Grosbeak convention

Thank you Mr. Google. I found the following blurb about the bird Karene had identified as a grosbeak which has been visiting my feeder lately. I had noticed the feeder was emptying in record time. Well, here's why:

Grosbeaks are slow-moving birds, deliberate in their motions and show little fear of humans. Boldly colored males are a treat to watch at your feeders even though their appetites can match their body size.

Yup. The feeder empties even faster when there is more than one. Hearing a ruckus at my office window this morning, I turned around to investigate. I grabbed the camera and you'll have to excuse the lousy focusing job. It was 6:30 a.m. and I was only one extra-large mug of the Brown Elixir of Life into my day.

My feeder was being visited by what I thought were two male grosbeaks....at the same time. They were very vocal but remarkably well-behaved, what with them both being boyz, and you know, starving!















I noticed one was reading the riot act to something/someone just out of camera range......and there was another male on the bar to the left of the feeder!
















Later, one of the gentlemen brought his missus back to the feeder and they struck a pose for their fans.

It is a bird convention. I think I better get another bag of niger thistle. Soon.















Enough of my Wild Kingdom. Its Friday. With any luck at all, I will get caught up today and can spend some time tomorrow in my craft room. (Crosses fingers) Bestest Buddy might even be able to join me for a bit.

But before I post this, here's a classic from one of my physicians dictating a History and Physical for a patient having cataract surgery:

FAMILY HISTORY:
Noncontributory.

PERSONAL AND SOCIAL HISTORY:
She is a nonsmoker. She has eleven children. (Editorial note: In a tone of reverence and wonder, he then stated the following.) Amazingly, she is a nondrinker and does not use street drugs.

'Scuze me while I go clean my monitor. Slight spraying accident here, what with me slurping from my mug when I heard him dictate that....

A few more of my favorite things....

Dinner with the family....that I didn't have to cook, or clean up after! We went to Chevy's for Mexican, and it was really tasty.

We headed home for a thoughtful alternative to a traditional cake: Michael and Laurie picked out a "no sugar added" cherry pie, low carb ice cream and whipped cream for those who wanted it, and Michael put candles on it....as if it were a cake.

However, with his usual sense of humor, he added LOTS of candles. I mentioned that I didn't need a "bazillion" candles and he corrected me, reminding me that "of course I did" because I'm "a bazillion years old!"














His shenanigans continued with his reversing the 5 and 2, and making me 25 again. Lighting them caused a small inferno....














And at one point he gave me a huge cannister of cashews (my favorites!) and pointed out the label on the top, heralding that the company had been producing them for 100 years. "You're almost as old as the nut company!" he crowed. Apparently he had been waiting THREE DAYS to point that out.

But he managed to save his head from getting "bonked" by giving me a gorgeous set of wind chimes. It is so pretty, has a leaf theme with glass leaves throughout, and it is hand-tuned to a D chord. I will take a picture tomorrow when I get it properly hung on the porch. The sound is just amazing!

He also gave me a pedometer and we pounded 5000 steps (2.2 miles) around the neighborhood to work off our dinner and dessert indiscretions. And he found a cute store that had a new welcome sign to replace my sun-damaged tired-looking one - I will put it with my flowers out front tomorrow. Thank you, Michael! (he's almost forgiven for the candles and the age jokes......almost!)















And my girls gave me a beautiful and very meaningful card (with craft dollars inside to get supplies for my new sewing/embroidery toys!!) Thank you Karen and Laurie!!

It was a fun day. :)

("25!!!" she sputters as she wanders off to bed......)

Happy Birthday to me! And Jacque!

My birthday started early......what with my elderly peanut-sized bladder and evening (diabetes-induced) thirst.......At 1:06 a.m. I found these in the kitchen (grin)....... from Michael :)




















And when I was coherent this morning and it was easier to see.....I noticed some additional signs of a birthday....literally.....




















I've had phone calls, instant messages and even a post on my seldom-used MySpace.....

Its only 8:00 a.m. and it is already a good day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACQUE!!!! Hope you're having a good day too!

Pre-Birthday Celebrations!

There are some things about birthdays that are totally worthwhile.....


















Birthday lunches with "bestest friends", and flowers too....
These are a few of my favorite things! Thank you, Karene!

