Fun! Another Hobby!

Like I needed another?

Today, as I was putting away money I'd gotten as change from a recent shopping trip, I ran across a dollar bill that was stamped with:

"See where I've been
Track where I go next
www.wheresgeorge.com"

Of course, I went right to the computer! www.wheresgeorge.com is a site where you can TRACK (literally!) your money.

I fell in love with the idea, and immediately ordered the 'Where's George' Stamp from https://www.stamp-connection.com/ For a cost of about $15.00 .

I know, I know, I shouldn't spend $15.00 so frivolously! But what fun! And where else could I find ongoing fun and a new hobby for a total cost of $15.00 ?

Can't wait to get the stamp, so I can start stamping, spending, tracking my paper money!

Do go check out the site, you may find a new hobby also...

A nice set of dinnerware!

I haven't been 'dumpster diving' for months.

I've been ill a lot. Then there was the weather, seemed like it was always either cold, windy, or rainy. Then too, it was full dark SO early! But now both those conditions have changed.

So today, not really expecting to find anything, as it was mid-week, and not the end of the month (the best times to find 'stuff'), I went on my dumpster diving rounds.

The first thing I came across was a full, sealed, box of chocolate covered macadamia nuts. I left those for the next 'diver'.

At another bin, I found a service for four of neat ceramic dinnerware. It was matte black with 'drizzled' gray stripes. The bread plates were square. Well, I couldn't use them (too heavy for me to handle, I use Correll), but I thought of a neighbor that might like them.

So I zipped by her apartment, and she was home. Not only did she love he dinnerware, but she had just finished cooking a spiral cut ham and all the trimmings. So I got to take home some yummy food!

Ocean Beach CA Wild Green Parrots

They are early this year. Perhaps because of the 'wet winter' we just had; everything is green and blooming earlier than usual.

At any rate, the flock of wild green parrots arrived just before sunset to settle into the trees for the night. This year I had an audio recorder. (I haven't tried getting pics myself yet!)

Their noise drives some of my neighbors nutso, especially at dawn, when the awake and prepare to leave for the day. I sleep right though it. And I find their 'noise' of an evening, a joy!

Here is audio of the entire flock settling in to roost of an evening! http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/9/22/1450734/001.001.2007_07_23_19_56%20Parrots.mp3

This was one of my first attempts at audio recording! I recording them from my patio, as they were circling around, and fighting for roosting spots high overhead! This goes on for about an hour and a half; from when the sun starts setting till first full dark, for weeks on end!

And here is a great public domain video, made in Ocean Beach, CA by an unknown person. http://www.archive.org/details/parrots_sanDiego_2006

Big Boy's Reaction

Big Boy, the stray that moved in with us last year, has been really bent out of shape since I was gone for almost 3 days (ER & Hospital).

He hasn't come in and crashed on my bed like in this pic of him from last month, since I returned!

He, very nervously, runs in, eats, runs back out a couple of times a day. Poor thing has probably been 'abandoned' so many times, he thought it was happening to him AGAIN.

Two step forward, one step back with this wonderful guy!

Fans! I have fans!

I received this message today. “Evvy, I don’t think you update your personal blog enough...I enjoy reading it.”

I would LOVE to keep this blog current! The problems against doing so are many and profound.

1) Health Issues – being ill, an auto immune flare, doc appointments (getting ready, the visit itself, coming home can sometimes take all day), spending hours on the phone to the pharmacy or doc office, taking my meds, keeping my Deltec CoZmo Insulin Pump running correctly (and testing my blood sugar many times a day) etc take up so very much of my time. I hate this stuff, but someone has to do it.

2) Money - Searching advertisements weekly, cutting coupons and making shopping lists to pinch that penny, take a great deal of time. Not to mention seeking (and seldom finding) freelance writing gigs.

3) After that on my priority come activities of daily living; showers, doing a few dishes, laundry, watering plants, getting a haircut, and all the mundane stuff of life. It probably takes me 3 times as long to do these everyday tasks as most other folks.

