Outside with Mia

Winter in February

2011-02-12T20:42:00.000-08:00

2011-02-05T22:22:00.000-08:00

Everyone who knows me knows I do not have kids.. They also have probably heard me giving my list of reasons why NOT to have them.. I think we are currently up to reason #374.

I DO however have my "tootsie". Her name is Maggie Sue Pieprzyca and she is my buddy.. This past week it got very cold and I decided that I was going to get her a dog sweater to wear outside to keep her furry little self warm.

So I packed up my stuff and went to the local "gettin' place" (Walmart) looking for a doggie sweater. Then I looked at the selection and came up with this:

She's not wearing pink.
She's not a Chi-weenie or a Shnitzer-doodle and wears a size large. (she's big boned!!)
They wanted $18.65 for the only large in stock and it had a faux fur collar.
This was a stupid idea!
She's going to rip it off her body under 6 minutes flat.
Why buy a "dog" sweater when I can buy a tee-shirt?
Tee-shirts will be too cold.
A sweater!!!
This IS the best idea I think I've probably ever had.

She's BEGGING the man-friend to take it off...

Yes.... She's barking at me..

We were pretty beyond barking... She bit me right after...

She went bannana's when it came off and tossed it all over the place..

I think she hates me..

She's telling me how much she wishes that shirt was me..

I love animals

2011-02-04T17:52:00.000-08:00

2011-02-04T17:19:00.000-08:00

1 cup All-purpose Flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/8 tsp sea salt
5 Tbsp unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
6 oz. low fat vanilla yogurt ( I used Yoplait Very Vanilla light)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1 large egg
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
6 oz. light cream cheese, room temp.
1/3 cup raspberry jam or preserves (seedless and sugar free is best for this mixture)
3/4 cup fresh raspberries (used 1 1/2 of the small containers of fresh raspberries)
3 Tbsp sliced almonds (I used more, just sprinkling to suit my taste)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combaine flour, sugar, and salt in lg bowl: cut in butter with pastry blender or forks until crumbly. Reserve 1/2 cup of mixture for later use.

Add yogurt, vanilla and almond extracts, egg, baking powder, and baking soda to mixture. Beat with electric mixer at medium speed till blended.

Spray 8-inch round nonstick baking pan or pie plate with baking spray, pour mixture inside pan and set aside.

In a small bowl, combine cream cheese with jam, mix on low till blended. Spread evenly over batter mixture.

Top with remaining flour and butter mix, then sprinkle fresh raspberries and sliced almonds.

Bake for 45 minutes, or until edges are browned, and center is set. Cool on wire rack, refridgerate 3 hours, or until well chilled, cut into 8 wedges.

250 calories, 5 g protein, 30 g carbohydrates, 12g fat, 1 g fiber.

2011-02-04T17:10:00.000-08:00

He looked so old, tired, and his colors were beautiful..

His wings were very tattered and I think he was looking for a place to die..

I thought he would have had a great story if he could have talked..

My first trip to Colorado

2011-02-04T16:14:00.000-08:00

Early last year I got to take a scouting trip to Colorado with Noah and got to see the most amazing mountains. It literally took my breath away...

Noah and I packed in 15 miles in the first day and it kicked my hiney! But it was beautiful and I am in loove!!!!! I cannot wait to go back.

End of school????

2011-02-04T14:20:00.000-08:00

I have NEVER been accused of being a studious person. In fact, (and you con confirm this with my mother) I would rather sleep than study. Then I got old. And I pay my own bills. Which automatically means I care because I don't want to pay to retake classes or miss any more sleep. I am now about 6 weeks away from my Associates degree, and I'll have A's in everything but Allgebra, and a 3.84 GPA.

I got my official acceptance letter (I never really got why they send you a letter to "accept" your application to a school.. You're paying, they should want you right??) yesterday for the BBA program. Which basically means if you are a friend of family member.. consider this my official break-up letter for the next year and a half. I love you.. haven't forgotten you.. just kickin' some ass and takin' some names..

School

2009-11-01T19:19:00.000-08:00

One of the reason's I never update this thing is I have no time anymore. Well that's not entirely true, I just choose to do other things with my free time. Like hunting! That totally qualifies as a very valid reason. Anyways, I started using my GI Bill and taking classes. I forgot how much work school is! It's paying off however, I'm getting all A's in my classes, and 100's on all of my assignments so far.

One of the main reasons it's taken me so long to go back to school is lack of confidence in myself as a student. Growing up, I was home schooled and never had the "classroom" experience that pretty much everyone else has. I've never had to compare myself to others in a learning environment. That has made me EXTREMELY nervous that I would be a complete failure and get kicked out.

After only a month, I'm not worried about that anymore. I'm still learning how to manage my time with working till 6PM and then school all week, but it's working for me.

So, I'm still here! I've just been pretty busy lately, so drop me a line if you feel like talking!

Halloween

2009-10-31T21:49:00.000-07:00

It's Halloween and I dressed up as a fisherman.

2009-09-07T17:57:00.000-07:00

I was in the store yesterday and found the most amazing and wonderful thing! CHOCOLATE GRAHAM CRACKERS!!!!! Why am I 27 and just now finding this out?

Thanks Tom Clancy!!

2009-09-03T10:02:00.000-07:00

Have you ever believed something you were told or read as a child? Then one day you are saying it or repeating it to someone like it's real or true, and suddenly have that moment of clarity about halfway through whatever it is that you're telling the other person, and you realize that it is in fact NOT true!?

