Sandcastle Momma

The Birmingham Museum of Art

2012-01-28T09:34:00.000-06:00

While we were in Birmingham we decided to spend the morning at the Birmingham Museum of Art.

It was mid-morning on a Wednesday so we had the entire place to ourselves - which was really nice.

They allow cameras but no flash so I took a lot of pictures but because of the lighting and the fact that I wasn't using a tripod and slow exposure they aren't very good.

I was amazed at how big this museum is! Over 180,000 sq feet with a huge variety of pieces and collections.

The Island Girl and Cruella DeVille immediately headed for the Modern Art section while I decided to start with European Art.

I have to say that wandering around that museum, completely alone, was incredible!!!!

Because I homeschool my children and work with my husband, I don't get to be alone very often. Even if they aren't with me I'm in a crowded grocery store or something so to be able to wander from room to room in total silence and solitude was better than swimming in the Fountain of Youth.

Porcelain from the Ming Dynasty

Chippendale furniture

A chair crafted by Frank Lloyd Wright

African Art - a lot of which is very dark and scary

Asian Art, Pre-Colombian, Native American, the list goes on and on.

We stayed for several hours and had a wonderful morning. We could have stayed longer but Birmingham is a long way from Destin and it was time to get moving.

Thank you, Birmingham Museum of Art!

Birmingham's Statue of Liberty Replica

2012-01-27T06:00:00.001-06:00

I took the Island Girl and her best friend, Cruella DeVille, (don't ask) to Birmingham so they could attend a John and Hank Green book signing last week and instead of trying to make the 5 hour drive home after the signing we decided to spend the night.

Which meant we could explore a little before heading home the next day.

One of the things we saw online was that Birmingham is home to one of the largest Statue of Liberty replicas in the US.

Sounded like a good place to start our day.

It's a huge replica but because of the giant hwy in front of it, it's hard to get a good picture from the front.

I wish I'd known about this the night before because the Statue and torch are very well lit at night - which I'm sure is really pretty to see.

If you're ever in Birmingham, stop by and take a look - it's beautiful.

So Much For That Resolution

2012-01-26T12:25:00.012-06:00

I've always had issues with the "rules of the road" theory.

In my opinion, the DOT is run by idiots. Yes, idiots.

Speed limits are always wrong, one way streets never run the right way, there are 4 lane hwys where there should be 2 and 2 lane hwys where there should be 4, stop signs in the middle of nowhere...

I could go on and on.

So, in a moment of blinding brilliance I decided that one of my New Year's Resolutions was going to be that I am no longer going to heed the rules of the road.

I'll come to a complete stop when I come to a stop sign with actual traffic around it and I will drive whatever speed is safe, being very considerate of the area I'm in, weather conditions, and other traffic.

But I'm going to use common sense - which is often a direct contrast to whatever the DOT has deemed appropriate.

I told several people about my New Year's Resolution and of course they rolled their eyes and told me I was the idiot.

Didn't faze me.

I haven't gotten a speeding ticket since 1986 and really all I'm doing now is stating out loud what I've been doing all along - not following the rules to a T.

My resolution lasted until 5:36pm on January 18th just outside of Luverne, Alabama - which by the way has a sign that says "The Friendliest Town in the South"

I was the only car on a long, straight stretch of Hwy 331 and was driving a safe speed for the conditions.

I came over the top of a hill and saw taillights flash in a bush off to the side of the road at the bottom of the hill.

Damn.

And then the blue lights went on.

Worse than damn.

The Island Girl and her best friend were in the backseat and having earlier been informed of my resolution were howling with laughter.

I slowed down and pulled over in front of him at the bottom of the hill.

He walked up to my window and said "Is there a medical emergency I need to know about?"

I thought and thought but just couldn't come up with anything so I sighed and told him no.

He then proceeded to tell me that the reason I was being stopped this evening was because I was doing 76 in a 55 mph zone.

He asked for my DL and registration and went back to his car.

By now, the Island Girl and her friend are just plain giddy. They taunted me like you wouldn't believe!

I was mad. I haven't had a ticket since I was 22 years old. There was NO ONE on the road and 76 was NOT too fast for the conditions.

And this is obviously a speed trap. He never had to crank his car, the grass where I pulled over was completely gone, worn away by others like me, and it was at the bottom of a hill.

He returned with my ticket and told me to drive safe and have a nice day.

Aaaahhhhhhhh!!!!! (Insert bad worse of your choice here)

And my daughter and her friend continued to tease me.

About 2 minutes after pulling back onto the road I realized that my New Year's Resolution was now defunct.

I can't afford any more tickets and my insurance will go up if I get stopped again.

Which made me even madder.

I ranted and raved the rest of the way home and the more I ranted the harder the kids laughed.

I walked in the door and the Island King was none too happy about the $200 ticket in my hand.

Which prompted him and the kids to tell me that maybe I was the idiot for thinking I could just disregard things like speed limits.

I called my Dad and asked if he had any connections up in Crenshaw County and his response was "How fast were you going?" lol

Turns out that he has no connections in Crenshaw and according to my Mother he wouldn't get her out of a ticket once so even if he knew someone it wouldn't help.

Sigh.

So to use my resolution failure as a learning experience I am now going to say to all of the people who rolled their eyes at me and told me I was an idiot -

You were right. Absolutely, positively correct.

I should never have made that declaration out loud.

First Monday of 2012

2012-01-02T06:00:00.000-06:00

My friend, Sayre, has invited her blog friends to write a post for this First Monday of 2012.

She says "Christmas is over and now the process of changing over to a new year is in progress. It's a time for looking back and looking forward (hence the name January - for Janus, the God who looked to the past and the future). For this First Monday I'd like to hear about one accomplishment from the past year, and one thing you want to accomplish in 2012!"

I thought about this for a while, trying to decide what my biggest accomplishment from 2011 was and I tried to come up with something big and important that I accomplished last year and fell flat.

Which was depressing at first.

Until I really started thinking about it and while I may not have accomplished something major, I've accomplished a lot of small things.

Which in the end have made me a better person - I hope.

It also motivated me to do something more in this New Year - something more notable.

After all of this went through my head I realized this post has motivated me to really work at accomplishing the things I consider important.

But, as I was thinking all of this I realized that I have accomplished something that may sound trivial to others but has been a huge success for me.

I suffer from TERRIBLE road rage. Lose my religion, wish I could drive a tank down the street shooting all of the idiot drivers kind of road rage.

And since the kids are in the car with me most of the time they get to observe their mother's yelling, cussing, horn honking, bad behavior.

At the beginning of 2011 I decided to get a grip and stop letting traffic affect me like that.

It took a while and I'm not saying that I don't fall off the wagon every once in a while but 95% of the time I am able to remain calm and sane.

Even the kids have noticed that I'm not a mean, crazy lady on the highway anymore - which is a wonderful thing.

So I guess that's the most notable accomplishment from 2011.

Like I said, small and trivial for some but a giant step for me.

As for I intend to accomplish in 2012 that's a two fold kind of accomplishment.

I am going to quit smoking and get into shape.

No more cigarettes, no more junk food and lots of exercise.

It's going to be hard but I KNOW this is the year I will finally do it.

I'm just praying that the lack of nicotine and chocolate won't send me back onto the road rage path.

Wish me luck.

Now go over to Sayre's Smiles and see what others have already and are planning to accomplish.

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T06:00:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year to Each and Every One of You!!

Stay safe but have fun this weekend.

2012 IS going to be a great year for all of us!!!

Bellingrath Gardens Christmas Lights

2011-12-29T06:00:00.001-06:00

Even though I'm not that far from Mobile, I've never been to Bellingrath Gardens.
I've heard many times what a beautiful home and garden it is and I've always wanted to go but just never made it over there.

Until now.

On Monday, my parents, the kids and I drove over to Mobile to visit with my Uncle and cousins.

And planned to go see the lights at the Gardens while we were there.

I looked at their website and knew we would be in for an amazing display of Christmas lights.

We visited with our family, had an early supper and off we went to see the lights.

We only had one small problem.

It was raining.

A light but constant rain with some pretty good showers coming in every 15 minutes or so.

But, we'd come a long way and weren't going to let rain stop our adventure.

Damn the torpedo's, full speed ahead! We were going in!

It was spectacular!!!

Acres of gardens decorated with lights of every kind.

They have a beautiful lake in the middle of the gardens that they call Mirror Lake. There were light displays in and around the water - which would have reflected beautifully if it hadn't been raining.

The path around the lake was filled with sea creatures.

I would have loved to have taken more pictures of that area but it was raining really hard at that point and I didn't want my camera to get too wet.

There were gingerbread girls and boys that the kids declared creepy but I thought they were really cute.

The house was open for touring but we decided to come back another day for that. According to my cousin, it's filled with the most beautiful antiques she's ever seen.

The only thing we didn't get to see was the nativity scene. It was near the end, raining really hard and my Mom, the Island Girl and the Oldest Island Boy had already abandoned us to wait in the cafe.

I wanted to see it but we were soaking wet and facing a 3 hour drive home so hurrying on to the cafe didn't sound like a bad idea.

We had a wonderful time, rain and all, and can't wait to come back in the Spring to tour the house and see the gardens in full bloom.

If you're ever in Mobile I would say that Bellingrath Gardens is a must see.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2011-12-24T04:37:00.002-06:00

We hope you all have a Wonderful Christmas!!

My Dream Home

2011-12-20T01:07:00.021-06:00

My Dad, the boys and I were out geocaching last week and about halfway between Navarre and Milton we left Hwy 87 and headed East into the Eglin Reservation.

We drove and drove and drove and then came to this sign.

We were very close to Blackwater Bay and were leaving Eglin property and entering the Water Management land.

We drove on a little farther and as we came around a curve, Blackwater Bay appeared in front of us and sitting there on the beach was my dream home.

With a For Sale sign in front!

I knew the minute I laid eyes on that property that I was meant to live there.

It's a 2.5 acre out-parcel surrounded by the Reservation and the Water Management group that fronts the Bay.

I've always said that my dream property would be in the middle of the woods but right on the water (salt water) at the same time.

And here it is.

This property fronts the Bay and then has a marsh/tidal creek bordering one side and the water management group property surrounding the rest.

There are other benefits as well.

It's completely off the grid. (It's so far out in the woods - there is no "grid" lol)

The home has a huge solar panel, a giant generator and a well so it's completely self sustainable.

All it lacks is some sort of Internet connection but I'm sure with the way wireless stuff works today we could find a solution for that.

And did I mention that it's IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE?

My idea of absolute heaven. The woods, my own private beach and not a living soul for miles.

And look at this oak in the middle of the yard.

I took the Island King out there and he's as in love with the place as I am.

Take a look at the virtual tour the realtor made.

http://www.visualtour.com/shownp.asp?sk=13&t=2075435

This place has my name written all over it.

Now all I have to do is wrangling up 400k and the place will be mine!

A Saturday Paddle

2011-12-18T13:57:00.022-06:00

After my Voyaged of the Damned was cancelled I couldn't resist the chance to do a little kayaking around my sister's house after my nephew's birthday party.

There is a geocache hidden on an island across from her house that is only accessible by boat and Saturday seemed like the perfect day to paddle over and find it.

It was in the low 60s and the sun was shining - an absolute perfect winter day.

My Dad and I took the yaks down to a landing just across from the island and off we went.

It was a nice paddle over, the wind was at our backs, the sun was warm and the water was beautiful.

The tide was out so as we got close to shore we bottomed out pretty quick.

Dad had on mud boots so he said he'd pull me in.

I offered to take off my shoes and socks and walk but he kept saying there was no point since he was wearing boots and his feet would be dry.

Bless his heart - he drug me and the yak all the way up to the beach and today I'm pretty sure his back is wishing he'd let me pull my own boat in lol

We poked around the brush and found the cache and then spent a few minutes wandering the island. All too soon, it was time to head back to the other side of the Intracoastal.

We had to do a little more paddling going against the wind but it wasn't bad and we were back at the landing in no time.

A beautiful day, a deserted island, time on the water - all reminders of why I love Florida so much!

Voyage of the Damned Averted

2011-12-16T06:00:00.000-06:00

For quite a while now I've wanted to take a kayak up onto the Yellow River and do some geocaching.

There are 7 caches placed along the river that you can only access by boat.

My Dad and another cacher friend of ours talked about going in August but I have to tell you that I know from experience that you see less snakes in the swamp in the winter time.

For someone who has an irrational fear of snakes that's important.

It's gotten chilly here now and I decided that Sunday would be the perfect time to make the trip.

The forecast called for sunny skies, 60 degrees and no wind.

Not too cold, not too hot - perfect.

I thought.

But my Dad and the Island King started talking about how cold we'd be if we got wet and then went into great detail about hypothermia.

I swear they acted like I was taking them into the Tundra and we'd be kayaking through ice.

There were even secret phone calls between the two of them - discussing how they could prevent my "adventure" from becoming a disaster for all involved.

The Island King started calling me the Captain of the SS Minnow and humming the Gilligan's Island song whenever we talked about the trip.

