Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We do not need to pander to people who do not like what we stand for.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

The world has changed, and neither one recognizes it.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

We are learning that “working class” means “white” for way too many people.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

The National Guard is not Batman.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Spot the Dolphins (Open Thread)

Spot the Dolphins (Open Thread)

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imageThere are dolphins in this picture. You just can’t see them because every time I clicked the shutter, they dove below the surface. Even when I got exasperated and clicked at random where I knew the wily sea-going mammals were lurking, they knew to stay hidden, meaning they are exceptionally smart, keen of hearing and possibly Amish.

Today is Day 7 of our vacation and also our 16th wedding anniversary. Both the seven days and the 16 years have flown by at an astounding clip, which is what happens when you’re in excellent company. If you want to live forever (or at least seem to), spend your time with someone who lacks humor and is unsympathetic to your interests and concerns, is my advice.

Our little vacation cabin is quite rustic: The floors, ceiling, walls and doors are all made of the same dark wood paneling, making it comically difficult for near-sighted people to find their way out of a closed room. I’m guessing the half-dozen or so cabins on this property were built in the 1950s.

The proprietor, who is elusive to the point of non-existence, encased the A/C thermostat in a locked plexiglass box, so we cannot adjust the temperature, which is set at 76 degrees. It feels good during the heat of the day but necessitates blankets at night.

We had the property mostly to ourselves until yesterday. A German family has taken up residence a couple of doors down. The men are avid fishermen. Their luck is equal to my husband’s so far, i.e., none.
image
I’ve been keeping to the shade on the porch, watching others fish, reading and playing the ukelele very badly. The Germans have an adolescent daughter who has shown some interest in my crappy little uke.

If they’re still here when we leave on Sunday, I may make her a present of it, even though I’m pretty attached to it. Maybe someday she’ll remember that an old Floridian lady was kind to her. I don’t know — what do you think? The parents might hate my guts for it if the kid plinks away at it 24/7, but I’ll be long gone by then…

Reader Interactions

113Comments

  2. 2.

    maurinsky

    I have a 16 year old daughter who is either playing her piano or her ukelele all the time, but I love it. My daughter is angling for a banjo uke.

  3. 3.

    Cassidy

    I’d rather shower in prison than listen to another ukelele.

    Kidding (I like uke music), and last one. Well maybe. I will be drinking tonight, so I might revisit this later at a +something or other.

  5. 5.

    Karen in GA

    Happy anniversary!

    Also, too:

    A pineapple uke! If it has a lot of sentimental value, or it would be stupidly expensive to replace (I can’t make out the brand on my monitor), then don’t give it away.

    But if it’s easily replaced, then yeah, why not give it to the German kid, if you’re already leaning towards doing that? It’s always good to encourage musical interest in kids (or adolescents). And you’ll know your pineapple uke is teaching a new generation and seeing more of the world.

  6. 6.

    Sayne

    76° necessitates blankets? I can’t sleep if the temp in my bedroom is much above 70.

  8. 8.

    Dave

    Give it to her, you may nurture another’s love of music and you will certainly make a friend!

  9. 9.

    EthylEster

    So have you revealed where on the gulf of mexico you are staying?
    Because that’s what it looks like to me.
    I had a very nice stay a couple of years ago at Nokomis.

  10. 10.

    Dave

    I think you should give it to her, you may nurture another’s love of music and you will certainly make a friend!

  11. 11.

    Dave

    Arrrgh! first the comment doesn’t show, so I re-write it and then both versions show up.

  12. 12.

    scav

    Somewhere I have that photo’s twin, only it was the Strait of Juan de Fuca and they were Orcas. We just may have discovered a cunning plot among the sneaky sea-farers and they surround us!

  14. 14.

    Amir Khalid

    It’s obvious why you couldn’t see any dolphins. They were really saying, “So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish.”

  16. 16.

    schrodinger's cat

    I has a jealous, my last beach vacation was ages ago. I have been to coastal ME many times since,will probably go again this year, but they no has beaches. Last mini vacation was in Philly. I has to find myself a beach on my upcoming trip to India.

  18. 18.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Give her the Ike if she remains interested. And happy anniversary to the Cracker Couple!

