Cotton

Back in April, I decided to do a photo essay on the life of a cotton field. What I didn't know at that time was that this would be one of the dryest summers in living memory. Some farmers are trying to cut their losses and have defoliated already. Defoliation usually doesn't happen until the end of September.

This field is doing marginally better, though it isn't good. The plants are still green but the bolls have started opening too soon. That is like the fruit falling from a tree before it is ripe. This will be a lean year for the farmers.

While I was taking my walk this evening, now that it is cool enough to do so, the neighbor's son stopped to chat a bit. He told me that somewhere back in those fields through which I walk is an old cemetary dating back to the 1800's. Now, I'd never ventured too far from the road before because of all the poison ivy, but I may just have to put on long pants and boots and go find that cemetary. I love old cemetaries. I wonder about the people who are buried there. What kind of lives did they live? What hardships did they face? What legacy did they leave?

Yep, I'm going to have to go find that cemetary.

Good news and bad news on the snake front. The good news is that yesterday, Slider ate a completely unscented rat of the proper size. It has been a long, rough road for us, but he is going to be fine now. The bad news is that Onyx refused his mouse once again. I don't know what's put him off feeding, but it's actually pretty common for snakes to go on hunger strikes. I fed the mouse to Sunny, even though it wasn't his feeding day, to keep it from being wasted. For now, until Onyx starts eating again, I'll only offer him mice on days when one of the other snakes is scheduled to eat.

Finally, while cruising through blogland, I ran across this nifty little gadget. You can go to the website and make a map showing all the states you've visited. They have a worldwide map also, but mine was pretty pathetic, so I didn't post it here.

These are the states I've visited:



create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

Here is Cody's map:



create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

He visited several states while on vacation with his aunt and uncle a few years back that I have not been to.

When you put our two maps together, it looks like this:



create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

Pretty impressive, though I hope to one day be able to visit all 50 states. My aunt and uncle have done it, and it's quite an accomplishment.