Babies, Babies Everywhere

This has been a month of babies. These two little bunnies are enjoying the next door neighbor's yard. I walked out our front door and tried to zoom in to get a closer picture. I didn't want to get too close to them and scare them away. One day we were in the back yard and hubby looked down and asked what that was at my feet. It was a very young rabbit. We backed up slowly and left him alone. The baby bunnies and several adult bunnies live in a few habitats in our back area. Two habitats we made for them. One was here when we moved here.

Then one day while hubby was mowing, he looked down and saw that he had mowed across a nest of some kind. Upon closer inspection we saw brand new ground squirrels, all nestled in their mama's fur. There were four of them about the size of hubby's thumb. They were wiggling around. We found leaves and cut grass to cover the nest and would check on them occasionally. We watched them change colors and then the stripes were on their backs. They are Thirteen Stripe Ground Squirrels. We have seen a couple adults running around the back yard, checking out the food we leave on the ground for the tree squirrels and birds. They look like they are smiling, joyful little creatures. Have you ever seen a Thirteen Stripe squirrel?

The tree squirrels had babies as well. The baby tree squirrels couldn't get on the table at first and they looked like they had oversize feet. Like clown feet. The table is just outside our living room window. If the window and screen were not there we could reach out and touch all the critters. We sometimes have the window open and they are getting used to us talking and to hubby's music. The finches sing with his music and sometimes squirrels and birds are on the table at the same time.

There are plenty of baby birds too. Baby Grackles; baby Cardinals (the male Cardinal takes care of the babies most of the time); baby Robins; baby Mourning Doves; baby Blue Jays (who look exactly like the parents, just very small); baby Red Finches; baby Ring Neck Doves; baby red headed woodpeckers; baby lark sparrows.

With so many babies it gets noisy sometimes. It is an unbelievable privilege to be in the position of observing the birds growing, how they push their parents to the point of exhaustion sometimes, and especially how all the different bird groups get along in our yard. Calm and easygoing around each other.



Some day we will get better at photography so we can take clear pictures through the window and screen. The video was taken with the digital camera leaning on the inside window so the view is looking down on a table outside with bird seed and sunflower seeds on it. Unfortunately, the electric colors on the Blue Jay are dim and the powerful red,black,and white color design on the Red Headed Woodpecker don't show through the window and screen. But one day we will get better pictures that will knock your socks off!

Lets Go For A Walk

This story is so heartwarming that I copy/pasted the whole story here. No other words necessary. Found this at All Creatures Great and Small blog.

"A dog who had all four of his paws amputated when he was just a puppy is going walkies once again, thanks to a brand new set of bionic legs.

Naki’o, a Red Heeler cattle dog, was abandoned in a frozen puddle and suffered such severe frostbite that he was left with just stumps to move about on.

His future was looking grim until veterinary surgeon Christie Tomlinson, who was looking for a playmate for her golden retriever, saw him at a Colorado rescue centre.

At first Naki’o was small and light enough to hold himself up on his stumps without too much difficulty.

But as he grew and gained weight it became painful for him to walk, especially on hard surfaces. ‘I felt so bad for him as his condition worsened,’ said Christie.

‘He is such a hyper and happy dog, but I was having to take him for walks in a stroller and carry him around.

‘He couldn’t be a normal dog, he couldn’t lead the life he wanted.’

Eventually Naki’o had to crawl along on his tummy at home and at the clinic’s daycare centre.Then Christie heard about a company called Orthopets in Denver, Colorado.

Founded by husband and wife team Martin and Amy Kaufmann, Orthopets began when Martin saw that his experience in creating human orthotic devices could be adapted for animals.

‘I felt it was barbaric that in the 20th century we were still amputating dogs’ legs,’ said Martin, who carried out the operation free of charge.

‘I thought we should be using the technology used for humans on our pets.

‘An animal is a much better patient than a human. They have drive, determination and they just won’t quit.
‘They don’t feel sorry for themselves.’
Since undergoing the pioneering surgery Naki’o can leap and bound with the best of them.Christie is amazed at her pet’s motivation and joy for life.

‘He was always a happy dog, but now he’s much more confident,’ she said.

‘It’s great to see him interact with other dogs at the park and play without a care.

‘Naki’o can now not only chase after a ball with other dogs, but he can beat them to the catch!’

Orthopets is working to open clinics worldwide. As well as dogs, they have fitted cats, horses, llamas and a stork with state of the art prosthetics."

Do you agree that this is a great story?

The Eyes To See You Better, My Dear

Squinting and tired eyes have become normal lately. It had been four years since an eye exam, so I made an appointment for an eye exam.

The good news is my distance vision has improved.

The bad news is I have cataracts.

I ordered new glasses with progressive lenses.

The interesting thing about progressive lenses is they are customized to the measurements of my eyes. There are two circular areas on the bottom of the lenses for reading. My brain is training my eyes to look through those sections to read. Above the reading circles is a section for computer work. There is a specific area for this; again, my brain trains my eyes to use this section. If I look to the side it is blurry. The top is for distance.

