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"We think too much and feel too little.  More than machinery, we need humanity.  More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness."  ~Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977)
Comedic Actor, Filmmaker, Writer

"Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can read."  ~Mark Twain

“You may be only one person in this world, but to one person at one time, you are the world.”  ~Anonymous

“Together we can change the world, one good deed at a time.”  ~Unknown

"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give."  ~Sir Winston Churchill

"Today, give a stranger one of your smiles.  It might be the only sunshine he sees all day."
~H. Jackson Brown

"A fellow who does things that count, doesn't usually need to stop to count them."
~Albert Einstein

"Cranes carry this heavy mystical baggage.  They're icons of fidelity and happiness.  The Vietnamese believe cranes cart our souls up to heaven on our wings."  ~Mitchell Burgess, Northern Exposure, The Bad Seed, 1992

Here are some interesting websites relative to cranes, as well as sites and activities held in the area for you to learn, see, and experience the crane and its habitat, as they migrate through the area.

http://yellowmagpie.com/crane-about/

http://crane.intellicomweb.com/

http://outdoornebraska.ne.gov/nebland/articles/wildlife/cranes.asp

http://www.nebraskauncovered.com/2013/01/crane-watch-2013/

http://www.nebraskaflyway.com/page.php?pgID=5

http://www.northwestwildlife.com/downloads/Sandhill_Crane.pdf

http://rowe.audubon.org/learn-explore

http://rowe.audubon.org/sites/default/files/documents/crane_river_chronicles_-_winter_2013_0.pdf

CRANE PROJECTS

http://www.1000cranemission.com/

https://www.1000cranesofhope.com/

A part-timer at work (retired school teacher), has had tough luck so far in this year of 2013!  She has fallen more often than I usually do each winter.  In early February (or maybe late January), she fell and has been recuperating (several weeks' therapy in the hospital) from blowing out her hamstring, and is now home.  She still has to do therapy, and still has to use a walker.  Then, this morning, I found out that she fell again, on Saturday. 

I found the following poem, it reminded me of her.  I'm guessing if you ask her, she just might disagree ... especially about "wishing" to fall!

“Sometimes I wish for falling
Wish for the release
Wish for falling through the air
To give me some relief
Because falling's not the problem
When I'm falling I'm in peace
It's only when I hit the ground
It causes all the grief” 
~Florence Welch

"God help me up; I can fall down by myself!"  ~Unknown

"Don't be the girl who fell. Be the girl who got back up."  ~Jenette Stanley

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."  ~Confucius*
* I also found this by ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Struggles are required in order to survive in life, because in order to stand up, you gotta know what falling down is like."  ~Unknown

“You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.”  ~Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men

Thanks to http://www.cancertruth.net/2013-february-newsletter/  This was at the end of this month's newsletter.  I had to share it!  Funny, but sadly, too close to the truth!

     About ten inches total of snow around here.  I spent from 6:30 to 9:00 am this morning scooping walks and breaking up the hardened stuff from around my car ... ugh ... needless to say I am ready for a nap, and a 3-course meal (at least).  However, back to normal - at work ... so all that's gotta wait a few more hours!  
     After I was about 3/4 done digging myself and my car out this morning a gentleman stopped and finished scooping around my car so I could move it across the street (where they've already run the maintainers).  I offered to pay him.  He wouldn't take it - I thanked him and told him he was my "angel" today!  He said he was happy to help me and, "just pass it on" which, of course, I will ... I pay it forward whenever the opportunity allows me.  Whoever you were ... thank you so, so much!  At the time, he did tell me his name, but I forgot it by the time I got finished and went back inside.
     The sun's out and where things have been scooped we're getting a melt off - which will, of course, turn to ice overnight!  The aftermath is always challenging for a few days (or weeks).  And another front is headed this way on Sunday, with possibility of a few more inches on top of what we will have still lingering around by then ... oh, goodie!  Oh, how I long for my desert life ... or to at least live where I don't have to be responsible for clearing walks like I do now.

About five inches of snow here, from last night.  Now, this morning, the worst of it ... now we are getting a wetter, heavier snow ... snowin' and a blowin' ... many businesses and events have been canceled.  Even the local weather people are advising if you don't have to go out, don't.  I scooped this morning, then swept ... and now it's snow covered already.  I'm tucking in for the day!  We will get another reprieve though; it's slowing moving east of us so we will end up with less than the southeast part of the state.

I hear we're supposed to get blasted with a winter storm warning around here ... beginning late this afternoon, and through Thursday evening - 9 to 14 inches of snow (blowing & drifting) from 20-35 mph.  Oh, goodie!

I've even heard that local events are being canceled already.  And the local meteorologists are warning people about snow removal parking and also advising, "If you don't need to go out and about, don't!"

