Hello?!?

Hello?!? **cough** **cough** **knocks down cob webs and chokes on all of the dust**

Wow! It is  dusty in here. I’ve really been neglecting my poor little blog. The bright shininess that is  Facebook drew me in and I was distracted by the new. It’s not that I forgot about AofanEM. It was more I would think “Wow, that would make a good blog post”, and then it was just so much easier to throw up a line or two on Facebook… or even on Twitter… than to actually pull up Live Writer and go thru all the steps of posting. It just seemed like too much trouble. Oh, I could blame Facebook… or Twitter… or even the fact that it was a long, cold Winter, but the truth is I have just been being lazy. I think it is time for me to pull this blog back out, dust it off, maybe even do some remodeling.

I wonder if anyone even still has this in their RSS reader? Hello, Beuller… Beuller… How about a roll call? If you are out there and are actually seeing this…. make a comment! How’s that for begging for attention?

So, Why now? Why Today? Why? Why? Why? Hmmm.. Well, it’s my 50th birthday (and no, that is not a bid for birthday wishes, I’m actually thinking about not having anymore birthdays.. the whole getting older thing is NOT working for me!) and I was thinking about what I’ve done since this time last year and what I would like to accomplish this year. Kind of like New Year’s Resolutions! Oh wait… I already did that. If you look down one entry you will see that my last entry was about the things I should be doing. That  was ummmm…. 5 months ago? Yeah..So much for good intentions. Did I mention it was a cold, ugly Winter? Oh yeah… I used that excuse.

So, Here’s the question. Help me out! Should I just revamp this blog as is and go on from here, or should I scrap it, keep the Blog name and URL and start over as if it was a brand new blog. Delete all of the old entries (except this one), and start from scratch, or just start posting from here and try to just fix some of the things that were\are bugging me.

What exactly has been bugging me? Let’s see: I have some broken links to old pictures and things from the AOL debacle. I’m still pulling my blogroll from my –old- RSS reader and not the one I am currently using. My RSS feeds are a whole other issue, they really need to be cleaned out and streamlined. I’m bored with my blog design, but am not sure where I want to go with it, and my ‘labels’ and categories lists are a mess.

So… suggestions? Ideas? Complaints? Requests?

 

I am a NaBloPoMo Dropout…

Le Sigh! I did not manage to post every day in November, so I guess I am a NaBloPoMo failure. But, I have an excuse don’t I always! I looked back over the posts I was making and realized that I was posting things I normally wouldn’t just so I would have a post for that day, and I wasn’t happy with that. I would rather post less often and post something interesting not boring semi-interesting than to post a bunch and not be happy with it. So, I am going back to posting things when they strike my fancy. LOL!

In the spirit of stuff striking my fancy….. I give you a computer they have taught to think like a cat. Now, at first, I thought “Cool!”. Then I took a moment and looked at my cat considered the implications of having a computer that thinks like a cat. Really…. consider it… do you really want a computer who thinks like a cat? My own cat is capricious, does what she wants, does strange things for no apparent reason, and I have seen her tease the dog, just for fun. Oh wait… never mind! My computer –already- acts like a cat at times, doing what it wants instead of what I want it to!

Wordless Wednesday

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

Happy Elephant Appreciation Day!

 

Today is Elephant Appreciation Day.
Elephant Appreciation Day was declared beginning in 1996 by Mission Media (a digital and print publisher of graphics).
The elephant generally deserves to be appreciated and upheld as an example of courage, strength, self-reliance, patience, persistence, and general high quality of being.

Origin of Elephant Appreciation Day:

Created in 1996, largely because elephants are ....large. (and a whole lot of other great things.) The founder, Wayne Hepburn, received a paperweight of elephants on parade from his daughter as a gift. He became fascinated by them. He amassed a huge collections of elephant books and paraphernalia. His fascination and love of elephants, led to the creation of this day so you and I can stop and enjoy this huge, lumbering beast.

