Bird with an Arrow

Awesomeness in an Arrow:

It was a brisk fall morning and things just felt right. My connection group of guys (bible study), and a couple of additional studs, were heading back to the farm/Hunt Club in rural Tama County to do some Pheasant hunting. They took their guns; I took my bow and arrow.

It started at 7am in the Cornerstone Church Parking lot. This little guy and about 7,000 of his friends were leaving the city of Ames where they slept all night and pooped on cars. We were waiting for our last hunting buddy to pull up and boredom set in, so… I borrowed Andy’s 12 gauge and whacked this crow. It was great... but not awesome.

Awesome came at about 9:45 am. We were out in the field hunting behind my 9yr old Brittany Spaniel named Kate. She stopped dead in her tracks and was on a solid point looking into some native prairie grass. I marched forward and the pheasant flushed. The bird was sweeping from left to right as I let the arrow fly through the air.... my arrow struck AWESOMENESS.

It was a direct hit causing the bird to plummet from the sky. My dog was royally confused. I however was ecstatic. I let out the manliest ROAR!!!! I then proceeded to dance like a little girl. It was awesome and all who were present were amazed, myself included.

I'm so thankful to have been able to hunt with these bible study studs. Pumped to have a story to tell. God Bless. -Stan

*It's a licensed hunting preserve, thus the ability to shoot hens :)

Date Night

Date night!

Princes Frog. Followed by Anders and Beth all the way from MN! Does it get much better. Yes it does. Photo Booth.

Fishing

Summer is a time to fish. My take on fishing is that it's not much fun if you are not catching fish. So here are just a few tips to help you much improve your success rate while out on the water.


First, one must think like a fish. Fish are just another animal created by God. They have been given instincts which make them pretty easy to predict. Animals are programmed to eat and stay alive. They want to be comfortable and will always be looking out for their best interest. So keeping this in mind we can know these things.


Fish will bite on bait that is life like and accessible. Live bait (worms/minnows) is almost always better then fake bait. Colors of bait which work can very greatly depending on water clarity and season but a safe bet is usually red (looking like blood thus programming a fish to respond to an easy catch) or what because it's easily viewed. When you retrieve your rig you must try and make lure look as life-like as possible. For example if it's a frog looking lure. Make it act like a frog casting it near or even on the bank (from a boat). Then have the lure appear to jump into the water. ect. Rarely ever should you just reel a lure straight in. *Vary the speed with simple tugs ect. This will allow the fish a more opportune time to strike.


Fish like a moderate water temp. In farm ponds it's usually best to fish the shallows where the fish are enjoying the warmer waters. In the heat of summer you can often times find the big ones tucked up under some shade offered by docks or trees.


If you want to maximize your time on the water fish during proper feeding times. Fish like humans enjoy and early morning feeding as the sun is coming up and the light is hitting the water. Another great time is as dusk is nearing. Sport fish (Bass, Bluegills, Crappie, Walleye, ect) that strike their bait are feeling the push to get their last meal in before the sun goes down and they can no longer see. Also online fishing calendars will help you pick peak fishing days. They use the moon and generally when the moon is smallest fishing is the best. Probably since they have less moon light at night they can't feed during that time offering the best fishing during the day. http://www.in-fisherman.com/reference/solunar/calendars/


Either way it's important to keep in mind that the sport is called fishing not catching. No plan is fool proof and you are still at the mercy of the fish. So enjoy the hints as well as the sport.

Food

Aldi's. I'm not sure how much more I need to say. If you haven't taken the Aldi experience you need to. It is a grocery store the excels in selling food at extremely low prices. Much of this is achieved by using off brands, buying in bulk, limited perishable items, and low amounts of service. All of that leads to high amounts of savings! The experience is much different then any other grocery store. Here are some pointers.

- Bring a quarter. For the cart you'll be using requires a deposit
- You can only use debit or cash. Sorry no credit or checks.
- You have to provide your own bags our buy theirs. But any box you find while shopping is fair game to take and use for bagging.

These will help you not look like a fool in front of the regulars like myself. The discounts are unbelievable. Seems like the only logical place to buy the bulk of your groceries!

Life

So this week I've been working on a sermon to be given in front of Salt Company. It's been really great meeting with God during these times and learning a lot. One of the most logical life altering things I've learned is this: God must increase, I must decrease. The idea of being humble before God who created the whole world and everything in it. Follow me here.

