Me and My Chicken

After laughing over all the hijinks's Marmite Toastie has had with her Chickens, I got a little jealous and lot envious and decided to see about getting some chickens on my own.

I found an interesting website chock full of information on "how-to's" and "what you do's" and read it over with all the intense concentration one would devote to a corporate stock prospectus. I also sounded out a couple really good friends about the idea.

One friend sent me this really neat link to a how-to build your own Chicken Coop video. Of course, I would add lavender or lemon scented sawdust and then fill it up with warm snugly herby scented hay. If I'm going to have a Chicken Ranch, I'm going to do it right.

The other friend had some pretty good words of advice.

She recommended checking out the zoning laws to see if I could legally have chickens in my backyard. After a number of fruitless calls to the county, I was redirected to my township code office and their on-line code website.

After learning I could have a private Helipad, if I limited myself to less than ten takeoffs and landings a day, I found this gem:

Keeping Of Pets

Domestic animals that are normally considered to be kept in conjunction with a dwelling for the pleasures of the resident family. This shall include dogs, cats, small birds, racing pigeons, gerbils, rabbits and other nonpoisonous animals commonly sold in retail pet shops. - [Added 4-7-2005 by Ord. No. 524]

I'm going to interpret that as a definite "It's Ok!".

...but then my friend, who is a genius by the way, said, "Maybe you could start with a virtual chicken? Maybe a poster board cutout of a chicken? You could move it around a few times a day, pretend like it moves on its own."

I thought to myself, "Yes!! YES!! That's a great idea!" So I got some cardboard, taped a small wooden stake to it, and went looking for chicken picture on the Internet to print out to paste on the cardboard.

May I introduce to you, my new virtual pet? Please say "Hi!" to Shake N. Bake!



Here's a close up of Ol' Shake. Ain't he handsome?



Gosh, I'm as pleased as punch! and you know something? I've already discovered an upside to keeping a Chicken.

You don't even have to blank out their "privates" for modesty sake!

Umm... Happy April Fools Day!

Sunday Morning Walk

The entry dedicated to Gypsy-Heart who understands the power of light.



The Earth Awakens
Taken with a cellphone camera, Sunday, March 29th, 2009.

My Parent's Cat - Pumpkin

Having been recently living vicariously with Yellow Dog Granny's cat Annie who has been sick lately, not to mention Dorkys Ramos' err... ummm, well, I won't mention it... I thought I share with you the pussy in my life.

Now, before I go on, let me say that I'm a dog guy - and dog's rule as far as I'm concerned but I would never kick a cat or anything like that.

In fact, I get called upon to cat-sit on frequent occasion when my folks are out of town and rather enjoy visiting with one of my parent's two cats, Pumpkin. He is an orange striped feline my Mom got from her local SPCA and is the most playful bundle of four-legged fur I've ever met.

I won't discuss the other cat except to say he only eats, sleeps, and poops.

While I've re-touched the photograph for modesty purposes, you can clearly see Pumpkin is very possessive of his lounge chair.



My Dad, however, thinks since he paid for the chair and provides the roof over it along with the comforting heat or cooling depending on season, the chair belongs to him.



Of course, Pumpkin insist on telling him otherwise. My Dad finally looked at me and pleaded for HELP!! Instead of rescuing my Dad, I decided to take more pictures. By the way, I got my Dad new down-filled booties for Christmas. Of course, Pumpkin has taken them over too and sleeps in, on, and under them now.

MOSB Fry

My first order of business is to give talented Jess of Smiles in Easy Open Packages a much coveted Blinky Inspired Comment Award for her comment on Gone Fishin'. I nearly choked to death laughing at her comment while drinking a Diet Coke!



It's that time of week again! It's time for the Weekend Wordle. Here's what you do:

1) Go to Wordle.net to create your Wordle. It's lots of fun. You can tweak the colors, fonts and such.

2) Post it on your blog.

3) Once that's done, go back to Last Shreds Of Sanity and sign the Mr Linky that she'll have up.

Don't forget to leave a comment on the sites you visit! I thought is was kind of cool how this wordle came out OSB-shaped.



