July 31st

Hello from Nugget.

She's patrolling the yard and keeping her world 

safe from small insects.

You can see how determined she is by the look in her eye.

These girls take their jobs seriously.

Recently, I came across some interesting

chicken facts that I hadn't previously posted.

I thought I'd share a few...

🐔

The only country on earth, without live chickens

is Vatican City, and the only continent is

Antarctica.

If you wanted to get well in ancient Greece,

you'd sacrifice a rooster to Asclepius, today we

eat chicken soup. Science has shown that

the meat in chickens contains cystine, an

amino acid that is related to a drug used in 

treating bronchitis. 

Under US federal law, chickens are not

considered livestock. They aren't even

classified as animals - they are classified

as food! (don't tell our girls that!)

Chickens reached the New World way

before Columbus was sailing around the Caribbean.

Fossilized chicken bones, used for food, were

found in South America and date to

the end of the Ice Age.

In 2007, a scientist extracted a protein from a 

68 million year old T-Rex that showed an

exact match to a protein in modern chicken DNA. 

Oh, no! Jurassic Park might be real!

Chickens are called bilateral gyandromorphs.

All that means is that they possess male and

female parts on separate sides of their bodies.

No, they can't fertilize their own eggs,

but it can cause a hen to take on male 

outer characteristics like feathered tails

and a grander comb and wattle.

Now,

this is a weird chicken fact - 

roosters don't have a penis.

Ok, you ask,

so how do baby chicks come into the world?

Well, its seems that the rooster (who lives

in a perpetual state of arousal) jumps

on top of a hen and inverts his cloaca

(that is the one way, all purpose vent) 

and presses it to hers.

All this is a very fast process that is 

done multiple times.

(I guess if his aim is off he'd better

reconnoiter and try again)

Funny thought here....

A rooster's anatomy doesn't explain

why a slang word for a certain

part of the male anatomy would refer 

to a bird that lacks one.

Just sayin'

😆

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

The cantaloupes ripened. 

Yay!!

The larger one from last post wasn't

quite ripe when we cut it, so it became a hen treat,

and they loved it!

These two are smaller. They tasted great!

The carrots are looking good

Zucchini

No flowers yet....

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

White Lantana

Pink Lantana

Say Aloe to my little friends!

Aloe?

Is it me you're looking for?

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

When chickens communicate,

do they use fowl language??

I sincerely think our girls do.

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

Well said Thomas.

💗

July 23rd

This is a sunflower from last year.

The one's we grew this year were small

but still cute. I really love sunflowers.

They scream summer to me.

Speaking of summer...

As you can see, it's 82 degrees,

about to rain but still feels like

91 degrees!

Yep, it's hot!

I was going out to weed the around the veggies,

but decided against that for now.

I almost said "fixin' to go out to weed".

😁

It reminded me of the uniquely southern

sayings that come second nature to me.

Like, "Bless your heart". 

That phrase can be complimentary 

or derogatory, depending on the situation,

but it's always polite.

Then there's "used to could" - meaning 

once upon a time I was able to...

How about when you can't remember the 

name for something and call it a 

"dookickey", "thingamajig" or "Whatchamacallit"

Or, when you are speaking to someone

who knows "diddly squat"?

Here are a few my Mom used often.

This one was reserved for

 when we tried to cut something.

"Don't use the good scissors!"

Then with impending bad weather, "It's 

blowing up a storm out there!".

And if you weren't listening, she'd say 

"I'll beat knots on your head!",

but she never followed through.

"Ya'll are a day late and a dollar short"

when we didn't know something

that we clearly should have.

And 

my personal favorites....

"If you're going out, put on clean underwear."

"Make sure you have car fare"

(This was in case we had to catch a bus)

 but I never questioned it.

because that's what Southern Mama's said.

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

Genovese Basil with its purple flowers

Globe Basil with white flowers

Thai Basil with very dark purple flowers

All Basil plants taste mostly the same.

Basil tends to have a slight anise flavor

that compliments tomato sauces. 

The flowers have a more subtle flavor.

We dehydrate the leaves and the flowers

for our herbal blends.

Zucchini

No buds yet, but we're watching closely.

