Newsletter December 14, 2014

It was nice to see everyone on last week's VacaChat! Getting the cable Internet meant that I was able to open up the quality controls on the channel, and it sounds like a lot of people found the extra video quality to be a big help. Now if I could only do something about those advertisements...

It has been a busy week here, as I'm trying to get some things done for the holidays--but also we had this huge storm that was predicted for midweek. So I have been doing some things with the house, and part of that was borrowing a neighbor's ladder and getting up on the roof. We had a situation with a couple of our trees overgrowing the edge of the roof, and in one case a branch was actually growing underneath a shingle and pushing it up. So I got up there with rakes, brooms, and pruning cutlery. I trimmed all the trees back and repaired the shingles, and now every garbage bin is completely full. Garbage pickup can not come soon enough! (It comes tomorrow morning.) Even then, there are three bags of debris and several branches I couldn't fit in the cans we had, so those go right in after pick-up.

As a result of all this, I spent the end of the week having to use ice packs, heating pads, and lots of Ibuprofin. However, it was a relief to go through the big storm and be able to hear all of the gutters functioning properly and know that the roof and everything was working the way it was designed to.

I finally heard from XYZprinting last week regarding the loaner 3D printer. I think they had been working with the other winner first, and now things are moving on my deal. So hopefully they will be shipping the printer soon! I already have so many ideas lined up. It should be interesting to see how much I can get through in the loaner period. And now with the successful IndieGoGo campaign (which ends tomorrow), I will be able to get the kind of printer I need to keep the ideas flowing!

Part of my work in the garage has been filling up donations boxes and sorting through the mess that is out there. One of the things I came across in going through the boxes in storage is my old Spiratone telephoto lens! This was a cheap old manual lens I bought way back when I was new to SLR photography (I got an Olympus OM-1 back around 1979). The Spiratone has a 400mm focal length, so it is a lot of magnification. I was about to put it into the donation box, when it suddenly struck me--that has a T-mount adapter. I have a T-mount for my Canon, that I use to mate it to my Meade telescope. I wonder if I could mate the Spiratone to my Canon DSLR? And yes, it worked! I took a few little test shots yesterday, and it was pretty cool. I estimated that no light had traveled through that lens for over 30 years. It had just been knocking around in moving boxes in one relocation after another. From one garage to another. Now I can't wait to go out with it and see if I can do some nice nature photography!

That is about it for me. Still just trying to get ready for the holidays and for the end of the year.

I hope everybody has a nice, safe week coming up!

			Chatter News
	A Note from the Dude		Chatter News		Prayer Requests		Vaca Blog

	Sharoot	Sharoot's featured pictures can be found at the end of each newsletter, under Photos of the Week. She says that since they are located at the end, then "Sharoot's the Caboose!" Today Sharoot shares two birds ready for the holidays.

	Ann Savage	Ann earned two first-place awards at the San Diego Press Club Excellence in Journalism awards ceremony Oct. 28, 2014! http://ramonajournal.com/journal-writers-win-at-press-club-awards-ceremony-p6406-1.htm

	ChatterChopz	CC had a karate tournament yesterday. It was a much more relaxed, laid-back tournament than usual. They've just finished the move into their new dojo, so there wasn't much time to prepare for a full-blown event. Even so, she came home with a medal earned in her newest martial arts discipline, Guided Chaos Combatives.

	*Elsalynda*	Elsalynda's latest column entitled Nature In the City: Thanksgiving Grace in Waltham, is available online here: http://waltham.wickedlocal.com/article/20141209/NEWS/141207720 Make sure you check out the photo accompanying the article!!! Elsa also tells us that she has had a poem selected for publication. She says she is very excited to be a part of this book and feels like a poet in good company, with known authors. Her poem on Great Horned Owls has a page with a beautiful photo opposite. Her writing group helped her with this piece. The book should be out in early 2015—it is now in the proof stage.

	We'd love to include more news of VacaChatters. If you have something you'd like to share (something about you or your family) or if you know of exciting news about another chatter that they're just too shy to share, please send it to us! (We won’t run it without that chatter’s permission, however.)


	VacaDude's Brother-in-law, Duke	I would ask for prayers and well-wishes for my brother-in-law Richard "Duke" Paiz, who suffered a stroke last week, and is currently in the hospital in Roseville, CA. He was nearly gone on Friday, but seems to have rallied on Saturday. Duke married my oldest sister Beverly in the late 1950s. Because my parents were at an advanced age when they had me (Mom was 41, dad was 46), and my dad had a massive heart attack when I was three, they made arrangements with Bebe and Duke that they would raise me until I was 18. So Duke was only a couple of heartbeats away from being my dad. As it was, we were very close, and I did a lot of camping and road trips with them. They never did have children of their own.

