Today with information so available, in such large volumes, it is too easy to want it simplified. And whoever can best do that for us, is who gets our attention.

This is nothing new. Cliff Notes, Wikipedia, Fox News, MSNBC, CNN. Any place that can make simple sense of what is going on. Forget the in depth details, tons of information. Confusing contradictions. Just ”simplify” it right?

Not always. Too often, by only accepting “simplified” information, we’re getting a simplified version of that information. Cliff Notes, Wikipedia, Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, all represent their own “simplified” perspective.

“Simplified’s not always the best approach. That’s my take - “simplified”. What’s yours?

Marty is the latest addition to BirdBreath. He’s living proof Extraterrestrial’s really exist. Where’s he is from? Who knows. Look for him to appear from time to time.

Every scientist imagineable has theories on the best way to make contact with one of these visitors from where ever. My suggestion? Put up a Website….

There are always days, when the weather is too cold, wet and miserable to do anything worthwhile. Here they are usually from October to April. After that, it’s all sun and fun. Camping, swimming, hiking, fishing, cycling. All neat, exciting, outdoor things. No limit.

We expect that. We plan for it. We can’t wait. This year, mother nature extended the crummy season. Talk about frustration central. Almost like the DTs.

Soooooo….. I guess the best thing to do is just hang out….

Believe it or not, laughing is actually, really good for us. 

Emotionally and physically. Emotionally, it strengthens our relationships with others. Promotes teamwork. Improves our mood. Physically, it’s a perfect stress reliever. It relaxes our body’s muscles. Decreases our stress  hormones and increases our immune cells. Improves blood flow, thus protecting our heart. Releases endorphins, a  chemical that makes us feel good.

See how good and healthy laughing is for us? That is if we’re not swallowing…..

Every story deserves a happy ending.

Meet Abbey (aka …Burberry). She was a shy, golden brown tabby (owner’s believe she’s part Maine Coon), who was found in one of the Morgan Hill (San Jose, CA) apartment complexes.  Thanks to Town Cats Of Morgan Hill, she’s now a very loyal, sweet, house greeter. She really loves attention and is extremely affectionate.

Don’t you just love “Happy Endings”? …

What’s a REAL American?

Lately, this question again emerged in Arizona. If you visit there and can not prove you are indeed a real American, You go straight to jail and do not collect $200. They also plan to ban books and classes on non-American culture in their schools. They’re now urging every state to do likewise. New York, thanks to 911 has a different answer. They’re now suspicious of anyone who they suspect are not a real American. Likewise after the Viet Nam War, World War2, World War1, Civil War, American Revolution, real Americans were again defined.

Both of our major political parties have a different answer for real Americans.  Now a new “Party”  has another.

What’s lost in these answers is the fact that the overwhelming majority of us are not real Americans. Only a few here really are………

BirdBreathBlog is almost here. Last tweeks complete. Check. Domain name registered. Check. Transferred to MidPhase. Check. Move all posts, users and data to new blog……… hopefully this weekend. I hope.

Trust me. You’ll like it. New simple layout. Easy navigation. Better posts…….

Never underestimate a scrubjay. As the saying goes, “It’s not the size of the bird in the fight, but the fight in the bird”.

Our yard used to be owned by sharpshin and coopers hawks. Note the word “used”. Since this and several other scrub jays arrived, no hawk of any kind has dared visit. They own our feeders.  They also own everything near them. In fact, the other day, I was even buzzed by an irritated, thought to be threatened, scrubbie.

I wonder if they are also capable of fending off home invasion burglars?

When it comes to socializing and privacy, there’s a saying. “The less said, the better”.

Socializing is as old as civilization. We see someone, we say “hello”. They say “hello”. My name’s whatever. I live wherever. My kids are whomever. Here are their pictures. Tomorrow, we are going wherever (translation - we will not be home). As in sports, “no harm, no foul”. The more we talk to that person, the more information we give them. Maybe our likes or dislikes. Our interests, like cooking, lawn work, favorite places to eat. Where we live. That person moves on and our information is long forgotten. Still “no harm, no foul”. Right?

Now, along comes (the big rage) Internet socializing. Same conversations. However, this time, that same information is stored somewhere, on someone’s (Facebook. Myspace, Twitter, Blogger) Internet server. It’s not forgotten. It’s now permanent. The more conversations we have on all those neat, cool Internet sites, the more information about us  are kept forever. They are not forgotten. BIG harm. BIG foul.

Lately a huge outrage has been directed at Facebook for it’s modified privacy stance (Google “Facebook privacy”). Good for free press. What’s lost is everybody else. Whatever site we log on to, that site can (and often does) sell your “no harm, no foul” information. Free enterprise at work. Also, social engineers (bad guys) thrive on gathering information from all our favorite places.

This we can’t control. However, what we can is - “The less (personally) said, the better”.

Today’s National Hug Your Cat Day. If you’ve got one, give it a big hug.

Cat is good for you. Lowers your blood pressure. Except like maybe when our former cat Cookie, insisted on waking us, for her for breakfast at 3 AM. Lessens your stress, except when always messing the litter box after we’ve cleaned it. Initially she was not too keen on hugs or petting. Being a former stray, she preferred clawing our eyes out.

