Opps, just a sleeping bird

I wanted to put all my pictures on a CD (which I have done many times in the past) but something went wrong today and all I am left with is the lastest picture of a sleeping bird. Last year I took a picture of a red finch sleeping on the edge of my birdbath and earlier this spring I had one fall asleep on a rock in the waterfall to my pond and now this one was sleeping on one of our many feeders.

It's nice to know the bird's feel safe enough in my yard to take a snooze just about anywhere.

The bluebird family is enjoying their new home, having moved in almost immediately after the house was built. I haven't checked to see how many eggs there are-I believe the birds are entitled to their privacy.

Pictures, or rather my ability at taking pictures, just doesn't seem to do my hard work in the yard justice. I took a picture of my cherry tree and it came out looking like a stick in the ground. The tree that was cut down recently could have been eight inches long or eighty feet: one could never tell from the picture. And the one I took of all my apple trees and cherry trees in a row only shows burned grass on the edge of the yard. None of the trees are really visible.

I do have two peaches on the tree I planted last year and all ny grape vines have grapes this year. Some of my apple trees are three feet tall now and look like sticks with leaves--no real branches to speak of,

Just think how happy all the birds will be when all these fruit trees and vines started producing. I know they aren't excited as they have no clue, I suppose, but they will come and enjoy.

doughnut holes sauerkraut, and sex

No, the woman in the picture has nothing to do with this article. I don't even know who she is but she is probably an actress or the other half of an actor. She's just pretty.

This morning I checked out a box of doughnut holes: 220 calories a serving which was 6 doughnut holes. There were 9 serving in a 16 oz box. That's 1980 calories are almost an entire days worth of calories in one little box. A 16 oz bog of kraut only has 130 calories. True but as my friend pointed out, doughnuts holes are much tastier than kraut.

True I said but I like sex better than doughnut holes so I eat kraut.

"What does one have to do with the other?" he inquired.

"If you eat too many doughnut holes, you get fat. At first being fat is only a turnoff to women. Then, you might get hig blood pressure and maybe become a diabetic so you don't feel like having sex. Then the doctor gives you medicine and it affects you so you probably can't have sex so even if a women isn't repulsed by your fat body it really doesn't matter anyway.

So I eat the kraut, feel full, slim down, and enjoy my improved health and the benefits that goes along with it. So the next time you are enjoying your doughnut holes anbd a pretty girl walks by and you think of her and sex, don't you wish you had eaten kraut instead?

Eat right, drive slower, live longer.

Yard work

My wife and I purchased our first out building and I am really enjoying it. One really wouldn't think a storage shed would bring one enjoyment but it does. I don't have to protect my mower from the elements with a tarp(the blue vinyl kind, not the government bailout kind). I once lived somewhere where I had an out building but it was small even though it was useful. The one we have is 12 by 16 which is quite sufficient for most anything one would want an outbuilding for.

I now have a place to store my tools and yard equipment, a place for a work bench, and a place for growing my plants. It is an aluminum building so I insulated it and then put paneling up. On the outside my wife and I planted plants on three sides. The back side borders my Iris garden so no additional flowers will be needed there.

On the edge of the property there is a huge tree which was dead long before we moved in and looks as if it is decaying quickly. We are having it removed tomorrow which will not only make the yard look better, it will make two old people feel much safer.

I enjoy working in the yard and like watching things grow, especially flower gardens planted with plants that bloom in sequence as the weather changes so the yard appears to be constantly in motion, like ones property is doing the wave to the angels in the sky.

News from the home front

First I would like to report that someone went through my trash and took from the collection a weed whacker that had melted and an old leaf blower.

Some guy was sitting in my neighbors shed and must have thought my wife and I were curious about him. Actually we were watching the bluebirds checking out the new bluebird bird house I just erected. I was hoping for a family when I put the box up but my wife, ever the pessimist. bless her heart, said we wouldn't get one until next year. I didn't notice the guy in the wood box until my wife said the man was waving at us.

I'll be glad when my trees grow up so I can watch my fish and the birds without the neighbors thinking I'm looking at them.

On a more personal note I've lost 50 pounds and I am now below 200 for the first time in over a decade. Slowly but most sincerely, the weight is coming off and the health is imroving. Now if I can just figure out a way to get younger...

Pope: Church will protect young from abuse

He got caugt protecting the abusers so now he promises to protect the abused and those that might be abused in the future.

A religious man is still just a man. A pervert is a pervert no matter what he/she does for a living

L.A. white supremacy rally gets bloody

If a person has to tell everyone else that they are prettier, smarter, or more athletic, or even superior in any other way, then that is proof that they aren't superior at all. People don't have to go up to dogs and say "I'm smarter than you"

Of course some people get jealous because someone they care about or someone they dislike might get more attention or even some attention from the dog but that is because the person is feeling insecure about themselves or we can't stand it that the dog can't see the other person the way we do. But in either case, the jealous dog owner is the one with the problem.