I am simplifying it, and some people have trouble adjusting to looking in very specific areas for specific needs.

The glasses are such a help right now. For one thing, I only have one pair of glasses and they are usually on my face. Before getting these glasses I had a pair of reading glassed at the kitchen table, another at my computer, another with the current book and a distance pair somewhere around the place to watch movies and drive the car. All those glasses are gone now. I am seeing better than I have in years and it is a small adjustment for me personally to get used to the progressive lenses.

The usual procedure is for a person to use the progressive lenses while the cataract condition worsens. I am choosing not to wait for that. I have ordered eye drops that some people have benefited from and I am believing I will be one in that group. The eye drops have slowed the cataract process and even reversed it in many people. The latter group I plan on joining.

According to the eye doctor, it could be two months or as long as two years before cataract surgery would be required for me to see. She is telling me that my eyesight will gradually decline until I won't be able to see much at all.

We shall see. Now it has become a challenge to disprove that prediction.

Joanna Is At It Again

You all know Joanna over at The Fifty Factor. You know when she sponsors a giveaway it is a GIVEAWAY. Nothing scrawny about her generosity.

Do the two people in the picture look familiar? They should. It is Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks.

That is all I am going to tell you. Go to Joanna's blog and get in on the GIVEAWAY.

You only have until midnight on June 27 to enter.

See you at the movies.

Going Through Changes

Someone had been parked for two years on the domain name I owned for five years. We failed to renew the name on June 15, so there is a new owner of the domain name "the technobabe.com". The new owner is a corporation with a porn blog.

It is possible I will be changing the name of my blog. Not anytime soon though. My first reaction to the domain name directing people to the porn site was to get the heck out of TechnoBabeville. That still may happen but for now I will plod along and make some adjustments to my blog.

There are many Technobabes online, each with our own unique personalities and tastes. I will be thinking long and hard about keeping or letting go of my online TechnoBabe personna. I have grown comfy with it. I want to remain anonymous and if I change names it would probably have initials CW in the blog title so I would be known as CW. Maybe something like CW's Adventures.

Something I am in the process of doing is going to each blog that I current am a follower. I am checking to see which link I used when I became a follower. If it was the domain name at the time, I unfollow and then become a new follower.

One new thing is that I have added an email address to my profile:
technobabesadventures at gmail dot com.

The only link to this blog now is http://thetechnobabe.blogspot.com/

Just make sure my link has the blogspot.com part in it; do not use the old domain name.

If you copy and paste blogs into your Reader, the Reader code is http://thetechnobabe.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

Some readers will probably get lost along the way but I hope to connect up with everyone eventually.

One blessing to come out of this chaos is that hubby realized that his domain name annual payment was due two days after mine was. Which was in the nick of time to update the automatic pay info so he wouldn't lose his domain name too. He had changed his email address and we had changed banks, and forgot all about the annual payments for the domain names.

I told you we are old! I would not want to lose the domain name to his blog about his music. I am with him one thousand percent regarding his composing his music. I never tire of hearing the work he does with his music. He calls it "our" music because I am an intricate part of it. This thrills me and blesses me and fills a place in my being just waiting for a way to share in music to this extent.

By the way, did you see the little ol' hippie lady in the reflection on the front door on the post on doors? Ha.

See the dancing girl in my sidebar? Click on the music bar to hear one of hubby's songs that keep me dancing. He is looking for feedback for the next group of songs he has started. The only feedback he gets is from me. I will be changing the songs periodically so you can hear different styles. One of them is my favorite. I will let you know when that one is on my sidebar.

Have a spectacular week everyone.

Summertime Fun

Daddy's little girl
And Daddy's best friend.


Happy Fathers Day to all the dads from my hubby and me. Being a dad is a full time forever job. We hope you enjoy your special day.

Doors

I have a thing for doors. Most women I know have a thing for shoes but mine is for doors. For most of my life I noticed doors and would save pictures of them from magazines when I was very young. Barely old enough to handle scissors. Today I have a file for door pictures on my computer.

There are screen doors, wood doors, metal doors, double doors, and so much more. Choices. So many shapes too. Standard shape, arch top, windows, bars. OMG the amazing textures.

Some doors have screen doors protecting them. Oh, I know they are put there to let some fresh air into the home, but in my thinking the screen doors also protect the regal front door. The front door is the sentry always on duty with the various locks and chains.

And don't get me started on the hardware on doors. I can spend days in a hardware store looking and drooling over hinges and handles for doors.

Moving so many times in my life has provided opportunities to handle hundreds of door handles in my time. Left my mark like a dog marks his spot on a tree.

Oh, oh, the colors of some front doors! Be still my heart.

I am sure I will be writing more about doors because this is a subject that has much meaning for me.

