Happy Birthday Ashelyn

Nicolas and Ashelyn April 27th

Any idea what my new toy is?

 

This morning a customer came by with a little gadget he had found while cleaning his deceased aunts home here in Salt Lake.  It is a silver plated box 2 1/2 inches tall, 1 3/4 inches wide and 1 inch deep. Inside the box is a small metal bottle with a screw on lid attached by a chain. He mentioned my affinity for pharmacological memorabilia and wondered aloud if my collection had any room for such an item????



I obviously said YES! I love it....but what is it???? Do you have any ideas?  Here is a hint.....his aunt was an Army nurse who met her future husband (an Army medic) during WWII.....have you figured it out???? Let me give you some hints.


-the bottle fits in the box when it is in use.
-above the bottle, the box is fitted with a trough that runs the length and width of the container.
-the box is stamped with 'USA MD Pioneer, New York, NY
-the box was used by the medic, not the nurse.


Have you given up yet? 


This box is a needle sterilizer used on the battlefield to ensure aseptic procedures when treating the wounded.  The bottle was filled with alcohol and ignited, it sat under the trough of about 1 tablespoon of water and when the water came to a boil, the needles were considered sterile. What a cool little gadget!

Third bird, second day

A week or so our female finch decided to visit Jesus, leaving us with a semi-empty bird cage so Mike and Lacie offered to bring us one of their female finches who was getting picked on by their other birds.


Last night we introduced the new female to our male bird and immediately they started fluttering around the cage acting all anxious.  We left the two birds alone and ate dinner at which time Mike went back to check on the unusually quiet bird cage.  We found the new female stuck inside a bird toy and hanging somewhat upside down.....we weren't sure if she was trying to hide from male or kill herself.  The upsetting part was the way her wing was laying it looked as if she may have damaged it. Mike was able to cut her out of the bird toy without overly upsetting her and although her heart was beating like crazy, she looked ok.


This morning she still favors the bottom of the cage but she has flown around and it looks like the male bird is leaving her alone so she may decide to live with us for a while...I will keep you posted.

Three generations of Oliver women

Left to right: Ashelyn Braun, Lauana Oliver Downs, 

Judy Spathelf Oliver, Lacie Downs Messerly

Happy Easter from our family to yours!

I wish I had a photograph of the sixteen of us setting up for this photograph....what a great time we had figuring out how to balance the camera on two books and a couch, then we remembered that a tri-pod works so much better (LOL) !

Family: Sans Grandma and Grandpa Oliver, Kyler Fluharty and Donnie Bennett

A few old faces: Lauana, Lacie, and Nicolas, 

Tamara, Joseph, Jillian, and James, 

and Vanasa, Walker, and Savana

Joined by some special new faces: Mike and Ashelyn, 

Scott, Colton, Mary Ann, and Troy.

My West Desert Date!

Today Nicolas decided he wanted to take a road trip 7 miles south of Saratoga Springs to a wide spot in the road where the discharging of firearms is permitted.  His plan was to dispose of three computer towers and two monitors, and luckily for me the magnesium fuse and thermite failed ignite or we may have spent the night in the big house.

After we spent a box of ammo Nicolas decided to do some 'off roading' in my Mazda CX-7, it has been a very long time since I laughed as much as I did on that dirt road.....the next time you see Nicolas ask him how the front end of my vehicle sustained the body damage!

My 'Where's Waldo T-shirt' shows me posed beside mortally wounded computer equipment with armed with a Walther PK380 
Today rocked!

R.I.P.

My male finch has been a little sluggish lately and I just 

assumed that he was being...male?

 This morning I found him on the floor of the cage laboring for air-definitely not a good sign for an animal that should be in the air. 

The good news is that Mike and Lacie have plenty of extra 

birds they can share with me. 

The bad new is I will be conducting a bird burial 

in the next few days :-(