Oh Good! My bird is here...

Oh good. My bird is here. He cleans all the bugs from around the windows outside, working his way around the house. Works for food too. Love him. If you don't have a bird, you must get one...

My bird is kinda different looking. I don't know what sort he is. He is light brown with smallish darker brown spots and has a very long beak which helps him in his work. He comes every day while I'm here typing away. I know he's here when he begins tapping around the back doors. Sometimes if I'm very quiet I can see him for just a second. Then he comes and sits on the climbing rose which scrapes, not in an unpleasant way, across the window next to my desk.

If I try to peak at him though these blinds, he flies away, so I don't interrupt. He does not want accolades. He's very humble, humble and efficient. I would like to give him a name, but haven't thought of any that fit. We get a lot of birds around my place, but he's my favorite. Pancake, our dog, has never been up in time to meet him. Pancake is a night owl. It drives us crazy. He keeps everyone up past their bedtime, but that's another story altogether.

Once a whole congregation of geese gathered for a loud conference on my roof. Boy was that loud! It scared me until I figured out who they were. They must have been making plans to clean out the ponds. The aquatic vegetation can get quite overgrown and we have to have large groups of geese fly in to take care of the situation when it arises. They are very organized about the whole operation. They always send in the appropriate number flying in a V shaped formation. They disturbed Pancake during his nap and it was a long time before he'd pipe down about it.

We get many robins. I think they are curious birds because they come to watch on a fence post while you plant the garden or read a book in the swings. I like them, they just keep one company. Baby l loves to hop after them and they never mind a little baby sitting.

I loathe the magpies, crows and California gulls, (see the following incident http://loveboxes.blogspot.com/search?q=seagull) but we must have a clean up crew on hand. But, never feed them! They are very dirty and it only encourages their bad behavior.
The seagulls actually poop on the sidewalk at The Church. It's not attractive and last summer it caused a lot of gossip and frankly quite a great scandal. The crows are just creepy and there are always so many. My neighbor Jake and I think they might dive bomb us one of these days and we prefer to stay in when they are out. I don't know about Jake, but I'd rather visit with birds on more of a one on one basis. Pancake is secretly afraid of them but walks bravely down the sidewalk as if they're not there just to show how brave he is. We know better...

Bluebirds are my great love! I used to see them on my walks in the morning almost every day. Bluebirds are terribly shy, so you see just a flash of heavenly shades of turquoise. It's very good luck. I am anxious to see them again in the spring. Their only job is to be beautiful.

We have a few other friends that we love. Our neighbor Tiger the cat is codependent on his family, very weird for a cat. He cries for his people if he's not with them. He's orange and very cute. He once sat for a portrait with Pancake which was entered in the Reflections contest. Tiger is the only cat Pancake enjoys an association with. Pancake says Tiger is such a good cat, he's really almost a dog.

Katie the dog is one of our favorite neighbors. She has the lovable face of a teddy bear. She reminds me of the nursemaid in Peter Pan. She is as big as a Buick and will sit on your feet so that you can't move and must continue to pet her. She is sweet, but not gentle, a very enthusiastic greeter. Once my daughter and I were on our way to lessons, c opened the car door to say hello and I instantly had a face and lap full of dog. Our car is too small for Katie we decided. Katie walks 2 miles everyday, which is exhausting, so the only thing you can really hire her for is holding down rugs that could blow away in a slight breeze or similar chore because she really needs to nap the rest of the day.

Our next door dog Bella is so elegant, but she isn't interested in any of the trappings of posh society. She is always on duty. She marches the length of the fence and back again hour after hour. It seems the mice are always planning an attack and Bella is no nonsense. They will never outsmart her. She will discover them in their devious planning every time. She gives dogs five times her size their marching orders, but is always appropriately polite to those who outrank her.

Peeka used to be the neighborhood greeter, but she so old and has such terrible allergies these days. You should hear her sneeze!

We have a good mouser that often pays a working visit. She is disinterested, black, sophisticated and arrogant. She knows how good she is. We suspect that she once lived in the city. She is willing to make a daily inspection for bartered porch naps in the afternoon sun. Pancake doesn't like her, and complains under his breath every time she comes. He swears that she sticks her tongue out at him. We tell him to keep quiet and ignore his protests since her work is so very important. Without her, we'd simply have to relocate.

