All part of the Southern Experience

Thanks, Jeremy for the idea to put up some pictures that are -- well, lets just say they "exemplify" Arkansas.

A house in Vilonia with Confederate flag on the porch.

Apparently they still are serving "freedom fries" here.
"Git outa my property!"

Crack Kills. You better click on this picture to get a nice close up.

Poor little gators.

Highlights from Arkansas

I was lucky enough to spend a whole week with my sister Angie and her family (Dustin and Alice) in Arkansas. I have never been to the South before, so I was pretty excited to go. It was beautiful there. Not too hot yet in May, and everything was so green. I took way too many pictures, especially of my stinkin' cute niece Alice, so here are two videos of my favorite parts of my trip.

The first one is as the Alligator Farm in Hot Springs, AK. The gators here don't get huge, but that's because they grow really slow like humans, and they just don't keep them around long enough to get that big. Nonetheless, they were very intimidating, especially because the only thing between a swarm of them and you is a chest high chain-link fence. This guys is feeding them chicken. He says that in the cooler months he can get in the pen like this, but when the weather gets warmer, there is no way he would be able to feed them like that because when the temp gets hotter, so does gator blood and they feed in a frenzy.




These videos make me laugh every time. We went to a restaurant called Hook's Catfish Buffet were they served all you can eat fried chicken, fried shrimp, fried crawdad, fried corn, fried frog legs, fried mac and cheese, fried okra, fried mushrooms, fried onions, and probably a bunch more friend stuff. Truly a Southern experience. Angie and I tried the frog legs, and they tasted a lot like what a stinky old pond smells like. And the fact that we were eating one more fried piece of meat after a whole plateful of various fried delicacies probably didn't help either. It was totally gross to say the least. It definitely could have been the restaurant though. Anyways, the best reaction to the frog legs was Alice's. She would not even touch it. In the first video (left), she wants to pick it up but she just can't get herself to do it. In the next video (on the right)...well, just watch Alice the whole time. Hilarious.

An update on our general everyday lives...

Now that school is out we have been busy busy busy! (Busy NOT studying!!):
Graduating, Biking, Cinco de Mayo Party, Hanging out, Fishing, ect....
I know these aren't the coolest pictures, but I just wanted to get some candid photos up. Also, sorry for the weird layout.

This is me at the bee lab on campus. My picture was taken and now I am famous on somebody else's blog. See it here and read it 'cause I think many people I know will appreciate it.

http://kooperbeebug.blogspot.com/2008/05/hallowtines-hallentines.html

Taco y Juan

This is an old video, but we wouldn't be representing this Belcher clan without featuring our furry friends Taco and Juan. They like to use my exercise pad as a wrestling mat. I hope you didn't miss that sweet fake-out Juan pulled on Taco. Today (Saturday, April 26) we tried taking the cats to 1st dam to romp around, but they just meowed and coward low to the grass the whole time.........babies.

Hello My Friend

This is dedicated to my sister Nange: May your many of days be of filling the joy can give heart.

Whenever I need a good laugh I spend a few minutes at Engrish.com. Take a look and you'll know what I mean.

Jessica

Everything you do & say can be held against you in the Court of Law

WIN-WIN-LOSE
Well, I went to court today to fight a speeding ticket that I got about a month ago. When I got there they had me talk to the Prosecuting Attorney in the hall and between the two of use we worked something out. Apparently the law states that if the speed is not posted and you are within city limits, then the speed is 25 mph. I was also being charged with not updating my drivers license which is lame because as a student you move every 4 months.
Anyway,
Win # 1 - I was able to get them to drop the charge of not updating my license, which carries a $40 fee.
Win #2 - I am going to take to driving class to be able to keep all of this off of my record so I will not have any problems with my insurance.
Lose #1 - I still had to pay $107, $82 for the ticket which they did lower to the cheapest amount, Win #3, and $25 for the class.
Overall, it pays to try and take down the man even though they still get their money.
Austin