Terrible Towels over Afghanistan

Even our brave soldiers know what flag to fly!

US Navy Presidential Ceremonial Honor Guard Drill Team

A little bit of this goes a long way with me....but I thought you might enjoy!



Hat Tip to Jon Earls!

Friends

Just before Christmas Tom & Cindy stopped by and spoiled us with gifts. Then the next week they took us to Pizza Hut. Thanks so much!

Getting crazy at Dutch Blitz.

Monday night Andy and Becky came over for supper and games.

Last night Tom and Connie Rodgers and Blaine and Dixie Cosner came over for supper and games. Here Connie was getting cozy with Tom. We were all blushing! LOL

We taught Tom and Connie how to play Rummikub and Dutch Blitz.

Piebald Buck

No details just some pics.

Road Kill

The next bird will be a Cardinal.

Pro-Life Prayer Breakfast

Tom Rodgers and Blaine Cosner enjoyed the 31st Annual Pro-Life Prayer Breakfast held on Saturday, January 17, 2009 at the Ambassador Banquet & Conference Center on Peach street in Erie.
I grabbed a pic with the Special Guest Speaker: Ramesh Ponnuru - National Review Magazine Senior Editor and Author of the book "The Party of Death".

Note: I was wearing my Steelers tie....not that it makes any difference.

Federated Church Hunting Expo

Pastor Rick Plucknet opening up the night.

Dr. David Samuel giving some great tips about bow hunting.

Vincent enjoying his "wild game" meal.

Venison back straps, venison tips and mushrooms, smoked steel head, black bear meatballs, venison sausage with peppers and onions, and venison meatloaf. Delicious!

Part of my collection on display.

The Trappers.

Fly Tiers from Gander Mountain.



Flint Napper

Blacksmith

Making a long bow.

Finished products.
Having a good laugh with Dr. Dave. Retired professor of wildlife biology from WVU. He is an inductee into the Archery Hall of Fame.
Please pray for Dr. Dave he has a serious medical problem.

Cool mount with a 3rd main beam.

For all the people who think Pennsylvania does not have monster bucks. Dr. Dave told about a friend of his who took a Boone and Crocket buck that scored over 204" from our area last year. The deer management program is working. I personally have scored bucks that have been in the 160-175 range.

A freak of nature, two headed deer.

Some young boys enamored with my ammo collection.

An Iroquois Indian presenting a handmade longbow to a young boy.

Yep he was wearing a loin cloth.

Scary!

Night Out with the Carrs

Chef Pengs - Niles Ohio. We are fans of this restaurant. It is my favorite. You can be guaranteed that the chicken is chicken and not cat, pigeon, or rabbit. If you ever want to try it out holler and we will go there with you. Just don't let Daryl and Marilyn Muir about or they will want to go along. J/K! We will invite them as well.

Buddy and Lisa Carr - great friends and congregants.

For those who like weird Chinese fortune cookie sayings.....for whatever it means.

NFL Largest Fan Base

Top 10 largest fan bases in the NFL:
#1 Pittsburgh Steelers
#2 Dallas Cowboys
#3 Greenbay Packers
#4 Oakland Raiders
#5 Washington Redskins
#6 Philadelphia Eagles
#7 Cleveland Browns
#8 New York Giants
#9 Kansas City Chiefs
#10 Denver Broncos

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Which_NFL_team_has_the_largest_fan_base_in_the_world

Most Popular NFL Team

Cleveland Browns Fans...eat your heart out!

The Steelers have a tradition of having a large fanbase, which has spread from Pittsburgh. In August 2008, ESPN.com ranked Steelers' fans as the best in the NFL, citing their "unbelievable" sellout streak of 299 consecutive games. While the team gained a large fan base nationally based on their success in the 1970s, many consider the collapse of the steel industry in Pittsburgh at the end of the 70's dynasty into the 1980s to be a large catalyst for the unusually high fan base in other cities, since many native Pittsburghers were forced to move elsewhere to find work, causing Western Pennsylvania to lose nearly half of its population. Examples of this have been shown when the Steelers are on the road, and the stadiums still having a sizable amount of Steeler fans; in particular, teams with usually low fan turnout at home that would otherwise require a local blackout on television usually end up selling out when hosting the Steelers due to Steeler fans buying up the tickets. The Cincinnati Bengals used to be perhaps the best example of this, as the team only sold out home games when the Steelers or Cleveland Browns were playing in Cincinnati, with the respective fans of the other teams buying up the tickets.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have sold out every home game since the 1972 season. In November 2007, the Steelers were ranked as the most popular local sports franchise out of the 122 teams in the NHL, NBA, MLB and NFL, by a study from Turnkey Sports. Another study ranked Pittsburgh as having the highest percentage of female fans of their local football team, ranking twice as high as the average city. An aspect of Steelers fandom, the Terrible Towel, is "arguably the best-known fan symbol of any major pro sports team". - http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Which_NFL_team_is_the_most_popular

GO STEELERS!

I hate to brag....but now that they are going I will indulge!

Sorry all you poor Browns and Ravens teams(and all the other teams in the AFC.)

Remember your motto: There is always next year!

Restroom Progress

Blaine Cosner cutting the access hole in the closet that will give us entrance to the crawl space. Blaine works at Lake City Homes. It was great to have him helping us out.

