Save the Ducks!

Hello folks! I’m extra excited today because I get to welcome all of you to our new All Things Southern porch. BIG KUDOS to my daughter Miss Kitchen Belleicious for all the hard work she put into developing it! I hope you’ll take time to look around a bit. There are a lot of cool bells and whistles around here. For instance, under the Media tab, you can find the new Shellie TV and radio podcasts room. I’m still in the progress of migrating audio and video files but this is how we’ll be archiving the shows! You’ll also notice the cool slider. I plan to add more to the Meet theBelle’s family, too, (for starters I need to schedule a photo shoot for me and my man) but you’ve gotta know that pic of me with the grands is one of my favorite things about the updated porch!  I’m also excited about the new and improved opportunities this site will give us to interact. You’ll notice comment boxes below all of the regular segments  and those comments are synced with Facebook! I look forward to hearing from you there.

As a reminder, we’re also knee deep into our annual drive here at All Things Southern. Longtime readers will know that I humbly ask that if you get any enjoyment about of ATS, please consider joining me in 30 Days of Thankfulness. We’ve drilled a water well together in a desperate African village and we’ve sent food to hungry little mouths around the world. This year we’re raising funds to combat human trafficking and to build a school in Uganda where education can offer opportunies for the next generation to choose a different future for their country. We’re working with Make Way Partners this year. You can read all about it on the new blog and you can find the donate button right there. Five dollars, ten– whatever you can do is greatly appreciated! Whew! I hope you’re not plum tuckered out by all the excitement! It’s time to chat…

A couple of interesting nature stories have been brought to my attention. The first one came to me courtesy of a longtime listener, who knows that I’m always interested in the antics of PETA, also known as the National Association of People Who Eat Trees.

Back story: It was early October and a tanker trailer was on its way to market in California carrying a load of live fish when it crashed, rupturing the water compartments and causing many of the fish to die at the scene. PETA is now suing the state on behalf of a lady who wants to force them to erect a road side memorial on the spot— in memory of the fish. My source thought this was unusual. I said yes, and no. Granted, California has a way of defining unusual.  On the other hand, fry up a mess of catfish for us southerners and we’ll gladly offer our own sort of memorial in appreciation of those who gave their lives. We call it saying grace.

The second story is the stranger one. During super storm Sandy, a Pennsylvania woman jumped into a raging river on a rescue mission. She was bent on saving half a dozen wild ducks— from drowning. Bless her heart. That’d be a lot funnier if eight policemen hadn’t risked their lives saving hers!

I reached out to Boss Hog from Duck Dynasty to see if he and his family felt at all responsible for the whole country going duck crazy but as of airtime there’s been no comment. Once again, it seems to be up to The Belle but never fear, I’m all over it. I’ve created a simple checklist to put in your purse or man bag for anyone who may need this kind of briefing. If that’s you, please scan it before undertaking one of these high water rescue missions. If you can make out:

feathers

bills

or web feet

chances are the struggling parties will survive— unless, of course, it’s hunting season. If that’s the case, it’d still be in your best interest to back away.

Hugs, Shellie