I hope to have that experience this year as well. I have put cottonmouths on my sumer's most wanted list this year along with pygmies and hogs. I dont know if it will happen though. Great report!

You had a busy, productive weekend. Glad it was fun. I would recommend Flammkuchen for the Creme Fraiche. FLAMMKUCHEN (from Beyond Burgers and Bratwurst) MY note: I use pizza dough for the crust. For dough: 2 cups Flour 2.5 Tbsp Oil 2/3 cup Water 1/4 tsp salt For toppings: 1 cup Crème Frâiche 1 onion (can be red or sweet onions) 1 Tbsp Butter 1/4lb Bacon Salt & Pepper to taste 1 clove Garlic Preheat the oven to 450F. Combine ingredients for crust. The dough shouldnâÂÂt be sticky and should turn smooth and slightly stretchy. Roll out the dough as thinly as possible and place on a baking sheet or pizza pan or stone. Thinly slice onions and sauté in butter until clear (donâÂÂt caramelize). Cook bacon until crisp. I prefer to cook bacon in the oven for a nice even crispness. Finely chop garlic and add it with seasonings to the cream. Spread the creme fraiche over the rolled out dough and top with the bacon and onions. Bake for around 10-15 minutes, or until the dough has begun to create bubbles and you see nice browning (you donâÂÂt want burnt!).

I've lived next to a tournament bass fisherman. They live to get from fishing hole to fishing hole as fast as possible. They have competitions on their personal boats for getting oomph into the engines. The loud noise and smoke on Sundays while they tuned their engines is one reason why I used to live next to a tournament bass fisherman. Sorry, but those kind of serious fishermen would consider a nice quiet lake like that to be completely out of the question. That's a leisure lake, for the retired sit in the sun on the dock kinda fisherman. Market to them! But those kinda folks want easy access to emergency services, doctors, and hospital access. Chart those 15 minute routes and use that as a selling point. Make a list of local doctors and their specialties. And they want to go grocery shopping close, without having to worry about ending up some place "unsavory". That's where it's going to all fall apart for anyone out of the area considering the home. People use Google Maps second nature these days. They'll check out the whole location without ever leaving their armchairs. Are there any plans by the community to address this unsavory area? Downtown redevelopment? New industries coming to town? Who is taking on that challenge? Without some plan by the community to try to address the reputation of the town, out of towners only have that existing reputation to judge the place by. You're not going to be able to hide it, so find a way to address the problem head on.

Lol I'd never ever deliberately plant yaupon (ilex)!!! It's native here and we battle it constantly, it grows into thickets and takes over! I am constantly amazed when I see it sold in nurseries. Random tidbit- I have a horse that has decided she likes to eat it- and it's a natural source of caffiene, stronger than tea leaves. I'm very concerned she's going to fail a random drug screen at one of our competitions (yes, they drug test the horses).