Blaine cutting in the return air duct.

Hairdoo.....

Yep this is what walked into my class today....WOW!

My Best Friend

Yep, he was my best man in my wedding and still is my best friend! With Mom doing the cooking and Dad putting on the drives, it made for a great day of hunting! We work together, chat together, build together, hunt together...... My parents are the reason I love and serve the Lord. Thanks Dad for putting on drives today till he wanted to drop. It wasn't easy walking through 18" of snow, but he was doing his best!

I love you and Mom very much!

Prayer: Food & Offering

This past Sunday night I had Kenton take up the offering. When he was finished I asked him to pray. His prayer:

"Dear Lord, Thank you for this offering and bless our food, Amen."

Everyone was in stitches and he of course did not even realize what he had said. We had lots of fun teasing him, but I was very proud of him for doing a good job of praying. Tonight as we ate dinner, we all held hands and I while watching him out of the corner of my eye prayed:

"Dear Lord, Thank you for this food we are about to eat, and bless the offering, Amen."

He immediately tucked his head in his arms and peeked up with a very sheepish grin, "DAD!"

I LOVE MY KIDS!!

Hunting Foopahs & Interests

10" of snow and everything is covered. I spot a doe bedded about 150 yards away. It was the only thing not covered by lots of snow. I even thought it moved. It even moved or so I thought. I stalked this to with in 25 yards, keeping behind trees ready to shoot it if it as much as stood up. I was pretty embarrassed when I realized it was a piece of rusty metal.

No tracks, but evidence a hawk had caught a mouse and ate it in the tree above this spot.

Flintlock Season

My first deer with my new T/C Firestorm.

The main reason why Kenton hunts with me!

Teaching Kenton how to use the Butt Out tool made by American Specialities.

The future Gurnee hunting clan.

Christmas 08

Keepville Christmas Dinner

Pictures can be found on my wife's blog. We had a great evening of food, fun, and fellowship. If you were not there you missed out on a great time. Check out the pics.

Northwestern Community Youth Center

I work part time as Director of Outreach for the Center. I enjoy making friends and taking time for young people. Here are two gals trying to teach me some new cool way to pose for the camera.

Mason enjoying playing on the Internet.

Pool pals - he beats me every time.

The pool shark!

I spent a day with my tools and soldering iron and got the pinball machine working. Tyler was enjoying the first game on it.

Christmas Eve Service

I was very pleased at the attendance at our Christmas Eve service. We had 48 in attendance. Many that were there only attend church once a year during this service. Therefore I spend some extra time in preparation. My message talked about Simeon and Anna - two people who were looking for Hope and Forgiveness.

Candid Shots at the Blair Christmas

The Blare Crew met at Golden Corral for Christmas.

Bill trying to catch a fly...I think.

My FIL and I discussing "whatever".

Kayla looks enthused.

I think hungry Kimberly was contemplating eating her plate.

Patty cake, patty cake.....

Wilma (as Kenton calls him) is trying get the last bite in before the camera went off which didn't happen and it looks like Stephen once again was trying for my wife an she is trying to get away from him as usual.

Discussing the Glock 27 40 S&W he was packing under his hoody.

Everyone was to put a candle in their desert.

After 4 steaks, I had no room for desert.

The tool every hunter needs!

Christa looks thrilled!

Chef Peng's

We enjoyed a great meal at Chef Peng's. It is my families favorite restaurant. Not your typical Chinese restaurant. The recipes are out of this world. If you notice we are all eating with coats on...they furnace must have been broke. The food was great but the inside temp was about 55 degrees.

Kenton is always happy to eat at his "fravorite" restaurant.

Kraynak's in Sharon, Pa.

We took Bill Smith on a trip to Kraynak's in Sharon Pa. He had never been there before and had never eaten Chinese food. I picked him up and took him to McD's for breakfast.

Mom and Dad came along and enjoyed the trip with us.

Santa Clause did not show up at 10:00...So I took over! I took a hat off the rack and had the kids tell me what they wanted. That is better than trying to eaves drop when they are sitting on Santa's lap. Ieven suggested a few things to which they agreed.

Wherein I Grew a Beard

Every year on vacation I grow a beard. I guess God created man with hair on his face and men should take more advantage of it. After all God wants men to be men and the Apostle Paul tels us that "nature itself teaches"- that is what is naturally there. So during hunting season I like Sampson a razor did not touch my face for 3 weeks. I can't say I felt any stronger. It was on during hunting season and I can't say that it kept my face warmer but it did help with cutting down on wind burn. It was fun while it lasted. My wife loved it and I guess that is all that matters to me. Then for the last week I had a mustache and goatee. I guess I will have to wait till next hunting season to do it again.

Back at Posting

I apologise to everyone who keeps checking my blog and not finding anything new. That might only be one or two people who knows. It seems that about every Christmas time the Devil knows how to throw something into my life that can be depressing or tough to deal with. This year was no exception. After some good counseling from some men of wisdom, I was able to get through it just in time for Christmas. God is good and used the time to help me realize many things about my personal walk with God, what is required of me as a Christian and what is not. My desire is to be as close to God as I can. I want to do what wants for me in my life and not be bound down to the bondage of legalism.