Pressed Penny Souvenir

While getting out from the Cabela's on the last day of the Arkansas visit, Brian suggested for this sovenier. Pressed Penny from a pressing machine. Placed one penny into the machine and got a deer image impressed penny out. An oval shaped, shining memento.

Berry Plucking Fun

This reminded me about my grand mother, who loved to cultivate all the necessary vegetables for the daily use, in the backyard. Occasionally, I joined her with my brothers for the plucking help and we enjoyed it. 

Since she left us, all those things are gone. And I really miss that now.

So the blue berry plucking that we did on a Saturday, I enjoyed it with all my heart. That was a pretty good harvest though. And those tasted the best. Brought back some to Texas and mixed with Blue Bell Signature Vanilla ice cream and ate it all in a day. That was really yummy!

Carla wanted me to prepare Indian Style Chicken Curry. And when I asked for loads of garlic and ginger, she went to the backyard and took those out from the soil. That was a quick shopping :)

Evening Grill

Grilling is fun and I never enjoyed this back in India, which I would start for sure. At the end of the day, especially being with the dear and near ones, it is always a party time. And everyone loved the idea of grilling. And we did.

Big chunk of meat loafs, ready to get cooked. As Ani said, the first thing I am going to do back in India - Cholesterol and sugar check :)

The cute Moley, getting some rest after tiring game with the kids

I was wondering at the raw meat turning to juicy steak with Texas Ranch seasoning.

Prawns to decorate the steak

That smells smokey BBQ prawns

Baked potatoes

And some fruits

Baked cauliflower

The final, juicy, well done steak...Yum Yum!

Polymer Clay Creations

Ani loves crafting and creative hobby. And being with her for three years, I too gained some interest in that area. We did some pot decorations with plaster of paris and must say that it was fantastic. But when I saw Carla's polymer clay creations, I told Ani that we have to take the hobby to a next level.

It was fun to see the creations which Carla made. The coasters, little cute monsters, pig heads, spoons, cutleries etc...All usable ones for daily home use. Thats fun + productive.

A Helping Mind

Being close to the nature is fun. I believe, this is something I miss in my Bangalore apartment life. Lost the contact with the nature since I graduated from college.  

And when I saw this cute little home for the birds, I enjoyed it walking around the place for sometime. I took a risk of looking inside those hanging house to see whether they had some residents inside. That was cute and a sign of compassion to the nature.

Let's Shift The Boat

That day morning, we drove to the farm to pick up a boat for helping out Brian's the fishing activity. I joined Carla and her father to the farm chicken house, where we have to pick up the boat from. Yes, the farm is in the house premises, but we had to go in the truck to get it.

All dressed up for clearing the pond. But I didn't do anything other than clicking pictures :)

That's a serious warning in Texas. You'll only realize it when the first bullet hits the body :)

I don't know what he was looking for. But it was for some information for sure.

Some rakoon's foot prints in the chicken house

A Safari In The Backyard

Brian asked me, "Do you want to go and see some deer?". I thought  he might be talking about some zoo near by. I never thought of spotting some bucks in the backyard. It was fun, a lot of fun.

The sun was about to set when we started off for the little backyard safari. We hoped onto one of the truck, with my camera and a binocular.

It was getting dark and I was kind of liking that journey. There isn't the hassles of city life anywhere, no noise pollution. Just us and the nature. With the cool and comforting breeze, my mind was fresh and I was excited looking out for some bucks around.

These are not the bucks. Cows in the farm, enjoying their evening.

One of the many ponds in the farm. 

Hey, the buck spotted.

Brian looking out for some more

A hunter's skill to spot a buck is incredible. I admired that in Brian.

Summer in Arkansas turned the hay in the farm to the perfect golden colored portrait. A perfect camouflage for the bucks to hide. The hay was so tall that it was tough to spot the buck. But Brian's eyes were sharper than a binocular.

I was shocked when he spotted a buck from a far distance. When I asked him how he could do that, I was amazed with that little trick - "Look for the difference. Something whitish in the midst of the golden hays around". Yup, that works!

We found 6-7 of them around. Gazing with their families, they were too having a perfect evening.

The whole trip was awesome. A perfect mini safari in the backyard...

Cabelas - A Hunters Passion

Brian was excited, and I was over excited when he planned for an evening shooting fun. So what we have to do next, was my question to him. Let's go to Cabela's and get some shells and clay shots. When responded with an 'Okay', I had no idea about the place am getting into.

The place looked like a perfect destination for a hunter, with all kind of tools and gadgets for hunting and fishing. Of-course, I was shocked to see the gun section they had. I felt like a jewelry shop in Bangalore, with an exception that, instead of jewelry, they had guns, rifles, pistols and bullets. 

I never seen a gun shop in my life before. And when the sales person heard about the same, he was excited to show me the things around, which ended up with hands on experience with the best hunting guns in the world.

The first thing to learn about hunting is to identify the various types of deers. And the shop had a section which displays the common replica of those animals. Never seen the most closest replicas ever.

Ethan & Rowas was excited about the place. And they were my guides inside the shop :)

The hunters watch tower. Tied to a tree, the hunter can watch for the prey. 

The shot gun collection. I have only seen those in GTA games :)

While trying out some pistols, I felt like its better to go to a gym than carrying these around. So heavy it was.

What a collection. I have only used these in GTA series

Discovering the collections with Ethan

Poor animals.

Brian checking out his favorites

I would prefer to go to a gym than holding this for a minute. 

Some oldies. As the saying, they are gold.