Bad News

Today is the day.  What day, you ask?  Why today starts the last week of August!  It even feels like the end of August.  How?  It only got up to 90° today!  And it's supposed to be in the low 90s all week, which is a heap sight better than the low 100s.  Still no rain, though…

You know, I almost feel sorry for August.  Nobody likes it.  It's hot, there are no holidays in August, and the kids don't like it because they have to go back to school.  It seems like the best thing about August is when it ends.  

Before we get to the bad news, here's a bit of good news.  A couple came by yesterday afternoon and picked up all of that scrap wood I had stacked up, even the bits that were partially rotten.  I'd told them to look through and take what they wanted, and the man replied, "Oh, I'm going to take it all!''  And they did.  So that's a little bit less I have to pay someone to haul off.  They also asked if I had any scrap iron, and I showed them all the leftover tin that the previous owners had left behind the fence.  I told the man, "If there is anything there you can use, you're welcome to take it."  He said they'd come back and get it later, after they'd emptied their trailer. 

I wasn't really going to do anything with all of that, because it wasn't my stuff and it's not on my land, but if they want to clean it up, they're more than welcome to.  If anything, they can probably sell it for scrap metal.  

Now for the bad news, I lost another pepper plant.  

It was just like the others, fine yesterday morning, and dead by evening.  I did a bit of research, and watched a video by The Pepper Geek, and from what I can figure, I've got a virus or fungus.  Since it's a brand new bed, I believe it was introduced by the banana peppers I bought at Walmart.   Looking back after the fact, I do remember that I had one little plant that I thought was going to die, but it eventually perked up and grew.  I wonder if that was the one that brought the disease into the bed.  I guess we'll never know for sure. 

But a fungal infection is also consistent with that mold looking stuff I'd been seeing at the bases of the dead plants, so I'm pretty sure that's what is infecting my bed.  According to Calvin -- a.k.a. The Pepper Geek -- these types of infections are incurable and the best thing to do is pull the plant up and burn it.  Not only that, the disease is in the soil, and can stay there for years.  It will eventually kill every plant in that bed.  

I think it's also infected the cayenne plants that I've got planted in that same bed.

You can see how much more healthy the ones I've got planted in the other beds look, even though they're droopy from the afternoon heat right now. 

Their color is much better, and the peppers look like normal peppers, not the short stubby things the sickly plants are putting out. 

With that in mind, I made the difficult decision to just pull them all up and put them into the hot compost instead of trying to overwinter them.  I was going to do that when I got home from work this afternoon, but I changed my mind.  We're getting close to the end of the growing season anyway, so I decided to let the plants be until they died--whether from the fungus or the frost, whichever comes first.  

Then I'll cover the bed with some black landscape fabric to absorb the heat, and top that with a sheet of Visqueen, which will help contain the heat in that soil.  Hopefully, that will raise the temp enough to kill off any remaining spores in the soil.  I may even leave that bed fallow next year, just to make sure.  I don't know.  I doubt I'll grow more banana peppers for a while, because I've already got more than I can use as it is.  

And just to brighten your day, I was finally able to see one of this year's fawns. 

 The adult deer were nibbling on corn in the back, and this little guy had the zoomies behind them.  It was so cute.  

Fall Shutdown

Be proud of me.  Be very proud.

Why?  Because I made a phone call.  Yes, yes I did.  I called the vet and got the cat's appointment made for her annual vaccines and checkup.   I didn't make myself an eye appointment, though.  Two phone calls in one day is a bit more than I can handle...

By the way, I have no idea when my air conditioner finally shut off last night.  All I know is it was after I'd gone to bed.  This morning, I got up and bumped the thermostat up to 77°, and left my window unit on all day to help take the strain off.  I get concerned, because my central unit is old.  It was already old when I bought the house 11 years ago, and I have no idea when it was initially installed.  I want to get a newer, more energy efficient, non smart unit eventually, but that's going to have to wait for a while. 

Funny thing, I had to do a load of laundry when I got home, because this morning I put on my last clean pair of socks. It's so hot outside, I think they dried faster on the clothes horse than they would have if I'd put them into the dryer.  I still need to call an electrician, but honestly, I'm not in any hurry to do that.  Maybe when it starts getting cold, I will, but for now....In a way, it's more convenient to hang dry my clothes.  I say this because I don't have to wait until the clothes finish drying to move the load from the washer and start a new one.   Plus, I love the smell of clothes dried out in the fresh air. 