We told his friend about the trip and he immediately said "Can I go?" - which is a direct quote that should be noted later on in the story.

But then he and the Island King started talking about hypothermia and a "3 hour tour" and he got a little freaked out.

Suddenly, I was forcing him to go along on the expedition and he was as concerned about dying as the Island King and my Dad were.

I'm now instigating a Voyage of the Damned trip.

Now, I will admit that I've taken my family on several adventures that didn't work out so well.

But the great Book Swap saga is being talked about and the fact that I got lost in the woods was actually thrown in my face.

Neither of those things were my fault - well maybe the lost thing, but just a little.

But... WE'RE NOT GOING INTO THE TUNDRA! It's a seven mile paddle, downstream, on a cool but sunny day.

My Dad, the boys and I drove up there on Friday to do recon for where to put in and where to take out.

Does this look like the Tundra to you?

Neither does the place we've picked to pull out.

Friday night the Island King's friend called, again, to say that he's decided to bring his motorboat instead. For emergency purposes.

Which made me laugh at him and then accuse him of being scared of being in the canoe (he's a self proclaimed Master Canoer)

At which time the man actually said "You know the Donner party didn't know how things were going to turn out and they had to eat each other to stay alive!"

The Donner party?!!

I explained that we aren't going over a mountain. We're kayaking down a river. If there is trouble - at any point along the way - we can pull up to the bank and walk to a major hwy within 45 minutes.

I've gone from the Captain of the Minnow, to the instigator of the Voyage of the Damned, and am now the leader of the Donner party.

And I am quite offended.

The Island King is a firm believer in the old adage - If Momma ain't happy, nobody's happy - and knowing that messing up my trip will cause him great unhappiness he finally gets on board with the plan, stops making secret phone calls and proclaims "If you want to go - we're going"

But then Saturday came with a brand new forecast. Cloudy, high of 58 and winds out of the North at 15 to 20 mph.

Not the weather I was planning on.

Saturday also came with a FB message from our cacher friend who is going along.

She's been ready to go all along and feels secure in the knowledge that no one will need to be airlifted out of the river or die of hypothermia.

Until looking at the forecast on Saturday morning.

Which caused her to say that it doesn't look like Sunday will be a good day for the trip and that maybe we should just take the truck up into the woods and do some caching that way.

AAAHHHHH!!!!!!

Common sense and the overwhelming desire to prove to certain men that this wasn't going to be a Donner party kind of trip battled in my head for half an hour.

Common sense won, I contacted all interested parties, and cancelled the trip.

Sunday morning came with an even more unpleasant forecast. High of 50, cloudy, 40% chance of rain, possible thunder and winds starting at 20mph.

Thank God that common sense prevailed!

If I had taken those 7 people up to the river and they were miserable all day (which we would have been) I would NEVER live it down.

My Dad sent me an email telling me "Good call, Captain" - which lends credibility to the fact that despite a few mishaps I am perfectly capable of taking people into the woods and returning successfully.

According to the Island King it just means that I know not to go in the rain lol

One day he'll see that he's wrong and will be eating crow for a week!

Destin Christmas Boat Parade

2011-12-15T06:00:00.001-06:00

We never miss the Destin Christmas Boat Parade so this year we grabbed some tasty beverages and off we went to claim our spot on the dock.

Santa was on his boat

So we knew things were about to start.

I'm always amazed at how beautiful the boats look dressed in their Christmas finery.

There is something magical about Christmas boats.

I think I want to be on one of the boats next year. I'll have to work on that.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-12-14T06:00:00.000-06:00

Favor for a Friend

2011-12-13T06:00:00.000-06:00

We have a geocaching friend who has been exiled to parts north by his job. He'll be there a while and then will be returning to sunny Florida.

He has a lot of great caches out in the area and we, along with several other cachers, are helping maintain them until his return.

He sent me an email the other day telling me that his Cache of Ridiculous Nefariousness is no longer where it's supposed to be and would we mind putting it back.

This cache got me and my Dad in a lot of trouble when we found it the first time because the cache is hanging from a hook 20 feet up in a tree and since Dad and I couldn't get to it we sent the Oldest Island Boy up the tree.

The video we took that day is hysterical but my Mom and husband were very unhappy that we let the Oldest climb that high.

I told my friend that I would be happy to fix the cache, grabbed a ladder and the Island King and headed into the woods.

As soon as we reached the cache location I saw what was wrong.

The cache was hanging on the lowest branch of the tree and not up in the tree where it belongs.

I don't know what came over the Island King but even though we'd carried a heavy ladder into the woods he decided that if the Oldest Island Boy could climb the tree he could too.

I was trying really hard not to laugh but that man is long past his tree climbing days!

I was relieved when he decided to use the ladder.

Although, this picture - on the ladder - was not reassuring.

Once the cache was back in it's original spot we were off to find a few more caches and watch an amazing sunset in the woods.

Destin Christmas Tree Lighting

2011-12-12T06:00:00.001-06:00

December 1st was the 25th annual Destin Christmas Tree lighting ceremony and even though the kids were busy doing other things the Island King and I went.

It's held at the Destin Community Center, which is always decorated to the hilt for the holidays.

Santa and Mrs. Claus were there posing for pictures with everyone, including Miss Destin.

And me!

Cyron Marler, a member of one of Destin's founding families, was the MC and he started the event with a prayer.

With all of the "say Holiday - not Christmas" nonsense going on our around country I can tell you that I am extremely proud to live in a community where we still pray at community gatherings and where Christmas is acknowledged for what it is - The Birth of Christ.

Kids from the local schools sang songs while the crowd helped themselves to free coffee, hot chocolate and cookies.

There was popcorn too.

I'm pretty sure this is why most of the pictures the Island King took are blurry. There's nothing like a little oil and butter on your fingers while trying to take pictures lol

Mr. Marler told us that when he was a child Destin was a small place with just a few families living there.

They would all gather on Christmas Eve and sing Jingle Bells as loud as they could to insure that Santa wouldn't forget to stop on our little island.

So the crowd sang Jingle Bells

The Christmas Tree was lit and Santa won't forget to stop in our little corner of the world.

Christmas is coming!

Thanksgiving in Destin

2011-11-29T11:05:00.013-06:00

We spent Thanksgiving at my MIL's house this year and as usual had a great time.

The Island King decided it was time for him to learn how to make his mother's dressing so she spent some time showing him how.

He had a hard time with the concept that there is a basic recipe but from there it's about tasting and knowing how moist it needs to be before you bake it.

He kept asking exactly how much of something and she kept telling him she didn't know - you have to taste it until it's right.

They labored over it for a while and finally got it right.

This is only a portion of the food we made

And for some reason I never took a picture of the dessert table, but there was plenty of it.

It was also Uncle R's birthday. His birthday is November 24th so whenever that falls on a Thursday he has Thanksgiving and a birthday all rolled into one.

I felt bad for him though, he wasn't feeling well so he ate, blew out his candles and then went home to spend the rest of the day in bed. Thankfully, he's feeling better now.

We took the standard holiday pictures

And then it was time for poker.

It wouldn't be a holiday without our traditional family poker game.

The Youngest Island Boy has been practising and was ready to win.

He was a little disappointed that he didn't win big but he held his own and managed to leave with a little extra change in his pocket.

I had to explain to him that when you play nickle ante it's hard to win big bucks lol

It was a great day filled with good food, family, lots of laughter and love.

You can't ask for better!

Red Bull Stash

2011-09-29T06:00:00.000-05:00

Tuesday afternoon the Island Girl came in from school, grinning from ear to ear.

She told us that her and a friend were sitting in their science class at the college when she noticed a four pack of Red Bull in a corner on the bottom of a bookshelf.

She picked it up and on the bottom she found this.

She went to the website listed on the bottom of the carton and realized that she'd stumbled onto the Red Bull Stash.

Which sent her and her friend on a Red Bull scavenger hunt all over campus.

They ended up finding 7 four packs!

They each kept three and gave the last one to a friend.

So she came home with 3 four packs of Red Bull.

Which made her very happy.

So if you happen to be on a college campus, go to Redbullstash.com, look for clues and see what you find.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-28T06:00:00.000-05:00

An Alabama Geocaching Run

2011-09-26T06:00:00.000-05:00

My Dad, the Oldest Island Boy, and I decided to go to Alabama last Friday and try a geocaching numbers run.

A numbers run is a series of caches placed 1/10 of a mile apart and is designed so the cacher can grab a lot of caches in one day, which gives a quick boost to your total number of geocache finds.

Geocaching for us is more about the adventure than the number of finds we have but we've never done a numbers run and thought it would be fun to try.

This particular series is on an old country highway leading into Bay Minette.

The caches are all hidden on reflectors or in the edge of the bushes along the way so it's a matter of driving 1/10 of a mile, grabbing the cache, signing the log and then jumping back into the car to do it again, and again, and again.

We took a few minutes out of the hunt to eat a quick lunch on the tailgate and then went right back to it.

The Oldest Island Boy has been caching with me since I started but not long ago he decided he wanted his own account. He hit 100 finds not far into the run.

Dad hit 600 a little while later.

And an hour after that I hit 600 too.

We were looking through the edge of the bushes at one of the caches and I caught sight of this.

I managed to stop just in time to keep from getting all caught up in her web.

She's beautiful and her web was huge.

I was standing there looking at her and being extremely thankful that I wasn't all wrapped up in her web when I felt something crawling up my back.

I was just starting the spider web get it off of me dance when I realized it wasn't a spider - it was the Oldest messing with me.

I whirled around and gave him a look that let him know I didn't think that was funny.

He jumped back and my Dad said "Son, there was a stone cold killer in the jail when I worked there and the looks he gave me weren't near as scary as the look she just gave you".

Good. They need to understand how dangerous it is to mess with me about creepy crawly things LOL

A little later we were talking about things we're scared of and the Oldest asked my Dad what he's scared of.

Without hesitating he said "That look your mother gave you a little while ago"

I'm pretty sure I don't have to worry about either of them messing with me again.

We also ran into this guy but he's more interesting than creepy.

Later in the afternoon we stopped to grab a cache that was hidden along a fence next to a cow pasture.

I love cows!

We don't see cows here at the beach so I'm like a kid when we go up into the country and get to see them.

These cows were hysterical! They obviously thought we had food and as soon as we stopped the truck they came running.

And then it happened.

Cow sex right in front of my son.

He'd been asking me which one was the bull and it didn't take long for us to figure it out.

I guess it's a good thing I didn't get a good shot on the video because I'm not sure you're allowed to upload bovine porn onto Youtube.

By the end of the day we'd found 109 geocaches and saw cows having sex.

Overall, the numbers run was an experience that I'm glad we tried but in the end it's still more fun to find those caches hidden in the woods.

The Island King - Crime Fighter Extraordinaire

2011-09-21T21:33:00.008-05:00

The Island King left the house yesterday to meet a client and run some errands but his day didn't go as planned.

He was driving along Airport Road and happened to glance down a side street into an apartment complex, where he saw a guy running as fast as he could down the middle of the street, towards Airport.

He said the guy was running really fast but what caught his attention was the fact that this guy was wearing yellow latex cleaning gloves that came up to his elbows.

There wasn't any traffic so the Island King made a u-turn and went back. The guy was running along a fence, still at full speed and the Island King knew something wasn't right.

So he called 911. He said he told the operator that he was watching a guy run down the street wearing these gloves and that he didn't know if a crime had been committed or not but that it sure did look like something was going on.

The dispatched tells him to hold on and he can hear her ask another dispatcher what color gloves were described in the call that had come in moments before the Island King's.

She comes back and tells him that there has been an attempted home invasion in that area, the guy he's described fits the description, and that she will send deputies.

Meanwhile the Island King, still in his truck, is hanging back and watching the guy.

The guy stops next to a big bush and takes his shirt off. He's squatting there in the bush and at that point the Island King rolled along side him.

He said he was looking at the guy and then the guy was looking at him and he had no idea if the guy was armed or not so he kept going.

He made a u-turn and while he was doing that the guy took off running in the opposite direction.

By the time he got turned around he'd lost sight of the guy. So he turned down the nearest street and was rolling slowly through the neighborhood looking for him.

Several police cars arrived and he pulled in a parking lot to talk to them.

He showed them the bush where the guy stopped and they brought out a K-9, let him sniff around the bush and then off he went, following the guy's scent.

The Island King was filling out a report when another deputy radioed that they'd caught someone and wanted the Island King to ID him.

So they put the Island King in the back of one of their squad cars and took him two blocks down, where they had a man handcuffed in a parking lot.

It was him.

It turns out that this guy tried to break into a woman's apartment. She called the police, he ran off and straight into the Island King's path.

They took her down to ID the guy too and she also said it was him.

They'd caught the man and found his shirt and one of the gloves he was wearing but hadn't found the second glove so the K-9 dog was still searching for that.

The Island King gets in his truck to leave, pulled down a side street to turn around and saw the glove laying on the side of the road.

