Saturday, May 29, 2010

The Guineas Are Coming! The Guineas Are Coming!

I've never considered myself a "city" girl even though I was born and raised in Northern Virginia, just 12 short miles from Washington, DC. I mean, we lived in the suburbs. We had beautiful trees and flowers and shrubs and narrow, two-lane roads and a yard to mow. But after moving to Bear Creek, NC...well, let's just say I may be a little more citified than I thought.

I have seen and experienced things here in the South that I never have before in my life. For example; breaded, deep-fried green beans. Really? Aren't the green things supposed to be the stuff that's good for us? Doesn't breading it and deep-frying it sort of defeat the purpose? And why oh why can't I get a pizza delivered to my house? And Internet service...don't even get me started on Internet service.

But I recently witnessed something that caused me to rub my eyes, squint, and take a closer look. I heard them first. I can't even describe the noise...sort of like a turkey with his waddle caught in a vice. And the shape...much like a plum poised atop a watermelon. Quite frankly people, this was the damnedest looking fowl I'd ever seen in my life! I even said out loud, "What the hell is that?"

Fortunately, my husband is a country boy - born and bred in Kentucky. He laughed and said, "those are guineas". Yeah, that immediately cleared things up for me. My response? "What the hell is a guinea, where'd they come from and why are they in MY yard?"

Apparently, our closest neighbor is the proud owner of these ground fowl. And apparently they wander, looking to gobble up insects that live on the ground or fly just at knee level (my knee level, not the guineas). Evidently, they are great at keeping the tick count down and having mosquitoes for dessert - both of which I'm more than okay with!


But why must they be so odd looking? Of course, they could be thinking the same thing about me, huh?

The thing that cracks me up the most...when I start the riding mower, it's only a matter of minutes before I am surrounded by these barnyard fowl. You'd think I'd just opened a flavorful packet of breaded, deep-fried ticks.

1 comment:

Brandi said...

Um, can I just say I totally thought you were talking about guinea pigs? LOL!!! I swear, you have more things show up in your yard than I have ever heard of before! LOL :) Can't wait to see you soon!! <3