Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Celebrate the fucking wins.

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

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

A fool as well as an oath-breaker.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

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

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Too little, too late, ftfnyt. fuck all the way off.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

Decision time: keep arguing about the last election, or try to win the next one?

The National Guard is not Batman.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

You are here: Home / Artists In Our Midst / What We Preserve – Ourselves

What We Preserve – Ourselves

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You guys need a break. It’s far too easy to keep obsessing about what’s going on. Frankly, there’s not much you can do besides educate yourself, get others to know what’s happening and text your Senators via ResistBot to remind them there’s a little thing called rule of law and it doesn’t give a damn about whether there’s a republican or a democrat breaking it. Here’s a nice, soothing open thread for you. Enjoy these pictures of random things I’ve photographed. Show off your talents with some nice calm photos.

Oh, before I go. Obligatory cat pic. Plus a verse. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all. As in, this is a long haul thing, don’t wear yourself out. So sayeth the Lord.

Himesama et Templeton
Sir, personal space, please.

Reader Interactions

117Comments

  2. 2.

    Reboot

    Late to the thread, but I love the motion you captured in the 6th photo (reading from left to right).

  3. 3.

    satby

    Beautiful respite thread Rumara. Too bad events are tromping all over it. Huh, autocorrect wanted to change tromping to trumping. The judges will allow it.

  5. 5.

    Avalune

    Looks like some bobbin lace. I saw a lot of that in Belgium and it was like watching someone playing the shell game. I collected a few bobbins but that was one craft I said no thank you to! I would have made some fantastic knots and tangles though.

  9. 9.

    JPL

    Most of us woke up with a sorry case of it can happen here, and there are no magic pills to make it go away.

    The first picture did remind me of The Good Place  although I don’t remember that particular scene.

  10. 10.

    satby

    So glad you reposted from earlier rumara! Are you still selling your photography? Because I would really like to order a print of those wonderful guitars

    Violins, I mean!

  12. 12.

    greenergood

    OT: Dear jackals Tonight is our Brexit catastrophe-moment. The Leave proponents’ attitude is vicious and  heart-breaking. Posting a diary from an amazing non-aggressive non-Brexiteer – things from now on don’t look great, to say the least. Read Chris Grey and weep …

    chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/

    how can trade deals with Trump look promising?? Sheesh …

  13. 13.

    Kent

    We’ve been through worse.   The Civil War, World War 2, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, the 30 years war.  I have kids and I have to be optimistic about the future for them.    But sometimes it is hard.  I teach HS and I think kids these days are mostly pretty smart and decent and a hell of a lot better than we were at that same age in the 1980s when I was in HS.   We just need the olds to die off faster.

  16. 16.

    Kent

    @greenergood:how can trade deals with Trump look promising?? Sheesh …

    What does the UK even produce that would be more competitive in the US market than stuff produced in Asia?  Just because you sign a trade deal doesn’t mean Americans are going to buy an UK-made stuff.

    The natural UK market is the EU next door.  The whole logic of Brexit was just breath-takingly stupid from the start.

  17. 17.

    JPL

    @SiubhanDuinne: AJC has quite a tribute up for Anne Cox Chambers who died today at 100, rightly so.    She really helped paint Atlanta’s civic and cultural identity from the botanical gardens, to the high Museum of Art .    One thing I didn’t know was at 89 while knocking on doors in VA for the greatest president ever, someone pulled a rifle on her.   Unlike trump she really was a billionaire who established a company that treats employees right.

  18. 18.

    WaterGirl

    Love, love, love the water in the beach picture!

    (Breaking: WaterGirl loves a photo of water.  Who could have predicted.  News at 11.)

  21. 21.

    Roger Moore

    @Kent:

    What does the UK even produce that would be more competitive in the US market than stuff produced in Asia?

    Cheese, beer, and whisky.  Not enough to make a good export market, though.

  22. 22.

    WaterGirl

    @Kent: Maybe because comments like “the olds need to die off” are agist and insulting to a whole lot of people here who are opening their wallets, making phone calls, writing postcards, and have generally worked their butts off for democrats for a very long time.

