Bring on the flies!!!

I'm the type of person who really, really has to be in the mood to enjoy shopping. Grocery shopping is a chore, and I prefer to buy my signature Swamp People t-shirts online rather than go to a store and admit to a salesperson that I'd rather wear a shirt graced with a huge green snapping alligator on it than retain the $20 in my pocket. And the only way you can get me into WalMart is to drag me kicking and screaming. Or as Gene would tell you, whining and complaining. But at least he made our latest WalMart trip totally worth it - he got me a Venus flytrap plant! And even more romantic than that, he killed and fed Grendel her first fly when we got home!

Now that Jasmine has some competition in the carnivoration department (I just made up a word!), I've been seeing her a lot more. She tends to hang out directly above Grendel, hanging from the sunlamp hidden amongst the Stevia blossoms. I have yet to see her actually catch and devour an insect, but she must be pretty fearsome since she's the only mantis left. I hope she didn't eat Willard and Bromier, because I haven't seen them in a month or so. I'm guessing that it got too hot in there even for tree frogs; they'll probably be back for the winter months.

I think Hawthorne got jealous over all the time I've been spending in the greenhouse, because he decided to disappear for about two hours today. Needless to say, I was frantic because there aren't that many places a 40-pound turkey can hide, or waddle to. The fact that there aren't too many predators that can carry off a feathered heifer like that didn't stop me from panicking and tromping around the woods for an hour. Since Gene was at work, I called Abigail, who came down to help me look for him. It only took one of her bellows for him to come ambling out of the blackberry brambles; I think he thought it was funny to hide from mama, but realized he was in trouble when I called in the big guns. On the plus side, I found all sorts of interesting things during my S&R mission in the woods - two hidey holes, one containing Harvey, the other Cinnabun, and a huge nest of turkey eggs. At least when Prudence decides to go broody, I'll know where to look.