Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

This really is a full service blog.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Let’s finish the job.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

T R E 4 5 O N

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Notable Birds (Open Thread)

Notable Birds (Open Thread)

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Instead of birdbrains disturbing bird refuges, how about some actual birds? This pair of cardinals like to hang out in the bamboo opposite my office window:

redbird pair_edited-1

There’s a feeder attached to the window and a birdbath nearby, both of which they visit frequently, always with one keeping watch as the other eats and drinks.

I admire their cautious collaboration.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

129Comments

  1. 1.

    japa21

    Cardinals are wonderful birds to watch. Yes, the male and female pair do tend to watch out for the other. Seldom see both eating at the same time, unless there are several other birds in the vicinity (excluding hawks).

  2. 2.

    redshirt

    I have a couple of feeders and a bird water bottle (when not frozen) outside my window too, and it provides endless entertainment. Especially when rarer birds show up.

    It’s interesting to me that in the bird world, it’s the females which are drab and the males are highly colorful. The opposite of western human social conventions.

  3. 3.

    Botsplainer

    I always wanted a parrot, but had too much going on with family and career when I was young enough. Now that I’m in my 50s, I feel like it wouldn’t be fair to the bird on an emotional level, from everything I’ve read.

  7. 7.

    Cacti

    Since moving to Washington, I’ve seen more eagles and falcons around here then I have all of the other states I’ve lived in combined.

    When I was fishing in Carbon River gorge a few weeks back, I saw 4 bald eagles and 1 golden, doing fishing of their own. Peregrine falcons are also very prevalent in western WA.

  8. 8.

    PurpleGirl

    @Botsplainer: My Peekskill friends had two parrots — a Blue and Gold MacCaw and little green bird (species unknown). At one time the both friends had wills written and the birds were planned for since they can be long-lived and often out-live their owners. At one time I saw a Hyacinth MacCaw that absolutely lovely but also cost $10,000 (at that was at a discount because it was missing one toe).

    ETA: Both parrots ultimately died on their own, probably from colds after my friends moved to Florida.

  12. 12.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Thank you Becky.

    I was frankly revulsed by all the homophobia in the previous thread. I wanted to ask for a trigger warning but I was afraid one of those manly militia types would execute me on the spot, heaven forfend!

  13. 13.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kevin the hen: It is. Big mistake, IMO. The team sucked this year, but they’d made clear improvements after winning only two games last year and were successfully integrating a rookie QB into the system.

  14. 14.

    Germy

    This notable bird says it’s high time Hillary Clinton came clean about Bill.
    I find his piece so offensive, I posted it again.

  15. 15.

    Wyliecoat

    Using this as an open thread…please don’t shoot me for complaining about the new website but it is just not optimized for my Samsung Android phone. I have to blow up the text and then the margins get lost.

  16. 16.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Germy: She also needs to make it clear who is going to be doing the wimmens work while she is Presidenting. I’ll be damned if I’m going to sign off on her clipping coupons while babysitting Charlotte with the red phone ringing off the hook.

  17. 17.

    Benw

    I agree with you, Betty. The Cardinals have each other’s backs this year and are poised to go deep into the playoffs.

  18. 18.

    Tommy

    Birds rock. Mom was in town the other day. Said their town has an eagle in it. I guess not a lot going on in their town to where this is big news. But I guess a bald eagle is better you knew than Trump.

  21. 21.

    scav

    Western men had far more sartorial fun at cetain periods. Pink hair! outrageous stripes and heels. Put a feather inhis hat and called it macaroni might be one of their last flings on the general downtrend, althugh dandy was certain to follow. forget where fop fits in.

  23. 23.

    Germy

    @Just Some Fuckhead: She also needs to make it clear who is going to be doing the wimmens work while she is Presidenting.

    The author of the piece has admitted everyone he showed it to found it offensive. Maybe there’s a reason for that…

  26. 26.

