Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

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

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

You are here: Home / Garden Chats / Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Birding in the Ozarks

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Birding in the Ozarks

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From the dependable & talented Ozark Hillbilly:


The Orioles have returned for their spring refueling. Soon they will head down to the bottoms where they nest and we won’t see them up here at the homestead again till next Spring.


The Rose Breasted Grosbeaks are also on a refueling stop and in a week or 2 they will continue their journey to the north woods where they nest. The Indigo Buntings have returned and they will spend the summer with us.

The Summer Tanagers are back as well and seeing as they are notoriously shy they are not often seen but greet me every morning now with their beautiful music.

***********
Amazingly enough, the lilacs are blooming here now, just about at the usual season — although the daffodils are just finishing up, and the Siberian irises that should be almost done are barely starting to bloom.

What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?

Reader Interactions

209Comments

  1. 1.

    bystander

    Don’t worry anyone. I was nowhere near what they keep calling the Opera last night.

    Nice pics, OH! Love those grosbeaks. We had a boatload of red winged blackbirds end of April. When we get back it will be Eastern bluebird season. It takes a lot of them to make a good sandwich but they taste great.

  2. 2.

    NotMax

    Sunday Morning Garden Chart: Birding in the Ozarks

    Chart?

    /confoozled

    The Summer Tanagers

    Have to admit eyes weren’t quite focused and read that as The Summer Teenagers.

  5. 5.

    Kristine

    Seeing the same birds here in far NE Illinois, including a juvenile summer tanager. I wonder if that little guy was lost, however—he was too far north according to the Cornell map.

    Pneumonia front complete with rain moving through. 40s now, but supposed to warm to 60s starting tomorrow. I hope it dries out so I can mow before the lawn envelopes the house.

  6. 6.

    JPL

    Sunday morning garden threads are so lovely, and thanks to Ozark for sharing some photos with us.

    Happy Mothers Day.

  7. 7.

    RedDirtGirl

    Happy Mother’s Day. If you’ve ever had a mother, it’s your day also, too.

  9. 9.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Mother’s Day, Blech. My stepdaughter and son in law want to take Mama out to lunch. Me too. A great big pothole in the middle of my day. Double Blech.

  18. 18.

    satby

    Good morning and Happy Mother’s Day to all moms and those who fill that role!
    Ozark, I’m envious of all your bird varieties that visit. Great pictures!

    My garden is in a mid-point, the tulips and daffodils are mostly done, the iris not blooming yet, peonies are up but just budding, and my lilacs are much too young to bloom. One of my crab apples bloomed profusely which was a nice surprise since it was newly planted last month. Today I am heading out to buy two more bags of potting soil for the enormous resin planters I scored at 1/2 price that I intend to put my tomato plants in, they were delivered last week.

    @Kristine: raining here too and the lawn will need a high shear before I attempt a regular cut or I’ll just bog down constantly. Hoping tomorrow I can mow, but it may rain then too.

  25. 25.

    HRA

    Happy Mother’s Day!

    It is Mother’s Day Brunch here at 2 pm when the family arrives to celebrate. We are now a little past 20 members plus boyfriends, girlfriends and friends. They also bring their shovels and containers to get whatever plant they want for their yards as they help me clean up the beds. The photo of the daffodil reminds me of my surprise a few days ago when I spotted a daffodil in full bloom in one of my beds. I have never planted daffodils.

    Mr. A spotted a birds going in and out of one of our bird houses hanging on the tree next to our garage. They are here for the days till it gets colder again.

    Enjoy the day everyone. I have to get myself busy now.

  26. 26.

    bemused

    The only flower blooming going on in our far north yard, zone3/4, is scilla siberica spreading through our lawn and lungwort. Slowly warming up but still dipping into the 30’s some nights. The noisy frogs don’t mind. I just wish it was warm enough to have windows open overnight to have their night music to fall asleep with.

    Axios piece said only 12% Americans think poor families benefit a lot from trump policies, 34% think the poor benefit a little. My first thought was that most rightwing voters know trump and gop aren’t doing much for poor families or actively making their lives harder but so what? Most have only contempt for the poor and will continue to vote republican.

  27. 27.

    Lapassionara

    Good morning, everyone. Love the photos. I’m thinking I need a bird book. I recognize robins and doves, but we are getting some other little birds that I do not recognize, and I would hate to miss an oriole or tanager. Or blue bird.

  29. 29.

    HinTN

    The Rose Breasted Grosbeaks just departed our place, leaving their pals the Indigo Buntings behind. For whatever reason, not on the flyway (?), we don’t get the Orioles. Nice pix!

  30. 30.

    WereBear

    @bemused: Most have only contempt for the poor and will continue to vote republican.

    Since they are almost all religious in a way that has trained them to think magic is real, they undoubtedly think that being cruel to the poor keeps poverty away from them.

  31. 31.

    Waratah

    Beautiful photos Ozark. You are lucky to have so many colorful birds stop by even for a short time, the only color we have is an occasional blue jay, and you get to keep the pretty blue bird. I really love the hyacinths naturalized so pretty and I know it was a lot of work for you.

  32. 32.

    scav

    Pacific Coast Native Iris just started blooming (douglasiana, the tenex are too newly transplanted). Last of the tulips and daffs hanging on by a thread. Camassia and peonies ready to go. On the bird front, the pheasant is still showing up, but he’s lost his tail.

  33. 33.

    debbie

    @Raven:

    I have a similar photo of me with each of my parents. I look back at them and wonder how I could have ever been so happy!

