I’m a happy girl. My hubby is buying me a screen room for the back porch! It will be aluminum framing and all the walls are just enough aluminum framing to hold up window screens. I am going to be practically living out there!

Right now, as I said in my last post, I spend some time with my pets on the FRONT porch. But, the BACK porch has a better view – My wonderful pond that my hubby built and maintains for me. It’s just not comfortable to lounge around on, YET!

WELL! Now, I will be able to go out the sliding glass patio door and walk right out into a little room just big enough for a futon and two patio chairs and two little bitty tables next to the chairs for coffee and soda pop.

I am so exited! I’m going to be folding down the futon, and laying around with the dogs and watching the wild birds at the pond and watching my bunnies scamper around. Plus, my pet birds will be out there on nice days, too. I have never felt comfortable leaving my birds outside on nice days, but this little room will be a part of our house, and it will be secure.

My pesky doctors keep telling me to get rid of the birds since they contribute to lung problems, and I keep telling them it was the mold and NOT the birds. I’m not going to get rid of my family members for pete’s sake!

But, now, the birds will be in a different air space on nice days. On the off chance that my birds helped to make me sick, this will help.

My banner on my space says: “Life in the Backyard”. My backyard is my favorite place on earth. I am serious. My hubby and I do not travel, at ALL. Why should I?  My hubby makes my backyard so wonderful and peaceful for me, there is no need to go on vacation. This screen room is one more thing that will make my backyard my own Heaven on earth.

Springtime is my favorite time of year. I’ll be in the backyard enjoying God’s Creation for a while…

There’s no place like home…..

X

Edited to add:

Here’s a picture of my new screen room. It’s just itty bitty, big enough for the birds, the dogs, me, the futon and a couple of chairs. But, it’s paradise to me. It’s rained for three days, but it’s neat that I can sit out in the “rain” and not get wet. Fun:

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I read George Orwell’s novel, “1984”, again this week. I don’t know how many times I have read it, but it is a book I like to read over and over again, from time to time. I guess I read it every five years or so, but I’ve never really kept track. It’s just when the mood strikes me.

It is such a complex book, that it seems it seems like a different book each time. In reality, the book has stayed the same, but the world, and I, have changed.

I read this book between naps over the last few days. I haven’t felt very good this week, and spent most of the week either in my “real” bed, or on the front porch on my folded down futon. I love to hang out on the front porch. It is an “enclosed” porch, in that it has walls and a door. But, my favorite part is the windows. I love to open the windows and let in the fresh air and sound of the wild birds.

I am a lucky girl. I live on a street in a subdivision, full of houses, really close to a major intersection, but my street is really quiet most of the time. A car might go down my street maybe once an hour. Besides that, the only noise is mostly the dogs on the street letting each other know that the mail carrier or trash collector is on our street.

So, anyway, the front porch is my backyard away from the back yard. The backyard has no comfortable place to lay when I don’t feel good. I have hooks in the ceiling above the windows where I hang the parakeet and cockatiel cage. Rufus, my parrot, hangs out on the window sill. He likes to climb up the center window frame and then slide down like a fireman.

Belty, my Main Man, joins me on the bed, unless there is some patrol work outside in the backyard. He needs to keep Mom safe. Nicki is also very active in keeping Mom safe. Every day, they guard Mom from the poor mail carrier. No matter what I do, they won’t stop barking when there is an immanent threat. Belty is also excellent at napping. He likes to snuggle up to Mom when he is asleep. That way, he can nap and be on hand to protect me at the same time. Oh, he snores, but it’s a cute snore, so I don’t mind.

Nicki apparently just can’t get up on the futon anymore. They are both around 12 (we don’t really know since they were both adopted) and they are both slowing down. I took the legs out from under my “real” bed so Nicki can jump up on it, but I need the frame under the futon in order to look out the window. Nicki surveys the land for trespassers while laying in front of the glass storm door.

Nicki is a Daddy’s Girl. Since Lily recently died, Nicki is trying very hard to be the new “Baby” Lily was a teeny dog, and my hubby thought of her as a baby. Nicki is too big to be a cuddly lap dog, but she’s trying her best, anyway. She likes me alright, but she ADORES her Daddy. So, she doesn’t mind that Belty is my bedmate.

So anyway, I spent most of this week laying down, surrounded by a roomful of pets, since I didn’t feel good enough to do anything else. I read my copy of “1984” between naps. This morning, I feel a little better, and I want to try to tidy up the house a little bit.

As I’ve said before, but a head’s up to those who are visiting for the first time, since I lost my great job because of the pesky lung disease I haven’t worked for a year and a half. My poor hubby has been the only one making any money, plus he is the only one who has been able to do the cooking, shopping, laundry, cleaning etc.

I have recovered some, and am able to do chores some of the time. Today is Friday. i want my hubby to come home to a clean kitchen and living room with all the laundry done. He usually spends his weekend doing house chores, in addition to doing “man’s chores” like yard work. Plus, he planted me a garden this year, and he works in that a lot.