    Betty Cracker

    @C.V. Danes: Our old neighbors had an African grey that was very entertaining but LOUD. In addition to generalized screeching, he could do an incredibly accurate imitation of a ringtone, forcing everyone in earshot to check their phones and constantly update ringtones to avoid getting punked yet again by the bird.

  27. 27.

    redshirt

    Can anyone think of any other animals where the male is drab and the female is colorful?

    People don’t really count since it’s social, not biological, conventions which make the difference.

  28. 28.

    Punchy

    As a die-hard Cubs fan, I’m pre-programmed to hate your cardinals.

    Also, too. Your white socks and any hawks named “Harrelson”.

  29. 29.

    cmorenc

    @Betty Cracker:

    Good thing that bamboo in the picture is at your office rather than your residence – it’s a transcendentally beautiful plant, but a royally pestilent one that is uncontrollable, absent a soundly designed containment barrier completely around its perimeter deep enough to stop the aggressive spreading habit of the underground rhizomes. A well-established grove of bamboo is nearly impossible to kill with herbicides like Roundup that are mostly absorbed by the leaves – you have to use a more potent variety of the sort that kills roots (which persist for extended periods in soil rather than decomposing rapidly, and carry high risk of big-time collateral kill of all surrounding vegetation). Instead, you must first cut all the canes down and mechanically (by hand or backhoe) dig out the vast majority of the rhizome network – and only then can roundup effectively kill any residual straggler pieces of the network by spraying it on new shoots just as they begin to leaf out (because this tactic starves the rhizome network of photosynthesis, and it starves – but you have to keep vigilantly at it for several weeks to months, cause bamboo doesn’t give up easily).

    Been there, done that – down at a vacation house at the beach we own, we (and three of our contiguous neighbors) had a beautiful feral grove of it in the rear of our respective properties for many years, but it became impossible to keep in control and it required a bear of a joint effort over many months to finally eradicate it.

  30. 30.

    redshirt

    @Betty Cracker: I knew this sorta crazy animal lady who had all manner of animals – many dogs, cats, chickens, etc. She also had a parrot. She was coming home to destruction caused by one of the dogs and she didn’t know what was happening. So one day she says goodbye to everyone as usual and then snuck around the side and peered into the window to see and hear the parrot imitate her voice perfectly, calling for one the dogs. “Come and get it Rex” “Come Rex”. The parrot was fucking around with the dogs.

    I don’t remember how she resolved this. Probably locked the dog in a room somewhere.

    Parrots can be malicious.

  31. 31.

    trollhattan

    @C.V. Danes:
    True, a friend who’s had the same parrot for something like 25 years has hearing loss probably from the bird. The bird is perfectly healthy, so who knows how long she’ll live?

    Highly recommend starting with a budgie and seeing how birdkeeping suits you. My kid got one (okay, we got our kid one at her request) and he’s simply charming to have around with his antics and chattering. Based on our time with Paco I’m considering a conure, which are very sociable and not especially large, although said to have a 30-year lifespan.

  32. 32.

    Mnemosyne

    @Botsplainer:

    If you still really wanted one, there are probably rescue parrots who are middle-aged or elderly and would like to have a home for the next 15 or 20 years. But you may travel too much to make that viable.

  33. 33.

    Another Holocene Human

    Okay, I have a cold, a fever, and evil sinus congestion that I’m trying to clear out of my sinuses so I can get some work done. I have the hot water pot handy–suggestions?

  34. 34.

    trollhattan

    @redshirt:
    Hilarious, like a Larson cartoon come to life.

    I’ve encountered parrots at outdoor restaurants and more recently, at a winery tasting room (that one, at least was in his/her cage). All brought in by customers, not shop birds. Some folks take them everywhere–I don’t think I have the energy for that.

  38. 38.

    Mnemosyne

    @Another Holocene Human:

    You can find neti pot solution recipes online if you look. Plain water will just hurt and not do as much good as the salt/baking soda mix-ins. The late General Stuck used to add a teaspoon of vinegar as well, but that may be for advanced neti pot users who can stand the burning.

