Flowers

The other day Jonathan rode up on his four wheeler and said "Mommy I want to show you something by the skunk house (an old shed on a far side of our property where he and Daddy saw a skunk once). No telling what was waiting for me. We rode over there and with a big smile Jonathan pointed to this area covered with beautiful orange lilies. My tough, four-wheel riding, gun-shooting, can't avoid a mud puddle, constantly in motion precious boy wanted to show me a field of flowers. In that moment I thought how I wished he could stay five forever and always want to find flowers for me and be okay with holding my hand and face each day with delight and eagerness to see what adventures may be in store and find joy in fireflies and ladybugs and kittens and ice cream cones and playing Uno and being read to and remain innocent of the ugliness of the world.

Then he proceeded to pick a handful for me! (something else I took a picture of but issues with the camera are causing problems with viewing the pictures. agh!) The picture here is from a while ago. This is probably quite obvious from his sweatshirt. Wearing that now would be child abuse!! We have spotted these lilies growing in many ditches and other places. I would like to dig up some of the bulbs and replant around the house for next summer. I love that he notices God's simple gifts of nature.

Haircut

Jonathan was in the other room and rather quiet.
I called out, "Jonathan are you okay?"

I received this reply:
"Kittens sure have a lot of hair!"

Rather curious and a bit alarmed at this response, I walked into the room.
One of our new kittens was receiving a haircut from a very proud little boy!
The kitten just sat there. Poor thing looks quite pitiful now with patches of hair gone.
I would have pictures but my camera is not cooperating. Totally frustrating!!

I am thankful it was the cat and not his own hair, though he is in desperate need of a cut!

Recently

It has become hot. Unbearably hot. The kind of hot I must plan my day around. Outside work and play time has to come in the morning and then again late afternoon or early evening. So we make all attempts to walk and garden and play ball earlier in the day.

Summer has come with its smells of fresh dirt in the garden and lawn being mowed and sun screen and bug spray and sweat being washed off at the end of the day. Flowers are blooming. The crepe myrtle bushes and trees here are so pretty and the magnolia trees. Jonathan points out the magnolia trees when we drive by one. They have these beautiful huge white blossoms. We don't have any in our yard but we do have two peach trees I am thrilled about and Ashley said there are blackberry bushes. Yum!!

Our garden is thriving. However, the weeds are too. It is a battle. We planted very very late. A garden has become a marriage issue in the last few years so I must prove myself capable this year. Not the best year to try to do so!! But I am greatly looking forward to fresh tomatoes and cucumbers and corn and squash and basil and cilantro (which I LOVE but no one else does. I have to make a seperate batch of salsa with it for myself!! I could eat it with so many things but no one else is willing.) Ashley and Jonathan planted two egg plant plants which will be interesting. I have no idea what to do with an eggplant should we get any. We also planted sweet potatoes which I have never done but will be great to have, especially with a baby.

We still are no closer to choosing names. Girl name we may have and Ashley is convinced the baby is a girl so he is not real motivated to choose a boy name. He has certainly nixed every option I have given!! And there is still not much set up for the baby or food in the freezer for us after the baby comes. I really need to get at it this week and next. I need ideas on what all to stick in the freezer. I am contemplating bierocks but not sure how bold I am feeling.

I am feeling a need to spend extra time with Jonathan and spoil him even. Not sure how even more time is possible since we are together most all the time already. But everything in his world is about to change and ours too. I am quite nervous about all the changes and preparing him for it all. I am tempted to take a day and ignore everything else and just let Jonathan dictate the day. No "okay but I need to get this done first." I have a feeling much of the day would be spent outside. I really think I might do something like that. I am bound to get some ice cream out of it!!

It has happened

Do not tell Ashley. Or my Mom. For very different reasons.



But the unthinkable happened. I actually felt the desire to have a gun with me.

Never did I think such a thing would happen. Look what Tennessee has done to me!!


