6 in the Sticks

Jackson is back. He had a great time at Grandma & Grandpa Flom's. Time flew by even though we were missing him.

Ashley headed off to camp for a week this morning. I hope she has a good time. Looking forward to hearing all about it when she is home.

Jeromy and I have been doing more fishing this year. Wish I could say we've caught a lot more fish but it just hasn't been in the cards I guess. Last Thursday Jeromy and I went out fishing without the kids. That doesn't happen much anymore, it was nice. My mood was just kind of numb after hearing about the 35w bridge, disaster in my home town. Absolutely sick thinking about all of the people that were involved in that whole deal. And remembering the thousands of times I have been stopped in traffic, or just crossing the bridge. I found myself checking the internet ten times more a day, and catching every bit of news on television for updates on people and the situation, and being on the phone quite a bit to make sure all of my family and friends were accounted for. So very sad. So, with all of that said,it did a great deal for me to go out near sunset and enjoy fishing alone with my husband. He even let me drive the boat for a change. Which for him is pretty special as he has kind of taken over manning the boat and grilling ever since we've been together. A guy thing I guess. It works though, less for me to worry about.

Today we are going to grind some meat, and can pickles. Hopefully this years batch will stay sealed vey tight! I hope nobody had a chance to eat any pickles from the jars from last year that didn't seal all of the way, sorry if you did. Please don't sue.

This is a link I got from my dad that has pictures from the bidge site.
http://www.conphoto.net/collapse.html

I found these pictures on my camera this morning. Looks like Ashley and Charly were having fun last week. Hope she's having a good time at camp. What a goofball.

Last Wednesday the news announced that Fisher Price has recalled quite a few toys that were made in China. The toys were made with lead paint. I know, weird how that in this day in age it can still happen. Ashley said, "China's trying to kill us." Again, she's a goofball.

Anyway, you can log onto toysrus.com and click on recalled toys to see if you have any of the items. Charly had the Dora the explorer vamanos van. She hasn't noticed that it is missing yet. The Dora doll that came with it had some chipped paint on her head so hoping it is no big deal. There was a lot of infant items like car seats, and etc. in addition to the popular Sesame Street and Dora/Diego toys.

Just thought I'd pass it on.

I ran across this shot from last week and thought I should've added this one with the others. Better late than never.
I bet Ashley is meeting all kinds of new friends at camp, especially if she looks like this!

Jackson and Charly had a pretend camp the other day. They were so cute to watch, as long as
they thought I wasn't watching. Jackson was so big into making sure his tent was just right. Charly packed a grocery cart full of pretend food and her sleeping bag. They both came to me and asked for marshmellows to roast, so off they went, marshmellows and peanuts. Then they went off hunting and came back to their camp and roasted some crackers.

Jessica and Eddy came by for a couple of minutes to say hi. And my absent minded self didn't think to go grab the camera. AGAIN. I am so terrible with that. It's so funny, when you start having kids you tend to grab the camera for every little thing, in my case I had a camcorder running a lot. By kid four, it's like, "Look at that. Isn't that cute." A while later..."Oh shoot, I should've taken a picture." I think I'll just have to invade Jessica and Eddy and invite myself over and just take pictures the whole time I'm there. It won't hurt them, maybe annoy them, they'll get over it.

Jessica starts school the end of August. Since she is on the honor roll, she is able to attend classes at the college and recieve college credits as well as high school credits. However she is able to walk with the rest of the seniors on graduation day spring 2008. I am still wondering where time has gone. I can't believe she will be turning 18 in a matter of weeks. Even though she's growing up, some things NEVER change. Like the fact she was already telling me what she wants for a cake this year, by July. Every year, the kids get to choose what they want for their birthday cake. Whether it be flavor of cake and ice cream, a treatsa pizza, pochahontus theme, whatever they want. Last year Jessica wanted a pinneapple sliced up to look like a cake. She got it. This year it's chocolate dipped strawberries, so as long as strawberries are still plentiful at the grocery store, she'll get it.

But she'll have to wait in line as her little brother has a birthday six days before her! I think Jackson is staying with his choice of a blue cake. Blue is his favorite color. He loves blue. He wanted blue walls in his room, blue cammo, blue everything. We went to get paint for his room and he had chosen blue,and then at the last minute he said green. Which I was happy because that's what color I kind of wanted, thought it would go better with blue cammo curtains, bedding, and lamp. And the funny thing is, I think it's basically the same color he already has on three walls.

Well, time for me to go bang my head against a wall, the president is about to speak. I'm tossed between packing my family up and moving to Canada in fear of having my country ran by such a moron, and then we stuck it out this long so I might as well suck it up, laugh as he mispronounces half of the speach someone else wrote for him, and really bust a gut when a reporter throws him with questions and he's on the spot to think of an answer all by his little self. Looking forward to election day and hoping that more than the 60% of americans vote for pres. God help us.