    And make sure your water is boiled and cooled or distilled to kill any baddies. Nobody wants brain amoebas like they were getting in the Louisiana water supu.

  41. 41.

    Benw

    @Tommy: no. Well, maybe. I like to think of “the Cardinals” as more of a metaphor for mankind’s eternal quest for fulfillment through self-knowledge, anyway.

  43. 43.

    Mnemosyne

    @jeffreyw:

    I think I’m in the minority, but I like bluejays. They can be a little annoying, but they’re smart and entertaining.

    I like all the corvids, really. Crows, ravens, all of ’em.

    And, of course, it’s been pretty well proven by this point that birds are living dinosaurs. When the comet hit, they adapted by shrinking down and learning to fly.

  45. 45.

    Betty Cracker

    @cmorenc: My office is at my home! We have several types of bamboo, all grown by my husband, who was careful to choose the “clumping” varieties rather than the kind that runs riot.

    @Mnemosyne: I like Jays too.

  47. 47.

    JPL

    @cmorenc: I rid my yard of bamboo and you are correct about having to remain vigilant. The neighbor has it so it does come creeping.

  49. 49.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Germy: I don’t know why. Someone needs to be asking the tough questions. Who’s going to annoy everyone half to death about their diet or drugs or book learnin? What if Bill can’t find something? Do we cancel all events for that day until said item is located by her? Will she be renaming it the Ovalating Office?

  51. 51.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Betty Cracker: The US had native bamboo varieties which were pretty much destroyed en masse as “waste” vegetation, so they couldn’t have been that invasive.

  53. 53.

    01jack

    @Mnemosyne: I’m fond of jays as well. I have feeders and a platform where I toss a few peanuts first thing every morning. Usually by the time the coffee is brewed two or three have shown up and carried off their peanuts. One frequent visitor will entertain me with his talent for mimicing the cry of a hawk.

  59. 59.

    Brachiator

    @Germy:

    This notable bird says it’s high time Hillary Clinton came clean about Bill. I find his piece so offensive, I posted it again.

    I didn’t find the piece to be offensive. It was stupid and incoherent.

    And I have to admit that I double dismissed it when the author noted a preference for Sanders. But maybe that’s just me.

    I liked one of the comments to the article:

    Virtually everyone I showed this piece to hated it. The big national blog where I am a contributing writer refused to publish it.

    The Republicans will try to make much of this, and even some voters will obsess over what Hillary should have done. But I just don’t see this as relevant to anything political.

    Even the references to Wilson and Roosevelt were dumb. I have some concerns about what role or power a former president might have in the administration of a spouse. But there is really no precedent for this in American politics.

  61. 61.

    Mnemosyne

    Also, if anyone would like the sinus-clearing properties of ginger in a cold drink, Fevertree Ginger Beer is REALLY gingery. You’ll need to blow your nose after drinking it even as a mixer.

  62. 62.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Mnemosyne: I don’t have a clean lab. I have a messy kitchen. And what I’m missing is a nozzle. Now theoretically I could bend over backwards and pour some dodgy substance up my nose, but in reality, that’s not going to happen.

  64. 64.

    rikyrah

    PHUCK.OUTTA.HERE!!!!

    All the time they point fingers at the poor and say

    ” Pull yourself up by your bootstraps’

    for folks THAT DON’T EVEN HAVE A PAIR OF BOOTS IN THE ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD…

    while, we’re supposed to feel for those who have EVERYTHING?

    phuck.that.

    Sometimes ‘poor little rich kids’ really are poor little rich kids
    Reuters – Tue, 5 Jan 2016 09:06

    Jan 5 (Reuters) – The “affluenza” defense of Ethan Couch, a 16-year-old Texas boy who killed four pedestrians while driving drunk, has received a great deal of ridicule, much of it justified. That said, it would be foolish to allow an absurd effort to minimize one teenager’s responsibility for a horrific tragedy to obscure growing evidence that we have a significant and growing crisis on our hands. The children of the affluent are becoming increasingly troubled, reckless, and self-destructive. Perhaps we needn’t feel sorry for these “poor little rich kids.” But if we don’t do something about their problems, they will become everyone’s problems.

