The New Grill...and an X. Earl Moment!

This weekend the McCoy Tribe had to invest in a new grill. So we started by visiting Lowes to pick out the perfect grill for our style of function! We found a wonderful model that has two sides, one that cooks with gas and the other with charcoal! It is so very cool, with plenty of real estate for cooking. Sunday morning the family went out to Caesar to put the grill together. The instructions say that you need two people to put it together, so little man helped Dad in the assembly.
Had to check the tires to make sure it could support the load!
Then the McCoy Tribe Elders had what we will refer to as an X. Earl moment. For those who know the family this is all the explaining that is needed.
For the rest of you...it goes like this....My Dad has been known to find the coolest toys (when Jeff and Aunt Ginny were kids) and household stuff (Now that we are adults)...in the most unlikely of places. I remember the story of one of Aunt Ginny's dolls that was pulled out of someone's household dump (in the days before landfills)...Well, Jeff and Brandy were scouting out the Caesar property's wooded area when we came upon some discarded items from one of the local households....in there was this riding horse, and a purple riding Dino...a swingset (the swing seats and slide are still useable)
...so we hauled it up the hill...and before we could clean it off, little man had found himself a good time! Current plans are to get the sun-bleached horse a new paint job...and the dino a new set of handles and they will be good as new!

Tonight, we inaugurated the new grill with a Nerd gathering...A friend and sales rep for one of the computer companies we do business with is down for the Mississippi Computing Association's annual meeting. Mike comes down for a visit with us each year, this year we decided on cooking burgers and dogs and making it a family gathering with all my tech's families in attendance. Good fun was had by all...

Backbreaking work!

Going into this weekend, Dad is still recovering from last week's marathon post setting spree...Ended up missing 3 days of work this week trying to recover. I totally pulled my back out doing what we did last weekend. It still hurts (Yes, Aunt Ginny, I did cold for the first 24 hours...then Hot/Cold for the next 24 and then hot since....combined with Doan's and Ibuprofen)...and it still hurts. Was doing better today until work had me and my team of dedicated workers tromping all over St. Michael's Farm to test out the network out there. For those who don't know already, PRC recently purchased the property to use as an Alternative school starting next school year. It is going to be a challenge to get everything ready....but fortunately for Technology...the existing network is basically in tact! Yay!

The tribe will be getting ready for a special visitor from North Dakota on Monday....so no rest for the weary!

Have a great weekend!

Work Work Work...

Today the McCoy Tribe spent the day working at our Caesar place. Starting to plant our fruit orchard! Yay! In typical McCoy fashion, we bit off a little more than we could do in a day. Supposed to be raining tomorrow, so the Tribe will be traveling to Hurley to see PawPaw after his leg surgery.

We started the day with a visit to Paul Bounds to pick up 12 - 6 inch posts from which to strand our wire for our grape vines. On the way to Caesar from Picayune, the little man fell alsleep as it was time for his nap! But as you can see, when he woke up he was plenty of help packing the dirt back around the posts.

Mom and Dad were both exhausted from the day's work....we only got 5 of the 12 posts in the ground....A lot more work than any of us originally predicted.

I certainly think that everyone who passed by had to have gotten a good laugh out of the two of us out there digging wholes in the ground! I now know why farmers aren't fat! Maybe we won't have too much rain this weekend and we can get the rest of them finished next weekend! And then in a few years we will have some good ole Muscadine grapes to munch on!

My Word! Time is Flying By!

We will do our best to get a post out soon! Doesn't seem like three months plus could have possibly passed since our last post. We have plenty of pictures to post....just have to get them posted!

Just added a three month update or two or three! Hope everyone has fun getting caught up on what has been going on in the McCoy's life! Sorry again for taking so long to post!

Potty Training begins as the Terrible Twos have arrived EARLY!

The time has come for little man to start learning how to use a big man's potty! This week we purchased a "Prince's Throne" and we are starting to learn how to use it! The first attempt with pants down ended up with the floor wetter than the potty...but such is the task as we are told by those who have been there before us!
Recently little man figured out that if he pulled a chair into the kitchen from the dining room that he could climb on it and "help" Mom and Dad with dishes and cooking...he hasn't quite figured out that once the dishes are in the strainer to dry that they don't go back into the dish water...but that is okay!
The next day after breakfast, we noticed that quite a bit of time had passed and it was very quiet in the house. Deciding that we should check and see what our little bundle of energy was up to we ventured into the kitchen and found this... This was a muffin...we must have needed a few muffin crumbs for something, I suppose!

Catching everyone up! January and December - Minus Christmas!

Our tool supply is growing! You might think that the McCoy Tribe is planning on doing a lot of yard work this year. Last year we bought our trusty Craftman lawn mower with our Economic Incentive Check...lets just call it a parting gift from our former President! Thank you GW! We are getting a lot of use out of it!
Last Christmas (2007), my late Aunt's BFF Mary Alice sent us a wonderful gift certificate to Lowes...we spent part of it on some attachments for the lawn mower! They have come in big handy spreading ant bait around the property and hauling loads of bark around to fill in some of the holes and low spots around the property. This year so far with that same gift certificate, we bought ourselves a weed eater to help trim around the trees after we mow!

Our goal for the day was to get our new weedeater assembled as well as the wonderful wheel barrow Nonna and Papa gave the Tribe for Christmas. Mission accomplished! Now the fun begins!

Papa and Nonna came out the the Caesar property before an adventurous trip to the Big Easy to look at an Organ Papa purchased and plan its safe voyage to Carriere where it will find its new home! Papa helped the decision challenged McCoy Tribe elders to find a home for the fruit trees and grape vines we purchased from Pine Hill Nursery back in Early December!

The decision has been made! Now the work will really begin! Planting the trees and vines. We currently have two apple trees, two pear trees, one fig, four blue berries, four Muscadine vines, and a Japanese magnolia (a gift to the Tribe from Brandy's work mates in memory of PawPaw James who passed away in Early December).
This should be real fun getting all of these plants planted. I think we are going to need to buy a few more now that we have our space picked out...this property is larger than I first imagined.

Christmas at the McCoy's House

Santa Clause visited the McCoy household. Unfortunately, the Tribal Elders forgot to take many pictures. Papa loaned the family his camera so we could take pictures and post them on the tribal website...but alas, here is what we did remember to take!
Santa delivered Andy a Craftsman "My First Toolbench". Many hours were spent Christmas morning hammering and constructing with the tools and accessories that came with the bench. I think Santa made Andy happy with his choice of presents! By the end of the day there were little wooden nuts and bolts all over the living room floor.

That smile certainly makes all of Santa's work on Christmas Eve assembling the bench worth it doesn't it!

We spent lots of time with Aunt Ginny, Uncle Matt, Nonna, PaPa, Mimi, PawPaw, and the Stanford clan during the break. All of the presents were well appreciated! Thanks to everyone!!! See Aunt Ginny's blog to see what the papparazi took....at least someone doesn't forget to take pictures on such an important day in a little man's life!