Project Number Two and Three

The picture is a little dark but this way you can see how the flower beds go together.

Our love tree, Henry and Watson

The side flowers

Travis was gone the beginning of the week for his eye surgery. While he was away I decided to finish our flower garden we started a few weeks ago planting and making our house a home. I finished planting the rest of our flowers. It is very relaxing working with the ground and your hands and there is always instant gratification. While I was planting I heard little birds chirping. At first I thought they were in the tree in our front lawn but then when I followed the little noise I discovered that we have a small hole by our door and you can see where the nest has been made. You can't see the birds because they are in the ceiling area, but hearing them chirp reassures spring is here!!
The other project I took on was painting our ugly white railings and banister. When we moved in everything was the same ugly white color. I had enough of it and knew that the railings and banister should be a different color. Travis loves the change and so do I!

Project Number One

Travis was gone all last week in the field so to keep myself busy and not missing him so much I decided to get projects done. Travis and I were blessed to be given Nanny's old desk. It is an older desk that needed a face lift (you can see what it looked like in older post) and this was the week I took on the task. I have never done anything like this away from home, but I gave it a go. The hardest part was picking a color by myself!!! I worked every night on the desk till very late. It took two coats of primer and three coats of paint, but I had it all done and moved back to the living room by the time Travis got home Friday night. Travis loves the desk and I am pretty proud of my handy work. It is a pretty bold piece, but adds a lot of color to the room!

Travis is gone this week for eye surgery in San Antonio, TX so I am deciding what projects I can get done to again keep me busy and not missing him quite as much!

Swimming Videos

This is Henry fetching the duck! He absolutely loves it!

This is Charlie swimming you will see a drastic difference between the two! Charlie swims towards the wall because he can stand on his hind legs and rest against the side!

Doggy Swim Day

Henry pacing to decided whether to jump in or not!

Looking over the edge...eventually he slipped and fell in!

Travis after "playing" with Charlie in the pool! Charlie was clawing for his life!

Charlie loved being out of the water drying off instead!

Henry and Travis stopping for a quick picture

Henry fetching the duck

Everyone at the pool

Fun at the pool! Doesn't Charlie look ecstatic!

Finally at the end of the day we took Henry and Charlie to the pool on base. The pool was going to have maintenance done so they allowed dog owners to bring their dogs to enjoy the pool before they emptied it. I have to admit this was an event I went to only because Travis wanted to go. I had planned on not even getting in the water and I didn't think it would be much fun....boy was I wrong! Before I knew it I was in the water and so wet I didn't bother taking off my shirt! It was the highlight of everyone's day!!! There were so many dogs there of ALL shapes, sizes and age! Old dogs, puppies, big dogs and dogs that I thought would drown if placed in water, but every dog got in the water and swam! This was the first time that Henry had ever been in water (besides the bathtub). It was so much fun to watch him progress throughout the day. At first he wasn't a very strong swimmer and was rather awkward in the water compared to other dogs his size. Before long though he was running and swimming everywhere he could. He LOVED IT!!! Charlie on the other had can swim, but liked to watch better! Travis and I took turns throwing the ball for Henry over and over again. When Henry got tired Travis or I would hold him so he could get some rest while we swam in the deep end. We played for two hours at the pool and Henry was exhausted when we got home!! It was a blast and I wish we could swim every weekend. All the dogs just loved playing together or with their owners and the people loved it just as much!

Cajun Fest

This signed cracked me up

The next stop for the day was the Cajun Fest that was on base. It had games for the kids like dunk tanks, face painting, squirting ducks and much more. There were pony rides, bouncy toys, and lots of army vehicles and guns for kids to put their hands on. Cajun venders came out to sell food which looked and smelt wonderful. There was a live band and drawings to enter. Travis and I didn't stay long but walked around and enjoyed the music and people watching. It was a great event for the Army put on!

Popping my Crawfish Cherry

My first plate of crawfish

Delicious!

This weekend was jammed packed! The first thing we did was go to my works annual Crawfish Boil! I had never eaten crawfish and was a little nervous because there is a lot of technique to eating the little critters. Luckily Travis had learned some tricks the week I was gone since he went to a crawfish boil at his friends house to enjoy the festivities. Travis grabbed me a tray and littlerally took a scoop and poured in on my plate. No backing out at this point.
I had been asking a lot of questions at work on how exactly this process unfolds and everyone had different advice. Only eat the ones who's tails is curled under, pitch the tail and grab the meat with your teeth and so on. Most of it doesn't make since but you hope it will once you are put to the test of eating a crawfish. One thing I knew was that some people said they couldn't do it because once they looked at the crawfish they couldn't pull it apart. Therefore my technique was not to become friends with the crawfish. I took my plate from Travis and without making eye contact with the little crustaceans on my plate we found a seat and I was ready to learn the art of tearing apart a crawfish.
The process goes a little something like this. You push in the tail and twist, next you pull off the tail bit the meat while pitching the end of the tail and pull out the meat. If done right you can eat a lot of crawfish. For me as a beginner it was a little rough and I had to tear the critters apart more often then not. They were delicious though!!! Spicy and meaty it was a real treat! Another thing that native Louisianians do is what they call "suck the head." This is where once you've pulled off the tail and taken out the meat you turn the body of the crawfish over and suck out the "juice" they call it. I did try it a few times but looking into the crawfish's belly was kind of grossed and the juices were extremely spicy!!
Overall though I love eating crawfish! I love eating with my hands and getting dirty and this is the meal to do it!!! It is amazing how many people ate! An average person eats easily 5-10 lbs of crawfish. It sounds like a lot but most of the crawfish you throw away it is just the little meat in the tail that you eat...and the juices in the head :)

Up dates

Calvin Jay Sabin

I know it has been quite awhile since we have blogged. It is probably due to the fact that our routine life has become routine and although A LOT is happening finding the time and thinking of things to blog about unfortunately take the back seat. I will try to fill you in on the last month as to get you up to snuff.
Two weeks ago I flew back to Tri-Cities to see my new nephew Calvin Jay Sabin. Plus I was able to see my family and friends. The trip was so much fun and it was good to be with everyone. Travis wasn't able to go due work. We were apart this year for Easter, but we both enjoyed the holiday. Travis went to brunch with our neighbors and I did what I have done since I was little with my family; which include church, a ham lunch with family friends and a wild Easter egg hunt. The week with my family went by way too fast and I know the next time I see all my niece and nephews they will have changed so much again!