Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

This fight is for everything.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

In my day, never was longer.

A Senator Walker would also be an insult to reason, rationality, and decency.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Bird Update

Bird Update

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I took your advice and moved the feeders all around back. There is an old evergreen there, and I hung one feeder from the tree and the rest on the poles:

And yes, I know the wrought iron needs to be have a long meeting with a wire brush and then a coat of paint. At any rate, within fifteen minutes of the move, I had customers:

I saw a cardinal bee-bopping around on the ground, too.

Now I can move on with my life and obsess about something else.

Reader Interactions

169Comments

  1. 1.

    Svensker

    Sounds like the little buggers were watching, knew it was there, but weren’t going to get so close — but ready to go when you moved it more to there liking. Very satisfying.

  4. 4.

    licensed to kill time

    See how handy your commentariat is? Listen to them, and the next thing you know you have cardinals be-bopping in the back 40. In their robes. Now, there’s a fun imaginary visual! Can we get a Hallelujah?

  6. 6.

    mr. whipple

    Chickadee! Fantastic bird. With a little patience you can train them to eat from your hand, which is an incredible experience. Also, when they are calling you can whistle back and get them to respond.

    Bot alert:/ Obama and Biden on Cspan 1 at 3:30 speaking at WV miner’s memorial service.

  8. 8.

    SteveinSC

    @Eric U.: I have bird feeders and the real pests are the squirrels. They are ingenious (not news) at getting their little selves to the feeder. Then they stick their accursed little paws into the holes and eat some seed scattering much of the rest. We have a pond behind the house in which live, and frequently copulate, two homosexual ducks. These two interracial ducks have no evidence of a South Carolina marriage license, a fact which seems to frighten the (presumably) heterosexual, and Christian squirrels away. Consequently, I feed the ducks despite their disgusting lifestyle, since they perform a public service in protecting the home(land) from marauding pests.

    Failing the appearance of some similar vigilant ducks, I would recommend concertina wire (preferrably electrified) and a tripwire poacher gun to defend the feeder.

  9. 9.

    mr. whipple

    Also, once you get a bunch of birds you might want to move both feeders away from the tree a bit or else the squirrels will have them torn apart in no time.

  12. 12.

    Violet

    Congrats on the birds! Yay!
    @Eric U.:

    I suspect the next thing to obsess about is the squirrels eating all the bird seed.

    No kidding. Cole’s put the feeders in the tree. Easy access for squirrels. Can’t wait to see the “How do I keep squirrels away from the bird feeders?” thread!

  13. 13.

    debit

    John, seriously, no one cares about the state of your iron fence. You just moved in, no one is going to judge you.

  14. 14.

    Mark S.

    @debit:

    I don’t know about that. People here were pretty fucking obsessed with John’s bedsheets, suggesting he spend hundreds of dollars so Lily and Tunch could sleep in style.

  15. 15.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @John Cole:

    What were the cardinals using to bop the bees? Teensy little mallets, or their fists, or a boxing glove on an extension pole, or what? Photos, or it didn’t happen.

    You will *love* having all those birds around! Well done!

    I think the WV miners memorial service is about to start any time now. MSNBC and CNN are both standing by, filling time. C-SPAN is running House Financial Services Committee from earlier in the week (Charter Communications in their infinite wisdom don’t offer either C-SPAN 2 or 3, although I beg for them every time I pay my cable bill).

  17. 17.

    mr. whipple

    John, seriously, no one cares about the state of your iron fence.

    I care. I care deeply.

  19. 19.

    licensed to kill time

    Also, wire-brushing and painting a wrought iron fence like that? A serious pain in the ass. I have personal experience.

  20. 20.

    aimai

    I really thought it was hysterical that John’s rage at the Birds’ recalcitrance was almost identical to his (sometime) rage at his own commenters. Damn those birds! What do I have to do to get them to come to my feeder! I’m watching it every second! Oh…they like the quiet? Nevermind.

    aimai

  25. 25.

    licensed to kill time

    @John Cole:

    Gosh, you have some funny ideas about nice repetitive exercise. More power to you!

    I am glad your shoulder is healing so nicely. I would likely still be babying the hell out of it. You are made of sterner stuff.

