My Hydrangeas Are Looking as Beautiful as Always…

Turkey Buzzards in My Front Yard…

All of this over a single roadkill squirrel…

Bonus Round...

"Shit!" Charlie said. "They messed up the order this morning. You and Horsefly are getting bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits."

Charlie told me goodbye and I shut the door. I then hollered out, "YES!" and pumped my fists in the air. Maggie had a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit herself which she relished.

It was time to savor my Diet Coke while I browsed my favorite internet websites. It tasted so good this morning. I cued up some Zero 7 in Groove and got to browsing.

As I sit here, I see the carpenter bees are busy working on and fighting over choice spots on my roof awning. The azaleas are also blooming giving them a food source.

Papa also called to see what I am up to.

"Andrew things," I replied. "Computer centric."

He sounded so glad to be home. He said he was fixing to get in the shower and start his day.

Azaleas in November?

Yes, one of my azaleas decided to bloom suddenly and out of season.

I Smell A Rat! Ah, the Rigors of a Dog Door...

I awoke fully rested about 1 pm after a busy night of grocery shopping. I was extremely thirsty and headed into the kitchen to get one of my icy cold water bottles out of the fridge. Something very large and very black went scurrying across the kitchen floor at breakneck speed and under the cabinets by the dishwasher. It about scared the shit out of me. We have rats again. Interestingly, Maggie just ignores them.

I immediately got on the phone with dad's preferred exterminator and he said he would be by this afternoon to throw some "bait bags" under the basement.

"Can you just charge this to my father's account?" I worriedly asked the exterminator.

"I will get in touch with Mr. John about payment," he told me.

"Now, I've got a dog," I told him. "I don't want her to get poisoned."

"Just keep the basement door shut or locked," the exterminator told me. "Your dog will be fine."

Whew! I feel better now. Dad will be absolutely amazed tonight that I handled that over the phone without him having to get involved. He knows my apprehension about using the phone.

Addendum:

"That's why you have rats," the exterminator, Jerry, said. "You've got food and water three feet from a dog door and the dog door has a tear in it and rats can smell that food and water from a mile off."

"I guess I will have to start locking it and only opening it when Maggie needs to be let out," I replied.

That will be incredibly inconvenient, though, I thought to myself.

"That would be the wise thing to do if you don't want anymore pests," he said.

Where the Red Fern Grows...

Where the Red Fern Grows was such a melancholy and sad book to read when I was a child. I remember shedding a few tears at the end of the book. I was very verklempt.

That said, I just bought me a really pretty fern to hang out on the screened in porch this morning (I've just got to remember to water it). George was standing on his carport, cigarette dangling from his mouth when he asked me where I got it.

"There are some very pretty ones left at the Piggly Wiggly," I told George. "You ought to go get you one!"

Oddly enough, my father doesn't get on to me or get angry for purchases such as this. He would be just as excited about the fern as I was. He goes nuts when I spend around a hundred dollars shopping on Newegg, though.

The Countdown Begins...

It is after lunch and I expect Charlie dropping by any moment now. He has to take Horsefly to the Saturday matinee as he does every weekend. I wonder what he will bring to eat? It will be fast food for sure, but I will enjoy it none-the-less. Charlie's got his hands full with me as he has to bring my medications and my sodas as well.

Way Down Yonder in the Deep Freeze...

Papa John has just left the premises. He was in a hurry to get home after working all day. Bless his heart! He even managed to remember to bring my Cokes and cigarillos as well. What heaven! They were still cold from sitting in my father's car all day.

"I am going to give you your crazy meds, feed and water Maggie, and then I am heading home," the toilsome and tired creature before me said.

"It is also going to get down to 27° degrees in the morning," my father woefully and worriedly said. "I hope it doesn't kill my azaleas."

Mine are all in full bloom as well. We will have to cross our fingers tonight and tomorrow night and then hope it warms up quickly as the temperatures moderate.

"We got audited by the state board of pharmacy today," my father then told me. "I knew things were fine, but it still makes you nervous none-the-less."

Bright Sunshiny South...

https://www.colourbox.com

Chrysalis...

It is a beautiful view outside this computer room window. It makes me wonder why I am holed up inside on this computer.

Also, I keep seeing these bright yellow butterflies fly by every moment or so. You see them every late summer about this time. It wells up a feeling of nostalgia within. I know fall is on the way when I see these creatures.

Lunch was toasted buttered raisin bread with a sliced banana and some peanut butter spread on. It seems all three of these foods were made for each other.

Martha's Official Driver...

"I'll make you a deal," my father said last night with a very serious tone to his voice. "Will you drive your mother around town and to her appointments? I will pay you back in computer parts and games."

"You know I would have done it for free," I told my father sincerely. "I'll be glad to help in this matter to the utmost of my abilities."