    A dear friend of mine lives on Tybee Island (coastal Georgia, near Savannah) and spends her time going out each day in a coracle and interacting with dolphins. She knows them as individuals, and most of them know her. She’s managed to take many photos that are obviously dolphins being curious or playful or what have you, although I must say they rival Cole’s in the photographic clarity department. But still.

  21. 21.

    Karmus

    The gift of music is awesome. Do give her the uke, as it may also keep her off the accordion (she’s German, right?) so you might be doing her parents a favor.

    Also, again, happy anniversary.

  23. 23.

    aimai

    So cool. Hope to be away in Europe marking our 18th wedding anniversary. You are so right about picking the right person. Today I stumbled on the incrediby stupid cards he wrote me when we were dating 22 years ago. Cracked me up and rather embarrassed him. As it turns out, not evident at all in those cards which were rather goopy, he’s a talented poet and songwriter who has written me innumerable wonderful poems and songs for every anniversary since we got hitched. Sometimes you’ve got to see past their dorkiness to the inner person–when you are lucky, you are as lucky 18 years in when you are considerably…uh…different as you were at the start. Luckier, in fact.

  24. 24.

    different-church-lady

    …they are exceptionally smart, keen of hearing and possibly Amish.

    Keeping with the theme of the last couple of days, I must now berate you for making Amish jokes.

  25. 25.

    Cassidy

    So on topic, I have a keyboard in the car I keep forgetitng to take upstairsthat we got from one of the daycare counsleors who’s been teahcing my daughter some piano. Apparently she picks it up and remembers very quickly, although she doesn’t read music. I used to be the same way when I played piano and was really good, but was forced to play and punished for not practicing.

  26. 26.

    HelloRochester

    I think the word in German for what you will give the parents is ukeleleschmerz.

  28. 28.

    Trollhattan

    The uke would be great, but a mobile of wine capsule sculptures would last a lifetime!

    Fun experiment: paste a “Poland” sign to your cabin door and see whether they invade.

    I kid, sounds like a nice vacation during which you can actually relax. Quite unlike my last one, which was a SoCal Tour de Madness.

  30. 30.

    raven

    Get a big ass (8ft or so) casting rod, 3 ounce triangle weight, 2 fish finder hooks and live shrimp. If you are where I think you are there should be a drop off, a sand bar, a drop off, and another bar. Rig the shrimp, walk out as far as you can on the second sand bar, throw that puppy as far as you can. Open the bail and walk back to the beach. Stick it in the rod holder, tighten the slack out of the line and chill.

    I assume you know all this anyways.

  31. 31.

    Mandalay

    @cathyx: “the Jimi Hendrix of the Ululele”

    Heh…
    the Jimi Hendrix of Japan.
    the Jimi Hendrix of South Africa.
    the Jimi Hendrix of Turkey.
    the Jimi Hendrix of Mali
    the Jimi Hendrix of Africa.
    the Jimi Hendrix of Morocco.

    And a quick google reveals…
    the Jimi Hendrix of football
    Jimi Hendrix of the Hammered Dulcimer
    the Jimi Hendrix of filmmaking
    THE Jimi Hendrix of the Hammond B3
    the Jimi Hendrix of sketchbooking
    the Jimi Hendrix of the violin
    the Jimi Hendrix of the accordion

    Does anyone comes close to matching Hendrix for conveying the idea of being the absolute best at something?

  33. 33.

    Punchy

    I think the word in German for what you will give the parents is ukeleleschmerz.

    That doesn’t look German as much as it does Swedish chef-ish.

  35. 35.

    raven

    And maybe you’ll get this.

    Disclaimer. I fished this stretch of the gulf for 6 years without catching anything bu pomano and whiting. This red was the first about three years ago and the big ass one I caught was this year.

  36. 36.

    different-church-lady

    @Mandalay:

    Does anyone comes close to matching Hendrix for conveying the idea of being the absolute best at something?

    “The Jimi Hendrix of prison rape jokes.”

    Totally works.

  39. 39.

    raven

    Also Betty, you may not be aware but Red Snapper season is only 21 days and it opens tomorrow. Good time to get on a charter.

  45. 45.

    realbtl

    @WereBear:
    Not a drum kit but still a likely gateway instrument for kids. The electric guitar comes after that first taste.

