June 28th

On vacation...... Be back soon!

June 20TH

Today is National Ice Cream Soda Day and National Milkshake Day.
Wow!
My 2 favorite kinda days....
Especially in this heat!
I've gotta make sure to celebrate with at least one of those today.
Its also American Eagle Day.
How fitting that the eagle is given his own day?

Especially in a summer full of patriotic days,

Memorial Day, D Day, Flag Day and the Fourth of July.

We'll celebrate with our own raptors...…

Ethel

She's still broody.

She won't leave the nest.

That's why she's giving me the stink eye.

Pepper

She's eyeballing a lizard,

 standing perfectly still to catch it.

Then she scratched the ground like she wanted it to know

she was gonna grab it.

She shot over toward the lizard with lightening speed,

grabbed it in her beak and ran off with Hazel in pursuit.

It was like a scene from "Jaws", 

where Quint and Chief Brody 

are in the classroom and 

Quint (Pepper) scratcher nails 

on the chalkboard to get everyone's attention.

"Sometimes that lizard, he looks right into ya.

Y'know the thing about a lizard, he's got ….

lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a dolls eyes.."

Gulp!

 

Hazel

This is the second before Pepper grabbed the lizard.

In the chase, Hazel got a lizard part.

Don't know exactly which part,

but a part nonetheless.

Gross.

Nugget

She has no idea of what's going on behind her.

She is just following me around.

But....

She was accused of calling a Code Red on Ethel.

Lucy said that it was Nugget who called the Code

because Ethel is occupying their spot in the coop.

When confronted with the evidence,

I simply asked for the truth.

Nugget just clucked.

She meant that I can't handle the truth.

But,

She said "We live in a coop that has walls,

and those areas have to be used to lay eggs,

you want me in that coop,

you need me in that coop!"

I conceded.

I pushed out Ethel.

Whew!

The drama!

Lucy 

Chillin' in a dust bath.

(Looking deceased)

Their habit of this unnerves me.

Hazel and Pepper

(Maverick and Iceman)

Scanning the perimeter for bogeys.

(lizards and bugs)

**********************************

Eggplant 

Purple Bell Peppers

Petunias

**************************************

And

remember,

never take life too seriously.....

You'll never get out

alive!!

Always Hugs!!

June 6th

To those of us living in a free country,

we stand in reverence at the sheer unadulterated

courage shown by those who died and those

who succeeded in turning the tide of war.

Those men who stormed the beaches that day

looked near certain death in the face, but didn't

falter in their mission.

Oh, I'm sure they were scared and anxious

and thought of loved ones at home, but

they didn't think of quitting.

That mission was nothing short of suicide.

Eisenhower, in a letter to his men,

said "In company with our brave allies and

brothers in arms on other Fronts, you will bring

about the destruction of the German War Machine,

the elimination of Nazi tyranny over oppressed

peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves

in a free world."

The world was literally holding its collective breath

in asking these men to sacrifice everything in the name

of freedom and liberty.

The outcome would be the end of tyranny or

a completely new oppressive world that the allies

couldn't allow to happen.

The orders that day were simple......

Victory at all cost!

Thankfully those brave souls gave their all.

But, even the men who survived that fateful day,

were never the same.

They had seen too much.

They would never go back to the carefree lives

before the war.

The war experience did more than make them brothers,

it played on continuous loops in their brains

as constant reminders of what horrors

can happen when people aren't allowed to be free.

We as Americans need to make sure that

those kinds of horrors never happen again

and those courageous men didn't die in vain.

Ronald Regan said,

"Freedom is never more than one generation

away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children

in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected,

and handed on for them to do the same"

So again,

Thanks to all Veterans.

We owe you everything.

 

*****************************************

 

Thai Basil

with small purple flowers.

They sprout such beautiful fragrant blossoms.

That's Cuban Oregano to the left

and Spearmint to the right.

 

Eggplant.

There is a small flower trying to grow.

 

The pepper harvest.

I've chopped some up to freeze,

and dehydrated some.

As they dry, the sweetness comes out.

 

Marigolds.

I just like them.

They scream summer!

 

Lucy,

she's acting like the BHIC

(big hen in charge)

The CEO can't get any work done unless

he says hello or holds the girls.

They'll squawk till he acknowledges them.

 

Pepper and Nugget

They were following me as I weeded.

They like to pick through the weeds for

tasty bugs.

They go after those critters like its the last hot dog

on the fourth of July!

And just so you know,

I don't like bugs.

I'm not afraid of them,

well most of them,

but for full disclosure,

 I dislike them.

I don't have a lotta "dislikes",

but bugs are near the top.

Lets see.....

there's coconut, hot muggy days,

people who get in my personal space,

pepper hot food, crowds, snakes!, heights,

bugs, fat on meat - ugh!, liars,

Jehovah's Witnesses or anyone going door

to door to proselytize.

 (Does that ever work for them?)

and for a similar reason - a glass front door.

(I don't want anyone seeing in my house!),

maple syrup - only cane syrup for this gal,

any mayonnaise other than Blue Plate, because,

well, its simply the best!

But,

I digress.......

 

 

************************************

I noticed this in the paper.

It is fitting that Mr Benson is honored in this way.

And I'm glad it was Kenner that did it.

 

*************************************

 

In the same vein as Game of Thrones,

Yeah,

these buggers are gearing up

for their vampire blood meals

of humans in shorts,

sleeveless shirts and

bathing suits.

More surface area to bite!

(another extreme dislike)

 

 

 

Remember,

 

Always trust people who

like big butts,

 

They cannot lie.