Shark Week is always the first week of August on the Discovery channel. Noah and I were watching one night and he turns to me and asks, "Do you know how to avoid a shark attack?" without missing a beat I reply, "Sure do, you just pee on yourself."

When I was about 10 I read a Tom Clancy book about some Special Ops guy that was shot in the leg, floating out to sea, and he kept peeing on his leg and the ammonia was keeping sharks away. It sounded so scientific and factual that I have believed this to be true ever since. Hey I was 10, give me a break!

Well the Man-Friend thought this was the funniest thing he's EVER heard and has NOT stopped laughing since. (He later told me he was just going to say "You just have to outswim your buddy") I thought this was going to be one of those, "Sshhh don't tell anyone" It's just between us kind of things. Pretty much I was the only one who had that thought, because last night He told me that my Dad laughed for like an hour about peeing on your leg. It's been the running joke that "Peeing on yourself helps".

Later on that night after all the laughter had stopped, Discovery went on to explain that peeing in the water is actually an attractant to sharks.

2009-09-03T07:35:00.000-07:00

I talk with my hands a lot. That does not mean that I know sign language or could communicate with a special needs person. Well, My sisters and I communicate and understand each other perfectly!
Noah however, does not understand half of the time what I'm talking about. For example, If I was trying to say "I am craving turkey and dressing." But had forgotten what what dressing was called. Rubbing your fingers together right underneath your face like you were crumbling cornbread and saying "Ah come on! You know what that stuff is called! It's that stuff!" He doesn't get the language! Same thing with my Jeep. If it does something weird or makes a sound. First it will only do it when I'm alone in the vehicle. Second, trying to explain car noises to a man is the most difficult thing I've ever tried to do in my entire life! Saying that "It's just doing something funny." or "It made a weird noise." Does nothing to satisfy a guy. He will always say, "Well what did it do?" or "What did the noise sound like?" In my language this means recreate it. You can only imagine what that looks like. But eventually he will figure out what it is that I'm saying and he will ask "So it's making a knocking noise when you turn" or something along those lines, and I normally respond with a yes. In two seconds he can say in perfect english what I'm been miming for the past half hour. Needless to say, it drives him crazy! But we finally are on the same page.
Last week my little sister B texted and was asking about a diagnostics check on her vehicle because it was "Doing something funny." After about 16 texts back and forth, I told her to call Noah and ask him. Why? He's the smartest man I know and thats who I'd ask. I gave her his number, and about a half hour later he calls and says "Do you know how hard it is to know what's wrong with a vehicle a couple hundred miles away when you can't see it, or see hand and arm signals?"

Experimentation #1

2009-09-01T05:56:00.000-07:00

Contrary to popular belief, It's actually quite impossible to boil water for oatmeal in the morning, if you forget to turn on the stove top. Sitting there for 4-5 minutes wondering why it won't, will NOT make it boil any faster on it's own.

"Sometimes the truth hurts"

2009-08-29T11:27:00.000-07:00

I was trying on a pink striped tank top just a couple of minutes ago, that my sister forced me buy. (True story! It's NOT something I would've picked out) I turned to my best friend in the whole world and said, "would I look gay running in this?" To which he replied, "Are you KIDDING me? You run in an old pair of my Marine Corps shorts, a tie-died tee-shirt and a camo doo-rag on your head! You already look gay!"

Chocolate

2009-08-28T19:48:00.000-07:00

Well if you have ever wondered what a Chocolate Atomic Bomb going off looks like, just drop the container of cocoa on the floor from about 4 feet up. A billowing mushroom cloud that covers everything within 30 yards in a fine dust of unpleasant tasting cocoa. I'm quite sure that if I blow my nose, It will look like something is VERY wrong with me!!!

Almost there!

2009-05-30T22:09:00.000-07:00

It doesn't matter that you can hardly tell what it is yet. It's still going to grow into a big cucumber and I'll eat it, and it will be awesome!

2009-05-30T20:17:00.000-07:00

I remember a discussion Noah and I had right after we got married. We were talking about working out and I remember telling him that "I just don't sweat". I remember it because he laughed in my face, and told me that it was because I didn't work out very hard and my workout ethic sucked. I'd like to say that my workouts have improved a lot since then.

It's the last few days of May and on June 11th. Noah and I will find out if we drew tags to go back to New Mexico to Mule Deer hunt.

In preparation, Noah got out a pack frame and filled it up with random heavy stuff we had laying around and we hiked over to his Mom's for coffee. After we got back to our house, I got Noah to help me put the pack on and I went a lap around our neighborhood (just almost a mile). I even ran the last little bit.

I totally got sweaty.

What the hell!!

2009-05-24T20:29:00.000-07:00

I was sitting at the computer a couple of minutes ago and kept hearing something go thump, thump, thump. I go to see what it is...

It was to dark to shoot outside....

Noah just sold his compound bow and is getting ready for a new seaon of hunting with a recurve bow. He told me he needed the practice time.

A different type of farming

2009-05-24T20:21:00.000-07:00

So I have a worm farm. That's right, You heard me. A worm farm.

My Celebrity Moment

2009-04-27T11:28:00.001-07:00

I had a moment today people! I could have sworn on a bible, that I was having a face to face, real life conversation with Sam Elliot about bass fishing!

A man came into the clinic to be seen and his friend brought him in. After I got all the paperwork in order and the man taken to a room, His friend asked me about my pictures I have hanging up. I started talking to him and then looked up, and low and behold! There before me stands Sam Elliot! All he needed was a dusty old red bandanna, a tied-down six shooter and a horse.

