Azalea's blooming at the house

The azaleas between the house and garage are really showing off right now.

Spring in East Texas

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The flowers in the yard are starting to bloom

New favorite Bully Shot

My long weekend with three women

Takes a lot of guts for a married man to write that headline for his blog...
I had the chance last week to help out with a turkey hunt near Clarendon, and when son in law Ryan called and told me the details of the event, I was pretty nervous. I have hunted spring turkey in the past, but not in recent years and am in no way qualified to actually guide anyone. After spending a few minutes with Ellen, Sherry and Karla, my fears were removed.We then settled in to two and a half days in a wonderful setting- complete with cowboy cooks, a Texas Troubadour, a late evening thunder/hail storm, and lots of gobbling spring turkeys.
Ellen is a regional director for the National Wild Turkey Federation and an accomplished caller and stalker. Those three go bear hunting with bows so we quickly realized all they needed was to be pointed in a decent direction. Son in law Ryan had Karla with him as Ellen, Sherry and I tried to put Sherry on her first bird.
Ryan and Karla scored first as she bagged a nice gobbler by 8 a.m. It took me and my girls a good 26 hours to put my two new friends on a bird. Sherry fired one shot and collected a mature gobbler  and Ellen connected maybe 15 minutes after I left her alone. Ryan kicked my butt in putting them on birds.
We had a lot of laughs, ate very good food, saw lots of critters and shared our hunting and fishing stories. Although we saw deer, quail, exotics animals I can't name much less spell, turkey, horses, longhorns, real cowboys, a rainbow, and a beautiful ranch, I have a visual that I cannot get out of my head.
Getting ready for our first set up before daylight Sunday, and getting guns and vests loaded for the hunt, I kept seeing freshly painted red fingernails.
That was a first for me in the field and I have spent lots of hours in lots of fields.
Those three hunt for the same reason I do. They enjoy being with friends, appreciating the sights they see and the people they meet. They want to leave their cares and concerns behind and see if they can do all the things necessary to get up close and personal with their intended target on their own.
We had a great time.
I'd be their direction pointer any day.
I just hope they don't ask me to go bear hunting with a bow. That's not a sport for sissies like me.

Karla with her bird

Sherry (right) and Ellen with Sherry's First Turkey

The "Tres Pinatas" at the Waterfall