Joy Dare Day 6

Something in your Bag:  No man purse here but I do carry a backpack full of my hunting supplies.  My wife bought me a baclavia years ago.  Like an tube of cloth that you wear around your neck and can even stretch over your ears.  It's amazing how warm that can keep you on a cold hunt

Something in your fridge:  Green Olives!  Jesus surely ate them and I love them!


Something in your Heat:  Joy.  Having all the kids home for Christmas, seeing God move in people's hearts yesterday, the manifold blessings I enjoy but do not deserve.

Something You're Reading:  The Richest Man in Babylon


Something You're Making:  A commitment to eat healthier & to exercise 3x a week

Something You're Seeing:  God moving in People's hearts today in Church.

Joy Dare Day 2

A Gift Outside, Inside & On a plate:

A Gift Outside:  The smell of autumn leaves with the caress of coolness on the breeze...dressed in blaze orange, in a tree stand praying for a deer to walk by

A Gift Inside:  Sitting by a warm fire in my living room with a hot cup of black coffee & God's word in my hand

A Gift on a Plate:  Beth's Chili - especially last night's.  Nothing like a bean saturated, venison infused, sour cream adorned bowl of Beth's Chili.  When the Lord created the white tail deer - He had a bowl of chili in mind

The Joy Dare...Day 1

3 Gifts Heard...

1:  Emma Grace, "Dad, its monin' time" - best alarm in the universe,

2:   Ken Davis talking about kids and Sunday mornings - laughter is chocolate to the soul,

3:   Matt Redman's 10,000 reasons - I was made for Worship!

http://www.aholyexperience.com/joy-dares/
Join the daily Joy Dare and enjoy 1,000 gifts by the year's end

Cat Theology

Well, this blog has been abandoned...or so it would seem.  It's a new year & a new day and I'm making some new plans.  "His mercies are NEW every morning".  

So here's some of my plans.  I'm going to live joyful this year - no excuses.  Looking at the blatant positives with thanksgiving & digging out the gold of dark days.

Let's start with Ellie's cats.  I have never been a cat person. I've never made that a secret.  However, I am an Ellie person and she's a cat person therefore - you can finish this conditional syllogism (thanks to Jim Nance's introductory logic).  I have come to not only tolerate but enjoy these two familial felines - Rory & Rose (apparently named from the Dr. Who tv show).  They are brother and sister and Ellie got them while I was in Brazil this summer.  Did I mention that Ellie is smart like her Momma?

They have been expensive, smelly & a pain - like having two nocturnal toddlers set loose in the house every night.

Rory lets us know when he wants to come in from the outside by hanging on the screen in the living room.  He's already ruined one of the screens and is working on the other.  It's like a cat version of Spider Man - splayed out on the living room screen.

The sad part is...he's got us trained.  They say that there's no training a cat but they are sure good at training us.

Rose is the feline version of Ellie.  She is private, aloof & tempermental.  Those aren't bad things...they just are things.  You have to take them both as you find them and love them right where they are no matter what.  She runs away from everyone...except Ellie.  If you do catch her and pet her, she immediately has to clean herself where ever you touched her.  Pity & offense are simultaneously felt by trying to love this cat.

Yet I've come to love these furry flea infested felines.  They think they are worth it and wonder why we don't do more for them.  There is no such thing as gratefulness with cats...just expectation.  Someone astutely noted that cats don't have owners, they have staff.

I've come to realize that i'm a lot more like a cat in my relationship with God. I have a bad case of Cat theology.  You take a dog off the street, bathe it, take it to the vet, feed it, give it a warm place to sleep and when it looks at you the dog thinks, "This guy must be God".  You do the exact same think with a cat and the cat thinks, "I must be God".

So here's to Cats!  

Anna's Big Buck

 Anna has been hunting hard for 2 years now with no fruit from her labors...until now

 On Nov. 15th she and Joseph (her future husband) went out hunting in the swamp to a place we call "way over there" because it is waaaaaaay over there through a nasty swamp.  Its nearly 2 miles of a muddy march to get there.  Of course Joseph just couldn't see Anna going through all that so he found a subdivision that bordered the 'way over there' property and got permission from a homeowner to park there making 'way over there' not nearly so far.

Joseph bought Anna a ruger 770 223 stainless steel rifle.  He then bought a laminated thumb hole stock and a leupold scope.  He then hand loaded some nosler partition rounds.  Due to a severe arm break several years ago, Anna's wrist is not able to twist side to side which is called supination.  That's why Joseph got the thumb hole stock.  She is very comfortable with it.
After sitting down by a tree for an hour, Joseph noticed movement.  A big 10 pt buck was making his way towards them.  He may have winded them because he stopped for several minutes.  He stepped out and Anna put the shot right on his shoulder.
I don't know who was more excited - Anna or Joseph.
The interesting thing is that Joseph took his first deer on that same date nine years earlier.
I sat in the very same spot when I took my two bucks just 15 days later.
We love 'Way over there'!

best hunt ever

 I went hunting this morning after a prolonged absence from the deer woods.  Just figured it would be a good day to watch the sun come up with my future son in law Joseph.  I got to the tree where on November the 15th Anna harvested her first deer - a beautiful 10 point buck (I'll post on that soon - pics and all)

 I got to the tree at 7:28 a.m.  sat down and immediately saw a deer.  I saw a tail through some trees.  I couldn't make it out at all through my scope.  I decided to stand up so I could maneuver better.  It helped in that I could now see the deer but no ethical shot was possible.  Just then I caught movement off to my right.

 On the ridge above the hollow I was in stood the biggest buck I've ever seen!  He was watching me and the does in the thick stuff.  I slowly shifted my rifle to him.  The only clear shot I had was at the base of his neck.  Seeing that he was above me I figured it would find the vitals.

 I went into auto pilot, squeezed the trigger and watched a show of a lifetime.  He jumped straight up about 6 feet.  whirled around then did what looked like cartwheels until he lay still less than 30 yards from where I shot him.

 I texted Joseph to come see this buck.  When I got up to him the first thing I saw was his huge body.  245 pounds which is way above average for Georgia.  His neck was HUGE - swollen in the rut.  What an amazing animal.  He was obviously the dominate buck in the area. 

 Just then I heard a buck grunt close and loud.  I figured it was Joseph alerting me that he was fixing to come over the ridge.  I looked up and was amazed to see a tall 9 point buck looking for the does that my buck was trailing.  I raised my rifle and he turned to leave.  One grunt stopped him and my 270 did the rest - right through the shoulders.  I saw him run away and found good blood.

 Joseph then appeared over the east ridge.  He marveled at the 12 on the ground.  Joseph is pretty even keeled but seeing a big deer on the ground lights his fire.  I love that this young man is as happy for me as he would have been if he had shot it.

 I then told him about the other buck.  "No way" was his response.  "Yup - I put my hat on the limb over first blood." I replied.
We found him just 30 yards from where I shot him.  I was still numb.  Did this really happen?  Am I gonna wake up from this dream disappointed?
We were both in shock.

 Joseph informed me that Anna's buck taken 2 weeks ago was the biggest taken on that property.  These bucks were even bigger.

"Lord, I don't deserve this but thank you for such an 'over the top' blessing" was my prayer. 
What a day!  Two wall hangers in 5 minutes!