Off the week of March 21st

No, I am not on vacation, far from it. As you probably have noticed, things have been a bit hectic around here with a little critter to care for almost around the clock. This little guy requires feedings every 2-3 hours and it looks like he won't be weaned for another week or so.

Along with that new obligation, I am striving to complete my company and personal taxes before the end of this month, so I need to focus on that in my limited evening time.

With luck, buy next week, I will be happily giving you all more tidbits and information. I will continue to keep you all posted on my progress.

Until next week...

Wink Zing is now HERE

Hello one and all. In case you were wondering where I wandered off to last night, I was busy working on Wink Zing™ and helping to get the appropriate information posted to the correct places.

I have briefly mentioned a new product was on it's way to release, but never really shared with you what it was...now I have the ability to let you know that we have just released the next generation of Energy product - Wink Zing™.

Wink is an idea that evolved into a healthy way to enhance your attention to life. More is not always better, in fact when it comes to ingesting any type of food or supplement for the reason of wanting better focus, and to be more alert, we have found less is best. Wink Energy Powders give great healthy results with tiny amounts of product.

Wink Zing™ is our flagship product. Wink Zing™ was developed as a convenient canister of mint flavored product that may naturally enable an individual to renew their energetic momentum and stay alert and motivated in their tasks. "Come alive after FIVE!" This product contains an amazing herb called HYDROCOTYLE and is combined with caffeine, in a tiny but effective combination.

We find a "pinch" of Wink products last for a short duration of about 20 minutes to one half hour. Some people find that the "alert" can last for up to an hour, and others (particularly heavy coffee drinkers) find the effect to be as short as ten minutes. One of the remarkable aspects is that there is no "crash" of any kind that has been reported with Wink usage.

If you would like to order a canister, or even a box of 12, you can order here. If you have any questions regarding Wink Zing™, please feel free to e-mail us at hawgwash1@yahoo.com.

Until tomorrow...

Little Critter Update

Well, as you may have noted on previous blogs, I lost my beloved companion (Double-Yellow Headed Parrot) of 29 years last Friday. Interestingly enough, last night the dogs were acting strangely at one point near the house. Upon investigation, a little bitty creature, a new born, was found, making all kinds of little noises. Luckily, the dogs listened to their commands (very unwillingly) and let the little critter alone.

Hoping against hope that the mother would come back to collect her lost baby, we left the mouse/gopher/rat (wasn't sure since we didn't want to get too close) alone for a few hours. Before heading off to bed for the evening, we went out again to verify that the mother did indeed collect her baby. Unfortunately, the little critter was still basically where we had found it earlier in the evening, except now it wasn't making any noise.

Since there is no way in this life that I can ever let a little helpless creature just stay exposed to the elements and sure death, we collected the little critter and brought it into the house. Now, under the bright lights in the kitchen we could see that this critter was either a mouse or rat (gophers don't have tails). Despite the rodent status, we were now committed to helping this helpless creature. So... time to figure out what to feed this little one...

Ended up creating a concoction of powdered milk, honey and ST-5 (a nutritional product), heating it up and using a little syringe (without needle) fed the little fellow. After much coaxing, the little one did swallow some of our mix. We did this a few more times last night, then found a warm towel, some tissue paper (aka toilet paper) and an empty ice cream container to create a safe place. This was then placed on a heating pad to try to keep the little guy warm.

I wasn't sure how it would survive the night, since we didn't have the proper foods for a mouse/rat baby, but there was a little bit of fur, it wasn't all pink, so I knew we had a chance. Waking up in the morning, we still found the little critter alive and more hungry. Fed him/her more of our strange mixture until the pet stores opened.

We have subsequently purchased kitten milk (for abandoned newborn kittens, and apparently mice...strange...feeding a mouse kitten milk) and the little guy is feeding much better this evening. It is now warm, and drinking almost 0.20 cc of the milk mixture every two hours. Hopefully the little critter will continue to get stronger and start to open it's eyes. Still not sure on gender, from what I have read, it is hard to determine if a mouse (best guess that we have a mouse) is a boy or girl at this age.

Anyway, there is now a new little critter in the house needing attention. The dogs are not entirely thrilled, especially since Yorkshire Terriers were originally bred to be ratters...., but this too shall pass. Hopefully this little critter will continue to eat and grow. I will keep you posted on the new Little Critter Update.

Proof positive, that no matter how busy your day can be, you can always find the time to be kind and helpful to God's creatures. The little critter has been named ZeeZee and I have been christened by ZeeZee (at least I know his bowels work well...), so I guess he/she is happy where he/she currently is.

Until tomorrow...

Fun Facts and Trivial Tidbits - Week 11

Welcome to this weeks installment of Fun Facts and Trivial Tidbits. This week will have an eclectic combination of trivial facts...which really is no different than any other week. One of these weeks, we will have an "X" rated series of Trivial tidbits...I will forewarn you prior to posting.... so stay tuned to this weekly funny page for the 'dirty' stuff coming soon...

For those of you who watch death tolls and such, did you know that the St. Louis Gateway Arch actually had a projected death toll? Guess what...no one died... so much for a dangerous job...

