The Great Turkey Slayer

Calen had quiet a weekend. He started it off Friday afternoon by going with Danny to Thunder Valley. More about that in the next post. On Saturday, he headed to the woods with my dad to "hunt" turkeys. Calen spent the afternoon and evening cutting branches down and playing around. There weren't any turkey around anyway. The rest of the blog is Calen.

Sunday morning, Papaw had to drag me from the bed to the couch. I didn't want to get up 'cause I was sleepy. I knew I had to get up because I wanted to go turkey hunting, so I did- finally. I was still so tired mamaw and papaw had to get me dressed over my pajamas though.

After I was dressed, we went to the truck and drove to the mountains. We got to the gate and started walking to Tim's treefort. We climbed the ladder and papaw started calling for turkeys. Then the turkeys started flying down out of the trees and coming in. I saw a big one, but papaw said it was a hen. We can't shoot them. We had to wait on a gobbler.

A little while later papaw saw two gobblers out the window. They had white spots on their heads. They were huge. Papaw helped me pick up the gun and hold it because it's still too big for me. He told me to move my arm for a second so he could aim for me. Then he told me when the turkey popped its head up to pull the trigger.

We waited for a few seconds. The turkey popped its head out from around the tree. He was strutting and all puffed up. When he popped out, I shot the gun. The turkey started flapping around. Papaw climbed down out of the tree fort to go get the turkey. He told me to wait, but I got down by myself while he was trying to pick up the turkey. He was so excited. I was shaking. I couldn't believe I got a turkey on my first weekend hunt!

Papaw and I went back home. Everyone was still in bed because we hadn't been gone that long at all. I ran into the house shouting, "I got one, I got one, I got one!" I ran to mamaw and told her to come see what I got. I ran and told Aunt Amanda to come see what I got. I think papaw got Uncle Justin up to come see.

Aunt Amanda sent mommy and daddy a picture of me with my turkey. They were still at home and weren't there to see it yet. When they got there they couldn't believe I got such a big turkey. Daddy took a couple pictures, too. Papaw said he had never killed one so big.

I had to go with papaw to check it in at the gas station. I got to sign my own kill tag by myself. I was so excited I accidentally wrote Calem instead of Calen. It was a good looking "m" though. I said, "Uh-oh. I made a mistake on my name. I wrote it wrong. I put two humps instead of one for my "n." They told me it was okay.

When we got back home papaw and Chris skinned it for me. They took out the meat. We're going to eat it at Easter dinner. Then we took the turkey to this man's house. He's going to stuff it for me. It's going to look like it's flying down from a tree. He's even going to put it on a limb. I'm going to put it in my room!

My first turkey

March 22, 2009
20 lbs.

11 in. beard

1 1/4 in. spurs

Yo Ho Ho. It's a Pirates Life for Me

Yesterday we celebrated Calen's birthday-finally. It was scheduled for last Saturday; however, Friday evening he spiked a fever of 103.5 and began complaining of leg pains. We decided it best to call everyone to cancel his party-again. By Tuesday his fever had subsided, and his appetite (and antics) had returned. We decided to go ahead and have his party on Saturday.


The orginal invitations where on parchment style paper, and I burned the edges and some holes in them. I put a red "X" on the bottom left corner.

To set the mood I had made signs that said "Enter at Yer own Risk" to hang on the front door and another was hung on the door to the guest room. I also had several signs warning, "Beware, Pirates" that we hung up throughout the house. In the living room I set up a card table and decorated it with a treasure chest, treasure map, and telescope. We also sat the presents on the table. Next to the table we placed "Mr. Bones" guarding his gold and silver along with the sign "Dead Men Tell No Tales." We also had lots of black and red balloons inside and out and Jolly Rodger flags along the walkway to the porch.

Cap'n Calen's crew began arriving at high Two. What's a pirate with a sword or eye patch? So they each got one of eye. After playing for about fifteen minutes, it was time to begin our adventures.

They had to Walk the Plank, if they dared. Arrr.

Then we had a rousing game of "Tic Toc Find the Croc" in the house that they had to capture.

Tic Toc. Where is that croc?

After the croc was discovered (thankfully it was only a tiny one), Cap'n Calen and his maties were famished. They chowed down on some Sea Dogs (hot dogs), Fish 'n' Chips (potato chips and goldfish), Lagoon Dip w/ Peg Leg Veggies (ranch dip and celery, carrot, and cucumber sticks), and Treasure Salad (fruit salad). To quench their parched throats, they guzzled Ocean Water and Shark's Blood (blue and red Kool-Aid).

With full stomachs, we were off for some more adventures on the high seas. They had to Feed the Shark. Then we took their picture posing with the shark. I'll include their pictures with their Thank-you notes.

After our shark was well feed, we divided the kids into two crews to play Cannonballs Away. Each crew had a ship and fifty "cannonballs." They faced off in an attempt to "sink" the enemy ship. The kids had a blast with this game and played it four times!

After feeding the shark and battling enemy ships, the lil' pirates were ready for something sweet. I made Calen's cake per his request, a pirate ship on the ocean with an island.

After cake and ice cream, the pirates had one more swashbuckling adventure waiting- a treasure hunt. I had six clues for them to solve and find. The final clue led them to the treasure, a pinata treasure chest filled with chocolate and bubble gum coins.

The children left with quite a booty. Their treasure chests were filled with coins from the pinata, and a pirate assortment of pencils, compasses, yo-yos, stickers, telescopes, suckers, tattoos, and bubbles-plus their swords and eye patches.


Next party, Jax and the Wild, Wild West. YA-HOO!