  23. 23.

    greenergood

    @Kent: Brexit is based on goading people (not rich people) that they were better when there was a British Empire, while Brexit is really about really rich people escaping from EU rules and sequestering all their money in off-shore tax dodges, which is what Brexiteers want to do – i.e. escape from ANY European  restrictions. Plenty of rich Europeans have tax shelters, but nothing like what the UK wants to do.  And Brexiteers thought ‘freedom’ would make these tax-dodgers ‘accountable’ – hah!

  24. 24.

    Barbara

    @satby: There is variation but there are also clear trends. I have felt out of step politically my whole adult life, which basically began when Ronald Reagan was elected president.  My experience tells me that people in my age demographic are more likely to be voting Republican than Democratic.  It’s not my fault and I don’t get insulted when people point it out.

  25. 25.

    WaterGirl

    I am catching up on threads from last night.  What happened with this?

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mai naem mobile:

    There’s a tweet out saying Jennifer Williams has resigned from her position with Pence and handed over info to the House Intel Committee on a phone call  between Pence and Zelensky.

    Wow.

  26. 26.

    Kent

    @WaterGirl: I’m old too.  I’ve been getting AARP mailings for at least 5 years now.  Doesn’t mean I have all that much hope that my generation is going to come to an epiphany and turn it around.  Most of the senior citizens I know are so set in their ways they don’t want to even change their brand of laundry detergent much less their political party.  But if you think the GOP is going to be defeated by flipping the over 60 vote, more power too you.

  28. 28.

    WaterGirl

    @Kent: In my opinion, there’s way too much “painting with too broad a brush” here lately.

    Boomers this and millennials, that.  We are better than that.

  29. 29.

    Barbara

    @greenergood: I look at Brexit and think that there has never been national recognition that much of the wealth and prosperity that the UK (and its prior iterations, whatever called) have been attributable to commerce with the wider world for at least 400 years.   I am not talking about being judgmental or critical of how exploitive some of that commerce was, just that being an island geographically hasn’t made them an island economically for a long long time.  When you go to the Caribbean, for instance, there is no one who will not tell you, sometimes with great humor and sometimes with great disappointment, that they depend on tourism.   They consider various policies accordingly.

  31. 31.

    Baud

    @Kent:

    I don’t know why people think the youngs won’t grow old and become the olds.

    Anywho, white people are worse than old people, so it seems like a waste of time to single out the olds.

  32. 32.

    Barbara

    @WaterGirl: You have to meet people where they are and I agree that it just doesn’t make a lot of sense to talk in terms of an entire generation.  Still, there came a point in my own life, after studying demographic voting patterns of presidential elections in my lifetime, when I realized that there are certain things that will only change with demographic shifts.  I see that in my own life, very concretely: I moved to Virginia more than 40 years ago and have lived here for most of those intervening years (not all).  The shift in voting preferences is the result of demographic shifts and not much else. It’s important for understanding how change happens, and what can and can’t be changed, but also, where to put your efforts.  Yelling at my 62 year old cousin on Facebook, no marginal value whatsoever, helping register new voters and writing postcards, perhaps yes.

  33. 33.

    Ruckus

    @WaterGirl:

    I’ll agree with this.

    Categorizing people by some quirk of birth is asinine. Age, gender, race, family finances…. These are all traits that happen to someone with no conscious decision on their part, these decisions were made for them before their birth. It is a habit that we should strive to break because it is demeaning and doesn’t say what most people think it does.

  34. 34.

    Kelly

    Here’s pics of Phoebe and Martin sharing a bed. The early pic is Martin at 8 weeks. The other is Martin today at 17 weeks. Ridiculous as it seems they still like to snuggle there.

    imgur.com/a/Uu8KkMN

  36. 36.

    Roger Moore

    @Barbara:

    I’m no expert, but my impression is that the underlying issue with Brexit is that being an island- and having real naval power- has meant that Britain’s commerce with the rest of the world has been on their terms.  EU membership has meant giving the other side of the commerce a major say in how it happens, and that’s scary and unfamiliar.  That’s also probably why Scotland and Northern Ireland were much less excited about Brexit than England was.  They’re used to being bossed around by the English, and they like having the EU as a counterweight.

