renee’s blog

I have really steeped myself in Renaissance and Halloween this summer.  Also my oldest child, my only son Jeromie got married this summer!  I have not stopped once to rest.  I haven't been on Vox or online much at all.  That means I have to relearn my way around and see the ways in which it has been updated.  Maybe make some more vox friends.  I thought I'd start again with a photo or two.  (Now how does this go?...)

  I have cleaned house and have far fewer pets.  I still have 7 Cockatiels,(the first 7 tiels on the previous list).  In addition Mikey the Quaker is still the second love of my life; (second to my human family members).  I have Zeta and the fishtank, but have lost my 2 biggest and sweetest fish.  (That was a hard one, I got called at work when they died.)  I no longer have any small birds or hamsters or guinea pigs.  T.J. the Ferret is getting downright rickety and probably is not long for this world.  No more ferrets ever.  Too hard when they go.  I'd say that is enough animals though.  Just wanted to update that.  (P.S. except for the fishes and Chrismouse the hamster who lived to a ripe old age,  all the other pets went to new families which were 'specially chosen for them.)

Some Halloween fun I wanted to share with you.  (It's also video scrapbooking fun.)

Today I gave blood.  I am very happy to have this chance to donate.  I gave at the local Memorial Blood Center.  It took me 9 minutes, which they say is normal for a first-timer.  I also got some great cheesecake with carmel sauce afterward along with the almost obligatory apple juice.  Next time, (not less than 56 days from now), I will give double-red.  That is giving two units of red blood cells.  I fully intend to continue to give blood.  The group liason said that the blood gets seperated into three parts- plasma, red blood and platelets.  Potentially you can help save the lives or improve the health of three different people each time you donate.  Memorial Blood Centers distribute their blood into their local community.  (That's good.)   I went as part of a corporate group, but anyone can walk in and get screened.  If you make it through the screening, you can give blood right then and there.  Or if you'd rather, you can make an appointment or drum up a group and have a party.   I dedicate this donation to the victims, past and present, of the September 11 attack on America.

    I just bought a bag of those pretty, softly rounded, colorful rocks of different colors.  I got it at the Goodwill for $6.99.  I decided that I didn't know enough about rocks; whether man-made, natural, minerals, fossils, stones, semi-precious or precious.  I have always liked all of the above.  Having done just a few minutes of web-based research, I now know how easy it is to be charged so very much for such things.  The simple truth is: It is darned hard to know what's what, when it comes to rocks.  I have a lot of "rocks" that I have collected.  You can get them at amusement parks.  Just pay for the velvet bag and fill 'er up.  I got a few at the craft store.  Some came in a bubbling tabletop fountain kit.  A few were found while out and about on walks. 
    I also have 3 geodes.  They're like fossilized lava bubbles that filled in with various minerals over thousands of years.   One is the size of a softball, one the size of a baseball and the smallest is just a tad larger than a golf ball.  Each of mine is encrusted over the entire inside surface with Amethyst and quartz crystals.  The largest has "gem quality sized crystals".   They're not like the ones you see in jewelry store windows, but in all three, I am more fortunate than many.  Some people, like myself, buy them first.  Then, when money has changed hands, the geode is cracked open.  Some are fairly costly and yield basically nothing.  Or they may be unsightly, unvaluable or "irregular".  Like I said, I was lucky.   Mine are on display in my living room.  
     I digress.  I found that most of the new pretty rocks were probably tumbled agate - of a lower grade.  But, like so many things that I own, their worth is not intrinsic.  I value them for the aesthetic.  I like to look at them, touch them, rearrange them.  So I have little piles of rocks on endtables around my living room.  Cha Feng Shui.  

current pet count...
1. Mikey : Quaker Parrot, sex undetermined
2. Rocky : Lutino cockatiel, Male
3. Pretty April: Standard cockatiel, female
4. Angel : Standard cockatiel, female and mate to:
5. Spike : Standard cockatiel, male
6. (Mr.) Bird (to You) : Standard cockatiel, male and mate to:
7. Ladybird: Standard cockatiel, female and parents of 8,9,10 and 11
8. Lacey a.k.a. Primus, Pearl-pied cockatiel, sex undetermined
9.  Tooey , Standard cockatiel, sex undetermined
10. Treble, Standard cockatiel, sex undetermined
11. Two "peanuts", just hatched this week
12. Skittle, fancy canary, female
13. Fred, yellow canary, male
14. Ted, yellow canary, male
15. Bling, European gold finch, female
16. Thresher, orange weaver finch, male
17. A 55 gallon fishtank with (what else) 6 Blood Parrot cichlids including "Big Bird" a 7 inch long BPc and "Spot" a 9 inch Syndontis Angelicus catfish and 7 other similar fishes.
18. Chewbacca, long-hair guinea pig, male, brother to 19
19. Little Sister, long-hair guinea pig, female
20. Dove, a.k.a. Birdy, short-hair guinea pig, female
21. Princess Daisy, fancy rat, female
22. T.J. , standard sable ferret, male
23. Carmen, standard sable ferret, female
24. ChrisMouse, Chinese dwarf hamster, male (with congenital defect of missing back legs from knee down and several front fingers. 
25. Cloud, Russian dwarf hamster, male
26. Robot, Roborovskii's hamster, male
27. Happy (Birthday), crown-tail betta fish, male
28. Menning's Bella Zeta Giselle "Zeta", Italian Greyhound, female-spayed

At the local Goodwill (Where I work as a manager), I saw a t-shirt that says "Nobody cares about your blog".   I thought it was pretty funny.  I would have bought it but I don't buy t-shirts with unkind sayings.  But it was hard to resist.