Do Birds Get Cold Feet?

I have been enjoying watching the birds drinking and taking baths in the birdbath outside my kitchen window. It requires being filled twice a day since the water gets dirty from it's many bathers of all different sizes and varieties. In this extreme heat and high humidity, even the birds must feel it since so many of them are opening their beaks as if to breathe through their mouths. Well, my hubby decided they deserve a treat, so he filled the birdbath with ice cubes. I have yet to see any reaction, so the verdict is still out on this one. I best get back to watching again before the ice melts. I hope this doesn't cause any birds to fly South prematurely.

Shine Little Glow Worm, Glimmer, Glimmer

With yesterday being the first official day of summer, I spent the lengthening twilight hour in my backyard playing catch with my dogs, Moose and Ralfee the lil savage. At 8 PM, it was tranquil and comfortable with a slight breeze to make it a relaxing end to a much hotter day. I do not allow the dogs to be as active during the heat of the day. What amazed me beyond belief were the number of lightning bugs emerging from the grass covered earth. There must have been hundreds in our immediate vicinity. Ralfee, the pug, was so fascinated with them, he made me laugh. He would run up as they flew off in the air trying to get a taste of what a fire fly would taste like. When sighted on a blade of grass, he would get up as close as possible to try to get a whiff of that lightning bug smell. I couldn't help but wonder how many of those glowing little creatures it would take to light up a pug belly. Even though I know it not to be possible, it is an entertaining thought just the same. After all, I remember as a little girl, that fire flies must be as magic as Tinkerbelle, who was able to blink with a light that could activate the imaginations of all the little children around the world.

Daddy Dearest

My Father was 20 years older than my Mother. He was 47 when I was born, the age some people become grandparents. Unfortunately, the toll of cigarette smoking, made him appear even older than his years. His emphysema became so bad, he could not walk far. But as a little girl, I always looked up to him and fondly remember the nicknames he'd call me like "my little nick nook" and "my little monkey". On this Father's Day, I feel content in knowing that my Dad is forever near and watches over me. He never met his grandchildren, but I know they would make him proud. Happy Father's Day, Daddy. I still miss you after 38 years.

Good Old Days Left Behind

I am traveling back over the years as far back as I can remember. Back to the time before TV, when milkman delivered milk right to your front door with cardboard tops that could become askew as the cream rose to the top or became frozen in the winter. When the coal truck delivered coal which tumbled down the coal chute to the furnace in the basement. When the telephones had party lines and a dime would buy you a bag full of penny candy. The possibilities of technology such as we have today, where not even fathomable. Computers were as far flung as a man walking on the moon. I was riveted to the first black and white television I saw at my neighbor's house. To think now in five brief decades, we have advanced to hi def on screens producing images bigger than life for home viewing. Not to mention the advances in medicine! Without my artificial joints, I'd be wheel chair bound! I find life so incredible these days, it boogles the mind. So when I hear it spoken about the good old days, I sigh in relief that I have left them behind and am grateful for these good new days instead.

Back by Popular Demand

Okay, so it is more like two people inquired recently about me updating my blog. How big must a populace be before considered popular demand? I say more than one, so here it goes.

I've been rather housebound since my surgery in April, so it is hard to report on stupid things people do as they age when I am not doing much of anything. Having said that, I can report on dumb things hubby does which leaves a full range of stupid stuff open for scrutiny. Why just this morning, I was informed that the most highly sanctified of all objects was lost and no where to be found. I duly double checked all the usual hidey holes of ill repute only to come up empty handed. Not under the couch, not in the drawers, not under the cushions of the furniture, moved coffee table and not under there. Looked in bathroom, bedroom, basement, refrigerator and even outside on the deck. Nada. Just when I stopped looking, I nonchalantly open the oven door, and there staring me squarely in the eyes, it appears. The one and only, all purposeful and authority ruler of them all.....the TV remote control! I am so happy, I did not need to pre-heat the oven! He's never going to live this one down. HA!

No Medal Contender Here

Okay, so I am watching all these young, buff athletes competing in the Olympics in Vancouver and I am beginning to feel a tad old and a bit out of shape. Perhaps that is putting it mildly. I am as old as the Man in the Moon and there is no descriptive word to describe the shape I am in. Having said that, I cannot even fathom throwing my weight down the side of a mountain and expecting to stop at the bottom. Then there are those mongul races where you are expected to kiss your knees goodbye cause I wouldn't expect to find them ever again having put them through that. Thank goodness I have no desire to luge, bobsled, ski jump, curl or snowboard. Come to think of it, I'll remain content to watch the events from the comfort of my own recliner and leave the winning of gold medals to those deserving to do so.

A Colder Cold

It has been said, that this winter is becoming a record year for snow fall in the area where I live. Currently, we are expecting even more of the white stuff within the next 24 to 48 hours, while we still have 2 feet of it left on the ground. It seems to me when I was a child, we got much more snow that was even deeper than anything we have experienced recently. In my child's eye, I recollect trudging through avalanches of frozen tundra well above my knees, while collecting slush in my boots, all the way to my school which was seldom ever closed. Since I lived within walking distance, I never had the excuse of the bus not showing up in a reasonable amount of time thus allowing one to return home with a clear conscience. No, indeed, I had to stomp, stomp, stomp, trudge, trudge, trudge all the way to school all bundled up in leggings, parka, scarves, boots, hat and mittens with a runny nose while clutching a sodden lunch bag. Often times, getting there to find teachers were unable to get in, so I was sent back home only to change into dry clothes and be sent outside again to play. I realize in retrospect that the snow may not have been as high as I remembered it to be, just as surely as it was not an up-hill trudge to school in both directions. But one thing I know for sure, now that I've gotten older, is it feels colder to me now than it ever did way back when. Cold is definitely colder than it used to be.