Happy Elephant Appreciation Day! Everyone should appreciate an elephant. They are intelligent, loving, gentle creatures. I have had the good fortune to have several for friends! The one in the picture above is named Luke and belongs to another friend of mine.

A couple of links for the curious: If you want to make a badge, poster, or find some activities for the day (especially for kids), go Here. There are two types of elephants. African, which live in Africa (duh!), and Asian which live in the Asian tropical forests. To learn about Asian elephants go Here, and a link for the African species is Here. The last two links both lead to the National Zoo site.

 

International Vulture Awareness Day

 

 

International Vulture Awareness Day is Saturday Sept. 5... Who Knew? Still, vultures are really cool birds and get a bad rap what with the whole eating of dead things....

Where did I find this out? Well, I follow several zoos and this came up on Tampa Lowry Park Zoo's Facebook page, and later I saw it tweeted by them. The picture at the top of this entry is from their tweet & facebook pages. The vulture in it is part of their Spirits of the Sky show.If you live in the Tampa area, you should check them out. Very nice zoo.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Random Tuesday

 

 

Is there a 'Random Tuesday'? There are so many different Memes out there that it is very possible. I just picked the name because I needed a title and that seemed to be the one that encompasses what this post is about.

I've been asked where I've been. It's been hinted that a blog post would be nice. Finally today I got an e-mail that simply said:

Where the Hell are you and why haven't we heard anything from you in like forever??

So, in the interest of trying to answer the above person, I thought it would be easiest to do one of those random little posts with all kinds of little snippets of information... And, away we go!

• First... has it really been over 2 months since I made a post? Really? Wow! Uh.. sorry about that. Let's see if I can figure out what I've been up to.
• Daily chores are as always. Horses to feed, dog, cat, plants & husband to cater to.
• In addition to caring for my own critters, I have also been tutoring two little boys this summer. For 3 hours every morning I spend time with them doing reading, writing and arithmetic. They are 7 & 8 and going into the 1st and 2nd grade in just a few days. The oldest was having a little problem with reading last year. I think we not only have that licked, but both boys will be starting school a little ahead of the game.  It's been fun, frustrating, and sometimes rewarding. I love that moment when you can see by the look in their eyes that they get it. I also spend an hour or two every evening getting stuff ready for the next day's 'class'.
• The hubs and I spent 2 wonderful days in Destin a few weeks ago. We met my Son, DIL, and grandson there. They were vacationing there for the week and we drove up to visit with them. It was a 6 hour drive there, but soooo worth it. Every minute spent with them is always precious. We ate out, played in the Gulf of Mexico, talked, hugged, and just enjoyed each others company. Paradise!
• Any spare time I've had this summer has been split between reading (I've read a bunch of really good books this summer), reading all of your blogs, and enjoying the new kitten.
• My latest addiction? Wii Sports Resort. I would feel guilty except that the Hubs is right there with me playing it. LOL!
• I've also been gardening this year. The last two years I have bought a few plants and they always died. It gets really hot here and the sun can be brutal. G. suggested that it wasn't my brown thumb, but a combo of the sun, the sandy soil, and bad luck. So, this year he bought me some hanging pots and two of the cutest posts for them. Each post has three hooks. We also got 2 planters that would hang on the fence on either side of my gate. Because the plants are in hangers I can move them out of the sun during the heat of the day and put them back in the evening. It Worked! I've got 4 hanging planters full of thriving flowers and 2 planters on the fence that are also doing well. I feel vindicated! Yes, there are pictures of the plants which I need to edit and post.
• Note: 2 posts, 3hooks each, 4 planters. What about the two extra hooks you ask? Well, I got a hummingbird feeder. It took a few days, but some hummers found us. We have 3 regular little visitors and they are sooo cute!
• We got the neatest umbrella this year and upgraded to two nice reclining chairs to sit under it. We've spent a lot of pleasant evening sitting out in the yard cooking out, enjoying our flowers, relaxing, and being amused by our 3 little hummingbirds.
• Pictures... I haven't been using the cameras much this year. I don't know why. I've taken a lot of the new kitten, but not much else. I plan on trying to get out of this slump this fall.... If anyone has a suggestion for 'getting my groove back', I am open to suggestions. :)
• The kitten... Nyx is adorable, and energetic, and cute and... into Everything! We love her, but she can be exhausting. She is an absolute love, and quite the little talker. She meows and tells us all about everything. She is very much a people kitty and wants to be around us all the time and gets very annoyed if we try to do anything without her. She has lots of toys (both intentionally bought for her and also the ones she invents for herself. Oh, and of course those things which are NOT meant to be kitty toys!), but her favorite is a paper bag. G laughed today when I was buying something at the mall and I asked if I could have a different bag because I knew the kitty would enjoy it.
• Morgan has decided she also loves the kitty. Good thing because the only toy Nyx loves more than a paper bag is... the dog. When we first got the kitten, Morgan was so careful of her. Now they wrestle and jump and chase each other all over the house. Who needs a TV for entertainment when you have them?
• I've only finished one afghan all summer. It was made in strips and I still haven't assembled it. If you wonder why, read the two points above this describing the new kitty..... 'Nuff said.
• I turned 49 this summer and G turned 48 the following month. We didn't do much for our birthdays. G's been giving me some flack about the big 5-0 next year, but I explained that I've been counting backwards for a few years and will only be 30......

