Bees

I (and when I say "I" it wasn't really me) was swimming the other day and must have saved like 15 June bugs from an early death by drowning in the pool. I couldn't save them all so, I gave up. While I was swimming I was buzzed by a bee.

When he was dive bombing me, he got too close to the water and accidently landed. He was struggling to stay afloat so I tried to save him by getting him out. The darn fool came back and got sucked in again.

I kept trying to save him but the idiot kept coming back. Now if you keep trying to save the bee and he keeps coming back, what do you do? Like duh, you give up. I don't know how many times I tried to save him and he kept coming back. All right if you don't want to be saved then just float there. I give up!

Summertime Dreams

Trois couleurs: Film nature,
originally uploaded by Ezu.

Two young girls are walking into the tall green grass. It's the color of early summer. The heat and summer dryness hasn't turned it into the winter time hay.

They are trying to fill the hours of summer vacation. Summer vacation, the long days that slip away like the high tide of the ocean, leaving memories on the white sand of the beach. They seem to last forever but slide into the short days of autumn.

The young voices of girls float on the warm breeze. The sun is hot but the breeze feels cool. Slipping into the shoulder high grass the slender sharp blades brush against their legs.

Living in the country doesn't always give you a chance to socialize with your very best friend so, you have to fill your time by making up games and finding something to do. On this summer day we played house in the tall green grass.

We slid between the tall blades of grass hiding from the farm hands and our mother. We flattened a room in the middle of the field. It was the beginning of our house. Tunneling through the stalks we made a hallway to our bedrooms and kitchen. We were careful to make the hallways narrow in order to leave a roof of grass over our heads.

Lying on the moist, grassy floor of the bedroom we watched the snowy white clouds float across the blue sky, dreaming our dreams of the future. While lying there we heard the voice of our mother yelling for her missing kids. It's time to join the rest of the world but the hours spent in our green house will stay with me forever.

Deer

I live in a place that often has wildlife visiting from the nearby forest. I often go outside and scare the deer out of the yard or watch them cross the street. Today was unique.

We had a young doe dining on our grass in the backyard. I often complain about the damage they do to my lilies but today takes care of that complaint. The doe spent more than an hour taking a rest in our yard. She laid down and, as I type this, she is still relaxing and enjoying the sunlight. What a great way to spend the afternoon.

Sugar

Talking about Sugar, if you have read my profile you would know that I love cooking. Most of the time my favorite recipes are main dishes. I like sweets but they are not what floats my boat. I love trying new ways to cook chicken, beef, pork, and turkey. However, I do like my children to have healthy, after school snacks.

I thought long and hard about including recipes on my blog but I just could not resist sharing some of my favorite family recipes. With that said, I hope you will understand why I include a few of my tried and true recipes with the public at large.

I have to include mention of my favorite cooking web-site. Cooking Light is the best! It takes many old fashioned favorites that many people use and re-vamps them into heart healthy recipes. A good example would be Lasagna.

My best cookie recipe is Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies. The shelf life on these cookies are several weeks in length if you can keep your family from eating them all at once. My daughter eats them so fast that I've had to start making a double batch, otherwise I don't get any.

Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

1 Cup Margarine or Shortening (Shortening will make softer cookies)

3/4 Cups Packed Brown Sugar

1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar

1 3.5 Ounce Package of Instant Vanilla Pudding (generic pudding actually works better and you can use chocolate or butterscotch flavored pudding)

2 Eggs

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

2 1/4 cup Spooned, Unsifted Flour

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1 12 Ounce Package of Chocolate Chips

1 Cup Chopped nuts

Cream together margarine/shortening, sugars, and instant pudding. Once the shortening, sugars and dry pudding is smooth and creamy, add the eggs and vanilla. Beat well until Fluffy. Measure and mix the flour and soda together in a seperate bowl and then gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture. Mix in the chocolate chips and nuts, drop from a teaspoon onto an ungreased baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven, cool for 2 minutes, remove cookies from the pan and cool the cookies thoroughly before placing in your favorite cookie jar.

