A Bird Sanctuary

On our small five acre property I have hung, built, and been given many different bird houses.  Now that it has been a few years, we have so many varieties of birds living on our property.  From, Regular little everyday birds to cardinals, turkey, mallards, wood ducks and blue birds.  Its so fun to watch them build their nests and see all their sticks and string hanging from the bird house holes.

Adding finishing touches to attach to a tree.

Hung about 7 feet above the ground near our pond.

One of the duck houses we built about 4 years ago.  No nesting inside but a male wood duck sits on top of it almost every morning.

One of the chicken wire duck nesters I made this spring.  No ducks yet, but it can take a couple seasons.

This is another duck house built 4 years ago and their is a wood duck hen that sits in there.  

Little momma wood duck, no eggs yet, but hoping to have some soon.

I have even made some not so normal bird houses.  This was an empty peanut butter container, I cut a whole, painted it gold and screwed the lid to a tree.  I put this up last year, and this year there is a nest in it!  

This is an old bird house I built years ago.  It is full of straw and sticks, but I've never seen anything nest in it.  It overlooks the pond in some trees.

A Christmas gift birdhouse, and some cute little blue birds house in it.

This is a regular nest outside of my laundry room window.  I was able to watch a mother cardinal raise her single baby.  The day I wanted to take a picture was the day her baby left the nest, so now it sits empty.  Hopefully she will nest in it again.

I am so happy to know that my property is comfortable and that the birds and wildlife feel safe enough to raise their families here.  I love to see them in the yard and in the woods.  I have had a couple turkeys nest on my land, unfortunately one was killed by a fox, but the other had a healthy family and we would see her walk out yard with all her babies.
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Introduction to hiking, with a two year old.

Today I introduced my two and a half year old nephew to hiking.  His first ever hike in the woods.  It was a great day.

His name is Lyric, he is the oldest child of my youngest sister.  He is a busy boy who loves to go go go....... so I thought he would be perfect to get out in the woods and experience something new.  Prior to going, his mom put sun lotion and bug spray on him.  I instructed her to have him wear cool loose fitting jogging style pants, a t-shirt, and to bring a long sleeved shirt, light snack and water.  (and a diaper just in case!!)  Lyric was very excited to go, when I got to his house he was all laced up and his bag was packed.  We got in the car and off we went.  We decided to hike the Dauner Nature trails in Fenton Michigan.

This is as soon as we started our hike.  The introduction of Lyric!  He wanted to wear his uncle Andys Camo hat that I tried to make as small as possible but it pushed his little ears down.  Still cute.

And here he is, walking the trail, stopping to pick up rocks and sticks.  Made me so happy to see him exploring.

He was so excited to come across this tree deep in the woods that is so huge!  He kept walking up to it and hugging on it.  He would turn around and say "it big".

We found a couple snakes.  He seemed very interested in them.......From a distance.  He felt like they were big.  Harmless Garters.

He was so happy to find logs fallen over and climb on top of them.  I got so much enjoyment out of seeing him happy in the woods.  We sat on this log and ate a snack and drank some ice water.

I taught Lyric how to use a walking stick, and he loved that!He made a little noise everytime he stuck the stick to the ground!

Lyric and his walking stick.

This is us at the end.  As soon as we got to the car I said to him "we made it Lyric".  And thats what he said in the car the whole way home.  "we made it", "we made it".   And sure enough as soon as we walked in his house, his dad said Hey buddy did you have fun", and lyric said "WE MADE IT" ......yes we did kiddo!

My whole point of this blog entry is to show the importance of getting children into nature at a young age.  Its so healthy for them to start doing, and will leave lasting memories forever.

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Starting up "Let A Girl"

I am on a journey of starting a small business of my own called Let A Girl.  It's mostly jewelry I make from antlers but also crafts I make using the theme of the outdoors and hunting.  I am prepping to sell for the upcoming Farmers Market in my area, and have a lot of positive feed back on it so far.  

This is my barn, my workshop.  The one place I can make a crazy mess and don't get into too much trouble for it.  I slide this big door open and I am lucky enough to over see the beautiful Shiawasee River.  The ducks and geese are so loud in the morning.  I love it.   

This is my little desk area that I sit and do the more detailed work and some of the thinking.

Here is my ancient work bench.  In the center is the oldest vice known to mankind (jk).  It does the jobs I need done though.  I use so many old and even antique tools.  I get most of my tools from garage sales.

This is a few of the displays I have made for my antler rings and bracelets.  I love "rustic" so I really like the looks of these. 

One of my most favorite bracelets I have made is this one I call "Hunting Is Forever".  It is wooden beads, with a silver feather and silver arrow with a silver womens wedding ring set hanging in the middle.  

Other items I make that I keep in the natural, rustic, hunting theme is pallet signs and wall displays for you to hang your stuff from.  Sometimes I put antlers on them to hang a coat or hat from. 

This is a bracelet I made that has a teardrop piece of antler with crossing arrows burned into it. 

And the antler rings I make.  This is my personal set.  I have made so many rings of all sorts of designs.  I was recently featured in Girls Guns and Rods magazine for my Antler Ring Crafting.


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Sometimes it Just Doesn't Work Out. (Spring Turkey Hunt)

My Week of Turkey Hunting In Review.......