	*KSBorn*	KSBorn was in regression for lymphoma and breast cancer. It has since returned and she's going for Chemo now. She and her doctors are attacking it vigorously and she needs our prayers. She needs our prayers for healing, for the Lord to guide her doctors, and for the peace and strength as she undergoes the treatment.

	*VacaDude and his cousin, Kevin*	UPDATE: WONDERFUL NEWS!!!!! "Our family got some news this last week from my cousin Kevin, and it was wonderful: the latest tests show that he is in full remission!! So I'd like to thank you all for your thoughts and prayers; it meant a lot to me and to Kevin. If you could extend a few of those prayers to his mother Irene, I would really appreciate it. In a cruel twist of fate, Kevin's mom was diagnosed with lymphoma--very similar to Kevin's--that was located in her abdomen. Last I heard, she was responding well to the chemo. Apparently it made for some lively chemo treatment sessions--mother and son in together! They have always been a fun family, and I really hope Irene pulls through as well."

	*DotRot, TheDaddyBird, and ChatterChopz*	We're all recovering from our colds, but still have a way to go. But, it's nice to feel better today so we can celebrate TDB's birthday (won't say his age but, according to CC, he's OLD!) and our wedding anniversary—28 years today. (Yes, we got married on his birthday. He's never forgotten an anniversary yet!) TheDaddyBird is also facing hip replacement real soon. We're just waiting for all his various docs to agree on everything (like that's going to happen!) and for the date to be set.

	*BugGirl*	BugGirl is recovering well. She's still not allowed to drive, though.

	*Marilyn Crabb*	We received this message this week from a long-time Molly watcher: I don't join the online chats but I read the newsletter and was a Molly watcher from the beginning. Last week, I was diagnosed with stage 2B (or greater) breast cancer and am undergoing lots of further tests and will begin chemotherapy on Tuesday. Please add me to the prayer list. UPDATE: Thank you for your prayers. I'm doing really well after my first chemotherapy treatment. One week down - nineteen to go. Then surgery and radiation. I have more tests scheduled to see if the cancer has spread beyond my armpit but so far it does not look like it has. My screen name was/is MarilynLA on UStream. (Marilyn from Los Angeles)

	*Littleguys*	UPDATE: The latest news from Littleguys: Have now finished one week, as in five days, of radiation treatment. Wondering if the upset tummy is a side effect or coming down with something. See the oncologist once each week during the radiation so did tell him about it. Do you or anyone in your family sew? Simple project?

	*Caboval*	Caboval is in need of our prayers for her dog, Joey. You can read more about Joey and his struggles here: http://gfwd.at/1n8NU0h.

		*LATEST UPDATE* on Joey! Caboval writes: “Oh Joey isn't doing good and I'm so worried. He made it through cancer and is in remission and survived liver failure but something has happened to his leg. He had X-rays and there's no break but it looked like his neck had a pinched nerve. So, I'm doing cold laser therapy and no improvement. I'm doing chiropractor sessions, no improvement. Then on Friday he had acupuncture and now Joey can't walk at all on his leg and it's now been 4 weeks and no improvement. I had a prayer group for him on Facebook. I think the acupuncture somehow has hit nerves in his leg and he can't walk at all. I don't have any hope that he will be able to walk again and I'm at the point I may have to make a decision this coming week. I'm heartbroken and I'm praying for a miracle. I'm devastated and he is only 6 years old. I wish I had better news. Can you say a prayer for him?”

	*Elsalynda*	We got this message from elsa last week: Hi all, Thanks for all your prayers. This computer is so hard to type on. I dislike it but will have to use it for now. I saw the MGH sleep specialist today for consult and got some scary news. My apnea is severe and REM behavior disorder is rare and correlated with parkinson's disease. There is not much treatment available for the REM but I will try what there is. Please pray for me again. I am worried. Your elsalynda

	*GentleDoe*	We've had no new updates from GentleDoe in a while. If anyone has any new news on her, please let us know.

	Shari in Memphis	Has anyone gotten any updates from Shari?
	Shari in Memphis	Has anyone gotten any updates from Shari?


	Thank you for your prayers and good thoughts for owl our wonderful VacaFamily members! If you have any prayer requests, updates or news of answered prayers, please let us know. Email us with the information so it can be included in the next newsletter.

