Lakelands Sunday 25th

Rocked up to Tim’s place just before 6. He didn’t even ask “Gosh, why are you here at 6 Nick, when you normally arrive at 7 and we make good time to Lakelands?” (Rough translation – you stupid barstool, you know your mind clock is f*cked up don’t you?!!!). He just got in the car and away we went. At roughly Te Kauwhata I put 2 & 2 together and realised the error of my ways. No excuse, just for some reason I figured on a 6am leaving time instead of 7. Bizarrrrrrreeeee.

Richard & Guy

So we headed to Huntly (!) for coffee. They do quite good coffee at the Chinese owned bakery in Huntly, so wasn’t overly distressed at the extra travel time or distance. Moccalattefrapachinoswithextrafroth in hand, we looped back and arrived in time to help Guy start the tractor, attach guns trailer and be general good barstools. With brilliantly fine and still weather we knew it would be a long day if we were to achieve the bag (200 birds), and with e retriever trial happening behind the guns it would be even more challenging (handler noise) but still you gotta go to know and so we did!

I "Nose" where dem pheasants is!

We were sharing the gun and Tim got the first drive, contentedly blasting away at passing birds, was all good. I got the roving/walking gun job on the next drive and had some good birds including one poor bugger that came down after I stretched the barrel somewhat, in a helicopter spiral. As we moved down with the beaters towards the line of guns the bird seemed to revive, then jumped up and flew off! Poor old Malcolm and his lab chased off after it, thought he would pop a cork… as it happened the bird had escaped (good luck to it). The birds were flying high and fast and we weren’t exactly wiping them out by any means.

Tim, not wiping them out by any means.

Tim got Tahi’s Wood drive and had a good time there, I got Insoles and put lots of lead in the air for a pukeko and a few pheasants and then Tim excelled with a couple of partridges at Lusitanicus. The guns were good value for sure. As for the retrievers, poor freaken dogs are so over-controlled they really would be hard put to work the swamp. They are not allowed to show any initiative and while they are well under control, I struggle with the outcome. For example if the dog is sent to retrieve a dead bird and a wounded one lands, if the dog switches to the live bird which under normal hunting circumstances is exactly the right thing to do, it gets disqualified. Seems to me to be more about the handler than the dog. Strange and bizarre, not for me. (I like Cally Ralph, the bird hoover who just scoops everything up in sight. To me that’s real retrieving).

Dog handlers

It was a long day... moon was up for the last 2 drives. Final tally: 154 pheasant, 3 partridges (I counted 6 shot, those robot retrievers have a lot to answer for), 2 magpies, a Pukeko and a Rosella parakeet. Had heaps of fun though, and so did Tim.

His Lordship, Guy of Ralphlands

Tim in action: Photo courtesy of  Dig.

Tuna Nui

With a 7.30 dinner booked in, I did wonder how we could possibly leave from Waerenga and arrive in Havelock North given that dickie told me to arrive at his place at 2pm. I got there at 1.15, just to give us a chance. A few cuppas, and a chat on his deck, then me, Helen & Dickie loaded their new Landie and headed off. First stop was at Kawhia’s house to drop off Maya, Helen’s new pup. That part of the trip was super interesting, as we took roads that I always wondered about and we made decent time too. Having dropped off the pup we made decent time through to Taupo, with one distraction caused by a cop who got Dickie doing 123kph. He booked dickie for a 112kph offence instead, and miraculously handed Dickie his license back. Miraculous because his current points balance is 80. Get 100 and it’s all over. Stopping in Taupo at Scenic Cellars for a bottle of plonk and a coffee we ten made good time over the Taupo-Napier Road. No sign of deer, although I kept my eyes peeled in the twilight. We reached our destination at 7.00pm, arriving just as the first mini bus departed for Elephant Hill winery.



                               Helen & Wendell

Our party comprised several new faces including Grant from Hawkes Bay, a bird rearer, Stuart from Perth, a mining exec, Bill from Northland and Wendell from Hibiscus Coast. Jeff and Bridgette from NZ Gamebirds/Tuna Nui were host and hostess. The dinner venue was stunning, the food great and the company interesting. After dinner and a danger-fraught trip back to the motor lodge (“mind the speed-bump whoops BAWOOMPHA!) Guy, Wendell, Stuart and others decided to hit the town. Me, well I hit the hay after watching a bit of soccer with Johnno. My alarm went off at 6.30, so was up showered and ready for brekkie at CJ’s Café (was that BJ’s?), everyone trooping in for variations on the bacon, egg, hash brown theme. Except Guy, he was missing in action.

