Motor On!

As the bad memories of life's tragedy stopped by to visit in the middle of a sleepless night, I was comforted to go and kiss each one of my family as they lay sleeping so peacefully.

Gonna have to pull the boot laces up tight today, and motor on!

Triple Queens

Here's my wife and her two sisters at the wedding we recently went to......All three are beauties! My Mama Team T is lookin' hot in the far right of the pic!

Oh Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

I want to dress up like the Koolaid man and go blasting through somebody's wall!

Passing It On

I can think of no more important goal than to pass on my belief in God and passion of the outdoors to my children. Here is the next generation of TEAM T sampling their taste of the sport of woodsmanship.

Inspiration

Sometimes these "heartwarming" stories are a bit too sappy for me but this one is truly interesting...

In 1986, Mikele Mebembe was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from NorthwesternUniversity. On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed, so Mikele approached it very carefully.

He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant's foot and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it. As carefully and as gen tly as he could, Mikele worked the wood out with his hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot. The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments. Mikele stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away. Mikele never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.

Twenty years later, Mikele was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his teenaged son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Mikele and his son Tapu were standing. The large bull elephant stared at Mikele, lifted its front foot off the ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man.

Remembering the encounter in 1986, Mikele couldn't help wondering if this was the same elephant. Mikele summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder. The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Mikele's legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.

Probably wasn't the same elephant.

2007 Buck Pole (not done yet!-updated daily)

Al's 8 point Monster (Hillsdale County-Firearm)

Russ' Dual Slam Whacker Bucks! (Firearm/Bow-Fremont)



Tom's Buck (Gun Opener-Leelanau County)




Nieces buck (Cedar Springs-Youth Firearm)



Farva's Buck (Rockford-BOW)



Matt's Buck (BOW-Allendale)




Matt's Buck (Firearm-Cedar Springs)




Case Weston's Buck (Bow-Kent County next to Coffee shop in Cascade)



Gene Sr T and Jeremy T (Leelanau County-BOW-same deer stand)



Me (Barry County-BOW)









Me-(Leelanau County-Firearm)

TEAM T TRIFECTA!

Well folks, here is the TEAM T Trifecta! DAD and TWO SONS!

Leelanau County Swamp Monster!

I shot this monster in the Leelanau County Swamp on the 2nd day of season! 18" inside spread!

My biggest buck ever.

What a blessing! My brother and I almost died dragging it out of the swamp .7 of a mile!

Here is the TEAM T Commanche Commander all loaded down!

Made a stop at the DNR Deer Check Station on the way home.....

Here are some of the Walleye/Perch we caught during the Cornucopia of Indulgence in Leelanau county.

Precious Memories!

Leelanau County Swamp Monster!

I shot this monster in the Leelanau County Swamp on the 2nd day of season! 18" inside spread!

Bathroom Hell!

As I prepared to go to bed last night, I remarked that the master bath toilet was "still running".....In an effort to save money on our water bill, I reached down to the floor to the shut it off and figured "I'll just crank this baby nice and tight and shut her down." Boy was I in for a cascading suprise!

You wouldn't believe how something so feeble as this little pipe holds back such enormous force of water!

Here's the bathroom after Operation Water Hell! Had to tear out the carpet/pad.....

She took out a large number of tiles in the basement! Soaked the floor.....

Charles Swindoll said that life is 10 percent what happens and 90 percent how you respond. So, two lessons learned today:

1: Don't stand on a kids plastic chair to reach shut off valves in the ceiling when water is cascading down on you.

2: Don't touch water shut offs late at night.

3: There is no amount of water/catastrophe/lump on my forehead from falling off a plastic kids chair that is going to wreck my day! Bring it on!

Here is exactly every TEAM T towel that we own!

After one full day of no water in the house, (I had to shut off the main water supply since the toilet line shut off went KABLAMMIE) I am so proud to say that I fixed it and installed a new pipe/valve! And I am very sure I don't want to "live off the grid" now.

A Double Blessing!

Stack 'em up boys!

Here is the monster my brother shot! Same deer stand!

Here are the TeamT whackers with their trophies!

And a special visitor who is keeping a log of the success of quality deer management in Leelanau County! A sharp professional man indeed.

Tribute to My Dad

Relatives Under Fire

"CO Mike Borkovich responded to a trespass complaint of two bow hunters on private property without permission in Leelanau County. Upon arrival, CO Borkovich observed that the complainant, an owner of an excavating company, had dug a six foot wide by six foot deep trench around the subjects' vehicle. The trespassers were contacted since they had no way of leaving the scene, and were issued tickets for the violation."



http://www.michigandnr.com/law/ReportWeekDetail.asp?Week=10/9/2005

Grandpa Team T Strikes Again!

After he has completed 30 plus years of bowhunting, my Dad phoned me today with what would begin two days of drama looking for a deer which he stated was "a monster".

Over the course of two days, I toiled through his frustration and longing to find the monster he so wanted to harvest. I finally received the call! And it started just like this:



After well over 40 man hours of tracking including that of a professional tracking dog, a buck of a lifetime for my Dad finally came true. He has one other on the wall he shot with a rifle that is bigger but this is by far his biggest ever bow buck! Preliminary guess scoring shows it to be in the 120-130 class in scoring. My dad and I laughed however as we both scored it as "priceless" because of all the great adventure, teamwork, and shared satisfaction this Maple City Monster brought into our lives! What a great blessing from the Lord! Way to go Dad!!!!!!

I would ask how many of you have ran into a bowhunter recently who is in their 60's and hunts this hard!

Grandpa's Monster!

2nd Grade Humiliation: CONTINUED!

As I pushed the button to listen to the messages on the voicemail, my heart sank, "Mr and Mrs
Team T, this is the principal of your daughter's school. I am calling and need to speak with you. I will call you first thing in the morning."


I immediately called the two oldest together and began my systematic kind interogation. "You need to tell dad now what happened today at school because I do not want to hear it for the first time tomorrow when your principal calls." After several minutes and no intel gathered, I became frustrated and directed the investigation toward my wife. My questioning was abruptly halted by her unwillingness to submit for the investigation. I stormed off in frustration.







Could my kids be in trouble? What did they do? Am I going to have to pull up the family stakes and move to a new school district? My mind raced with plausible errors they may have made and almost felt as though I was in trouble as much as they were. The worst part of the whole thing: I had to wait until morning to find out what was going on.







I formulated a plan and ordered Mrs. Team T to respond to the school first thing in the morning to investigate. I gave instructions that I was to be waken from my third shift screwball sleep and given gut hell by whatever was occuring.







Mrs. Team T relunctantly agreed to go and investigate the matter first thing in the morning. Here is what she found as she pulled into the school lot:





Yeah, talk about eating crow. How about eating some 2nd grade art paste, because thats what I'm getting served for supper! My oldest, Chloe, is the art student of the month picked from a panel of teachers for the school.....





The unveiling ceremony.........





The display........





The art she created after being read a story about the twilight glow imparted on a barn, silo, and large oak tree of a farm.......












I couldn't be more proud!