I am so grateful for good service. It's encouraging that one can still get such good and useful help these days.

Pedi...

This thing here is the best pedicure I've ever had. According to my sister-in-law B.. "it gives you the pedicure you wish you could get at the salon, but they are too afraid to give you." ... of course that is discounting the time when they weren't afraid! Jenni and I went for pedicures at The Little America in SLC and they brought out the heavy equipment meaning dremel sanders ... yep, they actually said Black & Decker on the side. It hurt. And, Jenni and I were giving each other some interesting looks the whole time. You know I use a dremel sander every week to shape the lids and sand the inside of the little boxes I paint.. I don't want someone to use that thing on my feet again.. but I digress.

These Ped Egg things are fabulous and they cost about $10 and last a good long time. so far I've cut my pedicure cost down from $40 per month to about 50 cents per month and in a recession.. that is some real savings!

Being a Grouch...

I like good service, but was dissapointed not to receive it recently. This is the complaint letter that C urged me NOT to send.. and I thought it was so good...

Dear ...........,

Looking for the perfect Father's Day gift on June 9th, I was thrilled to see that ........... had From the Earth to the Moon in stock believing that by paying ........... $10 over the Amazon.com price and the additional expedited shipping I would be able to receive it for Father's Day. Sadly, I still have not received it. If you cannot complete delivery by Tuesday, June 24th 5PM local time, I will expect the order to be cancelled and a full refund issued. After all people, the actual trip to the moon & back only took 6 days.

Best Wishes,Tiffany

"The Apollo 11 astronauts were launched July 16th 1969 at 08:32:00 am EST from Kennedy Space Centre. They reached the Moon when they performed a Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) manoeuvre July 19th 12:21:50 pm EST. It took them 3 days, 3 hours, 49 minutes... to fly to the Moon. " Wikipedia

New Year Brings Change to the old Bloggity Blog...

Since I am so lucky to be visted here by a few fun girls from other nations and a few non-political friends as well. I will no longer air my political rants on this blog... I'm going to save it all for my politics only blog Sunlight & Stars (It's an election year people and I must vent somewhere!). This way only those of you who like to get mad with me or at me can choose to read (both sets of folks are welcome... be fair warned if you don't agree with me I will argue with you, but I'll still love ya even if you happen to be way wrong and completely insane!!! :)

And, after some consideration, I have decided to list on EBAY in a sort of by appointment only fashion. If you can't, won't or don't want to go over to ETSY with me, I am willing to list on a "buy it now" basis on EBAY for those prefer to work with them. If you have a Paypal acccount already however, it takes two seconds to register on ETSY and there are really fabulous artisans over there besides myself who purvey marvelous stuff, so my advice is not to miss out on that. EBAY just takes too large of a cut and I frankly can't afford it, so when I do list on EBAY I will be adding their listing fee to my regular prices.

Christmas...

I feel that I may need to post a warning on this blog. November 1rst kicks off the Christmas Season for me. I know there are purists that like to wait until after Thanksgiving, but to myself I ask, "What am I most thankful for?" and the answer is Christmas. I am one of those annoying Christmas Freaks... yes the Christmas music has already been on and I've watched Elf and The Santa Clause. Yep, a Christmas freak who lives with Christmas freaks.

I won't put the tree up until about the 15th and it stays up until 12th night... why don't we still have 12 days of Christmas. Possibly because people like me have made it 65 days? Anyway, have you seen this movie? Would little c like it?

Happy Halloween...

I don't want to alarm anyone over much, but as you can see.. Pirates have run completely amok in our neighborhood...
they are performing the most unflattering orange die/dye jobs on unsuspecting passers by. Unfortunate. Terrible. Troublesome. And, I'm afraid to say that you may be spotting some of these mangy fellows in your own neighborhoods.
Thanks heavens Sheriff little c is saddling up and hopes to have every rebel rouser seen to, shaped up, reformed or tied to a tree by the morning of...
All Saints Day! Hooray! Everyone have fun and be safe.

Aqua...

