My Crazy Life as a Hunter's Wife: Crazy Fishing

Since life is so crazy, I never seem to have time to write about it. But, this event was so fitting with the theme of this blog that, I just have to record it. Maybe this will inspire me to be more diligent.

There is a lake that is fairly close to Camelot where Hunter Man likes to go fishing because he had a lot of success there during the Memorial Day Weekend his brother’s family and our son’s family. When we went to Camelot for one last weekend with my daughter, son-in-law, and grandson before they moved to Ohio, we just had to go fishing at the lake, too!

The water level in the lake had gone down by about 8 feet or so in the 3 weeks since we had last been there, but Hunter Man didn't really think about the consequences of that as he drove down to the shore of the lake just like we had previously. When he paused for a second, the truck just SANK right into the mud.

No problem, right? Just put the truck into four wheel drive and keep going. Nope. The more he tried, the deeper he sank and the closer he slid to the edge of the water.

So, he got the chains out of the back of the truck, and put them under the tires for more traction. This did not help in the least.

At this point, the dude that was camped nearby, took mercy on us and strolled over to offer to pull our truck out of the mud. He said that he pulls people out of the mud all the time because people just think they can drive right down to the lake. He pretty much put us in the category of the stupid people he has rescued. Kj and I were laughing so hard. (Partly because of what he said and partly because of what he was wearing. Overalls and apparently, NOTHING else, if you know what I mean).

Hunter Man, proud man that he is, said no at the same time that I was saying yes. But, after one more try on the chains, and one more slide closer to the water, he changed his mind and said he would like the help.

Just like that, the dude had his truck and tow strap hooked up to the back of our truck and pulled our truck out.

Muddy tire.

Mark and Hunter Man decided to bait their poles and throw the lines out before rolling up the rescuer’s tow strap to return to him. And before he could even start the task, both poles were bending over with fish on them.

Fish-on!

Two fish caught at the same time.

That started another one of those fishing trips where fish just keep biting and biting and biting. The "overall dude" said they hadn't been catching any fish, so when Hunter Man returned the tow strap to him, he shared some of his secret bait. Mark and Hunter Man were having so much fun that they didn’t even care whether they took time to eat the food that Kj and I had slaved over to prepare for them.

Happy Fishermen!

Last time we went to the lake, my daughter-in-law and I decided that we should bring food in crock pots with us that we could eat while we were there. Because if the fishing is good, nobody wants to leave. Then we don’t leave before dark, and end up having dinner until 10:00 p.m. back at Camelot where our crock pot meals have just been simmering the whole time we have been gone.

So, Kj and I tried it this time. About 4 or 5 hours before we left to go to the lake, we started our Smothered Chicken Crock Pot Meal. Then, packed the crock pot carefully into the back of the truck and took it with us to the lake. We were excited and thought we had come up with a pretty good idea for lake fishing and eating dinner at the same time. Now some people might have wanted to build a fire and cook this meal in the dutch oven at the lake to get the same result. I am sure this would have totally worked. However, I am the kind of camper who requires running water and electricity--thus the crock pot method is more my style.

We didn’t really count on the fact that the fishermen would not be very interested in eating.

Oh well, to each his own. Catch fish, or eat a delicious meal.

Smothered Chicken

Normally, Smothered Chicken is made in a frying pan by frying bacon, removing it from the pan, frying the chicken, and then smothering it with the other ingredients: bacon, mushrooms, barbecue sauce, and cheese—then slowly cooking it until the barbecue sauce is bubbly and the cheese is melted.

The crock pot method was to layer about 8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (you can use boneless, skinless chicken thighs, too), a package of pre-cooked bacon, a carton of fresh mushrooms, and barbecue sauce. We had 2 layers. We reserved the cheese to sprinkle on top when we were ready to eat.

We wanted to have corn on the cob with our chicken, so we wrapped it in foil and placed the ears on top of the mixture in the crock pot. You have to have a pretty big crock pot to do this. (I think, if you were going to make this in the dutch oven, you might want to pre-fry your chicken, just so that you know it is done and then it won't have to bake as long on the coals. I think maybe 30 minutes would be enough time with coals placed to make 350 degrees, but this is just a guess).

Everything cooked perfectly and Kj and I thought the meal was delicious.

Little Jay was more interested in playing than eating, but did a really good job of smashing a banana all over the blanket and in other random places—like inside the paper towel roll. He is just such a happy little boy and has fun no matter where he is or what he is doing.

On-guard!

Playing in the cooler is fun.

We had a good time at Camelot, too. It was great to see Little Jay explore everything.

Little Jay was very interested in our dog and her water dish.

Funny thing said by Papa, "Jay, let's go play with the knives." (Because he needed entertaining and because the plastic utensils were so much fun to play with!)

We had a riot playing our version of a disc-throwing game that we had seen demonstrated on a TV show. We expanded on their rules, added two more discs to make it even more challenging and laughed a lot as we figured out how we wanted to play the game and refined our skills.

Looking pretty crazy as I anticipate the arrival of the Frisbee.

Slam that Frisbee into the container, Kj!

Mark was pretty good at making impossible saves
from bad throws.

Kj is probably laughing about the Floppy Flyer Dance, which
she, Mark, and Ty had to perform before every turn!

Ty is all ready to slam it!

Hunter Man did pretty well after only a few tries.

Jay woke up from his nap and wanted to pretend to mow.

Devoted parents lost interest in the game.

We had a great time and I wished that the weekend could have lasted a lot longer. I will admit that I cried as they drove away. I am going to miss them so much.