Pumpkin Condo

Squirrel Scare!!!

Squirrel Scare!! if you listen carefully amongst the brown, yellow, and orange fallen leaves, you can hear the patter of little feet. You can see a furry little critter with a bushy tail hopping along as if he...or is it a she..were looking for some goodies. Don't be alarmed because these cute furry creatures are just squirrels. Don't think you've gone nuts if they approach you for a treat. Beware..they do bite if you try to rub their tummies. I've overheard more conversations lately regarding these little creatures destroying property.They like to build nests in attics, chew on wood and anything that looks appetizing.I suppose this attributes to why people call them "pests." My parents had squirrels in their attic one time. You know what "skeered' those critters away..moth balls. Don't pay an Environmental Control company. to get rid of them....just visit a local Wally World and purchase moth balls. "Breakfast is ready," my father yelled. He thought I was still asleep but I wasn't. Instead, I was dreading eating that morning. Daddy had been hunting the day before. Slowly, I walked into the kitchen, gazed at the table and the tears began to flow. I told my father that he was a mean man because he had killed some squirrels and they wanted to live and have fun like he did. As time passed, my father stopped hunting and killing little creatures. I wonder if going to church had anything to do with his change of attitude about hunting and killing animals. He didn't attend church when I was a young child . In my teen years, we opened and closed the doors to our small place of worship. As for moi, I truly enjoy squirrel watching as much as I do bird watching.They may be a rodent to some of you but to me their cute ..squirrelicious..and I "ain't nutz."

Squirrel Facts

Squirrel's belong to the order "Rodentia", with 1650 species, it is the largest group of living mammals. It also comprises forty percent of all present day mammal species.

There are over 365 species of squirrels in seven families. They include the tree squirrel, ground squirrel, and flying squirrel. Plus many squirrel-like mammals such as the gopher, ground hog and prairie dog.

Squirrels are usually born in the early spring. The average litter consists of four. This varies with climate and location. A second litter can occur in mid summer, if there is an adequate food supply.

The squirrel's erratic path while crossing a street is an attempt to confuse the oncoming vehicle... thereby causing it to change direction..

Autumn Antics

>EQUINOX Two times of the year when night and day are about the same length. The Sun is crossing the Equator (an imaginary line around the middle of the Earth) and it is an equal distance from the North Pole and the South Pole.

SPRING EQUINOX: The first day of the Season of Spring - and the beginning of a long period of sunlight at the Pole. In the northern hemisphere: MARCH 20 (the Sun crosses the Equator moving northward). In the southern hemisphere: SEPTEMBER 22 (the Sun crosses the Equator moving southward).

AUTUMN EQUINOX: The first day of the Season of Autumn - and the beginning of a long period of darkness at the Pole. In the northern hemisphere: SEPTEMBER 22 (the Sun crosses the Equator moving southward). In the southern hemisphere: MARCH 20 (the Sun crosses the Equator moving northward)

Autumn Colors

We all enjoy the colors of autumn leaves. Did you ever wonder how and why a fall leaf changes color? Why a maple leaf turns bright red? Where do the yellows and oranges come from? To answer those questions, we first have to understand what leaves are and what they do.

Leaves are nature's food factories. Plants take water from the ground through their roots. They take a gas called carbon dioxide from the air. Plants use sunlight to turn water and carbon dioxide into glucose. Glucose is a kind of sugar. Plants use glucose as food for energy and as a building block for growing. The way plants turn water and carbon dioxide into sugar is called photosynthesis. That means "putting together with light." A chemical called chlorophyll helps make photosynthesis happen. Chlorophyll is what gives plants their green color.

As summer ends and autumn comes, the days get shorter and shorter. This is how thetrees "know" to begin getting ready for winter.

During winter, there is not enough light or water for photosynthesis. The trees will rest, and live off the food they stored during the summer. They begin to shut down their food-making factories. The green chlorophyll disappears from the leaves. As the bright green fades away, we begin to see yellow and orange colors. Small amounts of these colors have been in the leaves all along. We just can't see them in the summer, because they are covered up by the green chlorophyll.

The bright reds and purples we see in leaves are made mostly in the fall. In some trees, like maples, glucose is trapped in the leaves after photosynthesis stops. Sunlight and the cool nights of autumn cause the leaves turn this glucose into a red color. The brown color of trees like oaks is made from wastes left in the leaves.

It is the combination of all these things that make the beautiful colors we enjoy in the fall.



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Being A Pumpkin...

Being a human is like being a pumpkin. God lifts you up, takes you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. He opens you up, touches you deep inside and scoops out all the yucky stuff-- including the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside you to shine for all the world to see. This was passed on to me from another pumpkin. Now, it is your turn to pass it to a pumpkin. I liked this enough to send it to all the pumpkins in my patch. Happy Fall!

New Hat

An old lady was standing at the railing of the cruise ship
holding her hat tight
so that it would not blow away in the wind.
A gentleman approached her and said,
"Pardon me, madam.
I do not intend to be forward
but did you know that your dress
is blowing up in this high wind?"
"Yes, I know," said the lady.
"I need both my hands
to hold onto this hat."
"But madam, you must know that you are
not wearing any panties
and your privates are exposed!"
said the gentleman in earnest.
The woman looked down,
then back up at the man
and replied,
"Sir, anything you see down there
is 85 years old.
I just bought this hat yesterday!"

