The park was full of visitors and activities; people boating, riding bikes, picnicking. All of the usual first real warm day of the season buzz. Sitting there relaxing we both notice two tiny little boys across the lake. From our view point they looked no older than 4 and 7; just a guess. With them was a chocolate Lab and a mother who was laying down on the picnic table reading a book. Seemingly not really watching the boys. The dog had more interest in their movements than mom seemed to have as the two little boys played with buckets and shovels in the water.
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| Can't see mom but she's somewhere behind a tree on a picnic table reading a book. |
"I cannot believe that the mom isn't watching those boys any closer than she is, " I commented to Jack. "Yep," he replies back to me, " those boys are going to be two tough kids when they grow up. The type to steal your lunch money and eat your peanut butter sandwiches in kindergarten." He goes on, " And then you just go back to your little nap mat and cry cause you know they are going to do it again tomorrow." I was laughing so hard I couldn't stop long enough to ask him if perhaps he needed some therapy over something that happened in kindergarten. He comes up with these things out of the blue and I am so totally shocked and always end up peeing my pants. There have been days when we are out, most always at a Wal-Mart, and he sees one of those Wal-Mart people like on the web page peopleofwalmart.com, which by the way we may be on one day, and comes up with some comment that puts me in to a hysterical laugh. I beg him not to make me laugh but he won't stop. I guess he was always too busy to show that side of himself at home. Or maybe I was too busy to notice.
It was a beautiful day today. Absolutely gorgeous. We first went out for breakfast at the Huddle House. We've eaten there twice; once for dinner and once for breakfast. If you are ever in Alexander City, Alabama be sure to stop by the Huddle House for any meal. Both meals we've eaten there have been well priced and delicious. And the place is spotless and the help very nice. But today when we walked in I really wanted to turn around and run. I have never seen so much camo clothing in one place on real people in my whole 57 years of life. I thought I had walked in to a National Guard advertisement. At least I was praying that's what it was. In my gut, though, I knew what was going on. For the love of God we were in Alabama and the number one entertainment around here seems to be hunting or selling puppies and bunny rabbits in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Jack sat against the wall at the only booth available. My back was up against a booth of men talking about their deer conquest. And for those of you who know me you know how I feel about hunting. To each his own but I don't need or want to hear a play by play recap of your bloody conquest. I knew if I insisted on moving or leaving Jack would be eating alone. He had the whole restaurant of people to watch; I had three men who cussed like sailors and bragged about gutting their deer. So, I did the only thing I knew to do; I stuck my fingers in my ears and hummed their conversations out of my head. You can't imagine how hard it was for me not to turn around and pour the bottle of syrup over their heads, slap my sausage in their face and stick a fork in it. "And," I seethed silently to myself, "how does that feel?" Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama was correct. In some parts of Alabama it does feel
as if you do need a passport to enter.
We rode bikes, hiked, walked the dogs for quite a distance and gathered wood. I guess that's legal here in Alabama so we rode our bikes on to side roads gathering wood. We looked like poor peasants going to market with our goods but since they don't sell wood and the weather was so nice we wanted a camp fire. A neighbor though must have taken pity on us and came calling with an offer of their wood. They were leaving tomorrow and did not want to haul the wood back home. Busy day since the minute my feet hit the floor. I should sleep well tonight.
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| Taking a break during our hike. |
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| We were hiking when we ran in to 6 deer. |
