On the Wild Side

All of these pictures were taken at the Jackson, Mississippi Zoological Park. I hope you enjoy the tour.

This little guy looked so sweet and "cuddly" ...

Until he opened his mouth!

This next picture of a Diana Monkey reminds me of a line from an old song that goes, "If I had the wings of an angel, over these prison walls I would fly."

And speaking of flying, remember Dumbo, the flying elephant in the Disney movie?

I think Giraffes are so graceful-looking, to be so tall and gangly ...

Awwww ... such a sweet face!

And while we're on the subject of faces — here's one that only his mama could love!

I interrupted the Leopard's naptime.

Isn't he gorgeous!

My favorite wild animal is the Tiger, and this one was truly magnificent.

Sable Antelope

Gotta love that sweet little "smiley face!"

The Zebra almost faded into the background.

What's for dinner, guys?

If you live near Jackson, I encourage you to visit the zoo and see all these beautiful animals for yourself.

The zoo is celebrating its 91st birthday this year and needs your support and patronage.

A Gathering of Storm Clouds

Yesterday, the weather forecast for Vicksburg was for "scattered thunderstorms, some possibly severe ..." and around noon, it looked as if the weather man was right. I happened to be out running errands (with my cameras in the car with me), and noticed some ominous clouds gathering overhead.

I decided to go over to the Mississippi Welcome Center located high on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River, and watch the clouds moving in over the bridges.

There was a brisk wind blowing and the flag on top of the railroad bridge was completely unfurled, which is always an awesome sight (you can click on the pictures to enlarge them, if you'd like).

The water tower in this next picture is on the Louisiana side of the river, across from Vicksburg.

It looked as if it was raining in Louisiana, but the rain never made it to our side of the river.

Here are a few of the pictures I captured of the bridges from the overlook at the Welcome Center. I love the contrast of the bright watermelon Crape Myrtle blooms against the gray skies (you can see them better if you click on the pictures).

Although we had some really promising-looking rain clouds for a while, the "scattered" thunderstorms must have scattered elsewhere.

We didn't need the storms, but we surely could have used some rain.

A Visit to a Corn Field

Today I'm taking you to the edge of a hot and dusty Mississippi corn field, and will give you a glimpse down a couple of the endless rows that run for miles and miles and acres and acres across flat Delta lands.

The corn stalks towered over me, their tassels swaying gently in the warm breeze ...

Although I grew up playing hide and seek amongst the corn rows of my grandfather's garden in the country, I had never really looked closely at a corn plant before, so it was fun seeing one up close through my camera lens.

Corn Silk

While doing a little research for this post, I discovered that the corn silk has such a high concentration of potassium that it is used (in capsule form) as a powerful diuretic, and can also be used to treat urinary disorders, such as kidney stones.

I think the most fascinating part of a corn stalk (and probably less seen part) is its roots (you can click on the picture to enlarge it, if you'd like to get a closer look).

Isn't that amazing!

FUN FACTS ABOUT CORN Farmers grow corn on every continent except Antarctica. One bushel of corn will sweeten more than 400 cans of Coca-Cola. There are about 800 kernels in 16 rows on each ear of corn. The corncob (ear) is actually part of the corn plant’s flower. The main ingredient in most dry pet food is corn. Corn is America's number one field crop. Corn leads all other crops in value and volume of production. A pound of corn consists of approximately 1,300 kernels. Corn is a member of the grass family. A bushel of corn can provide 2.5 gallons of ethanol fuel, or about 32 pounds of sweetener or cornstarch. Over 3,000 products in the supermarket contain corn in some form, including cereals, snack foods, margarine, oil, puddings, soda, and soap. A bushel of corn fed to livestock produces over 5 pounds of beef, 13 pounds of pork, 19 pounds of chicken, or 28 pounds of catfish!

Now that I know a little more about corn than I did when I started this post, I think I'm going to take our granddaughter Avery to a corn field next week and let her discover the wonders of corn for herself ... and let her take some pictures while we're there!

An Afternoon at Sanctuary Lake

This past weekend my husband, our granddaughter Avery, and I spent a couple of hours at our lot on Sanctuary Lake in Madison County, Mississippi.It was a gorgeous June day, with big fluffy-white clouds overhead, and bright blue skies reflected in the lake waters.

Here are a few of the pictures I captured while we were there ...

Avery had fun collecting rocks ...

And putting them in the "triangle" we made so they wouldn't get lost.

She also amused herself by trying to catch a butterfly on her finger ...

The many faces of Avery Grace ...

Sorry, I tend to get sidetracked by taking pictures of Avery. Here are some more pictures of the lake ...

If you are a regular visitor to Southern Lagniappe, you may remember that our house is up for sale. Unfortunately, with the housing market being depressed countrywide, and especially slow here in Vicksburg (for sellers, anyway), our moving and house-building plans are in limbo for the time being.

Our plan is to sell our house and lease one in Madison County, where we'll be closer to our lot while building the new house, and also be closer to Avery and her mommy and daddy and baby brother, who will be born soon. That's the plan, anyway ...

In the meantime, we'll just have to try to be patient and pray that God will send some special people along who will love our house as much as we do.

Oh, and, Lord ... would you please send them soon?