Pleasantly filling the time.

Annaliese at work in the office.

Last night was the annual party at Mary Lou and Snooky's house. The whole town was out. Right before this picture was taken the ladies were joking about Snooky being the Hugh Hefner of Water Valley.

A squirrel has been sneaking into the attic. Caspian saw it climbing along the porch ceiling headed towards the tree. We turned it into a learning exercise, anatomy, tanning, etc. (Air rifle purchased for protecting the chickens from raccoons inside the city limits, where shooting is prohibited, caught this guy as he was racing up a tree.) The meat is in the freezer, trying to work up the desire to eat it. This is the skin pinned and salted.

Family trip to the sports fields on the south end of town for some cycling and tennis.

My sporty, and elusive, wife.

Annaliese did a great job as a ball girl, with periodic breaks to look at the latest bug Caspian spotted.

Nice to see her, no?

Caspian helping me in the workshop. This was learning how to hammer. I found this worked much better when I pre-drilled the bocks.

Annaliese joined after her french lesson ended down the hall, her french teacher's boot is in the frame.

This morning was our fishing trip, attempt #32 to catch a fish in Mississippi. We had a great time collecting those worms by turning over the mulch pile next to the chicken house. HUGE worms.

A bit of a hike down to the river.

We started with two rods.

We caught 5 fish total. A and C both caught a catfish, and we caught three silver shiny fish. I let those go. We gave the catfish to three young men who we met on our way out, I am a bit tired of cleaning things I don't really want to eat but feel compelled not to waste.

Annaliese decided standing up and holding a fishing rod was a lot of work.

We took a break for snacks.

Then we took a longer break to take a walk following the river upstream. I dug in both rods and left the lines in the water. They were really solid when we left.

The weather couldn't have been better. Sunny, with a refreshing cool breeze.
Swords.

When we got back, maybe 15 minutes later, something big had pulled one of the rods out of its mooring, and absconded with it.

It was fine by the kids, they were on to more interesting activities.

Home for a warm bath, a delicious long afternoon nap, family snuggle in bed, group dinner-making in the kitchen, Alexe home from a long Friday at the store to finally join us, and we're winding down in front of a fire with pleasant music on the Pandora box.

Good times.