You're not made out of sugar, You won't melt

Time is 2:38 AM. The ping, ping, pong, the sound of something hitting metal outside my bedroom window, wakes me up from a deep sleep.

My first thought is, "what is that noise?" It's not even a real thought. It's more the sensation of fumbling around in the dark, trying to bring thoughts to the front of my brain. Then I realize that I've heard that sound before. It is the sound of raindrops hitting the air-conditioner. It finally dawns on me that it is raining outside.

Quickly, I bring myself back from the warm arms of Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep. Scattering the petals of opium off my head, I remember that I left the car windows open. Throwing on a shirt and shorts, I walk out of the bedroom and pick up the car keys. Unlocking the front door, I step onto the front porch to be greeted by a heavy downpour. It didn't sound like a heavy rain storm.

I run up the steps to the rain soaked street and opening the locks, get into the car. Inserting the keys into the ignition, I roll up the windows. I can see that the papers on the front seat are wet so I move them into the back seat so that they will dry by morning. Getting out of the car, I run back to the front door of our house.

I am soaking wet. The rain has wetted me through to the skin. Walking into the house, I speak to my husband. "At least I'm not made out of sugar, I won't melt." A little rain never hurt anyone. The wet rain makes me feel as if everything is washed clean inside and out. When you have the chance, take a walk in the rain. I'm sure you're not made out of sugar, You won't melt either.

Read, Read, Read, Reed?

Clarinet,
originally uploaded by FotoJunkie.

I was talking with Pojo this afternoon, concerning my expected trip to the library. I asked him if he had any books that needed to go back. He is in the middle of three different books and hasn't finished any of them yet.

Here's his response, "Read, Read, Read, that's all I do when I get home. What do you think I do when I get home at night? Go to bed?"

My Response, "Reed, isn't that something you find in a clarinet?"

Groan!!!!!!!

Girl Friend's Response, "You find them inside oboes, saxophones, and English horns."

Under The Tuscan Sun

Sunflower (3),
Pic. originally uploaded by smallchih.

If you have read my profile you would have seen that one of my favorite movies is 'Under The Tuscan Sun'. I'm always borrowing it from the library. One of these days I'm going to buy it. Anyway, it is based on a non-fiction book by Frances Mayes, titled "Under The Tuscan Sun", go figure. It is totally fantastic. If you haven't read it I would Highly recommend it. It creates fantastic visual pictures with her descriptions.

Opps....There Goes My Wallet

Yesterday, I was standing in line at the grocery store, when the man in front of me accidentally dropped his wallet. It seems to be typical of many people that they stuff everything into their wallet. This man was no exception. Don dropped a ton of credit cards, business cards, etc. all over the floor. He bent down to pick them up and dropped some more. He continued to pick them up and what do you know, dropped them again.

I was standing behind him and the longer I watched the more I smiled. I couldn't help myself because what was going through my mind was a similar incident. I dropped my stuff all over the place and the more I tried to pick my stuff up, the more I dropped.

Someone else might have gotten upset because he was holding up the line but all I could see was myself in a similar circumstance. When something like this happens a person feels embarrassed, hurried because they don't want to hold up the people in line, flustered because you can't find your credit card and you still have to pay for your purchase. If you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at?

Cockatiels Are Noisy! A.KA. Politeness Rules

Our neighbor is interesting! A while back our neighbor bought bows and arrows for their children as an Easter gift. Hmm....a means of causing death during a life acknowledging holiday. That's just me thinking about the ironies of life.

Now these weren't just your ordinary young, child's play bow and arrow but a set up that can cause actual harm. The kids, since they had this new 'toy' to play with, went outside and started target practicing. They started target practicing at our "KEEP KIDS ALIVE DRIVE 25" yard sign that we had placed in our yard, close to the rear of our car. It wasn't something we had paid for so the damage done was not something that NEEDED to be paid for.

