IN LIFE AS IN THE DANCE : GRACE GLIDES

ON BLISTERED FEET.
---Alice Abrams

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Sunday Scenery


This is a magnificent California Oak, outside of Tehachapi, CA. We had hoped to purchase this lot but things didn't work out. The rocks under the tree are approximately 12-20 feet, so that gives you a better idea as to how huge this tree is!

Tehachapi is about 30 minutes east of Bakersfield; continuing east, you'll find yourself on Hwy 395, which will take you to Mammoth Mountain - about a 4 hour trip, north. Tehachapi is a small community but up in the mountains. They see snow several times per year and have a wonderful apple crop in the fall. The famous Tehachapi Loop (for all of you train buffs!) is located here, too. One day I'll do a post about the "Loop!"

Happy Sunday!

Please stop by Tarheel Ramblings
There are some fantastic photos over there. I know you'll enjoy...

Camera Critters - Spanky



Say "hi" to my buddy, Spanky. He's a 18 year-old Nanday Conure. This picture doesn't do him justice. His flight feathers are a beautiful cobalt blue. The feathers on his breast are a soft turquoise. And I love his red socks!

I've had him since '92 when his owner's wife said, "It's me or him!" Nanday's are very possessive, very possessive! He will not let my husband touch him or hubman will be minus a finger or two. When he was going through his equivilent of teen angst, he would bite me on the face with out a reason! I was ready to show him the door but bought a book onConures. It seems when he feels threatened or frightened, he wants me to get to safety, since I'm his mate (in his world!). Biting is his way of getting attention - believe me, it does! I've had my lip pierced more than once...

But thankfully, most of the time he loves to sit and cuddle, nestling up agains my neck. He loves to give kisses - literally beak to lips! He makes little cooing noises. And that's the only time he's quiet. Nandays are like geese. They sound the alarm when danger approaches and my ear drums have been shattered more than once. They're known to be one of the loudest small parrots. I'll attest to that!

Nandays can live 30-40 years and my kids have told me to make arrangments, because they don't want him. They'd like to keep their digits!


Please visit Camera Critters
!

Friday, February 27, 2009

Photo Hunt - Thankful


Psalm 100:4-5

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him
and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations....

When I was thinking about the word "thankful," so many things came to mind: my husband, our families, our health, and on and on. When I sign off on a comment, I use the term, "blessings."
It's not just a phrase to me. It's my way of acknowledging how many blessings I have received and my desire to pass those blessings along - to those I care about.

The photo of the steeple was taken in Oklahoma this past August. It's my roots. My great grandfather was a pastor, my brother is a pastor and I was brought up in faith. So I
extend my desire for many blessings for you all....

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Looking at the Sky on Friday



Looking across the road at my neighbor's roof - the sky was angry but beautiful!

Please visit Crazy Working Mom

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Wordless Wednesday - Woody

---Painting by Juno Galang
How I'd love to be the lady standing on the beach!

Please check out Wordless Wednesday

Migraine Monster Has Me in it's Clutches...


I spent yesterday on the couch, wanting to rip my head off - like the gal in the commercial. I feel somewhat better today but like I've been on a weeks' bender (I guess that's what it would feel like!). I started out trying to check out my buddies, but I'm not gonna make it tonight. It hurts my eyes.
I'll be back as soon as I can focus!
Love to all youse...

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Manic Monday - Fire


Living in Southern California (see my post for this week's Photo Hunt!), I know that fires pose a serious danger to our environment. Also, living in a valley where the "gunk" tends to hang in the air, posing yet another hazard. When it gets foggy, the dampness keeps the "gunk" earthbound and the air becomes unhealthy, especially for those with breathing difficulties.

When it's cold outside, there's nothing nicer than a fire in the fireplace and a hot cup of coffee!
Since our air quality is so poor, there has been a law enacted that prohibits the burning of wood fires on nights when the conditions are really bad.

