"You get a line, I'll get a pole, We'll go fishin' in the crawfish hole"

Yep you guessed it! About a week ago on a Saturday night after a bunch of us were done working, we went craw fishing up to Otter creek! (aka we went fishing for crawdads) The only other times I've done this has been with my cousins in Huntington and we fished off the dock around sunset with raw chicken pieces tied to strings. Then we'd just lower them into the water, wait a minute and then pull it back out and there would be a crawdads on the chicken!

Well this time was for sure different. Instead of chicken on a string we used our hands, instead of sunset we went when it was really dark (like 10:30 dark) and used a spotlight, and instead of throwing them back, we kept them. So this is what we did. We drove out to Otter creek and took some flashlights and a spotlight. Then we waded into the water, shined the lights and looked for crawdads, and once we spotted one, we caught them by just reaching in and grabbing them! Then we threw them into the bucket of water and kept them! We caught about 30 and it was my first time catching them by hand.

This would be me just a little excited about catching a crawdad (:

But it doesn't stop there! On Sunday afternoon, we cooked up those little crawfish whole and then ate them! Now I know that sounds a little sketchy, but just don't think about it too hard and you'll know that it was actually pretty good!

If you're wondering how we ate these, keep reading, otherwise, you might prefer to read ahead… (:

So first, you rip off the tail portion, and then you shell the tail and take off the outside. On the inside of the tiny piece of meat you can manage to get out, there is a little black looking string thing, it's the spine, and you pull it out and rip off the guts and you're good to go! Try it sometime! It's even pretty good if you dip it in a little melted butter. Mmmm good. 

Yummy yummy yummy crawdads… HA! 

A few days after we did this, a few of us decided to go back up to Otter creek and we did a little more crawfishing (: We built a little fire and fished a little bit too. Since we had built the fire, we decided we should see what it would be like to roast a crawfish, so we saved a few that we caught and tried roasting them We named ours Sheldon (;

Our dear poor Sheldon… Lost forever 

Oh, did I mention that I took my gun with me? One of the other kids caught this picture about ten minutes before we left Otter creek.

To top it off, last week we went and did a little bunny blasting and muddin' after all the rain we've had. WAY too much fun for a teenager's own good!

The good ole crew! 

Just a few of the bunnies we blasted. No big deal it's fine (; (If you can't tell, there's three there) 

International Harvester

You may be asking yourself right now what in the sam hill does that have to do with anything?! Well let me tell you. Around here, we really do run the international harvester. Quite literally! In the past week, we have had families from some of the following countries. Try and guess what they are (:

Australia

Belgium

France

Denmark

Netherlands

These are just a few of the countries we've had people from and we continuously have them coming still! They are always a lot of fun and I definitely learn something new each time I have the opportunity to interact with them. Today in fact I did archery with a family from France. I was talking to them and the mom said that we talk so fast! It was kind of interesting to hear their side of being away from home. We get so frustrated with people that don't speak our language, but just think of the people that are trying to understand us and how much harder it would be. Anyway, I have really enjoyed learning new vocabulary and words from each of the countries and the wonderful families I have met. Just the other day on one of the hay rides I took out, the family was from Denmark and we sat and talked most of the time about similarities and differences between here and there. They also taught me a few new Danish words! Who knows, maybe I'll look into some kind of major with linguistics… (;

(Okay, so maybe I was being a little creative with the title, but it worked! Plus it sounded kind of cool, so…. go international! (: )

4th of July Festivities!!

I don't know about all y'all up North, but down South, we love to celebrate the holidays! It started out in the morning with a patriotic breakfast of blue colored eggs, pancakes (normal colored), and red(ish) buttermilk syrup! I wanted to be creative, so I went in the kitchen and asked Adam if  we could make a flag shaped pancake! Well the other Adam was making blue waffled and poured some of the batter onto the pancake for the stars, and then we got red food coloring and made stripes!! It was quite the pancake and completely covered my plate and then some! Talk about celebrating! haha (:

This is the pancake that will leave a legacy and forevermore be remembered, just like the day it was made for! 

For the 4th of July here in Antimony, we had quite the ten minute parade if I ever saw one! Ha! (: It sure wasn't anything like I've ever seen, but it sure was fun! Every year for the parade they pick a theme to ride. This year, I was able to help out - We came up with a wild west theme. We had a sheriff and posse and then some bandits with a damsel in distress. All the wranglers rode in the parade and some of the guests were able to ride on the hay wagon.

This is one of our bandits, Cyrus, with the damsel in distress, Sadie, riding on the Zoro horse, Sadie! (Yes the horse has the same name as the girl. So yeah, maybe they are both in distress. I probably would be too if I had two people on my back wanting me to actually put some effort into it and move! haha (: )

We even hitched up the team! (Speaking of the team, tonight for hay rides we hitched up the team for the first time in awhile! We've been using the tractor mostly, but worked with the team tonight and it went great! I usually do the hayrides and tell all about Antimony and sing and play my guitar while we mosey through town (: ) But let's be honest, we spent an hour painting up horses and getting 'em pretty for a ten minute parade! I'm pretty sure that the Rockin' R Ranch made up almost half of the parade… (;

Here is the trusty team! Penelope is on the left, and Charlotte is on the right.

The good ole team.

I rode on the back of one of the pick-ups and threw water balloons and candy at the six people on the side of the road. (I'm totally kidding there were more than six people on the side of the road! Okay so maybe there were like thirteen… HA! )

This is Courtney and me on the back of the pick-ups driving down the road for the parade. I'd also like to point out my very festive 4th of July shirt. (Thanks mom and dad! It worked out perfectly!! )

It was kind of funny because down here, the people that live in town throw water balloons at the people in the parade! It just ends up in a big water fight between whoever can get their hose out and whoever has balloons.

Here is proof that we like the water. If you look close you can see that these two wranglers both have water guns (partly for show and partly to squirt people) and if you look even closer you can see the water in the air as they were getting hit with a water balloon! You can see it best in between the two horses about the height of the rump and nose. Even better is the looks on the faces of these two ladies as they got sprayed (; 

Later on, we all went down to Ottercreek, which as about five miles up the road, and watched our own version of the Ottercreek display of Fire! Which really means there was one big firework at a time for about a half hour. (: It was way fun though! But hey! At least we were able to celebrate, even if it meant busting my behind to finish housekeeping so I could go to the parade. (;

Here's a couple more pictures from the festivities!

This is Brandon and Brandi, our managers, heading up the rest of the Rockin' R get up for the parade.

On the way back I caught this picture and it totally looked like the sheriff chasing down the bandits, so I played with it a little to give it more of the effect (:

These are some of the wranglers that rode in the parade on a few of our trustiest steeds!

Like I said, we spent quite awhile prettying up the kids (:
From left to right:
Hattie on Dober, Michelle on Slim Jim, Dachelle on Cherry, Wyatt on Zero, Cyrus and Sadie on Sadie, Wyatt (the other one) on Peaches, and Skye on Cashmere

This would be our bandit, Cyrus and our bandit horse, Sadie. Yeah I know she looks really scary… (;