Hey ChickaDDD, I know what you mean about Chicklet's story. He sounds super natural or something. Sleeping on roof, resetting his own arm, Typhoon or something and his birthday. WOW. But like you said if it is true your are surely helping them and thats all that matters. I must have missed it when the unwelcoming committee killed a catbird chick. That is awful!!! And it is not FUN to get rid of HOSP. I dont know why they would say that and it makes me sick. I cant believe they said it was fun, that is disgusting and shows how stupid they are. I hope you dont dislike ME for it but I have seen them with my own eyes terrorize my other birds and not just the cavity nesters, but i dont enjoy it. I just want to save my other birds. They were after Braveheart today when he and Scardycat would try to feed their babies AND they are building two nests in two of my boxes right now :-( When papa tries to bring food they jump him and fall to the ground. It is just pure harassment and today i noticed his right eye was closed up. I dont think it was the HOSP because he was fighting two mockers today too and they probably got fed up with him getting in the middle and decided to kick him around awhile. My blue is insane they are twice his size. But now he will be at risk of hawk attack because he cant see from that side. Ahhhhhhh SIGH. I am having such stress this year with the bluebirds. I love them and all the birds except the HOSP and it is hard on me because I worry so about the birds. My other little sparrows are building in my holly bush that the robins used three times this year ( they were busy ), you know the little ones that i keep blowing there little babies out of the bush. So at least i know where they are this time and wont blow them out. Birds are so funny. She fusses at me every time i go out there but then builds her nest right in my back steps. Go figure :-) Why would they kill a catbird? I dont understand that, it must have been before i joined because i dont remember seeing it. Do you know what month and maybe i can go back and find that post. That is very disturbing, maybe they are just animal killers? Maybe they do enjoy it. They almost had me convinced that the house wrens were evil till Bet got on there. Maybe they kill all birds except bluebirds. That's sick :-( Well im glad you didn't have any little jets get confused and end up in your house today :-) Maybe they realized that outside is where they belong. Hopefully for you and your families sake. All summer without air conditioning is a horrible thought for me. You are a very strong and sweet person to sacrifice your comfort for the little jets. I bet Daisy was hot too with all that hair. My Mary is very hairy like that ( 4 layers of fur ) and she doesn't even like to be outside in the summer. We are very spoiled. Im glad your kitties got bored with the swifts, i know you were blaming yourself for the deaths but you didn't know they were coming so im glad all is good now :-) I better go because this is long but i know i could talk a lot more!!! LOL. She who is to long winded~~~~~~~Bonnie

Trailrunner, I live in Austin, and am happy to read how much you love it~~me TOO! I'm here via San Diego, and although SD has almost daily sunshine, I sure don't miss the crazy traffic. Be extra careful on your bikes as many drivers are inconsiderate and feel they have the right-of-way. As for the Swan, they can be little buggers and really have a bite, but they do add to the beauty of the whole river scene. Are you near Zilker Park~~the river runs right thru it and it's a heavenly place on a Sunday afternoon. Hope you get your socks returned too! As for 6th St., it's quite the place to be on just about any night of the week(weekends are insane!)especially during the summertime. With all the music going on, it's hard to make up your mind where to go first! Wimberly will be part of the Round Top Antique Festival, so there will probably be a lot of people there. It's an absolutely GORGEOUS drive out that way, with a few hills, but nothing that an experienced biker can't handle. LOL Enjoy TX, it's a GREAT place, and I can't imagine being anywhere else! Take care, be careful, and God bless you, and all the other bikers. Happy Easter, too. ;o)