I think I froze mid-sentence for about 6 seconds and mentally thought, "Oh My Gosh! It's Sam Elliot! Be cool, be cool." and then kept on talking. So we sit there and shoot the breeze, as they used to say, for about 45 minutes or so. I'm sitting there the whole time wondering if it's possible for me to be sneaky enough to snap a picture of him with my cell phone camera. It wasn't! So we talked and I didn't embarrass myself. This old guy was one of the coolest dude's I've ever had the chance to talk to.

Turns out, He wasn't Sam. But I learned a valuable lesson today, I'm totally awesome under pressure!

SPF 60 please

2009-04-25T20:11:00.000-07:00

I was pulling weeds and clover out of my yard today and just realized that I have a sunburn on my bo-hiney! And it HURTS!

Somewhere in between about the September-to-now time frame, I forgot that I'm a little vampire child that burns in any type of sunlight, and I really should wear sunscreen.

Heart of Texas Wildflower Exhibit

2009-04-25T14:13:00.000-07:00

With a headline like that, Who couldn't help but go? ME! I was surprised by how many wildflowers and "weeds" and brush I recognized. The Brownwood Garden Club hosted it, and they also had a plant sale. (Thats like saying Dillards Shoe Sale to my Mother-In-Law. I'm So there!) They had stuff cheap! We're talking $0.75 a small pot and $1.75 for a larger one. I picked out some things I didn't have to add to my collections and went inside for a closer look at the displayed flowers. I'm hoping it was just kind of slow when I stopped, because these three ladies followed me the whole time.
I wish I had my camera, But no pictures this time.

2009-04-25T14:04:00.000-07:00

Looking at this picture, You would never guess that I fell over about 10 seconds later....

"Free dog to a good home"

2009-04-24T20:10:00.000-07:00

Everyone I know has heard me talk about my dog. I talk about her nonstop! What do you expect? I don't have any kids. Let me add here how cute and adorable she is, she's my running buddy, best friend and coolest dog ever.
Now let me add how much I hate that stupid mutt! This year as I was putting stuff into my flower beds I was reading Better Homes and Gardens and they tell you to mix your veggies and flowers together. No big deal, I've done that before. So I planted my onion starters in the flower beds, and have been watching them grow. A couple of nights ago I went out to water and saw a literal path munched into my green, pretty little garden. That stinker figured out there were onions mixed in and she's slowly eating them as she gets hungry. You know she's thinking how awesome it was that I planted little doggie treats everywhere. It's like her own little Easter egg hunt.

Trust me, this is NOT the face of innocence!

Farming

2009-04-08T20:23:00.000-07:00

Last fall I decided I was going to put in some flower beds in my back yard. This was a pretty large undertaking for me since I've only done very small beds and only one at a time. Well I got them finished but to late in the year to really do anything to them, So I've been working on them slowly as it's gotten warmer and I really hope they will be as pretty as I've imagined.

I don't have a "green thumb" by any means. I'm more likely to kill something rather than make it grow. I've quit buying most of my flowers from the store because I can't justify spending money on something that has a 40/60 chance of making it. Instead, I've gotten stuff that other people just don't want, or are thinning out, or is half-dead at Walmart and is on clearance. I love the half-dead Walmart clearance.

I've transplanted, dug up out of fields, taken seed pods from other peoples plants and am always telling people to get me a starter. I'm trying some stuff on my rose bush clippings that makes them root and I think it's working. Well it was before I knocked over the pot with the water hose, It's repotted and I'm praying for the little guy.

I decided that this year I was going to plant a garden, I put my onions in the ground first and they are all making it so far. I tried to start peas, beans, cucumbers and a couple of other things in those little indoors seed pots. I don't know why, but none of them germinated. So I gave up and stuck them into the ground. Yesterday my peas (well they might be beans, I forgot what I planted where) were just peaking out and today the beans were as well. I've gotten my tomatoes into the ground and peppers too. I felt so proud outside watering today. I guess the real test is to not kill them before I can harvest anything off of them. But for just one tiny moment, I felt like a real farmer.

Spring

2009-04-08T20:04:00.000-07:00

I love Spring! It's awesome! There are birds singing, flowers are starting to bloom, warmer weather, and it's good for fishing slow with plastics (which I'm ALL about). Last year, I noticed that a sparrow that had built a nest in my shrubs. So being the super cool person I am, I put out a bird feeder and have since spent about $27.57 buying bird food. My one sparrow turned into like 37 and I have robins, little yellow bellied finches, a couple of crows, and a wren or 13. As fast as I put out food, they eat it all up. A couple of things made me realize that I'm now the crazy bird lady on our street. One was my husband, two I was watching some birdies out the window the other morning and they are FAT! Their poor little twig-for-legs were splayed out and looked ready to break. Three was I walked out of my door the other day and as I locked the door and turned around, there were about 25 birds all lined up on the edge of the gutter leaning down to look at me. Their feeder was empty and they wanted their breakfast. I like waking up and hearing them outside. It just sounds like spring.

Trail Mix

2009-03-23T18:40:00.000-07:00

I made some awesome trail-mix this weekend and wanted to share..

Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees
2 cup Oats
3/4 cup Un-toasted Wheat Germ
3/4 cup Sunflower Seeds
1 cup Peanuts - Crushed or broken
1 cup Pecan pieces
3/4 cup Almonds - broken or halved
2 cup Shredded Coconut

Mix together and toast on a baking sheet 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Stirring occasionally. Toss into a large mixing bowl and add:

2 cups Honey Graham Oh's
1 cup raisens - golden or regular ones
1 bag or 8 oz of mixed dried berries - I use dried cranberries, cherries, blueberries (Yum!)
mix well.

