Birds of Prey

I record the Martha Stewart Show to watch it when I get a chance.  Today  Pete Jenny, acting President of The Peregrine Fund was on the show.  He had two different owls, one which was an Eagle Owl.  He also had a Peregrine Falcon.  I thought of Susan Gets Native the entire time.  One owl did look ticked off, the other one looked startled.  Here’s some interesting owl info at the Martha Stewart website that I’m sure you all already know.  I just thought it was so cool!  I wish I could see Susan at one of her presentations!

The Moon

One thing I enjoy about the time change is I can see the moon before I go to bed. Usually the moon is well hidden by all of the trees around here. The neighbor two doors down took down all of his trees, so there’s a blank spot where I can see the sky. I was sitting here surfing for fabric last night and saw a bright light from the window out of the corner of my eye. Of course, I had to grab the camera and go outside in the pitch dark.

It’s hard to get a perfect shot of the moon - this was the best one I was able to capture.

On another note, Mom and I went to the mall yesterday - I *hate* malls. I love being with my Mom. But yesterday reconfirmed in my mind why I don’t like malls. The second I enter the mall my energy gets totally drained out onto the floor. They’re hot, they’re dry, they stink, they’re full of noisy people, and stores are set up illogically these days. She wanted some CuddleDuds, so we had to go to the lingerie department. First we had to find the lingerie department. Once there, I was bombarded with gross music and um, “interesting” underwear, to say the least. On this one piece of underwear was the phrase “Kiss My Flirt.” I don’t even want to know what the heck that means. It doesn’t even make sense since flirting is something you do, not something you can kiss. There were kids galore in Halloween costumes - some really cute ones, but then there were the young teenage girls dressed in very skimpy outfits. Why oh why do these girls want to grow up so fast? To me, it seems like the fun would be taken right out of finding their Senior Ball dress, and then searching for their perfect Wedding dress. I really don’t like malls. I prefer going out into the woods.

Mushroom Walk, Part IV

More fungus from the Letchwork State Park Mushroom Walk in Sep of 2004. I don’t know why I just have the underside of this next one. I think because they were coming at us so fast and furious, I didn’t have time to photograph the top:

Here’s a nice little one in a pile of leaf litter:

And another really interesting one:

A top view of this next big one:

And a side view - pretty cool, huh?

And the next one is pretty and interesting - broken by the time it got to us:

And a little one being modelled by Shawn’s hand:

I can’t have a shroom post without shroom on a stick:

The next photo is fuzzy:

This is hard to see:

Another nice juicy one (if isn’t poisonous it looks like it would make a good meal). This is being modelled in Sue’s hand:

And the bottom view:

More later!

Mushroom Walk - Part III

Here’s a continuation of the Mushroom Walk I took at Letchworth State Park in Sep of 2004. Here’s some little mushrooms on a log, but I also love the moss on the other log:

Here’s a cool looking mushroom:

By the time this one made it to Rosa and me it was kind of beat up, but I love the green color:

Here’s the underside:

I wish I knew the names of all of these. Here’s a pretty pinkish one:

And the underside:

Another shroom on a stick:

And a little cutie:

And a short, fat one, hmmm, shrooms can be quite phallic at times!  Yup, it reminds me of the time I walked into a classroom and on the board was a phallic drawing - they had been discussing fungus in field botany and needed an illustration!

And shrooms on a log:

More later!

Spencerport Trolley Station

Mom and I went to see the outside of the Spencerport Trolley Station - the trolley station that was turned into a home, and recently moved by Matthews House Movers to a site in Spencerport along the Erie Canal, and turned back into a Trolley Station. The really cool thing about this, other than an historic building being restored, is it was all done by volunteers, and with grants. Here’s the side you see as you walk along the Erie Canal towpath:

And here’s the other side as viewed from the parking lot:

The bottom floor was added so the building could sit into the bank along the canal. And here’s the only original window left - the ticket window:

The “eyebrow” window above the ticket window is brand new. I don’t know the function of an eyebrow window, except to let in more light, do you?

This building is going to be used as part of the Ogden Farmer’s Library. along with a bathroom and shower stop for canal travellers. This part of the Ogden llibrary will be an old-fashioned library, i.e. a library where you have to have a paper library card to show kids what it used to be like to check out a book.  It will still have wireless computers, though. This building is still being worked on as evidenced by the wood and other equipment outside. But I think they’re doing a beautiful job!

Men Working - Uh Huh

This sign bothers me on so many levels. First, whenever I see this sign, I know I’m going to held up in traffic for an undefinable amount of time, trying my patience way beyond the limits (I don’t have much patience for time wasting things). So yesterday, I’m driving to the gym, dodging the truck drivers when *boom* - the *dreaded* MEN WORKING sign, and three lanes have to merge into one, and traffic is at a complete stand still. People, I just want to go to the gym and move, not sit still in my vehicle and waste my life looking at the ass end of your vehicles. Okay, so my patience was tried, I did the merge thing, let people in (except the ones that race up from way behind) and what do I find? Oh, I feel my blood pressure rising here. The man who was “working” was picking up the cones because they were done with whatever it is they were “constructing.”

Every time I go out, I run into “construction.” One day, three lanes merged into one, and they were spraying water on the underside of a bridge. What! I wasted time I’ll never get back in my life so they could wash a freakin’ bridge? I’m thinking this is make work, but I *could* be wrong.

Okay, my next point - sometimes (seems like most times) when I go through these construction sites - the men are *not* working, but standing around talking (and I can bet it isn’t about work, yeah, I’ve worked around enough men to know when they are talking it usually isn’t about work), or sitting on their machines smoking. Yes, these “hard” working men need their breaks, but they can’t be on break every time I drive through.