He could see the deputies still in the parking lot so he waved them over and showed them the glove.

One of the deputies laughed and said "We might as well give you a badge and a gun because you've got this case all wrapped up"

Meanwhile, he was supposed to meet a client and the client has been calling non stop for the past thirty minutes.

But the Island King was busy following the guy, filling out police reports and IDing the suspect so he hadn't been in phone answering mode.

At one point, he was waiting for the deputy to take him to look at the guy so he was able to call his client and explain that he'd seen a guy running down the road, called the police and they'd caught someone suspected of attempting a home invasion and that he had to go ID the guy so he was going to be late for their meeting.

He said he wasn't sure his client believed him but seriously - who could make up a story like that?

So in the end, he spotted the guy, made a positive of ID and found a piece of evidence.

Can you believe it? My husband leaves the house, supposed to be gone for about an hour and just happens to end up helping catch a bad guy.

And then made delicious steak sandwiches for dinner.

All of which totally erases the fact that I wanted to hit him with a skillet yesterday.

Good job, babe!

A Lesser Sponge Crab?

2011-09-16T06:00:00.000-05:00

Last week while we were looking for shells on Pensacola Beach we found a really interesting little crab in the surf.

My Dad picked him up, we looked at him for a minute, I (the famous wildlife photographer)snapped 2 pictures, Dad released him, and off we went.

We were on our way to meet cousins for lunch and didn't give the little crab much thought.

He came up again at lunch though, and we passed his picture around for everyone to see. He was round and had bright red pinchers - something you'd recognize if you'd seen it before.

Bells should have gone off when NO ONE at the table recognized him. Every person at that table is a Pensacola native and every one of them have been on the water since birth.

But none have ever seen this kind of crab before.

But the bells didn't go off because they brought our lunch, which was delicious, and there were people to visit with.

I thought about him again that night and spent some time on Google trying to find out what kind of crab he was.

I couldn't find anything about a round crab with red pinchers.

I sent his picture to FC and was surprised when he didn't recognize him.

My Dad sent me an email the next day telling me that he'd looked through some field guides and decided that the crab must be a Lesser Sponge Crab (Dromidia antillensis)

I checked my guides and agree with him. We found a Lesser Sponge Crab who had no sponge.

The field guide states these crabs are found from Cape Hatteras to Florida and Texas; Mexico; Bermuda; Bahamas; West Indies to Brazil.

Considering the fact that no one at lunch recognized him, Dad and I have never seen one, and FC wasn't familiar with him, Lesser Sponge Crabs must not be common in this part of the Gulf.

Which means that we had an encounter with a crab who washed in from Tropical Storm Lee and I didn't even take the time to get a good picture!

The next time I find something unique like that I'm going to take the time to appreciate it.

Oh, and I'm going to get someone else to take pictures.

Rat Snake

2011-09-15T06:00:00.000-05:00

I needed to go to the grocery store the other night so I talked the Island King and the Youngest Island Boy into riding up there with me.

Neither of them wanted to go inside so they waited in the parking lot while I ran in.

I came back out and could see the truck parked at the other end of the parking lot near the entrance to the sand bowl we got stuck in a while back.

So I walked over to them and as I started to get close the Youngest came running up telling me he'd just stepped on a snake.

What?

He and his father were walking around the sand bowl and as they were walking the Youngest looked down and right before he put his foot down he realized there was a snake laying there.

The Island King caught the snake and told the Youngest to run back to the truck and get the camera.

After getting a good look at him they let him go and watched him slither off into the brush.

He was gone by the time I got there and after the Youngest finished telling me all about it the Island King said "I thought about keeping him until you got here so you could see him".

Which made me look at him like he'd lost his mind.

And then he laughed and said "But then I decided that wouldn't be a good idea".

No, it wouldn't have been.

It was cool that the Youngest got to have a snake encounter and even cooler that I did not.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-14T06:00:00.000-05:00

Sushi

2011-09-12T06:00:00.001-05:00

I LOVE sushi and can't ever seem to get enough of it.

My family loves sushi too and occasionally we'll hit up our local sushi bar for dinner but my kids have all outgrown the "kid's plate" stage and going out to dinner means 5 adult entrees - which means the Island King has a small cardiac episode every time the bill comes.

Our local Publix makes fresh sushi in the store and it's actually pretty good so we grab a tray or two from there a lot but that's expensive too and we always end up fighting over the last piece.

So I decided that we needed to learn to make sushi at home.

For the price of 2 rolls from Publix I can make 8 rolls.

That's a lot more sushi and at a much more reasonable price.

So we bought the necessary ingredients

And got everything prepped.

Then, the Island King decided that in order to make good sushi he needed a headband.

Note - He may look wasted - he's not. That's his "I'm a Japanese Sushi Chef" face.

He proclaimed himself Chef Aragotto and went to work.

While his accent leaves a lot to be desired, his sushi wasn't bad. In fact, it was very good.

And the kids and I laughed until our sides hurt.

Just another typical Saturday night at our house.

Shelling on Pensacola Beach

2011-09-09T06:52:00.016-05:00

We drove over to Pensacola Beach on Wednesday to see my Aunt, Dad, and two of my cousins - and to look for seashells.

With Tropical Storm Lee having churned through the Gulf all weekend we were hoping to find some pretty shells washed ashore.

It was a BEAUTIFUL day! It wasn't hot or muggy and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

A perfect day for walking on the beach.

We found a lot of broken sanddollars and one whole one - which is now sitting on the table in my Aunt's house - in California.

I love how that works. Rolling through the tide Wednesday morning and winding up in California on Thursday.

We also found a lot of these.

Starfish do not do well in storm tossed waters and we always find lots of them washed up after a storm.

Sad.

There was a lot of walking

Discovering

And visiting.

The Island King walked for a while and then decided he wanted to sit and enjoy the weather.

He had the right idea but my Aunt and I decided that this guy had the best spot.

After shelling, we met our cousins at Peg Leg Pete's for lunch - which was delicious!

It was a wonderful day filled with perfect weather, a beautiful beach, and my family.

Living in paradise is rough but we're making the best of it.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-07T06:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Labor Day

2011-09-05T06:00:00.000-05:00

Tropical Storm Lee spent the weekend here on the Gulf Coast and is still here.

We've been lucky here in Destin with no major wind damage and not too much flooding.

Some standing water here and there but nothing to cause real problems.

And just like 2008, we won't be spending Labor Day at the beach.

Because this is what the Gulf looks like right now.

Pretty to look at but an absolute no swimming kind of day.

It was fun to go out and take a look but not somewhere you'd want to spend the whole day.

So we've spent the weekend doing this and will spend today doing more of the same.

Along with some reading, movies and a game or two.

Not a bad way to spend the holiday.

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Labor Day!

Wildlife Photography At It's Best

2011-08-29T06:00:00.001-05:00

The Island King and I decided to ride out to Point Washington Saturday afternoon to check on our Message in a Bottle cache.

We wanted to wait until the end of the day so it wouldn't be so hot and by the time we got out there it was almost dark.

These trails are so cool in the dark.

Fascinating and a little scary all at once.

I'd made a critical error by not bringing bug spray - a true idiot error - and by the time we reached the cache at least a million mosquitoes were swarming us.

Volkswagen sized mosquitoes.

Mosquitoes so big and hungry that our chubby selves actually ran, uphill, back to the truck, to escape them.

You can look at us and tell we don't run very often.

Once we escaped the mosquitoes, we started a slow drive home through the forest.

I had my camera in my lap and as we rounded a bend a good sized rabbit ran across our path.

"Did you get his picture?"

"No, he ran across so fast I never had time to pick up the camera."

And he snickered about my lack of wildlife photography skill.

A few minutes later we rounded another bend and there in the palmettos along the side of the road was a beautiful doe.

Who stood perfectly still, looking at us.

I grabbed the camera and started snapping pictures.

This is the best one.

We're stopped in the middle of the trail and the Island King gets frustrated with my photographic capabilities and grabbed the camera from me.

Because he's a photographer, you know.

Good grief.

This picture would have been stunning.

She turned her head and her profile was beautiful in the glow from our headlights.

And then she walked right up CLOSE to the truck.

She was looking at us and we were looking at her and we couldn't have asked for a better photo op.

But this is what we got.

Do you think there's a market for a coffee table book of wildlife photography screw up pictures?

We have a lot of those.

Silent Sunday

2011-08-28T06:00:00.000-05:00

It's Snowing in Gulf Breeze!

2011-08-25T06:00:00.002-05:00

Well, it was in January of 1973.

I was digging through more old photos and ran across these.

Today, if you stand in the living room of my grandmother/parent's house and look out the window this is what you see.

If you'd been standing there in January of 1973, you'd have seen this.

Which is quite a sight in Florida.

Today.

1973.

When I found this old pictures I sent them to my Dad and asked him to take pictures from the same spots.

It's interesting to see what 38 years and Hurricane Ivan can do to change the landscape.

I'm not a cold weather kind of girl but I'd love to see this again.

Well, maybe not the Ford LTD sitting in the driveway.

But snow would be nice.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-08-24T10:32:00.003-05:00

Desiderata - by Max Ehrmann

2011-08-22T06:29:00.000-05:00

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.

Take kindly to the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Words to live by.

The Heat Did Me In

2011-08-21T11:24:00.009-05:00

The day we went to see the helicopters we had to take the Island King's truck because he has 4WD and my Dad's truck does not.

You can't get to the site in 2WD so we all piled into the Island King's truck to make the trip.

But...

Our truck is a Forerunner which is a lot smaller than Dad's truck AND it has NO AC.

The Island King is weird about AC and even though he's had plenty of opportunities to fix the AC he refuses. He complains about the heat but he doesn't want AC.

Weirdo.

And because the truck is smaller than Dad's, I had to sit, smooshed, in the backseat with the boys.

Who fought the entire time.

At one point I really wanted to stop the truck, put them out and drive away.

But that would have been pointless because I have no doubt that they'd show up at the house around dark with full bellies and pockets full of cash. They're resourceful like that.

We drove for miles into the Reservation on clay roads and sand trails, with more sand blowing into the truck than you can possibly imagine.

And it was HOT. VERY HOT.

We got to the helicopter site and even though I'm a relatively smart person - stop laughing - I made the biggest mistake you can make in 100 degree heat.

I drank nothing. No water, Gatorade, not even a Pepsi. Nothing.

Not surprisingly, I started feeling a little queasy.

But I wasn't thirsty, at all, and it didn't occur to me that I might need a little water even though I was sweating gallons by the minute.

We left the helicopter site and drove farther into the woods looking for another geocache and by the time we got to that one I was not feeling well at all.

We started walking down a trail to find the cache and I was feeling sicker by the minute. Dizzy, nauseous, weak and a little disoriented.

And still didn't think about drinking some water.

From there we drove farther into the woods and the farther we went, the more my head pounded and the more I felt like I was going to pass out.

I told Dad and the Island King that we needed to change our plan and head to the pond we'd planned to eat lunch at later.

We got to the pond and it was a little cooler than being in the truck but I was still too hot.

I don't like to wear shorts in the woods so I had on jeans, hiking boots and a short sleeved shirt and when we got out of the truck I was so hot I felt like my skin was on fire.

So I took off my boots, socks and jeans - not caring that my Dad and the boys were standing right there.

My legs were redder than I've ever seen them.

At this point Dad and the Island King realize that I'm not "just hot" but am in need of some help.

The Island King took a bottle of water out of the cooler, told me to bend my head down and then poured ice cold water all over my neck and head.

I was getting ready to take my shirt off too (I'm sure Dad and the boys would have loved that. Mom standing there in her bra and underwear lol) but the Island King tells me to leave it on because it will hold the cold water longer and help cool me down.

Then Dad soaked a towel in the ice water from the bottom of the cooler and wrapped it around my neck.

He handed me a bottle of water and I drank it and then drank a second one.

He wanted me to drink a Gatorade but my head was pounding and I thought maybe caffeine would help that so I drank a Pepsi and two more water bottles.

They broke out our picnic stuff and he made me a sandwich, which helped too.

Meanwhile, the Island King has been rummaging around in the back of the truck and comes up with an extra pair of pants he keeps back there.

He gave me his shorts and then put on the pants he'd found.

I felt bad but the pants were a light-weight BDU with lots of rips and tears in them for ventilation. And since he wasn't having heat issues I took the shorts.

I was feeling better but still kind of "off" and hot so I told everyone that even though we had hours more of caching in the woods planned I wanted to go home.

Right then.

We headed home but once we got back out of the woods we had to stop and put air in the tires (we'd let a lot of air out for better traction in the sand) and when we got to the store the Island King told me to go inside and stand in the AC while he put air in the tires.

So I did.

Dad had already gone in and when I walked in he said "Why don't you go in the bathroom and freshen up a bit."

I thought he meant splash some water on my face kind of freshen up but I was wrong.

I took one look in the bathroom mirror and almost fell out.

I was beyond filthy. I had on giant shorts, black socks and hiking boots. And I can't even describe my hair.