And I'm looking forward to dinner with my family tomorrow night!

I share my birthday (which is tomorrow) with my sister Jacque who is three years younger than me, and a sister is the best birthday present a girl can get!! We shared cakes for years and now that we are 3000 miles apart geographically - I truly miss seeing her name on the cake with mine!

Happy Birthday Jacque!! Happy Birthday to Us!!

Kennel alert!

See anything wrong with this picture? (you can click on pic to enlarge it)




















Yeah. Me too!
I happen to LOVE kitties - but this one is going to get chased off by my dog posse so that the birds can eat in peace!!

A room with a view......

A view of my quilting projects and good lighting to boot!! Michael and I negotiated for the loft! I cleared out a few closets/cabinets/shelves in other places throughout the house, and he cleared out the loft.....almost completely! There is one set of shelves that remains which may yet be rehoused elsewhere, but right now, the remainder of the loft is a craft/sewing/quilting area!


I give you the "before":






























And now, the "After!!"

(I don't need the TV, we just have nowhere else to put it.....although maybe I can get some quilting shows on it?)
(the pink/black item in the foreground is a hand-hooked rug made by my grandmother, waiting for me to make a supportive frame so I can hang it on a wall.....no way I will put it on the ground for the use of the general population of this house.....its sooooo pretty!!)

I am so stoked about the room. More details on the construction later.

I finally got serious about picking out a quilting frame to house a short-arm quilting machine.....settled on the HandiQuilter frame with Handi-Handles, and the Janome 1600PBX to go in it!

I also ordered a Janome 9500 embroidery machine!

The two machines arrive Monday, the HandiQuilter frame follows within a week or so. I shopped around a LOT, and read a LOT, and have drooled over Janome's for a long time.....compared them with Brother and Viking Husqvarna and Singer......I kept coming back to the Janomes. After narrowing down which ones I wanted, I ebayed for them, looking for a authorized dealer with lots of positive feedback etc. Once the transaction is complete, I will definitely blog about the dealer - because at this point I am tremendously impressed with her. If that feeling continues, I will give a link for anyone else interested.


I. Can't. Wait.


And here's your cuteness allottment for the day......Sadi and Laurie sharing a moment....

Traffic control needed.....

Here's the view at the bird feeder hanging right outside my office window......Heavy traffic pattern around the niger thistle!! To the right is a hummingbird feeder which is getting frequent visits also, but wouldn't show well in a picture because of the window screen. I love the sound they make while I'm working. I can hear them over the dictation I'm listening to as I transcribe.

Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?

A friend sent me this......some of these are too funny.....especially the last one!

Why did the chicken cross the road?

DR. PHIL: The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that he must first deal with the problem on 'THIS' side of the road before it goes after the problem on the 'OTHER SIDE' of the road.What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his 'CURRENT' problems before adding 'NEW' problems.

OPRAH: Well I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.

GEORGE W. BUSH: We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.

COLIN POWELL: Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road.

ANDERSON COOPER/CNN: We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road.

JOHN KERRY: Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken's intentions. I am for it now, and will remain against it.

NANCY GRACE: That chicken crossed the road because he's GUILTY!You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks.

PAT BUCHANAN: To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.

MARTHA STEWART: No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.

DR SEUSS:
Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad?
Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY: Why? To die in the rain. Alone.

JERRY FALWELL: Because the chicken was gay! Can't you people seethe plain truth in front of your face? The chicken was going to the 'other side.' That's why they call it the 'other side. Yes, my friends, that chicken is gay. And if you eat that chicken, you will become gay too. I say we boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the liberalmedia whitewashes with seemingly harmless phrases like 'the otherside.' That chicken should not be free to cross the road. It's as plain and simple as that!

GRANDPA: In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.

BARBARA WALTERS: Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart warming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its life-long dream of crossing the road.

JOHN LENNON: Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roadstogether - in peace.

ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.

BILL GATES: I have just released eChicken2007, which will not onlycross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, andbalance your check book. Internet explorer is an integral part of eChicken.The Platform is much more stable and will never cra...#@&&^( C =EF=BF?.... reboot.

ALBERT EINSTEIN: Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?

BILL CLINTON: I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What is your definition of chicken?

AL GORE: I invented the chicken!

COLONEL SANDERS: Did I miss one?