    One of us has spent about 20 years studying and documenting the growth of dysfunction among affluent youth, and the other has written about one large source of the problem. High-risk behavior, including extreme substance abuse and promiscuous sex, is growing fast among young people from communities dominated by white-collar, well-educated parents. These kids attend schools distinguished by rich academic curricula, high standardized test scores, and diverse extracurricular opportunities. Their parents’ annual income, at $150,000 and more, is well over twice the national average. And yet they show serious levels of maladjustment as teens, displaying problems that tend to begin as they enter adolescence and get worse as they approach college.

  67. 67.

    ? Martin

    A funny thing has been happening since hippy-dippy fruits and nuts California elected Democrats top to bottom and eliminated the GOPs ability to block everything and everything – we raised taxes on the rich, fully backed the exchanges, and we’re looking at a $7.9B budget surplus for the year. I thought we were doomed unlike Kansas who must have exploded to prosperity by now with their tax slashing.

  68. 68.

    rikyrah

    The Big Lie in the War Against Drugs
    Tuesday, 29 December 2015

    ………………………………………….

    No, the war on drugs, since its very beginning, has been about
    controlling political power – by breaking up Black communities and the dissident left.

    And we know that because the people who have been involved, the
    architects and the leaders in the war on drugs, have admitted it – even bragged about it!

    Before he died, Nixon counsel and former assistant to the president, John Ehrlichman, told author Dan Baum that:

    “The Nixon Campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar Left, and Black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or Black. But by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and Blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”

  69. 69.

    Mnemosyne

    @Another Holocene Human:

    You don’t need a clean lab, just water that you boiled for 5-10 minutes — microbes can’t survive in salt or baking soda. But if you don’t have a neti pot or other irrigation device, then don’t bother trying to irrigate. Bring a pot of water to a boil, turn off the heat, and tent a tea towel over your head so you can inhale the steam for about 10 minutes. (If you have a trivet, it’s easier to put the pot on the kitchen table and sit down to tent.) That should help loosen things up.

  71. 71.

    Amir Khalid

    @Germy:
    I’ve read it and I too find it offensive. He is saying that Hillary, the wronged party in Bill’s infidelities, explain her position on them. Why does Shaun Mullen think a wronged party should have to explain anything? It is all on the guilty party. Let Bill do the explaining, if Mullen thinks he owes it to anyone other than Hillary.

    As for Bill’s role in Hillary’s White House, I expect him to realise who is in the Oval Office this time, and act accordingly. If Mullen fears Bill will instead exert undue influence on President Hillary (and this could turn out to be very hard to prove) then Mullen should make his argument against that.

  73. 73.

    trollhattan

    @Linnaeus:
    Loathe crows but love jays and especially magpies. Our yellow-bill magpies took a huge hit when West Nile arrived several years ago, but luckily it didn’t wipe them out.

  74. 74.

    jl

    Why people should call their Congress people about the Malheur Wildlife situation.
    GOPers are already pulling stunts and issuing statements in Congress.
    From what I know of the situation, he raises some reasonable issues, but it is larded up with BS, and in support of nonsense sagebrush rebellion gripes by ranchers who are indignant that they don’t get more a generous federal government welfare program, which should include them able to do whatever they feel like.

    Congressman Greg Walden addresses U.S. House on situation in Harney County, OR
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjL9HGiOIGo

  75. 75.

    Kay

    @Germy:

    I love how crazy it is:

    Both women worshiped at the altar of political prominence and power, so much so that they overlooked clear evidence of their husbands’ violation of their wedding vows. They contributed to their husbands’ phony public personas as straight arrows and then circled their own wagons when confronted with the truth.

    Okay, first- would anyone ever describe Bill Clinton’s “public persona” as “straight arrow”?