	A Message from Zorro		StoryTime News		StoryTime Archives
							Recipe of the Week


	*Next StoryTime*	Sunday, January 4 3:00 PM PST/6:00 PM EST

	*Title*	TBA

	*Invitation*	We need story writers! Please consider dropping in and checking out the fun we have writing the stories. Honestly, it's not at all difficult to join in and you'll surely be glad you did.
	*Invitation*

Owl Quilt

http://www.debbiemumm.com/Projects/QuiltBlocks/2013/Default.aspx

Simple Yarn and Button Owl Ornament

http://www.linesacross.com/2011/12/simple-yarn-and-button-owl-ornament.html

Howie the (sometimes holiday) Penguin

Wide-Eyed Owl Cupcakes

Owl Eyez Cookiez

Popcorn Owls

	Hello Vriends,
	It was nice to see everyone on last week's VacaChat! Getting the cable Internet meant that I was able to open up the quality controls on the channel, and it sounds like a lot of people found the extra video quality to be a big help. Now if I could only do something about those advertisements... It has been a busy week here, as I'm trying to get some things done for the holidays--but also we had this huge storm that was predicted for midweek. So I have been doing some things with the house, and part of that was borrowing a neighbor's ladder and getting up on the roof. We had a situation with a couple of our trees overgrowing the edge of the roof, and in one case a branch was actually growing underneath a shingle and pushing it up. So I got up there with rakes, brooms, and pruning cutlery. I trimmed all the trees back and repaired the shingles, and now every garbage bin is completely full. Garbage pickup can not come soon enough! (It comes tomorrow morning.) Even then, there are three bags of debris and several branches I couldn't fit in the cans we had, so those go right in after pick-up. As a result of all this, I spent the end of the week having to use ice packs, heating pads, and lots of Ibuprofin. However, it was a relief to go through the big storm and be able to hear all of the gutters functioning properly and know that the roof and everything was working the way it was designed to. I finally heard from XYZprinting last week regarding the loaner 3D printer. I think they had been working with the other winner first, and now things are moving on my deal. So hopefully they will be shipping the printer soon! I already have so many ideas lined up. It should be interesting to see how much I can get through in the loaner period. And now with the successful IndieGoGo campaign (which ends tomorrow), I will be able to get the kind of printer I need to keep the ideas flowing! Part of my work in the garage has been filling up donations boxes and sorting through the mess that is out there. One of the things I came across in going through the boxes in storage is my old Spiratone telephoto lens! This was a cheap old manual lens I bought way back when I was new to SLR photography (I got an Olympus OM-1 back around 1979). The Spiratone has a 400mm focal length, so it is a lot of magnification. I was about to put it into the donation box, when it suddenly struck me--that has a T-mount adapter. I have a T-mount for my Canon, that I use to mate it to my Meade telescope. I wonder if I could mate the Spiratone to my Canon DSLR? And yes, it worked! I took a few little test shots yesterday, and it was pretty cool. I estimated that no light had traveled through that lens for over 30 years. It had just been knocking around in moving boxes in one relocation after another. From one garage to another. Now I can't wait to go out with it and see if I can do some nice nature photography! That is about it for me. Still just trying to get ready for the holidays and for the end of the year. I hope everybody has a nice, safe week coming up!
	Cheers, VacaDude

	Check out VacaDude's blog! Don't forget to send VacaDude your comments to let him know how much you appreciate him, his time & his talent!
	http://vacadude.wordpress.com/

	Hello there, Everbuddy!
	I hope you have all been having a good week. Things have been very busy here with the Dude doing all that stuff in the garage and up on the roof. He did bring a lot of holly branches down and I have been making holly berry pies. Those little berries are everywhere! I haven't convinced the Dude to try my pies yet--he says that if he never sees another holly berry again, it would be fine with him. Well, some people just don't know a good thing when...well, I guess in this case maybe it is just that there is TOO MUCH of a good thing. I saw where Mel had shown up back in Kanga's owl box again last week, so I wonder if something is coming up in Oceanside. I am sure glad I moved away from there--just too many of those barn owls around, and not all of them have the same "understanding" that I have with them up here. A kind of "gentlemen's agreement," as it were. Boy, the Christmas holiday is coming right up. I hope I will have enough holly berry pies made in time! I may have to make some berry cookies, some berry pudding, berry ice cream...and whatever else. There are sure a LOT of berries! Time to get baking!
	Yours Most Whiskerly, Zorro

	French Cheese Dip

	Ingredients
	16 ounces cream cheese, softened ¼ cup Catalina dressing 1 teaspoon garlic powder ½ finely diced sweet onion (optional) 6 strips bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled (optional) 1/3 cup nuts, finely chopped or ground Paprika Dried Dill Chives, optional Apple slices, pear slices, etc. Carrot and celery sticks, cucumber slices, etc. Crackers

	Directions
	Combine cream cheese, salad dressing and onion powder in a medium bowl. Add onions and bacon, if desired. Spread mixture in a shallow dish. Place in refrigerator for 30 minutes to chill. Sprinkle with nuts, paprika dill and chives. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until ready to serve. Serve cheese dip with fruit, crackers and veggies.


