Why Have The Daily Posts Slowed Down?

Hello everyone,

I must apologize to all of my followers and the faithful readers of this blog.  My daily postings here have seemingly came to a halt for a while now and for that I apologize. At times life has a way of throwing obstacles in our paths that can hinder our progress, and these past few weeks have been no exception to that rule in my family.

To start with my daughter broke her hand in three places which required surgery and a total of six screws (two in each of the three broken bones).  This alone was enough to put a damper on things; however, two days later my mother had to undergo cancer surgery.

Emilee's Hand After The Surgery

After we managed to get through two surgeries in one week, mother nature decided we didn't have enough on our plates and decided to send a hail storm our way.  Below are a few pictures of the hail that tore up our vehicles as well as the roof, guttering and some of the siding on our house.

Huge Hail Stone

The hail stone pictured below was picked up from our yard after it had melted a bit.

Giant Hail Stone

Below is a picture looking through the window of the vehicle I happened to be driving when the hail storm arrived.  Some of the hail that bounced off this car was the size of a softball.  I thought I was going to be wearing the windshield.  Needless to say, I have no desire to go through that experience again.

Window Shattered By Hail

One of our vehicles (my trusty '92 F150 4x4) was considered a total loss by the insurance company which left me without a way to get to my favorite hunting and fishing spots.  This of course meant that it was time to find a new vehicle.  After days of searching through every ad source my wife and I could find, she finally stumbled across the truck that would become our new adventure mobile.

The New Adventure Mobile

If this truck proves to be as trustworthy and the old one was and we can manage to avoid being hit by any more hail we should be in good shape for quite some time.

I can assure you that as things begin to get back to normal for our family I will once again post on a much more regular basis.

- Any day in the outdoors is a good day (even when the weather throws you a curve ball)

Who Is The Average Midwest Outdoorsman

I guess it is about time I let you know a little about myself.  

I am a freedom loving, gun toting, family man who is proud to be an American!  I guess I'm probably one of those people who is referred to as a bitter clinger and I'm sure there are many more average outdoorsmen just like myself out there.  Although the name callers and those who want to take our rights away may think they know what is best for themselves, they couldn't begin to know what is best for myself, my family and my friends.  Ok....Ok.....Enough with the political talk.

I was born to a loving family with a father who was a Sargent First Class in the Army as well as being a preacher.  His wife - my mother was a stay-at-home mom, I grew up in small town U.S.A.  The atmosphere around these small towns definitely played a huge roll in developing my love for the outdoors.  I was taught from an early age that family is extremely important. I was also taught that hard work and dedication are the two qualities that will enable a person to succeed in any area of their life.  

As a grown man with a family of my own, I do my best to instill these same values in my children.  I have also found out that raising children really doesn't come with an instruction manual.  As you have probably noticed, many of my posts include pictures of my family members and close friends.  This is because I want them to be as much a part of this endeavor as myself.  I love hunting and fishing with my family and friends. To me there is nothing better than sharing the good times and the memories  that each of those outings provide with the people I am closest to.

I love to share my knowledge about the outdoors (what little I have) with anyone who is willing to listen.  I hope that as I continue learning through my outdoor adventures I will be able to pass along some useful information to those who read this blog.

Always remember:

- Any day in the outdoors is a good day!