October 21st

Yesterday, October 20th, was our 21st Wedding anniversary.
Wow! Time flies. 
We've been together since 1991, so in actuality, its been 26 years.
That means its been......
312 months,
9490 weeks
227,760 hours &
13,665,600 minutes. If I did the math right.....
When you think of sharing your life with someone, I mean all the ups and downs, it really is an "all or nothing" commitment. Love changes over time, but the sharing, caring, laughing, compassion and devotion never do. That's not to say that there haven't been times that we couldn't stand the sight of each other, but he's always been my life saver in a sometimes turbulent sea. There's no more of the "I'll manage this life alone", thank God. We are on this big blue marble for such a short time, and the human animal is certainly of the pack mentality. We have made our pack. We are a package deal. I love you and I'll never take that proclamation lightly.

I don't know why, but lately I've been accident prone. Last week I slipped in the tub. The aforementioned husband decided to spray it with a bleach type cleanser and neglect to tell me. As I got in, I went skating along the tub trying to get a foot hold or hand grip of something, anything and went down like a Dow Jones Stock Market crash and landed on my knees.
As I knelt there, definitely not in prayer, unless it was for the bleach spraying culprit to succumb to the same fate as me, I assessed my situation. The shower curtain was on top of my head along with the rod. I felt the top of my head and, yep, I had a bump! I'm also pretty sure I managed to say several NSFW words too!
The right knee was throbbing, the left hip was bruised and my right shin was skinned. Even with the bump on the left side of my head, I managed to not sustain much "hull" damage. So, now to get up.
This part was the hardest.
I'm pretty sure its hysterical to watch an old lady get up, but as I realized shortly after I fell, I was alone in the house.
Yeah, yeah "I've fallen and I can't get up!"
Its true!
But I managed.
Then a day later......
I'm cleaning a can of soup out so I can put it in the box for recycle and I sliced open my first finger on my right hand.
Wonderful.
I finished cleaning the can (after all I'm consistent) and attempted to stop the bleeding.
Had to clean out the cut - (Campbell's veggie soup isn't consistent with healing).
Now, I don't wanna be a baby but, the damned cut hurt and I'm still sore from "The Fall".
Plain water wasn't doing the trick, there was residual soup in there. Peroxide was my go to cleaner.
Jesus!!!!
It felt like the old bubbly stuff was battery acid!
I toughed it out and located the miracle healing ointment, AKA Neosporin!
Band Aids are fast becoming a limited item in this house.......
So, is that all? Have you managed not to clutz out again???
Oh, no!
Oops, I did it again!
I'm eating lunch in the kitchen while reading a murder mystery on my Nook.
(That's probably my first mistake - not paying attention while eating).
I start to choke. I was eating a leftover chicken, Swiss and lettuce sandwich. It wasn't a small choke but a full bodied, all hands on deck, HACK!
I do a quick mental assessment. I'm still breathing, no need to throw myself over a chair to perform the Heimlich on myself and yes, I'm home alone again, so it seems ok.
But.......
The violent cough is just starting to amp up. My bladder won't stand for this shit and rebels!
My eyes want to get in on this rebellion too. They start to squirt and now I can't see. Then the nose starts to run! Holy Hell! It feels like I'm squirting from everywhere!
As I start to get my systems in check, I let out a burp.
Not really a burp......
It was an epic BELCH!
The kind of belch that erupts violently via the nostrils, burning nose hairs on the way out.
Annnnd, the eyes start their squirting again.
Everybody's gotta get into the act!
That was the last of my "problems". And as they say, things come in threes.
I hope to God, the curse finally is lifted!

On the lighter side........
I love a good pun.
Where'd that come from?
Just go with it...........

This one was too good not to include.

 

 

 

I hadda end with a chicken pun...

 

 

PSA: Weather permitting, go outside to see the Orionid Meteor Shower. It happens every October. Its caused by debris from Halley's comet as it skims our atmosphere.

 

 

(I have an Orion pun)

 

October 13th

Today is Friday the 13th!

What exactly does that mean?

There is a lot of superstition surrounding this date.

I won't go into the origins or the reasons people believe this, but it makes for a pretty scary movie.

 

My Grandmother was very superstitious.

As an Irish Catholic, I guess she came by it naturally.

She had a superstition for quite a bit of situations.

Never, ever open an umbrella in the house.

It will bring "hard times". 

If the hem of your skirt or dress was turned up, you corrected it and it meant that you'd get a new one.

Don't whistle in the house.

It brings bad luck.

If you dropped an eating utensil, it meant that company is coming.

She carried a four leaf clover in her missal.

 

Even with her belief in, what I thought was silly, superstitions, she was quite the pragmatist.

