Sure, I do. The women on my dad's side of the family have always been a little more receptive than most people. My one aunt was a firm believer. She could read people very well and could often know what they were thinking or feeling to the point of being scary. If I'm pretty receptive, not too stressed out, etc. I will sometimes have visions about things, mainly I see something in just a flash. Often times someone will then tell me about something happening to them that matches the vision. It drove me nuts for awhile and I've had too much stress in my life in the last few years to be receptive to it happening. One of the weirdest things I had happen was after my one Doberman suddenly became ill and passed away. The vets couldn't figure out what was even wrong with her and it was a slow and stressfull death for her while they attempted to save her. She died in my arms four days later and I was absolutely devastated. I grieved terribly and felt very guilty. One day I was puttering around the house picking up, dusting, etc. I had this one curio cabinet sitting near a window that looked out over our back yard where she would stay during the day. As I was working I looked up towards the cabinet and I froze in my tracks! There she was in the reflection of the mirror back in the cabinet. She was standing there looking at me and then walked out of the path of the mirror. It was as if she was telling me she was o.k. now. After that I was able to move past the severe grief I was feeling. My one sheepdog reminds me she is with me quite often. She used to love to sit outside and raise her face to the breeze in the air and it would blow through her hair. I used to wonder why she liked to do that so much. To this day if I'm outside, a breeze will cross my face and blow my hair just right that it reminds me of her. The day before my mother passed away in 1984, a painting appeared in the hallway by her room in the hospital. The hospital often let artists hang their artwork in the hospital. The painting was of an old native american man with faint misty images of buffalo surrounding him. The title of the painting was "Happy Hunting Grounds." My dad called me and was upset and telling me about the painting. When I arrived and saw the painting, I knew. I just knew it was a message that my mother was going to leave us even though her prognosis was good and she was doing better. Sure enough, about a day later she passed away. So yeah, I do feel we get messages from beyond when we are receptive to them and realize they are there.

On mounting birdhouses - you can "tie" it to a tree by running wire around the tree or around where a branch branches off the trunk (sort of suspending the birdhouse from the branch). This may require two wires - one higher up on the birdhouse and one lower. The wire(s) used should be able to be lengthened as the tree grows. Using wire (if lengthened as the tree grows) is the least invasive for the tree. If using screws or nails growth needs to be considered as well. Screws are the better choice as they can be backed out more easily than nails. 3 or 4 years of tree growth can pull screws/nails right through a birdhouse. Yet another method is to hang a birdhouse to a tree similarly to hanging a picture in your home. Have some sort of hanger on the tree that attaches to the birdhouse. This can be as simple as a screw or nail in the tree that inserts into a hole drilled into the back of a birdhouse. I've thought of, and not yet tried, to drill a hole in a tree for a wooden dowel to hang a birdhouse from. I'm not savvy enough about tree health to know if this method would be OK for the tree. And, one more method, would be to attach a couple of hooks/eyes to the top of the birdhouse (one towards the front and one towards the back) then suspend the birdhouse from a branch of the tree with wire or narrow rope (wire being better if squirrels are in the picture). Two suspension lines to keep the birdhouse from twisting; shorter lines = less sway in winds. Steve

AAA is it possible you are on a medication that is making you depressed? I was on toprol years ago and I would wake up with tears in my eyes and go to bed with tears in my eyes. I would be driving down the street and start to cry for no known reason. Once I stopped taking the medication, I was fine. Perhaps it's a medication and perhaps if so, the docs could try something different that won't have that reaction. Everyone reacts differently to medications. While one person can take a certain med, another person cannot. I know my doctor tried to tell me that I was depressed because I knew I had heart disease. That's not the way I deal with things. I knew it was a medication. I know you have health issues, but it's not like our Amazing Aunt Audrey to let something like that get her down! Read all the blurbs you get with your meds and see if this could be a side effect.

Same feelings here as well, AAA. Thanks for all the sunshine that you've brought to our days! I hope that you have all the healing possible in your current health issues. Sending good wishes and offering prayers on your behalf. ole joyful