Wednesday, December 28, 2022

Walk And Ralph Report


When I got up and went into my bathroom this morning, that little bird was doing kamikaze flights into my window. I suppose it was seeing its reflection unless it just really wanted access to my beautiful bathroom. He (must have been a he, right?) wasn't hitting the window hard enough to knock himself out but he was persistent. And by golly, the bird was still out there trying to figure out how to get in for almost the entire day. 
Birds are so smart about some things but honestly- mirrors and windows are something they have not figured out. I've seen mockingbirds try to attack their images in sideview mirrors on cars for days and days at a time. 

What an incredibly perfect day it was today! The temperature was mild, the sky was as...well...this.



And after I'd walked to the post office I decided that I had absolutely no excuses not to go on a real walk. Y'all- I haven't taken a real walk in probably months. And when I say "real" I mean anything longer than a walk to the post office. But it wasn't too cold, it certainly wasn't too hot, wasn't about to rain, and I had absolutely nothing else I HAD to do. 
So. Off I went. 
I only walked two miles but my legs are telling me that two miles is a lot farther than they are accustomed to at the moment. I took it slow, too. I am generally a fast walker but at this stage of my unfit life, I know I need to slow my roll a little. I had an interesting experience in that I saw in the distance before me a guy heading down the sidewalk too towards No Man Lord's. After awhile he knew I was back there. I'm not sure why he turned around because I certainly wasn't close enough for him to hear me but he did and by the time he reached NML's and turned in, I had almost caught up with him. 
He said to the two guys in the yard- That woman walks fast for someone her age! He meant for me to hear it too and I was not insulted. 
"I wasn't walking fast," I yelled, as I went past them. 
"That wasn't fast? You almost passed me!" 
"You were just strolling," I said, and went on by. 
He was too. Just strolling. Taking it easy on a very fine day.

It did me good to get outside and do that. Nothing much has changed. Well, that's not true. NML has a few new signs. One of them says, "Den of Thieves...$$$". Not sure quite what that means but if it implies that people with money are evil then he is definitely the purest man in the county. Bless him. 
And another HUGE thing I noticed is that my next-door neighbors have finally taken the Trump signs out of their yard. They have been there since at least 2016. Perhaps 2015. There's still a DeSantis sign in the yard but Trump is gone. 
I am taking this as a good omen as applies to Trump. Not so much about DeSantis. Those of you who do not live in Florida have no idea how evil this man is. And besides that, he's not stupid at all. 

I sent Ralph back out to vacuum today. Mr. Moon and I were entertained all day long, watching him go at it. The poor thing just cannot get into the kitchen. It tries and tries but it just can't. It is such a persistent little fucker but honestly (and don't tell him I said this) he's not brilliant. He may be the smartest robot in this house but he's not the smartest robot in the world, I feel quite certain. He did make me a map. This is what it looks like. 



How does it look? 
It looks like...someplace I've never been. Supposedly this is a rendering of the spaces I live in and yet- well, as Mr. Moon said, "It looks like Leon County to me." 
Theoretically, I can now label all of the rooms and spaces so that I can direct it to go clean a specific area. This is going to take some work. I have never been any good with maps. My spatial abilities are nil. But I should be able to do this, don't you think? 
And in admitting this, I think I should probably apologize to Ralph who can vacuum AND map at the same time. 

Mr. Moon went out for a little bike ride this afternoon, inspired no doubt by my walk. 
Or not.
But he sent me this picture. 


That is a gopher tortoise. One of my favorite critters. This one has obviously spent a great deal of time in its burrow which has been dug into the red clay dirt of our area. I just love those things. They seem so primeval and wise to me and wear that reptilian expression of pissed-offedness that iguanas also have. Disdain for all, especially humans. 

I tried out my new pruners today. I trimmed up a few areas in the most casual and desultory way. They are amazing! I love them. I can't wait to try out the loppers. Perhaps I will tomorrow. Both of the Canary Island date palms have fronds that need removing and I will find great satisfaction in snipping them off. The good news in palm world is that my cabbage palms or sabal palms, appear to have survived the cold nicely. 


Now I'm going to go cook some shrimp. I am still not quite sure how I am going to cook them. Remember that scene in Forrest Gump where Bubba lists all the ways you can cook and eat shrimp? 



Bubba was absolutely correct. Shrimp is the fruit of the sea. 

Love...Ms. Moon

30 comments:

  1. Fresh air, sunshine and a walk, nothing better to make you feel good. I even got out for a walk today and it was nice, cold but not windy.

    Last week a drunk Bohemian waxwing hit my kitchen window and died. Bloody birds, they're awful for eating fruit and then flying into windows. One fall day when I lived in my old house, I counted 25 bird strikes, all Bohemian wax wings. I'm glad your little bird didn't hit the window hard enough to kill himself.

    I'm envious that you can still work in your garden. My is asleep, covered in snow.

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    1. Well, there is something to be said for enforced cessation of yard work when it involves the weather! But it is still very beautiful here, even with so many plants looking dreary and brown.
      Poor birds. They just do not understand glass, do they?

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  2. A lovely lighthearted blogpost from Madam Moon today. I can imagine visiting the cinema in the future to watch "No Man Lord" directed by Steven Spielberg - "about a man who lived in a dream", starring Matt Damon as No Man Lord, Michelle Pfeiffer as Madam Moon and Ralph as himself.

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    1. I would want No Man Lord to play himself. No one else could do the role justice.