It's still light compared to areas east of us here, and what the east coast has endured this year.  Time to get the shovel and snow melt near the door.  I might just have to scoop off and on through the night so that I don't have a FOOT of snow to clear on my walks ... UGH!!!  Have a great day, everyone!

http://news.yahoo.com/man-made-chemicals-cited-health-scourges-un-report-141017425.html

Duh ... like this is something "new" ... common sense would bring most to the same conclusion. I've been on this soapbox, for years now.  However, it is not just "man made" chemicals; it's things like manufacturing pollutants, chaotic electric we're surrounded with ... electricity, light bulbs, microwaves, radio waves, cell phones, towers, computers, etc., etc.

Our "man made" society is killing us ... from the ground up!  Much of our global deterioration in food supplies, lack of radical health and wellness is, in essence, reflects on man.  Man made = messes made by man.

President's Day?
Presidents' Day?
Presidents Day?

     There appears to be no consistency ... looks like preference over rules ... no particular rhyme or reason, just preference.  Also there are some states that don't celebrate or recognize today as a "holiday" at all, neither for one, nor many.
     The stats I've found indicate that 
     Having spent more than half my working life in print advertising and/or newspapers as both a proofreader, editor and writer, here's my take on the whole thing.
     'President's Day' would be appropriate if you intend to use this 'holiday' for respect and recognition of President George Washington's birthday only, of which it was originally intended.  Of course, instead of paying respect on the "day" of his birth, the government changed it so the nation's workers could have a "3-day weekend" ... go figure ... government and many fortune 500 employees get the day off; most of us common laborers, work!
     Since now it is mostly hailed as recognition for ALL presidents, regardless of their birth date.  Hence, 'Presidents' Day'.
     'Presidents Day' ... it just doesn't seem to fit, at all.

     How many states celebrate?  Here are the general stats, about that:

• 41 states obsere some form of Washington, Lincoln or Presidents’ Day
• 38** states observe a form of this holiday the 3rd Monday of February
• 9 states observe Washington’s Birthday only
• 24 states observe Presidents’ Day only
• 9 states do not observe any form of this holiday, at any time during the year

** Georgia & Indiana observe Washington’s Birthday on Dec. 24th; New Mexico observes Presidents’ Day on the Friday after Thanksgiving
The above stats are from a table compiled by Geometrx.com
*based on 2012 State Holidays listings from individual state government websites

A breakdown, in case you're curious about who does, and who does not ...
Alabama - George Washington/Thomas Jefferson Birthday
Alaska - President’s Day
Arizona - Lincoln/Washington/Presidents’ Day
Arkansas - George Washington’s Birthday and Daisy Gatson Bates Day
California - President’s Day
Colorado - Presidents’ Day
Connecticut - Washington’s Birthday
Delaware - No holiday observed
Florida - No holiday observed
Georgia - Washington’s Birthday *Observed on Dec. 24th
Hawaii - Presidents’ Day
Idaho - Presidents’ Day
Illinois - Washington’s Birthday (President’s Day)
Indiana - Washington’s Birthday *Observed on Dec. 24th
Iowa - No holiday observed
Kansas - No holiday observed
Kentucky - No holiday observed
Louisiana - No holiday observed
Maine - Washington’s Birthday/President’s Day
Maryland - Presidents’ Day
Massachusetts - Washington’s Birthday
Michigan - Presidents Day
Minnesota - Presidents’ Day
Mississippi - George Washington’s Birthday
Missouri - Washington’s Birthday
Montana - Lincoln’s and Washington’s Birthday
Nebraska - President’s Day
Nevada - Presidents’ Day
New Hampshire - Washington’s Birthday
New Jersey - Presidents Day
New Mexico - Presidents’ Day *Observed day after Thanksgiving
New York - Washington’s Birthday
North Carolina - No holiday observed
North Dakota - Presidents’ Day
Ohio - President’s Day
Oklahoma - Presidents’ Day
Oregon - Presidents’ Day
Pennsylvania - Presidents’ Day
Rhode Island - No holiday observed
South Carolina - George Washington’s Birthday / President’s Day
South Dakota - Presidents’ Day
Tennessee - Presidents’ Day
Texas - Presidents’ Day
Utah - Washington and Lincoln DayVermontPresidents’ Day
Virginia - George Washington DayWashingtonPresidents’ Day
West Virginia - Presidents Day
Wisconsin - No holiday observed
Wyoming - President’s Day

We've got this gift of love, but love is like a precious plant. You can't just accept it and leave it in the cupboard or just think it's going to get on by itself. You've got to keep watering it. You've got to really look after it and nurture it.  ~John Lennon

Valentine's Day: the holiday that reminds you that if you don't have a special someone, you're alone.  ~Lewis Black