My Heroes!

The kids and I were home by ourselves on Sunday....doing things around the house. I walked outside to get something and when I turned to come back in the house, there was a snake in the breezeway. I yelled for the kids to stay inside and I kept my eye on the snake. It slithered it's way into the cellar and I made a run for the kitchen door. Since hubby was with his buddy and they were supposed to be fishing, I figured I'd call the person I thought would get here the quickest, my brother-in-law! There was no answer at their house. So, I called my dad...he doesn't drive as fast as BIL but I figured he'd get here quicker than I could hunt down hubby. Their telephone line was busy. So, I tried hubby's friend's house. And they were there! They were just getting ready to go fishing but hadn't left yet! Thank you, God!! I told him about the snake...the kids and I had tried to identify it with our handy dandy Guide to West Virginia Snakes....and he promised to be right home. In the meantime, we kept an eye on the snake. It was all over the cellar...climbing up and over boxes, working its way up and across shelves and back down again. We wanted to know exactly where it was, so hubby could administer its demise. A time or two, the snake was brave enough to stick its little head out the door like it was going to make a run for it, but we shooed it back into the cellar until hubby could get there. Daughter was pacing back and forth and I thought she was going to hyperventilate. We knew Hubby was at least 25 minutes away. So, we tried to call Uncle again. We finally reached him and he promised to come right over. Yeah!!! So, now we're watching the driveway and watching the snake creepy crawl all over the cellar. Oh, and my Dear Son is wanting to be the Big Guy and go kill it himself while he's perched on top of the kitchen sink. :-) Hubby finally pulls in and we're so glad that Daddy's home! He just marches right into the cellar without a hoe or anything. We're trying to direct him to where we last saw the snake and telling him to get some kind of weapon. He grabs the mop! I'm thinking...what's he gonna do with a mop??? It's never inflicted the kind of pain I wanted that snake to endure. So, I told him where he could find the hoe. Before he can get the hoe, his fishing buddy pulls in the driveway. He comes marching up the hill with some kind of gun that has "birdshot" in it. Hubby is moving things around the cellar trying to find the snake. He sees it just as it's going down the basement drain and shoots! He's not sure if he got it or not. I WANT TO SEE A BODY! In the midst of all of this, Brother-in-law arrives weilding a sword! Yep, a sword!!! They fill him in on what's happened to this point and the three of them decide to flush the snake through the drain with the garden hose cause I WANT TO SEE A BODY! They put tons and tons of water down the drain and no snake. BIL advises them to pour a gallon of bleach down the drain to encourage him to come out (if he's still alive). So, they do that and we expectantly watch the end of the drain pipe. Still no snake. I know Hubby and his friend were wanting to go fishing and it's getting closer to dark. BIL had steaks on the grill when he got my call, so I'm sure he'd rather be home. But the guys...my heroes...perservere. They flush the pipe again with water and we wait. Daughter is watching the end of the pipe through the dining room window while the guys are checking out the cellar to make sure there are no more snakes. Suddenly, she yells that it's come out. Everyone (the menfolk) run outside, including Dear Son. He wants the honors of administering justice and grabs the hoe. After two whacks (he missed the first time), the bleach-soaked, bird-shot, traumatized snake is dead!! Yeah, my heroes! But that's not enough. Guys being guys...they have to investigate further. Hubby turns it around to see what it's belly looks like, his friend uses his Leatherman tool to open it's mouth to see inside and BIL stabs it with his sword to go throw it into the road. And when he leaves, he drives over it and then backs over it, and then spins his tires over it...just to make sure it's dead! He goes back home to his grilled dinner, Hubby, friend and sons head over to the fishing hole and Daughter and I breath a sigh of relief that we got to see the body!

I LOVE....

These pens! They're a classic! Reliable, durable and just plain cute! Go buy yourself some Bic Cristal Pens today!

Those Moments

You ever have one of those moments when you're just so proud of your kid you could bust??? I had one of those yesterday. I took my daughter to test for her learner's permit. It wasn't the fact that she passed her test the first try, but when she was asked if she wanted to be an organ donor, she didn't hestitate or have to think about it...she just said Oh, yes! I want to do that! How often have I hemmed and hawed over the issue when it was simply just the right thing for her to do. I'm so proud of her! She's an amazing person!

No Bull!

And now for another cow story....actually it wasn't a cow but a 2000 (TWO THOUSAND) pound BULL! Have you ever seen one of these up close and personal??? Let me tell you, they're quite intimidating! Frank took me fishing one night last week to this little pond on an old farm. The rickety old house is still there with the porch sagging and the windows broken out. But I love it! I could just see the little robust farm wife with her full-length apron over her housedress and her hair pulled back in a bun out on the porch fussing at her little raggedy kids who are chasing each other and the chickens around the yard. And the farmer dad out at the barn working on his tractor with one or two of their older boys....a crop of corn growing across the house in the big field....and cows (and bulls) grazing idly in the field to the left....which is just above the little pond we were fishing at. I saw all of these cows and bulls idly grazing when we walked back to the pond. I mistakenly assumed they were all fenced in. (our neighbor now owns this land and has cattle on it) In my citified mind, I didn't realize, the little pond was where they quenched their thirst! So, we're standing there casting our lines into the pond and catching fish! Yeah! You really gotta be a bad fisherman NOT to catch fish out of this pond. And Frank casually says, "looks like we got company". I figured he meant the land owner but when I looked up, there was the TWO THOUSAND pound bull coming towards us. Scared me to death! I haven't had experience with cows coming towards me, only with cows running away from me. And this was a big cow! Did I say he was about 2000 pounds????? By now I'm trying to plan my escape...Bull is blocking the way we came in and there's woods and fence on the other side. And I'm wondering how deep the pond is and if the bull would follow me if I jumped in and which would be worse....drowning or getting killed by the bull. Then my Dear Hubby says "wonder if this is the ornery bull Mike was telling me about?" I didn't want to find out if this was the ornery bull or the well-behaved bull. I just wanted one of us to leave. And since Frank wasn't putting down his pole, it looked like it was gonna have to be the bull. We scooted on around to the other side of the pond, so Bull could drink freely. And boy did he make some weird noises. It sounded like he was snorting and getting ready to attack something (me????) but what he was really doing was blowing the stuff off the top of the water with his nose so he could drink clear water. After he satisifed his thirst, he just stood there and watched us for the longest time. And I kept fishing with one eye on him and one on the tree that was behind me. It's been awhile since I climbed a tree but I was thinking I could do it if I was "encouraged", ya know what I mean??? Finally, he lumbered back up the hill and out of sight. We kept fishing and I kept watching for him. After all, he snuck up on me the first time. But we didn't see him again. Right about dark, we reeled in our poles and headed home. Just another adventure in the life of a country wife!

40 and Fabulous

Yep, another birthday came and went...the BIG 40!

Folks were asking me what age I'd like to be and I couldn't think of an age I'd like to go back to. Each phase of my life had good things and bad things. I really like the age I am now. My young friends are helping me to realize how much I've learned over the last 40 years and tell me "you know alot!" While my older friends are showing me I've still got alot to learn! And since I love learning, can't wait to see what the next 40 years have in store!