I think a little sparrow has inherited one of my passed on dogs’ spirit.
We have a bird feeder that cost us a fortunte in Sunflower seeds (their favourite) that we keep full all winter long. We have so many birds that enjoy the feeder and keep me totally entertained. Many different kinds of birds too that all get along except for the couple of big Morning Doves that just bully their way in there from time to time and spread all of the seeds every where – I don’t get it.
Most days when I get home from work there is a little sparrow that is just so excited to see me. This little sparrow if first on the big planter box closest to the house just above the dog’s outdoor bed {hmmm}. Then she (all my dogs were female) hops on over to to the top of a snow shovel as I turn my car off. When I get out of the car she jumps on over to the hand railing leading up to the deck. As I get closer, she then either goes under the deck or up into the Willow tree. In the mean time, Bailey is going crazy hearing all the commotion that this sparrow is creating and Bailey is still on the inside of the house behind a locked door.
This little sparrow better be careful because Bailey just recently ate a bird (then puked it up in the living room – lovely) that was just a little to relaxed waiting for me to come out.
So I tell Susan I’m going to write a huge blog about what a disaster I think this budget is about and she tells me nobody likes big blogs. I have a lot of significant points that don’t seem to be in the newspapers. All in all it’s a politcal budget keeping Harper in power and the liberals who have no money to fight an election will just play along. After all the progress paying down the debt and now going into deficit…..it should be against the law for them to be spending money they don’t have.
I had planned on writing a blog about pickles so this is as good a time as any seeing as how I can share something good in this blog and now have you in a sour mood from my political rant. I’ve always loved pickle and my favourite is Claussen. They are always in the refridgerated area of the deli section. There must be a reason for that wouldn’t ya think? I always get the ones that are cut in half. They are always very crisp, like a fresh cucumber feels out of the fridge. I figure they are more delicious because the juices can penetrate much better from them being cut in half. Normal pickles that are whole are covered by skin, how easy is it for the juices to get through that? And if that’s not bad enough, they’re sitting on a shelf at room temperature. They don’t stand a chance. Now you will pay more for Claussens but once you’ve had them you’ll know what I mean. If you can’t get Claussens you might want to try the Strubs that are packaged the same way and would also be in the deli fridge.
So in summary, I would have layed off 15% of the government, just like private industry is doing, and then I would have taken the amount of cabinet ministers which is the largest in history, and all their people and cut them in half (not literally). When the recession is over, start hiring them back but the UI fund has tons of money from overcharging us for years. We can pay for tons of people to be out of work. Spend it……so people can afford to buy good pickles.
We now have a link (on the right hand side of the page) to out new photo gallery. There’s a few pics there now and I’ll try and put some more up in the coming days. Special thanks to Lindsay for helping me get this up and running. What ever will we do when our one year tech support contract expires next month? Hopefully ….not need it.
It is time that I stepped up to the plate and do a little volunteering for the Nordic ski club so today I (wo)manned the main entrance of the X-country ski tracks. I was to basically get a good fire going in the wood stove and collect the money from non-members and new members and check every one elses membership badge. I went prepared with a lot of things to keep me occuppied thinking that it would be pretty slow. #1 was to give myself a manincure and I was able to. My friend, Cathy, gave each of us ladies a gift when we were at her cottage on Lake Wasa two summers ago. The gift was “Ms Manincure” marvelous mini manicure grooming kit. So here was this tiny, neatly packaged, really good manicure kit in my back pack with a container of my special Epson Salt scrubb. What a great maincure I was able to give myself. #2 was to get a good read of my book, “The Appeal”, but I was just too busy for that but I was able to get a crossword completed.
It ws just a perfect ski day. The temperature just right and the sun was shining. I didn’t mind at all.
