BIG, BIG, BIG BLACK BIRDS HOVERING NEARBY

I was talking to Rebekah yesterday and was facing my west kitchen window. Suddenly something caught my eye - something big - something winged - something big and winged! I got up, walked to
the kitchen window and said to Rebekah, "My gosh! There's a HUGE bird sitting in the tree with it's
wings stretched out. He's just sitting there, wings outstretched"!!! Reb asked if it was a turkey vulture.
I didn't know if it was but googled it and that's what it looked like. It was hard for me to see if it had a
red head. Then I noticed the tree next to the one where the bird was perched and there were over a dozen birds perched in that tree. None had their wings out.
Now to try and solve this puzzle of the big birds. Why were they here? I have never seen them around
here before. I have seen them over centennial Road by the quarry but that's over 7 miles away. Then!
It struck me - the dumpster for Element 112!
Why would I think of the dumpster? A few weeks ago I saw a huge gathering of birds on and around the dumpster. It was hanging open because of too much garbage and not enough room. The birds were
eating high off the hog because Element 112 is a high end 5-star restaurant 2 buildings away from me.
I then noticed these birds on the ground near the dumpster, on the dumpster and in both the trees. I
grabbed my camera and took a lot of pictures. It was hard to see what I was snapping because the sun was in my face but I got a couple good ones. And here they are!

Sadly, these pics are not the best. It's hard to see them in the trees. The one on the

ground is the clearest. This one above is the best for showing how many were up in the trees.

Just never know what I'm going to find out my window!

BILL'S BIRTHDAY AND CHRISTMAS CARDS

There is a shop in Brunswick, OH, south of Cleveland called Hollo's Papercraft Store. I shopped there when I was making cards with rubber stamps.

This is an Easter card I made using yellow, blue and white paper I bought @ Hollo's.

Hollo's buys paper stock from company's that are going out of business.

They can get the paper (card stock) at a good price and will sell it

at a great price. Card stock was most often $1.00 a pound and there would be 18-21 sheets

in a pound. If you go to the Google and put in Hollo's Papercrafts,  then hit "images" you will see all the card stock they carry - every color of the rainbow, white and colored envelopes, and

envelopes in many sizes. It was a stamper's paradise. "Walk in that door and the feeling

you get is better than an orgasm", said one lady.

The reason for all these words about the Hollo's? This is where Bill gets his card stock and envelopes.

 In fact, I didn't know Bill went to the Hollo's until I had been stamping for several years.

This was taken on a swing in Bill's back yard. Isn't he clever with his photos! and words!!

Bill has a cottage on a river outside Ashtabula, OH. Every fall a group of friends gather for

the Cottage Pumpkinfest to carve pumpkins.

Bill builds T frames and the people dress the T and put a carved pumpkin on top.

This is Santa Pumpkin.

 And.... here is another October Christmas card. These pumpkins were carved by

the guests that attended the Cottage Pumpkinfest.

Notice the red and green and white card stock? Yep, from the Hollo's.

This is a picture of Bill's 5-year birthday party. Bill the the boy at the far right of the 

first row of kids standing up. Such a cutie!

Bill was the Student Director (of the band, I'm guessing) at Ramsay High School

in Mt. Pleasant, PA. He is a senior in this picture.

FRONT OF CARD

This is Bill, wearing the Boy Scout uniform he wore when he was

a Junior in high school. How about that for keeping your figure!

BACK OF CARD

CLEVER!!!

Every year I look forward to May 27th - my birthdate

and Christmas to see what Bill has planned for his greeting.

WHAT IS A BLOG?

