Don’t Spill the Tea!

I talk with my hands…most…ok, all, of the time.  I am very expressive, and when it comes to talking with my hands, I don’t usually pay attention to what is near my hands when talking…so a lot of things get knocked over.  Apparently this is something I have been suffering from since I was a little kids, because I was always told to move something out of my way, or someone would just do it when I would start talking. 

My most vivid memory of this situation was when I was about 8 or 9 and I was at a restaurant with my mom and dad.  I was probably talking about school, or something (I am a nerd now, and was a nerd then) and talking with my hands.  The whole time my dad kept interrupting me by saying, “Don’t spill your tea, Happy Dance!” and I was getting really annoyed and really not listening to him.  Finally my mom just got tired of hearing him talk about it and me getting lost in thought of what I was saying and repeating myself, so she moved the tea herself. 

Right before the waiter came to the table with our food, my dad reached to grab his napkin which was at the edge of the table.  In doing so, he knocked over his tea, all over the table, all over us, and all over the floor.  My dad turned beat read, and I shouted “DAD! DON’T SPILL THE TEA!” Everyone around us, who had probably heard the whole thing of him telling me the same thing, busted into laughter, and so did my parents.  Now when we order tea at a restaurant it is a huge family joke…so just remember when you are out and about Don’t Spill the Tea!

Dog food and Fishing

My dad has a friend who has a pond out in the back forty on some private property that no one ever goes to but special people he lets know about it.  My dad and I are some of those special people.  This fishing trip with my dad was going to be uber awesome!

We were only going to go for the day and we had to leave really early because the place was about two hours away.  We didn’t have a boat, just our trusty fishing poles (mine was my great grandfathers) and a smile on our faces.  On the way there, I slept, I was about 13 and early mornings were just not my thing, heck they still aren’t!  When I finally woke up we were off roading it in the truck.  Tons of bumps and dirt flying everywhere, it was great! 

Once we reached the pond we unpacked our things and set up our seats for a nice day of fishing.  We took out our poles and I asked dad where our bait was, and he pulled out a bag of dog food.  I looked at him like he was crazy!  “Umm…dad?  Umm…where’s the bait?” “Happy Dance, right here!” He points to the bag.  “Ummm…dad…that’s not fish food, it’s dog food!” He told me to sit still and watch.  He put the dog food on the hook and set it reeling out into the pond.  A few minutes later a bite, and he reeled it in.  A huge catfish was on the other end of the line. 

This pond was fed dog food by the owner, I know it sounds weird to me too, but it works.  We caught around 50 fish that day, and because I feel bad for animals in any sort of pain or dying situation we had to throw all of them back, much to my dads dismay.  At the end of the day of telling stories, laughing, and fishing, we threw in the left over dog food into the pond and the fish went crazy! In mere seconds all the food was eaten off the top of the pond. 

We loaded up the truck and I started towards the passenger side of the truck, my dad pulled me back and asked if I would like to drive.  WOULD I EVER!  So I grabbed his keys and ran to the drivers side.  I sat in, buckled up, and waited for my dad to do the same.  I put the keys in the ignition, moved the gear into place, and….drove backwards!  I almost drove us into the pond.  My dad yelled “BREAK!”  I stopped the truck, just a few inches shy of the edge of the pond.  My dad told me to slowly move the gear shift down two more notches and to go forward.  So I did, and then we were off. 

I was still shaken up by almost killing us, but I had almost forgotten that with the shear awesomenss of driving!  I was kicking up dirt, and gravel, and grass in the back and having so much fun.  Looking back now, I don’t think I actually went that fast, probably only 20 mph, but still it was awesome! 

Once getting to the main road, my dad and I switched around.  He was laughing at me almost sinking the truck and he turned on his “Oldies” station.  Two hours later we were home and the truck was in one piece, we had no fish, and no dog food.  Life was good!