My Fine Feathered Friends.....

Did I almost miss National Heart Month? Seems to me I mentioned it back around Valentines Day but I can't check right now. I've been staring at a blank page for the better part of an hour. Now I'm on a roll and don't want to break my concentration.

The Mayo Clinic sounds like a place that tests sandwich spread, but it's not. It is a well respected clinic and hospital. I remember when Irving took the train to Rochester, Minnesota to have a inguinal hernia repaired. When he got home he was supposed to stay off his feet. He bought a seat attachment for his barber chair so he could sit and work. He used it about twenty minutes. My pop didn't take care of himself.

In honor of heart month. How to lower blood pressure without taking medication.

Lose weight and exercise, eat healthy, cut out sodium, increase potassium, limit or stop alcohol, avoid tobacco and second hand (it's really not second hand....it's second lung) smoke, monitor blood pressure at home, I just took mine, it's 132/77, cut back on caffeine, reduce your stress, and get support from family and friends.

All great advice but for one big problem. If you need to do these things and you actually succeed, no one will want to be around you. Twice a year I fast for lab work prior to my internist appointment. I'm a jerk before I get that first cup of coffee. Years ago I stopped smoking and nearly ripped Jennifer's head off when she aggravated me. If I remember correctly, she said, "Good morning." 

I'm sure you've heard, "If I'd known I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself." I know some of the heath tips are difficult. But start slow and take one step at a time. The life you save may be your own.

Forrest Fenn is an 82 year-old man who, according to news, hid a million dollars' worth of antiques in the hills of Santa Fe, New Mexico. This is an open invitation for treasure hunters. I'm not packing up my sleeping bag and espresso machine for the trip. Google his name for more information.

A treasure worth having? A bloody sock worn by Curt Schilling while pitching for the Boston Red Sox in Game 2 of the 2004 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals sold for $92,613 at an auction in Manhattan. Schilling had loaned his sock to the Hall of Fame's museum, but he decided to sell it after his video game company went bankrupt. Apparently he was a better pitcher than a business man. He earned more than $114 million in salary over his 19-year career in baseball. 

I watched that game and remember the camera showing his injury. It was a heroic effort the announcers said, "pitching with an ankle problem." Schilling sold his sock because his baseball money is gone. He claims to have invested $50 million of his own cash in the failed business.

A side note, the jersey worn by the captain of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team sold for almost $660,000.

As if they don't have enough to do. Authorities in New Jersey said they were called by motor vehicle workers who reported a man refusing to take a pasta strainer off his head for an ID photo.

South Brunswick police said they responded to the Motor Vehicle Commission office on a report of a man refusing to remove the pasta strainer from his head to take his driver's license photo. The 25-year-old man said the pasta strainer was a religious head covering as he practices Pastafarianism, the religion of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

The satirical religion is a movement opposed to the teaching of intelligent design and creationism in schools. He reluctantly agreed to have his picture taken without the strainer. And should you think this is just plain nuts, read on.

Austrian Niko Alm, who described himself as a Pastafarian, won a three-year battle in his country to have his driver's license photo taken with a pasta strainer on his head. So Austria gave the world, Marie Antoinette, Hitler, and a guy who wears a pasta strainer on his head. 

Does the religion require a strainer or will a colander do?

This hits close to home.


A swarm of turkey vultures has been making residents of Shelby, N.C., uneasy, as they have not migrated south due to a mild winter.

Pittsburg, California

The birds normally pass through the town every year as they head south. However, this year they decided to stick around. "We are just not getting cold enough to push them along," said an intern with the state agriculture service. "What used to be five to 10 birds is going up to 150 birds."

Residents say the sight of the birds is make them nervous. "They're just circling in like big, big packs and they are like big, big birds, said Jordan Walker. It makes me feel kind of creepy."

State law forbids shooting the birds, but officials said scarecrows made to look like a dead bird could chase the vultures away.

About a mile or two from home

Turkey Vultures live in the eucalyptus trees that line the main thoroughfare of our town. I'm sure the funeral home would like the birds to roost elsewhere. I always smile when we drive by.