I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

good to have you back Sunflowers - can you see the love here for you?

Welcome back you naughty flower child    I'm sure you found all sorts of good things to do while you were gone but we missed you.

WR learned a LOT...but ceretaiinly missed my GangstaGang...still have spangles on my scooter.

Specially missed the BIRD talk - so, will let you know now, tho I had to stop feeding the birds, cuz the bears were getting more of the seed than the birds were - such a mild winter, they were up and about a lot -amazing to find one of those very very strong iron bird holders literally flattened to about 6 inches off the ground - BUT, it's summer, so I now have in my garden: scarlet tanagers singing from the Maple tree, indigo buntings loving the bugs on the VERY tall sunchokes  (Jerusalem artichokes), and so many bluebirds they are really fighting amongst themselves -and they all appreciate the many small bowls I have all around to serve as a bird bath.    We're finally getting thunder boomers, so really hoping for rain - can't begin to describe how dry.  Wild blackberries, blueberries, are like cardboard - which is why bears are especially HUNGRY too...

Thanks again for ALL your wamr support - I relaly appreciate it!  Tweet, tweet, tweet, from me 'n my bird friends...

SunflowersMA - welcome back! Sucks to be banned... Ok, gotta ask what food was in that birdfeeder the bears got to?  Was it suet or Sunflower seeds?  I was thinking of putting my Sunflower seed feeder in my front yard, where our resident bear comes, but not if he's going to destroy it. (He's a garbage bear and a car smasher, thus far).  I had it inside my cat fence (yeah, I know) and it worked pretty well, for months, but as the seeds fell to the ground, so did the cat tastys.  I also had a lot of open space around it (no cat cover), but either the birds got dumber or my cats go smarter.  I miss my evening grosbeaks!

Sunflowers welcome back. Be glad your bears like birdseed. Who knew they were party hearty types.





Boozing bears drink 100 beers, leave cabin in ruins



Four bears walked into a Norwegian cabin...and the result was one heck of a party.





According to The Local, a mother and her three cubs ripped open a wall and forced their way into a cabin in Finnmark, in northeastern Norway, earlier this week - reportedly consuming more than 100 cans of beer along with a supply of marshmallows, honey and chocolate spread.



Cabin owner Even Borthen Nilsen told NRK. "The cabin has the stench of a right old piss up, trash, and bears."The bear, and three cubs, are reported to have forced their way into the cabin by ripping a wall off."The entire cabin was destroyed," Nilsen told the local Finnmarken.no daily.Nilsen told of how his mother and grandmother were the first to discover the carnage left by the beer-thirsty bears, when they arrived at the cabin in Jarfjord in Finnmarken only to find the place turned over."The beds and all kitchen appliances, stove, oven and cupboards and shelves were all smashed to pieces," he said.And furthermore the bears had finished off all the food and drink in the house - including all the marshmallows, chocolate spread, honey and over 100 cans of beer.Nilsen explained that excrement on the outside of the cabin left him in no doubt that it was a family of bears which had taken over his cabin for night of feasting and drunken revelry."You can see footprints on the windows," he said.

"The entire cabin was destroyed," cabin owner Even Nilsen told the local Finnmarken.no daily. "The beds and all kitchen appliances, stove, oven and cupboards and shelves were all smashed to pieces."



And yes, says Nilsen, the carousing marauders left calling cards: excrement outside the cabin and footprints on the windows.



In other trespassing bear news, Time reports that surveillance video from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory in Estes Park, Colo., shows a black bear went in and out of the store multiple times late last month to snag such goodies as English toffee, caramel-dipped chocolate-chip cookies and milk chocolate "cookie bears".



"The bear took the comestibles without breaking a thing in the store, ate the stolen goodies outside, and then returned to the shop for more," says Time. " All told, the well-behaved bear made seven trips in roughly 15 minutes," and the thief "left for good after a passing car scared him away."

I got a belly laugh out of this one......dog v cat

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/cat-escapes-dog-daring-leap-onto-surfboard-video-213535382.html

Yorkie - didn't you have nipple surgery??  Oh no, sorry it is so hard.

Welcome back, Sunflowers.  We all missed you so much. 

Yeah, sunflowers, welcome back!

Yorkie and Gardengumby - heal quickly!!!!

WR , Alexandria and Susie, thanks for the good wishes and vibes. Feeling better today.

Kam, sounds like you've got the works coming up. Won't it be great when all this is totally over? 

Thanks again for keeping a space for me in the garden - of the MOST wonderful women (lions, rabbits, otters, yorkies) and their friends.

Whew - lots to catch up on.

Riley - so sorry for all your stress.  Just stinks - and I agree with the policeman- this is going to be SUCHa wonderful New Day for you. Know how difficult change/transitions/moving can be - but the new destination is always worth it.  Universe, in my experience, has a way of working things out for us.  Notself can say this much better than I can.

WR - who knew you knew "Rachel from Cardmember Services too" -didya ever call the FCC?  Even who ever answers the phone in the "customer complaints" dept knows her TOO!!!  Have known her for years ( as Dave Barry would say: "I am not making this up."  The company has more complaints that ANY other.  They change a little, different ID number or something, but they are well known, and more complaints to FCC don't make any difference.

Glenna- steroids.  Oh, my.  Always makes me wonder why some people(athletes) take them by choice.  Hope all your treatments are making miracles.

Surgery - hurts even thinking about "new nips" - but hope all the new ones are GORGEOUS!  I went the eay route, 3D tattoos.  Even that made such a difference - no more "Barbie Doll" torso.  Tho, after 5 years I really am ready to send back my teeny, weeeny implants - just feel SO weird under pec muscle - not pain, just, well, weird.

However - I grew up wanting to be able to wiggle my ears.  Never achieved that -but NOW, I can, well, ah, "wiggle" my foobs.  Ok, probably TMI, but I've been away for a while ;-))))

More thank yous, really, it is SO good to be a part of "our community."

In case anyone wants to know a little of where, how I learned about community, one of my favorite college professors  was Howard Zinn, and anyone who hasn't (yet) heard of The Highlander Center or read the autobiography The Long Haul, by Myles Horton http://highlandercenter.org/

And, here's a challenge - who can learn about Zilphia Horton, and not hum, sing, smile the words & tune of the sone most associated with her

My 8 lb cat just caught a Stellar Jay.  This is no small feat as they are nearly 12 inches long (though weigh in the ounces).  Ms Boo brought it into the house via the cat door. At first I thought it had to be a rat, it was so big.  Then she let it go and it flew to my back bedroom...got the cats squared away then opened the door for the bird...after a bit of squawking, the jay flew outside and over my cat fence.  Now, I didn't think this possible, for a cat to nab a Stellar Jay (I've actually heard that Jay's will atangonize cats), so I looked it up and found this:

I have observed other corvids that recognize a specific animal that has proven to be a threat. We had a cat that successfully caught a Steller’s jay chick. For the remaining five years of the cat’s life, she was a marked assassin! She could not leave the house without invoking a posse of jays constantly squawking and following her. We had a second cat who was at best a spider hunter. He was mostly unnoticed by the jays. Incidentally, we did not find him being followed by spiders. Yikes - and my cats are trapped within a cat fence!  Could this be true? 

Garden, I hear you about more surgery! My nipple shield has a window and the new nip looks great! Even though I am all black and blue and bandaged up I am already feeling more normal. 

Regarding P.R., I think he had to appease the base and was under a lot of pressure from big donors. Don't think this will help with the Independents though.