From: Richard.Silk@Juno.Com   
      
   At some point this morning, before getting up for the day, I had a dream   
   encounter wherein "I" (the dreamer) was having a conversation with my sister,   
   Cynthia (she was born 18 months before me) in the hallway of the house / home   
   in   
   which we grew up (my Father's House, at 1103 Scottland Drive) regarding the   
   disposition of (elderly) mother's clothes, *as if* she (my mother) had passed   
   away.   
      
   At that point, I realized that my sister, Cynthia, had passed away in real   
   life,   
   and the dream abruptly ended.  That dream was somewhere between "11" (dreaming   
   in the Spiritual) and 10-, as the dreamer was certainly into discussing the   
   disposition of Mom's clothes (they need to be given away / Church rummage sale,   
   etc.)   
      
   Now for the "Omen" portion:   
      
   As I got up to let the dog out of the back door, she ran straight away towards   
   an unusual looking (gray/black) bird standing at the westernmost end of the   
   driveway, facing east (towards the street.)  I was thinking it was about turkey   
   or eagle size, yet had a gray, featherless head.   
      
   As the dog ("Ginger") charged it, woofing away, the bird *ran* stiff-legged   
   *very quickly* in the direction it was facing, disappearing along the   
   southernmost wall of the house as it ran.  (Like, unaided, I'm unable to "see   
   around solid corners of buildings.")   
      
   About that time, I realized it was a vulture, what we tend to call "turkey   
   buzzards" in these parts of the country.   
      
   Normally, one sees vultures in a flock, usually circling in the sky, or all   
   gathered together around a dead critter on the ground.  This one was alone,   
   simply standing in the driveway, when Ginger charged at it.   
      
   "OK, so what's so ominous about that?" I hear you ask.   
      
   Well, I visit Mom once a day, *typically* at lunch time.  Today, I got there a   
   *tad* early, hoping to get her to the table, and looking forward to some of the   
   leftovers that she regularly declines.  (I mean, this is *GOOD* food!  What I   
   don't snitch at, I put into a Styrofoam cup and give to the dog- if it's meat,   
   bread or carbs / non-vegetable.)   
      
   Mom hadn't gone to breakfast, was still in her jammies (in her reclining chair)   
   and wanting me to put her in bed, help her to the toilet, then put her back in   
   bed.   
      
   OK, so she's on the point of no longer eating, likely until she just dies.  I   
   got that.   
      
   What concerned me is, a short while after I'd returned home, I got a call from   
   her ALF ("assisted living facility") that not only was she wanting to remain in   
   bed, but that they *couldn't* get a blood pressure reading.  (That was a "new   
   thing" in Mom's history.)  So I returned to the ALF, gave her another visit /   
   pep talk, let her pet the dog (Ginger) for a few moments, then went home to   
   start arranging "hospice" for her.   
      
   I mean, really.... a *turkey vulture?!?!?*  That's ~distinctly~ ominous!  Never   
   seen that before (anywhere!) other than a single bird beside a road kill along   
   the roadside, but even then, there were others in the area, in the sky, etc.   
   This "turkey" was all alone.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)