River Rats

Well, summer is in full swing AND I LOVE IT!!!! I just love the warm sunshine, the hot air, the pretty green colors, the sound of the trickling creek and even the humidity ya'll! BRING IT ON! Oh, it's my favorite time of year. Jeffrey is taking summer school classes at the U of A, but that has not stopped us from getting outside and making the most of our weekends together. We have pretty much lived at the river/creek this summer...every Saturday & Sunday we are in the water swimming, fishing, and/or boating. It has been great -- and come with some interesting stories I might add ;)

For Fathers Day, we took my dad canoeing on the White river. I didn't think he had ever been canoeing, so I thought what a perfect way to spend a sunny summer day! Well - not so much. Turns out, he HAD been canoeing before, and our warm sunny day quickly turned into a VERY HOT sunny day. Not so bad for me, but I'm not sure my dad enjoyed the heat quite like I did. SORRY DAD :) We did have a great time though!! Even despite the low water. (we drug almost the whole trip)

Ok, so we all know my husband is quite adventurous - very unique in his own way. Well, sometimes he's plane CRAZY too! He was fishing in the river when this snake dropped out of a tree and on to his pole!!! (luckily, it wasn't a cotton mouth) So he grabs the snake and brings it over to the shore to show us. It was a green tree snake - I like those, I can deal with that...............................

BUT!!! He then proceeds to let the snake start crawling up his arm! .................................

And before long - ON HIS FACE & HEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know. CRAZY. Stick to fishing Jeff!!!

OK. Now for the REAL drama story. You just thought the snake was bad!! So, I'm fishing in the white river in a deep pool & I decide to go for a little dip in the water. I'm swimming & walking along in the deeper water when I lose my flip flop. Good thing they float, right?! It floats right up to me and pops up out of the water - sole up. THAT'S WHEN MY WORLD CAME CRASHING DOWN PEOPLE!!! I saw on the bottom of my flip flop a leech the size of Texas!!!!! OH.....................MY...............GOSH............I FREAKED OUT. I started flopping around like a fish trying to scramble out of the water!!! I practically started crying as I yelled for Jeff to come rescue me! Oh, it was horrible. To think that thing was so close to being on my skin still makes me want to puke. It fell off during all my flappin about and needless to say, I did NOT get back in the water the rest of the day. Such a traumatic experience!!! I did not get a picture of my attacker, but I found one close to it on the Internet........................

It was AT LEAST 3-4 inches long & 1-2 inches wide. EEEEEEEEEWWWWWWEEEEE