  46. 46.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @Mandalay:
    I was a Hendrix fan and I saw him in concert three times, the first being Monterey Pop in ’67. I was predisposed to go to those concerts because I’d seen him years earlier when he was with the Isley Brothers. Yeah, he was very good. I prefer Eddie Hazel, or John McLaughlin, or Craig Chaquico. I think that the “Jimi Hendrix of…” bit took off because of Hendrix being both very good and very well known.

    Me? I’m the Jimi Hendrix of not being the Jimi Hendrix of anything.

  49. 49.

    Redshirt

    @schrodinger’s cat: Say what? Maine’s got some great beaches. But they’re all in the southern part of the state. Once you go north of Brunswick, yeah, not many good beaches at all. But south of Brunswick there are many fantastic ones.

  51. 51.

    A Ghost To Most

    As someone who is meh about beaches, and finds FLA buggy, hot, and humid, I am still trying to understand taking a vacation from home in FLA by vacationing in … FLA.

    Of course, I live at the base of the Rockies, and do most of my vacationing there, so different strokes…

  52. 52.

    the Conster

    Those Newsmax headlines are like wingnut madlibs. I refuse to click, but it’s like having a funhouse mirror held up to reality I can look into every day without going into the funhouse loony bin.

  54. 54.

    Mandalay

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate:

    I think that the “Jimi Hendrix of…” bit took off because of Hendrix being both very good and very well known.

    Maybe, but there are plenty of people who are very good and very well known in many fields, but I don’t hear anyone else’s name being invoked so much to convey the idea of being the very best of just about anything. He just seems to have cornered the market. It used to be “the Cadillac of…” and now it’s “the Hendrix of”.

    I’m not disputing his credentials in the slightest; I think he was great. I’m just surprised how the phrase seems to have become part of the language.

  55. 55.

    schrodinger's cat

    @Redshirt: Ok southern Maine does have some beaches, but they are always too crowded and the water is too cold. Brrr.. Sorry, didn’t mean to hurt your Mainer pride. I mostly hang out in the mid coast region when I am in ME, Acadia National Park and around it.

  57. 57.

    Trollhattan

    @Mandalay:

    One has to consider Hendrix in context of his time. I defer to the other guitarists around then, who basically conceded the spotlight to him. Lord only knows what he might have achieved had he, say, doubled his time on this planet (which would have STILL deprived him of greeting the new millennium).

  58. 58.

    Violet

    Since this is an open thread:

    Japan and South Korea suspended some imports of American wheat, and the European Union urged its 27 nations to increase testing, after the United States government disclosed this week that a strain of genetically engineered wheat that was never approved for sale was found growing in an Oregon field.

    Although none of the wheat, developed by Monsanto Company, was found in any grain shipments — and the Department of Agriculture said there would be no health risk if any was shipped — governments in Asia and Europe acted quickly to limit their risk.

    NYT article link.
    Also:

    The strain of wheat was developed by Monsanto to resist its Roundup herbicide, but the company ended its field trials in 2004. How it came to be growing in Oregon was not clear.

    Monsanto is the current equivalent of the tobacco companies before all the lawsuits, imho.

  59. 59.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @Mandalay:
    Mystifying to me as well. Travis Wammack was a more innovative guitarist years before Hendrix. Linus Pauling’s accomplishments dwarf those of Hendrix. Somehow Jimi just caught on.

  62. 62.

    Redshirt

    @schrodinger’s cat: Well, yes, the water is always cold, and other than Sandy Beach at Acadia, there are no nice beaches up there. But too busy? Come on! That’s part of the fun — the pier at OOB on a hot summer day is a blast.

  64. 64.

    Angela

    Happy Anniversary Betty.

    Delurking to say that and to remark that the last few days have been prime examples of why I lurk at BJ so often.

  66. 66.

    Trollhattan

    @catclub:

    My continental corner gets hot but never humid-hot. This is why I escape to the mountains and not somwhere surrounded with bathtub-temperature saltwater.

    Come winter it’s a whole different thing.

  69. 69.

    Redshirt

    @Cassidy: Not that bad! In the summer the ocean temps are probably around high 60’s low 70’s. Still pretty cold, but on a hot day? Refreshing!

    The Gulf of Maine is a stoic gulf.

  70. 70.