We are going to have Emily & John's "boyzes" for the weekend. We are looking so forward to it. We have never had all three. I think the last time they were here we took one at a time and if memory serves me correct, it is long past Holden's turn. And I think that was even before Harrison was born! Way too long.

Looking forward to posting fun memories and pictures later.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Oh yeah, my baby bradah (brother) is up for the weekend. Good birth control reality check weekend! Haha just joking! Well, maybe not when it comes to our little ones anyway.....

And another thing, Ashley came home from camp yesterday. She had a blast! I am so happy we sent her. She met a lot of new cool kids and was very happy she went.

Ahhhhhh, sweet brotherly love!

Your kid's slip-n-slide consisted of bear baiting tarps and old livingroom carpeting nailed to the half mowed backyard!

We have been having such a good time having Holden, Leslie, & Harrison up this weekend. Yesterday everybody had to wait to go fishing until Ashley and I came home from work. I was wondering how Jeromy was going to manage while I was gone, but was releived knowing Brian was here to help as well. I came home from work around 1pm and when I first came out of the car, I couldn't see one single person and then I finally heard kids screaming and laughing from the back yard. Jeromy greeted me at the door, "Come look at this honey!" As I stepped out into the back yard, I see two tarps, our old carpeting nailed to the ground, sprinkler at the top of the hill, and Charly running over, plopping herself down and sliding pretty fast down the hill as the other boys ran back up. It was so funny! Brian stood guard in front of the fire pit to make sure they wouldn't hit any rocks or trees. The carpet was put at the end as well to "break the speed", as Jeromy told me. He would know as he had to try it out!

After a small collision, we decided it was time to dry off and have lunch. Fearless Charly had to go two more times though. Here are the pictures, but I have to tell you, they do not give the real deal any justice what so ever!

Later we took the kids for a ride in the woods and checked out how a few of our old bear sites were doing as we will start baiting next weekend. The Law boys were such troopers checking that stuff out. I walked behind Harrison as he wacked all of the brush with a big stick. I LOVE the way he talks. He melts your heart just by telling you stuff. I told him how he was doing such a great job looking out for rocks and smacking the brush and then he threw the stick hard into the woods and said, " I know. When I grow up, I'm going to live in the woods. All by myself!" He is just so darn cute!

After that, Ashley and Holden went to Ely and saw the movie Hairspray. They said it was good. Holden said he liked it, and it was funny. While they were at the movies, Brian, Jeromy, and the rest of the gang went fishing from the dock at the far public access. Leslie caught a perch, and Harrison caught a sunfish.

We all came home, had homemade pizzas and I think everyone pretty much passed out. Jeromy was going to wake up early and take Holden and Leslie fishing. A quarter to 7am this morning I woke up, saw daylight, rolled over to see Jeromy STILL SLEEPING! I think without talking to his mom, or college buddies, this might actually be the first time in his lifetime, he was just too tired to wake up and go fishing! I nudged him and said, "What's wrong with you?" He must have been worn out from playing with the kids. Anyway, Holden, Leslie, and Jeromy are out on the lake now. So, hopefully they'll come back with a lot of fish and I can take more pictures.

Well, the guys came home and didn't have any fish with them. Better luck next time.

These shots were from yesterday immediately following the first time sliding down the hill. The kids were pretty funny on how serious they were with show and tell with all of their tackle and trading and so forth.

Hope the boys had a good time, I know we all sure did. Thanks again Em & John for sharing!

Happy anniversary Jeromy! You are such a great person and I feel so blessed that you have become a part of my life. I love you and thank you for taking time out of every day to make me feel special. I hope you have a great day!

And hope we will get another chance sometime in the near future to fish like this again. I hope I catch the biggest fish again too! Hee hee. I love you.

After 24hrs of exhausting, mind blowing digging in their sand box, the kids miraculously uncovered a hidden piece of our past! A miniature Tyrranosaurus Rex! Scientists from three parts of the world are on their way now to interview the children one on one and document this extraordinary occasion. Photographs will only be allowed to those who pay by fruit snacks or vanilla pudding.

Wouldn't that be something? Honestly, spending the whopping $2.98 at Target for this plastic dinosaur set was well worth it. We could barely get them out of the sandbox to come in and eat dinner! They would bury the bones, and dig them up over and over. They were pretty upset when it got dark outside and it was way past time to come in and go to bed. When they woke up the next morning they were wondering if they could go dig dinosaur bones after breakfast.

Grumpy Charly, baby Zabey, and Ashley.
Don't you just love the little baby toes? We had SO much fun playing with him, and loving him up. He must think we are nuts. He's not far off.

Ashley threw a pillow down and pretended to go "Ny-night" and Zabe layed his head down beside her.