That's pretty much it.... I'll try to post more often, but well... if something has to give it is usually my Internet time, and when I am online I'm more interested in reading about your interesting lives than blathering about my boring one! I think there are only about 2 or 3 people who still read me, but at least I try to give you something every couple of months.

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait...

 

 

It has been a little over 2 years since I lost my D.K. That's a picture of her at the top of this post. She went over the Rainbow Bridge in April of 2007. I still miss her.

D.K. was a beautiful black and white tuxedo cat. I had her for 13 wonderful years. My husband offered to get me a kitten not long after we lost her to cancer, and I would go and look, but I just wasn't ready. Finally this spring I thought I would like to again hear the pitter of little cat feet in the house. I did mention to the Hubs that I thought we should get a cat that did not remind me of D.K., and because of that I was sure I wanted to get a kitty that was any color but black. Maybe a pretty gray with black stripes? Or a Russian Blue?

What is that saying about making plans and the universe will laugh at you? Yeah.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw an entry on a blog I follow. A cute little Wordful Wednesday, Kitten Edition at Putting the Fun in DysFUNctional. I thought the kitties were really cute, and showed them to the Hubs, and even commented about how cute they were in the comments on the post. It put the thought of kitties in the forefront of my mind again.

Enter Serendipity. About a week after the first kitty post, I saw a different entry on the same blog. She mentioned that she was taking the kitties to be fixed so that they could go to an adoption event on the upcoming Saturday. For some reason I had been under the impression that she and her family lived farther south from us. When I saw where the kittens had been taken to, I asked in comments which place they would be going to for the adoption event, still not sure that I was right about how close they were. Turned out that the place the kitties would be at was the Petsmart that I visit frequently.

The next day I went to the Petsmart just to 'look' at the kitties. The one we thought we were interested in was the white one with black spots, and I still wasn't sure. But instead, once I was there, I couldn't resist the little black and white Tuxedo girl. I thought the hubs would bust a gut laughing at me. Not only did I end up with another black cat, but a Tuxedo to boot. Still, I think D.K. would be pleased since she too was an adopted stray.

If I had any doubts about my decision they were quickly put to rest when I arrived home. I sat the little darling down in the middle of the floor, and she was immediately at home with us and Morgan (our Corgi). She settled in and it was like she has always been with us.

The picture below was taken about 3 hours after we got her home.

 

 

Her foster mommy did a wonderful job with her. She has absolutely no fear of anything, loves people, and is so very confident of the world and her place in it. (i.e. she is a princess!).

