Ole Droopy

My diva wife finally decided to let me write on the blog. I'm going to keep this short and sweet, which will be hard considering the hunt was one of the most awesome trips I've had so far.First of all thank you to my cousins Ross and Kim for telling me to put pictures up of my hunt almost every day since I have been back.  I was lucky enough this year to be able to treat my top selling client from Helena Chemical (Mike Cleary) on an elk hunt in New Mexico’s 16A hunting unit.  We took trailers and gear in a few days prior to the hunt with the help of Cripple T Ranch Owner Gene Blair.  After driving on a dirt road for about 3 hours, and being 5 hours (pulling a trailer) from the closest cell phone service and building rock bridge crossings to get through the massive washouts we were finally to our camp that would be home for the next five days.  Needless to say I was in paradise and ready to start hunting.  We got the camp set up and rode around to get to know the land on Friday, October 14 to get to know the land.  Some of the farmers from the Las Cruces area had come up to hunt on Gene’s ranch and we had a few more that just came to enjoy elk camp.  Gene aka RO was my official guide and apparently personal trainer on the trip.  In the first two days we walked between 25-30 miles in the mountains and had hunted hard.  Through all this walking we saw several cows and had a close encounter with a bull that we never laid eyes on.  Needless to say by the third day we were both hobbling around camp like a couple old men and I had blisters on each of my heels.  I ended up guiding Mike Sunday evening out of a Ranger ATV and after missing a bull opening morning, Mike redeemed himself with a 400 yd shot to kill a respectable 6x6.  There were about 30-40 elk in this herd with 4 6x6 bulls all about the same size.  Then it was my turn.  The next morning, after having the battery die on one ranger leaving me to walk another 3 miles and Gene blowing out a tire and not making the Sunday evening hunt we decided to road hunt.  We charged up the ranger and went to a T-Bar (a big flat) to glass.  We then proceeded to drive up an old rocky road to T-Bar tank and then just like in old Johnson fashion we think the roof of the ranger is going to cave in because Gene is pounding on it saying hurry up there’s a herd.  I quickly jumped out and ran up to the edge of the tank to see elk piling out of the trees.  After seeing 3 6x6 elk already run out I hear Gene say hear he comes followed by a big bugle.  He ran out of the trees about 150 yds and never stopped.  I took a running shot which reminded me of hunting nilgai back home and stopped him in his tracks.  Hurrahs rang out and high fives were given.  Thanks again to Gene for guiding me and for Helena for all the support.

Elk Camp 2011

 

Mike Cleary with 6x6 in T-Bar

After the fun comes a little bit of work...loading the elk with 2 people is tough

Me & my 6x6, Ole Droopy. The guys at the camp named it this because of the eye guards.



Gene Blair, the RO and me

The hunting crew with meat loaded

What comes in must come out (going through one of the several wash-outs)

Scenery was awesome

He was taken from the tank behind me

Three bulls that were taken in the area

Sweet(er) Dreams!

Can you believe it's only been one day and I'm already doing another post? I'm quite proud of the volume of blogging I've been able to accomplish this month. I guess we just continue to have a lot going on! Either that or I just like to share every detail of our life and pretend like it's way too exciting...
In any case, we've had some updates to the house lately and the decorating diva in me simply must share the new additions.

You may recall my mention of the 6:00 am garage sale purchases in the last post. I'm pretty sure my mother-in-law, Tami, and I proved our incredible shopping expertise when we picked up an antique sewing table and cute leopard print chair, both of which I adore. The chair has made a stylish addition to our first guest room, and the sewing table added just the right touch to our dining room, serving as a buffet of sorts. I can't wait to display desserts on it when we have people over for dinner!

Here's the fabulous sewing table, all the way from the 1800's. It even has the antique sewing machine still in it.

 Thanks to a recent purchase, we were finally able to finish the second guest room! We were lucky to receive the furniture from Cody's sister Katie's room in Harlingen, and I love the look of everything together. It's more than ready for visitors, so come on over!

 Drum roll please... the main event...our brand new bed! It's amazing how much bigger our room looks now that we have a bigger bed in it. The only problem is it's so pretty that I hate taking it all apart to go to sleep. :) Cody is ever so thrilled by the collection of throw pillows.

I meant to include this pic in the last post, but since I forgot it had to be part of this one. How precious are Lynn and his grandpup? 

Wishing everyone a fantastic week. Until next time!

White Sands or Bust...(literally!)

See? I told you that the next blog update would be coming soon. Again, it's simply because our life is, and continues to grow more and more exciting. We were extra thrilled to have a few visitors last weekend, too. Cody's parents and sister, Katie made the long trip to New Mexico to spend some time with us. It was so great having them here, though the weekend definitely went far too quickly. We saw the sights of Las Cruces (Cody is an excellent tour guide), ate lots of green chile (signature New Mexico cuisine), watched Aggie football, and perhaps most importantly, took a trip to White Sands for the Balloon Festival. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is where the excitement really went down.

