Gone Fishin'..... no, really!!!

As you may well know, I am not at all the "fishing" type....so this blog is clearly not about me.
My Army Man also is not the fishing type, so this blog is clearly not about him.
(I hear the Sicilian in my mind...you know, Princess Bride??)

If this blog is not about me or my Army Man, then clearly it must be about one of my boys, right?

If you thought that, you would be wrong.

Well, sort of....

You see, I have three delightful, helpful, obedient, wonderfully active children!!  Oh yeah, we have TONS of FUN around here!!!! =)

I have a 14 year old son  that has an almost photographic memory of every book he has ever read (in his entire life!), but balks and clams up at the mention of the word "math"!!

I have 10 year old son that LOVES playing outside and lives for adventure as long as it is safe and everyone is comfortable!!

But I also have a 12 year old, beautiful, musically talented, gentle and kind daughter that LOVES to hunt, fish and take care of "her" chickens!!!

See this blog for her first adventure >>Tru's Adventure << (Be warned, there are photos!)

This is another one of HER adventures!!!!

We sometimes have friends over on Sundays after church and since we live out in the country we ALWAYS advise the children to bring extra clothes....someone always "accidentally" falls into the creek!!!
As it so happens on this Sunday their very favorite friends came over to spend the afternoon with us!! So great adventures are to be had!!!

But first I must tell a small back-story....

My daughter loves hunting. She loves hunting squirrel, skinning, cleaning, cooking and eating them. She asks me almost every day if she can go hunting.

Weird!!! Sometimes I ask myself where this girl came from!!!

Ok, back to Sunday.....

Tru had actually gone hunting the day before and got her squirrel!!! She did her usual thing down at the creek and had squirrel for a snack. Yup!! The next day (Sunday!) she, her big brother and a friend went fishing in our pond.... they were SO excited when they caught a sizable fish.  They ran up and wanted to know if they could cook and eat it!!!

Well, absolutely you can!!!   We do teach that if you kill it you have to eat it!!! =)

I should mention here that they also caught some crawfish (is that what they are called??) (they look like tiny lobsters!!) (Gross!!!) they had started a fire and were boiling them while they were fishing....

This will have been the first time Tru has skinned a fish, so her friend was teaching her how to do it... as she was cleaning the fish to prepare it for cooking she slit it down the bottom and opened it up.

And.....Surprise!!!!

Apparently, the fish they caught had eaten the claw of the squirrel (among some other things!!) Tru had cleaned the day before!!!!! How freakishly weird is that?!?!?!?!!!!

This fish was Hongry!!!!

They did cook and eat this and two other fish on this day!!!
I always say, if something happens, I have a girl that can provide some meat for our table!!! ;-)


It was hilarious to see the kid's faces when they saw this!!!!!   A classic childhood memory that will forever be brought up at family gatherings!!!! =)


But, to cleanse your palate and remove the disturbing images of fish innards.....here are some bee pics!!!
We split our hive last week.....

 A worker on my daughter's glove...they are always so interested in what is going on!!!

 Frame with workers!!

 So amazing.....

Old hive....   

 New hive!!!
I adore this yellow color!!!
The next split will have a light blue or green!!!!
=)

 Our two hives!!!!  =)

Bees are so very awesome!!!!! 

Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. Proverbs 16:24

Blessings!!!! 

100th Blog!!!! WOW!!!!

It think it is no freak accident that my 100th blog will be what it is!!! I have been thinking on it for a few weeks now (good thing I am not paid to blog!!) (HA!)...and it will be somewhat controversial for some and appreciated for what it is by most!!!

CONTROVERSIAL BLOG WARNING!!!! Including, but not limited to, photos you may not want to see!!!!!!

You have been warned!!!

My Army Man and I are very pro-gun!!! We believe in responsible gun ownership and that includes teaching our children about guns, how to use them, and our rules for owning a gun.  I will not tell you how many we have. It is not necessary.
My Army Man says we "need more".

Pfffttt. Whatever....

We have different kind of guns for different purposes.

We also have given each of our children their very own BB gun similar to this one >> BB Gun. It is a right of passage in my husband's family. Even my daughter has her own! We teach them about the gun and they have very specific rules for the gun. They go through very specific training for using the gun.
We believe it is necessary for them to have this knowledge. There may come a time when we NEED them to have this knowledge.

