Free Angela Davis

I just went through a pretty long period without a hair cut. It got so bushy that I wouldn't leave the house without a hat on.  There is no telling what I'd do to my hair if I was a woman.

It's like steel wool and if I don't have gel in it, I look kinda like Angela Davis. If you don't know who she is, maybe you remember the free Angela poster people used to hang in their houses, or maybe this button. This was way back in the day, so most of you probably don't know who she was. I'm not black, or even a woman, but ungelled and grown out, I do sport a wickedly awesome natural Afro...

Love her or hate her, nobody can deny that this brave and brilliant woman made an impact on America. She was an outspoken political activist in the 60's and 70's and most definitely an agent of change.  I didn't agree with everything she said or did, but she was willing to pay whatever price needed, to get her message out. And she did pay a heavy price. Angela Davis turns 67 this month.

If you have no idea who I'm talking about, a quick trip to google would be well worth your time.
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back to photos next post...

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"Real" Books versus E-Books - Part Two

Last January, I asked a question (and gave my answer) in a blog post about E-books vs. regular books. To see that post click here.

"What's the difference between Border's and Tower Records? The answer is simple, Tower Records is history! The big box book stores are soon to follow. There is simply no need for them anymore."

In 2010, Borders closed 30% of their stores. Yesterday, they filed for bankruptcy and announced plans to close all stores by September.  It would seem a valid assumption that Borders' primary competitor, Barnes and Noble would stand to greatly benefit from this news. Probably not!

Shortly before Borders announced the closing of 30% of their stores, Barnes and Noble was put up for sale. It's been almost a year and the sale has not even come close to taking place. I'm willing to bet that nobody is going to touch Barnes and Noble with a 10 foot pole.

Just one more nail in the coffin of our beloved hard copy books (unless you are willing to pay a premium). I suppose it could be said that we are already paying a premium.

What do you think about this?

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On The Road Again...

I haven't been able to spend as much time here as I'd like to lately and that isn't going to change for a while.

We are currently out of town and will return just in time to catch an early flight on Monday morning to the beautiful island of Kauai. It's a fantastic place and you know I'm going to have at least one camera on me at all times.

We are supposed to have DSL where we are staying, but I'll believe it when I see it. Maybe I can post some stuff while we're there, but if not, I'll meet you all here when I get back. Until that time.... 
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After reading the title of this post, does anybody besides me have the song "On The Road Again" by Canned Heat, stuck in their head right now? Or maybe a different song (with the same name) by Willie Nelson?  I have both bouncing around (part of my ADDness, I presume.

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I Swear It Wasn't Me!

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while already know that I’ve had a few scrapes with the authorities in my life. I PROMISE all of you that the six Orange County Sheriffs that were in my house this weekend with guns drawn, were not there because of anything I’ve done…

At 2:30 AM there were three of them, by 3:00, there were at least 10, by sunrise there were at least twenty! Most in uniform, some with assault rifles, detectives, crime scene types, suits, and blood hound handlers (with blood hounds). I just know our neighbors were wondering what the heck was going on!

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My wife had been babysitting for one of our daughters and got home at 2:15 am. There was a strange car sitting in our driveway.  We called the Sheriff’s Department to have it towed.  About the same time I noticed that there was a helicopter circling the area.  I told my wife to ask the dispatcher if there was something going on. Apparently there was and the Sheriffs were looking for a car (and the people in it).  Yep! It was the same car.

Plain clothes officers were looking for a bad guy who had several outstanding warrants for his arrest.  They had a tip relating to where he might be.  He and another person (wife maybe) did in fact show up. Apparently he didn’t want to go to jail; he resisted getting out of his car and the Sheriff Tased him. The idiot then floored his car and ran over the sheriff’s foot. 

You know how law enforcement is when one of their guys is attacked, wounded, or hurt.  So anyway, they came to our house to check out the car parked in our driveway.  BINGO!  The dispatcher called us back and told us to stay in the house while they looked around.  They didn’t find anything.  A couple more cars arrived and they started looking around the neighborhood. They were also knocking on doors and asking people if they were being held against their will.  One of them told us they were waiting for a bloodhound to try and pick up a trail. About 20 minutes later there was a knock on the door.  When I opened it, I was met by six cops with guns drawn. One of them asked me if we had searched our house.  After I told him we hadn’t, he said that when the bloodhound picked up a scent at the car he pulled his handler directly to our front door.  At a minimum, the bad guys tried the door.

