2019 - Day 118-247 - Sunday...Exiguous...

Well, the chicks are getting a little bit more adventurous. I counted six of them out of the coop at one time this afternoon. I have taken their food out of the coop and put it in the yard. There is water in the coop, and food from their scratching, but if they want fresh feed, they will have to go outside for it. I got the rest of the yard (including the grand lawn) cut today. It was a little bit awkward when I ran the riding lawnmower in to the hay fork on the front of the tractor. Parts went flying, but it is still running, so no real harm. Then I decided to shred a large area in the back and the grand lawn. All was going well until I got the tractor stuck in a seep. My neighbor (Jim) came to the rescue, and I quote "You know you have front wheel assist on this thing, right?" Well, no I didn't know that, and I always kind of wondered what that lever was for, and now I know. So...the yard and grounds look much better than they did, and of course it is supposed to start raining again on Tuesday. But, that will be okay with me. This is another of my favorite iris; not really UT burnt orange, more of a UT Vols orange, but how often do you see an orange iris?

Exiguous -- Adjective. excessively scanty. inadequate. "Meaningful spending cuts, however, were so exiguous that they can't count for anything more than window dressing." Phil Guarnieri, New Hyde Park Illustrated News, March 18, 2013

Did You Know? Exiguous is so expansive sounding that you might expect it to mean "extensive" instead of "meager." A glimpse at the word's etymology will disabuse you of that notion, however. Exiguous derives from the Latin exiguus, which has the same basic meaning as the Modern English term. Exiguus, in turn, derives from the Latin verb exigere, which is variously translated as "to demand," "to drive out," or "to weigh or measure." The idea of weighing or measuring so precisely as to be parsimonious gave exiguous its present sense of inadequacy. Exigere also gives us other English words. including exact and exigent.