Finally! A Buck on Veterans Day!

Free Coffee for ME?   Awesome!

Today is Veteran's day.... and I got a free cup of coffee from Casey's.   How great is that! 

Cheryl working hard...

Having had a rather busy week with stockings and scoring ( well,  For Cheryl anyway.)   We finally had a chance to run in Iowa City.   On the way there....  We finally saw a VERY LARGE whitetail buck. 

A HUGE buck

A Blurry Photo

I thought it was a horse in the field at first.   But I quickly  could see that there were no other farm animals in the field.   As we approached and slowed down,  I fumbled with my phone to snap a picture.

Almost as bad as this...

Or this...

Taking a picture... from a narrow country road;  at a distance;  while the car continues to move; before the deer has a chance to run away;  is basically IMPOSSIBLE  Yet,  I attempted the impossible and got this blurry "BIGFOOT meets NESSIE" footage that will have all the UFO conspiracy theorists drooling!   It is so bad,  I feel I could say it is a unicorn, and people will almost believe me. 

If only I could have zoomed.

The entire encounter took about 5 seconds.   And in that time, I did not have the brain power to make sure that the phone was focusing on the deer...   I also had to make sure there was no traffic coming from the other direction or behind me.   And I did not want to run off the road because I was watching some stupid deer in the middle of the field.    He was actually almost on the road!   The Camera chose to focus on the brush, the road, the telephone pole.  Anything!  But the deer.    So I made this video out of the numerous picture I rapidly snapped in that 5 seconds.

And there he goes....   I wonder if I will become famous with this footage...

He was Huge!   The pictures never captured the rack....so I did not get a chance to count the tines. Ah well.    I also missed a pheasant ( which almost flew into the car!) and another Eagle.  But trying to capture their picture from a moving vehicle will never put me on the cover of Field and Stream. I should know better by now...but probably will repeat the same mistake over and over again in the future.  Call me insane.

No Men allowed?  

Running into a Run.

So Cheryl ran 9 miles today... and a fairly speedy clip!    On the trail, we encountered a 5K in progress.    I told her she should jump in, even if she did not have a bib.   She refused.

9 Miles and happiness displayed.

Cheryl's "Feed Me" Sign.

Simon's Cat From YouTube.

Mostly,  she was hungry.   Runners are always hungry.


 We did our normal errands and headed off to McDonalds.   On the way,   we get to see one of the common Iowa sights that are not possible anywhere else.

Only in Iowa....

 A fully functioning COMBINE in the middle of the city.

Easier to Zoom and focus on a combine in traffic....

He takes up both of the left lanes.   Perhaps you may see this in Kansas or Nebraska.... But we never saw something like this in Michigan. ( though, it may happen in Hillsdale  or Jackson County...Where there is more farmland and less city.)

Not taken from the road, I bet...

Capturing a combine in traffic is apparently easier than a 10 point ( I'm making that up) buck in a harvested field.   I was even able to zoom in.. even though he was only a couple of car lengths away.  At least I have something to blog about.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend so far.  Maybe I will eventually catch that BIG BUCK as he crosses the road or trail.... someday.   That way I will not have to barrow  clear, focused and professional photos to make my blog look better.   We shall see.