My trip to Kentucky

I got back from Kentucky yesterday afternoon. It was a marathon trip. We departed church on Wednesday at 7:30PM, drove until we reached Staunton, VA at 2:30 in the morning. Slept in a hotel until 7AM, ate at Cracker Barrel, got in the truck, and arrived in Lynch, Kentucky at 2:00PM on Thursday afternoon. Do you think we stayed long?? NOPE!!



We got back in the truck at about 5:00PM Thursday, drove back to Staunton, VA, arrived at midnight, stayed at a hotel, got up at 6 AM, ate at WAFFLE HOUSE!!!! and then arrived back at church at about 3 PM Friday afternoon. So, in 43.5 hours, I drove to Kentucky and back, stopping only for sleep and meals. about 25 of those hours were actual driving time. Woah!



Why all this craziness? Because we're planning a mission trip. Lynch, KY is a coal mining town with a population right around 1,000 people. The mine is the main employer in the town, and most everybody else is unemployed. The work at the mine is not consistent, as it fluctuates with the price of oil. Oil goes way up, people buy more coal. Oil comes back down, people stop buying coal, and the mine lays off the workers. A large number of the houses are in terrible shape, and the people are either 1) Disabled and can't afford to have the work done, or 2) able to do the work themselves, but can't afford to buy the materials. There is also a pretty big drug problem in the town.

So, we're partnering with a small organization whose purpose is to minister to the people of this part of Kentucky. We visited some of the potential houses that we'll be working on. There is no building code enforcement, so a lot of the houses that have had work done are substandard. For example, a lot of people don't have indoor plumbing, but if they do, many of them drain into the river that flows through the town. Some houses just have a hole below the bathroom, and some still have outhouses. At another house we saw, the daughter built a house right behind her parents' house, and until recently, didn't have power at all. She didn't have water either. She now has a garden hose that runs from her parents' house to hers so she has some water.

In the past 10 years, we've been told, the town has made some improvements, due largely in part to church groups and mission groups that have come in to help build. We're hoping to bring a group of 15-20 people to do some work. We'll see what happens...

Highlights:


1) Driving through the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. I've driven there a couple times, and it is just about one of the most beautiful places in the Eastern US. Especially when it's November, and the leaves are still in their autumnal glory!



2) Climbing Black Mountain on the VA/KY border. It's the highest point in KY (about 4,300 ft.), and the road that goes up it is full of switchbacks and no guardrails. The view at the top is awesome!

3) Waffle House!! OK, so it isn't the finest in cuisine, but every time I've been south, I've wanted to go to one. I finally got my chance. How was it? In one word...GREASE! It was great. The best part were the hash browns. They come plain, or with you choice of the following toppings: cheese, ham, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, chili, or jalapeno peppers. Or, you can get them "all the way". That means "all of the above". Which do you think I got??? That's right, ALL THE WAY!!! No regrets!

Add a generous portion of grits and sweet tea at every food stop, and i'm a happy guy!

And now, here's a video that has absolutely NOTHING to do with this post. It's a tribute to John Williams. He's the guy that wrote the music to Star Wars, Superman, ET, Jaws, and many others.

Deer Season Scorecard

Well, the first part of the bow season is done, and yesterday began the extended permit bow season. The extended season is basically a money grab conducted by the state of New Jersey. Your regular bow license ($27) is good for hunting in Sept & Oct. If you want to hunt Nov & Dec, it's an extra $28. Oh, and if you want to shoot a buck, you have to now buy a $28 buck tag. Oh, and if you want to hunt in more that one hunting zone, you have to buy a $28 permit for each zone. Then, some guys go pheasant hunting ($40), or muzzle loader hunting ($28 for each zone permit, $28 for buck tag). Wow! That's a lot of money the state gets! The only permits I buy are the buck tag (you never know when a big one will walk by), and one or two zone permits. Some guys spend a fortune just on permits & tags, and don't get much chance to get out hunting.

So, anyway, so far, my deer hunting season has been productive. I have 3 deer in the freezer so far. One big doe, one small doe, and a button buck. Then there was another doe that I shot at, and missed. Just as I released the arrow, my left arm (holding the bow) dropped, and I saw the arrow go right under her. Oh well. A missed deer is better than an injured deer.

So the score is Jeff 3, Deer 1. We'll see how the rest of the season pans out. I'm hoping to get 2 more big deer in the freezer, which will get us through a good part of the next year. I've only blogged about one deer this year. Here's the post if you want to read it.

Wordless Wednesday (on Thursday)

My beautiful wife is...

...with baby #4!!

