While I was home this spring I was graciously VOLUNTEERED to coach a T-Ball team by my sister-in-law. When signups were held my sister-in-law called and said she was signing her son up to be on my son’s T-Ball team. She said our team didn’t have a coach and that her husband and his brother would coach the team if I would help them! I told her I would be glad to help, but with my schedule I couldn’t be the Head Coach. Well, 30 minutes later I check my voice mail and have a message. It’s my sister-in-law telling me that she put me down to be the Head Coach and that her husband would be glad to help!!!! Thanks Lynn, with sister-in-laws like you, who needs enemies!!! By the way, please don’t do me any more favors. You have volunteered me to be a coach and you’ve talked my daughter into playing the trombone in band. I always heard the 3rd times a charm and I can’t imagine what you have in store for my family for favor number 3!!!!

With that being said, I only missed 2 games this season and I had a fun time teaching the kids the fundamentals of baseball! We all had fun and were sad when the season came to an end.

Here’s our team at last night’s trophy ceremony!!!! By the way, Lynn helped out in the dugout a couple of games. I think I’ll volunteer her to be the Farm League coach next year!!!

Mike Taylor Electric T-Ball Team and Coaches

Just got back from an AWESOME trip to Four Season Safaris on the South Island of New Zealand. This was just a great trip all the way around. From the outfitter to the accommodations to the hunt, everything was excellent.
Our Outfitter’s name was Shane Johnston and he was top notch. He knew his hunting area and was able to put us on some Stag and Tahr.
Here are some photos from the trip.

Stag with a rifle

Pam found this stag on the first morning of the hunt and wanted to harvest it. We spent 4 days chasing this big double drop tine stag around the hills before we caught a lucky break.

Helicopter Extraction

It pays to have friends with a helicopter. We harvested Pam’s stag deep in the hills of the South Island. Lucky for us, Shane had a friend with a helicopter so we didn’t have to pack the stag out.

Stag with a bow

We got lucky with this big guy. We were able to harvest him after setting up on a game trail in some thick cover.

Tahr with a rilfe

We changed gears and headed to the mountain tops to chase Tahr. What an awesome hunt.

Tahr with a bow

Second Tahr of the trip and what a rush chasing this majestic animal around the mountain tops.

Leaving in the morning for a hunt in New Zealand. We will be chasing Red Stag, Chamois and Tahr. It will be my first time there and I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully we will have an internet connection so I can post a daily log and pictures of the hunt

The weather has warmed up and the Striped Bass or as we locals call them “Rock” and White Perch are running up the Roanoke River. I took my son fishing a couple of days last week and he thoroughly enjoyed it. I had taken him fishing a couple of times before, but this time was special.
Friday we invited his Papa Neil to go fishing with us. He has never been fishing with his papa. OUt of the 3 of us, Kolby was the only one to catch a fish. It was a BIG black fish. we cut him loose and put him back in the river.
Sunday after church my friend Rob invited us to go fishing with him and his son Jordan. Kolby was very excited about this trip, because he had never been on a boat before.
The great thing about fishing Sunday is both boys caught a good number of fish and they had a great time together.

Thank you Papa Neil for joining us Friday for an afternoon of fishing.

Thanks Rob & Jordan for taking us out on the Roanoke Sunday  for an afternoon of fun and fellowship!

Kolby & Papa Neil wetting a worm!

Jordan & Rob with a White Perch

A Nice Rock The Boys Tag Teamed

Two Happy Fishermen

Moose over at www.moosedroppings.net brought this to my attention this morning. A few days after I saw Marcus Luttrell talk about his first hand account of Operation Redwing he had some low life thugs come and do the unspeakable, the shot his dog!!!! Here is the Fox News account of what happened.

