When you go ahead and do what must be done, you don't have to waste a lot of time worrying about it and wondering how you will ever find the time.

Flag Counter started April 3, 2008

Richard and I spent the weekend in Bowie, TX visiting Mom and Dad. On the way home we passed this “windmill farm,” and I got a shot of an Indian Paintbrush flower. Most of the 8 hour drive down was in torrential rain. Not that we didn’t sincerely appreciate the rain (which also fell on Richard’s farm!), but it sure made driving difficult! We got another nice rain here in SW Missouri on Saturday, which will help a lot with the spring growth.

Richard’s off getting ready for the first day of Turkey Season tomorrow, so I am fishing! Jenny and I are set to go fishing together tomorrow, but then I got worried that it might rain, so I decided to also fish today. For a weekend day, it wasn’t very crowded. I didn’t do nearly as good as I did last weekend; I just caught three smallish fish. But, I got a lot more practice. My knots are getting faster, and I’m not quite as clumsy handling holding the rod, holding my lures, tying them on, getting the fish out of the net, etc. while standing in hip deep water!

I’m thinking this is rather like Stockmanship . . . you can read all the books, watch the videos, have someone explain it to you, and watch someone do it, but you don’t get good until you practice it!

There isn’t enough money in the world to get me to climb out on that moss-slick, roaring water pressure dam to fish!

There’s an angel in my inbox
And she came here from a friend
Who typed in my e-mail address
Then clicked on the button ‘Send’
There’s an angel in your inbox
And you got her straight from me;
I knew when I finished reading this,
It was something you should see.
This little angel in your inbox
Does contain a nice surprise;
For when you send her on to friends,
Her message multiplies.
She brings you a note of
Happiness, Health and Song;
And the nicest thing you can do
Today is to forward her along.
By simply sending her on
Can make you happy as can be;
She should be sent to everyone
Her message is for all to see.
Please send this little angel on,
And have a great day, too;
Just smile and be happy because
This angel was sent to you!

This is not a joke. You can get a free BBQ grill from any of the following stores:

• Albertsons
• Costco
• Food Lion
• Fry’s
• HEB
• Kroger
• Meijer
• Publix
• Safeway
• Target
• Wal-Mart
• Winn-Dixie

I especially like the higher shelf which can be used for keeping things warm!

Jessica was born at 7:04 am 24 years ago. Well, it was either 7:04 or 7:02. John was born at either 3:02 or 3:04 pm . . . I get them mixed up in my aged mind! Anyway, we had a lovely day together. One of Jessica’s friends needed to be picked up in Branson, so we drove down there, picked her and her mother up, shopped at the outlet mall, and ate a lovely lunch. Then, Richard and I kept Delilah for the night while Andy’s parents kept Bryce so Jessica and Andy could have a night to themselves (first since Bryce was born).

Delilah had a fun time helping us move the cows and do the chores. She’s learning about the electric fence, “is this fence cold?”

We had a wonderful Easter lunch with Jessica, Andy, Delilah, Bryce, and Jennifer out at the farm.

Here’s Jessica, Jennifer and I.

Jennifer brought her new dog named, appropriately, Minnie. Though not quite full grown, she won’t be much larger than this!

The Great Easter Egg Hunt! Wayne was a great help in finding them.

We flew kites in the high winds today. Jessica, Delilah and I flew this “girlie” kite that’s very easy to manage.

The boys flew Richard’s harder, “stunt” kite. It took two people, one to fly it and one to pick it up and help launch it after it crashes!

Richard and I went fishing today for the first time this year. I got to break in Richard’s Christmas present, my new waders.We were able to fish a couple of hours before it started raining pretty heavy. I caught three and released one of them in that time. Richard caught a lot of fish and went ahead and strung his limit (four) so we’d have something for dinner. We had hoped I could get to fish some more, but it kept raining until we finally decided to leave. Of course, then it cleared right off. We had hoped the wonderful rain at Bennett Springs might have also been dropping on Richard’s farm, but it did not. The drought continues in force. We are hopeful it might rain tomorrow (Easter) because the old wives tale of the Ozarks is, if it rains on Easter Sunday then it will rain on each of the next seven Sundays after that! It would sure be nice if that would happen, but it doesn’t look overly likely at this point.

The dogwood are blooming now and look wonderful!

The cocoon of the Emperor Moth is flask-like in shape. To develop into a perfect insect, it must force its way through the neck of its cocoon by hours of intense struggle. Entomologists explain that this pressure is nature’s way of forcing a life-giving substance into its wings.

Wanting to lessen the seemingly needless trials and struggles of the moth, an observer snipped the restraining threads to make the moth’s emergence painless and effortless.

The creature never developed wings. For a brief time before its death, it simply crawled instead of flying through the air on rainbow colored wings!

If only the moth would have been allowed to finish struggling, its life would have been born into beauty.

[Photos of Emperor Moth from Wikipedia.]

He didn’t like the casserole,
And he didn’t like my cake.
He said my biscuits were too hard.
Not like his mother used to make.
I didn’t perk the coffee right,
He didn’t like the stew,
I didn’t mend his socks
The way his mother used to do.
I pondered for an answer
I was looking for a clue.
Then I turned around and smacked the shit out of him,
Like his MOMMA used to do.