Great Week!

I found a shark's tooth on the beach this morning! It's the first one I've found in quite awhile and the only one we've found this week. Not a big one-but one all the same!

This sand crab/fiddler crab met us at the beach this morning-I've NEVER seen a white and yellow one before and he was quite large! I would have LOVED to catch him and take him home to the grandkids-but I knew that would only cause its' death-so I just left it alone.

Well-it's almost over :( But we've had such a great time! We are on the camp grounds waiting list for Labor day weekend-and we are only the third in line. The requests in front of us only want the spaces on the Intercoastal-we'll take ANYTHING!! So it looks kinda good that we'll get to come back real soon! We also made reservations in the middle of September for our anniversary-and we got one of the best sites at the park-right on the Intercoastal canal. Hopefully we'll have our fishing lights by then and can do some serious night fishing! Speaking of-that's what we did last night! We met a young couple who are the new owners of a bait camp down here and they invited us to fish last night under the lights. The speckled trout were just popping and rolling in the water! It was great-but they didn't bite very well :( . I did catch one and I think we ended up with it and 4 sand trout and we're planning to go back tonight. We didn't get back to the camper until right at 2:00 am-really late for us. But it has been SO hot here and I guess everywhere else too. August will be here soon!

Beach Vacation!

Kaytlynn with her treasures from the beach this morning-lots of small shells and a few clams.

Jordan & Kaytlynn at the boat ramp at the campground-he's bound and determined to catch himself some bait in the dip net.

Our little piece of Paradice for the week-this is a really nice place to camp so far-but it is awfully hot! We brought Jordan & Kaytlynn with us and Ricky, Alana & Kylie came later in the afternoon. We spent a little time at the beach right at dark last night-it was just TOO hot to get the baby out!

But- this is Kylie and Alana this morning-her second time on the beach! She slept through this morning's trip though!

Last night's trip though-she was wide awake and trying to process it all! She slept well overnight-Alana said she only woke up once-and we never heard a peep out of anyone-Jordan & Kaytlynn were completely worn out!

Well-we finally made it-After ANOTHER flat tire-we had one on the camper bring it home from Mom's-and having to turn around and go back into Winnie for another tire-Ended up having to buy 4 brand new ones! It rained on us close to half of the way down-and Alana said that we got a really good rain at the house! YEAH! We finally-well almost-finished the fence around the new pasture and got the cows moved over there on Friday evening-boy were they enjoying the grass! I meant to take a picture of them-but with all the packing and getting ready to leave-I just forgot! Ricky is going to feed for us while we are here-they've already left for home. We lost 3 or 4 hens on Saturday to a neighbors dog-so they will have to be kept penned up until the problem is solved-that leaves us with only 5 or 6 left-so I'll be looking for some replacements when we get back. I hope to find some Araucaunas-we miss the green eggs! We let the horse into the pasture with the sheep so he can have some grass-A man Jeff used to work with is coming to get the horse on Wednesday-no one is riding him anymore and feed is just costing us too much-so he has to go.

We've fished a few times already-here in the canal and at the beach. I caught a small croaker and Jeff caught a hard head at the beach-hopefully we'll get into some bigger/better catches some time this week. Today is Jeff's birthday-so I really wish he'd hang something great! He just came in from walking Rascal and said it's just roasting out there-guess we'll have to wait til it cools off to try some more!

Summer Break Has Begun!

Kaytlynn coming into Church for Parent's night at VBS.

Jordan coming in-The theme this year was New York City-the kids had a ball!

Kylie and Grandpa-He had her grinning-but I couldn't get a pic in time-go figure! She has already gained 1.1 pounds and grown 1/2 an inch. She has a very hearty appetite!

I don't know what happened to the last post-it somehow was eaten-pics-text and all! anyway-I'll try to start over! We've been getting a little rain-not near enough-but any little bit we are grateful for! I'm off work until August 1st-so I'm looking foward to a little R&R!

We are planning to go to the beach camping next Saturday-We changed our Caddo Lake plans-we just didn't feel comfortable going so far off with all the health issues Mom's been having. We can't seem to keep her out of the hospital-and we're working with the Docs to try to get her off some of the meds-she's on WAY too much stuff! Dad started his chemo Wednesday-through fanny pack drip-he was in very good spirits at Church-no side effects yet-hopefully he won't have to suffer through any!