  37. 37.

    Kent

    @Baud: Fine….old white people if you want.  I happen to be one of those too.   It was just a throw-away comment I made.  I wasn’t advocating we implement Logan’s Run.

    Point is, it’s to take generational change to completely turn this country around.  I think we all understand that.  Until then we will be scraping by clinging to tiny victories in purple or red states to win back the White House and Senate.

  43. 43.

    Mnemosyne

    @Kent:

    The last time my mom changed her laundry detergent, she landed in the ER on Christmas Dah with an IV of Benadryl because she had an allergic reaction to the new stuff. And then I had to take her back again the following day for a little more because she started feeling wheezy again.

    Fortunately for all of us, she’s never voted in her life.

  44. 44.

    Ruckus

    @Barbara:

    That is not the same thing as agism, or racism, or misogyny.

    Saying that olds vote republican is wrong and this blog alone proves that.

    Saying that a number/percentage of olds vote republican is not the same thing at all.

    I’m going to assume by your blog name that you are female and would probably dislike me saying that all women vote republican. Because it’s not a true statement in any way.

    Saying that some women vote republican is a true statement, and it does not lay blame on all women for the transgressions of some  women.

  45. 45.

    Barbara

    @Baud: So it’s really interesting, but people don’t seem to become more politically conservative over time, though they may become more entrenched in their preferences. The only reason why Bill Clinton won in 1992 was because there were still enough voters who were 65 and over:  basically, the Roosevelt generation.  Clinton won a larger percentage of voters in that age group than any other, though of course they were not as numerous as a group.

    Here is the link:  ropercenter.cornell.edu/how-groups-voted-1992

  46. 46.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ruckus:

    The generational divide that nobody talks about is that Generation X (my generation) is one of the most conservative, statistically speaking, and since we’re all just entering our 50s, we’re going to be fucking things up for a long time to come, unfortunately.

  47. 47.

    mrmoshpotato

    @WaterGirl:

    Boomers this and millennials, that.  We are better than that. 

    Well, the boomerennials aren’t.  But that a topic for another thread.

  48. 48.

    H.E.Wolf

    Thank you, ruemara, for this post and for the beautiful photos. We shall run and not be weary; we shall walk and not faint.

  51. 51.

    Wapiti

    @Barbara: regarding the Caribbean and tourism: the two times I was in Paris (both in the last decade), waiters and hotel staff implied that the industry of Paris was tourism, and taking care of tourists was their profession. (editted:) They were very friendly about it; matter-of-fact about the realities.

    Also related: we made a trip to Belize about 20 years ago, and went to the national zoo there. Lots of jungle cats. The zoo had different costs for tourists ($10), adults ($1 or 2), and Belizean school children (free). A lot of the exhibits had messages about ecotourism and how important the wildlife were to Belize’s economy.

  52. 52.

    natem

    @Mnemosyne: Yes this. I am of this generation too. A lot of us are coming into our own as c-levels and higher brass. A conservative streak typically runs through this cohort.

  54. 54.

    bemused

    @Kelly:

    Hilarious and adorable. Our young kitty is 10 months old, grew big quickly and now about 9lb. He likes to jump into my lap for a snuggle but I don’t think he has quite adjusted to his larger size yet. He’d like to fit in my lap as he used to but now has to sprawl over me instead.

  55. 55.

    Kent

    @Barbara:@greenergood: I look at Brexit and think that there has never been national recognition that much of the wealth and prosperity that the UK (and its prior iterations, whatever called) have been attributable to commerce with the wider world for at least 400 years.   I am not talking about being judgmental or critical of how exploitive some of that commerce was, just that being an island geographically hasn’t made them an island economically for a long long time.  When you go to the Caribbean, for instance, there is no one who will not tell you, sometimes with great humor and sometimes with great disappointment, that they depend on tourism.   They consider various policies accordingly.

