the first Fish of the year

Can you imagine? I caught this in the middle of winter. Actually, this particular day was very warm, as it might look in the pic. This fish tops all I've ever caught, at four pounds and a half, and 19 in. I caught him on a slow little plastic worm, in pond We named Discovery.
Like My mom starts thinking of gardening every spring, I start thinking of fish.

This is why Dad is catching up...

This is why my dad is catching up to how many blog posts I have. I entered and won A novel writing contest with my brother's and sisters. You should check it out. But I declare, November is not a good month to have this sort of thing. It was really fun, All you have to do after signing up is put away your inner editor, and lock him tight in the basement, (And use up all your spare time ). Then write, write, write, until you've reached your word goal, the dead line is November 30.

Here is a summary: The Dragon Lords, a Summary:

Three young men, A Prince and his friends, warriors in training, meet at battle school and influence each other, and in turn are influenced, for good and evil. Entangling family, kingdom, ambition and political alliances create complications that overshadow boyhood and hint at diverging, power wielding, destinies.

Halloween, holloween, this is halloween

Too bad I don't have a pic of my full costume. Oh well. Can you guess who I dressed up as?

Halloween, holloween, this is halloween

Mom says they look like sausages

Here is Emma and her one week old puppies. They are 3 weeks now though and look a lot more fluffy. They have started to develop their own characteristics too. These aren't good pictures to see them with all their cute faces, but its what I've got right now. One has a name, but I am still thinking what the other puppies names should be until they go to their new homes... maybe Peter, Johnny, Guinevere, and Jasmine or something else. The one puppy that does have a name is Oliver. He is the one on the far right in both pictures with a "y" white marking on his neck. I want to see the others personalities more before I name them. Aren't they cute? Wait till I get some pic.s where you can see them better.

In the basement...

... are 5 new residents living in our basement. Five fuzzy residents. Emma, my English Shepperd had puppies on the fourteenth of September. Just seven days before her own birthday. There are 2 girls and 3 boys. they were born near my room or, actually in my room. All of them are bob tailed except one boy. The bob tails are from Emma's side of the family. She really doesn't have a natural bobtail, more like naturally tailless. Not even a stump.
Aiden is their father, pictured above. I'm not able to put up recent pictures of Emma or puppies because Dad and I are still looking for that Camera cable. Oh, cable maple

Camp Arrow head

In June Robin hood showed us were he and his band of merry men camped for that week.

Here you can see his rappelling skills. He took C.O.P.E.

Robin hood shows us a non man made Alter that was found when this camp was built.
I suspect that it might have been made by ancient Nephites.

More camping

Hello feet!

I know i am smiling in this pic, but I caught so many fish and I forgot to bring the fishing knife. I cleaned out around 15 bluegills with a pocket knife. It took a long time. I regretted not releasing any.
Look at those big Carp! Said Ducky. I was trying to catch them for a wile, and then when i almost caught one I chickened out and pulled my lure out of it's mouth. They don't usually take lures. Carp are BIG, not pretty fish that normally feed on the bottom of the lake. They can get up to 100 pounds as far as I know. I was worried I'd get drug in the water.
Swinging like Tarzan!

Swimming in a shallow river is the best way to cool off.

This summer...

Lots and lots of camping trips, swims, floats, mini vacations and adventures.



Dad is whittling with jessa and keeping our lunch cool.

Robin hood foung a turtle wile swimming at ariver.

Telling stories and listening to all the things that go bump in the night.

How about Scouting?

This summer has been full of camping. We have been going every week end or so; fishing, exploring new places, camp grounds, swimming beaches, historic sites, and festivals. Also, on top of that, or somewhere in there, I went to Girls camp last week and Robin Hood went to Camp arrow head, ( a scout camp). Last year he had to " Chew-on-a-key."
This year Robin hood came back from camp with better leader ship skills then before. He's senior patrol leader.
I'm going to be part of the Boy Scouts, too- Mom and I are going to help start a community Venture Scouts troop.
( Surprise, surprise, Grandpa!).
I am going to start a girls venture troop so I can go to Philmont. Wouldn't you like that? They allow girls in Philmont if they are venture scouts. Venture scouts can be boys and girls now, although, not at church. I really want to go to a horse trek and work at the stables next summer at Philmont. However, The girls Venture Troop will take time and work to start. It will be fun though. It will focus on outdoor leadership and personal talents/career goals and making our own businesses. But mostly it's about going to Philmont every year.
I've been in Girl scouts before, but all we did was sell cookies and go to theme parks; while Robin hood gets to have C.O.P.E. (ropes course,) and swim, practice archery, canoeing, rock climbing, and all that. Who wants to sell cookies in a card board box instead of that? And standing up for faith and family and God is a nice thing, too.

CAPTAIN MORONI

This is me with two of my Tomato plants. this is just before transplanting, even though they are over ready. The tomato in my left hand is Moroni, a cherry Sungold tomato; and the one in my right is a Big beef named Pike, after a big toothy type of fish that lives in lakes around here. I have named all my SunGold tomatoes after Book Of Mormon Heroes. My Big beefs are all Fish names, and my Early girls are named after horse breeds. My best Big Beef is Pike, my best Ealy girl is Arabian, and my best sungold is Moroni; and i named him that before I knew he'd turn out good. I have given them all names so that i will take care of them better. It works! There like green pets.

The almost trophy fish

A little late but here it is, ( top,) is the the whooper so far, a large mouth bass . 4 lbs and 18 in. that I caught in discovery pond. 2 more pounds and he could have been a trophy.
I almost caught a much bigger one but it broke my 10 pound test line. I caught this whooper at the last minute just as mom called us home and we thought the fish stoped biting. On that day Ducky made the discovery of Bullhead cat fish that have been living in the pond in secret. We are going to try and catch those to, besides the giant Bass that got away.

above is not the same fish but another I caught at a lake called Sims Vally. In this picture I am teaching Ducky how to clean fish my way.