The World's Foremost Outfitter

A few weeks ago, Cabela's FINALLY opened... just a few minutes from our front door! We first shopped there the night before it opened to the public and Kevin was there about 5 out of the first 7 days it was open.

Kevin and I had a date night there, Leah and Kevin had a daddy/daughter date and of course we've shopped as a family too. We even went to the grand opening Jack Ingram concert with some friends. Needless to say, this has been a big event in the life of our family.

So far most of our time has been spent in the firearms/ammunition sections, although Leah prefers the aquarium and looking at the more than 1 million dollars worth of taxidermy animals that line the walls.

Her other favorite thing to do is love on a stuffed possum that her daddy let's her carry around the store while we shop (and I gag.)

Isn't it just precious?


On her first visit, she came home with this coon skin cap. If this doesn't solidify our family's red-necked-ness, nothing will.

So if you ever can't find us, now you know where to look!


- Posted from my iPhone

...Of mice and men and doodle bugs

What fun we had one weekend getting messy with sidewalk chalk, pulling weeds and playing with bugs...

(you might want to enlarge to get the full effect)

The doodle bug survived, but not without some serious injuries. I, too, have my own Lennie story. I kept it for a long time as one of my darkest secrets, but when I told some friends recently, I was rather surprised to find out how many people had their own Lennie stories. So here it is. Maybe this will free you to tell your own story. ;)

I was in Lubbock, living alone for the first time... well not alone, Lowly was living with me. Lowly is the Corn snake that my sister had kept as a pet in her room since I was in 4th grade. For years my sister had to buy a couple of live mice on a monthly basis to feed her little constrictor. Over the years she began to feel an attachment to the little rodents and developed feelings of guilt that she couldn't shake at feeding time. So after having Lowly for over a decade, she asked me to adopt him. (We already knew Lowly was a HER at that point but its hard to make that change after so many years... I know how Sher must feel.)

So Lowly came to live with us (me and my roommate Sara) in College Station. When we graduated, she moved on to Lubbock with me as well.

One day at feeding time I had a particularly jumpy little mouse in a brown paper sack. I was terrified of letting one of these critters get loose in my house (it had happened before) and when I saw it was jumping higher and higher I grabbed the top of the sack and closed my fist tightly over it so as not to let the little guy get out. And then, when I let my grip relax just a bit... thud... the dead mouse dropped to the bottom of the brown-paper-sack-of-death.

I'd just killed an animal with my bare hands... I was horrified and began to bawl. Though I don't care for mice and always watched with great interest as Lowly hunted, killed and swallowed her prey, I never wished to have had such a direct "hand" in the death of any animal. (Unless it is a possum on my fence threatening my baby Beans... and even then I'd like to use a weapon, not wring its neck with my bare hands!!!)

I called Kevin to come over and console me (and help me decide what to do with the now dead mouse that super-hungry-Lowly kept circling around but would not eat.) He laughed heartily at me and called me "Lennie" and "Mouse-slayer" for a while. So glad I called him.

More on Possums

Today Leah and I watched the Cat in the Hat together on PBS... and wouldn't you know it, there was a possum in the episode! Even in cartoon form it was still just a gigantic rat and I was still grossed out. The Cat and the kids put on icky possum noses so they could have a better sense of smell. It was gross... But Leah was pretty excited about it. You know she'll end up starting some kind of possum rescue or something one day. Uuug...

The morning after the incident she talked alot about the possum, but each time she says it it sounds funnier. See for yourself.

We also practiced our "surprised-to-see-a-possum-on-our-fence" faces. This one was my favorite because I think it most closely portrayed my own feeling of horror that evening.

She really liked the game... my little drama queen...

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are so thankful for God's love, mercy and sweet provision in our lives.

oh-possom... why did you come back?

Friday night Leah and I got home from visiting with friends just about her bedtime. (Kevin was out of town doing a little hunting.) When we got out of the car we heard Beans barking in the backyard, which is very unusual. Whining would not be strange, but barking, almost NEVER happens... except for when there is a rabbit or a cat (or worse) in the backyard. I knew what it was instinctively. I grabbed the flashlight and walked carefully (Leah up in my arms) around the side of the yard to shine the light on Beans.


Before I even turned the flashlight on... I saw it... the round shape atop the fence was back-lit, but I knew for sure what it was... Yes... there was a nasty (o)possum having a staring contest with Beans from it's perch high up on the fence. It was just in front of the gated dog-run area, Bean Arena. Beans stopped barking and just stared. None of us moved for what seemed like ages. My adrenaline was pumping like crazy...