They Walk Amongst Us

They Walk Amongst Us

I was at the checkout of a K-Mart. The clerk rang up $46.64 charge. I gave her a fifty dollar bill. She gave me back $46.64. I gave the money back to her and told her that she had made a mistake in MY favor. She became indignant and informed me she was Educated and knew what she was doing, and returned the money again. I gave her the Money back .... same scenario! I departed the store with the $46.64.

They Walk Among Us and Many Work Retail I walked into a Starbucks with a buy-one-get-one-free coupon for a Grande Latte. I handed it to the girl and she looked over at a little chalkboard that said 'buy one-get one free.' 'They're already buy-one-get-one-free,' she said, 'so I guess they're both free'.

She Handed me my free Lattes and I walked out the door.

They Walk Among Us! One day I was walking down the beach with some Friends when one of them shouted, 'Look at that dead bird!'. Someone looked up at the sky and said, 'Where'?

They Walk Among Us! While looking at a house, my brother asked the real Estate agent which direction was north because, he explained, he didn't want the sun waking him up every morning. She asked, 'Does the sun rise in the north?' When my brother explained that the sun rises in the East, and has for sometime, she shook her head and said, 'Oh I don't keep up with all that stuff.'
They Walk Among Us!
My sister has a lifesaving tool in her car designed to cut through a seat belt if she gets trapped. She keeps it in the trunk.

They Walk Among Us! I couldn't find my luggage at the airport baggage area, so I went to the lost luggage office and told the woman there that my bags never showed up. She smiled and told me not to worry because she was a trained professional and I was in good hands. 'Now,' she asked me, has your plane arrived yet?'

They Walk Among Us! While working at a pizza parlor I observed a man Ordering a small pizza to go. He appeared to be alone and the cook asked Him if he would like it cut into 4 pieces or 6. He thought about it for some time before responding. 'Just cut it into 4 pieces; I don't think I'm hungry enough to eat 6 pieces.'

They Walk Among Us, and they Reproduce, and Worst of all ............
THEY VOTE

A friend sent this to me. He walks amongst us, too. lol

Filler Up, Please

May I help you?" "Yes, "filler up", please." AWW the days of the full-service gas stations. You just rolled your Oldsmobile into the station and someone, usually a gentleman, walked up to your car and offered to service it for free excluding the charge for the gasoline. The attendant , dressed in a snappy clean and pressed uniform with a matching hat, would wash your windshield, check your oil, and air-pressure in your tires while the gas was pumping. When people traveled in Florida during these glory days, an attendant would even sweep the floors of your car. I suppose they didn't want tourists to export any sand.

A typical gas station had one island with two to four pumps and two or three bays where you took your car for service or maintenance. Prices were less in those days which made the entire experience more cheerful. I think peoples' attitudes were more cheerful, too. Thus, the reason for being referred to as the "Happy Days."

Gas wars raged during the 50s and 60s . Some stations would give you a free cup of coffee or S&H Green Stamps to thank you for your patronage. One stamp was awarded for every ten cents worth of gas. You accumulated enough stamps to fill books to be redeemed at a S&H Redemption Center. You could buy household items , apparel, gifts, furniture and other useful products. I wonder what happened to those ugly green lamps?





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From, 1950-1959 the average American wage went from around $2,650 to about $3,855 a year During the same 10 years, gasoline went from around 27 cents to only 30 cents a gallon. And the 60's weren't much different. Americans who weren't reciting Beatnik poetry in coffee houses earned about $4,500 in 1960. And by 1969, those who weren't bumming "spare change" in Haight Ashbury were more than likely working hard for $6,900 a year.Meanwhile, gassing-up your "rod" only set you back 30 cents a gallon in 1960. And by 1969, it had only gone up a nickel to 35 cents a groovy gallon. .From 1995-2005, annual wages went from around $24,700 to about $36,400 while gasoline skyrocketed from $1.10 to a depressing $2.15 per gallon. And

unlike teh 50's adnd, popular music didn't get any better.60's



So if you want to take a trip down memory lane, driving might be an economical way to go. From Perry Como to Elvis Presley to The Beatles would be a trip that only varied in cost by 8 cents a gallon from beginning to end. But be warned, if you continue cruising into modern times, you better be ready for a steep uphill drive.

Four-Year-Old Buying Gas

Cute video of a little boy playing gas station with his father. (Click title)

Old Gas Stations

Friends

Friends are like balloons; once you let them go, you might not get them back. Sometimes we get so busy with our own lives and problems that we may not even notice that we've let them fly away. Sometimes we are so caught up in who's right and who's wrong that we forget what's right and wrong. Sometimes we just don't realize what real friendship means until it is too late. I don't want to let that happen so I'm gonna tie you to my heart so I never lose you.

Life is not fair..get used to it

Love him or hate him, he sure hits the nail on the head with this! Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a high school about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2 : The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

If you agree, pass it on. If you can read this - Thank a teacher!
If you can read this in English Thank a soldier!