  26. 26.

    jharp

    @SteveinSC:

    I too have a terrible squirrel problem. I’d guess I shot 20 of them last year and they are back in full force.

    They can get in your house and do terrific damage and it is not covered by insurance. Not to mention the other damage they do.

    Therefore, I have one rule. All squirrels must die.

  27. 27.

    rknight44

    See, we wouldn’t lie to you on purpose. At some point, you’re going to want to upgrade to a feeder that’s easier for non-clingers. A tube-type with ports and perches. Manysome of these also have threads on the bottom for attaching trays. But baby steps, baby steps. I’m already on record with my squirrel-loathing, so I’ll just stop right there about that. As I type this and look out my home office window, I see nine golfinches (6 males) two woodpeckers, couple of house finches, some cardinals and a couple of nuthatches. Neener, neener.

  28. 28.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @licensed to kill time:

    the next thing you know you have cardinals be-bopping in the back 40. In their robes. Now, there’s a fun imaginary visual!

    Ha! Like the Dancing Itos that Leno used to have during the OJ trial!

  30. 30.

    KRK

    In your obsession with bird habits you seem to have forgotten that the point of the bird feeder in front of Tunch’s window was to entertain Tunch, with feeding of birds being a collateral benefit.

    Tunch now has a bay window to sit in, and I am going to put a bird feeder right outside it to keep him occupied.

    This move to the backyard leaves Tunch’s window bare and dull. What about Tunch?

  31. 31.

    Johio

    I’m glad this crisis is solved. I was beginning to get a mental picture of John crawling through the backyard on his belly to catch a bird and force feed it from the feeder

  32. 32.

    licensed to kill time

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I remember them! I think we can all imagine John’s back yard full of Dancing Ito’s, Be-bopping Cardinals in red robes, and birds with teensy little mallets bopping away at the bees.

    Yeah, that’s the ticket!

  35. 35.

    Napoleon

    You saw just one cardinal? I always see them in pairs (the male, I think, is fairly plain compared to the female).

  38. 38.

    asiangrrlMN

    @jeffreyw: Seriously. Of all your gorgeous, mouth-watering food pr0n pics, this is the one that has done me in. I have a soft spot for sausage, egg, and cheese biscuits. Nom nom nom.

  39. 39.

    rknight44

    @Napoleon: Other way ’round. The girls are sittin’ right now as they say. Well at least in Atlanta, anyways. One of my very favorite parts of birding is when all the different birds hatch and fledge and are brought to mommy and daddy’s favorite restaurant in my back yard.

  41. 41.

    Napoleon

    @rknight44:

    The girls are sittin’ right now as they say.

    Makes sense. When I took my feeder down for the year around 3 weeks ago I was still seeing them in pairs. I always get the coloring backward. For some reason I have it in my mind that unlike many other species that the female cardinal has the coloring.

  45. 45.

    Comrade Tank Hueco

    I just saw an ad for the new ‘Shrek’ film. Tunch A morbidly-obese Puss-In-Boots purred ‘Feed me, if you dare.’ I lul’d.

  47. 47.

    rknight44

    @Napoleon: Why’d you take your feeder down? I have steady if not heavy traffic year round (ow, the wallet, it burns cash). In fairness though, birds need us less than we need them.

  48. 48.

    lemma

    Does anyone know about bird baths? I can’t believe this but I’ve fallen in love with a solar powered one. Are they worth it?

    it’s at birdbaths.com

  49. 49.

    MissKG

    I once had a rat eating the seed in my bird feeders. Eventually it was killed by my neighbor’s feral cat. There is a Thurber Fable in there somewhere…

  51. 51.

    Corner Stone

    @jharp:

    Therefore, I have one rule. All squirrels must die.

    I have a similar rule, except it involves raccoons.
    It relates back to a time when I was a young and impressionable 17 years old. We were camping on a friend’s land outside Centerville, TX. I hung my edibles in a garbage sack off a tree limb.
    Bastard raccoon ripped the sack in the middle of the night, ate two of my apples and then swiped the third so it was ruined and inedible.
    I swore an oath of vengeance that day. A blood oath.
    It’s been a horrific travesty against nature since that awful day.
    I…can’t go into details, but Cheney et al have nothing on the methods and measures I’ve used to satisfy my bloodlust.