Cantaloupe

Watermelon

Gigantic Cucumbers

and

2 orange Bell Peppers.

The cukes will be eaten in salads

and the peppers will be cut up and 

added to onions and olive oil. Then

poured into an ice tray to freeze for 

use later. The olive oil never actually

freezes, it just gets firm. Then I toss a 

couple of cubes into whatever dish 

I'm cooking. 

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

Scarlet Geraniums

These flowers are edible.

I sometimes eat them in a salad.

Chrysanthemums

Gardenias

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

🐔

The CEO bought crickets as a treat

for the girls.

Hazel seems satisfied.

Lucy got her fill too.

Nugget and Pepper are still

scoping out potential

cricket escapees.

Ethel is already in the coop.

She's broody and only comes out

for food and water.

But, believe me, she'll never miss a treat!

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

🐦

This is a mark from a Mourning Dove

that crashed into the kitchen bay window.

you can see the head and wing.

He's fine, just a bit shook up, but

this has been happening more and more.

We've ordered a prism to hang in the window,

to reflect light.

A website said that it might work by scaring

the birds away.

We also found a dead sparrow on the patio

last week after I heard an unusually loud

crash into the window.

Hope this helps.

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

💗

July 9th

Today has a distinction, at least in my memory,

of being the day in 1982 when PanAm flight 759

crashed into the ground in Kenner after being forced

down by a microburst. 

It killed all on board and several on the ground.

153 souls.

This is a memorial set up at 

Our Lady of Perpetual Help church.

I've never been to see it.

I really didn't even know it was there.

I'll have to visit to pay my respects.

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

Jeez, it's only the beginning of July and the days 

are in the '90's!!

Currently, it's 90 degrees and 

according to my phone weather app,

it feels like 102!

I can attest that it does.

We are in the Dog Days of Summer.

What is that exactly?

Well, I looked it up....

It lasts from July 3rd to August 11th.

It was thought to be so hot

(per the Greeks & Romans)

that it would drive dogs and men mad.

It gets its name from Sirius the dog star.

Sirius is associated with drought, heat.

mad dogs, lethargy, bad luck ......

(a bunch of unfortunate events)

Well, clearly they lived in the Mediterranean

area with a reasonably mild summer,

and not in south Louisiana!

And...

it's not even August or September yet!

(how hot is it you ask?)

It's so hot....

that our hens are laying hard boiled eggs,

that my seat belt doubles as a branding iron,

that it's hotter than 2 hamsters farting in a wool sock,

that Jehovah's Witnesses began telemarketing.

that the beach sand turned to glass,

that.....

Ok, I'll stop now.

I really need to get it together,

because this heat makes

me realize I can't go to hell!

👿

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

The backyard farm is getting droopy.

Typical of this time in the season.

The current crop of tomatoes has 

played out, but the new ones aren't

big enough to plant yet.

We are still getting cucumbers, onions,

celery and our herbs.

The CEO planted cantaloupes and watermelon.

Cantaloupes

These 2 are the size of the ones you get 

in the grocery.

We'll harvest them this weekend.

Watermelons

These 2 watermelons are

approximately the size of my fist.

You can already see their stripes.

There's still some Brussels sprouts...

sprouting,

These are carrots.

Hopefully they'll grow in a normal way.

Not like the Chernobyl looking ones

we grew in the early spring.

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

The begonias are

doing well, but something is

making a meal of the lantanas

Begonias

Lantana

It's probably the caterpillars, but

I haven't seen any lately.

Gardenia

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

I recently read an online article that said

most chickens can't swim.

I did some further research and

read where, not only can they

swim, their ancestors island hopped

in the southeast Asia area and spread

their ancestral roots to China and India.

They could have survived typhoons

and were blown/swam to the islands.

But,

they really don't like water.

Their feathers will get waterlogged

but dry off quickly.

Our girls will forage in a slight drizzle,

but when it comes to a downpour,

they head for cover.

Yeah, yeah,

I'm talking about ya'll,

Pepper.

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

In keeping with the Dog Days,

remember...

No matter what life brings,

Kick some grass

over that shit

and move on!