January 31st

I couldn't remember the exact date of today so I consulted my trusty phone.
In my head I'm saying "30 days hath September, April, June........"
After my retirement,
I just don't keep up with the actual date anymore -
unless I have an appointment to keep or something like that.

Just last night there was the rare Blue/Blood/Super moon.
In a matter of days, on February 13th, it will be Mardi Gras.
Then Ash Wednesday is on St Valentines Day,
And Easter on April Fools Day.
Weird.
Is there a connection to the recent odd weather and all of the calendar oddities and the apocalypse?
Is there maybe some kind of esoteric, metaphysical connection?
Will Giorgio Tsoukalos be championing an alien abduction, or
will we see an actual landing in Sedona at the Vortex???
Have the conspiracy theorists said anything on these phenomena yet?
Just hang in there,
Someone, somewhere, will "connect these dots" and either make a splash on TV
or form a cult about it.
Some evangelical preacher will use it to bring in his fold.
SciFi TV will make a "special" about it.
The historians will delve into past references and similarities.
The occultist will use it as an "I told you so", moment.
People these days believe themselves to be so enlightened,
they have the most information at their fingertips than ever before in history
but they choose to not see simple logic.
So funny!
Personally,
I think its rather neat!
The moon trifecta, the calendar days and the weather. Isn't it great to be alive?

At least I can look forward to this.....

 

 

As I've said before, most all of our plants have passed on to plant heaven.

Its gonna mean all new planting in the spring.

Yay!

I'm looking forward to perusing the local nurseries to see what will be available.

 

 

This is the remains of amaryllis.

I think the bulbs are dead along with the leaves.

 

However,

some of the plants refuse to lay down and give up the ghost.

The Poplar is budding!

And,

the Louisiana Irises are trying to pop their heads out of the dead grass.

They grow by rhizomes.

The rhizomes creep out of the planting beds, so essentially, the Louisiana Iris is a weed.

A hardy weed.

 

 

After a break of a couple weeks,

the girls have resumed laying.

This is Nugget.

She is soooo curious.

I was looking for life in the plant population in the backyard, and

she almost tripped me trying to keep an eye on what I was doing

This is Lucy.

She was being kind of vocal, but kept quiet while I talked to her.

I picked her up for a quick cuddle, then she flapped her wings to be let down.

I've been watching them to make sure their tender parts,

like, edges of their wings, comb, wattle and feet,

didn't get frost bitten.

They made it through this winter quite well.

 

Chicken FYI:

Darwin was wrong about the origin of the chicken.

He maintained that chickens derived from only one type of red jungle fowl, but

DNA has shown it was several species of jungle fowl.

The yellow legs and feet came from yet a different fowl and early man bred this trait into them.

No one knows why the thing about the yellow legs was a big deal to early man.

Maybe the yellow legged ones layed better, or were hardier than the others.

Me,

I think its kinda cute.

Can't imagine a chicken with brown legs or pink ones.

Oh,

The girls are eyeballing me at the kitchen window.

 

I think I'll go out and play with them for a bit.

:)

 (to clarify, Lucy and Ethel have dark or dusky legs and they lay a darker brown egg, so not all domestic chickens have yellow legs)

 

January 17th

Cold!

 

It's been at or below freezing for many days now. We've lost most of our vegetable plants and quite a bit of the ornamental plants as well.

Not much use in trying to save them because the constant freeze/thaw cycle would have destroyed them anyway.

I prefer to look on the bright side....

Come spring, it'll be fun to plant a whole new garden.

 

Speaking of weather.....

Its been kinda weird.

On Tuesday, on the way to bring the kids to school, we saw an unusual cloud formation.

I took this shot from my car window.

The yellowish gray area was an extremely fast moving cloud or mist that completely covered the sky by the time the traffic light, where we were sitting, changed.

I've never seen anything like that.

 

Reminded me of the cloud scene in Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Or

Stephen King's "The Mist"!

I was waiting for some alien spaceships to materialize out of it!

It was that weird.

Then it became gusty.

The wind was picking up all the dead leaves and spreading them everywhere in little swirly eddy's.

 

It was on December 8th last year,

that we last had a snow/sleet weather thing happen to this Deep South state.

 

We are south Louisiana.

We can handle hurricanes,

Oil spills,

Tornados,

Floods,

Saints losses,

But.....

We just don't do snow.

Everything shuts down.

Schools,

Roads,

Businesses.

We just turn out the lights and put the "closed" sign on the door.

 

The hens were "Nestled all snug in their beds",

because they had a heat lamp in the coop.

Around seven am, they were still clucking softly to get out.

I guess they aren't adverse to eating flash frozen bugs.

Their little raptor feet made funny footprints in the snow.

So,

now its 10am and the bit of snow we had is rapidly melting.

I can hear it dripping off the roof.

