Results

Last weekend was the Pear Blossom Run in Medford, where "Everyone's a Winner." Pphht! Whoever came up with that logo? A) The same guy who doesn't want to hurt anyone's self-esteem and has consequently created a self-seeking, self-serving generation. B) The slow guy who has created such soft standards that the old "out of shape" is the new "embrace your shape." C) Your mom.

Ummm anyway. Last weekend was the 10mi Pear Blossom run. Mama Joe and I competed and we were both pretty pleased with ourselves, I think. We both ran faster than last year. I was 9th female overall and Mom was 10th masters female overall, not bad for a lady with six toes. Seriously. She grew blisters on both feet that were big enough to be toes. But her new shoes were really cute. (Before her feet bled all over them - but don't worry that stuff comes out with a little bleach.)

The second big deal of the weekend was: The Turkey Hunt.
I mentioned a couple of posts ago that Ross would be taking Ryan's younger brother on a youth turkey hunt. That was last weekend as well, the weekend before the actual season begins. Ross went scouting and tried to find some land owners to talk to on Friday morning in the Lebanon area, but came up empty on both accounts. I wasn't holding out my hopes for them to get anything, but I was sure they would have a good time regardless. Zach was pumped. Ross was pumped. Ryan, who was going despite his heavy workload (it's tax season), was probably tired, but I'm sure he was a little pumped too.
They had to get up and rolling close to 3:00AM. No thanks, that's still night time. You shouldn't be up and moving at that hour, but they were.
I can't give the details and the excitement of it all the way they can, but the short of it is, they found the turkey's. They were sitting in a bunch of hens, and kept calling them in waiting for a tom to take the bait. Their patience paid off, and after some serious army crawling by Zach and Ross, Zach spotted their bird. He took just one shot, and nailed it. Now, just to add a little context, Zach is about as big around as a broom. I'm not sure he'd ever even shot a shotgun before, and Ross' gun is heavy with a terrific kick. This was Zach's first successful hunt as far as I know. He was one happy kid. When Ross was telling me the story, I wanted to give a little shout, but decided the patrons of Costco might not approve. The turkey was about as big as Zach, but he did his best to pack it back to the truck before big brother had to help out. I think they said it had about an 8inch beard and was close to 20lbs. The pictures follow.