Yesterday evening was a little warm and humid, but pleasant. I finished some mowing…well, it was more like stirring up dust than cutting grass, since we have evidentially been chosen to host this year’s

parade of pigs. While I was out simulating a dust storm,

Joel was gathering mayhaws for a friend. When he was done, he collected the grandchildren, and they piled on the golf cart and came to get me.
Josie settled in next to me, and as we were driving off, she looked up and said, “Hey, baby.”
We rode around and finally made it to the hill,

where the boys wanted to get off and run. They weren’t the only ones.

‘Little Miss Boots On Wrong Feet’ had to run too, and when she got to our freshly plowed earth,

she said, “Nassy pigs!”
Before too long, we came back to the house to cool off

and sneak in a few readings of ‘Barnyard Dance’.
Then, I walked them back across the yard to their house. Josie wasn’t happy. She cried and kept saying SOMETHING over and over. I asked Hudson what in the world she was saying.

He just held out his arms and said, ” I don’t know. I don’t speak ‘baby’.”

So ended another day.

Yesterday Piper and I went on a little field trip to

the Tamp and Grind. The goal is for Piper to be a therapy dog when he grows up, and to make that a reality, he must be exposed to a variety of places, people, sounds and smells. He must learn to remain calm and in control and respond to my commands…no matter what.
We weren’t alone,

Nancy, the dog trainer met us.

For the most part, Piper behaved himself, and even though he got a little excited

when people walked past to go in, he didn’t over react.

We sat at a table outside and enjoyed the day,

and the city busses picking up and letting off passengers kept Piper entertained.
And THEN…a gentleman walked into the Tamp and Grind

with this dog…and OH MY GOODNESS, Piper came unglued. He jumped up and growled and barked and things came out of that dog’s mouth that I didn’t even realize he knew how to say. It was plum embarrassing. I wound up having to put Him back in the car. So much for remaining calm and in control. But, you know what I think aggravated me the most? That other dog never made a sound.

When you are on a mission,

you rarely care what anybody thinks. And, when you reach the point of not caring what anybody else thinks,

it’s pretty much down hill from there, and you can relax and have fun.
That’s just what we did Sunday evening.
We had fried fish and gumbo, and enjoyed each other’s company.

We rescued lambs, and searched for treasures in the grass…

sometimes with a little help. And when we were done,

we wanted to show those treasures off.

We petted bunnies,

and hunted numbered eggs

that contained clues about the real Easter story. Then,

we took turns opening the eggs

and reading about the clues.
Of course the last egg was empty; because Jesus’ tomb was empty. The empty tomb changed EVERYTHING, so…

embrace the Lamb with joy!

Spring is a magical time of year. It’s fun to watch things come back to life.

The woods come alive.

Yards come alive.

Meadows come alive.
Then there’s new life. One of my favorite places to experience that is the feed store.

There are shelves lined with herbs and vegetables, and there are

baby rabbits,

and cages overflowing with newborn chicks

and ducks…so many you can almost feel the rhythm of their little poultry hearts beating. It makes me happy; it gives me a buzz.
But, you don’t have to go to the feed store to feel the joy of new life. For instance, last night, in our kitchen, Adam and Laura gave us a photograph

of our new grandchild, which will arrive in November. We even heard a recording of it’s heartbeat. Talk ABOUT a buzz! Being able to see and hear that is the best buzz that ever wuzz. To heck with the feed store experience.

The wild hogs are absolutely TERRIBLE in our neck of the woods.

They’ve checked out other properties, but I think they have settled on ours

to spend Easter break. The party starts somewhere around 2:30 in the morning.

I like to get up early, but that’s a little extreme, even for me.

The Wildlife and Fisheries have gotten involved, and the other night counted eleven of those nosedozers.

The hogs were in a grove of trees so the guys were only able to kill one and wound one. I was told to call if the hogs came back for another rootin tootin time…and they did.

I called the number on the card and left a message.
About an hour later, I got a call from a nice lady who said that I had left a message about some hogs.
I said, “You’re not with the Wildlife and Fisheries are you?” She answered, “No.”
Then together we figured out where I made a mistake dialing the number.
I thanked the nice lady and apologized. Then I said, “Oh, and never mind about my hog problem.” She seemed fine with that.

Nikki needed to run an errand, so I walked over to their backyard and stayed with the kids. The boys have been learning about Native Americans in school…the Plains Indians to be exact. So, guess what we all had to be…

including the dog? Yep, you guessed it, and our mission was to kill a buffalo. It really wasn’t that hard, so in case you ever find yourself in that situation, here’s what we did.

First we chose Native American names. The boys chose ‘Buffalo Hudson’ and ‘Buffalo Denton’. I chose ‘Paints With A brush’. The other two members of our hunting party couldn’t choose for themselves, so I made some suggestions. For the dog, I picked ‘Dances With Fleas’. The boys looked confused and said, “Who’s ‘Dances With Fleas?” I just told them, “Never mind.”

For Josie I suggested

‘Boots On Wrong Feet’. She didn’t care, but the boys seemed highly offended and named her ‘Dandelion’.
The boys sent me out to scout the area. Then when I spotted buffalo, I gave the sign, and we all ran with our spears to make the kill. (Whooping loudly, I might add.)

The buffalo was placed on the bar-b que, and

Hudson said this prayer; “God, thank you for this whole day, and thank you for this buffalo. Help us to always please you, in Jesus’ name, amen.”
And that’s how ya do it.

Piper has always loved the twins and has FINALLY calmed down enough for them to enjoy each other.

Today the four of us were out back. I had fun watching Piper and the boys have fun.

The trio made laps around the pond…

not once..

but several times.

They would throw sticks in the water for Piper to retrieve, but he wouldn’t venture much farther than the bank. So, they cheered him on with, “Come on Piper, you can do it.

Don’t be afraid. Just be the water Piper. Beeee the water.”