Finally, a new post

So, I've been busy lately. All 3 boys have had pnuemonia, and I've had a ton of stuff going on. With Election Day right around the corner, here is a clip for your consideration. This is a "Man on the Street" type interview, done by the Howard Stern show. now, i don't listen to Howard, but I saw this clip on Reepicheep. It's staggers the mind that the people interviewed are blindly supporting Obama, and have absolutely NO IDEA what he stands for. In fact, the interviewer asks them questions about Obama, and puts McCain's platform positions in the questions, and they don't even realize that they are McCain's ideals. Listen to this...

A Great Saturday!

Today was a fantastic day. Some of the highlights were:

1) Getting to sleep in until 7:30
2) My breakfast - 2 eggs, perfectly over-easy, wheat toast, and cafe con leche from our espresso maker, made with Cafe Bustelo.
3) Mowing the lawn with the boys
4) Getting other yard work done
5) Laying on the couch with Ryan & Kevin, watching hunting videos while Sean slept and Beautiful bride was grocery shopping
6) The super awesome cross rib roast with delicious homemade mashed potatoes and broccoli for dinner, made by the loving hands of my spectacularly beautiful bride.
7) The pan gravy that she made along with the meat.
8) The smell of the roast in the oven when i came inside from yard work and playing with the boys all afternoon.
9) The caramelized onions that were atop the roast (I really liked dinner!)
10) Picking up worms and caterpillars with all 3 boys.
11) Getting my voice back (sort of...)
12) A feeling of accomplishment
13) Having a day that was Blessed by God in every way!

We really need some new movies

We have an absolutely pathetic movie collection. With the exception of the Indiana Jones Trilogy, The Green Mile, and Saving Private Ryan.

Other than that, it pretty much stinks.

So here we sit on a Friday night with nothing to do...again...trying to pick a movie to watch. Last time this happened, we had the grave misfortune of watching Jurassic Park 3. Boy was that a bad choice.

Anybody else just sitting around tonight? Ugh. I so want to do something. HELP!

The venison wagon has arrived!!

Success!!!






Today was an absolutely beautiful early fall day. Completely clear, blue sky, temps in the upper 40's early on, got into maybe the mid 60's later. I was out in the woods at 6:30 AM, set up in my tree for the first hunt of the season. As far as hunting days go, this was a great one. Lots of activity in the woods. I had 2 juvenile red tail hawks come gliding through the trees, and land on a limb about 20 yards from where I was sitting. It was great! Later on, one of them came back again, and buzzed right through the woods. I was amazed at how they can so easily navigate their way through the trees going so fast! My stand is set up on Pastor Rick's property, which is just bursting with wildlife!



At about 8ish, 3 does came in from my right. The spot where I was set up was on the top of a ridge on a well used path, about 30 yards beyond a fork in the path. I watched these 3 does work their way up the ridge towards me, but they decided to take the left fork. (I was on the right fork).



They passed about 15 yards away behind my tree, and I was not able to get around the tree with my bow to take a shot. So I enjoyed watching them take their time going by. The good thing was that they were not aware of me at all, so they'll be back again another day. I was pretty bummed about not having a shot, but I was still enjoying the day.



At about 8:45 AM, I thought I saw something. Across the path from me was a clearing in the trees, to the right of which is a big patch of bushes & stuff. Through all the bramble, sure enough, I saw part of a deer's face, maybe 40 yards away, walking straight towards me. By the time I turned and got my bow ready, these 2 does were already only 25 yards away. The bigger of the two actually stopped, looked in my direction, and kept coming. Good! She didn't see me!



I could see where they were heading, and it was a good place to be. The bushes opened up in to the clearing about 15-20 yards from my tree, and that's where they were going. No sooner did I draw back my Hoyt Supreme, loaded with my new Gold Tip 7595 with the Muzzy 125 grain broadhead leading the way, and the big doe came out into the clearing, and stopped right in front of me, perfectly broadside, just begging to be in my freezer. WHUMP!!



I saw the arrow hit home, and she jumped, and turn & ran back down the other side of this little ridge. So, I waited about 20 minutes, climbed down, got my arrow, and walked back to Rick's house. He brought the quad out, and we set out to track the deer. Wasn't too difficult to do. The Muzzy broadhead did it's job. She ran about 35 yards, and that was all she wrote. Great double lung shot. Once we got the deer back to my truck, Pastor Rick suggested we sing the Doxology in thanks to God for His Providence. So Rick, me, and our friend Dave, who was over to fix Rick's chainsaw, sang the Doxology, out in the clean fall air, giving praise to God, from Whom all blessings flow!

Thank you, Lord, for a beautiful day!