Anyone who calls themselves a supremacist or lives to hate others that are different, or advocates that others are less deserving than themselves is the one with the problem.

What's wrong with people

JACKSON, Tenn. — A white supremacist convicted of plotting to kill then-presidential candidate Barack Obama -- and slaughter dozens of African Americans in the process -- has been given a 10-year prison sentence.

Authorities have described 19-year-old Paul Schlesselman and an accomplice as white supremacist skinheads who hatched a plan to go on a cross-country robbery and killing spree that would end with an attack on Obama in 2008.

Their plan was to kill 88 African-Americans



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/04/16/2010-04-16_obama_assassination_plot_paul_schlesselman_sentenced_to_10_years_for_plotting_mu.html#ixzz0lKaTNSYe





Eight-eight lifetimes would have been a more just sentence. Ever thought what life would be like for yourself if you had been born another color?

In the news

Citizen complaints about a lady gardner fall on deft ears. It seems a lady likes to garden in the buff, or nearly so. She does wear yellow thongs and pink gloves but nothing else. I suppose the city was going to enact a law making it illegal to garden in the buff but probably realized it wasn't the ladies nakedness that was offensive-it was the color combination of pink and yellow.

In equally offensive news, a man gives a police officer a provacative gesture and is awarded $5,000.00 for his behaviour. Makes one want to puke at a baseball game. Oh, sorry, that's another offensive story.

Just deserts

I ate there once, my wife and I, and we enjoyed our experience there. The only trouble was the fact that my wife had just had knee replacement surgery and walking up those long, narrow flights of stairs was difficult for her. For that reason alone we never went back.

The stairs must have turned away many people for the restaurant is no longer open for business. Too bad. Nice people owned and operated it. Just a bad location and not really the best choice of a name for a eatery either. I thought maybe it was a bakery at first but later I realized that it must mean that when one gets what they deserve it is as the saying goes "getting their just deserts". Clever concept but maybe just too clever.

Why do I blog?

Because I can. True, my blog is just one among thousands and most likely on of the leat read of all of them but I blog for me. In fact, I dropped my blog on Rsndolph is talking because I felt pressure from certain readers to not broach certain subjects and life could have become difficult for me if I had so the best thing I could do was to write on a blog they did not know existed.

Freedom of expression is grest and blogging is an excellent way of expressing one self. it also establishes the fact that we are all equal. True, certain celebrities will instantly have a fan base that I doubt I'll ever be able to generate in a lifetime of blogging but that is a status the reader gave them and not one that they were entitled too. I'm positive if i were rich and famous i would have a bigger readership too. But the point is not to gain readers but to exercise ones freedom of expression.

A favorite saying of mine is "One who doesn't read is no better off than one who can not read." I suppose the same can be said for freedom of the press. One who doesn't express himself is no better off than one who can not."

Change of focus

Two years ago I was shocked to learn the real truth about my health. I realized I was over weight but otherwise healthy. I was totally wrong. I wasn't overweight; I was obese and I was anything but healthy. I had high blood pressure, was borderline diabetic, had high cholesterol, and my triglycerides were so high it would make one dizzy. To save my life would take more than just diet and exercise. It would require a change in lifestyle.

Joining a health club or a gym turned out to be something that wasn't going to work for me and even walking was a difficult thing to accomplish on a regular bases with my crazy schedule at work. Even following an eating schedule would be nearly impossible. What I could control however was what I ate. I started making better choices.

I didn't want a diet that says you can eat this but not this or one where I had to make swaps or count calories or have to have foods I never heard of or that required pills or other artificial supplements. My goal wasn't to lose weight. My goal was to get healthier.

What I could do was eat a breakfast that was high in fiber and low in calorie content so I choose Cheerios and shredded wheat. I also tried some oatmeal upon occasion.

My lunches consist of a sandwich on whole grain bread, a few slaps of lunch meat and mustard, a no calorie drink and an apple. Supper (or dinner-whatever) was the biggest challenge but I knew that it had to be varied, taste good, and good for me. As much as possible, I chose fruits and vegetables to make up the majority of the meal, if not all of it.

What I did eliminate is snack foods, deserts, and candy. When I order unsweetened tea I drink it that way. At first it was hard to take, being used to the taste of sugar, but after a few times I discovered I actually liked the taste of the tea.

To combat the exercise problem, especially during the colder months, I exercise on a Wii. It works wonders.

