The Sun Don't Shine in Missoula

I declare the following statement true until proven otherwise false: The sun does not shine in Missoula. The following statement is as described by Nolan regarding the condition of Missoula, Montana for the weekend on November 19 & 20 in the year A.D. 2005. The first picture was taken around a month ago in our backyard. You can get an idea of what the tree looks like that I photographed today. We have had thick fog and freezing conditions for the entire weekend, this causes quite an interesting look to the surrounding vegitation. Anyway, we havn't seen the sun here in Missoula for a few day, nothing new there, but yesterday we went hunting in the Bitterroot Valley south of town and it was bright, sunny, and warm the entire time. We were only 20 miles from town where we were hunting, but it was far enough away to feel a little at ease and enjoy a nice relaxing afternoon.

You might have to click on the pictures to get a good detailed picture of the ice crystals that formed on all the leaves and branches this weekend. The photo of the pathway I took at a local recreation spot known as Kelly Island. We were geocaching in the area and I thought this was a nice picture with the frost covering everything!

We spent the morning yesterday catching up on things we wanted to get done around the house and then headed out for our hunt. We didn't shoot any ducks or geese, but I did manage to find a few decoys and that's good enough for me. Laura even found a shell that hadn't been shot, but it was a 3 1/2 inch shell, too large for my chamber, so I will have to make a trade with someone. After our hunt we headed down the road and found a geocache quickly before the sun went behind the mountains. We went back into the fog about ten miles before getting back to town, and it was like we had passed into another rhelm. We made a Wal-Mart run around 10:00 pm last night to get the last minute Thanksgiving dishes we will be having on Thursday. We were surprised to see that it was actually quite slow for a Saturday night, but that did not hurt anyone's feelings.

Today we spent the morning catching up on things again and then spent the afternoon bundled up in our coats and hats while we found five more geocaches around the area. We are slowly eliminating one cache at a time from the nearby places and we eventually will have them all.

I think as a bonus today, I will include a few pictures Laura took of me as I was decoy fishing for the decoys I found... Now let me enlighten you on the art of decoy fishing. The concept is simple, throw a line out and hook the decoy to bring it back to you to retrieve it. Here's the tricky part - the water is freezing cold, you are chest deep so your ability of throwing is limited to overhead and side arm throws, and you are slowly sinking in mud - in this case mud was up to my knees at some places... Not to mention the weight at the end of my line would drag on the bottom of the marsh while I pulled it back in, thus collecting mud, weeds, and lots of fun disgusting and cold items which make it that much more fun! Did I forget to mention that decoys don't have anything to hook onto them, other than their heads? Just like roping a calf, only much much much smaller... Take note that I am only about ten feet, at most, away from the side of the marsh, but it appears we set up at a warm water spring, making the mud soft and the walking very difficult to do.

But look at the wonderful form I use in my patented method of decoy fishing. As you can tell, this isn't my first time! That's right, I have saved many decoys from cold ponds and deep marshes where they were hastefully placed by fellow waterfowlers. I think, between my brother and I, we have found over two dozen decoys now, making for quite a unique collection of old, beat up, worn out decoys, but they do just as good as any new ones - you just have to know how to use them. This is all the more fun for me though, a good challenge is exactly what I am looking for. If I wanted to have things easy I wouldn't be a hunter...

Well enough of my long winded talk.

Morning weight: 190

Until again

-=Nolan=-