I spent some time searching for a name, and we finally settled on Nyx. It fits her perfectly. She is so mischievous, and keeps us laughing constantly at her antics. I think when I was looking at all of those other kitties, I was just waiting for her to come along. We already adore her, and are looking forward to many years of laughing, loving, and fun with her and Morgan.

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

I can haz Kitteh?

Look what I got today! More pictures and the whole story tomorrow. Meant to post all about it today, but ended up playing on Twitter instead. Yep, I accomplished exactly Zip this evening. LOL!

 

Isn't she too cute for words? I'm in Luv!

Wordless Wednesday

 

Click on photo to go to a website with more info....

Still Amused...

Back in December I linked you to the story of Otto the Octopus. I was amused with his antics and offered up the story for your amusement.

Today I give you a new story of Octopus intelligence, curiosity, and mischievousness. This time it happened at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium and involves their female two-spotted octopus.

Seems little missy was feeling in need of some excitement, so she created some. The story can be found here at National Geographic News. The Aquarium itself also released a press release about the incident, and you can see the CNN Video here. There is also an entry in the official aquarium blog. Oh, and one more link, this is a set of pictures on Flickr where you can see her a little better and appreciate just how pretty she is. They are copyrighted, so I am just linking to them. Enjoy!

This Amuses Me...

 

 

Go here and check out the story of Otto the octopus. It amuses me that they had to do a stake out of his enclosure to figure out how he was doing it. He also periodically rearranges his tank to better suit his taste. People often do not give creatures such as these enough credit. They are much more intelligent than most people think. I did find the website for the aquarium where Otto lives, but it wasn't in English, so I didn't link to it.

The Adventure Continues

In my last post about my big adventure I let you all know our final destination: The Big E in Springfield, MA. We had arrived safely and had a few days before the kickoff. This turned out to be a good thing because due to circumstances (weather, delivery schedules, trouble finding certain products) I got to strip and re-bed our 10 stalls 3 times LOL! Quite the work-out. Between that, the crazy schedule of shows, and stripping and repacking everything at the end, I managed to lose 10 pounds without even trying. Combined with the weight I had lost during the spring and fall of this year helping with the training and general upkeep of the horses, my weight is now back to what I consider a good one!

We were very happy to wake the morning after our arrival to sunshine. After all the rain on our trip, the sun was a very welcome sight. We got ourselves set-up for the next couple of weeks and spent some time seeing who else we new as they arrived. It wasn't surprising that we knew some of the people because we were there for Sylvia and the horses to perform with The Big E Super Circus and this was not the first time Sylvia had performed in this venue. The picture they use on this link is one of the ones I took of Sylvia earlier this Spring... I felt sort of famous. It was fun seeing old friends and making some new ones.

In answer to some of the questions in the comments of the last Adventure entry.... The horse hauler will haul 12 horses, but we were hauling only 10. Yes, there is an area in the front for a person to sleep, and actually that is where I was bunking during the trip and the show.

For anyone interested in what the horses do in the act, here are links to two videos of Sylvia and the Horses. It's in two parts, but is actually just the one act. I had to split it because of the length of video was too big for You Tube.

Hope you enjoy the horses!

Suddenly the Interweebs make sense...

Did you ever wonder why the Internet was created? Why people keep blogs and now exactly what they twitter about? This guy seems to have figured it all out. It's so obvious to me now...... LOL!

 

Everyone Loves a Baby

This is a shot I took several months ago and have been meaning to do something with. I took several shots of this Momma and Baby orangutans interacting, and it was very difficult choosing just one. I finally decided on this one because I like the expressions on their faces. The second runner up had the baby making 'kissy lips' at Momma, but it wasn't as sharp as this shot. I still might revisit it sometime in the future though.

