Poor Tree!!

Yesterday was a really fun day here New Stu. The wind died down finally and the sun came out which made it feel a lot warmer out than it probably was. Brie and I slept in and then made some Waffles for breakfast!! Yummy! After breakfast we headed down to the "P" store (not sure what the "p" stands for) and picked up a few things that we have been missing. We got destroyed by mosquitoes on the way down so we picked up a bottle of bug spray and of course wasn't bothered by any on the way back (we didn't even get to use the bug spray).

When we got back Brie decided she wanted to make some homemade tortillas so we can have taco's for dinner. I was pretty impressed with her ability to make tortillas; the taco's were amazing!! One of the guys that Brie works with stopped by and wanted us to go mushroom hunting with him but Brie was busy and so him and I decided to go sight in his gun instead. I liked this idea because I was able to take my gun out and shoot it finally! I hopped on the side of Ben's 4 wheeler and we headed off somewhere that I had not been to before and couldn't get back to on my own if I tried. I guess the trail we took was about 3-4 miles outside of New Stuyahok; its trail you can take to get to another village. Since its been raining a lot lately the trail was nice and muddy. I chose to not wear my rubber boots which turned out to be quite the mistake on my part. Never again will i venture out without my rubber boots. We had to part the 4 wheeler and walk to our spot because the path was covered with water and we were sure how deep it was. One we got to the area that we wanted to shoot, both of us realized that we didn't have any target to shoot at. Ben found a couple old gift cards in his wallet and stepped off about 75 yards. It was a tough shot for me because I don't have a scope on my gun. Ben started to sight in his scope and took a few shots with not much luck so he told me to fire when ready. I took aim with my gun and knocked the top of the tree clear off; Ben was floored. It was a sweet shot and not one that I could probably do again if I tired. I hit the upper trunk of the small pine tree dead center!! After I finished signing autographs and such Ben let me shoot his 12 gauge shot gun. He said there were only 3 shots left and for me to just finish them out. I took the first two shots and it definitely puts more force on my shoulder than my .44 cal but not horrible. Before I took the 3rd shot Ben asked of I wanted to shoot a bear shot; I had no idea what he was talking about and I asked if it would put my shoulder out of socket and he said "well i guess we will see". I took aim at the tree again and fired; my shoulder did not feel good at that moment but I did knock off another section of the tree. I told him that I would just stick with my gun and he can do the bear shots.

When we were done shooting we decided to go out to the tundra and get Ben's kite out. This is not an ordinary kite by any means. If you want to know more of what I am referring to then google "Kiting in Alaska" and you will see. This kite kicked my butt. I am a big guy and figured I wouldn't have any problems controlling it but I was wrong. I stumbled the first couple times that I had it up and it quickly came crashing down. The third time I wasn't so lucky because I ended up flat on the ground with my face in the tundra. I think I looked like a beached Whale or something out there!! Ben was laughing hysterically until he took the kite again and ended up flat on the ground as well so all ended well!! We both got some good laughs out of it.

Once we got back I got home to find that the rest of our stuff had safely arrived. I opened the fridge to find three bottles of Diet Dew; I thought I had died and gone to heaven!! Brie was making peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and we had tacos for dinner. I would have to say it was a pretty darn good day!!

We both figured out that the key to happiness out here is embracing the area and just doing things you wouldn't normally do. I promise to get pictures up soon. Brie had the camera in Dillingham so I wasn't able to update anything.

Brandon