I want my hubby to be able to home home from work tonight and enjoy a restful weekend, as much as I can give him anyway. So, old X is going to start puttering around the house and see how much housework I can get done today. I’ll put on the Golden Oldies station to get me moving faster. The moving around is good exercise for my lungs, too. The harder I breathe, the stronger they get. Being at the computer a lot is NOT good for me. I have to move around a lot to get better.

Like I’ve said before, as much as I love it here in Live Land, I just can’t spend the time here that I used to. There are other aspects of my life that have to take priority. I miss visiting regularly with you all. If I’m not here in Live Land, don’t worry about me. I’m just living my life.

Time to get busy. I’ll pop in again soon.

X

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Today is Easter, the special day of the year that Christians set aside to celebrate that Jesus Christ rose from the dead as it says in the Bible:

Matthew 28:1-10 The Resurrection:

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."… (NIV)

But, who is Jesus? Was Jesus just a great moral teacher, or is Jesus something else? Here is what the great writer, C.S. Lewis, said:

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic-on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg-or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."

(from: CS Lewis, Mere Christianity, Book 2, Chapter 3, The Shocking Alternative)

Who does the Bible say that Jesus is?

Here is an excerpt from chapter one of the book of John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. the light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. There came a man who was sent from God; his name was john. he came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only, who came from the father, full of grace and truth. John 1:1-14 (NIV)

In summary: In the beginning was the Word ... the Word was God ... the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

The Word was God. And, The Word became flesh. Therefore, God became flesh, thus the Bible says that Jesus is God.

X

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I was just outside with the doggies and bunnies. First thing in the morning, my boy dog, Belty, makes a check for security breeches. He walks along the backyard fence, sniffing the ground as he goes, making sure there were no trespassers during the night. He LOVES trespassers. He is the self appointed security guard, and his duty is to keep squirrels, mice, bunnies, etc out of our yard. He has never caught anybody. In fact, he stops running if they stop running. It’s just the fun of the chase. You’ve never seen a dog with a bigger smile as when he is chasing a squirrel.

So, anyway, now that I am more ambulatory, I have been helping Belty patrol in the mornings, and different times during the day, when he feels it is necessary. So, a little while ago, I noticed that the bunny pen area had no more grass. The bunnies had eaten the grass down to the roots. Oh, they get bunny food and fruit and veggie scraps, but they still like grass and weeds to eat. I pull henbit and dandelions and toss them in the pen, and the bunnies love it.

So, there I was, looking at no grass in the bunny pen, and a lot of grass everywhere else. So, I put a portable folding bunny pen around the area with the highest grass, under the park bench by the pond. I put the bunnies in there, and they started happily eating grass, then I took me and the dogs back inside.

Then, I was tidying up the kitchen, and looked out the window, and my biggest bunny was sitting on the park bench! I had no idea that she’d be able to jump that high. So, I ran outside (I don’t leave the bunnies unattended with the dogs) to make sure she would not jump over the fence.

As I was moving the fence from around the back of the park bench, I was talking to the bunnies. I’m here by myself all day, every day, until my hubby comes home. I find myself talking to the animals a lot. But, the more I talk to them, the more they understand, so it works out well. Rufus sometimes answers me back, or makes rude comments, or laughs. (oh, he’s my parrot)

So there I was, I was talking to my bunny, and I heard myself say this: “You think you’re a big bunny? I’m the Big Bunny around here”. What in the heck? I just told a rabbit that I’m a big bunny? It made me laugh out loud when I heard that come out of myself.

Old X, she is a strange one.

I might be on the computer some more today, or I might not. As much as I love visiting with my friends, like I’ve said before, I have to keep moving around to keep getting better. Moving around more has made a big difference in my lungs. They seem to be working better all the time. I’m using the oxygen less and less.

Even my arms and legs got weak from sitting around. The more I move around and do stuff, the better, and stronger I have been feeling.

So, if I don’t get back to you right away, understand that being on the computer too much is bad for my health.

I’m going to put my wash in the dryer, tidy up my room, go play with the dogs some more, maybe move the bunny pen to another grassy area.

But, remember, above all else, “I’m the Big Bunny around here!”.

X

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I just mentioned in a comment in a group that I am a “word-o-phile”. A “word-o-phile” is a made up word that word lovers use to call themselves. Why isn’t there a real word for a lover of words. Isn’t that ironic? Well, it is to me!

I am a word junkie. I have to know what a word means. If I hear a word in a movie that I do not know, I have to pause it while I look it up. This makes my hubby, who is not a word-o-phile, crazy. But, since he loves me, he knows he has to wait and not complain. That is just is how it has to work around here.

I have one channel in my brain, I’m a serial port. I can only think of one thing at a time. If I am wondering about the definition of a word, I can’t concentrate on the rest of the movie. My hubby, a parallel port, can think of many things at a time. It took a while, but now he understands that this is just how I am wired up.

