Spring Time in Iowa, things can change in a hurry.

I finished up the door instillation that Beau and I started.

Walked the timber looking for sheds and my cap.

pruned our Marechal Foch grape vines

Before

After

and got some stream time in

Then we got blasted with 9" of wet snow

Biscuit's pen got a roof of snow 

I was rewarded with pumpkin waffles 

and visited the sugar shack for the final boil of the year.

Resilient 

Blood orange/kumquat smash

And we finished the week off with a Surf Monkey margarita 

Hitting the Timber with D.... Shedding

Finn

Eadi-May

Big D

The timber

I found one in the set aside

Not chewed

Bottom buck - Dead head!  Score

 Close to seven miles in today time to take a break!

How lucky are we to come home to this!

Paloma's with spicy pork tostada's 

Thanks Mom!

Small Streams

We hit several small streams

With big rewards

We took brother Steve to one of our hot spots

This stream has good reproduction

and a nice female like this can produce several 1000 eggs

We didn't let the snow slow us down

Beau was on them again catching 3 to my 1 despite the cold temperatures. 

As always happy to catch one.

 

Out On The Big Water

We were up early to get out on the water below lock 12 above the brewery

It was Jerry's birthday and him and Rich got us out

Jerry got his two.

I gave Beau a break and it wasn't long before I got a fish.

 a chunky 35 pounder

It finally happened Beau got one.  He broke a line on one earlier.

A Keeper!

and he limited out

A second keeper about 15 pounds.

fishing with the Gerardy's has been a great tradition for about the last 15 years

Pretty slick cleaning method

Thanks Youtube...

We fried some out in the pole barn so the house wouldn't smell like fish for days

and we did some on the green egg

Paddle fish done two ways....

River pig!

 

Exploring The Little Maquoketa Mounds

I had a free morning to explore while Susie worked at the Convivium.

So, I hiked and looked for shed antlers.

The Indian mounds sit high, about 150' above the little maquoketa river atop a geologic feature created by glacial activities.

The old foundation of a early settlers home sit near the base of the mound

Stream Piracy

The 32 ancient burial mounds are overgrown with black raspberries .

The 8' high fence was down so I went inside for a better look.  No sheds.

    

So, I wanted to know just who built these mounds.  The graves are related to the Late Woodland Culture. About AD 700  to 1200 

An ancient oak

I also got in a bonus hike on the John Deere proving grounds.

This area has some great outcroppings and mountain bike trails