The world's largest wine cask is in Heidleberg, Germany. Don't know if there is wine in the cask, but it may be worth a trip to go find out...

Since we are so fuel conscious this decade, did you know that the cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns? And you thought your SUV burned a lot of fuel.

I am not fond of mushrooms at all, but did you know the name of the smallest mushroom?... how about "Hop-low"...no, really...

For those of you focused on hygiene in general; Dentist's recommend that a toothbrush is kept at least six feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush. Ewwwww...

If you are bored sometime, try this - no piece of paper can be folded more than 7 times.

Did you know that in a standard deck of cards, the King of Hearts is the only king without a mustache?

There is a reason why old firehouses had circular stairways - in the days when the fire engines were pulled by horses, the horses that were stabled on the ground floor had figured out how to walk up straight staircases. And you thought a dog in your bed was a bit uncomfortable.

Here is a question for you Morse Code types - Do you know what S.O.S. stands for? It doesn't stand for "Save Our Ship" or even "Save Our Souls", it was just chosen by an 1908 international conference on Morse Code because the letters S and O were easy to remember and just about anyone could key it and read it... S = dot dot dot, O = dash dash dash.

And for you stamp collectors - Great Britain was the first country to issue postage stamps. Hence, the postage stamps of Britain are the only stamps in the world not to bear the name of the country of origin. However, every stamp carries a relief image or a silhouette of the monarch's head instead.

The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.

Every time you lick a stamp, you are consuming 1/10 of a calorie.

Images for picture stamps in the United States are commissioned by the United States Postal Service Department of Philatelic Fulfillment.

Hopefully you have enjoyed this week's installment of Fun Facts and Trivial Tidbits. Have a wonderful week and we will talk to you tomorrow.

Until tomorrow...

Parrot update

It is with great sadness that I am reporting my favorite companion of 29 years has passed on to better places. Hopefully she is now flying (well, actually walking, she never REALLY liked to fly) all over the place and getting into all kinds of mischief. At least now she can chew to her heart's content, knowing I won't be there to take away her latest discovery.

I used to give her the run of the house when I went to work. Normally she would stay on or around her cage. If she wandered, there was very little evidence of it...until.. the time she ate a whole bag of almonds...they were in the shells, on the kitchen counter where she shouldn't have been (since she never liked to fly). She must have had a grand time munching away on about 4-5 pounds of those almonds... Then there was the time she decided the bag of lemons was a great delicacy. I came home from work and found just an empty plastic bag and lots of lemon juice all over the kitchen table.

The funniest time that she got in trouble was when I came home from work and found a pile of splintered wood on the sofa table in the living room. It took me a few days to finally figure out what that pile of splintered wood was.... Apparently, I had left a wooden spoon on the sofa table (no...don't ask...) and when Zardoz was feeling a little rambunctious, she got on the table and completely destroyed the spoon. All that was left of the spoon was a pile of splinters. Never did find the rest of the spoon. It was shortly after that episode and more specifically when she ate half of my window sill that I decided giving her the run of the house was not a great thing..more for me than for her...

She loved to play with toys, she loved to fight with paper towels, and overall, she just loved to have fun. I would come home from work tired, and she would be sitting on her perch waiting for me to let her out. If she did not get out, she would hang upside down on the cage and spin her head around like she was going to spin it off... I usually laughed so hard that I had to let her out of the cage. She loved to play a lot.

She also loved her food. She was not overweight, but she LOVED carrots, so much so that one day, when I opened the refrigerator door and told her I was going for carrots, that she got so excited, she fell off the couch. Again, I couldn't stop laughing. She would do almost anything for carrots, corn, chicken (she ALWAYS KNEW when I was cooking chicken) and french fries. Well, she loved loads of other stuff too, and if what you were eating wasn't shared with her...watch out. She used to grab my juice glass from my mouth and pull it over to her so she could drink juice from my cup. She would not let you take the cup back until she had her fill, or you gave her a cup of her own juice to drink.

She was a real character, and will be missed by many. In the last 6 years she has traveled through more than 30 states in this great Union of ours, and she has entertained many people with her silly antics. She cannot be replaced, but her memory will always bring a smile.

Since I always thought she would live forever, I did not take too many pictures of her. I will continue to dig through my old photographs and periodically post the pictures I find. She enriched my life and I am glad that she is now in a more comfortable place.

Until tomorrow...

Very Sick Parrot update

Well, so much for being on schedule again. My parrot has had another stroke. This one appears far more severe than the last one. She is currently so weak that she can only roll her head from side to side. I am not taking her to a vet because I don't want to stress her out any more than she currently is.

Right now, when she does open her eyes, she gets startled easily, so things are pretty quiet and calm around here (at least on the outside). Instead of rushing her to a vet to have her looked at (still can't say the other word...) I have chosen to keep her here and allow her the dignity to pick the time she wants to fly away from all this earthly mess. All I am doing is comforting her, letting her know she is loved and that if she needs to leave, not to feel stressed about it. This parrot is a real fighter, for those that have met her, you know what I mean. She is tough, and it appears she is still not ready to leave me here without her.