    What were they supposed to do after gathering “clear evidence”? I just have this picture of Hillary Clinton calling a press conference to announce her husband had “violated his wedding vows”. No one would know what to do with that. I would be really uncomfortable and wondering why she was putting me thru this :)

  76. 76.

    trollhattan

    @redshirt:
    Male tropical reef fish are typically more colorful than the females, as well as many freshwater species. Frequently there are big size differences too–male guppies are minuscule compared to the females–they look like different species. Same basic reason–to distract predators and attract females (hubba-hubba).

    Some day I hope to see a male bowerbird doing his thing. Is there a more charming, crazier display in nature?

  77. 77.

    jl

    @? Martin:

    ” I thought we were doomed unlike Kansas who must have exploded to prosperity by now with their tax slashing. ”
    Why are you shaming California with just Kansas, when you could damn that state of commies and feckless in incompetent silly liberals when you could toss in Wisconsin, Louisiana, and Maine? And if you want to go by state per capita GDP growth since the Great Recession, Texas as well?

    We need as many examples as possible to get us idiot Californians to get with a Holy Constitutional path that leads to prosperity not disaster and poverty!

  78. 78.

    Mnemosyne

    @lamh36:

    I checked to see if that was the horrifying case I read about and, yep, it was. Ironically, it’s a good thing that cop was called, because the hospital “just happened” to misplace their own tape of the incident, so this is the best evidence the family has to prove neglect.

    If the Joint Commission inspectors aren’t already on their way, I’d be very surprised. And as a hospital employee, you know what it means when the Joint Commission (aka JCAHO) inspectors show up unannounced. Those hospital administrators are really fucked now, and rightly so.

  79. 79.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Kay: “Bill Clinton has been barred from the White House. As far as I know, he’s currently staying at the Governor’s Mansion with Vice President Sherrod Brown and his wife while he looks for a room to rent in Georgetown.”

  80. 80.

    Mnemosyne

    @Kay:

    I swear I’m the only person who remembers Bill and Hillary on “60 Minutes” or a similar show before the 1992 election where Hillary said something like, Not everyone has a monogamous marriage.

    Nobody outside of the MSM gives a shit that Bill is a horndog. Everyone knew it before the 1992 election, and he was elected anyway. Twice. Get over it, you prudish MSM whiners.

  81. 81.

    Poopyman

    Oh jeez, just what the MSN was dreaming about …

    Washington (CNN) Vice President Joe Biden says he regrets “every day” that he didn’t enter the 2016 presidential race — but his decision was in his family’s best interests.

    “I regret it every day, but it was the right decision for my family and for me. And I plan on staying deeply involved,” Biden said in an interview with Connecticut NBC affiliate WVIT.

  85. 85.

    Shell

    @Mnemosyne: Dont have a neti pot, but when I have needed to irrigate some clogged sinuses, I simply brought up a mug filled with a mild saline solution. Holding one nostril shut I snuffed up some liquid from the brim of the cup and held my head back for a minute or so. There might be a stray drip or two down your cheek, but no major mess.

  86. 86.

    Yutsano

    @Cacti:

    Peregrine falcons are also very prevalent in western WA.

    Also (fortunately) quite common on the east side. There used to be a nesting pair in downtown Seattle but I believe they have moved on. Not too bad for a bird that was endangered not too long ago.

  87. 87.

    Germy

    @Mnemosyne:

    I swear I’m the only person who remembers Bill and Hillary on “60 Minutes” or a similar show before the 1992 election

    No, I remember that, too. They addressed the issue in excruciating detail, and even pissed off the “Stand By Your Man” country singer. That’s why “think” pieces like the one I linked to piss me off, because the writer is old enough to know better.

  91. 91.

    Germy

    @Mike J: He’s a sixty-something brogressive. I’d always imagined they were young guys; didn’t know they came in boomer flavor.

  92. 92.

    01jack

    @rdldot: Brown thrasher, I think. I had a pair nesting in my yard a few years ago and they were very aggressive-protective: You couldn’t get anywhere near that bush!