Once the detectives had cleared the car, the bloodhound was allowed to go into it. When he got out, he started running down the street with his handler and about 10 cops in tow.  The guys must have run down a stairway that leads to the street below us and called someone to pick them up.  The cops were sure that is what happened, because the trail ended in the middle of the street.

All is well, that ends well!  The guys were caught about 3 hours later…

http://www.ocregister.com/news/deputies-297665-deputy-people.html

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Learn to Appreciate Technology

I don't often post video, but this one is so very true and funny!

Anger

I try to keep my anger sequestered from the rest of my life, as it is counterproductive to what I want to do and where I want to go. But some stuff just really gets to me.  Especially bullies and creeps who maltreat animals. 

My wife is very involved with dog and cat rescues and it kills me whenever the "latest" case of severe animal abuse comes to light. It makes my wife very sad, but it makes me want to hunt them down and and administer my own form of justice...

Is it just me?

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Menopause Just Might Kill Me

Sir Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion is, "To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction."
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I'm married to a beautiful, funny and smart woman. Unfortunately for me, she is now going through menopause and has apparently lost her mind. Although I totally feel sorry for her, I'm pretty sure that her menopause might cause me to die of hypothermia or heat stroke I know that it will eventually pass.

What I’m about to say, is almost completely true...
When it's freezing in our house, she's burning up! We have to open the windows and/or turn on the air conditioning, even though it's the dead of winter. Most of you know where I live and I understand that "dead of winter" is a relative phrase. For those of you living in areas with "real' winter, I apologize!

On the other end of the spectrum…
If it’s mid-summer and about 85 degrees outside, she is usually wearing a parka it’s about 75 degrees inside. How is my wife feeling?

"I'm so cold!"
"Honey, it's 75 degrees in here!"
"I don't care, I'm freezing!"
"Put another coat on!" (notice I said another)
"I'm turning the heater on!"
"What?"
"It's much too hot in here already!"
"I don't care, I'm freezing!"

Last summer was one of the mildest on record where I live. I think it was August 15th, when I lost the tip of my nose to frostbite.

If I'd known it was catchy, I would have gotten a vaccine or something...
Or is it just me?


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Japan

As many of you know, my wife is Japanese and most of her family lives in Japan.  We’ve made contact with some  of them and they tell us that they are shaken and scared, but safe. Thanks to those of you who have asked about them.

Japan is really up against it right now.  Earthquakes are averaging one an hour, tsunamis have killed thousands, a volcano is erupting, it's very cold, radiation is scaring everyone, transportation is at a standstill, there are major power outages and food and water are in short supply.  It’s the perfect storm of disasters.

I’ve visited Japan several times and have been lucky enough to stay with my wife’s relatives instead of hotels. I’ve really gotten to see how they live their everyday lives. They are very much like us, yet they are nothing like us. There are a few things I can tell you about them with certainty…

There will be no looting and there will be little or no crime during this time.  There will be none of the unrest, rudeness, or sense of entitlement, we’ve come to expect in our country when times get bad.  People will not be expecting the government to do everything.  These people take care of each other.  Whatever Mother Nature and failed technology throw at them, they will endure it with grace, humility and respect for others.  You’ve seen them on TV, waiting in long lines trying to buy what little food is available, right? Did you see and pushing and shoving? No, you didn’t see it, because it is not in their nature to do so.

Is Japan perfect? No it is not. Their government has made some major blunders throughout the years.  Having said that, the people are the nicest and gentlest, I’ve ever seen.  If you are lucky enough to travel there, you will find that they don’t expect you to speak Japanese. In fact, most will be embarrassed because they don’t speak your language!

I didn’t mean for this to be so long.  Because of my crazy upbringing, I’m not easily affected by current events, but I have to tell you, this unfolding tragedy is kicking my ass.  If you have any positive and healing thoughts, or any prayers you can make. The Japanese can surely use them...

Dinner at Aunt Junko's house.

Yes, everyone is sitting on the floor!

Get together at Aunt Kiku's house

Dinner out with Aunt Toshiko.

My wife's mom is in the front right.