I have mixed emotions about this. From an environmental side, I understand not wanting to further pollute our air, but studies show that a lot of the evidence has been less than truthful. Also, do I want more big government telling me when I can light my fireplace? I dunno.......

Please mosey over to Mo's Manic MONDAY!

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Camera Critters


Katie, our Shih Tzu - Zoe, our not-so-Mini Schnauzer. Katie plays like cats do. She'll hide from Zoe and when she walks by, Katie will dive bomb her. This time, she didn't do a real great job in hiding, but the intentions were there! They provide so much entertainment...

If you enjoy critters, here's the link to Camera Critters

Friday, February 20, 2009

Photo Hunt - Warm


It was a hot summer day, made much worse by the smoke from a major fire blowing in from the south. It was so warm - and hard to breathe, too!

Please visit our hostess - TN Chick for the latest Photo Hunt!

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Looking at the Sky on Friday


This is the view from our condo in Kaua'i. Bali Hai is in the background. The sky changed by the minute. The colors came and went, mixing with clouds one minute - the sun, the next. When it was totally clear, we counted at least 12 waterfalls. The sky is always something to see in Hawai'i. To all of you who are still in the throes of winter, hang on! Spring is coming!

Our Hostess is Crazy Working Mom. Please give her a shout out!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

A Great Big Happy B-Day, Mo!





Thursday is Morgen's Birthday and in honor of this event, I'm sending him a cyber vacation in paradise and all the pie he can eat!
~~~ I love you, Mo~~~

Please drop by Mo's "It's a Blog Eat Blog World," and give him a birthday greeting!

Wordless Wednesday



Please check out Wordless Wednesday

Monday, February 16, 2009

I'm Fat - So What!!!!!

This is me in October 2001, right before bariatric surgery. I weighed in at 269 lbs. I lost 130 lbs., or one complete person! I had tried every diet imaginable and had given up. After a year of research, I finally decided to go this route. I know it's not for everyone but it worked for me. I have gained back approximately thirty pounds in the past 7 or so years. So I can truly say I've been fat most of my life and I totally understand the ramifications of weight on our general health.

The article following came from this past Sunday's Parade Magazine. It makes me furious to think that the government has plans for watching what we eat!!!
I am totally for less government, not more intrusion into our "private" lives! We'd better pay close attention, folks, or we are truly going to be sorry.

How Other Countries Fight Fat


While many governments struggle to keep their citizens nourished, the leaders of wealthy nations are trying to get theirs to eat less. In Japan, health officials check the waistlines of citizens over 40, and those considered too fat undergo diet counseling. Failure to slim down can lead to fines. New Zealand has rules barring people it deems too fat from immigrating to the country.

In Great Britain - where 60% of men and 50% of women are expected to be obese by mid-century - residents of some cities are being recruited to wear electronic tracking tags to calculate how much they move each day and how many calories they burn. Daily exercisers will be rewarded with store coupons and even days off from work. Britain's National Health Service is paying for at least 30,000 weight-loss classes.

Germany plans to spend $47 million on health-eating and sports programs and to set tougher nutritional standards for school lunches. The government is also asking candy makers to stop targeting young children and encouraging software companies to develop games that force players to move. Does the U.S. need a government-backed effort to end obesity???
Vote at Parade.com/intel.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Manic Monday - Candy



Mo gave me this idea: Candy gram for Mongo! Straight out of the infamous movie (and one of my very favorites!), "Blazing Saddles." Alex Karas, former footballer, played the roll of Mongo.
Here's the part of the script referring to the candy gram:

[while Mongo is beating the hell out of a bar full of toughs, Bart walks in, dressed as a messenger boy and carrying a box]
Bart: Candygram for Mongo! Candygram for Mongo!
Mongo: Me Mongo.
Bart: Sign, please.
[Mongo grabs the paper and makes some rough scratches on it]
Bart: Thank you.
[He gives Mongo the box and walks out of the bar, putting his fingers in his ears]
Mongo: Mongo like candy.
[he opens the box - BOOM!]

Please visit Mo for Manic Monday!

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Sunday Scenery - Trilogy


This is the third photo that I took at the Kilaweah Lighthouse in Kaua'i, HI. Our children sent us on vacation for our 25th anniversary. This photo, along with the previous two, are all of the same place. I didn't do anything to adjust the color - God did it all!


Please visit Lee, of "Tarheel Ramblings,"
for more
Sunday Scenery.

FInally! Yippee!!!


Thanks to "Down River Drivel" and Linda, of "Are We There Yet?" - my feeder problem is solved! Linda noticed the solution on her friend's blog and shot me the link. And, I'm very happy to say, I now consider myself fixed!
~~~Blessings~~~