And now the final order of business...to answer the burning question of how one cooks a huge MOSB! Obviously, one either uses the big Crock Pot you have for cooking Woolly Mammoths and Elephinks or you head on over to Brandon, Iowa and get yourself some proper cooking gear!



The biggest hassle I have is getting a fire permit to have a cook fire on the beach... well, that and lugging half of Kingsford's annual production of Match-Light Charcoal from the car to the fire ring.



Make sure you have a really big fire extinguisher, lots of chips with ketchup, vinegar, and tarter sauce on hand!

Bon Appetit!

Gone Fishin'...

I must warn you before you start to read this - I've had ALOT of fresh, clean air today.

When I found this huge Wrinkled Black Beatlejuicean Worm lying in the mud after a rain in Heebner Green Space Park I just knew it was time to go fishing!



My gosh, this worm is about a foot in diameter and 12-14 feet long! With great effort, I hauled it up to the car and tied it on the roof rack.



I put it on a huge hook with an anchor chain-like leader and tossed it over the side into the warm Gulf Stream waters. I had barely pulled the tab on my Caffiene-Free Diet Coke (just what is the point of this drink anyway?) when Ker-POW! A huge hungry Marine Orange Striped Barrel (MOSB) took the bait. jumping clear out the water in its eagerness to devour the worm!

Man! The seagulls went wild! If you look closely enough, you will see a big shark has taken a bite out of the dorsal area of the fighting MOSB.



It took me hours of labor, grinding away at the big ol' Penn Reel, to pull this MOSB in close to the boat! The Captain, the Mate and I spent a few rushed huddled minutes trying to decide how to put this beast into the boat's icebox!



After many hours of intense fishing, we finally got my catch back to the dock where some goofy tourist posed next to it while I was in the marina store getting some burn cream for my sunburn and some lotion for my weary muscles.



I hope the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) approves my application for World Record MOSB! Or perhaps I should have applied at the Intergalactic Game Fish Association for a Multi-World Record?

The Train Wreck in Washington DC

Whenever I see or hear Washington DC and trains mentioned in the same breath, which seems to happen frequently these days along with the words "run-away", "crash", and/or "wreck"; I am reminded of Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor in the "Silver Streak" (filmed in 1976!) and of an event that actually happened in Washington DC's Union Station.



January 15, 1953 – Washington, D.C., United States: Approaching Union Station, the brakes partially fail on the Pennsylvania Railroad Federal Express overnight train from Boston. Unable to stop, the 16 car train careened through the interlocking, barreled into sixteen track, a stub track, plowed through the bumper and smashed its way into the station, destroying the main newsstand and the stationmaster's office.



The massive 224 ton GG-1 electric locomotive pulling the train collapsed the concourse floor and fell into the basement. Amazingly, nobody was killed in the accident.

President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower's inauguration was scheduled the following week, leaving insufficient time to extricate the locomotive. So the basement was planked over for the celebration week.

After the inaugural festivities had concluded, the unit was cut up into three pieces, hauled to Altoona, Pennsylvania where it had been built, reassembled and returned to revenue service for another three decades. GG-1 No. 4876 is in the collection of the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.



The historic locomotive now sits outdoors, vandalized and rusting away. I really don't know what they ought to do with it. Perhaps Washington DC should be permanently planked over though.



Length: 79' 6"
Weight: 447,000 lb total
Adhesive Weight: 303,000 lb, 50,500 per axle
Boiler: 17.1 tons
Transformer: 15.3 tons

Source

Self Serve Gas Pumping

New Jersey and Oregon are the only U.S. states with bans on self-serve gas; both were adopted more than 50 years ago because of safety concerns. By the time they get around to repealing this nonsensical law in New Jersey, there may be no more gas left to pump.



What this law has lead to in New Jersey is a proliferation of "foreigners" that either do not, cannot or won't speak proper, understandable English pumping gas.

But little did I know, until roving Photojournalist LadyStyx captured it on digital film for all posterity, that my little orange traffic cone buddies were pumping gas at near slave labor wages.

I can only imagine what an OCHA sounds like when they ask you, "Fill her up with regular no-lead?"