There is one thing that I am feeling pretty sad about. As I was driving home at 100 kls per hr there was a pheasant sitting in the middle of the road. There was no way to avoid it and I hit it. Thummp!!! When I looked in my rear view mirror there were feathers flying everywhere. When I got home, Bob checked out the front of my car and no damage except the blood all over the hood. I hope it snows tonight. Sorry Pheasant!
What a good movie!! The first third of the movie is lots of belly laughs! The second third of the movie is some-what serious. The final third of the movie is tear jerking – unless you are made of stone. In the final third of the movie, Marley became Beasley to me (Beasley passed away this past summer and I still think about her all the time). Marley is an old dog now in the final third with the old dog walk and the glassey eyes and the silly grin but still always ravenously hungry! The love and loyalty an old dog has for their master and family is so beautiful!!
It is the weekend and you are wishing that you could sleep a little more but your mind is used to getting up around this early time. What I have been using for the past couple of years when I want (need) to stay in bed a little longer is the “Urban Spa Eye Mask”. It is satiny smooth on both sides, the inside being darker in colour with extra little pillow pockets scented with Lavender. It puts me back into a deep, restful sleep with really enjoyable dreams (for a couple of hours even). I am about to buy my third one. Bob has been using these eye masks as well and just loves them.
It poured slush here last night – January 7 / 09. When I got up this morning and I opened the door well it wasn’ pretty – well it was kind of pretty but pretty nasty too! All the snow from the roof came down through the night. I literally had to hike over the snow to get to my car to get to work. I took a couple of photos in case I wasn’t able to get down the driveway but luckily Bob plowed several times last night and had my car facing straight down the driveway and instructions to put the pedal to the metal when I leave for work. Yeah oh yeah, I was able to make it down the driveway and get to work.
When I go hiking with the hiking group in the fall, the forests just wreak of mushrooms. This drives me crazy because I love mushrooms! I have yet taken a course on identifying mushrooms (and there are lots of courses out here for that) something always seems to come up when they are offered – ’09 for sure!. When the hike is over I drive over to Evergreen to see what they have in store for wild mushrooms – and I have found some that I think I may be addicted to. Black fungus (grown on the north side of the Tea tree – they come dried) these are so flavourful and highly nutritious! Wild pearl mushrooms – really good too. Us mushroom lovers all know about the Shitaki – big flavour there too!
I have probably written about Oregano Oil before but here I go again. It is great stuff! I got a nasty cold over this past Christmas and I was Huh?-me-get a cold! Any one that I spoke with over the phone told me that it would last about 2 weeks to a month – yuk! Well I was over it in 4 days!!! I believe that it is because of the Oregano Oil doing its magic.
Anyone that knows me, knows I am hearing impaired. Well, I also think that I hear better during the months (fall / winter) that I take Oregano Oil. I hear things sometimes that I haven’t heard for a very long time. Bob has noticed this too – he agrees!
So if you want to give this stuff a try, it is at pretty much any health food store. Be sure to get the softgels (much easier to swallow). I take it from late September to late February then ween myself off slowly in March. If I need some during the summer then I use the drops – harsh but it works!
OMG – is it ever going to stop? Come on! Where’s Mel – We need to call in the army!! Last night before I went to bed I told Bob that I needed to brush to snow off my car to save a small amount of time since I leave for work at 5 a.m. Nice guy Bob did it for me shortly after he plowed the driveway – again! Low and behold did it matter – well probably – since it snowed another foot last night. But the drive to work was OK after all – I would rather the fresh fallen foot of powder than slush or worse yet black ice!
When I was driving up Rosemont Hill to the campus the same idiot van driver that I see each morning was going WAY to fast and as Mr. Get-out-of-my-way turned the corner, he missed my car by I swear less than an inch – what a bad driving jerk!
Everyday as soon as I get home, I immediately put on snowshoes and take Bailey for a walk in the back 40. For the last three walks, I turn around to see how she is managing and there she is sitting at the beginning of the trail faithfully waiting for me. I guess enough is enough for her.