Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from our home to yours!
We are getting ready for my parents that are heading here from Iowa, and Tom, Caitie, and Cullen coming from Pierre! We wish everyone a wonderful day with family and friends!

The Buck Stops Here--Uncle Tim's 2008 Harding County Mule Deer Hunt

Here is my Uncle Tim, Nathan, and I along with his pig of a mule deer that he shot on Tuesday November 18th, the first day he hunted on the Painter Ranch! Uncle Tim & Mom got here Monday the 17th around 2:00 and early Tuesday morning Nathan and Tim got up to go hunt. Nathan got pretty frustrated with himself, knowing that there were some nice deer at the area they hunted, and didn't see anything. SO, Nathan got back to the house around noon to take Mom and I to Spearfish for our Dr. appt and Uncle Tim went right back out to hunt. The weather was amazing yesterday, with 75 degree temps in Spearfish, and a nice warm wind that eventually put Uncle Tim to sleep for a bit!

The so called fairytale continues...and after Tim wakes up around 200 head of deer are in sight, and all of a sudden, here stands mr. mule deer. Keep in mind, his rifle is a few yds away from him, and not yet loaded! So after he gets his rifle, and gets loaded, this deer is standing 200 yds from him. He said that the white on his face and neck stood out, and then he saw the nice rack on the big guy!

Here's a peek at the nice rack in the back of the pickup! Anyway, I guess when Tim shot, which he put a nice shot on this buck, he kicked out his back legs, his rack went right into the ground, causing him to flip over and tumble down a draw. He could've went a lot farther than he did, but to drag this deer out was a job in itself. While all of this was going on, we were in Spearfish. The dr was running late, go figure, and we had a lot of groceries and things to get at Walmart, along with eating supper, so Mom decided to call Uncle Tim to check in. So she called, and started explaining that it was going to be awhile, and all of a sudden says, "Oh..just wait..here..talk to Nathan" Mom played it off real well, I must say! So, the expression on Nathan's face was priceless when Uncle Tim told him that he had a nice buck to get pulled out! We got worried right away about coyotes getting to it, called Painters to see if we could drive out to retrieve the deer, and then continued on a fast and furious Walmart trip! After Walmart, we flew home to get back by 9:00, got all bundled up, and jumped on two fourwheelers. Uncle Tim and Mom on one, and Nathan and I on the other. We went through plenty of mud, snow, puddles, and prairie, and finally got to where we wanted to be! After shutting the fourwheelers off, turning flashlights on, and hearing coyotes yipping, I was ready to go...BUT...I sucked it up, enjoyed the moment under the millions of stars, and was so excited to see the buck when they found him! We had a haul ahead of us, but we made it! We got the buck in the barn, fourwheelers put away, and got into the house at 5 to Midnight! All of us jetted to our beds, it had been a BIG and exciting day!

Today we went out to get the deer cleaned up to take some pictures! It started snowing a little bit, and the air was a chilly 30 degrees, a huge difference from the day before!! Mom has learned quite a bit this trip, and even watched the guys skin the deer! I was pretty proud of her, she was a trooper!

Here's the buck all hung up before they skinned him. Uncle Tim is a big guy, standing at 6'5 this buck dwarfs him!! He's waited 40 years to shoot a mule deer, and now he's done it! The smiles on everyone's faces, and the story of the Harding County hunt are sure to be ones that last forever!

Yesterday was a great day, not only for the hunt and spring like weather, but for our doctor appt! The babe's heartbeat is at it's normal 160 beats/minute, my blood pressure is on track, and I lost 5 lbs! So, so far no weight gain, but I do have a little belly starting to show! We have our 20 week ultrasound on Monday December 15th! We go to the hospital for the ultrasound, which will be exciting, and then we'll have our normal checkup! Usually this would be when we would find out the sex of the baby, but since we're not, we're just excited to see the changes since the 9 week ultrasound, and to be at the halfway point!

We also want to say Congratulations to my Uncle Tim and his great hunt! It has been a fun, and memorable time so far, one that we'll never forget! Nice shot ;)

Shake Your Tail Feather

Look at those tail feathers! Measuring in at 26 inches! Our longest ones before were 22" and these make those look little! The girls were just begging to play with it!

Yesterday Nathan had the day off, and since the sun was out, the snow was melting, and the wind wasn't blowing too hard, we needed to get things done that were supposed to be done BEFORE the blizzard hit last week. I think we had a bit of cabin fever too, because the second we got outside, we wanted to hunt! haha.

