Thank goodness for no more Migraines!

Jim was on twitter today with someone talking about her Migraine. I felt sorry for her because 4 years ago I used to have Migraines oh so often. Now I can't remember my last Migraine. If you look online there is a ton of information but no agreement. What I have found though is that every single person that we have gotten on cellular nutrition has gotten rid of their Migraines. It's just amazing how easy is is to get rid of them but so many people don't even try. Instead they go to the doctor and get a prescription that isn't likely to help them, from a person who studied to be a doctor for years and years but only studied nutrition for a few weeks. Oh well, you can lead a horse to water.....

So we are back to cold weather today although not as cold as its been. I don't mind so much if its hot or cold but I get tired of grey skies so fast-I want the sunshine on my face! And speaking of faces, I finally signed up for facebook recently. I feel that its like blogging -- I am late to the party! All the same it is a fun site and it makes it so easy to communicate with all of your family and friends so fast-provided they bother to check in once in a while.

And since I am just rambling today, I think I will post a picture that has nothing whatsoever to do with anything that I have written about today-kind of like youtube. Oh yeah, did I ever mention that I saw that there are in fact, many videos of dog and cat fights on youtube? Who would have guessed? Of course I didn't see any that were like staged, just animals protecting territory I guess. Still, is it better to tape a cat or dog fight or to try to break it up and send at least one of them packing?

So ok, the picture is a view of my dining room. Can you tell I live in a Victorian House? Maybe I'll post more pictures some day. We did a lot of work on the house-totally restored it.

A Monkey In my Catalpa Tree?

Well, one of the Bluejays must be in a playful mood this morning. I went outside and heard a Chimpanzee call. Since there are no monkeys around here I started looking around. All I heard then was a Nuthatch call. But no it was not a Nuthatch-it was a Bluejay! His chatter attracted another Bluejay so he switched again-to a European Starling! That scared of the other jay, I don't know why, they aren't usually afraid of any of the other birds. The jays are very good mimics, most days around here if you hear the cry of a hawk-it a jay clearing out the feeder so he can have it all to himself! What's funny about that is that he is super protective of the feeder I put only corn in and the jays are the only ones interested in corn these days. Must be a habit.

Won't be too much longer before the trees will be covered with leaves and it will be so much harder to identify the birds I hear but that's a trade I'm happy to make! It's raining here now, a thunderstorm with brief hail, yuck. But the temp is upper 40s so how much can I complain? We have had so many days of 20s and below this winter that anything above 40 seems tropical!

So I just went outside to see if I could snap a picture of the jay but I couldn't find him anywhere. I did see 2 Bluebirds, 3 Robins, a RedBellied Woodpecker, a Junco and some Sparrows & Goldfinches but none close enough to get a clear picture of. I guess none are ready for their close ups. I did hear quite a bit of singing though, too bad I'm not equiped to do audios! I suppose I can look in my pictures and see what I have.

Wasted Angels

I found these cufflinks in the drawer the other day. yes I know that the picture only shows one of them but there are two I just chose this photo because it shows the detail best. These are handcarved cameos that have never been worn. Why? Because men don't wear cufflinks like they used to. What a shame right? If I was crafty I would probably take them apart and find another use for them but alas I am not crafty. Oh well....

Today was beautiful. Almost 70 degrees! I loved it and so did most of the people in town. How do I know that? Because they were out and about all day. Not hard to see that when town is basically 3 streets and I live right in the middle. Even a few boaters out today. Die hards. I wouldn't go out in a boat at this time of year without a dry suit. It might be 70 but the water will still kill you in minutes if you fall in. Strangely I didn't see that many birds today but I saw a lot flying west yesterday. West? I guess you'd have to have a bird brain to understand that.

Cat Rant

Hi My name is Spot. It's not my real name but these people don't know my real name. I got dumped near here a few days ago. I am very hungry and scared. Everywhere I go there are lots of cats and dogs and they all want to whip me up because I am a stranger. I don't know what happened to my people but I suspect they weren't good people because they left me here and they didn't even get me fixed. So now I will hang around here and try to beg food so I can stay alive. Don't know how long I will last tho, its a very unfriendly place and there is a fox around here. I saw it get one of the other cats night before last. I found a nice big shed to crawl in at night but there is no food here. There are other cats tho and I have had many fights recently. I try to steal food from wherever I can find it. I wish someone would take me in but I heard the people here say that as friendly as I am, the neighbor will no doubt poison me by the end of the week. I don't know what poison is but I hope the nieghbor is nice. It's too bad these people can't take me but they already have 4 cats in their garage, none of whom will share food, and they don't seem to like me. The lady said she wished there was a shelter in the county.

