Phyllis Diller, Jr.

I think this Polish chicken could be related to Phyllis Diller, don't you? 

Grand Cane, LA, Historic District

The George N. Parker Co. store, built in 1909, is one of several buildings within the Grand Cane, Louisiana, Historic District.  The entire village area has been incorporated into the National Registry of Historic Places.  This encompasses about six buildings.  Grand Cane has a population of 191.

Mug Shots

I exercise my right to remain silent.

 

As the great Puddy-Tat is my witness, 

I'll never touch catnip again! 

After a day (or more) off  from Blogger, I was reminded at how much I miss this little daily exercise and receiving all your comments via e-mail throughout the day.  My post from Wednesday stayed up until sometime this morning and then disappeared.  Of course, it just happened to be one of my favorite pictures that I have ever taken in my entire life!  And it was such a stretch for me because I have traditionally been a person who was scared out of my wits to even look at a lizard!  But fortunately, Blogger returned my photo to its designated place, but, alas, all your great comments are gone.  Just goes to show you how much we bloggie addicts thrive on all of our blogworld friends.  I hope to catch up with all of you during the coming days.

Show Me the Money

Green Anole

 

Perhaps as a child you heard the story that if you said “Show me the money” to a lizard, the bag under his chin would swell and he would open his mouth and produce a penny.  It’s a fun story for a child, and sometimes if you look at the green anole at just the right angle you can almost see the shape of a coin inside the bag of skin on his throat.  Called a dewlap, it appears only on the male and can be extended as an act of courtship or a territorial display.  Prior to puffing out the dewlap, he exhibits his manliness by doing a few pushups, almost like he’s actually pumping up the pink fan-shaped bag of skin.  This little fellow was probably about six inches long from head to tail.  The anole is one of the lizards whose tail is so fragile that it drops off the body when grabbed, giving them a quick escape from predators.  They also have some chameleon-like traits and in the winter months are often more brown in color, turning a brilliant lime green in the warmer spring and summer months.

Japonica

Ford Tractor

Donkey Love

I have absolutely fallen in love with donkeys!  And this is due in large part to a blog that I religiously visit called The 7MSN Ranch (7 Miles South of Nowhere).  I don't even remember how I found this treasure but I stumbled across it a few months back and I was hooked.  It portrays the life of a woman who gave up mascara and high heels in corporate America and moved lock, stock, and barrel to a ranch in New Mexico where she lives with three donkeys, a horse, a pig named Wynona, a dog, a cat, and some chickens (I don't think I've left anyone out).  The donkeys are particularly fun and I never realized what social animals they are.  They play with toys, get their feelings hurt, and love their mom with all their hearts.  Visit her blog and you'll see why I've fallen in love with donkeys.  You will too.

The donkeys above belong to our neighbors Robert and Kay.  Robert is our pasturage lessor and Kay has all the farm animals you could ever imagine.  Several of them have been featured on this blog in the past.

Banjo Player

Farmers Market

Nacogdoches, Texas

18/100 Dogs ~ Blaze ~ Dalmatian

Blaze, a beautiful and lively Dalmatian, lives just down the road from us with his family, one of whom just happens to be a firefighter.  Dalmatians are extremely energetic dogs.  Blaze can't sit still for more than about three seconds!

From Hogs to Hummingbirds

Well, alas, there was no sausage for breakfast this morning.  I ventured out to take a look at the little piggies (and hopefully several big ones too) but as soon as I opened the door I could hear no squealing so there were two possibilities:  (1) the guys had already come by much earlier than I get up and took away the trappings, or (2) we caught no pigs.  The latter was reality.  Something (presumably those pork bellies) came to the door of the trap and ate all the corn on the outside but never ventured inside for the goodies.  The corn on the inside of the trap did not appear disturbed so a smaller animal did not go in and eat up the feast, so it had to have been hogs.  Those guys are getting pretty smart.  So instead I offer you this picture of a ruby-throated hummingbird putting on the brakes before alighting on the feeder perch.  I'll keep you posted on the hog hunt.

Hogs!

There are no pretty pictures today.  This is what we woke up to yesterday morning on one side of our driveway up by the road.

The culprits?  Feral hogs!  I'm sure you've all heard about the feral hogs in the Southern United States.  In Texas alone, the state legislature estimates that feral hogs do up to $400 million (that's $400,000,000!) in direct damages annually to our state. These porcine princes and princesses can churn up a pasture in a Texas minute!  If the scene above weren't enough, dawn broke this morning to to find ...

... this mess on the other side of the driveway!  Although not as large an area as the night before, desperate times call for desperate measures!

The hog trap!  Our pasturage lessor normally keeps a trap in our bottomland, so he went and hauled it up the hill and placed it in the area of damage.  After all, his cows eat our grass and with the drought we've had (he cut hay last week and got 17 bales off a plot of land that normally yields 100!) he's protecting his investment by attempting to keep it hog-free.

Sprinkle a little corn around the outside of the door to entice them in!

 

Add a hefty serving of the stuff toward the back of the trap and in the inner chamber.  Make them think they're in hog heaven (which is hopefully where they will be soon!) so they become oblivious to the fact that the door will soon shut and trap them in this inescapeable box.

Tune in tomorrow.  We hope to be having sausage for breakfast!

Woodland Violets

These beautiful woodland violets grew in our woods and along our roads this spring. 

Ghost Sign ~ Timpson, Texas

In my travels through the old towns of East Texas I often encounter brick art but more often I just see signs.  Most of them have either faded or someone has attempted to remove the lettering for a "paint-over."  Sometimes by oversaturing the exposure of the photograph the lettering becomes more apparent, but nothing I do makes the first line of this sign legible.  As you can see, there are several other "ghosts" on the back side of this brick building.

Denizen of Our Oak Tree

A cute clever critter

A resourceful, rambunctios rodent

Scram, you sassy squirrel!