Friday, February 13, 2009

Photo Hunt - Nautical


This matches my entry for "Looking at the Sky..." Same spot, same day! Besides being a famous lighthouse, it's also a bird sanctuary. And it certainly was gorgeous...

Please visit our hostess, TN Chick
PHOTO HUNT

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Looking at the Sky on Friday



Kilaweah Lighthouse in Kaua'i
I'm obviously not there today but I'll
never forget how beautiful the sky
and water were!

Please visit our hostess, Tish
Crazy Working Mom

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Manic Monday - Wear


Here's the latest in men's wear: a live pair of pigeons in your socks. This is right off the runway in Paris! Seriously, this was in the news. This idiot was flying with his pants full - of birds!
(Have you ever seen hairier legs???) And I think they also found the Yehti!

Please visit our Manic Monday host - Morgen

A Cowboy Named Bud...


A cowboy named Bud was overseeing his herd in a remote mountainous pasture in California when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced out of a dust cloud towards him.

The driver, a young man in a suit, Gucci shoes, sunglasses and a tie, leans out the window and asks the cowboy, 'If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, will you give me a calf?'

Bud looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, 'Sure , Why not?'

The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his Cingular BLUETOOTH cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra high-resolution photo.

The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany ...

Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses a MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, he receives a response.

Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer and finally turns to the cowboy and says, 'You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves.'

'That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves,' says Bud.

He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on amused as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.

Then the Bud says to the young man, 'Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?'

The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, 'Okay, why not?'

'You're a Congressman for the U.S.Government', says Bud.

'Wow! That's correct,' says the yuppie, 'but how did you guess that?'

'No guessing required.' answered the cowboy.

'You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You tried to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don't know a thing about cows...this is a herd of sheep.

Now, give me back my dog.

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Nothin' 'bout 'nothing....


***I missed Wordless Wednesday so this is just a post about absolutely nothing and lots of it...
We went to Costco Saturday for the first time in years! I blew out my knee about 15 years ago and all that walking and a trip off a curb made it act up again. $(*__&@^
***The weather here has been strange, but this is California! Strange is the norm. The high for the day broke the record - 79, but tomorrow it's supposed to rain and back down to 56! Yay!
***Our old, 45" big box, rear-projector TV died. We called the satellite network because we thought it might be the remote. It was...it was on the wrong setting! That's like having the dumb thing unplugged and calling a repairman. Duh.... The color on the old one is so bad, that if I'm watching QVC and think something is pink, I have to run down to the other TV and double-check. It's usually orange! We did find a terrific deal on a 60" Mitsubishi, which is what we have now. Since we're TV junkies, it will be fun being able to see people who don't look as though they overstayed their time in the tanning booth.
***Found a joke that reminds me of me and hubman:

"When Dad's satellite dish conked out, I found him on the phone with the help desk. The TV set was pulled away from the wall, and he was staring at the mass of tangled wires spilling out the back of it. He looked absolutely overwhelmed. 'Tell you what I'm going to do,' Dad said to the technician. 'I'm going to hang up now, go to college for a couple of years, and then call you back.'" Reader's Digest - By Dana Marisca
***Hope you all have a wonderful Thursday!!!