I am taking numerous pictures of a jigsaw I am doing. I want to do a blog about my approach to putting
together 1000 pieces of cardboard and coming up with a picture of a big yellow barn. I mentioned this to an acquaintance of mine and she asked me why I would put this in a blog. So I decided to research the word "blog". In my on-line dictionary, the definition for the word blog says -
"A website on which an individual or group of users produces an ongoing narrative". Blogging/blogged is defined as adding/added new material to regularly update a blog. The origin of
"blog" is a shortening of WEBLOG. Get it, a we(b log)??
I then looked for the definition of "log". It is a regular record of incidents or observations. My sister, Susi, once said I didn't keep a diary, I kept a log. She said this because I didn't talk of feelings, emotions, etc. but, instead wrote down what I did from the time I got up until I went to bed at night.
So I looked up the word "diary" and found this - "A farm with cows and milk". Oops, wrong word. " A book where one keeps a record of events and experiences".
Here is an entry from my diary.
January 1, 2014. 30 minutes on the treadmill. supposed to go to marlene's but it is snowing and "when it snow, i don't go". vacuum has been sitting in the bathroom for a week so vaced in there. talked to susi.
listened to evening news. supposed to get more snow. so pretty out. watched tv and downton abbey on dvd. love that show! (When I write in my diary on my computer's text edit i do not use capital letters. Do not use them in my e-mails, either).
Okay. I did list what I did, blah, blah, but I also wrote down emotional things. "Love that show!" and
"So pretty out" are a couple of feelings, right?
But I digress. Back to blogs. My blog is for me first. I love to do it, love to add pictures, enjoy playing with words
and I like the fun positive comments I get from my "viewers". Secondly, the blog is for friends and
family. I did the big blog about my apartment so I could show my sister Susi, my children Rebby and Steve, my friends Carolyn, Marilyn, Bill, Jim and John
 the colors I chose for the living and dining areas, the furniture I
bought, the art I chose for the walls, and last but surely not least, a picture of my painter AND friend,
Rick.
I think that fits the definition of a blog/blogger.
I'm happy all of you are reading it and would naturally want you to enjoy it but the first purpose for
this blog is for me to do with it exactly as I wish - to enter what I want and not be concerned about
people liking it, not liking it, not understanding what it's all about and being a bit critical about it.
(Have you sensed the person who asked me about the jigsaw blog was a bit critical and a "look down
her nose" type of person? Yep. I needed to defend myself. I don't worry that she will read this because she doesn't even have a computer. She says they are a waste of time).
Just had a thought. I am defending myself to the person who will never read it! The people who DO
read this are here because they like to be here. Guess I wrote this to tell me it's ok to do what
I want.
I shall return soon with a jigsaw blog. As the English say, "Ta ta".

The Schefflera (also called Umbrella Plant) Gets A Haircut

 This is my Schefflera plant back when I had my living room/dining area re-done - 2011. This plant
kept growing tall but leaned to one side and looked, to my eye, lopsided. So I decided to give her a
haircut. Before I trimmed the plant back, it stood over 18" high. It is now 6" high. It was amazing to
watch the sprouts come out of the stalks! She seems to grow fatter/fuller and taller overnight.

This is the "baby" umbrella plant. 

That's it about the schefflera and

how she grows.

THINGS FORGOTTEN

I just went to the very first entry to this blog - November ???, 2011 and read thru every entry. In some I said I would do a blog about this or that, in some i said I'd take pics and do a blog, in some i felt there needed to be more explanation. Should I do it now? Nah! If you haven't read back thru here, you don't
know what I've missed, so why bother adding it now. I have some ideas for future blogs.
1. Do a blog showing the funny cards that Bill sends @ Christmas and my birthday.
(Yes, I know I've said this before. Last night I took pictures of the cards so they are ready for publication.)
2. Picture of my Umbrella plant before her haircut and after.
3. Pictures of the Yarn Bombing covers I did for the Sylvania Downtown Yarn Bombing
and then pics of what was yarn bombed.
4. I don't know. Something will come up.
Enjoy this wintry day with temps in the hi 20's. Yay!!

THE BIG FREEZE

I have written before about the our weather here this winter. I just want to say a bit more. Sorry, Bill, no pictures this time. They would just show piles of snow. Ho-hum!
I looked at our local CBS weather site for records we broke - nothing. If you want to see the temperatures here in the Toledo, OH, area, check it out. I won't try to find it for this blog.

HOW COLD WAS IT, JUDI?

It was so cold my butter, sitting on the counter, was as hard as it would be in the refrigerator.