While your dry ingredients are toasting, place the following into a sauce pan and simmer on low heat. Stir constantly until sugar has melted then pour over mix and toss and stir well to coat.

2/3 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup honey
2 tsp Vanilla
1/2 tsp Salt
4 Tbsp Butter

You can line a pan in wax paper and dump everything into and press down HARD. Let dish cool completly, peel away wax paper, cut and enjoy bars.
You can also just enjoy sort of loose, or toast some of the finished granola before adding fruit and add some crunch. You can do all sorts of variations, or add different amounts of whatever fruits and nuts you like the best. I hope you enjoy!!

2009-03-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

It has been a very long time since my last blog, post thingy. It's officially Spring time, and with Spring comes Bass fishing!

I love waking up early and heading to the lake to catch as many fish as possible. There's something about being on the water, watching your line twitch and feeling a fish load up for the first time. It's a rush and I LOVE IT!

Noah has outfished me so far but I'm working on catching up.

Graceful is my middle name

2009-01-20T15:38:00.000-08:00

If you know me well, then it's no surprise or shock when I show up with new cuts, scrapes, bruises, etc. If I'm not hurting myself, I'm getting Noah hurt. I just don't think about my actions, and the reactions to my actions. This week was a new one for even me. I was trying to help (getting in the way) Noah while he was working on skinning out a deer and got hit in face with a wood saw. Luckily I saw something headed right for me and jerked out of the way. Noah freaked out, and swears he's going to make me wear a helmet with a full face mask. I've got so many freckles that it blends in. I always wanted a glass eye!! I guess I'll wait till next time.

I Swear.... It's really me!

2009-01-18T13:55:00.000-08:00

Every year, For the first two weeks or so, is a doe and spike season. It gives everyone a chance to shoot a couple more deer to put in the freezer and help manage the herd. I sat in the stand a couple of nights this week and shot a little doe on Saturday night. This was my first bow kill and I was elated when I walked up and saw her laying there. I've been able to talk Noah into letting me skin and quarter up a couple of the deer this year. Of course now this means I have to skin my own kills!

There's some very basic satisfaction that comes from knowing you have just provided food for your family. It's very empowering. My sister is shaking her head right now and saying "I don't even know you".

New Mexico part 2

2009-01-05T19:32:00.000-08:00

Well hello New Year! I spent mine in New Mexico kicking off part 2 of my Mule deer hunt. I came back empty handed and 6 pounds lighter. As with everything else I try to accomplish, this was no different in the crazy stuff that came my way. I think they oddest thing about the whole trip is I barely took any pictures! It's hardly my fault as the batteries died, and I didn't have any replacements. The first night out Noah convinced me that sleeping under the stars in the desert was going to be fun. It was so pretty and only about 45 or 50 degrees till about oh, say 1130 PM and a huge cold front blew in. It wouldn't have been to bad except that we were surrounded by sand dunes and literally got buried as the night went by. We just pulled the covers over our heads and tried to sleep. I didn't handle it very well though, Noah said later that I was pretty mad at him.

We had two days to scout before the season opened, the first day there we had already picked out where we wanted to hunt. So we used the second to cover some more of our unit that we hadn't seen yet. Man that is some pretty rugged country! I really need a better camera because the one I have just doesn't ever seem to give justice to what I'm trying to photograph. (though it might just be operator error) We hiked this ridge for a long ways, and got to see lots of wildlife. I found this little bitty skull and picked it up and was looking at it till Noah told me it was a rat skull. I threw it off the cliff top and was really thankful I had on gloves. Our camp this night was awesome! We camped off the top of a ridge that had the most amazing view! We camped a little off the edge so no one could see our tent or jeep, not that many people would have been able to climb or even drive up to it. My jeep was a champ, I got to do some rock crawling to get there and we pulled Travis's truck through or over some of it so he could camp with us.

Day one of season went well. We glassed and bedded down a big old 3x3 and put a stalk on him. We got really close and everything blew out of the bushes they were bedded down in and every single doe there stood about 10 yards away broadside and that buck was the only one that took off the other way. I never got a shot at him. We glassed some more, got on another group and pretty much the same thing. I took a shot at 50 yards that I didn't have and didn't make it. We got on one more big buck that day and couldn't ever get anything to happen. On the way back to camp, we spotted a buck and some does about halfway through this valley in front of us. Noah and I started racing over the top of this plateau covered in HUGE sand dunes to try to cut them off. Noah is in much better shape than I am. He was awesome! I was just trying to keep up and took off running after him, I'm about 6 inches shorter though and about killed myself running over the top of some of those dunes he had just gone over and there wouldn't be anything there just a huge drop off. The way we were going took us right by our camp and I looked up once and saw him standing by the jeep taking a drink like it was an easy jog. It seemed like it took forever to get there but really we covered about a mile and quarter in about 8 minutes. Not bad but we still didn't cut them off.

Day two was long! A bunch of close calls and lots of deer. I got to full draw a few times but each time I got busted and they would take off. Very frustrating!! The high point of that day was we spent the night at Travis's Grandparents house in Artesia. His grandmother cooked for us and it was the best hot meal. We all got showers and real beds and it was pretty nice!

