Baby "Squirrels"

I had the most interesting argument with a client today. This lady walks in with a shoe box that had some holes punched in the top. I greeted her, and the next thing you know she is lifting the lid of the box...never a good sign in my business. Usually means somebody wants to show me something gross or a mutilated animal. :) Three tiny, gray little fuzzies were climbing around in a pile in the box. It was then that I noticed that they seemed to look a little crunchy on some of their appendages. The lady proceeded to tell me that these "poor innocent little creatures" had apparently been in a nest inside her brother's BBQ grill. He had lit the grill, then heard them squeaking and rescued them. One of them had no back feet, they were burned off. One had no front feet. And all three had only half a tail left in an unburned condition. The lady was stroking the little kits, and holding them up by her face and kissing them. Typical moron. The reason that she had come in was to find out what type of animals they were. She was fully convinced that they were newborn squirrels. Her plan was to raise them and teach them how to adapt to being four feet and 1-1/2 tails short of 3 real animals. :)

I smiled and kindly said, "I think they might be baby rats. I've never seen any squirrels that looked quite like that." TRANSLATION: Those are RATS. PLEASE STOP KISSING THEM as they carry bazillions of disgusting diseases and they are really NOT SQUIRRELS!!! The lady looked at me, horrified. Her brain refused to wrap around the fact that she had been kissing, cuddling, and bottle feeding tiny RATS for the past 5 days. Then she went into complete denial.

"Are you a Doctor?"

"No, Ma'am, I'm not."

"Well, can I get a professional opinion? I GOOGLED a picture of baby squirrels and I really think these are baby squirrels! I mean, they are getting really attached to me and they hold their bottles with their front paws. I don't think RATS would act like that, DO YOU!!!!!"

I calmly replied, "Well, I have a world-reknowned exotic animal specialist on site today. When he steps out of his appointment I'll ask him to step out and tell you exactly what they are."

The lady smugly sat down to wait. And when an extremely well-known exotic and avian specialist stepped into the lobby and pronounced the crispy little creatures BABY RATS, I felt supremely satisfied. :)

One of My Favorite Things, Rediscovered!

It's been years since I used a Furminator tool. As a groomer I loved my Furminator. But for some reason, I haven't ever used one on my own pets. Recently I started begging Rich to let me get his cat shaved. I feel like I spend half my life either vacuuming up cat hair, or seeing imaginary cat hair somewhere. Rich has had pity on the kitty, and has informed me how ugly our cat would look sans fur. I can only imagine how lovely my house would look without fur. :)

Finally I decided to order a new Furminator tool to use on the cat. I carefully combed the dead fur out and filled half of a Wal-Mart shopping bag in less than 5 minutes. I can't believe I haven't used it sooner!!! 

You can find a Furminator tool HERE if you would like to rid your life of cat hair! :)

Gas VS Lattes

Today it cost me $42.37 to fill the l'il gas tank on my teeny Corolla. No fair. But still, when I read the following, it's hard to be mad about gas prices. Makes you wonder what we are thinking sometimes! Unfortunately, I don't drink coffee (haven't in four years).

The average latte costs $3.59 for 16 oz. That's 22 cents per ounce~or $28.72 a gallon!

A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.

                           ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

My Amazing Day Off

I haven't had a day off in...weeks. Today I took the day off, and I spent the whole day cleaning, doing laundry, organizing, running errands and grocery shopping. I decided to use leftovers in the fridge to make salsa, then made a garlic topping for the chicken burgers. I love spring and summer because everything is fresh and tastes yummy. I spent FOREVER peeling and mincing fresh garlic. It takes a lot of chopping to make one small bowl of salsa!! I don't know why these pix are so blurry. But anyway it is my salsa, then summer squash and asparagus. I broiled it all, and it was yum.

If I had to pick a favorite day of the week, it would be Sunday, by far. Now when I was a kid, I didn't really understand why people would say that Sunday was their favorite day. I knew that I was supposed to be really excited about spending the whole day at church, but personally I preferred Saturdays. 

