Remember my post a few days ago about the naughty birds? I determined I was entirely too quick to assume the birds did it. My aunt said maybe a squirrel did it, but I said, "No, I haven't seen a Charlie on my balcony all spring." For those of you new to my blog, Charlie is another name for any and all squirrels. Too long to go into now, besides I may have already explained this last year, so just nod your head and keep reading.

Saturday afternoon, I was sitting in the living room, next to the sliding glass door, watching tv. A movement caught my eye out on the balcony. I turned my head very slowly, and sure enough, there was a Charlie (squirrel) on my balcony, looking for all that seed he'd emptied from the bucket. When he couldn't find it, he decided he'd try getting it from the bird feeder instead. He jumped onto the railing, then leaped onto the top of the feeder.

I thought for sure there was no way he'd figure out how to lean over the side to get seed, the feeder almost isn't big enough for him to sit on, let alone lean over head first and feed.

He turned this way and that, reaching up to hold onto the cord used to hang the feeder on the hook, determined to find a way to get that seed!

Sideways didn't work too well. What will he try next?

There ya go! Use your back claws to grip the opposite edge, lean down head first and use your front feet to grab that seed and stuff your face.

It's even better if you twist your body around, so the silly humans watching you and taking stupid pictures will ooooh and aaaah at your acrobatics.

After being chased off the feeder, jumping to the bricks of the building, leaping to safety in the tree, then scurrying down to the ground, Charlie digs around in the droppings to see if there's anything good left to munch on.

My apologies to the birds for saying they were naughty. I jumped to conclusions without any hard facts. Since it appears Charlie is quite adept at getting seed from the feeder, it wouldn't surprise me if he was the culprit with the holey bucket. Bucket problem is fixed now too. I went to Home Depot on Saturday and adopted an orange round bucket alien that was willing to trade shelter for seed holding. He's an indoor bucket after all!

Because one just isn't enough.....

Supposedly, a second cougar was spotted earlier this week in the Chicago area. It was never found, and there have been no reports since of anyone seeing it. Searches were made by helicopter and foot over a forest preserve where it was see chasing deer. Here's a link to the story.

And it has also been determined the one previously shot and killed by Chicago police was in fact a wild animal that may have wandered here from the Black Hills in South Dakota.

I knew we could get a little wild here in Chicago, but this is going to extremes, lol.

Coming home after a hard day's work, I thought I'd sit and relax a bit before eating dinner and watching Survivor. But wait, I might need to fill the bird feeder outside. I'll check to see if it's empty. Yup, it's empty; before I sit down, I'll fill it so the birds have food tonight and tomorrow. After getting the step-stool from the bedroom, I open the sliding glass door, step outside and I discover I have naughty birds. Not naughty as in "they're having sex" but naughty as in, they chipped a hole in the plastic bucket I keep the birdseed in.

There's no way I'm going out tonight to Home Depot or Lowes to get another bucket, so I just taped up this one and brought it inside to keep my chippy birds away from the bucket. Not to be confused with Chipping Sparrows, which I also have.

Deena Hope
April 10, 1968 - April 16, 1998
I will always miss you in my life

Ahhhh, the warm weather is coming! It was about 62F today, and tomorrow it's supposed to be around 70F! I'm so excited! I so want to spend a little time outside in the sun, feeling and savoring the warmth.

I finally called to make a PT appointment today. My first appointment, for the consultation is April 23 at 6:45AM. It will last about an hour. Then I have two more appointments scheduled for April 29 (I think) and May 1, also at 6:45AM. It was very hard to try to make evening appointments as that's when everyone else wants them, so I figured early morning would have to do, and I can make up my lost time at work. Now my challenge will be getting up early enough to get to PT by 6:45AM! I might actually have to get up by 5:30AM now! *GASP*

Anybody looking for a unique gift to buy their loved one? I have the perfect item! It's on sale on e-bay, and there's no competition yet.

It's an eight foot tower of cars, on a spindle, and was featured in the movie Wayne's World. The Spindle, also known as the "Car Kabob" or the "Eight Car Pileup" is located in Berwyn, IL a suburb of Chicago. It was supposed to be dismantled last year to make way for a Walgreens (like there isn't one two blocks down?), but a couple of preservation groups formed to protest, and are trying to have it relocated.

How much would you pay for a rusted, bird poop covered, famous spindle of assorted cars? The full article and video are here.

This evening, a cougar or mountain lion, was shot and killed by Police in a Chicago neighborhood. Below are a couple pictures I took from the CBS website.




They don't know who the cat belonged to, they'll be searching it for tags, chips, or markings to track ownership. Cougar sitings in Chicago are rare.