Day three dawned and we were still glassing mornings and splitting up to do it. Noah had been getting me set up and then running about two or three miles away to glass another place. I got on a nice buck and dropped into the valley about two miles and was putting a stalk on him while he chased a doe until it chased her about a mile off. I was pretty excited as this was my first "Solo" stalk. Noah called about then and Travis and he had found the mother lode. So we hauled ass over and started glassing. One of the bucks we were watching just started coming off this hill toward us and just kept on coming. He was weaving in and out and down, nearer and nearer so we started working our way into position to head him off and he walked up to 20 yards and when I drew, he snorted and took off. Another bust! Noah built me a brush blind and I sat that night around a water hole all these deer were coming into and I almost had it that night! I got greedy though and had a little 2x2 come in and instead of taking him, I passed for a larger buck who just kept chasing this doe around. At one point, He was about 5 yards behind me and I had about 13 does all watching so I couldn't do anything. I finally got the chance to draw and something snorted and there they all went! I took a shot, and shot just as he jumped and missed him. That night I had about 45 to 50 does come in and some real small not legal stuff and one more small 2x2 that I passed on. We got to go back to the Grandparents house for another hot meal and shower and once again, it was AWESOME! I don't think the world appreciates hot food and water enough. They are way underrated.

Day four I sat that brush blind again and didn't quite have as good luck as I would have liked. I had some big animals come in really early and at about 8 AM I took a good shot at a 2x3 and got a double lung shot. It just so happened that when he ran off, he went about a mile and ran right into Noah and Travis and spooked. We tracked him till later afternoon and never could find him. That night Travis sat the brush blind and missed a monster 4x4 or 3x4. I'm always at the wrong place at the wrong time. Back we went to his Grandparents house because she called and said food was cooked. Who were we to waste perfectly good food! I went to go shower before dinner and when I stepped out of the shower, I stepped into a huge warm puddle. The hot water line had busted and was leaking everywhere! After 2 hours of mopping up water, finding a shop vac and vacuuming water and putting down towels to absorb more water, we ate and then went to bed.

Day five, we went to the cap rock near Hobbs and it was about 20 degrees with a 15 or 20 mph wind and buddy it was COLD! So we got ready and started glassing, and about 7 trucks drove in, set up and cut us off. It was Sunday AM so we drove down the edge of our unit till we had to cross back into Texas and that pretty much was the end of our hunting season.

Tomorrow is Thursday and I have been thinking, This will be the first day since sometime in September that I haven't gotten up at 4 AM to go to the deer stand. I don't quite know what I'm going to do with myself or my time. I think I might sleep in!

Dentists Appt.

2008-12-23T06:34:00.000-08:00

I think everyone gets reminder cards in the mail. It could be from the veterinaries office for the family pet. Or the dentist, reminding you that your teeth need to be cleaned. Or maybe from your doctor about a yearly physical. Regardless, I think everyone is very familiar with walking to the mailbox and finding a cheery "We miss you! It's time for a check-up!" postcard in the box. Well I'm no different, except that I HATE going to the doctors!! So in my way of thinking, why drag it out all year? I have all my check-ups, physicals and cleanings done so that they fall within the same week. Get it over and done with!

Very recently I made the walk to the end of the drive and found three separate reminder cards, so I took out my calendar and started the calls. I had to do the Yearly at the Gynecologist Dr. N---, and my 6 month cleaning at the dentist Dr C----, and Maggie needed her shots. GREAT!! So I start dialing and here's what happened;

Receptionist: "Good morning! Thanks for calling Dr. N---'s office. How can I help you?"
Me: Yes, I received a reminder today about my 6 month cleaning and I'd like to set that appointment up with you."
R: ".......Uhm, Ma'am! We don't do that here."
M: "Yes you do! I got the reminder today."
R: "Have we ever seen you before?"
M: "You sure have. About 6 months ago for my cleaning."
R: "Ma'am we don't clean those here!"
M: "Wait! Who's Office is this?"
R: (Laughing her butt off by now) "Dr. N---'s"
M: "I thought this was the dentists number"
R: (Still laughing) "Is there anything else I can do for you?"
M: "Uhm.... Yes, actually I need to set up my yearly with you. But I don't want to tell you my name now."
R: "Oh Honey. I have caller I.D. and I'll never forget this call."
M: "Crap!"

I hate living in a small town! I see that lady everywhere now. She just laughs and laughs.

Tree Hunting

2008-12-13T08:52:00.000-08:00

So this is a little bit delayed, in that our tree stands have been up for months! But I just want to impress upon you the difficulty of finding the right tree. It sounds so easy in theory. Noah will tell you that the only thing I worked hard at was getting in his way. Somehow I can remain totally calm and composed, level headed, and able to do pretty much anything I want to do. But you throw us together to do a project, and I loose my mind. Between standing in the way and making him trip over me, asking 1,437 questions, telling him a better way of doing something and generally being as loud as I possibly can. Then you add Nature to the mix, I somehow always get attacked by fire ants, or small animals (seriously this really happens every time!) and I wander around taking very random pictures of things. I really am not much help, I'm more moral support you could say.

On TV if you have ever watched any hunting show, the person is always in a big tall tree and it looks like it's 40 feet to the ground from the stand. The tree normally is huge, big and fat, and straight. I thought I could just walk out, grab the first tree that I came to, climb up and wha-laa!

I didn't take into consideration that I live in Central Texas! If it's not a mesquite, then it's a live oak and maybe if you're really lucky, a real oak. None of those types are very tall, straight or huge. So finding one that meets requirements, as well being where a deer trail cuts close to or passes around is not always easy. Luckily my husband is awesome! He takes a long time picking a tree, setting up the stand and clearing shooting lanes. But I have never fallen out of one, had problems getting into it, or had a branch in my way. I have had a squirrel jump almost on me, a Racoon climb up the tree and onto my stand with me to get away from a bobcat, and an army of tree ants crawl inside my clothes. But that couldn't be avoided, I think I have bad luck. Noah found some really good spots this season.