                                Dickie

Stuart, Johnno & Kevin

Apparently he had texted Bill at 2.30 am about some soccer result. Dickie’s not a brekkie person, so we all gathered to set off to Tuna Nui with Bridgette, and Guy was finally up and about, a deathly pall upon his face, tiny little slitty eyes and Johnno chaperoning him to get a couple of slices of dry toast for breakfast. We hit Tuna Nui by 8.30 and fark it was cold, but with a beautiful still clear day the views were fantastic. Our safety briefing was in a woolshed which may have been the oldest building I ever stepped in (in NZ) and we drew pegs and had a cuppa.
                                                          
                                                        Tuna Nui Woolshed

Andrew who runs the shoot likes to keep things brisk, we were marched in orderly fashion to the pegs on the first drive, with orders to load and begin shooting anything that came our way. I folded the first cock of the day, he came out high and fast and that got the blood pressure and tension down a bit. Down enough to watch Guy shoot a few birds, then turn to a gun minder to watch his gun while he keeled over and retched his guts out.
                                
                                 Have another drink Guy

                               Hunting hounds

                               Wendell, Johnno, Dickie & Tim

Rosie, Helen & Stuart

Bill & Wendell

The Maize drive. Birds come off plateau upper right, guns in valley lower left

Passed out (Muwaaahaha)

After that he retired to the end of the paddock while the guns minders had fun shooting at his share of the birds. Hilarious. Anyway, the day was a mixture of exciting and difficult birds, drives that worked and drives that didn’t, culminating with a drive behind the main homestead where everyone had a deal of fun. Especially when poor Tim (gamekeeper Matingarahi Station) who had had a lean run had a beautiful bird get up and head his way.
Only to fold up in a heap of feathers as she struck the powerlines stretching above and across in front of us! Back to the homestead we went for drinkies and nibbles, where we were served KFP (Kentucky fried pheasant) and pheasant wontons, along with mussels wrapped in bacon and liberal drinks. It was getting cooler by the second as the sun dropped behind the Kaimanawas (Kawekas maybe?) so with final goodbyes Dickie, Helen and me jumped into the car and headed back to the motor lodge. BTW, Guy redeemed himself by shooting superbly for 40+ birds. Of the bag of 212, Guy, Dickie and I shot well over half. The overall shot to bird ratio was 3.7:1, no mean feat considering the quality of the birds.

If I never shoot another shoot again, one day I will return to Tuna Nui.

Long time no post

Plenty of teeth gnashing on the forum. Too bad I'm too busy to care. Will put up some info about Tuna Nui trip later this week and some photos too.

The final weekend

Asked AndyH the question - Ducks? Being the final weekend of the duck hunting season, I would have expected quite a big crew to go along to the ponds. In the event, only dad, Andy and a mate of his did. The swamp was flooded, with water up to the first step. That's always cool to see.

So, email from Andy said:

Yerp.
I got a drake Saturday – small morning flight but the evening was dead. Floods in the swamp – it was very cool. Got up to over the bottom step.

Sunday was good. Mark (workmate) and Dick shot one each early on, Dicks AWOL. I got a spoonie drake (should have had the brace) while they were out retrieving and then later Mark got another drake.

So many birds flying it was insane! Called at least 10 groups around but no takers. One or two missed chances but mostly stayed too high.

Ended the season 343 ducks taken.

Was good.

Positive results

3 am is not a really civilised hour to get out of bed for stuff other than hunting or fishing; so doing it for work really jolted my sense of humour. The 6.30 to Gold Coast wasn’t too bad a flight, but checking in at the hotel @ 9 am Au time to find the room wouldn’t be ready until 2pm was a drag. Anyway, the conference was special for me, I haven’t got absolutely plastered for more years than I can remember, to put the situation in context I watched the rugby and can’t remember the second half of the match at all. Something to do with copious rum. Anyway, got a text from dad that he’s got a limit at the Willow Pond which included shooting a flock of 5 with 2 shots. He got 6 on Sunday as well. Now, more really positive stuff.


