Grandchildren Outing

This is what we had in mind, when we bought the new property. Spending time with the Grandchildren,doing lots of fun things in and around the woods.We have cleared paths for the four wheelers and walks in the woods. There is lots of downed wood for building campfires(when the conditions are right), and lots of hunting to be done, whether it be for rocks, mushroom, wild flowers,and last, but not least,animals such as rabbit, squirrel,bear,etc.The hunting part, we hope to keep at a minimum. Pop doesn't care as much about killing the little critters any more, as he once did. Maybe an occasional rabbit or squirrel for a meal, but for the most part, he enjoys watching them.As we grow older, it seems there is something peaceful and calming,about simply watching them play.The grandchildren are both taking interest in guns now, and Pop has always loved his guns, so I suppose it's natural that they should enjoy them,too, but I,personally, hope it is a passing stage. I have never cared for guns, and two of our three dogs don't seem to like them either. Lily is so frightened, she shakes all over and comes to me for protection when the guns start going off.Speckles doesn't react quite as badly, but I can tell, he doesn't care for them either. Bear is the yard dog, so she can venture out further when the guns sound off. The loud noise doesn't bother her as much.

We worked with the children, as their father asked us to, on gun safety and the proper handling of a gun when hunting. John has his Dad's antique BB gun(mistake) and Leah uses it and an old pellet gun of Pop's. Now and then Pop will let her shoot a 22 rifle. Leah is very careful and cautious when using a gun, but with John,it's going to be and uphill battle teaching him anything. He loves having and using  a gun,but hates the noise it makes.Personally, I think he is too immature to be using a gun of any kind, but convincing his Dad of that,is out of the question.

We did build a campfire for toasting marshmallows, and they set up the turkey blind,just for the novelty of it, but hopefully, with a little more planning, our next outing will be better.Pop and I took our lawn chairs, so we got to relax a bit and enjoy their outing,too. For our next outing, we plan to incorporate, the job of picking up a few more sticks off the newly sowed property,for using in our campfire.Maybe it won't seem so much like work(as long as they don't catch on to what we're doing).

A young friend dropped by, while we were out in the woods. She interviewed Pop and I for a Psychology class project.Very interesting. We hope to get a copy of her final paper.She bombarded us with a lot of big words, so hopefully, we didn't mess the interview up too badly, for her sake.