The Theory of Relativity

I thought I'd start today with a quote. I might start with a quote on all future posts.

"When you are courting a nice girl, an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder, a second seems like an hour. That's relativity." Albert Einstein

Now that might sound a bit dated, you know its been a while since I heard anyone say they were courting a girl but all the same the sentiment is there and still valid. When you are excited and joyful about something, time flies by & when you are unhappy time seems to go on forever. Ever consider that time drags when you are miserable because all you think about is how miserable you are? I like the way he ties relativity to it. Time is relative to your state of mind. Hows that for deep? Now consider this; your health is connected to your state of mind. If you are worried or stressed out you likely have back problems. oooh, another deep thought that some of you might dismiss as ridiculous. Go read Louise M Hay's You Can Heal Your Life. She explains it all including pretty much every ailment and its connection with what you have going on in your head. And don't think that she is says its all in your head (psychosomatic) because that's not it at all. It's the physical manifestation of a mental thing and the physical manifestation is very real. But being real doesn't mean incurable.

Now some of you might be thinking wait, you are into nutrition and say that nutrition is the key to good health. Yep, I do say that. I also say that good cognitative ability comes from two things; what you feed your body and what you feed your mind. Two things that need to be fed every day. So what is your brain been dining on lately? CNN? MSNBC? or Down the Rabbit Hole?

For no particular reason I have decided to include a picture today and one seemingly totally unrelated to this post but when I see this picture I feel good and maybe you will too.

Some more signs of Spring

Today it was nice enough to do some work in the yard so I decided to tackle some leaves that had been accumulating in various places. Most of these leaves were from Oak trees. Hmmm, I don't have any Oak trees in my yard. Could it be that someone didn't bother to rake their leaves and over the winter they have migrated to my yard? Yes, in fact that is what happened and what happens every year. It does give one pause to think, why should we rake up the leaves at all? Many of them will blow away and become someone elses and the rest will eventually break down and feed the soil. Oh yeah, where leaves accumulate is where a haven for mice and such to spend a happy winter. So I rake up the leaves and get rid of them then its on to other things like writing articles for ezines. This is my current chore. I say chore because it wasn't in my plan but guess what? These days most Publishers expect you to have already been published before they will even look at a book submission. And not only that, I am seriously considering publishing my book as an ebook so I must have a web presence hence my chore.
Truly its not so bad. I like to write but I don't like much noise while I write. Or distractions. And wouldn't you know it; Jim has decided to work on the computer out here in the shop instead of the one upstairs in the house where he was all winter. No problem, I love a challenge. I am considering using my earplugs. Don't get me wrong, I like music a lot, but when I am trying to concentrate it is distracting because music is joyful and makes you want to sing. But that is the least of it, Jim is constantly clicking on audios and that is the major distraction. He is working on a new platform for our business and spending long hours on it too. Fingers crossed he will pull it all together by the end of the weekend and I will be back to my peace and quiet.
So that was a major digression, this post was supposed to be about another sign of Spring. When I was cleaning up leaves and debris in the yard I found a sedum that has already started growing. Now if you live in the south that would not be unusual but here in central Illinois it is. I have Tulips, Crown Imperials, Crocus and Hyacinths already growing but those are expected. And oh yeah, the sedum was not under leaves, not on the south side of any building so not in a spot conducive to early growth. Ah the mysteries of nature.

I am Sooo not PC

I felt really bad yesterday when someone asked me what the title of the posting on youtube was and I had to say Camcorder Retards. I didn't post the video and I didn't title it nor do I approve of the use of the word retard. It's like that N word, you might tell yourself a story of how its ok to use it but really its not and you know it. I have asked him to repost as camcorder idiots so hopefully that will happen today. Now I can move onto other things.
Today I have decided that I want to learn how to add photos to this post-wish me luck-and I want to start with Rose Breasted Grosbeaks. I have had a pair of them for years, they come in the spring, I see him for a few weeks and then only her for the rest of the summer. Can't figure out why he won't come all summer. Two years ago though, I had 3 dozen pairs of Rose Breasted Grosbeaks! Talk about some hungry birds! I had to fill 3 feeders twice a day to keep up with them. I laid in a good supply of sunflower seed last Spring and you guessed it, only the pair showed up! Go figure. But I did have a few Worm Eating Warblers last year, they are new to my life list. If it hadn't been for the flood I might have grown some gourds so I could get some to nest here. My neighbor down the way had 2 pair nest in her gourds. Right now I have American Goldfinches, Tufted Titmouse, Cardinals, Red Bellied Woodpeckers, Hairy & Downey Woodpeckers, Carolina Wren, Nuthatches, Chickadees, House Finches, Bluejays, a few Juncos, the occasional Bluebird and sometimes Grackles & Starlings (which are bad birds to have) among others but in a few weeks the yard will explode with activity, woohoo.
So now I will try to get a pic or two up here.

