Mallard Ducks Anyone? My View From My Hospital Room!

I love animals...especially wild animals! I recently spent 22 days in the hospital and was in a private room with a large window. My window was the same height as a roof from the floor under us and right beside the hospital is a large pond. Well...this pond is famous around here because a large flock of Mallard ducks live in and around that pond. One day after a storm blew through and left large puddles of water lying on the roof...several of the Mallard ducks came over for a visit.

I had the nurses get me out of bed and plop me in a chair by the window so I could watch them. The male Mallard Ducks are the colorful ones and the female Mallard Ducks are the brown and ivory ones. Dang males are super colorful and cute...more so than the females. For about 2 hours I watched 5 of these Mallard Ducks play and swim on the roof (in the puddles)! Wow...what a view that was from my hospital room and I am so glad that I was in that particular room so that I could see them!

The following day we got more rain and the puddles were becoming mini ponds on the roof so even more Mallard Ducks showed up the following day for more fun! What was really cool was that I got to see how one male Mallard Duck handled 7 females on that second day...seems like all 7 of them were in love with him and he paid attention to each of them. As I sat there on day #2 watching them, Mr. Mallard Duck saw me and came right up to my hospital window to talk to me. Apparently he isn't afraid of humans but those female Mallard Ducks didn't come near my window at all. This photo shows him almost at my window but trust me, he came right up to (about 3" away to be exact) so that he could check me out!

Being in the hospital for 22 days was miserable but at least I had this family of Mallard Ducks to keep me and my mind occupied for several days. Glad my hubby brought my digital camera in so I could snap a few photos of them.

Gorgeous Flowers I Got From Hubby!

Back on April 12th my hubby and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary and even though I was in the hospital and very ill, my husband did everything he could to make our anniversary special for me.

He brought in a delicious take-out dinner for the two of us to enjoy and several anniversary presents for me and one of the things he got me was this dozen of dyed tipped roses! Everyone who walked in my hospital room commented on how gorgeous they were and I got to smell them constantly for a week...ahhh....so much better smelling fresh roses than stinky hospital smells!!!

Our family and friends had a big party planned for the two of us which got rescheduled for late in May so I am looking forward to that once I am back up and on my feet again.

So dear hubby....I love you more today than yesterday and you will always be my soul mate, partner, lover and best friend! You are my everything!

Shelly

Healthy Eating ~ Why You Need Peppers In Your Daily Diet

The health benefits of consuming peppers on a daily basis are many. They contain essential antioxidants like beta-carotene and Vitamin C. Peppers have been an important part of dietary nutrition for hundreds of years.

Peppers are high in vitamins A, C, and K. Let's take a look at each of these vitamins.

Vitamin A helps the body in many ways. It's important in maintaining a good immune system. Scientific studies have shown that Vitamin A is beneficial in protecting our bodies from cancers and heart disease.

Vitamin C functions as an antioxidant. It's beneficial in preventing heart disease, stroke, eye diseases and certain cancers. As humans, our bodies are not capable of making it's own Vitamin C. Therefore, we must look for foods that are high in Vitamin C to add to our daily diets.

Vitamin K helps to promote proper bone health. It's also important to our circulatory system by helping our blood to clot properly.

All peppers contain a substance called Capsaicin. Capsaicin has the properties of an anti-inflammatory, a pain reliever, and helps to prevent cancer and heart disease.

It is highly recommended that if you are a smoker, that you would benefit by incorporating peppers into your daily diet. Studies have shown that red peppers contain carotenoid, a Beta-cryptoxanthin that helps to promote healthy lung function.

In summary, peppers are good for you! They are easy to prepare and readily available out in the marketplace. I recommend that you speak to your personal physician or a dietary nutritionist before incorporating peppers into your daily diet.

Article is copyright Shelly H. All Rights Reserved.