Thankfully, my hubby loves me enough to stick with me in spite of this. (I love you, too, sweetie!)

Anyway, as a word-o-phile, I am also a crossword puzzle junkie. Crawling in bed with a brand new, crisp Sunday crossword puzzle is a special thing for me.

Yes I know I’m weird. Deal with it.

X

Edited to add:

Jeffrey called my attention to “Logophile”. I think I will just delete this blog and run away and hope nobody notices. Thanks Jeffrey…. Man, do I look stupid now…. Gulp.

I’d like to close with the famous words of Emily Litella: “Never mind”….

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Tee hee hee! I just got a good laugh! I just installed IE8 and was surprised to see the Yahoo toolbar on it. I’m not sure if it was already dormant in my computer or what, but I don’t like a bunch of extra toolbars. So, I clicked on the Yahoo “Y !” expecting to find the “Uninstall Toolbar link. Instead, I saw a link that says “Start Wearing Purple”. Huh?

I clicked on the link and went to a page called http://startwearingpurple.yahoo.com/. Here’s the deal: Before Yahoo started this advertising campaign, they should have googled a little while and found out what else “wearing purple” means. Women, like me, who are close to reaching a “certain age” are aware of this poem:

Warning

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

Jenny Joseph

So, is Yahoo trying to reach the gray-haired lady set?

Har har har.

Boring old X

PS: I don’t drink brandy or eat sausage, but I am almost finished crocheting a red hat…

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Hi Everybody.

I visit Snopes.com frequently to keep up on all the internet rumors to find out what is true and not true. This morning, I clicked the What's New link, as always, and I saw this story:

Jasmine the Greyhound

Claim: Photographs show Jasmine, a greyhound who cares for other animals at a wildlife sanctuary.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/jasmine.asp

Well, that triggered my interest! The story is true. It’s about an abandoned and abused greyhound dog that was found by the police in a shed and taken to a animal sanctuary for care. Jasmine, as they named her, started adopting baby animals and caring for them.

I totally believe this article! My girl dog, Nicki, does the same thing! The first time I saw it, was about ten years ago when I brought home a bunny. When Nicki saw the bunny, instantly her motherly “instinct” (hard-wired by God) got in gear and she thought she had just given birth.

She started panting like she had just gone through an ordeal, and laid down next to the bunny, and started licking it all over and tried to get it to nurse. She licked and licked the Bunny, like a mother dog does to clean and stimulate the baby’s bodily functions.

She and the bunny were like that for hours. I kept a good eye on them, though, because in the wild a bunny is prey to wild dogs. But, Nicki continued to think it was the bunny’s mother.

We got Nicki when she was four months old. She was an abandoned mixed breed doggie that was left behind when a purebred Australian Sheppard kennel moved away. Now that she is grown, she looks like part Australian Sheppard and part Blue Heeler (her pointy ears from the heeler, we assume). We got her spayed as soon as she was old enough, so we know she had never had puppies.

Nicki was my hubby and my first doggie together after we married. At the time we had no other pets. I recently had to put my nine year old doggie, Bo, to sleep because she was dying of immune mediated hemolytic anemia.

Bo had been a big part of my life for the last nine years, and I really missed her. I was not ready for another dog. But, my hubby wanted a dog for the two of us once we got married. He finally won.

So, this bunny was the second pet after Nicki, and Nicki thought it was her baby. After a few days, her maternal hormones calmed down. But, every time since, when I get a new pet, and there’s been lots of them, she kicks in to Mommy mode. Since the bunny, she has thought she has given birth to a box turtle, several goldfish and each bird I brought home.

For the birds, I sit the cage down, and Nicki lays next to the cage as close as she can, trying to get the cage in the position to nurse. She pants and pants like she is wore out. (I had been a bird watcher for many years when I married my hubby. He suggested we get a bird. He didn’t realize the monster he would create by getting me my first pet bird.) So now, all of my pets are Nicki’s “Babies”.

Nicki is as old as my marriage with my hubby. We figure she was born about the time we got married. So, she is a 12 year old doggie, but she still thinks she is a puppy. When she was young, she had a lot of psychological problems, and peed whenever she got scared, which was all the time. She has gradually grown out of it, but still gets scared a lot, (but doesn’t pee).

I just remembered something. here’s a blog I wrote when parakeets got loose in my house: "Nicki, find the babies...."

I’m happy to have this forum to tell about my good girl, Nicki. I couldn’t resist after reading about that greyhound.