No wonder Dad suggested I wait in the bathroom.

But the bathroom had no AC so I walked back out into the store.

Where people stared at me like I'd just blown in from Planet Hasn't Bathed in Months.

It gets better.

What a sight!

I don't know why I didn't drink any water all day, I usually stay very hydrated while out in the heat.

I can say that I won't ever forget again!

Helicopters and Geocaches

2011-08-19T22:00:00.005-05:00

I saw a listing on geocaching.com not long ago describing a geocache hidden in a downed helicopter.

I saw pictures on the cache site and the idea of being able to climb all over a helicopter – and find a cache – was too much to resist.

My Dad wanted to go so he, the Island King, both the boys and I set out to see what we could find.

The helicopter is DEEP in the Reservation so we drove along trail after trail until finally, we rounded a bend and there in front of us was a Huey helicopter.

Which we climbed all over.

How often do you get to stand on the very top of a helicopter?

Not too far away was another helicopter.

It seemed to have a little more trouble landing than the first one.

My Dad took this picture and said "This is the one you were driving."

You put a few dents and dings into a couple of cars and a truck or two and people make fun your driving forever.

Apparently, these helicopters are used during Army Ranger training missions.

Luckily, the area was open that day and we were able to play in the helicopters and find a geocache at the same time.

Very nice.

Beach Snacks

2011-08-18T06:00:00.001-05:00

Some beaches have waitresses and cabana boys who wander around, offering food and drink to those lounging by the sea.

Other beaches are strictly bring it yourself kind of beaches. If you don't bring it you don't have it.

But our beach has the Pizza Man...

And after you've had your pizza, the Ice Cream Man will bring you treats.

If you don't feel like walking up to the parking lot to get your ice cream you can wait until the Ice Cream Boat comes by. He'll pull right up to you and you won't even have to get out of your chair.

But he doesn't have ice cream truck music like the truck has so it's not quite the same.

If it's something salty you want, the Boiled Peanut guy will be along shortly.

This guy makes really good boiled peanuts. Not too hard, not too mushy, not too salty - just right. And he has some Cajun ones that will set your mouth on fire if that's what you like.

Cabana boys would be nice but I'm loving my little corner of paradise.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-08-17T06:00:00.000-05:00

The 1926 Hurricane

2011-08-16T06:00:00.001-05:00

In September of 1926 a Category 4 hurricane slammed into Miami, with the eye moving directly over Miami Beach.

Winds reported from the storm were, at that time, the highest winds ever recorded in the United States.

Massive destruction followed - but the storm wasn't finished.

It continued northwestward across the Gulf and then stalled off the coast of Pensacola, where it hammered the coast with hurricane force winds, rain, and storm surge for a full 24 hours.

Nearly every pier, warehouse, and vessel on Pensacola Bay was destroyed.

The storm weakened as it moved inland over Louisiana on September 21st and the Great Storm of 1926 was over.

As I was going through some old family clippings I came across the Pensacola News Journal's front page from the day after the storm.

With the exception of the waterfront, Pensacola fared relatively well.

Especially in comparison to Miami.

And I have a really cool old newspaper telling the tale - which I love.

If you want more information on the 1926 Storm visit Adrian's Weather

My Crab Themed Weekend

2011-08-15T06:00:00.000-05:00

I've had a crab themed weekend.

There was the crab net incident on Friday afternoon and then I had another crab encounter on Sunday.

I was kayaking along the west side of the Destin bridge towards the Coast Guard Station when I noticed something bright red under the water.

I paddled over and saw a red crab trap. There was no buoy attached and it was filled with crabs.

When I got back to where the Island King was I told him about the trap so we went back down to check it out.

He and the Island Girl snorkeled through the grass beds, looking for shells and it wasn't long before they reached the trap.

He shook the crabs out of the trap and unfortunately they were all females with eggs, which you can't keep, so as they came out of the trap they scurried to the water.

I was walking up while this was happening and I noticed one crab run past me with only one claw.

Poor girl. Luckily, she'll grow a new one.

But then the next thing I see is this.

There's a claw clamped down on the claw of another crab!

(I have no idea why there is no sound. New camera, a lot of features and a dense operator could be the problem.)

And this crab was angry. She'd been attacked, she now has a claw stuck to her claw and she's been trapped in a cage for who knows how long.

We could have caught her and removed the offending claw but she was in full attack mode, hissing and showing us her claws.

So we chose to let nature handle it and stay far away from her as she made her way back into the bay.

And now we're holding a very nice crab trap.

A nice crab trap with no bait in it, no name or tag on it, no buoy attached to it, nothing to indicate anything other than this was a lost or abandoned trap.

Crab trap robbing (taking the crabs out of a trap) and stealing (taking the whole trap) is a big No-No here.

It's been happening for generations and if the owner doesn't find and beat the daylights out of you, the Fish and Wildlife guys will find and arrest you.

So we made real sure this was an abandoned trap and then happily brought it home.

I think we should go crabbing tonight - the way my luck is running I should be able to bring in the mother lode.

I Did NOT Hit That Man!

2011-08-12T20:41:00.010-05:00

Late this afternoon I ran up to Walgreens to pick up a few things we needed.

When I pulled into the parking lot there was an older man sitting on the bench next to the building with his head on his chest.

He was a big guy, somewhere between 250 and 300 pounds and had sort of a homeless look to him.

I watched him for a minute and he appeared to be out cold.

I walked into the store and told the clerk that there was a man passed out on the bench outside. She stuck her head out the door and then said "That's Mr. Ed. He comes in here all of the time and he must be resting."

Ok.

I got what I needed, paid, and went back out to my car - which was parked right in front of Mr. Ed.

I sat there looking at him for a couple of minutes and I started watching his chest and stomach.

Neither seemed to be moving.

So I got out of the car and stepped a little closer, but not too close.

And the man did not appear to be breathing.

Two girls walked up behind me and one of them said "It doesn't look like he's breathing."

Which confirmed what I'd been thinking.

We ran into the store and I tell the clerk that someone needs to come and check on Mr. Ed because he's not looking well.

There was a man standing at the register who looked around and realized that he was the only man around and probably needed to step up.

Which he did, sort of.

He looked at me and said "Will you go out there with me?"

Now, here's where I need to explain something.

My husband was a paramedic for many years and he taught me a long time ago that you never get close to a person who appears to be passed out.

You never know if they're going to come up swinging, grab you, or what, so you stay as far back as possible and touch their foot, while calling out to them.

If they do wake up swinging you're far enough away that you won't get hurt.

So as the man and I head out the door I grabbed a crab net out of a stand by the door.

My plan was to reach out with the pole and poke his foot while calling out to him.

The man who'd come with me stood back (thanks, dude) so I held the crab net by the net end, extended the pole out and poked Mr. Ed in the foot, while saying "Hey, are you alright? Wake up. Is everything ok?"

Mr Ed woke up, flailing his arms around and I'm telling you if I had leaned over and tried to touch him to wake him up he'd have hit me with his arms.

When Mr Ed woke up the guy behind screamed like a girl (I am not making this up) and ran back into the store.

So there we are. Mr Ed looking at me and me holding a crab net looking at him.

He said "Well hi there missy, you goin crabbin?"

What could I say? "No, I'm just didn't want to get too close to you to wake you up?"
So I smiled, told him yes and hightailed it back into the store.

Where the manager is now standing with the clerk.

As I come in the manager looks at me in shock and says "What are you doing with that crab net?"

Before I can answer he gets a really angry look on his face and says "You hit Mr Ed with a crab net?!"

No, no, no! I tried to explain about not getting too close to someone who's passed out and that I used the net to poke Mr Ed's foot.

He wasn't hearing a word I said.

He was getting madder and madder and kept repeating "You hit Mr Ed with the crab net?"

I tried to explain one more time but the anger on his face and the look of pure shock on the clerk's face did me in and I tossed the crab net back into the bin and flew out the door.

I'm getting in my car and Mr Ed is still being nice and wishes me good luck on my crabbing trip - even though I no longer have a crab net.

As I'm driving away all I can think about is the fact that the people in Walgreens believe I hit an old man with a crab net!

Oh my God!!!

I get home and am totally freaked out. I saw what I believed to be a dead man on the bench outside of Walgreens and the people inside Walgreens believe I have hit an innocent old man with a crab net.

I'm babbling all of this to the Island King who keeps telling me that I did the right thing and not to worry what the people in Walgreens think.

But it BOTHERED me! The idea of someone believing I would hit an old homeless man with a crab net who was just minding his own business really bothers me.

And I vow never to step foot in Walgreens again - having been labeled the woman who beat the old man with a crab net and all.

After I calmed down I went inside to start supper and a few minutes later the Island King comes in and says "I called Walgreens."

What?

He said the incident bothered him too because in his mind I handled the situation safely and he felt like the manager needed to know that.

He said at first the manager was a little hostile and that it took a few minutes of explaining why it's dangerous to lean over someone who has passed out.

Then he heard the manager have an Aaahaaa! moment and realized the man now understood.

The Island King also emphasized that I did NOT hit the man, I poked his foot.

The manager started laughing and said that when he saw me come back in with the crab net that he just kept picturing me out there whacking away at Mr Ed.

Then the manager apologized profusely for making me feel bad and told the Island King over and over again to please have me come back tomorrow so he can apologize.

I'm not sure I'm up for that.

Why am I such a magnet for this kind of stuff. Crazy seems to find me everywhere I go.

Which explains why the older I get the more of a hermit I become.

Silent Sunday

2011-08-07T06:00:00.000-05:00

He Tried

2011-08-06T06:00:00.000-05:00

I love wandering through cemeteries, looking at headstones, wondering about those who came before me.

And every once in a while I run across a headstone that makes me stop and scratch my head.

Like this one.

Bless his heart - He Tried.

An Afternoon on the Eglin Reservation

2011-08-05T06:00:00.000-05:00

After our frogging experience, the Island King and I wanted to go back up to the Shoal River and explore some during the day.

So even though it's hot as Hades outside we decided to skip the beach and ride up into the woods for the day.

The Eglin Reservation is a huge, amazing place and you never know what you'll find in there.

Like these old dog pens.

These pens are scattered through the still hunt areas on Eglin, most of them built at the corners of major intersections in the woods.

The pens were built to hold lost or runaway dogs found by hunters. Once a pack of hunting dogs is turned loose it's not uncommon for one or two to go off on their own and become separated from the pack.

If a hunter found a dog that wasn't his he'd put the dog in the nearest pen. If you'd lost a dog you knew to check the pens and see if he'd been found.

These old pens don't get used anymore because of GPS technology and most of them are starting to fall apart.

I might like to have one in my back yard though.

This old truck must have been pushed off to the side of the trail years ago.

We don't know what the truck was used for but it had a long pipe holding another long pipe mounted on the back.

Not far past the truck we came to Gin Hole Landing, a small boat ramp along the Shoal River.

Well, it's a boat ramp when we're not in the middle of a drought.

You wouldn't do so well if you tried to put a boat in here today.

I love to wander around the river banks when the river is low. The cypress stumps and sandbars that are normally underwater are all exposed and you can really see how beautiful it is - above and below the water.

We could hear what sounded like a waterfall off in the distance so we walked along the ledge until we found the source.

This is one of the many, crystal clear streams that run through Eglin and empty into the Shoal.

We sat down on a cypress stump and watched the water rushing into the river.

Normally, the river would be higher and this stream would just flow right in.

But that day, it was a little waterfall over some beautiful cypress roots.

We wandered farther along the river bank, amazed at how low the river was.

I love exploring the sloughs that cut up into the woods along the river's edge.

There is always so much driftwood up in them that I have trouble not backing the truck up and bringing it all home.

We stayed all afternoon, exploring and enjoying the woods.

We're truly blessed to have such a wonderful playground so close to home.

Directionally Challenged

2011-08-03T15:37:00.008-05:00

It's no secret that I've always been directionally challenged.

I can't begin to count how many hours of my life have been spent lost.

It's like that part of my brain doesn't exist. I've never had a CT scan but I'd be willing to bet money that there is an empty space in my head where directional ability should be located.

Knowing this, I should not be surprised by what happened the other day.

I decided that I want make one of those direction signs you see with arrows pointing to different cities.

I found a post in the garage, painted it white and put it in the ground to attach my arrows to.

Then I had the Island King cut arrows out of old fence boards and I went to work painting them.

Do you see the problem? I didn't.

Until it was time to attach the arrows to the post.

Key West is the other direction.

Meaning that I painted the sign with the arrow facing the wrong way.

Cape San Blas is the other direction too.

Good grief!

Now I have to repaint the arrows so they will face the right direction on the post.

The Oldest Island Boy suggested I leave them like they are - because it shows my sense of direction so well.

Which isn't a bad idea.

Elmo

2011-07-12T06:00:00.002-05:00

We ran into Elmo the other night at the Departure concert and as soon as we saw him the Island King told me he had to shake his hand.

Did you know that Elmo travels with a body guard?

His guard is a woman and she is one of the most bad-a$$ looking women I have ever laid eyes on.

