Rain, rain, and more rain

Just posted a pic of my Amazons, Sunny and Baby, for the heck of it. We're not sure when their exact birthdays are, so the parrot forum I belong to has created a "hatchday" list so everyone's birds get recognition. Sunny and Baby were recognized in June, even tho' I suspect they were probably hatched a little earlier in the spring. I just picked June for them. They don't care, and neither do I. I enjoy them no matter what. One of the ladies in the forum makes up the pretty little cards for them. I need to find time to experiment with things like that. I know so many people who make neat graphics, siggies and videos. I'm sadly behind when it comes to things like that. Maybe when the toilet business slows down.

Marco is busy all weekend here in town with the gay Pride festival. They ordered 60 toilets, set up along the parade route, and then down at Bicentennial Park where the partying is. He just ran downtown again after dinner, to check and see if his 2 employees are on the job. They expect 15,000 attendees. Columbus has stuff going on almost every weekend in the summer. The next festival is the Rib Fest, and Marco only has to take 6 of the big trailers, not individual potties. Easier. It's amazing with all the rain we've had....really super thunder and lightening storms....that nothing has been rained out.

I heard on the news - just caught the tail end of some story - anyhow, something about gas will hit $7.00 a gallon before very long. I just can't imagine. I put $60 worth of gas in my tank, and it didn't fill it up. I don't think Marco has ever filled up his Trailblazer. I know that thing would take well over $100 on a fillup. When I took Sunny to the vet for her checkup, I passed a new cycle lot over on Main Street. I didn't get a real good look at the cycles, but they weren't motor cycles, and they weren't exactly motor scooters either. I guess more like souped up motor scooters. They didn't look like they had a very big engine. But whatever they were, they had every color under the rainbow. New and exciting, and probably will do well. If I were a little younger, I'll check into them. I see more and more cyclers on the road all the time. Several in our neighborhood.

I haven't checked on the fish today. They probably need their filter cleaned out, and some food before it gets dark. Guess I'll take care of that since dad is downtown checking potties.

You stay cool Columbus.

Barb

Ghosts and such

This is my cool pitcher plant. It's carniverous...those pitchers are always full of dead flies. I paid $20 for it; a friend mentioned that they grow wild down where she lives in Florida. Just threw it in, as I have no pictures of ghosts.....

There was an article in the paper recently about the Ghost Train that carried Lincoln's body back to Illinois for burial. According to legend, in April the ghost of Lincoln's funeral train appears on the tracks in Urbana Ohio, where the train paused for fifteen minutes while crowds watched and paid their last respects. People have felt it pass them - felt the rush of hot air, and some have seen a phantom light down the tracks. Some people have seen the actual train, with a crew of grinning skeletons on it. Clocks in the area stop while it passes, and lose 5 or 10 minutes of time. Apparently this year, a history class from Urbana College watched for it, but missed out on actually seeing anything. I was disappointed, as I'm sure they were.

This jogged my memory and reminded me of a friend of mine who has a son in his mid 20's who bought a house last year out in the country east of Columbus. Kyle was recently divorced after a short marriage, and had a friend living with him for a while to share expenses. I forget who first noticed that they had a ghost. It wasn't too long after they moved in. As with other houses that have been empty for a while, it needed cleaned up. Kyle's friend really worked on the windows, and had them sparkling. It was only a day or two later that they noticed a child's handprints on a couple of the windows. On the inside. And no children had been in the house. They cleaned them off, puzzled. And a week or so later, more handprints. Small ones. Then one day, the room mate came home from work, and in passing Kyle's bedroom saw a small girl sitting on Kyle's bed. I guess he flew out of the house, scared to death, and went to his mom and dad's house till Kyle got back home. There have been other instances where someone has seen the child.....usually out of the corner of their eye. Once at a party at Kyle's house, so they have other witnesses. I guess they've learned to live with it. Things were still a little up in the air when I last talked to Cindy. Again, the medical "issues" (I hate that word, actually, but it fits) I had the past 6 months have intruded on a lot of areas. I really need to call Cindy and see what has transpired. I'll let you know after I talk to her......

So....do I believe in ghosts? I do. And I've read where 51% of Americans believe in them, too. I'll also let you know if I ever see one!

Isn't this a cool graphic? I love Tim Horton coffee, and have it almost everyday. The price of coffee is shameful, but isn't everything these days? I consider it money well spent. Good for the soul and all that.

For my far-flung family members and friends, you probably don't know about the part time jobs that Marco and I have. Briefly, a friend of his that has a whole empire of businesses, bought a porta john company and needed someone to get it rolling and coordinate it. Someone who could light a fire under $10 an hour employees, and all that. Well, Marco took on the job, and lured me in to help in the office. I do site management, routing and billing. A bit much for part time, but hey, it's fairly seasonal, too. I was working 4 days a week till this week. There have been days that I've had to take off for my mom's doctors appointments. But now I'm just working on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. "Just". Sigh......

Since I'm a little focused on blood pressure, due to mine freaking out on me a few months back, I'll mention 2 alternative therapies that I've tried. First, I tried acupuncture. I only had 2 sessions of that. I just happen to believe that if you spend $60 for a session, you should see results after a couple of them. I didn't. Also, it was more uncomfortable that I thought. The second time, a needle really hurt my wrist, and the acupuncturist had disappeared. He came back about 20 minutes later with a cup of Starbucks coffee in his hand. Jerk. Rather than mess around with more sessions, I tried cranial-sacral therapy. Rather than explain it, if you're really interested in it at all you can Google it. Better explanation there than I can give anyhow. And this was the interesting thing: Even thought the therapist only touches you lightly, it's the intent of the therapist that is what is healing. And it worked. After the session, I went home and took my blood pressure, and it had dropped a whole lot. It was during a stressful week, and not only did the b/p get lower, it stayed lower for days. And for me, that's good. My b/p still jumps around. It was real high during a bad day about 2 weeks ago, and I took an extra 1/2 pill after dinner, and took a reading before bed, and it was 92/48. So I have to watch out. I kinda feel like I'll deflate or something.

But I'm surviving, and doing okay. My family, parrots, and dogs keep me busy. My African Grey parrot - MaggyMay - has survived heart problems for 15 months now, and seems to be doing okay also. Our older weenie dog - Buddy - is on thyroid medication and "light" dog food. Poor guy. He's only 8 now, but seems older.

Anyone who has waded thru this boring blog - my hat is off to you. Right now it's just catharsis. Hopefully, I'll get more interesting.

Love all you guys!

Barb