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Everything is Nothing!

Ingmar Bergman (movie director, producer and writer) said "Everything in life is worth as much as a belch, the only difference being that a belch is more satisfying."

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One day several years ago, my granddaughter Tay (at the age of 3-ish) was very mad about something and screamed, "EVERYTHING IS NOTHING!"

That girl just may grow up to make great movies full of bleakness and despair...

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"Real" Books versus E-Books

A short time ago, I read an interesting post at Clarissa Draper's blog Listen to the Voices. The subject was the difference in cost (or lack of) between digital books and printed books. My comment was going to be at least as long as the post, so I decided I'd make it into a regular blog post here.
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I'm writing this post as a consumer who likes to read.
An ebook, while less expensive than the paper version, is in many cases over priced. Add to that fact, newly available and rapidly improving technology and it shouldn't take a genius to see what is about to happen.

Let's face facts. Books cost too much now! Even "used" book stores have jumped on that bandwagon by raising their prices. Still cheaper than new, but not that great of a deal anymore. I'm fortunate to be able to buy what I want, but not everyone is still in that boat. I'm just tired of being gouged.

A question...
What's the difference between Border's and Tower Records? The answer is simple, Tower Records is history! The big box book stores are soon to follow. There is simply no need for them anymore.

It's evolution! Just like music, words can be downloaded. I love holding a real book in my hand just as much as the next guy. I also loved holding an album cover! I got over it.

Unfortunately, technological evolution will soon solve the problem for us. The vast majority of books will soon become unavailable on paper. Unless you are willing to pay a high premium for them.

LP music albums are still available also. I think I'm going to head on down to Tower Records to buy one. Oh yeah, they went out of business. I guess I'll be FORCED to download it.

Pretty soon there isn't going to be a choice. The same things being said about "real" books now, were being said about records in the not too distant past. The major book stores that make their living off of new releases are closing! Soon, they will be gone. It's the way of things! Will we be able to buy "real" books? Yes we will, but it will be at an elevated cost, just like records...
Here is a partial list of music and record stores that have closed. Of course there are hundreds of smaller independant stores that have also closed, but I dont have the room or resources to come up with all the names.

• Blockbuster Music (most)
• Budget Tapes & Records
• Camelot Music
• Cavages
• Circuit City
• Record Town
• Compact Disc Center
• Crown Books
• Disc Jockey
• Flipside Records (Chicago area)
• Great American Music
• Harmony House (Michigan)
• Incredible Universe
• King Carol
• Licorice Pizza (California)
• Listenin' Booth
• Madcats Music & Books
• Media Play (closed and dissolved in 2006)
• Movie Gallery
• Music Boutique (Seattle)
• Music Plus (California)
• Musicland
• National Record Mart (Pennsylvania)
• Odyssey Records & Tapes
• On Cue
• Oranges Records & Tapes
• Peaches
• Rainbow Records (Oklahoma City)
• Record Bar (malls)
• Record Town 
• Entertainment)
• Record World
• Rose Records (Chicago area)
• Sam Goody (a few left)
• Sammy's Record Shack (St. Louis?)
• Second Time Around
• Soul Sounds Unlimited
• Sound Warehouse
• Sounds of Soul Records & Tapes
• Square Circle
• Starship Tapes & Records (Tulsa)
• Strawberries (Massachusetts)
• Suncoast
• Tape World
• Tower Records (converted to an online-only retailer)
• The Record Shops at TSS
• The Wall (formerly Wall To Wall Sound & Video)
• Waves Music
• Wherehouse Music
• Virgin Megastores
• Yesterday's Records/Discs (Wichita, Kansas)

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kindle, big business, book publishers,

Laguna (south of Broadway)

Although I took the following photos in Laguna, they aren't really related to the storm damage.

Always a fairly common sight around Laguna. First it was hippies and now it's surfers.

Pacific Coast Highway

Skim Boarding  -  The approach

The turn

Drop in

Shred

Walking towards Main Beach and downtown

It's under 60 degrees and this moron is sunbathing! A little bit of the storm surf damage to the right.

She loved the photo, but wasn't happy that I didn't show her new boots. Really? What's the matter with you people?

The view from our table while eating at Olamendi's Mexican food. The land in the background is Catalina Island. It's 30 miles offshore.  The Chicago Cubs used to hold their spring training there.