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  3. what a day! Good walk, NML *almost* sighting...... more pondering over Ralph ........ and your bird story. Cripes. I was standing at window yesterday AM watching pouring rain on deck....a Kestrel slammed into window right at my face level (shit).....with a hummingbird in it's talons. Cripes. Kestrel stunned.....took 15 seconds to recover from window slamming........hummer.....sadly was laying belly up in pouring rain on deck but still alive. Went out to retrieve and poor tiny dear had a slight *grip* to my finger when picked up. I was hopeful! Brought in, put on heating pad........ sadly he/she did not survive another 10 minutes.. I tried, but it made me sad all day. All creatures great and small deserve our attention.........But......we DID get almost 2 inches rain, which for us is a blessing. Count 'em as you can
    Susan M

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    1. pS (why do I always have PS's?).....that Forrest Gump clip is priceless. On my top 10 films of all time fave's. Shrimp. Whatever you did with yours will no doubt be stellar!
      Susan M

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    2. I like P.S.'es. That is sad about the little hummingbird. And I doubt it would have even been a morsel for a Kestrel. Well, everything has to eat.
      I think that Forrest Gump is a far from perfect movie but I do love it. Have you ever read the book? I read it out loud to my husband and parts of it made me laugh so hard I couldn't breathe, much less read.

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  4. Ms Moon, trust me, there are many of us who live outside of Florida who know damn well how evil that little troll DeSantis is.

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    1. It's the people who know and don't care who scare me to death.

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  5. A woodpecker once flew into our picture window and my sister spent hours keeping it alive. She spent hours keeping it alive, which I assume she did because is disappeared from the tree she left it in.

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    1. I bet it did fly off by itself! It can take a stunned bird awhile.

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  6. I have not had shrimp or prawns as we call them, since my two oldest grandchildren where still in school. my son-in-law had a mate who used to take his boat out and catch dozens of them and I was at their home one day when he barbecued a couple of dozen lime-and-chilli marinated ones for our lunch.
    I should go out walking more, but every time I plan to, the weather turns against me, or I get a text message saying a package is being delivered that day, so I stay home. Your blue sky is amazing! Your house looks huge on that map Ralph made.

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    1. I bet those grilled shrimp were delicious.
      There are so many reasons not to walk and I think I know most of them.

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  7. I have a down-the-road neighbor whose Trump flag has flown for a LONG time….and when I drove past today it wasn’t there! I believe I may have shouted ‘HALLELUJAH’. As for DeSantis, I think he may be up shit creek without a paddle. Remember those bus loads of immigrants that showed up on Martha’s Vinyard? Seems the order for the buses was made by a member of DeSantis’ cabinet! Yeah, he used a made-up name and email address, but the State of Florida paid for them. Fingers crossed but ole Ronnie may be in deep doo doo.

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    1. I sure do hope that's true but I have almost given up on the idea that any of these heinous, hypocritical and law breaking Republicans are ever going to see any consequences. Here in NY a Congressmen elect lied about every single thing - from being Jewish and gay to his education and job history - and now they're going to 'investigate'. Investigate?!? Pretty sure if I lied about my pilot's training and the flight school said I never attended I wouldn't be able to fly the plane. It's all so disheartening. Also, my brother and sister in law who live in Palm Beach county thing Ron DeSantis is the greatest thing ever. ;(

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    2. Catrina- I don't think many people who support DeSantis think he did a damn thing wrong in bussing those people to Martha's Vineyard. They think it's the funniest, cleverest thing ever.
      Obscura- I believe you're right- neither DeSantis or any of those other Republicans are going to see any consequences. Well, George Santos might. His lies are way too easy to prove as false.
      I imagine a whole lot of people who live in Palm Beach County think DeSantis is the best. What is it with these people? Have they no hearts?

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  8. https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRbdjmVd/

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  9. Well Catrina, you made me happy. It is interesting that really we are starting to see these people falling, one a time, like dominos. I also like to watch them beginning to turn on each other. I always told my kids that evil never triumphs. It may see to be winning for a time, but in the end, goodness always wins. Don't mind telling you, I was a bit worried with this stuff.

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    1. As I said in response to Catrina's comment, I don't think that DeSantis is going to suffer the loss of one vote over his actions. His supporters think he's so clever. They love that shit.

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  10. Looked to me like Ralph was aiming to vacuum about 20 non-contiguouos States!! Hey, why don't you drive the locals nuts and take Ralph out with you on one of your walks - "mess with their heads", kinda thing! You'd certainly get some miles in and Lloyd would probably be the cleanest place in Florida!

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  11. What a glorious day for a walk. You need to show us an actual map of your house so we can judge Ralph's map making abilities.
    Here shrimp are measly little things but prawns are big and meaty and delicious. I assume you are eating prawns.
    Pigeons are the ones that fly into our windows although I recently had a magpie chasing a bloody indian mynah that cracked a pane of glass.
    Sheesh. I want prawns now.

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    1. Ralph's map making abilities are probably better than mine.
      The "shrimp" we ate last night were definitely prawns. Gorgeous and delicious.
      I had to look up Indian Mynahs. We certainly do not have those around here!

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  12. It is warmer here today and the snow is melting. I will visit a friend who has been my friend for over 50 years and has health issues right now. I go out to cheer her up and I'll take her to the grocery store.
    I like the clip from that great movie - you will have to let us know how you cooked your shrimp! :)

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    1. You're a good friend, Ellen.
      I did a sort of New Orleans barbecued shrimp. They were so good.

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  13. I've never heard of a freeze affecting a cabbage palm. I think you might need an extended period of snowfall before that happened! Glad you got out for a walk on a beautiful day. I think your window-attacking bird is a young catbird.

    Ralph's map cracks me up. It makes your house look PALATIAL!

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    1. You may be right about that bird's identity. I am terrible at bird identification.
      Ralph is pretty small so perhaps to him, my house does seem palatial.

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  14. I'm making angel biscuits. I don't have any bread in the house and my husband's at work and it's too cold and far to walk for bread. I've wanted to try the recipe for awhile and now seemed like the perfect day. I'll let you know how they turn out.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.