We do live out in the country and we do have a little bit more "freedom to be"on our property than some people would, say, those that live in a city neighborhood or apartment complex so keep that in mind as you continue to read this post!!!  Here is a blog with some pics of our property>> A walk in the MUD

So.....that being said......

MY DAUGHTER SHOT, KILLED, GUTTED, SKINNED AND GRILLED A SQUIRREL!!!!!!
ALL. BY. HERSELF!!!!!

And I have the pics so she can prove it to her future husband (and possibly kids!!)!!!! ;-)

I gotta tell you, I am one proud Mama!!!!!  Now, I would NEVER be able to do that. I grew up in the city. I am a city girl living in the country. I have NO desire to "live off the land"!!! You can read about my city-ness here>> Farm Girl??

But I am pretty impressed that my 11 (almost 12) year old girl went out and did this on her own!!!!

In a way it is a relief to know that should the worst happen (and I believe it can in my lifetime) that at least we can have some meat to eat!!!!

Now for some PICS!!!! Leave now if you think you might find this disturbing!!!!!

We have ALWAYS told our children, "If you shoot it, you have to eat it."

It has given them pause to the instinctive call of nature to dominate over animals that I  think dates back to Creation (or after the Fall of Man, really).... I also do not want them carelessly killing for no reason but sport.    That is wrong!!


I think ALL hunters should kill only to provide food for their families or someone who is in need.
Unless it is a case of a predator killing my chickens!! Then they can kill it and not have to eat it!!!!

 When she told me she had shot a squirrel my first thought was "why?"  Then she started asking me how to skin it and can she cook it and eat it...... All I am hearing is sssshhhhhhhhh......refer to my blog "Farm Girl" again (which I am going to do a Part 2 on reeeeeally soon!)!!

..... I AM NOT at all knowledgeable in this!!!!  So......we must call Daddy!!!

 She was very excited to tell her daddy what she had done!!! I am so very proud of her!!! 

Finally caught a pic of her smile!!!!

I sent her down to the creek for the gross part of this adventure.....

Listen, I know where meat comes from. I know that something has to die for me to eat. EVERYTHING we eat is DEAD!!!!
Even the veggies were alive before we picked them to eat!!!
However, that does not mean I want to be privy to the process!!!!  I really prefer to buy my meat out of the frozen section of the local grocery!!!! However, as my daughter is doing what we have taught her, I have to be willing to let her follow through even though it is hard for me to watch.


Well, actually, I sent my son down to take pics for me!!!HA!!! ;-)

 Starting the process.....

Excuse the finger in the corner....(my son!) 

I left out some of the photos.... just too graphic!!

The squirrel is skinned!!! See that proud smile?!?!!

The squirrel is ready to be washed and cooked!!!! 

She did so awesomely!!  

It took her quite a while to work this one. She has since shot another one (for a man in our church) and has sped up her process!!

Yep.....see that proud look???  She is so ready to cook this thing!!!  She is washing it out in out outdoor sink. The squirrel did not enter the house at any time!!!! 

(gross!!!) 

 The skin she so carefully took off...which was stolen by something!! 

She left it outside overnight to dry out...  

=(

 Sorry!!!! 

She really wanted a picture of this!!!! 

Remember it is for her future kids!!!!

All grilled and ready to eat!!!  She let it marinade in Dale's sauce for a while then grilled it according to her daddy's directions...

(I had a hard time with this. I knew she wanted to cook it and eat it, but I DID NOT want her to cook it inside my house!!! 

(I have heard some horror stories about the smell!!!)

The conclusion of the story is......she ended up not being able to eat it!!!
She gave it a good effort though!!!
She said it was too hard and tough to eat. I am not surprised, but she IS NOT using my crockpot to cook the next one!!!


*****I am really sorry if I have offended someone in the writing of this blog. My Freedom of Speech gives me the right to say things that some might find offensive. You do not have to read my blog. I wont be offended if you don't, but I do reserve the right to delete snide, snarky and ugly comments.

We are so very thankful for our property and the memories our children are able to make now that we are "out in the country"!!


Thanks for stopping by!!

and

Blessings!!!!