How has this happened? Several things lead to such an occurance. A few weeks ago, Ashley was
gone all day and late at a class. Jonathan and I were outside and saw a rather large snake slither across the driveway. It was black and too big and too close for comfort. Pepper, our dog, went to examine it and the snake hissed and coiled up and stood up like a cobra. (I am fully aware it was not a cobra but just needed to help get the visual across.) Jonathan got all wound up and was finding hoes to chop the snake with and other materials to catch or kill the creature. We then watched it slither up the side of a tree!! Yes, right up the side of a tree we walk under all the time. It really bothered me. I decided maybe I could shoot it. So we went back in the house and my five year old helped me figure out which was a shotgun and then what bullets this gun would use. Yes, I was even further disturbed! It took me so long to figure out how to load the thing that when we got back, we could not find the snake in the tree. I am not sure if I would have had the nerve to shoot at it anyway. Ashley did make me shoot that gun the next day "just in case."
A week or so later, Jonathan and I were walking with Pepper and went a direction we do not normally go. We were walking past a house when this collie type dog came running out barking. She headed straight for Pepper who went crazy and yanked the leash out of my hand. I was trying to hold a crying and screaming Jonathan and get a hold of the leash again while the two dogs snarled and bit at each other. I was scared to try to get in the middle too much. We tried to get away but anytime Pepper would move the other dog would bite at her and attack her. I was scared and not sure what to do. We got a bit down the road very slowly with poor Pepper terrified. The owner eventually came out. She was an elderly lady walking with a cane. She tried to yell at her dog to come but the dog refused. She tried to hit her dog with her cane but nothing helped. Eventually she started to walk back to her house and told us good luck and to be careful. I was quite shocked! I had actually remembered to bring my phone with me and so I gave Ashley he call. About 15 minutes later he came roaring up and jumped out of his truck with his gun and shot near the dog just to scare it and it went yelping off. He was our hero(as he was yesterday when he got the AC fixed!!) I would never have shot the dog but had thought if I had a gun perhaps I could have used it to scare the dog. We have not walked that far in that direction again!
Ashley and Jonathan love to shoot at turtles in our ponds. We were walking again the other day and we saw a huge turtle in the ditch. Now I have nothing against turtles though Ashley said they eat a fish a day and that his is reason for shooting them. But something came over me and I thought it would be fun to try to hit that turtle. It hissed at us so I felt no kind connection to it! Plus I would have loved to see Jonathan's reacton and pride had I shot at it.

Now, I am not sure if I will ever actually carry a gun. But I am leaning a bit more to becoming more familiar with one and being proficient enough to use one if need be. Ashley would be so proud! I can't have my five year old talking me through me protecting him from a snake!!

Tractor Pull

Friday night we went to a truck and tractor pull. After agreeing to go, I thought about the reality of it and asked Ashley if there was any way of giving the ticket to someone else. He tried to but to no avial and so I went. Though in the time he was checking with friends, I had quite the productive evening planned while I would be home alone. I was really going to make some progress on baby stuff and blogging and cleaning and organizing and way too many thing to realistically accomplish!!

I went with plans of being very hot, hearing loud engines, enjoying the time for Jonathan's sake and experiencing some interesting people watching. I was not disppointed. Actually the Lord was very gracious to pregnant, heat-intolerant me, and the evening cooled off some and had a nice breeze. There was definately still sweating but it was tolerable. The people were quite amusing. My jeans were not nearly tight enough to really fit in!

Jonathan and I had fun learning the names of the different trucks and tractors and covering our ears when the black smoke began to roll out. We certainly inhaled a lot of smoke from fuel and from cigarettes.

I have to admit I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to. I am not sure why exactly. If it is some of the idea of "when in Rome, do as the Romans" and I decided I needed to take part or be left behind by my husband and son and this oh so red neck area! Or if part of it is the deep enjoyment to be found in watching someone you love throughly enjoy something. Watching and listening to Jonathan enjoy the sounds and colors and names and power of the engines was such fun. And there is something to be said for a power that you can feel in your body as it roars by. The poor baby had to wonder what in the world was happening!!

Or perhaps it had partly to do with an appreciation for someone willing to take a chance. To risk failure in front of a crowd. To spend time and money and effort on learning and perfecting something, even if I will never understand the need to see how loud or powerful or how high off the ground one's wheels can go. But I can appreciate someone giving their all. And the love and loyalty of a daddy or a grandpa helping them learn and try and try again after defeat. I am certain there will be interests of Jonathan's that I will not fully understand, but I do get supporting him and cheering him on and helping him learn.

True to a Williams' outing, there did need to be ice cream involved. However, it came so late, Jonathan was falling asleep eating his cone on the way home. It still took some convincing to get it away from him!!

Shameless

In my dislike of dusting.

In my enjoyment of grapes. I have given myself a stomach ache on more than one occasion!

In my delight in holding Jonathan's hand.

In my ability to procrastinate.

In the depth of missing my family.

In my enjoyment of watching a movie with Ashley.

In my delight in reading a good book. I am horrible about staying up late when I am reading.

In my appreciation of a Sunday afternoon nap!

In my inability to tolerate heat. Not a great thing right now! I feel like I sweat through the day and the night.

In my rationalizing ice cream as an acceptable treat. (But really, it has calcium and protein!!)

In my need to touch Jonathan and my nephews and nieces' soft skin and smell their sweet smells and kiss their kissable cheeks.