Daddy's Home!

After being gone for 9 days hunting in South Dakota, Dave finally got home last night at 11:30. Dave and my dad left South Dakota Saturday morning at about 7 and the plan was to drive to Missoula, Montana and stay the night with my cousins then finish the last 6 hours of the drive on Sunday. Well a huge blizzard hit Montana and the roads were closed so they had to stop in Billings and find a hotel for the night. They got on the road Sunday morning at 5am, after almost flipping the truck, ending up in a ditch going 50 miles an hour and flipping the dog trailer onto the side they got back on the road and made the long drive home (the truck is a little banged up but not bad). Dave is exhausted today but in great spirits because they had such a great time. On top of that we got a bunch of snow yesterday and it has continued to fall today. The roads are icy and the freezing temperatures are only going to keep dropping tonight. I am so glad they made it back safely and its nice to have someone to talk too besides a 3 and 1 year old.

First ever elk!

One big buck and lots of pheasants.

The dogs had bad luck with porcupines. On Thursday, Sam got into one and got hit a couple times. Dave was able to get most of them out by hand and then pulled the rest out with pliers while my dad and Dave held him down. On Friday, Lakota went after another porcupine. When it stuck her it made Lakota mad so she just kept going after it over and over again. By the time Dave pulled her away she had them everywhere, he had to take her to the vet and they had to sedate her because she had them all in her mouth and down her throat. The nice thing about South Dakota is the vet bill was only $70, that would have cost us over $300 here! So while Lakota was getting worked on Dave went back out for one last deer hunt, it was getting close to dark and he still had not gotten a deer (it was also his last day to hunt). He had shot at quite a few but had no luck, just as its getting close to dark he hits one but has to leave it there because he has to get back to the vet to pick Lakota up before it closes. My dad and him go out later to find it in the dark and below 20 temperatures. They have to hike in a mile and a half and then drag the buck back to the car another mile and a half. My dad is 70, I bet you don't know many 70 year olds that can do that! From the sound of it I think both the guys had a great time. Dave is already talking about next year and taking Colt with him.

He brought back presents too.

Colt got a pheasant that he named Rafeeki (after the monkey in Lion King) and some candy. He brought me back an Under Armour Sweatshirt, he knows me so well! We are all happy to have him home. Colt and Jax both have pretty bad colds so we stayed in today, did housework and have been reading lots of books. We are all excited for Thanksgiving on Thursday!