Cindy's Art Studio

I was working in the garden center early this morning when a blackbird came flying inside from the north at a good clip of about 20-30 mph, and CRASHED into the window (left a little dusty bird-face print on the glass). Down he went flopping and rolled to a stop on his back. Well, I had to sweep him into the dustpan and put him outside the door in case he lived. He laid there on his back for a while still dazed and confused, breathing pretty hard though. I went out a little later and used the broom again to get him on his feet. Other blackbirds were coming around checking him out, puffing up and chirping at him. He sat there for a while, and a little later I went out again and then he started looking a little more lively and flew about a foot or 2 away. About that time someone else took over, and the next time I went out there, the bird was gone, so it must have lived. 🙂 Unfortunately a little sparrow that I found inside earlier was already dead, so I had to sweep that one up and dispose of it… 🙁 There is an owl that made a nest on a stack of pallets on the north side of the garden center…the yard workers are kind of protecting it…I haven’t seen it, but there are a lot less mice out there lately. There’s also a robin family nest above the shovels and rakes way up high in the racking…stupid birds…but they do sound nice chirping out there in the morning…kind of makes it pleasant to work out there…soon enough I’ll be dealing with the heat and the mosquitos.

Well, last Saturday was supposed to be the rapture…the times came and went without incident…there were a few storms, but I didn’t see any christians go flying up to the sky. The next “end of the world event” is supposed to happen December 12, 2012 according to the Mayan calender. Anyone going to Stonehenge for that?

That’s what we were thinking Thursday night. We had some bad storms around this area again. I thought that the tornado in the Stromsburg area was headed right for us, but it dissapated before it got here. We did get around 4 inches of rain though.

Anyway, I’m sitting here messing around with the computer again. I’ve looked at a lot of different stuff lately. For instance, the NASA website, the NOVA website, playing some games on pogo.com, keeping in touch on facebook, and a lot more interesting sites too numerous to list. The shuttle launch is coming up on Monday morning at 8:56am EDT (7:56am CDT). Not many shuttle missions left before they retire them completely. This particular launch will probably get pretty good media coverage. I hope that commander Mark Kelly doesn’t worry too much about his wife when he’s up there. I hear she will be at the launch…good for her! She has made so much progress recovering from her near-fatal gunshot wound. That’s a strong lady there!

Here at home my flowers are mostly planted now. This year we spent way too much money on them, but got some petunias, geraniums, and a couple more new kinds (can’t think of the names right off-hand). I still have some moss-roses to plant by the pond yet. Everything I’ve planted so far is in big pots, that way if I have to I can pull them into the garage or up on to the front porch if more big storms come around. Bill helped mix up the potting soil for them, and he also planted some tomato plants by the alley. We’ll have some good salads and BLT sandwiches later in the summer.

Well, I suppose I better get up off my butt and do something today besides surf. See ya, love ya, bye.

NO THAT’S NOT WHAT THIS PICTURE IS ABOUT LOL!!! The latest scoop is that there are some people robbing homes in town here dressed all in black and wearing black face masks. I keep my doors locked…just saying…hope they catch them before they try my house…if they do try to break in, they’ll find a big grey dog ready to chew their face off…and he’s got a gun!

Latest news this week…BinLaden dead (yay)…not sure what else to say about that…it kind-of seems like a real-life movie plot doesn’t it? Can’t you just see Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis (or others like that) in a movie coming out about it soon? Go Navy Seals! U-S-A! U-S-A! Who do you think should play the president? Maybe himself…after all, he’s already been on tv enough promoting himself…it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to see that coming. I don’t think I’ll be voting him in for a second term, he’s not fooling me. I’m voting for Buck anyway LOL! And by the way, I really don’t want to see pictures of BinLaden’s body if they decide to release them. I wonder when I’ll hear the first bad-taste joke about all this…someone will come up with something I’m sure…I’ve already heard a couple with “justice” as the basic theme. All this got me thinking about the trip we took to Mexico for our 25th anniversary…that’s where the picture above was taken. It was just 6 weeks after 9-11 happened, and we weren’t sure if we should even go, but we decided to go for it because we didn’t want terrorists to spoil it for us. I’m glad we took the trip.

Anyway, tomorrow is my day off this week. Might make a drive to town and buy some petunias and get them put out in the big pots by the front porch. I love petunias, they are so easy to grow, and they smell so good. When we had a big garden, I used to plant marigolds all the way around it. They didn’t smell as good, but some bugs just don’t like marigolds. We might have just a couple of tomato plants again this year (maybe), but no big garden anymore. I do miss having fresh peas though. I can buy sweet corn from Daniels Produce as early as 4th of July sometimes, and that’s easier than growing it, after all they do have really good sweet corn.

OK, I suppose I’m going to end this for today…it’s a little more positive than my last post…I guess I was feeling low that day. Anyway, it’s slowly warming up outside…no more snow for 6 months (I hope). Spring has sprung! It’s about time! See ya, love ya, bye.

