Easter at the Lake

[Bobby Bass]

Easter from here at the Lake. Notice I didn't say Happy, woke up to more snow falling. Not that the snow is not "pretty" as the grand kids say, but just a little bit of an inconvenience this morning. You see all the grand kids are here and Grandma decided late last night to go out and hide the bright colored plastic Easter eggs around the cabin, outside.. A couple of problems here as I see it. One it was dark out, so we have no idea where the eggs were placed. Two, we now have new snow covering everything. Three, real rabbits like plastic colored eggs with chocolate inside of them. Would also seem that deer to like the chocolate eggs and the ones with jelly beans are also a favorite of the gray squirrels.

So early this morning the four grand kids were scrambling through the cabin looking under chairs and the sofa, behind the tables and even in the wood box for eggs. They found nothing because grandma and forgot to inform grandpa that the eggs were all outside. It didn't take long for Bud the dog to know they were hunting for something. With #1 grandson he helped search the cabin but with out knowing what they were searching for they were just bring back everything.  To Bud's credit he did find something's that had been missing for awhile. Buff the cat has been busy.  Buff thinks he is a retriever and the cabin Is his at night. We used to blame the dogs or grand kids when they were here for things disappearing.  I sat on the couch and with a clothes basket at my feet the grand kids and Bud brought me half rolls of toilet paper with small teeth marks, single socks, a bottle of white out, two right hand gloves. An earring a empty jelly bean bag a roll of duct tape and two unpainted lure bodies but no Easter eggs. The good part was that things were being found where I would never look but the bad part was the grand kids soon tired of bring dirty socks to me. Not knowing about the eggs being outside I suggested they should look higher up for there Easter baskets. No one looked behind the drapes after last years disaster. Seems the wife came home late from work and decide to put all there eggs in one basket so to speak then hid the baskets behind the drapes on the south side of the cabin.

A nice sunny Easter it was last year, also it was not in March. By the time the grand kids ate breakfast and started to search for their baskets the sun had done it's job. The baskets now looked like a chocolate omelet. Trouble was that the wife had also placed that fake green grass in the baskets. The baskets covered in plastic to keep the cats Buff and Smoky out had now melted and mixed with the grass to make a  somewhat of a chocolate grass brick. With jelly beans and Cadbury egg at the center the kids spent the afternoon trying to freeze their baskets and then bust the candy back out.. Using hammers they did have a good time in the wood shop. Just when it all melted again I had chocolate all  over my tool benches.  # two grand son finally said that the Easter bunny did a better job hiding eggs this year and headed to the kitchen looking for some breakfast.

 That is when the wife came out and suggested the kids should look outside. This is when I pulled the drapes back from the patio window. Lake Iwanttobethere and swirling snow greeted the wife, Opps! was all she could say. #1 grand daughter pointed at a doe leaving front yard with what appeared to be a green Easter egg in her mouth. I can say that because I saw a gray squirrel tying to get his mouth around a bright blue egg just outside on the deck. #1 grandson saw the squirrel and with a battle cry he yelled " There taking our eggs!" They bolted to the cabin door and in pj's and slippers slipped past grandma holding jackets. They quickly fanned out searching for eggs. One by one grandma caught up to them and jackets were put on and hats pulled down over ears. #2 grand daughter did recon of the deck, Barney had gotten up and was her partner. Bud was busy chasing # one grand daughter who was running down the squirrel. The squirrel could not carry the egg and had to leave it with the yelling girl and barking dog getting close. #1 held the egg high over head yelling " I found one, I found one"

In a few minutes what was a quiet  scenic postcard of a morning was now a trampled yard of footprints with dogs and screaming kids criss crossing it. Inside the daughter and her husband had gotten up and were placing a second batch of Easter eggs around the cabin. The daughter, knowing her mother had a backup catch of eggs. Having searched everywhere the kids made there way back to the cabin. This is when #2 son found a egg rolling under the kitchen table, being batted by Smoky the cat. Snatching the egg he yelled ' I got one". Everyone returned to the cabin and jackets and wet gloves were tossed to the floor. Cats scattered thinking they were being the hunted ones and dogs with noses to the floor paired up with grand kids and the search resumed. I stood on the deck and watched the snow fall, I caught movement off to the side and watched as the doe return. She was standing at the edge of the snow covered high grass and looking at me she bent down a little and opening her mouth she let the green egg fall back into the yard. Just kind of a mother on Easter kind of thing to do.. From Lake Iwanttobethere Happy Easter