    OH: Great photos! I love irises and since I began walking my neighborhood, I discovered they come in colors like orange and dusty rose. Awesome!

  35. 35.

    la caterina

    @satby: Ahem- Bishop Curry is the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church. \Episcopalian snark.

    His homily could make some of the royals attending the wedding, um, uncomfortable. At least I hope so.

  36. 36.

    oldgold

    I am spending the weekend with my mom.She is 90 years old and lives in her own home.

    Mom was born in 1927 to a single mother. Tough and brilliant, she survived the Depression and won academic scholarships that allowed her to graduate from college. After college she pursued a business career that resulted in her quickly ascending into corporate management. This was exceedingly rare in the fifties. All the while raising a family with a man, busted up badly in Bastogne, she had brought back to life.

    Mom never forgot where she came from. She is a New Deal Democrat and marched on the front lines of the civil rights movement.

    Mom taught me everything I have forgotten about gardening. She still maintains a small vegetable garden.

  38. 38.

    Quinerly

    @Van Buren: Poco gives this post 4 paws up. He just fell over in his excitement.

    Great pics Ozark!

    Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there. Have a great day!

  39. 39.

    Immanentize

    Ozark,. Thanks for the pics! Here we are seeing dove and Robin, but we also have some Redbirds flitting about but I fear they will be driven off by the noisy Blue Jays.

    As for garden report? I successfully (so far) transplanted five rose volunteers to a nice sunny spot. And tilled my garden. But no planting yet….

  40. 40.

    OzarkHillbilly

    My garden is advancing but I am far from where I want to be. Finally got the hot peppers in the ground yesterday. In spite of the great big midday hole in my work schedule (I suppose I should be thankful, gonna hit 92 so I’ll miss the worst of that) I’m gonna get the sweet peppers in today. Have to finish building a few more anti rabbit devices first. Then tomorrow I can get the beans, corn, and squash in. I hope.

  43. 43.

    Quinerly

    @oldgold: ❤️
    Mine was born in 1923. Lost her at age 92 (still living in the house I grew up in, on her own… I used to tease her that she looked so good that she only looked like a hard 65). Car wreck…. she initially walked to the ambulance right after. Her only car wreck… never even had a ticket prior. She died in the hospital (only time she had been in the hospital other than having me in 1961). The airbag had initially saved her, the airbag ultimately killed her.

    Don’t mean to ramble on… I’m still in the process of cleaning out the house in NC. Tough go here today. Keeping finding pictures from the 1930’s and 1940’s that I’m seeing for the first time.

    Enjoy your day.❤️?? Those women of that era are tough. And beautiful.

  44. 44.

    bemused

    @WereBear:

    So true many evangelicals refuse to accept reality. A single parent candidate for a MN district office explained on a local blog she is running to help families with single parents working full-time, living paycheck to paycheck against policies that make their lives much harder. A wingnut evangelical male replied “if we care for our children, we need fewer single parents”. A commenter said we live in the real world and was puzzled how evangelical’s comment was even relevant or sensible unless he proposed to outlaw divorce, go back to 19th century. The evangelical thought that was a “corrupt, erroneous and cruel comment, children are better off with both parents present. Why make excuses for selfishness?”

    They live in a fantasy world created to justify their own selfishness.

  45. 45.

    OzarkHillbilly

    On the birds front, the grosbeaks have all moved on. Yesterday we had only one pair of orioles left (down from a high of 5 or 6 pair). The hummingbirds are taking over now, up to 20-30 of the little buggers. In past years we’d have as many as 50-75 but now we have to share them with my neighbor. Turned a corner of my woodshed and came face to face with a summer tanager yesterday. He flew off a bit but stopped to see if I was following. We had a nice chat. I thanked him deeply for the morning serenades. I haven’t seen any more wandering warblers since a Yellow Rumped showed up for a brief visit. I have some cuckoos taking up residence. They are even shyer than tanagers. A pair of robins are raising a family in one of my oaks, same with some eastern flycatchers under an eave and Carolina wrens in my garden shed. Still hearing a few gobblers in the morning, they should be close to done by now.

    We were not visited by any bluebirds at all this year, a first. Usually they come and inspect the various domiciles I have about the place. Usually even select one and build a nest in it before abandoning me and my forlorn hopes.

  46. 46.

    O. Felix Culpa

    Good morning! Lovely woodland pix, OH, you grumpus. You’ll be grateful for the midday heat reprieve.

    Our daffodils are done and the columbines are now in full golden glory. I’ve planted lavender and rose autumn sage to replace the plants that were killed by last October’s hailstorm and mudslide. (We haven’t had any real precipitation since then.) Thankfully the pine-leaf penstemon, salvia, and agastache seem to be staging a comeback. Today I’ll finish building the hoop structure for my raised beds and start transplanting tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and snow peas.

    As for birds, we’ve had hummers for several weeks, plus lesser goldfinches, steller’s jays, black-headed grosbeaks, western tanagers, chipping sparrows, and lots of other birds whose names I don’t know yet. It’s a fun show right outside my door.

  47. 47.

    WaterGirl

    Beautiful birds and flowers! Spring is moving so quickly here this year.

    I don’t know why Anne Laurie keeps not publishing the garden photos I keep taking and not sending to her.

  48. 48.

    Baud

    @bemused:

    Why make excuses for selfishness?”

    Sounds like someone is stepping up to be taxed to support childrens’ wellbeing.

  51. 51.