We took a nice walk around the house with the girls. I took Jade with me, and Nathan took Libby. Nathan sent me down South of a tree belt to block with Jade, and boy did we have those birds figured out..finally! Now, if only I was watching a little better, I would've had a bird or two. Geez! It's always fun to watch the girls work, Jade did amazing yesterday.

After walking that tree belt, we walked along the sticky and muddy creek. Both girls worked really good, and enjoyed sliding all over the frozen creek bottom. We just stood back and laughed, they are so funny to watch. We thought since we were that far out, to go walk some more trees. I was getting tired at this point, the snow in spots was deep and that chilly wind was getting the best of me so I sent Nathan with the girls. Libby got birdy fast, and then Jade caught scent. All of a sudden little Libby almost has a rooster in her mouth, she is so quick and light on that snow, she had no problem finding the pheasant. I can't wait to get a camcorder, because it was so neat to watch from distance. Libby flushed it, or jumped on it, Nathan shot, and Jade retrieved, partially. We think that if not for Libby running out and trying to retrieve it with Jade, she would've brought it right to Nathan. Anyway, when Nathan held it up I screamed and cheered so loud because those tail feathers were so long, and the bird was big and beautiful! We called it a day and walked on home.

I wanted pictures, and we wanted to get the feathers measured. Well Jade had a different idea, that was HER bird, and no one was to touch it! We've never heard a dog growl and put her hair up over a bird! We finally had to get after her, because she was being so mean to Libby. Poor Libby just looked sad, and she was the one who flushed it!

So after pictures, and cleaning it, Nathan got the dummy out and put the wings on the dummy so the girls could retrieve. Since the days are so short, we played with the girls for awhile and then started getting things done. All in all, it was a fun few hours spent outside with the girlies! This morning we woke up LOTS of wind, and a dusting of snow.

On Sunday or Monday my mom and uncle Tim are coming up. Mom to visit, and Uncle Tim to hunt his rifle mule deer! Who knows, maybe we WILL get mom out there too..haha. On Sunday I am going to a Christmas Fair, and on Tuesday we have a doctors appt in Spearfish at 4:30. I am now 4 months pregnant, and everything is going good still! The newest thing is that my belly is starting to poke out a bit, which is making it more real every day. In 4 weeks we get to see the 20 week ultrasound, and even though we aren't finding out what we're having, a lot has changed since our 9 week ultrasound!

Hopefully everyone is keeping warm, seems like our Fall is done for now!

Let There Be Light!

Today around 2:30 we got our electricity back on!! On Wednesday, a blizzard decided to come through, bringing 70 & 80 mph winds with it. I must say, I was really doubting this storm would produce much, and that's the last time I do that! Around 8:00 Wednesday night, there went the lights. I figured, heck, we got through 10 days without power from the May blizzard, I can do this! But this time around it was a little colder out, with a lot more wind. Nathan pulled Painters generator out on Thursday morning, and we got the little space heater plugged in. I immediately put it on my feet and had a ton of blankets wrapped around me, I just couldn't get warm. We tried going to town yesterday so that I could get a warm shower, and since West River Deer unfortunately opens tomorrow, Nathan needed to get to his office to check messages, email, office stuff! Well, we made it to town after a long haul, just to get buried on the west side of the courthouse! How embarrassing, and a bad deal! Luckily, the county guys were out and pulled us out after Nathan had dug for 20 minutes! Needless to say, we went to Cenex to grab water, ice, gas, and skittles and headed home. It took about an hour to get home, and I honestly wanted to stay in the pickup! It was warmer and more cozy in there! haha.
So now onto today...Nathan went to work by 9, and I managed to boil enough water for a sink full of dishes to do. I read my book, all wrapped in my fleece blanket, with my long underwear and lots of layers on! I was never so happy to hear that furnace turn on!! Nathan had just gotten home to grab more warm and dry clothes, so that he could get a snowmobile since some rude, and dumb people who tried going up into the Slim Buttes got stranded. They wanted to get up there to hunt tomorrow, and were almost out of propane. I'm sorry, but if you're stupid enough to do that, you should find your own way out! What a way to start out the weekend, that's for sure!
We ended up with 10 inches of snow, which isn't much compared to the Hills, but the drifts around our house are insane! The girls are LOVING this snow! They run the drifts back and forth, acting like puppies, it's so cute!
That's the update for now! We survived, and the power is back!