Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire 2020 wasn't so bad

For some, this year has been a dumpster fire and I'm not here to salt any wounds. But for us, 2020 has been a great year, and in this season of giving thanks and counting blessings, I wanted to memorialize our year. This is probably going to take a while, but don't worry, there will be fish and game pictures and stories. Sit tight and I'll get it all in quickly.

Starting in January, before anyone cared about a pandemic, we took a cruise to Mexico with 3 other couples, none of whom I'd seen in 20 years. They were all old 4-H friends that I hadn't stayed in very good touch with and about two years ago we tried to put together a reunion with about 20 of us. No surprise, but only a few core folks decided to go, and I'm glad we stuck with the cruise idea, as it allowed everyone to pay their own bills, set their own budget within the constraints of a settled upon itinerary, and no one got stuck trying to collect on money owed. It was a great cruise and the booze package with the locator beacon (princess calls it the medallion) meant a bartender could bring you a drink anywhere. We only maxed out the package limit once on a sea day (had an awesome 4 sea days out of a 7 day cruise). Mazatlan is a dump by the way. And the craps table was very generous to us. Twice, the pit boss had to go back to the bank for more chips despite the crappy max odds. It more than paid for the other cruise expenses. Playing craps into the wee hours is no big deal when you only have a sea day the following day. And besides, it's just Mexico, we weren't going for sights, just the atmosphere and being amongst old friends. Thankful for a great time with old friends.







I wrote up a deal about running down and tasing an illegal and wanted felon that eluded my state trooper buddy and was gonna post pictures, but he still hasn't been deported yet, so I'll just say I'm thankful for a peaceful ending.



About a week after that incident, our 8 year old Golden Retriever died suddenly of a tumor on her heart that burst and filled her pericardium. She was a great dog, and a typical sweetheart, so gentle with the kids. I'm thankful for all the joy she brought to our life. So our next task was to replace her, and we wasted no time, finding what seemed like a great puppy 6 hours away. Otto has been such a blessing. He's the sweetest, gentlest, most joyful dog we've ever had, and that's saying something.








By April, we were back to fishing, taking the kids out on the canoe a couple times, including one camping trip with it since we had such a terrible drought and the mountains were already clear of snow.





For years we had threatened to buy a boat and the quarantine times gave us all the excuse we finally needed and pulled the trigger. Thankful for being debt free and able to indulge on occasion. This has been the best toy we've ever bought ourselves and our whole summer revolved around boating. We never missed a week on a boat between May and September, even if it was just an evening cruise at our local State Park 15 minutes down the road. The kids have loved it and Otto has found his calling in life as a boat dog.







Many more blessings to come