Now I know my friends up north are looking at our pitiful snow on the ground with the grass sticking up through it and laughing! But we really enjoyed it – probably much in the same way that you would get a kick out of wearing shorts on Christmas!

We were actually lucky enough to have snow on three separate days this year, which was really great, because, last year we didn’t have any at all. And last year was our first year out here, having moved from Texas, and back home (last year) they got snow several times. It was just one more thing for me, as a mother, to feel guilty about. Every time the phone rang, and we were excitedly informed by a relative back home that they had snow, the kids glared at me! Rotten, I tell ya, they’re just rotten!

Well, the Universe came through for me this year and here is our little video with some of our snowy activities!
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That’s right, folks – you heard it here first! That is, of course, unless you’ve been watching the Alabama news. You haven’t, have you? Well, we are under a tornado watch until 6pm. Tornado watch? A few days after Christmas? That is so weird. And it has been in effect all day. That is a long tornado watch, too. My poor little outdoor Christmas tree keeps getting knocked over on the balcony. I need some little tray doohickey to put underneath it so that I can bring it in. Or there is going to be a sailing Christmas tree pretty soon! First the kids look up and see Santa’s sleigh flying through the air, then they wait a few days and see a Christmas tree sailing through the air! Ha!

Yesterday morning, I just happened to glance out the front windows while the kids were getting ready for school. And what I saw was so beautiful, that I immediately ran and got my camera! I called for the kids to come and see. The funny thing was, Patrick was actually looking at the clouds out back, that looked amazing in their own right! He said that they were streaked and they looked really cool. By the time I got out back, though, after snapping some pics out front, the clouds had moved on. Oh well – at least I got to see the amazing beauty out front! Here is what I saw:The pictures don’t really do it justice – it was so beautiful! The ‘nature’ of this place really serves my spirit well when I am missing my flat concrete jungle and the people I left there.

We had a rather exciting, wildlife morning the other day while getting the kids ready for school. It started out when I was in the kitchen alone, before the kids got out of bed. I was standing in front of one counter, and I heard something in another counter on the other side of the kitchen. It sounded a bit like plastic hitting plastic. But you know how when you’re alone, and you’re lost in thought, and then you just barely catch this noise, over the drone of your thoughts? So I sort of second-guessed myself about hearing it.

And then Shawn had come into the kitchen, and he is standing in the same place I had been standing, when I first heard the noise. He is preparing his breakfast, and I am sitting at my desk – and we both hear this scratching noise. I didn’t look up, because, I just assumed it was something Shawn was doing. And then he says, “Mom – did you hear that?” And I sorta freaked a little bit, “Omg, yeah, but, I thought you were doing it!” He told me it hadn’t been him, and that it came from ‘that cabinet over there’ – the same one in which I’d heard noises twenty minutes earlier! Yeeeks!

Shawn and I bravely go over to said cabinet and slowly, ever so cautiously, open it up

- AND JUMP BACK!

But there was nothing in there, nothing, that is, but, some pots and pans. So I figure the little guy must be behind the oven. Mark is unconvinced, and we haven’t heard anything since. Shawn and I know what we heard, though! And hell, there are deer across the street – we can watch them from the balcony – we are a lot more rural than Garland, TX – so it wouldn’t be shocking at all. And heck, plenty of people in Dallas get rats in their pools/houses/garages. It just wouldn’t be surprising. But I guess Shawn and myself and our bravado scared him off!

Getting back to our wildlife morning, though – this was one of those mornings that I had to drive them to school. Somebody wakes up late, and that knocks back the whole schedule for everyone, since they all want a turn in their bathroom. And plus that puts them bumping into each other in the kitchen. Staggered awakenings are really a good thing – especially when they work! So, anyway, we get in the car – and the whole thing – ON THE INSIDE – is covered in ants!!! The freakiest part about it is that on the dashboard, there is a swarm of them POURING out of the vents! It looks like some 1970’s horror flick! And if you’re a kid of the 70’s, that’s a freaky thing – scarin’ your inner child and all, you know?