So many things to do in this world, not many options for me it seems. Here I sit again looking out the window, surfing the web…I know there’s plenty of things to do, but I just can’t get motivated. I wish that 30 years ago I would have done some things differently and maybe now I would have a few more dollars in the bank so I could think about retiring. Well, that’s all I can do is think about it because I sure can’t afford to quit working. I would love to travel more and work less…but yeah…”wish in one hand and spit in the other and see which one gets full”.

I went to the Goodwill Store yesterday and bought some more books. Mostly scifi and fantasy ones, but I got a couple of financial ones in there too…one was “How to be Rich” by J. Paul Getty…(that’s a joke)…and “The Automatic Millionaire” by David Bach…just skimming through them I’ll never be able to use the first one because I’ll never have an oil field and I’m not a young executive, and I can’t use the second one because I’m already way older than you need to be to start the automatic stuff…maybe Goodwill will take them back lol. All I can hope for now is to have a long-lost relative leave me a big pile of money (all hope is lost lol). Maybe not…maybe I should write a book…here, let me get started on that one right now (I can see the money piling up now hahahahaha).

I suppose I’ll come back to reality now, and get myself some lunch. It’s not so windy outside today, but it’s still kind of chilly out. Springtime in Nebraska is pretty predictable…lots of wind…occasional storms…going from cool temps to hot within a couple weeks. Soon everyone will be complaining about the heat and humidity. Yesterday you walked out the door and the wind about knocked you off your feet. They had to lock the garden center doors at work because the wind was taking them off the tracks, and I was afraid that someone would be walking in and the stupid things would come right off and really hurt someone, or at the very least crash to the concrete floor and shatter…

I’m looking forward to August and September when I’ll have a grandson celebrating his first birthday, and 2 more new grandsons arriving (yay). I love babies (but I wouldn’t want any more of my own, I like that I can cuddle them and love them, and then send them back home again lol).

Anyway, I suppose I better end my ramblings for today…you all are getting pretty bored anyway…move along, nothing to see here lol. OK, see ya love ya bye.

Well, here I sit in front of the computer on my day off. I’m kinda waiting for it to warm up a little bit before I venture out. I was going to “have coffee outside” like Sam, but it was a little too chilly.

Yesterday I stopped by and covered my little Bug with kisses…for a full 15 minutes I’m told…ha. What can I say? LOL

Easter is coming up and I have to work. Bummer. Well if my sons will call and let me know if they’ll be visiting us for Easter, we can check our schedules and spend a little family time. If they want Easter eggs, they’ll have to let me know so I can get the stuff to make them…like eggs. I loved Easter when I was a kid. Mostly I remember going to my Grandma’s place, hunting for colored eggs in the yard, getting Easter baskets with Easter-grass in the bottom and filled with candy and eggs and little stuffed bunnys or chicks. Biting the ears and tail off a hollow chocolate bunny, and the contest where we see who comes up with the most original way to crack an Easter egg before they eat it. By the way, I still don’t like PEEPS.

Anyway, I really didn’t have much of a religious upbringing, but there was a time in grade school that I went (on my own) to the lutheran church in PC. I wanted to see what it was all about. I really didn’t want to go to the Catholic church, and the only other one in town was Lutheran. Went to vacation bible school a couple summers, and was in a Christmas pagent one time. We did various crafty things (made a 4-strand-braided cross), and had bible study etc. Then there was a time later on in my life when I went to a lutheran church in Columbus. Steve and Pat were babtized during that time…unfortunately Adam wasn’t because “church time” had ended again…well…hmmm…I guess I still go to a private church in my heart..I believe that what happens in this life happens for a reason, you’re where you’re supposed to be, and basically if you’re good in your mind and heart and soul, everything will work out just fine. Love conquers all…time heals all wounds…faithfulness will be rewarded (eventually). C-ya love-ya Ok-bye.

OK, so we got the high speed internet and dvr hooked up last week…now waiting for them to get the phone working right. We can call out, but no one can call us. It just goes to a voice mail box, which we can’t get to because they didn’t give us a code to set it up. Called them yesterday, and they said they’d be here today. Waited all day and they didn’t show up. Called them again today at about 3, they said “oh looks like that is set up for next Thursday, not today”. Well I told them they better do something about that, because I’m not going without a phone for a week. They’ll see what they can do electronically and call me back on the landline (if they get it going or on the cell if not) to set up a time tomorrow for them to come…OK, so now they’ve been “working on it” for a couple hours now, and were supposed to call me back…called them again a little before 5…still working on it…someone is there till 7…I’ll call them back again before 7 I’m sure…stupid cable company. They have my money, so now they’re not in any hurry to help me. Good thing there wasn’t a year contract…I might have to cancel and go with someone else (of course the next place will be the same runaround). Stupid cable company. So I guess if you need to call me, try the cell number (I can get a message on there)…hopefully they’ll get the landline working right soon. Yesterday I missed talking to Bill on my lunch at work. He was wondering why I didn’t call. Stupid cable company.