I need your opinion ...

Hmmm ... how do I even start this one?

I had a conversation with a friend recently about the word "crap" - whether or not it is a bad word or a swear word. Before I give you more details, I want your opinion.

You can either take the poll to the left, or put a comment in saying your thoughts. If you put a comment in, please say what area of the US you live (general is fine - NE, NW, SE, SW or Central). Obviously, if you live outside the US, I would love to hear that, too :)

to be continued ...

What we’ve been up to …

Our beautiful Alabama spring weather is finally here, so we have been enjoying it as much as possible before it gets hot! Baseball and soccer have kept our evenings pretty busy and catching up in homeschooling has filled our days. In the mix, we enjoyed a field trip to the Art Festival in downtown B’Ham. I almost backed out because John was working hard planting grass seed and I felt I should stay and help him. He cleared me to go, so the kids and I joined our friends and had a great time! So much so, that we went back on Sunday with John. I am already looking forward to next year and making it a special point to get to the kids’ area early.

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To say Savannah is LOVING her horseback riding lessons would be an understatement. She can hardly wait from one week to the next. I am enjoying watching her learn more and gain confidence each time. She is thrilled to have her friend also taking lessons at the same time. This first picture cracked me up – the instructor had to quickly catch one of the horses last week, so she hopped on the atv and off she went. In just a few minutes, she returned with horse in tow.

WOW! At baseball practice Friday night, God was showing off another incredible sunset! I was so glad that I had my camera along.

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On another note – last year I missed picking strawberries because we were too busy with the house and then the rain came and damaged them. I was determined to get strawberries this year to make jam. Friday after horseback riding (and before baseball :), we went with our same friends and picked strawberries. We were having so much fun and ended up picking 6 gallons of strawberries. Very generous gallons, too, I might add. I checked to make sure I understood their definition of “full bucket” :) Perhaps, it would have been wise to check the recipe for strawberry jam before picking 6 gallons of strawberries. Saturday, after 9 batches of strawberry jam, I had barely used 2 of the gallons!! I was able to give one of the remaining ones to our dear neighbors and then I prepped the rest for jam later. Whew – that was a LOT of strawberries!

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I haven’t been feeling 100%, so I think I am going to try a “detox your ills” diet. The one I found is basically just eating fruits and veggies all day long (no fasting – whew!). I am also going to stop drinking coffee to see if that helps. I’m telling y’all this for accountability sake and if you see me falling asleep, you’ll know why :)

Just when I was starting to feel civilized …

Living in a camping trailer for over two years seriously challenged my sense of “civility” – I remember going to people’s homes and noticing a difference in my camper lifestyle and the rest of y’all :)

So, now that we are living in the house, I am starting to feel “normal” again. I am not wearing work clothes every.single.day. My to-do list is becoming a little more routine (laundry, homeschool, etc). I was feeling civilized until … John killed a rattlesnake in our back”yard” and then decided to eat it. So much for civilization :) Call me crazy, but I simply don’t recall ever seeing “kill rattlesnake” or “eat rattlesnake” on our to-do list before!

 

After looking online for a recipe, John breaded the snake and then pan-fried it in olive oil over the grill. (I was very glad that he agreed to cook it outside).

Ready for the first bite …

Here we go … hmmm, not bad. Want to try it?

Sure! Hadden liked it and asked for more! (Savannah decided to pass)

I even tried a tiny piece and it actually wasn’t bad. Tastes like chicken …

John’s conclusion: a lot of work for a little amount of meat. “I could eat it once a year”

Some recent family pictures

Last Sunday was another beautiful day and so we went for a drive on the wildlife management area. John wanted to shoot some video for his work in the prison. I brought my camera along and had a little fun, too.

Oblivious to the camera …

  

They notice the camera. Savannah – all girl with a nice smile … Hadden – all boy - ‘nuf said.

John shooting his video – nicely displaying his wedding ring :) Hadden – with a better smile.

The kids and me in an old rock structure. And …. Savannah’s new hair cut!!!

