Way to Go Mum !!!!

I turned over my calender today here near my computer desk and a beautiful brown bear greeted me. I was enthralled and amused when I read the description.
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Brown bears, also known as grizzly bears, begin a yearly ritual each fall. These creatures spend most of their days eating in preparation for the winter hibernation that lies ahead. Brown bears can consume as much as 90 pounds of food each day.

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The female brown bear will enter her den pregnant and will typically be carrying 2 or 3 cubs. Provided she eats enough food during the fall to obtain an adequate fat reserve, the embryos will develop as the mother sleeps.

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The baby cubs are born after about two months. It is typical that the mother will sleep through the entire process!!! Once they are born, the cubs crawl around their mother and begin to nurse, with mama bear asleep all the while.

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The mother's milk contains a lot of fat and calories. This allows the cubs to grow quickly so that by the time the mother wakes, they will be able to go along with her as she leaves the den in the springtime.

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How beautiful and wonderous. Mum sleeps through the entire birthing process... I wonder if she even knows she's pregant when she goes into her den for the long winter. What a surprise if she doesn't know... to wake up and find a couple of little dudes beside you .... how gorgeous. I laughed when I read the bit about sleeping through the birth. God bless them all.

Ready to Roll

I'm off on my vacation tomorrow afternoon. I will miss adding to my blog but when I return I'll have lots of photos to share here with you all.

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I'm really looking forward to it... so with insulin supplies in hand, clothes for cool and warm weather, *(s) ..... a book to read, spare batteries for my camera, munchies to eat on the bus, tickets, and of course my big new white handbag thats a bit like a little suitcase... I should be all set. Step daughter is coming to feed the birds for me and to water the garden if the weather turns hot here. It's been raining on and off for the past week but the ground sure doesn't take long to dry out if the temperature rises. I'll see you all when I come back... so stay tuned.... and don't forget that the archives of this blog and my Reflections of the Past blog have some really pretty goodies to snag so check those out ............................... Be good whilst I'm gone ..

Poor old Michael J....... all the rumours, the gossip, the fake reports .... was his hair nearly all gone, was he wearing a wig, was his house always dirty, and him to ... the unpaid bills, the artifically inseminated "wife" ....... the drug abuse or not .... so much of it ... How will we ever know what is real and not real with everybody and his dog and cat coming out of the cupboards and shoving their faces on the telly in an effort to take full advantage of anything that might earn them a dollar. He wouldn't take calls from his father... wasn't speaking to sister LaToya ... brother working in a take away .... I won't be surprised at anything else that comes out .... he sure was weird. Wonderful of course as an entertainer but a sad and pathetic man who never seemed to really grow up. Even his voice was like a little girls. Each day the gossip columnists and reporters have something else to tell us..... and even his family seem to want to jump on the band wagon and see what they can make from his memory. It all sure is in over-drive....

Thank goodness for all those computer patches and things that make the programs work. I've spent a good time on the computer today trying to find an answer to making the png files come out without the black or white background. My old computer has them working just fine but since I'm transferring my files to our newer computer ... nothing seems as it should be. Anyway eventually after a patch from corel.com for paintshop pro things are looking up and at last I'm back to being able to use the png files like ordinary tubes.

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My creating days are just beginning on the wider computer screen, and how great it is to have so much more memory to stack and store stuff ........ without having to keep looking to see how much room I have left on the hard drive. Oh well... when I return from my holiday ... all systems go ... :-))

Still all things Michael Jackson on the telly. Now I hear they are going to have some huge rememberance celebration happening ....... which in a way I don't understand. With all the publicity and the goings on I would think that the family might want to just have a very private and personal goodbye but of course it probably comes down to money. How much can they make from selling the rights to this tv event ..... and it seems that he was estranged from various members of his family for whatever reasons. Second autopsy .... questions about the doctor he had living in the house he was renting at $100,000 a month ... the fifty concerts he had planned but obviously had no hope of fulfilling. He was simply not well enough. One good thing at least is that the mother of his children ... or two of them... said she won't be wanting custody. (Speculation too about him not being their real father anyway.) Such a weird and muddled existence for him. And many of his friends and ex-wife Lisa Marie Presley said they saw this coming years ago and could do nothing to help him. Great entertainer, great dancer, and now I guess he'll be even more popular in death .... as it goes with all the famous who die relatively young.

I'll be going on a nice holiday on Thursday of this coming week - down to Vancouver.... and I'm so looking forward to it. It's been a long time since we have even left our small town let alone gone way down there. It will be a really long bus trip ... about 15 hours or so... which by the way is enough time for me to fly from Vancouver to Australia. *(s) We are going to visit family so it will be such a great time and hopefully the weather will be nice and I'll be able to hang out in the malls which I never get to do. When I come back no doubt I'll have heaps of nice photos to add to my blog and to show you.