Why we haven't done this sooner is beyond me.  Momma can barely walk a straight line and certainly can no longer drive a car.

"Now, you can't be tardy or miss an appointment," my father told me. "You know how your mother, the Secretary, can be."

I Knew This Guy Named Jack Once....

https://www.broadsheet.com

"Have you ever eaten at Jack's?" Charlie asked me this evening driving home from work. "I am pulling into their parking lot right now and will get you a combo meal. They also have the best fries of all the fast food places in my humble opinion."

I told Charlie that I haven't had a Jack's burger in years.

Charlie being at Jack's must surely mean he is in Lafayette, Alabama, the county seat, and on his Journey home. He will be back in the Chattahoochee Valley in about a half hour.

Eating this so soon towards bed will probably mean a bad case of heartburn come midnight, but I am throwing caution to the wind.

I Should Have Been An Entomologist...

http://songsofinsects.com/cicadas/periodical-cicada

The late evening or dusk cicadas are calling outside my window. It is such a mournful and sad sound like it's their swansong which is about right as they mate then die. What duration brood is this? I've heard many species cicadas calling all day -- getting very loud at certain intervals. The cacophony is unmistakable. Many cicadas stay dormant for 17 years before they emerge to mate and start the cycle all over again. Soon, the dusk cicadas will give way to the katydids at dark fall.

http://www.organicgardeninfo.com/

He's a Banana Eating Fool...

https://www.sciencedaily.com

Dad certainly has me hooked on bananas. We're going bananas for bananas. I just drove down to Wal-Mart to buy some more. When I got back in the car, I realized I had bought a dozen bananas -- a little over the top I would say. We're going to try some banana pudding in a few days and might need them.

You're Such a Pecker...

I awoke very abruptly to what sounded like something was drilling on the side of the house -- a very loud staccato noise that was reminiscent of a machine gun. I've been noticing carpenter bees hanging around the eaves of my house. I looked up from this computer and there was a red-headed woodpecker hanging off the side of the house -- mystery solved. I hope they are not doing any damage. I am guessing that they are eating the carpenter bee larva.

Barbara's Words of Wisdom

I have a much needed therapy session at noon today. I need to get in the shower and get the proverbial ball rolling or I am going  to be late. I also dread what I consider a long drive to Auburn.

I have a lot I want to talk about this afternoon and I want to hear Barbara's' spin on things. I want to talk about my father's and my relationship. The man just makes me a total nervous wreck. I can feel the tension and anxiety building as soon as he pulls up in front of my house. I shouldn't let something like that bother me so and especially with it being my father.

Joyce's Camellia is Blooming...

My Azaleas Are Blooming Early This Year...

"Johnny Otis, He Forgot His Pudding."

I just realized not only did I forget my Mountain Dews. I also forgot my Snack Pak chocolate puddings as well last night. Crap! I will probably make another grocery store run in a few hours. Papa sanctioned of course.

Maggie woke me up very early at 6 am barking very viciously at the back of the fence just mere feet from my neighbor's house.

"Shit!" I muttered to myself as I climbed out of my bed and got dressed.

"Maggie, get your little ass back inside!" I angrily hollered out the back door to no avail after turning on all the outside flood lights.

It was certainly a rude awakening -- enough to wake the dead. Maggie had tree'd or a should say fenced a possum. It was hissing like a cat perched on top of the fence at the very back of my yard.

"Maggie? Are you hungry?" I loudly asked with subversion.

Maggie came flying back inside at the mention of food and I got us some breakfast started after locking the dog door.  I talk to Maggie like she understands me.

"You can't bark like that as it will wake the neighbors," I told her scoldingly.

Image credit:  http://www.badpossum.com/

Baby Tortoises Show Up In The Galapagos For The First Time In Over A Century…

You may think 2015 has been full of gloom and doom, but there is plenty of good news out there if you know where to look. It includes the wonderful news that baby tortoises have been spotted for the first time in over 100 years in the Galapagos.

There hadn't been one single baby tortoise sighting in more than a century on the Galapagos Island of Pinzon, until a small group of the tiny, shelled youngsters were spotted this year.

The recent births are helping to pull the critically endangered animals back from the brink of extinction after they were nearly laid to waste as a result of human activity.

http://www.earthables.com/baby-tortoises-1466581203.html

Katydids and Sweet Iced Tea…

Nights like tonight remind me of the summers spent on my grandmother’s farm.  We would sit out on the front porch drinking sweet iced tea as the katydids sang their mating songs. One of us would start to yawn contagiously and then we all soon went inside to head for bed.  My grandmother would turn on the air conditioning in my front bedroom and I thought is was the most wondrous thing ever invented.  I would always turn the vents directed down on me and cover up good from the chill.  The drone of the window air conditioning unit would lull me to sleep eventually and I would wake up in what seemed like mere moments to the smell of fresh brewed coffee and that of frying bacon or sausage.