Thursday, October 15, 2009

MMM...Gator!

Last weekend we spent Saturday afternoon at Dr. Chabel's house in Edisto. This was the AOA picnic and first meeting of the year. It was really fun and great to meet the other people in AOA and their families. It turns out that Dr. Chabel has two hobbies. The first is hunting. The walls were covered in deer heads, birds, and small animals (even one bobcat). There was a very large moose over the fireplace and several bearskin rugs on the floor.

Lunch was amazing. We had barbecue pork, mahi mahi, and several sides. We also had deep fried alligator! It was actually really good. Although, as we were eating it we were also staring at its skull which was proudly displayed on a table. That was a new experience for me. We learned a lot about gator hunting. It turns out you have a permit to kill one and they only give out a certain amount each year. Once you have a permit you can only kill one and the season is only open for one month. Also, you have to have the alligator completely captured before you can kill it.

His second hobby is making glass. There were so many beautiful glass lamps all over the house and he had made all of them! We really enjoyed spending the day there and getting to know everyone better.


This is one of those beautiful lamps he made : )

The skull of the alligator we ate!

Stephen and Mr. Moose.

Robert and Morgan

Saturday evening we drove out to spend the night with our friends Ben and Holly who were housesitting. We had a great time fishing off the deck in the back yard and hanging out. I caught a really small fish. I used him for bait for a while trying to get the big daddy but it didn't work out. Stephen actually caught a a pretty big skate. After fishing we had some dinner and hung out until time to go to bed. It was a very fun and busy day :)

Ben helping Stephen get his skate in.

Stephen's skate.

Me, Ben, and Holly fishing from the dock in the back yard.