Sunday, May 27, 2012

happy 75th birthday

Is it just me, or is the Golden Gate Bridge more of a reddish hue rather than gold-colored? Yes, it's beautiful to look at but I never hear anyone mention that it's not painted gold. 'Golden Gate' is certainly more catchy though and it does have that alliteration thing going.  :-) 

Sunday, May 20, 2012

comic strips

For most of my life, I thought that comic strips were only drawn in color for Sundays because that's how I saw them in my local newspaper. Then within the past year, I have been regularly visiting a relative's home where they receive a different daily newspaper, and lo and behold, comic strips appear in color every day! 

So, I checked online for my favorite strips (mine are Baby Blues and Zits) and now I can always enjoy them in color... I have both of them in my Bookmarks Toolbar! Seeing them in color makes a BIG difference as opposed to black and white.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Seeing and reading others recall loving memories of their mothers, I thought I'd do the same here: 

Maybe it was from watching a television commercial, but one day when I was in my teens(?) I suddenly had a taste for a Dolly Madison fruit pie. I told my mom, and she offered to bake me a fruit pie instead and immediately went looking for some fruit filling in the pantry. She was in such a cheerful mood as she did all this.

Looking back, she was almost always in a cheerful and pleasant mood. I miss her so very much.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

I've been phished!

Just this morning I got an email, purportedly from Amazon. It let me know that an order of mine had been successfully canceled. Well, I never placed a recent order on Amazon, and certainly not for the item the email said had been canceled. Furthermore, it said I had placed the order this morning, and I had just started up my computer for the first time this morning!

I instinctively ran my mouse over the links and they showed addresses that had nothing to do with Amazon. So I then logged into my account on Amazon and found no activity whatsoever, which is as it should have been. I clicked further, onto Amazon's 'Help' link, and lo and behold, they have a bright box that asks: "Unexpected E-mail from Amazon?" 

Bottom line: It's a scam! Don't click on any links! Delete it! It's not even necessary to report, but I did anyway.

Monday, May 7, 2012

we need bats and bats need us

Here is a wonderfully informative video created by Bat Conservation International: 


Just like bees pollinate and birds eat insects, bats are an integral part of a healthy ecosystem. 

Sunday, May 6, 2012

please keep your cat(s) indoors

Yesterday, I picked up a flier of the Lindsay Wildlife Museum entitled 'CATS - Please Keep Your Cat Indoors.' I'm typing up the information without permission; I'm sure they wouldn't mind as I think what it says is so important: 

If you love wildlife, keep your cat indoors because
• Every day, cats kill between 4 and 5 million birds in the U.S.
• Collar bells don't work. Birds and other wildlife do not associate bells with being stalked. 
• Ground-nesting birds are very susceptible to predation by cats.
• Despite being well fed, cats will hunt small wild animals. 
• Most young birds leave the nest before they are able to fly well, spending a day or two on the ground as they learn. These fledglings are frequently caught by cats. 
• Most of the birds caught by cats, but not killed outright, die of their injuries or infection. 
• Cats that kill small rodents can eliminate a critical food source for owls and hawks. 

If you love your cat, keep it indoors because 
• Cars kill millions of cats each year. 
• Outdoor cats are exposed to serious, and often fatal, infectious diseases such as feline leukemia and rabies. 
• Parasites such as fleas, ticks and intestinal worms pose a health threat to your cat. Some of these can be transmitted to humans. 
• Outdoors, cats can be chased by dogs or other cats, and killed, injured or lost. 
• Cats are often shot at, poisoned, trapped or tortured by neighbors who are annoyed by cats using their gardens as a litter box or hunting grounds. 
• Coyotes, great-horned owls and other wild animals are known to regularly kill and eat house cats. 
• Cats that spend time outdoors require more medical treatment and their life span is much shorter than cats who live indoors.

Friday, May 4, 2012

cell phone ringtone

Is that what they're even called? I'm not sure - you see, I've never owned a cell phone, a smartphone, or anything of the like. One of these days though. 

In any case, I've already decided what I'd like to use for my ringtone. At least for my general ringtone; I understand that people have different rings for different callers. As you can see, the technology has proceeded way into the future and I'm still stuck in the past.

Here's the song I would use: U2's 'Gloria' 

Now, my name isn't Gloria! I just happen to really like how that song starts out at a low volume and increasing gets louder and louder until the melody kicks in. Besides loving the song, it would give me a chance to maybe answer my cell phone before it startles everyone. Or at least ease its way into the surroundings. That's what I've imagined all these years anyway. 

U2 - Gloria (If you watch the entire video, I think they cut Adam's bass solo short! Also, this song is from 31 years ago... yikes)