X

PS: Thanks everybody for your kind wishes about my physical recovery from the lung disease that lost me my job a year and a half ago. I puttered around the house and yard all day yesterday, doing chores. Well, not ALL day. I need frequent breaks to catch my breath. I didn’t get much done, but what I DID manage to get done makes me feel powerful.  It feels very good to be contributing to the household in some way, finally. My hubby and I have decided that I’m just not going to bother trying to worry about getting another job once I am better, how ever long in the future that will be. I’m just going to concentrate on getting better. So, I suppose I can consider myself officially retired now. I got my first job in the early 1970s, and I am all tuckered out…

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Thanks for understanding my need for some solitude in the last couple of weeks. First off, I appreciate everybody's kind words about the loss of our pets. Things are getting better here. We have looked at a lot of pictures of Lily in her happier days, and it has helped. We are getting better at remembering the good times, although, it is still difficult at times. But, things are doing better.

I am getting a lot better physically, too. In the past year, when I have been in Windows Live Land so much, I was tied to an oxygen machine, and had to stay in my lazy boy chair all day, every day. I don’t have a lap top. I was using my computer sitting in my lazy boy chair all this time. Being online was my only contact with the outside world while my hubby was at work since I couldn’t go anywhere.

Now that I’m feeling a lot better physically, and now that it is spring, it is time for X to go outside and play more often. My lung disease has improved a LOT and I am able to do more and more every day. Being cooped up in my house when I was sick actually made me more sick. Going outside and playing in the backyard with my pets is making me stronger. I only need my oxygen at night now, so getting around is a lot easier.

Another thing is, my regular doctor and my lung doctor keep pestering me to give away my birds. Parrot-type birds have protective feather dust that is bad for my lungs, according to the doctors. I think it was the mold, and NOT the birds that made me sick. But, still, being cooped up with feather dust all winter probably was not helpful, either. Taking my birds outside, and visiting with them there, is better for me physically.

There is NO WAY that I am going to get rid of my birds, so I just have to be wise about it. Now that I feel better, I have taken over the job of cleaning the bird cages. Keeping the cages clean, and taking the birds outside on nice days to give them spray-bottle baths (which they love) is good for my lung recovery, now that it is nice enough to go outside.

It’s going to take a lot of time to get caught up responding to all of my friend requests and private messages I’ve received lately, (if I get caught up.) Please know that I appreciate all the posts and private messages about the loss of my pets and I appreciate hearing about all of your own pet experiences over your lives. It was a big help to me and my hubby to have so much support from people who understand how it is to love a pet.

Unfortunately, at this time, I am unable to get the strength emotionally to respond to all messages personally. Just know that I really appreciate hearing from you all, and it was a big source of comfort.

Like I said, right now, it’s not healthy for me to be inside on the computer so much. I need to be out in the sunshine moving around to keep getting stronger. Besides, it was a long, cold winter, and things are getting green outside. It is my favorite time of the year. I’m going to be spending a lot of time in my backyard with my dogs, birds, bunnies. Besides, the fishpond that my hubby built me several years ago is starting to grow new lily leaves, and I found a brand new baby goldfish that I have never seen before. I love to sit outside and marvel at God’s creation. I especially like to watch the wild birds as they start getting ready to have families.

So, here’s the deal, X is back in Windows Live Land, but I probably won’t be as available as I have been previously. Being on the computer all day while I was sick made me get cabin fever. Now that I have the option to go out and play, I will be doing that more often.

Besides, my house needs a lot of work. While I was so sick with the lung disease, I couldn’t do anything around the house. My poor hubby had to work all day, plus take care of me, plus do all the shopping, cooking, laundry, and everything else. Now that I have been feeling better physically, I’m gradually starting to help with the housework. I am slowly but surely turning into a Housewife, which I have never, ever been. I have always been the self-sufficient career girl until the pesky lung disease which made me lose my job, and is keeping me from being able to get another one.

So, what have I missed?

X

Our little bitty doggie Lily, died, last night. As I have done in the past, I’m going to use my blog to deal with my feelings and write a tribute to her:

We first saw Lily a couple of years ago in the waiting room of a vet’s office, (not our usual vet, but a bird specialist that we had taken my cockatiel, Penny, to).

She was literally skin and bones. She was a stray or abandoned and a couple had found her and brought her in for medical treatment. After that, they were going to try to find her a home as they already had a houseful of dogs.

My hubby had been wanting a little bitty dog to add to our family, and I had agreed that when we saw one who needed us that we would take it home. We immediately looked at each other and knew that this pitiful little doggie was going home with us. On the way home, we stopped at Petsmart to get her a leash. I was afraid we were going to get arrested for not feeding her, she was literally that skinny.

Lily came home with us, and gradually gained weight, and we found out more about her. It didn’t take us long to find out that she was totally deaf. Then, we realized she was practically blind. Our regular vet told us that she was probably at least 13 years old. My hubby and I realized that God picked us to take care of this little doggie and let her live out her old age years in a loving home.

Lily was a Rottweiler trapped in a little doggie’s body. She was only a foot and a half long, but in her mind she was ferocious. She never let her size get in the way of her attitude. But, she had a wide range of emotions. For some reason, this little doggie loved to get trapped, and let her daddy (my hubby) rescue her.