Unless it's raining and I have to dry them in the spare bedroom.  But even that isn't that big of a deal. 

I had a supervisor, and she approves. 

In other news, they released the fall shutdown schedule today. 

Instead of putting us on 4 day weeks, they decided to shut the plant down for the whole week of Labor Day, then again the whole week of inventory.  It actually adds up to fewer days off this way, because we'd only be working three days during inventory week and four days during Labor Day week anyway.  

Oh, and we also get the entire week of Thanksgiving off, but then, that's not that unusual.  

What is also not unusual is people freaking out about it, and me saying, "Y'all stop acting like you've never worked here before!"  I swan, it's like they completely forgot we got Thanksgiving week off last year, and in 2023, and in 2022...you get the idea.  One of the brazers asked if I was going to change my vacation, and I said, "Nope."  

This is why I work all of the overtime when it's there, so I'll have that little cushion in my savings account for these fall shutdowns.  

Us old school folks have been through this before.  We'll be OK. 

Settled In

After I blogged yesterday, I went ahead and cleaned (ish) my plant shelf off and got my Christmas Cactus all settled in for the winter.  

And yes, I know technically they're Thanksgiving Cacti, and there's a teeny tiny difference between the two, but they're all commonly called Christmas cactus, and so that's what I'm going to call mine.   They are both Schlumbergera.  

After I finished doing that, it was such a nice day outside, I went and sat by the fire pit for a little while. 

I only made a small fire with twigs and such that had been knocked down by the wind during Wednesday's storms.  Or Tuesday night's storms.  Whenever they came through.  Still, it was nice while it lasted.  I even had an audience for a little bit.  

It's not the greatest photo, but there are four of them out there, keeping an eye on me.  Also, I took the covers off of my Adirondack chairs.  It seemed a good idea at the time, but having them covered ...well, they just aren't as inviting this way.  I'll leave them off probably until it gets too hot to sit outside.  Or too buggy.  Or both.  

I'll run out and put them back on if we're expecting ice -- or in the rare event we have snow, but for now, I want to see the chair and spontaneously decide to sit in it.  Covers inhibit that.  

By the way, did any of you get to see that comet?  I tried several times, but I never saw this one.  Not complaining too much, though, because I saw the one last year really well. 

Anyway, since I'd moved the Christmas cacti off of the wood stove, I got up this morning and started a little fire in the box. 

It was nice and toasty.  I sure hope my coworker's son comes through with the firewood, because I do enjoy a nice fire.  Of course, it didn't take long for it to warm up enough that I let the fire go out, and was able to open some windows and let fresh air into the house.  That was nice, too, but I digress...

While I was in town this morning, I bought one of those sweeping logs, 

but when I got home and read the instructions, it said not to use it for the first fire of the year.  You're supposed to have two or three fires before lighting the CSL.  I brought up more wood for a fire tomorrow, because we've got another front coming through -- but this one isn't supposed to bring as much rain as the last one, at least not where I live.  Then probably Monday or Tuesday, I'll light it.  

Oh, and I should probably tell you I didn't go walking out at the lake this morning.  I was trying to figure out how I did it last year -- going walking, then shopping, and still getting home in time for the 11:00 football games.  About halfway to the store, I remembered.  

I went shopping on Thursdays last year.  I'm actually thinking about going back to that schedule so I can go walking on Saturday mornings.  For today, walking around Walmart had to be enough.

So, I didn't go walking but I did get up and put out my few Thanksgiving specific decorations.  

I usually put them out with the rest of my Fall decor, but this year for some reason, I held them back until after Halloween.  And this one, I usually put in the car port, but moved it to the front porch.

You can see it a lot better there.  I checked the clearance aisle at Walmart to see if there was anything good on sale, but didn't find anything I just had to have.  I found some inflatable turkeys on Amazon, but I'm still debating whether I actually want to buy one or not.  I really need to cut back my spending until overtime starts up again.  

On the other hand, I bought these.  

I'd seen this online a couple of years ago, and really want to try to make one. 

I'm going to pick up some smaller balls next week, but will have to order the silver sparkly yarn from Amazon.  I might run up to Batesville and see if they have some at Hobby Lobby, but I didn't find any on their website, so I don't know.   I'll also need to find some sort of ring to tie it all to, but I'm sure that won't be too hard. 

