I'm sure somebody out there has arthritis.  I know I'm not the only one.  It's been raining and muggy and thunderstorms over in this part of the world and I'm in so much pain it's not even funny.  :( 

I've been in too many car accidents and have a lot of pain from it. I don't want to whine but man does it hurt and it hurts everywhere: neck, back, feet, knee, wrist. And then migraines too.  WooHoo!  eesh  LOL 

It's been a quiet day so far, no major excitement but I have to work slow with the pain. I have a ton of things to do, I don't feel like doing any of it and there's not enough time to do it and now I'm working in slow motion.  LOL  Oh well....such is life.  What is it that they say, pain is a sure sign that you're not dead yet.  LOL  Onward and upward!!

My sympathies to any and all who are hurting today in whatever capacity.  I hope you feel better soon and that the pain meds kick in to bring some relief to that which ails you.
 

My poor Jake. We had quite the day yesterday. Poor little guy!! We were out at a friends house and they had these sticky pads near where we were standing with the kids (our birds). I didn't see the darn things and I have no idea what happened but something scared Jake. He was on the hubby's shoulder and he threw himself off and landed on one of these stupid things UPSIDE DOWN!! *GASP!!*  O.M.G.!!!

Everybody jumped into action at once. Thankfully nobody panicked but holy crow it was awful.  My poor little man was terrified and stuck to this stupid thing screaming bloody murder. We had people looking over the fence to see who or what was being murdered. LOL We grabbed the other bird and put her in her carrier. She flipped right out!! She's so protective of Jake and with him screaming she was ready to kill to protect him.  She didn't see what was going on and was desperately trying to get to him and was ready to take out anybody that was hurting him. It was quite the ordeal just getting her inside her carrier while we worked on poor Jake.

He was stuck to the blasted thing by his wings which I suppose was better than his chest and head but not by much and I tried calming him by talking softly to him and ran him to the sink with warm water running. He did calm down a little but anyone could see he was frightened. His little chest was pounding up and down.  :( My poor poor little man!!  I couldn't even speak properly. The only thoughts going through my head were don't panic or you'll scare him even more, don't break his blood feathers, I hope to god he's ok and I can get this crap off him safely and don't drown him with the water running.

Having had parrots for the better part of 25 years of my life I've had some strange and panicky situations but nothing like this.  AND I hope to heck I never have to go through it or see anyone go through it again. Holy moly!!

I needed scissors to cut away the sticky thing as I got his feathers off so they wouldn't get stuck to it again but couldn't think of what they were called.  LOL  It's funny now but not so much when it was happening let me tell ya!!  I'm calling out for the sharp things that cut.  Um...ya...ok sure LOL  The other thing I wanted was popsicle sticks or pieces of wood to give him so he could bite into them and not me as I was trying to free him.  The poor guy was absolutely petrified.  He did relax when mom, me, was dealing with him but it was scary nonetheless. I couldn't think of what the heck the popsicle sticks were called either and I was asking for toothpicks.  LOL  I had a few people standing by ready to do anything and everything to help but I'm asking for sharp things that cut and toothpicks!!  LOL  Oh boy oh boy oh boy!!

I got him off. He didn't break any of his fragile little bones.  No broken blood feathers. For those who aren't familiar with birds a broken blood feather is the equivalent to cutting your veins on your wrist or your jugular. It's not a normal cut. It's a main artery that when damaged requires special treatment. He's a bit naked because he lost a lot of feathers but he's alive, we're alive and he's clinging to his mom right now as I type. *waaaa* I can laugh and cry now but it was one of my most frightening moments next to what happened with Dennis another Goffin's Cockatoo that we babysat for a while.  I think this was worse though.  Dennis got his toes caught in a keyring split ring. It was cutting off circulation in his toes and we had to cut it off with big huge wire cutters. He was too quiet and I went to check on him when I found him sitting very still with this thing on his foot. Holy mackeral!! If we were 5 to 10 minutes later in going upstairs, he would have lost his toes.  It just happened because his toes were still warm. The things birdies get into!! sheesh

My hubby didn't fare so well. Jake nailed him BIG TIME. He got him on his hand in several places. Jake was so frightened he was trying to cling to anything to try to get away and the hubby's fingers were the nearest things.

My poor boy. He's all kissy and clingy and wants nothing more than to snuggle with me and stay right next to me on my shoulder. He wants his mommy and who can blame him!!!  Moms are supposed to comfort and calm their babies and I did and am. He's been getting special food treats and huggies and kissies and lovin's but I'm still shaken up. I can't get the image out of my head.

Birds are a LOT of responsibility and can get into things you'd never think of. You've got to always be aware of them and your surroundings and please, if you have a bird don't have these awful sticky pad things in your house and if you invite a friend over with their birds - move the dang things!!!  I don't know who I'm mad at more, them for not telling me about them and moving them or ME for not noticing the things. *sobs* My poor little boy!!