  94. 94.

    Mnemosyne

    @Germy:

    Brogressives come in all ages. It’s just more pathetic when they’re older and still don’t know better.

  95. 95.

    scav

    @SiubhanDuinne: What’s somehow utterly fascinating is how rich a mine any and all old knitting patternbooks prove to be for such exercises.

    Will admit as to being utterly floored by the renaissance of underwear ads I somehow missed. Suppressed. Sublimated.

  96. 96.

    currants

    @Another Holocene Human:

    Actually, you can just use half a teaspoon of NON-iodized salt per 2 cups. Use it after taking a hot steamy bath/shower, or after the following:

    Pour very hot (boiling) water in a large bowl or pot, hold your head over and put a towel over your head and the bowl to keep the steam in (head not so close as to burn any skin, obviously), and inhale for awhile.

    This 2-3x/day plus antibiotics was what my very western-trained MD prescribed for me 2 years ago–the worst sinus infection I ever had. It worked.

  97. 97.

    Oatler.

    His excited eyes from within the dark interior glazed;
    watered in appreciation of his cautious collaboration.
    “Old Fart At Play”

  98. 98.

    Schlemazel

    @Mnemosyne:
    Well, to be honest, the GOP cares a lot, maybe more than even the MSM. They care for the same reasons they care about the Presidents Melanin levels and Hilary’s inexcusable Y chromosome.

  99. 99.

    currants

    @JPL: Well, there’s bamboo and then there’s Japanese knotweed, which is an invasive (in MA, at least). I used to think the knotweed was bamboo…but no. (By which I don’t mean to say that bamboo is not invasive–some types can be.)

  100. 100.

    jl

    @Germy: From Ruth Marcus’ nattering to this brogressive’s (if people say that is Thing, I will take their word for it) itchy fingers.

    Some things are so obviously a waste of time after two or three sentences, I just copy the text to count the waste of words.A little over 1,500 in this case. ts;dr.

  102. 102.

    jl

    @Poopyman: I figure let the media wallow in as much saintly Uncle Joe Biden tripe as they want. Will help when he hits the stump for HRC or Sanders in the general election. Which I think he will do. If the story is true, the Biden still longs for the public attention, and might want to spit some fire out on the stump in one last election.

  105. 105.

    Mnemosyne

    @Schlemazel:

    G is convinced that Repugs hate Bill not because he cheated, but because he didn’t divorce Hillary and marry his mistress.

  109. 109.

    Mnemosyne

    Also, since it’s one of my all-time favorite short stories, here’s Mark Twain’s bluejay yarn.

    I always think that, like Fritz Lieber’s “Space-Time for Springers,” the Twain’s story came from someone’s close observations of an animal’s behavior and their plausible interpretations of it. G and I still say that Keaton, our smartest cat, expects to sit at the table and drink the coffee someday, just like Gummitch expected to.

  110. 110.

    Mnemosyne

    @Mnemosyne:

    Quick caveat: I just realized that version of the story has the N-word in it, but weirdly it’s actually used in a complimentary way, when the jay gets down to business and works as hard as a … you know. Still, if you didn’t know, now you know.

  112. 112.

    Brachiator

    @Mnemosyne:

    G is convinced that Repugs hate Bill not because he cheated, but because he didn’t divorce Hillary and marry his mistress.

    Which mistress? Clinton had a bevy to choose from.

  113. 113.

    redshirt

    @Mnemosyne: So I haven’t read that story yet, but I will. Before I do I want to express shock at how many Blue Jay lovers there are here. They’re my least favorite bird, because A. They’re loud, and B. They scare off all of my favorite birds at the feeder and C. They eat other baby birds.

    I’ll admit they’re pretty, but so obnoxious. I’ve spent a good deal of effort Blue Jay proofing my feeders, and it’s worked, for the most part.

  115. 115.

