AN UNCONVENTIONAL PACKAGE.

When I bought this Shaman stick, I had no idea where I could put it or how to get it home. In Cortez, Colorado, the shipping store clerk called UPS and  FED-EX while we stood at the counter. Those options were not available. We were told it was too long. Admittedly, awkward in size and shape, with feathers that are somewhat delicate, black and white horsehair, a fox skull. Just walking down the street of Cortez brought some interesting looks and comments.

Comments from Jim were a bit more frustrating. “Where are you going to put it?  We don’t have room in the motor home. You need to take this thing back. Let’s be practical.”
We wired and hung it from the storage in the Motor Home, all the while Jim insisting that taking it back is the only practical thing to do. For me, practical and a work of art  don’t mix.
Several times over the phone he would offer, why don’t I cut it in half, ship it to you and you can put it together on your end. Being persistent, he found out that it COULD be shipped by UPS from New Mexico. Who knows why the difference? He told the clerk, “…a bent feather and I’m a dead man.”
It took some doing to figure out where to put it. But, since I only have myself to please, it looks fine to me in a corner of my living room.

It may not be conventional, but anyone who knows me is not surprised by that.

AVERY ISLAND'S RICHES

 Edmund McIlhenny settled on Avery Island in the late 1800;s  and discovered a pillar of salt. It was a natural formation as deep as Mt. Everest is tall. However, a friend gave him a handful of peppers from South America. He planted them and decided to make a sauce. The result? Tabasco Sauce, a unique hot sauce no one has duplicated. It takes so little to flavor food I was amazed that 700,000 bottles a day go through the McIlhenny Plant on Avery Island, which is still operated by Edmund's decendants.

The process is pretty simple. The peppers at the peak of ripeness are ground with local salt and aged in barrels. The barrels have holes drilled in the top, covered with a thick layer of salt, and the fermentation process takes about 3 years. When its removed, the mixture is stirred for 28 days with vinegar before bottling.

One grandson,  E.A. McIlhenny, a botanist, saved egrets from extinction. The birds were slaughtered by the millions by hat making hunters for their beautiful feathers. His breeding grounds today, used by egrets and herons, attracts 10,000 birds to the nesting platforms he built for them. The bird preserve and botanical garden E.A. McIlhenny built,  hauls in tons of twigs for the birds nesting materials each year since their isn't enough natural growth to support them on the island.

The egrets recognize there is not enough food on the island to support them and their babies so they do not eat any food from the island. They range far and wide over the bayous to feed leaving the island food for the weaker hatchlings.

The Jungle Garden and bird sanctuary is open all year for tourists. Over 1,000 different specimens of camellias, many bamboos, shrubs, and plants from all over the world are kept here. Old natural oaks dominate the scene along with man made lagoons that attract much wildlife. Beauty is the result.

  

After leaving the island, we drove to Del Cambre, the jumbo shrimp capital of the United States. The shrimpers gather here at the peak of shrimp season by the hundreds. Their festival is held in August.

Roosters,Virginia Adair, Salt Free Drinking Water

We wake to roosters every morning, a condition I adore. I once had a rooster named Fat King Crow. He was a magnificent specimen of all colors having Buff Orphington, Road Island Red and who knows what else? The turquoise feathers juxtaposed with the black and buff present a fine cowl, a proud tail; add to that a thick attractive comb and wattles. Handsome as a prize. His picture is not available from Yuma, but I promise to dig it up when I return home. On another subject, locally, Brownie’s Restaurant, (opened in 1946) is a hot spot. They offer internet which is soooo nice for the traveler. They have a local sausage, (I hope I spell this correctly,) called a Kamanan Sausage. I decided to try it. A winner!!. The waitresses are personable, efficient and have a sense of humor, besides.
An anomaly about Yuma is the many stations to buy salt free water. I’m assuming the ground water here has salt intrusion. Just over the hill is the inland sea and vast sand dunes. I haven’t researched it for accuracy yet.
I’ve a book of poems by Virginia Adair that I love. Consider the following in the wake of the recent Santa Ana Fires that destroyed so much of Southern California-

In September
The Sant’Ana

Makes dogs tremble
Arsonists go mad
Lovers bite in bed

At all hours
sirens howling
Into the foothills

Along the ridges
Rows of hideous suns
At midnight

Trees burst

Insane deer
Run with the horses

She writes with a hard, true edge.