My dad ....the woodcarver

Woodcarving  is not only a hobby of my dads, it is his passion. However, with his age and his declining health, his hands are shaky, and he is no longer able to hold the tools needed to create his masterpieces. Believe me it really depresses him. Carving wood was his stress relief, and the one thing that he had that made him feel accomplished in life.
He was really good at his art, member of woodcarving clubs, and even had an entries in national competitions.
 This cardinal was one of his first. We have lots of cardinals up here at the estate, and because of that I have always liked it.

 As he got better with his craft, he carved this "Red Tail Hawk"  Senior has always admired the detail. One of dads club members helped him with the eyes, they were made to seem as if they follow you around the room.

Dad named him "Billy Bad Ass Hawk"  I think we will just call him "Billy". Now he sits on an end table  in our living room..

My dad would oblige people who would ask for a carving as a gift.My Niece loves Owls, so for a wedding gift he carved her a beautiful brown Owl. A family friends little girl loves Eagles, so dad surprised her with a carved Bald Eagle. Then one year when they were much smaller, the boys asked for sharks.

ND wanted a Hammerhead because he liked them,and thought they were cool.

And our oldest NW always  loved  Great Whites. He requested one , that had battle scars and holding a dead seal in its mouth. Dad did his best to make his oldest grandson happy:

Dad has now passed on his hand tools off to the boys.  He has promised to come for a visit and sit with them both teaching the art to his grandsons.  There are other sculptures in dads little office, he is slowly passing them off. I have asked why ? And he really won't give me an answer, but I think deep down he just wants to know they will go to a good home, and be appreciated.
I told him to see if my siblings want them, but if not, I would gladly take them we admire the hard work and detail that he put in to them. And they are something of my dads as well....and long after he is gone, they will still be here as his lasting mark on the world.

indpendence day...

  
It is very easy to to take liberty for granted in this country. People all the time misconstrue just how hard it was 240 years ago to gain our independence from Britain.
The Revolutionary War was long, hard  and very costly, over 50,000 died just on the American side, which is roughly the number of troops who have died or been injured in Afghanistan.
The majority of people back then was less then 3 million. so to lose 50,000 was staggering.

However people today are generally ignorant of what it took for America to gain her independence. It is irrelevant to them of what it took for those brave "Sons of Liberty" to begin an uprising that would ultimately result in a new country being born.

So, it got me thinking of quotes, there are many out there from our founding fathers and those brave patriots who died fighting for the cause. But, the one I found to be the most relevant in terms of our country today and where we are as a nation would actually be from Malcom X. Now I don't usually go around throwing his quotes out-but this one struck me as perfect for present day America:

"If you're not ready to die for it, put the word 'freedom' out of your vocabulary."
--Malcolm X

Those patriots in the 1770s fought for what that word "freedom" meant, and they died for it.....

How many today would?  How many of the PC crowd would step up to the plate, pick up a rifle and defend their liberties?

Thoughts to ponder for this day....

I hope you all have a safe and blessed 4th of July. Take a moment though to reflect on that fact that you have the  "freedom" to be out celebrating this day... 
 

  

A home made bow, and Fathers Day etc......

Back during the fall I got these books for the boys, I think I did a blog post about them, but for some reason I can't find it. But that is irrelevant.

Our two reads them all the time, and have learned lots of useful information, so if you are the parent of boys I suggest you get them a copy

NW being the brilliant child he is, decided to follow the guidelines in the big red book and make a bow.While it is not very big, It is pretty useful and launched the little arrow he fashioned over 30 feet. I am proud of both of my boys for thinking of things that would be useful in a survival situation.

Fathers day was this past Sunday, and we got Senior a new T-Shirt. All of our Navy Friends love it...

My cousin in another part of the state is getting married tomorrow ( again). We were invited but because we have been back and forth to FLA so much, opted out and not attending. I bought a frame, and put together a single page scrapbook layout for her. 