I went to a website called the Dialectizer and try it out.

I think an OCHA sounds most like Elmer Fudd, "Fiww hew up wif weguwaw no-wead?" or perhaps like a Swedish Chef, "Feell her up veet regooler nu-leed?"

I'm don't know if the red or blue cement heads can actually speak... They literally seem as dumb as posts.

A Brand New Award!

Just for fun - I decided to pass a new award into the blogoshere.



The nominees are... (insert drum roll here)

Oh my! Punkn!

With her fabulous Eeyore slippers... Tori Z!

A two for one special at LadyStyx's place!
The running Camera and OCHA!

When she says it's her friend or her coworker;
It's really about her... (Wink! Wink!)
Wife of Riley!

And she's just simply teasing us... Marmite Toasty!

And Juliet Prowse would have been envious of Jess and her tap shoes!

The biggest sexy ankles were captured on film by ChicagoLady!

One of the nicest views including the sexy ankles comes from Dorkys Ramos!

I keep my ankles covered... So I'm not in the running.

Maybe someday God(dess) will forgive me for doing this.

Spring is Coming to the Farm Park

On Saturday, March 21st, I took a walk through the rolling hills and fields of the Norristown Farm Park eagerly looking for signs of Spring.

As you may recall, on February 2nd, a Ground Hog such as this one:



...saw his shadow and grimly foretold six more weeks of winter. This Ground Hog, however, seems to be enjoying his shadow in the quiet stillness of the Farm Park - The sun was bright and comfortably warm.



Looking east, we see the skies were a bright blue with just the scantest traces of clouds and contrail streaks. The corn fields still lay dormant however. The sharp-eyed ones amongst you will see stop signs shimmering in the bright sunlight at the bottom of the hill. They guard the single track railroad that goes from Norristown to Lansdale. I've not seen a train on these tracks since I was in Elementary School, when the trains would run past outside the school house windows on their way to Merck and Company, located in West Point, PA.

My car is parked behind the large dairy barn at the top of the far hill.



To the south, the farm building on the hill houses a large collection of rusty pre-1960 farm tractors. It would be an instant museum but the building is closed to the public. To the right of the barn, is a green water tower that supplied the entire Farm Park with well water back in the day... now it supplies a trout hatchery that lies in the woods at the base of the tower. One can see the trees beginning to bud - the red ones seem to always bud first. The three yellow cement heads wrapped in red open mesh plastic down the hill guard a dilapidated wooden bridge over the railroad tracks, which are deep in a cut here. There are some more yellow cement heads on the other side of the bridge.



The wide open spaces and vistas of the Farm Park are always inviting. The American Robins, Canadian Geese and the Bluebirds were all are out in force Saturday. Some of you may remember the grain elevators and silos to the right edge of the picture.



The grass has begun to turn green once more. Here and there are some dandelions already in bloom, while the trees are only starting to bud. When the trees fill with leaves, you can actually see a lot less as the green foliage forms impenetrable curtains. In the distance, you can see the steam plume from the Limerick Nuclear Power plant that lies on the bank of the Schuylkill River. My house is near the base of the green water tower in front of the steam plume.



On the last leg of my walk returning to my car, I enjoy seeing the glory of the dairy barn and the cute road sign with the farmer wearing a hat driving the farm tractor. I do not know if farm tractor drivers wearing hats are bad tractor drivers. I do know, however, it was a perfect day to get out and walk (with or without a dog) or ride a bike.

Show me yours and I'll show you mine!

According to Google Maps, it is 859 miles from my house to Jacksonville, Florida or about 13 hours 36 minutes driving time.

Recently, a friend of mine that lives in the Jacksonville area asked me if my cellphone could receive photographs from their cellphone. I didn't know, but agreed to try it. What would be cooler than being able to see what a friend miles and miles away was seeing and being able to send them a picture of what you were seeing at that very same moment?

So while I was out walking one day a couple weeks ago, I heard my cellphone go "BEEP! New message from Pilem!" And this is what she was looking at that very moment:



The Atlantic Ocean at Jacksonville's Huguenot Park. A nice sandy beach!



