We’re The Great Adventurers!
The following blogs may contain Affiliate links to Amazon products that we will earn a small commission from after any sales that are made through those links.
I live in the great state of Illinois, which has the great privilege of having the largest invasion of locusts this year. People like to call them cicadas, but to me they are virtually the same thing. They are going to come in droves, well actually they are more like some freaky sci-fi movie where they have been dormant underground for years and now suddenly two different groups will be making their way to the top to bless everyone with their presence.
Apparently the two groups were dormant for a different amount of years. Yes, you read that right "years". One group was underground for 13 years and the other group was in the ground for 17 years. From what I understand they make their way to the top after the ground gets to a certain temperature. Then there whole purpose is just to lay a bunch more eggs for the generation to enjoy them. So because the state I live in is getting two different types of these insects there should be about a billion per square mile. I remember seeing YouTube videos a few years back where Las Vegas had a similar type of invasion where there were so many they had bulldozers trying to push the dead ones to the side where they could haul them off. These insects will start to stink if you just let them lay around, so you will have to get rid of them some how. Horrified by the results that I found after all of my research, I decided to find out if there was any way to keep them away. My first line of defense was to pray. So I petitioned the Lord God Almighty and asked if He would keep them away from our place. Then the next thing I did was have my husband spray our entire yard with a pesticide that is mixed with your hose water. We just found out today that our prayers were being answered because a house right behind us had hundreds of these locusts all over it, while our house only had a few dozen. Then after spraying the pesticide on the lawn, the fence, and any other place we noticed them it seemed these insects died almost immediately. So if you are one of the lucky ones who will be experiencing this invasion of locusts/cicadas, my recommendation would be to also try these tactics!
0 Comments
We had great ambitions to go on a ton of adventures, and maybe even try to invest in an RV or travel trailer so we could expand our horizons. Well reality set in and we realized that it took a lot of time and a whole lot more money to fulfill some of these lofty ambitions. But the story doesn't end with a pitiful "woe is me" cry. No, we adapt, adjust, and overcome!
So what did we do? We went and got a cat and found out that she was going to live out some of our Great Adventurer dreams! This kitty hit the Rescue Cat jackpot! We have access to all sorts of cool products because we do reviews for companies, so we hooked kitty up! She has a soft sided cat carrier that has wheels and lots of windows, she has a backpack that pops out into a tent, she has her own tent with connecting tunnel, and the cat tree of all cat condos! She has found one adventure after another just living inside, and we find ourselves repeating the phrase "Why didn't I film that?!" She is extremely well behaved so when she starts to go places that she knows is off limits, we quickly take notice. One time when we went to correct her as she was ready to get on a side table next to our couch, we noticed her suddenly pounce, turn around, and come back with a huge mosquito in her mouth! Then when the moth tried to fly away from her she sprung up, took flight, and swiped her paws together in determined attack on the moth! And us not having the sense to start filming as soon as she was going for the moth in the first place! we are slowly learning to keep the cameras rolling because every day is an adventure with Clarice the Cat! Do you know in life that there are times when we think we know what we want, but we find out that it's not everything that we thought it would be. The things that we want to pass by, snub our noses up at, or not even want to consider can turn out to be some of the best things in life. I can think of several times in my life that I was sure that I knew what I wanted, only to find out that it was a horrible decision. On the other hand, things I thought I wouldn't like and didn't want to consider, turned out to be something great.