You might have noticed that Noah is in all these shots. Like I said, I wander and take random pictures. He was the only one of us working.

"By the grace of God"

2008-12-10T20:30:00.000-08:00

Can I just thank God right now that
1. I'm alive!
2. I'm not paralyzed.
3. I'm not in a coma.
4. I'm at home.

This past week one of my many sisters and I were texting. We were talking about our relationships with God and or my lack of one mainly. So we're talking, and She's asking some questions and I'm being my normal obnoxious self and telling her why I don't have a great relationship and don't care to. I think I even threw in a few "because I just don't care".

That night after I got off work a few hours early, I drove up and met Noah close to the Oklahoma border and we spent the night with some friends. Early the next morning we all drove to Red River and were riding some 4-wheelers around. Maybe 3 or 4 hours into our day of riding I am still not sure what happened, but I wrecked the 4 wheeler I was on. I'm not sure what happened 'cause I don't remember any of it! The last thing I can remember is pulling over and letting one of the guys pass me and then getting back on a trail and following them.

Noah said that he was #2 in line, and the first guy almost wrecked and was flagging him down when Noah almost wrecked. Noah turned to #3 in line (the guy who I let pass me) and #3 was holding his wrist from were he had almost wrecked and gotten banged up. Noah said he looked past #3 and saw my 4-wheeler in the air. He said I was just laying there, face down, not moving and just took off sprinting to get to me.

I was going over some little rolling hills and just tootling right along, following the guys while they were all jumped dunes. The trail changed, (FYI sand does that you know) and I hit this huge dune that came out of nowhere! I panicked, let off the gas and hit the brakes, which makes the nose go straight down. And I did a front flip on a 450 Grizzly. It hit on the handlebars, slammed me face down into the ground, and rolled over me landing like it was going back the opposite direction.

They said I was out cold for a couple of minutes before coming back around, spitting sand out of my mouth and asking what had happened. They said I immediately asked if any one got pictures and was pretty upset no one had. I got up and was moving around, I started asking the same questions over and over again, I couldn't remember where we were, what day it was, what had happened (they said I repeated that one a lot). I didn't remember Thanksgiving at my sisters, shooting my turkey, I started crying when Noah said I got one. I felt so confused! Noah was flipping out! He said he honestly thought I was dead. He drove me back to the truck and got me some water and made the decision to go to the ER. Even now I can only vaguely remember being in the truck and Noah telling me to stay awake, and tasting sand in my mouth.

Most of the first day and a half at the hospital is fuzzy. I know they tried like four times to draw my blood and couldn't. My veins kept blowing or something, They ended up drawing from my femoral artery, which hurt SO BAD! After they got the IV in, and a DR checked me out. They gave me morphine and I was in between hurting like hell, and telling Noah to write down a shopping list. "Milk, bread, cereal, and don't forget the listerine" (Give me a break! I got knocked out and had sand in my mouth) Noah said that as I was being wheeled out the door going to go have a CT scan done that I kept reminding him to make sure and get listerine. I was going from table to table for my CT and accidentally flashed the male tech and I think I said "Whoopsie!!" I was really embarrassed! They moved me from then on. All the nurses that were taking vitals and blood were so sweet! I can remember that I kept telling Noah that they were cute and nice and we should try to set up our friend Travis with one of them. I think I was saying it in this horribly loud stage whisper while they were right there.

After a bunch of x-rays and CT scans, the official word was that I had a concussion, some amnesia and my brain was bleeding, giving me the worst headache I've ever experienced! I hit my elbow on something and hyper extended it, tearing the tendon some and giving it a huge massive bruise. I also knocked a few ribs out and bruised my sternum and when the 4 wheeler rolled over me, it rolled both my ankles and made them swell and bruise and hurt to walk on. Luckily, I work for a Chiropractor and he can fix or adjust everything but the bleeding part. All things considered, I got off really lucky! It hadn't really hit me how much so until my family doctor and my boss both were going on and on about how they couldn't believe I didn't have my neck broken or anything else for that matter, and that I was fully functional. I had problems for about a week with bad headaches, but both doctors assured me that this was pretty standard with having a concussion. I got a nose bleed while I was in the hospital and have one still, it hasn't stopped yet. This apparently is caused by swelling and pressure in your skull. All in all, I'm fine!

So a few of the things I've learned; Wear a helmet! It might look retarded on, cost $50, and give you "hat hair", but it might save you a lot of pain or even your life. Don't ever take anything for granted, I can't handle morphine very well! Most importantly, Don't mock god! He doesn't like it and he will smack you down. Or in my case, smack some sense into me. I think I have taken for granted a lot of what I have and not been thankful at all. More expectant, and demanding. Basically acting like a spoiled child. I hate when people act like that and here I am, doing that which I despise. I was telling my Aunt that I got really lucky and her reply was that it wasn't luck at all! It was the grace of God. It made me think about how right she was and really has made me take a deep long look at myself and my actions. Turns out, I'm not a nice person sometimes, I'm not humble and I don't deserve any of what God has allowed me to have in my life. He is a gracious and loving God who forgives us of our sins and for that, I am most thankful.