Here she is stuck totally inside all four legs of a stool, waiting for her rescue. Lily loved getting in positions for her Daddy to rescue her. She would (intentionally) get herself stuck in the funniest places. One time, she crawled into my crochet basket and got stuck. She was so cute, and it was just her size, that my crochet basket became her little bed.

Each time she got stuck, my hubby would “rescue” her, pick her up and baby her, saying: oh, did the poor baby get stuck?  Well, of course, the "poor baby" learned to get herself stuck more and more often so she could get my hubby to cuddle her on cue. My hubby was wrapped around her little paw. She loved being babied by my hubby, and my hubby was the right man for the job. Lily was my hubby’s baby.

At first, she was a happy little doggie. First thing in the morning, when she felt the best, she would run outside with our other dogs. We called her our bucking bronco. Her front end and back end were so far away from each other that she looked like a see saw, alternate ends going up and down, bucking like a wild horse. She would make us laugh out loud.

Then, one day, she couldn’t get up. All of a sudden, her back end did not work. We took her to the vet and got steroids to hopefully allow her to walk again. But, in the meanwhile, we had to loop her leash under her back end, to hold it up, while she walked with her front legs.

She gradually regained the ability to walk, but she was never the same after that. She never was our little bucking bronco again. Once in a while, we would see one or two bucks when she would try to run, but it was not like it used to be.

Then, recently, Lily started going downhill fast. My hubby and I agonized over what what the right thing to do. In addition to being blind and deaf, she was also now incontinent and confused. She would walk in circles constantly, plus her hair was falling out. I called our vet’s office a couple of weeks ago, and asked about what was right for her, wondering if she was having a happy life. I was told to think about her point of view: What would we want if we were in the same situation?

So, my hubby and I talked about it some more and decided that we would just try to keep her as comfortable as possible and wait for the inevitable.

As she got more and more confused, her circles got smaller and smaller, and more erratic – rather that walk around the whole room, her circles were down to three feet across. It was hard not to trip on her, and the other dogs were frustrated that she did not understand the rules of dog society as she would walk right into them, or across their bed while they were sleeping. They would growl at her, to warn her, but being deaf, it did not help. The situation was difficult.

A few weeks ago, we had to decide to just keep her leash tied next to a doggie bed, for her safety and ours. As she always loved naps, this worked out pretty good. Between walks outside to try to get her to go potty, and breakfast and dinner, Lily was usually on her bed, asleep. At night, she slept in her basket, within reach of my hubby, and during the day, she slept on a doggie bed in the living room, where most of the action is during the day while my hubby is at work.

My hubby and I still didn’t like that she had to be tied up. Sometimes, we would let her have the laundry room all to herself, so she wouldn’t have to be on a leash, but she would just walk in circles until she fell asleep. It was not much of a life for Lily. Still, we worried whether we were doing the right thing. When we take in a pet who needs us, we let it live the rest of its life with us.

I did not feel right about artificially cutting that life short unnaturally. I have had two dogs put to sleep, one who had cancer, and one who became allergic to her own blood. They were both suffering, but I never got over it, and I didn't want to do it again unless I had to. Lily was confused and confined, but she wasn’t suffering, I reasoned.

But, all in all, we knew she was dying. We prayed that when death came, it would come all at once, so she wouldn't have to suffer.

So, last night, my hubby put Lily outside to go potty before bed. When he went back out to get her, she looked lifeless. My hubby cried “Please help me” and I ran to see what was happening. We both tried mouth to mouth resuscitation, but she was gone. (When I had my dog, Bo, put to sleep when she had immune mediated hemolytic anemia, I had seen the “light go out” in her eyes. I saw the same thing in Lily. I knew she was gone….)

My hubby and I both get very attached to our pets, some pets more than others. I knew that Lily was my hubby’s baby, so I had to be strong for him. I did not let myself feel any feelings last night. I had to take care of my hubby. I had to be the strong one as we went out in the rain and buried Lily….

Goodbye Lily, we will miss you very much.

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Pictures of our short time with Lily:

	Lily in her pink winter jacket checking out the snow in our backyard.
	Lily enjoying a ride around the yard in the wheel barrow courtesy of my hubby.
	Lily in the sunshine

“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” Will Rogers

(edited to add: I looked up when we first met Lily. It was April 28, 2006, so we shared our life with Lily for just under three years. Here’s the blog I wrote when we first met Lily)

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(I am way behind on answering my PMs, and I am way behind on accepting network requests. I have not been online the last couple of days. I apologize, but I will eventually get back to everybody.)

We have been having several pet issues this week. Last time I blogged, I wrote about Pipsqueak, our lovebird, dying. But, the day before Pipsqueak died, my cockatiel, Penny, had a stroke (or something), that scared the dickens out of me.

Penny:

Penny spends a lot of her time with me. If I am in my lazy boy chair, like now, typing or watching a movie or crocheting, Penny is on my shoulder or on a perch on the armrest, or running back and forth the two.