    Well yes, but previous centuries of British world dominance were based on technological dominance during the industrial revolution, naval dominance for centuries, and control of a world-wide empire.  None of those advantages exist anymore.

    What does the UK actually produce for export today?

    Largest sectors are: Oil & Gas, Agricultural products, beverages, heavy machinery, vehicles, financial services, and pharma.

    Other than scotch and the occasional Land Rover, how much of that stuff is going to really be competitive in the US market no matter what the trade deal?  Certainly not petroleum or agricultural products as the US is a net-exporter of those.  The EU is the only natural market for those UK products.  There is little chance they will beat out Asia for vehicles and heavy machinery.  And I doubt the will beat out Wall Street and the US financial sector for financial services. And the US pharma industry is shifting to low-cost manufacturing sites like Mexico and India.

    A trade deal with Trump is not going to turn the UK into the next Asian Tiger.  A Singapore on the Thames.  That notion is just too ridiculous for words.

  62. 62.

    Barbara

    @Kent: It’s a simple point.  They had more power, yes, that goes almost without saying, but their wealth was always tied to trading with other places.  And it still is, even though they have less relative power than they used to.  Whether they leave the EU or not, there will be no resurrection of the British Empire.

  63. 63.

    WaterGirl

    @NotMax: Yes!  I agree that pointed, personal insults are much better!

    um, wait, maybe that’s not really the direction I thought this was going. :-)

  65. 65.

    WaterGirl

    @Kelly: Lucky kitties have window seats at every window?

    Please do not tell my kitties about that; it just wouldn’t work with my style of house and windows.

  66. 66.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @WaterGirl: Indeed.

    The Boomer-age people I know mostly tend to be Quakers or others of similar leaning, the kind of people to be found on the front lines of protests.

    #NotAllBoomers

  68. 68.

    Yutsano

    @greenergood: I’m recalling Farage’s last speech to the EU Parliament. Ye gods how did a tool get to a position of such power? Note I’m not mentioning your Hairpiece of Doom.

    EDIT: Oh crap what in the ever loving frak is going to happen with Gibraltar now?

  70. 70.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    So on a non-political note, the wildlife in our neighborhood has been getting a little more interesting lately.

    I live in a pretty well-developed old (1890) suburb. Lots of bunnies and squirrels but usually nothing larger. Last few months I’ve been occasionally spotting deer, once in my own backyard. I can’t figure that out, as the nearest significant woods are a couple of miles away.

    And they’re getting bolder. Mostly when I run across deer it’s very late at night, and usually on a dark night. But a few morning ago, I came out about 8 am, well after sunrise, and saw what at first I thought was a deer statue lying in the grass in my neighbor’s yard just over the back fence. But then the “statue” stood up and kept its (his?) eye on me. But made no effort to run. I think they’ve figured out that the 4′ fences around here actually make it safe for deer, that they can clear the fences easily but humans are essentially caged. So I looked at him, and he looked at me, from a distance of perhaps 6-8′. It was pretty cool.

    Also, I’m pretty sure there’s a fox. Something definitely canine like, but I’m always seeing it in silhouette and on the move from a distance. I managed to get a couple of frames of low-res video of the guy a couple nights ago, but good enough to make out that I’m pretty sure that he’s too small to be a coyote, and has a definitely bushy tail.

    I’ve seen that guy three times, always around midnight, when the dog dragged me out for a late constitutional.

  73. 73.

    zhena gogolia

    We may be closing in on some kitties to adopt toward the end of March. I don’t want to jinx it by saying too much. But boy, do I need cats in the house.

  74. 74.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @A Ghost To Most: I’m finding that Senate news this week is making me physically ill, so I can’t take very much of it. It will be over, Trump and his minions will take a victory lap, and then dog-willing we wil beat the crap out of them in November.

    Oscar-nominated short films are out this week. We have an annual tradition of watching them. It’s nice to see what people in not-Hollywood are doing. Just saw two very powerful documentaries, one on something called Resignation Syndrome (refugee children who essentially withdraw and go into a coma, and for some reason it’s increasingly prevalent among refugees in Sweden) and a girl’s skateboard school in Afghanistan.