    Trollhattan

    @Violet:

    Ugh, like nobody saw this coming. The “hilarious” part will be when Monsanto sues the farmer for raising Roundup-resistant wheat they didn’t pay Monsanto for. (I am not making that last bit up.)

  71. 71.

    sne

    Question for the BJ’ers using the RSS feed. I was trying out NewsBlur to replace google reader, and it mostly works fine (I think it’s fantastic actually, I’m happy now that Google reader’s end forced me to try something else). It hasn’t found new balloon-juice posts since May 21st though. Thought I’d see if anyone else had a problem before creating a bug report – any other NewsBlur users here?

  73. 73.

    Redshirt

    @raven: Sadly, I’ve never ocean fished. Lakes only. I’ve got a brother in law who’s the very stereotype of the obsessed fisherman. He’s always fishing. He knows every freaking hidden away puddle of water with bass in it.

    We went a few weeks back and the fish were almost literally jumping in the boat – one banged against the side and almost made it in.

  75. 75.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @raven:
    Both pics remind me of Matt Frewer’s character in “Eureka!” You aren’t Matt Frewer?

  77. 77.

    Redshirt

    @raven: No, just frisky bass. The lake was just splashing with them – it was an incredible site.

    Were you off the Bush Compound? Walkers Point area?

    Nice place. Great beach!

  78. 78.

    catclub

    @Redshirt: “Refreshing!”

    That is the lie yelled by the first person in swimming at our lakeside cabin, northern Vermont.
    The old tradition of swimming before breakfast has mostly faded.

  80. 80.

    donnah

    Don’t feel bad, Betty. My photos of manatees look just like that!

    Congrats on having a great vacation and a great spouse. I’ve got a good’un, too. We’ll celebrate 32 years of marriage in June.

    And it’s sweet of you to give your ukelele to her.

  81. 81.

    Mandalay

    @Trollhattan:

    Lord only knows what he might have achieved had he, say, doubled his time on this planet

    Indeed, though it seems that musicians (like mathematicians and Casanovas) are in decline once they turn 30.

    An early death certainly helps for entering folklore. And some performers who really weren’t that great IMO (James Dean? Brian Jones? Mama Cass?) seem to have become revered simply through dying young. So maybe that partly explains why “the Hendrix of…” seems to have stuck.

  83. 83.

    Tonal (visible) Crow

    If Obama had done this — even as a senator — our media would have blasted it from the rooftops without pause for as as long as it took to destroy his career. But since McCain did it, no big deal, move on you libtard, nothin’ ta’ see here.

    Also too, Sen. Waytoobigferyerbritches, ya think something similar might happen if we started giving weapons to the rebels? Ya think some terrorists might come up and say, “We’re good honest Syrians fighting Ass-add, not terrorists, so give us some hardware, the bigger the better!” And ya think even a Sen. Waytoobigferyerbritches might not know who they were, and might give them some weapons?

    Q for the day: Is what McCain did “material support of terrorism”?

  85. 85.

    raven

    @Redshirt: Just south of there is where we caught the fish. I’m trying to find the boat online. That trip was crazy. I was at a conference in Boston and my wife was supposed to be with me. Her father was in his last stages so she flew home to VA and met me up there just as the conference ended. The airline lost her luggage so we bought a few things and took off. I hit the boat and she went sightseeing. Came in, went to Portland, ate, crashed and got up at dawn. In 71 I hitched out east from Illinois and ended up in the White’s off the Kangamangus Highway so we lit out for there. Saw the sights, went on the ski lift at Franconia Knotch, drove back to the Boston Airport and came home. Her pop died 2 weeks later and somehow I lost all the picture of what was a whirlwind trip.

  87. 87.

    Violet

    @Trollhattan: I know you’re not making it up. Like that organic farmer who got sued when non-organic wheat blew into his field. He got sued for growing it without paying for it. Bunch of fuckers, Monstanto.

  88. 88.

    Trollhattan

    @Mandalay:

    I’ll never forget the day I realized I’d outlived Mozart. God, I felt like a loser (of course, by his standard I was a already a loser at five).

    Of course not every artist peaks young, but we do have a thing for prodigies.

  89. 89.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @catclub:
    A couple of years back two friends and I went camping in Death Valley. On the second day it started blowing, hard. Visibility dropped to zero and we hunkered down in the tent which at times assumed shapes that would have baffled M.C. Escher. On the third day we decided to make a run for it and we just collapsed the tent and threw it, and everything else into faithfull Jeep wagon. Go! When we slowed down we were up in the Sierras along the Kern River.