  53. 53.

    Anya

    Do people clap and stuff in church? My mom’s family is anglican so they don’t do that at funerals but at the minors memorial they are clapping.

  54. 54.

    gbear

    @Napoleon: In the bird world, females wear the muted colors. You don’t want to attract attention to the nest.

    Glad to see John has birds around his house. Hope Tunch gets to watch out the back.

    If you want to read more about how to attract individual species, this looks like a good site. I have some favorite books, but they’re all MN specific.

  55. 55.

    Corner Stone

    @aimai:

    Damn those birds! What do I have to do to get them to come to my feeder! I’m watching it every second!

    And just like some of his commenters, Cole will slowly understand they had the right idea the whole time and he was fighting the natural answer. Slowly, slowly.

  56. 56.

    dr. luba

    @lemma: Why solar power? Do you live near the arctic circle? Or is this for winter?

    ……errrr, checked the link. They all seem to be bird bath fountains, with the solar powering the fountain part. I think having one that would thaw the ice in winter would be cool, though.

  57. 57.

    Corner Stone

    @debit: No shit. Nobody gives a good Goddamn about it. But this non-obsessive, non-clean freak is pre-emptively calling out his next nemesis.
    FSM forbid his non-visitors see it.

  59. 59.

    Napoleon

    @rknight44:

    Well I have 2 places set up to hang them from, one a hook an a tree maybe 75-100 back from the house, which I rarely use, and the other on this set up I bought at a garden store that bolts to the railing on the deck out the back window in my back family/second living room (the deck is 4 or 5 years old). It has two arms that come off it that from the deck I can reach the feeders. During the summer more often then not I convert them to hold plants.

    Well I constantly have 2 problems. First with it being on the rail it makes it a lot easier for the vermin to get up there, and I have caught raccoons hanging off it (2 years ago I am sure one of them busted one of the feeders). Second if I swing it so that the feeders are over the yard seed ends up in an adjacent flowerbed. If I swing it over the deck feed ends up on everything there.

    So I have decided to quit using it for the feeders and no later then when it turns cold I will do something new, and I am leaning towards a free standing more or less perminant/robust set up 15 feet or so off the deck where nothing can leap on to it.

    Bet you had not asked.

  61. 61.

    licensed to kill time

    @Anya:

    Well, it depends on the church. I was raised Episcopalian, which is a pretty sedate religion. I remember when our youth choir, which I was part of, visited a dozen different churches over a several month period. One was a “Holy Roller” church where they got pretty exuberant, hollering and clapping like mad. You never saw such a shocked group of pasty faces pressed up against the back wall trying to shrink into the woodwork as us.

    When I got older I had more experience with other religions and churches, but that was an eye-opener for me, a bumpkin from ABQ.

  62. 62.

    bemused

    @KRK:
    Exactly what I want to know. Does Tunch have a window to watch & drool over the birdies from on that side of the house?

  63. 63.

    Linkmeister

    @MissKG: In Hawai’i that’s a regular problem. I remember seeing an odd-looking string hanging from the bottom of our cardinal feeder once. The wind blew the thing around and it turned out that “string” was actually a rat’s tail.

  64. 64.

    Svensker

    @Anya:

    Do people clap and stuff in church? My mom’s family is anglican so they don’t do that at funerals but at the minors memorial they are clapping.

    At the very proper and sort of stuffy (in a nice way) Presbyterian church we go to sometimes, the congregation will very occasionally clap but never during a sermon. They’ll do it if there’s a kid performing, or if there’s something special going on that isn’t particularly solemn. But during liturgical moments never.

  65. 65.

    dr. luba

    @Corner Stone:

    I have a similar rule, except it involves raccoons.

    I have spent at least two thousand dollars on my raccoons, and I don’t mean feeding them. My trapper and I are on a first name basis. Bastards like to rip up my aluminum siding to get into the soffets. After trapping out hte neighborhood and countless repairs, I finally had to have the roofers come out and redo all the eaves around my house to raccoon-proof them.

    Moles are an annual expense (I call the lawn Nazis who come and gas them), and chipmunks are a permanent nuisance. The squirrels are a pleasure in comparison.

