A Short Hiatus…

So, as you can tell from my last few posts, I’m pretty banged up from my accident.  My face is healing well, but all my progress will be worthless come next week when I have to face surgery on my sinus.  It will be another week or so of recovery from that before I am back to my normal self.  Thanks to all of my injuries and soreness, I am obviously not feeling up to too many activities outside so I’m running out of things to post about for now.  My hope is that before too long I will be able to continue my deer hunting adventures, do some good winter hikes (my favorite) and get in some snowboarding.  I am by no means ending my blog due to this injury. Although this bad boy was created and intended for a class, I have enjoyed writing and posting here and will continue posting at least through the new year, even if nobody reads it.  Obviously if you’re this far, you’re reading it! and I truly appreciate you! Yes you!
Until I am feeling 100% again though, I am blank on what to post about as I’m not outdoors doing anything fun.  I’m stuck inside doing schoolwork and feeling sorry for myself despite the fact that the accident that put me here was totally my fault.  I hate it.
If you are one of my (few) readers please check back in a couple of weeks.  I plan to keep this thing up and running to tell of my adventures as the Georgia winter presses on.  Until then, I will say again, thank you thank you thank you!
Hopefully this hiatus will be a short one! Y’all get out and enjoy the nature for me while I can’t do it myself.
See y’all then!

 

 

Endless leaves… I’m over it!

So, as anyone who has been outside in the last week knows, leaves are finally falling to the ground.  While they are pretty to look at and fun to jump into, they are a real pain in the ass for those of us who have an obsession with a good looking lawn.  My roommate and I have watched them fall.  We have put it off and let the leaves lay until we reached our breaking point… We decided on Sunday that we had seen enough! So, as a team, we plowed through our yard.  I had the leaf blower in hand and he wielded the push mower with the bag attachment.  We hit every inch of yard and spent a solid 2 hours of work on it until we were pleased with the outcome.  It was one of the best looking lawns in the neighborhood if I do say so myself.  We put the tools back in the garage and came upstairs to grab some lunch.
Following lunch, John had some other errands to do so he left and I passed out on the couch for my normal Sunday nap.  Upon waking up, I walked past the door and looked outside only to see my worst nightmare… the yard was once again blanketed in leaves.  I give up… at least for a few weeks.  I will wait until literally every leaf is on the ground and it is too cold to stand it, THEN I’ll clean the yard up.  It’s gonna kill me to see it like this, but why waste the effort?  I need to just hire some lawn maintenance guys and save me the headache.
Anyone else have the same problem?

 

Thanksgiving!

I just got back to my parents house and decided to write about our day! We started the morning off right by sitting on the porch and having some coffee. It kind of hurt my stitches on my lip, but I got over it. After the coffee we began our cooking and watched the thanksgiving parade on tv as we prepared multiple dishes. After our cooking we went over and picked up my grandad to head to my uncle’s house where we always celebrate together. There were about 50 or 60 of us there! After blessing the food and chowing down we moved outside to play some cornhole and basketball! I then found myself laid back in the hammock and passed out enjoying this glorious weather. This year is one of the best thanksgivings I’ve had in a while. This year I am thankful to be alive. After seeing my life flash before
My eyes Tuesday I am so grateful for life and the things I am blessed with including such great friends and especially my family. Hope everyone has a safe and wonderful holiday!

 

Motorcycles can be fun… But dangerous!

So this is day 2 of my recovery. On Tuesday, November 22 I was riding my motorcycle down 41 and was headed to eat lunch with friends. As I topped a hill I was looking down at my bike to adjust something. I looked up and the traffic in front of me was slowing and the car in front of my was stopped. I locked up both brakes as fast as I could and slid into the rear end of the car in front of me. The bike landed on my leg and I slammed my face on something, though I don’t know what. I don’t remember much from the accident. The next thing I remember is calling my mother from inside the ambulance. I spent a few hours at the hospital receiving shots and stitches and now I am home relaxing and enjoying the holidays. I am so so do thankful that I am alive. My wreck could’ve been so much worse but I made it out with a busted face and bruised hands and feet. I definitely had someone looking over me and protecting me. This experience has definitely freaked me out and while it won’t affect my love for the outdoors, it definitely has affected my love for motorcycles. It will be a long while before I have the courage or desire to get on a bike again. They are a blast, but it only takes one spill like I had to freak you out and take the fun out of them. I will post a photo of my damage below. Stay safe out there!

