Archive for ◊ March, 2010 ◊

• Sunday, March 21st, 2010

A few days ago my daughter sent me a link she had come across on a site that was featuring Molly the barn owl who was sitting on five eggs. Carlos and Donna Royal are the owners of the owl house on their property in San Marcos, California.

She is a beautiful owl. Her mate, McGee, hunts nearby fields and bring her food several times a day. Her menu ranges from rodents to rabbits. This has truly been an amazing experience watching her diligently sitting on the eggs and waiting for them to hatch.

People from all over the world (over 20 countries) have found Molly’s world. She is truly a world famous owl. Today I have seen the number of visitors go over 13,000 to the site. At one point there were so many visitors that Carlos had problems with the web cam.

Here is a description of facts about the barn owl.

They range in size from 13 to 20inches
They weigh 8 to 21 ounces
They have a wingspan of about 3-1/2 feet
They do not migrate
Their habitat is in farmlands, marshes, prairie, and desert locations
Barn owls have the sharpest sense of hearing of any bird in the world

In appearance, the barn own differs from other owls and is characterized by its heart-shaped face and small black eyes. The round shape of their faces amplifies sounds, while its silent flight helps to keep the background noise to a minimum allowing their ears to search out their prey. It has been documented that the owl’s ears are not symmetrical on the head. The left side is higher on the skull than the right. This makes the sound traveling from above or below to arrive at one ear before the other, which allows the owl to know which direction the sound is coming from. The Barn Owl has three-dimensional hearing. With its keen sense of hearing, the barn owl can catch food in total darkness.

Although its name, “barn owl” denotes that it lives in barns, this owl can also be found residing in churches, natural sites, such as caves and tree holes and other buildings.

Owls eat their food whole. They do not have teeth and cannot chew their food. They rip their prey apart and they swallow large chunks whole. This food goes from their mouth to their gizzard. The gizzard uses sand particles, gravel and digestive fluids to grind and dissolve parts of the food that can be digested. After the various parts of the food has been broken down by the owl’s gizzard and intestines, the teeth, claws, bones, fur and other indigestible parts of the owl’s prey are compacted in the owl’s gizzard into a neat mass which is better known as an owl pellet. Baby owl’s do not produce owl pellets until they begin eating their prey whole.

An owl pellet is usually formed after a few hours of eating. This pellet will remain in the body for several hours. The pellet is stored in the proventriculus part of the owl’s body for up to 20 hours. The owl will not be able to eat again until this pellet is disgorged as it blocks the entrance to the digestive system.

Molly at one point was regurgitating an owl pellet. It appeared that she was coughing or choking. The actual process is when the esophagus spasms forcing the owl pellet out. The owl pellet is soft at this point and does not cause the owl any pain. This regurgitation process can take anywhere from a few seconds to two or three minutes.

The barn owl does not build a traditional nest. The female lays 4 to 7 eggs right on the floor, usually among old owl pellets. The eggs will hatch after about 30 days. Molly has been a diligent mother sitting on her eggs. She gets up from time to time to stretch her legs and eat whatever prey McGee has brought to her. Carlos comes on throughout the day and evening giving viewers updates on Molly. He mentioned at one point that he has seen Molly leave the owl house once or twice after dark.

The owlets fledge 7 to 10 weeks after hatching but do not usually leave the area until the are 3 to 5 months old.

The breeding pair may lay a second clutch of eggs after the young leave the area. A barn owl is capable of reproduction at less than a year of age.

Recent studies have shown that males prefer to breed with females with plenty of spots on their thighs. This is a unique feature that indicates a bird’s good health!

I am looking forward to the hatching of the remaining 4 eggs and the development of the owlets. It has been a real joy being allowed to have a “bird’s eye view” of this process. Carlos and Donna are wonderful for putting in all the effort and expense that they have so we can enjoy seeing Mother Nature and God’s creatures in action. If you would like to check in on Molly and her family of owlets please check out http://eCa.sh/KQyk. I hope you will enjoy this as much as my family, friends and I have.

Judy Conway
judyconwaymarketing@gmail.com
http://homebusinessinatlanta.com
http://fullservicemarketingtools.com Skype ID: judy.conway

Category: Children, family, home, Mother Nature, Uncategorized | Tags: Barn Owl, Bird, CA, Flora and Fauna, Judy Conway, Max, Mother Nature, owlets, San Marcos | 2 Comments

What Does Sacrifice Mean to You?