	*M&M Hot Chocolate (for Molly and McGee)**
	Ingredients:
	½ cup M & M's plain chocolate candies 2 cups hot milk
	Directions:
	Place candy in blender. Add hot milk. Whiz until smooth. (Make sure the lid is on!) Pour into mugs. Serves 2


	Peanut Butter S'mores
	Ingredients:
	½ cup butter, softened ¼ cup packed brown sugar ½ cup sugar 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla 1¼ cups flour 1 teaspoon baking powder ¼ teaspoon salt 6 graham crackers, crushed into fine crumbs 2 Giant Hershey's milk chocolate bars, 7 ounces each 1 jar marshmallow cream, 7 ounces ½ cup peanut butter
	Directions:
	Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a square baking dish with parchment paper. Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the graham cracker crumbs. Press ⅔ of the dough into the bottom of the baking dish. Press the chocolate bars on top of the dough. They should make an even layer in an 8x8 pan. Melt the peanut butter for about 30 seconds in the microwave and drizzle it over the chocolate bars. Spread the marshmallow cream over the chocolate and peanut butter. Roll the remaining ⅓ dough onto the chocolate foil wrappers (or some other nonstick surface). When you've made an even square, gently peel it off and press it on top of the marshmallow cream. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown on top. Allow to cool before slicing for best serving results.

	Owl Cams				Other Nature Cams		Video Picks of the Week		Inspiration
			Other Bird Cams

Barn Owls
	Nicassio Owl Box Salt and Pepper	http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nicasio-owl

	HOP - MAGC Barn Owls	http://www.ustream.tv/channel/magc-owls

	Owlceanside Mel and Sydney	http://www.ustream.tv/channel/owlceanside

	Felix Neck Owl Cam Martha’s Vineyard	http://www.ustream.tv/channel/felix-neck-owl-cam

	The Owl Cam	http://www.ustream.tv/owlchannel

	Barn Owls in Minden, Nevada	http://www.ustream.tv/channel/barn-owls-in-minden-nevada

	Port of Stockton Barn Owl Cams	http://www.portofstockton.com/owl-cams

	Hosted by Cornell Lab of Ornithology Located in Texas	http://cams.allaboutbirds.org/channel/42/Barn_Owls/

Other Owls


	Athena Eastern Screech Owl Houston, Texas	http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mark-s-owl-cam http://www.facebook.com/groups/AthenaOwlcamFollowers/

	The Caring Owl in South Africa	http://www.thecaringowl.co.za/

	PPO (Potted Plant Owl) in South Africa	https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pot-Plant-Owl/148721154229

	Alessondra’s Owl Cam in Oklahoma City	http://ustream.tv/okcowlcam The three owlets have fledged.

	Rusty and Iris in Houston, Minnesota	http://www.internationalowlcenter.org/ourowls/rustyandiris/livecams

	Burrowing Owls Tri-Cities, Washington	http://wdfw.wa.gov/wildwatch/owlcam/video_burrowing2.html

	Project Snow Storm	http://www.projectsnowstorm.org/

Puffins
	Shetland Islands Puffins	http://www.shetland.org/puffincam/

	Sea Island, Maine Puffin Burrow	http://explore.org/live-cams/player/puffin-burrow-cam

	Sea Island, Maine Puffin Loafing Ledge	http://explore.org/live-cams/player/puffin-loafing-ledge-cam These pages also contain links to numerous other nature cams.

Eagles
	Black Eagle South Africa	http://www.africam.com/wildlife/black_eagle_webcam

	Decorah Eagles Decorah, Iowa	http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles

	Berry College Eagle Cam Mt. Berry, Georgia	http://www.ustream.tv/channel/berry-eagle-cam

		http://www.pixcontroller.com/eagles/index.htm

Peregrine Falcons
	PA Falcon Cam Harrisburg, Pennsylvania	http://www.pacast.com/players/falcon.asp

	Commerce Tower Peregrines Kansas City, Missouri	http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/wildlife-cameras/peregrine-falcon-web-camera Cam not live now but should be returning soon.

