A Surprise Phone Call

The phone rang last night and I rushed to get it before the answering machine took over.  Got there in time, and said "Hello".  I was thinking that it was someone calling to check on my wife and I was in the middle of a household chore or two or three.  I heard a female voice say hello, and I asked who was calling.  Since I was busy with something, I wasn't paying complete attention to the phone call and when she said her name the first part was muffled and all I heard was ??? Lynn.  Of course, I said "WOW", is this Loretta Lynn?

Guess what?  It wasn't, it was my cousin, Judy Lynn who I have not heard from in many, many years.  She was the youngest child of my Dad's oldest brother.  She is older than I am and her brother is fifteen years older than she is.  Gee, I wonder if she was a surprise baby?  She wanted to tell me that her brother had been in the hospital and is now home but isn't doing all that great.  Well, he is in his 90's and just because his Dad lived to be a hundred, I would guess that he has a good chance of hitting the century mark.  Yep my Dad's brother lived to be a hundred and my Dad died at 60, 40 years less than his brother.

Now, let's hope that you all inherited the longevity gene in your family and live long and well, you hear?

Need to Update Blog.

I have been real busy, but am taking a little time to update my blog and surf the internet.  My wife is recuperating but it will take some time for her broken ankle and broken knee to heel.  In the mean time, I am chief cook and bottle washer, nurse, and fixer of all household problems.  Quite a burden, I would say.

Our male dog rarely leaves her side, only to go out a couple of times a day and to eat.  Other than that, he lays right beside her.  Dogs always seem to know when something isn't right with the humans that they love.  The two female dogs know something isn't right, also, but I have been keeping them in the other part of the house.  Three dogs would be a little too much to have in bed with her, and the girls would probably be fidgety.  You know, two is company and three or more is a crowd, and our male dog said he is the only one allowed to stay with her.  Of course, he is nice enough to let me sleep in our bed at night.

It just takes a lot of time for bones to heal.  The good news is she says that it doesn't hurt near as bad as it did, but still is quite painful.  I will try to keep you informed, now, you all have a great day, you hear?

An Engineering Feat

When I took the bird feeders out this morning, I saw where a spider spun a single strand of its web from very high up in a tree down to the bird feeder stand.  This amazed me.  It was quite an engineering feat.  If that spider had planned it that way, he or she or it would have had to take into consideration the distance away from straight down, the direction and velocity of the wind, and combining those two, decide the very best moment to jump.  Of course it could have been a "Hail Mary" type of jump and it just worked out that way.

I took a couple of pictures.  I hope you can see just how far that strand is.  It seems to be coming from the eye of the metal bird:

OK, it is hard to see in the above picture.  I also took one closer to the bird feeder stand that shows it a lot clearer.  Now that was a very acrobatic spider for sure:

Yep, that sure was a long, long strand.  I wish I could have seen the spider doing it.  Isn't Nature wonderful and full of surprises.  Surprises?  Yes, it is quite a surprise when you are walking in the woods and walk right into a spider web.  Now, you all have a great day, you hear?