The little Ruawai Preserve pheasant syndicate has revolved around Craig’s efforts. He wanted to grow a self sustaining population of pheasants and set about the do-it-yourself-animal-husbandry side of things with help from Tim (heat & lighting), Guy (general advice), James (grunt work) and my humble input was a mercy dash to build a release pen. We all threw in a few bucks and Craig took it on as a project, growing and releasing 400 odd birds.

The growing shed & pen

The main pen

The release pen

Maturing poults

The past weekend was the syndicate’s second shoot day, but given that James had work commitments he snuck in for an earlier hunt. So Tim and his mate Simon nipped down for a day and had a pleasant few hours walking up birds with good results.

Craig & James' day

Craig, Tim & Simon

Portrait

Credits for photos include Craig & James (Empire Safaris).

I reckon Craig’s efforts could easily be a blueprint for those who want to give it a go, and the results speak for themselves.

And my weekend? I don’t remember much after the first half of the All Blacks vs. Wales. Apparently when inebriated I’m a good public speaker. Joke of the day;

“What’s the difference between a debt collector and a flat head? (fish name changed to be meaningful to the ockers).

One’s a bottom dwelling scum sucker, and the other’s a flat head”.

Ho ho, oh the humanity.

I’ve been a bit busy this week: Sunday had a driven day at Lakelands and had a good day although I was tired as, for the short week (the week prior) it was a bloody long 4 days. Saturdays AWF&G meeting added to my ’enlightenment’. We needed to know how the budget and Operational Working Plan ‘hang together’ – i.e. who decides how much, and where funds are being spent. And how to influence fund allocation. All right, so under normal circumstances I would expect that an induction process would be held for new councillors, so that by now (meeting 3) we would really be in the swing of things. But alas, prior to meeting 2, in April, was the time to put forward new initiatives. How? By putting together working papers, gathering momentum at club level (remits) and then pushing forward to council for discussion, then approval or … not. Without that understanding everything could stand still. Frustratingly its 6 months wasted. On the other side of the ledger, it’s been an investment in trying to understand the system. At least now, after a fairly fluent description of historical events and current funding structure, I/we know that there is no money in the till for projects other than those funded by grants, from trusts etc. You could say that F&G block pond holders keep winning and winning. My personal belief is different, I view the hold put over them to be a restriction that I’m glad I don’t face. The budget does have allocation at a $ per rate for overall projects such as “game bird management”, “compliance” etc etc as laid out in Schedule A of the OWP (which is a more detailed view than Schedule B, which is laid out at a level that could be deemed a “public document”). Either way, in my opinion every stake holder who buys a license should make themselves very familiar with this document. So I asked, how does the next grand scheme or idea become a reality from a perspective of gaining approval and/or funding? Well, it all comes down to preparation and the budget calendar. The idea must be put forward, discussed, costed and driven into the central budget, which is then put forward to NZ Council – there is a contestable fund that is badgered for that can cover projects/schemes costing over and above the day to day running costs for “doing business”. Wow. So either deliberately, or unknowingly, we’ve missed an entire budget cycle. Bear in mind here that I didn’t have a grand scheme to contribute or promote, but at least we now know how. On it goes. One neat thing, this week I’ve been doing game bird harvest surveys, as have AJ and Guy. And man, has it been enlightening. Due to my “technological challenges” I’ve managed to screw up their on-line surveys (used wrong survey period, double entered same hunters – doh, doh DOH). But it’s just great to have an excuse to talk with some hardened and some not so hardened hunters. What I can say is that if you have a good spot, put in time and effort (especially time) then good tallies are there for the taking. Some of the really good hunters are keeping bag diaries and can tell date, time, species taken, birds lost – the works. Neat.


Off to gold Coast tomorrow. Work, not fun.

Postmarks

My papers arrived today, postmarked 3rd June. One would normally expect 2 day delivery from NZ Post, which would have landed them in my letterbox Saturday earliest.

Here's some back of napkin scratchings, for those who are interested:

AWF&G Income: $900,000
Wages & Salaries (inc "Superannuation") $461,000 (5 staff).So over half of all income is gone before anything is done. What is done? Projects are done. What projects? Swamp 'refurbishment' projects mostly. Without a much deeper dive, you could say that approximately a million bucks a year are being tipped into swamps. (The swamps that are now closed to hunting). Value for money? You answer that question....