    I guess I should be happy I don’t have bears attacking my garbage or shed.

  66. 66.

    Napoleon

    @Corner Stone:

    True story, 15 years ago or so wake at 4 or 5 am to pack my hatchback for an outing. I had an apartment (large complex) and had to walk to get to my car. So I put the first load of grocery bags in with stuff like hot dog buns, go back to get the cooler and when I get back there is a raccoon sitting in the back of my car eating the hot dog buns by holding them in his hands like we would hold an ear of corn.

    Bastard.

    By the way those things are big.

  69. 69.

    jwb

    @lemma: We bought one about two years ago. The pump worked for about a year before it went kaput. Also, it only worked for about 4-5 hours a day, when the panel was in direct more or less overhead sunshine. It also didn’t work very well from October through March, because the sun wasn’t bright enough—and I’m in Texas. FWIW.

  71. 71.

    HyperIon

    Saying amen or hallelujah can be like clapping.

    And the bird-feeder goggle ad is up now.

  72. 72.

    dr. luba

    @lemma: @lemma:

    I believe it keeps the water circulating and the mosquitoes away which in coastal MD is a good thing.

    Sounds good. Do the birds like it, I wonder?

    Birdbaths can be great for bird watching–not all birds will feed at a feeder (many are insectivores), but all enjoy a sip of water or a splash in the bath on occasion. And there’s not many natural little pools around for them in our built-up areas.

    The blue ceramic one looks really nice, and I am sorely tempted. And I love the sound a fountain makes–although, on the summer weekends, I doubt I would be able to hear it over the lawn mowers and powerboats.

  73. 73.

    Corner Stone

    @dr. luba:

    I guess I should be happy I don’t have bears attacking my garbage or shed.

    I’d rather kick a bear in the nuts than cross a raccoon.
    Bears are simpletons compared to the crafty evil genius of a raccoon.

  74. 74.

    Anya

    @licensed to kill time: @Svensker: It’s amazing how so many religions deal with solum occasions. It made me a tad uncomfortable but then that’s just my own cultural hang-ups.
    Being the product of Muslim and Anglican tradition (with atheist parents) can fuck you up. Then I realized they are not in Church but in a convention centre, so I guess it’s o.k. to clap and holler.

  75. 75.

    lemma

    @jwb:

    thanks – good to know. And thanks to whoever posted about squirrels and coconuts earlier this week – we halved one and put it out this afternoon – hilarity ensuing.

  76. 76.

    debit

    @Anya: When I still allowed my mother to drag me to church, it was a Baptist one. We once had a non religious relative visit and he accompanied us to church one Sunday. When the minister, a very mild spoken man, made a point our visitor agreed with, he shouted, “Amen!” It was explained to him later that, no, Minnesota Baptists are not like Southern ones. We don’t say anything during service. Ever.

  77. 77.

    mr. whipple

    Therefore, I have one rule. All squirrels must die.

    I did that for a while, but once I got ’em cleared out, they’d send in waves of replacements. It was never ending, so I let them be.

  78. 78.

    Corner Stone

    @Napoleon:

    there is a raccoon sitting in the back of my car eating the hot dog buns by holding them in his hands like we would hold an ear of corn.

    It was clear in my case the raccoon was full after the first apple. He took a bite out of the second, then paw-swiped the third so it couldn’t be eaten.
    We wreaked much havoc on raccoons that weekend.

    Over The Hedge tries to reclaim the reputation of those evil bastards but they’re still the reason I own 3 dozen firearms.*

    *Ok, not really.

  79. 79.

    dr. luba

    John, now that you’ve started feeding birds and enjoying sighting them, you’ll want a field guide to identify them. The best IMHO are either the National Geographic or Sibley Eastern USA guides. Don’t go with the photographic ones–they seem as though they’ll be good, but they’re actually harder to use (because the photos can really get the colors wrong). And Peterson is highly overrated.

    And, should you wish to expand your birdie restaurant, consider a thistle/finch feeder (the wee birdies are quite cute to watch and very colorful) and a suet feeder. The latter will attract woodpeckers and other birds that won’t visit an ordinary seed feeder.