Rich and I decided, before we got married, that if we were going to make it very far in life then we needed to have a real relationship with God. Not just to learn how to walk the walk and talk the talk, but honestly learn and understand what God expected from our lives based on the truths of the Bible and not just blindly follow whatever the "church crowd" was doing. We have taken seriously the task of figuring out what we believe and following our core beliefs in our everyday lives. We were both fortunate to be raised in Christian homes--but at some point every person has to decide what he or she is going to do with God in the long term. 

I won't bother writing out the whole story (after all, this blog can't have THAT many followers)....but we found FBC just three months after we moved here. We had been attending another church but from the first service, we knew that FBC was OUR church. It is not a big church, but it is a GREAT church! We have been so blessed here! We have, in a Pastor and Pastor's wife, real people that have become our dear friends. Our church family is amazing, and our church is reaching others. We have grown so much since we came here. It is wonderful to hear God's truths brought before us by a truly humble man who is being greatly used. Our hearts and lives are challenged and touched as our Pastor preaches from the Bible. Instead of using God to make his own points, he lets God use him to make HIS points. 

As we continue to grow spiritually, we find that we have an even stronger desire to give our Sundays wholly to God. And that's because we aren't giving our Sundays to God. He gives us something on our Sundays. Giving time to God is not a burden or an inconvenience, it is the least we can do for a God who has done so much for us, and has blessed our lives with such joy and abundance beyond anything we could have accomplished on our own. Is life perfect? No, but through all of life's troubles and worries, I know that my God will supply all my needs, and knows the path He has planned for us! Yes, Sunday is our favorite day!! 

Moissanite VS Diamonds

I found some earrings that I thought were made of diamonds....and I liked them. Then I read that the stones were actually a man-made stone called moissanite. Being a bit of a skeptic, and not truly sure if this was just some fancy way to sell CZ, I submitted a request for information to the GIA. Imagine my surprise to receive a detailed response. I have posted the response below, because I found it interesting. Who knows, perhaps I will buy those earrings after all!!!

Dear Elizabeth:

Synthetic moissanite, produced by Charles & Colvard (http://www.moissanite.com/) is an option to a natural diamond. I would suggest that you look at the synthetic moissanite in person prior to purchase to make sure you like how it looks. If this is an online purchase, please read the vendor’s return policy in case you decide you do not like it once you see it.

As for its durability, hardness refers to resistance to scratching. The hardness of synthetic moissanite is 9.25 and the hardness of diamond is 10. The hardness of ruby and sapphire is 9.  Toughness refers to resistance to breaking, chipping or cracking. The toughness of synthetic moissanite is Excellent. The toughness of diamond ranges from Good to Excellent because diamond’s toughness depends on cleavage planes.

I’ve not seen an independent gemological research paper stating that the color of synthetic moissanite will change over time.  In comparison, colorless CZ, another diamond simulant which is also a synthetic, has been documented to become yellow over time.

A notable feature of synthetic moissanite is the appearance of doubling of the facets. You will have to decide if you like the way this looks. To see what this looks like, please click on this link: http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&source=hp&biw=1186&bih=697&q=doubling+facets+moissanite&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=. If the link does not work, I went to Google Images (http://www.google.com/imghp) and searched on this phrase: doubling facets moissanite. It is still best to view the synthetic moissanite in person.

As for its brilliance that depends on how well cut the stone is. Brilliance is a combination of all the reflections from the surface of the stone and the inside of the stone. It gives the stone its brightness and flash.

Good luck with your purchase and please let me know if you have any further questions.

Sincerely,

Rose Tozer

________________________________
Rosemary Tozer
Senior Librarian
Richard T. Liddicoat Gemological Library and Information Center
GIA World Headquarters
The Robert Mouawad Campus 
5345 Armada Drive
Carlsbad, California  92008