Sunday morning, Feb. 25, 2007-Area code alert, etc.

Greetings, folks,
It has been a very interesting past week or so. Lots of nasty weather, and it is freezing rain right now.
I managed to get the flu this week, and saw the Doctor before it got to far with the additional upper respitory infection. Thank goodness for antibiotics.
B-Bob the cat never left my side while I spent a day and half in bed. He is such a sweety. He is my evening lap-cat. Every night, while I read or watch some television, he is on my lap.

AREA CODE ALERT-very, very bad area codes-DO NOT EVER CALL THESE AREA CODES-809, 284, AND 876. These area codes originate in the (British Virgin Islands), Bahamas. Someone there makes a call to you, possibly saying, "Call me back, urgent message, get back to us quickly, I have something important to tell you." They say too, "I have important information about a family member" or " you have won a prize" or "someone you know has died" or, "arrested", etc, etc." (This actually happened to a local shcool teacher. He did not return the call as he knew of the bad area codes and knew it was a scam.)

If you call any of these area codes, the price of a one minute call can be $2425 per-minute. Wow!
Because your long-distance carrier provides the service if you make the call, there is absolutely nothing you can do about the charges. Charges can go as high as $24,100.00 on your phone bill because the person you may call keeps you on the phone as long as possible. I urge you to tell your family members, neighbors, friends, and colleagues about this horrible nightmare of a scam.

On a brighter note, spring is just around the corner. I have already heard the birds singing their beautiful songs that comes with spring.

Update on Tom: Remember Tom, who was in that horrible accident last year? Well, I received an emal recently and he is doing much better. He has all the hardware that was put in his leg, removed. What an ordeal he went through. He is having some difficulty with his knee buckling, but they are working on that. Keep him in your prayers.

Do any of you suffer from Fibromyalgia? What a terrible debilitating disease. My friend, down the road, has it and on a good day she is about a "3." Even then, she is bad. For those who do not have this disease, it is hard to comprehend what those that do have it, suffer. Winter seems to be the worst time, and when it rains. My heart goes out to anyone with this nightmare of a disease. Sure wish they could find a cure or at least some kind of relief to give to the people who suffer from it. Not a whole lot works.
My neighbor has a pet-sitting service, and she says, "If I didn't have this to make me get up in the morning, I probably wouldn't." It does keep her going and I am so proud of her for all the effort she puts forth to get through a day. I can't imagine how hard it is.

The new animal organization is moving along quite well. We had a bylaw committee meeting the other day, and will present the proposed bylaws to the members at the March 6th. meeting.
Once they are approved, I will try my best to get the 501 (c) 3 application done to send into the IRS. Whew. Lots of pages and information to send in, plus the check for $300.00 for the filing fee. Wow. I wonder why it costs so much? It used to be $150.00 many years ago. Hmm.

My father-in-law is doing quite well. His therapy three times a week is improving his shoulder daily. He will be down today, unless the ice storm has hit where he lives and he can't make it. We'll see.

Clara (black Lab.) and Lucy (crazy Beagle) are still playing well together. Although Lucy gets a little posessive about the balls we throw for them. If Clara has the red one, and Lucy has the yellow one, she wants the red one, and sometimes there is a confrontation between them. Not bad, just establishing what ball belongs to whom. They are funny towatch. When Lucy gets a ball, she goes on a running streak and is so fast. She throws the ball in the air, rolls on the ground, (even if it is covered in snow), and races off again all over the back yard. She is a hoot!

Okay, folks.
Gotta go for now.
Stay warm, safe, and be blessed. Think spring, sunshine, and warmth!
Best regards,
Becky
P.S. I have started another book. I'll let you know about it soon.

Feb. 14th, 2007- A wintry blast!

