A Secluded Beach

Saturday, Denise and I loaded up the kids and headed to Sardis Lake to meet Mark and Kim for a relaxing day on the water. A little skiing, tubing and a lot of jet skiing went on after we went several miles up the lake to find the perfect little beach. We set up on a secluded beach and enjoyed the day playing in the water, eating, drinking and visiting. Our old friends, Bruce and Linda and their daughter Ashley were there. Marks kids, Drew and John and their girlfriends came too. Then at the last minute, our great friend Kim Jones joined us for the afternoon. For some reason, Camo was not invited.
We had a great time and the gentle lapping of the waves did a lot to ease the pressure of work and life in general.
It is one of our best trips that we take each year.

Wrapping Up Friday

Today I have to pick up Miss Denise at the airport in Memphis. She has been in California for the last two weeks visiting her son, Josh, who has just graduated high school and she made the trip for his Graduation and to visit all her old friends. It has been mighty quiet around here without her. I sure am glad she is coming home, our crazy dog is a handful without any help.

Received a pic from my friend, Marian about her new hunting camp near Vicksburg. It is not too far down the road from us and I hope to get over to visit this summer. She and Bob are very excited about it and seem to feel like they have fallen into a group of old friends. I wish them luck hunting there and think it will be a good match too.

My brother James recently sent this pic of his daughter Eleasah with a nice bear that she took. These kids are in the wilds of Alaska and have to know how to hunt and shoot as soon as they are able to even lift a rifle. She is a pretty little thing and we hope to see them in October.

I posted about our work camp recently and it was hot, hot, hot. Luckily I broke the tractor late Saturday afternoon so that we did not all die of heat exhaustion.
After the work is done and as the sun dips below the treeline is the perfect time to gather at the back table for a cold beer and talk before supper is started. Sometimes deer come out in the fields for us to watch as we discuss the day. Nothing like an ice cold beer after a day of 100 degree heat.

More Cruise Tips From Paul

At the beach, always put your gross white body close to your daughters. This keeps them from (a) meeting anyone (b) having any fun and (c) also embarasses them to death.

A Work Camp

Dad, Trent, Mark, Drew, Paul, Wanda, Michael, Burney, Bobby, Austin and I all showed up for a work camp this last weekend. mostly it was sprucing up the place and we finally got the yard mowed and fallen trees etc. up and out of the way.

Paul's Cruise Tips

#1 When getting on a 10,000 foot long cruise ship, always wear your life vest 24 hours a day. The ladies really think it's sexy.

Marian's Cottage

We recently purchased a small cabin for our overflow guest at the famous Christmas Place Mobile Home Deer Park. It needs work. we are going to re-side it, add the central heat and air., put a covered deck on the front, paint it, add water and sewer, and spruce it up for any of y'all that want to come visit with your family.
We can also stuff the kids out there to get them out from underfoot. They want to name it a hundred different things but I like Marian's Cottage.

Scrub Buck

I sure wish Drew had not shot this scrub buck. I had it tied to a tree this winter feeding it so that it would get fat for Othmar or James Marchington to come blast.

While The Cat's Away

Denise has gone to california (LA) for her son Josh's graduation. I am home alone baching for two weeks. This gives me time to golf every day, watch whatever I want on TV, and basically relax and do whatever I want. Did I mention golf every day? That stupid dog has some weird ideas lately that are causing some problems with this.
Maybe the varmint needs to go visit her Uncle Guy K in Florida.
Since Denise is not here, my stupid dog, Camo, has decided that I need to get up at 5 AM every morning (or earlier). I have been coming in too tired to do anything but eat and go to bed. Anyone want a crazy dog?

The Ghost Glasses

Has anybody out there read the story of Spencer Golightly and the Ghost Glasses.
It starts like this...
It was the glasses of course. There is not a whole lot you can do with a ghost, much less get rid of one if you can't see it..

Fathers Day

I hope that all the men out there got what they wanted for Fathers day. the truth is that we only want a few things.
Kees needs another elephant gun, and some crazy guy just wants Toast, but most men want
a couple of cards from the kids, a chance to relax, or getting away and going to camp!

Hunting stuff is always wanted, golf balls and a few hours to play golf are nice.
Wouldn't a day fishing be nice, a cookout later and hopefully at least one other gift.
Hopefully that gift will be silky.

A Holiday For Erin

If you have noticed, our favorite child blogger from the Jr. Deer Camp Blog has been missing in action. I finally found out she is on a holiday with her Uncle Trent and Aunt Shelley at the Dancing Rabbit Resort.
The rumor is that she is living it up at Geyser Falls Water Park.
Hope Trent brought plenty of money.