The kind of woman even big, bad-a$$ men don't want to mess with.

We had to ask her permission for a photo with Elmo and she was real nice about it.
She smiled and stepped aside so we could take the picture, then she stepped right back up to Elmo and went back into "Don't Mess With Elmo" mode.

I had no idea Elmo needed that kind of protection.

4th of July Recap

2011-07-11T06:00:00.001-05:00

We spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday of 4th of July weekend at the beach so we knew we didn't want to spend ALL day there on Monday.

The beach at the foot of the bridge fills up during the day and then about 5:00 a good majority of the people pack up, go home and then go watch the fireworks from somewhere else.

So we decided that we'd go out about 5 and wouldn't have any trouble finding a spot.

Wrong.

I have never seen so many people in one place in my life.

And that 5:00 crowd? They weren't going anywhere.

Things were not looking good.

We hiked quite a ways from the car and finally found a spot 3 rows back from the water.

I know that in front of the condos here the chairs are set up in rows but I personally have never had to sit this far from the water before.

The Island King laughed and said "I was born and raised here and I'm not sitting on no stinkin 3rd row - I'll be back" and off he went, farther down the beach.

He was back in no time and said that just around the point was a nice open spot that we should move to.

So we did.

This was much better.

We swam and ate a picnic dinner and were AMAZED at the amount of people that just kept pouring onto the beach.

By sunset the beach was packed.

As it got dark we watched as group after group of people started parking on the bridge. And more groups of people walking up onto the bridge.

A deputy came along and told the cars to move but by the time he got to the end of the bridge, it had filled up again from the other direction.

Never seen anything like this here.

The kids and I were in the water and I asked the Island King to take our picture.

Because he's a photographer, you know.

So he picked up my camera, grabbed a handful of chips and walked into the water.

Where he promptly dropped my camera right into the Bay.

He says his fingers were slippery because of the chips.

And of course the camera went dead immediately.

We grabbed it, yanked out the batteries and memory card but there was no doubt that the camera was toast.

After I got over the urge to kill him we swam some more, ate watermelon and watched a great fireworks show.

After the fireworks the traffic on the bridge was bumper to bumper so we stayed put for another hour. There's no point in sitting in traffic if you can be sitting on the beach instead.

It was a great holiday weekend and the Island King has replaced my camera with one that's a little more expensive and has quite a few more features.

He bought the extended warranty too - just in case I ever let him touch my camera again.

Which I don't think I will.

Silent Sunday

2011-07-10T06:00:00.000-05:00

Deepwater Horizon Disaster - A Year Later

2011-07-09T06:00:00.002-05:00

I was walking on the beach the other day and it occurred to me that at this time last year, the fate of our water, coast and lifestyle was completely up in the air.

Oil had reached our beaches and we had no idea how much was coming or what kind of mess it was going to make.

A year later, in reflection, I have a few things to say about the whole debacle.

First and foremost...

BP, you suck! (eloquent, I know)

How dare you, as a company, spend all of your time and money figuring out how to drill that deep underwater without having SEVERAL backup plans, in place, the day you started drilling.

Second, the word "Spill" has bothered me from day one.

Millions of gallons of oil gushing into the Gulf is NOT a "spill". BP basically ignited an underwater volcano and then called it a spill. Idiots.

Then there's money.

"We've set up claim centers in every city along the coast so you can file your claim and BP will reimburse you for your financial loss."

Only half true.

Claim centers were set up, but the part about reimbursement? Total and complete BS.

I understand the need to regulate mass payouts like this because of fraud but after personally spending HOURS filing claims, talking with claim adjusters, and providing document after document I can say that filing a BP claim amounted to hours of my life spent Snipe Hunting.

We lost thousands of dollars - which was directly related to the oil volcano.

I even have letters from several of our clients stating that they were not spending marketing money which would have gone directly to us.

And we aren't the only ones. I can't tell you how many friends we have in this town alone who lost their business completely and are still waiting on money from BP.

Some folks got paid but most didn't.

Next on my list is the clean up process.

BP assured each community that they would hire locals to work on the oil clean up crews.

More BS.

When the tar balls got here, 3 charter buses pulled into town and out piled a lot of people, hired by BP and brought in from Mississippi.

The Island King went to the office where locals were supposed to go to apply to clean the beaches and was told there was nothing available at that time.

The newspaper ran an article about the clean up crews. The people on the buses were there to pick up tar balls. Locals could take a two week course (set up by BP) - for a fee (paid to BP)- and then once you paid your money and passed the course you could work as a supervisor for the clean up crews.

Really? They wanted us to pay them to let us work?

And the clean up?

What a joke.

I didn't pick out these pictures in particular to make BP look bad. This is what EVERY picture I have looks like.

Dozens of workers would be at each site and it would take them HOURS to clean up a half mile section of beach.

I have never seen such a blatant waste of money in my life.

Paying people to sit around in the shade.

And not even local people either.

Finally, the effect this has had on the Gulf is still unknown.

I realize that Mother Nature is a powerful force and the Gulf can do a lot to heal herself but at the same time we have no idea what's laying on the bottom out there.

And who knows what the dispersant they used has done.

Is seafood safe to eat? My Mother says no and has stopped eating seafood completely.

In my heart I agree with her but I'm weak and I love seafood and haven't been able to give it up.

But...

After all of that there is good news.

Our beaches are still beautiful. The sand is sugar white, the water is emerald green and there is no tar.

We're going to enjoy the beach this summer and thank God that what we thought might happen - didn't.

A Sweet Proposal

2011-07-08T06:00:00.001-05:00

At one point during the Departure concert, the lead singer said there was a special guest in the audience and to give him a round of applause.

Everybody clapped and this guy walked up on stage and then asked a woman named Lisa to come up and join him.

Look what happened when she got up there.

This guy gets a lot of points because that was a very romantic proposal.

Good luck guys - you're off to a great start!

An Evening at Harborwalk

2011-07-07T06:00:00.002-05:00

We spent Saturday evening wandering around Harborwalk, people watching and waiting for the Departure concert to start.

I'm pretty sure we saw this same woman at the Renaissance Festival.

After I took this picture I asked the Youngest why he had such a funny look on his face and he said "I didn't mind standing next to her but I didn't know she was going to TOUCH me!"

It's amazing to me how she can stand perfectly still for hours on end.

I'm a fidgeter which would rule out a job like hers for me.

I've become fire hydrant fixated lately so this one caught my eye immediately.

I like him.

We ran into a pirate that the Island King claimed to be old friends with.

He didn't have a lot to say so I don't know if they're really old friends or if he just looks like someone the Island King used to know LOL

Cars were bumper to bumper coming into town.

Living in a tourist town definitely has its disadvantages but the good thing is we don't have to travel to be here.

Someone was taking wedding pictures out on Norriego Point.

Which I'm sure will be beautiful.

I like wandering around down there, it's never boring and there's always something going on.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-07-06T06:00:00.000-05:00

Departure

2011-07-05T06:00:00.001-05:00

Saturday night we went up the Harbor to watch Departure - one of the best Journey Tribute bands around.

These guys are all late 70's early 80's Journey. The clothes, the hair, air guitar, it's like being transported back in time.

And they sound JUST LIKE Journey. I saw Journey many years ago in Mobile and I could have closed my eyes and and been right there again.

They rocked!

The Youngest Island Boy stayed right in front of the stage for the whole show.

He took some great video with my camera but he was right next to the speakers and the microphone on my little camera just couldn't handle the volume.

At one point he was standing there and the lead singer reached down and took the camera from him.

We were standing on the other side of the stage and I freaked out when I saw him take the camera. "That's my camera!" I kept telling the Island King.

Who laughed and called me a groupie.

This is a tribute band so that just makes me a tribute groupie, right?

In true tribute groupie style I went up after the show to shake their hands.

We had a great time and for a little while I was back in 1981, in Mobile, Alabama, watching Journey.

Sweet.

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-04T06:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday America!

Thank you to all of the military who've given so much so we could have so much.

God Bless America

Silent Sunday

2011-07-03T06:00:00.000-05:00

Feet In The Sand

2011-07-02T06:00:00.001-05:00

We spent a MUCH needed day at the beach today and enjoyed every minute of it.

And oddly enough, we didn't draw much attention to ourselves either.

Well, except for this.

Remember the hat he found in the trash can on Navarre Pier?

He still has it and has decided that it "looks even cooler" with his visor stuck on the top of it.

Luckily, the kids and I are used to people staring at him.

The Youngest Island Boy found a rock, named it Jerry, and spent the rest of the day playing with it.

It was really funny to watch because some kids next to us were staring at him and the Island Girl and I realized that he's just like his father - only shorter.

We walked down to the Coast Guard Station to look for shells in the grass but didn't see any real pretty ones.

These people were looking for shells too.

On our way back the Island King and the Youngest stopped to look at some old fish bones and I noticed that the Youngest had another rock.

He named that one Tom and when we got back to our stuff he introduced Tom to Jerry.

They hit it off immediately.

The Island Girl and I had a long discussion about how to eat watermelon.

She believes that it's uncivilized not to use a fork.

I told her that there's only one way to eat watermelon at the beach.

With your face.

Which she says is disgusting and to please bring her a fork next time because she won't be eating watermelon with her face any more.

Ok.

We went home tired but happy - which is the perfect way to spend a Friday.

Today...

2011-07-01T06:00:00.000-05:00

I can hear it calling my name.

And I'm answering!

Indigo Snakes

2011-06-30T06:00:00.000-05:00

Everyone knows my fear of snakes but there are two snakes that I've always admired.

The Coral snake and the Indigo snake.

Coral snakes are just so pretty that even a snake-o-phobe like myself can appreciate how beautiful they are.

The other snake that I have a fascination with is the Indigo.

The Eastern Indigo is the largest, non-venomous snake in North America with the longest on record being 9'2" long.

They were once common from the southern tip of South Carolina west to southeastern Mississippi and throughout Florida, including the Keys.

Today, their current range is restricted to southern Georgia and peninsular Florida, with a few isolated populations in the Florida panhandle and north Key Largo.

Indigos were federally protected as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1978, and they are also "protected as threatened" by the State of Florida, making it illegal to harass, harm, capture, keep, or kill them.

While we were out listening for frogs, I asked the biologist about Indigos on the Reservation.

He says there are a few living on the Reservation but that their location is "top secret" and he's not allowed to tell anyone where he's seen them.

Collectors have almost wiped out the population that lived on Eglin so now their whereabouts are kept secret.

I asked if he knew how many are actually here and he said no, that to track them they'd have to catch and tag them and the government doesn't want them messed with at all.

He did say "I can tell you that there aren't very many."

Then he tells me about his encounter with one last year.

He was walking through the woods and saw part of a snake shed. He poked around it and was surprised to see that it was new and fully intact.

Because it was so new he went looking for it's owner and just a few yards away came across a huge Indigo.

He said it was so black that it was almost purple and was absolutely beautiful.

After watching the snake for a while he went back to get the shed.

He told us how he rolled it up around a stick, like a parchment, and then brought it back to his office and stretched it out to measure.

And then framed it because this shed was 8' long!

That's a huge snake!

While I definitely think they are cool, I'm not sure I want to run into one in the woods.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-29T06:00:00.001-05:00

Pet Cemetery - Behind the Scenes

2011-06-28T06:00:00.002-05:00

One night while we were out exploring Point Washington, we drove into a clearing and saw this.

A real pet cemetery out here in the woods.

With a fresh grave as well.

We got out to look and the Youngest Island Boy freaked out. He was terrified of being near any kind of cemetery, in the middle of the woods, and especially at night.

We walked around the woods a little to see if there were more graves but he was getting worse by the minute so we gave up, got back in the truck and drove on home.

But on the way the Island King started talking about what a great place that would be to put a night geocache.

We agreed we didn't want to put it near the cemetery since these are someone's pets and we don't want to disrespect the place they buried them but we also agreed that starting a cache hunt at a pet cemetery sounds like the beginnings of a scary night cache adventure.

So we went back the next day to take a look at the area.

The cemetery is on the edge of a small beautiful stand of pine trees.

During the day sunlight streams through the pines making it a very serene and peaceful spot.

But at night it's dark and scary looking.

Even with a good light you can't see very far in front of you and the trees and palmettos throw off great shadows.

This would be an excellent spot for a night cache. A scary night cache.

Pet Cemetery.

We were inspired and went to work.

The Island King's grandmother owned a huge Doberman Pincer named Demon so we decided to create a grave out in the woods, call it Demon's grave and hide the cache there.

The first afternoon we went out and picked just the right spot for the actual cache and then poked our way through the woods, picking out the trail we want people to follow.

The pine stand isn't that big so we created a twisting, turning, winding path to the cache location and then marked the trail with orange reflectors.

We came up with our plan and a few days later we loaded the truck with everything but the kitchen sink and off to Pt Washington we went.

We pulled into the Forest and went to work.

The Island King came up with an idea for a trip wire that sends this head flying down out of the tree when you pick up the cache.