One would think there was no other news today because all I've seen is Michael Jackson videos and news items. I honestly don't know how they find enough to talk about or to show us for every hour of the day. The more I watch it the more I realise that he was a kind and very gentle guy who didn't seem to have any real friends. Lots of enablers, hanger-ons, and people out to get as much from him as they could.... so sad. He was very child like, even his voice. I was stunned also to hear on the news that he had almost brought down the world wide web today because of the whole world logging on to see his videos, buying stuff and doing all things Michael Jackson. Quite incredible. Rest in Peace Michael.

Rest in Peace

Dear Farrah (Fawcett) has died this morning at 9.30 a.m. in Los Angeles. I was thinking about her all night long as yesterday they said she had gone to the hospital and was not expected to live much longer. This morning as I was eating my breakfast she was dying. :-(( She was very sweet, beautiful and brave and I feel very sad - not for her - because now her suffering has ended .. but for her family and friends and public who will miss her greatly. How tragic for her dad to have now lost two daughters to cancer. I also like Ryan O'Neal and although he had proposed to her many times she did not want to get married. I guess now today her Hollywood Star of Fame will be surrounded by flowers and gifts, her friends will gather, and hopefully her son will be allowed to be with his family. He is currently in jail on drug charges. Rest in Peace Farrah.

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This afternoon ... the world is shocked ... to hear of the death of Michael Jackson. He was a great talent, up there with Elvis Presley and the Beatles. What a sad day it has been....

Avoid it

This morning on my diabetes group someone said they were dealing with some sort of hot flashes even though they were only in their thirties. I found that "aspartame" was the culprit in my case .. many years ago when I would go through waves of heat after consuming it. I did research on it and nearly fell off my chair when I read the side effects and damage it can do to your body. http://www.mac-archive.com/ns/side.html

It's in so many products like ice cream, cookies, yogurt etc. Be very careful of it. Avoid it if you can. Check out the page above and I think if you do... your eating habits will change. Of course its major deliverance to the population is in nutra-sweet. And I firmly believe that our diseases today ... in little children who drink fizzy drinks, or eat those popsicles and candies which contain it... and all of us..... are being poisoned or worse. I cannot believe it was ever approved for human consumption. My god... its horrendous stuff.

To see or not to see

Gosh you know..,. if your computer screen doesn't look right .. fiddle with your resolution settings. We got this wide screen a year or so ago and I never liked it at all. I much prefer to use our older computer which has 1024 resolution and everything looks like it should. For some reason the new screen seemed to be "stretching" people's faces out wider or just messing up everything really .... I could not stand it any longer ... so I fiddled.
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Put the resolution up to 1240 or a bit more and hey presto!!!!!!! :-)) It's like having a brand new computer and one that I now like a lot more and will probably have to start using soon .. because as we all know... they don't seem to last very long at all. I will have to start transferring all my goodies over from my very limited gigabyte oldie .... to the newer model.... which now has become my favourite. And don't forget that what you see on your screen doesn't necessarily mean other people are seeing what you see ..... colours, tints, settings of all kinds can make supposedly good looking creations turn into something you don't much like at all. Luckily in our house we have a smaller screen, now this larger one and also a laptop and when I alter my blog tops or my website I make sure I check it out on all three ............ so I see what I want it to be .... on all three. Why don't they make computers all the same I wonder. I guess its for eyesight problems, or whatever but it sure would make life a bit easier ... and clearer... LOL....
AND HEY DONT FORGET TO TURN UP YOUR SPEAKERS WHEN YOU COME TO VISIT HERE... the music is really nice ...

Father's Day ... remembering my dear, sweet, kind, old dad who now rests in peace back in Tasmania. I miss him every day. Thinking with sadness of all those dads who did not come back alive from Iraq and Afghanistan and really ... from all the conflicts of war. Thinking too of the children of those fathers ... and the dads of those fathers who have been killed and now have lost their son ... it would be a very sad day today indeed. Thank you all for your sacrifice ... I wish I could wave a magic wand and stop all the conflicts.... it's getting worse ....... I wonder will the world ever wake up and stop trying to kill each other .....

Prayer for the Animals

Hear our humble prayer, O God, for our friends the animals who are suffering; for any who are hunted or lost or deserted or frightened or hungry; for all that must be put to sleep. We entreat for them all Thy mercy and pity, and for those who deal with them we ask a heart of compassion and gentle hands and kindly words. Make us be true friends to animals and so to share the blessing of the merciful.

Click click click

I must remember to take my camera with me on my morning bike rides. This morning I came across three lovely horses in a field.. it was just 5.45 a.m. and they were already up eating their grassy breakfast. I usually see them but they are further away from the road where I ride on ... but this morning they were really up close and it would have made a lovely pic to share with you all.... And I certainly will have to remember to take my camera on my little vacation soon when we head off down south to Vancouver to spend some time with family. I'm so looking forward to that. I love visiting the Michael's craft stores, and of course the WalMart... :-) the malls are so glamourous and pretty .... Old Navy I like to visit too ... lots of pretty things in that store.... no doubt when I return I'll have heaps of photos to share with you here....