Hi judy jay, Can you spell "F-R-E-E-D-O-M"? In the western world (some parts of it, at least) we talk a lot about "freedom" ... by which we usually mean the "political" and the "social" kind. Funny, isn't it, that we hear only a very little about the "economic" and "financial" aspects of our highly-vaunted freedom! I hope that you and hubby have built assets, whether pension-based assets or of another kind, that enable you to enjoy that freedom as you look forward to retirement. One major cautionary note however ... don't forget the ravages that inflation inflicts on your investment system, having an effect on your potential income stream. Also, inscribe it in letters as firmly in your mind as those engraved on a gravestone ... that that inflation component *increases* every year. At least, it has, every year, since the great Depression of what many call the "Dirty Thirties". Those effects are cumulative, and have an increasing effect as the years go by ... and many of us live for 30 (or more) retired years, these days. Some years ago a highly paid professional in the city where I lived asked me whether he could retire early ... and was *substantially* disappointed when I told him that not only could he not retire early (as he had both an institutional and a private practice, and wanted to cease the private portion, as well) ... but that it would keep him busy to retire appropriately at the regular retirement age! Possibly he, a psychiatrist, thought me slightly crazy ... but when I explained to him that he wasn't giving adequate consideration to inflation, he began to look at the retirement picture from a whole new light. (Think how mind-expanding it can be to help a psychiatrist look at life in a different light?) Perhaps you've read my thread posted here recently about the difference between a pay cheque and a pension cheque ... that you must be physically, mentally and emotionally able to go to the workplace and fulfill your obligations when there ... or you don't qualify for the pay-cheque. Plus hope that your position stays intact here ... not shifted overseas ... or integrated with another when your employer is bought out (with you either "downsized" [read "outsized"] or loaded with additional work) ... or dies when your employer goes broke, etc. Such changes have a major effect on paycheques, as well! When you receive a pension cheque, apart from the potential insolvency of your carrier, all that you need do to continue to qualify is ... ... stay topside the grass! That is, more or less a guaranteed income - until you draw your last breath! If it's adjusted for inflation - what could be better than that? Which means that, if you so choose, you can invest some of your other assets in ways that help to offset those inflationary pressures. If it isn't so adjusted - such offset becomes even more important. Think of your investable assets as in about half a dozen, 5-year blocks ... several of them to last for 10 - 20 years (if you eat them earlier, you might live to regret having made that choice). My ex-, who'd been head of food service in a substantial hospital for 20 years, took early retirement at age about 55 when there was talk of closing hers or another nearby. She, who'd fed millions over those years, contracted colon cancer ... and died, at age 66 - ironically, it was her gut that did her in! Our kids noted with appreciation that, had their Mom retired at the usual time, it would have been the year before ... and I offered that she'd have been sick for most of that year! That is - she'd had 10 years to enjoy retirement ... and she'd had a ball, throughout ... including, as a U.S. person, visiting relatives and newly-developed friends as she, living near here, travelled in her RV from FL to TX in winter. You've received a number of good suggestions here for things to do during those retirement years! Don't approach it with some trepidation, please. Look upon it as starting out on a great new adventure. Visit your bathroom ... look in the mirror ... smile ... tell yourself that you're about to open a wonderful new door in life. Bring hubby in there with you ... look in the mirror together ... smile ... wink ... tell yourselves that you're about to start a new adventure together! There's a great, fine, wonderful world out there! Go out and explore it! Start planning now ... beginning with sitting down with hubby and talking about the things that you'd like to consider. And that'll be an ongoing discussion, as different ideas come and are considered by both, then discussed further later. Some things you'll want to do with him, some of them each of you will choose to do alone. Finally ... can you spell, "E-N-J-O-Y"??? Go for it!!! ole joyful

My electrician (aka hubby) finally got my second pendant hung over the island today!! You may or may not remember when I posted this pic back in September or October Right after I built and installed my temp island. The area looked, quite frankly, somewhat ridiculous. An 8 ft long island with this one lone pendant hanging over one end of it. The reason it was there was because that was an existing box that used to have a fluorescent light box on it. I knew I wanted to put in another box ran off of the first one and install 2 pendants, well, today it finally got done!! Yay!! Not only is it aesthetically pleasing but there is soooo much more light over my island now! Can I just mention again how much I love the smoke colored glass in these pendants? Also, in keeping with our weekly thread "no accomplishment is too small", I tracked down some spare 2x6 and cut blocks to fit in the old window spot. I also got the piece of drywall cut to install. The only reason I haven't yet is because I am thinking of creating a "time capsule" to put in the wall before I close it off. Chances are that spot will be opened again at some point in the future, it is where the MIL quarters and main house meet. Even if I never open it back up, I thought it would be cool to leave a "treasure" there for someone to discover in the future. Tell me truthfully, does that sound really lame or kinda cool?