By Request

My nephew, Sir Webmaster Sam, requested a picture of Caleb's adventure's war wound.

Here they are!

Scroll down to read about Caleb's (true) adventure

Another Adventure!

And, of course, this adventure comes by way of Caleb. The following is his account of what happened to him this week. Just so you know, he came home trembling and said he would never hunt in the dark again. 15 minutes later, after the adrenaline went away, he was ready to go again!!  :)

 

  After some research on the best techniques to call in coyotes, I headed for the hills in the late afternoon with Mom's 20 gauge and two of my knives. Hoping to out smart a coyote and return with a nice pelt for a blanket. I found a good spot and started calling. I heard some howls and barks but nothing came in (or so I thought ) so after about two hours it was dark and I unloaded my gun and packed it up. Then I started back to the atv. I decided to try a different route ( not smart). I kinda got disoriented and I found myself doing circles in the dark. Mom called wondering where I was. I explained that I was somewhat lost. She was a bit worried and wished me well.  "Greeaat, now what do I do?" I thought to myself. After some hiking I located the creek and followed it to the trail I needed to follow. I climbed up the steep creek bank. I finally reached the top and stopped to catch my breath and that is when I looked across the creek and saw some sort of medium sized animal looking at me. It disappeared as quick as it had appeared. I backed away slowly and then started into a fast walk looking behind me often. I kept hearing things but I convinced myself it was my imagination. Then, 20 ft in front of me I saw the same wild thing leap across the path. Then I saw him at my right, then my left.  He seemed to be everywhere at once.  I will admit it, I was scared. I came to the clearing where I had parked the atv. I decided to try and sprint across the clearing to my atv. I bolted outta there, but the wild thing bolted right with me. I looked back and saw he was still trailing me and that is when I fell. I thought for sure I was going to be his Saturday night dinner.  When I fell, I cut my head on some ice. The cut starts at my forehead and goes down my cheek. ( I didn't even know I had done it at the time) The wild thing jumped 20ft to my right, I got up and grabbed my knife ( in case It attacked ) It started doing circles around me I growled and yelled hoping to scare it away, but it would just crouch down and growl. Meanwhile, I felt my phone vibrating. Mom was calling again. I wanted to answer it but I was afraid the thing would attack if I made any sudden movements. The atv wasn't far away so I decided to try sprinting to it. I ran as fast as I could. I made it and jumped on the atv and turned the key in the ignition then turned the head lights on hoping to identify the wild thing but it had disappeared. I put it in reverse and flew down the road. My heart was still racing, I met dad coming up the road. He was coming to see what was wrong. I told him what had happened and he thought it might of been a mountain lion.  It seemed to be smaller than a lion.  So the next morning Hudson and I went to see if we could find tracks. We found 3 or 4 different sets of coyote tracks that followed my tracks all the way to the road. So I was being stalked by a pack of coyotes, that explains why it seemed to be every where at once.  I Guess the hunter became the hunted, but not next time!!!    

Caleb

Aka. camo man

Whoop! Whoop!

Caleb is 15!!

How can that be? I am too young to have a 15 year old?!! Well, maybe not.

a look back...

at the fun we have had this winter!

 

                               

   

     

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

And some backyard wildlife!!

Thinking of You!

This is our school room door.

If you sent us a picture at Christmas - then it is hanging on our door! Thank you!!

We love to be reminded of you and our friendship!!

FYI - this is the first year in 18 years that Brian and I did not send a Christmas letter/pic. Sorry. :(

have i told you?

 

I can't remember if I told you that we now have a blog for Big Canyon.

If I have, then let this be a reminder. If I haven't then go here for the latest updates and pictures:

www.bigcanyonupdate.blogspot.com

I recently posted pictures from last weekends group.

Igloo Construction 101

OK. So. We have built 2 igloos this year. One in our backyard - the children helping Brian. And one at the camp - Brian, Scott, Hudson and Abbi.  Well, Caleb and his friend, Evan really wanted to build one up the canyon of Big Canyon. They watched the video on "how to" and Brian gave them some quick pointers. Off they went. Caleb, Evan, Bandit and Rodeo. They were gone all day.

They had it finished by the end of the day ~ except for the finishing touches to the roof (the most difficult part). The next day they finished the roof (with wood planks) and hung out at the igloo all day. They fixed themselves lunch and dinner over the campfire and went on a long snowshoe hike with the dogs.

Done!

Igloo is in the background. A little different looking than the ones Brian has built but none-the-less, an igloo!

Caleb and Bandit. Fire-pit behind them. This is where they cooked their meals and kept warm. They even cooked the Grouse that Caleb shot while they were on their hike. They said it tasted Amazing!

Evan crawling into the igloo.

What a great way for two boys to spend their time ~ "Surviving the Wilderness" in the middle of winter!

Be Mine!

The Holiday: Valentine's Day

The Tradition: A "Red" dinner (this year it was Ravioli, Raspberry Fruit Salad, Tossed Salad with Strawberries and Strawberry Ribbon Delight Dessert)

The Gift: Something under $5. This year each of the younger children got a family of "rubber" (that's what we call them) animals.

The Activity: A family game. This year we played pictionary with Valentiney words.

The Devotion: We read and discussed another chapter of Proverbs.

And then, Movie night with Popcorn (of course!)

Abbi and Maggie decorated the table. They cut out each of the hearts.

The two different salads

The Gift Opening 

 

  

 

      

Happy Valentines Day!!

XX00XX