    WaterGirl

    For mother’s day, the kitties stole a croissant I had purchased at the farmer’s market and also helped themselves to the kitty catnip socks I had picked up there, as well.

    The dogs, being slackers, have done nothing special, other than bark at the new neighbor’s dogs. That should make us popular.

  53. 53.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize: I want to get a terrier for this purpose. My wife says no. Not because she is anti-terrier or pro-rabbit but because she doesn’t want the Woofmeister to have any feelings of insecurity. Damned dog is spoiled rotten.

  54. 54.

    Thoughtful David

    @bemused:
    So making sure each kid has two parents is why the talibangicals support taking children of immigrants away from their parents at the border and jailing black men caught selling loose cigarettes to support their families, right?
    Ah, the smell of hypocrisy in the morning.

  55. 55.

    JPL

    My son is coming over, because my gift for mothers day is to help with the gardens. My gardenias have really suffered from the winter storms. I know half are gone the others need thoughts and prayers.

  57. 57.

    bemused

    @Baud:

    No doubt he believes paying taxes to help children with single parents or two parents are equally sinful selfishness.

  58. 58.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @JPL: @Baud: She lives in a really tough neighborhood.

    Time to get busy. Y’all play nice now, you heah?

  59. 59.

    JPL

    @OzarkHillbilly: My terrier mix is great at catching field mice and did manage to capture peter the cottontail. Unfortunately, he caught a few birds, and found a nest with eggs. That was breakfast. Terriers dig holes and that is a difficult to break, so be careful what you wish for.

  62. 62.

    debbie

    @JPL:

    I used to live in an apartment development with neighbors of all ages. My area especially was filled with elderly widows. Most of their families came and planted gardens for them on Mother’s Day. Not only their own mother, but their mother’s neighbors who had no one to do that for them. I can’t think of a better Mother’s Day gift.

  66. 66.

    JPL

    @debbie: We’ll have grilled kabobs later. It’s going to be in the low nineties so we are starting earlier this year.

  69. 69.

    WaterGirl

    @JPL: Henry is doing great. the 13-year old in the house behind ours walks him for 30 minutes twice a day, as prescribed by the vet for Henry’s continued recovery.

    Me? I am out of the cast, had my eval for Physical Therapy last week, PT starts this week. It’s much slower going than I thought it would be, and I still can’t get out of the house on my own. I had no idea that I wouldn’t just be able to walk right away, even with a brace.

    Glass-half-empty-Me is discouraged and frustrated, going stir crazy, and looking at the landscaping with frustration because I can’t get out and do anything. Glass-half-full-Me is enjoying all the bulbs we planted last fall, knowing that every day people deal with much worse than this, with a much better attitude. Kind of disappointing to find that I don’t seem to be ale to handle this with much grace.

  71. 71.

    JPL

    @WaterGirl: It’s hard to keep a good person down. Take care and enjoy your day.
    I’m supervising today and I don’t mind at all.

  72. 72.

    Gelfling 545

    @bemused: Perhaps they could also outlaw death? Most people don’t choose to raise their kids alone. Very selfish to allow your spouse to die on you.

  74. 74.

    WaterGirl

    @JPL: Now I just need a supervise-ee! :-)

    Happy mother’s day to you to everyone. We are about to go through a major hot spell, so I am gong to spend some time on the porch before it gets too hot!

  76. 76.

    Gelfling 545

    Very frustrated about my garden. What was I thinking to have surgery in April – right at the start of the busiest gardening season? I have things that need digging, pruning, weeding and here I sit. I have been trying – without success- to find a service just to cut the damned grass. Everything is looking unkempt and it’s pissing me off.

  78. 78.

    Immanentize

    @Gelfling 545:

    Most people don’t choose to raise their kids alone. Very selfish to allow your spouse to die on you.

    Experiencing that for the first time today. Everything intersects — my wife and I always went to the garden store each Mother’s Day to pick a new plant for our yard. That is one tradition we will keep up with — the Immp and I will head out in an hour or so. He will, invariably, pick a succulent for himself.

  79. 79.

    Immanentize

    @WaterGirl: Grew up in the northeast, lived in the south. Everyone knew what “get busy” was about. And it wasn’t yard work (although in some cases, I guess it was).

  80. 80.

    Thoughtful David

    The best birds in my neighborhood right now are the Blackpoll Warblers, stopping briefly here on their way to the boreal.
    I have Eastern Bluebirds nesting in a box on my clothesline pole. The male is outrageous in the sun.
    But my favorites are the Gray Catbirds. I love it every spring when they come back. I love their song. And they’re really friendly, well-behaved little guys.

  81. 81.

    bemused

    @Gelfling 545:

    Right and they seem to think two parents is the solution to raise kids no matter what. Just choose any port in a storm. Like all a single parent needs is to marry someone, anyone. I noticed evangelical guy didn’t address issues of finding a good partner if the single even wants one that would also be a good parent for the children. One in four kids under the age of 18 are being raised by a single mother. Most single parents are women. I suggested to evangelical guy that perhaps men aren’t sending out their best people.

  82. 82.

    Aleta

    @debbie: Funny you say that. Yesterday I stopped at a roadside orchard stand. This time of year they have plants and honey and fiddleheads. A young woman there was buying a mess of plants to put in for her mil today. Now that you mention it, it is a Mother’s Day custom here too, and I just never thought of it in that way.

