As I was pulling out tent stakes, Jean returned unexpectedly quickly to the campsite. After rummaging through her backpack for a second she came up with a towel. Tucking it under her arm she said cheerily, "I haven't showered in so long I've forgotten how!" It was day five of our trip to west Texas and that many days without a shower. Some six months ago our friend in Houston, Ben, began planning a group camping trip to Big Bend National Park. He had researched everything carefully except he had overlooked the detail that the campground he'd booked didn't have any showers. Finding his error a couple of months before the trip he found another campground with showers but had push the date back a month to get the site. However, as I see it, one great benefit of not being at work plus being on a camping vacation is that irregular and/or not bathing at all is seen as reasonable and marginally acceptable. So, Jean, who works from home and thus already enjoys

My parent's hosted our family's Easter celebration this year. Over the weekend I had made some modifications to the quail tractor. Here we are relocating the quail from their temporary housing. Chicken wrangling Easter egg hunting The youngest person at the party was 14 so we had to co-opt some older folks to join in the hunt. Easter was close enough to my birthday this year that we made it a dual celebration. My Mom baked the cake and our friend Anna decorated it. Originally,  my Mom wanted a snail themed cake because as a child I liked to keep snails as pets. So, Anna made it snails playing board game. My lovely siblings Happy birthday to me Researching a present my parents got me Anna airing up an outdoor inflatable couch "thing" Inflating it turned out to be easier than we thought and it was really comfortable. 

  The garden is doing really well this year.  I've been a little tied up with quail tractors and other projects but my Mom filled in the garden quite nicely. The onions and oregano have really taken off (foreground) as well the comfrey (right). Squash, peppers, and tomatoes are in middle and a variety of melons are in the back.   With the mild winter we had this year the peach tree we planted a year ago leafed out in January. I thought for sure we would have a late freeze but a few month later we have a couple of dozen peaches. A monstrous comfrey plant. I'll harvest the leaves soon to make a compost tea. Speaking of monsters. I found this giant larva in rotten log several weeks ago. In other monster sightings, the white chicken is a Cornish cross breed typically raised for meat. It weighs about as much as the three other chickens combined and is a week younger.   

Jean faux fishing  Preparing Friday dinner Hobo dinners on the grill So, how many engineers does it take to put up a tent? On Saturday, some of us opted for a swim hike. The swim was 3/4 mile across Lake Georgetown. Jean went escorted us in a kayak.  Safe arrival on the opposite bank. Matthew returning with the kayak. Jean and Currell on the hike back Crossing the dam A pitched game of Quantum post swim hike Veggie kabobs on the grill as part of Saturday dinner. King of Tokyo The meteorologists had been threatening rain all weekend long. Rain, thunder, lightning and some high winds finally arrived Sunday mid-morning. Jean and I threw everything in the car and made a rather undignified retreat.