Category: Glimpses of Life

Yes — it is mating season in Minnesota!

While sitting on my screen porch yesterday, I heard a raucous loud sound. Over and over again this sound pierced the still air til finally a wing flutter could be heard. Looking towards the sound, I could hear two wing flutters. And there they were! Two majestic looking hawks — male chasing female.

I quickly looked through my binoculars to get a good look at these two giant birds. Oops! I was looking at two mating birds. Sheeplishly I put my binoculars down. Hmmm … I never knew that … Well, I had never seen birds mate before.

Today, the cardinal that’s been flitting around our yard had brought his mate with him.

Chasing each other through the trees, over and under, they sure looked like they were having a good time.

Yes — mating season has begun. I wonder why I have never noticed this time of year before.

With all the hoopla recently regarding Google and how it uses my search history, I decided to see if there was a way to turn off my history searches in Google. Sure enough, there is a little known workaround to stop Google from tracking our history. You have to “opt-in” though and I wish they would tell people about the option instead of us having to stumble upon it.

Here are the simple steps to follow:

1. Go to google.com
2. Go to “Account Settings.” (Mine was found by clicking on my name which gave me a drop-down menu)
3. Scroll down to “Services”
4. Next to the tab “View, enable, or disable web history,” click on “Go to web history”
5. Click on “Pause” at the top of the page

That’s it! There is also an option to remove all your web history.

This isn’t something new but something new to me. And the funny thing is that I don’t “see” most of the personal ads that are supposed to be geared towards me. Perhaps it’s because I’m focused too much on what I’m doing.

They are here! The birds are back thanks to the warmer weather we’ve been experiencing.

While driving home, I noticed that the neighbor dog was a little agitated pacing back and forth while looking up at a tree on our property. Looking up, I noticed a huge yellow looking bird. Hmmm … I wonder if the falcon is back.

Running to get my camera from inside the house, I took many shots of this large bird. He stood perfectly still as I got as close as I could without disturbing him. At first, I thought it was an owl as it was so round and puffy-like. But, what a surprise I had when I looked at the pictures and found that my treasure for the day was spotting a red-shouldered hawk. I understood the concern of my furry dog friend as these hawks are carnivorous and its diet mainly consist of small mammals.

She looks a tad bit fat to me and I believe I probably took this picture shortly after she had grabbed something to eat.

While I was outside, I spotted a smaller version of this hawk which I’m pretty sure was the male. Unfortunately, the light wasn’t conducive to taking a picture of it but it sure was making a racket!

Injury break.

Will post again in a few days.  🙁

March is supposed to be the snowiest month in Minnesota. So far, we’ve seen drizzle and sun.

Yesterday reminded me of Seattle. Cold, damp, drizzly, foggy and windy. A typical Seattle day. I even started to feel blah.

This morning I looked out the window and a cardinal was sitting on a branch. The beginning of spring has arrived albeit a little earlier than the date suggests it should.

The weather is supposed to be in the 40’s, 50’s then 60’s next week. I don’t know if I’m ready for spring yet. I’ve enjoyed the winter even though it was quite mild. Our snow plower didn’t make much money off of us this year.

Spring projects include: removing wallpaper from the main bathroom, painting the guest room and laundry room on the main floor, painting the his and her closets in the master bedroom and lastly, landscaping the yard.

I still haven’t figured out what to do with our backyard. Once the trees are in full bloom, the only sunlight we get is when the sun is directly above our house and there are too many trees hovering over our property to allow the sun to beam down in a way to provide much light to plants. Quite a challenge — a shade and deer tolerant yard.

I wonder if there’s a landscaping show similar to HDTV for houses that will come and do it for me. Hmmm … I’ll have to check that out. Unless someone already knows???

A few years ago, I watched a movie called My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It’s a comedy and, although I don’t find comedy funny most of the time, this movie made me think about things that, as a Puerto Rican, my family used to (term used loosely) do.

In the movie, the father uses Windex as a cure for everything. Pimple? Windex. Rash? Windex. One would think that the story was made up but idiosyncrasies like this are a reality in a lot of cultures. Mine is one of them although it’s not Windex that we use.

Growing up, our cure-all was Vicks VapoRub. Much to my dismay, it has recently changed.

On a recent trip to visit relatives (who shall remain anonymous for reasons known) I had a wrist splint on because of pain that I was experiencing due to a fall on vacation. When a person is injured or sick, friends and family all seem to become doctors. I was now the patient of well-meaning relatives.

Sitting around watching TV, the family member told me they had something that would help my pain. My first thought was “Oh, Vicks Vaporub” but I mistaken.  A large clear jar of blue “gel” was pulled out, the top was opened and a large amount of the gel was slathered on my arm and wrist.

Hmmm … I thought. It has a menthol smell. The pain was starting to go away and for about an hour I was pain free. “This stuff seems to work, at least temporarily,” I told myself.

For the next couple of days, I thought nothing of the “gel” that was now being used on me every time I visited. Until, that is, I went to use the bathroom. While cleaning my hands, I noticed a huge tub of this gel sitting on the vanity and like a cat whose curiosity is piqued by trailing yarn, I picked up the large tub to see what was in this miracle cure. The large label read “Mineral Ice.” Oh, mineral ice, that sounds “natural.”

Hmmm … “Mane and Tail” — what a strange name. As I continued to read, my heart almost stopped. “Horses In Training: Use regularly before and after workouts.”

Oh no! What is this????!!!!!!! I couldn’t believe it.

“After Strenuous Competition:
To temporarily relieve minor soreness or stiffness after racing, polo, hunting, jumping, roping, cutting, gated performances and dressage. Promotes faster, safer cool outs.”

I almost fell to the floor with uncontrollable laugher. The new cure-all is meant for animals.

I left the bathroom feeling foolish. “You should have known,” I told myself. “You should have checked. You know some people in your family have odd ideas.”

Quite honestly, I don’t believe my relative even read the label. Another relative had given them a clear jar of the gel and since it worked they continued to use it. Then this “other” relative gave them the large tub of “Mane and Tail” and they continued filling the large clear jar every time it was empty.

Upon leaving, I was presented with my very own clear jar of Mane and Tail.

Once I arrived at home, I looked up the ingredients. The main ingredient is menthol. I haven’t checked each of the other ingredients to see if they are okay for “human use.”

(Active Ingredient: Menthol 2%
Other Ingredients: Ammonium Hydroxide, Carbomer 934, Cupic Sulfate, FD&C Blue No. 1, Isopropyl Alcohol 11.2%, Magnesium Sulfate, Sodium Hydroxide, Thymol, Deionized Water.)

But, I just don’t think I can use it. My brain just can’t wrap itself around using a concoction that’s meant for horses.  Especially since the warning tells you to see a veterinarian if you have problems.

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