Bud, Abbie, and Zabe came up for bear baiting opener. We had such a good time with them. We rarely get to see them so it was so wonderful getting a chance to spend quality time together. And baby Zabe had his first trip to our home. What a perfect little baby boy! So easy going, and oh so darn cute! Thanks again for everything guys, it was so much fun having you here! We miss you you guys.

And now the fun begins. This is the time of the year where I turn into Northland Nelly and treck into the woods on a daily basis to bait bears, check for signs of bears, deer, and moose. It's kind of funny how excited I get when hunting season approaches.

It's even more funny to think about how hilarious it would have been to see my future when I was sixteen and full of piss and vinegar and ragging on my dad about hunting. Even though I had a firearm safety certificate already in my possession. Sometimes when I think about all of the idiosyncracies I've spewed out to people, I wish there was a time travel pass to fly back, smack myself upside the head, and scream, "Snap out of it dingaling!"

Jeromy tells me that this web is from a Gypsy Moth. A week ago, there were little worms crawling around inside this web pocket of some sort. I took this shot yesterday and it was completely emty of any kind of wildlife.

When I first saw these webs here and there throughout the forest, I got an eerie arachnophobia kind of feeling as I was hoping they weren't webs from some large wild spider.

This is what I call "The jump'n site" Because a bear jumped towards Jeromy after he shot him and Jeromy climbed down from his stand immediately. Word to the wise, wait until the bear is dead.

Last year's bear guides. Jackson was 3yr and Charly was 2yr. They are faster this year.

This is from what we call "Les' site" because Les has sat at this site the last couple of years. Too bad this guy chose to come after dark.

First trail picture of the year! This is our strongest site, we call it the "Rodney site", long story. It's where I sat a lot last year and shot the bear in the head. Brian shot his first bear at this site too.

Charly caught a lily pad.

"Here comes a big wave!"
We took the kids out fishing Sunday and got skunked again. They had a great time just tooting around in the boat anyway. It was pretty windy and we managed to get a little wet from just traveling around on the lake.

10:26am. He must have been hanging around watching Jeromy throw bait.

10:52am. The trailcam got a picture of Jeromy baiting the site. Once we pulled the shots off the camera, we saw that he had a visitor at the same spot not too long before he arrived. Bears are truly the "Ghosts of the woods".

We've been gearing up and getting ready for bear opener around here. The youngsters and I have been running the baits on weekdays. They are getting so good at helping me now. A few years ago, it was a bit harder when they were just turning into toddlers and the older girls started school. Charly came with me today while Jeromy took Jackson to Ely with him on a sales call. Hmmm, I still have to ask how that went. Anyway, charly told her daddy that "All. the. sites. had a HIT on them!" So cute, she must have had some city genes trickle down to talk like a miniature godfather. Just kidding. It's been a little hectic but so exciting. There are five hunters in our party this year, we usually keep it around six, otherwise we'd really be busy. This year, so far we have five sites that are hot, meaning bears are coming to them everyday. So hopefully, every hunter will be able to fill their tag. So wish us luck!

The pictures are from last year. The year before that I got my first bear. I would've put my picture up as well but good ole technical difficulties again. Meaning my computer illiteracy kicked in again and I am just too tired and lack a good amount of NO patience to take the time to learn. Maybe if I don't fill my tag this year, I'll scan the one on the wall for poops and giggles.

Although we are hoping eveyone gets their tag filled this season, we REALLY hope that Bud gets a bear this year as he hasn't had the chance yet. Because of that, he gets first dibs on what stand he would like to hunt this year. Because we are all about feeling the love, giving a man a chance, give a dog a bone, go get'em tiger mantality. Share and share alike. Yes. You guessed it, I am ready for bed.

"Here's some water for you mom!"

"I'm a lumerjack and I don't care..." However that old schoolyard song used to go. Yes, the photo makes it look larger. And before I began, I thought it looked smaller. But once I was done, it was GINORMOUS!

I kid you not. My muscles shook for about a day and a half. And while the smidgeon of testosterone in my body kicked in, and halfway through my chopping adventure, my son repeadedly asked me, "It's pretty hard huh? Are you almost done? Can I try?" I could not breathe. I replied after he asked the sixth time, "Jack, don't talk to mommy while she's dying." And gasped for air in hopes I would not drop in the middle of the woods. I didn't. It could've happened.

We were gung ho on getting the baits done and nothing, absolutely nothing was going to stop us last week. We were making good time, I told the kids, "One more left!" And there laid the tree. I stopped. thought, not too deep, because that happens on a rare occassion, and then I said to myself, "Self? Should I chop this tree? I just so happen to have an ax in the truck, excuse me, minivan. Should I chop this tree? Can't go around it. Can't go under it. Can't go over it. Might as well chop it. I'll chop it." I did it. It was a little hard because I am way out of shape, and I used muscles I haven't used in quite a while. So we cleared the trail and off we went.