Birds of Paradise

Took care of admin biz today..(I forget what it was, but it was very important), did more laundry, greeted Rosa who demanded that I come look at the big Bird of Paradise that is about to produce three glorious birds heads. She said, Strelitzia!  I said they are all four Strelitzia, Rosa, just different varieties. She yelled, Nao!  Nao! and pointed to the towering Strelitzia…she yelled Palmiera! Palmiera!

Strelitzia!, I cried and staggered back pointing to the big jungle guys. 

Palmiera!
Strelitzia!
Palmiera!
Strelitzia!

Then she instantly won the argument by breaking into very very loud machine-gun Portuguese. She looked pleased that I had shut up and glad she had won. 

Next, I started the smoker in prep for slow smoking a charming little lamb shoulder roast.  It is freighted with good savory spices and, now done, it smells heavenly. 

As it rested, I went to visit Sweet Killer Bitch, our affectionate name for the ancient, crippled cattle dog mix whose only goal in life is to murder poor old Trixie.  

We now call her Sweet KB and we’ve grown quite fond of each other. Trixie stays in the car sweating and shivering while I slip through the gate and smooch on SKB. Her family is out of town and I happily volunteered to go say Hey to SKB while they are away.

We’ve established our routine. I drive up to their gate and SKB comes Limp-Charge-Yelling out to disembowel the intruders.  Once she sees (or smells) it is me she sits a couple of steps up their front stairs behind me and licks the back of my head and ears, making me lose confidence in my hygiene regimen. 
Meanwhile, there are two immense domestic grey geese across the lane  who are screaming at the top of their lungs…threatening mayhem.  I know E.B. White would have pulled a delicious Life Observation out of the geese situation, but the best I could do, being a big boy and all, was to smash my cane against their fence and call them Muthaf$&kas. They backed right off. 

Now it’s time for dinner. 
Tchau Tchau Tchau