Happy 4th of July!!

[Ed Caffrey]

Hope everyone has a happy and SAFE holiday! Cindy and I are sticking around the house, as we typically do for holidays, so we can avoid the crowds, and then go out and do our thing when everybody else is at work!

Our big thing for the weekend is helping with/participating in a big BBQ at Church on Sunday.

I am very concerned with how hot and dry we are here in Montana....we've already had a record number of wildland fires, and this holiday is ALWAYS when knuckleheads don't have enough sense to be careful with fireworks, and end up starting fires. And of course someone always maims themselves with said fireworks.

Stay Safe and have Fun!

[KenH]

Ed: a very happy July 4th you and your family. Sounds like your holiday plans are similar to what I've always done. For many years most any summer holiday was spent well offshore away from the maddening crowds. We's leave out the night before, sail overnight to a dive/fishing spot 50 to 100 miles out in Gulf of Mexico to anchor. Yep, even 100 miles offshore there were rocky uprisings where the water was less than 100 ft deep, and some only 40 or so deep. The northern most coral reefs in the world are the Flower Gardens (now a National Marine Sanctuary) was one destination. This was during the 27 yrs I lived on a 40 ft sailboat. The daughters were 2 yr and 5 yr when we first moved aboard.

Allow an old man to tell one story: When the girls were about 3-4 and 7-8 (oldest had just lost her first teeth with a visit from tooth fairy) I had speared a decent barracuda for food. Sunny (wife) was cleaning the 'cuda, got the head cut off and the two girls where playing with the head. Oldest daughter asks for a pair of pliers. Why? So she could pull the teeth and get rich from tooth fairy! (Barracudas are very toothy fish) Doesn't work that way, Oh she says, throws head over the side.

The two girls then started watching Mom gut fish, wanted to know what each part was, where the stomach was, then wanted it cut open so they could see what the 'cuda had been eating. Yea, I raised two little delicate ladies who could clean fish, and play dressup primping with the best of girls.

These days, it's hang around the house and cook on grill to stay off roads, and no shopping for sure.

Ken H>

[Ed Caffrey]

Love the way you do things Ken! And love that story too! Not unlike my daughters first mule deer.

She had taken several whitetails previously, but wanted to hunt Mulies, and at the time was in her first year of nursing school..... once the deer was down, I was about to gut it, so we could get it out (fairly warm morning), but Mandi had other ideas! We ended up doing a autopsy on that deer that would would have made the writers of Criminal Minds proud!

[KenH]

Here's my granddaughter's first deer - I think she was 15 or 16 at the time. White tail of course for this part of country.


Just a bit more bragging from a proud Grandpa - this is her high school senior photo, she placed 2nd in her class for Mississippi State archery competition.


Ooops, those photos printed to screen much larger than I expected.

[bjmac]

happy 4th, y'all

[Gliden07]

Howdy Ed!! Happy Independence weekend to you and yours! Hope you all have a safe holiday despite all the Knuckleheads!!

[Robert Washburn]

and to you and all too.

[M&J]

Have a happy 4'th!

Going to enjoy a calm relaxing weekend at home. Enough craziness exists in the day to day that having quiet time at home is refreshing.