It was so cold I went to bed four nights fully dressed - only kicked off my shoes.

It was so cold even my down comforter wasn't enough to keep me warm. I wrapped my knees

(which feel the cold terribly) in a wool lap robe and put my wool afghan on top of the comforter.

It was so cold when I went to the basement to do my laundry I wore my winter coat.

It was so cold many nights my inside thermometer, registering the outside temperature, was a

minus degree.

It was so cold that same thermometer showed minus degrees when I got up in the morning.

It was so cold schools were closed many, many days. 

It was so cold the city shut down. One night I counted 69 closings that scrolled on the bottom

of my TV.

It was so cold I dragged the wool afghan from chair to chair to cover my lap. When I sat down

at night, in my favorite chair, I had a wool shawl wrapped around my shoulders, the wool

afghan over my lap and the wool throw wrapped around my knees.

It was so cold that I wore layers of clothes, sometimes three layers.

It was so cold that we all waited until today to go out and do errands because it is...... are you

ready.......30 degrees. Oh my gosh, we're having a heat wave!

Through all this cold, cold, cold, cold weather the furnace ran. Through this cold weather our

water pipes held fast. Through this cold weather our cars started. And the sun shone many

days. I suffered from cabin fever a few times but at least the sun came through the windows

and it helped cheer me up. Soon it will be February and before we know it, it will May and June

and we can bitch about the heat. 

Unique and Unusual Elephants

Once upon a time, in a faraway land in Africa, there lived a herd of unique and unusual elephants. They were short and tall, fat and thin, wiry and bony, pink and blue, metal and glass. They were a
happy bunch of elephants who spent their time among the unique and unusual flora, eating fruit and grasses and the leaves of the tradescantia pallida, or wandering jew, and schefflera, or, as we call it, the umbrella tree.
One day, Pinkie, the big, fat, fuzzy momma elephant, said, "Let's have a picnic down by the lake".
The rest of the herd agreed and began to gather fruit and greenery, plus some libation.

The elephants played tag and hide and seek (which was hard to do because of their size)

and frolicked in the lake. Some of the elephants laid on the beach, reading and

chatting with each other. SUDDENLY, the sky darkened and, instead of rain,

table lamps fell from the sky!!

Chalky, the tall white elephant, had a severe injury to the back of his head. Funky, the pretty

little girl elephant, lost an ear and part of her tusk. The paramedics were called (because

every one of the elephants had an iphone) and the injured elephants were quickly rushed

to the veterinarian hospital. Bill, the famous elephant vet, was staying at his

pied-a'-terre in Cleveland.

He was busy baking an apple pie but dropped what he was doing, jumped on a plane and soon arrived in Africa. He was rushed to the veterinarian hospital where he operated on Chalky.

Chalky is recovering nicely, for those of you who are concerned. Funky has to wait for

another vet, who does plastic surgery and the attaching of body parts. They are even hopeful

that Funky's tusk can be re-attached. Probably going to use Crazy Glue, if they can find a

gallon around somewhere.

The elephants returned home to find that they were famous! They were on the news, on

CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC and PBS. Fox News reporter, and crazy man, Glenn Beck,

reported that President Obama was seen throwing table lamps out of a plane that was flying

over Africa. Unfortunately, no one got a picture of it. Isn't that strange?!?

When Bill, the vet, returned to his home in Cleveland, he was shocked to find the house

burned to the ground! He had forgotten to turn off the stove and the apple pie.... well,

you know what happened. It is reported that Bill has decided to move to Sylvania, OH.,

a small village to the west of Cleveland. 

NOW TO THE TRUTH!!!!

I wanted to do a blog about my elephant collection so I gathered them up and put them on the

window seat. I was doing a jigsaw on the table and the board scooted to the left and knocked my table lamp right on the elephants. The two elephants in the picture with the killer lamp did break

when the lamp went flying. As I sat there looking at this catastrophe, a story started to

form and this is what the outcome was. Did you notice the elephants on the bags

with the fruit and flora?  And, Bill, did you notice your name???   :-)

And, lastly, the lamp was not injured.