    Betty Cracker

    @redshirt: If you think about it, all birds are assholes, and it’s not surprising since they’re little feathered dinosaurs. Hell, I raised my hens from fluffy little chicks, and constantly guard them, tend them, talk to them, give them treats and let them roost on my lawn chair while I read. But I don’t doubt for a second that if I happened to drop dead in their coop, they’d strip me to the bones given enough time! ;)

  116. 116.

    KS in MA

    @Another Holocene Human:

    When my dad had a bad cold, he used to eat an eggroll with lots and lots of Chinese mustard on it–and repeat as needed. You might want to try that … though if you have a fever, I hope you’re taking anti-B’s as well. Get well soon!

  117. 117.

    jl

    @Betty Cracker: your chickens look like the crankiest damn orneriest ass holiest chickens I have ever seen. A lot crankier than the cranky damn ornery ass hole chickens I had to deal with growing up on farms.

    There, I said it. I said it. It had to be said.

  118. 118.

    The Golux

    @Betty Cracker:

    …careful to choose the “clumping” varieties…

    We’ve been growing one of these for about twenty years. It’s magnificent, now about five feet in diameter at the base. We’ve hacked off a couple of pieces to start additional clumps.

    It’s amazing how the thing can get nearly flattened by a heavy snow (we’re in Connecticut) and then regain its posture after a week or so.

  119. 119.

    Betty Cracker

    @jl: They are remarkably ill-tempered birds, especially given the care and affection lavished on them. Still, they’re no worse than the chickens I knew growing up. Maybe all Florida chickens are extra-pissed off because of the heat. The people sure as hell are!

  123. 123.

    J R in WV

    Wife once saw a Golden Eagle take a huge trout from the Arkansas River in CO between Canyon City and Salida. We were with friends driving on US 50 to their cabin in the mountains, at 10,000 + feet.

    We have barred owls who have nested on the ridge top behind our house for – probably for ever. As long as we’ve lived here. Huge twisted oak trees, malformed by the high winds on the ridge top. They make their distinctive call, and answer each other, and then begin unformed hooting. I can hoot with them, and they answer me out of politeness, they know I’m not an owl, but are mildly interested in the fact that someone else, non-owl, is trying to talk to them. They can take a large chicken out of a cedar tree, leaving a stream of feathers from the roost, til where they leave the scene.

    We had a very large white cat, with big red/orange spots, Rufus. He would sit at the table for dinner, very well mannered, and wait for someone to pass him a bit that he night find interesting. So we would share a little bit of meat or fish or chicken with him, and he would be so refined as he warfed it down. I’ll miss him forever. He would creep into my bed after I was asleep, and lay against the top of my very bald head, and purr as he kept his bony old bod warm late at night. He would go on walks with us around the farm, dropping behind if he saw something more interesting to him that to us, then galloping to catch up and run ahead.

  124. 124.

    The Golux

    @J R in WV:

    Wife once saw a Golden Eagle take a huge trout from the Arkansas River in CO between Canyon City and Salida.

    I’ve always loved this lyric from Steve Earle:

    The eagle looked down on the river below
    And he wrapped his wings round him and he fell like a stone
    And the big salmon fought but the talons held true
    And he shuddered as the world turned from silver to blue

    Can’t create a picture with words any better than that. Chokes me up every time.

  125. 125.

    redshirt

    I saw a bald eagle swoop down and take a baby loon of its mother’s back, and then the eagle was chased by three ravens. The ravens and the loon made a hell of a racket. It all happened so fast it was rather incredible.

  126. 126.

    Tehanu

    There are nesting pairs of falcons — or some kind of hawks, anyway, I’m no expert — all along my freeway drive and at our office (San Gabriel Valley). I love watching them circle the building to get to the golf course & nature preserve across the street. Most of the people I work with never seem to look up at them or the moon in the evening, either; I can’t understand why not.

  128. 128.

    Paul in KY

    @Kay: Nobody ever had a public persona more goody two-shoes than ole Bill Clinton. A paragon of moral virtue was how everyone perceived him dontchaknow?

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