Pepper and Elizabeth

She is a lioness, stalking prey in her personal savanna in the backyard.
She used to live under beds, cowering in fear when strangers approached.

Her name is Pepper, and she is mighty fierce since moving to Alabama. She's about eleven years old - give or take a little - but she's happier and healthier than she's ever been.

She crouches and pursues voles and field mice. She stares down Velociraptor-Rhode-Island-Reds and wins pieces of cheese.

About sunset, though, she is ready for a lap in a rocking chair on the back porch.

You wouldn't believe what I've rocked to sleep out there, including this chicken:

 

    

Her name is Elizabeth, and she's sort of the clan matriarch.

She is our brave, intrepid Speckled Sussex; the only one that will actually cross the road for food. (She's been spotted approaching the Delta General Store.)
Her eggs are superb. She will work for okra. She's just about my favorite chicken in the whole world.













While Pepper stalks her personal Serengeti, I'm off to get my own wild mane tamed today.

Here's a terrific, amazing choir performance of Toto's "Africa" to get your Wednesday going. I promise you, it's worth viewing.

Perpetuum Jazzile's Performance of "Africa"