Thanksgiving Dinner_2008

Thanksgiving Dinner at our house, Left to Right_Rick, Neal, Ashton & Erin Crum , Bill & Mary Lou Hodges
(LeaAnn is missing because she was sick & I took the picture)

Dogwood Acres Weekly 11/24/08

DOGWOOD ACRES, 11/24/08, ELANE CRUM

With Thanksgiving only three days away, I have been scurrying around trying to balance my time, planning menus, cleaning house, working and deer hunting. Unfortunately, deer hunting is at the bottom of the list. Rick thought I should have gone out Saturday afternoon, but since I did not he went to my stand and sat with his camera until dark. He had hoped my big buck would come along so he could take a picture and show me what I missed. Well, it did not and I was glad I didn’t waste my time watching for it.

I went back out Monday afternoon and watched squirrels play until dark. I think my hunting is finished until next week when I can get out with Rick’s muzzleloader.

It has been reported that Marty Bilyeu got a big doe, so Dakota didn’t skunk his dad after all.

While in Forsyth early this afternoon, I saw Oscar and Carolyn Cook, all decked out in hunter orange. While I did not get all the details, it sounds as though they will not go hungry this winter.

Rick’s cousin, Bob Hammond, came by one day last week to show us a nice 8-point rack from the buck he got.

Our Douglas County family has some fresh meat, although I am not sure of the details. Erin saw two more deer, took a long shot and missed. There is one more day of season and she is persistent; maybe she will have good news for us Tuesday night.

Rick rode down the ridge Sunday afternoon and visited with Harry and Dixie Coleman. They spent a couple of hours looking at old picture albums and laughing about how time had changed them. He came home with a picture of them taken with a big buck Harry had killed the deer season of 1990. Yes, maybe they have changed a little, but haven’t we all?

Monday morning Rick went to help Jeff Dalton hook up a new cook stove for Janet and John Essary was working on her refrigerator. I believe the three men shared a hunting story or two, but did get the kitchen back in working order. With a new stove and a fridge that works, Janet will surely be a happy cook.

Now that the trees have lost most of their leaves, we can easily see Pat and Francine Robertson’s new house as we drive down H Highway. We drive out there occasionally just to see the progress and enjoy the view.

Lynn Plemmons, a new Pine Ridge neighbor, called to visit last week. They seem to be settling in well and already had a visit from Mama Bear and her three cubs that have roamed around here since last spring.

In preparation for Thanksgiving, I have a smoked turkey thawing in the refrigerator along with fresh venison steaks soaking in ice water. I will change the water several times until the meat is almost white, then use Granny Nettie’s time tested recipe for Salisbury Steak. We look forward to having our kids and LeaAnn’s folks here for Thanksgiving dinner. Bye for now.

Dogwood ACres Weekly 11/17/08

Dakota Ray Bilyeu

DOGWOOD ACRES, 11/17/08,

ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. Deer season is off with a bang here among the Dogwood Acres family. Four bucks were taken the first day, although all of their antlers together would hardly make a rack to brag about. Dakota Bilyeu, Jim Bilyeu and Rich Dinkela each had six-points and Rick Crum got a five-point. They were cute little antlers, although hardly Boone & Crockett types.

I worked Saturday and considering the cold and windy day, was rather pleased to have a good reason to stay out of the deer woods. Monday has turned out to be a more pleasant day and I enjoyed my time in the woods. Just as the day was turning dark, I saw a deer slip off the end of the point in front of me. It looked big and I had it in my sights, but could never see enough points to know whether it was what I wanted. Since the fellows (all but Sean) have tipped their hand with these baby bucks, I have decided to wait for a big one.

Clell Smithson and his brother, Hank, came to visit Rick and me Friday morning. We enjoyed meeting Hank who had gone to Forsyth High School with Rick’s uncle, E.K. Ragsdale. I had hoped to have a deer hunting report from the Smithson farm, but have not heard yet.

Neal took Erin hunting Saturday morning. She had the thrill of taking aim and shooting, although she missed. Neal said during target practice she did just fine, but her heavy hunting coat made the gun too long for her to get a good sight.

