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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