The world to her was black and white.

 

I, on the other hand, don't believe in superstitions or coincidence.

Like Occam's Razor.

If there's competing theories,

so the simplest

is the right answer.

Not the weirdest.

 

As kids, we went to a dentist in the Mason Blanche building.

His office was on the 12th floor.

Oddly, there wasn't a 13th floor.

But, hey, this is New Orleans, right........

but,

Its not a local superstition regarding the number 13.

It is everywhere...

 

 

 

Then there's this one......

Breaking a mirror.

What's the deal?

In my life, I've broken mirrors.

I would hope that my clumsy self didn't cause a 7 or more year imposition of bad luck.

I mean, its only a mirror!

Why?

 

 

 

 

Don't walk under a ladder.

Ok.

I get this one.

Makes sense.

I mean, you might get hit on the head by a can of paint!

 

 

 

 

What about spilled salt?

So, you spill some salt,

Now the table is messed up,

So, then you toss some over your shoulder?

And the floor is now messed up too?

Really?

Just more salt to clean up.

This one is just goofy.

 

 

 

A black cat crossing your path.

C'mon!

A cute little black kitty........

(OK, this one does kinda looks like Satan's spawn).

 

 

 

There won't be another Friday the 13th in October till 2023.

Wow!

Today is kind of a big thing.

 

Especially with the tie in to Halloween.

Speaking of Halloween......

These are in stores now.

Take my money!!!!

 

Full disclosure here......

I'm coming clean.

I have never seen "Friday the 13th"

Or the complete movie,

"Halloween".

 

I have my reasons.

I'm too scared!

Yes, I've said it,

I'm chicken....

 

(cool segue?)

 

These are today's output from the girls.

The blue egg is from Hazel.

The tan egg is Pepper's

And

The chocolate egg is Ethel's.

 

This is especially pertinent because today is

World Egg Day!

Go, girls!!!!

 

This is a typical output.

We get between 3 to 4 a day.

Some days they don't lay at all.

We haven't had a day yet where all of them lay an egg.

So,

In our house of 5 people, we break even.

But, the upside is, we haven bought eggs in quite a while.

 

Lucy is getting ready to lay. She is beginning that submissive behavior.

When we approach her, she squats.

and her comb is darkening.

All are "ready" signs.

She's starting to look too much like Ethel.

We are gonna have to put a zip tie bracelet loosely on her right leg.

She's in the nest checking it and me, out.

 

 

 

Nugget is molting.

There's soft reddish feathers all over the yard.

Looks like they had a pillow fight!

Mostly,chickens go through a molt yearly.

They sometimes suspend laying during this time too.

It gives their reproductive systems a break.

Doesn't last long,

About a week.

She's not happy that I put her on the nest.

She's clucking and giving me the stink eye.

 

 

 

 

Ethel, however, is brooding.

That means all she wants to do is sit on eggs.

If we let her, she'll sit for about 21 days, and leave only to eat, drink and poop.

That's the approximate time it takes to hatch chicks.

During this time the hen typically won't lay.

Poor thing.......

she doesn't know her eggs aren't fertile.

We keep moving her around to break that habit.

 

So tonight, I've got a dozen eggs,

we're having breakfast for dinner.

Thanks

Girls!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

October 7th

Just sitting around waiting on Nate. Hopefully he stays well away from us.
The hurricane, at this time, remains a category 1.
That's fine by me.

The kids weren't happy because their school fair was cut short. At least they had one day and a half of fun.
Better safe than sorry.....

We did see several rain bands that barreled through. We've seen worse rain lately, so no street flooding...... yet....

 

 

This is a good graphic to understand a hurricane and southeast Louisiana.

gotta love it!

 

 

On Friday October 6th the full moon was absolutely beautiful. I managed to get a picture of it.

That's the Harvest Moon.

 

 

 

The hens aren't loving this wet weather. They perch there looking into the kitchen. I guess they are expecting someone to come out, not today, girls.....

 

Last week we planted a few new plants as I blogged about on my last entry. We also did a bit of Halloween decorating

The front door

 

Gravestone wreath

 

 

And my favorite....

my Dante quote!

 

I hope that this storm doesn't  tear up our decorations.

 

Oops!

Gotta go. The family is getting hungry, and I need to cook while we still have power.

 

 

 

 

 

 

October 1st

This morning it was finally cool.
It was windy and overcast too.
A great day to do yard work.
The CEO and I got out there quite early. We planted the plants we got yesterday.

Sweet potato vine, caladiums, mums and begonias.

 

 

Sweet potato vine and mums

 

 

This is the sweet potato vine with my amaryllis

 

 

a new planter too

 

 

These are weeds.

