August 31st

Our 1st watermelon!

It was ripe, but that one spot stayed white.

It was sweet and warm when we cut it,

because it had just fallen off the vine.

So, we ate the ripe parts and the hens 

got the rind and the white part.

Win-win!

 

Bell Peppers

They are still growing well.

They always start later in the season.

The lavender is finally blooming.

I use the blooms in my soap and teas.

We make mint lavender honey tea. It's so good,

especially on a hot day.

Those blooms are on sweet basil and that's mint in the back.

Basil is so versatile, I harvest the blooms and the leaves to

use in my seasoning blends. I also make pesto with pecans.

Sounds odd but tastes great!

I love that the Lantana blooms are different colors.

Some come out more pink or red, but these

have the yellow, orange, pink blooms.

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

🐔

It's molting season!

This is Pepper.

She's trying to avoid the heat because she's almost bald.

She also doesn't like to be held.

I guess because the ends of the feathers are uncomfortable.

The yard looks like a pillow factory blew up!

We noticed small birds collecting the small feathers,

we guess to line their nests.

Nothing goes to waste.

Nugget getting a tomato snack.

This close up shows her new feathers growing in.

All 5 are in molt, but Pepper and Nugget have it worse.

Their comb and wattle get less bright - losing a bit of color,

and they don't lay eggs during this period.

Hazel is in the coop laying an egg and didn't want to be disturbed.

She's the only hen laying eggs lately.

Lucy and Ethel

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

I'm not promoting the sale of this toy,

I simply thought how odd it is.

It sings that inane song, "Baby Shark" and does tricks.

All this for $55.90 plus shipping.

NOPE

Seriously, go to the website and see it.

Crazy!

😝

and there's this......

👻

🌛🌕🌜

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

Thought I'd close this post with my

poor efforts at Haiku...

It's about aging,

and it's pretty bad...

but here goes,

I am tired of aging.

Where has my hard earned money gone?

And I can't remember shit.

(at least it follows

5 - 7 - 5)

😂

and just so you know...

This guy has my vote

 

August 22nd - I think?

Oh my!

Hurricane's are coming.

It's a 2 for 1 sale.

But, it's gotta get stronger than a Cat 1

for people in Louisiana to bug out.

so.....

just in case you need this...

Just another day in Paradise...

As for us, we'll batten down the hatches,

or

as landlubbers would say,

keep the hens in the coop and secure

the fly-away-able stuff.

Oh, 

and as always, we'll get hurricane snacks.

😆

Be Safe!

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

Recently, in my small corner of the world,

we've had 3 deaths this month.

They were all family.

None were Covid-19 related,

but were sad nonetheless.

Our prayers go out to the deceased

and their close family members.

May God Bless them.

💔

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

On a lighter note...

While trying to change channels on a new TV,

it somehow went to Music Choice.

Now....

Don't know if you've had the misfortune

to tune into that rip-off MTV station,

but.....

Don't get me wrong,

I like music,

but,

what I don't like, is what passes for

music these days.

It's a droning on of look alike boys and girls

in "hip" clothes

(I guess the clothing is hip, it's torn

and skimpy.)

And I need to mention - they can't sing!

They all sound the same.

Nasal, heavy back beats with

repetitive sounds.

Yeah, yeah, I know my generation

had some crappy bands, but at least

most were groundbreakingly awesome.

(I say that with extreme prejudice!)

😂

But, I digress....

I couldn't get the cockadoodie channel changed.

Tried everything, pushed all the buttons...

I felt like I had inadvertently opened the

door to Dante's 7th circle of Hell!

Finally, in despiration,

I called my son.

After a lecture about how I never listen

and don't want to learn about technological things,

he told me to push a button that I simply hadn't 

thought to push.

Voila!

That quick,

I was out of Pop Music Hell!

Moral to the story?

Yep, you bet.

When your old parents ask for help

about technology,

the child doing the helping,

is the one that, at one time,

needed help with wiping butts,

eating, bathing and homework.

So, grasshopper....

Karma's a bitch.

💋

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

The girls hanging out 

and patrolling the yard.

This is Lucy.

Ethel.

Hazel, running to grab a lizard.

Pepper in the dirt with Nugget looking on.

They just finished munching on a watermelon rind.

They love it!

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

Now this...

in the category of:

Only In New Orleans...