Scumbags Kill Dog

This past hunting season I went on a trip to Saskatchewan for whitetail. Having spent several weeks a year hunting in Canada since 2000, I know the days can be very long and sometimes uneventful!
Like most of my Canadian adventures I left RDU for a connecting flight in Minneapolis. During my lay over I passed a book store and decided to see if any books sparked an interest. Sitting on the Bestseller shelf was a book called Lone Survivor. After reading the synopsis I knew I wanted to buy this book to help pass time while sitting in the hunting blind. 

After a few hours in the ground blind in Saskatchewan and not a lot of deer movement, I pulled my book out and began to read. The problem was, I couldn’t put it down. It was a good thing there were 3 of us in the ground blind looking for deer. That gave me plenty of time to read the book. It only took me 8 hours to read it. By far the best book I’ve ever read!!!!!

When I got back home from the hunting trip I contacted my good friend Michael Allen that I worked with in the Public Affairs office for the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade at Camp Lejeune and asked him had he read this book. He said he had in fact read the book and he surprised me by telling me that Marcus would be speaking at one of his breakfast meetings in March and invited me to come. Without hesitation I accepted his offer.

 A couple of weeks ago I went to Richmond, Va to spend some time with my good friend Michael and to attend the breakfast where Marcus spoke. Marcus gave an awesome presentation. To be able to hear him tell the events that unfolded on that mountainside first hand was bone chilling! Thank God for Americans like this that fight to keep our Country free! I wish more American’s felt like Marcus about our Country!  

CBN Story on Operation Red Wing

United States Navy file photo of Navy SEALs operating in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. From left to right, Sonar Technician (Surface) 2nd Class Matthew G. Axelson, of Cupertino, Calif; Senior Chief Information Systems Technician Daniel R. Healy, of Exeter, N.H.; Quartermaster 2nd Class James Suh, of Deerfield Beach, Fla.; Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Marcus Luttrell; Machinist’s Mate 2nd Class Eric S. Patton, of Boulder City, Nev.; and Lt. Michael P. Murphy, of Patchogue, N.Y. With the exception of Luttrell, all were killed June 28, 2005, by enemy forces while supporting Operation Red Wing.

My Good Friend Michael Allen and I pause for a picture after the breakfast that Marcus Luttrell spoke.

Today I have a meeting with my CPA! I’ve procrastinated long enough. This past weekend I buckled down and got all my information together from the 2008 tax year.
I thought I had all my things organized until I started going through my folder! I didn’t realize how many receipts I required in 2008!
Hopefully it will go better this year, last year I had to pay Uncle Sam, maybe this year he will pay me back!!! If I owe, the check will be in the mail April 15.

Yesterday was a busy day! the primary school that my son attends had their annual chicken dinner and I volunteered to help cook.
I helped my good friend and roommate at ECU cook the chicken and string beans. This is the first time I’ve helped cook anything close to this magnitude!
The day started at 8 a.m. when Gary pulled up with a pallet of chicken, 1,600 quarters to be exact!!!! While Gary started up the cookers (7 to be exact) Jimmie and myself started the task of cleaning the chickens. After some help arrived it took us nearly 3 hours to clean all those chickens!!!
Once all the chickens had been cleaned we started opening 115 gallons of string beans and started cooking them!!!!
I am happy to report that things went smooth and all the chicken and beans were ready to serve on time!

String Beans and Plates

It took 7 cookers 8 hours to cook 1,600 Chicken Quarters

Tony and Gary Turning The Chicken

Hank Getting The Kettle Ready To Go

60 Gallons of String Beans

Arthur Putting The BBQ Sauce On The Chicken

The Final Product

Here are some links to the News & Observer about the Dixie Deer Classic that was held in Raleigh this past weekend.

Dixie Deer Classic Photos

http://blogs.newsobserver.com/multi/dixie-deer-classic

Short Video Produced by Chris Douglas and myself

http://blogs.newsobserver.com/multi/mike-zlotnicki-at-the-dixie-deer-classic

Winners

http://blogs.newsobserver.com/multi/dixie-deer-classic-winners