  80. 80.

    kommrade reproductive vigor

    Awesome that you’ve got chickadees. Both of my neighbors have bird feeders but I rarely see the little guys hanging out. I recently figured out they hang out in a patch of woods nearby and they really aren’t bothered by humans.

  81. 81.

    Napoleon

    @Corner Stone:

    Feet – my lot is only 100 yards deep. The house is say 75 back, then behind maybe 75 feet or so gap to the first tree, other then two small ones that replaced some I took out, then 7 large 60 year oldish trees.

  85. 85.

    debit

    Okay, you fabulous cooks, answer a question please? I made ribs today. They turned out okay, taste-wise, but fell off the bone in a most displeasing manner.

    I did this: dry rub with various spices, put on a rack in a large roasting pan, put water in the bottom of the pan to prevent drying out, covered pan in foil, put in a low oven (200 degrees) for several hours, per directions. After 4 hours, they were done and falling off the bone. The recipe called for 7 hours. What am I doing wrong? The foil? The water? The rack?

  86. 86.

    Mark S.

    @Anya:

    As a Catholic, I can attest to the fact that there’s a huuuuge variety depending on the church. I’ve been to masses that seemed more like The Price is Right than what most people would think goes on in a Catholic mass. My mom is a hardcore prefers Latin mass type of Catholic, and it’s always entertaining when she ends up at one of those during a family reunion.

  88. 88.

    lemma

    @dr. luba:
    Yes, the ceramic ones are pretty. I am new to living in the country and birds are a revelation. I’ll ask the folks at the wild bird food store what birds like best.

    BTW – this winter during the blizzards the ducks figured out we are generous with food. At one point we had about 50 hanging around. It was fun and I miss them but cracked corn for 50 adds up.

  89. 89.

    debit

    @Mark S.: Hah. My ex-laws were Roman Catholic and my father in law would make the face of ultimate dismay when forced to attend a different church and the flock was instructed to “greet your neighbor” with a hug. He could manage a handshake.

  90. 90.

    LuciaMia

    John, is that baby basil you’ve got in one of those planters?

    Still too chilly to put them out here.

  92. 92.

    gbear

    @mr. whipple:

    I did that for a while, but once I got ‘em cleared out, they’d send in waves of replacements.

    In St Paul, we just trap them and take them to the other side of the Mississippi River, and everyone on the other side of the river traps theirs and brings them to our side. The squirrels around here are kind of like the stars on Sneeches.

    @lemma: What happens when squirrels get a coconut?

  93. 93.

    SiubhanDuinne

    When the first preacher was running through the thank-you list of all the dignitaries, and every name got a roumd of applause, and then he said something like “But there’s somebody *else* here, and that’s the Lord God” and that got hoots and hollers and whistles and stomps and shout-outs from the audience/congregation — well, I’m a nonbeliever, but honestly I was kind of uncomfortable at the idea of God-as-Celebrity. But it’s not my community (except in the John Donne kind of way) nor my service, and very far be it from me to judge how these grieving people choose to remember their husbands and sons and fathers.

    Ooh, someone just shouted something heckling at Biden at the beginning of his comments! What was *that* all about?!

  98. 98.

    Napoleon

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Ooh, someone just shouted something heckling at Biden at the beginning of his comments! What was that all about?!
    Reply

    It sounded like he said “you let us down”. If someone is going to heckle Biden at something like this you wonder what is going to happen with Obama.

  100. 100.

    rknight44

    @Napoleon: I understand; that’s cool. We don’t feed birds so they’ll survive, we do it so they’ll close enough to peep at.

    @mr.whipple
    Great big gobs of greasy, grimy squirrel guts. I’m lucky, when I can get work, I’m able to do a good bit at home. So…fuzzy-tailed little bastards, it’s your ass.

  101. 101.

    gbear

    @gnomedad:

    Comment 37 on that thread mentions Stein but didn’t give details. There were only two comments on that whole thread about CBS. Nothing wrong about that.

  102. 102.

    asiangrrlMN

    President Obama is speaking now. Someone booed him. Interesting. Can anyone tell me, is this the only funeral? Or were there private ceremonies, too?

  103. 103.