Weeds!

How pretty are they?

They are along my back fence. I don't have the heart to pull them up till after they finish blooming.

 

 

 

On September 29th, we scoped out the Kenner Boat Launch. It was a beautiful night.

The weather was cool then too.

The kids loved it.

There were several guys fishing on the pier.

We didn't see them reel in anything, but they had a few in their coolers.

 

Some musings from my weird mind........

Why, in heavens name would anyone want to know if they were Neanderthal???

I'm pretty sure I've know a few cavemen in my lifetime.

They'd have no need for a DNA test for clarification.

 

 

 

Irony?

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I fear no evil.

Cuz, I'm the meanest son of a bitch in the valley!

 

 

The CEO brought me takeout. I wasn't sure where he went, but it looks kosher to me.

Oy!

 

 

 

Now for an update on the hens.......

Although there's 7 girls, not all are layers.

Not all lay every day either.

This is today's product of hard work by Ethel, Hazel, Sandy and Pepper.

We went out to refresh their water supply and we had a surprise.

 

The head count didn't add up.

Only 6

Uh, oh!

No Hazel. Couldn't find her anywhere in the yard.

Seems that she decided to take a stroll over to the neighbors front yard.

They are "free range", but that's a bit much.

We galvanized the family to grab her.

That small taste of "front yard" was too tantalizing.

She took off running.

Little sucker could run! I looked it up, chickens can run at about 10 miles an hour.

I can guarantee that the senior citizens in this house cannot run -

Now, the younger ones took up that baton.

It took a few minutes of chasing till they finally grabbed her.

 

Now she's walking around the yard like she's been to Europe to visit the Queen and the other girls are following her in awe........

Chickens!

September 19th

This post is going to begin with the stupid things I see on television.
No, I don't mean "Keeping Up With The Kardashians", although that particular show, in my opinion is stupid. These so called "reality" shows are never real. They are scripted just like any others. Just Jerry Springer without the audience.
Then there are many that I just don't understand how they manage to get on the air.
I was channel surfing, and I came upon these gems......

Now, I get why they'd name their cosmetics company IT, but in light of the recent remake of Stephen King's IT - maybe not such a good idea.

 

 so, with the primary colors and white face, it should cover your blemishes nicely,

but it'd scare the crap outta your family!!

Too much?

Ya think?

 

Then there's this.........

How should I know?

 I do, however, know when I poop too much.

I have to break out the Imodium and hope that I can trust a fart.

But, do we really need a 30 minute TV infomercial about it?

Come on!

 

 

And if your colon issues are not enough........ there's always bladder relief.

Aren't you glad that the bladder is finally the focus after so long being neglected by the media?

Jeez, our plumbing may be fodder for the Emmy's!

Is nothing scared anymore?

Another 30 minutes viewers will never recoup.

 

Then there's the shopping channels that are everywhere!

There's QVC, QVC 2, HOME, JTV - and that's only 4!

In actuality, there's more like 20.

Who spends that kind of time and money ordering from these channels? I certainly don't. I'm so bad at shopping that I own clothing bought way before the century changed.

Inquiring minds wanna know.

 

My personal television viewing preferences are eclectic.

I love watching movies.

I'm entertained by the Science, SciFy, National Geographic and History Channels.

I routinely watch HGTV and Travel channel.

I tune in to BBC America when I get the inkling. The Weather Channel's are fun sometimes too. Just watching those assholes brave a Cat 5 hurricane (along with their dumbass cameraman) to bring it "to the masses", should win a comedy award.

My guilty pleasure is ION or ID channel. Love me some "who dunnit's".

That sounds like I never watch the big 3.

I really do.

There are several shows that I am highly entertained by, but I typically don't watch any television ALL the time.

 

I read.

Plain and simple.

That, to me, is by far more entertaining.

 

Pssst!

Segue to the chickens..........

 

OK, already!

 

I was trying to think of a chicken star of a television show.

I don't know of any famous live chicken that has been on TV or was the star of a show.

There was Arnold the pig on Green Acres, 

but no chickens.

Oh, I forgot about Foghorn Leghorn,

but that's animation.

So, sadly, the girls have no poultry to look up to.

I don't think they realize they're chickens anyway.

They self identify as dogs.

 

 

This is Ethel. She's getting braver.

She'll come up to listen while we talk to them or eat something out of our hand.

 

 

Ethel and Sandy

 

 

Nugget (background) and Pepper.

 

Not much is being harvested lately. We do have a few okra and bell peppers still producing.

I usually just pickle the okra.

I save the liquid from a jar of pickles. Then clean off the okra well.