    So we pitched camp, drank wine and smoked some herb. I pulled out my soap and asked “Who’s for a bath?” Because we all were crusted with dust we all pulled on trunks and jumped into the river. That sonofabitch was 42 degrees. Refreshing!

  90. 90.

    Nina

    The Social Security Trust Fund report came out today to practically no fanfare. The big news ought to be that Obamacare’s changes pushed the ‘running out of money’ theoretical date for Medicare two more years into the future.

    But the sleazebag Bush appointed trustees and the corporateocrats larded the conclusions page with heavyhanded binary solution to the eventual problem – they say the only way to avert disaster is to tax more or cut benefits or both. Nothing about eliminating the taxable wage cap. Big surprise.

  94. 94.

    gene108

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Only been to Mumbai once and never to Goa. Can’t help there for a beach vacation, but I’d look up private beach resorts to book your beach vacation.

  95. 95.

    A Humble Lurker

    For those who know what ‘uke’ means in Japanese, this thread is a riot.

  97. 97.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @raven:

    Perfect! I didn’t lose my best friend, it just took a magnifying glass and a pair of tweezers to find him.

  98. 98.

    Redshirt

    There’s “refreshing” and there’s life threatening cold. I’ve hiked most of the Presidential mountains in NH, and I remember one wicked hot day I came across this lovely mountain stream that had a pool that seemed perfect for a dip. I jumped in and lost my breath – the water was ice cold. Painful. I couldn’t believe how cold it was compared to how hot the air temperature was.

  99. 99.

    Trollhattan

    @raven:

    Did you catch Lou Adler’s R&R HOF induction the other night? Had no idea he’d produced such a vast swath of artists, including the Mamas & Papas. First met them as a favor to another artist (Barry McGuire, IIRC). Most folks only know him as Dude Next to Nicholson at Staples.

  102. 102.

    schrodinger's cat

    @Redshirt: I am more worried about traffic and pollution. I has my peeps and I know the citeh, although I have not been there for a long time. I will be OK.

    ETA: The rapes are nothing to laugh about, I just think more of the ugliness is coming to light. Kinda like the catholic church.

  104. 104.

    schrodinger's cat

    @Redshirt: I am more worried about traffic and pollution. I has my peeps and I know the citeh, although I have not been there for a long time. I will be OK.

    ETA: The rapes are nothing to laugh about, I just think more of the ugliness is coming to light. Kinda like the catholic church.

  105. 105.

    Trollhattan

    @raven:

    Solid guy, like John Hammond and Jerry Wexler. Hard to recall the music industry once being run by music people instead of bean-counters and lawsuit-happy lawyers, but there ya go.

  107. 107.

    A Ghost To Most

    @Betty Cracker:

    Sounds like a normal WNYer; snowbirds for the most part. I’m originally from Medina, but I hate the heat and humidity. I guess it comes from living in MD for 26 years. I am now completely spoiled by Denver weather.

    In other news, Adam Kokesh has wimped out on his July 4th gun tour of DC. Hoocudanode?

  109. 109.

    LanceThruster

    The parents might hate my guts for it if the kid plinks away at it 24/7, but I’ll be long gone by then…

    At least it’s not a drum kit.

    NNice random act of kindness. Good on you.

  110. 110.

    Tonal (visible) Crow

    @LanceThruster: I seem to recall something from Twain’s Roughing It about an itinerant peddler convincing Brigham Young to buy a tin whistle for one of his children. Of course, that meant he had to buy one for all of his children, which was one hell of a brood. Twain, perhaps not tongue-in-cheek, said that Young sent a “Destroying Angel” to inflict “justice” on the peddler, but he returned empty-handed.

    I wonder whether we can get John Boehner to buy a tin whistle for his favorite teatard?

  111. 111.

    TerryC

    They’ve done that to me, too. I watched some pink dolphins on the Amazon a couple of years ago, for an hour, trying to get good pics. It was like they had some kind of sense of when I would not be ready and that’s when they would surface.

    Cool animals. One was using a stick in its beak to (looked like it, anyway) herd fish toward the other.

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