Whoever recognized that "History repeats itself." was a genius.  Wars have been carried on between races of people for generations.  Sometimes I wonder if the current generation even knows or understands what caused the original conflict. 

Our family is clueless about what instigated the Great Groundhog Wars.  What we do know is that our first knowledge of them started with Grammy.  She saw them everywhere in the yard.  Their presence disturbed her greatly.  We often had to make trips to her house to pretend to battle them for her honor.  Most of these battles took place when Doc was absent, which I find interesting. The kids, were brave warriors who would travel down the driveway by foot or by "Gator" to battle the beasts.  They went with pitchforks and flashlights and guns..... or were those the villagers from Frankenstein?  At any rate, Grammy built traps for them that never seemed to work.  At least we don't think they did, because she continued to see groundhogs everywhere.  The final battle was staged with spiked spears that she whittled herself and stuck in the hole that the devils had dug in the yard! Not her best effort though because the spears were at least a foot above ground level.  The ground hogs would have had to leap into the air to land on them.

I refused to get involved.  I saw nothing good coming from this, but I did allow the children to defend the homestead in their father's absence.  I think the groundhogs finally got the best of Grammy, because she left and they stayed.  Pook and his wife, the Princess now live in that same home.  A new generation of groundhogs has carried on the siege.  Pook now battles this next battalion on his own....and he is failing.  They continue to lurk around the house and travel in and out of the cellar via the same hole that Grammy booby-trapped.  Maybe it is time to resurrect the spears!

And alas, the war has expanded even further.  The groundhogs have formed an apparent alliance with raccoons.  These new enlistees are even more devilishly clever than the groundhogs.  They have expanded the battle zone to include our house and yard, where Doc has numerous bird feeders filled with seed and suet.  If you sit on the patio after dusk, you can hear them lurking in the woods.  Branches snap under the weight of their steps.  Because they are well fed by Doc, they weigh anywhere from fifty pounds on up so believe me they snap a lot of branches!  They wait in the shadows until we have gone into the house to go to bed or at least escape the mosquitos.  And then they attack.  We often wake up to find that a suet hanger or an entire bird feeder has been pulled off and has been emptied and is resting at the bottom of the Hill of Death in the ravine. 

Doc has declared war!!!  They are stealing food out of the mouths of the very birds he loves to observe.  (Keep in mind these are the some of the same birds that have nested in our porch and leave droppings on my patio furniture and that he has built a device to keep them away.)  He is creative in designing all kinds of ways to deter them.  We now have the remains of a satellite dish encircling the bird feeder pole.  We are considering security cameras and air raid sirens.  The other morning, or should I say in the middle of the night, I woke up as Doc popped out of bed and went outside.  When he returned, I asked if he was alright.  He simply replied that he just had a "feeling" that the raccoons were attacking.  I sighed and fell asleep.  The man also gets up in the middle of the night to sit outside.  He is losing it.  This insanity of his mother's has infected him.  I am concerned about just how far this will go.  I am concerned about Pook and the Princess.  Will Pook be effected by this insanity too?  And what about our grandchildren?!  How many other animals will join in on the attacks?!  When will it all end?!!!! 

I still refuse to get involved.  I will do everything I can to protect my children from being dragged into this generational war.  I think it might be a genetic problem, and there is only so much that I can do to override the genetics causing this issue.  God help us all!!!!
Have a blessed week!  Keep smiling at life and all of the adventures that come your way!!!!!

Just as expected, Mother's Day here was another dinner and a show.  Kudos to the guys for taking over the preparation and clean up of dinner.  Doc organized all and planned the meal.  The Admiral helped with prep and cleanup.  Superson, served Mimosas to the ladies!  Eventually, once everything was underway, Calvin showed up to enjoy the festivities.  The Surprise arrived home for the summer and Pook and The Princess arrived later in the evening as did the Blonde.  Mommy was miles away but close in my heart.

As always, it is an event when the gang gathers in quantity.  Superson was a huge topic of discussion by default.  Calvin is getting married to P3 in September and his bachelor party is coming up.  Needless to say, we all were regaled with his stories of Superson's bachelor party.  The phrase "I laughed until I cried" pretty much sums it all up.

I have never quite understood why the guys feel that it is necessary to spend a large quantity of money to go off to a hotel, resort, rented home, cabin to drink themselves silly and then tell tales on each other.  Are they celebrating or commiserating?  Are they celebrating the upcoming marriage or mourning the loss of the their singleness and freedom?  Thank God they at least do it separate from the wedding weekend.  Back when Doc and I were younger, I recall that many would-be grooms showed up on their wedding day with a whopping hangover from their last hurrah!!

And the brides are not much better.  We have all come across those shows on television where the bride-to-be gets in a fist fight with a former girlfriend or disliked future sister in law or mother in law, because alcohol has washed away the filters.  I did enough of that in college to last me a lifetime!!!!

Whatever the reasons and results of the revelries, we did enjoy and laugh at the stories of past bachelor parties.  There is nothing like hearing the story of your son lying on his back like a turtle in the street while a busload of tourists photograph him. Or the story about losing one of the groomsmen to a group of women only to have him surprise everyone back at the hotel.  Or the story about ......

Well, some things are best left to the imagination.  I hope that your Mother's Day was as spirited and full of laughter as mine was.  I do love my gang, stories and all.  I guess I am better equipped to hear these things at my age.  Five or ten years ago, I am not sure I would have laughed so hard.  But, God helps us to grow and change with our children!!!  May God bless your week!

Well!  It has been awhile!  Believe me it is not because I have nothing to write about.  It is more like, I have not been able to find five free minutes this past month!  Somehow the weeks before Pascha (Easter) and the weeks after are insane!  Throw into the mix, a trip to babysit for Mommy, a wedding, a visit to the Surprise, and I have no weekends left!  I have often told people that if you see me sitting still, check my pulse, because I am sure that it means I am dead!

Also, throw into the mix that the older I get, simple tasks like WALKING! seem to be increasingly difficult!  Yes, I fell again.  I swear this time was not my fault.  I was simply walking to the barn to get my tractor and the loose stone in the driveway had it in for me.  It attacked with all the ferocity it could muster.  Honestly, I did not believe that my feet could still go that high above my head!  I also didn't believe that I could fly!  Flying, however is easy.  Landing . . . not so much!  No fractures, maybe a torn ligament, definitely a lot of bruises.  In fact, you can see each bruise from each individual stone that I hit!  It slows you down, but don't check my pulse yet.  I am still moving.

With this Sunday being Mother's Day, I really felt that I needed to get back on the blog and post something!  I am a mother you know!  To all the mothers out there, what you do for your family does not go unnoticed.  It may seem like it sometimes.  And just when you think you cannot pick up one more toy, cook one more meal, do one more load of laundry, clean up one more spill, wipe one more behind, wash one more dish, one of your brood half wakes up (this recent one happened to be from my grandson, Stitch) and in a sleepy voice says "I love you Nina!" and then falls back to sleep.  Your heart melts.

Or after years of doing all of the above, you are somewhere with your adult son, and he puts his arm around you and says, I love you mom, can I have a few dollars?  Your heart doesn't melt quite as much, but there is love in that sentence.  Or your daughter looks at you ten years after being a teenager and says "Have I told you how sorry I am for what I did when I was younger?" 

Keep at it.  It is all worth it in the long run.  While you have many moments that are tough to get through, the rewards build up.  To all moms, HAVE THE HAPPIEST OF MOTHER'S DAYS!  Always remember, you are loved!!!!!  God Bless You!