    Elie

    I once had an apartment with a balcony near trees and I used to put out unshelled peanuts. Of course, in your case, the squirrels would get most if not all of them but it was hoot watching the birds like the Titmouse, Blue Jays and other birds grab them, fly off and sit, crack open the shells and pull out the goodie.

    The squirrel thing may prove to be unremittingly annoying. They NEVER give up — ever.

    There are feeders that shut their portals once the weight of the squirrel is on them, but like everything else, they usually figure out a way.

    Nothing scares them or deters them either.

    BTW, if you get the notion of putting things like pansies in those planters, be prepared for them being nibbled down to nothing by the chipmunks. Nope, can’t do anything about that either….

  104. 104.

    gnomedad

    @gbear:

    There were only two comments on that whole thread about CBS. Nothing wrong about that.

    Sorry if my tone was off; just thought it was curious.

    There seems to be a string of isolated outbreaks of sanity on the right. I wonder if Stein will be the next to backpeddle / apologize to Rush / be excommunicated / whatever.

  106. 106.

    Anne Laurie

    @lemma:

    I believe it keeps the water circulating and the mosquitoes away which in coastal MD is a good thing.

    The sound of the water will attract more birds sooner, and of course it’s very pretty and soothing for you also. But if you’re just worried about mosquitos, check out your local garden center for ‘mosquito dunks’ which are little donut-shaped thingies that kill the larvae but are non-toxic for birds and mammals. I’ve used them for a number of years, including in the makeshift plastic saucers on the ground to keep the chipmunks from ruining my tomatoes, and can attest that the ‘dunks’ will not discourage birds from visiting your bath.

  109. 109.

    Napoleon

    @rknight44:

    We don’t feed birds so they’ll survive, we do it so they’ll close enough to peep at.

    Which actually raises an important fact I left out, when I got divorced 6 years ago my wife when she was moving out made me promise I would stock the feeders in the winter to keep them from starving and I kept that promise.

    Part of the reason I had the deck set up was because it is 4 or 5 feet from a bank of windows so the birds are right there.

  111. 111.

    rknight44

    @Elie: Well, you tolerates ’em or you don’ts. I think that:
    a) They are the greediest swine on earth
    b) They burn the exact number of calories as they ingest so they never get full
    c) They tear your shut up and keep the birds away
    d) Since ethnol subsidies kicked in, seed prices have soared
    d.1) pellets are cheaper than bird seed

  112. 112.

    kommrade reproductive vigor

    In case you need another way to attract birds: Furminate Tunch & Lilly in the spring time and leave the fur out for the birds. I do that with the cats and the birds loooove it for nesting material.

    @lemma: Yup. Even if you put larvae killing stuff in the females will still come lay their eggs on still water and that means they’ll bite the shit out of anyone they encounter on the way. Our neighbors have a small non-circulating pond and our yard is a no go area once the mosquitoes start up.

  115. 115.

    Anya

    @SiubhanDuinne: that’s the part that made me feel so uncomfortable. Why treat god like a celebrity. At the same time, I think people are extremely sad that they want the comfort of knowing that he is watching over them.

    Did anyone boo or heckle Obama? I didn’t hear anything?

  117. 117.

    Albatrossity

    Squirrels cannot be defeated. They can be entertaining, however. I suspect Tunch would watch something like this

  124. 124.

    Mark S.

    All right, this has gotta be the funniest thing I’ve read all day:

    Numerous attempts have been made, by the way, to apprise Dawkins of what the traditional definition of divine simplicity implies, and of how it logically follows from the very idea of transcendence, and to explain to him what it means to speak of God as the transcendent fullness of actuality, and how this differs in kind from talk of quantitative degrees of composite complexity. But all the evidence suggests that Dawkins has never understood the point being made, and it is his unfortunate habit contemptuously to dismiss as meaningless concepts whose meanings elude him.

    I can’t believe Dawkins could think those are some meaningless concepts! Everybody I know thinks of God as the “transcendent fullness of actuality,” to the point that it’s pretty much a cliche and we move on to argue about quantitative degrees of composite complexity. Duh!

  125. 125.

    demo woman

    @SiubhanDuinne: I just read on MSNBC online that Blankenship was there. The President and Vice-President met with the family members before the service.

  126. 126.

    You Don't Say

    @demo woman: I was happy to see he was very warmly received.