We put a green ball in a mesh bag and then put it inside of the head so there would be something to secure the head to.

Then it was time for the hard part.

The Island King had to rig the head way up in a tree and then attach it to the ammo can.

The ammo can is tied to a line that has a clip on the end. Hidden in a palmetto bush several feet behind the grave is a PVC pipe which has a clip attached.

When the can is moved it pulls the clip and the head falls out of the sky.

He finished rigging the head and it was time to create the grave.

He carved the word Demon into an old board we had at the house with his chainsaw and attached it to a pine log we'd brought from home.

We covered the ground with substrate and pieces of broken shells to make it look like a real grave.

Then we sat down to burn the candles.

It got dark and it was kind of eerie sitting there in front of the grave - even though it isn't a grave.

We wanted it to look like someone came there and held some sort of ritual but this is a State Forest so we didn't want to leave candles half burnt.

So we sat down and the Island King burned them all the way down and then pulled the wicks out.

You can't see it but there is a big jug of water on the other side of him. I'm pretty sure the Special Use pass we had to get from the Forestry Division to place the cache would be revoked if we started a forest fire.

Earlier, we'd put some rib bones on the grave but it didn't take long to realize that they weren't clean enough and we were being swarmed by ants.

The bones had to go.

I added a final touch by getting one of those "snakes in a can" canisters, covering it with duct tape, writing Cache Log on the outside and putting it in the cache.

If the head dropping doesn't scare them, the snake popping out of the can will for sure.

Once the candles were burned and the cache was set we were ready to go.

Our next stop was TGIFridays where we came up with the Demon story.

A few days later I found some actual dog bones in the woods. Very sad but the sick part of my brain kicked in and I knew they'd be great on the Demon grave.

So I put them there.

We listed the cache on the geocaching website and have gotten some hysterical emails from people who've found the cache.

And we've been called "twisted" several times.

Which means our hard work paid off.

Happy Birthday Oldest Island Boy!

2011-06-27T06:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday!

You're a TEENAGER!!!!

We are very proud of you and are so thankful that God gave us such a wonderful son!

We love you!

Silent Sunday

2011-06-26T06:00:00.001-05:00

Pet Cemetery

2011-06-25T06:00:00.001-05:00

Imagine...

You want to go on a night time geocaching adventure so you look on the geocaching website and find a cache named Pet Cemetery.

The cache page tells you that this cache is not for the young or weak at heart.

And you read this -

"Back ‘round 1922 there was this mean old lady livin out in the woods who owned the biggest Doberman Pincer you’ve ever seen. Standing on his hind legs that dog was taller than a 6 foot man. 200 pounds of pure muscle, name of Demon, and as mean as that old woman.

Well, one evenin 2 escaped convicts from over in Chipley burst through the old lady’s door. One of them waved a big ole Bowie knife and yelled for the old woman to give him all of her money.

See, they didn’t know nothing bout that old woman or they’d have never busted in that door.

Both the old woman and Demon stood up and she snarled “My Demon will take care of you.”

Let me tell you their laughin stopped right quick when Demon sprang from the floor and in one jump grabbed the biggest man’s throat and ripped it from his neck.

The second ole boy bolted out the door and Demon was on him before he got to the porch steps.

Dead in an instant he was.

You know word spreads right quick round these parts and after that night no one ever bothered the old woman again.

Couple a years later Demon was bit right in the middle of his chest by an 8 foot rattlesnake that was layin in the garden. Whatn’t nothing could be done.

It took 5 days for that dog to die.

The old lady chanted spells and made a deal with the Devil to save her Demon.

He died on the fifth night, one of them dark, dark nights when you can’t see your hand in front of ya.

The old lady buried him in a hidden spot down in that old pet cemetery.

And I’m here to tell ya, the Devil took her deal. She’d sit at Demon’s grave on moonless nights, summoning his spirit.

And Demon would appear…

My granddaddy told me this story. I know it’s true."

___________________________________________________________________________________

So off you go to find Demon's grave and the cache hidden there.

The website gives you the coordinates for the starting point and you find yourself way out in Point Washington State Forest, in front of a pet cemetery in the woods.

These two appear to be fresh graves.

The directions tell you to now follow reflectors on the trees to find the cache so off you go, slowly making your way through the dark woods from one tree to another.

You get past the first two trees and then realize you have to go in there.

You wander through the woods for a while, listening to the sounds the woods make at night and wondering if this was really a good idea.

After almost 10 minutes of making your way from tree to tree you round a bend, cross an old firebreak road

and come to a huge palmetto bush.

There is another reflector on the tree behind the bush but there is dead wood, palmetto branches and all sorts of nature's debris on the ground so you are forced to take a narrow path around the palmetto towards the tree.

Once you're behind the palmetto and kind of trapped on the only clear path, you scan your flashlight around, looking for the next reflector.

And you see it.

Demon's grave.

With candles and bones - actual dog bones - spread out across the top of the grave.

While you're staring at that you glance to the left and see this.

Lovely.

And then your husband, who always proclaims himself fearless, tells you to go up and get the cache...

Once you reset the cache there is a well marked trail leading straight back to the truck, which is much closer than you realize.

If you're scared of snakes you'll keep your light pointed at the ground and you'll see lots of these.

Yuk. Yuk. Yuk.

A fun cache to find but it's definitely time to go home now!

The Nifty Fifty

2011-06-24T06:00:00.000-05:00

Every once in a while the Island King has a client that wants pictures of a property taken from above.

Most of the time he charters a helicopter and takes the shots from the air.

But a helicopter won't work for sunset shots so that's when he rents the Nifty Fifty.

The Nifty Fifty is a fifty foot lift that you pull to the shoot location with your truck.

Then you raise yourself and your camera up fifty feet and start taking pictures.

It's odd, the man loves to take the door off of a helicopter and hang out taking pictures but he HATES being in the lift.

He says it sways in the wind and even though he knows it won't he feels like it's going to fall over at any moment.

The last time he rented a lift he got stuck at the top and had to wait almost an hour for the man from the rental company to come and lower the lift using the override switch at the base.

Needless to say, I now have to go with him on all lift shoots so that if he gets stuck I can work the override buttons on the base and get him down.

When we told the Island Girl where we were going she laughed and said she could just imagine us with the lift in a fancy neighborhood - yelling at each other.

Him up in the air yelling "Get me down!" and me on the ground yelling "Are you taking me out to dinner or not?"

Sunset shots are tough, you have to take the pictures at the right moment or they come out too light or too dark so he went up in the lift and waited.

This is the house he was shooting.

This is what the photo would look like if he took it from the ground using a point and shoot camera.

This is what he got from the lift.

He hasn't worked his photoshop magic on this one yet but when he finishes this picture will be the cover for a local magazine and it will be stunning.

We got home about 11 that night but guess what happens when your kids see this in their driveway?

This.

The boys wanted to stay up there all night but the Island King was done with being in the lift so they stayed a few minutes and he told them he'd take them up again in the morning.

Why is it that my house is the only house on the street that has stuff like this happen in the front yard?

They got a much better look around during the day.

The Youngest has declared himself helper on all lift shoots from now on and wants to know if there is a Nifty One Hundred.

As much as the Island King hates the fifty there's no way he'd get into a one hundred!

The Russian Mafia

2011-06-23T06:00:00.002-05:00

The boys had to have new clothes for my Grandmother's funeral so we took them shopping.

The Youngest was fascinated with this black shirt he saw and he had to have it.

At the funeral, out of nowhere, he started telling people he was with the Russian Mafia.

The next day we were at the Navarre Pier and my Mom asked him why he hung up when his Grandfather called last night.

What?

I didn't know my Dad called and I certainly didn't know that the Youngest hung up on him.

The Youngest got real embarrassed and wouldn't say anything.

So my Mom said "He called and when the Youngest answered your Father said "This is the Russian Mafia and we hear that you've been impersonating us."

And the Youngest hung up!!!!

I asked him why he didn't tell me about it and he said he was "too freaked out"

I also asked if he looked at the caller ID before he answered and he said no.

Then he said "But I will from now on - that's for sure!"

Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-22T06:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday Youngest Island Boy!

2011-06-21T06:00:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday!

It's hard to believe you are 10 years old!

You went from this

To this

To this, in the blink of an eye.

You are smart, handsome and funny and I am very proud to be your Mom.

Happy Birthday, Son - We love you!

It's A Bird, It's A Plane - It's My Dad!

2011-06-20T06:00:00.019-05:00

Skydiving is something that my Dad has always wanted to do and last year he decided that for his 75th Birthday he was going to do it.

So on Saturday the whole family drove over to Elberta, Alabama to the Emerald Coast Sky Diving Center so Dad could jump.

They take this tiny plane up 12,000 feet and then out you go.

Dad had to watch a video and then sign a waiver, read pages of legal mumbo jumbo and then sign another waiver and then after a discussion with the man he'd be jumping tandem with, sign another waiver.

But once the waivers were signed and it was his turn, he suited up and was ready to go.

They drop from about 12,000 feet and in that little plane it takes a while to get that high so once they took off we all settled back in the shade to wait.

My Mom seemed a little worried so the Island King told her not to worry, the plane wasn't going to crash.

She said "I'm not worried about the plane crashing but do you know how cranky he'll be if he breaks his leg and has to sit around the house for 6 weeks?"

Very good point.

While we were on the ground he was flying higher and higher.

When they reached the right altitude it was time to jump.

They climbed out onto the wing of the plane

And off they went!

He was flying!

They free fell for 45 seconds - which he said felt like a LONG time.

Then the canopy opened and they floated along for about 10 minutes before they reached the ground.

On the ground, we'd been watching the plane and then all of a sudden a tiny dot appeared in the sky.

He had SO much fun!

They took a great video of him diving and while they were still in the plane the guy asked him if he was excited.

Dad said, I've been waiting 75 years for this!"

As I watched him coming down I kept hearing the words from one of George Jones's songs.

"I don't need your rocking chair, Your Geritol or your medicare, well I've still got neon in my veins, this gray hair don't mean a thing..."

You did it, Dad. Good job!

Silent Sunday

2011-06-19T06:00:00.000-05:00

It's Snapper Season

2011-06-17T06:00:00.000-05:00

June 1st is one of the Island King's favorite days of the year.

Opening Day of Snapper Season.

At 4am he, his brother and two friends loaded the boat and offshore they went.

They went about 18 miles out to a sweet spot they know of and immediately caught their Snapper limit.

But that didn't mean it was time to come back in.

There were still lots of other fish to catch.

Which they did.

I have mixed feelings about eating Gulf seafood these days. And while I do worry about the massive amount of oil that poured into the Gulf - it's the dispersant they used that really bothers me.

But then I look at those fresh fish, caught that morning, and I lose all resolve and eat a plate full.

Unfortunately, while I am still eating Gulf seafood I can't do it with the pure joy that I used to.

Now I think -

"This is so good!"

"I hope it won't make the kids sick in the long run."

"This is so good!"

Over and over again.

The good news is that the Snapper are plentiful and the boat captains who were starving last year are thriving this year.

Thank you, God.

A Medical Breakthrough

2011-06-16T06:00:00.000-05:00

We may have discovered a major medical breakthrough!

This is a Spurge Nettle. It has several common names but around here we call them Itchy Bitchies.

Even a slight brush up against one these plants will cause an immediate burning, itching sensation. Depending on how much of the plant you've gotten on your skin the pain can last anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or more.

It's not a "We're going to the ER" kind of pain but it's certainly unpleasant.

Over the years I've tried hundreds of remedies to make the itching go away quickly.

Benadryl, Cortisone cream, MSG, smearing tobacco over the area, pouring cold water on the spot, all with very little result.

The one thing that seemed to work the best was rubbing alcohol. Pouring the alcohol over the affected area eases the itching and burning some and makes the time spent waiting for it to stop tolerable.

So the other day the Island King and I were checking on a geocache that I have hidden in the woods next to a cemetery in Santa Rosa Beach.

I sat down in a clearing to replace the cache log and it wasn't long before my arm started stinging, itching and burning. Bad.

I looked around and next to me was an Itchy Bitchy.

Obviously, I'd brushed up against it.

We were pretty far from the 1st aid kit in the truck and my arm was on fire.

I told the Island King that I needed to go get an alcohol prep from the truck and he said "Here, try pouring some beer on it."

Which sounds like a typical drunken redneck remedy but when your arm is on fire and your husband is holding a Coors Light you'll try anything.

I poured some beer on my arm and the burning/itching stopped IMMEDIATELY.

I can't emphasize the word immediately enough. Literally, the moment the beer hit my arm all pain was gone.

Holy Cow!

I have never in my life had instant relief from an Itchy Bitchy.

I have no idea which ingredient in the beer is the magic one but something in there works.

So, if you ever run up against an Itchy Bitchy, grab a beer and pour it on.

You'll be pain free in an instant.

And once the pain is gone you can always drink the rest of the beer.

Happy Birthday Dad!

2011-06-15T06:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday Dad!

We love you!