It was nuts, totally nuts, but we wiped away the ants that we could (though they continued to spout out those vents, the rotten buggers) and went on our freaked out, paranoid way.

And not too long before this, Mark and Patrick were vacuuming the basement, and when they moved the big chair – they found one of these guys:

The North American millipede – living in the room that is serving as my living room! That’s living room for people, dude! Not millipedes – now hit it! Sure, they’re not all that dangerous, but, they can do this to you:

OUCH!! And to top it off, later that day, I joyfully discovered that these crazy people I call my family had ’saved’ him in a little tupperware bucket! Yikes. I don’t know about you, but, to me, there is just something creepy about those things!

And a few days later, they were asking me to show someone the little guy, so I popped off that tupperware lid – Little did I know one of their defense mechanisms is a horrible smell. (And it is horrible!) And I guess when they die, out comes the smell. It was so bad, just lifting that little lid for a second, that the whole kitchen STUNK! We had to open the windows and light a candle!

So that’s a little bit of our wildlife life – just wait till I tell you about the ticks!

Uh, yeah. Seriously. Sammie came home today, “Momma – they were passing out Bibles at school today! Some man came and gave us all Bibles!”

And she was pretty excited. And it’s a cool pocket-sized one. Which, I think is neat. And she was happy that she could keep it in her backpack. And that’s all good.

But damn, ya’ll! Bibles – with Jesus in them – at P.U.B.L.I.C. school!

And on home-game-Fridays, people from local Baptist and Methodist churches come and feed the kids free biscuits and gravy before school. Patrick knew they did that, but, didn’t know who was providing them. You know how informative male creatures can be, especially those in the throes of teenage hormone-dom! So I looked it up on the school website, to find out it was from these churches.

And when the boys came home, I asked them, “Did they preach at ya’ll?” (I know I should probably say ‘to you’, but, I’m a little miffed, ok?!)

And Patrick said, “No, but, people could go up to the podium and pray if they wanted to. You know, pray to win the game.”

It irritates me so much, I almost don’t even want to admit that Jesus is in my heart. I feel like kicking the government-ignoring, separation-of-church-and-state-defying, long-haired dude right out of my heart!

Ok, I know, this is not Jesus’ doing. These are the actions of humans. Humans who have apparently not joined us in the 21st century.

It is so wrong on so many levels.

Miffed. I’m definitely miffed.

I’m just gonna sit here miffed for a while, why don’t you go read this:
Separation of Church and State – at Wikipedia

I finally downloaded my camera software to this new machine. Well, really – new hard drive, but, it sure feels like a new machine to me! And so, anyway, I would like to share some things with you now about our journey to Little River Canyon, in the far northeast of Alabama.

One of the first things that I noticed when we got there, was the newfangled trash cans! Oh my, but, they were cool! Check them out:

Now, look closer at them! There is literally no access to them for any creatures other than humans!

You have to stick your hand in that little sticky-up part (yep, that’s a technical term) and push in a button inside there and then lift the lid up to the right. It’s actually kind of a tricky operation at first, when you’re getting used to it – I actually almost pinched my fingers pretty badly once!

And then – guess what? They recycle! Or provide canisters for you to, actually! In every spot that there is a trash can, there is one of these recycling sorters! How cool is that? And I mean, these are everywhere – we traveled the whole 20-30 mile scenic road that runs alongside the canyon, stopping at almost every scenic overlook, and there they were! I wonder what kind of dork that makes me? Scenic overlooks and I’m excited to see trash cans? Hmm….

And then they had these crazy things on the ground outside the bathrooms at the swimming area. Sammie and I wondered what they were. I said, “Could they possibly be some type of storm shelters?” They do look like doors!

But nope, nothing could be further from the truth! They are so not storm shelters! It is a way of cleaning the ‘water’ that comes from the bathrooms so that the river is protected. I can’t for the life of me remember what it was called and I’ve been looking and looking on the website and can’t find it. It is some word that you usually hear about gardening, though. I might try to remember to call them up tomorrow and ask them. I was a little confused, anyway, if that meant, ‘extra’ cleaning – or if that was the whole enchilada. So I shall dig around some more and report back to you on this one!