Joey's Birthday

Joey probably had one of the best birthdays he's had in a while. If you read the Turnbull's blog or the Owens', then you saw that Joey got to go white water rafting on Saturday and camping the night before. This is right up Joey's alley. He had a great time, hanging out with some great couples and being in his favorite place - outside. He also continued this outdoor adventure birthday on Sunday. Adam Turnbull's blog is about facing death on the rafting trip as he watched all of the others, including Joey, fall out of the raft and onto the rocks several times. Well, Joey continued this adventure of facing death. We went up to the Wildlife Mangagement Area a few miles from our house to pick blackberries because Joey wanted a blackberry cobbler for his birthday (he's not a big cake fan). It was great weather, and we rode the 4-wheeler around picking berries and trying to avoid the yellow jackets (which I am allergic to and Joey had already had a run-in with days before). So I kinda stayed behind holding the container while watching Joey pick the berries. I believe this was God's way of watching out for me because as I pointed out a place for Joey to pick some and he walked over to start picking, he calmly stepped back and told me to walk back to the 4 wheeler. I was confused and asked what was wrong as he was pulling out his machetti. I'm sure those of you guys who have seen Joey in action with a machetti or even his pocket knife know exactly what was wrong. He had seen a snake. He told me to stay back, that it was probably a copperhead or maybe not even poisonous one. He got a huge rock and dropped it on it and then chopped off its head with the machetti. When he picked it up, it was really scary because it was a rattlesnake missing its rattler. Therefore, it couldn't warn us to backoff, so thankfully I wasn't the one picking and that Joey has good eyes. I'm not very good at seeing snakes, and this is the second time Joey has saved me from one. The other time, he actually pulled me back as I was about to walk right toward it, then killed it with the weedeater. Anyway, I'm very impressed with my manly, Bear Grylls-type husband as Adam also talked about in his blog. It would have been nice if someone had warned us about rattlesnakes and blackberry bushes. Both of our dads asked us after we told them we had been picking berries if we had seen any rattlesnakes. Evidently this is common knowledge, so now we will be (well, Joey will be) wearing snake chaps when picking blackberries. Hey, the cobbler was great though, and Joey says he's just happy he ridded the world of one more evil serpent and that he does not care at all that rattlesnakes are protected in TN and AL (and I don't either)!