As we were sitting down on our lanai to a nice pizza dinner
with a Corona (MLB) and Yuengling (YFC), Suzanne said, “Be careful; don’t burn
your tongue.” I looked at her in astonishment, and said, “My Darling, I’ll have
you know that I have NEVER burned my tongue or the roof of my mouth on a beer.”
(What was she thinking?)
I have received four entries to date on this week’s Hot Air Balloon Geo-Quiz,
from Chris Lavender, Lynn Spence, Cheryl Breault, and Katherine Cote. If you have
sent in your entries by carrier pigeon, they have not yet arrived...
Okay, so now that I have your interest piqued, you want to
know more about carrier pigeons. They are actually domesticated rock pigeons, Columba livia, and originally carried
only tiny messages on paper attached to their leg(s). The earliest documented use of these feathered
mail carriers was in 6th Century B.C., when Cyrus, King of Persia,
used them to communicate with far-flung parts of his empire. (Would you call this method of communication "ancient tweeting"?)
During the
Franco-Prussian War in the 1870s, besieged Parisians used them to send messages
(such as orders for wine and truffles) outside the city. The Prussian army
responded by hiring dozens of hawks to hunt the pigeons. They were also used by
the British, French, and Germans during World Wars I and II. This photo shows a
French bus fitted with pigeon coops. (Of note, French vehicles have not
improved dramatically since this 1915 photo).
In some areas, carrier pigeons were trained to carry as much
as 2 ½ ounces. One group of carrier pigeons in Germany carried medicine to
distant locations, and in 1977 two British hospitals set up a carrier pigeon
service to transfer laboratory specimens between Plymouth and Devonport. (Ah,
the glories of socialized medicine!)
It hasn’t been a good week for geckos (Hemidactylus frenatus) in the Giesemann household. (Well, on the
lanai, anyway... we generally don’t have a large number of geckos running around
the house itself.) The box score is now Rudy 9, Geckos 1; we managed to save
one little guy who was about to become Gecko-toast. Suzanne grabbed Rudy’s
harness while I scooped up the cousin of the star of auto insurance into a
saucepan with a lid, and then tossed him unceremoniously into the yard, where
he slunk (or "slinked") away. (Don’t lizards have to “slink”?
I tried “saunter”, “prance”, and even “sashay”, but none of those verbs fit.)
Speaking of “sashaying”,
the word “sashay” comes from a French word, “chaisse”, meaning chasing, or to chase. This actually leads into
our last subject in this post, a potential stalker driving a Lexus that has
been seen following (“or chasing?”) Suzanne’s red Corvette several times in the
past few days. The driver looks suspiciously like a friend of ours, Gail
Grossman, but as she is a highly respected lawyer (actually, that may be a
contradiction in terms), it surely could not be she... her... she... Anyway, if
anyone happens to observe a red Corvette followed by a suspicious-looking Lexus with a
driver disguised as Gail, please text me so I can have the appropriate
authorities notified.
P.S. Translator's Note for New Readers: In the lead paragraph, MLB = My Lovely Bride; YFC = Your Faithful Correspondent.
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