nice. You can take a lot of pics and do not have to spend money on film. However, as I found out today, it does have a down side. Oh well, I will get a new card and get more pics.

Evolution??

Zippy lives here!(that what I named the spider that made this web)

The other day as I was driving out to a plantation to check on the baby trees, I saw a bunch of spiderwebs glistening in the morning sunlight, covered with drops of dew. I was just now looking at the pictures thinking about how intricately each one is made and wondering how the spider knows how to do that. If you believe in evolution, then the spiders ability to do this just evolved over millions of years through trial and error, and just happened by chance. My question is, what did the spiders eat for those millions of years it took for them to develop this ability and knowledge through evolution. It seems to me that they would not have been able to produce very many more spiders if they could not eat. Then, what would you think if one day you suddenly had sticky stringy stuff shooting out from your backside? That would kind of be a shock. Plus they would have had to develop, at the same time, the stuff that keeps them from sticking to their own web. Since this new ability just showed up, who teaches the spider what to do with this new found ability? What would make you think to trap food in something that suddenly started coming out of that area of your body? I do not know the probability of these two things happening by chance, but I am sure there is lots of zeros after the 1. Once you get to a certain number of zeros after the 1 it is considered a statistical impossibility. I am sure this would be past that point.

I named this spider Lazy. He was not home but apparently only wants to catch big bugs.
I like that God has put so much evidence for creation in creation. I personally believe that God created everything, just as the Bible says. He did it in 6 days and has He put man on earth to take care of it. There are so many examples in the animal world, like the spider thing I was thinking about, that if you think about it would remove any doubt that God created all things. They could just not happen by chance over millions of years, the animal, bug, bird, fish, whatever could not survive unless they are complete as they are today, from day one. Check out www.drdino.com if you want to study more info like this.
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God.......
End of story.

Are You Ready?

Are you ready for winter? I know it is only October, but I was driving around in snow today during my trek through the woods working. Here is a couple of pics I took to prove it.


At 2025 feet elevation there was snow mixed in the rain. At 3500 feet elevation, the pictures, it was all snow. Nice big fluffy flakes. It helped make a rather enjoyable day. I got to play in the snow(well at least drive around in it), went for a jog on a nature trail along the Santiam river to get a geocache, saw some deer,(one might have been a buck, but I did not get a clear enough look to be sure enough to shoot), and did not have to stare at a computer screen all day. Who cares that it was raining the rest of the day, I got to be outside enjoying Gods creation.
The deer I saw must have been some genetically mixed up ones. They looked confused and did not know if they wanted to run or stop to gawk. So they ran a little and gawked a little. Unfortunately they did not stop and gawk in the right spots for me to confirm the antlers I needed to see in order to throw some lead at them. I think they are a little heavier on the runner side of the gene pool so they stayed in the protected areas. Maybe I'll be able to find a true gawker later this weekend.