Here he is, big as you please

grabbing a few rays before

his noon snack of whatever is

large enough in that canal, to sustain a guy of this size!

🐀🐍🐟🐢

The CEO was driving on Veterans Hwy in Metairie and noticed him.

He said he estimated him to be around 6 feet long.

Whoa, Nelly!

and this from the daily paper...

😬

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

And remember,

as far as 2020 goes...

This too shall pass.

Might pass like a 3 carat

kidney stone,

but it'll pass.

👍

 

August 12th

We had a visitor yesterday.

Thankfully he's smaller than our girls.

This guy visits often and just perches himself

on the fence at that same spot.

He is a red tailed hawk, and a beautiful

specimen at that.

Well, as you can guess....

the girls went crazy!

Their "alert" clucks were shrill and loud.

He made no attempt to swoop in and they

made no attempt to back off.

They've displayed this behavior before,

that "don't mess with us" behavior.

I heard the clamor and went to investigate.

Since they've acted this way with 

hawks as well as owls in the past, I figured

they were alerting me that something was afoot.

As I stood on the patio, I kept inching closer

to get a good picture.

Oddly, he never even glanced my way.

He only had eyes on the 5 hens,

who now had fluffed their feathers, making 

them appear even bigger.

It was a classic western standoff!

The girls were waiting for him to make the first move.

It was tense.

He finally decided to fly off, 

but the girls continued with their incessant

clucking to make sure he didn't swoop back in.

I'm proud of my girls!

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

The veggie garden is feeling the heat.

The cantaloupe vine died as well as 

the cucumber and lettuce.

We were lucky enough to harvest 8 cantaloupes.

Most were smaller than the usual ones

you see in the grocery, but they were

just as sweet,

and

we grew them!

Zucchini flowers.

Hope they grow well because

our last foray with squash

ended up with blossom end rot.

That means the blossoms fell off 

before the flower could germinate.

We don't use pesticides, so it's all organic.

We're hoping for the best.

Bell Peppers.

These will turn red-orange.

I've harvested several already.

We need to pick them fast because

the hens love them!

They eat good in this neighborhood!

This is called "Icebox Watermelon"

It'll remain round and small.

We should be able to harvest it when

the area around the stem starts to

yellow and wither.

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

The gardenias are still looking so beautiful.

False Garlic flower.

It's just ornamental, but

so very pretty.

Lantana.

I attempted to cut a few and bring them into

the house, but they literally shed pollen.

There was a yellow "dust" on the table

under the vase.

Nope.

Won't do that again.

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

Our prism arrived!

It shines wonderfully beautiful colors

all through the kitchen.

Seems that it's working,

because we've had no kamikaze

bird crashes since we've hung it.

Before the prism, there was even dragonfly 

window crashers!

Whoda thunk??

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

The girls wanted to say hi.

This is Lucy.

Her facial feathers are turning white.

So, apparently, as some chickens age, their

feathers lose color similar to 

mammals hair going gray.
(Like me!)

I think it makes her distinguished.

Don't you?

This is Pepper.

The picture is blurred because she

can't sit still!

Hazel.

She is usually up for getting her picture taken,

but these pictures were shortly after

the red tailed hawk incident.

I guess they were all still a bit jumpy.

Nugget.

She is so curious!

She likes to get close to us.

She'll also run next to us like a puppy or jump

up to see what we are doing.

Ethel.

She's our shy girl.

She usually will avoid us if she can,

unless we have treats, then 

all bets are off.

It's a melee to get to the hand outs!

(P.S. that's not chicken poop behind her,

it's part of a nut, seed, grain cube

for chickens)

Speaking of chicken poop....

we try to keep it at bay,

but there are times we step in it.

Thankfully it's relatively

easy to de-poop our shoes.

Much easier than dog poop

and doesn't stink as bad!

But...

Ya know, I really can't dance,

no inherited rhythm,

but

I can Moonwalk better

than Michael Jackson

when I step in chicken crap!

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

An observation...

Just wondering what on God's green earth

were these women thinking.

"Gee, that sounds like a great idea to swim

with an animal that can essentially fit 100

humans inside its' mouth!"

or 

"I wonder if this greater than 50,000 pound

animal, would like me to pet it?"

These women should be awarded the

Darwin award for selecting 

themselves out of the gene pool.

One can only hope

they don't procreate!

😂

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

Remember...

If you stumble,

make it

part of your dance.

💗