The weekend's weather looked pretty good. Northerly system, wind, rain - the full noise. I met dad at the landing Friday night and we set off, reaching the hut to catch up with Rick and Jason. We set about a meal of fallow in garlic, with a red wine and afterwards set about a bottle of Glenfiddich. God I slept badly. It rained off and on and in no time at all the alrm went. Up for a coffee and biscuits then we loaded the punt and set off for Puru (aka The Graveyard). Not sure how many ducks have been taken there, but of the season total of over 320 birds at least 75% would have come from there. Took forever to set up Rick's 24 dekes, 3 flasher splashers, 2 Pulsators, Robo and wonderduk. Was quite light and almost 7 am beforre all was ready. A few shots here and there. I spotted 4 ducks off near the Crossfire (unattaended) and laid into the hail calls, and they swung towards us. They circled several times before I called the shot and we dropped 3 - all greys. After that we worked hard and added to the bag here and there. We finished with 6 in the bag and unusually for us lost 3 around the place. Paris worked hard but with all the additional water the ducks had plenty of escape routes. Hundreds upon hundreds of swan were around - we were to find out why later... Back to the hut for lunch (game stew) and then we got a vist from the Haywards, Lloyd reporting that there are no ducks up their way so they had gone rooster chasing for nil result. They had moved "100" swan off Pullford's pond, which had scared a bunch more hence the sight of so many around. Jase and me went up to the landing to grab Tim & Quinn and we arrived back to put dekes into Bollocks for their morning hunt. I went across to the night spot for the arvo/evening shoot while Tim & Quinn shot the Prang-dang's pond and the other guys went to (go on, guess) puru. An early burst of activity at about 4.20 saw them get a duck, while I screwed up on a pair. Was quite excited to be buzzed by a brace of spoonies who departed when the others fired (getting a single duck). Then quite a decent lull, before darkness fell and the place livened up. I got a brace that nipped across, then as I was searching for the second bird 2 brace visited but shied away from my head lamp. I didn't find the bird after 15 minutes of searching but decided to visit again in the morning. Back at base we had a great beef randang curry and sat around shooting the breeze. I hit the hay and slept like a baby. The alarm woke us at 5.15 and again we were off to Puru, dad wisely sleeping in. Despite the wind and rain we were buzzed by a single grey which landed behind the maimai. I got it with a dodgy shot past the big oak behind the maimai, narrowly avoiding hitting the trunk. it was the smallest grey I'd ever seen. Took Paris for a wonder to the night spit and found my downed bird from the night before, lying belly up not 5 feet from where I'd been searching. That was it for the day. Tim, Quinn and I pulled out and after cleaning the birds we packed and hit the road at 11, having raised dad from his slumber. Rick and Jase stayed on before deciding to pull the pin at about 1. They moved to AJ's place in the Kopuka and got 7 birds for the arvo.

Well, that's my duck season all but over. A bit light on duck trips but still there's roosters to be had after June and perhaps a goose trip in August.

This is BULLSHIT

It is now officially seven days until the next AWF&G council meeting. Where are my agenda items minutes of previous meeting? By law, they must be here today. They were late last time as well. I know that when I signed up I was told by the guy that was brought in to lead us through resolution of conflicts of interest that to the outside world we must present a united front. Whatever, this is seriously taking the piss and I'm completely f*cked off.

My blog, my view, my words.

This mode of business is a serious constraint on getting anything serious done. I'm not interested in how to deliver flyers to farmers. I'm not interested in some poultry farm being visited by wild ducks. That shit is operational and should be handled by staff... but how the hell are we supposed to do anything about policy?

If asked what AWF&G "is doing" or "has achieved", all I can say is they've dug a bunch of holes in the Eastern Whangamarino, along the way somehow acquiring a tractor.

Oh, and the holes are too close together. No one will get any shooting.

6 Greys

Pop's total today was 6 Greys. Could it be that they are moving with the fresh water flushing the swamp? He said he fired 8 shots, 2 were to knock over wounded birds on the water. He finished his limit yesterday as well.

Roll on friday night.

303

Dad txted that he had 4 birds down and had missed a few more. Something along the lines of "I'm shooting like sh*t".

Yeah.

