I've been Tagged!

Thanks, Nancy! -- I think...

Tagged on 29 May, here is my contribution to the thread. Like Nancy, I am not going to actually tag anyone, but if you would like to play... (hint, hint)

The rules:

Each participant lists eight facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning of the post, before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags eight people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

My stuff:

• I am not afraid of heights like cliffs or airplanes, but elevators and ladders make me nervous. Really. As long as my arthritic knees let me I would rather go up ten flights of stairs! And the only reason I go up the ladder is because I now own the house, and want to protect my investment by keeping gutters and roof clear.
• I read in spurts -- I'll go through five or six books in a couple weeks, then go for a couple months reading only things online. Not sure why. Perhaps it's just easier to skim and surf than really get into a story? Which reminds me: there was a novel I set aside the other day...
• I am a renaissance mediocrity. I am mediocre in lots of fields, from math to art to music to .... you get the idea. I like a lot of subjects enough to study them until I am familiar with the ideas and terms, then I lose interest and move on. Hence, I excel in nothing but can readily converse in lots of things.
• Some of my trees have a sort of blight that I can't figure out. It looks viral, but could be fungal, and unless I can find an arborist willing to give free advice, I may have to just cut them down. This does not please me!
• I like to have things in order, generally speaking alphabetical from left to right, or color-wise from red to purple. When I have the opportunity, I arrange my books, paints, fabrics, spices... but I rarely have the time or space these days.
• I think food allergies are the worst. I never know if what I am eating is going to make me get hives, or swell up, or whatever. Even when I make the food myself, occasionally I will have a reaction. A close second though are the airborne chemical sensitivities. Sometimes when I am away from home my skin starts to burn for no reason. That's not fun.
• I love animals. I like cats, dogs and birds. I think horses are beautiful, and goats are funny. I like the garter snakes in my garden (but when I was little back East the diamondbacks scared me), and the lizards that I see sometimes, sunning themselves on logs. I like turtles (box not snapping), fish, butterflies, dragonflies, worms (yes, they are neat and they feed my garden)... I draw the line at cockroaches though. Yuck.
• I have the biggest crush on my husband. He's neat. And he bakes yummy bread.

So, that's my 8 facts. Who wants to play?