Full Oregon Red Wine Possum Moon

What the hay y'all? Where in the world did that FMA name come from? Well I'll tell you dthe truth, from David Lee, the great Texas/Utah/Oregon/American poet, he didn't like the Full Covid19 Moon  label I used for an FMA earlier in the crisis. Thank you David. He said that full moon happened on one of those rare clear NW (Oregon) nights. He enjoyed clear views all around and a great full moon rising. So he renamed our full moon! Who better than a great poet? The Full Oregon Red Wine Possum Moon.
I'm afraid it is not happening here this FM, after days of that clear hazy hot humid thangie hanging over us, we will be clouded over and experiencing lots of rain this Forth of July at the 8:04pm's moon rising and on the fifth. Wait! They say... hmmmmmm, it is 2pm on saturday and not a cloud anywhere... hmmmmm. "You can never count on it raining and you can never count on it not raining in south Louisiana. Jimism #13.

6-6-20 I'm parked in the lot on Marie St. City Park, New Iberia, unloading my bike,  I catch a movement in the corner of my vision, it is a MIKI falling from way up, a sweet controlled fall from way, way up, breaking at treetop high to catch a tasty Mosquito Hawk then zooming back up into the clouds!

6-7-20 This early morning, walking out on the one half acre prairie meadow, it is a dew coated early morning... Slowly I realize (I'm pretty slow y'all) that I'm surrounded by a thousand Mosquito Hawks all hovering at 6" above the vegetation tops. Oh my, this is special. Must be a gazillion food species, too small for my old eyes to detect, hovering in the same zone!

This quote from Henry David Thoreau(x) (around here we put an X on the end of many names) in Heritage Farm Companion, a quarterly publication of Seed Savers Exchange. "I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed there and I am prepared to expect wonders."

6-9-20 Cooper nest in the top of a 40 year old Live Oak 35-40 ft up, a single fuzzy babe visible, oh wow! I call them bird feeder hawks, they're amazing fliers and always willing to grab a fat bird-seed eater off the perch. Circle of life y'all.
In our decorative patio bird house a Carolina Wren family has noisily occupied with 4 eggs in ready.

6-10-20 Mom Wren setting so I guess we can look for action in the next two weeks. Or sooner.

"At our best, we are teachers." Maya Angelou

6-11-20 Summer solstice on the 20th.

6-12-20 Lone Cajun Flamingo at treetop high S to N over my place. Someone must be draining crawfish ponds nearby.

6-13-20 Many Ibis  in that hour before sunset SW-NE leaving from pond draining bonanza to roost.

6-17-20 As I prepare to refill my chicken water reservoir at the coop this morning I noted a really fine big green Mosquito Hawk hanging on the chicken wire yard fence fiercely devouring a medium sized moth. I've never seen them eat that genus (moth) before and am reminded of the ferocity of Preying Mantisis (or is it praying?).
Insects are so amazing. I love this definition from the Sunday BC cartoon in our local almost non- existent newspaper. A bug describing himself to a bird "I'm an arthropod, a veinless, exoskelonal invertebrate with a hexagonal reticulationg mandible and a serrated proboscis." Now that is a lot y'all! And so amazing.

6-20-20 Summer Solstive! Today's length is 14hr and 5 minutes. Get ready, we are headed headlong into winter before you can catch your breath...

6-23, 2-2/3" rain; 6-24, 1-1/3" rain; and 6-25, 1" rainfall,  FINALLY! Thank you Lord!
As i walked out to the coop to "pick eggs" I look up through a gap in the abundant tree canopy to see a wonder. Through an invisible layer of tiny insects I see a mob of Mosquito Hawks sniping away at them and above that three or four MIKIs harvesting Mosquito Hawks.
This is an ecological wonder and an amazing ecology lesson. The here-to-fore unmentioned plants, always underrated spend all day harvesting sunlight, solar radiation and converting it to chemical energy, sugar and plant body. Insects, it is mostly insects, tap into that slow moving food supply to make insect body. The Mosquito Hawks harvest that easy and plentiful energy source (gnats and mosquitos and the like) and by exposing themselves in a feeding frenzy the Mosquito Hawks become prey for the MIKIs. And that is just a piece of the circle of life! Oh wow, so fricking amazing! And we didn't even talk about what happens to everyone's poop! Ahhh, those amazing Microbes!

7-4-20 Happy birthday America! Hold on to your hat y'all, today's day length is 14hr 1minute. We lost 4 minutes since the Solstice y'all! Hang on you are headed deep into the cold dark days of winter solstice and Christmas.

Careful with those fireworks
Take care of each other and you
Hunker well
peace love possumhugs
BT


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