Although this particular photo was taken at my local zoo, I was thinking about one of the innovative things we saw when we visited a different zoo. The National Zoo has the coolest thing set up for their orangutans. They have a "Think Tank" for them to interact in. The animals don't live at the "Think Tank" though... they live in another exhibit that is a fair distance away. The Zoo came up with a pretty ingenious way to allow the animals to have access to the interactive exhibit and their house.... they set up something called the "O" line. It is a series of cables that are set on towers and allow the animals the choice of where they want to be!  We really enjoyed the exhibit and the unique way the curators figured out to make the situation not only work, but be another form of enrichment.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. I'm trying to finish up a project and still trying to play with the new program. So far there is only one change I dislike and I am still hoping that there is a way to 'do it the old way'. Most of the improvements have been nice. Still, sometimes they change something that doesn't really need to be changed though. Sigh!

One of the improvements I like is  a way to upload directly to Flickr from the organizer. I've only got a free account over there, but I have been thinking about upgrading to the Pro account and this might be the thing that pushes me to actually do it. The only reason I've not gone 'pro' before now is the thought of taking the time to organize and decide what to upload. This may actually push me to get my butt in gear and get my online life organized... well, at least the picture part!

 

It's Thursday... and I'm actually posting 2 days in a row! ;p

Ooooh... Look! Two days and two entries! Don't get used to it, but I do plan to be around a little more often than I have been the last couple of months.... which would be like um... Zilch. I've been around the interweebs.  I read journals/blogs. I even do online research. I just couldn't seem to find time (or maybe inspiration) to actually write an entry. Part of this has been my lack of time to play with (or even take) any photos. Now, why would that keep me from posting? I'm not sure, but I have gotten into a habit of posting a photo along with an entry even if the photo had nothing to do with the subject matter. No time to play in Elements equals no new photos to post equals no posts. And part of the problem has also been that even though I'm busy, I'm boring!

Yesterdays photo was me playing with my new Photoshop Elements 6. Yep, I went straight from Ver 4 to 6. I skipped Ver 5 because it didn't offer anything new that I felt was compelling enough for me to switch from the version I was used to. I'm not sure I really needed this version either, but it had a couple of new features I was curious about AND I found it on sale for half price. I had been wanting it, and I had some birthday money burning a hole in my pocket. LOL! I only played with it for a few moments, but I think I really like the improvements in this version. The new interface is really nice. I don't know if it is new for Vers 6 or from 5, but I like the darker colors and ease of switching from one thing to another. I also think the organizer is faster than the version I was using. I still haven't deleted Ver 4 from my hard drive because I want to be sure I have all of my brushes and things switched over to the new version before I do that, but it is just sitting there for now.

I'm also recycling! I'm sending the disks and the books I bought about Ver 4 to my DIL as she was interested in it when she saw it on my computer when we visited. She has been using whatever came with her camera and it was very basic. I think she is ready to move up to something a little more, and I am glad to be able to help her out by sending along Ver 4 to her.

Tonight's picture is from a photo shoot that I did for a friend who needed some new publicity shots. After we were done doing her pictures we had her daughter do a few poses with the horses since they were already cleaned up and looking pretty. She is a lovely girl and with such subjects it is almost impossible to take a bad picture. I'm finally starting to go thru the rest of the shots I took from that day and get them printed out for her. I worked on her mother's photos right away so she could send them out, but hadn't gotten around to her pictures till now. She has been amazingly patient..... and I've been amazingly slow! Still, I thought I would post one of the shots here and see what you all think of it.

Oh, Oh, Oh, I almost forgot to mention. I'm officially a published photographer!! One of the publicity shots that I did for my friend (during the photo shoot mentioned above) just appeared in a magazine. She showed it to me today. The ad for her appearance is on the inside of the front cover and it is one of the shots I did for her! Yeah, I know it's not like really being published, but I'll take it! LOL!

Anyway, here is the shot of her daughter and Ricco. Some of you might remember Ricco. He is an Andalusion stallion and I have had shots of him up here before.

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

Technorati tags: Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

 

 

Technorati tags: Wordless Wednesday