MS River at Vicksburg Crested

What a beautiful site to see the sun break through the clouds over the Mississippi River. There will be more of the same this weekend, with mild temperatures lasting into next week. Lows will be in the 60s and highs in lower-70s. The river was at 47.5 feet this past Friday, 4-1/2 feet above flood stage. It crested earlier in the week and was expected to begin falling by Friday. (Click to enlarge and you will see a barge that has just passed under the bridges headed up the river).

This is my 1,000 post and I owe it all to Rex at Deer Camp Blog for encouraging me and challenging me to keep on blogging. It has been a very rewarding experience indeed and have met so many wonderful fellow bloggers. It has also served as an outlet for me and I look with enthusiasm to post everyday. The beauty of it all is....I know I will meet more bloggers/friends along the way to post number 2,000! Again, thanks to my dearest friend and mentor for believing in me! :)

Gone Fishing

George Kette caught these white perch using jigs on a private lake on May 16. My congrats George...he knows where the fish are biting!

Malakai Cruse & Family

My two hunting buddies over at Hunting Reviews, Ralph and Jason, posted last Wednesday about their best friend and hunting buddy, Josh Cruse's son, Malakai. He was born with Biliary Atresia. BA is when the bile duct between the liver and the small intestine is blocked or absent. He had his first surgery on November 6, 2008 to temporarily fix the problem. During a five week hospital stay for ascites, Malakai was put on the transplant list on March 20. He received his liver transplant May 12, 2009 at Children's Hospital in St. Louis. He is currently recovering well, but the day to day scares of infection are still occurring. It's been up and down for the Cruse Family. The hospital bills are starting to come in and a lot of it will be out of pocket. They have been without every day wages for many months now. Ralph said that the surgeries has been very difficult on the family and anything we can give would help. Please visit the family blog at http://crusekids.blogspot.com and DONATE anything you can. If you cannot donate, please keep them in your prayers. Thank you!

Deer Lure?

I came across this picture last night surfing the net...what do you think they will order??

Abandoned At Wal-Mart!

Natural Phenomena

I thought this was pretty interesting to share with you today. Someone had sent me this yesterday via email and I have never heard or seen it before. Here are a few of the most spectacular phenomenal wonders of the natural world. (Click on picture to enlarge)

Sailing Stones - The mysterious moving stones of the packed-mud desert of Death Valley have been a center of scientific controversy for decades. Rocks weighing up to hundreds of pounds have been known to move up to hundreds of yards at a time. Some scientists have proposed that a combination of strong winds and surface ice account for these movements. However, this theory does not explain evidence of different rocks starting side by side and moving at different rates and in disparate directions. Moreover, the physics calculations do not fully support this theory as wind speeds of hundreds of miles per hour would be needed to move some of the stones.

Ice Circles - While many see these apparently perfect ice circles as worthy of conspiracy theorizing, scientists generally accept that they are formed by eddies in the water that spin a sizable piece of ice in a circular motion. As a result of this rotation, other pieces of ice and flotsam wear relatively evenly at the edges of the ice until it slowly forms into an essentially ideal circle. Ice circles have been seen with diameters of over 500 feet and can also at times be found in clusters and groups at different sizes as shown above.

Mammatus Clouds - True to their ominous appearance, mammatus clouds are often harbingers of a coming storm or other extreme weather system. Typically composed primarily of ice, they can extend for hundreds of miles in each direction and individual formations can remain visibly static for ten to fifteen minutes at a time. While they may appear foreboding they are merely the messengers - appearing around, before or even after severe weather.

Work of Art

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.

You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence.

You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.

~Abraham Lincoln~

We Salute!

Afterwards, we drove to the Vicksburg National Military Cemetery in the park near Fort Hill to see the display of flags on all the tombs. It was a very impressive site. Wishing everyone a very Happy Memorial Day and never forget our fallen hero's and all our men and women who are fighting in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan so we can enjoy our freedom here in America.

Armored Vehicles of War

Click on pictures to enlarge!

A Memorial Day Salute!

Yesterday, Bob and I went to the Vicksburg National Military Park and watched the VNMP rangers and volunteers dressed up in war uniforms and enjoyed a history program that they put on near the Visitor Center. Here are some of the high lights of the event.

Trivia Quiz Show Contestant!

Strategic solutions in television, radio, print, online, grassroots and new media

On March 17, I received and email from Teena Hubbard Of Scott Linden Outdoors and she said....

Saw you over at…well, actually, saw your link all over the place! Maybe it was the Hog Blog, maybe Albert Rasch's place. :)

Either way, am wondering if perhaps you'd be willing to be a contestant on my outdoor trivia quiz. Scott Linden Outdoors is a nationally syndicated radio show (you may have known us as Field & Stream Radio) and every week we have an easy Outdoor quiz. Albert's done it, NorCal Cazadora's done it… heck, lots of people have given it a shot!!! :)

I think we're giving away a $25 Cabela's gift certificate, if that tempts you. And there are some small prizes win or lose.

Let me know your thoughts. This takes about 5-10 minutes. We normally tape on Wednesday mornings, pacific time.