Mr. Fred, my husband, saw the whole thing and became irate. He yelled at the kids to begin with. A few moments later, he saw the father in the backyard and spoke to him. He asked the father to get his kids to stop using the sign as a target. The father's response was, "what, they are not doing anything wrong" Hmmm...(me again thinking aloud) arrows going through a sign, next to a road with the possibility of traffic getting hit, possibly hitting our car with the arrows, vandalising a sign, yeah they weren't doing anything wrong. This totally tripped Mr. Fred's trigger because all the things I just thought about were what was going through his mind. Remember, he tried to speak to the father before he went the final step; he called the police. A policeman arrived and spoke to the father about the use of arrows in town. Ohhh..I forgot to mention, we live in a residential neighborhood in a town of approximately 48,000 people. It's not like we lived in the country.

You may be thinking what does this have to do with Cockatiels? Well, it was a demonstration point of the relationship between our neighbor and my husband. Things haven't gotten any better. The neighbor is still rude and inconsiderate. Mr. Fred is still holding a grudge and is rude right back. The neighbor mows the lawn and weed eats right outside our bedroom window at 8 o'clock in the morning on a Saturday, when I was working a 1:00 AM shift the night before. The bird screeches out of their kitchen window waking everyone up at 7:00 AM on a daily basis, etc.

Recently, the neighbor's bird, Holly, got away from them and flew into the trees right above our bedroom. How do we know about that? Mr. Fred had just gone to bed and was woken up by repetitive screeches that sounded right over his head.

Mr. Fred looked out of the bedroom window and saw the neighbor's 16+ year old son climbing our tree that has branches directly over the roof. Let's face it Mr. Fred was upset!

Many people don't know that if a child climbs a tree and then falls out of the tree, injuring themselves, it is the responsibility of the homeowner, even if the homeowner knew nothing about it. That's what went through Mr. Fred's head. The tree gets narrow the closer it gets to the roof and Mr. Fred was picturing the young man falling off the tree. Let's face it, he was also upset that his sleep was interrupted.

Mr. Fred goes outside onto the porch and yells at the kid to get out of the tree, explaining why he can't climb the tree. That's when he found out about the bird being in the branches of the tree above the roof. The neighbor tells us that "He didn't know his bird could fly. He has never done it before." They have had this bird for more than 2 years. I don't have a parrot or a bird but I KNOW that birds fly.

Mr. Fred goes back in the house. I follow Mr. Fred inside. I'm feeling concerned on behalf of the bird, embarrassed by Mr. Fred's behavior, in-comprehension/disbelief of the neighbor's statement and behavior, understanding of Mr. Fred's concern & behavior. A basic jumble of conflicting emotions. Mostly what I'm thinking about is putting myself in the neighbor's position and having a loved pet stuck in the tree. It has happened before, however, I'm polite and don't go climbing the neighbor's tree without permission.

20 minutes later a policeman knocks on the door. The neighbor had called the police to arbitrate. When I spoke with the policeman I explained that the kid had climbed the tree without permission. After confirming it with Mr. Fred, I didn't mind if they brought their ladder over and climbed our roof in order to reach the bird as long as there was an understanding that if someone fell we would not be held responsible. I also wanted to supervise. So, I went outside, and watched/helped them retrieve their bird from the tree branch above our roof.

Moral of the story? Think about your neighbor, be polite, ask before you trespass on your neighbor's property, don't use a bow and arrow in a residential area, clip your bird's wings before you let him/her outside! Finally, don't be rude! The world would be a better place if we were more polite and considerate of our neighbors.

Iris

The Iris were blooming in May but now they are beginning to look withered and dry. They are beginning to conserve their resources for the coming up winter. This year the Iris did not do very well. It has been about 4 years since they were planted and now they need a lift, literally. I lifted them up and moved them to new spots in the yard. Hopefully, if everything goes well, they will bloom like crazy next spring. I'm looking forward to it because my mother-in-law gave me some new colors to plant.

While I was at it, I lifted, separated and replanted the Siberian Iris that I had growing in the garden. It went from one large clump to 4 smaller ones. It needed a face lift.