I racked my brain trying to think of what wording I wanted to use. ND being the outspoken child he is, chimed in and said " Well given her track record I wouldn't put anything that says ever after, or together forever...you don't want to jinx her".

So I went with "live, laugh, love"......    For literally being thrown together in about 6 hours, I don't think it came out too bad:   

I don't condone the gay lifestyle and my thoughts and prayers do go out to the families who lost a loved one.  And I sure don't condone what this Islamic terrorist did on our soil. But given the fact that I am The "Jacked up glock mom". I find humor in what POTUS stated about my preferred weapon to carry.-The Glock
 
He neither knows the difference between a magazine and a clip, and has the ignorant ideology that it can have multiple ones inserted at the same time..

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/06/13/obama-omar-mateen-had-glock-which-had-a-lot-of-clips-in-it/

Memorial Day

An acquaintance asked where are the festivities this year for Memorial Day. I was happy when another person told them there is no " celebrations" , but there are memorial services and wreath layings.

It's not about picnics, partying or celebrating the official start of summer.
It's a day to remember complete strangers   that gave their life defending this great country, so that we may enjoy the freedoms when have today.

veggies have sprouted..and other stuff

 As you can see the bees have been busy pollinating our garden, we now have baby zucchinis, yellow squash and tomatoes. Our corn is about knee high now, and Friday ND planted his giant pumpkins. We got them in two months earlier then last years, so we just end up with some nice sized ones. .
 

Tropical storm Bonnie, has brought us some much needed rainfall, not overly heavy stuff, but a nice slow light rain that we have needed in this area.

In other news, our boys Baseball Team won the County Championship 6-5. It was a very thrilling game, and came down to an unassisted double play by our first baseman in the bottom of the last inning...  
 ND and NW both had a stellar season. ND recorded no strikeouts in the regular and we hoped that would have given him an All Star team birth..but that was not the case, as little league politics would go, they went with some other kids who were less then talented. Thus, I had the dubious task of drying the tears, and giving hugs and comfort. NW being the best catcher in the league was picked...but, brotherly love kicked in, and seeing how they chose kids who had a bad season over his brother who had an excellent season...he pretty much told the coaches to go pack sand.    We let the decision be up to him, no matter what he did we would have supported him.
Senior and I decided along time ago to empower our children to make their own decisions. we laid the facts out for him, and let him sleep on it. I was very proud when he called the coach himself the next day and broke the news.  Needless to say, coaches weren't happy.

Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday.....

-JUGM

good snakes alive!!!!!

Well first it was "Senior and Jugms Moving Service" Now it has progressed into "Senior and Jugms Snake relocation service"...

Male and female snakes (even if they are the good non poisonous ones) is not the thing you want to see when you go outside to uncover the outdoor water faucet so that you can water your garden...But alas---there they were. Entwined doing what snakes do...ick!

 This is the female we got her loose and  Senior relocated her to the woods without much resistance. Where I hope she stays. we figured she is nearly 4 feet in length as we found a 3 foot snake skin near by.

This one is the male, he slithered away and got a little testy, then he rapidly climbed back up the faucet housing that my father in law built and has been in hiding deep down inside the insulation. We guessed he is nearly 5-6 feet in length, and has obviously been well fed.  

 We did do our research and they are either  "Black Racers" or "Rat Snakes" ,  a nonvenomous colubrus constrictor snake. But don't let the constrictor part scare you, they actually are not a true constrictor..or so I read.  They like to eat smaller snakes, frogs, lizards.. and are big, black and beautiful.
And yes...just like I thought this is their mating season.

I picked up moth balls to throw inside the faucet housing and we hope today to coax him out of his nest and get him relocated. So far, neither he or the female have discovered the chicken coop, as I understand they love chicken eggs.  Both are  welcomed to stay around the estate keeping nature in balance, but , they need to do their balancing act in the surrounding woods..not in the faucet insulation....
So tonight is operation "relocation"  lol    will let you all know how it goes with Mr. Slither here....

-JUGM