    I’d wanted to take honey that comes from a beekeeper a few houses down from them, to a housewarming. For some reason his honey is the best I’ve ever had. I think it’s something about the beekeeper’s personal magic. Unfortunately they said he lost most of his hives this year. They didn’t know for sure if it was colony collapse, but I drove on smoldering at this world for losing its bees.

  84. 84.

    bemused

    @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):

    Exactly. When we look at both of our family histories there are many singles due to divorce or death. More people did stay married in early/mid 1900’s due to divorce stigma or financial reasons but that didn’t mean the couples were happy or the kids better off.

  87. 87.

    Schlemazel

    Thanks for the great pictures! I think I have seen one indigo bunting in our yard ever and never an tanager.

    Been in Denver all week for some specialized medical care and will fly home tomorrow. I hope everyone has a wonderful mothers day, we never have enough time with our moms.

    The link goes to a very sick mothers day joke I created. My mom would have been horrified but thought it was funny, You have been warned:
    https://i.imgur.com/ituRG8I.jpg

  89. 89.

    Elizabelle

    @Schlemazel: Took me a moment, but that is funny. Hope your health is on the mend.

    @ Ozark: love the photos; always good to start a day with beautiful birds and a story.

    Happy Mother’s Day, to all out there celebrating.

  90. 90.

    WaterGirl

    @rikyrah: I am now pavlov’s dog. As I was clicking your link, I noticed that I had started to tear up, even before the link finished opening in the new tab. It’s just so wrong, all of it.

  91. 91.

    Elizabelle

    @Immanentize: My best to you and Immp.

    Immp is not alone in liking succulents. They’re getting rustled, and sent to Asia, where they are quite the hobby.

    The Guardian: Stolen succulents: California hipster plants at center of smuggling crisis
    Demand in China and Korea has led to thousands of dudleya being stolen from California as officials lament ‘plant poaching’

    In China, they are prized for their chubby limbs and cute shapes. In Korea, they are a treasured hobby for housewives. But on the coastal cliffs of California, the dudleya succulent plants are vanishing, snatched up by international smugglers and shipped to an Asian middle-class market hungry for California native flora.

    California department of fish and wildlife wardens have made five busts this year, involving more than 3,500 stolen plants, evidence that the succulent, a symbol of American hipster style, has gone global to grievous effect.

    “Right now these plants are a boom in Korea, China and Japan. It’s huge among domestic housewives. It’s a status thing,” said the department warden Pat Freeling, who spearheaded the investigation. “It’s become an exotic lotus flower succulent. Someone likened it to the next Pokémon.”

    The succulents, dubbed “Live Forevers” by early California explorers for their ability to survive long ocean crossings, require little care and are often mistakenly thought to be ideal for apartment living. Each five-inch plant, with waxy, white-green leaves that grow in bud-like circles, is said to fetch $40 to $50 on the Asian market. While they are not rare in California and can be grown in nurseries, the process takes years. And nursery owners said they were not available in the huge quantities that Asian shippers seem to want.

    ….They have become so popular in Korea and China that they are sold in huge emporiums, some the size of several basketball fields. In Korea, raising succulents is considered an “addiction” popular among housewives, students and others with small living spaces. Korean articles refer to the trend as “succulent fever” and quote wives telling husbands who complain about oversized collections not to worry because “I will take all of my succulent plants with me when I leave you”.

  92. 92.

    WaterGirl

    @Elizabelle: I just finished reading the Betty Cracker cake thread from yesterday. I still love you, but after reading your suggestion that ganache might not be necessary, I feel compelled to challenge you to a duel at dawn.

    Gamacje is the nectar of the gods and should never be questioned, under any circumstances.

  93. 93.

    Corner Stone

    Can someone please let me know why Premier League Soccer is on 16 different channels this AM? I am assuming this is like their Final Four playoff tourny or something. I tried skimming a few articles about it but they read like gibberish.

  95. 95.

    Elizabelle

    @WaterGirl: LOL. Cake looked gorgeous to me with just the cake and cream and fruit, but would not turn up my nose at ganache. Am sure it was a success.

    And glad to hear you and Henry are recovering well, and the 13-year old is making some cash for a good deed. Henry must love those walks.

  96. 96.

    Shell

    I just finished reading the Betty Cracker cake thread from yesterday

    Thats the next picture we need. An after pic of the cake plate, showing its ravages.

  97. 97.

    WaterGirl

    @Elizabelle: Yes, Henry loves his walks! Eliza is now his special girlfriend. I console Tucker with a sesame seed breadstick after they leave for the evening walk. :-)

  99. 99.

    Miss Bianca

    @Aleta: hummies and bees are buzzing together in the currant and wild raspberry bushes outside the door. I can watch them from my window while I am working. Got to gear up to take care of my friend’s bees while she is out of town. Got 10 hives last year, we are down to one, but I think that is due more to operator error than anything else – we are very newbie beekeepers!

  100. 100.

    WaterGirl

    @Shell: That cake looked amazing. If someone made me that cake, I would think I had died and gone to heaven. I, too, want photos.

  101. 101.

    Steeplejack

    @Corner Stone:

    It is the last day of the season, and all 10 matches are scheduled at the same time so that there can be no shenanigans to affect relegation (the bottom three teams get dropped to the lower league) and/​or European league slots. (The top four teams get to play in the Champions League next season, #5 gets to play in the Europa League.)

    It’s not a big deal this season, since the bottom three teams have no chance to escape relegation and Manchester City won the title weeks ago. The only thing up for grabs is the Europa League slot, and currently Chelsea are beshitting themselves against Newcastle to make sure they don’t overtake Liverpool to get in. I’m sure Amir Khalid is delighted.