You Tube

Have you ever posted anything on Youtube? How do so many people get millions of views for such crappy videos? I don't get it. And finding something that you want to find is hard! People post stuff under subjects and names you would never guess at and you click on something that says one thing and it has nothing whatsoever to do with what they named it. I just don't get it. Maybe I'm too old to understand why you would put something under this if its that and vice versa. Seems like you would just be straight up about it. Oh well. At least our video got 25 hits yesterday so maybe it'll start gaining momentum today. Sure it will. I'll keep you posted.
I can see why so much of it is bad tho. It's tough to create good stuff and hard to edit-at least it is for me. I tried to film some birds and cat stuff and those boogers move much too fast to make for good video-at least for my limited skills and equipment. They do say practice makes perfect so I guess I'll just have to keep practicing until it becomes easy. Still, when you get all your stuff set up and you sit down to record, its easy to find that your brain shuts down and what seemed like such an easy thing to do suddenly gets much harder. Have you read some of the comments out there? Don't want to get flamed! Seriously though, there are some very good videos on youtube even if there are some stinkers and too many fight, girl fight, street fight, you get the picture fights. If someone posted cat fights or dog fights would there be protests? I think there would but people beating on people? Let's post hundreds and see how many hits we can get!!!!! Woohoo

Valentines day!

So you survived Friday the 13th, at least the first Friday the 13th this year-gotta another next month, but now its Valentines Day-have you got your plan in place? Flowers or candy is a must for most guys but why not for women too? Men appreciate flowers more than they do getting yet another tie, although most would love some new tools. But nothing says love more than spending time with your chosen one. So block out some time and go outside and count some birds together. Then go report your counts at; http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/whycount.html
Oh, you say you don't have any birds? How sad for you. Do you do anything to attract birds to your yard? Put out food? Almost all birds love black sunflower seed. Got a water source? They need that. Got cover? Protection is important for them too. Did you know many birds devour weed seeds? And eat lots of bugs you don't want around your house. So they 'pay' their way so to speak. Not to mention that they sing beautifully and look great.
Go look for some birds right now, you might be suprised at the beauty in your own backyard.

Call 911!

I decided to devote my space today to those who just don't get it. That would have to include the man that called 911 when he didn't get the service he wanted at Burger King. It also includes anyone who forwards email without removing everyone elses info so you have to scroll down for thousands of names before you can even see what was actually sent! And people like my sister who forward everything as an attachment-I hate that!
But I think my all time favorite one is the ads on the internet. Can you open any broswer and not see the 'ad' that purports the 'number 1 rule; obey' and then tells you how they 'invented' a perfect diet uses two 'samples' they got for free! and their weight loss was incredible! And if they hadn't seen this doctor on two different shows they'd have never discovered this 'secret'? What crap! It's amazing that hundreds of people came up with the exact same idea isn't it? And they just happen to want to share that info? They wouldn't pay for the supplements they want you to try but they'll pay for the ad space? Please. It's no different than before and after weight loss aids that feature the supposedly same person fat and skinny but in the exact same swimming suit. Like ok I'm a size 20 and I can even find a two piece swimming suit in the first place and I will of course buy one in a size 2 as well because I am certain I will need it. Yeah that happens all the time, right? You always buy the same suit in two different sizes don't you?

The Stimulus Package

I saw President Obama on the television last night talking about stimulating the economy and I believe I see a gaping hole in the plan. So here is MY fix for that;
ADD ANOTHER ONE BILLION TO THE MASSIVE PACKAGE AND GIVE EVERYONE WHO FILED A TAX RETURN LAST YEAR 3 MILLION DOLLARS! Heck add a half billion and give everyone 1.5 million dollars. The package as it stands doesn't provide fast enough relief for people who already haven't been paying their mortgage, have had to go to food banks for food, etc. With a million or more in their bank accounts, who would default on their mortgage? Massive spending would follow that taxpayer bailout. Why should the businesses that are in trouble because of their excessive compensation packages for senior execs be the only ones to prosper from the bailout. Give the people some of that money.
If you agree with me, make this post or at least the idea in this post, viral spend this idea across the country and to every politician in America.

The Birds are Singing!

