The Millionaire and His Shotgun

The happy couple. The pearls round her neck are the same ones her sister wore in her wedding. The ones The Millionaire gave his wife.

Games on the dance floor. Isn't my new son-in-law handsome? We are so happy to have him in our family.

Okay, back to what passes as normal in the life of a campground owner. It has been unusually drab, dreary and chilly for the past few days. The old dog has whined incessantly. I can't seem to make him content. I have tried holding him, feeding him, putting him in our bed, taking him out for a walk ....... nothing seems to help. Having to stay inside makes me crazy with his whining. He is not in any pain, just not content.

For that very reason I spent a lot of time out in the cold spray painting the playground equipment. Lots of bright colors out there now. The slide is a bright blue and the ladder is orange. The climbing structure is a color called Keylime and accented with a turquoise color called Seaside. I am ready to start building the structure that will accommodate the toddler slide. This will be red and the slide is green. I think I may have covered all the colors!

The painting is the easy part and the part that is most gratifying. The weed overgrowth in the pea gravel is harder to deal with. I am hoping for a good soaking rain to loosen those roots. Still need another load of gravel. I thought about using the mulch made of old tires, but have read some articles about the toxins released while the kids play. Decided to go with the pea gravel that is already there and just add more.

I was walking idly along after painting. I noticed that the boardwalk needed a good weed whacking. I decided to just start pulling the weeds instead of going back in to listen to the old dog whine. I was grabbing the grass near the roots and pulling it up. I was making good headway when I noticed some movement right where I had just slipped my fingers behind some grass and pulled. A snake .... a baby water moccasin. Having no tools handy, I called He Who kills snakes. I told him it was a very small snake. No bigger around that a pencil and about 5 inches long. It was still striking at me, despite it's small size.

I expected him to come with a shovel or hoe. That's what I would have done, that's probably what most people would have done. I would have killed it myself, but was afraid I wouldn't be able to find it when I returned with a shovel. He came out with his shot gun. The same shotgun he carries when he patrols the pond searching for the muskrat that plagues his existence. He shot the tiny little snake and blew it to pieces. Overkill??