I took a picture of the snowy path I was walking on and said, "I'll trade you, anyday!"

Help! Help Me Please!

A couple days ago, I was walking in the Heebner Green Space Park when I heard someone (or something) in distress. I found him/her buried to their waist in quicksand!



I did my best to rescue it. I repeatedly tossed it a rope but it wouldn't (and couldn't) grab it. Rest in peace little OCHA - we hardly knew you.

Cleaning the Hood

I was, to tell the truth, slightly stung by Yellow Dog Granny's comment about my leaving the trash in the culvert that I showed you in my Fifth Photograph in my Fifth Folder entry.

I always carry a plastic bag from the grocery store and pick up trash as I walk - and rarely see anyone else doing so - and rarely has anyone walking or biking past me actually said anything positive about my doing so. In fact, I've been called a homeless person digging up returnable bottles and cans for the money so I can support my drug or alcohol problem to my face or worse yet someone doing "community service" because I did some stupid crime and got caught.

At any rate, slightly bitter, I went back and cleaned up the culvert. It took me only about ten minutes to collect all this trash.



I also pulled out the old computer and brought it home with me to recycle. It's a Gateway so it was junk from the day it was "born".



After I was done - I had the satisfaction of seeing this:



No one else using the walking path seemed to care the slightest - but I do and will - and I'll enjoy a trash-less view while walking, at least for a day or two.

Trees That Are Not Straight

While walking the other day I noticed this bent tree that reminded me of Punkn's spiral palm tree.



This tree bends 90 degrees about three feet off the ground and then runs parallel to the ground for a few feet where two branches shoot skyward and the trunk ends. Someone has taken pains to spray graffiti on the trunk telling people something they will already instinctively want to do - and that is "sit" on the flat surface and pretend they are riding a horse!

Fifth Foto in the Phifth Pholder

Challenged by Punkn to play the "Fifth Foto in the Phifth Pholder" game, I dove right in. Of course, unlike Punkn, I won't find any beautiful Grandkid photographs - and I was truly afraid I would discover blurry squirrel butt shots or ... something worse.



But what turned up was kind of unusual - if not a little sad. It took me a while to remember why I took this picture and then finally it dawned on me. A photograph of a trashed filled culvert? What was I thinking? Well if you look closely, the black square shaped object with a grey side resting between the two water inlets is a computer.

I speculate either someone got fed up playing the Redneck Playstation game that Yellow Dog Granny sent me (here) or perhaps they loaded Windows Vista late one night and ran into trouble?



A closer view. I wonder if I should go back there and pull it out? Chuckzan would probably appreciate it if I did.

Tarzan's Cousin, Chuckzan!

As I wrote previously, I had some excitement on Monday evening while walking in Valley Forge National Historic Park. I saw a bunch of wild squirrels and I started seeking one to take a photograph. Remembering to be polite and to say "please", I approached at least fifteen different squirrels and most of them ran off before I could even ask if I could take a photograph.

Gosh, these wild critters are so nervous, unpredictable or jumpy, they are sure squirrelly! But, finally, at long last, I did get one fellow to cooperate.



No sooner than I had taken the picture I heard this God-awful yelling behind me! It sounded like

"AAaaaAAaaaAAAaaahhhh corRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRooorooooRRRrrrrrrrn!!!"

I quickly turned and saw a shadow flashing by me on the ground... I took the quick, reflexive shot, not knowing how it would come out... And this is what I got!



It was Chuckzan! The King of the Squirrels swinging on a vine!! Well, his shadow anyway...

A Walk in the Woods

My repaired camera in hand, I took a walk in Valley Forge National Historic Park just before sunset yesterday to enjoy the awesome weather and to check out the camera. I was happy to have the camera back - and it is in excellent working order.

I had a bit of excitement while walking - but I'll save that for tomorrow's entry.

Today, I just want to look at these pictures and lose myself in the peaceful calm.



The branches are still bare - but the buds are starting to sprout.



It was warm enough for the hibernating turtles to wake up for a snooze in the sun.