My after Thanksgiving day Turkey

2008-12-10T20:08:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm still deer hunting! I've gritted my teeth and passed on some deer that at the end of the season, I'm liable to regret passing on. My problem seems to be that I have seen the deer that I would like to take, but haven't gotten a shot or seen Him since.
I did shoot a turkey a few days after Thanksgiving. He was a big old bird! I'd seen him a few times and he was mean! He chased some smaller bucks one cold morning. It was pretty cool!as well as one of those things you don't see every day.
The morning I shot him was pretty cold! I look like a small child bundled up in every single piece of camo clothing that Noah and I own. My arms don't go all the way down to my side, they just sort of stick out to the sides a bit. So it was cold, I shot him and after waiting a little bit to go collect my prize, I walked down to pick up this turkey. He was laying head on the ground, not breathing, DEAD!! On the ground DEAD! I grabbed his leg, and rolled him over to grab the other one and this thing jumped up! Feathers flying everywhere, Me still holding one leg, and took off running! Luckily, I'm only 26 so I didn't immediately have a heart attack. but I was screaming loud enough that the land owner could hear me a mile and a half away! They always say your first will always be the most memorable. Mine sure was!

Sept mule deer hunt

2008-09-21T09:04:00.000-07:00

So my mule deer hunt finally came! Noah and I packed everything we might need into the jeep and hit the road. We drove to just past Hobbs NM, and made our first days camp just off the caprock. I spotted about 6 does feeding their way up the side pretty early so we were all pretty pumped up. The only buck we saw that night ended up being a little spike that we didn't think was legal. We did some scouting the next morning and Noah and I found this little place that was pretty cool. When you buy a hunting license, you pay for a habitat stamp. Well this place was corraled in, and had a water reservoir and a watering trough for deer and small animals. It was posted on the fence that it was paid for by hunters and fisherman buying that stamp. It was pretty cool, but I forgot to take pictures. we also snuck within 40 yards from the does we had seen the night before. But still no buck.
So we pushed on the next day and went to Artesia. On the way there, we stopped and scouted an area called Cedar Lake. It was gnarly! I loved it! Lot's of sand dunes, scrub brush, and tracks everywhere! Since we had already seen some big bucks near Artesia, we decided to push through and make camp where we knew there were bucks. Where to camp at was our next obstacle, we drove and ended up off finding a water hole we wanted to glass that night. Once again, we laid camp. That night glassing, I saw about 12 does working a fence line about 300 yards from camp. They weren't bothered by us much, just munching away. Mule deer are so much bigger than whitetails. Looking at these does through my binos, they looked like cows they were so big! We saw some other deer a long ways off, but at a mile or more, it was really hard to tell if it was a buck or not. We packed camp again the next morning, went to town and had breakfast. I swear those were the best eggs I've ever had!
We made camp a few miles away that day, but we started doing some scouting. Noah talked to a pumper and the guy said he'd been seeing two really large bucks every morning in the same place, and that we were the first hunters he'd seen in that area. Score! We were pretty excited and decided to glass that valley that night, we'd been there for about two hours and nothing! I saw a huge yellow coyote and three smaller ones hunting the opposite ridge line, but that was it. Noah said to pack it up, we were headed in early. Headed back to the jeep, we had to hike about a mile through some pretty rough terrain. We still had about 45 minutes of light when we drove over a hill and right in front of us were those two bucks! I though Noah was going to freak out! We were both so excited! The only drawback was they took off running. Oh, that and we were in the damn jeep! So we drove about a mile down the road and ditched the jeep, and started running. Noah had the binos in one hand and the range finder in the other. Those deer had stopped in a little valley and had started feeding again. So we started moving to a position to head them off. Of course it wasn't that easy though, they headed off a different direction and it was to dark to follow.
On a side note here. When Noah and I are practicing shooting, He likes to give me all these scenarios of what might happen. He'll make himself get pumped up to shoot, and tries to make me do the same. I've been running to help get myself in shape, and He always tells me to control my breathing. In fact, just the other day he said "learn to control your breathing, 'cause you never know when you're going to have to run a mile uphill and when you get there, you are going to have to be ready and able to take a 40 yard shot at a monster." ALL I could think about while we were trucking it up there was, "this is happening! This is Happening!"
So now we have seen some huge bucks, Noah and I are not going anywhere! We got up at 5 AM again, and glassed where we knew these boys were hanging out. Nothing! We did some scouting that day, following some tracks.We saw a badger, it ran at us until we stood up and he realized we were much bigger than he first thought, we didn't see deer for 2 more days. By Friday, Noah and I were both ready for a shower and our bed so we packed camp for the last time and started home. On the way we had to drive past Ceder Lake, and the more we both thought about it, the more we both wanted to hunt it. We pulled off and did some driving around looking at fresh tracks. It had rained late the night before, so everything fresh was from that day. We drove across some huge tracks crossing the road and when the road dead-ended, we turned around and headed back the way we came in. I was talking to Noah, and turned my head, and in that instant locked eyes with a huge 3x3! He'd just been watching me drive on by, and when he saw me look at him, he jumped up ready to spook. I told Noah not to stop and keep driving, that it was a shooter buck and "Let's give 'em hell!" So we ditched the jeep again, grabbed what we needed and took off again! About 50 yards from where we had seen him, we started working our way through the dunes trying to sneak up and get a shot. It was so loud, every step crunching. Noah kicked off his shoes and told me to do the same, so now we were both in socks putting a stalk on a nice 3x3 in September! The month everyone told us that we'd be lucky to even see bucks! Can I just say that I felt pretty bad ass and salty! OK, so socks! We're creeping forward and there's just tracks leading off, and there are two sets. So we take off trailing them. I must have stepped on every thorn out there, Noah had them everywhere too. This trail just sort of meanders through the dunes, it was some pretty slow going but our wind is good. When Noah just stops and dropped all of a sudden and is freaking out! The buck I saw is the smaller of the two and Noah just spotted the more mature one, they had bedded back down and that old salty cuss is bedded on top of a dune, on top of a salt cedar tree! He'd gotten up high so he could see. Since Noah has a better view, I get some details and am getting ready to draw when that buck stands and just watches us. He didn't know what we were, and he must have sat there for 4 minutes before he dropped his head and gave me a chance to draw. So I come to full draw just as the younger one is starting to walk off too. All I had was his neck and the top of his back, no vitals. So I let back down and wow, my adrenaline started pumping. We followed those two bucks for about 2 miles still barefoot, till they winded us and took off. We hiked back to our shoes, gave them an hour and tried to track them again. We didn't have any luck.
So back in the jeep, we drove to the caprock and decided to glass again and see if we saw anything bigger than that spike from day one. Noah and I were walking to the truck and I almost stepped on a rattlesnake! He coiled up and started buzzing and striking. (If you know me well, then you know how I react to snakes) I was screaming, jumping, and pretty much lost my ever loving mind! So Noah makes me stand in front of it, to distract it while he circles it. He was trying to talk me into catching it and putting it into the rubbermaid box we were storing our food in so we could take it to Jerid to mount for us. This was hands down, the worst idea of the whole trip! Thankfully the snake had other ideas to, because he took off (I'm still standing in front of it) scared me all over again and Noah was trying to pin its head down with one of my arrows (which I still haven't touched) so he could pick it up. Every time he'd try to pin its head down that snake was striking, and it was so big that it was almost biting Noah. Noah ended up killing it, but that thing was HUGE! It's rattles were 10 and a button. After that, we just went home. I told Noah I was cool with camping till I saw that snake and that's about all I could handle. So we got home, and I've been wishing all week that we were back in New Mexico still. I'm pretty anxious for January to get here for another chance at a mule deer.
Saturday is opening day of whitetail archery season, so that should help tide me over till then. I'm hunting a new location this year, and haven't had a trail camera up so we'll have to just see what this season is going to bring our way.

