Snakes, Snails and Gator Tales

I was Ohio-born and then raised in Chicago where the insect population isn't allowed to live long enough to reach the "bully" stage. Texas however is a different planet entirely! The mosquitoes here wear muscle shirts that read "Don't mess with Texas", and because they have ample supply of redneck "Bubba" blood...they are also extremely hairy.

So, even though I consider myself a seasoned Texas camper...every time my Yankee eyes see signs such as these...

or these...

I find myself having to swallow back down the chicken in me...trying to claw up my throat...demanding to abort this insanity and head for the safety of home. But then, magic and adventure are harder to find if one never leaves home...so, once I win the battle with the chicken, I square my shoulders and forge ahead into the wilderness looking for adventure. In the words of Emporer Kuzco, "Bring it on!"

Actually, my adventure began in the driveway at 8AM Thursday morning. I had promised the kids that they could take their bikes. The glitch came when my husband had to leave out of town unexpectedly on business. He ALWAYS loads the bike rack on the back of the truck and then loads the bikes onto it. Usually, by the time he is finished - he is ready to shoot somebody and has lost ALL religion. It's typically a good idea to have a brief family devotion before we set off -- to help dampen the "Bike Rack Road Rage" that would be unleashed on all unsuspecting drivers immediately following the bike rack battle!

I decided Thursday morning that I would win this battle and NOT be defeated by a lil' ol bike rack!!! After I was finished installing and loading the bike rack...I discovered that I too had lost ALL religion and when I went to comb my unruly hair back into some order...what used to be hair was now snakes.

The most surprising part was that after I had won the bike battle...my neighbor stood directly behind my vehicle with a look of terror on his face asking repeatedly if I should call Nathan before I leave to ask him to come fetch the bikes. I was offended and huffily informed him that I had it all under control...I didn't need a MAN!


I did notice on the drive down that all the traffic stayed a good 2-3 car lengths behind and started signaling to change lanes as soon as possible. I had NO tailgaters the whole way! :-)

When I showed these pictures to Nathan, he fell forward on the sofa and howled with laughter for a solid 10 minutes! *sigh!* MEN!!

All in all we had some great family bonding time and saw a wide variety of all God's creatures. I saw a total of 4 gators...3 adult and 1 baby.

And a scary snake. Raccoons. Armadillos. And lots of friendly (and very pregnant) deer.

All in all we found lots of magic and adventure. By the way, we are NOT tree huggers...

Trust me. It's NOT a good idea to hug the trees in Texas!