Sunday's Installment

I have been making an effort to slow down lately, we had simplified quite a bit but then things started to get busy again and we nearly allowed ourselves to get overwhelmed. But we realized it, so we took some steps to get back to the point we were at. I've made an effort to reduce the time I spent on the computer and I think I'm happy with that. I'm not a Luddite, by any stretch of the imagination! But I do think that we can become too dependent on the computer.

Same thing for tv. As a family, we have reduced the amount of time we spend in front of the tube. It's an outgrowth of our no-tv Saturdays. We watch a couple of religous/church shows we record during the week and we take turns chosing a movie to watch on Saturdays. But we don't sit in front of the tv all day long and it's not on other than the taped shows & one movie. Well, during certain times of the year we will turn it on to check for weather reports. But that's a possible survival technique, and if we have no weather warnings then it's turned back off again.

I do have a movie recommendation. It was Otter's turn for the movie yesterday, she picked Night at the Museum. We missed it when it was originally released. But since she wants to see the second one, she decided that she'd better see the first one. It was really cute. It was funny and it was just a nice movie. Family safe entertainment and one that I would recommend for anyone. It also has a lot of good actors in it, a few that I haven't seen in years.

Maggie has a new trick. She has always seemed to like wearing bandanas. I thought it was just because she was getting attention from Otter, which she loves but she gets a lot of attention from Otter aside from just the bandanas. Or manandadadas, as Maggie seems to say. Well, sometimes she calls them amamamandas. Or banananandas! Anyway, back to the point - I did have a point with this! Maggie went into Otter's room yesterday afternoon, then she came back with something in her mouth that looked like fabric. At first, we thought that Maggie had been into the laundry room and raided the dirty clothes pile! But she took the fabric she had, and dropped it in front of Otter. Then Otter picked it up and realized that Maggie had brought one of her bandanas. As soon as Otter picked it up, Maggie leaned back until she was still sitting but was upright. Then Maggie stretched out her neck towards Otter, and we realized that the dog was asking to be dressed. So Otter obliged, and Maggie was very happy about it. Sometimes we think that Maggie might be just a little smarter than she lets on.

Other news. The humers are here! I put up a feeder about Wednesday, outside the dining room window. Then the next day, I saw a rather large female hummer on it. Then sometime after that, there was another hummer on the feeder. The tiniest one I have ever seen. It's a male, and it might be one that has a black throat - I can't remember the specific type at the moment. It's too early for babies, so I don't think it's just a fledgling. I put up a second feeder and then yesterday I saw an entirely different female so I put up a third feeder. I still have two more feeders, which will probably be put up soon. Also, there are two other birds that have been raiding the feeder by the dining room window. Orioles! There are two of them, one is pretty big and the second one is smaller but I think it's also an oriole. We saw one on the feeders several times last year, also.

The cardinals have abandoned their nest that was inside the trellis. So we are going to go out and tear down all the remains of last year's vines. The morning glories have come up, Otter decided to skip the black-eyed Susan vines this year and just let the morning glories have the trellis. But we need to get all the debris vines down. Which we might get to today, but since it's been raining almost non-stop since about Wednesday I'm not sure if we'll actually get to it today or not.

Maybe after we get back from this afternoon's errand. I'm taking Otter and one of her friends to the movies. It's one I want to see, so I'll stay with them instead of dropping them off this time. XMen Origins: Wolverine. Let's just say that Otter is her mother's daughter in many ways!