Precisely planted pea patch

Nevah and I recently spent a memorable week with our four great-grandkids, their parents, and our daughter and son-in-law. The young ‘uns ages are 6, 6, 4 and 2, so you can imagine the joyful noise and havoc level we enjoyed during their visit.

We hadn’t seen the great-granddaughter and great-grandson who live in North Carolina for almost two years and they’ve changed a great deal in that time span. The great-granddaughter is now in the 1st grade and the great-grandson is in pre-school.

The two Kansas great-grandsons live near us in Manhattan and we see them frequently. One is in kindergarten and the other is just 2. Those four first cousins really hit it off playing together. And, they shared a lot of activities, including a zoo visit, a visit to a huge indoor playground, first-time bowling, tours riding in all-terrain vehicles, and a hot-dog and s’mores picnic.

Playing cards and board games with the great-grandkids was particularly enjoyable for me. We played the card games Uno, Go Fish and Casino. I made up a game on the cribbage board called Peggit. And we played the Horse Sense board game. 

Needless to say, all the great-grandkids beat great-grandpa like a drum all week and they enjoyed it thoroughly. I must be slipping in my competitiveness. 😉

Our great-granddaughter helps with their small family garden in North Carolina and she’s quite interested in gardening. So, in my raised beds, she and I planted my second planting of potatoes, radishes and peas.

When we were planting the peas, I gave the great-granddaughter a stick about 5-inches long and said, “The seeds need to be about this far apart.” She took those instructions to heart and I can attest that the result is the most precisely planted pea patch in history.

I noticed just this morning that the peas in her pea patch are just emerging from the soil and so are her potatoes. I will send her pictures of “her garden” as it grows. I also promised to ship her some of her new potatoes when I dig them later this summer.

There ain’t nuthin’ in life more enjoyable than sharing time, laughter, and fun with our extended family.

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I recently wuz part of a conversation about practical jokes and pranks that I’ve either pulled or had pulled on me. Since it’s more fun to tell about the pranks I’ve pulled than the ones I’ve been the victim of, I’m going to tell the story about a prank I pulled decades ago  on a bunch of ornery, boisterous neighborhood boys.

I lived on a place with three ponds that abutted each other. All were stocked and were good for fishing. The middle pond wuz on a neighbor’s land and his son and I were great friends — particularly when it came to to fishing. The kid informed me that he and a bunch of his buddies — they were all early teens — were going to have an all-night bonfire, campout and fish-fest on the middle pond the upcoming Saturday night.

The advanced announcement gave me plenty of time to plan my prank. At the time I owned an industrial-sized sling-shot. It took two persons to get the max out of the sling shot, but it could easily fling a baseball, tennis ball or hedge apple 100 yards. It wuz equally long distance proficient at flinging water balloons.

So, I easily convinced a neighbor, who was as conniving as me, to join me in the prank. On the evening of the fish-fest, he and I filled a 5-gallon bucket with water balloons. The teens began their noisy, boisterous activities as soon as it got dark. They had a bonfire blazing high and were cooking hotdogs on it. I’ll add that it wuz a dark, moonless night. 

About 9 p.m., my neighbor and I sprang our prank. We sneaked unseen to about 100 yards of the campers with our stash of water balloon ammo. He held the sling shot while I stretched it back and aimed it. The first balloon we fired lit with a big splash in the pond. We heard the boys yell, “That wuz a BIG fish!”

We fired a couple more balloons into the pond and watched the fisher-boys scramble for their rods. That’s when we unloaded a balloon that lit close to the campfire. Then another … and another … and another. That got the campers’ attention and they finally figured out what wuz happening to them. 

They were being bombarded with water balloons, and they knew who to blame, but they didn’t know where the balloons were being launched from. The campers started hurling curses and threats into the darkness. 

That wuz about the time, the neighbor and I retreated back to my house. The next day the neighbor kid confronted me about the prank, but I innocently professed to know nuthin’ about it. He didn’t believe me for a second, but I never owned up to the prank.

As an afterthought, I can tell you that the kid graduated from Kansas State University with a degree in something like Natural Resources Conservation & Wildlife Management.

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The last main item in this column pertains to fishing, too. I hate to admit it, but my boat fishing days are over and I’ve got a fishing boat and all the accessories for sale. I’ve sold two pickup trucks to my readers before, so maybe I’ll get lucky a third time with this jon boat. Here’s a description of the boat:

For Sale: Tracker 1236 Topper aluminum jon boat, 12-ft, 2017 model, Minnekota trolling motor, 50-lb thrust, barely used, 2 chair-back seats, oars, battery case (no battery), anchor, 2 life-jackets, $1,750, Riley, Kansas, call (620) 344-1350, e-mail htcsac@gmail.com

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Words of wisdom for the week: “Nuthin’ makes a fish bigger than almost being caught.” Have a good ‘un.