Fishing at Hidden Valley

My parents have some fish ponds down the road from their house in Jackson, AL. (Actually, they live in McVay, which is outside of Jackson.) So we decided to round up some friends and take a trip down to do some fishing this weekend. Adam, Katie, & Aidan Benefield came down from Greensboro, and Chris, Jessica, & Preston Sentell, Mitch Wright, and Heather & I made the trip from Tuscaloosa. Mary Asher, Mary Charles, Mallie, & Whit Rivenbark joined us from Katy, Texas, and Donna Counselman, Sharee & Ethan Curry, and my parents joined us from home. We had quite a crowd!

Those of us from Tuscaloosa and Greensboro left Friday afternoon and headed down. We got settled in, and got busy doing some fishing. We fished Friday evening from the banks, and then as it got dark, we threw some jugs out in one of the larger ponds and got the boat out for some jug fishing. We fished until after 10pm Friday night. Mary Asher and her 3 came out Saturday and visited with Heather. I didn't visit much, as I was busy baiting hooks, taking fish off, and chasing her 4 year old and trying to make sure he didn't fall in a pond. Meanwhile, Preston, Chris' son, threw a bream basket out into the pond and forgot to hang on the the rope, so guess who got to get it out of the pond? Mary Asher and Heather sat in the shade, laughing, and seemed to be highly entertained by it all. It was all fun, though. Just busy, busy! Those kids had soooo much energy! Mary Asher's brother had given her kids cane poles. They slung those things all over the place. Heather finally came over and helped Mallie, the middle child, catch a fish with her pole. I think that was the only fish caught by the Texans.

Altogether, we caught 65-70 pounds of fish. Daddy cooked some of them for lunch Saturday (along with all the fixin's... fries, hushpuppies and slaw), and we all ate up under the pavilion. We fished again Saturday afternoon and night, and then yesterday afternoon. Adam and I both ended up with 2 gallon sized freezer bags of dressed fish for our freezers.

I think overall everybody had a good time. I know Daddy enjoyed having all the kids down there. We rode the kids around through the woods on the Kubota all weekend, and had no mishaps except for once when I backed it into a pine tree. Daddy rode Aidan around on the tractor yesterday afternoon, and Adam said that was probably Aidan's favorite part of the whole weekend.

I told Daddy last night, that I knew he had to be dog-tired, but he said he was used to it, and that some things made it worth being a little tired. I guess I have to agree with him on that.

High dollar swim suits - part II

Well, I phoned FedEx again this morning. It seems that there was a $25 fuel surcharge added to my package, along with various other fees and charges. They also had my package of a swim suit and 2 towels listed as weighing 15 pounds. Hmmm. I explained the situation and the contents of the package to the lady at FedEx. We guessed that it probably should have weighed closer to 5 pounds. So she kindly rerated the shipping price for me. I should be getting a credit of $62 back on my card. Still leaves $92 for the package, but that's easier to handle than the original $154.

High dollar swimsuits

Ok. So here's the thing.... We were in Jamaica last month. On the last day, we spent time in the water, etc that morning. Then we went up to our rooms to change and get ready for lunch. Since our suits and towels were wet, and we were about to start packing after lunch, I hung them to dry on the balcony. We were 1/2 way between Atlanta and Tuscaloosa on our way home when I remembered the things on the balcony. So I called the resort and they had them there for us. All I had to do was call Federal Express and have them pick them up. So I did. FedEx estimated to me that the cost of shipping would be $60 or so. They would bill my card at the end of the month. Cool.

Our package came. Heather's favorite bathing suit, our towels, etc. Everything except MY favorite bathing suit. But that's ok. I got over it and bought a new one at the beach the other weekend.

Today FedEx finally charged my card. $154.00! Of course I phoned them to find out what the hell might be going on. They tried to tell me that I must have tried to ship something in the last couple of days. Ummm... no. Then they told me that the $60 was merely and estimate and that they have no way of knowing the correct amount until they pick up the package. I completely understand that, but 3x's the estimated amount???? Um.... I don't think that's gonna fly either. The charge is still pending on my card and hasn't actually posted, so I don't have the identification numbers that the FedEx guy says should show up on the statement with the charge. So he finally told me to give it a couple of days and call back.

More to come, obviously.

Another Wedding Weekend

Ok, so Heather's sister Cheryl got married this weekend. We left Friday afternoon, after dropping the hound off at Hot Diggity Dog Camp, and headed to Birmingham.

It was a noneventful trip, and we arrived by 5pm. Cheryl had phoned the house around 2:30pm and freaked out because we hadn't left and might be late. We weren't even supposed to be at the church until 6pm, but some people have no faith in my abilities. So anyway, we dropped by the hotel where the inlaws were staying for a short visit with them, and then it was on to Homewood Church of Christ for the rehearsal. I'm not going to pretend that I know what all went on during the rehearsal. Heather's brother, Hess, and I discussed world and life issues and paid little attention to everything else. But obviously the wedding folks got their business done because before long, we were ready to head to Jim & Nick's for some grub.

When we drove up to Jim & Nick's, we saw Heather's brother, Cory, and his family from Olive Branch, MS. We never get to see them, so everybody sorta swarmed around them and we slowly made our way in to eat. We had lots of great BBQ with all of the fixin's, and then they brought out the pies! Anybody who know me knows I am all about some pie. I had lemon and it was great! We all left there miserably full.

Heather and I stayed Friday night with our friends, Sid & Libby Hearn, who were kind enough to open their home up to us. Chris & Jessica Sentell were also over there, and we all sat up late and did our normal story swapping and catching up in general. About 1am, the Waffle House called, and we chowed down on some scattered, covered, and smothered, then went back to Sid & Libby's and crashed.

Saturday was busy, of course. Heather had to be at the church at 3:15, so I just killed time and visited with other family members until time for the wedding to begin. It was a very nice wedding. Our nephew, Murphy, was the ring bearer and when he got to the front of the church, he decided he wanted to go back up and come down again. His dad had to grab him. Then our niece, Jane Wiley, came down as flower girl, but was not happy at all about it and refused to throw her flower petals on the floor. She wanted them in her basket!

After the ceremony, we all gathered for the parents, siblings, spouses, and children group picture. Then we headed over for more great food at the reception.

Cheryl & Mikel left around 8:30pm.

We then headed back over to the hotel to visit some more with the family, and ended up spending the night with Corey, Denise, and 2 of their boys, CJ & Cody. Heather and Denise stayed up talking until 4am, so needless to say, we were beat down tired on Sunday.

Hershey was worn out as well when we picked her up, so I assume she had a big weekend at camp. She seemed to be having fun when we drove up. There were probably 15 or so other small dogs in her area.

We came home, took naps, got up to eat, watch a little TV, and were in bed by 8:30. It kinda sux getting old.

I can't see any other weddings in the immediate future, but who knows when cupid will strike again, and we do it all over.

Giving this a try.

I don't really know much about this blogging thing, but I think I'll give it a try. I didn't think that my life was interesting enough to do this, but Heather told me last night that I have crazy stuff happening all the time that I could write about. I guess she's right. So anyway.... I'll write when something happens.