Well, a couple of days ago, while Penny was on the armrest perch, her right wing shot up into the air and stayed there. At the same time, her right leg collapsed.

I picked her up and put her on my chest while I examined her. She could not walk, she just tipped over. It was very, very scary for me. While I held Penny with one hand, I called my hubby with the other hand and asked him to pray for Penny. After we prayed, we visited more on the phone. Penny is my constant companion, and it was very stressful for me to think she was about to die.

The thing with birds, they hardly ever have any symptoms. Usually, the first hint that something is wrong is when they die. I was thinking that Penny was going to die right then and there.

As my hubby and I talked on the phone, I was describing what Penny was doing. My hubby works just around the corner and he was going to rush home and take me and Penny to the vet. The bird vet is just a few doors down from where he works. We could have gotten her to the vet in just a few minutes.

But, whatever happened, it went away. Gradually, her wing went back into place, and she gained control of her right side. Suddenly, she was all back to normal, just walking around on my chest, and then she ran down my arm to get back on her perch. The whole incident just lasted five minutes or so.

I told my hubby that she was all back to normal, and that I would just keep an eye on her.

So what happened? Was her foot asleep? Was it a charlie horse? Did she have a mini-stroke? I don’t know. She is her usual self now, like nothing ever happened. But, I know that Penny is a very old bird. I know she doesn’t have much time, anyway.

Lily:

In addition to the bird problems, we also have three quite elderly dogs. Our oldest dog, Lily, is getting worse and worse in the last few days. We took her in just two years ago. She had been abandoned.

She was already totally deaf and mostly blind when we got her. Now she is getting incontinent, and confused and just wanders around aimlessly. We’ve been thinking hard about what is best for her, wondering whether she is having a happy life.

Homeless Pet Town

My house is where homeless pets come to live out the rest of their lives. Most of our pets come from sad situations. The cute baby animals don’t  have much of a problem finding homes, but the old, handicapped, abandoned and mistreated pets come to live with us. Whenever we get a new pet, it is a pet who needs us, one that wouldn't have much of a chance otherwise.

The sad thing is, that when you take in the old, sick, mistreated animals, they don’t tend to live a very long time after they come here. That never gets any easier for me. But, I just have to think of the good times that the pets got to have that they wouldn’t have had otherwise.

Fred and Ginger – a Success Story:

My two best survivors right now are two handicapped parakeets that have lived here for several years. They were abandoned on a doorstep, literally.

A parrot owner had found a shoebox on her porch with two featherless baby parakeets with crippled legs. I happened to be at the pet shop when the babies were brought in, and the pet shop manager asked me to take them.

They had to be hand fed, but they grew up just fine. Now, they are both in love. I have six parakeets besides Shelly who was widowed when Pipsqueak died. The six are in three committed relationships.

The two handicapped parakeets can’t get around much, but their mates sit beside them and lean their heads on their necks to snuggle. It’s the cutest thing. I can’t get close enough to take a picture because they get scared easily and move, but it is so sweet.

Their mates compensate for their physical limitations, and everybody is happy. (That is Ginger in the picture. You can see his leg sticking off to the side, instead of being next to the other one)

I am happy I am able to give happy lives to needy pets, but it is very sad when one dies, and that happens way to often around here.

Sorry this is so long. If you made it this far down, thank you. I use my blog as a diary to talk out things sometimes, like today.

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My lovebird, Pipsqueak, died some time during the night. Writing a tribute to my lost pets is a way I have found to deal with my grief.

I first saw Pipsqueak in the “sick room” of a local pet shop. Pipsqueak had been injured terribly. I was told that he had been attacked by other lovebirds. The top of his head and his neck were covered with large wounds, and he had a lot of feathers missing. I took Pipsqueak home to help him recuperate and make him a member of the family.

I had another lovebird at the time named Sunshine. After a long period of introduction is separate cages nearby, Pipsqueak and Sunshine got to be good friends and I could trust them together in the same cage.Lovebirds, despite the name, can be very violent towards other birds that they didn’t grow up with.

Soon, Sunshine was tending Pipsqueak’s wounds, nibbling off the edges of the healing scabs. They were a very sweet couple together. Sadly, Pipsqueak outlived Sunshine all too soon, and he was alone in a cage.

Then, Pipsqueak found out how to open his cage door, and he would go next door to the parakeet cage to let himself in. He just enjoyed being with the parakeets, and behaved himself most of the time. Sometimes, he would chase the parakeets around and pull their tails and try to bite their feet. So, I kept having to put him back next door in a cage by himself.

But, he kept going to visit the parakeets, and I would keep an eye on him and let him visit with them as long as he behaved himself. Eventually, he got to be special friends with Shelly, one of the parakeets. I watched them together a lot, and then decided that they could live together in Pipsqueak’s cage. Pipsqueak never acted aggressive towards Shelly.

