Humble Beginnings

It was a dark and chilly night...

and the children (plus mom) were all snug in bed inside the brand new tent (really only made for 2 people).  They were awfully warm for such a chilly night.  What started out as a neat little camping trip (out the front door and right outside the house) turned into a scary little adventure.

They had been in bed for only about an hour, the children were fast asleep snuggled up against their mom (who was having trouble falling asleep on the cold, hard ground - and whose feet were pushed up against the opposite side of the tent because she's too tall for the little tent).  About 11 p.m., the dogs started barking - not a normal bark, but a "something's out there" kind of bark.  The dog's barking subsided when Uncle Danny (the mother's brother-in-law) stepped out of the house down the hill and called out, "Hello?"  And upon hearing nothing, went back inside.  The quiet of the night surrounded the little sleepers in the tent.  Just about the time mom was drifting off to sleep in the warm, little tent, Hubby descends upon the tent..."Meredith?  Meredith?  Are you awake?  Y'all need to come inside...there's something out here."  I open the tent and hubby's standing right out there (all I can see at this point are socks and the end of his .22 rifle). 

Here's where it gets spooky...when hubby came outside (he was going to sleep on the porch, protecting us in the tent), he heard something large behind the oak tree (about 20 feet downhill from our tent).  He said it had heavy foot steps and sounded quite large.  He said that it slowly walked towards the neighboring fence (all the while staying in the brush), but did not cross the fence.  Hubby is not one to be afraid of many things, but he felt a strong urge for us to come inside.  When we got the kids inside and in their beds, he then told me that something had walked under his brother's window a little earlier.  He said that it was breathing heavy and was right below the window (which is about 7 feet off the ground).  That's about when the dogs started barking and my brother-in-law called out the door.

There are many strange occurrences that happen out here...too weird to go into but there are many strange things afoot in our little part of the country.

At any rate, here are some pictures of the kids this morning doing their schoolwork in the tent and one of me checking out my garden, which all turned black in the night (as last night it was chilly and rather frosty).  My tomatoes have all turned black as have the volunteer pumpkins and my two basil plants.  So, it looks like I'll be planting again this weekend ***sigh***.  I knew I should have listened to that little voice in my head saying "Cover your plants!!"  Nex time I'll listen.

I forgot, there's also one of the Yeast Bread I made last week (some of the best bread I've ever made).

Little Red Schoolhouse

Me in the garden (that's Lauren's purple playhouse).

Beautiful Yeast Brea