Navarre Pier

2011-06-14T11:52:00.001-05:00

My Aunt and Uncle were in town for my Grandmother's funeral and the day after the funeral they called and wanted us to meet them and my parents for dinner in Navarre.

We met them at the restaurant at the foot of the Navarre bridge and then drove over to the beach to walk out on the fishing pier before we ate.

The pier opened last summer but we've never been out on it so it seemed like the perfect time to take a look.

According to their website, at 1545 feet this is the longest pier on the Gulf of Mexico.

They have a nice little bar that overlooks the pier.

There is a public beach next to the pier and just to the east of that is the Navarre Beach State Park.

The US Government owns the island from the end of the park all the way to Okaloosa Island - which means you get this incredible view of pristine beach.

The land to the west of the pier is all privately owned which means this is the view in that direction.

I prefer the non-developed look myself.

My Mom and I were looking down into the water when we saw something swimming towards us.

At first we thought it was a stingray and then as it got closer we decided it must be a big crab.

I wish this picture had turned out because as he swam closer we got a good look and it was a sea turtle.

Not a baby but still small.

They are so cool. I've seen lots of big turtles out in the Gulf but this is the first time I've ever seen a smaller one near the beach.

Mom and I were lagging behind, walking slow and talking and when we got to the end we saw this.

"Where did you get that hideous hat?"

"I found it in the trash can."

"Put it back."

"No, I'm keeping it."

And he proceeded to walk up and down the pier talking to people - while wearing his new hat.

My Aunt said "I read your blog and he really is like that, isn't he?"

Yep.

We enjoyed our walk, had a nice dinner and got to spend time with family.

A great way to spend an evening!

Fun Monday - Food!

2011-06-13T06:00:00.000-05:00

Sayre is hosting Fun Monday this month and her topic for this week is all about food.

"What is your favorite cook-out food and/or recipe? OR What special dish are you known for at gatherings of family and friends?"

I'm not exactly known as a "successful" cook so after years of embarrassing failures I stopped cooking for events and started showing up with something store bought.

My standard go to dish is baked beans.

I buy a tub of Winn Dixie's baked beans from the deli and 2 big cans of Bush's baked beans.

I mix them all together, put into a baking dish, and cover with tin foil.

Everyone loves them and if you didn't know me you'd assume I baked those beans all day.

If you do know me you're thankful that you don't have to eat something I cooked and pretend to like it.

If you don't know me you'll think I make the best baked beans you've ever tasted!

Silent Sunday

2011-06-12T06:00:00.001-05:00

Frog Listening

2011-06-11T10:00:00.001-05:00

Back in February we volunteered to plant long leaf pine trees on Eglin AFB as part of an erosion control project.

That put us on a volunteer list for projects being done in our area.

During the first week of May we got this email.

"All-
This is one of those volunteer projects that if you are scared of snakes, spiders, slimy critters and stomping through the creeks at night – just delete this email now!

For those of you that are still intrigued – Brandon Rincon, a wildlife biologist - is looking for volunteers to help with frog surveys at night along streams on the Eglin Reservation.

When: May 16th – May 20th
Time: 7:00 pm – 1:00 am
Where: Different creeks on the Eglin Reservation
Meeting Place: Jackson Guard pavilion at 7:00 pm
How many people: 2 Volunteers per night

Requirements:

1. Must be physically fit enough to walk at least 4 miles (sometimes 8 - depends on the fitness of the volunteers) through the woods and along the streams – not always easy walking, but not always horrible either

2. Must be able to walk on uneven terrain for extended periods of time

3. Must be able to walk through streams/crossover streams when needed (not swimming, just walking through)

4. Must be able to keep somewhat composed when you encounter snakes and spiders unexpectedly… just about guaranteed to happen!

5. No prior knowledge or experience required, but always appreciated!

6. Must be at least 18 years of age – no exceptions

Still interested…

Items needed:
1. Food for the evening
2. Plenty of water (camelbaks /waterpacks are really nice)
3. Wear hiking boots/rubber boots or shoes that you can walk very comfortably in for four miles with the possibility of wet feet
4. You can bring a camera – not required, Brandon will have one
5. Bring bugspray – just in case
6. Headlamp – you can get one at any outdoor store, Walmart or maybe even K-mart for around $10. You’ll want your hands to be free – or you can just bring a flashlight
7. Wear a hat! A ball cap is perfect for a headlamp to sit on and it helps keep the spiders out of your hair (serious)

If you are interested – please send me an email with the date you’d like to go out.

Lots of fun to be had… if you don’t mind the creepy crawlers at night!

Erica "

My Dad gets the same emails and he called and laughingly asked if I was going to volunteer for this.

Of course NOT.

They lost me at "if you are scared of snakes, spiders, slimy critters and stomping through the creeks at night."

But then last week we got this email.

"All –

Brandon is doing another round of frog surveys – these are different this time though. He will be doing “road” surveys – just stopping at bridge/culvert crossings and listening for whatever happens to be calling! The work is super easy this time – no stomping around in the woods – unless you are adventurous and want to go after the frog that’s calling just to get a look!

Dates: June 7th – 10th
Time: 7:00 pm to 1:00 am
How many people: 1 person each night - but if you have a friend that wants to go, 2 will be fine

Meeting place: Jackson Guard pavilion

What you need: Food/Water for the night, bug spray, headlamp/flashlight, camera (if you want pictures of anything). You still need to wear long pants and close-toed shoes.

Erica"

Now this I can do!

So I talked the Island King into spending an evening with me in the woods listening to frogs.

We met Brandon, the wildlife biologist, at Jackson Guard in Niceville, loaded our stuff into his truck and off we went into the Reservation.

Naturally, the first question we asked was why survey frogs?

He told us that in 1983 a new species of frog was discovered on the Reservation.

Lithobates Okaloosae - otherwise known as the Bog Frog.

Originally, it was only found in Okaloosa County but over the past few years has migrated a short distance to the east into Santa Rosa County.

Brandon's job is to mark the locations of the Bog Frog. That data is given to Eglin officials so they know where not to conduct bombing training missions.

The Bog Frog has a very distinct voice, which sounds like a chuckle, and by sitting quietly next to streams, ponds and lakes you can hear them easily.

We had 12 areas to check and after driving deep into the woods we came to the first spot.

Brandon had a sheet for each location which he marked with the time, temperature, humidity and noted which kind of frogs he heard.

We stayed at each spot for 5 minutes and then were off to the next one.

We heard Pig Frogs (aka Southern Bull Frogs) Cricket Frogs and Bronze Frogs.

I started the trip thinking it would take years of studying frog voices to be able to tell them apart but by the end of the night I could identify all three of the frogs above.

At one point we were standing at the edge of a creek and I turned around and there on the ground behind me was a frog.

Brandon grabbed it and explained that this was a female Bronze frog.

Only male frogs make noise so by listening you can guesstimate how many frogs there are in an area but finding a female assures the biologists that the frog population at that spot will continue to grow.

Who knew I'd make a valuable contribution to the frog studying world! I doubt I'll get credit in a science book though.

We drove on for hours, stopping at ponds and streams but as the night wore on I realized that the email I'd received was a little misleading.

There were quite a few spots we needed to check that we couldn't get to by truck.

Brandon would stop and say "Ok, from here it's only about 450 yards" and off we'd go.

There wasn't any creek tromping, just clear paths down to the creeks. Which was fine with me - I don't mind walking in the woods at night, I just won't walk in swamps or creeks at night.

The only problem was that all of the places we needed to go were downhill from where we parked.

Which meant 450 yards down to the creek and then 450 yard back uphill to the truck.

Six times.

Halfway back to the truck on the 6th trek I decided that at the next spot I was going to use the old "I must have twisted my ankle on the last hike so I think I need to wait here" trick.

Thankfully, that was the last time we had too go far from the truck so I didn't have to use the I'm Hurt card LOL

We didn't hear Bog Frogs at any of the locations we checked so at the end of the night Brandon took us to a stream where he heard them the night before.

We couldn't see them but we could hear them. It's hard to describe the sound they make but it's very distinctive.

Which means I can now name 4 different types of frogs by their voice.

The Island King and I never really did understand why volunteers were needed for this particular mission but we did enjoy riding through the woods, listening to the night and learning a lot of interesting stuff.

Thanks, Brandon!

Reptiles

2011-06-09T06:00:00.000-05:00

There are three different parts of Army Ranger school and the last part is training here at Eglin AFB.

Swamp school.

They have to learn to navigate through swamps and deal with the reptiles that live in them.

And because of this training, Rangers have become known for their knowledge and skill regarding most things reptilian.

They have a snake house at their camp on Eglin, which we got to tour during the Open House.

It's a square block building and the glass tanks the snakes are in form another square inside the building.

Meaning there is a narrow walkway between the cages and the wall around the building.

We got to the snake building and everyone turned around and asked if I would be coming in.

I've gotten better at controlling my phobia of snakes and I hate it when the boys call me a girl so I said "Sure, I'm coming in."

What was I thinking?

I was trapped in a narrow corridor between snakes and a brick wall.

There were Water Moccasins, Copperheads, big Rattlesnakes, little Rattlesnakes, Pine Snakes, you name it. If it lives in Northwest Florida it was in there.

We rounded the corner and I could see the light from the door at the other end of the room so I told myself to breathe and that I'd be outside soon.

But then the people in front of us started saying "Holy cow, look at all of them!"

We inched along and then out of the corner of my eye I saw what everyone was talking about.

That mass of snakes did me in.

I was still about 30 feet from the door and there were people in front of me - including my children - but none of that mattered.

I was leaving the building.

The Island King turned around to look at me just as we got to the snake ball and saw the look in my eyes. He pulled the boys flat against the wall and yelled "Move aside, Move aside!" in his loudest voice.

As I went plowing past he grabbed the camera out of my hand and took the picture of the snakes.

The people in front of us all turned to see what the Island King was yelling about and saw me coming so most of them were able to get out of my way.

Except for the one man standing in the doorway.

I mowed him over like a professional linebacker.

I didn't stop running until I was a good distance from the building.

I could see the Island King apologizing and helping the guy off the ground but they were too close to the building for me so I wasn't able to apologize myself.

Poor guy was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Later, the Rangers held a demonstration out in the training field and I didn't even consider staying up close to watch.

The Island King and the boys were right on the front row and got to see the whole thing.

I waited in the shade behind the bleachers. And I wasn't alone. Turns out there were quite a few other ophiophobes in the crowd as well.

As for the demonstration, these guys are NUTS!

They brought the poisonous snakes out in boxes and then teams of three men would get the snake out of the box and onto the ground.

Where they could pick it up.

And then walk it down the line, letting everyone touch it's tail.

Shudder.

The boys enjoyed the demonstration and I enjoyed sitting in the shade talking about growing tomatoes with a woman from Gulf Breeze.

On the way home the Youngest Island Boy said "I'm not going to tease you about what happened at the snake house but I am going to stay far away from you the next time we see a snake."

Smart boy.

Ranger Face

2011-06-07T09:53:00.000-05:00

At the Army Rangers Open House the Rangers were painting faces - Army style.

The Youngest Island Boy wanted to look just like the Rangers so he got in line and when it was his turn one of the Rangers went to work.

He rubbed Vaseline all over the Youngest's face because this is the real stuff and it doesn't wash off easily.

He started with the stripes.

Then added the background color.

It wasn't long before the Youngest was all cammoed up

And ready to roll.

He loves this stuff.

Silent Sunday

2011-06-05T06:00:00.001-05:00

How To Embarrass Your Wife

2011-06-04T06:00:00.002-05:00

While we were at the Army Rangers Open House I saw this guy sitting all alone in his boat and wanted the Island King to take my picture with him.

I planned on sitting down, putting my arm around the lonely diver, smiling and being done in under a minute.

I should have known better.

The Island King starts saying "Pick up the gun and look mean."

Several people stopped walking and started watching me.

I picked up the gun but according to my photographer I wasn't holding it right for the picture so he runs up and tries to pose me and the gun.

Which caused more people to stop and watch.

I was starting to feel a lot like a carnival sideshow and way over wanting my picture taken when he hands me the camera and says "Let me show you how to do it"

There he goes.

Too bad you can't hear him. He was grunting, growling and snorting like a big ole hog.

He finished his display and got a round of applause from the crowd he'd drawn.

I shook my head and told the boys that their father can't go anywhere without making a spectacle of himself.

He walked up as I was saying that, grinned and said "That's just how I roll, baby!"

I wonder about that man sometimes.

Army Rangers Open House

2011-06-03T06:00:00.000-05:00

In May, the Army Rangers hold an annual Open House at their camp, Camp Rudder, on Eglin AFB and it's a fantastic event.

They set up a gun range and of course the first thing the boys wanted to do was shoot machine guns.

There was an indoor range with laser guns.

A bomb throwing range.

And a tomahawk throwing challenge.

Bleachers were set up on the edge of a big training field and the Rangers came out of the wood line in a puff of smoke.

The Rangers are made up of several different groups (I'm sure there is a military term for that but I have no idea what it is) with each group having a different specialty. The men coming out of the smoke represented each group.