  75. 75.

    Brachiator

    @Kent:

    Which is why throwing away membership in the world’s largest trading block to go it alone is just insane.

    Well, as the Beatles, once the UK’s top export, sang:

    She said that trading with me
    Is bringing her down yeah
    For she would never be free
    When I was around

    She’s got a BREXIT to ride
    She’s got a BREXIT to ride
    She’s got a BREXIT to ride
    But she don’t care

  77. 77.

    debbie

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    A fox trotted by me when I was out walking last summer. Looked pretty scraggly, but he paid no attention to me. Happily.

    Now there are reports of coyotes here. I live in suburbia. Lots of large, old houses. The nearest woods is a couple of miles away, but it’s pretty tiny and surrounded by city and cement.

  79. 79.

    JPL

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: When I first moved here, I bordered on 15 acres of wooded land.   My acre lot has a chain link fence and the late great mutt Ms. Moxie thought she arrived in disneyland, until one day a deer looked over the fence.   She high tailed it to the deck and then proudly barked.   Although I haven’t seen deer jump the fence I have spotted a fox.  What amazes me is how the bunnies can jump through.

  82. 82.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @zhena gogolia: just adopted two about a month ago. Today we got the second one neutered. He is currently plotting my demise I am fairly sure. As soon as he figures out how to remove the cone of shame…next up, attempting to give him his meds.  Oh boy!!

  88. 88.

    ruemara

    @Kelly: Oh, that’s perfect.

     

    Satby, yes I do.

    Hey, this is a respite thread, not a Brexit thread! Although, it’s fair.

    Thank you for the photos, Roger. I should have a funny, laugh at my idiocy post for later or tomorrow. I’d prefer to give you respite since Adam & Cheryl can give great info & Betty, Anne & Cole bring the snarkasm.

  89. 89.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    Seeing as its an open thread figured it was time for an update.  DH and I are now settled in our new house a wonderful two bedroom bungalow (yeah no stairs) in the Westgate area of Morecambe.  It is a village like area, we have a little strip mall at the end of the road with a Fish and Chip Shop, a Chicken shop, a Post Office, a Cafe (licensed) a Funeral Director, a Betting shop, a Convenience Store, a Hairdresser, a Pub, and a Cooperative grocery store.  Across the road there is a Lidl Grocery store.  The area is basically the land of the mobility scooters, bungalows attract older, retired people so that is who we are surrounded by.   We have settled into a routine.  Bad side is DH is working as a Supply Teacher (Substitute Teacher) and right now he is working at a special needs place in Kirkby Lonsdale.  Which of course means an hour or so drive for me at 0 dark thirty in the morning, then back home, then back to pick him up in the afternoon.  Three days a week he goes to the gym and on the way back we go to the pub for a drink, we are now considered locals.  Saturday mornings we go to the Cafe for breakfast, which is always brilliant, I have a full English and DH has them make him a Ham Cheese and Scrambled egg sandwich and chips, when we walk in the staff say “the usual?”.  I see my Sis and family at least once a week (we went out for dinner last night) . So all in all life is good.  I can’t wait for the weather to warm up to figure out what is going to come up in the garden and what I can do.  Looking forward to it.

  94. 94.

    Mnemosyne

    My bad back is getting better, though more slowly than I’d like. I’m going to buy one of those goofy back support braces after work tonight and see if it helps me sleep better than I have been. Right now, I don’t have a lot of pain during the day (unless I forget to get up and walk every hour or so), but it’s still pretty painful at night and makes it hard to sleep. Ugh.

  95. 95.

    Greenergood

    @Yutsano: Funny that – Gibraltar’s just totally dropped out of the picture despite (or because) they voted overwhelmingly Remain. Gib is  now an afterthought, like Scotland but worse … the ‘UK’ government hasn’t a clue about what will happen next in terms of most of their citizens. They only pay attention to their billionaires

  98. 98.

    opiejeanne

    Thank you, Ruemara. Great photos, and it’s good to remember to step back and take a breath now and then or we may faint and ,as a result, lose our drive.