 

Today is a great day for some French Fry Soup.

French Fry Soup you ask?

Why yes!

Classic recycled food.

LOL!

 

Recipe:

Save all the extra take out french fries or hashbrowns that would have been thrown away anyway and freeze them. That's your base for the soup. Hence the name.

Turn your crockpot on high and add a bit of olive oil, some finely chopped onions and a dash of garlic in the bottom.

When the crockpot is hot, put in a bunch of peeled Russet or Yukon gold potatoes, with your leftover French fries. (Those types of potatoes lend themselves well to becoming soup.)

Add 2 cans of evaporated milk and enough regular milk to cover them, with a dollop of butter.

Cook on high till the potatoes are soft.

About 4hrs.

Then use an immersion blender and blend the crap outta the potatoes!

The mixture will be wonderfully creamy. (might need to add a bit more milk at this point, if not you have excellent mashed potatoes)

 No need to season because of the already seasoned French fries.

I serve in an bowl with bacon bits, Ritz crackers (because its Nabisco) and shredded cheese.

Easy.

Yum.

 

 

 

January 7th 2018

I'm awake again in the middle of the night.
Can't sleep.
I keep tossing and turning, but no amount of repositioning gets me to fall back asleep. My brain just won't turn off long enough to lull me back to dreaming. This happens quite a bit. Its easier now that I don't have to get up for work, but it is sill frustrating.
Then there is the blocked sinuses and the asthma. 
Oy! Don't get me started!
But these are not new things. (and nobody wants to hear about illnesses)
Heavy sigh......
It just gets old.

Yesterday, I was thinking about my obsession with getting aggravated when people misuse or misspell words. Then I realized it would be a perfect thing to blog about......

 

 

 

Here is Peeve 1 

There, their and they're!!!!!

It's simple.

They all mean something different.

Place. Possession. Contraction.

We learned this in grade school.

 

 

Peeve 2

 

use commas,

Because,

run on sentences, or different ideas in that sentence

Do,

Not,

Make,

Sense!

 

 

Example:

I like cooking my family and my pets.

 

Huh?

Use commas.

Don't be a psycho.

 

 

Peeve 3

These are a few that tend to grate on me....

conversate and supposably - nope, not words

Don't make up words!

Pronouncing the "L" in salmon

Adding a plural when the word is already plural - pantses

To, too and two - they mean direction, also and a number, not. the. same. thing.

I get it that everybody make mistakes,

but,

it doesn't calm my nerves.

 

A few more pet peeves, while I'm on the subject.

Merging in traffic.

If the sign says "lane closed",

It doesn't mean to speed up to the front of the line and ease into the line of cars that

FOLLOW
THE

RULES!

Jeez!

And the last one......?

I do not understand the aversion to this simple task in my house.

 

 

Now we go from peeves to chickens.........

All the girls have been laying.

That's amazing.

In the last few days we've been getting 7 eggs a day.

That means....

Omelets for breakfast,

Deviled eggs for lunch,

Potato salad for dinner,

And

Hard boiled for the fun of it.

Thanks girls!

 

And I close with this

It's why we rejoice at a new day

 

I took this Friday morning.

I was sitting in the den reading,

(yeah, couldn't sleep)

when, around 5:30am

 I noticed a red light coming in the kitchen bay window.

It lit up the whole area.

I first thought that maybe it was a fire

or

thermonuclear war.

Kidding ;)

So, I grabbed a coat and went outside to see this spectacle.

Sadly, it was gone in minutes,

But,

I at least got the money shot!

 

December 31st

2017,

whether good or bad,

is on its way out.

 

The beginning of  a new year brings

change

and

hope

for all the things that didn't happen in the past year.

 

It also brings resolutions.

To be resolute about something

implies that it shall be,

regardless

of the human tendency to slack off.

Just look at all those shiny new gym memberships,

equipment,

workout clothes

and

orders for diet foods.

 

I typically don't indulge in resolutions.

I am not resolute when it comes to exercise

or

dieting.

I have no willpower.

 

That's not a really good affirmation on my part.

That,

I guess,

says something of my wimpy character.

Although,

I am resolute about some things.

I won't bore anyone with my few  

attributes as they don't comprise

much typed space......

Oh, well..

New chances

New beginnings

 

Now,

 we have 365 brand new days

and

365 brand new chances

to become resolute.

 

We shall see......

 

The chickens are laying eggs daily.

They aren't at peak production,

but

Hopefully soon.

And.

Good news!

Hazel has decided to begin laying again.

Hallelujah!

I missed those cute small blue egg beauties.

We thought that she might have had an egg stuck up there.

No, we didn't shake her to get it moving,

(although, I was sincerely thinking of its merits)

She is happily giving us an egg a day.

Good girl.

 

And,

As the saying goes.....