Posting to let ya'll know I'm still alive. Not much has been going on here, just going to work and coming home. I still haven't called for the PT, I gotta try to get that done tomorrow. It seems every day I want to, but I get busy trying to take care of my customers, and before I know it the day's gone. It's been a cold weekend her, but it's supposed to warm up this week, up to almost 70F by Thursday. I can't wait! I'm really wanting some warmer weather.

Last week I bought three new cd's: P.O.D.' s new cd titled When Angels & Serpents Dance. Unless you're into heavy metal, you wouldn't like this, lol. I bought the new Counting Crows cd, Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings. And, I bought a cd by a new country artist, James Otto, titled Sunset Man. It has his single "Just Got Started Loving You" on it, which I love! This week another new country artist, Lady Antebellum, has a cd coming out. Their first single is called "Love Don't Live Here" and it's another one I love. They harmonize well, reminding me of Little Big Town.

James Otto's MySpace page

Lady Antebellum's MySpace page

Following is a post covering a lot of different topics, things that I've mentioned or discussed with various people over the last few weeks.

First, I finally spoke to my doctor's nurse last Thursday. I asked about the xray results from the previous Wednesday. She told me what showed up in the xray was the start of arthritis. So tomorrow, if I have time, I'm going to go ahead and try to set up an appointment to see a Physical Therapist. Not sure what six visits will get me, but perhaps I will come away with some regular exercises to do so I won't be on 800mg of Ibuprofen for the rest of my life.

Above is the waterfall across the street from my work that they started up this week. During the Christmas season, they string lights up from all the trees, making it look very festive. There's a little path behind it, where I believe you can walk, although I've never gone back there. Perhaps this summer when it's a little warmer out, I'll check it out. It's just tough crossing a six-lane road on foot.

Here is an alien I found living under my desk at work. You can see a little bit of the hoses that they have inserted into the wall. Is this a baby alien, that was left here alone, while the parent went outside to stand guard? And exactly what is it doing? Stealing important steel data from our office? Inputing viruses?

This is the difference between our old and new carpeting. The old carpeting is blue, a little lighter than sky-blue, very worn and ugly looking. During the winter, with one particular pair of shoes, I am constantly getting shocked from a build-up of static electricity. The new carpeting is actually squares of the same pattern that are being alternated to give it a checkerboard appearance. It's much darker, but it will wear better than the older carpet. And I don't get a "charge" from it, lol.

Here's my keyboard that I've had for five years. Note the keys still have all their letters and numbers. I guess I either don't use it enough, or don't rest my fingers on the keyboard like other people do.

Here is an Orange Cone-Head Alien that I think might have been a hostage to the AT&T repair van. I could almost hear it calling out to me when I pulled up behind it.

For those of you that don't get a lot of Canadian Geese where you live, here's a picture I took last November as an example of the sometimes expansive flocks I get here on my lake/pond. There could be as many as 100 geese in this picture. Right now we don't have that many, but in a few weeks, during breeding season, we could see the number increase. Usually we have several pairs all with cute little goslings running around. At least once every spring, I have to stop my car on the way out to the main road, to let the adult geese and goslings cross the road.

I still haven't heard from the doctor about my xray results. It will be interesting if they show anything. Taking my 800 mg of Ibuprofin three times a day has really helped my shoulder. Saturday, I was able to use BOTH hands to wash my hair! I haven't done that in TWO weeks! Then today, I was able to raise my hand straight up over my head! There's still a little ache when I do it, but I CAN DO IT! (It's the little things that excite me, lol) But don't tell Cubby that, he'll never let me forget it. I'll keep taking my meds for the full 2 weeks, and will let you know when/if I hear anything from the doctor.

Health Update:

My doctor's appointment was at 1:30pm this afternoon, I needed to be there at 1:15pm to fill out the paperwork first, since it was the first time I've been to that office. The previous insurance plan I was on at work allowed me to keep seeing my old doctor, but that plan was cancelled after 2006, requiring me to pick a new doctor. A co-worker said she'd been happy with BCBS HMO Illinois, and she lives in the same city as me, so I went ahead and switched to it. Since I soooo hate doctors, I haven't made any attempt to go in for a physical or anything since I joined the HMO.

Anyway, this shoulder problem forced me to do it, therefore, paperwork about me and my insurance. I was hoping it wouldn't be some three page list of every ailment or medical problem I've ever had and when. I've done those, and they are a PITA! This was just basic name, address, phone number, emergency contacts, insurance info, etc.

I was pleasantly surprised to be called quite promptly. I was taken back to an exam room, weighed, BP measured (134/84) and told the doctor would be in shortly. I changed into those stupid paper shirts that are open in the back, and waited probably less than 5 minutes for the doctor to come in. He took a basic family history, asked me about my problem, examined my shoulder by pressing on it in different areas, asking if it hurt (which it didn't.)

