My Good Luck Charm

Deer Season opens Saturday! Last year Kate was my good luck charm. This year we have 2 tags to fill and she's locked and loaded and will be looking for Bambi.....hopefully we both have good luck!

19 years and counting.......

For 19 years now, I've looked forward to early November. It's true, Fall is without a doubt my favorite season for many many reasons. Football, hunting, holidays, cool weather, family time and more recently baseball. It's a busy time for us Balckfords but ultimately it all culminates with the evening before duck seasons opens.....which is TODAY.

Duck hunters are, essentially, all creatures of habit. We spend 9 months preparing, scheming, cleaning, building, buying and otherwise pining away for opening day. So when it's 104 outside in July and I'm standing in the garage tying decoy lines, cleaning shotguns, checking waders for leaks, and monitoring weather patterns on the Canadian praries.....yes, my family and friends think I'm more than a bit odd.

So here's to 19 opening day sunrises, a heavy game strap of birds, the smell of burned powder and hopefully many many many more opening days.

Summer 2010......going, going, gone!

Haven't posted in forever so I thought I'd give a quick rundown of our summer that blew by so quick.

June

Captiva Trip

Had a great trip to Captiva FL with our friends the Cummings and Daniels. 6 kids under age 10-----gee, that was fun. Had a great trip and perfect weather.

July

Colorado & Lonoke for Kate

Kate was thoroughly spoiled by both grandparents in Estes Park Colorado and Lonoke AR. See http://thomasblackford.blogspot.com/2010/07/back-from-colorado-and-back-to-work.html
for Estes photos.

I spent most of July playing with my new toy.

August

More Fishing----90 miles out in the Gulf from Freeport TX, the water is cobalt blue and the rigs are sadly idle or leaving to go to other parts of the world while rig workers families hemorhage. But the fish are biting and there's not a drop of oil. 450 lbs of amberjack, mahi mahi, kingfish and cobia were stuffed in the fishbox of the 42' Yellowfin Center Console "Cool Sea". Capt. Casey Cundieff always puts us onthe fish. We also traded a shrimp boat a case of Bud Light for 40 lbs (yes----40 lbs) of gulf shrimp.

MUDBUGS

Some people say "it's great to have friends!"

Well.....I say, "it's even better to have friends that raise crawfish!"

Once again, thru the miracle of my Arkansas network, a client offered to bring along 50 lbs of fresh crawfish as he was flying to Dallas Friday morning.

Sooooooooo, Friday night we hosted roughly 20 hungry people and drank coolers of cold Shiner and cajun boiled crawfish, corn, potatoes and peel-n-eat shrimp until we almost popped!!!!

For one night we listened to Zydeco and were temporary cajuns!!

THE BEAST!!!

I have a great wife. As we prepare to celebrate 15 yrs together on June 10th, I have to admit, I married way out of my league.





Evidence below:



(Hopefully my new toy in 3 weeks---2008 24' Champion Bay Boat----A BEAST!!!)

The evidence is clear: Stacey is so easy-going that when I wanted to sell my boat and get this beast, she was more than cool.

This boat is intimidating:

24' long center console Champion Bay Champ
250 hp 4 stroke Yamaha Outboard
29' 9" on trailer
Gross weight 7500 lbs
61 mph top speed
90 gal gas
2 Lowrance GPS/ Sonar combos
VHF Radio
Satellite weather
AM/FM , iPod stereo
3 livewells
Crazy amounts of storage

I hope to use it on Lake Ray Roberts, Lake Texoma, and on the TX coast.

Let's go fishing......but most of all.

I love you Stacey! Happy Anniversary!

MY IDOL

(L to R: Jason "Jase" Robertson, The Duck Commander himself---Phil Robertson & Willie Robertson, The Blackfords)

For Catholics, it's the Pope. Soccer fans, it's Ronaldo. And NASCAR, probably Richard Petty.

These are all modern day idols for their respective followers or fan base.

Well, for duck hunter (true duck hunters---not panty waisted "only hunt once or twice a year" knuckleheads) the modern day IDOL is none other than the Louisiana Duckmen lead by famous Phil Robertson. Phil and his sons Willie and Jase have evolved from the backwaters of West Monroe LA marsh to become a marketing force in the hunting world. Their no-nonsense TV show, hunting products & videos (in my opinion) depict the average trials, tribulations & successes of sleep deprivation, cold, water & mud throughout duck season........with a healthy dose of humor mixed in too. Check them out: http://www.duckcommander.com/

Saturday, Preston, Kate and I loaded up to attend the National Ducks Unlimited Convention and Outdoor Expo in Grapevine, TX. Every manufacturer of hunting products attended the show and at 3pm the line started to meet the Robertson Family. The kids eerily looked at the long bearded brethren of what looks like a shiftier version of ZZ Top until it was our turn. Snap! Photo with the Duckmen if Louisiana.

As Phil would say (as a group of mallards settle into the decoys), "cut 'em all Jack!"

Here Fishy Fishy!!!!

Figured I'd better keep up with my little bro and sister and update the old blog.

I know you'll all be shocked.......but I went fishing again! (I know......I hope you were sitting down)

Saturday----my 3 buddies Ron, Matt, Scott and I headed out for channel catfish. We caught 39 and probably drank as many Shiners......per fisherman. For those of you that own a boat, you know B.O.A.T. is actually an acronym. B reak O ut A nother T housand. This time it's a 4" crack in the boat.......real nice.....oh, and go ahead and add an electrical trim switch fuse.

Broken boat right in the middle of fishing season!!! Ugh!!!

Sunday----Kate and I got up early (4:30am) and drove to lake Texoma where we met Eric and Avery Thomas and our striper guide Roger. By noon we fileted 31 nice striped bass and the girls had a great time reconnecting. We even donned wetsuits and jumed in Lake Texoma. Brrrrrr!

This weekend.......Scott Cummings and David Daniel will visit Scott's Dad at Houston County Lake near Houston. Scott's Dad has a lakeside house with some great fishing. Stacey is the best because I almost have "fished out" myself this spring.

SET THE HOOK!

(Heading out to go fishing)

(Kate and Avery with 2 of our catch)