One Very Handsome Rooster. Two Very Beautiful Trees

Here we have a living specimen of Roosteria Walmartia. There are actually quite a few chickens living in and around the Walmart parking lot in Tallahassee. I hardly ever go to Walmart but I went today, looking for the shelf liner I like for the cabin. I am not a huge fan of the Pioneer Woman (probably jealousy but actually not) but I do love some of her shelf liner. 

This is the pattern I have in some of my own kitchen cabinets. It's a fine product. 
But Walmart is the only place it can be bought, as far as I know and since we are going up there tomorrow I was told by He Who Knows that we needed shelf liner so I went to buy some. When I parked and got out of my car I heard a young rooster crowing. I knew it was a young rooster because he had that learning-to-crow strangled gargle in his voice, unlike the full, rounded tones of the mature rooster's crow. So I went to find him and I did and I took his picture. 
Right there on Lane 5 at the Walmart parking lot right next to a palmetto. 

He had no flock with him, no females at all, so I imagine he is one of the young bachelors that are driven from the flock by the alpha rooster when the young'un gets old enough to know which end of a hen is the most interesting one. Eventually, there will be blood if the younger bird decides to challenge the older one. And most of them do. 
God I miss my chickens and watching how their society and culture work. 
But it can be disconcerting to hear a rooster crowing at Walmart and some people actually try to catch the chickens, thinking they'll take them home and adopt them, not realizing that chickens can fly, run faster than you'd think with those two skinny legs, and are pros at avoiding capture. Not to mention that these particular chickens are pretty darn happy living where they do. 
A couple got out of their car about the same time I did and they heard our handsome fellow too. They came over to see him and take a picture. They were amazed! I told them about the other chickens living in and around the parking lot and the woman asked, "But what do they eat?"
I imagine that besides the bugs and lizards and mice and plants and seeds that all chickens will eat, they often feast on whatever humans leave behind, both intended and unintended for them. They are probably extremely happy birds. And they must be nesting in the surrounding area where there are still grasses and trees. 

And that was the best part about Walmart today. 

They did not have the shelf liner. Check that off the list. I wandered up and down a few aisles, looking at things a house needs but that's so overwhelming. I did find a Lodge brand fake Le Creuset dutch oven which cost about a fifth of what a real one costs. I put it in my cart, not noticing until I was showing it to Glen that it already has a chip in the handle. And I didn't put it there.
Dammit. 

 

I had planned to get the few things on my grocery list at Publix but hell, I was already at Walmart and they do have a lot of groceries so I decided to make it a one-stop trip to town and got most of what I needed. Not everything. But they do carry some interesting items since they cater to people of different ethnicities. That's always cool. But it took me about as long as it would have taken me to drive to Publix and shop there because I don't know where anything is in the Walmart grocery section. 

I did not not go through self-check out, but instead chose "assisted" check-out which is fairly interesting choice of words if you ask me. 
"I don't need no damn assistance!" I can hear people saying as they scan their own items, bag them, and put them in their carts. My check-out lady and the woman bagging my groceries were having a deep conversation about whether or not it was worth it to drive all the way to Chik Fil A to get a lemonade. Not a word was spoken to me until I'd paid and was leaving at which point the checker said, "Have a great day!" 
"You too," I mumbled, and off I went. 

So yes, tomorrow Glen and I are going up to the cabin and Vergil and the boys are coming too. Jessie is working. Glen wants Vergil to check out the internet situation and try to figure out why calls from the house keep getting dropped. I think he really wants to show Vergil how much he's gotten done. I'm going to hang out with the fellas and boil the hotdogs, I guess. Also put in new shelf liner. There is a Walmart in Quincy, which is in Florida, about the same distance to the cabin as is Bainbridge where Glen got some of the Pioneer Woman shelf liner when he took Gibson up there and that was Gibson's job- to do some shelf lining. Glen has asked me to just please not say anything about it. I am sure Gibson did his best and his best will be good enough for that task. 
I haven't been to the cabin since before the Weatherfords left for North Carolina so it's been awhile. I, too, want to see what's been done. Glen says there are tools and stuff scattered around everywhere so I'm not expecting to get a sudden urge to move in. And there's still a lot to be done. 

I'll put in some shelf liner and I'll wash the new Fiesta Ware in the new dishwasher and then put the dishes up in a cabinet. 
Oh dear god, how I wish the thought of this gave me more joy. 

I CAN DO THIS! 

I've had half a martini so I'm feeling more optimistic about the prospect of being there again. Perhaps it would help me enjoy the cabin more by staying a little buzzed all the time. 

No. No, no, no. Wouldn't be prudent!
I might see how I react to gummies though. Legal as a Walmart bakery apple pie. 

Here are a few pictures from around here today.

Japanese glory bower which I planted. Lest we forget- it's a different variety of glory bower than the one I hate and wish I could crop dust. I've had this planted for at least six or seven, maybe ten? years now and it has only shown up in one area and only a few of them, at that. Like two or three a year. It's a gorgeous plant and quite large. It stands over three feet tall, for sure. 
And that will give you some perspective on how big my beloved front-yard live oak is. 

Every time I look at this tree, or am in her presence, I feel humbled and awed. No, she is not a sequoia or a redwood but she is worthy of my adoration, I think. 

Here's another beautiful oak. This one not as old, probably, but with beautiful branches that reach out like the arms of an elder. The building it's behind is the church next door but due to the very oddly shaped lot we own, the tree is on our property. When the dead tree fell over this week, it left quite a gap in the boundary between us and the church and I noticed yesterday evening when the sun was going down that we were getting extra light in a very direct and bright way. And now we have a better view of the tree, too. 

Here we are.

Martinis, clean sheets...

Happy Friday.

Love...Ms. Moon