There’s also strong evidence, cat helps you live a longer, healthier life, if she doesn’t actually kill you first…..

Good news. According to the Naples News, their numbers continue to hold, despite record numbers being killed due to vehicle collisions. Even with the pervasive municipal development, they continue to reproduce faster than their mortality rate.

Bad news. Enjoy this while we can. They are running out of room in South Florida.

The story continues. Saw this “poody” in our yard, and immediately when I took it’s picture, it freaked and ran. It definitely deserves a better life.

Here are some tips, from the Humane Society Of The United States, on  ”What to Do if You Find a Stray Pet“. Unfortunately, before I could apply this, cat was gone.

There are plenty of fantastic places to call, as I mentioned previously, in our Birdbreath “Adopt A Poody” campaign. A favorite place here in Livermore is the Tri-Valley Animal Rescue .

It’s on us. They deserve a better life. Let’s do something about it.

….. is wherever we are.

We’ve lived in Stow Ohio, Augusta Georgia, Lawton Oklahoma, Barstow California, Stow Ohio again, and now Livermore California. Many people move here from abroad. Others live abroad. And every place is still “home”.

Same for this dove’s nest in our daughter’s Houston parking garage…..

Today, it’s all about speed. Fast is in. Drive-Thru restaurants. Interstate highways. Sports cars. High speed Internet. Fast-Track bridges. HOV lanes. Express elevators. Express checkouts. Credit cards. Debit cards. Whatever. Speed. Speed. Speed. The faster the better.

Lately, birds in our area (like the one above) have also adopted this philosophy.

We get many dove visiting our bird feeders. Seems they really like the free bird seed and water. This guy in particular, seemed very content last night, just sitting there and admiring the view.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not so sure about the drinkability of that water.

Web –noun
1. something formed by or as if by weaving or interweaving.
2. something that snares or entangles; a trap.
3. a network of interlinked stations, services, communications, etc., covering a region or countries.

Origin:
bef. 900; ME (n.), OE; c. D, LG webbe, ON vefr; akin to weave

—Related forms
weblike, adjective

—Synonyms
1. network, tissue, tangle, maze.

See how SIMPLE that is?              

Pain medicine is great. Especially after surgery. Opioids (such as morphine and codeine) are used most often for acute pain, as short-term solution. Local anesthetics (such as procaine) can also be given by a shot.  These block the nerves that send pain signals to your brain.

Several years ago, I had surgery for a torn rotator cuff. Those meds really work. Right after surgery, I felt great. Shoulder did too. Then about eight hours later…..

The fun thing about being outside is you never know what you might see. Most of the time it is the normal routine things like neighbors, friends, cars, trucks, bicycles, walkers, joggers, fleeing criminals, whatever. We take them for granted.

Same applies for birds. Crows, dove, robins, jays, finch, sparrows. Every so often a hawk, vulture, or seagul, that is less common. An then there is the bird above, that is totally unexpected. My first thought was it’s a blackheaded grosbeak, hooded oriole, or western tanager. But neither exactly fits.

Aren’t mysteries great? BTW - any ideas?

It’s amazing how many different languages are spoken around the world. Over 1 billion speak Chinese. 300,000 speak Spanish or English. Over 200,000 speak Arabic, followed by over 100,000 speaking Hindi, Portuguese or Russian and a little less than 100,000 speaking German.  Of course there are many others speaking in less numbers. No wonder, we have so many conflicts and so little ability to find a common ground.

I suggest “global speak”, - commonly referred to as Internet slang. Everybody speaks it, The definitions are simple and direct. Who can misunderstand LOL, RONTFLOL, BTW, IBB, or NOTA. Let’s drop the “everyone speak a native language first” mentality and establish this as the world standard for languages.

See how easy that is? No more “my language is better than yours” attitute. No more communication gaps. No more misinterpretations. Suddenly we all REALLY understand each other. Suddenly we are EQUAL ….  

But

We’ve all been through something. Bad day. Down day. Problems at work. Problems at home. Bad luck. Bad back. Bad whatever. We’ve also had stubbed toes, sprained ankles, broken bones. Somehow we came through just fine. We survived OK. We managed to overcome.

Then there are the things that require serious rehab. Knees, arms, legs, backs. After a short stint (in the, as I call it, the torture chamber) we come out for the better. Several years ago, I was out of work due to a torn rotator cuff surgery. Three months of pure agony, trying to get back to normal. It was very long, painful and totally frustrating. I could do no physical activities (like basketball or mowing the yard). Bathing was really a trip. I could do little during the recovery. I attempted to draw BirdBreath cartoons left handed. (Really, due to BirdBreath being sooo simple, the cartoons were not all that bad.) I really disliked rehab.  But, TA DAHHHHH - I survived. All is now well. I did overcome.

However, there are others out there that make these pale by comparison. I got an email from a BirdBreath fan that, due to a horrible accident, has had so many physical problems and while suffering excruciating pain and being permanently wheelchair bound, has quietly endured it, totally relying on others just to exist, and (guess what?) has accomplished so much.  This person truly did it.

Soooooooo, the next time we have something that is difficult to overcome, of whatever magnitude, THIS should be our inspiration…..