     

    We’re having some really heavy winds today, and a little bird was flung against the window when it was aiming at the feeder that hangs on the French doors that lead to the deck. The loud THUNK! got our attention and mr opiejeanne pointed out the little chickadee lying on the deck, on its side with its wing feathers kind of splayed out on one side, the feathers only moving with the wind and the rain.

    Henry, Prince of Darkness, was watching and REALLY WANTED TO SEE THAT BIRD UP CLOSE, but he’s an indoor cat so I picked him up while mr opiejeanne went out to dispose of the body. I told him it might not be dead; Dave thought it was a goner. But then he brought it over to the window and I could see that it was alive and breathing.

    “What should I do with it? I should set it down somewhere, but where?”

    There’s a table on the deck with a tarp over it, and he set it down in a relatively dry spot, and came back inside. It sat there where he set it down and it did not fall over, a good sign I thought, but it didn’t move at all.

    I watched the little bird and for the longest time (probably 5 minutes)  if it moved at all, it was just the head and only a tiny bit to the left or right  I wondered if its neck really was broken but it was alive and not killed instantly, but I kept watching, and then it turned its head far to the left, and fluffed up a little, then turned its head far to the right. And then up at something he saw to the left.  After ten minutes it seemed to come really alive and flew off into the trees. Just stunned, I guess, and I was very relieved

    I treasure the small triumphs.

  102. 102.

    opiejeanne

    @Kent: That moment came and went years ago, and I think Britain missed it.

    In The Republic of Ireland I think they called it the Celtic Tiger, or something like that. The government courted American corporations with promises of low or no taxes if they’d move their operations/production to Ireland. Lots of immigrants from Eastern Bloc countries  (cheap labor) because the economy was booming and many people didn’t want to do the crappy work that paid little, and it all blew up when our economy blew up, ca 2008-2010.  There was a book in 2010 that we saw people reading everywhere we went in England and Ireland, about what the banking industry had really done to everyone. Much disgust was expressed. Can’t remember the name of that book, but we bought one about the same problem in Iceland in 2012 when we had a 7 hour layover in Reykjavik, written by an economist the government of Iceland brought in to help them solve the problems.

  104. 104.

    Mnemosyne

    @debbie:

    Sleeping on my side hurts more, even on the air mattress (which is more supportive than our 15-year-old mattress). Ditto on the pillow between the knees — also tried a body pillow to keep my knees and ankles aligned to take the strain off my hips.

    I did one night with a Salonpas patch and one with some BioFreeze. Neither seemed to help much.

  109. 109.

    J R in WV

    @Mnemosyne:

    I did one night with a Salonpas patch and one with some BioFreeze. Neither seemed to help much.

    Our family doctor recommended using Vick’s Vaporub as a soothing thing to rub into sore places. He even said that covering your feet with Vick’s and putting on cotton socks would help your chest during a cold. Appears to work, also, too!

    My sore shoulder (total replacement in 2015) and wife’s bad shoulder (earlier than mine) are greatly helped by the application of Vick’s all over the place and rubbed in.

  111. 111.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @debbie: thank you ? I have tears from laughing so hard. The little runt kitty Curren was a dream taking his meds. I fear his brother Hugh (who has looonnngg legs and weighs 9.5 lbs at 7 and a half months ) is going to be the real life version of that story. He is a sweetheart normally but the vet visit was a lot for hm.

  112. 112.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @zhena gogolia: I have been forgiven. I fed him half a baked chicken tender so now I am his favorite again. Just have to train his brother Not to leap into my arms out of no where. At least he isn’t climbing me like a tree (ouch ouch ouch).

  113. 113.

    opiejeanne

    @Steeplejack (phone): That was wonderful.

    We identified the nuthatches and something that looked a lot like our chickadees, but his list included a robin and I didn’t see either type of robin at the bird bath, unless it was the one with the rose/rust breast that looked like an undersized grosbeak.

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