Next, I immerse them in the jar and leave it for a week or so in the fridge.

Sometimes, I add some pearl onions or garlic cloves too.

They are quite tasty.

The refrigerated pickles are way easier than the conventional way.

And,

they come out the same.

P.S. those pickled okra taste really good in a bloody Mary.

Just saying......

 

September 11th

September 11th. Not just a typical date anymore. I thought of this when I wished my good friend a Happy Birthday.
Just saying  "9/11", conjures up all kinds of horrible images. I used to think of 2001 only as Stanley Kubrick's "A Space Odyssey". As a matter of fact, I viewed that date as so very far into the future that things had to be so much better.
It wasn't so.
Sadly, it's still an unsafe world.
Things seemed so much easier and safer years ago. Maybe that's just my naiveté, but it feels like our innocence is lost. Or maybe its knowledge found.

I remember that the world was focused on the Space Race. I was caught up in it too. We were glued to the television watching rocket launches and orbits by the brave men who took a calculated chance they'd make it back in one piece to do it all over again.

"One giant leap......."

 

I remember, as a sophomore in high school, sitting cross legged on the floor on front of the TV, hearing Walter Cronkite drone on while Neil Armstrong bounced around on a surreal landscape. My Grandmother mumbling in the background her disbelief of the whole thing and that it was just "movie magic". She was the first person that spoke of a "conspiracy" on the moon landing. Looking back, I think that her doubting Thomas ideas stemmed from the Kennedy assassination and the potential cover up of that whole mess. It kind of left us with a jaded view of the world.

But for me the grandeur was still there!

As a seventeen year old, being influenced by the nightly news of atrocities in Vietnam and potential cold war aggression, the idea of a man on the moon was now a credible thing!

 

I wanted to become part of what was currently happening. I had begged my Mom to let me go to the Beatles concert in 1965. No! Even my Grandmother weighed in on that. All I could do was listen to them on the radio. Woodstock was in August of 1969. There was no way I could have managed to go to that. So, I made do.

Sears catalog pictures

Wearing my Poor Boy sweater, hip hugger skirt, go go boots with my fishnet hose, I thought I was the absolute in fashionable!! I had to save for a couple months to buy those boots. My Mom thought they were "ridiculous", even though they hurt my feet, I'd never admit that to her!

 

I tried to keep my long wavy hair straight. Nope! I tried sleeping on stupid brain damaging torture devices known as rollers. Nope! Louisiana is too humid. So, a pony tail it was for most of the time.

 

These were the ones my Mom had. My sister and I sometimes used soup cans. Still didn't work, so we ironed it. Sounds harsh, but it got the job done. I wish we had the foresight to put that rudimentary technology together with an electric hand held device. We'd have been wealthy. Who knew?

 

The other, solely female, thing was what we had to put up with, when it was that time of the month. I swear a man had to invent a sanitary belt! I used to wish to I could have found him and forced him to wear it all day in Louisiana heat and humidity!!!! I have never had to deal with something so extremely uncomfortable.

I'm sure Torquemada invented this! Or maybe Atilla the Hun!!

Now, the fun part, wearing this with something the size of a newborn Pamper. Ugh!

 

 

When I got to college, I noticed something fast. None of the girls my age wore especially fashionable stuff.

The "uniform" was bell bottomed well worn jeans, with patches, all the better, and a peasant shirt with JC sandals.

(leather flip flops with a big toe smaller leather piece)

 

 

 

 

Being not comparatively well endowed, I eschewed a bra. I left my hair down in the wavy mess it usually was. I did however, wear eye makeup. Mascara and liner. Nothing else.

Oh, and I did have an awesome shoulder bag made of leather and fringe. I loved that bag!

This one is similar.

 

 

So, we spent time studying and driving around. There wasn't much else to do. We listened to an 8 track of Hair & Jesus Christ Superstar till we knew the entire score.

We read stupid pretentious Rod Mckuen poems, existentialist Albert Campus, and Thoreau's essay on Civil Disobedience, because Avant garde was what the Literature Dept. was passing off as necessary to learn at that time. Yes, we should all know this, but come on,  give the budding mind something else to work with. A little diversity in the curriculum would have been nice. I eventually read much of what I didn't even know existed back then.

 

That brings me to the chickens.

What, you say?

Well as you know, I read to them.

Sing and talk as well.

But,I figure if people talk to plants to get them tomorrow, then maybe reading to the chickens will get them to produce more.

Probably just me.......

 

 

Pepper and Nugget listening to my current reading of a Nook murder mystery.

 

These girls always seem disinterested. They try to get farther and farther way.

They are giving me a complex.

 But black hens matter.

; )