After lots of resistance on my part, my mother and father-in-law convinced me to wake up at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning to view a collection of hot air balloons. I must say, I'm glad I gave in to the peer pressure, and not just because it enabled me to break my shopping record by being the first customer at our neighborhood garage sale at 6:00 am. It was one of the most gorgeous sites I've ever seen--a white sand backdrop, clear blue skies sprinkled with just the right amount of color from the mountains, and TONS of bright hues as each hot air balloon signaled lift off. If you ever get the chance to witness something like this, do it. It's truly incredible and yet another reminder of the natural beauty around us that we too often take for granted. OK, my hippie moment is over now, so back to the excitement...

 Katie and Lynn pre-balloon launch

 Cody just being fabulous, as usual.

 Big sis & me! So glad we were finally reunited.

 Balloon launch pad

 Time for takeoff!

 A little father/son bonding time at White Sands

 Family photo op

 Isn't he even more handsome with a colorful balloon backdrop?

 I have the best in-laws, and no, I'm not just sucking up. They're incredible!

 Had to document the Aggie-colored balloon. Whoop!

After the balloon launch, we had to participate in the must-do activity of White Sands: sledding down the sand dunes. Naturally, we loved the thrill of speeding down these hills, and Lynn and Tami even participated. Tami, in fact, was probably the most hard core sledder of our group, when she flew down the dune and got at least 2 feet of "big air" upon landing...and that wasn't all she got. She unfortunately bruised the heck out of her tailbone and caused quite a scene at the national monument (hence the "bust" in the title of this post). The park rangers even called the paramedic team over! I promised I'd be a good daughter-in-law and not go into too much detail, but trust me, Katie and I could hardly resist taking a few paparazzi pictures of the scene. Not to worry, Tami is doing well now and mending the tailbone like the champ that she proved to everyone that she is. In other words, I have one tough rock star of a mother-in-law!

 Let the sledding begin!

 I think I was born for this.

 Right before the rock star, big air moment...

 The paramedics responded rather quickly. Moral of the story: if you're going to be hardcore and bust it while sledding at White Sands, it's nice to know their first responders will be there in a flash.

The excitement clearly did nothing to deter us from continuing the sledding extravaganza. It's always good to get in touch with your inner child, right?

 My favorite part of the morning was the hot air balloon ride! Sorry the pic is so far away, we were busy floating over New Mexico...

Can you believe how cool we are?

We were really sad to see a portion of the Johnson family go back to Texas, but now we're even more excited about the big reunion at Christmas. Plus, as quickly as time is flying, we know that will be here before we know it. Thanks again Lynn, Tami, and Katie for spending a wonderful weekend with us!

"I wake up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy..."

First, I would like to say hello to blog world. I know I have become prone to neglect the Johnson blog these days, and I have no other excuse than that life has, and continues to happen. I'm sure you're wondering why I chose to entitle my returning post with the rather over played line from one of Kesha's always recognizable hit songs. I felt it was only appropriate, considering this line was repeated over and over by my husband the week prior to and the weekend of our return to Aggieland. Yes, I am married to an exceptionally cultured man, and I couldn't be more proud of his ability to keep up with the latest in viral pop music...even if he is a couple of years behind. Now back to the update...

We've been super busy with work and being fantastic puppy parents lately, so we were pretty excited for the chance to return to Aggieland and channel our young(er) college selves. Not only was it a long weekend, but it was also my sister's 20th birthday and the first football game, all providing more than enough reasons for extreme celebrating. I can't even begin to count how many times Cody yelled "Fightin' Texas Aggie Gameday" or my sister informed everyone that she was the birthday princess. Naturally, this made for one incredibly fun visit. Mom even made the trek from San Antonio to join in the festivities. We shopped, ate at our favorite College Station establishments, danced like there was no tomorrow, played a mean game of Cranium, ate chocolate cake, shopped some more, ate some more, and finally cheered the Aggies on to the first victory of the 2011 season. Whoop! Rio really enjoyed his first visit to Aggieland, and he told us that he's ready to go back and visit all of his new friends and his 20-and-fabulous aunt very soon. The fact that I survived two pretty much sleepless nights really impressed me (and everyone for that matter). Looks like this old lady can still hang!

Warning: this post may be slightly heavy on the pictures. I'm trying to make up for lost time!

The birthday princess in all her glory. I could really go for some cake right now... 

 Sister and her precious roomies. Thanks again for putting up with us!

 So glad Mom was there to celebrate with us! We missed you, Dad!

 Perfectly normal behavior for these two... (they're playing Cranium, trust me).

 Ready for a night out on the town!

 Happy birthday to the most gorgeous, smartest, fabulously accessorized and merchandized sister ever!

 Back to our old stompin' grounds...

 Can you tell he's excited?

 The Brown girls and some of their favorite boys

 Ready to watch the Aggies BTHO SMU!

 So happy Ali made the trip to CS! Love this girl so much and loved catching up!

 A little game-watching at the Corner with friends

PJ and Kirby...just carrying on the tradition and making brother and sister incredibly proud. :)

As always, the weekend flew by way too quickly. We're looking forward to another visit sometime soon, though we're not too sure about that 13 hour drive at the moment. Rio was very well behaved the entire trip (for the most part), and even got lots of compliments about how good he was for still being such a baby. We are such proud parents. I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of him...he's growing more everyday!

Just watching Cody take care of some fantasy football business...



Another update coming soon, I promise!