Just Checking In...

Hello!

The Ides of March (complete with full moon) must be the reason this month has been crazy at home and at work!  Thank goodness my "March Madness" will soon be over for the most part.  On to April Fool's...LOL!

Speaking of "March Madness" (the real one), Taylor and I just finished watching the Purdue- Univ. of Cincy game and he totally called it right after halftime!  We missed the first half, but it happened to be on the channel the TV was left on, so we watched it over dinner.  Cincy was behind.  He said not to worry because they play just like Tressel's Buckeyes and always wait until the end.  Well, Cincy tied it at the final buzzer, went into OT, then got behind, then won at that final buzzer.  Whew!  It's exhausting, but Taylor had been to several games and knew exactly how they operate.  He was texting his band friends there during the game.

Audra got her cap and gown today and is very excited to be graduating on Mother's Day!  She wanted me to decorate her cap (and I said let's do this together...)  Apparently, it's a thing with college kids now.

I rhetorically asked the kids if they thought they were too old for Easter baskets and I got a resounding NO!  Really?  They are 19 and 22 years old!  But they quickly presented me with their baskets and of course the Easter Bunny will not disappoint!

Speaking of which, if you haven't read "Darby Creek Down" it's one of my earlier posts that you might find amusing, gruesome and a bit sad.  We have lots of bunnies living here at the 'Creek as their tracks (and "Cocoa Puff poo") remained after they came and ate the bird food I put out...

The Ladies' Third Birthday party "Egg Hunt"
L-R: Megg, Penelope, Martha Stewart, Petunia, Isabella, Henrietta, Sylvia and in front, Bonnie.  Absent:  Gloria, who was in the house laying her own chocolate brown egg.

The "ladies" will be four years old on Easter, so we will have to celebrate and take some pictures.  I can't believe they are all still here, though Megg had a bad few days last week.  They are thrilled to be out and about with the better weather (aren't we all?)

Well, enjoy your Spring Break if you get one and I will be back soon!

Gale

Time For The Spring "Melt!"

Hi!

Well, Audra is home for her last Spring Break before graduating, so I took some time off work to spend time with her and Taylor.  Since I can't get them to agree on a movie, it's easy to just eat out as they are always ready to do that!  So, we decided to try someplace new...

Audra had been wanting us to go to "Melt" for quite some time and Taylor had asked to go to Easton Town Center in Columbus.  As luck would have it, there was a "Melt" that just opened at Easton!  As usual, Easton was packed and parking at a premium, but a car pulled away right in front of the restaurant.

The restaurant was also packed and the wait was an hour and 20 mins.  However, they will text you when your table is ready, so you don't have to stay there.  They give you a celebrity nametag and off you go.  We went to the new "Field & Stream" store across the street and killed the time.  It is exactly like "Cabella's" but that is no surprise.

Finally, I got the text and our table was waiting.  The service was excellent and the prices aren't out of line.  The atmosphere is kind of weird... they have yard ornaments from Halloween, Christmas and Easter intermingled.  Kinda creepy.

Everything on the menu involves cheese.  I hadn't had a Monte Cristo sandwich since I lived in California, so I got that.  Taylor had the Cod sandwich and Audra the Lasagna one.  They arrived surprisingly quick with a heaped high side of delicious fries.  They have a "challenge sandwich" featured on "Man vs Food" if one so chooses.  We didn't.

I would describe my sandwich as a "ham, turkey & cheese donut."  I probably wouldn't get it again.  Only ate about 1/4 of it.  Audra ate about the same and Taylor finished his off.  He said it was very good and Audra not-so-much.  We did have a ton of food for leftovers, but heat in the oven as the microwave will just, well, "melt" it into a soggy mess.

The sandwiches...

The Cod Sandwich

Their version of a Monte Cristo

The Lasagna sandwich

There are "Melts" popping up all over.  I think it is a fun place to try!  For more info, go to the link up top and check them out!

Until next time!

Gale

Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Bird?

Hello!

Over the years I've introduced you to most of my family.  But, until now I have neglected a feathered friend that I've had since 1985.  His/Her name is Rex... short for Memorex.  I believe he is a he though I never had him sexed, but we are going with that.  Rex is a Mexican Red-Headed Amazon Parrot that an avian vet believes is about 50 years old.

"Rex"  If it ain't junk food, he spits it out.  He likes pretzels, which I suppose aren't the worst things for him.

I got Rex from "Herds of Birds" in I think Encino, CA.  He was $350 which was a lot of money for me (and still is!), but I had always wanted a parrot that hung out with me and talked.  Well, he does hang out with me....

I would throw a towel over the seat of my car and we'd cruise the 'Strip.  Though I bought tapes for him, all he does is EEEE AWWWW!  loudly when he wants peanuts.  He doesn't like men, but I attribute that to a former boyfriend giving him flight lessons while his wings were clipped and joked that Rex had "Chirpees--a Canary-al disease that's un-Tweetable."  I still have the bird, but not that boyfriend!  (However, same said boyfriend did save his life when my roommates and I set off flea bombs in the house and thought someone else had brought him outside along with the other pets.  I was mortified when he came out with my bird and said "Hey Rex, they're trying to kill you!")

Rex was "live-caught" (as opposed to being dead-caught?) in Mexico back when that was legal.  I know he sits in his cage pondering what would've happen if he'd "just flown a little more to the left..."
I remember the space shuttles landing in California and the usual sonic boom they made when they hit the atmosphere.  This happened at 3 a.m. one night and even with clipped wings he was so scared he flew over to the dinner table and landed in the plant.  When the Challenger exploded, he sat on the door of his cage and watched the TV all day.  He was mesmerized and that was weird.

Sadly, he did run away once when I lived in Saugus, CA near a wooded ravine.  I was cleaning his cage outside and put him on a low branch of a nearby tree thinking his wings were clipped...well, they had grown out enough apparently for him to fly and he made for the ravine.  Try looking for a green bird at the top of a tree in the woods!  There was no getting him back, though I sat outside talking to him into the night and he would periodically respond.

When he stopped responding, I figured all was lost and went inside, but left the cage out and his favorite treats hoping he'd return.  He hadn't by the next afternoon, so I started to put his stuff away.  As I was doing this, I heard a crash on our patio sliding door's glass.  It was him!  I still can't believe he came home!  He ate and slept for days afterward and I've never heard a peep from him about wanting to leave since!

He flew (on a plane) with me home from L.A. to Ohio for Christmas one year in a traveling cage inside a Nordstrom shopping bag.  He was very quiet and nobody even knew he was in there, except for one little squawk and people were staring at my talking shopping bag!  That was the trip where I missed my flight and they put me on the next one with only first class available.  They didn't charge me the difference and that's the only first class flight I've ever had.  More room for Rex and I!

When we returned to L.A. we (Rex and I) got a lovely Christmas gift from the aforementioned boyfriend of a wrought iron cage--must nicer digs then Rex had previously!  Which reminds me of the time we "lost" Rex (in the house) when I lived at Barb's and we found him in the Christmas tree.  I have turned this place over today looking for that photo, but I can't find it.  If I do, I will post!  However, I did find the one where we found him riding on the ceiling fan...(not turned on of course!)

Rex likes to be as high up as he can.  No doubt he recalls his youth.

Last year I finally bought Rex a palace and it took him some getting used to.  The top is always open and now he's taking to exploring the house.... bad bird!  He isn't fond of people, has a malocclused beak that he hates having trimmed and makes a huge mess.  But we'll hopefully grow old together (since we are about the same age) because he loves me, junk food and showers, so what else does one need????

Until next time--think Spring!,

Gale