I lately had one of these encounters where I had decided ahead of time what I thought I wanted. We had owned cats in the past, but hadn't been able to have one for years. My kids and my husband had been trying to persuade me into getting not just a cat, but a kitten over the course of 5 years. I assured them that there was a ton of work involved with a kitten. Plus, add to that fact that we did not have enough room in a 600 square foot duplex for us AND a cat. I really do love cats, but I have a very practical side that always seems to normally win out in situations like this. That was until... One day I was just reading some devotions to my husband when my daughter started telling us about different cats that were "in the area." Well, her "in the area" and my "in the area" were two different things. Her idea of being close was over 3 hours away near a big city that has a very bad problem with crime right now. Much to my surprise, instead of just shutting the whole idea down and moving on with what I was doing, I felt the Lord change my heart. I found myself looking up cats that were literally ten minutes away! I kept telling myself that I didn't want to go down this road because I knew it couldn't lead anywhere good. If I kept looking at these cats I was going to crumble and end up going to look at them. I was right, I found myself ten minutes later at an animal shelter with the intent of "just looking" at all the cute cats. As I walked in to the juvenile room filled with cats, I found myself walking towards an orange cat that was sitting in a middle cubicle looking at me and meowing. I reached out to pet the kitty and she started licking my hand and rubbing against my arm. I noticed her fur was not very soft and smooth, but felt gritty, almost like a powder or something had been put on her and not rubbed in. So I moved on to a softer feeling cat. Some of the cats seemed a little younger than others, but I just knew that they couldn't be kittens because there was a designated kitten room for kittens. I definitely did not want a kitten because they were way too much work in keeping them out of stuff, teaching them not to bite and scratch, and simply getting them to behave. If I was going to THINK about getting a cat I would want the cat to be some where above the age of 6 years old because that way I know that this cat would have been trained already. The longer I stayed in the room with the cats, the more I could feel myself getting suckered in to getting one. I noticed the orange cat kept coming back to me over and over, not to mention this was probably the best behaved cat that I had ever seen. This cat seemed to be about the right age, she didn't scratch or bite me, she wasn't aggressive with the other cats or me, and her fur seemed to get softer the more that I petted her. So low and behold, that cat found herself rescued from all the other aggressive cats, and hitting the kitty lottery. The shelter loaded us up with all sorts of toys, a scratching post, flea spray, cat treats and food, plus a few other things. There are times in our lives when we need to feel like we made a decision and no one else has made it for us. There are also times in our lives as a parent that we need to let our "kids" make their own decisions and that no one else made it for them. Another term would be to "own our decision", meaning that you take responsibility for it no matter how it turns out. If it turns out great then we feel very proud of ourselves for making such a great decision! However, if it goes south and turns out terrible then we can end up feeling many different ways. The bottom line is that the only one to blame would be ourselves if it turns out poorly. I have learned about owning decisions the hard way. In the past, if I made a decision but someone else swayed me on it and then it didn't turn out so well, I suddenly had someone else that I could use as a scapegoat. I could rationalize it out in my mind and say that I felt pressured into making the decision, or that they promised it would all turn out great and they thought it was a fantastic idea. I have noticed that people love to say when they are giving advice, "If it were me I would do it!" Well, it's not them, it's you and if things don't go as planned then guess who is left holding the bag? Meaning you are the one who has to deal with all the consequences of that bad decision. So I started to quickly learn not to take advice from everyone, and assume that they know what they are talking about. I needed to weigh all the pros and cons of that decision and then move forward realizing that if I made a bad decision it would be me reaping the consequences and not anyone else. On the flip side of that I also learned not to freely give out advice when it came to other people's lives. I am not the one who would have to live with the results of that decision. I am quite the "fix it" person and love to tell people how they could fix their lives. One thing I slowly started to learn was that most of the time people don't want their lives "fixed", they just want someone to listen to them. You might ask them if they had ever considered something, but steer clear of telling them what they should do. You need to let them come to their own decisions, otherwise you suddenly become the bad guy if things don't go like you thought they would. The hardest part of not telling someone what to do is when it comes to your own kids. Letting your kids make what you might think is a "bad decision" can be very difficult because you don't want to see them fail. We have had to let our kids make their own decisions as they got older and then let them deal with the outcome. Sometimes it turned out that they were right and we were wrong. Other times we saw the consequences coming a mile away but we let them know that we were always there for them. The last thing that someone needs is for you to tell them, "I told you so!" People know when they have made a bad decision, this is the time when they need a little encouragement. They have already learned their lesson the hard way. The picture that I used at the top of this article is of me and my husband holding up our Blackfoot 160 kayak, it's symbolic of how we have