     I started my week of turkey hunting with so much excitement I could hardly sleep.  For weeks before my hunt my husband was calling in turkeys on our property like he was a turkey himself.  At one point he called a hen in to less then 20 feet from him, and she was talking right back to him.  Therefore, I knew I would get a turkey during my hunt week.  Well, I didn't even hear a gobble.....Nothing, on our property, I sat out everyday and called, and there was nothing.  Even though a few months back we counted 70 turkeys walking passed the back of our land.  So by Thursday I was rethinking my hunt and where to go and what to do.  I decided to try a state park that allows hunting.  I always saw turkey around the park.  So Friday evening my husband and I decided to give it a shot, and holy cow!!  we got gobbles before we could even sit down!  A big Tom came strutting right to us, about 50 yards out.  I could see him in my scope but I did not feel like the shot would end his life quick and I did not want to shoot a Tom and injure him and him run like the road runner and lose him.  I waited..... and waited...... and he strutted..... and strutted, only to realize he was pacing back and forth in front of a small narrow marsh and he would not cross it.  And the night ended with a strutting Tom, too far away, and a small patch of water in his way of getting to me.

    Saturday couldn't get here soon enough, 4 a.m. wake up time and I was stoked.  My husband Andy and I went to the same area but further down into the woods so the water would not be an issue.  And BOOM, in the dark the gobbles were going on in the trees.  As the sun started to rise we were in for a major surprise......We were sitting dead center in the middle of a roosting area.  A Tom gobbled almost directly over me and it made me jump.  Once one came down, the rest started flying as gracefully as a turkey can from the trees.  But they flew into a brushy area and headed off quick.  I'm sure they were up in the trees seeing us set up under them and I imagine they were thinking "yeah you asses, were outta here as soon as someone drops from a tree".  And that was that.....by ten, we headed home.

   Saturday evening we came back out, set up away from the roosting trees but never heard a single sound.  Shooting time passed, and we headed home.

   Sunday, oh Sunday.  This was the day I was going to bust a Tom right in the chops.  I was so determined.  We set up away from the roost.  It was dark and early, we could hear the gobbles.  It was awesome.  We would yelp and hen and there were gobbles from all around us in the woods.  It was going to be glorious. Boom, sun comes up, they fly down and head away.  WHAT???  Oh my gosh!!  No come this way!!  Come fight my Jake...... Come try to hump my hen!!  Where are you all going!!  (thats what I was thinking). After a couple hours, we decided to pack up and move. As we were moving we started to hear a gobble, so we replanted ourselves.  He got tight lipped.....We sat for a while and here comes a hen.  I put my scope on her just to watch her and because I was bored and wanted a closer look.  And lookie who is the tight lipped one.....Mr. Tom following her.  It was my time.  I put that scope on him, he fanned out, he had a big ol'beard all protruding and hanging down his front......I clicked off my safety and said I'm gonna shoot.  My husband had a slightly different view of him, and said "no", he thought another bigger Tom was walking in, and in 2 seconds my opportunity was gone.  His fan went down, and he lowered his body and followed his hen into the brush and he was gone and there was not another Tom walking in.  That was it.  My chance had expired.  I was crushed.  I turned into a mean women.  I put my safety back on, and gave my poor husband the death stare. I now know why he said "no", when I was ready to take the shot.  He saw it differently, he thought that Tom would strut around a little longer, maybe check out our decoys, or get a rise out of the Jake decoy.... it was an unpredictable moment, that just didn't work out.  I was so devastated, that I became a poor sport about it.  A lesson learned, for both of us.  My husband is my best friend, my favorite hunting partner, the love of my life, and I gave him the death stare because I wanted to blame someone else.  It was not his fault that I didn't take the shot.  Yes, he said no, but he had his reasons, and I was the one with the gun, the scope on that Toms neck and head region.  Let's just say, my husband went home shortly after that...... I decided to stay in the woods for the whole day.  I was going to get that damn Tom one way or another.  It was about ten in the morning that this all happened.  Yes, Andy left because I got bitchy (there I said it)  I was a bitch to him.  Plus he didn't want to sit in the woods all day, it was going to be a nice warm day and he had stuff to do at home.  

    After he left, I sat and stewed in my mind and decided I would make one final move.  I packed everything up like I was a super hero and carried all my supplies, decoys, gun, and headed to my final spot.  I got there, set up, and felt really good about it.  I started to quietly make a little make shift blind around me next to the stump i was next to.  It turned out more like a camo homeless shelter, but it worked.  Then it got hot.  Hot like hell!  I looked at my phone and the weather was nearly 80 degrees.  Nope, hell no, im not leaving, im determined to get this Turkey, im not going anywhere, I built this blind around me, I can survive for ten more hours.  And I did, i sat there and baked, and sweated, and called, and gobbled.  I saw hens a couple times....by five I was sending apology texts to my husband, begging him to come back out and sit my final evening with me.  He did.  We whisper talked our versions of what happened out, and all was good.  We sat the rest of the evening next to a tree, calling, and complaining our assess were killing us.  And that was it.  Time was up.  It didn't happen for me and I'm okay with it.  Let me tell you, Ive never had a close call, a missed shot, the one that got away.  I have been so lucky to have been able to kill every animal I wanted to, the way I've planned it.  This was my first "one that got away" experience.  I learned a lot sitting alone in the woods, sweating to death.  I'm a hunter..... It doesn't work out every time.  I learned to be a better sport.  

All my supplies for calling

Got some transition glasses, becuause the sun gives me migraines. 

My husband Andy.  I love this guy.

My apologies.  Andy hearts Becky.  Weve been together for 18 years.

I made an arrow during my day of heat.

By mid afternoon I was barefoot, sleeves pulled up, and bored, but at peace.

My view

I'm sorry to my husband for being a poor sport at that moment.

So determined, id let bugs crawl on me.

My knife was my favorite thing to play with.

The waiting game..  Until next season.


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