    Now I will read the rest of the thread to make sure that someone already answered your question.

  103. 103.

    Yarrow

    @WaterGirl: I want to see the cake after a slice or two has been removed and/or a slice on a plate. Want to get a sense of how it looks when served. I hope they have a sharp knife. It looks like the marscapone cream frosting could squish out if the cake part was compressed. Would hate for that to happen.

  104. 104.

    schrodingers_cat

    I need help Jackal master gardeners to identify the vegetables growing in the vegetable bed in my back yard. I have no idea what are weeds and what are veggies. These are the vegetables the previous homeowners had planted.

  107. 107.

    Steeplejack

    @Steeplejack:

    ETA: In case it wasn’t clear, NBC is using all its affiliated channels to air the games. Hence soccer on Oxygen, which is something you wouldn’t expect.

    On a normal weekend, the games would be spread over several different start times on Saturday and Sunday.

  108. 108.

    WaterGirl

    @Yarrow: It looks to be a stunningly gorgeous cake that I would kill for.

    Having said that, I’m guessing that after the first slice or two is cut then the whole thing collapses into itself – but even if I’m right, I wouldn’t care! I would just put chunks in a trifle dish for a different kind of beauty. :-)

    Unless you could put the cake in the freezer for a few minutes before cutting? That might be the way to serve it so the slices maintain some structure?

  110. 110.

    WaterGirl

    @schrodingers_cat: Have I ever told you guys about the volunteer flowers that showed up next to my deck one year? I couldn’t identify them, but I watered them and tended them, asking everyone who came over if they knew what the flower was.

    At some point in July or August, I think, someone said: It’s ragweed.

    I had a good laugh at myself.

  112. 112.

    JMG

    @Corner Stone: It’s the last day of the season so all 10 games are played at the same time, and NBC Universal shows as many of them as possible. The games are played at the same time to (in theory) promote drama regarding the title/Champions League/relegation races. This year there is none, all the races have been decided. Baseball does the same thing on its final day of the regular season.

  113. 113.

    Yarrow

    @WaterGirl: Yeah, the freezer for a few minutes might work. A really, really sharp knife would help too. It wouldn’t really matter, though, because it will taste great no matter how it looks!

  114. 114.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Steeplejack: I am not a fan of Milk Street. Its time for Kimball to retire, his onscreen persona is grating. The set is blindingly white, everyone looks washed out. I don’t need Milk Street to teach me how to cook eggs in oil, they are just phoning it in. Another of their “big discoveries” was you can use water to cook something, instead of broth or stock. No shit, Sherlock my cavemen/women ancestors could have told you that.
    I also don’t see the point of “improving” recipes of experts like Andres.
    Why do we need an American person to teach us about Thai food in Thailand?

  115. 115.

    Aleta

    @Miss Bianca: Nice! I’d love to do that. Once I had a short summer job on a study of their dancing communication. The best part was the experimental hive that had a clear side so you could sit and watch them. It was unusually calming. A different kind of buzzing. The hive mind in unison.

  116. 116.

    Amir Khalid

    @Corner Stone:
    It’s the last matchday of the season. All 20 teams are playing today. The title went to Manchester City a month ago, but the relegation battle is going down to the wire for a couple of teams and places in European competition are still on the line.

    My own team Liverpool FC is 3-0 up to Brighton & Hove Albion with five minutes to go. (Update: 4-0 up and going into injury time.) Chelsea FC, owned by friend-of-Putin oligarch Roman Abramovich, needed to win their last match to take 4th spot from Liverpool and qualify for the 2018/9 Champions League. Chelsea are 0-3 down at Newcastle.

  121. 121.

    Tazj

    Beautiful pictures Ozark, I especially love the birds.
    My own flower beds and landscaping have been ravaged by the harsh winter and heavy wet snow. Two of my azaleas are gone and the others don’t look so great. My Japanese maple is heavily damaged and I wonder if it will survive, but at least my lilacs are fine and starting to bloom.

    @WaterGirl: Thank for reminding me to finish that thread about the cake. It seemed like quite a complicated undertaking but must have been worth the effort.

  123. 123.

    debbie

    @WaterGirl:

    There was a 6-foot fast-growing clump of something outside my apartment. The birds loved it. I sent a photo to one of my brothers who told me it was crabgrass. I had no idea it could grow that tall!

  124. 124.

    debbie

    @schrodingers_cat:

    A number of neighbors have a FB group where they trade seeds and plants and also identify each other’s mysterious plants. Have you checked to see if there’s a FB group like that in your area?

  127. 127.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Why do we need an American person to teach us about Thai food in Thailand?

    Why does it matter if they’re American as long as they know what they’re doing?

  129. 129.

    schrodingers_cat

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:You go all the way to Thailand and all you can find is a retired white dude who has only lived in the country for 10 years to showcase that cuisine. This is not a one off. I notice things. And in the era of the Orange One it sticks in my craw about who is allowed to speak and for whom.
    In Civilizations, PBS show about art they had 3 British people speak about Indian art. WTF. Are all Indian historians and artists dead? But when they covered the Netherlands they had a Dutch historian as the expert. Its like the White Man’s burden in the 21st century.

  130. 130.