to hold up our own decisions. Yet at the same time we can be there helping someone else in the decision that they made if things don't go as planned. Own your decisions, let others own their decisions as well, and whether things turn out good or bad, in the end, you each made your own decision and can learn from it. We went on our solo camping trip as a practice run for going boon docking, and we had all of these great expectations of what the outcome would be. We envisioned being able to make some great videos, get some great photo shoots, and figure out how to make it work to go boon docking down at Dollywood! We also figured that since our kids wouldn't be with us we would have a lot more room in our vehicle. Were we in for a rude awakening! It seemed like we had LESS space! How is that!? Well, there are a lot of factors that contributed to us having more stuff. For example, because we were going to a campground we had to have a tent set up on the camp site. So we brought a much smaller tent. We also wanted a gazebo with us to shade us from the sun since it was supposed to be in the high 80's with a high humidity index. We also wanted to bring our Blackfoot angler kayak with us since we were right on a large lake. Plus Matt had just got a new electric skateboard that he wanted to try out there. Then of course we needed to try out our new memory foam mattress for the back of the SUV. And on and on it goes... When we go on trips, whether camping or hotel, we always take our kids with us. Well this time we are going to do a solo run, we are leaving the kids behind. Don't be too horrified, all of our "kids" are 20 years old and above! They are all doing online college at home, so they will have more than enough to keep them busy. I think it's going to be a little more traumatic on us than them. We will only be going about 40 minutes away from home to a campground that we have gone to before and liked. We are trying to allow them to be adults, and allow us to trust God with our sons and daughter. We know that they all have a lot of wisdom, we are practicing at not micro-managing their lives! Really hard thing to transition from being a parent, to simply being another adult who can offer great counsel if they want it. This is a huge deal for parents. Those who are parents understand, those who do not have kids can only imagine. There are big transitions in your life: when you get married, when you have kids, when your kids become adults, when your kids leave, and when you retire. All of these are great moments in a person's life, but learning to adjust your mentality can be very hard. You have done things a certain way for so long, but now all of a sudden you have to look at it differently and do it differently. I finally had to just ask the Lord to help me release my kids to Him and trust Him with them. It really was a matter of me not trusting God with my kids. Like I could do a better job protecting them and teaching them than He could! But that is a hidden form of pride, which won't get you very far with God. In fact, it will get you into some trouble and He'll have to teach you a thing or two. When I finally asked for help, it felt like a huge burden had been lifted from me. I felt more free and actually can't wait to go on our first trip without them! I know that sounds just terrible! But it also is a great thing. Now, I just have to get my husband to really release the kids and not worry! We have had a rather long winter, but mostly with rain and sleet. We keep on thinking that we are going to enter the Spring season every day, but as soon as it gets really warm then within a day or two it drops right back down into the 30's! However, even though it has been cold we have been gearing up for more adventures. We were able to pick up a couple of SUP's and we are excited to try that out as well as kayaking. We have been on a Stand Up Paddle board, but have seen a lot of positive reviews and videos on it. People are saying that it is a great way to get in shape and have fun all at the same time. I was a little hesitant because I don't have the best cat-like balance like my husband. Being the salesman the husband really is, he managed to talk me into it. We also picked up an inflatable camp pad to go in the back of our SUV or to use in a tent. After trying a couple of them we narrowed it down to two. I like a double pad that has an egg carton/bubble type of texture. It's by Korgol and it fits perfectly in the back of our Pilot. My husband likes another one that we found by Relefree which is more like a combination of bubbles and horizontal lines. It was ok comfortable in my opinion, but he really liked the feel. We are waiting for it stop raining and to warm up to at least the 50's so we can blast off! I know, some people are die hard with their adventures and will not let the weather dictate where and when they will go. Hats off to all of you people! I like nice weather and prefer to be able to do things outdoors like hike or boat. I do not foresee the SUP life starting first since it has been cold, but I do see hiking and kayaking in the very near future! Life is all about adjusting from what we expect should happen to the reality of what actually happens. I can't tell you how many times I had planned out how things were going to pan out, only to face the harsh reality of having none of it transpire! I have learned not to set in stone what I want to happen. Have you ever heard the cliche "Just Roll with it"? This is a really good saying to not only memorize, but also incorporate into your everyday life. The picture above was taken on the spur of the moment in front of an antique truck with a tree in it. My husband is always pushing me to the limit of my cautious "planned" ways! I personally like to stay within the "safe boundaries" when it comes to taking a selfie in front of someone else's vehicle without permission from them. However, afterwards most of the time I'm glad I stepped outside of my comfort zone, and threw my agenda out the window for just a few minutes to do something that I hadn't calculated in to our game plan for the day. You may think you know where I'm going with this advice, but you probably don't! I had planned on