Those *%$@# Raccoons !

I have had minimal problems this year with rabbits and deer in my garden. I do live back in the woods, way off the paved road, and surrounded by corn and soybean fields. I expect some intrusion from the local wildlife, but this morning, some of them pissed me off

I had been nursing a few cantaloupes, and knew that this morning was going to be the day to enjoy them. I went out to pick them and .........

This is what I found. The raccoons had picked them last night and took them under some honeysuckle to have a feast

If you can see it, they scooped out all the flesh, and all that was left was the rhine. They took 3 melons, and I found the remains of a squash. I think it's time to take the 22 out of the cabinet. Tonight I will prepare

I will let Super Hank out of the pen tonight. He is my squirrel/deer/rabbit/attack dog. A true Hank of all trades, remover of cats from the trash cans, snake chaser, outdoor alarm system, and friend. The dog can read my mind, and knows what the target of the day is. I will give him first shot to rid me of my melon snatchers, until then, I am off to Hall's for some store bought melons

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More Mud Bogin

Here are some clips of my brother and our friends at the last Mud Bog. These are just some local guys that build heir trucks in the backyard. No sponsors, and all built by hand

Garden Update

I am so impressed with my cherry tomato's, They are still producing and have many green ones budding

These are two of my early girls. They get planted after the first frost, and usually produce until the heat gets them in late July. I played a trick on them and gave them shade since mid June, and they are still putting out tomatoes

My green peppers got off to a slow start, but I used seeds, and not seedlings to grow them. When they did start, they shot up fast, about 3 1/2 feet tall and peppers sprouted everywhere. I had to use some bean stakes and tie them because they were so top heavy. I'm glad they started, because green peppers around here are about $2 dollars each

My watermelons are doing great. I have started using my drip hose around the base of the plant so they will expand and be super juicy.

And finally, my cantaloupes are starting to skin over and swell. I have 4 vining plants, and about 8 melons on each vine. I have a drip hose around the base of these as well, and you can tell the difference when you slice it open.

Hope you guys are having a great garden this year !

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Family Reunion Day

We had our family reunion today at my younger brothers house. There were 5 generations of family in attendance.



Our family tradition is everyone brings a covered side, or desert

For the main course, we had steamed crabs, and pork BBQ

I don't care who you are, there is nothing better than family

My brother has a pool at his house, so the kids were occupied

I was introduced to a game called Redneck Horseshoes

It's a game where you toss 2 rubber balls connected with a foot of string at a post with 3 levels

I watched, but did not play. I'm not even sure how they scored

I did enjoy watching the kids in the cannonball contest

They did the scoring like the Olympics. They had medals, and some little prizes for them

Great day today, and a birthday party/BBQ on Sunday. Not a bad weekend

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A Time Out Today

I took a time out today and went outside to watch my boys ride the trails on their 4 wheeler. I thought I'd share some of what I saw

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While I was out there, I looked around my tree stand spot. This is the back end of a soy bean field that is behind my house. As you can imagine. there are many deer around my home, and all I will need to do is walk about 400 yards from my door to get a shot. My older son is coming down in a few days, an I am going to get him to put the deck and ladder against the tree now so everything out there will be used to seeing it


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Drowning Some Worms

It's never a bad day when you get to fish, or hang out at the beach and swim. We combine both, and had a great afternoon. There was an east wind, and as superstition has it, the fish will not bite. We did manage to get a few spot and hardhead. I let the boys pull in some small ones, and then they went swimming.

I wadded out a little to get past the rocks, but did not catch anything worth keeping

I gave up after a while because my back started to hurt. I was content to watch the boys swim for a while

If you have read my profile, you know that I had been in a rear end accident back in May, and with the back pain, and nerve damage to my neck and hands, I cant do to much anymore. Thursday the 14, is doctor day. We are hoping that they find a way to fix me. This pic is what it looks like when a chevy car hits a Ranger pickup at a stoplight. He admitted to be going 55 in a 45 when he hit me. I am glad my foot was on the brake.

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Mud Bog

I got a few video's from the mud bog at our county fair this past weekend. The first is my little brother in his F-150. This is pretty much a stock truck, he has removed the independent front axle and installed a solid front. It has headers and exhaust, and the original motor. Can't beat a FORD !




This is one of of our friends trucks that ran later on. The bog went into the night, and I heard he was only one of a few that made a full run. Just thought I'd share

Gephyrophobia ??

Everyone has fears. Little things that make your skin crawl, cover your eyes, and run screaming. But sometimes you cannot get away from the " impending doom " that lies before you, and you either face it head on, or enter the fetal position. The word gephyrophobia is the scientific word for fear of bridges, and my significant other suffers from this affliction. That being said, I had a Doctors appointment today, and to get there, we had to cross this bridge. I have been across it many times before, but she has only been across a few. As we approach, you can see her slide down into the seat a little at a time. It is not the height of the bridge, or the feeling of a swaying motion she thinks she feels. It is the fact that it is only a 2 lane bridge with only concrete barriers protecting you from going into the water. A single vehicle crossing this bridge is fine, but this is a heavily traveled road with many big trucks coming from the opposite direction. Not only are they very close when they pass, but the wind they produce as they go by will shake our car violently. This is the root of her fear, I believe, and the cause of her sitting in the floorboard. It's not the fact that I enjoy her phobia, or feel the need to make fun of it, but it does amuse me when we finally cross over and she regains her composure, and then hits my arm and says "shut up" before I say a word.

braggin time

Not to much happening today, so I thought I would brag on my garden. My boy's and I really love these Sugarbaby watermelons. I put these in in late May because of all the rain we were having around here. This one, and a couple more will be good to eat by this weekend

Here is one of my regular watermelons. These babies showed up about a week ago. I planted these late too, but I don't think it hurt them

I have been getting some squash, but only a couple at a time, They are growing all over the place now. If you take a close look, you can see the soil I am in is not the best. It has a lot of sand. I had been tilling in some good topsoil, trying to mix it in. I also tilled in some manure and a few oyster shells. It seems to be working good. Have fun everybody !

Beachy weekend

All the kids, except for our youngest, were scattered out among grandparents this weekend. So with one little boy in the house for a couple days, We thought that we could have a little quiet time together. Well, it didn't last long because my wife decided that we were going to babysit our niece for a few days. I thought it was a good idea, because she is only 3, and still needs a lot of attention, unlike our 2 boys who are very independent. We are only 5 minutes from the beach, and decided that we would take the little girl to the water and see how she would react. Last summer, she would have nothing to do with the water or sand.

Well as you can see, it was a whole new ballgame this year. She eased into the water a little, and then splashed and played with the sand. We were a little surprised, but when she saw her cousin jumping in the water, she had to give it a try.

The mud bog at the fair was Sunday. I could not run because of my auto accident, but my brother and my friends went and ran. I am hoping to get the pics together soon and will post them. I hope everyone had a great weekend, and got outside for a little while.