NANA NOTES

2011 ANNUAL DOVE HUNT WEEKEND

Our family has gotten so large that we pretty much keep our dove hunt weekend for family. Ed's cousin and his wife from Texas, our friends from TN, Ed's brother from TN and my brother and his wife from Petal along with our children and grandchildren and in-laws began arriving on Friday.  Even with having such a big house, it sure filled up fast!!  There was constant chatter and laughter and of course plenty of food.  Some of us went out on Friday night and had Mexican. That was a treat. On Saturday morning it was up early and out to the dove field for the men. Never mind that it was raining.  "Some of our best hunts have been in the rain." Famous saying!!  About 10:00 am when the hunters came in soaking wet and hungry this was waiting for them--a pile of bacon, hot grits, homemade cinnamon rolls, orange coffee cake and fresh fruit with juice, milk and coffee.  They needed some nutrition because after all, they had more work to do. The shishkabobs had to be prepared!

Since the beans, potato salad, desserts and appetizers had been prepared earlier, the ladies got to sit and visit!!  We certainly enjoyed that.  Of course, there was some ballgame watching!

    

We signed Kelsey's cast.  To bad she's getting it off soon. She won't be able to carry around Ed's art very long!

 

Sam spent the night with us and we went to church.  We filled a whole pew.

Vin and Cathleen from Houston, Texas.

  Vivian and Sam from Riceville, TN.

Ed and me--our first picture together in a while.
After a wonderful church service with communion, a delicious Sunday lunch and a short last visit, our house emptied and Ed and I took a nap.  A great Labor Day Dove Hunt weekend with friends and loved ones--family--all of them.  And what a welcomed addition--soft, sweet rain!!

 

SURPRISES THAT MAKE YOU HAPPY

One of the joys I get each day is looking out the kitchen window. A friend made us a bird feeder and put it where we could watch it. Ed keeps it full of black sunflower seed and we enjoy our birds all the time.  We even have a book and mark the ones we see on the feeder.  I found some millet in the fridge left over from our parakeet days but the birds didn't like it. Ed put it on the ground after this picture was made.  Waking up to everything frozen is a beautiful sight! We haven't had the snow we had last year (only about 1/2" on Friday) but we had a couple of days of ice. I love the way the trees look like crystals but we don't need the icy roads for the vehicles.  It's nice when God surprises you with special beauty on a wintry day!
 

2011 CROP CONNECTION

This past weekend was Crop Connection with the sisters!  We loaded the "Scrapping Sisters" trailer on Thursday afternoon and headed to Jackson for a fun filled weekend to visit with friends and scrapbook.  There's just so much to do at a scrap event! Seeing friends from all over is part of the fun.  We had a large group of 13 "Scrapping Sisters" and it couldn't have been better.  

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=259105&id=576241373&l=03f98d072a

I posted some photos on Facebook and now can't find them on my camera.  You'll have to look at them here.

Two of the BIG winners came from Franklin County.  Vana Hurst won the $100 CC bucks and Judy Holland won a trip to the CC for the summer or next winter crop.  Yea, girls. 
On Saturday one of our sisters came to visit.  She didn't get to scrap with us. We were glad to see her.  Sharon, we're looking forward to you going in the spring. 
 Thanks Nadene, Andrea and Deanna for giving us the best weekend around!!
 

RYAN AND SAM DO IT AGAIN!!!

It took Sam a while to decide he wanted to pull the trigger on a gun. But, boy when he did----the gun powder is smokin'! Today it was freezing cold and all the guys went hunting after lunch.  My brother and his family came and we ate and had Christmas with them. Then it was off to the deer stands.  After discussions of "where are you going?" they headed out while the girls bedded down by the fire to watch a movie.  We got a call to get the camera ready that Ryan had killed a deer.  Then another call--Sam had one down.  They showed up at the house for pictures and I fed them homemade soup to warm them up.  Here are the pictures:   Ryan's deer weighed 230 pounds and had a beautiful rack.   Josh guessed the weight exactly! 

Sam's deer was a nice 8 point rack and weighed 165. This was his second nice rack.  Once he decided he could do it he hasn't let up.

Their Uncle Jody is a little upset! He's the "Great White Hunter" and the boys are beating him.  Pressure is on!!  He's taught them his tricks--Outwit, Outsmart, Outplay!!  Way to go, Ryan and Sam! 
 
Christmas pictures will come later! The boys came first.

A NEW KIND OF WAKE UP!!

We were almost asleep--right into that first dozing off when this loud noise started pounding our house.  I thought we were being attacked. I got out of bed and went to the front door. The sidewalk was covered with hail and lots more was coming. I got Ed up to come and see and this is what we saw on the deck. 
Hail, a little larger than marbles was falling FAST!! Sounded like I don't know what falling all over us.

 

 

 

 

 

It's been a strange winter and now this!!  What else is in store??

IT'S DOING IT AGAIN!!!

My children haven't seen as much snow in their whole lives as my grandchildren have in the last two years!!  It's snowing again--right now! School closed today after lunch and will be closed tomorrow. The weather people are saying to expect between 4 and 8 inches.  Ed [ my resident weather person!!] says it should be more like 10 inches.  I can't imagine that in my wildest dreams!!  Something about an inch for every tenth of an inch of rain.  Anyway, it's started and this is what it looks like at this minute. Batten down the hatches, folks--more is coming.

 

 I can't wait to see what it looks like in the morning!