Look at this!  I found another little bluebonnet seedling this morning!  

That makes 12 so far, and there may be even more before spring.  I planted seven packets of seeds after all...

And finally, I'm not sure how much you've been paying attention to what's going on in Baton Rouge, but LSU has absolutely cleaned house.  They fired not only Brian Kelly, but also the offensive coordinator, and Athletic Director Scott Woodward.   Even Governor Jeff Landry got involved.  It was a mess, I'm telling you.  

Just in case you were wondering what the governor had to do with it, he said that the Louisiana taxpayer would be the ones having to pick up the tab for Brian Kelly's $53 buyout.  I guess the university is getting funding from the state.  Most of them do these days.  

Navy lost for the first time, and I fear it won't be the last.  Their next three opponents are Notre Dame, Memphis, and South Florida.  Then they play the one that matters most.  They are bowl eligible, and as long as they beat Army, the season is a success.  

At least as far as I'm concerned. 

Short Week

I had a very short work week this week, and can you believe it's already over?  

I'd thought I'd come home and mow this evening, but alas, we are done with our false fall and are back to the "Just kidding, here's some more summer" season of the year.  The heat index was 97° when I got home, so yeah, that's a no from me.  

Plan B was to mow later this evening when it cooled off a bit, but then I remembered football starts tonight!  Yes, the NFL season opens and who should be playing but the Micah Parson-less Dallas Cowboys.  We'll see how that goes.  

Personally, I have mixed feelings about that trade.  I mean, he was an outstanding edge rusher, but he could be a bit childish at times.  Besides, if this new guy can stop the run, that's something they desperately need.  

But I digress...

Plan C is to mow tomorrow, but the temps are supposed to hit the upper 90s -- and those are actual temps not heat indices, so mowing might just have to wait until another day...like Saturday, when the temps aren't supposed to get out of the 70s.

Speaking of the yard, imagine my surprise when I opened the back door to let the cat out and saw this little feller.  

I'd seen him in the woods from time to time, but this was the first time I've seen him out in the open like this.  The poor thing flew into a blind panic as soon as it saw me and kept crashing into the fence trying to run back into the safety of the trees.  He eventually found his way out through the hole left when I had that little tree cut out.  The whole time, I kept wondering where his mother was.  

In other news, a few days ago I had the oddest thing happen when I was making coffee.  The whole pod exploded and sprayed coffee and grounds all over my kitchen.  I've never had that happen before.  I've had them not drain right and the water squirts out of the top, but I've never had the whole top of my coffee maker blow open.  

I've got a can of regular coffee grounds that I've been using, and though my maker has the little basket thing, it's such a pain to clean the old grounds out of it.  I thought to myself, "Somebody ought to make disposable filters to fit these things."  Then I realized..."This is America.  Somebody probably already has." 

Naturally, I hopped onto Amazon and found them right away.  

They're made for Keurig, and are a little small for my Mainstays coffee maker, but I think they'll work.  

Since I was ordering anyway, I tossed this little guy into the basket with them.  

The plan is to hang him on the fence in my garden spot, and the little lamp lights up.  It's solar powered, so there's no batteries involved.  I can't wait to see him all lit up...I've got to find a spot to hang him in the meantime until I get the garden all set up.  

 And finally, we have a couple of new supervisor trainees out at work, and one of them just seemed so familiar to me.  I was sure I'd seen him before.  I thought maybe he worked out there before, but I wasn't sure.  

Then it hit me.  He's Mr. Morton!  

Who is Mr. Morton?  He's the subject of the sentence, and what the predicate says, he does.  

He he he...

Good Intentions

You know what they say about good intentions, and alas, today was no different in that regard.  Oh, I had good intentions...I just didn't carry them out.  

So, what were those good intentions, you ask?  I'll tell you.  

See this box of junk?  

The intention was to finally sort through all this and toss what needed to be tossed and put what I want to keep somewhere else than my craft room floor.  Yes, that is a year old Knit Picks catalog right there on top, and it is now in the trash can.  And the little case with all the fiber in it is the needle felting kit my sister got me for Christmas -- three years ago.  

I'd played with it a lot that first year, but haven't really done anything with it since.  It's fun to do, but is very time consuming and requires your full attention so you don't stab your fingers while you're doing it.  It's not something you can do while watching TV.  What I want to do is set up a work station in my craft room so I can close the door and know the cat won't be getting into it, but that will have to wait until my snakes finally go to that great herpetarium in the sky.  

