I Waited Until After Breakfast to Post This

Yesterday, Missy found a dead catfish on the far bank of the pond. All that remained of it was the intact skeleton and semi-fleshy head. She brought it to me. It must have been at least 12" long. Of course, after she brought it to me, she ran away with it and dropped it somewhere in the middle of the pasture.

The first thing she did when we arrived at the pasture this morning was to retrieve it, bring it to me,

and run off with it again.

The vertebrae were gone this morning.

Just the bony head remained.

I'm off to work in the herb garden.

Oh for crying out loud!

Although I've just returned from a wonderful time in the pasture with Missy & Rocky, I'm not in the best of moods this morning. The Mississippi river is way down-- they are having to dredge to free barges stuck in the sand. Not good news. More on this later. Just after I'd cleaned the floors yesterday, Missy found a basket of pine cones while we were fixing supper and not paying attention. Pine cone parts are everywhere. I have to go to Starkvegas earlier than usual today and be asked to answer a lot of stupid questions that have nothing to do with getting a new pair of eye glasses. And now this.

Catfish: So Nice, the Feds Will Inspect Them Twice

Do you have any idea what this will do to the price of catfish, which Mr. Big Food loves? Neither do I except to know that it won't go down.  From MSUCares:

The rapid growth of the catfish industry in the 1980s and 1990s led it to become one of the most important agricultural activities in states such as Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, and Louisiana. The combined production acreage of these four states makes up 94 percent of all catfish production acreage. Mississippi has had more acreage in catfish production than the other three states combined and has held this position since the late 1980s. The catfish industry generates an economic impact of billions of dollars and is the primary source of economic activity and employment in a number of Mississippi counties.