Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Another Day at the Farm


Even if you are not a hunter, you have to find beauty in these pictures. These are all unedited, all natural beauty. Abby or Ally (I can't remember which one) asked me the other day why I loved hunting so much. Here was my answer...

"I do my best soul searching or talking with God when I am in the deer stand. There are no distractions. There is no noise from the outside world. Only the sounds of the woods. Only God's creation to look at and soak in. I actually sit down and do "nothing". I very rarely sit at home and do nothing. It is so relaxing and peaceful while I am in the stand. I just let everything go for those few hours." 

Her response..."Mom, you could just walk in the backyard and do that, couldn't you?"

Ok...I guess I like "to hunt" a little, too! 

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Sunday Afternoon...

Oney's Memphis cousins have been in Covington for the weekend. When they come in town, by Sunday, Oney cannot spell his name he is so worn out! Sittie entertains and spoils them non-stop...whatever they want to eat, wherever they want to go, she is at their beck and call! She reminds me so much of my Grandmother. Oney has made this awesome "clubhouse" in her backyard. It is made out of pine needles, pine trees, privet, and sticks. It is pretty amazing. He is the hit of the neighborhood. After church today, Sittie took the kids roller skating with our Church group. They had a blast! 


Judson and I worked on hanging new "no trespassing" signs at our farm. We have had some trouble with trespassers and theft. It may or may not do any good. But, it made us feel better anyway. It is now posted better and trespassers have been warned.




Saturday, November 10, 2012

Saturday Evenings...

What more can you ask for on a cool Fall evening...a huge pot of chili, hot dogs on the grill, brownies, cold beer, warm whiskey, a bonfire, s'mores, and good friends...oh and our latest tradition...wearing our pajamas to each other's house for dinner! Now those are good friends! 


Love this handsome man...Duncan Blue...he does so good keeping up with all of the big kids!

Speaking of big kids...


Sweet Katie and my Handsome Honey


Friday, November 9, 2012

Trail Cameras

We never know what we will find on our trail cameras at the farm. In the past, we have had pictures of the following animals:

Deer...Rabbits...Turkeys...Bobcats...Bats...Dogs...
Raccoons...Squirrels...Coyotes

We have also had pictures of trespassers. We have a picture right now (which I should post) of a trespasser. I am making it my mission to find you...so beware...you know who you are and what you did...I would not recommend you coming back for the cameras. We just might have a little surprise for you! Have I ever told you that I take my deer hunting seriously? We have worked too hard on our food plots this year to have some yahoo drive through and mess it up! 


A Bobcat


A Turkey


Does

Oh look...it's me!
 I always pose for the trail cameras...that's one way to get my picture taken for my blog! 



Oscar Night

Ally and her friends attended "Oscar Night" this year for their first time. It is a high school only event where senior superlatives are recognized. I know they had a great time. They all looked so pretty. 

The Life

This is the view from my office for the next few weeks...nice huh?

Have I ever told you how much I love deer hunting? If I could ever get past the "Mother's/Wife's Guilt" I would really have a problem!

I have my comfy deer stand, a cold diet coke, my iPad and wireless hotspot...what more could you ask for?

That's all for now. I have work to do!

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Wizard of Leadership

Look at my Abby aka Dorothy! How gorgeous is she? She is just that sweet, too! She was nominated as West Tennessee Area Representative on the State Board of Student Council. One of her duties is for her and her school to host the Fall Leadership Workshop. That being said, she was entirely responsible for the execution, planning, coordinating, conducting, etc of the days' activities.  All of the Middle Schools in West Tennessee were invited to attend. She made it her goal to try to get some private schools involved this year. She has worked SO hard on this and learned so much throughout the process. Ally held this same position last year. Abby was able to learn from Ally's experience and make improvements as well. 


Abby came up with the theme for this year, The Wizard of Leadership. It was a fun theme to work with for sure! This is the invitation that Abby made and sent out to area schools. 


Abby and I the day of the workshop. She had a lot of pressure on her this week. Not just the workshop, but many other issues. She handled the stress and pressure better than many adults would. You would never ever know by her attitude...always smiling and positive!


Abby completely wrote the script for an opening skit the council performed. It was AWESOME! She wrote about how the characters were going to see the Wizard to get leadership skills. The Scarecrow wanted a brain full of student council ideas, the Tin Man wanted a heart for kind leading, the Lion wanted courage to lead his student council. Really creative and cool. I think Abby could be a writer some day!

Abby and her very PROUD Dad! 
Abby and the Scarecrow, Connor, and Tin Man, Jake. A shout out to Leslie for face painting!

We used plastic tablecloth rolls as the backdrop on stage. It amazes me the uses for those cheap tablecloths! I always keep them around the house for school projects. You can work miracles with them! I think it turned out really cool!


These are two of the BEST advisors EVER, Ms. Jo Baker and Ms. Angel Jones. They are the reason our student council is where it is today. They came to TRA from Lauderdale Middle and brought many years of experience and ideas. They have been so good to my girls. They could have never had the leadership opportunities without their encouragement and support. They BOTH log countless hours and never complain. THANKS to teachers like them.


How about a HUGE thank you to Abby's friends who helped her through this as well. They were awesome and so supportive. She couldn't have done it without their help!


Abby's awesome video conference from Ramon Foster a football player for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was a former student of Ms Baker's and a big leader in his council. Abby communicated with him via text, email and phones for a few weeks getting everything figured out. She asked him a series of questions about leadership. It was perfect! He is such a kind, well mannered man.




The t-shirts they sold to students. They ended up really cute! Thanks to Ms Baker's husband. Look...USJ came...they were the first private school besides TRA! 


Look at those baby blues...WOW...so pretty! 

Another cool idea...they handed out each student a bag of strings. Each council had a different color. When they introduced themselves to new friends, they would "fringe" each other and tie a string on their name tag. It is sort of like "friending" on Facebook. As you can tell, Abby was too busy running around and working to fringe many people.



We have the smartest moms at TRA. One of our moms made about a dozen pair of ruby red slippers for the tables in the advisor's workshop area. How cool are these?


Student Council Officers
Grace, Jack, Anna Claire, Abby, Kendall, Connor, Brittany & Sydney


The entire council...






My SWEET, BEAUTIFUL, INTELLIGENT, LOVING, ATHLETIC, COMPASSIONATE, CHRISTIAN, CHARMING, KINDHEARTED, SMART, SENSITIVE, GORGEOUS...okay, you get the picture...daughter...saying "thank you" to everyone that made her workshop a success.


I am so PROUD of you Abby! You did the BEST job!