Neddy's Palaver

On the fourteenth day of February, half way through the second month of the year, the birds of the fields begin the choosing of their mates who will help them feather their nests and raise their brood. This yearly event went not unnoticed by ancient humans who came to celebrate Saint Valentine’s Day in emulation of the ways of the birds.

The fowl of the air continue to reveal sweet mysteries of life for humans of the female gender on Valentine’s Day. The young woman who spies a robin redbreast flying o’er head on Valentine’s Day, will marry a sailor. A young woman who first sees a lowly sparrow, is prophesied to marry a pauper who will spend his life making her happy. And the fortunate young girl who spots a goldfinch on Valentine’s Day, will marry a rich man.

In a previous post I referred to the author of this old poem as anonymous, however I have recently found it connected to Elizabeth Cheney.

Overheard In An Orchard

Said the Robin to the Sparrow
“I should really like to know
Why these anxious human beings
Rush about and worry so.”

Said the Sparrow to the Robin
“Friend I think that it must be
That they have no Heavenly Father
Such as cares for you and me.”

–Elizabeth Chaney - 1859

The Podcast:
The Tonight Show Video: Boo Boo the Chicken Does Leno

The Book of “Extraordinary Chickens”
You will crack up as you watch Marian Morris arrive carrying Boo Boo and a towel to wipe Boo Boo’s chicken poop. You will laugh even harder as every time that Marian laughs, she waves around Boo Boo’s poo-poo towel in the face of the guest sitting next to her. As all are laughing so hard, none of them seems to notice, and since the Bird Flu has not yet arrived in Arkansas, I suppose it is of no consequence. However, I do wonder why everyone, including Nurse Marian, refers to Boo Boo as a “him”. Strange indeed!

DISCLAIMER: CDC warns “DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!”

Mouth-to-Beak Resuscitation of The Arkadelphia Chicken — It’s For the Birds! And it’s for you, if you cannot get enough of Boo Boo’s unbelievable adventure. It’s a kind of Lazarus story of resurrection from the dead.

Boo Boo is a $2.37 chicken from the farm store and she fell into a pond and drowned. Marian Morris is a retired nurse who wasted no time using her skills to save Boo Boo. She described the mouth-to-beak resuscitation, “Well, you open up this little beak and it’s got this little tongue and you don’t see an airway. So, I just blew hard. It’s the first time I’ve done CPR on a beak.”

Her sister-in-law, co-owner of Boo Boo, said, “I couldn’t believe it when she put her mouth right over that chicken’s beak and started blowing into it. His eyeballs just opened up and then she would stop and they’d close and she’d do it again and his eyeballs would pop open and when Jackie came home, I says, ‘You will not believe what your sister did.’”

Jackie, the other owner, decided that Boo Boo needed to be rushed to ICU because she was still having some troubles. On Jay Leno’s show, Marian Morris described it as an Arkansas ICU—a cardboard box with a hairdryer inside. As Becky, the wife of Jackie, explained: “So, my husband put it in the box and put it out here in the sunshine and I was out here reading my bible. I just got to the part where Lazarus was raised from dead and that chicken give a squawk and jumped out of that box and sat on the side and I called my husband I said, ‘You won’t believe this chicken has come alive.’” (Thanks Martha)

Boo Boo’s Official Web Site
Linked at “basil’s blog” and “Wizbang’s” Carnival of Trackbacks.

They Do Not Run for Cover
Our national symbol, the bald eagle, is truly representative of the American people. Found only on the continent of North America, from the pre-historic days of the native peoples until today, Americans have respected the courage, fortitude and, yes, ferocity of the bald eagle as a symbol of our cultural heritage. The eagle is the only bird that flies in a storm. “American Daughter” is offering this wonderful graphic of our magficient bird to show our resolve and to support our fighting men and women in harm’s way. You may go to her site and pick up the graphic: “Don’t Cut and Run”.

Letter to Mrs. Bixby, Boston, Massachusetts
November 21, 1864
Dear Madam:
I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.
Yours very sincerely and respectfully,
Abraham Lincoln

Bald Eagles of the Chesapeake Bay
Linked at Michelle Malkin.

YES! They’ve found the cure, and it is “oh, so easy“! Kimchee - as in “you are in deep kimchee“. According to “Sauerkraut.com”

SUPERFOOD STRIKES AGAIN:
Scientists Find Kimchi Sauerkraut May Cure Avian Flu - A cure in a meal: U.S. Sauerkraut sales expected to skyrocket

Fremont, OH—October 18, 2005—In yet another indication that Sauerkraut is the super food of the 21st century, scientists at Seoul National University have successfully used Kimchi Sauerkraut to treat chickens infected with avian flu. Kimchi is a seasoned variety of sauerkraut that shares Lactobacillus bacteria with traditional Sauerkraut, which may be the critical element in preventing Avian Flu. Both Kimchi and traditional Sauerkraut are made by fermenting sliced cabbage, producing a high level of lactic acid.

According to an October 2005 BBC report, Kimchi was fed to 13 infected chickens and 11 of them started recovering within a week. South Korean Kimchi consumption is up as a result of this report and U.S. sales of Sauerkraut are also expected to spike up.

Well, here’s hoping that whatever miracle cure is contained in kimchee, is also contained in German-style sauerkraut, as the German dish is a simpler and more palatable food than the Korean kimchee. In fact, if kimchee is the cure for bird flu - most people would prefer to take their chances with the disease. I wonder about the birds too - would they really eat kimchee?

The results of a recent study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry concluded that sauerkraut is a cancer inhibitor. The study discovered that the fermentation of cabbage (how sauerkraut is made) produced a substance called isothiocynates, which prevents cancer growth, particularly in the breast, colon, lung and liver. Packed with vitamins, iron, and fiber, sauerkraut is also rich in cruciferous phytochemicals, which have long been proven to have disease fighting powers. (Sauerkraut.com)

If kimchee does work, it is most probably a preventative, rather than a cure, as one serving of the garlicy kimchee will keep everyone, even including chickens, far, far away.

Ruffles & Flourishes to Sahmwhere Ntranzishn.

At War in Florida or just best buds a-cruising the ‘Glades?

I discovered this strange new phenomenon that is happening in Florida - the alligators and the pythons are at war with each other (“Python Explodes After Eating Alligator”). I know that it is nature in action; all a part of Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest, but … I did not know that there were pythons in Florida. Whew .. am I glad I moved north from there some years ago.

The good news is that, at times, the alligators are winning. Who would have ever thunk that it would come to this - us rooting for the alligator! What a good thing it is that we saved him from extinction. Otherwise, those pythons would be coming up on land to feed on cats, dogs and … horrors … lil chilluns. That still may happen … if the pythons finish off the ‘gator.

The bad news is that the alligator is the only wildlife that is capable of besting the python - mano a mano, so to speak. Pythons eat everything else that swims, crawls, slithers, flies or walks and they need a high protein diet of fresh meat to sustain their six to more than twenty feet length and girth of up to 200 pounds.

Where did they come from? Thank you exotic pet shops of America for adding to our natural habitat. You make the guy who released all the birds from Shakespeare’s writings to look like a Mary Poppins (Shakespeare’s Starlings). We look with disdain upon all of those English sparrows and starling pests at our bird feeders, yet we don’t fear them. Twenty-foot pythons are another story.

Predators in paradise
Internet Images of Burmese Pythons
Tracked at Cao’s Blog, The Political Teen, California Conservative, and Wizbang’s Carnival of Trackbacks.