Search engines & Pics from my window

I pretty much loafed all day yesterday. Just couldn't seem to get any steam generated.  I did manage to get a few more quilt squares cut. My collection is slowing increasing.

Today or tomorrow I should be empting out the last bin of material scraps that I've been hanging on to forever.  I still have a few little plastic sacks separated by color for the applique projects I may want to start.

Hmmmm....just noticed my tinnitis has returned.  Pretty much the whole time I've been suffering with leftover sinus infection and drainage and coughing and spitting, the ear ringing has been absent.  I was kind of hoping it would stay absent.  I wonder if this means I'm on the tail end of the phylem project I've been working on for over three weeks.  I did cough a little less last night so I've got my fingers crossed. I'm not counting on it just yet, though.  A couple of times I thought I was rid of this bug and it returned the next day.  I'm sure this hanging-on cough problem is why I've been so tired and listless the past few weeks. I've needed a nap almost everyday and couldn't seem to jump start any interest in activities that I normally enjoy.  I never take health for granted anymore.  Actually, I haven't taken it for granted for the last couple of decades or more.

I decided to look through my old diary notes to see if I could find anything of interest that happened on this day.  As usual, my entries were hit and miss. So many days not accounted for.  The only thing I did find that made me laugh was this entry for July 3, 1977: 

John and I smoked a joint. Had a beer at the Waterin’ Hole and John threw up in the car. 

I remember that night.  We weren't pot smokers at all but we thought it would be fun to try one.  I don't think it did a thing for us as we went to have ice cream after our beer at the tavern.  That's why John threw up.  Ha ha  I remember laughing my head off.

I didn't feel like cleaning the dishes last night so I left the kitchen for this morning.  Once I got going, I decided to clean out the pantry and rearrange where I was keeping various items in drawers and cabinets.  Then I rearranged the living room and kitchen (just a tiny bit) and changed the furniture on the back porch too.

The rain certainly has helped the flowers grow that I planted under one of my trees. They're probably triple the size of when I put them in the ground.

Sky is darkening so I guess we're close to another rain downpour.  I'm going to make a library run this morning. Didn't like any of the four audio books I brought home so I intend to try again. Here's some of the birds visiting outside my office window this morning.  I've been throwing out oatmeal cookies the last couple of mornings as the batch turned out crummy.   The crows seem to like them just fine, though.   I read a really interesting article in the Sunday PDN about crows. Said a PT woman (who feeds the crows regularly) receives gifts from them later.  Stuff like half a red poker chip, a paper clip, a red die, bits of pottery, a blue glass beard, a red wire twist tie, a tiny pin that says Loyal Legion Week 1933 and a blue pastic Cap n'Crunch figurine.

I saw a special on crows once and it totally changed my opinion of the birds. Tom Camfield told me once that he used to feed the seagulls from his car.  I noticed dozens of them sitting on the power wires over his house one day when I was there and he said they sit out there waiting for him to leave in his car.  They all follow him, knowing a treat is in store once he parks.  I'd like to see that.

                              crow eating oatmeal cookies

                       gold finch (love to see these guys arrive)

                           one of  two hummingbirds I've noticed this week

I was looking for something this morning and thought I'd share some of my favorite search engines.
First of all, is google.com     Click on maps, type in an address, and you'll see the house.  If it's a residence in a rural or woody area, you might just get the roofs of the neighborhood but you can zoom in and see more.  If it's an address in a city, you're more apt to get a nice photo of the house.
If you click on the address (on the left), another full size picture of the house will appear and if you go click on sections of the house photo, the camera will zoom to other parts of the street.  Very fun.

Another site is www.showmystreet.com   It's basically the same as Google, I think.  And not all photos have been updated lately.  My house, for example, just comes up with the whole block empty. Doesn't show any of the homes of my neighbors; just the vacant lot of how it looked before building started.

A fun search for PT homes is this:
www.co.jefferson.wa.us
Click on 'Departments' at the top of the page
Click on Assessor
Click on parcel search
click on property (tax parcel) search
type in street name in the box and click search.

A list of house numbers will appear and you can click on each one to see who owns the place, when it was built, etc. 

Yeah, I know. Just call me Gladys Kravitz.

BTW, posted on my Leader blog a couple days ago. They still haven't posted the picture I submitted yet, though.  And now the rains are here.  Off to the library I go.