Crickets on the Loose

One of our other occupants of the house is a painted box turtle. Her name is Dribble and she is fascinating to watch. While our daughter is gone for the summer I've taken over the care and feeding of her.

Last night, our son, Pojo, picked up his girlfriend from work and per my request, brought home a couple dozen crickets as feeding supplies for Dribble. Wouldn't you know it the light bulb was burned out but we had to un-package the crickets otherwise they would eat through the plastic bag. We found that out the hard way one day last summer, my daughter hates crickets. You should have heard her screeching when she found the crickets all over the room.

After we fixed the light bulb, we poured the crickets into Dribble's habitat. She took off like a rocket, scrambling around trying to catch and eat the crickets. The crickets finally wised up and crawled into the narrow space next to the water pond just out of reach of Dribbles hungry mouth. She kept trying to reach the crickets. I had Pojo reach in and move her around so she could focus on the little buggers that were trying to hide under her log, an area that is much more accessible. Dribble went to town. It was great to see her having a good time.

Today, I'm going to remove the pond just so Dribble can get to the crickets that were out of reach last night. It should make for a nice mid-day snack.

Life In General #2

I have another story to share concerning the truths we believe. I mentioned in my profile that I was born in California but really grew up in South Dakota. Because of this I didn't get to see my grandmother for many years.

My grandmother was a character. She was a strong minded woman that totally believed everything she said. Here's my example.

While visiting her just after I graduated, we did an afternoon of driving up and down the California coast close to her home in Santa Cruz. We stopped at Monterey and visited the pier. My sister, Sher, Grandma Michael and myself were sitting in a small cafe having a light snack when Grandma Michael pointed out the fishing trawlers that were docked.

I have to stop here and describe a fishing trawler for some people. It's usually not a LARGE ship but it is significant in size with a tall mast and what looks like two arms on either side. These "arms" can be open or closed upwards. Grandma points to the ship and tells me in a very knowledegable tone of voice, "They need to have those on the ships in order to balance the weight so they don't tip over."

I was 17 and knew nothing about the ocean and ships. I totally believed her. Just after she tells me this Grandma Michael has to use the ladies room. Thank goodness for my sister! Sher leans over and tells me, "Those are the nets to catch the fish, they are not to "balance" the ship." She knew that I would have totally taken Grandma Michael's word for the truth and I would have gone around telling everyone that those "arms" were for balancing the ship. It's crazy what you believe if you don't have any other information to go on.

Life in General #1

I find that a lot of the time people forget to smile and laugh at little things. Today I was attending an organizational meeting. What fun can you have at an organizational meeting? Let me tell you that some of the topics on the table were, to say the least, interesting.

When I first got to the meeting there were 3 other people and myself, the new kid on the block. I spent most of the time listening to the conversation.

Now before I go any further I want everyone to understand that I'm not poking fun at anyone in particular. I'm trying to show what strange and interesting thoughts people get stuck in their head and take for the truth.

The topic under discussion were the myths about pregnant women. There were a lot of strange ideas thrown back and forth but the one that stuck in my mind and made me laugh was this one. One of the lovely women at the meeting is expecting a child in the very near future and while she was at the store, earlier in the day, she had a person stop and share this "truth". Now, did you know that women under 5 feet, 4 inches can not breast feed their babies because they just don't have enough, how to put this delicately, milk/bosom to feed their child?

Close your eyes and picture this. A very pregnant Dolly Parton. That's what went through my mind. All the different women that are of short stature but possess an ample bosom. Heck, I fall into the above category. Here's the kicker, the person who said this actually believed it. So, what do you think? Is this truth or fiction?

Drum Corp International

How many of you know that there are professional drum & bugle corps that tour the country? My kids talk about it all the time. "Mom, I have to stay after school tonight because we have to go watch the DCI perform. It's part of our grade." I nod my head and go "un-huh, when are you going to be home?" Really, having no idea what DCI is or what they are watching. Well this summer, that has all changed.