If a person is proud and they have a high view of themselves they don't need God. They are their own god or so they think. But a person in humility that understands just how small they are can understand just how big God is. Imagine a big < sign. As we make ourselves lower God is made bigger. We need to be humble or get humbled. The following is readings from Job as he gets humbled by God.

Job38:4,12,35,
"Where were you when I lad the earth's foundation?"
"Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place"
"Do you send the lighting bolts on their way?"
God proceeds to give it to Job asking him in Job 40: "Do you have an arm like God's.." Then humble the proud men and allow your voice to thunder. Crush the wicked and maybe we'll talk.

Job has a good response saying "I am unworthy" and "Surely I spoke of things I did not understand.."

The point of this is God is big. We can't begin to belittle Him or even worse build ourselves up. Apart from God what can we do? I mean really we've got nothing in comparison to the one who made it all and paid it all with Jesus.

That's apart from God. But what about being with God or having God in us?!? What then? Another post another day.

Top 6 Me too's

This is something we all know and do but no one talks about. It just makes common sense which is why it fit perfectly on this blog.

"If it's not broke don't fix it." We've all heard that and used it. Here is a new one for you. "If it's not dirty don't wash it." Laundry is no fun to do and takes a lot of time. But culturally we feel that we must wash every article of clothing every time we wear it. Or if we don't we certainly don't talk about the 7th day in the same pair of jeans. Today's post is to make you feel at home and back you in your stance to do less laundry.

Do you know in most all other cultures they re-wear the same clothes before washing. And get this, most of the time it's consecutive days! Woah crazy I know. Now on the farm as a kid you can get away with that, but now if you were something back to back (*unless you can sneak in the same pair of jeans) you are bound to get some comment back. Other things listed below would be bound to get comments back.

Top 6 things everyone has done and no one openly talks about.
6. Eaten off of dirty plates.
5. Bought something at Good Will and never thought to wash it before you wore it.
4. Worn the same socks multiple times until they got a little "crusty".
3. Re-worn underwear.
2. Went without underwear. (personally it's usually after spontaneous swim)
1. Ran out of toilet paper and found something to suffice.

Diet and Exercise

31 lbs in 28 days on my logical program. You be the judge.

So I was wondering what tid bit of knowledge I could share today. What is something most everyone would find useful. Then it came to me. Weight Loss. It's astronomical the amount of Americans who try to loose weight every year. So many different types of diets and plans but what is the logical thing to do. First you must understand some basics on how the body works.

Food is consumed and used for energy. Some foods supply more energy then others. Those are the tasty foods that are high in carbs and fat. If you don't use all the energy from the food it stores it for a later date. How it stores it as FAT. That's your body.

Many diets focus on what types of food you put in. And they often help you loose weight.

My success came from a weight loss competition held for 1 month. The goal loose as much weight as you can. With my keen understanding of how the body works, especially the concept of fat which I had plenty of, I went to work.

The ISU Wrestling Team helped me put a program together. I'd exercise in the morning with usually a 1.5 mile jog. And here is the key part... I stopped eating. Woah hold the phone.

Why? Well I knew if I was going to make it I had to shrink my stomach down. It was so stretched out from all the overeating and the 3 big meals a day. It would just groan and moan all day long if I only fed it carrot sticks. So I shrunk it. I went without food for a period of time. You can to it's not that unhealthy. What happens then is your stomach shrinks and you begin to immediately burn off your fat reserves. Also it helps you be thankful to God for those carrot sticks and a bite of apple after a few days. With a smaller normal no longer westernized stomach I was able to eat modestly and exercise and loose a pile of weight. If ever my stomach started to increase in size... I'd just shrink it down again. It's not a perfect diet alone but it's a good start to any diet. It seems to have been working for finally tuned wrestlers for years!

***Please Note***
It's worth mentioning that removing food from your body for a period of time is not the same as fasting. Fasting, in short, is a spiritual time where prayer and thankfulness replace common meal times and the hunger felt towards food is redirected as a hunger for God. This shrinking your stomach is fairly safe as long as you keep plenty of fluids running through your body. This isn't for girls who think they are fat but could be blown away by the wind. It's more for those with large appetites and large stomachs which create large fat reserves.