We’ve had a family of wild turkeys around the house, for a month or so. The mom and 4 turkettes took up residence and sleep high in one of our trees. The babies follow their mom up the tree and onto a top branch. Then mom gathers the four turkettes under her wings, and they sleep there all night. We’ve watched the turkettes grow from little babies, and we were sad to wake up this morning and find one of the babies had died during the night.

The winds were blowing so hard last night that our windows and were rumbling. I’m guessing that one of the babies was blown out of the tree. The thing is, his neck had been chewed on…I wonder if our cat just couldn’t resist? Or was it some other critter who got hold of him?

So it’s a sad day here at our house. May the little guy rest in peace..

The Tar Sands Blow

“The Canadian Tar Sands is the world’s largest, and dirtiest, energy project. Dirty oil sands crude generates as much as five times greenhouse gas as conventional oil. Yet, unless steps are taken by the U.S. and Canada, both countries will become irrevocably addicted to the dirtiest oil on earth. Totally lame. “

tatanka-manantial

Enjoy!

More than 1,000 chimpanzees still live in research and testing laboratories in the United States. These laboratories are permitted to keep chimpanzees in metal cages about the size of a kitchen table, deprive them of normal social interaction, and repeatedly subject them to invasive procedures.

The United States is the only nation that still makes large-scale use of chimpanzees in invasive research. But legislation recently introduced in Congress could help chimpanzees held in U.S. laboratories. The Great Ape Protection Act (GAPA) would phase out all invasive research on chimpanzees and release federally owned chimpanzees to permanent sanctuaries.

Many other countries have already banned or severely restricted experiments on chimpanzees and other great apes because of a growing awareness of the serious scientific problems with these experiments. But the movement to end chimpanzee experiments is also based on our expanding knowledge of their rich social and emotional lives—and the suffering caused by life in a laboratory. READ MORE…
PCRM Good Medicine Magazine Ready for Retirement: Will Congress Release Chimpanzees Used in Experiments? Summer 2009.

THE BEST CAT VIDEO YOU’LL EVER SEE

Halloween’s here already, which means that Christmas isn’t far behind…at least, in my world, where the days and weeks fly by. Guess when you get older, that’s what’s in store for you – time really does fly! I haven’t even begun to think about Christmas, and some people I know have already finished their shopping. One friend catches sales all year long and puts the gifts away until December…then she has all of her shopping done before everyone else, and she saves a ton of $$, to boot! That’s just crazy! No, seriously, I envy her. She’s so organized, and I’m so…well…let’s say ‘not organized’ and leave it at that. I tried doing that one year… but then I forgot that I had even bought the gifts, and I dang sure didn’t remember I had hidden them away…….found them years later!

As for trick-or-treaters, we won’t get any at our house. Living wayyyy out here in the foothills has it’s advantages (or, in this case, disadvantages – I like the little kids in costumes!). I’ll pick up some candy corn on a half-price sale tomorrow, since I love to have it once a year.

Hubby’s calling it a day – he’s been working in Photoshop all day, and it’s time for a scarey Halloween movie or two. Enjoy the Monster Mash on YouTube….it’ll make you get up and dance!

Kahlua

• One 4-oz. jar instant coffee (use a dark & rich flavor)
• 8 cups sugar
• 2 vanilla beans
• ½ gallon vodka
• 5 cups distilled water
• A one-gallon bottle or container (preferably glass)

Boil water; add coffee and sugar.  Let it cool.   Pour vodka into a gallon container.   Add vanilla bean; then add coffee mixture.   Shake mixture every 5 days.  Ready to drink on 31^st day.

Thanks for all of the requests for this recipe.  I hope you enjoy it…I sure do.  I’ve had this recipe for 30 years – it is delicious.  Great idea for Christmas gifts!

We got over 24″ of snow on Sunday and Monday, and would you believe it is snowing again?  That’s enough for now, thank you very much!    But seriously, we do love it.  There’s nothing’ like waking up to a blanket of snow and sunny blue skies.  Talk about gorgeous!   We drove to Billings yesterday.  That was our window of opportunity before last night’s new snowfall.  Now we’re snowbound again.  Luckily, I picked up a bottle of Irish creme to add to my afternoon coffee.  That’s perfect on a cold day, and its one of my favorite things! 

A family of wild turkeys has taken up residence in our yard – momma turkey and her 4 turkettes.  Just little squirts, they are.  They like the corn and birdseed that I put out every day.  Its fun to watch them from the kitchen window.  They get along just fine with the 17 deer who visit each day, too.  The Hungarian partridges are here, too.  Its one big happy wildlife family out here.  Sure beats city life – I like having “wild” neighbors. 

Speaking of wild, we haven’t heard about any bears coming around lately.  Doesn’t mean they haven’t been here…just haven’t seen any.  We do hear the coyotes every so often, but all in all, its quiet out here.  Being so far out in the foothills has it’s advantages..

Today’s my mom’s birthday.    I was snowed in, so I couldn’t get her gift in the mail until yesterday.  Happy Birthday, Mom!

RED ALERT: CONFIRMED FEMA CAMP EXPOSED