Sunday happenings

TT & Garth had a great session on the snaps at the Noises, with instant hot bites that stopped as quickly as they started after a couple of hours. I arrived at TT's at 2.45, to find a fish bin full of decent sized (solid) frames. We got saddled up and headed for Karaka. Spoke to Rick on the way and him, Andy, The Big V and Jason had added another 27 ducks to the tally. That takes 'us' to 299 in the bag. Long weekend coming up so I am aiming to shoot Saturday and Sunday, go home Sunday night and spend monday with Family.

We arrived at Karaka at about 4, TT's mate Greg cleaned up a snapper for family dinner and then we jumped in the car and drove down to his slowly filling pond. TT saw a hare straight away and set off on a stalk while I put the decoys in. A couple of shots and TT was on the board.

Meanwhile Greg went to grab his boys from the house. So the hunting party was me, TT, Greg and Greg's 2 young boys. We sat and waited. A lone Mallard circled about 500m off but carried on. Later a flock of parries appeared and one peeled off towards us then shied away. Later still, swan began to move. A few lone calls in the distance was all we heard of ducks. We pulled the pin at 6.15 and got TT home about 10 minutes late for his Sunday dinner. I got home and cooked pheasant schnitzel in herb butter - yum, nice tip Andy!

2 hunts over the weekend. Great stuff.

Yakkin with TT

Hard as he tried, he couldn't convince me to go to after snaps tomorrow morning. The weather (to me) looks a tad shite to be on the ocean, plus I sort of promised I'd be around home. So we've compromised on Tt taking a morning trip and then us going for a duck in the afternoon. Sweet.

Paddock hunt

Our preferred spot was found to be on neighbour's land so we set up the field dekes at about 4.30 on the edge of a drain. Behind us was a band of willows, marshy paddock and standing water.



The new full motion Higdon feeders are great. The heads bobble in the breeze beautifully.



We sat for about an hour talking, comparing notes and listening to the pheasants sget ready for bed. At least 4 cockbirds cackled their way to bed, and close by I watched a hen go up to her roost. We had Roboduk on duty as well, and at one point a hawk dived on the dekes pulling away at the last second as it realised its mistake.



Out of the corner of my eye I saw 2 birds drop into the pond behind us. So birds were around and moving with the drizzle that had set in. Cloudy mist shrouded the Huntly powerstation's smoke stacks. Over on the lake 300m away, birds were beginning to talk, swans mainly with the occasional croak of a hidden mallard. Then we saw ducks in the air. We called a brace that hit the airbrakes when the spotted the dekes. They swung around 7 or 8 times, sometimes within range but never presenting a full chance. Tim got a couple of shots away at them. Darkness was coming now. Tim stalked the standing pond and put up a couple of ducks and some Teal. The full moon gave great light but we knew that the birds would have a chance to fly much later than we could hunt. We worked the standing water again, Tim getting a shot on some parries that came sailing in. Nearer closing time we moved back to our field dekes and a mob of parries nearly comitted.

We packed stuff away at 6.30, stopped in to say goodbye to the land owner and I got home at about 8.15. Sitting in a paddock in drizzle has never been better - and I never fired a shot.

More who got what posts

Spoke with dad yesterday after he got back from the swamp. Another limit but he mentioned it was harder work. After he'd finished a big flock sat on the pond and he said it was 90% hen birds. (82.6087% to be exact. I made up the 90% bit). His limit was made up of 83.33334% hen birds.Maths at work. Can we presume that hunters are targeting drakes more often than hens? Well that's a pretty small observation window and tiny sample, so who can tell? Rick and I saw far more hens than drakes on opening, yet the bag since has been mostly evenly mixed I think.

Anyhow, Tim and i are off to huntly this afternoon for a wee sit down and see at Kimihia. Perhaps we'll get a flight, with the flooded paddocks its a better than even bet in my opinion. I picked up some Higdon motion Fead full body dekes for the occassion. When I get my GHG resters back I ought to have a passable field spread.

And now...

I'm just a vicarious duck hunter. Txt from dad "6 Mallard Drakes". One would presume that's another limit. Of course it is, I can just imagine his Splasher Flasher and Pulsator, Mallard Machine and flocked heads all working in the wind and weather. Wish i was there... too bad.

