Worm Gruntin' Festival

12 Apr 2011--This past weekend Cathy and I went to Sopchoppy, FL with Cathy's sister Brenda to see what was happening at their annual Worm Gruntin' Festival. (Sorry, Brenda, somehow I didn't get any pics of you--haha). So what is Worm Gruntin'? For those of you who don't know, believe it or not, people go out in the woods and basically "hunt for worms". They drive stakes in the ground and then use a flat piece of metal to grind on the top of the stakes. The grinding makes a vibrating sound deep in the ground that the experts believe leads the worms to think a mole is coming after them (a mole eats about 20 worms a day). In order to get away from the mole the worms rush out of the earth, where the hunters gather them up for sale. The lady and man pictured here were actually at the festival and they gave the demonstration mentioned in the posted schedule of events. This is what they do for a living!!!!! FYI: did you know that a worm has 16 hearts? That's why they live even when you tear them in half to use as fish bait!



For you city folks, this is what a mole looks like. Although they appear to have eye slots, they are blind...they live in the ground so they have no need for them. They are considered a pest to folks around these parts because they also eat the roots of vegetables, etc., that people are trying to grow. They are absolutely hideous, don't you think?



I don't know how I missed getting Brenda in these pics, but here Cathy and I try a little "gruntin'", to no avail! These guys did better showing their kids how to do it. When you do it right you can hear the vibration.



It seems like there are a lot of bikers at every festival of this sort that we go to, and of course we have to have the confederate thing and a little God stuff thrown in. The whole "proclaim YOUR southern heritage" thing sort of irritates me; makes me wonder if they ever consider that a black person may be reading that sign. And then the "Fear God" group was interesting. This guy was ranting alongside his dutiful wife and kids.




The trees down here are beautiful, especially if you are comparing them to anything you might find in Texas. They grow incredibly big!!!



This is how they do the gruntin'. I think you can hear the sound if you turn up your volume.



Cathy and I have had to cancel our summer east coast tour due to unforseen events, so it will probably be a few months before we can get to that again. Right now we are on our way back to San Antonio, so we will be posting anything interesting from there.

Workin' for the Man!!!

6 April 2011--Cathy and I have been doing a lot of work around here in conjunction with our visiting, with the emphasis on the words "Cathy and I". I am aware that everyone just thinks I take the pictures, but you all have to remember that even Mutt had Jeff, Fat had Skinny, and Moe had both Larry and Curly!

We were going to replace the water heater for Ed and Eleanor ourselves, but we ultimately had to call in a plumber when we thought we had a water leak in the pipes underground. That, fortunately, turned out not to be the case, but he saved us gobs of time putting the unit, so it was worth it.

We put in a railing at the front porch...Eleanor is testing it out here before we paint it.

Eleanor pitches in, priming the metal railings, while Ed sleeps inside!!! haha

They replaced the carpeting in the house...here are Cathy and I pulling it all up before the carpet layers arrive. And that is Ed eating grapes while we toil!



We painted the backyard swing along with the new railing...we also painted the front porch, but not before I took this picture.



We had to move all the furniture from room to room so they could lay the new carpet...poor Ed is asleep again! haha This is him in his chair, outside at the carport area!

Ed and Eleanor are very happy with their new carpet.

Ed felt guilty, so he went outside to till the vegetable garden in preparation for planting this coming Friday...Man's work, I guess! haha

Ed and Eleanor have a very nice yard, both front and back. The 1st 2 pics are of the front, followed by a pic of the back.

Some of their pretty flowers. Notice the bumble bee in the 1st pic...they are really big!

Between their backyard and the feeder in the next door neighbor's front yard, there are tons of birds flying around looking for food and/or mates. Here are, in order of appearance, 2 Cardinals, a yellow finch, a red-headed woodpecker, a blue bird, a blue jay and a tiny hummingbird. I really enjoy trying to get a good picture of them. Most of them don't sit for very long, so I have to be fast.

The finches here are in the neighbor's yard, while the cardinals are in the Poston's backyard. Look how fat the middle bird looks.

I caught these 2 just as they were taking flight. I wish I could say I did it on purpose, but I didn't! haha

We always have things to do around the RV, and during this stop we had to change out the air filter. Look at the size of it! And check out how increasingly dirty Cathy's hands get as she removes the old one and replaces it with the new. At one point she had to jump and lean way inside the back area of the RV...I had to hold her in there with my shoulder pressed to her thigh...I told you I was working around here!!!