It's 3:27 am, I cant sleep, how bout some pictures?

Rutgers

Well-known member
I havent been able to sleep for the last few weeks. I'm leaving to go blast some crows in 2 hours, so I gave up trying to sleep and decided to post up some pictures I just got back.

Michele and I took a "vacation" in september so I could do a job for a friend in VA. We managed to sneak away for a couple days and hit the Tuckerton Decoy show. It was a great time. Got to meet some forum guys, along with some decoy legends, see a lot of nice decoys and boats, etc, etc.

Firs stop, and honestly, the highlight of the trip was to visit with Jim and Deb Schmeidlin. I know pretty much everyone here is familiar with Jim's work. Not only is he a hell of a carver, but him and Deb are great people. The pictures dont do any justice to the visit. If you ever get invited to the Schmeidlin casa, do youself a favor and make it a point to go! I never had a harder time leaving a place as I did Jim and Debs.

Jim with some of his work. was just the tip of the iceberg! More pics of Jim's stuff soon.

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Nice Remarque on a canvasback.

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Not only are the decoys AWESOME, but he hunts them all!



Our own Jode Hilman. I love his work. Classy and original. Jode is a hell of a nice guy too!

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Out of my five favorite carvers, here are three of them. Left to right: JP Hand, George Strunk, and The one and only Bob White.

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Guess who carved this mallard.

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One from Bob White.

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JP hand Wood ducks. Nice Clean Barnegat style. Jamie studied under Hurley Conklin and Harry Shourds. Wonder if the Kernel of corn in the he's bill would be considered baiting?

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Me and Harry V. Shourds. I stopped by his table a few times during the day, and he wasn't threre. I didn't come this far not to meet him. Michele sat at his table waiting for him to come back while I did a little shopping. Next thing I know there is a comotion that some lady was sitting at his table, so she cam and got me and they took me to see Harry. He was in the middle of judging, and dropped what he was doing to talk to me for about 20 minutes. Everyone is just kind of standing around waiting on him, but really, what are they going to do fire him? I was honored to speak with him. I cant say I've met a lot of carvers I dont like, and from the brief ammount of time I had to speak with him, I left thinking what a nice man he is.

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After a day of going hard and walking what seemed like a hunderd miles with a pregnant wife, it was time to eat. Doc reccomended we head down to Atlantic City and eat at the White House. Good call on his part. Good subs, and lots of character (s).

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Of course, on our way back to VA we had to make one last little detour.

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The library at the Havre de Grace Museum. I really need to get a card here!

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Can't wait til next year, but first, Westlake is only a few short months away! Thanks for looking!

Paully
 
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Paul, Sounds like you had a great trip,huh! I t was a pleasure to meet you and Michelle, and I can see your getting the "feel" for the carving world out here in NJ.

Harry is really a neat guy, taking time to talk to you in the middle of the contest speaks alot to how he sees things. I always have liked him alot. Thanks for sharing and shoot straight, Jode
 
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Wow, talk about a who's who of east coast carvers. I grew up about 2 miles from George Strunk but have never met him. There are about three pictures of G. Strunk and you got one of them. That Hillman guy is pretty good too. And one of the nicest people that you will ever meet. Can't wait for the Toms River show next weekend. Oh and at 0330hrs. I was up as well. But I was riding in an fire truck. Lucky for me it was a false alarm. Back to bet I went. More pics from Schmedlin's home please...............Kevin
 
I was going to say the same thing about the crows. Unless they are being destructive to crops (hard this time of year) you can get them until Feb 1st. Hard to believe we actually have a season but that is the deal we struck with Mexico. I can't wait until the opener. Crows in the morning and Superbowl the rest of the day!
 
Hey Kevin,

What show is happening next week in T.R. I've been in Texas all week. Haven't looked at the internet or TV all week. It was there, but I just didn't care to bother with it.
 
Mike, the Toms River Art and Decoy Show at the Ritacco Center Jan. 17th and 18th. Jode Hillman is this year's featured carver. I take the boys and they paint a small decoy.............You should check it out............Good show............Kevin
 
Paulie - Some great pictures of Jim. Some real keepers. Neat to see you have had the Schmiedlin experience. He's a real gentleman and good friend. God bless and get some sleep... Pat
 
Jode, it's Michelle. I always get buddy's wives names wrong and it puts me in the doghouse. No biggy as I am a frequent guest in the dog house... but I always imagine them spitting in my Chile when I am at their place.
 
That just goes to show how good my reading comprehension is.................C'mom Paul, then who was the cute Redhead you were with at Tuckerton? ;>)
 
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Lee, thats why you always go with "the Lovely Mrs. ______."

Little cheesy but it works.

Okay so it's alot cheesy, but it still works:)
 
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