I love to walk outside in the morning and hear the birds singing. There are only a few reasons to love living here; it's quiet and safe, the river is awesome and you see every type-well almost every type-of floating vessel from yachts to homemade houseboats to sailboats to paddlewheelers. But it's the birds that are the best. Lately I've been seeing a lot of Eagles, Snow Geese and Pelicans around the river (its a block away) and tons of Robins around the yard but in the not too distant future I'll be seeing up to 3 dozen-yes thity-six or more Rose Breasted Grosbeak pairs migrating through. And that's just for starters. I have over twenty different species that stop in my yard on a regular basis. One of my favorites is the Carolina Wren. It's a cute little brown bird but very curious, active and a lovely singer-year round. People who call me when I happen to be outside in warmer weather can't believe how loud the birds are singing. I feel sorry for them because they don't have that. We went to Dallas for several months last year and barely saw a bird one, at least not songbirds, plenty of cowbirds and pigeons-yuck. Maybe I'll start posting some of my feathered friends photos here-I know you'd all love to see a Worm Eating Warbler right?

The tree trimmers are here

The tree trimmer helicopter showed up yesterday. It's pretty cool actually, the blades are suspended from the helicopter-did I spell that right?-and they manuver the blades to trim the trees along the power lines. It's a sight that is hard to explain, massive limbs get sliced off the trees in seconds. It's loud and fast and you can't even imagine. Its cool and terrible at the same time. Mayor Jim is going to film it and post it on youtube.
The weather has been very nice here for the past few days and will be mild for the forseeable future, woo hoo! I think I finished my book last night, edits and all. More celebration! Going to publish as an ebook I think. And I got an idea yesterday for other ebooks-going to start on that today. At the rate I'm going I'll have 4 ebooks ready by next Friday. Jim is working on a website and capture page and I will give some of my ebooks away on that site and post some that are in the public domain for downloading too. Good thing I already had one book finished when I decided to do this and two in progress.
The cats are very happy for the nicer weather-they all had RCS. What is RCS you ask? It's Restless Cat Syndrome and it causes them to be cranky and vocal. You can see evidence of the affliction in shredded toliet paper, cats climbing the curtains, eating til they vomit and staring at exteriors doors in anticipation of said doors opening.

February is flying by!

I can't believe how fast the month is flying by. I"ve been trying to stay true to my word of posting at least every other day but I've blown it already. I suppose I shall have to make it up with the quality of my posts.
I am working hard on my book-almost finished with the second part and ready to start on editing the first part, edits only necessary by the way the second part went. I can't wait to finish completely because then I can polish off my ebook and get that project done too.
It's warmer here today, I think that winter is pretty much over. All the signs of nature point that way, the birds are singing, the robins have come out of the woods, the ice is breaking up on the river, the Pelicans are moving north & even the cats are starting to shed a ton of hair. I love Spring. Woo hoo!
I wanted to move south for the winter and by the time I make that happen it'll be warm here, haha. But I'll be set for next year, the only thing is; I was considering going back to school for my nursing degree-I only need like 12 classes so I can do that in 3 semesters. Just gotta figure out if I really want it.

What an exciting Super Bowl!

It was an exciting game but in a way it sucked. The Cardinals should have won, they made stupid mistakes and got caught more often since you know they foul each other every play. All the same I think it was the best Super Bowl game I've ever seen. And the commercials? Well, some were great but some I thought were lame. I didn't really see any to top the Planters Nuts ad last year but the if you hate your job, they treat you bad, you wish you were somewhere else, you cry all the time and you work next to someone who looks like this-well that was pretty good. The AB commercials were just ok, nothing to write home about.
So ok, I promised to tell you about funerals around here. In this county, there is no machine so all graves are dug by hand. How'd ja like to have that job when the ground is frozen? And even though its been warmer lately, the ground is still frozen here. Also there is only one funeral home here and its tiny. I been to many a visitation in a funeral home that is in a renovated house but those are usually large Victorian homes. This one is in a house that is maybe 900 square feet-and that is being very generous believe me-so if more than 30 people come the line is out the door. The guy that died has more than 30 people in his immediate family alone. And this was a big funeral by our standards, at least 80 showed up for the meal afterwards. Fortunately, lots of people brought food so there was more than enough, especially of green bean cassarole! 4 of those were on the table plus some green beans with small potatoes & ham. Lots of mac n cheese too. But there were homemade rolls, scalloped potatoes, deviled eggs, homemade noodles and chicken, cakes, cookies and cupcakes galore and much more. Unless you are Catholic or Lutheran there isn't a preacher for your church, you either have to import one for the day or have someone else do the service. The Methodist church here in town hasn't had a minister for 30 years or so, the few parishnors they have take turns speaking every week. And so it goes....