4) Others!
-I volunteer one afternoon every week for a local pet charity, hopefully, I help both the animals and the people. It is only one four-hour phone shift per week, but it wipes me out.

-I try to do SOMETHING daily for someone who needs it. Often it is only a phone call, an email, or a cup of coffee.

-And I try to meditate/pray daily for those in need of help.

7) Here is where my ‘art’ fits in; writing a poem, working on some creative writing, staying in touch with writers, and writing. I hate that this has dropped so low on my priority list, (Ahhh, the fire STILL burns in my belly & soul) but if you are not breathing, and cannot pay your rent, you are not going to be doing much writing!

8) Next comes the ‘fun stuff’ like, an afternoon at the beach wall looking at the Pacific & people watching, reading a mystery novel (daily!), quality time with The Sisters (daily!), or once or twice a year, an afternoon at the mall. Crocheting (almost daily) comes in here also.

9) Last on my list time/energy wise, is this blog. I do not like it, but that is the way it is.

But thank all of you that read ‘evvy’s blog’ regularly, especially those of you that comment and or send me mail & emails!

The Sisters take a short trip

Month’s past due, The Sisters went for their yearly immunizations today. I packed them up in their plastic container, and a friend came and took them.

They were not thrilled, but I had one less thing to worry about! And it only cost $44 for both at Shots For Pets.

Big Boy

I have not posted lately about the ‘Cat with No Name’. Well, he has a name now! I call him Big Boy.

In the almost two years since he found us, we have come a LONG way. The name of the game with Big Boy is stability & patience! I have no idea how old he is, or what he went through in his life before us, but it has made him extremely frightened of people, yet wanting a home and love!

It seems like everything with this Big Boy has been difficult and problematic!

He was neutered, and that has cooled his jets a lot. Even that was a problem as he got a severe wound infection! But without all that testosterone, some of our problems have been eliminated or mellowed.

I can now count on seeing him either at the patio door, or laying on the patio rail first thing every morning, waiting to come in. Though I keep dry cat food and water outside for him, I have the GOOD dry cat food inside, and he has to come in to eat it! Ditto the toys and catnip!

After a bite to eat in the kitchen, and a good romp with a catnip toy, he lies under a dining room chair, watching the ‘inside’ world, often it seems to me, in puzzlement!

Like The Sisters, he likes being talked to and his presence acknowledged. But after all this time, I still can not ‘touch’ him, unless I sneak up on him and pet him while he’s asleep, which I try to do daily. (Therefore, he has FLEAS, as I have not yet been able to apply Advantage! Nor has he had his ‘shots’.)

Then it is off for a little mid-day nap, in the middle of my bed! (I now toss an old blanket over my bed as soon as I get up, just for him.) For the past three months, I have been trying to get him to ‘nap’ with me and The Sisters. He would have NONE of it. As soon as I got in bed, he would jump off, and cry to go out. Gradually, I have been letting him cry longer before getting up and letting him out.

BUT TODAY, YES! I got into bed, he cried for awhile, then he jumped up on the foot of the bed and stretched out for a nap!!! I was thrilled… Another ‘battle’ won through patience and love.

He goes in and out several times a day, and just after dark, he goes out for the night. The exception being in very bad weather and then he stays in much later. Now though, if it is pouring rain, I can go to the door, call ‘here kitty, kitty, kitty', and he comes running! (Another accomplishment!)


There are times when I think that Big Boy has been feral, or at least an ‘outside’ cat all his life. Such as, he hasn’t the slightest idea of what the littler box is for!!! But, he is not stupid! Three times in the past year, he has left me a ‘present’; all three times, right in the middle of the bathroom floor, once a big puddle of urine, and twice a pile of poop. Obviously he can ‘smell’ that that is the place to ‘take care of business’; perhaps he will eventually catch on.

In the mean time, all I can do is be patient with him, and love him. I really have no other choice, as he seems to think The Sisters are his ‘pride’, a sentiment shared by them!