Jeff was reinstated as a Deacon 2 weeks ago-most members didn't even know he was in an inactive state. We really are enjoying our new pastor-Bro. Tobey and family are great!

I know I had LOTS more stuff on the eaten posts-guess I'll put it on later-if I can remember!

Vacation Pics!

The crew with the Penquin at the Aquarium-Mady doesn't like him at all-Kaytlynn didn't either after this pic was taken!

All of our penquins!

Well, my summer break started today. It was so hard leaving work yesterday knowing I wasn't coming back until July 26th. We have so much still to do before school starts back again. I let my boss know that she could call me at anytime and I'll come in and do whatever needs to be done. But I do have lots to do at home before then!

I have an eye appointment in a little while-I've gotten to where I can't see with my glasses and can even see better without them! The crew has been working some on the bathroom remodel-but we've hit a snag-the clawfoot won't quite fit in the area where the old tub was! So now the plumbing will have to be rearranged to make everything fit! So much fun!

Jeff made 14 pints of pickles on Monday and I finished up the juice with 4 more this morning. We are still waiting on the call from the locker plant to pick up the steer-sure thought it would be ready by now-but the longer it hangs in the cooler-the more tender the meat! Jeff's been tinkering with the welding machine-the valves are stuck and it won't run-Shorty was needing it to finish up his new catch pen-he's making a little headway-only 1 valve is still stuck.

Hurricane Alex is not sending any rain our way it appears. It has given us cloudy days which mean cooler temps though! We do get a slight shower every now and then-but hardly enough to even drip off the house.

We are having Jeff's dad's 80th birthday party on Sunday-he still isn't doing very well-should be a pretty big crowd-he has a very large family. Gonna have hamburgers and hotdogs and birthday cake! We still have a good chance of rain on Sunday-but we'll just make the best of it!

Have a great day!

Time DOES Fly When You're having FUN!!

Can't believe I can't keep up with this all of a sudden! Well-we got back yesterday from vacation in Galveston with the whole family-minus Randy and Rascal! We had a blast at Moody Gardens and just hanging out at the beach. The weather was wonderful-even if I got sunburned the first day and at Moody Gardens no less! Alana and crew went home on Saturday-so we called Shelia and Alfred and they came on down for the night. The guys fished at the beach and caught a few small sand trout and gaff top. A great time was had!!
Jeff finally got his first SS check-YEAH! He won't be getting the back pay, though, but we are grateful to just have the income back! He's making pickles today-we stopped by the farmer's market on the way home and got a few cucumbers-Our garden is just not worth speaking of anymore-and so are alot of others around here. It has really been a weird year-either you have veggies EVERYWHERE or none at all.
We took the steer to the locker plant before we left-so we should be picking the meat up today or tomorrow-can't wait for a fresh steak! We are thinking about getting a few goats to keep the pasture eaten down-and they will be easier for us to handle than the full size cows! The pigs are growing and we still have rabbits to butcher-I won't breed them anymore this summer-it's just too hot for them! The quail are starting to sound off-they sound so cool-eggs will be coming before too long!! The pullets are coming along nicely, too.
All eyes are on the Gulf now-with the threat of the first hurricane of the season looming. The oil spill is bad enough-we really don't need that making it worse! Galveston beaches are still ok-just lots of seaweed! I'll try to post pictures later-took some really good ones this weekend!! Have a great day!

Vacation Pics #3

The new outside shower at the beach! We still need to get a curtain for the opening and I need to finish decorating it! Cold water only this time!

5 of the 6 Gaff top that were caught on Saturday-Gotta get that clothes line painted!

Jason & LeAnn-I do believe she out fished him!!