    HeartlandLiberal

    Here in south central Indiana, where according to one site with historical weather records the average high temp is supposed to be 73 degrees F, we are hitting from 85 to over 90 every day for past four or five days. My son helped me till my garden in our backyard, I planted tomatoes, peppers, kale, collards (seedlings), okra seed, musque de province pumpkin seeds, and six different small heirloom pumpkins. I set aside one third of the 2,000 sq ft and have planted with three packs of wildflower and zennia seeds, plus a bag of seeds I harvested from my cone flowers and other favorite flowers established around the yard, plus two rows of sunflower seeds in the middle of the section. Watering every day to keep the soil moist and encourage germination, and to get the plants established for the past week. I also fertilized and replanted most of the 20 x 8 foot herb garden with herbs we will use, and which I can dry.

    All in all, I am happy to be able to crawl in the dirt, rooting out the weeds now from all the flower beds. Next week will be ordering mulch and some composted soil. Landscaping timbers to be delivered today, to get rid of the rotting ones, and fill out borders around all of the garden areas. Plus bales of peat moss I will spread in the vegetable and herb gardens to enrich the soil.

    Considering last year was a loss due to shoulder surgery and the garden was minimal, late, and unproductive, I am looking forward to being able to be as active as possible this year. Hoping the 28 tomato plants do well. Also, I planted one Carolina Reaper hottest pepper in the world. Morbid curiosity. I do love my red and orange habeneros, though.

  132. 132.

    J R in WV

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    I think the whole point is that they don’t know much about the actual cooking – just make stupid commentary, which is pointless to me. It would be like having Mr Drumpf leading a political science class.

  133. 133.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @schrodingers_cat:

    You go all the way to Thailand and all you can find is a retired white dude who has only lived in the country for 10 years to showcase that cuisine.

    In that case, that’s bullshit.

    In Civilizations, PBS show about art they had 3 British people speak about Indian art. WTF. Are all Indian historians and artists dead? But when they covered the Netherlands they had a Dutch historian as the expert. Its like the White Man’s burden in the 21st century.

    This could be combination of laziness, racial bias (like you think), the insular nature of the media world, and the fact that British people sound smert to ‘Mericans.

  134. 134.

    Steeplejack

    @schrodingers_cat:

    You go all the way to Thailand and all you can find is a retired white dude who has only lived in the country for 10 years to showcase that cuisine.

    By “retired white dude” I presume you mean active restaurateur (Pok Pok) and James Beard Award winner Andy Ricker?

    I don’t see him—or Milk Street in general—as “whitesplaining” foreign food. What they are doing is adapting the recipes so that they can be done at home by the average American cook. I don’t have the ability to spatchcock a whole chicken over a giant bed of glowing charcoal, but I do have an oven, and Milk Street gets me in the ball park of that interesting (and apparently delicious) recipe.

  136. 136.

    opiejeanne

    Great photos. We have robins and towhees who either sing to us or entertain the cat by hopping around on the deck while the cat sits indoors, behind the French doors, complaining mightily that we are mean parents who won’t let her go outside all of the time. She just wants to talk to them birdies, honest. Meanwhile, the tiny finches and juncos just laugh at her while they nab seeds from the feeder mounted on the door.

  138. 138.

    J R in WV

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Ozark,

    Just wanted to say, your photos, your birds, your gardens, are the best possible! Thanks for your hard work, and for sharing the photos of the results with us.

    Enjoy lunch! It’s OK to take a (short) break from the labor!

    Best wishes, also, too.

    JR — WV Hillbilly

  139. 139.

    Yarrow

    @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): That’s Michael Cohen and Michael Flynn, for sure. Flynn is a traitor, as we know. I would not at all be surprised if Avenatti knows what happened in that meeting. I love, love, love how he’s playing the media game like a completely pro.

    Edit: Rick Perry was also there, but not included in Avenatti’s photos.

  142. 142.

    Kay

    Here’s my Mother’s Day story. My youngest had prom last night. Prom (proper) lasts until 12:30 but they give them a post-prom party at the school so they won’t go out unchaperoned and do dangerous things. That lasts ’till 3:30.

    So was going to sleep but I don’t want my son to know that, because I’m an idiot and I believe he will behave himself if he thinks I am (in some sense) ” watching”. But- I don’t actually want to stand sentry until 4 AM. So I tell him to come striaght home from school party- don’t go to after-after party at this girl’s house. I don’t hear him come in because I’m asleep. So I wake at 5 and text him to come home and he texts back “ha ha I’m upstairs” Busted. Me. Not him.

  143. 143.

    Corner Stone

    @Kay:

    they give them a post-prom party at the school so they won’t go out unchaperoned and do dangerous things.

    You mean like “get busy”?

  144. 144.

    Yarrow

    @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): I think they are screen grabs from the video of Trump tower lobby. The media had cameras rolling all the time to see who was coming and going up and down the elevators. You can find the video pretty easily.

    That’s why I don’t think the pictures are the message. They are the warning shot that Avenatti has details of a meeting that happened on that day or something that happened as a result of that meeting. He’s posted the photos of the players and is warning them.

  145. 145.

    Yarrow

    @debbie: Avenatti is much better outside where he can terrify the Trump team on a daily basis. He’s doing an outstanding job of it.

  147. 147.

    Barbara

    @schrodingers_cat: Sharing your sentiments mostly, but is it possible the American had a grasp of how to translate Thai cuisine for American cooks? I remember the first Thai food I had in Chicago and how different and better it was from what I can find now. I suspect it changed to meet the tastes of the average American palate.