In the last few months, I’ve been blogging about Pipsqueak and Shelly deciding to start a family. With lovebirds, you can’t tell if they are male or female, but, after seeing Pipsqueak and Shelly mating, I knew for sure that Pipsqueak was a boy.

Shelly started laying eggs, and Pipsqueak was always at her side watching over her.

But, then I started noticing two sizes of eggs, one size in Shelly’s food bowl where she laid her eggs, and slightly larger ones around the cage. Eventually, my hubby decided that Pipsqueak and Shelly were both girls.

After a while, I had to agree with him. There were too many eggs, more than one bird could lay. For some reason or another, two girl birds fell in love, and their hormones got them both to start laying eggs at the same time.

I was wondering how all those eggs could come out of those little, bitty birds. Pipsqueak’s eggs were so big that four of them were about as big as his body. (as you can see, we never got used to Pipsqueak being a girl)

Soon, Pipsqueak and Shelly both were happily sitting on eggs. Of course, they were never going to hatch, but they were happy, so we let them keep the eggs. 

So, an hour ago, I noticed that Pipsqueak had died some time during the night. I called my hubby and he came home from work. Because God put him in a job that is just around the corner, he was home in just a couple of minutes. He buried Pipsqueak for me, held my hand while I cried my eyes out, and then went back to work.

So now, I am dealing with my sadness by writing an obituary of Pipsqueak.

I counted the eggs – there are 14 eggs between the two of them. I suppose Pipsqueak’s little body couldn’t handle it.

Pipsqueak was a feisty little guy. He never did get totally tame. He would let me pick him up, but he would bite me each time. But, once I had Pipsqueak in my hand, he liked to snuggle. Several times a week, I would spend quality time with Pipsqueak, trying to tame him.

Pipsqueak loved getting wrapped up in a paper towel like a burrito, with just his little head sticking out. Once he was in that little burrito, he would nibble on the paper towel and close his little eyes while I petted his little head with my thumb.

If I was in the middle of something, like laying here in my Lazy Boy chair typing, I would sometimes put him, burrito and all, down my shirt. For some reason, the little guy just loved being down my shirt. I would peak down at him and he would just be in his burrito nibbling the paper towel. He could walk right out of that burrito if he wanted, but he didn’t want to.

But, once out of his burrito, he was a feisty little guy. He never would get on my finger, I just always had to carry him in my hand against my chest after I took him out of his cage.

I enjoyed spending time with Pipsqueak. He was a fun, yet feisty, member of our family.

Good bye, Pipsqueak. We will miss you very much.

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If you watch this video, the song will never get out of your head. But, it's fun!

My hubby and I recently signed up for Netflix. It’s a mail order DVD rental service. But, it recently added streaming movies to the service!

So, my hubby and I bought a Netflix player to receive the streaming and feed it to the TV. I found out that in addition to playing Netflix streaming, I can also get YouTube videos on this device! I can even log in to my YouTube account, and access my favorites.

So, I was playing around YouTube on the Netflix viewer yesterday adding things that I thought my hubby might like to my favorites…

And, I came across this one again. Remember, I warned you! This song will be stuck in the head for a while, and this guy is so fun to watch!

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Abbott and Costello were one of the funnies comedy duos of all time. For more information, their families have an official website:

http://www.abbottandcostello.net/

This is one of their most famous routines. For your edification:

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I saw the first robin of the season this morning! Some birds fly south in the winter and then come back when it is warmer here. Yippy! This robin says that spring will be here soon!

Also, our goldfish in our pond are hungry. That’s a sign of spring, too. All winter long the fish are practically dormant, just floating in place near the bottom of the pond my hubby built for me. Even when the pond is covered with ice, they do fine, as long as there is always a hole in the ice. Since we have a waterfall that is run by a pump, there is always a whole at the bottom of the waterfall.

So, when my hubby and I go outside, the fish are now happy to see us, and are hoping we are bringing food. They let us know when it is time to start feeding them in the spring, and when to stop feeding them in the winter. They go all winter with no food. God designed some amazing abilities in his creatures!

Soon, the fish will be spawning and maybe we will have more babies. There is a natural balance to the pond. Too many fish will not be hatched. Having too many fish in a pond is bad for the fish. But, there is something magical that God designed that no more than a healthy number of fish will occur naturally in a pond.

Most of our fish have been hatched in our pond, and are children or grandchildren, etc, of our first few fish. It’s always exciting to find a new baby fish. My hubby and I both name the fish, but I’m in charge of remembering all the names. It’s not easy! 

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I had a total stranger ring my bell yesterday to sell me vinyl siding (it covers up old house paint and lasts for years). He was the most high-pressure salesman, and the most rude salesman, that I’ve ever encountered.

First off, we don’t buy anything from door to door people who say we need it. If we think we need something, we check around for the best price.

Anyway, this guy was insisting, rudely, that I needed to buy vinyl siding from him, when I told him “No thank you”, he kept on and would not stop.