 

Grillin’ and chillin’

Tonight was a good night.  That’s all there is to it.
A couple of my buddies came over for a guys’ night.  Rather than cooking some girly meal inside, we fired up the grill and cooked up some burgers and steaks on this cool fall night.  While the burgers and steaks were cooking we just hung out in the back yard.  We hit around some golf balls, played with the dogs, and just caught up with each other.  Once the food was done we all shut up for a while and stuffed our faces with the feast.  We ate on paper plates and drank out of solo cups so that the only “clean up” we had was tossing it in the trash.  We finished off the night by trying to get a little bonfire started but that was the definition of a fail.  All of the wood we had was still soaked from the rain we got yesterday, so the only fire we had was burning all of the lighter fluid off of the wood and paper we threw into the pit.  Despite the fire malfunction, it was a solid night of just hanging out with the guys and catching up.  Those are the most relaxing and best nights to just talk about whatever and not give a damn about anything else.  Gotta love it.

 

Waiting to blast one…

Waiting, and that’s all I’ve done.  As a deer hunter, patience is once trait you must have.  For the most part, I am a patient man, but hearing all the stories and seeing photos of monster bucks that my friends have killed makes me super anxious to get a deer this season.  I have gotten out and hunted 4 times so far this season and only spotted 4 deer.  Those 4 were moving so fast I couldn’t get a shot.  Soon enough, I’m gonna get one, but for now I’m just getting out and enjoying nature.  Though it is frustrating not shooting anything, you just can’t beat being up in a tree and watching the sunrise.  There is something relaxing and surreal about it.  I find my peace in walking out into the woods in the pitch black woods, climbing the tree, and sitting in the silence until daybreak.  The squirrels and birds start moving and the day is started.
I hope that I will soon be posting again about a deer who’s life I have taken and gathered meat from, but for now I just go back to waiting and enjoying the woods.  Any other hunters out there that struggle with patience?

 

The photo below is just a snapshot of what I see as the sun rises! I’m just inside the edge of the woods looking over the freshly cut pasture. Can’t beat it.

 

Ridin’ into apple country…

I finally got the opportunity to do something I’ve wanted to do all fall.  I had almost forgotten about it until my friend Leanne sent me a text message and asked if I wanted to go to the orchard in Ellijay to pick some apples.  We both had Sunday free so we decided to head up there and turn it into a motorcycle ride.
We headed out about 10:30 am and kind of regretted the whole motorcycle idea because it. was. freezing!  We bundled up pretty good, but it was still pretty chilly.  We made it to Ellijay in about an hour and a half and had to stick around a while to warm up.

We were a bit disappointed upon arrival in finding out that apple picking was over.  That is only available early in the season.  We still bought us some apples and fresh cider though, so the trip wasn’t a total waste.  The orchard we visited was R&A Orchards, the one my family has always gone to.  They have a great setting and some great tasting products that they produce.  Go check them out while it’s nice out!

We left Ellijay and headed back to Kennesaw about 1 o clock.  The ride home was much warmer and much more enjoyable.  The leaves were beautiful and the twisting roads were amazing.  It was a great day all around.  Tasty apples, cool weather, and knees in the breeze… what more could ya ask for?!

 

Opening day!

So last Saturday marked the beginning of the best season of the year; deer season!
I’ve never missed opening day and I never plan on missing one.  Even if I don’t shoot anything, just getting up early and sitting in the woods is the definition of relaxation.  When you climb that stand in the pitch black morning and sit down, there isn’t a single sound around you… It’s totally silent and you can’t even see your hand in front of your face.  Tell me that ain’t bliss.
This year I had a friend join me, my father.  We both got up about 6:15, suited up, and headed out to our stands. The sun rose about 7-7:15 and I didn’t see a thing.  I heard about a million squirrels all around me driving me crazy, but no deer.  I didn’t mind a bit though.  I still loved every second.  About 8:30 I saw something coming through the woods, but it was no deer… It was my parents’ cat.  He was definitely interested in seeing what I was doing and he darted up the tree towards me.  Once he was about 2 feet from my stand, I grabbed my gun by the barrel and swung it down at him, knocking him to the ground.  Not only do I hate cats, but I definitely don’t want one in a tree with me… No thank you.  That’s about all the excitement I had that morning.

