Anna Nicole Smith dies, and there is 24/7 coverage of it. Okay so lets breaks this down, a high class whore dies and suddenly there is 24/7 news coverage of the event. If you think I am being harsh let us just consider the fact that now THREE men are claiming to be the father of her baby, what does that make her, a nice girl? No it makes her a whore. She is a stripper made good, she parlayed a stripping career into a celebrity status career but who among us do not believe that she spent half of her life high on drugs? Her last interview gave such an insight into her life, a) she was obviously high on something as she was completely incoherent b) her plastic surgeon did not know when to hit the stop button when he was administering the collagen to her lips, her bottom lip was so over englarged it was scary, c) the shark sat next to her (her "boyfriend" lawyer) was obviously in it for the money. She is dead now, died alone in her bed like Marilyn her idol, there was an interview when they talked about Marilyn being her idol and they said "but she died tragically" and she said "I don't want to die tragically" sadly she died just like her idol. The moral of the story is that no matter how much money you have you will end up the way you were meant to end up, Anna Nicole was a whore, a famous, red carpet, celebrated whore, but in the end she was nothing more than that, and she died just that. There isn't much to say for marriage these days but there is this, when you join your soul with a partner then the chances of you dying from a drug overdose are minimal, because that soul partner will do his or her level best to bring you back from the edge. Anna Nicole was betrayed by her soul partner and she is now dead.

The house was cold, the result of having cathedral ceilings. No doubt if I went upstairs and hung out in one of the guest bedrooms I would be toasty but the living room and dining area (where my puter is) are freezing. I put on my robe but it didn't help, my tootsies were just ice blocks. I decided enough was enough and set out to build a fire from hell. Normally when we have a fire we begin with a fire log and build around it. But since I had no fire logs in the house I had to do it the old fashioned way, I used rolled up newspapers, then I placed kindling twigs on top of that then a few small limbs then logs on top of that. In addition I used alot of spare newspapers that I had stored for this very purpose and then set light to the whole thing. At one point the fire was so hot I couldn't stand near it and it was sending heat out into the living room that you would not believe. My living room is now toasty and as a bonus I have a crackling fire in the fireplace which always makes one "feel" warmer, whether or not you actually are warmer, there is just something about looking at a log fire that makes you instantly feel warmer, and my toes have thawed out which is the best part of all. The other bright spot about having a fireplace is that there are no longer such things as junk mail, trash, old newspapers, or fallen limbs, there is just fuel. It is recycling at its finest. I love it.

I have lots of Blue Jays in my garden, most of which are "paired up" which means that they will only tolerate their mate at the feeder with them. This results in many feeder wars among Blue Jays and also results in the "Great Blue Jay Eating Contest". Rather than indulge in the usual bird feeder routine, i.e., "stuff your face with as many seeds as you can before the Mockingbird, Grackle, Cat, Dog comes out to stop you" the Blue Jays indulge in the "looting" technique whereby they will alight on the feeders and gather as many peanuts as their crop and beak can hold to then take them away to a secure location where they can eat them in peace. This also results in the bizarre spectacle, not unlike the one where that tiny Japanese woman stuffs hotdogs into her mouth and regularly beats out 300lb men in eating contests, whereby the Blue Jay attempts to get as many peanuts as it can in its beak before flying away. Of course as anyone who has played the cake walk game at the fair will tell you if you stuff just one more in one is going to fall out. In the Blue Jay's case that is not acceptable, that one peanut that has fallen out of the beak cannot be left behind, it is a special peanut you see, it is already marked with Blue Jay spit and therefore it must be recovered, whereupon another one falls out of the beak and ad infinitum until the Blue Jay really cannot get anymore in its beak and flies off to place them in its private stash. I don't mind of course, seeing as I know that the Blue Jay is actually going to eat the peanuts, it is not like the Blue Jay is making off with Plasma TVs and Nike Sneakers that are not even his size, at least he has some purpose for the peanuts. Still it makes for a comical shot.

Can tortilla chips and cheese dip be considered a meal? If you eat at least a dozen carrots with ranch dip is that considered a full serving of vegetables? There is something wonderful about superbowl food, it involves little or no cooking and little or no presentation. Go Colts.

I was messing around with my camera today and was playing with focus etc., as it was it was a bad day to be doing it, seeing as I got a great diversity of birds visiting the feeders. Nevertheless I got some shots, not great shots you understand but just shots, so they can still be considered keepers.

Brown Thrasher



Pine Warbler



and my favorite a butter butt aka a Yellow Rumped Warbler

Don't you just love how tolerant these nice, rational people are? I mean really the guy serves his country, follows orders (as we are required to do when we are in the military service) gets his leg blown off, comes back to the US and takes part in an anti anti-war rally whereupon people call him a "baby killer" "murderer" he has "blood on his hands" and spat on him - does this at all sound familiar to anyone? I just love the way these "peaceful" anti-war people, (their signs were just spectacular in their hypocrisy) are so nice and "peaceful" and spit on people. Now I don't know about you but if I was that soldier I would have been down at the local police station taking out charges on the offending "peace loving" rally attendee for "assault with a deadly weapon" seeing as saliva can be the transmitter of any amount of diseases. As it was he brushed it off and went about his truly peaceful dissent of their protest which his sacrifice had given them the right to hold.

I believe that Barbaro has now crossed the Rainbow Bridge and is frolicking in a meadow with other horses, his leg completely healed, his pain now ended and his future bright. Eat all the sweetest grass that you can boy, find yourself the prettiest mare in the pasture, and wait for the moment that the owners who valued you more than an insurance policy cross that bridge to meet you, then race to meet them and smother them with kisses, they served you well and knew when it was time to say goodbye no matter how hard that decision was.

I got up at two am because the dogs were barking. I dragged myself out of bed and put on my bath robe. When I went into the living room the front door was wide open, the wind was howling through the house and the dogs, of course, were gone. While I open the door in the morning for them to go out, if it is cold they will look at me like I am insane, when the front door blows open with the wind, as it does occasionally, it is a opportunity not to be missed, it is the FRONT of the house, ha ha FREEDOM. I informed my sleeping husband as to the status of events whereupon he said "do I have to get up" (actually said "moooo I hvfe to gt u" because you know he was asleep, I replied that no he didn't, after all he had to get up in two hours, I didn't. I paced the floor in the living room smoking a cigarette while periodically yelling the dogs names out of the open door. The wind howled outside and I began to shiver, it was freezing in the house. I contemplated making myself a cup of tea not knowing how long my vigil was going to be when Cueball came bounding into the living room and leapt onto the couch and snuggled down, it was obviously too cold for him. Judy followed shortly thereafter and then following along at a snail's pace came Lucky. I let Lucky in the bedroom so he could warm up (he is an old dog and the cold does a number on his joints) while Judy buried herself under the blanket on the couch. I went back to bed and buried myself under the covers already now cold to the bones, grateful that it was cold outside. Had this happened in summer I would have been waiting for hours for them to return as they frolicked in the swamp and did all sorts of things that dogs should not be doing. I tried to get back to sleep but tossed and turned and before I knew it the alarm went off at 4am I tried to get back to sleep. DH dressed and got ready and left at 5am and said goodbye I tried to get back to sleep. My internal alarm eventually went off at 6am and I shuffled out into the living room to go to the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea. The front door was wide open. Obviously DH had not closed it properly when he left at 5am and the wind had blown it open AGAIN. Of course the boxers, being the opportunists that they are were out again, but again thankfully it was way too cold out there for them and they soon came home and snuggled down on the couches. I really need this type of problem before I have to go to work at 8am on a Monday morning.