Hello out there!

This is my first foray into the world of blogging. It's my understanding that it's a place to post your thoughts about various things. Cool! That works for me as I have a lot of thoughts & I'm a blabber. Come share your thoughts with me but please, do be nice, k? I'm human and I bleed red just like you when I get cut.  Despite the old kids school thing about sticks and stones breaking bones....names do hurt, so be nice ok.

I just got back from eBay Live 2008 in Chicago.  Wow! It was an interesting experience. It was my third time at the annual eBay convention. I'd previously been to San Jose & Las Vegas. It was quite the different atmosphere that's for sure! The ones before had excitement, electricity in the air, lots of happy people and fun! Sure people had things to complain about, don't we all, about everything in life, but Chicago was very different.

The excitement wasn't there. It was more like apprehension mixed with a tinge of fear and simmering with an undercurrent of anger. People were seriously PO'd this year! And many with good reason, some were exaggerated but many were legit complaints. The fear & apprehension was noticeable even amongst the eBay staff which was a big change. They started to relax with you once they realized you weren't going to bite their head off but until then.....

I never seem to get to nearly as many of the classes that I want to get to, which is a shame. It was really bad this year because they didn't give us the Education CD that they usually do with the Power Point presentations on it.  Bummer. They did say though that they'll be providing links on the sight soon. Nothing so far but we'll see.  At least that way people that didn't get to go to Chicago can get the same info if the do put them online.

I was witness to some interesting moments. There's a video going around the boards from YouTube of a guy going ballistic at one of the sessions.  Guess who was there?  MEEEE!!!  LOL I was actually right in front of him. I'm in the row in front of him to his immediate right, in the pony tail. He was not a happy camper. He had a very valid point but blowing up and charging the stage wasn't the way to be heard, it was a way to get yourself thrown out. That didn't happen but they didn't hear him either and his point was a good one.

He wanted to know why is it that a brand new seller with 0 feedback and DSR's can get advantaged in the search while a seller who has provided years of consistently good service and products but doesn't have 100% with 5's in DSR's across the board gets lowered? It promotes scammers, shady sellers, sellers that abandon their poorly rated ID for a squeaky clean new one to offer the same lousy service. How is that a benefit to buyers? How are buyers safer? They're not! Anyways......

I overheard some interesting conversations between sellers and eBay staff.  In different cases I was dismayed at the questioner and others at the eBay staffer. I did enjoy the opportunity to question them in person. I got to get a few things with my account straightened out. I got to show them some of the nonsense sellers have to put up with too.

While I was at eBay Live I actually had a bidder bid, get this, ONE MILLION DOLLARS on an auction for a Hot Wheels car.  ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!  Gimme a break! Now, I ask you. Is that or is that not malicious bidding???  One guy at the CSR booth says no and to give the newbie a break.  HUH???  Other folks at Trust & Safety say of course it is and to please report it.  I get home and report it only to have some numpty tell me that there is no violation.  Um....excuse me!

That one is still being bantered about in email land. I have a few contacts that I made at eBay Live, which is one of the best things about going IMO, and I intend to use them. You should have seen the questions this guy asked me too. Remember, this was for a sealed Hot Wheels car. K.  He wanted me to check & see if the drivers side seat was loose or tight as sometimes it's loose.  HUH??? It's a sealed package!!!  He also wanted me to clean the package because there was a, I'm not making this up, a booger on one of my other car packages.  Get real!! As if I'd ever take a picture of something dirty and put it online much less have human snot on it when I'm trying to sell it.  EWWWW!!!  And then he wanted to know if he actually had to pay what he bid because he just wanted a cheap car & not pay a million dollars.  ?????  You know, I thought he was being flippant throwing around the number but he wasn't. I cancelled his bid and lo and behold, he actually bid ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!!

You can't make this stuff up folks. I had a few eBay staffers while laughing at the story tell me I was exaggerating or making it up.  I gave them the evil eye and marched them to a computer screen to show them with their own eyes. They weren't laughing then.

eBay Live is good, even after being on eBay for almost 10 years I still learn something. The best part for me is making human contact. If I think the person is intelligent and they're higher up in the eBay rep food chain I get their contact info. If I ever need it, I call or email them. I think the next best reason to go to Live is meeting and making contact with other sellers. Learn from the good ones and discard the bad ones, although they're good for stuff too.  If you don't like their practices, make a point of not doing them and better yet, do the opposite.

Well, I told you I'm a blabber and I haven't even talked about my birdies yet.  Maybe tomorrow.  We had quite the experience today with our little guy Jake. 

Later gators!!