Author: Judy Conway

• Sunday, March 21st, 2010

: Image via Wikipedia

What does the word “sacrifice” conjure up in your mind? What Does Sacrifice Mean to You?

To our military personnel sacrifice is giving up their personal lives to fight for our country. It means leaving spouses, children, family members and friends, and sometimes it means never coming back. That is truly an enormous sacrifice.

The spouses of these individuals are faced with the burdens of maintaining a household and the needs of their children single handed. Although my husband did not go into the military, I was divorced and left to be a single mother for two beautiful daughters. I know first-hand what this entails. It is not an easy task.

It seems recently there has been a lot of mention on TV programs about World War II and those that lost their lives. Mention has been made of all of the medals they won and what heroes they are. But what a void remains in our hearts for those that never returned home.

I was barely born during World War II, but I do remember the Viet Nam War. I remember holding my breath as my husband’s draft number came within two of the cut off. Our daughters were just babies. I lived in fear of losing him.

We do not even have to relate the sacrifice to war. How many people serving our communities as police officers, firemen/women have lost their lives to save the lives of others? Sacrifice is a daily part of our lives.

Another sacrifice that was brought to my mind was those who lost their lives under the cruel rule of Adolph Hitler. Lisa Kudrow was on the TV show, “Who Do You Think You Are”, and traced her ancestors. She learned the fate of those who were stripped of their clothing, executed and pushed into the pit of destruction. Imagine if you were a child who had escaped and were watching this from a distance. The horror of seeing your parents or family members lose their lives in this fashion is incomprehensible for sure. There was a joyful discovery in locating her father’s family members who are still alive. This brought tears of joy to my heart.

We are faced with various degrees of sacrifice in our lives. With the economy the way it is many families have been faced with losing their homes, cars and other possessions just to have money enough to buy food and feed their children.

Single mothers go without food themselves so that they children will have food to eat. Homeless people go without shelter, food, clothing never losing sight of the hope of finding assistance.

As parents we sacrifice our desires to fulfill the needs and wants of our children. These are joyful sacrifices, as far as I am concerned. We are truly blessed to have these children, if only for a short time.

With Easter approaching my thoughts and heart are awakened thinking about the supreme sacrifice that God made for us. Sending his son Jesus to show us the way and then Jesus’ supreme sacrifice of dying on the cross to save us from our sins. I am sure you will agree that Jesus’ sacrifice can never be duplicated. I am forever grateful for Jesus and the cross at Calvary.

As a final thought, I recently heard it said that the greatest gift of love is not what someone is willing to give, but what they are willing to give up …. This is a true sacrifice.

I hope that your sacrifices will be few and your lives absent of want and filled with His many blessings. Ultimately, I hope you will never have to ask, “What Does Sacrifice Mean to Me.”

Judy Conway
Email: judyconwaymarketing@gmail.com
http://fullservicemarketingtools.com
http://homebusinessinatlanta.com
Skype ID: judy.conway

Category: Children, Christian, family, home, Inspirational | Tags: Adolph Hitler, calvary, Children, cross, families, food, friends, God, History, homeless, Jesus, Judy Conway, Lisa Kudrow, militarypersonnel, parents, Police officer, sacrifice, shelter, spouses, Viet Nam War, Who Do You Think You Are?, World War II | Leave a Comment

How To Protect Your Identity Online

Author: Judy Conway

• Monday, March 08th, 2010

: Image via Wikipedia

Identity theft is an on-going crime that is costing American consumers billions of dollars and unlimited heartache every year. Although you can not entirely control whether you will become a victim, you can take steps to minimize your risk. Learn how to protect your identity online.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), our nation’s consumer protection agency, recommends consumers Deter, Detect and Defend to help decrease identity theft.

To deter these criminals you can safeguard your information. You can do this by shredding financial documents and paperwork with your information before you throw them away. Do not be so ready to give out your Social Security number. Inquire if there is another identifier method you can use. Do not give out personal information over the phone, unless you know who you are talking to. As them to send you the necessary paperwork and tell them you will complete it and return it to them.

If you are like me, I get a lot of phone calls asking for donations. I always tell the person who is calling that if they want to send me information on their organization I will look it over and decide if it is something I want to contribute to. Nine times out of ten I never receive anything in the mail.