I have been “encouraging” her for a while to get her hair cut. Yesterday, she finally agreed – she would get her hair cut and donate it to help make a wig for someone needing hair. It looks SO much better! After her initial shock of losing half of her hair, she seems to like it. Everyone else in our family likes it, too. :)

Funny and not-so-funny

Today, we decided to take a drive on the wildlife management area after church. It was a beautiful day and John wanted to shoot some video footage. So, we are out in the middle.of.nowhere and he uses his blinker to indicate that we are making a turn! I couldn’t help but laugh! We were out there for literally hours and only saw 2 other people – and the 2nd one was just as we were pulling out (so he doesn’t really count :).

And for the not-so-funny – when we got home, we were walking around outside trying to decide where to put fencing when Mercy skitzed at something. When John investigated, he found a snake coiled under some logs in our brush pile. He ran for the shovel while I kept an eye on the snake (from a nice distance). A few good stabs later and no more snake! Way to go, honey! (note: scroll down for pictures for those who want to see them)

It was about a 3’ rattlesnake and John killed it with his bare hands … and a shovel.

For those that don’t want to see them – here is a beautiful sunrise from yesterday morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John chopped off and buried the head. Sorry if this is gross, but I was amazed that the head could still strike and that the body continued to try to coil even though the snake was not even in one piece. The snake was about 3’ long (when you account for the head part) and had 5-6 buttons.

And, yes, I am touching it. The head is not attached at this point, so I was safe. It had a lot more texture to the scales than I was expecting. I have touched just a couple of pet snakes in the past and they have been almost silky smooth. This one was not that smooth.

You just never know what is next living out here! In the past two weeks, I have seen a rabbit outsmart both of our dogs, a raccoon escape from our dogs by running up a tree within just a few feet of me and now this. It’s always an adventure!

Taking a hike

 

 

    

This last one needs some explanation, I think. This is pollen on the edge of a mud puddle. It is amazing the amount of pollen that we have!  Yuck!

Random update

We went from winter to summer seemingly overnight. We are enjoying the warmer weather, but are having to adjust to it. We have not yet turned on the a/c – holding off as long as we can :)

Pollen is EVERYWHERE!!!! Yikes – I don’t remember living anywhere where you could actually feel the pollen on things. I just dusted yesterday (because we had a houseguest overnight) and today, everything is covered with gritty yellow pollen. Yuck!

Allergies are obviously in full swing – the kids are having more trouble this year than usual. I have been using a neti-pot (not for the faint of heart) on myself and have not had any problems – whew! My sister recommended trying it, so I thought I would give it a chance and it works for me!!!

We have been taking a rest break from all the work on the house, so really not much progress has happened. We have been sorting through boxes and donating quite a bit of stuff to local thrift stores and pitching some stuff, too. We packed up our old house very quickly and the kids have grown quite a bit in the two years stuff has been in storage.

Baseball and soccer are full on. Hadden has an excellent coach and is learning a lot. He wasn’t feeling well for a couple of weeks (maybe allergies), but he seems to be back to his normal self again now. Savannah does not have an excellent coach (it’s me, so I can say that :), but we are still having a lot of fun. Our first game was rained out, so Saturday will be our next attempt at a first game.

John was home on Good Friday and we enjoyed a very long hike together on a gorgeous day. We were gone for about 4 hours and estimate we hiked at least 4 miles (up and down hills). We even explored some new trails.

Here are the kids at chimney rock.

While on the plateau, we encountered some horseback riders. Savannah was blessed to get to sit for a while. We gave her horse riding lessons for her birthday (back in Dec) and we will start the actual lessons next week. To say she is excited is a huge understatement.

Sunday, we were invited to join a wonderful group of people for some fellowship and an egg hunt. We weren’t sure it was going to work out with our church schedule, but we made it and had a blast. Thanks, Doug and Becky and all the others that were there!

Enjoying the sunsets again now that it is spring and we can see them. We were also able to have lunch on the deck yesterday and that was a nice treat also.

Hope you had a wonderful Easter celebrating the Lord Jesus Christ and what He has done for us!