My family and other animals . . .

Ok, here is Zia (that's me) with the love of my life (well, one of them - I have six of these grandbabies - sweeet), Genevieve. And, I must point out that I am wearing my brand new h&t glasses so check them out. Oh. And, still no frizz, baby! I am NOT going to point out Lucy washing Sophie's face, which has become quite the icky habit - a bit of senile dementia on Lucy's part, I fear . . .

Anyhoo, here is the little family hard at work on the ramparts. How cute is this?

 Mr. Seth is next and you can see he has pretty good balance although he is only walking when he darn well feels like it. You go, Sethers!

 Miss Genevieve, the one and only. 

And, of course, The Girls. What a perfectly lovely day. In the 60s' but sunny and just a happy happy day.

Well, except for Miss Sophie (taking a break here from digging) who, once again, has taken a nutty and decided she would rather live somewhere in the Indian Ocean.

This is cool. Check out where you would end up if you started digging like Sophie . . .

http://www.livephysics.com/ptools/dig-hole-through-earth.php

I am soooo lucky: before I could even begin to miss Josh, Nat, Sarah, Genevieve and Seth arrived for Nat's spring break and overlapped with Josh by one day. We ate corned beef and cabbage in honor of St. Paddy's (but really in honor of Josh who had never had it before) and played a vicious game of Monopoly.

Here is the Monopoly game:

Mr. High Roller (that would be Nat) here with hundreds of reasons to crack us up!

So many laughs but must say that when Nat fell asleep, Josh thought it would be a good idea to split his cash between us remaining three, haha-not happening. BUT Mr. Josh-property-rich, cash-poor-Osborn won the game when Sarah had enough and insisted on a roll-off. 

 (Thank you, my Natonio, for doing the drive to the big city AT THE CRACK OF DAWN to take Josh to the airport because if I'd had to make that drive one more day this week, I would have opened a vein!)

Bon Voyage, Josh!!!!! We love you.

Not just another pretty face . . .

Beauty AND brains . . . 

* * * 

Miss Brenda and Josh











So, Josh passed his driving course with flying colors and now has 7 hours under his belt. Or should I say, under the hood?

Yay, Josh!!!  And, props to the fabu (and really truly extaordinarily very positive and bubbly) Miss Brenda!

(seriously, if you know anyone who needs some behind the wheel instruction, Miss Brenda is the gal for you)

Yesterday, we went to the local DMV to apply for Josh's learners permit. (here he is studying - he aced it, btw) They said no deal. Had to have a social security card. While he has a SS number, the card is not in his possession, and we needed proof. That's the background.

OK, so today, Josh and I drove the hour-plus to the Social Security Administration office in the big city and spent the morning with the dregs of the earth. We're talking Darwin's Waiting Room here. Not just tattoos but home made tattoos! Lots of members of the Widendz family, if you know what I mean. It was vastly entertaining.

Then, off to the DMV where this person (pretty sure she was possessed by the devil)  refused to give Josh his permit because his aunt did not have "no legal papers."  Ooooh, she was just that southern brand of smug. I felt like one of those cartoon characters with steam coming out of his ears:





So, after meeting Miss Brenda (more on her later) to tell her he couldn't start his lessons until tomorrow, and lunch at Panera, off we went for the hour plus trip back to my adopted town of Podunk. Back to the Podunk DMV. And godblessum if those two southren ladies in the singlewide trailer (circa 1965) that doubles as the DMV didn't say, "son get in front a' that screen so we can make yer pitcher." And he got his permit:

How cute is HE!  I am faklempt

After a break to run the dogs on the beach and call in a pizza, off we went for the very first lesson (thank goodness he will be with a professional (Miss Brenda) tomorrow, but I was honored to be with him for his first run. We cruised the nearby undeveloped subdivisions  and meandered down to the BP to pick up our pizza with Josh at the wheel. Then he drove us home, safe and sound.

Sweeeeeeeet!

Spring has sprung

This morning it is a humid 54 lovely degrees in Podunk. At last Spring is here. More evidence? Green shoots coming up, a few flowers opening, birds singing, you get the picture. And, Spring Break. There are actually people here, including children. There are a few cars on the road. I am quite overwhelmed with all of the activity.

So, yesterday, Josh and I went on an eco-cruise out of Apalachicola and froze our buns off. Captain Ed reminded us of Clint Eastwood - same craggy features, same way of talking. Here he is:

In spite of not seeing any alligators (too cold) or bears (too cold) or manatees (too cold), it was quite informative.

Here is my favorite factoid from Cap'n Ed:

You know how when there are branches and stuff sticking up out of the water and it's called a "snag?" Well, if the branches are really moving up and down in the current, it is called a "sawyer," thus named by the old river boat captains because it looked like someone was sawing up and down. So, Mark Twain being a river boat captain came up with Tom Sawyer. Get it? I thought that was kind of cool.

He also had a lot to say about the history of the place from the civil war, to the fish processing plants, etc. It was fun and we were ready to get off the boat when it was done.

This is Cap'n Ed's little boat.

This next picture is apparently what a hunting camp looks like out here in the swamp. Think of it as your home away from home...

Houseboat Row

Yikes!!

The Apalachicola River, along with it's tributaries, drains a 20,000 square mile watershed. The number of species that live here - birds, fish, mammals, you name it - is stunning, especially since we saw about 5 birds. Period.

Anyhoo, we also learned quite a bit about oysters. The bay here supplies 10% of all oysters nationally. You should see the huge middens in the area. So, the government comes around this area regularly and loads the shells on barges and dumpsthem on the ends of the current oyster beds so new oysters can grow on them. Apparently the baby oysters don't care of they are attached to Mom or an empty shell. (Sounds like a horror flick.)

It hasn't even been 24 hours

I'm afraid to ask him if they're clean or dirty