(If you haven't been a reader of our blog since the beginning, you may not know of my hatred for these creatures. So be my guest and read all about it here.)

My pulse quickened when I turned on the flashlight and it shone on the 2 foot long rat tail hanging down the fence. But the rodent didn't move even then. So I did what made sense to me... I yelled at it. And then I banged on the fence (from at least 15 yards away.) All I wanted to do was get Beans out of Bean Arena and go inside away from the overgrown rat. But there it was... right between us... threatening to pounce if I dared walk by.

Leah and I retreated into the house where I began to run around like a lunatic. I am 100% sure that in 30 years when her therapist asks about her earliest memories, she will say "I remember it was dark and my mom look wild-eyed as she paced around the house turning off lights and opening blinds yelling through the windows to 'GET OFF MY FENCE!'"

Just as a quick side note.... I'm actually pretty calm and collected under pressure... unless the pressure is from giant rodents or a particular detestable insect. During those times, I probably need to be medicated. No, not probably...

Anyway, the only view I can get of this thing is out Leah's bedroom window so there we are, almost 9 pm now as we stare together out the window at the possum that taunts our Baby Beans. Kevin finally calls me back after I'd left a couple of messages for him. I explain the situation and he helpfully suggests that I "just walk by" the rodent-of-unusual-size and get Beans. I say something like, "Thank you for that suggestion. I hadn't thought of it. However, I probably will not. Where is the pellet gun?" (I'm just summarizing, you see, the adrenaline has clouded out the actual words spoken here.)

Beans begins to bark again. Leah says "Beans bark! Oooooh! Off.Fence.Possom!" I say, "That's right Leah, you tell that possum to get the HECK OFF OUR FENCE!" She giggles and goes back to staring at the possum and then follows me around the house as I make my next moves. Kevin is driving in the middle of no-where so his phone is breaking up and now he's calling me and texting me with 2-3 word helps at a time. Finally he says... "Don't get a gun, call one of the neighbors."

I call the neighbor that shares the fence in question and explain my situation asking them if they can try to help me shew the possum away from their side. They inform me that Beans had been barking a LONG time before we got home and that when they realized the problem they began pelting the critter with ice cubes to try and scare it off. So, for more than an hour now this thing has just been getting madder and madder at humans... EVEN BETTER!

I was on the phone with another friend about this time and she suggests I throw an apple at it. My neighbor thought this was a good idea too... along with trying to lure the critter away with an open can of tuna in the front yard. I discouraged feeding the evil pest and continued, at my friend's suggestion, to find something to throw at it. Looking back now I'm glad I didn't throw the apple because I would have most definitely overthrown due to the rush I was experiencing and the stray apple in the neighbor's yard would have attracted even more vermin to our yards. I did throw some dog toys at the fence below it... spiking it on the tail once and getting the heebie-geebies all over when I made it turn around... Uggg... now its headed at me and not Beans! Back inside...

Leah and I take up our post in her bedroom window again with the phones and flashlights. Buckets of ice seem to be coming over our fence now... the neighbors are trying to stone the thing to death I guess. Now back on the phone with Kevin he suggests we try to "scare it away" from the front yard. I guess he thought if we went to the front yard and made alot of racket it would run towards the back and get lost. He says to me "It's just scared to death... it's trapped between y'all and Beans and can't get away." Now... whether this is true or not... this is not what I need to hear right now.

I go back in the backyard and see if I can come up with a strategic frontal attack... And now I'm having some moments of weakness. I am now SYMPATHIZING with the creature that might just be scared to death sitting on top of our fence post trying to get away. I really did begin to feel sorry for it... which didn't help the situation that was quickly heating up. I hear a strange noise... sounds like a bicycle pump... no... the neighbor says through the fence, "I borrowed a pellet gun." He's getting ready to shoot this animal that I all of the sudden have feelings of compassion for... THANKS KEVIN!

It was a clean head shot, though when it fell INTO MY SIDE OF THE YARD it took a few steps in attempt to escape before curling up and dying... right in the path that I need to walk through to get Beans... I mean smack dab in the middle of a 3 foot wide path that leads to Bean Arena. "It's dead... just walk by it" you say?? IT IS A POSSUM!!! THEY ARE MASTERS OF THE ART OF "PLAYING POSSUM!" How do I know its really dead? I'm going crazy here. Back we go to the post in Leah's room where I can keep an eye on the "dead" creature... which I now feel so very sorry for... and I'm wondering if she was a momma possum and are her baby possums going to be ok without her!?!? Oh Kevin is in BIG trouble for this.