He had a sheet printed out for me to go get a shoulder x-ray done, a prescription for 800 mg tablets of Ibuprofen, a referral for PT, and a photo-copied picture of some exercises to try for my shoulder. I'm not sure if I'm going to try them or not, since from what the pictures show, I can't put my shoulder in the correct position to do the exercises. I was out of there by 2pm. Since I still had most the afternoon to kill, and one of the locations to get an x-ray was about 10 minutes down the road, I decided to go right then and get that taken care of. The sooner I do that, the sooner they get the results, and the sooner I know if there's something wrong with my shoulder.

I walked in, gave the sheet explaining what I needed, and in about 5 minutes I was called back by the technician. I changed into the robe like gown, walked back to the x-ray room, he put me in position with a lead shield around my waist. The first picture was with my palm facing back, the second picture was with my palm turned facing front, and the third picture he wanted me to raise my arm over my head. I said, "I can't, that's why I'm having the x-rays done." He asked me to raise it as high as I could, I even used my right hand to lift my arm a bit more, then told him to take it quick cause it was hurting and I didn't know how long I could hold it up there. A few seconds later, he was done, and I was done. Whew!

It was now about 2:30 or so? I decided to stop at Target on the way home (the same one I took you to, Kerry) to get my prescription filled. I wandered around there for about 15 minutes, and was out of there by 3:20. Wasn't I getting a lot done today? LOL Next stop was the grocery store, since I needed some food. Especially something to eat when I take the Ibuprofen, since even I should take it with food for that high a dosage. I don't really need to get an ulcer. Came home after the store, at about 4:10. Not a bad afternoon after all.

I'll update when I hear back from the doc on the x-ray results. I also have decided to wait to call for a PT appointment until the doc calls me with the x-ray results. Might as well see if it's something that PT can help with before I start trying to make time for it.

As some of you may know, and others may not, I haven't been online much the past week due to shoulder problems. Last Saturday (just over a week ago) my left shoulder was hurting really bad, and I couldn't raise my arm over my head. Advil and Aleve weren't helping me manage any of the pain either. At first, I thought it was because of how I had been sitting in the chair at my computer; leaning slightly to the left, resting on my elbow. But after taking a couple days away from the computer last Sunday and Monday, it was no better.

I was on the computer Tuesday and Wednesday night for a bit during Idol, with my shoulder still bothering me. Thursday night I came home from work and stayed off the computer (for the most part.) Friday I was off work, so I rested my shoulder and arm all day, but by late afternoon, I wasn't even comfortable sitting in the chair at the computer, so there was no way I'd be able to stream, let alone sit for four hours listening to Kerry's and AK's streams.

Saturday I did nothing all day, again trying to rest my shoulder. Still no change. I spent yesterday, Easter Sunday at my aunt's house (her son cooked lunch/dinner for us), and rested it again last night. It was still no better this morning, so I decided I better call the doctor to see what's going on with it. I really hate doctors, so my calling to make an appointment is a big deal. My appointment is Wednesday afternoon, so I'm taking a half day. At least I can sit at the computer without pain, for today at least.

Keep your fingers crossed that it's nothing serious.

Happy F**king Spring!

WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 1 AM FRIDAY TO1 AM CDT SATURDAY
A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 1 AM CDT FRIDAY TO 1 AM CDT SATURDAY. THE WARNING AREA IS GENERALLY ALONG AND NORTH OF A LINE FROM STERLING...TO JOLIET...TO CROWN POINT INDIANA.SNOW WILL DEVELOP ACROSS THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY TONIGHT...SPREADING INTO PORTIONS OF NORTHERN ILLINOIS AND NORTHWEST INDIANA EARLY FRIDAY MORNING. SNOWFALL WILL LIKELY BECOME HEAVY AT TIMES DURING THE DAY FRIDAY...WITH SNOWFALL RATES OF 1 TO 2 INCHES PER HOUR POSSIBLE. SNOW WILL THEN GRADUALLY DIMINISH FRIDAY EVENING. TOTAL SNOWFALL ACCUMULATION IS EXPECTED TO RANGE FROM 6 TO 9 INCHES...WITH SNOW AMOUNTS DIMINISHING RAPIDLY SOUTH OF A STERLING TO JOLIET AND CROWN POINT INDIANA LINE WHERE PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED TO BE MAINLY RAIN.

I can't take credit for the picture, but I saw my FIRST American Robin of the year! Just in time for Spring too! It was sitting in the tree right next to the the sidewalk up to my front door, and wouldn't sit still while I was walking past it. So there was no way I would get upstairs, into my apartment, grab my camera, come back downstairs and out the door with it still sitting there. As soon as I can get a decent picture of one, I'll prove that I actually have them here, lol.

This was my Thursday page on my day-at-a-glance calendar that I got for Christmas from Mother. I thought Kerry would appreciate this, and make her long for a visit to Nova Scotia.