  148. 148.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Steeplejack: I get it, you like Milk Street and their pov. They are making these “exotic” cuisines palatable to the home cook. They are doing that by not giving the original cuisine and the culture that invented those recipes their due.
    I think Milkstreet must have heard that criticism because they had an Iranian author/chef when the showcased Persian food in one of the later episodes.

  150. 150.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Barbara: Its possible and I have nothing against chef Riker, I am sure he is wonderful and his knowledge of Thai cuisine is impeccable. But I am paying close attention to who speaks for whom on public forums and even so called enlightened media like PBS. It seems like white dudes can speak for everyone but a Thai or an Indian person cannot even speak for their own damn culture and/or cuisine.

  152. 152.

    Kay

    @Corner Stone:

    Right. That’s the thinking. They like it. It’s 15 dollars per and they get music and food and games and prizes. It’s a good deal for them. When it started we were afraid they wouldn’t come but it turns out it’s a lot of effort to plan parties and they’re just as happy not to do it, and just go to one big one.

  154. 154.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @schrodingers_cat:
    Like I said I think that is largely the result of booking people that producers know or are aware of. Just like a lot of the news shows. These people tend to be white as well. A lot of media tend to be a monoculture of upper-class white people with some POCs from a similar background mixed in

  156. 156.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    It’s a belief-based system. Now the illusion is shattered. I am not, in fact, present everywhere at the same time.

  161. 161.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    No. Although I get it. If we lived in a bigger place I would do it in a heartbeat. He’s good because he figured out the thing to do is RESPOND. Then I don’t have to go to Plan B which is drive around aimlessly looking for him. I never once found any of them driving around looking but it gives you something to do while you’re waiting for them to decide to turn up.

  162. 162.

    Baud

    @Kay: If you use Google maps, you can use it to share your locations with each other (and Google and the NSA of course).

  164. 164.

    Nelle

    @Kay: I kept a night light on in my room. My son had to come in, give me kiss, and turn off the light. This was in response to his request to having no curfew. He stayed out fairly late about three times and then found it boring and returned to normal hours.

  166. 166.

    MomSense

    Gorgeous photos, OH. Just ate a decadent lunch with my mom and sister and we are now at Merrill Auditorium waiting for Sean Lake to start. Our conductor of the last 10 years left so the converts this season are with the finalist conductors.

    Happy mother’s day To all the moms, the people who serve as moms, and all of those moms who are no longer with us but in our thoughts. Also sending a hug to those of us who have mixed or unhappy mom feelings. This day can be tough.

  167. 167.

    Dan B

    @schrodingers cat. We have goid friends from India (Delhi, Mumbai) She us a docent. She’s done tours of exhibits about American artists, african american artists, and many more. She’s crazy thorough in her research. I tend to think it’s reverse appropriation. Her vantage point gives a special perspective. And, she’s bringing a major exhibit from Rajastan to the museum. I’d love to have her take on Civilizations but my head spins from Hindu mythology. So many deities and such complexity of meaning!

  175. 175.

    sp98

    @la caterina: To be pedantic (I don’t see it as snark), that article (MSN from The Guardian) was full of inaccuracies. Bishop Curry is, as you say, the Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church in the US (sort of like the Archbishop of Canterbury for the UK); he was born in Chicago but was never the Bishop of Chicago; he was Bishop of North Carolina before being elected Presiding Bishop. He is definitely not the first black bishop of the Episcopal Church – that was James Holly, ordained Bishop of Haiti in 1874, and for the US proper John Burgess, Bishop of Massachusetts in 1962. He definitely is the first black Presiding Bishop, succeeding Katherine Jefferts Schori, the first female Presiding Bishop (2006-2015). And finally (might as well get it right), in the caption to his picture it calls him “Reverend Curry” – the correct form of address for a Bishop is “Right Reverend” and for a Presiding Bishop is “Most Reverend.”

    (belatedly)

  178. 178.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    No “sharing”. We’re tracking him, not me. I’m a free agent :)

    My middle son didn’t go to college. He was doing his apprenticeship living here and I was bugging the shit out of him asking him where he was- he was never here. He told me the older 2 went away to college and I never knew where they were, nor did I ask. God knows what they were up to. I have no idea. True. So I stopped asking him. It’s really none of my business. Sadly. Because I have A LOT of good advice, so he really missed out on that. His loss!

  179. 179.

    HeleninEire

    @Immanentize: Peace and happiness to you both. I have been there. It gets better. I promise. Joe Biden said it way better than I can. “There will come a day I promise you, where the thought of your son, or your daughter, or your wife or your husband, brings a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to to your eye. It with happen.” Peace to you.

  181. 181.

    scav

    For an unexpected return, I was off watering a second garden and can report that the lupin are starting to bloom in the upper left. At the next garden I’m watering, there are fresh speargrass and radishes, and everything else is just in a seedling water-demand phase. Nothing new to report about birds, except the thirsty garden is nearer the bald eagle nest and the three new calves. Those are busy moms. Baby eagles seem to be especially squawky.

  182. 182.

    Felanius Kootea

    @Amir Khalid: Hey Amir – thanks for the explanation about Anwar Ibrahim the other day. Looks like he and Najib might be swapping jail cells in the near future.

  184. 184.

    FlyingToaster

    WarriorGirl and I just came in from moving the volunteer Globe Basil to the edge of the retaining wall. Yesterday after music school we all went to a community garden seeding sale, and the Lyman Estate herb sale. Next week I’ll load up from Gore Place, Russell’s, Mahoney’s, etc.

  185. 185.

