Fourth of July Frolic

During this pandemic, we were lucky to have both our DC and Chicago grandkids with us for the 4th.

Can you tell that Grandma has been busy making tee shirts?

It was a blistering hot weekend but we managed to enjoy the outdoors anyway.

Behind the scenes on the production.

Strawberry shortcake.

Amusements and videos:

Cornhole Action

Fireworks Warmup

Sparklers

Ground Effects

Fireworks by Jeni

The Finale

Lots of Ranger rides.

Partners in Crime

We opened four new trails and Grandma created signs to name them for each grandchild.

Eric and I did manage to get a little shooting in but it was so hot that it was miserable.  The umbrella and tarp helped.

The bottom was trying out "bear deterrent"  - Eric has a 10mm and I have a 44mag.  The top were the rifle targets.  We shot some decent groups.  I tried three loads in my new 30-06.  Eric's 308 shooting well after a year in the safe.

I tried out the Buffalo Bore loads in my lightweight 44.  The empty shells wouldn't extract from the cylinder and the one unfired shell had a dislodged bullet.  I think that this load is too much for this gun,  I'm doing some online research about why this happens - I might have to polish up the cylinders.

One way to handle the heat.

We had several hikes in the deep woods to get away from the sun.

The creeks were pretty dry.

Climbing the hills.

A little bit of fishing when we could find some shade.

Not a whole lot of success but Charlie got one.

More Ranger rides.

Morning cuddles.

Breakfast inside when the porch was getting the sun.

Back on the Ranger.

Finally, shade on the porch.

The pumpkin patch looks good but this heat will take a toll.

Eric discovered this unusual white poop for "poop of the week".  Lots of hair in it.

The prairie plot is coming on strong.

Lots of flowers for the butterflies - we're seeing a few but not an abundance.

More woods walks.

A found bone.

Clearing obstacles.

Eric and I did some of the camera tour on foot.

And the Ranger.

I got this fun photo off the US Fish and Wildlife Facebook page.  Click on the photo to enlarge and see if you can spot the mountain lion behind the cow elk.  Great camo. It was probably a juvenile.

The owl was back hunting in the same spot again this week.

Coyotes like this spot too.

Some fawns surviving the coyote attacks.

A few turkeys too.

The bucks are looking good.

We saw a few out in the fields.

Still have 2 months of antler development to go.