BACK IN CANADA

Well it was nice to have a Canadian Christmas, I don't think Indonesians know what a real Christmas tree looks like, and they definitely don't have turkey dinners! It was a great time to catch up with family and friends. The boyz getaway was a lot of fun, and it was great to hang out with my Buddy's that used to be islanders...I can still say I'm an islander, but now I'm just on a different island.

Our trip to the island was great. I was able to get away on a grouse hunt with my Dad and his new Dodge Ram. We did the usual trip up Mt. Arrowsmith, but got skunked. We did see a grouse but were too busy talking to shoot it! Oh well it was just a good excuse to try out the truck and go out into the sticks for a while.When we got back to Abbotsford my father-in-law had picked up my duck from the taxidermist! I shot my first mallard up at the ranch and thought it would be a good memory of that time.

We drove up to 100 mile later that week and saw a few nice Bighorn Sheep Rams near Spence's Bridge. It was nice to to see them and get a few photos. At the ranch I tried going after coyotes, but didn't have much luck, but I did get to rip around on the skidoo for a while! Hartwig smoked some venison with his friend Ed, and man was it good!
We then drove down to Kelowna to visit Carmen's brother and on the way stopped to see Ryan and Rose Peters. It was a good visit with Christoph, Karleigh, and the kids and we had a great Christmas with them in Abbotsford as well. It was great to see Julie, Clark, the kids, and my parents over Christmas, even though I was sick. I did have a chance to shoot ducks with Clark and we got a combined number of 3 ducks and shot over 50 shells...I think we need some practice. The ducks in that area are pretty safe with that kind of shooting!

The Guys trip was great, and the party at Piechnik's was a great time to visit with everyone. We spent New Years with the Matt, Mel, Dan, and Anna their new house is great! The red eye flight back to Indonesia was interesting, but I'm sure Carmen has updated everyone on that! It was nice to be home in Canada, and I can't wait for 2009!