Learning something new

Experiencing new things is certainly in order when children visit their grandparents. Growing up in the country is different than city life. Being able to fish in an Oklahoma pond - very red water now due to the recent rain - is a ritual enjoyed by both child and grandparent. Many things are repeated over and over and over - until finally the light bulb goes off.

Max (age 5 ) learned to get a minnow from the minnow bucket, bait his hook, and remove the fish from the hook after it was caught. This is a milestone - maybe not the same as getting your drivers license, graduating from college, or getting married...but something to be remembered for a long time.

Today's fishing expedition resulted in the catching of about 14 fish...mostly crappie, one sun perch and several bass....the fish were still biting when we came to the house...but a blond fair skinned little boy (even with lots of sunscreen) stands a good change of getting sunburned. This was the largest one he caught...we kept it. If anymore are caught worth keeping we will - but if this is the only one...we will release it.

Oh, the fun in having a youngster around - can't say they keep me young - but they make me sleep hard at night as I am pooped!



Granny Amelia

Spring has arrived...

 The temperature today is warm and no wind - just a perfect day for venturing outdoors with my camera..
First stop is the garden - all we have planted so far are the onions. We have been eating on them for the past 4 or 5 days.
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First rose of the season - the wind has been blowing so hard the past few days - so the petals are a bit worn. <
The strawberries are starting to bloom - lost some of the first blossoms to the frost we had several days ago.

Tulips - my very favorite spring flower!
We have quite a few hosta plants of several varieties in our flower beds. All are up and looking very healthy. The two small pots in back of picture contain airplane plants - just waiting for me to plant in their summertime home - which is a half whiskey barrel.

  Even the wild flowers are pretty at this time of the year.

Sweet husband just came in and suggested we go fishing...wow - that really means spring time is here.

Nature's Colors

Several days ago, when the weather was pretty, we went fishing. Did not catch anything but had a good time anyway.

Aren't the contrast of the colors beautiful?

"Blue" Cat

What fun!

This is the largest fish I have ever caught!!! It weighed 9 pounds 5 ounces and was 31 inches long. I caught him on a dead minnow. This pond is way back in the woods - as you can tell from the background on this picture.

I got him up on the bank and the hook came out of his mouth. No fear though-my wonderful husband was there on his knees and grabbed him with his hands. Grandson Rowdy got in on the action and got the scale in his mouth.

Like all catfish...this was an ugly thing. Leon said it was a blue cat.

Fishing and Family equals "FUN"

This past Tuesday Leon and I headed to Lake Eufaula to spend a couple of days with family. Larry and Melissa had picked up Junior, Kylie and Rowdy the evening before and drove to the Geyer cabin. Just like two kids we could not sleep on Monday night-so at 3:30 Tuesday morning we got up and around. Did the necessary things to get car ready, cats fed, packed up and headed out about 4:15. The Geyer cabin is owned by Don and Erma Geyer - they are Melissa's parents.

We used the Geyer's pontoon boat...Larry had taken his bass boat but all of us could not ride in it at one time. He did take the grandchildren for a ride on Monday evening...which thrilled them completely.

I rode at the back of the boat most of the time. At the highest speed (which is not very much) this is the amount of water that is kicked up by the motor/boat.

Larry drove the boat - also unhooked most all of the fish that were caught. He played fishing guide all the time.

Getting ready to take the boat out again after lunch.

At the Geyer cabin their land is as close to the water as you can get. It is still quite aways from their property to the water - but no one can build between them and the water. Melissa and Kylie checking out the view.

One of the many fish that Leon caught.

Oh, yes I caught my share also.

Grandson Rowdy showing off one caught during the trip.

Junior - undoubtedly had more fun than anyone. Also he probably caught more fish than anyone. His birthday was Wednesday...he turned nine.

Larry getting ready to unhook one of the fish that Kylie caught.

Melissa didn't do any fishing. Larry did a small amount on the second day. The fish were really biting on the first day...second day was fair. I am sure in the two day period there were 80 to 100 fish caught. We did not keep any of them. We caught small ones but also plenty that would have been "keepers". The boat was crowded with all the people - so keeping the fish until they could be cleaned would have just added to shortness of space.

All of us had lots of fun...but at the end - Wednesday -all of us were super tired.

Spending Time With Grandchildren

Grandpa Leon had promised three of the grandchildren he would come and get them to go fishing here at the house. This would all transpire when school was over for the year. They had planned to go last Friday...but the weather was not cooperative. So they decided they would go today - regardless of the weather. He got to their house (near Bowlegs - which is south of Seminole) about 7:40 this morning. Of course, they were ready to go. Junior is 8, Kylie is 12 and Rowdy is 14. The boys definitely wanted to spend all the time fishing- but Kylie was not too keen on spending that much time at the pond. I needed to go to the grocery store so she rode along with me.



































Kylie mixing up the dough for the chicken and dumplings we had for lunch. I watched over her shoulder - but she did most of the work. They turned out delcious.















Grandpa Leon taking it easy while the boys were busy baiting, casting and sometimes catching!
















Junior is a determined person when it comes to fishing. Both of the boys caught a lot of fish. Only a couple or so would have been large enough to keep and clean...in spite of the fact they went thru many many minnows. Leon had bought 3 dozen this morning before they started. Soon after lunch he went for 4 dozen. There might have been a half dozen left when they quit.


A couple of precious boys!