All of these photos are south of Main Street.  I'll post more of Laguna soon, but next time north of Main Street. Lot's of cliffs in that direction.

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After the Storm - Laguna Beach

About two weeks ago I posted Big Doings in So Cal. As you already know, there was a lot of storm damage here. Yesterday my wife and I went downtown to check out how the repairs and clean up was going.

The morning after the storm (photo LA Times)

Yesterday - A major chunk of beach is gone...

Same view as above, but from the street. A large chunk of lawn and sand are missing.

And this is after the dozers moved most of the mud. (LA Times)

No Movie Today!  (LA Times)

What are you doing out here lady? (LA Times)

 

This is the same spot as the flood video in the earlier post (LA Times)

What a dufus!

Morning After the Storm (Mitch Ridder - OCinsite)

Same intersection as last two photos - Yesterday

A lot of folks had the same idea as we did yesterday. It was the first nice and clear day in a few weeks. Pretty cold (by our standards), but that didn't stop a lot of people from coming out.  About 12 days ago this intersection was under a flood of mud and water. It's amazing how they managed to get it all cleaned up so quickly. Also very surprising was the fact that almost every store was open for business.   I guess when your city's main source of income is tourism, you don't waste any time.

This stuff didn't quite make it to the ocean (LA Times)

On Wednesday I'll post some non-storm related photos from Laguna.

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Big Doings in So Cal

Many of you are used to extreme weather. Where I live, we are not. We live in a semi-arid very hilly area and even rainstorms cause us problems.  When it rains heavily for three solid days (like it just has) and the ground is already saturated from rain we've had over the past two weeks. We have HUGE problems.  I know that some of you are going to pooh-pooh this, because you experience "real" weather on a regular basis. Our infrastructure simply isn't made to handle it.

This morning I had a follow up appointment with my surgeon. My preferred route would take me through a place called Laguna Canyon (now closed), to Laguna Beach (now closed), and down Pacific Coast Highway (now closed) to Newport Beach.  As an alternate route, I took what I thought was the my best chance of making it through. I was shocked at how many trees were uprooted and/or damaged. Every river, creek, stream, lake, pond, and flood control I saw, had overflowed.  Many of you have seen photos from the lake at the bottom my hill. This morning, the lake was much bigger and every boat there was either sunk or full of water. Most of the famous downtown beach, is simply gone...


This video (thanks to ABC news) shows the mud and water flowing down Laguna Canyon Road.  (please click on the following link) http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/video?id=7858291


I have a huge mess to clean up at my house, the roof is leaking and my step daughter (Ashley at Our Journey Begins, as the Kings) just called and said her washing machine broke. So, I'm off to her house. Next storm is due any minute! 

Happy Holidays to all my friends out there. I'll not be posting again until next Monday! I hope you have a great holiday weekend.

 

I'm Baaaack.....

It’s been 5 days since my surgery. So far it’s been kind of a mixed bag. I’m super happy to report that the surgery was a total success. I woke up in the recovery room and all the pain and numbness was gone. The doctor told me that the swelling from the surgery might delay any positive results for a week or two, but so far…nothing!

On the downside, recovery from the surgery has proven to be very painful. Maybe some of the worst pain I’ve ever had. The narcotic that works the best for me is Dilaudid. Of course it makes me VERY sick to my stomach. Anti-nausea medication seems to have little or no effect.  So Wednesday and Thursday were pretty much spent pushing the narcotics button and then throwing up.  In the long run, it was worth it.  I came home on Thursday afternoon and the Dilaudid has been replaced by Codeine. It’s not nearly as effective of a pain killer, but at least it doesn’t make me sick.  Dilaudid and Codeine are both very addictive.  I’ve been down that road before, so I plan on taking the first exit I see. I plan to be off all painkillers in a couple of days.

A couple of people commented that they thought I was emailing from my hospital room. I didn’t take my laptop or phone with me. I was in no condition to do anything. I never turned the TV on even once during my stay….

Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the holes in the side of my head. To make sure everything stayed steady while he was operating, the surgeon put my head in a metal ring. It was secured with screws through my scalp and into the bone of my skull.  Man, do I ever wish I had a photo of that for this post.

