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This being the first Summer with our new pool, having guests and barbeque happens quite often at the Shepherd household. I thought I’d share with you an appetizer that my Sister’s Husband turned me on to. This wonderful Shrimp dish always gets rave reviews at our cook-outs. I cook them on the side-burner of the grill so they can be done on the stove as well. It takes a bit of “prep-time” so here is how it works…

1. Fresh shrimp, good sized at least U-15’s
2. Remove shell and tails, just the meat left.
3. “Butter-Fly” them by using a serrated knife and cutting along their back.
4. De-Vein them.
5. Squeeze the juice from a lemon over them.
6. Let sit for several minutes.
7. Whip up 1 egg in a bowl.
8. Fill another bowl with Progresso Breadcrumbs.
9. using tongs, dip each shrimp in the egg, then roll in the breadcrumbs.
10. Fill a pan with 1/2 inch of Olive Oil
11. Cook on medium heat each side till golden brown.

Yummy I tell you! They are great with cocktail sauce and stick a toothpick in each one for easy handling!

O.K. folks, I’m off my W.o.W. addiction long enough to finally update my blog! Here’s a pix Wendy took of a Black-Snake in our front yard. I think most people have an irrational fear of snakes, I grew up in the Arizona desert and snakes of all sorts were an everyday occurrence in my youth. I therefore became accustomed to them and learned to differentiate between the harmless and dangerous ones.

Snakes are not aggressive and will only bite when they feel threatened. Most snake bites happen when a person doesn’t notice a snakes presence and “Invade its space”.

So I will pass along to you a rule that I’ve lived by concerning them. Every single poisonous snake which makes it’s home in North America with one very rare exception ( the Coral Snake) is what is called a Pit Viper. These include Rattlesnakes, Copperheads and Water-Moccasins. They all have different colors and markings but all these poisonous critters have ONE thing in common, the shape of their head. A dangerous snake will have a “Heart” shaped head due to the venom sacks. A harmless snake will have a “tubular” shaped head. Below is a pix of a Rattlesnake’s head, compare it with the photo Wendy took of our Blacksnake and I think you will be able to understand what I’m talking about.

Class Dismissed!

With temperatures in the 80’s & 90’s this past week, our pool has warmed very nicely to almost bathtub-like water. We are thrilled to finally have something fun to do on those sweltering hot summer days that would otherwise be spent hibernating indoors with the A/C turned up full blast!

Sharing some pix and a vid…

pic-1 Erick’s getting big!

pic-2 Mark with Pool Noodle

pic-3 Tim learning to dog paddle

pic-4 I’m trying to teach Tim to float

vid Everyone “having fun”

I got this movie on a recommendation from a coworker. I pretty much grew up with the comedy of Jim Carrey and I absolutely loved Tea Leoni in “Family Man” so I thought I’d give it a shot. Carrey and Leoni play an upper class suburbanite couple who are doing pretty well for themselves when all of a sudden the company Carrey works for collapses “Enron” style and they lose everything. Comedy then ensues as they turn to a life of crime to support themselves.

We watched this after our BBQ for Mother’s Day with my Family and it definitely provided a plethora of laughs. So if you want a family evening with a fun flick Jim Carrey style, this one is pretty funny!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms out there! A little over a week ago, I began racking my brain over what I could get my Mom on Mother’s Day. She is so difficult to buy for, she doesn’t like Jewelry or perfumes and her tastes are very specific otherwise. A gift certificate would seem like I didn’t even try and I wasn’t even going to try to pick any clothing out for her.

An idea finally hit me and I wrote my Sister an email asking if she would be game for a Mother’s Day BBQ. After a little back and fourth we decided that Saturday the 13th would actually fit better into everyone’s plans and the weather forecast for that day looked more appealing as well.

Everyone converged on my house yesterday afternoon and all in all, things went down very well. My Sister’s Hubby (Artie) was appointed “Grill-Master”, the boys did some swimming until their lips turned purple and teeth began to chatter and I gave A.T.V. rides up the mountain.

Here are a few pix of the occasion…

Artie proudly displays the contents of the grill.

The dinner table adorned with a dozen red roses which my Mother brought for Wendy.

My Sister and her Husband.

Artie teaches the way of the Grill to Timothy.

The pool is open for business.

Mark by the pool.

Erick & Timothy.

Tim trying to warm up.

Time to go see the eye doctor again, my glasses are broke. Since getting contacts last year, I’ve gotten into a routine of pretty much just wearing them when I work. Usually, by the time I get home my eyes have had enough and I switch to my glasses for the evening. Now they are broken beyond repair and I find myself currently in agony with dried up contacts in for the last 12 hours. I can feel my eyelids scraping against them. Suffer I shall, because it’s either this or not being able to see!

Check out the movies on This Site.

This fella takes the art of Juggling to a whole new level. Now that I’m past my youthful stage of clubbing, bars & parties… this kind of show might be an ideal evening of entertainment. Of course, I’ve always wanted to actually go out and see the Phantom of the Opera production. Does this sound “Cheesy” to you? Wendy and I used to talk about this BC (Before Children). We would check the schedule to see when the play was coming to a place within driving distance. Our fantasy was to get some tickets, reserve one of those fancy Hotel suites with an in-room Jacuzzi, bring a couple bottles of champagne, and have a “Just me and you” evening. Then along came the children and it’s looking more and more like by the time they are grown and we are again free, this kind of evening might involve Metamucil and Depends undergarments. Such is life.

The Fence got put in around the pool the other day and I must say that we are very pleased with the look of it. It’s actually a maintenance free aluminum but does it not have the appearance of the more expensive stuff? Last night we drained the pool and today the final inspection cleared and they cleaned the muck from it and filled it back up. The filter is actually running! Won’t be long now!

I lived in Southern Arizona for the best part of my first 20 years. While I can now say that I much prefer the East Coast with the four seasons & lush greenery, pictures like this bring back some fond memories. The desert has a beauty all its own and one learns to appreciate this in its absence. Each and every day the sun sets and paints a spectacular view across the sky. Since there is very little humidity in the air, one can see much greater distances with crisp clarity. Perhaps my most vivid memory of the desert is the Monsoon season. For just a month or two of each year, small yet powerful storms sweep across the land. What makes these events so unique is being able to see them from a distance. One can actually see the rain falling 20+ miles away. Bolts of lightning spider from the thunderhead while the torrent of rain can be seen dropping from the clouds like windswept wisps against the horizon. All the while, the storm creeps closer, the air around you chills & takes on a clean renewed smell. Yes, I do miss that. Maybe I’ll go back one day, but just for a visit! 🙂