Be on your guard and take the necessary steps to detect unusual activity on your accounts. Set up a schedule to routinely monitor your billing statements. If you do not receive a statement when you feel you should have, contact your credit card company.

If after being diligent to protect your identity you feel your identity has been compromised take the following steps:

Notify the fraud department of any one of the three consumer reporting companies (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion). Ask them to put a fraud alert on your credit report. This will alert creditors to contact you before opening any new accounts in your name or making any changes to your existing accounts. It is only necessary to contact one of these agencies to request an alert.

If you suspect any newly fraudulently opened accounts or tampered accounts take action to close these.

Report these fraudulent actions to the police department where the identity fraud took place. Submit a copy of the report, or at least the case number on the report , to your creditors and others who require proof of this crime.

The FTC keeps a database of identity theft cases received from law enforcement agencies for investigation. File your claim with the FTC.

Surfing the Internet is a daily occurrence for an increasing number of people these days, as technology expands and online services continue to grow. Many people go online to carry out banking transactions, shop, check e-mail, and catch up on news. That’s why it’s more important than ever to protect your identity while surfing the web. As identity theft becomes more prevalent, it’s necessary for everyone to be extra vigilant in protecting personal information before it gets into the wrong hands.

Every time you go online and conduct some type of transaction, whether it is monetary or an exchange of information, you put your identity at risk. Unfortunately, criminals use the Internet too, making use of the technology to perpetrate identity theft. This type of cyber-criminal gathers personal information online and either sells it to others for profit, or uses it to their own purpose.

It is fortunate that there are many things you can do to stay one step ahead of these “thieves” and keep your identity as safe as possible. The Internet platform is always changing, so you need to keep on top of things to remain as safe as possible.

To begin with you should learn about how to avoid phishing scams. Phishers pretend to be trustworthy, actual companies, such as banks and insurance companies, by using false e-mail addresses and websites. To access their websites people are tricked into giving them personal identifying information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.

The important thing to remember is that real institutions will never ask you to verify your personal information online. When you receive these types of e-mails, contact the sender immediately over the phone to validate the request. This way you can provide any necessary information directly to your bank or other company.

Phishers use spam e-mail as a way to obtain your personal passwords and information. For this reason be sure to have a good spam filter installed on your computer to keep out as much spam as possible. As the old saying goes, “better safe than sorry.”

While on the issue of software, Windows already contains a basic firewall program, but setting up another program will ensure your safety from hackers, allow you to control internet traffic and stop intruders from reaching your personal information.

Purchase a high-quality virus protection package. This can help prevent and eliminate viruses, Trojan horses, and other dangerous items designed to steal your personal information. It will also scan e-mail and IM attachments for viruses. It is not enough to stop with just antivirus software. Go one step further and equip your computer with the most up-to-date anti-spyware protection. One word of advice, before installing your necessary protection check to be sure that all of your systems are compatible. This can cause you a great deal of frustration and expense if they are not. If you are not sure, it is worth a call to your local computer repair shop.

Scam artists are known to intercept e-mails and IMs. For this reason do not sent any personal information through these methods of communication.

In opening your email, avoid opening suspicious emails or emails from unknown people. Especially be wary of opening attachments. I recently watched a “Medium” show on TV where a hacker had hacked into the City Hall’s computer system and sent out emails asking for update voter’s information. This was the means that was used to accumulate personal identity information. Might not have actually happened but does make one think.

To prevent ID theft it is advisable to password protect your computers, laptops and PDAs. Use a different unique user name and password for each item. Another word of warning, do not use the same user name or password for your accounts or activities online. If a criminal discovers your user name and password on one account you want it to stop right there. Use letters, numbers and special characters when creating your passwords. Be sure your passwords are not “obvious”.

It is a good idea to keep the personal information that you store on your computer to a minimum. What would happen if your computer was stolen? I invested in an external hard drive and my personal information is stored there.

A final tip – when you buy a new computer, before disposing of your old computer invest in software know as wipe programs or shredders to overwrite the data with zeroes or random patterns which will make the information on your hard drive virtually unreadable.

I hope that this information will be helpful in helping you to protect your identity online. Use your common sense and purchase a few good tech tools to assure your safety again these cyber criminals.

Judy Conway
Email: judyconwarymarketing@gmail.com
Skype ID: judy.conway
http://fullservicemarketingtools.com
http://homebusinessinatlanta.com