Oskar:

A tarpaper shack up here in winter would be tough going.

You're clearly from good stock.

http://i.imgur.com/7SckiDKh.jpg

Good day here. Neither are Parkers I'm afraid...

http://i.imgur.com/BRfaNFRh.jpg

This was out my kitchen window last friday afternoon...

http://i.imgur.com/hRZJcBlh.jpg

Ruffed grouse cock and a Spruce grouse hen and so easy to get fooled (sprucies don't eat so great).

Anybody home here?

Clearly I need to get to Minnesota. You are very fortunate.

Thankyou Mr. Roemer.

I am fortunate and I try to remember that blessing daily.

I sure miss those days in SE Ohio!
Lloyd I remember thinking the birds we saw and harvested here were just normal and expected it to continue during the 1970s-thru the 2000s.
I was badly mistaken!
Enjoy and appreciate every day they are there!!!

Jim: I know it can't last but I try to make every Fall count. This has been a very good year (not all are).

Well, the dance is almost over here.

http://i.imgur.com/lk7fxBeh.jpg

I've been up here for nearly 2-months hunting and fishing. It really defines what I do to "recreate" for a number of reasons (it does recreate me into somebody that is healthier, happier, and more calm). My goal every day is 10 thousand steps and two birds, which has been surprisingly easy this year (good hatch this Spring I suppose). I'll be closing the place down again for another season in a day or two and then loading my guns and gear into my rig for the long drive back across the Great Plains. I'll be 68 in a few short weeks and I've tried to make the last few autumns count as much I as I could. This one has been a peach, for sure.

I've been blessed with two type of hunting this year, forrest and "the plains" (I made a short side trip to North Dakota mid-October). It's hard to compare them but both can be simply wonderful.

http://i.imgur.com/Nls6ngnh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/TmUHUWah.jpg

The yields for all of my time afield have been spectacular...

http://i.imgur.com/5oKXm1ih.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/01K9ww2h.jpg

It'll be hard to go home and then just sit around, so...I leave for an elk hunt next weekend.

I do hope that I die with my boots on.

Forgot to add some pix of the Parker hammer (it is in other posts here) but, here you go:

http://i.imgur.com/BEzn1OLh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ZDD3MTlh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ZhxWQKsh.jpg