Heather and Race are being wed today. We have mowed and trimmed the lawn since their ceremony is planned in the lawn next door. I think Christine used the wedding as an excuse to get me to clean up the shed and everything out back of the house. It does look better even if the wedding has to move because of rain, it was worth it to have the back yard looking nice again. After starting the remodeling project, stuff had accumulated that needed to be disposed of; and now it's all gone.

We were invited to the rehersal dinner at the Usurery's last night. Randy cooked 300 lbs. of crawfish with potatoes and corn as sides, they also had barbeque for anyone that didn't like crawfish.I waited until the line had cleared out before making my first run but I had met with Bryan Cyr and found someone to challenge me at eating crawfish. Now Bryan gives up more than a few pounds to me but he put me under the table when it came to eating crawfish. There was a guy from Mississippi named Tyler at the same table as us, he was shucking tails and sucking heads when Bryan and I started and still going strong when I conceded defeat and backed away from the table. Randy and Debbie put on a great feed for 60 to 70 people. If anyone wants some left over crawfish contact Randy at BR 549 GO FISH, I think only a handful of us ate our designated share. I over heard Debbie planning breakfast for the guests that were staying with them and the menu had a lot of crawfish dishes included. Such as scrambled eggs and crawfish , crawfish cakes, crawfish e'toufe, crawfish bisquets, crawfish salad, crawfish gumbo then some odd stuff like crawfish jello, crawfish pie and jumbolia. I mean who ever heard of jello for breakfast?

I've looked at the weather radar maps and I am predicting the wedding will be held outside as planned. But I will take an umbrella just in case.

Heather was all smiles last night just like when she got her engagement ring. Sorry I did not take my camera last night but I didn't want it to smell like crawfish today. I will have photos of the wedding later today and will add them to this post.They make a lovely couple, Don't you agree?

Finally a reason to celebrate.

Mud is in my blood

Some things never change, I found an old photo of Randy and me after we had taken my old dune buggy for a ride through some wet logging roads. The photo was taken 25 to 27 years ago but since then the bar has been raised if you want to play in the mud. Check out the changes in equipment. 

I went with Stephen, Joshua and Brad to the High Lifter Mud Nationals near Jacksonville held at a four-wheeler park named Mud Creek. I had bought some new tires and installed a lift kit that raised my Kawasaki Mule almost 3 inches higher than it was with stock tires and suspension but I was not prepared to compete on the level than this "sport" has attained.

And if that is high-lifting this next shot shows one that is just over the top. Nicole jumped on this monster as easy as I would get into my recliner and she had given birth to her first child only two months ago. Brad had bought his four-wheeler from her husband at Iron Horses in Lufkin but I have known her since she was a baby herself.

Joshua is ready to get dirty but we had to do a little looking and walking around the dealers booths before we hit the trails.

I didn't get all my pics in on the last update

Joshua had to show us how it was done, that was just before Brad pulled him out.

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This was an all girls race but the guys had already had their fun. They sort of swim their machines through the mud pit with the front tires on top of the water/mud and the rear tires down in the mud on the botttom of the pit to push them forward. Some of the riders managed to run a straight line but some of the others went in circles and had to have help to retrive their 4 wheelers from the pit.

There were lots of riders in the woods but I didn't see anybody that got stuck without having plenty of folks stopping to help.  I  don't plan to attend another Mud National but it  was something that I am glad I got to see. It was almost like being stuck on a freeway in a traffic jam but without the road rage. Most of the riders were laid back and not trying to pass everyone ahead of them with only a few show offs on dirt bikes as the exceptions. We did have our own near miss when Brad rolled his Prowler over onto it's side coming up out of a trench. Ashley held on and kept her arms ,head and feet inside the cage so no one was hurt but it did scare me to see how quickly an accident like that could happen. Anybody want to go "muddin" .......just let me know and we'll give it a try.

 These are some shots of the old master bedroom. This closet, the built in dresser and most of the wall behind them are gone.Removing this closet gives us room for our king size bed with it's night stands on each side. We are rearranging the bath room by moving the tub to the area next to where the bed will go and putting the lavatory where the tub used to be. I've changed door locations for the bathroom and opened the tub area into the bedroom.          

These small windows are gone, replaced with patio doors that open into the back yard where I plan to build a nice private deck with walls to afford the privacy that we desire.1

Here are the new doors, there is a lot more to show you but I am falling asleep om the key board

I hope this turns out OK

meema with all but two of her grandchildren