Zac's birthday on the firing range

In the following pic's you can see that we had a good time. Sorry that you can not see the faces of the thrower or shooters (that was my decision to stand behind them). Also, I'm not sure if the boys had more fun throwing the skeet or shooting them. Or maybe it was picking up the unbroken ones.

James on the range with Zac throwing.
Daniel stepping hard into the throw.

John on the trigger with Jimmy throwing. (I think James was coaching at this point.)

Daniel taking aim.
John taking another turn with throwing, and Jimmy showing the relaxed atmosphere we all enjoyed that day.

What form!!!

Justin shooting up the alley.

Jimmy showed us how to convert a standard shot shell into a quick - slug action. By cutting as indicated in the pic, the end of the shell does not blow out, but the bulk of the shot stays in and goes with the end of the shell - and that is what acts like a slug.

And finally, some bump'n... to round out the activities.

Zac's Sweet Sixteenth

Let us begin with the grand finale.

The cake! Made to order as usual.

Zac with his brother and Fender...

Zac's 16th Birthday was replete with fun and excitement. In the early afternoon, Zac and his dad joined a few of his friends and did some skeet shooting, of course it was followed up with some bump'n. Then he came home for some cake and present action. I know you've been told that we scale way back on birthdays, but we try to make a few exceptions for significant ones. First, let me tell you that Coy WAS able to join us. Thanks to the technology of Face-Time he was able to watch all the action in real-time. But he was not able to taste the cake :(

Maybe next time Coy!

Zac with his beautiful mother...

Here is Jay with the horse that is staying with us, named Caspian.

Jay is here "lunging" Caspian.

Merry Christmas!

Hey folks, we moved last month. I know this is a shock to some of you, but most will know that we have moved many, many times over the years. We are now in Boone, NC area.

Here are pic's of our new home and a view of our front yard.

Yes, we have not lost the irony of our blog name "Down From The Mountains", as we have now moved back up the mountain.

If you will be in the area, please give us a call or drop by.

And the front yard... with Jay's golden retriever, Fender.

Coy's Graduation Pict's

Here are some pictures from my graduation party.

Famous Artists of the Renaissance

As we are bringing this last school year to a close - this is Jacob's final week before his summer break - we would like to post an essay that Jacob wrote in his Writing class. After reading this, I'm sure you will agree that Jacob is certainly blossoming as a budding writer. His paper (click here to view) is titled Famous Artists of the Renaissance.

Jacob's first horse riding competition

Last Saturday Jacob participated in his first riding competition at Steppin Heaven Farms. He entered two events:

- Walk/Trot with Pattern: here the entrants ride a predetermined pattern, and were judged on overall control, correctness and transitions and diagonals.

- Walk/Trot Under Saddle: here the entrants were judged on control of pace of horse and diagonals.

Coy put together this little ditty with some of the footage taken by his proud mother and brother Zac.

If you are a gun enthusiast, then you might enjoy this video blob post. But if guns scare you then please do not visit this link.
Bump'n

Trapping... the latest adventure

The boys have been spending lots of wonderful time in the woods this winter.
We would love to show you a sample of pics to give you a taste of what they have been experiencing.
Below are a couple of shots of the creek / swamp area that have been a productive site.
Hidden under those sticks in the 2nd pic is one of Coy's muskrat traps.


Coy displaying one of the muskrats that he trapped.


Jay, taking a break on the trail of beaver, holding a muskrat trap.

The boys come upon on of their traps and see that it was successful.

They hold up the prize, a nice large beaver with a prime pelt.



Zac holding up a muskrat catch from another location.

Jay holds up two muskrats, just prior to the drying and skinning process.



Coy working on a beaver pelt. After carefully removing the hide from the animal, he scrapes off all the flesh. Then the hide is stretched to dry.



Beaver Pelts ready to be sold.

Muskrat & squirrel pelts, along with some duck decoys hanging in our garage.


For all of those who might be "sensitive" in this area of harvesting animals... rest assure, the circle of life was complete when we took the carcasses to a local farm to be fed to chickens. Yes, fed to other animals, we have not attempted to roast them for ourselves.... yet. But we have sampled eggs from those beaver-fed chickens.

Jay Is Still Riding

Our cowboy!