bow-hunters therapy

2008-09-02T19:08:00.000-07:00

So in preparation for my upcoming mule deer hunt and deer season, I've made some upgrades to my bow. I bought a custom string, a new peep sight, and made some overall changes in how I'm shooting. I found out that when you order a new string, you can request colors! (Can I just add here that I'm probably the wrong person to let know that everything can match! I like pretty!) So everything is yellow, grey and black. Don't laugh until you see it! It is very cohesive, and pretty, and I like it.

So back to my story. When you change things on a bow, everything changes. You have to re-sight in, let your string stretch. It's a lot of work! But in the chance of disaster, you have a fully sighted in back-up string ready to shoot. I changed my string just a few weeks ago, and since haven't been shooting well at all. I went from shooting a three shot group that could fit in a quarter, to not being able to group. This might not sound like any big deal, but for me, this is HUGE! Noah has been so great. He's spent all week working with me, trying to get me fixed. I changed everything from how I grip the bow, my anchor point, my body stance, we moved my sight pins, nothing worked. This was the most frustrating week of my year. I'm not the most emotional person, but I have to admit. I cried like a baby a few times.
Nothing I've tried felt right and I was starting to worry that if whatever was wrong didn't get fixed. I was not going to chance taking a shot that I didn't feel was ethical or that I felt I couldn't make or control. So today, I took some things for Noah out to the bow shop we use. Jerid Lawrence was asking how everything was going, if I was ready to hunt, yada, yada, yada. I just unloaded on the poor guy! I pulled up a chair, poured out my little heart, teared up and just about bawled! He's obviously married, because he didn't run screaming for the door. He told me to get my bow and let him see what was wrong. So he gave it a look over and noticed that it was off in a few places. We re-sighted in my peep, adjusted my loop, and then had to re-seat my sight. After all of this was finished, he had me shoot at some targets and low and behold! Everything works, I'm shooting awesome groups again, my broad heads are dialed in, and I'm ready to go hunting!
I feel like I've been to a therapy session. Jerid gave me some breathing exercises to try while I'm shooting. He fixed my bow, I cried, and a huge weight has been lift from my chest and I feel great! I'm quite positive He was relieved when I finally walked out of his place without falling completely apart.

First timer

2008-09-01T14:34:00.000-07:00

I've been talked into starting a blog, so I guess my first step is to tell you about me.

I'm Mia, and I'm married to a wonderful, amazing guy named Noah. We're a pretty typical couple, we live in Central Texas, we have a house and a dog named Maggie. I take pictures of her like she is my child! Between Noah and her, They hate it when I break out the camera.

Unlike anyone I know, We both bow hunt and fish quite a lot. Instead of having school and summer dictating what we do, we have the hunting and fishing seasons. Well there's not really a fishing season, for us it's more of a filler. Sort of a between the deer season to deer season gap, it gives us something to do.

We target practice a lot, which entails shooting in our backyard at targets we have set up. We also bow fish during the spring and summer. It's great practice and lots of fun! (I hold the record for falling off the boat more than anyone else)

Currently Noah and I are getting ready for a bow hunt in New Mexico for Mule Deer. We've gone and scouted out locations. I'm hunting first so come next Monday, We'll pack up the Jeep and drive away. I'll keep you posted on what takes place.

Well, that's about it for now.