It’s now Sunday evening and although I'm not totally comfortable, I finally feel up to turning on my laptop.  I didn’t want to wait any longer, because I wanted everyone to know how very appreciative I am for all the supportive words, positive thoughts, good karma, and prayers sent my way.  This is another example of how real the connections are, that we of the blogging community make with each other.   I’ll be posting this on Monday morning after I edit for drug induced errors…

Once again, Thanks so much to all of my friends out there!

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Foraminotomy, Laminotomy and Microdiscetomy

Foraminotomy is a surgical procedure performed to enlarge the passageway where a spinal nerve root exits the spinal canal.

Laminotomy is an open surgical procedure whereby a small opening into the spinal lamina is made and access to the spinal canal is created on the backside of the spine.

Microdiscetomy is the surgical removal of herniated disc material that presses on a nerve root or the spinal cord.
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You might be wondering why I'm posting this information.

Several years ago I was in a pretty bad auto accident. It caused the herniation of a couple of disks in my neck. As time has passed the vertebrae has grown new bone to make up for the missing disk tissue. As a result the seventh cervical vertebrae is putting quite a bit of pressure on my T1 nerve. This nerve runs along the upper back, goes through the shoulder, elbow, wrist, and ends in the two little fingers.

Whenever I look up and turn my head to the right, the nerve pinches. In the same order as above, all of those areas of my body feel like they've been stabbed with an ice pick. Then it all goes pins and needles. Not a good thing. Codeine and Lyrica work pretty well, but I've taken entirely too much of them.  Not a bad thing, if you don't mind being in a fuzzy state all the time. As you may or may not know, drugs played a major role in most of my younger days and I liked that "fuzzy state" a bit too much. So I stopped taking the medications a while back.  Pain or fuzzy? At this point, I've opted to live with the pain.

Living with the pain doesn't work either. So I'm going through with the surgery mentioned above. It's happening two days from now and when I wake up in the post-op room, I fully expect that the pain will be gone.  Depending on how it feels and how quickly I recover, will determine when I show my face here next. I'm hoping it will be just a couple of days.

I'm not worried about the surgery at all and I'm looking forward to the warm and toasty pre-op blanket!  Talk to you soon...

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Kindle - This is Not an Ad

Before I start, I'd like to make one thing very clear. I love books. I love reading them, I love looking at them, I love touching them, and I love collecting them.  Because of these things I've never been a fan of ebooks, or any of the new "readers." After I read a book, I want to keep it.

I have no idea how many books I've read in my life, but the number has to be in the thousands. Storing even a fraction of that number, requires a tremendous amount of room.  I didn't want to rent storage for them, so several years ago I started donating, or just giving them away to people that I knew would read them.   Of course there are some that I would NEVER part with.

A couple of months ago, I received a Kindle for my birthday. Much to my surprise, I fell in love with it. It's takes only a few seconds to download a book, the format is amazingly clear, and the darn thing holds about 3500 books!

Amazon.com has many of the classics in kindle format for free. I downloaded about 50 of them and am just about to dive in. I've read most of them before, but can't wait to get started anew. Depending on which model you buy, you can even go online and blog!

You can also use your Kindle to store all of your personal documents. They will format them for you for free and it only takes a minute or two.

If there is a book that I MUST have and it isn't available on kindle, I'm probably still going to buy it, but that will be the only reason. My sources tell me that it won't be very long before every new book will be available for download.  I was amazed to find out how many old books are already available.

If some of you now see me as a traitor, I'm sorry. For those of you currently working on books, I'll be supporting you via Kindle or paper, whatever it takes!

Do any of you have a Kindle or something like it?

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Neighborhood Nicknames

Do you have "names" for people in your neighborhood that you either don't know, or don't like? We do...