Janet Dalton got an eight-point buck; hunting from the fine deer stand that Rick helped Jeff build for her.

Well, hunting news is about all I have this week. Maybe next week I will have a big buck story of my own to tell. Bye for now.

Boone & Crockett Bucks

JIM BILYEU - 6 PT

Three bucks were taken by Dogwood Acres hunters in the early hours of this wintry first day of gun season. Rick Crum, 5-pt; Jim Bilyeu, 6-pt; Rich Dinkela, 5 pt.
Dakota Bilyeu brought down a 6-pt late in the day....He was one tired puppy when that was all done! No pictures of his deer, maybe we can get one with the horns later.

RICK CRUM - 5 pt

DOGWOOD ACRES WEEKLY 11/10/08

DOGWOOD ACRES, 11/10/08, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. I have been working almost around the clock and do not seem to have much real news this week.

The final countdown to deer season has begun and I must begin to get my warm clothes together. Rick has been going into the woods and shooting squirrel and deer with a camera. I had hoped he would get a picture of the big buck that is going to be in my sights, but so far, only seeing small ones.

As for the squirrels, it is hard to eat one that has only been captured through the camera lens! Trixie, the fastest squirrel dog we have, catches a squirrel almost every time she is out of the pen. Not willing to share with either her siblings or her people, we still have not had squirrel stew.

Fortunately, there is ground venison in our deep freeze and we have had Sloppy Joes, Stew and Meatballs from it in the last week.

I did hear another good report from the youth hunt. Tom and Kathy Tilley’s grandkids, Cole and Kelsie Thomas, each got a nice deer. Cole’s was a 9-pt buck and Kelsie got a button buck. Deer Season is off to a good start at their house.

I did make time to do something new last week. After finishing with a closing at Evans Title Co. in Forsyth, I went across the street to the library where Sara Shannon fixed me up with a library card. I love to read but with little time to actually open the pages of a book, I have turned to audio books on CD. As I spend a lot of time in the car, my CD player can now read to me.

The library has a good selection of audio books, although with a lot of them being on cassette tapes, I may start carrying a tape player again.

Connie Hammond sent me an email with good information about the Missouri Dept. of Conservation’s plans to change guidelines for landowners who harvest deer on their own land. If I have my figures correct, the minimum of five acres will be changed to 80 acres to hunt free on your own land. That would sure cut us out of our landowner deer permit, along with about 78,000 other landowners in Missouri.

The public has until the end of November to change the minds of the MDC. I plan to post a list of contact information on my website,

www.dogwoodacresOnline.blogspot.com and encourage those who care to let the MDC and other agencies know how you feel about this plan.

Bye for now.

LANDOWNERS Right to Hunt

....courtesy of Connie Hammond

Subject: Small Landowners to lose free right to hunt

With all the furor of election coverage, the MO Department of Conservation is about to hit the small land owners of Missouri with an unwarrented whammy unless somebody intervenes and yells real loud... So here's my voice and I hope you start yelling in their direction immediately too !!! We only have until the end of November to change their minds in our best interests.

In the name of $$$ the MDC wants to hit those of us who own less than 80 acres ( 78,000 by reported accounts) with hunting permit fees to harvest deer and other wildlife on ON OUR OWN LAND starting next year. Yet, they want our co-operation in "thinning the herd"... "taking more does"... "growing more wildlife food plots"... "protecting young bucks" ... "lowering the number of deer/vehicle collisions"... "observing seasonal dates and limits"... and "supporting sales tax % for Conservation" . Several hunters we know ALREADY BUY other tags ( and their visiting family members, too ) for hunting on public lands or their neighbors' land by agreement. This alone negates the MDC claim that this would increase their permit fee-base substantially to aquire more Federal Funds per paid hunter. If anything, they will send a message that allienates a longstanding good will and a thank you for a service well appreciated. Where is the incentive to work WITH the Dept. ? Or why would we want a Life-time Permit to hunt on the very land we bought and feel obligated to take care of ? If the MDC can't budget what has already been entrusted, then they need to move on, tighten their belts, and plan better for rainy days like the rest of us. When the non-hunting public has even higher car insurance or medical bills after bad experiences with wildlife, or poachers get even bolder with their defiance of imposed regulation, the public can blame the system that wants to penalize "the little folks" for their attempts at responsible management of the thousands of privately owned acres across the state. We don't need the urban problems here in the Ozarks from over-population of deer, etc. that already plague areas without adequate harvests. What about all the donated meat to charities the annual hunting season provides? Seems like they shouldn't want to fester up a hunter BOYCOTT !!!

