Community Chat

[Winifred]

OK, here it is - January 26 - will be the big 80!!! Born in the beautiful city of Raleigh, NC - grandparents lived right across the highway and RR tracks from the State Fair buildings. By the way, they are still there. My grandparents 100 acres plus are horrible now, gas station, Poole Equipment building, other businesses and apartments or condos. It was great in my youth with many creeks and lots of woods - great habitat for exploring kids - and my older bro and I did a lot of that. I learned to drive on that property - my grandfather tossed me keys to a 36 or so Nash - floor stick. Told me to go out and learn~ Ahhh, times have changed. He was ticked at my Mother - his daughter - as she had not taught me to drive nor would she - he solved that - he did not teach me I had to figure it all out by myself. By the way, I did not total the car nor put a scratch on it. Learned to do wheelies around a fir tree however. Bear in mind my Mother was a frustrated stuntpilot and motorcycle racer - way back then - but she would never let either of her girls drive.?? My older brother was taught to drive at 12 and my younger brother had everything imaginable by age 15 or so - he was the only one that got a new car at graduation, rest of us were told if we wanted one to earn it. LOL. Big age gaps in we kids - older bro was only about 2 years older than me however, sis was 8 years younger and younger brother is 17 years younger.

Stripes is still being a super good boy - am so proud of him but do hope he continues to behave.

Thank you for the BD wishes.

[possummink]

Hi Birding Friends, Though it doesn't look like the above photo here in Florida, it kind of feels like it. It has been downright chilly here and I am so glad I have some of my sweatshirts and flannel shirts with me along with woolie socks. I love cold weather and cloudy days, but somehow down here, the chilly stuff gets to me faster than at home. Go figure...

Winifred, Your birthday is on the same day as my DH's was. Today is my DD's 51st. We have lots of birthdays in Nov and Dec. My youngest brother celebrates his on Dec. 10th. , my other brother on the 23rd., and mine is the 27th. My GD is the 20th. and I have at least 2 cousins who share my birthday and load of cousins and aunts, uncles in December.

I am not too far behind you in the golden years either. I never did grow up and am grateful to feel a lot younger than I am, most of the time. God has truly blessed me and my family and I try never to forget those blessings and I thank Him for them, but not as often as I should.

I am going to cut this short as the 2nd football game is ready to start. My Patriots lost today, but they had a great season. Love the Patriots and Rams.

Waving to all my Birding Friends. Enjoy your evening and have a wonderful start to the new week.

[Bird mama]

Good Morning Birding Friends - my employer is closed for MLK holiday so I am enjoying a long weekend. On Saturday, I took down all of the Christmas decorations. The house looked a little bare at first but my eyes seem to be adjusting. My birds are doing well and I think that Grayson and Presto most appreciate when I have extra days at home with them. Two more days and I see the endocrinologist for the thyroid. Why I need a two hour appointment with this person still escapes me. I'm coming in with blood work that confirms the issue. My ingrained distrust of doctors is something I continue to struggle with but I feel confident that I will be able to put on a pleasant face and get it over with (lol). I ordered a total gym from QVC. It will be shipped on Jan 29th and should arrive here during the first week of February. I am determined to build up my bone density without drugs.

Bird of the Day - Crested Caracara

[Winifred]

Hey Bird Mama - lucky you - nothing wrong with a 3 day weekend. Possum - I think all the people who went to Florida to get warm have been a tad disappointed. My Sis and BIl are NOT happy. Soushi, is happy but has had some cool days and my friend from here went there for a bit over a week - came home yesterday sick with a cold. Something not right in all of that - perhaps everyone should have come to California this year - 70 to almost 90 degree weather. We still need some rain!!!!

Stripes is in for the night - I am so proud of him. He has been out most of the day so I went outside and called him and he came running from the gutted house across the street. He let me pick him up and came in - that is that. Sure hope his good boy routine continues although he HAS challenged me a couple times. Guess that is the male macho in him. LOL.

