Amy's Place ... Poetry and Potpourri ... April, 2008

JustAmy; St.Louie1; MamaBear; Billie

[JustAmy]

Welcome To....


'Amy's Place' welcomes all poets
and those who enjoy poetry.
'Amy's Place' is more than just about poetry.
Come in, relax, and share with fellow FReepers
your thoughts about any of the things on the *Menu*.

Enjoy! :)











Never Forget!





Bad Penny



Amy's personal guardian ~
the ever charming, lovable, huggable,
LouieWolf




Many thanks for stopping by. : )

[Mama_Bear]

This is soooooo exciting. Last we heard, you figured it was about time they hatched; now we know!! P.S. They may hatch one per day like my hummers did...

I sure wish I could see into the nest. It's dark in there and I can't see much. I don't want to get too close.

The male is working his little heart out bringing food to his mate and the little one (ones?) and I did manage to get a photo of him when he came to the nest on one of his trips, but it's not very good and I can't see any young. As they get bigger, I am sure I will get more photo opportunities.

It is really sweet to watch the male when he comes to the nest. This photo isn't great, but it shows the female sitting on the edge of the nest while the male looks in a his baby, preparing to feed him. They are doing such a good job as first time parents. :-)

[yorkie]

MamaBear, the Lavender Trumpet Vine looks very much like the night blooming "Moonflower". (Datura Cornigera)

Every single part of the Moonflower is extremely poisonous. Even animals know to avoid it.

[Mama_Bear]

Thanks for the redtail photos; they are excellent, imo!!

Is it a redtail? I figured it might be a red tailed hawk.........the red tail was sort of a give-a-way. LOL. But I know nothing about hawks, except they are birds of prey.

It made me nervous to see them circling over head because Chachi was outside with me. I know that a large hawk will grab a rabbit and Chachi isn't much bigger than a rabbit. When he was a tiny puppy, about the size of a gerbil, I was afraid for him to be outside at all, so I got an old playpen and turned it upside down over him. We don't have a lot of hawks around us, they are more in the foothills, but still, I was just scared to death that a large bird would come and grab him.

[Mama_Bear]

You should never bungee jump if you have (uh, ah, how do I say this politely....) intestinal flu.

LOL!! And, you know this from experience???? Dare I ask? ;-)

[Mama_Bear]

I love your Jay family update,too

Thank you. Here's another Jay Update for those who are interested.

[OESY]

Not only that, but as a paratrooper, I've jumped out of airplanes too, which--if you think about--is not bad skill to have. It seems Uncle Sam gave me the logistics (food, medicine, supplies, transport) responsibility for the airborne expeditionary force detailed to support the Israelis in the 1967 war--if it went much beyond six days. We never went.

.

[Mama_Bear]

You found the perfect poem to go with that graphic....but that's no surprise. You are really good at that.

That Chaucer poem is stuck in my head forever. My senior high school English teacher made us memorize it...in the original OLD ENGLISH, not the translated modern version. She could read the entire Canterbury Tales in 14th Century "old English". It was beautiful to hear - one of my favorite memories from my senior year was her English class.

[Mama_Bear]

...the Lavender Trumpet Vine looks very much like the night blooming "Moonflower". (Datura Cornigera) Every single part of the Moonflower is extremely poisonous. Even animals know to avoid it.

That's interesting. I have never heard of a Moonflower. I know that Oleanders are very poisonous too. I have two of them (in fact, the jay family is nesting in one of them). I was concerned about my dogs eating the leaves from the Oleanders, but none of them ever paid any attention to them. Heck, they won't eat their dog food unless I put gravy on it, they aren't about to eat a leaf. LOL.

[Mama_Bear]

Not only that, but as a paratrooper, I've jumped out of airplanes too, which--if you think about--is not bad skill to have.

Well, you're a better man than I am, Gunga Din! LOL.

I guess somebody has to do it, but I'm glad it wasn't me.

It seems Uncle Sam gave me the logistics (food, medicine, supplies, transport) responsibility for the airborne expeditionary force detailed to support the Israelis in the 1967 war--if it went much beyond six days. We never went.

Well, thank God for that! And thank you for your service, OESY. I have a special place in my heart for our veterans.

[Mama_Bear]

Great quotes, Dolly. Many of them I'd not heard before.

How are you doing? I've been worried about you.

[yorkie]

The moonflower grows wild up here on the high desert. It is a very large plant (think bushel basket), with beautiful flowers that open only after the sun sets.

The leaves, vine, flower, petals, stems are all very poisonous on the moonflower. I think some lady (a few years ago) soaked some of the stems with flowers in her husband's little pitcher of milk before he came down for breakfast. (She removed them when she heard his footsteps.) Guess she was mad about something or other.

She's serving a life term, IIRC.

There is a horse corral close to me, that every thing that grows inside that fence gets eaten by the horses - except the moonflower. They won't touch it.

I find it curious that the animals know.

P.S. Those hawks you photographed are red-tailed hawks.

[OESY]

Was that intestinal flu before or after your jump? Of course, in the Bungy Zone, Nanaimo,
Vancouver Island, B.C., there is no charge for those who jump in the buff--which is much
better for those with flu-like symptoms They also do it in connection with a more formal
fundraising event to benefit the BC Schizophrenia Society--in case you become interested.




"Take nothing but risks.
Leave nothing but shrieks.
Kill nothing but time."





My only problem with them is they told me to keep my shoes on until I jumped:
"Sir, it gets pretty raunchy up here in the middle of July." Also they wouldn't accept
anything other than a swan dive (and my VISA card) since they had a reputation
to protect. When I jumped I forgot to yell "Geronimo" as I was surprised at how fast
I accelerated to zero velocity (i.e., zero acceleration--prior to negative acceleration).
There was no discomfort. When they saw I had contacts, they cranked off a couple
of inches so I wouldn't touch the water since people reflexibly lose their lenses other-
wise. When we were there, very professional and experienced Kiwis ran the place.

.

[yorkie]

I never jumped - I was told that someone had the “D” word, and then jumped. It was a big mistake. LOL!!

OESY, great pictures!

[Mama_Bear]

I never jumped - I was told that someone had the “D” word, and then jumped. It was a big mistake. LOL!!

LOL. Well, for your sake, I am glad it was not from personal experience. ;-)

[Mama_Bear]

The moonflower grows wild up here on the high desert. It is a very large plant (think bushel basket), with beautiful flowers that open only after the sun sets.

Hmmmm........I'm going to do some research into it. It should grow here. We aren't considered "high" desert, but we do have dry arrid summers. We are in zone 9, I think. IIRC we're on the border of zone 8, according to the Western Sunset Book, which is my gardening bible.

[yorkie]

You can find out more, by typing “poisonous moonflower” in the search box. Under ‘images’, the words “Datura Cornigera” bring in page after page by some scientist.

There was one case in OH, where 20 kids were hospitalized from ingesting a part of this plant.

Mama_Bear - you AREN’T mad at your husband, are you?! LOL!

[Mama_Bear]

Mama_Bear - you AREN’T mad at your husband, are you?! LOL!

LOL. No, but I have a neighbor I'm not too happy with. ;-)

(Just kidding!!! If anything happens to my neighbor, I sure don't want to be hauled off to jail. They are really a very nice family. LOL)

[Lady Jag]

FOURRRR...

a perfectly great
Golfer's Day!

[Mama_Bear]

Isn't that the cutest picture?!

Hi, Lady Jag. You find the best images and graphics to post!

[yorkie]

He's a little doll! (I don't care if he does golf!)