It really didn't take long for my numbers to decline towards healthier levels. Although I am classified as a diabetic I take no medicine and have blood sugar levels in the normal range. The thing is I am still obese but have a near normal blood pressure, excellent numbers on everything else.

So far I have lost 48 pounds and have gone from wearing a size 42 pants to getting into a size 34 (this week). I want to drop to 197 pounds which is the line between obese and overweight for me. It would really be nice to get below 200 for the first time in over a decade. 200..9, 200.7, 200.5, 200.3. and this morning 200.2.

It's never been about weight until now. I'm so close but the 199 mark is taunting me but I'm not going to skip a meal or change my eating habits to sped up the march toward thinness. My goal is an eating habit that is healthy and sustainable and I have achieved that. But I can think about that weight goal now. which is something I haven't allowed myself to do before. It's like going for a hitting streak or a home run record. One cannot help but think about it but one has to be careful not to try a little harder for that extra effort may through off the rhythm that got you to where you are in the first place. 'Steady as she goes" is an old navy saying that works well in many situations, this one included.

Is there life beyond Earth?

Not anymore. Once, the universe teemed with different life forms that one didn't have to have an electronic microscope to see but those life forms have ceased to exist and humans are all that is left now.

Just as Lysol kills 99.9 % of all germs, all higher life forms have died out but us and not because we are anything special but just because we were that one that just didn't die. Not yet, any way.

What's fair is fair

Redistribute the wealth, increase taxes on the rich, tax benefits, limit pay of executives of companies which receive federal aid, etc., etc.

I've got one more for you.

Federal housing plus food stamps plus welfare check plus value of attorney as in "will appointment you one if you cannot afford one" plus value of free health care equals taxable income. If the receioient cannot afford to pay the income tax, then he must either get a job or forfeit the benefits.

I'm rather tired of supporting people who can work and be productive citizens but who live off of us instead and supplement their freebies by sellling/manufacturing/using drugs and committing various other offenses, aren't you?

Spring thing, part 2

A yellow tulip popped out today and my cat tails did indeed survive and are beginning to grow. Upon close inspection, all the twigs I stuck in the ground are budding, including the limb that broke off the butterfly bush last year. So far, the only problem I have had is with the same hole that I couldn't grown anything in last year. I wouldn' try except I like balance and that hole is necessary to complete my pattern.

My father could do everthing wrong and still get a plant to grow and thrive and while I don't have the fortune he had, I'm still adapt at getting things to grow that shouldn't. I just hope my plants bear fruit. I have apple trees, peach trees, cherry trees, and grape vines as well as my vegatable garden.

Dislike Duke?

I don't. I've always been a Duke fan. I also pull for Carolina, State, and Wake Forest, but always Duke first and foremost. I pulled for Carolina last year after Dukes embarrassing loss and I was pulling for Carolina in the NIT this year (ACC honor, you know).

Tiptoe through the tulips

Click on picture to enlarge.


First wave, RED, next to come is yellow.

Spring thing

With my neighbor's help my garden is dug, tilled and some crops are planted (cucumbers, tomatoes and bell peppers). Cherry trees in bloom, apple trees with new leaves, and grape vines showing signs of life, all signs that spring is really here and plants are waking up from their long winter's nap.

I planted a tomato garden for my mom yesterday and also planted some Iris nearer the front door so she can see them easier than where they had been on the far side of her house. I really enjoyed my visit with my mom yesterday but missed working in my own yard. My fish are eating and eating alot now. When things get a little warmer I'll clean my filters and do some spring maintenance on the ponds.

I still have some plants that are not showing any signs of life so I'll give them another week or so then really start to investigate if that is normal or if the plants aren't going to make it, or didn't make it. There are some I;m not positive of the life-cycle/ winter sleeping habits of so patience and time will give me the right answer.

Maybe I'm weird but I hate it when a plant dies. It's like I failed it.

What do you want?

"On the “have-not” side of the ledger, inflation-adjusted household income fell by 3.6 percent between 2007 and 2008, from $52,163 to $50,303."


Granted, in today's economy $50,000 a year isn't much but when compared to the world as a whole, it is a good amount. The trouble with %50,000 a year is that it only provides for what we need and not much left over for what we want. More and more, it seems that people who only have what they need are starting to depend on the government to provide for their wants. The government, of and in itself, has nothing. All the government can do is take from those who do have and give to those that do not have.

People who know how to get things done will always be able to get things done but will have less and less input on the government. People who have little will begin to depend more and more on the government to give them their needs but if one poor person and one ricvh person has one vote each and there are many more poor people than rich people, the poor will control the government.

I find that the more one depends on someone else to support them the less incentive they have for supporting themselves.