This was fun.. I turned out to be Aqua.. the same color as my studio.. What color are you.. and do you like these tests? I think they are fun. My favorite one was on Michelle's blog.. you know the which Jane Austen Heroin are you.. I was Marianne.
This is what they said about me... I must have a big head.
Your dominant hues are green and blue. You're smart and you know it, and want to use your power to help people and relate to others. Even though you tend to battle with yourself, you solve other people's conflicts well.Your saturation level is very high - you are all about getting things done. The world may think you work too hard but you have a lot to show for it, and it keeps you going. You shouldn't be afraid to lead people, because if you're doing it, it'll be done right.Your outlook on life is very bright. You are sunny and optimistic about life and others find it very encouraging, but remember to tone it down if you sense irritation

Spinning Spider Tops...

I love spinning tops... I just got these from Oriental Trading. I felt lucky because they sell out every year and I came in just under the wire. They are tiny about the size of a penny, but good spinners as all spiders should be.

Mine... The Seagull Story...

The California Gull is the state bird of Utah. Go Figure. One comic said this proves we are a low self-esteem state (The Colorado Blue Spruce is our state tree... I know, it's pathetic). Anyway, since the California Gull is the state bird you can't shoot them. To me it's like saying the common garbage rat will now be our state vermin, so don't poison them.

With these thought in the back of your mind I'll tell you a story. I like to take my daughter and her cousins to the park. They have a lot of fun playing together and enjoy this park because they can scooter all over the place and I like it because I can sit on a hill in a chair and see almost all they places they scooter, except Jake. Jake is too small to scooter, which puts his usual bad mood into a worse mood (don't think I'm judging him.. he's the relative most like me) and at the time all these bad mood troubles were compounded by the fact he was two.

When I go to the park, especially with Jake in tow, I always remember to bring quite a few snacks. It's frightening to go with Jake unprepared. And yet, on this particular day, I found that I had but one granola bar in my purse. This was going to be trouble I knew so I waited to give Jake the granola bar until I could see the volcano of his unhappiness was about to erupt.

As I gave him the bar, there were several families there with loaves of wonder bread and the Sea gulls were swarming like bees (idiots!)! Can you just imagine the filth they leave all over the grass the same grass the kids are playing on? Plagues have come from less. Anyway, as Jake is contentedly eating his bar, one Seagull swoops out of the sky and tries to take his bar. Jake starts to scream, which makes me boil. So, in front of all the cute families feeding the lovely vermin, I take off my big wedge sandal and hurl it at the Seagull as he makes a second attempt at the granola bar. On my best day I can't hit the side of a barn, but for some reason in a puff of feathers, I nail the Seagull and he drops out of the air like a brick.

The happy vermin feeding families are mortified by me and jaws drop everywhere. Disgusted moms give me crusty looks. But, Jake loves me... Don't take my bar. Mine!

Gardner Village...

We had a fun day visiting the witches at Gardner Village... but it was crowded!

Boneston Elementary Class of 2007-2008

Little c runs a dog school in the play room. :) The dogs all lined up on Saturday to have their picture taken.

Apple Mug Shot...

Really officer... I haven't been anywhere near Newton.... remember an Apple a day...

Fake Tan...

Every once in awhile, I kind of get tired of my legs matching the white tile in the bathroom. Crazy I know. So, I tried this stuff. It works just like it says. Even though it's very gradual, you still need to be careful about applying it evenly. And, use an old towel, because when you towel off, the towel gets a sun tan too. Really. Have you ever tried a fake bake... what's the best kind?

7 Wierd Things About Me...

I was tagged by Dolly... Hi Dolly!!!

1. I love sharpie pens... oh how lovely they are.

2. I am obsessed with bright colors... brown makes me a little sad.

3. According to C, I share a strange undocumented sign language with my family that few others can comprehend. (he's learning)

4. I try not to buy books, I try to go to the library a lot... but I cannot help my-self.

5. Books on tape from the library are one of life's greatest things... how wonderful to have someone to read you a story...

6. I get car sick, if I'm not the person driving.

7. The cute little furry pet that you likely have... yes, I'm terrified of it. If a sweet kittycat or even a cute little doggy rubs against my leg, I am likely to climb the wall boards with my finger nails.. Due to allergies I think. I often have nightmares where cute fuzzy creatures try to get me. It's very embarassing.

I am supposed to tag seven people so I tag... Rachel and Aunt Jackie, Shelese and Jenni and Janice and Natalie and Lindsey...

Mo...

Bidding on The General Lee is only up to 2,302,100.00.... just thought you might like to know in case you want to get a bid in. :)