The overgrown rodent is sort of curled up on its side... very still... very dead. I wait a few minutes more and then I tell Leah to come wait for mommy at the screen door to the back yard. I'm gonna go get Beans. As I sneak by it, moving ever-so-slowly, I notice the giant rat tail coiled up like a cinnamon roll. I almost cry, I almost throw up... all at the same time. I get to Beans and open her gate, now having to control an 80 lb, over-stimulated puppy and keep her from getting too close to this thing as we go back by it again.

We made it. As we came in the door, Leah was saying "GO WAY POSSUM!" I notified all parties who'd been involved of the final outcome. The next morning the animal control "lady" came by and picked it up in a black trash bag. I told Kevin I was really surprised by the trash bag... I expected something more official.

Most of my compassion for the critter has now worn off. Leah continues to wake up every morning talking about the possum on her fence. I am exceedingly careful outside in the dark now, in case there are hungry possom babies looking for their mama, I don't want to be caught off gaurd.

Here is a picture of some possum hair on our fence. It was an impressive 2.5 hours spent in one position.

And here is a picture of the bloody crime scene after the body had been taken away. R.I.P.

I need to express something.

Last night, our Baby Beans got into a fight with a opossum. (Typing this word puzzles me… the a/an rule is challenged here, I believe, because you don’t say Oh-Possum which would require the standard “an” but it seems wrong to put “a” in front of a noun that begins with a vowel. Its against the rules! It goes against everything I’ve ever known about the a/an statute. And now I don’t even know which one is right! A or AN?? Someone HELP! The issues we nerds deal with are really very taxing for our psyches.)

Back to the story, Kevin and I took Beans outside last night to prepare for a little ANAL GLAND EXPRESSION. Seems like once a year or so, Beans gets one of those darn things clogged up, and needs a little assistance with her self-expression. Even though my profession has required the occasional digital exam of certain areas and/or the digital removal of certain unmentionable substances, I just can’t bring myself to do this similar procedure on my Baby Beans. She doesn’t understand, and I would just prefer to let the vet (who charges like 15 dollars for this!) go there. But, alas, it always seems necessary in the middle of the night or on the weekend… so DAD gets to do it! I am in charge of holding her booty still while her sweet dad pokes around back there to see what he can express. (We do this because it is stinky and causes her pain if it stays clogged... its not just to have something to do after work) So, we began the preparations, but Beans decided to make one more attempt at self-expression in the side yard. But before any business can commence we see her take off… followed by all kinds of commotion and barking in the corner of the yard that is completely invisible at night. Luckily Kevin brought the flashlight for the aforementioned task at hand, and the beam revealed the NASTY and also extremely angry creature that had now climbed to the top of our fence. Great… the only thing worse than a/an opossum in my yard, is a pissed off opossum in my yard… staring at us from above. There is only ONE thing I hate more than these GIANT RATS… but there is no need for me to go there on this fine day. Another day maybe. So I say... (from inside the screen door where I have retreated with Beans, who apparently whipped that little cuss word without a scratch on her…I’m so proud!) “Do you want me to bring your gun?” Kevin laughs but to my happy surprise says “No I’ll come get it.” I am so excited. I will pay the fine or whatever happens when you shoot something in your backyard in the middle of the city. No cost would be too great. I just want to see the thing in several pieces. But he goes into the garage… NOT where the big guns are kept… and brings in this piddly little pellet gun. What? What is that gonna do? So I say “Umm why don’t you go get your fancy shotgun with the 3 INCH MAGNUMS that excite you so, and blow that rat to pieces?” (I don’t really know what this means AT ALL, but I hear him saying weird crap like this sometimes so I thought it might be appropriate) He’s not listening to me but instead contemplates his wussy choice of gun and says “This thing won’t work… Let’s trap it!!” “Trap my FOOT!!” (or something like that) Then all you have is a pissed off opossum… in a trap… in my backyard!! Get the magnums!! I’ll do it myself!

I think he finally poked it with a stick or something and made it jump the fence into my neighbor’s yard. My hero… What good are all those stupid guns if you aren’t gonna shoot the bad guys with them?

All that adrenaline Miss Beans had after her brawl with the ugly beast must have worked up a hearty enough poop to help her express herself! So… no need to hold her hiney now! We’re all fine, but I was a little nervous to go outside this morning… I am gonna need to start packin heat just to walk in my own backyard! And don't think I wont blow those little tiny opossum brains out! So get on the road, Oh-Possum!