Please be pro-active and make these concerns known however you can through meaningful dialogue. Thank You for your consideration.

-- Connie Hammond, Forsyth, MO in Taney County.

Many have asked how to contact MDC and other agencies via reg. or E-mail in defense of landowners' rights, so here are some places to send YOUR comments because several repeats just get ignored :

a trapping forum that has a lot of posts concerning the MDC latest: http://www.trapboard.com/index.cgi.

Missouri Department of Conservation
c/o Dave Erickson
P.O. Box 180
Jefferson City, MO 65102

MDC Online Comment Form
http://mdc.mo.gov/cgi-bin/comments/comments.cgi?referer=http://www.mdc.mo.gov/

Governor Matt Blunt, Online Contact Form
http://governor.mo.gov/constituentform.htm

Legislator Lookup
http://www.senate.mo.gov/llookup/leg_lookup.aspx

US Representative Jo Ann Emerson, Dist. 8 Contact Form:

http://www.joannemerson.com

Senator Kit Bond, Online Contact Form
http://bond.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.ContactForm

Senator Claire McCaskill, Online Contact Form
http://mccaskill.senate.gov/contact/

Missouri Register - Secretary of the State
http://www.sos.mo.gov/adrules/moreg/moreg.asp

Home addresses of all the MDC Commissioners. You can fill their mailboxes with your complaints about the new rules, regs and price hikes, before they meet again:

Chip McGeehan
1420 Mill Dam Road
Marshfield, MO 65706

Lowell Mohler
4054 Hwy 179
Jefferson City, MO 65109

Becky Plattner
Route 2, Box 10-27
Grand Pass, MO 65339

Don R. Johnson
110 Jackson Terrace
Festus, MO 63028

The Heading for this is "Missouri Political Issues" and has several entries / catagories.

**** THANK YOU for taking a stand with sooooo many others today. -- CJ

Dogwood Acres Weekly 11/03/08

DOGWOOD ACRES, 11/03/08, ELANE CRUM
Hello friends. Hodges and Crums traveled to Bloomington, Illinois, over the weekend for Martin and Amy’s wedding. Their wedding was held nearby in the historic Funks Grove Church, a beautiful little church in the woods, built in 1864-65.
Those of us who came from Missouri stayed at a lovely hotel in Bloomington. Since the wedding was not until 5:00 p.m., we had time for the girls to swim Saturday morning and expected to have a relaxing day.
When Neal began unpacking his suit, he realized that pants and tie was missing, so that gave us an opportunity to go shopping. It can be a challenge to find the right color of black, but he was blessed and found pants in the first store. Nothing can be too easy though and after several phone calls from LeaAnn, the list of forgotten items grew and our shopping trip took us from one end of town to the other.
All’s well that ends well and it did. By the time we got to the wedding site everyone had on the right color of clothes and pantyhose and all frustrations were forgotten.
Neal performed the ceremony, LeaAnn played the piano and Ashton and Erin handed out wedding programs as guests came in.
Bill and Mary Lou played their part well as parents of the groom. When asked if she cried, Mary Lou said not a drop as she had waited thirty-one years for this day.
A reception followed with good food and a little bluegrass pickin’ by Martin, LeaAnn and Rod Humbyrd finished the evening.
Amy is a beautiful lady with a loving heart; we think she and Martin are the perfect couple and wish them a lifetime of happiness.
Family and friends all traveled back home on Sunday. Neal, LeaAnn and the girls stopped in St. Louis and took Bill and Mary Lou up in The Arch. Tim Allen rode home with Rick and me. He helped Rick drive while I napped and read a book in the back seat.
It was a wonderful weekend for traveling, weather was beautiful and fall colors further north and in Illinois were beautiful.
Uncle Sean took Vanessa and Dakota Bilyeu deer hunting in Saturday and Sunday’s youth hunt. They both saw deer but Vanessa let a 6-pt walk because it was not big enough.
Connie Hammond took off a morning from bow hunting to go trout fishing. She said it is probably too hot to hang a deer anyway and those little trout tasted good.
We called Rick’s mom Sunday evening to let her know we arrived home safely. She had a busy weekend with lots of company as Aunt Barb came down from Portland. Betty Jo made sausage gravy to go with Roger’s biscuits for Sunday breakfast and they had a good time eating and visiting.
While having lunch in Branson one day last week, I saw Justin Fisher, also taking his lunch break. He is manager of the new Denny’s Harley-Davidson Store down at Branson Landing. It is on the Marina and Kasie says has a beautiful view of Lake Taneycomo. Justin has worked for Denny’s in Springfield several years but is happy to be working closer to home. Bye for now.

