More about our birds. . . How we came to have the parakeet is a story in itself. Mother was out in the garden hanging up the laundry one sunny day and out of nowhere a blue & white parakeet flew right down and landed on Mother's shoulder. She nibbled lovingly on Mother's ear and mother said, "Well hello there" and the bird said, "Ooooh. Hello!" And Mother said, "So, who are you?" The bird replied, "Pretty Bird!" So, she kept her name. She never flew away after finding a nice home, having no desire to try living out in the big free world ever again. We never did find out from whence she came. I would like to add about the Mexican Love Bird. . . . . .that after cursing out the preacher and telling him to "Go to Hell!", and saying things like "Well, -uck a duck!", our love bird never said any of the really foul swear words ever again. Mother said it must have just been a cleansing thing for her, but I have always wondered just what Mother did to make her "repent" and come clean.??? And as for our parakeet, Pretty Bird? After her jello bath, she began saying, "Oooooh, Pretty Bird. Pretty Bird is a dirty bird!" We kids got so much fun out of her. She loved Orange Jell-O, not just for bathing but for eating it as well. She especially loved it when mother made it into a salad by adding grated carrots and chopped walnuts. Yum yum! She would walk across the table and sample everything. If she found something she particularly didn't like, she would make a mess of it and have a fit! So afterward she had to kept up during meals. She would fuss and squawk at us from her cage, demanding to be loosed at once! As you said, covering her cage was helpful in quieting her down. She would then say, "Good night Pretty Bird!" which would then of course, set us all into a round of giggles. ~Annie

The two winged critters aren't flies. Instead, they're winged aphids, a normal occurrence when the colony becomes crowded. Long-legged flies have a metallic body and hold their wings out to the side, also horizontal. Further, their antennae are very short. Aphids aren't metallic, and their wings are held tent-like over the abdomen. Aphid antennae, although admittedly difficult to see in the above photo, are typically -- but not always -- quite long.

Brown recluse bites are VERY SERIOUS and need immediate attention. I didn't even know I was bitten until my shoulder was itchy. I touched it and I had a swollen place bigger than a half dollar and about 1/2 inch high. I had gone inside a seldom used garage and was checking a clients seldom used car and I guess thats when I was bitten. I worked as a case manager for senior citizens. As soon as I got home, I checked it and went straight to the ER 25 miles away, received antibiotics and benadryl. By the time I got to ER the site definitely showed the typical "bullseye" crater. I was fine by Monday, no ill effects. But I have seen pictures of the havoc it can make. Especially in children. Please, please, do not wait for medical attention. If caught early, there are very little side effects, but a few hours waiting can make a terrible difference. If you have spiders, acquaint yourself on what they are and what they look like. Recluses hide. They want to be by themselves. If you have dark places that don't get used much, storage places, attics, even storage boxes. They run from the light. I live in central Illinois and they are here too. Be watchful please.

I saw something like that on a website called Marksdailyapple, re: resistant starch. Although I am not paleo I still read it because I enjoy the weekly success stories. I found it interesting because my personal experience, when I go fully paleo, I start to have histamine reactions to many proteins that I don't normally have and then I have a very limited diet. I found if I kept say Glutino crackers (not a lot, a handful every few days), basmati rice, or Udi's bread I can handle proteins, both products I mentioned are made with tapioca and potato starches so I started using them in my cooking with no problems. The potato thing is interesting as I find I can have nibble of potato and if I get this weird feeling at the back of my throat (maybe bitterness? not sure) I don't eat it but if there is no reaction then I usually have a 1/4 portion without problems. I think it has to do with the solanine content. I do hope the medical system starts to direct their attention to intestinal health, I really think there is something there. My medical turnaround has been remarkable but very much ignored by my doctors. I'm happy and healthy so that's fine by me. Because my system is crazy at times I find my skin starts to react oddly so I make it a point to drink a tbsp on gelatin in warm water to start my day and within a week there is an improvement. It makes me gag but the results are worth it:). Thanks for any input as I love any bit of information of health and diet I can get and very much appreciate it. I came across hydrolystate gelatin from Great Lakes Gelatin but you have to buy a lot of it so I wasn't sure if it was worth it to get it. LOL - 10-30 years ago I would have been rolling my eyes so deep in my head about "this person" (future me) talking that they would have gotten stuck!