Saturday, October 2, 2021

I Have Not Cried Once Today


I took a small bag of trash to the dump this morning and stopped by the post office. Driving home I saw this sign at the Lloyd crossroads. Of course I had to take a picture. I looked up what I think is that group on Facebook and let me just say that Mr. I Buy Rattlesnakes appears to be obsessed with snakes, living or dead. I mean, you'd sort of have to be to go to the trouble and expense of printing up signs like that and go around posting them. One has to wonder what he does with the snakes he buys. Also? How much is a rattlesnake worth? Does he pay by the inch? Number of rattles? 
Oh dear god. I went back and looked at that page again. No. No. I can't unsee the things I saw. PEOPLE EAT SNAKES! 
I'm sorry. Now I feel slightly ill. 

Life in Lloyd. 

Here's something nicer to look at.

These are three of Darla's rooster babies. They spend the night outside every night and when I go to let the other chickens out, they rush me, hoping I'll have food for them. That's a hen in the background. She stays outside too. 


The tea olive is blooming again. Heaven in an olfactory molecule. 

I've had a truly almost normal day. Mr. Moon left this morning early, early, and I kissed him goodbye and went back to sleep. He left me a fresh pot of coffee and a sweet note. Strange to wake up in an empty house. 

So yes, I took a little trash and went to the post office and did some crosswords and made the bed and did a lot of other tiny things that I never seem to get around to. I walked down to the little neighborhood take-a-book-leave-a-book box and left about six books and took one. I got a call from Jessie asking if she could come out and get the meat grinder. Vergil got a deer last week and he was processing it today. He's decided that they should only eat meat that comes from the woods or that they raise or catch, as in fish, and so hunting has become even more of an important part of his life. I don't think there's one bit of him that is in it for the sport. I respect that a lot. Anyway, at soccer today, August got an award!


When they came over, he was wearing his medal. 


I think it's one of those deals where by the end of the season, every kid will have received one but Jessie said that he's working really hard at playing the game and as you can tell, he is quite proud. 

Levon found the old glasses and nose disguise in the toy basket although the nose has been lost. 


That child is adorable. 


And a goof.

While they were here, Jessie kindly dug a piece of glass out of my foot that's been there for a week. The boys kept saying, "Does it hurt? Does it hurt?" I think they were slightly disappointed that it didn't. I'm glad she found it and got it out. She insisted that I put some Neosporin and a bandaid on it after she washed out the small crater left behind with hydrogen peroxide. She's a good nurse. 

Tomorrow I absolutely MUST clean out the hen house. The job needed doing badly when we got home eight days ago. There's nothing difficult or physically challenging about it except for pulling the garden cart filled with the poopy hay to where we dump it. And that probably won't be too bad. My post-op instructions didn't say a damn thing about pulling garden carts with chicken shit in them. 

It's so odd that it's already been a week since I got my appendix out. That all just seems like a very odd dream. I do have the tiny holes to show that it happened but it's easy to forget they're there. The post op instructions DO say that I can take the steri-strips off after ten days and I'm looking forward to that. The site of my IV has bothered me worse than anything but it's feeling a lot better today. 
I certainly have not needed any hydrocodone. Good grief! 

I just got a call from the traveling man. He says they're doing great. I think they'll be in Illinois before they stop for the night. Jesus. That's a lot of driving for two guys in one day. I think there's a dog with them but I'm pretty sure he's not old enough to have his driver's license. 

And so Day 1 of the Great Solitude (haha!) has almost passed. I think I will heat up a piece of fish I baked a few days ago and eat some vegetables with it. Fixing supper for one is even stranger than waking up in an empty house. Mr. Moon and I were joking last night about the lady who cooked for the hunters last time he did this trip. She tended to make rather tasteless meals (that's putting it kindly according to his descriptions) and was fond of serving peas and carrots which are the two vegetables my husband really does not like. I told him, "Yeah, after a few days you're going to be CRAVING some of my roasted cauliflower." 
Roasted cauliflower is now on the list of things that he'd prefer that I make when he's away. I overdid it there for awhile. But that does remind me that I need to buy a cauliflower. I have a head of broccoli though, and that might do fine as a substitute. 

I'll shut up now. 

Sweet dreams to all of us. 