But I digress.  The whole point is that if someone were to come toss all that junk without me knowing it, most likely I'd never miss any of it -- minus the needle felting kit, that is.  But with me sorting through it and seeing it and thinking, "I need to keep that, just in case"  most of it probably won't be tossed.  

All that to say, I dragged the box out into the living room with the intention of sorting through it while watching Navy defeat Oklahoma in the Armed Forces Bowl, then realized I just didn't want to fool with it today, so I made my gingerbread house instead. 

I'd bought all three of us these kits last year, but none of us did them.  Cody and Brennan said they didn't really have room to transport the completed houses home in their car, so they took their kits with them, but still haven't done them.  I told Cody that I'd bought a set of gingerbread house cookie cutters on clearance last year, and maybe next year we can do those, since they make much smaller houses.  Plus, the cookies will be fresh, and maybe we'll just eat them here...

I'd gone with a pretty much minimalist approach this time around, since I'm sure the house in the photo on the box was done by professional bakers, but it was fun.  Especially since I didn't pop my icing bag like I did two years ago when I made my first ever gingerbread house. 

I also spent a good bit of the day vacuum sealing the rest of the sausage ball mix and putting the gumbo into the freezer. This year, I actually had to put some of the Bartley Snack stuff into the freezer as well.  Cody didn't eat a single bite of it, and I've never seen him turn down Bartley Snacks.  The only thing he ate was the crabbies and some snickerdoodles.  And I'm grumbling the whole time about next year, I'm not even going to bother...

Only now, I want to bake and decorate more cookies -- but I don't need the sugar.  I've had more than enough of that as it is, and still need to eat up the rest of the cookies and candy since I don't want to put them back into the freezer.  I'll just have to walk a bit harder this coming week-- once the rain lets up, that is.   

In other news, after I posted yesterday, I looked out and saw this bad boy behind the fence. 

He has an 8 point rack, and a minute later was joined by a six point.  I don't usually see bucks out there, and this is the first one I've seen in two years.  

And finally, just so there is some redeeming value to this post, here is a photo of hat progress. 

 I've already picked out the next yarn, so I'd better get cracking on this hat.  

Laters. 

Black Friday

It's Black Friday, and as is my custom, I avoided stores like the plague.  I didn't even go get corn for the deer, which I was completely out of.  They didn't seem bothered by it, though.  They just licked up the seed the birds dumped out of their feeders...

And I probably should have cropped that photo, but it's not happening now.  

While I was not shopping, I got all of my fall decorations down and put away, then started putting out Christmas stuff, and in so doing, I discovered that the kids had missed quite a few ornaments when they were decorating my tree. 

That situation is now rectified, and all of those ornaments are safely on the tree.  

There isn't really that much else to talk about, because all I did was watch football.  While I was watching, I finished As A Mist Creeps In.  

 

It turned out really gorgeous.  Then I caked up the next skein,   

which is from Forbidden Fiber, and the colorway is Foliage, from her harvest collection.  I bought it at Fiber Fun In The 'Sip a few years ago.  I think this one may be discontinued, because I can't find it on her website, buuuuut, she's got a new Christmas collection that is available for pre-order.

Don't mind me.   I'm just sitting here trying to resist temptation.  

OK, moving right along, we finally had our first frost last night-- which usually happens about the middle of November.  Unfortunately, I didn't get the Lemon verbena or the Greek Oregano cut, so I guess we'll see how cold hardy they are.  

Speaking of, I still have one Cosmos in my front bed that has buds on it. 

I guess we'll see how cold hardy they are, too because it's supposed to get down into the 20s tonight.  I imagine that'll kill off pretty much everything else I have planted.  

I think now, I'm going to go cast on that next hat and watch a cheesy Christmas movie.  

Laters.

What A Night!

Somewhere in the night last night, I was startled awake by a very loud noise -- sounding like thunder, but not quite like thunder.  As I lay there in my bed listening to the storms rolling through, I thought, "It must have been a very loud clap of thunder.  Strange sounding thunder, but still..."

I drifted back off to sleep, not thinking any more about it until this morning when I was getting ready to leave for work.  I opened my Facebook to see if there were any comments on yesterday's post that I could respond to before heading out the door, and I saw this on the local newspaper's page. 

The strong winds last night completely blew this building apart.   If you want to go look up the post about it on the Grenada Downtown District page on Facebook, there are more photos in the comments, but I didn't want to share them without permission.

