Staring Contest Rules

I don't know why ~ but this just makes me laugh ~ thought I would share. Remember, when negotiating ~ throw in the threat ~ "I BITE YOUR FACE!"

Musings of Max

Ever wonder how a cat fills their waking hours? #1 Activity ~ gazing into their water bowl ~ looking at goodness know what ~ a reflection perhaps ~ an ancient memory of guppies in a pond. The picture above is my Mom's cat, MAX. Every time I see him staring into his water bowl it just cracked me up ~ He is so deep in thought that no one or nothing else exists in that very moment. Just him and his water bowl.

When was the last time I concentrated that hard??? I wish I could find that still place in my head where I can shut out everything around me ~ quiet the noise in my head ~ be still.

Expect the Unexpected

5:45am ~ I roll out of bed ~ stumble into the bathroom to get dressed. The circles under my eyes remind me that I tossed and turned all night ~ note to self ~ need more sleep. I can pretty much guarantee that sleep will evade me tonight, too ~ you see, the LOST finale is on tonight. My brain tail will be sorting out all the possible theories all night long. I blame J.J. Abrams for coming up with all of these twisted sci-fi shows that make you waaaaay over analyze the show. And ~ as if not enough brain cells are already dedicated to sorting out the plots of HEROs and LOST, now I have FRINGE to look forward to in the fall ~ I can already feel the pull of the vortex sucking me into another sci-fi drama!

By 6:15am I was in my hover craft ~ which BTW averaged at 50 MILES to the GALLON over the weekend ~ backing out of the garage. I am navigating down the driveway ~ using my side mirrors to prevent me from hitting the Jeep parked on the other side of the driveway. Then ~ I see something totally unexpected reflected in the mirror ~ a cute lil bunny crossing the driveway to the safety of the front yard foliage. Later ~ as I am driving on the feeder road to the freeway I see a beautiful hawk perched high on a utility pole, the perfect vantage point to spot road kill. So how do these two unexpected sightings tie into one another. What message were they sending to me today ~ a day where I already feel completely spent and it's not even 7:30am yet!

Referencing my Native American animal totem document ~ these are what the animals represent:

Hawk: All-seeing, observation, truth, awareness, perceptiveness, representative of primal life force

Rabbit: Fertility, fear, timidity, humility, hidden skills, borrower

The Great Outdoors

This past weekend we all went on a hike in Woodstock, NY ~ in the Catskills Mountains. When I picked our hike location I knew it would be a bit of a challenge for the girls (5 miles round trip), but there's no time like the present to get them accustomed to longer, more challenging hikes. We chose to hike Overlook Mountain ~ one of the big perks of the hike is that about halfway up the mountain you will encounter the Mountain House ruins.

The Mountain House opened in 1871 and could accommodate about 300 guests back in the day. The hotel ruins are located at 2,920' ~ here's a link of photos someone has snapped on a foggy day up on the mountain. Apparently the hotel burned down twice ~ rebuilt ~ then fell prey to the stock market crash. in the 1920's.

We couldn't have picked a more perfect day for a walk in the woods. The temps were in the mid 60's with sun peaking out from behind the clouds now and again. We all made it to the summit and enjoyed some amazing views ~ and a yummy lunch. After we were refueled, Skyler proceeded to skip down the mountain with her walking stick ~ leading us the whole way down to the trail head.

I know ~ some of you are probably rolling your eyes and yelling at me for going on a 5 mile hike not even four months after my detethering ~ but truthfully ~ the adrenaline is the best drug out there. I have been plagued with headaches and neck pain for a couple of weeks straight now ~ it's really breaking me down again. But ~ that said~ my focus in on getting stronger ~ living stronger. The sermon in church yesterday was speaking directly to me ~ again ~ wait on God and his direction for your life ~ oi! Why is that so hard to do?

Steve and Me

I just read Steve and Me by Terri Irwin. You can click on this link and read an excerpt. Reading about their love story and their life together was neat. Steve received all kinds of negative media and I believe that he was greatly misunderstood.

While I was reading about all the stories I could visually see them as I remembered episodes of the Crocodile Hunter. What an amazing, passionate man who did amazing things to educate people about wildlife preservation. When I got to the point in the book where Terri received news of his death I felt sad all over again like he had just passed away.

Now that Steve has passed along his family continues to be wildlife warriors. There is still so much going on at the Australia Zoo ~ Steve's exuberance lives on in those who loved him.

Self Portrait ~ Incredible!

I have always had a deep respect and affinity for elephants. They are the gentle giants of the earth. I have read numerous stories about how incredibly smart creatures they are, but this is the first time I have seen a video of an elephant painting. What an amazing creature ~ just watch for yourself. Wouldn't it be neat to work with these incredible animals!