Getting Around In This Little Town

Some housing areas are neighborhoods surrounding golf courses. One time I was interested in purchasing a house that was about three blocks from a golf course. I didn't play golf then and I don't now, but the house was perfect for me to own and rent to a roommate. The interesting thing about that neighborhood was that it was zoned for golf carts. It was not unusual to see people in their golf carts on the public streets running their errands.

Here in this little town there are a few golf carts, but there are more riding lawnmowers and tractors on the streets than cars. The older guys ride their mowers down to the Corner Cafe early in the morning to drink coffee and visit with their men friends. Then they drive back home after an hour or so. When they leave this town to travel to the next town that is much larger, most of the residents drive their SUVs or super size pickups. I think we have the smallest car in town.

Photo found on Google. Main St in our little town looks similar.

Sabroso Lentil Tacos

The recipe for Lentil Tacos caught my eye on Eat At Home blog. Print out your own copy of the recipe here.

The same day I happened upon the recipe, we made them for our main meal of the day at noon.

Not only is it extremely easy (my kind of cooking), the lentil tacos are so good we will have them in place of hamburger tacos henceforth. Or at least often. And for lettuce wraps too. Superb!

Try making lentil tacos yourself, dudes and dudettes, and let me know if these are not awesome.

I don't take credit for inventing this recipe, I am but the messenger with the fine tuned taste buds.

You're welcome.

Flying Blood Suckers

Camping in a tent with my kids in many of the fifty states taught us how versatile we could be.

Sometime it was hot , sometimes it snowed, sometimes we hiked, or swam. But every place we found to camp had its own type of bugs. Some were just gnats and sometimes we were swatting flies the size of a small frog!

Many times we resorted to bug spray, especially if there were mosquitoes. What a nuisance.

My arms and legs today look like I was camping in a swamp. For a week. Without repellent. Nude.

I don't mind that a mosquito gets high on removing some of my blood. Heck, I have lots; they can have some since that is the natural way of life for them. But the little mothersuckers leave something to share with me. It hurts. It stings. It swells.

The last two days I donned long straight tight pants that cover socks, my long sleeve light weight hoodie with the hoodie up and string pulled tight so my forehead is covered. I spray my face with repellent. I wear safety glasses. And my gardening gloves. Get the picture? Pretty sexy, right? I am sure all the neighbors and people driving by appreciate the charming picture I present to them.

All this just so I can water the plants. We just planted baby trees: Weeping Willow, Japanese Red Maple, Redwood Dawn, two Crape Myrtle, Crabapple, and many shrubs and flowers.

The soil is a rich black earth here. Maybe it's mosquito droppings that makes it so fertile.

Rip Off Game Was Not Won By The Rippers

In January I enjoyed plowing through online companies selling various foods. I spent more time than usual in my search because it was a late birthday present for my son who lives in Hawaii. After a few hours I landed on an article at Hawaii Magazine about ordering Hawaiian food online. The magazine had a link to the company from hell: Hawaiian Food Online.

I place my order online. The next day FED EX emailed me that my order was canceled and I was to contact the company I placed the order with the previous day. The owner of the company assured me my money would be refunded.

I would caution everyone about buying anything from this company. After four months of leaving phone messages and sending emails, they finally responded to my hubby after he joined Facebook and left a negative comment on their Facebook wall. And then they acted like they had no idea I was having a problem with them. Whew.

I received a check in the mail from the company and it is in my bank.

Thank you for all the encouraging comments and for emailing the company referencing our order number. I appreciate your help.

From now on I will just order summer sausage from Hickory Farms!

Community

According to the last census numbers, the population in our little town is just under 1100.

I told you it is a little bitty teensy weensy town.

Several times a year there are community events. And since it is a small population, almost everybody here participates unless someone has to be away on business.

We are setting up tables in our front yard and piling on items to sell. Saturday is Community Yard Sale Day.

We might not make enough to get a steak dinner but we will meet our fellow towners.

The Mud Room

Joey asked me about our mud room I mentioned in this post.

Hubby and I started calling the little inside porch the "mud room" because that was what it was. Literally. The back yard was wet with little grass and lots of mud when we moved here. That didn't dampen our enthusiasm for moving here last October.

We now have a wooden walkway across the back of the house so we walk through the kitchen into the mud room, out the back door onto the wooden walkway all the way to the garage. Hubby is planting grass seed and some new grass is greeting us now.

Wikipedia explains "mud room" this way:

"Many suburban American houses have a mud room, a casual, generally secondary entryway intended as an area to remove and store footwear, outerwear, and wet clothing before entering the house proper. As well as providing storage space, a mud room serves to increase the cleanliness of a house proper. They can often double as laundry room."

Our mud room is a place for us to enter the little hippie cottage at the back of the house, plenty of rugs on the floor to wipe feet, four shelves to store lanterns and muddy shoes. This is the picture of our little mud room taken at seven in the evening with light in the mud room window.