1st Tom!

This year I finally got the chance to go Turkey hunting! Something that I've been wanting to do for a LONG time. I went with my buddy Tyler down to Southwest Iowa (prime turkey country) on Friday, April 20th and did an afternoon hunt that was full of Jakes, Hens and Deer. It wasn't meant to be that night.

So, we went back to our hacienda that evening, came up with a great plan after a few select beverages to that obviously got our creativity flowing.

We woke up Saturday at 4:00 am to get to our spot and set up before the turkeys woke up from their roost. At 6:30 am, I bagged a 24 lb bird with a 9 1/2 beard, and 1" spurs. A fantastic bird.

59 minutes later, Tyler got his 25lb bird.

An excellent hunt was celebrated that night!

A new Era has begun!

After a very long week of Blue Collar Fantasy Camp at home, I finally have my home office complete:

For those of you who don't know, I started a new job about a month ago. One of the perks (besides being a casual dress code year round) of this new gig is that I can work at home whenever I want. I knew that I couldn't sit down in the man cave and get any work done in front of the TV, so I carved out some space in the basement and designed an area that felt official enough to work in. I wanted a space that was blocked off from the rest of the house, where I could just close the door and pretend to be at my job.

I'm now on "lunch break" during my first work from home day, and I must say, its working out quite nicely. I'm looking forward to more days like this, and saving a little $$ on gas.

I still love the professional environment and being around my team at work, but this is a nice perk to have at my disposal when I have personal appointments during the day, or when I just don't feel like going in.

18 months later....Totally worth it!

She's finally home! Not much I can say. So, I'll let the pictures tell the story. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some staring to do. (In the last picture, be sure to take notice of the crab claw shaped brow tine and all the kickers. Those are the types of things that make this beauty a remarkable and truly unique trophy whitetail)

Wanna Rendezvous...

This past weekend I attended my first Rendezvous event with Andy. Just in case you don't know what a Rendezvous is, it's like living before the year 1840. You can't bring or use anything that was invented after that year. The only exceptions were the beer we drank and contacts that Andy put in every morning. But, we did drink our beer out of tin cups, so were were legit. Larry and Andy have been attending these events for 2 decades and part of the events are the "Traders" who sell goods from that period. Larry specialized in guns and knives, and we ran the booth in his honor, so all of his stuff will go to people who truly enjoy it.

This is a picture of our home for 4 days. It's called a diamond fly. It's basically a piece of canvas in the shape of a diamond with a couple stakes and 2 poles. That copper lantern hanging on the front pole was our only source of light at night, with a beez wax candle. It rained a couple times during the night, and surprisingly we stayed bone dry.

Here's a view of the rest of the camp. This is basically 5% of the total population there, which made for a nice mix of people. The vehicles are only allowed during setup, after that, they lock the gates and you officially enter the time machine.

Here he is, the original mountain man. Decked out in brain tanned deerskin pants, 4 inch leather belt with beaver side pouch, period specific shirt, hand-made moccasins, and black powder rifle. What you can't see from the picture is the fact that I hadn't showered in 4 days.

It was a great weekend, and an awesome experience that I can't wait to do again. The only missing piece was Larry, but it felt like he was there the whole time in spirit. Given the fact that EVERYONE told stories about him the entire time we were there.

Eclectic mix of stuff...

I have a few things that are worth blogging about, so I'm gonna get em all out there at once in chronological order.

A few weeks ago I went to Denny Aubaugh's charity car show. He opens up his personal car collection to the public once a year, and donates all the money to Ankeny schools. I think he raises about $50,000 which is pretty good for a 1 day show at $10 / head. Denny is a billionaire who made all his money with something to do with chemicals. He's a BIG Chevy convertible fanatic, and has one from every year starting back in 1912.

This is his underground garage facing one direction:

And here's a pic going in the other direction:

It's absolutely unbelievable to see all these cars in mint condition. Pictures don't do it justice.

He also hosted an outdoor drive-in car show that brought in some pretty good stuff as well.
This one is for sale, and let's just say I'm glad I left the checkbook at home, or I would have driven it home.
(For obvious reasons)

Last Friday my team and I donated a day to Habitat for Humanity. Our tasks for the day were to cut down a bunch of trees (chainsaw work!!!!), paint, and set up some scaffolding for another Habitat house going up nearby. We had a great time pretending to be blue collar workers for the day, and even managed to get out early for a few cold ones. Here we are at the end of the shift in front of the house we were working on.

A couple days ago I stopped in to see the newest member of the Wierson family. Caden Elliot.
He's an 8 lb beast with size 10 1/2 feet already.

Congrats to Chad on Linz on this wonderful addition to their family.
I look forward to seeing him grow up in Jack Trice Stadium.

Having a blast with a gem from the past....

After a couple nights of wrenching, and some help from dad today, I finally brought Tin Lizzy back to life. New coils, battery, spark plug, plug wires, a good carburetor cleaning, and a tow behind the Explorer is all the elbow grease we needed to get her back into fighting form. I didn't capture the initial firing up, because I was too busy trying to figure out how to actually drive the thing and not run into the back of my Explorer.

Left hand has to advance the spark, right hand has to control the throttle. The left foot has to depress the first pedal to get it into first gear, then you let off the pedal and slam the hand brake forward to get it into 2nd. The middle peddle is reverse. The right pedal is the brake. All of these things need to be probed and moved and pushed and pulled at the right time to get this thing moving.

Sounds simple, right?

You would be incorrect.

I have a video of Dad driving the T by himself after we just got back from making a complete loop around the block. After that loop, we both got out of the car and had a good hard laugh. Lot's of neighbors enjoyed the spectacle as well. I can't seem to get the video clip off my phone, and onto the computer at the moment, so that will have to wait. As soon as I figure it out, I'll post it here. Very cool stuff.

Victory... at last!

This is how you give your wife the sign that she doesn't need to call the ambulance:



This is how the conclusion of a 5K should be celebrated with Carol and Rudy:


Since everyone seems to be into quotes lately. I read something pretty cool today that I think is worth sharing: "You don't need the best of everything. You just need to do the best with everything you have."

...and I gotta tell ya, that PBR was the best thing I could have had.