These Are the Signs of Life

I awoke from an intense dream this morning. In my dream a good friend of mine was really upset and crying ~ she told me that someone very dear to her had passed away. When I woke up my heart was heavy and I was planning on e-mailing my friend as soon as I had a cup of coffee to make sure that she was OK. To my surprise, she beat me to the punch ~ there was an e-mail from her already in my inbox! Sadly, she was e-mailing me from a funeral of a good friend. JTM ~ sending you a big hug across the miles!

You might have read in earlier posts that I have a hard time getting to sleep. It's hard to turn my brain off ~ I believe that my brain tail is to blame most of the time. I have learned to follow up on dreams that pull at my heartstrings. As demonstrated this morning, there's a reason why people show up in my dreams. No wonder I am so exhausted in the morning! I have a theory that other people with Chiari malformations are also ultra sensitive to other's emotions ~ no matter how far away they might be. I know that no one in the medical community would verify this, but I have come to know that the brain tail isn't all that bad!

What a beautiful day it was today! While I was walking along the river I saw signs of life everywhere ~ munks (chipmunks), caterpillars, baby robins, geese, ducks ~ and some of the trees were beginning to bud, too! Much to my surprise, I have sun kissed shoulders to prove that I spent more than an hour under the blue skies and brilliant sun this afternoon.

I was checking out the site meter on my blog and was amazed how many hits I got last night after the re-airing of the Extreme Makeover about the Carter Family. I usually get about 40 visitors on the site a day and just in the three hours after the show aired I got 150 hits. Today so far I have about 111 hits. I am beyond thrilled that education about Chiari Malformations is getting out there ~ being educated about the disease is half the battle. Even though I don't agonize and blog daily about the pains of having a brain tail I am always thinking of those of you out there that also have Chiari. Remember, I still have my brain tail, but it's just not beating up on me as bad as before the detethering.

Proper Introductions ~ Captain

As promised, here are some pics of Captain Kirk ~ he looks so sweet and innocent when he's sleeping. When he's awake he tears around the house like a freakazoid! Last night John and I were roasting marshmallows in the fireplace for smores and Captain decided to swat at the flaming marshmallows and got it all over his paws and whiskers! I will have to get some action shots of Captain and Belle playing chase and wrestling ~ they are best of friends now.

Today we are all home ~ planning on dying Easter eggs later today. A word to the wise, don't use a ginormous lobstah pot to boil eggs. The water has been on the stove for about 45 minutes now and it's still not boiling!

The Captain

Last week we adopted a 6 month old kitten ~ this is my crack pot idea of a diet and exercise plan for our over weight Miss Kitten Britches (AKA Bellikins). The kitten was already named 'Kirk' for the famous Captain Kirk from Star Trek. He has a very bold personality and is always exploring wherever his kitten paws take him. We have decided to call him 'Captain', because it is more fitting than 'Kirk'. Also ~ Kirk is such a cuddly lil guy and he follows me around like a puppy dog when he's not engaged in a game of chase with Bellikins. I will post a picture of him soon.

Bellikins did not receive our new family member with open arms ~ she hissed, growled and snarled for about two days. He was so confused and couldn't understand why she didn't like him. Well, now, they are best buddies and are tearing around the house right now. Ahhhh ~ my exercise plan for Bellikins is coming to life ~ she's doing a lot of running around. But ~ here's the catch 22 ~ she's eating Captain's kitten food and he's eating her diet adult food!

Project Slimdown for Miss Kittenbritches

I found the LOLCats website last year and some of the pictures were priceless. The one on the left with the 'FAIL' caption had me laughing so hard that tears were streaming down my face and my co-workers seriously thought about committing me to the crazy farm!

So, being the curious creature that I am, I wanted to see if I could replicate the picture with my cat ~ seems easy enough ~ unwrap some cheese and drop it on the head of an innocent four legged bystander. To my surprise, Miss Kittenbritches just stat there and posed just long enough for the 'PASS' photo shoot!

Now that you have seen that my cat is up for new and exciting things ~ we have strict marching orders from the vet to trim THREE pounds off of her in six months time. The conundrum here is that unless there is fresh food in her bowl at all times she sulks around the house meowing and making all kinds of noises. This is particularly annoying since I am home all day with her. Anyone out there have any suggestions on how to make this dieting thing more of a game and less of a long drawn out starvation march????

I am hoping that once the snow melts that she will remember how fun it is to chase butterflies and chatter with the crunchable birds. Of course, a kitty tread mill would solve all of our problems ~ I will keep you posted on her progress ~ 16 pounds ~ looking for that 13 pound trimmer version of herself. Goodness ~ I think she weighs more than my 10 month old nephew!