	Pitt Peregrine Falcon Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	http://www.aviary.org/PF-NestCam1

	Gulf Tower Peregrine Falcon Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	http://www.aviary.org/PF-NestCam2

	Emily Falcon Cam Caloundra, Australia	http://www.ustream.tv/channel/emily-falcon-cam

	RFalconCam Rochester, New York	http://rfalconcam.com/rfc-main/

Talking Birds
	Watch the Birdie Bibi, the African Gray	http://www.ustream.tv/channel/Watch-the-Birdie

	Disco Talking Parakeet	https://www.youtube.com/user/MsJumpinJude/videos

Other Birds
	California Condor San Diego Zoo Safari Park San Diego, California	http://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/cams/condor-cam

	KC Zoo Penguin Cam Kansas City, MO	http://www.kansascityzoo.org/penguincam

	Whidbey Island Back Porch Whidbey Island, WA Rufous hummingbirds and other assorted birds	http://www.ustream.tv/channel/katersch

	Hellgate Ospreys Missoula, Montana Sponsored by Cornell	http://cams.allaboutbirds.org/channel/27/Hellgate_Ospreys/

	Ostrich Chicks (Live Again! New Chicks!)		http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ostrich-egg-cam-live

	Streaming Bird Cams List of many cams	http://www.beakspeak.com/

Pandas
	San Diego Zoo Pandas	www.sandiegozoo.org (click on live cams) or http://www.ustream.tv/sandiegozoo. Zoo's blogs: http://blognew.sandiegozoo.org/category/animals-and-plants/giant-pandas/

	Twin Pandas at Zoo Atlanta	http://www.zooatlanta.org/1212/panda_cam#ff_s=aDIEl

	Giant Panda Cam National Zoo Washington, DC	http://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/webcams/giant-panda.cfm

Bears
	Kansas City Polar Bears Nikita and Berlin	http://www.kctv5.com/category/244581/nikita-berlin-polar-bear-cam

	Brown Bears and Salmon Katmai National Park Alaska (off season- will return)	http://explore.org/#!/live-cams/player/brown-bear-salmon-cam-brooks-falls (lots of other cams at this site, as well)

	Black Bears Ely, Minnesota	http://www.bear.org/website/live-cameras/live-cameras/holly-bears-den-cam-live.html

Other Animal and Nature Sites
	Golden Paw-Prints Classic Golden Retrievers Oshkosh, Wisconsin		http://www.ustream.tv/channel/golden-retriever-puppy-cam All the pups have gone to their forever homes. Camera is shut down until the next litter is born.

	San Diego Zoo and Safari Park	http://animals.sandiegozoo.org/

	The Pet Collective (many live cams)	http://www.thepetcollective.tv/livestreams/

	Critter Chat Cams Multi-Critter Site with Chat	http://critterchatcams.org/

	Friends of Felines Rescue Center Defiance, Ohio	www.ustream.tv/ffrc

	Little House Prairie Village, Kansas	http://www.tomnliz.com/Livecam/

	CC's Page of Links (scheduled for updating)	http://chatterchopz.com/links/camslinks.htm

Other Sites of Interest

Secrets of the Snowy Owl
http://goo.gl/P0trt0

Meet Zeus
http://kittensdaily.com/meet-zeus-blind-owl-gorgeous-eyes/

Some Interesting Information About Someone We All Know Well
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1511369/


International Space Station Links
During a recent broadcast the Dude talked about the websites where one can view the spacestation and the view that the astronauts have. Here are the links: This one has the map, but no chat. http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/HDEV/ This site has a chat room. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/iss-hdev-payload

A Swimming Owl
This came to us from windbeneathwing. Swimming owl caught on video http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/12/05/swimming-owl-caught-on-video/

			Fun Animations and Pictures		Photos of the Week				Zorro's Word of the Week
	Just for the Fun of It						Kyle's Jokes of the Week

	Kyle's well known among his friends for his "triple groaner" riddles and jokes. Now he shares them with VacaFamily. Enjoy!


	What do you call the horse the runs the city? The mare.

	What did the hair say to the comb? Stop Teasing Me!

	What did the geometry teacher say when she lost her parrot? Where's my polygon?

	At the typical Christmas dinner, Mom is always yelling, "Get out of my kitchen!" The grown kids are always yelling at their tiny offspring, "Stop running! You'll break Grandma's furniture!" Dad is always yelling, "Get out of the way! I can't see the TV set!" The little ones are yelling, "It's my toy! Let me play with it!" This is why this is known as the Holler Day Season.

	What did the rabbit give his girlfriend for Christmas? A 14 carrot ring.