I think this will be the last of the pics that I'll post from last week. We had such a great week! Anyway-when I got home from work yesterday, Jeff had butchered 3 rabbits. I was wondering what I was gonna fix for supper-but mystery solved when there is fresh meat in the kitchen sink! I lightly browned one, then smothered it in gravy to finish cooking-good eatin'! One went in the freezer-it was kinda big- so I'll have to slow cook it and Jeff's Mom wanted one-so we later took it up to them. The hens have all but quit laying-it's just so hot and dry! We checked out the fence across the road yesterday and will move the cows up there this afternoon. Rainbow somehow got out last time-but we couldn't find anyplace that the fence was down. There is a little grass up there and a roll of hay that they didn't touch last time they were in that pasture. The grandkids helped us clean up the garden a little-they love throwing the old cucumbers over the fence to the chickens and cows-Jordan can throw a pretty good way, so he had the cows really searching for them! I got all the grass out of one of the beds and started on another-I may have to get the lawn mower and weedeater in there to get it back under control!

Well-I need to go get ready for work-Have a great day!

More Vacation Pics!

Jeff & Tim with the speckled trout they caught. They were both the same size-but Tim's was a little meatier!

Jeff, Tim & Jason seined at the beach and caught a LOT of bait shrimp! They weren't quite big enough to eat-but were perfect to fish with!

Jeff-in Jason's boat- with his big speckled trout!

Well, we made it through the first day back at work! Mine went very quickly in fact and Jeff said his did, too! I'm still working 10 hr days this week and my supplemental pay sheet was turned in yesterday for all the extra time I have worked-around 75 hours-HEH! Our 30th anniversary is Sept. 15th and we are trying to decide what we want to do. We have checked into Fredricksburg and might go there-but we had such a good time at the beach last week-we really thought about just spending some time there. But we would only spend the weekend working! And since it is such a big milestone in our lives-we really want to do something special. The main problem-other than money!-is time. School will be in full swing by then-but my boss has already told me I can have some time off. We'll probably take a Friday and Monday off-but nothing's set yet!

Jeff had fish fried when I got home yesterday-I had him grill some for me-they were SO good! We put several bags in the freezer on Saturday from the ones that were caught. Finally-fish in the freezer again! We had bought some table shrimp right off the boat last week and froze them,too-so now we can have fish and shrimp down at the beach again!

We are back to needing rain again! We have only had little hit and miss showers lately and it's getting dry. I haven't even paid any attention to the garden lately-it's nothing but weeds-although there are still a few tomatoes trying out there. I have been thinking a little on a fall garden and what I might want to get planted. Gonna have to get on that one soon!

Have a great day! :)

Great Vacation!

Jeff & Tim putting down the pallet of grass we bought-you couldn't believe how much a little bit of green in the yard makes the place look SO much better! We had such a pretty yard before the storm!

The flounder I caught and the 3 croakers we caught early in the week! I was SO excited-I haven't caught a flounder in a long time!

Jeff coming out of the new shed-we still had LOTS of stuff piled around-it looks much better now-still have to finish that painting, though!

We had SUCH a great week!! We did have lots of rain-about 5 inches on Saturday evening after we got settled in-then nearly that much again on Thursday evening with scattered rain showers through the week, but we really didn't let it stop us much! We got the shed finished-minus the paint due to the rain-and still need something permanent for the roof. It does have a least 2 coats of white-but needs a few more. We did get some fishing in-better at some times than others! We rode the ferry on Tuesday and went into Galveston for awhile. Tim & Candy came down on Wednesday-David's girlfriend had to be back home in the Woodlands by 4:00 on Thursday for work-so they took the kids home and then drove back-Bless their hearts-that's way too many miles for me! Then early on Friday morning-Jason & LeeAnn came down with their boat and the fishing really got serious! They had a hard time finding bait on Friday-so Saturday they got after it and caught 3 BIG speckled trout! Tim and me went with them that evening and Tim caught a big one too. They started catching really big gafftop, too. I caught a hardhead. We were fishing several of the reefs in the bay and had a wonderful time!

All the animals here seemed to have grown a foot while we were gone! Jeff will definitely have to butcher rabbits this week! The turkeys surely are a pair-one is now alot bigger than the other. We took the hen away from the bitties-they are completely feathered out now. The calves are growing very nicely! Alana and Ricky did a good job of taking care of everything! Thanks!!

Boy, is it hard to get ready to go back to work this morning! But we were both ready to get back to it this morning. Jeff had stumped his toe on a brick yesterday and scraped it pretty bad. I knew it wasn't gonna feel too good in his steel-toe work boots this morning. When he left for work he said it wasn't just the boots-he'd only worn flip-flops all week!-but that his work clothes hurt him everywhere they touched him!!