Had a good lunch yesterday after church - fried ham was the main thing - I love fried ham but only have it about once a year or so. I FINALLY cut my watermelon today and tossed it in the garbage. We usually can get great watermelons all year long - not recently, however. Everyone I have bought in the past 2 months or so have been horrible. Now we can still get great sliced pieces in snack trays but NOT an entire watermelon. The one today was green as it could be, yet from the outside it appeared ripe and my usual thump showed it was ripe - go figure. Tonight will finish up my fried cabage - do not have much left but will finish it up along with my remaining baby lima beans and a tad of mashed taters - do not need any meat.

I THINK I finished filling out the ton of paperwork for my regular MD for my annual exam and also the eye surgeon. I get so tired of filling out the same form for my regular MD every single year it drives me insane. I see no need for that. I will ask him again why they simply do not give paperwork to update things for the PAST YEAR ONLY!!! I find it difficult to remember whether I was in the 1st, 2nd or 3rd grades when I had a couple surgeries and then count back to recall the exact year. Geesh - how dumb is this. Tomorrow I do have to call my eye MD to ask why both eyes are getting lasered when he told me only one was. Why am I having to do this? What can I say.

Very very quiet today and I sure loved seeing ALL the American flags lined up down the streets - that is so awesome to me. Do they do this where you all live? They are really big on the American flags flying out here a lot plus flying them ALL the holidays. Volunteers put them out and take them up - I think that is great!! Put mine back out this morning as I had to take it down due to the heavy winds last week. I love seeing that flag fly out there on the big flag pole. First Pole my Dad put out was not big enough for him so he had the fire department help him do another one. The fireman - at that time the station was run by ONE fireman and perhaps 30 vlounteers and they were really good!! Anyway, Jerry brought that big old honking fire truck over here and helped Dad put it in the cement hole and tie up the ropes correctly - ain't NO WAY they would do something like that today. That was somewhere around the late 70s or early 80s. Have had to replace the rope and that is all. That is called knowing your community and service beyond just fighting fires. Too many today are not even polite if you have to call them for something - times have changed - not all however. I remember when the deputy sheriff would stop by if they saw you in the yard and come in for a cup of coffee.

Great Bronco game yesterday but do not have a clue what happend to the 49ers - they sure flopped on good playing. Sigh.

Hope your day was a good one.

[possummink]

Hi Birding Friends,

Today was kind of a lazy day here. Everyone was off from work and/or school. We met my oldest GS downtown in Tampa for lunch. He moved into the HoJo downtown, which is the "over-flow" from the on campus dorms. He's hoping to get into a quad or triple in about 3 weeks. The room at HoJo is typical hotel room, small storage space, not much room for the books and clothes college kids have, much less their personal touches. I hope he gets into a nice dorm room on campus soon too.

Lunch was a long wait, but the shrimp hobo sandwich I had was worth it. I love shrimp in any form as with most seafoods.

Winifred, Your supper sounds like one I'd love. I don't need meat either and I love mashed potatoes, cabbage and limas too. I love almost any veggie when it comes right down to it. I am glad Stripes is being a good boy. I always worry if one of my cats doesn't show up or I haven't seen it for a while. I usually go searching.. Lucy, my son's tortoise shell cat, brought a good sized lizard she caught in the yard, into the house and turned the silly thing loose. It ran under the wine cooler box and it took DS, DDIL and me a bit of effort to catch it. I caught the lizard and it bit me as I was taking it outside to the front yard. Gratitude for ya!!!!

I checked the weather for home on my Smartphone as I sent me 2 alerts. It was 50 degrees when I checked and is going down to 12, with snow, and strong winds. The high tomorrow will be about 15.

I was hoping the 49ers would win too, but will root for the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl as DD is from Colorado. She was born in NY but after her mother died, she and her dad moved to CO.

