Dawg the bounty hunter

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Dawg the bounty hunter

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Have a great Memorial Day weekend, but also remember...

On our way back from Barksdale to enjoy the Memorial Day festivities with our Merrywood gang in Folsom. Please, while partying down, remember who gives us our freedoms. It is not the preacher man, or the media, nor the politicians or lawyers, but the vets who protect our speech, religion, press, due process,  the right to assembly and many, many more! So, hoist a cold one in their honor!

TJ... A chip off the ole' Chumps!

Congrats to my nephew, TJ, for making the 2010 All-District AllStars in his junior year. Tony worked hard to accomplish this. He began the baseball season on an off note, when the previous coach placed him in left field and wouldn't let him bat. His dad finally persuaded Tony to ask the coach if he could sit and talk w...ith him. When he coach obliged, Tony asked him if he could have a shot at playing his usual and best position of shortstop. The coach said no at first but then let him play for one game. He did so well, really showed the coach what he can do as a shortstop, so much so, that he switched the players for the rest of the season! He let Tony play his shortstop position and the sophomore that was playing shortstop played left field for the rest of the season! Tony also excelled throughout the season in his batting and has really grown as a player throughout the past year, so congratulations, dude!

The Tortoise and the Hairy...

The last time Pierre, our three year old cocker spaniel, barked continuously for over ten minutes, it was because he had found a large water moccasin hidden in the big leaves of our magnolia tree near the front pond. But that's a story for another time.

So, I left the studio to see what was the matter this time and found Pierre just confounded by a box turtle that entered the garden to munch on some clover. He was so put off by the turtle and wanted me to come by to see and explain to him why this rock smells different and moves. I never saw the turtle's head come out of its shell in all of the twenty minutes I was there laughing at Pierre's antics and clicking away at his frustration. It was hilarious watching him try to figure out this whole scene. Every now and then, he'd raise his head to look at me with a puzzled stare as if to say, "What's up wit dis! though he wouldn't let me get close enough to it to give the turtle a breather.

I guess the dog figured a bird in hand is better than one in the bush because there was no hesitation when I said the magic word,"Treat"? Once indoors, I escorted the turtle back to the pond where it could escape to should Pierre sniff him out again!

Feeding the bass...

Feedin' da bass!

It is that time of the year, where it seems I am the caretaker of many of the animals that grace our home. The hummers need to be fed once or twice a week. The cocker spaniel, Pierre, gets his medicine in the morning, fed twice a day and he lets me know if I am late. Then, there's the bird feeder, where it seems, every other day, a four or five cup serving of seeds and peanuts keep the birds happy as they feed their new families. Titmice, chickadees, nuthatches, house finches, jays, cardinals, sparrows, and woodpeckers all await my visit around 8 am.

But the strangest recipients of nature's bounty, with a little help from me, is our bass and perch. This time of year, japanese beetles attack the yard and porch lights with an insane vengence. They hit the windows, bounce off of flood lights and if you allow it, will practically fly into your hair, shirt and pants. The beetles are very destructive to pine trees, so instead of spraying to control them, I capture twenty or so of the insects, put them in a glass container with holes punched into the top, and feed them the following morning to the fish. This will continue throughout the month of April into May.The fish follow me all around the perimeter of the back paddock pond joistling for position and chasing each other out of their territory. They practically jump out of the water as if begging for a bug or two. Wild!