Things to do can wait for rest

Our patio is currently being used as a peacock maternity ward. They're not our peacocks, I hasten to emphasise - they belong to a neighbour. But for some reason, they abandon their usual territory to brood their young round our place.

The peacocks usually get short shrift from us. They do have a certain charm, but they are also loud and messy. Normally when we find them roosting on our teak chairs we give them their marching orders.

This time of year, though, we have an amnesty, and I make sure that the broody hens have food and water. Now they are carefully leading the little chicks around the garden and we let them be. A mother is a mother in any species.

Yesterday I rewarded myself with 10 minutes on the patio for ticking 10 things off my long "things to do" list. I headed for a best replica watches in 2010 chair in the sunshine, but I found myself fidgeting: the "things to do" list was playing on a continual loop in my head.

Just as I was about to rise, I heard a "peep peep peep" chorus and found myself surrounded by six tiny pea chicks. The hen paused and stared at me with her neck stretched high, and then decided that I didn't pose a danger.

replica Bulgari Watches Beside me I heard a tiny "thunk". One of the pea chicks had keeled over. Goodness, I thought, has it got heat stroke? But one by one, the others followed suit. They'd had a busy morning hunting for bugs in the garden and they were tired. It was nap time for pea chicks.

There's something about the utter abandon with which animals enjoy sleep. One chick luxuriously stretched its wing feathers and flopped sideways. Another settled on its breast; its head, starting to wobble, drifted forward until its beak hit the deck. Bonk.

Their mother nestled down beside her brood, eyelids drooping. It was so sweet. You could almost hear her saying, "aaaaah."

One of my chickens, also enjoying this happy sun-trap, gave a little trill of contentment. Did you know that chickens purr? Mine do.

Some animals are even more exaggerated.

We had a cat that spent about five minutes in a full body stretch. She arched and dipped her spine, extended her hind legs behind her, and splayed her toes for that all-out body tingle.

Replica Louis Vuitton Handbags Replica

My mother-in-law's flatcoat is the king of the sidewards flop. He'll be lying down and suddenly decide it's all just too much. He raises himself up, and throws himself over on to the floor with a resonant groan. That is one dog who knows how to chill out.

With happiness like this all around me, what was I fretting about anyway? I forsook the list of things to do in favour of a rest in the sunshine, and felt miles happier.

'With happiness like this all around me, what was I fretting about anyway?'

Other articles:
http://www.yizhanjiaju.cn/Blog/View/?3178
http://www.llw.cc/Blog/View/?2609

Summer camp helps kids know in

CUMBERLAND (AP) - They were unlikely dance partners in an unlikely dance hall: a 29-year-old murderer and a 10-year-old boy doing an impromptu tango as Luther Vandross' "Dance with My Father" sounded from a boom box in a prison gym.

It was one of the lighter moments at the emotional end of a weeklong summer camp where inmate dads and their children reconnected after years apart. Seven fathers - all in prison-issued jeans and blue, short-sleeved shirts - swayed to the song with their children, some openly crying.

The Hope House Father to Child Summer Camp Behind Bars recently held at the prison offered them a hint of what life together tiffany heart necklace could have been like.

Federal and state prisons in Ohio, North Carolina and Maryland have hosted this summer camp for 10 years, but the program at the North Branch Correctional Institution in July was the first in a maximum-security facility.

It's a reward program for inmates - many of whom will spend the majority of their lives in jail. More importantly, it's a program for the children, organizers said.

"Every child needs to know the love of their parents," said Hope House Director Carol Fennelly. "In a true and perfect world, fathers would be mentors to their own children - that's what we try to create. It's a safe place where these kids can love their fathers without feeling ashamed."

Spending a few hours each morning inside the prison gym with their children, the inmates at North Branch tried to make up time for missed birthday parties, summer trips not taken, their absence during pickup basketball games.

Air Jordan Retro

"This is will be the only reference point some of these guys will ever have to their kids," said Geray Williams, 32, one of the seven dads chosen to attend the camp inside North Branch. "Just spending time with them is all that matters."

In 2008 the Department of Justice estimated that more than half of all inmates were parents. That leaves 1.7 million children nationwide - about one in 50 U.S. residents under 18 - with a parent in jail.

Inmates who have committed sex crimes or crimes against children, and inmates on death row are ineligible to apply for the Hope House camp. Inmates are required to demonstrate good behavior during the previous year and to complete a parenting class. They also move into a housing unit with other dads in the program.

The Hope House camp offered a chance for them to reconnect with their children, but it was also a break from the monotony of a life behind bars. Inmate Williams had not tasted greasy delivery pizza in 10 years before Hope House ordered it for the special lunch on the last day of camp. He smiled, sandwiched between his children, Summer Harris, 13, and Sanchez Harris, 12. It felt like heaven, he said, though it wasn't clear whether he meant the pizza or being with his kids for the first time in six years.

Sanchez and Summer traveled more than four hours from Lynchburg, Va., to attend the camp with their father, who is serving time for armed robbery and first-degree assault and expects to be released next year. Sanchez acknowledged in a journal entry that the first day of camp at the prison was scary, but he quickly warmed to his dad.

They sat together holding hands and hugging on the final day. In a closing recital, the children sang to the group, "It doesn't matter what you did. I only see you as my daddy."

"My hear
Other articles:
http://www.462600.net/Blog/View/?1077
http://www.pldcity.com/Blog/View/?1527

Superbugs in farm animals

Byline: Sean Poulter Consumer Affairs Editor

SUPERBUG versions of common food poisoning bacteria have been found in farm animals across Britain, government scientists warn. The new and potentially deadlier strains of E.coli and salmonella are spreading in cattle and pigs, according to research to be unveiled today. The bugs have developed a NHL Jerseys wholesale resistance to the antibiotics that are normally used to treat infections in both animals and humans.

As a result, doctors are finding it increasingly difficult to treat people who fall ill after coming into contact with the bugs.

One superbug, ESBL E.coli, was first found on one British farm in 2008. No measures were taken by the Government to try to contain the bug, which is now circulating on more than one in three of the country's dairy farms.

Similar strains of E.coli have been implicated in human illnesses such as urinary tract and blood infections, particularly among the elderly. ESBL E. coli infections affect approximately 30,000 people each year, causing 2,500 cases of blood poisoning.

Half of all blood poisoning cases prove fatal within 30 days.

ralph lauren polo

The source of these infections is unclear, but it is thought only a small proportion - less than 1 per cent - is linked to food.

One expert from the Government's Health Protection Agency will tell a conference at the University of Warwick that further mutations of E.coli would have 'immense public health implications'.

Separately, there are concerns about new forms of salmonella that appear to spreading through pigs and, potentially, pork.

Nike dunk SB high

A report presented to the conference warns 'such strains have now caused outbreaks and incidents of infection in at least ten European countries'.

Other articles:
http://dzzx8.com/Blog/View/?619
http://www.168smw.com/Blog/View/?2770