Rickster

Another call from Rick. (This is getting tedious in terms of a theme). He and Sapich took limits again this morning, and in Rick's own words "It was carnage. 5 guns could easily have limited, there were flocks of mallards everywhere". Yesterday afternoon, having dropped off The Big V (who got 4 yesterday) Rick went out for an arvo shoot and finished yet another limit, again there were plenty of birds. Rain and wind may not have mattered as much as the big dump of fresh water that knocks the willow weed seeds down - the ducks know when there's ample feed about. They also hammered a flock of misguided parries.
Mental calculation: 260 birds off the ponds so far. With a 6 bird limit that's pretty special.

Rick Reports

Seems the Big V managed to get a leave pass, probably not so hard for a self-employed guru. Anyway they got only 1 flock in this morning and took 3 birds. Had a chat with Guy, he's very pleased with yesterday's shoot.

Weekend happenings

Dad got 4 ducks on Saturday morning, being as calm as a millpond it wasn't exactly the best duck weather. Sunday (yesterday) he got another limit. I picked Tim and Quinn up and we headed down to the first Sunday syndicate shoot at Lakelands. It was well done, really well done, beaters and pickers were superb, the birds were well presented and I started with a nice double, then another, and from the first drive ended with 5 birds from 7 shots. Then it all got a bit more challenging (understatement). Tahi's Woods was epic. The birds came thick and fast. So many that recalling was hard... I remember getting a high double, but i also pricked quite a few birds. Rex Murray was on an elevated spot behind me and later told me that the difference between the birds I was killing, and the ones I was pricking was about 10 feet in elevation, not that I could tell. I looked down at one stage and saw a carpet of empties, I fired 57 shots for maybe 15 birds down. Including a white pheasant, one of Johnno's "marker birds". Ehem. A bottle of bubbly rested on that bird, but it was one of 5 shot on the day.

On partridge. Now this is a fun game bird. They fly low and fast, come in on set wings at epic pace and are my new favourite game bird. Having never shot at them before. At Lusitanicus I suddenly had 4 coming my way. All I really remember was these 4 small missiles with stub wings Rocketing over the rise and screaming at me all jinking and weaving. Seeing the shooting line they put on afterburners. I swung on one that suddenly peeled perpindicular to the line and fired, feathers puffed and I had my first partrdge! Soon after, another came wizzing past and I got him with the second shot. To give an idea of the speed of these things, the second bird fell 25m behind me. Admitidly I was on a slight rise and the land fell away behind me, but hell! these things have rockets in their bums. After the drive I went out to pick up my first bird. The gun beside me asked what i was looking for and when I told him, he pointed out my dead bird 3 m from where he was standing! Some 15 m from where I was looking.

It was a great day, nice to meet some new people, Brad Gwynn in particular is a nice guy, and good to have a contact inside the Big B. Lunch was superb, organisation was superb, in fact it was all superb.

347 Pheasants & 6 partridge. And a feral cat.

On ducks. We all knew that the forecast for Monday (today) is NE Gales and "Extreme Gales" (forgive me for not knowing how to differentiate between gales and extreme gales) and Rick was already talking about this on Friday when we spoke. He was trying his best to get a crew together to go in to the ponds; AJ had already used his get out of jail card and needed to work today; Jason couldn't go; The Big V seemed to be wavering but must have fallen through; and in Tim we thought we had a shining ray of light. But nup, he couldn't do it either. As I write I expect Rick is blamming away at mallards. Hope its going well.

The Pro's Score

A limit for Rick.
A limit for Craig S.

Rack 'em up. Dad, Russ and Russ's nephew ought to be in the pond about now, hope they have their warm woolies and raincoats, she's brrrrrr out there.

Random Shots

Now that Milo has published his black marlin story, I can post a couple of shots of the trip:

The Triumph


Marlin broaching (Credit: Mark Armistad)


Fish aboard


Roly, Milo, Mark & Fish


Roly Bagshaw was skippering on that fine day. As mentioned somewhere else in this blog, the fish went 252kg, a fine effort.

And a shot of a fine fly caught kingfish from Nik: (Credit Nik Matheisen)


Ian with a bonefish (Credit: Simon Chu).


Ian's in Canada at the moment. He'll be pleased to know that the income tax breaks are probably sufficient to warrant a return to kiwi-land ;)

But the REAL reason he's there as we know is because he's fly-fishing mad and wants to catch a halibut on a 4 weight. :D

Thanks to all the photographers involved for helping me "pretty up" the blog a bit with some images.