I am not rude to sales people. I just politely tell them “No thank you”, and they usually leave. But he kept on. I told him “No” again, he started trying to sell me new windows, as well. He was so insistent that being polite was not going to make him go away. Finally, I just had to close the door and walk away.

You haven't heard the worst part, yet.

As he walked away, he yelled “You better find Jesus!”.

What in the heck? I found Jesus 12 years ago, but that is beside the point. What does finding Jesus have to do with buying vinyl siding from a rude salesman?

He needs a better sales technique.

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Would somebody please tell me what this is:

Thank you!

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Hello Everybody!

Lately, a bunch of people, including me, have been just hanging out and visiting in the comments sections of Spaces, and it’s been great! I love just hanging out with my online friends and shooting the breeze and relaxing.

So, a couple of us have started a new Windows Live Group for the sole purpose of just hanging out. Would you like to join us?

If you would like to come on in, relax, take your shoes off, and hang out with friends, this is the group for you! You are invited to join Coffee Talk. Feel free to tell your friends about this group, and ask them to join too. The more the merrier!

Coffee Talk Group

Come on in, relax, take your shoes off, and hang out with friends

(The group name, Coffee Talk, was chosen because of a running skit on Saturday Night Live. Mike Myers played Paul Baldwin, and later Linda Richman, the host, and later hostess, of Coffee Talk, a television talk show.

The show was introduced by the host or hostess like this: “What can we talk about on Coffee Talk? Dogs, daughters, coffee, you know...no big whoop”)

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Every day for the last week, I’ve been playing with my Windows Live Essentials programs looking for new ways to use them. Yesterday, while playing with Windows Live Writer, I found out that you don’t need a special tool like Snagit to do screen captures (getting a picture of what is on your computer screen).  Here’s what I discovered:

As a test, I did “Shift/PrtScn”  (while holding down “Shift” key, hit the “PrtScn” key near the top right of your keyboard) and went directly into Windows Live Writer and did “Right Click/Paste”. By golly, there was my image!

If you want to try it, paste in your image like I just said, then click on the image to bring up the photo tools on the right side of Writer. If you do not see the photo tools, select the “View” pull down menu, and put a checkmark next to “Taskpane”.

Before you crop, be sure to make the image the “Original” size so you can see what you are doing. Go to the Advance tab, and click on “Crop”. A new screen pops up, with a windows for you to center on the desired part of your image. You can also see on the actual image the area that has been selected. When you like your selection, hit “OK” in the bottom corner.

Also, if you don’t like how the Crop turned out, click your image and try again! You can keep adjusting the limits of the Crop until you like what you see. You can’t make a mistake, because you have unlimited chances to get it right!

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(David Letterman has a bit where people do silly things, and it is called “Stupid Human Tricks”)

Here is Greg Edwards’ Claim to fame:

Yep, you read correctly, he said about his son:

 I can dig into Logan's poop up to my elbows while eating a ham sandwich

Can you top this? I didn’t think so. Greg is the winner!

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I tend to do the same things, in the same ways, time after time. As long as it works, I don’t look for a better way. But, lately, I have decided it is more fun to learn new things. So, this week I have been playing with the different programs offered as part of Windows Live Essentials, and I’ve been finding faster ways, and easier ways, of getting the same things done.

Take this morning, for instance, I took a video of Penny, my cockatiel, and I wanted to get it from my camera to my space. The old way to do it, was to plug in my camera to the computer, wait for the camera’s software to come up, fool with it for a while, and finally get the pictures and videos out of the camera and into the proper folder.

Well, today, I just decided I was going to use nothing but Windows Live Essentials programs, and see what happened. Wow. This was much easier!

First off, I plugged my camera into the computer in the usual way, but I noticed a list of options that popped up, one of which was to transfer my photos with Windows Live Photo Gallery. I didn’t have to do anything! Photo Gallery put them in My Pictures folder. The only thing I had to do was to give the name of the new folder for those particular pictures.

Next, I opened Windows Live Writer. I was playing with photo effects and photo album styles the last few days, and I had noticed “Insert/Video” on the toolbar. So, I decided I would try that and see what happens. Here’s how to upload your video:

Insert/Video/From File/(select “browse")/(select video)/Open/(set Categories and Permissions)/(click "Yes")/Insert

I also recently heard about a new program called “Community Clips Recorder”, and I downloaded the program so I can take videos of things I do on the computer. So, I made a little movie of how I loaded up the video of Penny (there is only video, no audio):

How to upload video to Windows Live Writer

After you upload your video, you will see this message: “Soapbox is processing your uploaded video. This might take a while”. Soon, you will see your video!

(Unfortunately, my video of how I uploaded my video to my blog would not finish loading into my Writer. I tried loading up my how to video the same way I am talking about. For now, I’m going to host it in YouTube.com while I figure out why it “Failed Processing” two separate times. Maybe it is an incompatible video format as I suspect)

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