July 21st

 

I guess this is the best way the Romans

could think of to honor a guy

they hated enough to murder.

Why is that?

Well,

I looked it up.

The Romans had the worlds 1st Republic.

Meaning that it was a government

by representation.

The upper class were the representatives.

Anyway, that's a whole 'nother can of worms.

Moving on...

Seems that Julius was an Emperor who

wanted more, like total power.

He wasn't a fan of the new checks and balances,

and equal distribution of power thing,

but he was a fan of bullying, bribery and murder.

So, he bullied the senate to name him Dictator of Rome.

Then as you probably remember from reading

Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar' in high school,

he still wasn't satisfied.

So, back to the senate to demand that

they name him Dictator For Life!

Julius is thinking that he was

in the midst of the sweetest deal

he had ever connived to make,

when everybody else is not onboard.

So, his old buddy Brutus who now

realized that Julius is cra-cra,

decides to take him out.

Because the other senators wanted to 

keep their jobs, they said

 "Yeah, Brutus, that's a great idea. You do it."

But Brutus decided to form a small group

 and called it the Liberatores.

They had clandestine meetings

about how to do the dirty deed.

Finally they all were in agreement.

These guys had all kinds of ridiculous plans.

Ambush him when he was out on a walk,

push him off a bridge, make it happen when he 

was attending a gladiator event, but they shelved 

them because he was heavily guarded most times.

The only time he was alone would be within the senate.

So, 

on March 15th (Ides of March) against the

pleading of his wife Calpurnia,

he went into the senate and was

overtaken by at least 60

guys in togas led by

Brutus yelling,

"Sic Semper Tyrannis!"

(Thus always to tyrants)

History leads us to believe that

his turncoat buddy Brutus,

("Et Tu, Brute?")

actually dealt the death blow,

but he didn't.

He got him in his "manhood",

a particularly cheesy move,

but these guys weren't known for 

playing nice.

So, 

the real reason for naming the month?

The lower classes loved Caesar,

because he gave them free stuff

and the upper class senators didn't want

any revolts.

Hope that clears it up.

Politics as usual......

It remains the stuff of legend.

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

The rain has ruined most of our crop,

even making the lawn soggy to walk on,

but the eggplants and cucumbers are thriving.

These are monster cukes!

The first 2.

Then 2 more,

with 5 eggplants.

I have an air fryer that I've been using with

the eggplants.

I slice them lengthwise,

put them into a Ziplock bag

with some olive oil, garlic,

seasoned breadcrumbs and 

my herbal blend, then shake it up.

I line the air fryer basket with a bit of foil.

Then place them into the air fryer

for 15 minutes at 400 degrees.

They come out amazing!

We've had a Monarch Caterpillar

convention in our plants recently.

It looks like they are at the 

All You Can Eat bar at 

Golden Corral!

If you look closely, 

that's a raindrop on his antenna.

They have eaten the Milkweed

down to sticks in a manner of 2 days!

These guys are converging on our Parsley.

We counted at least 5.

This one had just emerged and was

basking on the porch.

Beautiful!

Oh well, when we get to see this

kind of beauty,

it's all worth it.

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

I had to pet Hazel.

She was following me clucking

like she needed attention.

Hazel again.

I told her she was a pretty girl.

She's a sucker for a compliment!

Lucy, eyeballing the squirrel

on the fence.

She sometimes doesn't like them,

other times she'll tolerate them.

The squirrel.

Ethel, looking for bugs.

Nugget doing her Greta Garbo impression.

"I vant to be alone!"

Wasp on the mint flowers.

The spearmint has the purple flowers.

Peppermint has the white.

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

This is me.

Every day.

An old Wrought Iron Heater cover

in my bay window looking out

into the rain.

And this phallic looking rocket....

😆

Love ya sis!

💚