Smokey Mountain Breakdown

Sorry, no food today. You know, guys--I'm not eating much but raw fish and udon soup these days. I've become addicted to bonita flakes--anyway, I promise the very first food porny thing I come across, I will do another FPF. I did have lunch this past week at one of those new Japanese buffets that are starting to pop up here in the Southeast. Yeah--I know, you've had them everywhere where else for years now. Anyway--it looks like it's going the way of the Chinese buffet restaurant--perverting a basically healthy cuisine to cater to American tastes. I took my library book--Isabel Allende's Daughter of Fortune--and took my time sampling things and drinking tea. Why is their jello so delicious and ours so awful? I must learn how to make that coconut jello.

I had a wonderful photo op today, ruined by putting my camera in a safe place. This very handsome black snake was in the yard, so I tried to move it along so the dogs wouldn' t get it. I have had meeces and any critter that eats them is a friend of mine. So, dogs caught on and harassed snake up on the porch where it climbed a hanging plant. Anyway, it was gone by the time I found the camera--so you'll have to do with this photo of me with scary parrots.

There is an interesting black snake tale that I've heard. These big black snakes are said by some to develop white spots and give off poisonous fumes. A snake miasma--if you will. It will make you very sick they say. I grabbed this guy by the tail and tried to pull him away--with all the appropriate squeaky girl noises--and he did have a weirdly unpleasant smell--unlike the regular snake smell. If you've kept snakes you know about that musty sweet smell.