My daughter, Myshell (pronounced Michelle, have to love those unusual spellings), twirls the flags for her local high school's marching band. She absolutely loves it. I mean it is "HER LIFE!" Our high school color guard practices all summer long. Twice a week, every week, you can find them twirling, throwing, counting and dropping the flags all over the parking lot. Finally, two weeks before school starts, the entire marching band and color guard spend nearly every day, all day long with only stops for lunch and dinner, practicing their new program. That was Myshell's plan for the summer, right up until June 21st.

It was a Thursday afternoon and Myshell pulls me into her room whispering and jumping out of her skin. The color guard practice session had gone to one of the local schools in order to watch the Blue Star, DCI team practice. While they were there the Blue Star Flag Corp Director asked if anyone wanted to try out for the team. Everyone started talking to each other and, since I know my daughter pretty well, I'm fairly confident that she was encouraging everyone to try out. What I do know is that she and one of her friends tried out. The Director liked what he saw and wanted to offer Myshell a spot on the team. There were several problems; money, they were leaving tonight, how was she going to get home?

First of all, we were dead set against letting her go. However, after lots of shouting and talking, we decided to go see the director and find out what it would cost, what she would need and other pertinent details. We tackled it all and believe it or not we made a quick decision and decided to let her go. It was like there was a whirlwind in the house. She could not believe that we were going to let her do it.

How could we say no? She would be on a 7 week tour of the United States, practicing and performing on a National level ending in Los Angeles, CA. It was such a wrench letting our young lady go but what do you do when you having an opportunity of a lifetime?

Two days later, I was helping at a fund raiser for the high school color guard and one of the young ladies asked "Where is Myshell?" When I told her the whole story her jaw dropped and she started screaming, "I can't believe you let her go!" Didn't I tell you that we were dead set against her doing this.

The next week there was a small article about the visiting DCI group and the other Bellevue students that were involved in the team. My husband saw it and mentioned that they forgot one name, our daughter. So, I called the local paper and gave them the whole story. Today, we opened up the paper and there is a lovely article and picture of her.

We still miss her and wish she were here. We also know that she is learning a lot and hopefully will come home with a good head on her shoulders. We know she will come home with a fantastic tan. If you are interested in finding out what DCI is feel free to click the link. I know more about DCI than I ever have before.

Lizard in the Sunlight

We have been after our son to clean out his lizard habitat for quite some time. Today seemed to be the perfect day to tackle this project.

The weather was warm but not hot. There was a light breeze and the sun was shining, great for keeping the mosquitoes away from our hot, sweat soaked bodies.

Our son started by cleaning the water but that was just the tip of the ice-burg. Later on I helped him take the entire habitat out into the sunshine so we could wash out the debris. The lizard went crazy. He thrashed his tail and darted around inside. Watching the lizard was, to say the least, interesting.

Have you ever seen a cat that has got it's tail caught under a chair? The cat jumps and wails aloud in pain and shock. Well, the lizard didn't wail but the wind caused him to react in a fashion that was very similar. He was very skittish for quite some time.

We left him alone for a while and he seemed to enjoy the rays. When we came out to start the actual cleaning, he was laying on the bottom of the habitat, dozing in the sun.

We got the hose and started flushing the debris out of the habitat. I started spraying the lizard, little by little, gradually getting him wet and washing the habitat. By the time we were done washing everything out, the lizard seemed to be enjoying the chance to have a real "rain" shower. He would close his eyes and relish the sensation of water caressing his skin. Did I tell you that this is an Iguana? They live in rain forests and so water is one of those things that make their lives interesting. While cleaning out the habitat there were several times when he flailed around like a windmill, whipping his tail back and forth, splashing me with the water.

Many lizards lose their tails when threatened or stressed. It doesn't look very nice but it is a fact. This lizard doesn't get out very much so during this entire project he did get stressed and lost the last 1.5 inches of his tail. That was distressing to him and us.

My son finished up cleaning and started lining the bottom of the habitat with wet coconut bark, the bedding that we use. Between the two of us we got the lizard and habitat re-assembled. We finally moved him back into his clean habitat and left him basking under his "sun" lamp. He should have a good appetite tonight.