My father had a bit more luck, but there’s still no meat in the freezer.  Shortly after sunrise, he had a rather large doe wander into his vicinity.  He loaded and raised his gun and as soon as he had the doe in his crosshairs, the deer smelled him and got spooked.  She darted off into the wooded abyss before he could get a shot off.  It still got his heart pounding though.

While neither of us got a deer, we still had a solid morning of sitting and enjoying the wilderness.  After all, we’ve got until January 1st to shoot as many as we want (within the limit).
Hopefully we’ll have a little bit better luck later on in the season!  I guarantee you I will post about it if that’s the case.

 

Shredding Fort Mountain.

Two days after the epic bonfire, I had one of the best Sundays I’ve had in a while.  My roommate and I went to church and then following church we had nothing to do, so we decided to go on a motorcycle ride.  Rather than our normal ride that we do through Acworth, we decided to do a bit more extended ride.  We headed up to Chatsworth to ride across Fort Mountain and through Fort Mountain State Park.  The weather was perfect and the bikes both ran great!  We had no problems from either of them (surprisingly) and we made great time on the way up there and back.  We made it from Kennesaw to the summit in about an hour and a half!  There were all kinds of bikes up there from cafe racers, to sportbikes, to cruisers, and even some motards.  One thing was common though, everybody was having a great day.  I was carving so hard in some curves that my foot pegs were dragging and throwing up some sparks.  The ride back got a little chilly as the sun was going down, but we didn’t mind because we thought ahead and brought our jackets.  Plus, a little cool weather makes the ride that much more fun.

It was one of the better road trips I’ve ever taken on my bike.  We couldn’t have asked for better weather or a better ride.  The leaves were all changing, the bikes were loud, and the roads were just begging to be shredded.  Can’t wait to have another free day and ride up there before it gets too cold to ride the scoots comfortably.  It is my favorite mode of transportation by far!  You just can’t beat hanging one knee into a curve and gliding through it like it’s nothing!

Whether you like motorcycles or not, please take 15 minutes out of your day and watch this video.  It’s about a group of enthusiasts riding their bikes out west and just their love for bikes of all kinds.  No matter the brand or the color, they just love riding and working on them. Check it out, seriously. Until next time… see ya!

 

A little more than your average bonfire…

I’m just now getting around to posting again… I’ve been crazy busy.

But anyways, about a week and a half ago, I had a Friday evening off work and went home to Jasper to spend some time with my buddies. We were all sitting around having a couple of beers and decided we’d have us a bonfire. So, we made a couple of phone calls and before we knew it we had about 15-20 people over at Hamilton’s wanting to have this fire. So we grabbed the beer and some gasoline and headed out to the pasture.

When we got to the pasture, we realized we had forgotten the most important thing… wood! Rather than go back to the house to get wood, we used our brains. We started looking around and realized that the hay that had been baled the week before never got picked up! So we rolled about 4 hay bales to our corner of the pasture and lit what started as a small fire. In no time, this small blaze turned into a 20 ft. tall fireball! We had to stand a good ways back from it because it was so hot. We ended up burning all four hay bales before the night was through. It was definitely the best bonfire we’ve ever hosted. Great blaze, great crowd, good beer, and just an all around good evening. I now know what we will always use for future fires!

Besides the fire, we just had a good time kicking donuts in the Jeep, doing wheelies on the dirtbike, and just standing around laughing and cutting up with each other. It was a great evening in Jasper… but then again, every evening in Jasper is a good evening.

Note: when burning hay bales, be sure to park vehicles a good distance back from the fire. Hay sends all kinds of ashes and embers into the air and they aren’t super kind to vehicle’s paint or seats. We learned that the hard way…