• Dysfunctional Family. This family lives behind us and down the hill.  They need full time therapy. All we know about them is the yelling, cursing, and cops.
• Cloppity House. The guy walked home drunk in the middle of the night with clogs on. His steps made a "cloppity" sound. This happened five years ago, but the name stuck.
• Yappity Dog House. These folks actually denied that their yappity dog barked all day while they were at work. Thank goodness they moved.
• Unfriendly House.  For reasons unknown to us, the wife in this house just flat out doesn't care for us. Although her husband seems to like us, when she's around, he pretends not to see us. Poor guy...
• Sliding Down The Hill House.  We live on the ridge line of a hill top. A house across and down from us a ways has slipped down the slope a bit. There is also a semi-wilderness trail that starts next to their house. (also known as "start of the trail house."
• Cooper House.  These people now rent the house from the "yappity dog" owners. They have a stupid dog that they can't control. All we've ever heard them say is "Cooper, Cooper!" The dog just won't shut up. You can't have a conversation with them because the dog won't stop barking at you. I told the lady yesterday that I give up...
• Start Of The Trail House (see "sliding down the hill house.")
• Cat Murderer House.  These cruel people have lost 3 cats to coyotes, but they keep getting new ones. Someday, there is going to be a confrontation between the two of us.

We  also have neighbors that we like and know by name, so not everybody gets a "nickname."

I'm sure our house is known as "the guy wearing pj's at noon on weekdays drinking beer in the back yard" house"



thanks to Bossy Betty (one of my favorites) for inspiring this post.

How Do You Compete With That?

Many of you are aware of the annual July 4th "water war" on our street. It should come as no surprise that Halloween is a pretty big event here also.  It's not that there are a ton of decorated houses, but everybody is in their driveways or in their garages, giving out candy and having small parties.

We get between 150 and 200 kids each Halloween. A couple of years ago, we had well over 200. Every year there is at least one kid, or parent who reminds us that "the lady who used to live in your house gave us hot donuts instead of candy!"

That's right! She cooked and gave out fresh hot glazed donuts as treats! How in the heck is a person supposed to compete with that? We don't even try, I just give them their single m&m and tell them to move along...bah!

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The Ring and the Little Detective

Yesterday afternoon I was sitting on the patio, when my seven year old granddaughter Taylor, walked out of the house with my magnifying glass and her Nancy Drew, Girl Detective, Volume 1. She told me she was available to solve any mystery I might be having. I thought for a while and asked her if she could find my lost wedding ring. After she interviewed me for about 10 minutes with pencil and paper, she was off to solve her mystery.

About two months ago I lost my wedding ring. It either flew off my hand while I was throwing salt in our swimming pool, or came off my hand while I was cleaning out a large flower bed in our front yard. I did them both on the same day.

She hunted all around the pool area with her magnifying glass and finally declared it wasn’t in the back yard. She asked me which flower bed I had been working on two months before and if she could use a tablespoon to dig through it. I told her she could use the spoon and wished her luck, because I’d already torn that flower bed apart and dumped out the green trash can looking for it myself.

About 45 minutes later, she walked up to me with her nana (buymebarbies) and said she couldn’t find it. I told her thanks for looking and trying to solve the mystery. After a few seconds, they both started laughing and Taylor pulled my old ring out of her pocket! Using the tablespoon and magnifying glass she went through the flowerbed with a fine tooth comb (or spoon).

Last week, I’d finally given up all hope of finding my original wedding ring and bought a new one. I was so happy to get my old beat-up, misshapen, and tarnished ring back. I hope the jewelry store will let me return the new one.

I really owe my little detective for finding my ring. I think I’ll be buying her the rest of the Nancy Drew books. There are more mysteries out there just waiting for her to solve…

Bee Invasion

A short time ago, buymebarbies and I heard an odd noise.  We looked out the front window and saw this...

please enlarge

Obviously they were bees. They swarmed around the front of our house for a minute or two and then started landing on an inside branch of a pygmy date palm in our front yard.  After about 15 minutes there was a huge squirming mass of them formed into a ball.

We were worried because there are many kids and families who walk in front of our house every day. We called the city thinking they would send someone out to take them away. Wrong!  The lady said to leave them alone.  She also told us that bees swarm like this because a "new" queen has been born and the colony must split up. They are only looking for a new home. They don't want to stay in a palm tree, so they are just spending a day or two until they find a more suitable place to live.  In the meantime, because this isn't their "real" home, they aren't territorial and won't be aggressive at all.  They won't sting anything or anybody, unless they are attacked.  Leave them alone was her advice.

We left them alone and the next morning I watched them start to buzz around and then fly away. Once they started to leave, it only took about two minutes until everyone of them was gone.

I was happy to see them go, because I've been stung many times in the past. Somehow I manged to avoid it this time...