Isn't it strange when you go back over your old photos... this one was taken last year .. and now I don't wear my glasses because my diabetes seems to have done weird things to my eyes and I can now read the fine print, those medicine bottle labels, the labels in the supermarket, all the things that were way too small for me now are clear .... but alas my vision into the distance is blurry ... it used to be the other way around... urgh!!! I am thinking the up close good vision is better ... and I don't drive a vehicle so I don't really have to worry that much about blurry distance unless I'm heading into a tree on my bike. :-))

Fathers Day

This weekend is Father's Day and I sure do miss my dear old dad. I love Father's Day... it was the day I spoiled him tremendously. :-) I would cook a yummy baked meal for him and mum .... they would come visit and I would choose something really nice for his gift ... something that he had always wanted. He was a sweet treasure in my life. Because I was an only child... I would wrap up gifts from all my pets to give to their "grandfather"... :-)) so he would have lots of presents to open on the day. Now I have a wonderful husband and father-in-law and they too, are treasures. And to my dear dad who passed away back home in Tasmania... I send you my love. I hope you are up in heaven watching down on me ... because I sure do love you.

Very Strange

I heard today on the telly that Cher's daughter Chastity wants to be a male... and is going to have the appropriate surgery. How sad that must be for a mum to have a daughter .... for all these years .. now suddenly she'll have a son. I can't quite fathom it myself. Chastity has been a lesbian for most of her life ... seems a weird thing to do now ... especially when everyone knows her as Chastity ... not Chaz as she wishes to be called when she's a boy. Oh well... I guess nobody knows what it is like unless we are in her shoes ... or his shoes.... so good luck to her and I hope it all goes well.

Love him to pieces

Grand dog went home later this afternoon... we had a lovely time hanging out together. He's so funny. He watched me fill up the dishwasher, helped me water the plant on the deck, ate some of my left over stew, tried to sit on me whilst I was on the sofa, and I think he wore himself out because his beautiful yellow/green eyes were shutting whilst he was sitting in front of me looking at me. He was falling asleep ..... *(s) .......... he's so big.... and he sure didn't waste any time running out the front door and into the back of his mum and dad's car when they arrived. I didn't even get a thank you grandma .. or bye ... or anything. He had been waiting for them all day ... keeping an ear out for the car noise ....... he missed his lovely little family....

Dog Sitting

Click on the image if you would like to see me and my grand dog much larger and nicer. I am babysitting him today whilst his mum and dad have a garage sale ... so we have already gone for a long, long walk around the town .... he's "helped" me get rid of my breakfast toast and peanut butter ... and I tried to take our photo... but he's a bag of worms... Trying to get him to sit still was an impossible feat.

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He just wanted to roll over, and do silly things on the carpet, now he's being a big baby and crying because his grandpa just left the house and went to the store.

He's as much of a handful to look after as our little Connor is .... :-)) I love him to pieces and we'll have a nice time together. It's a gorgeous Canadian morning here ... still cool, and all the birds were out chirping ... dogs were barking ... and who knows.. maybe now we'll take a nap after our huge walk at 7.30 a.m. Thanks to Rosey Posey Studio for the pretty quick page ... :-))

REMEMBER

Please remember to go down my page here a little bit and click on the image that will take you to the website to help provide food for the animals in shelters.

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It will cost you nothing.... but your click will count towards providing them with some food. I do it every single day ... so please take a couple of seconds out of your visiting time here and do a favour for me by adding a click. It's the advertisers on that page that pay for the food ... and the animals sure do need all the help they can get. It's not only cats and dogs, but horses and all of those sweet darlings that need our love and kindness.

Mysteries and Mayhem

I was in "catalogue heaven" today.. for Video's. You can click on the link if you wish to visit the store also......

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I'd not seen it before and it came in the mailbox for me ... It was filled with mysteries, murder and mayhem, comedies and all the programs I have loved since I was a little girl back in Australia watching the BBC.... and now PBS and BBC Canada since I've been living in North America. Every single page I turned over there were heaps of boxed sets which I would love. I circled all the ones I really want.... (which would be no mean feat unless I won the lottery... LOL) ...... but it's nice to dream about and perhaps old Santa might bring me one .... Murder Most English was the first one I came across and its a village detective much like a male Miss Marple. There were others called Country Matters and Doctor Finlay... Ruth Rendell Mysteries ... Mrs Bradley Mysteries ... Pie in the Sky ... Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, Inspector Lynley Mysteries, Wycliffe Detective, Midsomer Murders, A Touch of Frost .. Rosemary and Thyme ... Rebus, Prime Suspect, Sherlock Holmes of course, Inspector Lewis, Agatha Christie's Poirot ... Dorothy Sayers Mysteries, Murdoch Mysteries, and comedies like Hamish MacBeth, Are you Being Served, To the Manor Born, Keeping up Appearances, One Foot in the Grave, Open All Hours (my all time favourite) .. Only Fools and Horses .... and on and on and on it goes..... WOW .... I guess I'll have to keep buying those lottery tickets.