Anyway, this is what it looked like the last time Google Earth drove through town a few years back.

I remember when I first moved here, it was a really nice place.  It had a clothing shop on the ground floor and a couple of apartments on the upper floor.  I seem to remember a couple of Juliet balconies on the windows as well. 

It had gotten pretty run down here lately, and had become a real eyesore.  Several people had offered to buy it, but for some reason, the owner flat out refused to sell it, or was asking way too much for a property of that size.  So, there it sat, becoming more and more dilapidated...until last night.   

What they are speculating is that because the windows had been boarded up and the roof had partially collapsed, when the winds came through, there was nowhere for the air pressure to go.  It just kept building up until the entire building exploded.  That's sure what it sounded like.

Now, nobody knows what's going to happen, or how long the mess is going to sit there -- or if the taxpayer is going to have to pay for the cleanup, since the owner obviously isn't that concerned.  We shall see. 

At least we got a good bit of rain out of the deal, which has really brought out the Cosmos.

  

In other news, things are going from bad to worse out at work.  Today they brought around a paper asking for people to volunteer to work Sunday.  I heard they want to run three lines.  Well, I say good luck with that.  Ten years ago, I'd have jumped at the chance, but not any more.  It's too hot, we're already working too much, and I'm getting too old for this.  

Then they turned around and let some of the lines go home early.  Go figure. 

Speaking of heat, they've started putting up these giant fans around the plant. 

Since they can't get the air conditioners working, you know.  Blowing all the hot air down from the ceilings will certainly solve everything.  Whatever.  

Now, for a bit of good news, I saw three deer behind the fence this afternoon, plus the fawn.  I tried to get a photo, but the little one is understandably skittish, so this is the best you're going to get for now. 

And finally, I remembered that Librivox has an app, so I downloaded it this afternoon and listened to the first two chapters of Les Miserables in the original French.  I understood very little, but managed to catch a word here and there.   I figure the more I listen, the easier it'll get. 

Hopefully...

Annual Physical

You know those people who just love going to the doctor?  They love getting all the tests and the poking and prodding, buying all the newest medical gadgets and all of that stuff.  Yeah, I'm not one of those.  

Those of you with better memories than mine may remember about a year ago, I went in to try to get my cholesterol numbers under control.  I'd tried and tried to do it naturally, but it just wasn't working.  So, to avoid surcharges on my insurance, off to the doctor I went.  He put me on Crestor, and wanted to see me again in 6 months.  Things were better, but not quite where I wanted them to be, so he told me to start taking Omega-3 and come back in another 6 months. 

Today was that second follow-up, so after spending a week fighting myself not to cancel the appointment, I took a day off of work and went in to see my doctor.  All in all, everything looks pretty good, except for a couple of things.  

First up, some of my liver enzymes were a bit high.  He thinks it might be due to fatty deposits on my liver because my triglycerides have been so high for so long, however we're going to schedule an ultrasound just to be on the safe side.  That was my call, given my family history with liver cancer and all.  

The other thing he's concerned about is my A1-C.  I forgot what it is --6 point something-- but it's high enough to be considered pre-diabetic.  I know my dad was also pre-diabetic, but I don't think he ever was diagnosed with full blown diabetes.    The doc is going to set me up with a diabetes educator, and I have to go back at the end of July to see if it's gotten any better.  My insurance has a program where they'll send me a free meter and support, but I have to have a diagnosis first.  I really need to get back to eating my oatmeal, too.  I used to eat a bowl every day, but have kind of gotten away from it when they started making us come in so [unwholesome word] early. 

Anyway, he said my cholesterol numbers looked so much better, I don't have to do another 6 month follow up for them,  so I don't have to go back for those until next year.  I just have to go back for my A1-C.

 After I was done at the doctor's office, I ran by Walmart and picked up a few things for the herb garden.   For my full-sun garden, I bought some purple basil and some sweet basil. 

And some cayenne and jalapeno peppers for Cody.  

Then, for my part shade garden I got Greek oregano.  

I've got two more spots in each one, so I'll have to see if there is anything else the kids want.  Cody is the cook in the family.  I just like growing the stuff. 

Then I went by Spain's and spent those two gift cards I'd been carrying around -- one of them for 18 months.  Honestly, I don't know why everyone loves that store so much.  It's cluttered, crowded, and expensive.  I was just walking around buying stuff so I could use that gift money up, and I picked up some Velveeta Shells 'n' Cheese.  It costs .50 cents per box MORE than you can buy it for at Walmart. 