She has been my companion for the last 29 years and has been there through the thick and the thin of my life. She has seen me married and divorced, and has happily moved with me from Southern California to Arizona. In the last 6 years she has traveled through much of this wonderful country with me and no matter what, she will always be with me. I wish her the best in whichever path she chooses, so, if not much is done in a blog tomorrow, you will have a pretty good idea why.

Until tomorrow...

A Fortunate Failure

Many times we have tried and failed at projects. Some people view those failures as the end, but the majority of failures are actually blessings in disguise.

Webster's Dictionary defines Failure as an "omission of occurrence or performance; specifically: a failing to perform a duty or expected action." A second definition for Failure is "lack of success".

There have been many times in my lifetime that I have failed at something I hoped to do. Each time after the failure, when looking back at the entire specific situation, it was determined that the failure was actually a blessing in disguise. Failures are really just temporary. Depending on how you view "failures" each failure can be a blessing.

If you talk to a door-to-door salesman, every time someone says "No" to them, that can be construed as a failure, but the successful salesman looks at that 'failure' as a blessing, because now he can move onto the next person who will listen and possibly accept his offer. If you don't fail at something, then how are you going to learn to do it better in the future. We all didn't start walking the minute we put our minds to it. We all failed in our first attempts at walking. The blessing is that as we try and fail at something, we have learned not to do that particular thing again because it doesn't work...

So much for generalities, let's get specific. A very recent event for me was interviewing for a particular project. I did not get the project, so you could say that I failed at the interview. The failure was a major blessing for me though. What has come to light is that the project I would have been involved in would have only worked for a month or two at most before it imploded. If I had quit my current direction, I would have worked at another task, and essentially wasted a lot of my time working at something that was ultimately doomed to fail. The blessing is that I did not uproot and did not change what I was doing for this new project. If I had not failed at first, I would have lost momentum in my current set of projects and may not have been able to get back on track with everything else that I have been working on.

After watching others suffer in the project that I didn't get, I am very pleased that I failed to land the project in the first place. It was a major blessing to have failed at that.

Even business failures are usually blessings in disguise. I have met many business owners who attempted new product lines that ultimately failed. In the long run, these same business owners looked back over their failures and successes and actually believe that it was the failures they made that ultimately caused them to become the successful business people they are now. Even Thomas Alva refined the prior failures of the incandescent light to create the early commercial version of the light bulb. Those early failures became blessings for us.

In a nutshell, even if you fail at something you are currently working on, do not take that failure as the virtual 'end of the world'. It is my belief that the majority of the failures (both in business and in our personal life) we encounter turn out to be blessings in disguise. Each failure is one more step closer toward that success you continue to drive for.

Until tomorrow...

Fun facts and Trivial Tidbits

Welcome to the weekly update of Fun Facts and Trivial Tidbits. Granted, this update was SUPPOSED to occur yesterday (Monday) since Monday's are typically tough to deal with, but this week has started with a bang. Without further ado, let's have some fun:

Did you know what a deltiologist is? A deltiologist is someone who collects postcards.

People descended from the Scottish clan of Kerr are ore likely to be left handed than any other ancestral group.

In 1789, Dr. Guillontin invented the guillotine. The Guillotine was designed to be a more humane way to decapitate rather than hacking off the head by an executioner.

During the late 1700's it was fashionable for ladies to wear thin red cords around their necks to symbolize the beheadings.

In the 1920's a new type of music called Jazz came straight out of Harlem. This "jazz baby" sound created naughty dances like The Charleston, The Black Bottom and The Shimmy. It was fast, wild and damn perfect for those speakeasies.

Did you know that slugs have 4 noses?

Here are some more fun animal facts:

Camels have 3 eyelids

A bee has 5 eyes

Emus and kangaroos cannot walk backward whereas shrimp can only swim backward.

Did you know that Dalmatians are the only breed of dog that can get gout?

Dalmatian dogs are born pure white. They don't start getting spots until they are 3 or 4 days old.

Ancient Egyptians shaved off their eyebrows to mourn the deaths of their cats.

Contrary to popular belief, animals are not all color-blind. Many species, including dogs, horses and sheep can distinguish some colors. Primates, especially chimpanzees and rhesus monkeys, have color vision equal to that of humans.

It has been determined that bulls cannot see the color red. It appears that the swirling movement of the cape is what excites the bull and inspires it to attack.

An animal epidemic is called an epizootic.

For you couch potatoes - did you know that you can burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television?

If you have problems waking up in the morning, apples are more efficient at waking you up in the morning than caffeine.

If you were in the space shuttle looking down at the earth, the brightest man-made place is Las Vegas, Nevada.

The last Trivial Tidbit for the week - for you weekend mechanics, or general fix-it-people - do you know what the WD in WD-40 stands for? The WD is an abbreviation for Water Displacer.

Hopefully you enjoyed this week's installment of Fun Facts and Trivial Tidbits. We should be back on schedule the remainder of this week.

Until tomorrow...