going on fun adventures with my husband and then writing a blog, making videos, setting up a FaceBook page and then put some Affiliate links in and earn our passive income from all of it. Well, things just never seem to go as planned. We found out that the adventures just haven't gained any ground, but the stuff that we put up showing people how to do something, really took off! At first we were a little disappointed, but we decided to start adjusting! We have refocused our website and YouTube page to focus more on reviews and how to do things. We also realized that there are others out there that know a whole lot more than we do, so we decided to incorporate that as well. We added a resource page where you can find links to all sorts of things like other blogs, the best places to go to, "How to" articles, and so on. We will also be incorporating other videos from people who will show you how to do things, as well as videos that will offer tips and tricks from their personal experiences. When you learn to adapt to life's surprises, you may find that it offers you a preferred result than what you first hoped for! Embrace the Unexpected! My husband and I, along with our kids, have been going to Sevier County since 2010 and we absolutely love the area! In case you aren’t familiar with the area, let me tell you the main cities that can be found in that county. There is Sevierville, which has The Lodge Cast Iron store, The Smoky Mountain Knife Store, Wilderness at the Smokies, along with many other fun things to do. Then as you head south on the Parkway you will come to Pigeon Forge. This is one of the biggest hotspots because this is where Dollywood is located. You will find a lot of other neat things to do there like The Island, but Dollywood is the big draw. Finally, as you head even further south on the Parkway you will eventually get to Gatlinburg. Now that draws a different type of crowd because they have lots of conventions down there. There was a few years when we lived too far away to travel to the area because we lived on the other side of the country. We now live closer to the area, but we don’t consider 9-10 hours too far to drive! Just saying, we LOVE the area and we know a lot about it and have seen a lot of changes over the years. There has always been traffic because it is a tourist area, so that hasn’t changed. However, if you know which roads to take then you can avoid some of that traffic. What has changed is the number of businesses either closing down or the decline in quality of the places that are still in business. So what gives? Let me tell you what has happened. There was a huge forest fire a few years back that swept through that area and burned down lots of houses and apartment complexes. The apartments that burned were the ones that were less expensive and housed the majority of people who worked your lower paying jobs. Translation: most of your workers were at these apartments, and because of the fires they had to move to areas that had less expensive rent and then got jobs in those areas. There were a few people that drove 30-60 minutes after moving out of Sevier County to get to their jobs because the benefits were good, but not many people wanted to make such a long drive for average wages. The next thing to take place that made an impact on businesses was the pandemic. Many places had to close because of restrictions and thus had to either fire employees or lay them off. Those people who lost their jobs due to COVID were able to go on unemployment. Once jobs started opening back up, people were making more on the pandemic money than they would at a regular job. So businesses all started struggling to open up because they didn’t have anyone who would work. Those people who did return to work now had an over load of things to do. We were able to go back to Dollywood for their Christmas Festival, and once again they did not disappoint. There were a whole lot of people there this year compared to last year. We took Dollywood website’s advice and booked our reservations before ever leaving. The ticket people were not asking for your reservations but we found out that your reservations automatically came up when they scanned your pass. So incase a person thought they could just slide in because they weren’t asking, they would have been asked to leave if they were filled to capacity. They had so many lights it was unbelievable! I can’t even begin to describe how beautiful it was because it would not do it any justice. This really is one of those things that you have to see to believe. The picture of me and my husband in a Dollywood Christmas wreath can be found after you go through the security check and before you present your pass or ticket at the entry. I feel very bad for those people hired at Dollywood to take these photo-ops for people because they really don’t have much of a job. Everyone has a smart phone with a camera on it nowadays, so no one wants to pay to have someone else take it for them. That wreath is one of those “moments” where they can take a picture for you, but we obviously did not, we had our daughter take the pic! Once you get in the gates there’s another great pic moment in front of a huge “Dollywood” sign. Every now and then you’ll get one or two groups getting this pic professionally taken, but not very often. We have a few in front of the sign where we either did selfies or someone very kindly took it for us. Normally people automatically turn to the right and go through what would be known as the Main Street. This has all the shops decked out and hanging ornaments overhead. It really is beautiful! We noticed that this year they added Starbucks coffee to list of venders! It was great to sip on hot coffee walking through the park as the cold breeze chilled your bones. If you wanted to go a little off the beaten track and not do what normal people do when they enter the park, you could turn left when you come in the gates. When you go left you will see Dollywood's huge emporium where they sell just about everything you will find for sale in the park. Go just past that to your right, and you will see a hidden back trail up to most of Dollywood's rollercoasters and Wildwood Grove area. |