Never too Late....

It is never too late to learn something new. With all this hype on staying young and keeping our minds sharp, it is always good to stretch our comfort zone. I am doing that. Love to learn new things so, started  learning Chinese. I am taking a Rosetta Stone Course.

Have to say it is not that easy. However, the learning is going well. I can speak a couple languages already but this Chinese is challenging. The Rosetta Stone teaching is very different. One thing that is hard for me is the way it is taught.  There is no English used. That means I just have to figure out what I am saying by sight. This is done by association and photos. Kind of like a small child learns.

Find at my age this is a hard way. Mostly because my brain is not a clean slate. With all the knowledge I have in there, the association method is confusing. Trying to figure out with I am saying is frustrating. Do not get me wrong I am doing well on it. With testing scores of 90 and above. However this feeling of unsureness of the structure of the sentence is bothersome.

Even though I feel lost in the learning, the continuation will remain. Determination is a good thing. The only way to think is determination. Otherwise one whould just give up.  That is not in the equation for me.

Have you ever wanted to learn something out of you comfort zone?

An Unexpected Find= Secret Fears Confirmed

want to know a secret

Guess my fears all started when I was young. My Dad was working on a wall switch when a garden snake appeared.  Never really thought about it.. but now looking back I had always had this fear of snakes or other animals coming up the drains or walls.

Not too long ago I came across a live snake in the basement storage room( the old sewing room). We had an earthquake and I assumed it came in when the house lifted. Allowing the door to lift and the snake to enter. Quickly I partitioned the neighbor boy to catch it. We released it in the outside.

Now I seldom take a bath due to my fear. Showers are my option of choose. Never thought too much about the toilets. Although after my term in the Military and the outdoor latrines, the fears of critters biting my but was present in my thoughts.

Indoor systems only had me weary of snake and rats. After all with the movies like "Ben" and "snakes on the plane" how does one not think about it. Now here comes the reality of it all.....

Yesterday started out pretty good. I had made  coffee and while it was brewing took a look out side. It was misting a bit and I notice a squirrel tearing at the canvas gazebo netting.  Shoo it away and it ran on the roof. Hubby was upstairs getting ready for work. Got a cup of coffee and a magazine and headed for the bathroom. Now you know what that meant. So, lifted the toilet seat and saw something looking back at me. Could not believe it, My Fear had come to reality. Put the seat down quickly but, just couldn't comprehend what a saw. Lifting the seat again, Yes it was a dead squirrel. I calmly yelled screamed up the stairs to hubby. He came a little bit too slowly for me! Anyway I told him to get it out.

He was shocked to see it. Assumed is came in through the vent pipe. Although he said it had been in the vent/ sewer system for a while. He felt it was forced up by the pressure of all the other water waste. You know the other flushing toilets, the shower, dish washer and washing machine.

Now I know it was not there the night before. We use that toilet more than the rest in the house. I have four bathrooms. So there you have it... My fears came true...Now I will always keep the toilet seats down and haven't used that toilet room since the incident. I know the possibility of it happening again is slim.  The only thing is I can not get the thought of it all out of my head. I keep all the toilet seat down and look before using any now.

I did some research to see if this is common and to understand how a squirrel can get into a closed toilet. Found that this can happen but is rare. Found the vents on the roof can make some curious squirrels  investigate and once they are in the system it is hard for them to get out. They get trapped and end up drowning.  Make their bodies needing to exit and that can be in the toilet since it has the largest pipes.

Thinking back we had some problems with stopped up toilets.  Used a plunger  to clear them. We also had been on vacation for a couple weeks. Notice a dead squirrel under the front bushes earlier in the week. The Squirrels were running on the roof a lot. Therefore we are pretty sure it went in the vent pipes. Guess I will check into getting some type of vent cover to prevent this from happening again.

Hubby wants to trap the squirrels and remove them from our area. We did this before and it worked out well. Relocating them to a park further away. Daughter says we should put Bear mace out to deter  them. I have use this before and it seem to work as well. Maybe I will do all of these.

Now my Fears have no gone away. Even with the explanation of how it got there, I still have this feeling of  the unexpected happening again. Fears confirmed  and now that a reality is associated with them. My Fears are more real.  Will have to work on calming them down, so I can use the main toilet again.

Empty Nest Syndrome? What's that in this century....

We delivered our daughter to the university a week ago now. Everyone is asking if I am having a hard time without her here. Well, I am not. Why....Let's see.....In today's world we have Skype, e-mail, instant texting, facebook and Chat rooms. I have seen her, chatted with her, facebooked her and texted her. She has requested items from home, help us find them here. She has asked where things are in her dorm room and I have help her find them. We have talked about things going on here and there. So as you can see she really is not gone. Only her body is, the mind is still with us.

Twenty some years ago I went to EPCOT (a place in Disney world,Orlando Florida) with my parents. There was a futuristic ride in which it showed a family sitting around and having a birthday party.  There was a Large TV screen in which they were talking to the other family members in other places and the interactions where great. Well...we are there now! I remember thinking what a strange thing. Now I think What a great thing.

This kind of technology is wonderful for the Empty Nest Syndrome. With it we tend to not have that lost feeling. I love this technology, Who knew I would be alive to see it!