Hi, Folks,
Well, it certainly was an interesting day yesterday. What started out with snow, (over 6 inches), turned to freezing raining and ice around 3 p.m. That lasted for over 5 hours! What a mess! No school for hubby, and we are housebound until maybe later this afternoon??
Yesterday, the dogs had a lot of fun romping in the fresh fallen snow. It was a little tough going for this older body, dressed to the hilt in numerous clothing apparal, boots, hats, etc., but I managed to enjoy it too.
This morning I went out early to do the bird feeders and the dogs. It was snowing again. I had to chip the ice off of the feeders to fill them. One lonely dove was sitting on the platform feeder, (which was covered with ice and seeds underneath), and I think he/she was wondering how to get to the stuff under the ice. I cleaned off the platform feeder, and just looked out and it is covered again now with snow.
Yesterday I went out about four times to remove the snow and add more sunflowers. Very hard to keep up.
The Cooper's hawk from across the road has been coming over to get a meal. I know they have to eat too, but I sure hope he doesn't get any of the song birds. There are drawbacks as well as joy in feeding the birds. When they gather to feed, they are more vulnerable to attack from hawks, but they have to eat to survive. I have provided a lot of cover for them. I even have the Christmas tree from our neighbors tied to the big tree out back for some protection from the hawk and the weather.
Yesterday I counted 14 cardinals and their mates at the various feeders. They sure are a beautiful contrast of red against the white snow.
The snowplow went by about an hour ago, and hubby and I will try to venture into town later on today. I really doubt he has school tomorrow too.
I have a meeting tomorrow afternoon for the bylaw committee for the new organization. It will be questionable if we all can make it to Ponderosa for our meeting. We can meet next Thursday if we have to and still have time to review the bylaws to present to the members at the March 6th, meeting place.
We had a "Membership Drive" at the local grocery store last Sat. We talked to many people interested in our goal and cause to get an animal shelter built for our county. Lots of people shared adoption and rescue stories that also warmed our hearts. There are so many caring, wonderful animal lovers out there! We had a donation can on the table, and we received a lot of generous donations from people. Thanks so much. It all counts.
I spoke to a 4-H group on Sunday, and they are enthusiastic and willing to help in any way they can. A very caring and nice group of young people that care so much for animals too!
It is suppose to keep snowing all day, and then the rest of the week.
I feel so sorry for the people of New York. I can't imagine how difficult it must be for people trying to get from place to place, businesses that need customers to pay for heat, electric, etc.
What a mess up there! And, they are going to get blasted with even more snow today!

Father-in-law is doing really well with his therapy on his shoulder. It is coming along nicely. He does have better range-of-motion with it, and no pain, although the doctor told him he will not ever get the full use of it. He is satisfied with what he has, especially the fact that the excruciating pain is gone.
Last week was a mixed bag of emotions. Hubby's aunt, 97 years old, passed away on Feb. 4th. The calling hours were Wednesday, and the funeral was Thursday. She had a great life and lived a good Christian life. She is not suffering anymore, and has left this earth to spend eternity with Jesus. She looked radiant and at peace.

As soon as we get someone to develope a website for the new animal organization, I will let you know about it.
Stay safe, stay warm, and be blessed.
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY- (I wrote hubby a poem and am going to give it to him shortly.)
Best regards,
Becky

February 1, 2007 Greetings

Hello Everyone,
Well, it is now officially winter. BRRRR! Funny thing, when we had that warm weather back in December, I noticed some of my daffodils coming up! Some of them are at least up three inches, but they are tough, and I'm sure they will wait now to finish growing come spring. Speaking of spring, it is so nice to see that the days are getting longer already. It was after six o'clock last night and it was still daylight.

I have been so busy with the new organization! Lots of people are very interested in it, and are joining. We have some fundraisers coming up already, and we have a very interested group of people willing to help. Great!

I am doing a W.I.S.H. session tonight because some women just cannot make it on Monday mornings when I have my other sessions. Hopefully, I will have a good turnout and we will get a lot accomplished and discussed.

I am still trying to donate my books to various libraries. Most of them are very open and glad for the donations. Any way I can get someone to read them, and hopefully save a life, I am for it!

Our one cat, Tooter, seemed to act like she missed, Ms. Sissy for a while, but I think she is okay now. Life goes on.

I have already spoken to a Boy Scout/Pack Group and I have scheduled other speaking engagements on the new organization in February and one in April. The more education I can give to young people, the more they may respond by taking good care of their pets.

At our first meeting, all the officers were elected, plus three extra Board of Directors.

I am patiently waiting for the weather to break so I can have another "Author Workshop" or two in my area. The ones I had last year were very successful and I do believe those that attended learned a lot. It was a great experience for me.

My great nephew will be having his thirteenth birthday tomorrow! Wow! Hard to believe he is going to be a teenager! Where does the time and the years go??? They seem to just fly by anymore.

The little beagle dog, Lucy, either has come back in heat again, or has a urinary infection. I am taking her to the veterinarian's office tomorrow to have her checked. We did not get her spayed yet as the weathere took a turn and became quit cold and we were waiting until spring and warmer weather. I can hardly believe she has come back in heat again after only two and a half months! Hopefully she is not.
Although I have not seen any male dogs roaming around, we are watching her carefully.

The snow is so pretty, but it has been so cold! My hubby even got a "Snow Day" on Tuesday. It was terrible. I drove my elderly neighbors to a doctor appointment, and it was very treacherous driving. He had to have a cancerous tumor removed from his back, and the stitches removed from his face where another tumor was taken off two weeks ago. We made it up and back fine, but the weather was terrible. At some times there were numerous white-outs, and I could barely see beyond the tree in our back yard. The birds were sure having trouble flying around and landing at the feeders.

Gotta go for now.
Stay safe, and be good to yourself, you deserve the best!
Best regards,
Becky :)