So about a week or so later, Scott contacted me by e-mail to set it all up. This past Wednesday around 9:00 got a call from Scott to see if we were still on go and told him yes. At noon Tim called me and I began talking with Scott and he had 3 questions for me. He asked me what I did outdoors and told him I was a deer hunter. My first question...can't remember what it was now...I got wrong and the answer was "whitetail deer". Rats!! The next two questions I got right...don't know how...maybe a wild guess? Anyway, I really had a lot of fun hanging out with Scott and enjoying the fun. Yesterday afternoon when I opened my front door, I saw a box at my doorstep and it was from Scott Linden Outdoors of Oregon. Within 3 days I had my prizes! I took it into the dinning room and opened it up and pulled out an all-color bass fishing guide book by Bill Herzog, a Mossy Oak hat with Delta Waterfowl emblem of ducks with http://www.deltawaterfowl.org/ on the back, a mini worktool by Bushcraft, a CD called, Fishing Music (a collection of acoustic folk, blues & swing) and a beautiful wooden box with a fish engraved and inside..note papers with a fish printed on them. I know I will enjoyed all my gifts and I really appreciate Scott Linden and his staff for giving me the opportunity to be on their radio quiz show. Charming, Just Charming!

Water Brings The Fish!

Gary Anderson, right, and Shot Adams arrive at City Front last Sunday after two days of fishing at a camp on Kings Point Island. The camp is 11 feet off the ground, so they’re safe as the Mississippi River rises in the spring, as it is now. “That water’s got to come,” Anderson said of the water dumped here by northern melts and storms. The two men brought home about 1,500 pounds of fish. The Mississippi River at Vicksburg last Sunday morning was 45.6 feet, up a half-foot from Sunday before last. Flood stage at Vicksburg is 43 feet. Today the river will crest at 47 feet. We also have a lot of rain in the forecast for the next five to six days. This past Wednesday Mississippi 465 - which connects the Eagle Lake community to U.S. 61 North - was closed forcing about 600 Eagle Lake residents to use a narrow, gravel levee road. The U.S. Coast Guard last week restricted barge traffic. Southbound tows are allowed to pass beneath the bridges at Vicksburg only during daytime hours. Five barge tows struck support piers on the U.S. 80 bridge in a 40-day span during last year's flood. (Excerpts taken from The Vicksburg Post)

In Memory of General Custer

This is General Custer, who was registered and also called, "Gen Gen" a.k.a., "Barney". It was my brother's dog for 17 years and he past away this week. He was a good dog and companion for my brother (Buster) who now lives alone. I know his heart breaks for his best friend. The sad part about it is that he cannot get another dog because of a new policy on animals that is now enforced where he lives at his apartment complex. Barney would go to work with my brother every day sitting on piles of newspapers. He is an independent carrier for The Vicksburg Post and Barney enjoyed riding with his master delivering papers. He called Barney his paperweight! When I would go and visit my brother I would play with Barney by sweaking and throwing his stuffed dog toys and he would run and fetch them and bring them back to me. He had a mountain of these toys and would lay up in the middle of them like he was protecting them. He was buried with some of his favorite toys that he loved to play with. I will miss him also.

General Custer (Barney) with his Master taken May 12, 2008.

Red-Neck Art

What is it???

Buddy Lofton over at Facebook posted this picture and said that he may have to take down his game cam here in Vicksburg. Someone commented that maybe he needs to become a ghost buster and it looks like an "orb" to her. Others thought it may be a bug, or fairy spirits, or fairy globes, and that they are beginning to appear in more peoples photos lately. It is pure energy, but who knows of what - (or who?). Another thought - ghost of a deer killed long ago! Could it possibly be THUNDERHOOF over at Rex's Deer Camp trying to scare everyone! What do you think it is?

Connected Sportsman.com

I had an email recently from Tyson over at Connected Sportsmen.com who wanted to featured my blog soon on his site. It is a site for outdoor enthusiasts that is a free social networking site to show and tell, as well as listen to other like minded Sportsmen and Sportswomen. He comments that there are over 50 million people that consider themselves outdoors men, and their goal is for all to be able to brag about their trophies and enjoy others ideas. You can post your photos

and enter their contests on the Trophy of the Month, the Huntress of the Month and the Banner of the Month. Coming soon on the site will be a featured Blog of the Month. They also have groups on camping and hiking, connected sportswoman, hunting, fishing, 4x4 and youth. When you have time go over, join and sit back and have some fun with our fellow hunters in our great outdoors! PS: He was also interested in joining our Outdoor Bloggers Summit.

A Sunday Sunset

This bird really went out on a limb to watch the sunset!

I am so blessed to live in a city high on the bluffs of the Mississippi River to see some beautiful sunsets. I had just been to Wally World to pick up a few things and decided I would just go and sit in our truck and watch the sun go down at the Louisiana Circle at Vicksburg. It had been raining here for the last few days and usually after a rain you can see some pretty sunsets setting over our neighboring State of Louisiana. Their were several cars already parked waiting to see the sun go down as I was with my camera in hand. Hope you all enjoy these pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them. PS: The mighty Mississippi is on the rise again with considerable flooding beginning north and south of town.

Last of the Babies

Here's looking at you babe!

Hope you have enjoyed looking at the pictures of the babes born in our great wild outdoors!