Black Widows + a hog + 100 degree weather .....

warning:  pictures of a dead pig that is being skinned ... is being shown on this blog.  :)  Yes, a pig was killed in the production of this trip.  No harm done to anyone else.  There are literally tons of hogs running wild and people need to get the numbers down as these hogs ruin the land & procreate like crazy.  Proceed with caution... :)

To finish off our summer vacation to Kansas City .. my parents drove the girls & I down to our property in Mineola.  It was an 8 1/2 hour drive. 

When we got to the cabin, we left to grab some lunch at East Texas Burger (best hamburgers! and peanut butter pie!) and Walmart to get some groceries.  When we got back, Mike, my dad & the girls left to head to the hunting stand to get situated early for hog hunting!  There is really only room for 3 people on the stand, so Mike got them all situated, drove them down in the four wheeler and left.  The feeder has a timer to set off at 6 p.m.

When Mike came back from dropping them off, he said "I have a few black widow spiders I need to kill!"  WHAT?!!  Black widow spider??  SPIDERS?  I freaked out a little.. my grandma was bit by a member of the black widow spider family years ago in Thailand.  She was sick for a very long time.  He showed me where they were (under the roof and by the area in which I can never remember what the name is ... starts with an S?).  He grabbed a broom and swept it down.  It had an EGG nest.  AUGH!  Mike smooshed it lightly so I could grab a picture ... but it came alive again.  This time it was road kill... er... foot kill?  There were two more on the other side of the cabin. Double freak out on my part.  He also mentioned when he went to turn the water on there was a black widow in that box as well.  ::thud::  So, I dreamed spiders all night long for a few nights.  Mike did spray around the cabin, in the cabin for bugs -- but it still didn't ease my fears that there were black widows in the cabin (which we didn't find any), and that the girls were going to get bit in the middle of the night.

After this so called black widow massacre, he set to work on building a pulley system on the tree.  I laughed and said "you're really that sure they're going to get a pig?"  My man of few words said "yep."  By then it was 6:00 ... time for the feeder to distribute the apple scented corn that drives the hogs crazy.  I went back in the cabin to seek refuge from the hot, humid weather.  At 6:15 Mike pokes his head in the door "the gun went off!"  A few minutes later Katie texts Mike and said "Grandpa got a small one!"  So, Mike took off with the little pull behind that we use when we have to carry anything heavy with the four wheeler. 

By the time they all came back, Katie had a story "Grandpa said he would count to three... he didn't count to three!  He counted to one and then shot!"  and my dad said "I counted!!  She didn't shoot!"  There were two pigs, one for Katie to shoot and one for my dad.  The other pig got away b/c Katie was waiting for the #3in the count to indicate it was time to shoot!

The pig is about a 100 pounder .... not too big, and not too small!

The place where the bullet entered...

Maddie went to work washing down the pig.  I was a little worried how she would do when it came time to butcher and skin the pig.  The last time she saw an animal get gutted was when Mike got a deer, and it was past sundown. She was probably 5 years old, and she was instructed to hold the flashlight so Mike could see.  Within seconds of Mike gutting the deer, we hear the noises of a little girl puking. Lovely.  However, this time she did remarkably well!


Our only problem this night was the bees.  There were bees galore everywhere.  Mike had used three cans of bee/wasp killer already that day and I had one final can left to use (oddly enough.. Walmart was out of all the cans for days!).  So, we had the job of keeping the bees off of the body of the pig AND off of Mike.  ::shudder::  Thankfully he's not allergic to bee stings, and also thankfully, he did not get stung by any bees!

My dad with his win ...

Maddie wants a picture too!

Mike finds the bullet and shows my dad ...

Look at that lovely bokeh around the pig!  A photographer's dream!

::snort::  

The following night Mike takes the girls.  Along with the two rifles, they take a Vera Bradley bag full of things such as sunflower seeds, water bottles, beef jerky, headphones (to emphasize the noises... or something like that), and anything else they need.  They take two pillows and a blanket to cushion their butts on the hard chairs.  Note to self:  leave a different backpack up at the cabin...

However, this night, they stayed 3 hours, and didn't see anything.  :(

I went on the final night with Mike & Katie, and we did see five pigs!   I was in the middle of the three, and Katie said "did you see that?" and so I looked... the next thing we saw was movement and out came pigs!  However, none of them came near the feeder.  Mike had a great view to shoot, but Katie didn't.  He wanted Katie to have the practice, so he didn't take the shot.

It was so hot out.  It was the sort of hot that you have sweat dripping down your face, your neck, down your shirt .... the "ugh, I can't stand it out here any longer" type of heat.  Maddie went swimming at the lake beach with my mom!

Before we left, Mike finished a few things at the cabin.  I forgot to show off our floor in the bathroom!  Mike officially has everything pretty much done in the bathroom now!

He also put up some lights that match the rest of the bathroom fixtures.

Since we have grapevines growing around all the trees on our property and everyone else's property .. these are the grapes that are showing up.  I really dislike those grapevines.  They're a nuisance!

Mike also managed to put up the insulation up on the loft -- so it will be much cooler (and warmer in the winter)!

The girls were passing time and looking through all my pictures on the laptop.

And since it would be quite normal for me to report.. I have no clue what Mike is doing here.   Installing ... something.  To do with ... something.

and here is another look at our small but amazing cabin!  I love coming here!