And my last - very important - point. Why “MEN?” Every once in a while I see a woman working - usually as a flag person. Okay, so why aren’t there more women working construction? And why, when I do see a woman is she the flag person - albiet a *very* important job, but why can’t she run the equipment? Is it because women don’t want to construct? I filled out a job app to do the landscaping along the highway - I figure I could do a much better job at picking out the plant material than the “experts” have done (the plants are usually freakin’ dead a year after they are planted), but they said I don’t have the “right” education. Alrighty then. Their loss. Maybe it’s because I wouldn’t fit their “Men Working” sign by being a “woman who works her ass off at whatever it is she is doing and doesn’t need a freakin’ break every five minutes.”

P.S. Thanks for letting me rant.

Leaf Program

If you rake your leaves to the end of your lawn next to the road like my neighbor across the street has done:

My town workers will come along with a huge vacuum cleaner attached to the back of a truck that is used as a snow plow in winter and suck up all of your leaves:

And wah-lah, your leaf pile is gone:

They then dump the leaves into a town leaf pile, where in the spring I can go get the leaf compost. Because I *always* have to be different, I don’t have my leaves piled at the end of my lawn. In fact, I haven’t even raked my leaves yet. Because I’ll rake them into my own personal leaf pile in my back yard for them to turn into my own personal pile of black gold. You can probably guess why I don’t like going to the town for my leaf compost - because of those morons that *have* to use chemicals on their lawn, which then gets onto / into the leaves and I believe are still there when the leaves turn into compost. I don’t like to take chances. This municipal leaf pile, however, *is* better than the clueless people that rake leaves into plastic bags and then put them at the curb for the garbage men to haul away - duh! Does your town vacuum your leaves?

Beautiful Bird Fabric, Oh My

So I’ve spent some time online looking for quilting fabric, and came across this drop dead gorgeous bird/nature fabric.

The nice thing about shopping online is I’m not limited to just the stores in my area - and I’ve never seen the gorgeous fabric I’m finding online in any store around here!

Bird sightings

I have a hanging geranium that is on its last legs, just waiting for me to take it down because it looks yucky, and as I opened the drape yesterday morning, I saw a big fat blue jay in the pot going way deep for seeds! I’m glad I haven’t gotten to that pot yet!

Saturday morning when I opened the drape I saw a woodpecker on my Rose of Sharon. I tried getting the camera in time, but as soon as I did it hid itself and then flew off - but it was fun to see.  See the bird at the top of the Rose of Sharon?  Me neither.
I’m glad I’m bad about deadheading this time of year - I see so many birds picking at the flower heads.

48 Things I Could Care Less About

I found this at Annette’s Acres:

48 Things You Could Care Less About

1. FIRST NAME? Pam
2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Mom picked Pamela out of a baby names book; Ann is after her middle name.
3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? When I chopped onions a couple of nights ago.
4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Not any more - computers have ruined my handwriting.
5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? Tofurkey (mmmm, with tomatoes, artichokes and mayonnaise on sprouted grain bread).
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I guess so.
7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? No, just this blog.
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? No - bummer
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? No way! I need my feet planted firmly on the ground unless I’m on a trampoline.
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Oatmeal.
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? No, too boring.
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Yes, I love weight training! (But not too strong).
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Ben and Jerry’s Oreo Mint Ice Cream. I saw it being made at the factory - and they were throwing away the rejects!
14. SHOE SIZE? 7.5 M
15. RED OR PINK? Red.
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? I have a temper.
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? Meribel in Walnut Grove, MN. That’s a blogging story for another day. . .
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Not necessary. . . since I’m not sending it out via email.
19. WHAT COLOR PANTS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Black stretch pants with white stripes down the sides, black shirt, no shoes (remember I hate shoes).
20. LAST THING YOU ATE? I’m about to eat Potatoes, zucchini, corn, peas, kale and veggie burger (remember I’m a veggie) and for dessert - homemade chocolate pudding - mmmmm.
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” Second Season - I love the old Alfred Hitchcock shows!
22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Green - it’s a soothing color.
23. FAVORITE SMELL? Rosa rugosa - I could sniff the flowers all day long.
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My Mom
25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? Their facial and body expressions.
26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON you stole THIS from? Yes.
27. FAVORITE DRINK? Mighty Mango Naked Juice is tied with Pomegranate Juice - both are yummmmy.
28. FAVORITE SPORT? Weight training, not to watch it, but to do it.
29. EYE COLOR? Brown
30. HAT SIZE? I have no clue, and I love hats!
31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No
32. FAVORITE FOOD? Raspberries
33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? It depends on the movie.
35. SUMMER OR WINTER? Both, I like / dislike things about both.
36. HUGS OR KISSES? Both! Nothing like a man who knows that both are important and is great at both!
37. FAVORITE DESSERT? Chocolate pudding
38. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? I’m not sending this is anyone, so no one.
39. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? I’m not sending this is anyone, so no one.
40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? ‘A Breath of Snow and Ashes’ by Diana Gabaldon, ‘Letters from Eden’ by Julie Zickefoose, ‘China Bayles’ Book of Days’ by Susan Witting Albert, ‘Last of the Mohicans’ by James Fenimore Cooper.
41. WHAT’S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? I don’t use a mouse pad (laser mouse).
42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? Nuttin’ honey - I read all night.
43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? Silence, leaves blowing.
44. ROLLING STONE OR BEATLES? Beatles
45. THE FURTHEST YOU’VE BEEN FROM HOME? California
46. WHAT’S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? I pick up on things real quick.
47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Syracuse
48. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? I copied it from Annette (see above)