Sometimes,

Ya just gotta say

"Cluck it!"

and move on.

 

Happy New Year from us 

to all of you.

I sincerely hope the best for this world and everyone in it.

Our children depend on it.

 

So,

Raise a glass of champagne.....

Here's a toast to

2018.

"And so our adventure begins"

 

 

 

 

 

December 25th

 

Merry Christmas!

From all of us and the menagerie.

Wishing all a wonderful holiday!

 

Keeping with the lightness of the holiday,

I'm posting a few irreverent pictures.....

Enjoy.

 

tee hee.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

(I have always loved Gary Larson's Far Side)

 

 

 

L.O.L.!

 

 

Clear case of misunderstanding......

And

Speaking of misunderstanding,

 

 

 

 

 

 

and,

the chickens put on their Sunday finest

to wish

everyone a very

Merry Christmas!

 

This is Pepper - she knows she looks good!

This is Sandy.

She's kinda tired from all the holiday hustle and bustle.

 

Again have yourselves a

Merry little

Christmas!

 

 

December 20th

Today is Snow Fortress Building Day, not happening in southeast Louisiana.
It's also Polar Bear Bathing Day.
Ok, neither of these work for me.

So, I checked my trusty internet and these are actual Holidays for today:
Cathode Ray Tube Day
Dot Your "I's" Day
Games Day
Go Caroling Day
National Sangria Day
Sacagawea Day

I have no idea where people come up with the need for a yearly observance of these but, I can get behind the National Sangria Day!
Unfortunately, not a bottle of it in the house.
So, I guess I'll have to wait till next to celebrate.

Crazy weather here. One week its at the freezing mark and the next its in the '70's and the AC is on.
The plants didn't like it.

taken 12/14

The mirlitons are doing ok,

but some of the leaves are dying from the cold last week.

 

 

taken 12/14 

These are the pineapples.

The actual plant looks fine, but the leaves didn't fare too well.

 

taken 12/8. 

This is what the ground looked like.

It melted and then re-froze.

 

 

taken 12/20

The kumquat tree is doing just fine.

 

 

On the family front.......

Our oldest Granddaughter graduated from college. We are so very proud of her!

Yay! Love her so much!

Seems like yesterday that she was just a tiny thing.........

Time flies.

 

In five days it'll be Christmas. I can't believe how fast this year has flown.

Then, 2018 will be upon us .

2018.

Never thought I'd make it this far......

Feeling old.

 

 

The chickens don't care.

About the new year,

About us getting older,

As long as they can eat, drink and poop....... they are happy

 

this is Ethel, Sandy, Henny, Hazel, Pepper and Nugget

 

this is Lucy and Pepper

 

 

All the girls, except one, is laying eggs.

Hazel is the culprit.

She lays our pretty blue eggs.

None from her in weeks.

Hens are creatures of habit and anything that disrupts their little world can be cause for egg reduction.

Hazel is our high strung, flighty girl.

She doesn't like to be petted, never did.

 

Chicken 101

Some causes for decreased egg production:

1) Temperature - as I've said, the weather has been crazy with up and down temps.

2) Molting - all of the girls have been molting in one stage or another for a few months now.

3) Less Daylight - as the sun goes down earlier so does egg production.

4) Predators - there has been no issues with this.

5) Lack of food/water - nope, not an issue either.

I'm gonna chalk it up to the fact that Hazel is a diva.

She will lay when she's good and ready to, and not a minute more.

Santa doesn't like moody hens.

Maybe we'll put coal in her stocking.

That'll teach her!

 

December 7th

Still no phone.

I'm in a Simon and Garfunkel song......
Sounds of Silence.

Or,

a Christmas hymn.....
Silent Night,

Or,

And old submarine movie......
Run Silent, Run Deep

Get it?

I'm SILENT.  :(

I do borrow a phone from my granddaughter for emergency purposes but its still frustrating.
Hopefully, I'll have one today.

Speaking of today......

its Pearl Harbor Day.
December 7th
The day that "shall live in infamy!"
Having visited the Arizona memorial on Oahu, I can truly say that it was extremely moving.
I didn't think it would bring me to tears but,
during the film,
as the names were being called out by the narrator,
I became so choked up.
All those lives.....
Forever entombed.
And the sight of the oil slick meandering away from the hull.....
So very sad.

18 days till Christmas.
The tree is up.
The wreath is on the door.
The stockings are hung (no chimney, but certainly with care)
The chickens don't have stockings yet, but the dog does.
The dog gets the same thing every year.
Bones and Scooby Snacks. She loves 'em!
I've gotta get 7 little stockings, but I don't know what to put in them.

Our menagerie hasn't even written to Santa yet.
So who knows what they all want.
As for the hens,
I'm thinking grubs.
Yeah,
Grubs and seeds!
That's the ticket!