Outdoor Bloggers Summit

First of all, I am one of the founding members of the Outdoor Bloggers Summit. This sounds great but we have not done much yet. Kristine is handling most of the work and her vision (along with most of the founders)is to improve our blogging ability, audience, money making ability, and improve the image of hunters and hunting to a wide audience. The Mission Statement is at the top of the blog sidebar for you to read. Matt is making a renewed effort to help the growth of our organization now and trying to make sure our blogmeet in the Spring comes off as planned.
If you hunt or fish or just read mine or other outdoor blogs, put the badge on your site. That is all you have to do to be a member. If you just read and don't blog, send an email to Kristine over there and we will add you as a member.
You may even want to write a post for the blog.
We need every blogger that hunts or chases those darn fish to join up and become united as one voice.
Plus, I am hoping that our blog summit will be fun and informative for everyone that comes. Join today!

Lock, Load and Link

It has been a while since I put up anything about my blog links. Luckily it continues to grow even though several bloggers are taking the summer off.
I have added 2 links this week and want to mention one that I have not written about earlier.

The first is Days Afield. this blog is out of New Jersey and has some great scenery shots, videos and stories from his deer hunts, etc. A good writer with an eye for a story. Pretty darn good blog for a Yankee.
I need him to come down here and enjoy this nice warm spell we are having so far this summer.

The second is a blog called Great Wildlife Vacations. Sarah and Chance Donohue are traveling the world finding the best vacations spots for the outdoorsman and family.
hiking, fishing, scenic waterfalls and hidden valleys are all out there to be enjoyed. Plus, you can find a great hunting trip with them. Check them out.
If you book a trip to see KeesKennis in Africa, remember to sleep with a loaded gun.


The third blog is The Sporting Shooter Blog by James Marchington. He's across the pond in Britain and is the editor of Sporting Shooter Magazine. He is pretty interesting and gets into the bushcraft a bit and can whack a ferret and pop a goose or grouse every now and then. I need to get him over to the famous Christmas Place to see how he is with a deer. Please go by and visit these bloggers, leave some comments, and hey! encourage them to join the OBS.

A Confederate Map Pt. 7

I had read the last paragraph of the amazing hand-written journal and sat staring at it. I flipped a few pages more and they were blank, so I went to work studying and trying to find out what the tantalizing and mysterious paragraph could mean. It WAS the answer to the puzzle but how to decipher it. Was it code? Was the meaning obvious? I tried to figure it out and finally after an hour or so copied the writing in my notebook and flipped through the remaining blank pages Ten pages later there was another entry, but in a different hand-writing. This was a larger and feminine hand that penned the last entry in the journal.
My husband Julian H Christmas died March 23, 1870.
Since that time I have told no one the secrets in this diary and hope that when our son, Nathaniel is older, he will be able to retrieve the treasure and ensure his success in life.
I have studied the notes and feel that the strange rock carvings in the bluffs hold the answer to the location of the marker for the treasure.
I am to marry Col Matthew Coughlin in the spring and join our families together. He has graciously asked me to become his wife and join our fortunes together for which I am grateful. I will be a kind hostess and dutiful wife, but to protect my son and his family plantation I am hiding this book underneath the hearth of our fireplace so that Nathaniel can find it when he is older.
I hope to one day make my beloved late husband proud.
Kristine Shreve Christmas July 17, 1872


A few days later I went into the Geneological records for Holmes county and was able to discover that this wonderful woman and her son both died in 1875 from the Yellow Fever Epidemic.

Clues

Al has left a new comment on your post "A Confederate Map Pt. 6":
"The key beginning is a stone at the start of our dream(the Past - Headstone - Parent?)
The answer to our hope is carved in the heart of the wood.(the Future - Child - Name... named after a parent?)
To find the first, you must find the second, (which persons name to look for?)
and your future will depend on ancient rock to guide you.” (Look on the 'marker'.)...well, it's someplace to start...
thanks Al, I will be continuing the story very soon.

The Book Signing

Coffeeville, MS> Yesterday was Dad's first book signing. The event was held at the Yalobusha County Historical Society in Coffeeville. Our hostess was Mrs. Sarah Williams of the Coffeeville Courier newspaper.
This was my father's first book signing and he was a little nervous, plus he can't hear very well now either, but he got through it pretty darn well.
There was a small crowd and we all enjoyed him telling how he wrote his book "Lim" and how hard it was to finally get published.
He read a short part of it that made us all laugh. Then we had cake and lemonade while he talked to each person and signed copies of his book.

Secret Twins ?

Here is a picture of John Stewart with a nice wild hog we took off of the Christmas Place. the one on the right is John

Opportunities In Recreational Land

With people running out of places to hunt, there is a good market for someone interested in investing in recreational land.

Burneys' 1st Big Buck

Many moons ago while we were at Abbeville, MS....

Rat Killing Results

Needless to say everyone had a great time, everyone made some good shots and some lousy ones too. Strangely, the teams ended up that everyone came out pretty close to even on the bets. I also think everyone got a sunburn.
The players in the picture below (left to right)
Guy Dale Shaw, Barry Weeks, Larry Trent, Hershel Howell, Joe Black, Johnny Sayle, Trent Howell, Rex Howell
Golf was played, whiskey flowed, lots of great stories were told and way too many golf strokes were taken.
It was not as much fun as a day at the beach with KeesKennis, but everyone had a great time. I would tell you more but everyone knows that "What Happens At Deer Camp, Stays at Deer Camp."