    I found his eulogy very moving, but I am in a weepy mood so not a good judge. ;-)

  127. 127.

    demo woman

    From MSNBC online

    While Obama acknowledged that the government was partly at fault for the disaster, he laid most of the blame for the latest accident on the mine’s owner. “Safety violators like Massey have still been able to find ways to put their bottom line before the safety of their workers — filing endless appeals instead of paying fines and fixing safety problems,” Obama said on April 15……………….
    Massey Energy called Obama’s remarks “regrettable” and defended its safety record.

  129. 129.

    rknight44

    @Napoleon: Sorry for my they’ll not they’re dumminess (proofread, son), and sorry for your other thing. I hope it turned out as well as mine did. As for the birds: I’m pretty sure songbirds didn’t spring up the day after the first Wild Birds Unlimited store opened. I love to watch ’em and FSM knows they could use a break (feral cats out there – watch your ass).

  131. 131.

    HRA

    @lemma:

    I have a solar powered birdbath/fountain in my backyard. I got it last year. It was a gift from a daughter in CA. Just make sure it’s out where the sun will hit it. The DH set it too close to the trees and was upset (obsessing) over it not working. I put it out in the sun.

  133. 133.

    WereBear (itouch)

    My MIL is a sweet woman who showed up at the family summer camp early one year, as my husband was preparing to shoot one or two squirrels (which works for us.) She was aghast and sent us home before he could start.

    No more than two hours later, she was on the phone. “Tell him to get his gun and get right over! They’ve broken two feeders! They’re ripping shingles off the roof! They’ve chased away all the chipmunks!”

    We have like 15th generation tame chippies who pull peanuts out of your shirt pockets there. When I expressed my own concerns about squirrel dispatching, Mr WereBear said, “Ever notice how some of the chipmunks have shortened tails? That’s because the squIrrels chew them off.”

    Then I became the one jumping up and down like Arlo Guthrie in Alice’s Restaurant, yelling “Kill! Kill!”

  134. 134.

    lemma

    @HRA: a>:

    thank you – we have a nice sunny spot – never knew I’d go crazy about stuff like this but it’s fun. Too many years as a city person.

  135. 135.

    Wile E. Quixote

    @debit:

    John, seriously, no one cares about the state of your iron fence. You just moved in, no one is going to judge you.

    I’ve heard that even the liberal New Republic has problems with the state of John’s iron fence.

  137. 137.

    RedKitten

    Congrats on the birds, John! Glad our advice worked. You’ll love having the chickadees around — they’re such busy, cheerful wee birds, and it’s great fun to watch them.

  138. 138.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @demo woman: I thought both POTUS and VPOTUS were pitch-perfect today, and clearly their having spent private time with the families had to mean a lot. I also really liked what Jay Rockefeller had to say. There is a terrific pride among West Virginians and a few other (mostly mountain) states which always strikes me as much more authentic than the usual Great-State-of-Oklahoma or Texan-by-the-Grace-of-God that makes most of the noise. Whether that pride is a good thing or a bad thing I couldn’t say (probably both, depending on circumstance) but it seems very real to me. Rockefeller captured that note perfectly in his comments. Manchin too.

  144. 144.

    Brachiator

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    When the first preacher was running through the thank-you list of all the dignitaries, and every name got a roumd of applause, and then he said something like “But there’s somebody else here, and that’s the Lord God” and that got hoots and hollers and whistles and stomps and shout-outs from the audience/congregation—well, I’m a nonbeliever, but honestly I was kind of uncomfortable at the idea of God-as-Celebrity.

    I think it’s kinda cool. It brings the deity down to Earth, and present, makes him (or her or what) much more than some distant, stern, detached El Supremo, or the Calm Divine Celestial School Nurse who kisses mankind’s ouchies.

    Was the memorial service covered on any particular news program?

  146. 146.

    mr. whipple

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Rockefeller captured that note perfectly in his comments.

    I agree. Watching it today brought back memories of my grandfather, who started in the mines at 14.

