A Parakeet In the Bush Is Worth...

Image by ecocentrikGuy via FlickrMost every family has their share of pets as the children grow up. For a number of years we kept parakeets, as many as three or four at a time. Never would we have fewer than two. They seemed more content in pairs. Even so, introducing a new pal to a lone parakeet created a skittish situation at first. You wouldn't think a parakeet could be restless or jittery, but put two together who were not used to each other and it took about a week for them to even rest on the same perch. After that they would become inseparable.

In the summer they spent their days outside in the back yard. At first I would set the cage on a picnic table on the deck. That worked well until the first time we forgot to bring them in. By the time I remembered they were still outside, the cage had been knocked over by a prowling cat. I found it on it's side and empty. But the story has a happy ending. Believe it or not, the birds escaped and were found in various bushes and trees around the yard! We caught them with the girls' butterfly nets. Not used to flying, I guess they didn't have it in them to go very far.

One of the birds, curiously named "What's That?" by my imaginative daughters, was obviously injured with a bleeding wing and missing feathers. But he made it to see many more days. From then on, their cage was hung about six feet above the ground safely away from neighborhood cats.

When Minds Don't Meet

Image by Getty Images via Daylife Last night a meeting of the minds took place among my agent, broker and me. After showing me page after page of houses considered to be a step up from mine, in a "more desirable" part of town, which recently sold for ridiculously low prices, they hit me with the "it's time to lower your asking price" line. I thought my asking price was low. The way I understood it, since my first meeting with the agent, the house was "priced to sell." But I was wrong and now it's going lower.

So I have to get ready anew for the onslaught of buyers who have been waiting for an even better bargain. But somehow my motivation to present the house in its best light seems to have gone the way of the asking price.

Back to School One Last Time

Image via Wikipedia In 2006 I began working part-time on a Master's degree in Instructional Technology at NYIT. Evenings, weekends, online - anytime a class was offered, I fit it in. This week I've registered for my final two classes! In a few months I'll be all done. Can't wait! Although it's been fantastic to have the opportunity to take these classes, knowing the end is in sight is such a relief.
Of the last two classes, one is online and the other is ftf on Tuesdays in the late afternoon at the Manhattan campus. Not a very convenient time for someone who works a nine to five day (sort of) but I'll have to deal with it. Luckily my work has a bit of flexibility to it so I know I'll be able to compensate for the times I have to leave early. The online class will work very nicely of course, no schedule conflicts there.

Homegrown Satisfaction

A Image via Wikipediahome vegetable garden is so much work but gives a great deal of satisfaction as you see your plants grow. Nothing beats preparing part of a meal from ingredients you've nurtured along yourself. My property is not very large, about seventy-five feet by one hundred. That's enough room, though, to have a few good spots to plant a garden. The house faces north and on the west side, between the driveway and the house, is a great sunny spot for tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and cucumbers, some of the usual summer vegetables we grow at home in the Northeast U.S.

The photo here is not my garden, but looks just the same about one month into the season. Wooden stakes ready to hold up plants which would become many times their original size and loaded with heavy produce. Areas boxed off, each holding a different type of plant, and hoses hanging nearby for daily watering.

We didn't have a garden every year. Sometimes there was just too much else going on to get into it. There were a few good seasons though. Usually when the girls were small they helped plant in the beginning and pick in the end. Not surprisingly the in between work was left for me. They especially liked the picking part. They loved being sent out with a colander and returning it to me full of tomatoes.

For a couple of years, when my oldest daughter was a teenager she planted a vegetable garden herself and took care of it too. The earlier years of being a helper made an impression on her. She understood the satisfaction bringing something homegrown to the dinner table.

This spring I put in a few tomato plants in a small patch of the backyard. So far, they are doing nicely. When I planted them in May, I wondered if I would be here in August and September to harvest them or if new owners would be the beneficiaries of my work. As it stands now, I'll be enjoying it all myself.

Room to Grow

Image via WikipediaIn 1978 selecting a house to buy was not the ordeal it is today. You decided on a price range, went to a realty, viewed photos in a book and were shown what you liked and/or could afford. The sellers' attitude at that time was take it or leave it. There was no pandering to buyers, no HGTV guidelines to follow, no video tours posted on the web. In 1978 although mortgage loan rates were slightly rising, no crisis existed in the industry.

We didn't look at a lot of properties, maybe five or six. The first house we saw seemed to be a perfect fit, but who makes such a monumental decision that quickly? So we continued our search only to arrive back at the start. We chose the first house. It had the most potential, lots of room to grow, and interesting features which gave it a certain uniqueness. Since houses in our price range were mostly one or two bedroom homes, we thought choosing a house we could alter and add on to later made sense.

My favorite feature was, and remains to be, the fireplace. It can be a place for the whole family to gather around and enjoy or for only one to sit by and relax. It's a great background for entertaining in the winter. Anyone coming in from the cold out of doors to a warm, inviting fireplace will feel welcomed just by its glow. Each autumn I looked forward to that first chilly evening when I would light it again!