Birdmama, I can see why Grayson and Presto + Poppi and Pewee, like having their Mom home. It's good to have those long weekends now and then. Weekends seem to fly by and I'd be in favor of a 3 day weekend every week and just a 4 day work week. When I taught school, I think I looked forward to the summer vacations, Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks and Easter breaks as much if not more than the kids.

I hope all turns out well with your endocrinologist Dr. visit on Wed. I haven't had a functioning thyroid since my daughter was born 51 years ago. I have been on Synthroid for all those years. The dosages have had to be adjusted a few times. I need to have a thyroid panel run again one of these years. I think it's been at least 10 years since I have had one. Also haven't had a bone density test in quite a few years either. Last time I had an excellent report on that. Sports kept my bones strong. Especially playing Racquetball into my late 50ies and early 60ies. Swimming helped too. Good luck with the gym too. I now hate exercise for the sake of exercise, but that's just me. DDIL, DS, and my GSs all go to a gym to work out. I hold the couch down.

I had to leave for a bit to chop up some jalapenos for DS to use in tonight's supper. I was really good, smoked sausages in a variety of beans, over rice. Very filling and well seasoned.

Got a load of laundry in the dryer that needs folding so I will sign off for now. Waving to all Birding Friends.

Have a peaceful and pleasant rest of your night. Sweet dreams!!

[Winifred]

Love that bird Possum - so cute and so pretty.

Came back to tell you that Stripes is on a roll. Went to Curves this morning and when I turned back in my driveway he came running across the street from the gutted house and raced me up to the house. Then he dashed ahead of me to the door and of course once I got it unlocked in he came. Shortly thereafter I hear this weird yell - he can make noises like a human and sometimes a dog. First time I ever heard him do that it scared the whim wham out of me. I jumped as I was not expecting it. Saw him on the table staring up at the SMALL shelves up in the wall - NOT big enough for him. I explained it to him and went back into the kitchen. Then I heard a crash and a bang - he tried to jump up there anyway but of course could not fit so he and several things crashed to the floor. He broke a very old plastic piggy bank that belonged to my daughter - it was in horrible shape to begin with but I explained to him not to jump up there. LOL. Yesterday evening I hear a crash and he had gotten into my cupboards and knocked two glass things out - one a huge lid and the other a baking dish. The baking dish broke and he looked at me like it was my fault. So had to figure another way of storing that stuff in the cupboard. Good thing I love him like I do. The day is early so say a prayer!

[Bird mama]

I think your cat Stripes is losing his mind (lol).

Bird of the Day - Torrent Duck

[mousiegirl]

On 1/21/2014 Winifred said:

Love that bird Possum - so cute and so pretty.

Came back to tell you that Stripes is on a roll. Went to Curves this morning and when I turned back in my driveway he came running across the street from the gutted house and raced me up to the house. Then he dashed ahead of me to the door and of course once I got it unlocked in he came. Shortly thereafter I hear this weird yell - he can make noises like a human and sometimes a dog. First time I ever heard him do that it scared the whim wham out of me. I jumped as I was not expecting it. Saw him on the table staring up at the SMALL shelves up in the wall - NOT big enough for him. I explained it to him and went back into the kitchen. Then I heard a crash and a bang - he tried to jump up there anyway but of course could not fit so he and several things crashed to the floor. He broke a very old plastic piggy bank that belonged to my daughter - it was in horrible shape to begin with but I explained to him not to jump up there. LOL. Yesterday evening I hear a crash and he had gotten into my cupboards and knocked two glass things out - one a huge lid and the other a baking dish. The baking dish broke and he looked at me like it was my fault. So had to figure another way of storing that stuff in the cupboard. Good thing I love him like I do. The day is early so say a prayer!

LOL!

[Winifred]

Yep, I think he is finding loco weed down in the Wash. LOL

[Bird mama]

Bird of the Day - Burrowing Owl