Friday Show and Tell - and More Rambling

Earlier this summer I mentioned our new birdhouse, which my dad had designed and created. I complained that the bird grapevine must be very slow, because none had come by to try it out, or to spread the word that there was a new restaurant in town.

Finally, a little family of finches began to get brave and come to visit - and soon they became regulars. One day I saw a bully blue jay in there, but he hasn't returned. The finches are quite messy, and the patio is full of seeds that they carelessly push out of the feeder.

One of the main features of this design is keeping the squirrels from being able to snatch all of the food. It works very well in that regard. However, the other day I saw two squirrels feasting on this mess on the patio - I wasn't quick enough to get a shot of them. But it made me wonder if the birds decided to share their bounty, since the squirrels couldn't join them - or try to keep them away. I finally was able to get some good ones of the birds, though.

For more Friday Show and Tell stories, stop by Kelli's blog, There Is No Place Like Home.

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Now - on to some more ramblings ---

We're thankful for the end of our long seige of heat - when it's so hot here, it's like being in a furnace or oven, rather than a sauna. It feels like we're heading back into a drought cycle. But it has been wonderfully cool the last two days. It feels so good! We even had a lovely rain last night. The farmers are desperate and we're praying for them.

I think my three days of physical funk made me forget half of the things I was going to put in my ramblings yesterday. Thanks for the good wishes - I am feeling much better. This bug is rampant in our family - including the little ones, who are not at their peak either. Thanks also for the comments about L*sik surgery - I will be making my decision soon. I hope to talk to some folks who have had their surgery from this clinic.

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When I was talking about the gym yesterday, I was complaining about my arms. My sis and I used to always call our arms "teacher flab" because of some of our teachers when they were writing on the board. We both became teachers and didn't want to have that problem! I look back at pictures of when I was younger and cannot believe that I ever thought I had big arms back then. I have always thought I was overweight, but now that I really am, I look back and pix and can't believe how slim I really was. Perspective is everything!

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Back at the gym -- I love watching people there while I'm exercising (well, when I'm not reading a magazine or a book on the machines and I'm working on those blasted arm weights). I hope nobody's watching me! It's almost as much fun as watching people at the airport.

Anyway - there's this one personal trainer, a good-looking young guy with a great Australian accent. He seems to be the favorite of older women who have hired him to whip them into shape. One woman especially fascinates me. She's a very classy looking older lady with silver gray hair - she dresses up very nicely for her exercises - including large clip-on earrings every day. He puts her through her paces as she chats endlessly and laughs gustily. I have to say that I have no desire to have a young male trainer watching my every clumsy attempt - I'd rather just figure it out myself.

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Changing the subject drastically - I mentioned in the post about our yard a few weeks ago that we have raspberries, some of which came here in the ball of a maple tree and have been growing wild. We're having a bumper crop of raspberries this summer. I needed to do something with them before it was too late. Susie showed the other day how she freezes her raspberries on a cookie sheet so they don't clump together - I decided to do that yesterday. I put the cookie sheet full of berries in the freezer, but didn't get around to putting them in baggies yet when - DC came home, opened the freezer door, and I immediately identified the loud crash I heard - frozen raspberries everywhere on the floor. Totally wasted. They begin thawing very quickly, and the floor was soon very sticky. What a mess.

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I think at some point in this blogging adventure I have mentioned my bad luck with nails in my tires. The last time DC took my car in for tire repair the guy at the station told him to tell me to quit driving in the alleys behind bars! Ha. The other day I was sitting at a stop light when I saw this thing in the road. I took a picture of it on my check book so you could get an idea of how huge it is.

I jumped out of my car, snatched it up, and saved myself and/or someone else from spending more time and money on tire repair - I think this one would have required more than a simple repair job - more like a new tire.

Have a great 08-08-08!