Gotta tell you: I spend an awful lot of time reading information on web sites.  I’ve just spent an hour trying to gain information about an owl that was quite vocal about 5 o’clock this morning.  From my recent search, I suspect it was a Great Horned Owl.  The call I heard doesn’t quite match the descriptions on the web but all the information suggests this is an ideal habitat for them.  Reading about their diet leads me to acknowledge that I have prepared a banquet table for Great Horned Owls.  They eat birds, rabbits, and squirrels (to name only a few).  With nine (9) miscellaneous types of bird seed feeders, I attract a wide variety of song birds.  In addition, I have a suet feeder for the Woodpeckers, mealworm feeder for the Bluebirds, and two (2) Hummingbird feeders.  I have five (“yes” 5) feeders dedicated specifically for squirrels.  Cottontail rabbits eat alfalfa pellets from a dog dish on my patio.  I have two (2) bird baths to supply water to my critters.  Until today, I did not know that I have a smorgusbord of food for birds of prey.  It makes me sad to think that one of my backyard visitors might have become dinner for an owl.

Twenty-two status symbols through the decades.  This is such a hoot!!  I love it!!  (Click the link [above], read the message.)  With over seven decades behind me, I can relate to some of the things listed.

I didn’t have a Commodore 64; I had an IBM-PC Jr.  It was my first computer and I have purchased new models every few years since.  I’m currently shopping for a new laptop computer.

Check this also: Age-Activated Attention Disorder.

Seven reasons why we have not “evolved” to eat meat.  Personally, I seldom eat meat because I don’t think it is good for my health.  But this article makes a good argument and I thought I’d share it with you.

Letting go of guilty clutter.  I suspect there is a super sleuth reading my e-mail messages–and reading my mind.  I can identify with the narrative!!  So why am I hanging on to baby clothes that I meticulously sewed in 1955, little garments worn by two baby boys??  My children aren’t interested in “my memorabilia.”  Why am I hanging on to two old trunks given to me by my grandfather??  (One trunk is over 77 years old but not a round-top steamer trunk with some antique value.)  ~~  Scroll back through my blog messages and see pictures of the bedroom wall with boxes stacked floor to ceiling.  (“Memorabilia.”)  The only thing I can say in my defense: “I’m slowly making progress!!”  Inch by inch, it’s a cinch.

Because I have a Sunflower growing with the Petunias, I was reminded of the amusing little story about a Lonely Little Petunia in an Onion Patch.  Well, specifically, this (lonely little) Sunflower is in a planter with Nasturtiums but Petunias are in adjacent hanging basket planters.  Earlier in the season, I removed foreign plants, and weeds, when they made an appearance.  This plant grew surprisingly fast and has very limited space for its roots.  I admire its perseverance!!

Four Simple Ways to Help Hummingbirds.  Dear Reader: I’m doing my part!!  In my backyard, two feeders; lots of red, purple, orange, and yellow flowers; a source with running water.

<<<<< Awesome!!  Spectacular!!  A thoroughly engrossing presentation on PBS regarding Hummingbirds.  I loved it!!  ~~  Check my earlier blog about Hummingbird outside my window.  (I now watch Public Broadcasting almost exclusively.  I’m sick of the disgusting political advertisements on the major networks!!)  >>>>>>>>>>

Please read–and share–this article: America’s Most Biblically-Hostile U.S. President.

Follow my travels two years ago.  Click here to see where I was in August 2010.  I love to travel and I love my tiny T@B travel trailer!!

I haven’t traveled since the Blue Ridge Rally in May.  I’ve had a one-track-mind: “Downsizing.”  I’m so weary of this project!!  More re: 2012 Blue Ridge Rally and even more re: 2012 Blue Ridge Rally.  (Truthfully: One-track-mind re: downsizing–and my backyard garden.)

I checked an earlier blog message to see where I was, and what I was doing, in August 2009.  I was “downsizing.”  What utter insanity!!  Why have I retained all this stuff??  (Dozens of boxes of family history [genealogy] that I deem “valuable.”  Half-a-dozen boxes of documentation to support the copyright(s) for the books I published.)

I’ve been seriously considering another trip to Asheville, North Carolina, and the Blue Ridge Parkway.

For your amusement, visit the old blog where I verbalized that I’d pick more daisies.  (No daisies in my backyard garden but Zinnias, Petunias, Nasturtiums and Begonias.  No daisies in my backyard but lots of birds, rabbits, raccoons, and squirrels.)

There’s something wrong with this picture!!  My life, and my activities, need a major overhaul!!