Then I tipped the bag boy way too much, but justified it by telling myself it'll be another two years or so before I ever come back to this store.  Really, it was just because I didn't have any $1s on me, and didn't want to not give him anything.  So he got a very generous tip. 

And that was it.  I came home, ate a bit of lunch, then got out and dug up the last of those daffodils from the front yard.   Here you can see the empty spot where they used to be. 

Why I felt the need to show you that is beyond me.  I've long since given up trying to find an explanation for such things. 

I did not, however, begin re-planting said daffodils.  I laid them back on my potting table, a bit overwhelmed by how many there are. 

I guess I'll just plant a few at a time until I get them all back into the ground.  

In the meantime, I think I'll go take a shower and wash the sweat from my body.  Oh, and before I go, it looks like this year's fawns will be here before we know it. 

Day Three

It's day three of being iced in, and I'm starting to understand why people used to get cabin fever.  I mean, I was thinking about it just today, and if I didn't have internet and TV and thousands of books available to me, I might just be going stir crazy my own self.   Funny, Laurence Brown mentioned Laura Ingalls Wilder's book The Long Winter on his YouTube Channel Lost In The Pond today, and even though I've read the book several times, I simply couldn't imagine living through that.  

I mean, it's not likely I'd be wanting to go anywhere anyway, but knowing I couldn't if I wanted to makes it a completely different ball game.  Fortunately, I haven't lost power or heat, well, not during the day.  The power did go out for about 4 hours last night, but it was from around 1:00 AM to around 4 AM, and I was sleeping anyway.  

Entergy didn't give the reason why; they just said the cause was under investigation.  If I were to hazard a guess, though, I'd say someone decided to get cute and slid on a patch of ice and ran into a light pole.  But that's just speculation on my part.  

Anyway, I found the old TV show Northern Exposure is up on Prime now, so I've been watching that, along with Heartland and The X-Files, and I whipped out another headband while doing so. 

And I used that term loosely.  The older I get, the faster my hands get tired and sore, so I'm hardly whipping anything out these days.  I'd say the total knitting time for a headband like this is about two hours, but I have to stop and take frequent breaks for my hands to rest.  This is done in Red Heart Supersaver in Pink Rose colorway.  

I know you're probably tired of hearing about how cold it's been here, but it's my blog and I'm a weather geek, so weather is what you're going to get.  This morning when I woke up, it was colder here than in Fairbanks, Alaska where my sister lives. 

That didn't last long once the sun came up. 

It warmed up to 35°, and stuff began to melt pretty quickly.   I ventured out and took this photo of icicles forming on the shed's eaves as the runoff re-froze.  

My road is still pretty icy, and with the slight melt and re-freeze, it'll probably be slicker'n snot in the morning. 

 I was debating on whether to call in to work tomorrow, but turns out it's all moot anyway, as they've cancelled work for one more day.  At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if they just said don't come back until Monday.  Especially since we're looking at the possibility of more freezing rain tonight and tomorrow.  We're all hoping it doesn't get this far South, but weather is weather, which means you never know what it's going to do. 

The good news is, by this time next week, we'll be back up into the 60s.  That's winter in the south for you. 

In other news, look who showed up at the corn pile this morning.  

I see the does and fawns all the time, but seldom see bucks, so this was a treat.  Funny thing, I don't know the hunting laws in MS, but in Texas it wouldn't be legal to harvest this buck, because Texas law says the rack has to be a certain width at its widest point - I think it's 13" -- and they always say a quick way to tell is if the rack extends beyond the buck's ears.  I'm no expert, but it seems to me you'd want to cull the bucks with the inferior racks from your herd.  All the ones around here are spikes, and end up with ugly, skinny racks. If it were up to me, I'd want to get those genes out of my herd.  Not that it matters anyway, as I don't even have a hunting license any more.  I hadn't been hunting in so long, I didn't even renew it this year. 

Speaking of hunting, this thing has been trying her best to catch a bird.  

I've been scattering extra seed on the ground for them during this cold spell, and Evil has tried so hard to catch one.  Then she gets mad at me because I open the door and scare the birds away before she can get one. 

Oh, she's not cold.  The fires of Hell which burn in her soul keep her plenty warm enough.