By Georgia Osten
The dishes are overflowing in the sink, laundry is piled up and streaming out into the hallway, the family is hungry, but I finished my puzzle gosh darn it! There’s just something about working a puzzle that’s so comforting and satisfying, the idea of actually finishing it. It’s like a good book that you hate to finish though. It’s like, what’s next??

Another fact is that it’s also amazing that I wasn’t missing a single piece. It was, after all, brand new, my kids got it for me for Christmas. Amazing, because I had The Littles visiting. They were quite fascinated. They were told to not touch it. So, instead of “not touching it,” I would find their toys up there on the table with the puzzle. Like, Riggs’ toy school bus, or Fisher’s Woody doll and Bullseye.

Sunday morning, Big Brother, Pierce, and Daddy went hunting with PawPaw and Uncle Bill, they left at 4 am. I made them promise to be very quiet when they left, and they were. The twins didn’t wake up until 7 am. Yay, I was able to get the pancakes started ahead of time. I made it a point to get up before them because I was warned they can now climb out of their cribs, so I knew climbing out of a Pack ’n Play would be a cinch.

Which reminds me of another story – When our Dax (he’s one of The Middles) was 2-3, he could also climb out of bed. His mother decided to sew his pajama legs together. We thought it was a bit cruel when we saw it for the first time, but I’ll be darned, it works!

Anyway, regarding the hunting trip … This isn’t my story, but I must write about it. Pierce is 5, he’ll be 6 in March. He went on the hunting trip with the guys, so he also had to be out of the house by 4. As told to me by one of the other seasoned hunters, the weather was beautiful, cold, but beautiful. The sun came up, warming everyone a bit. Several hours went by, no ducks!

Another hour went by, they’re all just sitting in the blind waiting. Pierce decided to go ahead and ask, “Dad, when can we start duck hunting?” It was a good question, everyone cracked up. His Dad told him to just be patient. Pierce remained very quiet, finally his Dad asked him what he was thinking? Pierce said, very seriously, “I was just wondering what Be Patient means?”

Oh well, no ducks, but a good time had by all. Breakfast at this hunting lodge is one of the main reasons they go anyway. I was looking forward to some duck gumbo, but I’ll just settle for shrimp and sausage.

I gave myself a present. On Saturday, I went to BB&B and bought new cookware. I decided to unpack everything after we had polished off the pancakes. Why hadn’t I thought of this yesterday, The Littles spent the rest of the morning playing in the box. This is a picture of “Bear Bear goes Night Night.” You can see his foot up in the box …

Hope y’all have a lovely day – Stay warm!

GO’s Sand Bucket is only one beach bum’s journal of life at the beach, probably something each of you can relate to. Please feel free to email me with your thoughts, visions and/or feelings of just exactly what the beach means to you. Email: [email protected]

[1-20-2020]