Armadillo

What do you do when an armadillo shows up in your dream? Random ~ I know ~ but not so random considering I am a Native Texan and I am the proud owner of an armadillo purse! Until I looked up some info on these prehistoric looking creatures I never knew there were so many types of them. I am pretty certain that I have only seen one species ~ the nine banded armadillo which happens to be the state small mammal of Texas.

I remember seeing a special about bizarre facts about animals and the armadillo was mentioned. This is absolutely fascinating ~

"Although breeding occurs in July, the embryo remains in a dormant state until
November. Four young are born in a burrow in March. All four young, always of
the same sex, are identical quadruplets and developed from the same egg. They even share a single placenta while in the womb. Armadillos are the only mammals
in which multiple young form from a single egg with any regularity. "

This post is random ~ I know ~ but I have a point. I looked up the meaning of the armadillo totem and it symbolizes boundaries, being grounded and self protection. I could use a good dose of being grounded and protected!

We All Know One

Since I feel like I am sitting under a dark, gloomy, ominous cloud ~ I could use a healthy dose of laughter every day. This picture just cracks me up ~ who knew that birds could be so expressive!

Makes me wonder what their story is ~ is it a husband and a wife? siblings? friends? strangers who just happened to be standing in the same place at the same time? Is the bird on the left exasperated? embarassed? annoyed? Inquiring minds want to know!

Bears ~ Growing Up Grizzly

Last night I was flipping through the channels and found a kid friendly show on Animal Planet to distract my youngest one from crying ~ she had slipped and fallen on the ice on our driveway. I had seen the original Growing Up Grizzly show a while back that focused on Bart the Bear I. Bart was a very famous movie star. He acted in movies such as: Legends of the Fall, White Fang, The Bear, The Edge ~ an amazing animal!

The show that was on last night was Growing Up Grizzly 2 which focused on the three year old bears ~Little Bump and Bart II~raised by the same trainers ~ Doug and Lynne Seus. Watching the bears interact with the trainers like they are family members was amazing. I think that we have a lot to learn from bears ~ they are intelligent creatures who have a message to share with us. There was a particular moving part in the show when the trainers took the bears to an exclusive wild area and let the bears roam free while the trainers had a picnic nearby. Words just can't do the show justice ~ you just gotta watch it for yourself. I have posted some videos below that give you a taste of the magnificence of the bears.

Wake Up Already

This video is too cute not to share and anyone who has a cat out there can empathize.

Stuck

In a world where there is a lot of bad things in the news, I frequently read the Wonderful News headlines. This one in particular ticked my funny bone and reminded me of my brain tail. Pepe Le Pew has stuck his head in a mayonnaise jar and can't get it out (this isn't the first time that containers have been deemed as not 'skunk friendly') ~ same story with my brain tail dawdling too long in my spinal cord.

Here is some random trivia that I have learned about this week ~ proof that even though my brain is falling out of my head, I am still learning stuff! Do you know which side of the car that your gas tank is on? Save yourself some embarrassment next time you borrow someones Jeep or drive a rental car. You see that little arrow next to the gas tank picture? That's which side your gas tank is on. True Story!

OK ~ I am a Native Texan ~ I know a lot about Texas history ~ but when it comes to NY ~ I am no so savvy. So ~ Columbus Day was on Monday ~ schools were closed, as was the Italian Bakery across the street from my office. Why, you ask? I'll tell ya ~ it was Columbus Day! If you are a Texan, you are probably shaking your head, WHAT? I don't get it! That was me ~ until my co-workers (sorry ~ I just couldn't resist sticking that awesome link in there ~ my co-workers are brilliant and we all have a really sick sense of humor ~ that image just makes me laugh!) got me up to speed on my NY history. Chris Columbus was Italian ~ of course ~ now I understand!

Who knew that a bear (click the link for the whole story) could sleep under a bridge? This not so little fella was scared by the oncoming cars on the bridge and fell ~ only to catch himself and crawl to the safety of the ledge underneath the bridge. After all was said and done, he was lowered down to safety in a net.

The Rhythm Is Going To Get You

I absolutely love this bird ~ what a free spirit! Snowball is a medium sulphur crested Eleanora cockatoo and he loves to dance and sing. He loves the Back Street Boys. No one taught Snowball to dance...he just heard this song and suddenly felt like dancing.

For the Love of Doritos!

Shop Lifting Seagull - The top video clips of the week are here

Sam the shoplifting seagull. This is a true story ~ you can read all about it on Snopes.com. I just love how Sam the seagull oozes with self confidence ~ he definitely knows what he wants and knows where to get it. He can work a crowd if need be. The customers enjoy his stealth shoplifting visits so much that they are actually paying for the chips that he steals!