    Aleta

    @Immanentize: I’ve been thinking of you yesterday and today. Your beautiful tradition reminds me of something I saw last summer.

    A man showed me a big field he’d been clearing of spruce over the years. He’d used pieces of logs and wood chips (in some ingenious way I’ve forgotten) to make a path through the middle as he continued clearing. He’s worked on it every summer for the last 40 years.

    At the near end of the field he’d planted a tree for each of his kids, each a different species in a different spot. They were grown big of course. As we walked further into the field on the path, he pointed to each tree he’d planted for the birth of a grandchild, telling me the names of the tree species and the child. The trees were spread out in the field, so you could see their full natural shape standing by itself. He hadn’t planted anything else.

    In his house on the wall he had photos, one taken every year of each child standing next to their tree as they grew together. The field was still wild and surrounded by wild land; he’d only added a dimension that was his time there, going on as you walked in and as you looked up.

  186. 186.

    Amir Khalid

    @Felanius Kootea:
    It do look that way, don’t it? There is a possibility, so I understand, that the criminal charges against Najib will go beyond embezzling public funds. Najib could go down very hard. It will be a tragic fate for a former PM whose father and uncle were well-regarded PMs in their time.

  190. 190.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    Not to point out the obvious but did all the front pagers get hauled off to the FEMA camps or something? (Yes I know it is Mothers Day but this is weird)

  192. 192.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Dan B: I have no problem having Brits speak about India or Indian art but if most or all of your experts on Indian art are British it does say something about biases. And that you may not be as enlightened as you think you are.

    ETA: The show went to India and interviewed British expats as experts to speak about Mughal painting and the East India company, respectively.

  193. 193.

    B.B.A.

    Eurovision votes for ethno-nationalist apartheid state, and somehow we still call Europe the “free world.”

    In related news, the embassy move has prompted notably racist (even by local standards) soccer club Beitar Jerusalem to rename itself Beitar Trump Jerusalem.

    And my mother would disown me if I complained about any of this when I called her, so instead I’m complaining to you on Mother’s Day.

  196. 196.

    Corner Stone

    @Litlebritdifrnt: We did my mom’s good times yesterday, My son is with his mom at his other grandma’s today. So I’ve been trying to read a few boring ass whitepapers but that’s…not going so well.
    I think Adam is prepping for a new gig and Doug! has a new baby, so he better be doing it right if he knows what’s good for him. B Crack is probably in a cake coma about now and AL may not even be awake yet.
    Lord of the Flies, we haz it!

  198. 198.

    SWMBO

    @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): Read some of the comments under his tweet. It looks like Trump blew up the Iran accord and now sweet mother Russia is going to get the contracts (around $16 billion if I read that right) that was going to Boeing. MAGA!

    I’m wondering if some of the background people are Russian agents that have something to do with aerospace contractors or some other connection to the Russian aircraft companies.

  199. 199.

    JPL

    I haven’t read all 100 plus comments since I signed off earlier. I have a question, why is Trump worried about China’s unemployment?

    President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast. Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!

    They were sanctioned because they were trading illegally with Iran, and using their phones to spy on us. Did Putin give Xi the pee tape?

  201. 201.

    Aleta

    @SWMBO: So I looked at Truwitter to see if he said anything nice about the white house mother. No, and the look on his face during his MD message could kill a small child not yet able to run. But he did manage to blame his mother for everything he’s done.

  203. 203.

    Ohio Mom

    @Kay: The after prom party at my kid’s high school was held in the gym (the prom itself was in the “commons”/lunchroom).

    It had those giant blow-up slides and bouncy things, lots of carnival games, a hypnotist, food, and I don’t remember what else. It was noisy and chaotic.

    It was nice for special needs kids like mine and the really socially awkward ones who were never going to go to the prom — it was an activity they could join in. It was a chore for me to stay up until three to drive him home but it was worth it.

  206. 206.

    Ohio Mom

    @Corner Stone: Lol.
    I was outside the gym huddled with all the other parents of the odds and ends kids, all of us keeping a respectful distance from the young uns.

  207. 207.

    Anne Laurie

    @Corner Stone:

    AL may not even be awake yet.

    Hmph. It’s Sunday, so I had to get up at the crack of noon to go to the gym with the Spousal Unit. Followed by grocery shopping. Now he’s outside transplanting some of his godsdamned vinca *out* of my flower bed (where it is smothering the mini-roses & daylilies but not the weeds) and I’m in here tending to you jackals.

    Remember the whinging about how this blog never has any posts that achieve a TBogg unit (500+ comments?) That’s cuz you guys are so spoiled, you bitch when there isn’t a fresh post every couple of hours!

  208. 208.

    Corner Stone

    @Anne Laurie:

    Now he’s outside transplanting some of his godsdamned vinca *out* of my flower bed (where it is smothering the mini-roses & daylilies but not the weeds) and I’m in here tending to you jackals.

    Sounds promising!

  209. 209.

    The Gray Adder

    The tomatoes I planted back in February are heavy with fruit. I have already given away a bag of them to the next-door neighbors, who just moved in and haven’t had time to plant a garden.

    Did I mention I was in San Antonio, Texas? (I got Ted Cruz’ pink slip on my fridge door.) Yeah, you get to plant stuff really early here. I saw some more, younger tomatoes at the Fort Sam Houston garden center – should have picked up a couple, since I’ll be finished with these tomato plants probably by the end of June.

    And my lilacs are blooming! It’s getting really pretty down here, if it’s not too hot to enjoy it.

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