spring has sprung!

Hey ya’ll,

I don’t know about you, but this has been the most cold, dreary, dismal, depressing winter I can remember and I am gladder than all get-out that it’s over! 4 straight days of nice weather…and to paraphrase my friend Amy, “I have a farmer’s tan, dirt under my fingernails and my shoulders ache from long un-used muscles…” Got the tomato seeds planted on the full moon and they are peeking out to say hello to the world. They are bunkmates with some Mammoth and Summerlong Basil. Oh, I just can’t wait. I’m helping things along with a heating pad on their bottoms and full-spectrum lights on their heads. They have no choice but to GROW.

My room mate has been a big help this weekend because when I went to mow the Bluebird field for the first time Saturday, the drive axel wouldn’t turn, so he beat on it until it cooperated. Grass. There was grass to mow. It was incredible. And it looked like this mere weeks ago…


Pesto covered legs…I know…a pretty scary sight...


Then the attic fan went kaput and Don squeezed up through a tiny hole in the ceiling and braved lions and tigers and bears (Oh! My!) to go up and remove the motor to work on it. Alas, it’s the capacitor and the motor is so old, it was built into the board and I’ll have to replace the whole dang thing. I HAVE to have the attic fan because it’s cheaper to run than the AC. And to top that off, my drain field is gurgling when I run the washer. Does God have a sense of humor, or what? Why couldn’t it have been an oil field like the Clampets? After all, I feel like Ellie Mae reincarnated. All this with no lectures on the horizon because the schools have no money. I’m not sure what is to become of me and mine and I would be fibbing if I said I wasn’t scared. **sigh**

Don is leaving for greener pastures in a few weeks and I will miss him. He and I grew up in the same neighborhood in Florida and have known each other since I was 16…back when the dinosaurs ruled the planet. He’s quitting his nice, safe, boring job with the Dept. of Ag. to run a mobile BBQ business on the Redneck Riviera. Life is short; I say go for it!

Hal Coleman (www.halcoleman.com) subbed for O’Neill Williams 2 weeks ago on AM 750WSB (since my last update) and invited me down to the studio for the show. It was great fun and hopefully, it will open the door to more in-studio visits in the future. The great thing about radio is that you don’t have to clean up for it. This is what I look like at 3:55 in the morning…nothing but a pale face in a sea of shadows, sucking on mess hall coffee.


The show was over at 6 and by 7:05am, I was lying down for a short nap before our display at Scottsdale Farms Nursery over in Milton. Real nice people and they have all kinds of cool stuff. They are willing to sell some of my note cards on consignment, God bless them… Here I am showing dear Scully’s broken jaw to some people who stopped by the display… Thanks, Nancy…for taking the picture! I came home, passed out and slept for 12 hours. This is where not having a husband or offspring come in handy…


I probably should have waited to get the results back before I blogged, but I thought I’d go ahead and tell you that Grace, during her incredible road to recovery, has started passing some blood in her mutes (poops). I collected random samples over a three day period and my doc sent them off to Miami to be checked. Only God knows how much THIS is going to cost and if anyone can help out, we sure would be grateful… It’s bright blood, so it’s not up in the stomach, but closer to the cloaca, where said poop exits. The poor dear has been through so much and I just can’t believe this is now happening. Her personality is great, appetite is good and I jessed her and took her outside for the first time Friday. She was awesome! Joe was here giving Maxine some glove time and we sat out together and it went very well. Only thing, blood in the mutes is NOT normal and we really need to find out what’s going on. **another heavy sigh**

On the glove even before I installed the jesses…


I’m trying real hard to squeeze out some good news here, so…the baby chickens are hale and hearty! All 16 survived babyhood and didn’t get pounded on too badly by Dick when I put them into the general population two weeks ago. He systematically went around and whacked them on the head a couple times just to let them all know ‘who’s yer daddy’. I bought a hanging waterer and feeder and there is much less waste on the ground, but I still throw out some Scratch Grains, just like Little Mouse On the Prairie… Aren’t they cute? Anybody need eggs?


Someone sent this pic over this weekend…


“Phooey…”


Oh Criminey! Is he dead? Anyone know CPR?


Johnson cruising the pond…


Shot this Green Frog Friday and ‘posterized’ it. Cool, no?


Followed by an American Bullfrog. I LOVE frogs!


Like hawk lids, Johnson’s eyes close UP from the bottom…


This is sort of weird…it appears that this is Johnson’s new ‘flock’. He’s been spending HOURS lying next to these pots… I hope he doesn’t mind that these pots are soon to be filled with Heirloom tomatoes…


Oh, and to the Wild Bird Center customers…That was always a very big day for us financially and so I am very sorry that we became a bore to you. For the first time in I think about 6 or 7 years, Alex and Linda hired someone else because according to Linda, “too many customers were asking for different birds.” I am sorry to disappoint, but I can only have as many birds as I can feed and house. Doors close, windows open, or that’s what they say, anyway… I’m still waiting on the last part of that equation.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I appreciate it….m.

PS. I’m not very good at self promotion and, when it comes to asking for donations, I just hate it. Unfortunately, it is a necessary part of my life. Being a non-profit organization, I (and all of my birds) depend on generous folks like you to send donations to help us pay for the thousands of mice that feed and sustain us (well, not me….just the birds), although Rat Tar-Tar is looking better and better lately.

So….if you truly believe in what we do, and you can spare a few dollars, please consider sending them to us here at Hawk Talk. For any donation of $12.00 or more, I will send you one of our classic DVD’s to watch and share. They are guaranteed to make you laugh, and most likely, make you cry too.

Thank you and have a blessed day.

Make checks payable to: Hawk Talk, Inc. Send to: P.O. Box 130, Holly Springs, Ga. 30142