They lined up in front of the bleachers and the specialty of each group was explained.

These are not men you want to mess with.

Then it was time for a rescue mission demonstration.

There was a wrecked helicopter out in the field with two wounded soldiers in it.

The Rangers flew in on two helicopters.

The helicopter carrying the cover team landed for a fraction of a second while they piled out. Several men ran to the wounded while the rest set up a perimeter around the downed craft.

The helicopter took off and circled low along with the second one.

The wounded were packaged for transport and the second helicopter came in and lifted them up into the helicopter.

The second helicopter landed and the rest of the men on the ground got in and off they flew.

The whole thing happened surprisingly fast.

Once they finished these snipers came out of the woods.

And now the Island King wants a gilley suit just like theirs.

It was a long, fun day and even though we were exhausted we enjoyed every minute of it.

Thanks to the Rangers for giving us a glimpse into their world.

Rest In Peace Grammy

2011-06-02T06:00:00.004-05:00

My grandmother passed away early Wednesday morning.

She'd been having more bad days than good lately and after 100 years she was ready to go.

We will miss you, Grammy.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-01T06:00:00.000-05:00

Memorial Day Weekend

2011-05-31T11:57:00.038-05:00

I love long, holiday weekends. There's time for puttering around the house and then extra time to spend playing at the beach. We went to the beach on Sunday with my BIL and his family and it was a beautiful day.

Not too hot, no rain and stunning green water to play in.

We ended up next to some old friends and I go the biggest kick out of their dogs. They stayed on their yellow float ALL day long.

Sometimes they'd stand up, sometimes they'd lay down, but they were always content.

I wish we could bring our beagle, Buddy, out but he's got no social skills at all and spends all of his time barking, baying and following his nose. He's a great dog but he's more suited for camping and hunting than he is spending his day on a float in the water.

The boiled peanut guys stopped by. We don't even have to wave them over to us anymore. They see the boat and come right up because they know we can't resist boiled peanuts.

The Island King found himself a new girlfriend and walked up and down the beach holding her hand.

Don't you just love his clothes? Every time he wears his "outfit" the kids tell him it doesn't match and that he looks ridiculous. He just smiles and tells them that's the point.

He's an odd duck.

The Island Girl and I walked out to the jetties and on our way we came across this guy playing with a blue crab.

He'd hold out a Cheeto and the crab would take it right out of his hand.

The Island Girl said "I didn't know you could play with crabs like that" and I told her that I didn't know that either because I've always been more worried about getting pinched by one then trying to teach it tricks.

About mid-afternoon the firework barge came out of the harbor and anchored right in front of us.

Yes! We thought the fireworks were going to be on Monday night instead of Sunday but obviously we were wrong.

I LOVE fireworks and could watch them every night.

The War Birds came out and put on a show, which is always fun to watch. Those old planes are so cool.

I'm not sure what happened but as the sun started to set my SIL and BIL had some sort of marital discord and she decided they were leaving.

Leaving?

The fireworks barge is right in front of us, the kids are having a ball playing in the water, we've got lots of food and drinks, and a watermelon to eat.

What is going on?

The Island King and I didn't want to get in the middle of their problem so we don't know what happened but we both agreed we wanted to stay for the fireworks.

He decided to ride back in the boat with them, get his truck and then bring it to the foot of the bridge. That way we could stay as long as we wanted and then hike back to the truck when we were ready to go home.

So they left and my kids and I stayed where we were, swimming and playing in the sand.

He got back about 30 minutes later and we relaxed, ate dinner, and waited for the fireworks.

Which were fantastic.

A true Thank You to all of those who have fought so hard to secure our freedom!

Why Is It?

2011-05-07T23:37:00.002-05:00

Why is it that when my boys see a sign like this they immediately want to climb the fence and see what's dangerous?

They must get that from their father.

On Top of the State

2011-04-29T06:00:00.000-05:00

My Dad and I were each close to finding our 500th geocache and we decided we wanted #500 to be the cache at the highest point in Florida.

Britton Hill is located in Lakewood, Florida, just South of the Alabama line and is the highest natural point in Florida.

At a whopping 345 feet it's the lowest high point of all 50 States.

Dad and I wandered down the hill to find a cache hidden in the woods and let me tell you - it was quite a hike getting back up that hill LOL

If you live anywhere else this would not be considered a hill. More like a slight upward slope.

They have a pretty little park where we had a picnic lunch and enjoyed the view.

Then we spent hours driving around the countryside, hunting geocaches, poking through old cemeteries, and enjoying the scenery.

I fell in love with this girl.

I wouldn't mind having one of these wandering around my yard.

We ventured over into Alabama and visited the Florala State Park.

It sits on Lake Jackson and is a beautiful area.

It was windy when we were there and there were whitecaps out in the lake. Not a great day for the paddle boats they rent there.

On our way home we stopped in an old cemetery and were looking for a cache hidden there.

Dad was up in a clump of trees when he went completely still and said "There's a Copperhead"

I was standing just outside of the trees and kept telling him to get out of there.

He continued standing perfectly still and when I asked what he was doing he said "Watching the snake"

Watching the snake? Get the hell out of there!!

He said the snake sat still for a minute, allowing him a good look at it and then it slid slowly under a tree branch laying on the ground.

Because I am snake phobic all chances of me looking for and finding that geocache
were over.

And I didn't want my Dad poking around up in there anymore either.

Thankfully, he's an intelligent man and knowing how poisonous Copperheads are he didn't argue with me when I suggested we stop looking for this cache and move on to another one.

Preferably, one without a Copperhead laying nearby.

We made our way home, stopping here and there to grab a cache and luckily we didn't run into any more snakes.

It was a wonderful day and we reached the highest point in Florida without breaking a sweat.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-04-27T06:00:00.000-05:00

Paddle To The Sea

2011-04-26T06:00:00.001-05:00

Have you heard of James Neal?

He's doing a 13,000 mile kayak trip to raise money for Save the Children.

He left Beck's Fish Camp on the Escambia River Friday morning and passed my parent's house about 9:30am on Monday.

He is paddling to Cedar Key then driving to Ft Cinch at the Fl/Ga border.

From there he plans to go up the East Coast, The Hudson River, Erie Canal and all 5 of the Great Lakes before coming down the Mississippi River and then back to Pensacola.

Good luck Jim! Godspeed.

Pelican Appreciation Day

2011-04-25T06:00:00.002-05:00

Of all the birds in the northwest Florida area I have to say that the Brown Pelican is my absolute favorite.

Happy Easter

2011-04-24T06:00:00.001-05:00

HE HAS RISEN!

I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed Easter!

A Real Cast

2011-04-23T06:00:00.000-05:00

The Youngest Island Boy is finally in a real cast.

They've kept him in a splint until now because of the pin in his arm but apparently at this point it's now ok to move into a cast.

And it's waterproof!

They wrapped his arm in gortex before they put the cast on and the gortex will dry, even under the fiberglass cast.

I can even hose it out when we come home from the beach to get any sand out.

Very cool.

Of course the day he got the cast put on we took him to the woods instead of the beach, which didn't make him happy.

He went swimming in the neighbor's pool yesterday and the inside of his cast was dry in about half an hour.

Ain't modern technology grand?

Hooters

2011-04-22T06:00:00.001-05:00

Both of my boys have a fascination with the restaurant Hooters and are always asking us to take them there.

Not because of the food but because they want to see "hot girls."

The Youngest is a little young for hot girls but because he has an older brother, who talks about girls a lot, he wants to see hot girls too.

The other night the Island King decided he wanted some wings (at least that's the story I heard) and decided to take the boys to Hooters.

They were so excited and took showers - voluntarily - which NEVER happens.

When they got home the Youngest proudly showed me his sling which the waitresses signed.

And then showed me the picture their father took of them with the waitresses.

My first thought when I saw the picture was "That girl's boob is bigger than the Youngest's head. And he has a BIG head!"

I should probably be mad that my husband took my sons to look at boobs but I'm not.

I'm going to go with the "They went for the wings" story.

The Decorah Eagles

2011-04-21T06:00:00.000-05:00

I've spent too much time watching this lately.

These Eagles are known as the Decorah Eagles.

The Raptor Resource Project has a web cam set up near the Eagles nest in Decorah, Iowa and it is fascinating to watch them.

I'm spending more time watching her clean her nest than cleaning my own.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-04-20T06:00:00.000-05:00

Get The BOY!!

2011-04-19T06:00:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday was my niece's birthday and she wanted a girls only, make-up, nail polish, girlie party.

The Oldest Island Boy was going to spend the day playing paintball with his Dad, which meant that I needed to find somewhere for the Youngest Island Boy to hang out during the party.

My BIL took his boys to a go cart track for the afternoon but the since the Youngest has a broken arm he couldn't do that.

I called my Dad and he said to bring the Youngest by his house on my way to the party and they'd hang out.

My sister was cooking dinner for the whole family after the party so Dad said he'd bring the Youngest with him when he came out for dinner.

The party was a success and the girls had a great time.

My Dad and the Youngest showed up just before the party ended. They slipped into the kitchen to get some cake and one of the little girls spotted the Youngest.

I heard him say "Oh no" and then all of a sudden the girls were coming at him.

He took off running, out the door and across the backyard, chased by a gaggle of girls.

One of the girls was yelling "Get the boy!!" at the top of her lungs. Another was yelling that they were going to put makeup on him.

I ran after to save him but he'd run around the corner of the house and was trapped by the girls.

A few of the shy ones hung back but the rest of them had him cornered against the fence.

Luckily, my Dad had seen the whole thing and went out the front door, opened the gate to the back yard, snatched the Youngest Island Boy out of harm's way and then closed the girls back inside the yard.

They retreated to the dock - which they declared a No Girls Zone.

Except for me because I don't fall into the girl category as far as the Youngest is concerned.

On the way home he said "I don't know why I thought I wanted a girlfriend - that was terrifying!"

Poor kid.

But I'm sure he'll get over it and it won't be long before he wants a gaggle of girls chasing him.

Message In A Bottle

2011-04-18T06:00:00.000-05:00

After our scouting trip into Point Washington we planned the geocache we wanted to hide, gathered everything we needed and went back the next day.

We're naming this cache Message in a Bottle and it's a multi-stage cache, meaning I post the coordinates for the first stage on geocaching.com and then once you find that cache it will contain the coordinates for the second cache.

We picked the name because the first stage is hidden at the head of Eastern Lake and that's as good a place as any for a bottle to wash up.

We had an old wine bottle with a rubber seal so we rolled up a log with the coordinates for the second stage on it and stuck it down in the bottle, attached to a wire with a hook on the end which will make the paper slide right out.

Then we bushwacked a short distance down an animal trail and hid the bottle in an old tree stump.

Now you see it.

Now you don't.

The second container is an ammo can that we hid at the head of the creek.

Up on high ground in a beautiful oak and pine hammock.

After we hid the can the Island King looked around and said "I think the clue for this one should be "fallen log".

Yeh, that'll be helpful.

We added a twist to this one and started the log sheet in the wine bottle with 3 words - I Am Lost...

Each person who finds the cache is supposed to write 3 more words and then post them on the website so I can put together a running story.

You know, a message in a bottle.

Silent Sunday

2011-04-10T06:00:00.000-05:00

Training Wheels

2011-04-09T06:00:00.000-05:00

We were driving along Hwy 98 the other day and I noticed the car in front of us.

It looked like it had training wheels.

We got a little closer and could see that the car was being towed by a much smaller car.

You couldn't see the car or the trailer - just the wheels sticking out each side.

Too bad most of the drivers I see on the road don't have training wheels.

They need them.

I Don't Get This One

2011-04-08T06:00:00.000-05:00

I get Spam emails all day long. Most of them tell me I've won millions in some Nigerian lottery or a long lost relative has left me a fortune.

It's easy to see the catch - I send them my personal information and then they steal my idenitity, wipe out my bank account or both.

But I got this email yesterday and I still don't get it.

FREE HEROIN SHIPPING!

1. Heroin, in liquid and crystal form.
2. Rocket fuel and Tomohawk rockets (serious enquiries only).
4. New shipment of cocaine has arrived, buy 9 grams and get 10th for free.

Everebody welcome, but not US citizens, sorry.

ATTENTION. Clearance offer. Buy 30 grams of heroin, get 5 free.

Please contact: wlim@daedae.org

PHONE 0093(0)4765481
FAX 0093(0)4485291

Afghanistan

Obviously, these people are not going to send me herion, cocaine or Tomohawk rockets so I don't get the scam.

If I call the number will someone take my credit card number under the pretense of sending me the goods?

Does the DEA answer the phone, take your order and then show up at your door?

The scary thing is that there are probably people out there who would believe that you can order herion or rockets through an email and that it would actually show up in your mailbox.

I wanted to call the number just to see what happens but the Island King had a fit and says the last thing we need is to call them, putting our number in their database.

He's probably right.

Still, I'm curious - do people really believe this kind of stuff?