I have to start off by saying I am a die hard animal lover. To me any animal is angelic. I just can't fathom why anyone could and would go out hunting and kill any animal.

I grew up with a dad that was a big time hunter of what seemed that he would kill just about anything. As a kid I was oblivious to what really was going on. I remember when he would come back from frogging. That was always the fun event. Oh yah, and yes they taste just like chicken. During that time we had a backyard that was pretty much all cement so he would let the frogs out of the bag. As a kid to be around so many hopping creatures was the best. Then the knife came out. Still I was intrigued. Grossed out at this time in my life. I used to call it pantsing the frog. He would take his pocket knife out. The same one he would cut an apple with and offer you some. Then he would cut around the middle of the frog. Never thinking this was probably hurting these guys. And then he would take his pliers and pull the pants off. I apologize to anyone that I have grossed out, but there is more. Then he would cut the legs off and my mom would put them in the pan with all the seasonings. This is where, again as a kid, this was pretty cool. I don't quite understand why, but the nerves made the legs kick around and move in the pan while they were cooking. Frog legs and crawdads were the only creatures growing up that I was willing to eat.

The crawdads were the work of my sisters and I. We would go down to the creek with our buckets. I really didn't think at that time in my life I realized that I was actually killing something. It sounds so strange for me to say that. We always had a blast wading through the creek and finding things in the stream. Still the best was getting the crawdads that were hiding. If you weren't paying attention and picked one up the wrong way, well it would let you know. They hold on for dear life and hurt at the same time.

Now for cooking these guys. I remember throwing them into a pot of boiling water and watching their colors change. I don't really remember what the color change was, but I remember standing there watching and know that when the color was done, so were they.

I think for now I am done grossing me out as well as anybody else.