Crum Family in Oregon

Rick's twin brother, Roger, with granddaughters (Angela's girls)

Rick's brother, Kenny, Aunt Barb and Mom (Betty Jo)

Mr. & Mrs. Martin Hodges

Glade Top Trail

VIEW FROM GLADE TOP TRAIL

Dogwood Acres, 10/27/08

Glade Top Trail-Sunday Evening Service

DOGWOOD ACRES, 10/27/08, ELANE CRUM

Hello friends. It seemed as though I was on top of the world when the evening star made its appearance. I really was not looking for the star but noticed a mom in front of me point it out to her little girl. We were at the Caney Picnic Area on Glade Top Trail where Sandy Church has a fall cookout every year. There was two hay wagons filled with both young and old who made the journey late Sunday afternoon, approximately 75 people enjoyed the final fall outing. Pastor Neal took some of the more adventuresome to visit the cave before eating hamburgers and hotdogs. There was bluegrass gospel music by Danny Johnson, Martin Hodges, LeaAnn Crum and Carla Wilson. Pastor Neal gave a good message there on the hillside that seems to overlook most of Taney and Ozark Counties.

I missed the Shadow Rock Jamboree on Saturday night and church on Sunday morning, all because I had twisted my back and was down in my get-alongs. Sunday afternoon I began to feel better so we got around and joined the group on Glade Top Trail. Now it is Monday and I am on the mend and going strong again.

Rick had a good hunt Wednesday morning. After ignoring the early alarm it was daylight before he went into the woods. By 9:00 a.m. he was back home with a big 7 pt whitetail strapped to the 4-wheeler. It was a nice one and has got my huntin’ fever up just a little.

I had a good phone visit with another of Miss Nellie Clark’s student/nieces, Maryetta Burkhart Brown. We had such a good visit as she shared memories of attending school at Swan, church at Middleton and Decoration Day at Lone Star.

Maryetta remembered Rick’s cousins, LoraLee (Debbie) and Roena Lathrope and also had worked at the Brown Hotel in Rockaway with my Granny Nettie.

A letter came last week from an old family friend, Hazel Keithley Goodall. We miss seeing Hazel around town since she moved to be closer to her son. She sent pictures of her recent wedding and very handsome groom, Ray Kimball. I wish them all the happiness in the world.

There was a knock on our door Friday night from a little trick-or-treater. It was that cute great-niece of mine, Madison Tilley, making her rounds a week early. Erin dressed up like a clown and went with Madison to visit a few more family members and then spent the night with her at Grandma Christie’s. Sean said it was at least 1:00 a.m. before the two little girls settled down and went to sleep.

It’s going to get really cold tonight so I must decide which plants I want to save and get them inside before it is too late. Bye for now.