Since my internet is SO slow-it'll take a few days to post my pics-so stay tuned for more fish pictures-some are really great!! Have a great day-gotta go get ready for work!

Happy Birthday, Jeff!!

Jeff doing one of his favorite things-tending to his cows!

Today is Jeff's 49th birthday!!! My vacation starts today and Jeff's tomorrow! We'll be leaving in the morning for the beach. The grandkids have been in VBS all week and the end party is tonight-so we'll go and see their plays and songs.

It RAINED yesterday! It started to sprinkle when I got in from work and rained steady for nearly an hour! We got almost 1/2 inch and the weather radar is showing more getting close this morning! I told Jeff that it looks like we might have a wet vacation-but we need the rain SO bad-it's OK. If it starts to rain too much at the beach-we can always come home. We have LOTS to do around here, too!

The calves are doing great. The little heifer was really feeling good this morning-running all through the pasture-tail straight up in the air! The turkeys are growing-but are still very scared of every movement. One of them is quite a bit bigger than the other-maybe we will end up with a pair! Alana and family will feed for us while we are gone and are in daily contact with us. hehe You would have to know Alana to understand that comment!

Well-it is getting a little dark and windy here now and of course-I have to go into Porter to look for some bamboo fencing we are wanting for the beach. Sure don't want to complain about the rain! Have a great week!

Vacation???

Randy and Ricky digging the last bit of the drench for the waterline. Jeff was gone to the ER with his Dad-so Ricky got all the line dug to the barn and almost to the front pasture-then him and Randy finished it up. Boy was Jeff grateful to the two of them!! You can see a small part of the new fence in the background.

This is the pond(lake!) that Curtis, Jr dug this week! That is Jordan standing near the bottom-there is a small deeper hole that he's next to. A small area above where Jordan is standing is now seeping water-so he might have hit an underground spring!

Well-we stayed REALLY busy this last week. On Monday, we took a trip down to the beach just to check on things. It had been raining alot down there and all of our lots were standing in water. All the drainage ditches are full of sand and there's no where for the water to run off. Hailey went with us and she took the devestation well. We were worried about her-she's been with us every step of the way with the house-even at closing. We did find a few more of our things-Jeff even found one of my lamps that I really was hoping to find! Tuesday we got to working on the little pasture up front so we could let the calves out of the barn and back on grass-not that there's much of it this time of year. We finished it on Thursday and boy they were happy to be able to run around again. Friday was spent up at Mom and Shorty's doing odd jobs and cleaning up some around their house. Saturday Jeff started running new water line from our meter to the house and barn. The old black pipe was starting to get lots of leaks so it was time. Sunday morning Jeff had to take his Dad to the ER-he was having trouble breathing again. They admitted him-he should come home today sometime. And Jeff had to go back to work this morning. All in all, we've had a nice Christmas and New Year's and vacation all rolled into one-even if it goes by faster each year!!!

Christmas Shopping!!

I think I'm finished with my shopping!!!! WooHoo!!! For a family that wasn't gonna do a big Christmas this year-it sure took alot to get it done!! The weather has turned off cold and dreary again-our typical East Texas weather!!! The fog was so thick when Alana and I left Livingston yesterday-but I'm now finished shopping-OH-durn-I just remembered 1 other thing I have to pick up :(
The kids are almost through with school, too. Jordan's last day is tomorrow and Hailey has a half day on Friday. I haven't worked yet this week and really would like to-but no openings are available!! Jeff has to work next week-he's off for Christmas for 2 days-then has to go back on Friday. Then his vacation starts -he won't return to work til after Near Year's. He can't wait!! We are gonna try to get down to the beach and get some work done on the lot-weather permitting. And we have some fences that need to be worked on around here-so as usual-lots to be done!
I didn't start the Amish bread the other day-I counted up and I'd be baking Christmas day-I have enough to bake that day!! So I'll start it in a few more days I think! Sheila-Congrats on your truck-How bad did Alfred's head spin putting on the part?? hehe Everyone have a great day-Stay warm!!!!