Things to See

 We had another day of Fall weather (that makes 3 so far!) last week.  After that, summer again.  The worst thing about these summer days (in October) has been the humidity – upwards of 90%.  Ugh.  I’ve done some yard work, some furniture moving, some cooking – nothing much interesting to talk about. 

 Therefore I thought I’d share some things I’ve seen lately instead.

 I walked the neighborhood the other day.  On the next street over, a resident has one of those huge metal roosters in their front yard.  Cute.

 Couple of houses down, the homeowners had a really pretty peacock in their yard.  I stopped to look at it – very nice, very realistic,

 

then, it turned and looked at me.  Yep – the real deal.  Lives a couple more streets over and occasionally walks the neighborhood too.  And, here we go with the Did You Know?  (I did not)

The collective term for these birds is “peafowl.” The males are peacocks, the females are peahens and the babies are peachicks.  They are members of the pheasant family.

A group of peafowl is s called an “ostentation.

Peafowl that are in the zoos or other controlled environments can live for as long as 40 years.

Peacocks shed their train every year after mating season.

In medieval times, the birds were plucked, roasted and then re-dressed in their feathers to appear in their original live state on the dinner table. Here’s the presentation instructions from one recipe:

“wynde the skyn wit the fethurs and the taile abought the body, And serue him forthe as he were a-live”

The birds may have looked beautiful, but they reportedly tasted terrible. According to physicians of the day, it was tough and coarse, difficult to digest and generated bad humors.

When my NM daughter was here last, we took a day off from working in the house to go to the beach.  One of the things we all are good at is finding

 

shark’s teeth. 

 

According to the Hawaiian culture, it is believed that sharks are the embodiment of god and their tooth as a protective amulet.

If you’re not into shark-tooth collecting, you may not realize that these are more than just teeth -- they're fossils.  That's why most of the teeth that are found aren't white, but gray, black or brown.

Shark teeth are arranged in conveyor belt rows and can be replaced within a day.  Most sharks have five rows of teeth; the bull shark has fifty rows of teeth.

 I also found this pretty and intact shell

 

and started to pick it up but - - its occupant, a hermit crab, popped out so I left it and him alone.  Did you know?  You can keep hermit crabs as pets.  Yes, I did know that – you used to be able to buy them at Murdocks in Galveston (no more, the once unique and unusual tourist stop has turned into a pricey tourist trap).  Just in case you didn’t know -

Hermit crabs can live up to 10 years.

They can grow up to 6 inches long.

Hermit crabs can be handled, but will pinch if threatened or scared.

They molt (shed their skin) and therefore change shells as they grow.

The shell is important because they do not have a hard external shell for protection.

 Couple weeks ago, while Bobby and I were putting my yard arch together, this slithered by.  I got the sharp-shooter and he cut the head off.  Yes, it is a coral snake.

 

They have the second-strongest venom of any snake (the black mamba has the deadliest venom), but they are generally considered less dangerous than rattlesnakes because coral snakes have a less effective poison-delivery system. 

Coral snakes have small, fixed fangs and a small mouth so it is difficult for them to puncture human skin.  Because of their small size, these snakes don’t carry much venom in their fangs, so they try to hold onto their victim for some time.

A rhyme was penned as a way for people to quickly and easily differentiate between a nonvenomous scarlet kingsnake and the coral snake.

Red on yellow, kill a fellow; Red on black, friend of Jack.

 This is my youngest grandson and son.  Sigh.  I’m hoping I won’t get any phone calls about grown-up adult male persons and broken bones.

 

Skateboarding is considered to have developed from surfing, and was initially known as sidewalk surfing, with the first skateboard being introduced in the year 1950.

Among all the sports in the world, skateboarding has made its mark among the top ten most popular sports.

Skateboarding is now a preferred mode of travel for students around their campus. Furthermore, it has emerged as an alternative to and a way of dealing with the continuously increasing cost of gas.

 This is my Mistletoe Cactus (Rhipsalis).  A friend gave me a cutting many long years ago. 

 

Rhipsalis is a genus of flowering plants in the cactus family, typically known as mistletoe cacti. They are found in parts of Central America, the Caribbean and northern regions of South America. They also inhabit isolated locations in Africa and Asia, and are the only cactus group naturally occurring in the Old World. 

 

And, guess what!  It bloomed.  The flower is tiny, maybe the size of a pencil eraser but there are flowers and buds all over it.  First time ever.  Usually I keep it in deep shade but with the move, deep shade is something I don’t have any of.  So, it’s been in the sun.  I guess it likes the sun well enough to bloom.

 The Demon Duo have started to annoy the robovac again.  So, I moved it.  Took them about 5 minutes to find it and once again, slap it away from it’s home.  Argh!

 

This is the reason I do not pinch their heads right off and tell god they died.

 Well, Happy Monday to all!

 

 

26 Oct 2020