I hope you will click on this picture and imagine running your fingers softly over the bark of this sycamore tree. Perhaps you can see why they are also called Buttonwood trees.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Saint Patrick's Day (Irish: Lá ’le Pádraig or Lá Fhéile Pádraig), colloquially St. Paddy's Day or Paddy's Day, is an annual feast day which celebrates Saint Patrick (circa AD 385–461), one of the patron saints of Ireland, and is generally celebrated on March 17.

The day is the national holiday of Ireland. It is a bank holiday in Northern Ireland and a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland and Montserrat. In Canada, Great Britain, Australia, the United States, and New Zealand, it is widely celebrated but is not an official holiday.

The world's first St. Patrick's Day parade was held in Boston in 1761, organized by the Charitable Society. The first recorded parade was New York City's celebration which began on March 18, 1762 when Irish soldiers in the English military marched through the city with their music. The New York parade is the largest, typically drawing two million spectators and 150,000 marchers.



The Irish in Philadelphia first celebrated St. Patrick's Day as in 1771, five years before the Declaration of Independence was signed. The first documented St. Patrick's Day Celebration Parade in Philadelphia was held that year. This year's parade marks over 239 continuous years of celebrations. This parade is the 2nd oldest Parade in the Country, topped only by the New York City Parade.



Like a true native, I've never actually seen the Parade in person. Maybe I ought to go next year, there may be photo-worthy squirrels!

More on New York, New York

The Flatiron Building, or Fuller Building as it was originally called, is located at 175 Fifth Avenue in the borough of Manhattan, and is considered to be one of the first skyscrapers ever built. Upon completion in 1902 it was one of the tallest buildings in New York City. The building sits on a triangular island block at 23rd Street, Fifth Avenue, and Broadway.

I found myself agape, admiring a skyscraper — the prow of the Flatiron Building, to be particular, ploughing up through the traffic of Broadway and Fifth Avenue in the late-afternoon light.
– H.G. Wells (1906)

The building, which took its name from the shape forced on it by the triangular lot it was built on – the Flatiron block, so called because it was shaped like a clothing iron – was officially named the Fuller Building after George A. Fuller, founder of the company that financed its construction. Locals took an immediate interest in the building, placing bets on how far the debris would spread when the wind knocked it down.



Offices in the "pointy end" are in huge demand as they have an unobstructed view of the Empire State Building.



They must also have a good view of a lot of water tanks. Notice the Empire State building peeking over the buildings?

Marmite Toasty recommends this amusing diversion. It put a smile on my face.

Information on my Package

I finally got some information on my package after having waited for it for quite a while.






The digital camera I broke back in the end of December or early January was finally repaired and being shipped back to me - I love getting UPS package information in my e-mail box. Once I get the camera back I can go back to trying to take that ultimate squirrel picture! I really like this camera - its a Pentax Optio V-20 and it is about the size of a cell phone but has a 3 inch viewer on it.



I asked my brother to bring his dog, Jane into work today. I've not seen my little fur-niece in a while. It was really nice having her hang out with us today. I'm going to ask my brother to bring Jane into work more often since I can't really manage a dog on my own yet.

I wish I could have taken some pictures of you folks when you read the title of this entry! Somehow, I think Lainie would have approved of the title.

Hope you have a good weekend.

Dog Slippers

In the wee hours of this morning, in the darkest of the night, I had a very vivid and life-like dream.

The dream was so vivid I felt as if I was awake...I was dreaming about me being asleep on the sofa, when cold and shivering, I dreamt I woke up and put my cold feet down beside the sofa - and before they hit the ground, they softly encountered the warm, silky-soft fur of a long-haired and faithful dog. Ahhh, Dog Slippers.



My dog always slept on the floor immediately beside me on the sofa. And if for some reason I awoke and went to bed, she would get up, follow me into the bedroom and lay down beside the bed. For years, each and every morning, when I woke up and braced myself to face the day ahead, I would swing my feet out and slowly lower them - and tell my dog "Good morning!" by softly rubbing her with my feet.



For some reason - last night I mentally went back in time in my dream - and re-enacted this soul-healing, spiritually-reassuring routine. She has been gone now for some years - and badly missed and not even slightly forgotten.