Love...Ms. Moon








24 comments:

  1. those two boys are just gorgeous. No kidding. Gorgeous! Rattlers? Our landlord saves, skins and freezes them for later barbecue......and I can tell you they are not worth eating....and the thought of it disgusts me also! WTF? Glad Mr Moon is faring well....and you too. Hope peas are on menu! Last time (last month) hubby went on 5 day biking excursion.....I made a big LeSeur pea salad with red onions, sharp cheddar, mayo and dash of vinegar and fresh thyme. I ate seared shrimp and pea salad 4 nights running and never tired of it. Bottoms up, Ms. Moon!
    susan M

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    1. Oh my goodness! That salad sounds like a dream! And extremely southern. I'll be pondering that. Might make it into the menu.

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  2. I love pea anything, and salad is at the top. We had a pea salad at a local restaurant that was so good my sister and I were nearly licking the last of the dressing from the dish. She tried and tried to make it, to no avail.

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    1. Damn! I hate when that happens! I sure wish you knew how to make it because then you could tell me.

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  3. Cooking for one and waking up in an empty house is what I do! It would feel funny to have another person around, and wanting to be ged! Too funny, our contrast.

    Enjoy your solo time!

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    1. Fed. Not ged. Whatever that is.

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    2. It's true! You and I are on opposite sides of this coin, aren't we? By the time my husband gets home I'm sure I'll be wondering why in the world he thinks I should be feeding him. And what all those hunting clothes are doing in the laundry!

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  4. I'll pass on the snake meat. How did you manage to walk around with a piece of glass in your foot for a week? And what did you step on?

    Hope you slept well.

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    1. It was just a tiny little piece of glass. And I have a pretty intense callous on the bottom of my foot so it wasn't that annoying. My kitchen floor has so many cracks between the boards that if something gets broken, little pieces of it can get in those cracks and then when I sweep some more, some can come jumping out. Yes. I should vacuum.
      I did sleep well! Thank you!

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  5. Oh. I was worried about what the snakes were for, alright! Apparently they taste like chicken...

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    1. What doesn't taste like chicken? Supposedly. With any luck I'll never actually know about the snake.

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  6. Virgil is a true mountain man. but don't people usually mix venison with pork for sausage? yeah, I'll eat snake...when and if I am ever starving. maybe Virgil will mix snake with his venison for sausage...just kidding. and I laughed at the cauliflower bit. and of course August was wearing his medal!

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    1. People can and do mix venison with pork for sausage. We're hoping this year to get a few more wild pigs. They were so very, very good and the meat can be mixed in with the ground venison.
      I doubt Vergil will be processing any snakes.
      August was so proud. As he should be.

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  7. That bit about snake meat made me queasy! Yuk!
    Glad your foot is glass-free.
    Congrats to August - what a great kid he is!

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    1. Those pictures I saw made me feel like puking. I swear. No, no, no.
      My foot is very happy. And yes, August is a very fine young lad.

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  8. I get such a kick of watching the 'littlest littles' playing soccer. Last time we went, right in the middle of a rush from end of the field to another, one little fellow stopped to pick a dandelion. Such sweetness! So much fun!

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    1. I swear- there were kids so little on the first ball team that Owen was on that I swear they were in diapers. I hope not. But it is fun watching the babies play. I bet that Levon is pretty serious about it.

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  9. I suppose, logically, there's nothing wrong with eating rattlesnakes. Heck I was grossed out in Peru by people eating guinea pig, but hey, over here they eat frogs' legs, so I guess it's just a question of what you're used to isn't it.

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    1. Yes. You are right. And we all have our cultural biases that can be very strong. I'm not sure I could eat a guinea pig and although people here do eat frog legs I can't bring myself to try them. Snake? Forget about it.

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  10. A good day one of solitude report, though I find myself wishing you'd wait a bit longer before cleaning out the hen house, but then I can only imagine the task, whereas you can properly assess. You sound here as if the healing is going well, for which your sister spirit up north is deeply thankful.

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    1. Well, it was a disgusting situation and wasn't getting any better. I feel relieved that it's done. I hope the chickens do too.
      I think the healing is going quite well. Thank you, darling woman.

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  11. Oh, and in that picture of August with the sign, I swear I glimpsed his young man self.

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    1. And he'll be there before we know it! Oh Lord.

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  12. Roasted broccoli sounds really good! That sign is a hoot. People are just so...interesting. I love the pics of the boys, especially Levon with the noseless glasses. LOL

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.