  153. 153.

    stuckinred

    @jeffreyw: So you and Phil were buddies? I guess so. Damn, I was contacted by Steve Munro and hooked him up with them a few years back.

    markann at hotmail dot com

  155. 155.

    stuckinred

    @jeffreyw: Yea, I can understand that. It’s pretty amazing that he had all those pictures that you took. He would have been called Rags probably. He was from Detroit, a true wildman and one of my best friends for 20 years when I moved down here. His widow is very close and will be glad to hear that I have made this connection. Small damn world. When you posted that comment about the An Do valley it got my wheels spinnin.

  156. 156.

    chrome agnomen

    next thing to obsess about is whether the cardinal birds will be molesting the baby birds.

  157. 157.

    IndyLib

    @debit:

    Sorry if someone downthread answered this and I missed it, but it was the water and foil combo – you steamed them for all practical purposes. I like them that way, in fact I’m a full-fledged barbecue heathen who cooks mine with the barbecue sauce on them., if you don’t want them to fall off the bone you need dry heat. Smoker, grill, or in the oven for a short time at pretty high heat.

    As for the plague on suburban mankind that is a racoon – I hate the little dickweeds. We don’t feed the squirrels or birds in our yard because it draws those little bastards. We have to rubber-snubber the lid of our city-supplied trash can with the hinged lid because the little bastards will open it and throw everything everywhere looking for something edible.

  159. 159.

    LTC

    One note about feeding the birds…if the seed you are using has Milo in it, you are wasting you money. The good birds do not eat MILO!!! They scatter it looking for the good seed. I have found out that the cheaper seed actually costs more in the long run because the birds are not eating it…just scattering it. Buy a good seed!!! It will save you in the end!

    Cardinals love black oil sunflower seed and safflower! Squirrels don’t like safflower…they will eat…they just don’t like it. Crafty buggers those squirrels!

  160. 160.

    eastriver

    JC, could you please add the tag “insomnia” for everything you post regarding bird feeders.

    I somehow… just can’t seem… to… oh… dear… me…

    /snoring, entering deep coma

  163. 163.

    Elie

    @IndyLib:

    We are lucky that we have our racoon population eating the right things — snakes, shellfish, critters, etc. People here near rural northwest Wa know never to feed racoons. It turns them into another being. Also, their intelligence and easy adaptability turns them into pests quickly if they are ever allowed to access human food. Ours stay to themselves in the wild with plenty of berries and other stuff to eat and we don’t have our garbage accessible to them. We also have plenty of coyote and other balanced preditors… not too many feral cats though (coyotes). People also know not to leave their small dogs in their back yards too long unattended

  164. 164.

    Elie

    @efgoldman:

    I think that the female Cardinal ( and female Evening Grosbeak) are beautiful even though understated for nest sitting. The female Cardinal’s brown russet edged with scarlet are just gorgeous to me and the Evening Grosbeak gold and yellow/brow markings are also quite handsome.

    I agree however that most of the females are boringly drab, but those two ladies stand out and manage to wear their understated color with great style…

  165. 165.

    IndyLib

    @Elie:
    The area I live in is too populated to keep them from hanging out in the area completely, unfortunately. My neighorhood consists of houses that are spread out with very large yards, no fences, backed up to a corn field which is backed up to a wetland/wooded area. We have deer, badgers, foxes, coyotes and things I’ve seen tracks for but I can’t identify. They aren’t that bad if we secure all sources of easy food, but we didn’t know that when we first moved here and frikkin’ FSM they were a pain in buttinski until we asked our neighbors and were told all the tricks for keeping them away.

  166. 166.

    debit

    @IndyLib: Thanks. I wasn’t totally unhappy with them, just wanted to be able to put them on the grill to finish, which is impossible when they’re falling apart. Thanks for the tip!

  167. 167.

    tjlabs

    And put a bird bath under the tree. The birds love it since they can dash up into the branches if they feel threatened.

  169. 169.

    Jon H

    Here’s a squirrel-proof feeder that might prove entertaining.

    There is a ring at the bottom, that the birds can sit on while eating. If anything heavier tries to sit on it, a motor starts it spinning, throwing the squirrel.

    My parents have a different, similar feeder from the same company. It just has four lightweight, collapsing perches around the bottom of the feeder. They support a bird but not a squirrel. And the feeder itself is too wide for a squirrel to get a good hold on. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a squirrel eating from it. And it’s held up well over 5+ years.

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