That was one long morning, right? As I mentioned in the first morning thread, our hummingbirds have returned, so I’m probably going to be more useless than usual for the next couple of days.
Vid of the same bird. A couple of male RTHBs were chattering away as they sampled the honeysuckle blossoms. I don't think they've worked out who owns the vines and feeders yet. pic.twitter.com/tP0PkP65Al
— Betty Cracker ? (@bettycrackerfl) March 9, 2022
Can’t really be expected to get any work done — let alone find much time for my blogging hobby — when the tiny, beautiful sugar-sippers return after a months-long absence.
Open thread!
FlyingToaster
It has started snowing again in the Hub of the Universe. My fence guys (replacing the 18 and 14 year old boundary fences) just came to check that they can store the constructed fence panels behind the yews and get out of the snow.
It’ll all melt by noon tomorrow. FFS.
Betty Cracker
@FlyingToaster: It was unseasonably warm here today — high 80s! But we’re supposed to get a huge storm this weekend and low temps down to 30, which means we’ll have to cover all the tomatoes, etc., the mister planted. He gets so excited about spring that he jumps the gun sometimes.
no comment
I had heard about the crap fest reporters were giving Jen Psaki about drilling oil & gas prices. But I just now heard a clip where Psaki suggests “embroidered invitations” along with the drilling permits & now I kinda want one. Too bad I don’t know how to embroider. Maybe a cross stitched one instead?
senyordave
Is there a lower form of life than William Barr? He’s out there pimping his book, telling tales of how horribly incompetent and ignorant Trump is, and then casually throwing in that he’s not sorry he voted for him and would so again.
Ben Cisco, MSCIS Padawan
@no comment: Going to miss her when she’s gone; she strikes me as someone that’s as snarky as us jackals (AND also thinking, but not saying out loud, the same things we are).
Ruckus
@senyordave:
Is there a lower form of life than William Barr?
Hopefully Not!
We have enough problems, with dictators, assholes, rightwing fucking nutjobs, traitors with less than stellar reputations, racists, misogynists, complete idiots, combinations of all of the above and yet he lowers the bar….
narya
They fixed the USPS! Employees will used Medicare when eligible, and pre-funding benefits is going away.
KrackenJack
I have a big feeder (40 oz) for when I am out of town, but my original feeder was a gift Perky Pet. The hummers definitely seem to prefer the Perky Pet. Even when the big one has been up by itself for weeks, they will go to the PP as soon as it is up. I wonder if there are just more of those in the neighborhood, so the birds are trained.
For the big one, I sterilize everything before I fill and assemble it. Never had any problem with mold or cloudiness. It’s in the shade and in a cool climate. I blame the shade for my utter inability to identify any species in my Sibley’s Guide.
BTW The new PP is definitely worth buying. The old one had a narrow mouth and leaked unless you were super careful about leveling the plastic assembly. The new one has five feeder blossoms.
Ben Cisco, MSCIS Padawan
@Ruckus: He definitely hasn’t figured out the redemption part of “redemption tour.”
It’s almost as though he’s about as sharp as a bowling ball…
Ken
@narya: I take it no private companies wanted to step up and buy the USPS? Rumor has it that’s why the Republicans originally required the pre-funded pension – to create a big pot of money which, naturally, the new owner would take over.
Geoduck
@narya: Well, partially fixed. They still need to boot the evil Trumpist who got installed to run the place.
Yarrow
@Betty Cracker: He’s not really jumping the gun. If he doesn’t get his tomatoes in soon enough they won’t be big enough to produce many tomatoes before the nighttime temps are too hot in the summer and the tomatoes won’t set. It’s always a crapshoot as to when that is in the most southern areas in the US and there’s plenty of “OMG! I have to cover the tomatoes AGAIN!” through at least the first half of March.
Betty Cracker
@KrackenJack: 40 oz is a big feeder! I didn’t know they made ’em that big.
Since I’m in a warm climate, I use small volume feeders and clean/fill every few days. I also place the feeders under porch overhangs to protect the customers from raptors and keep the nectar out of the sun.
Alison Rose ???
@senyordave: Barr to Trump: “Thank you, sir, may I have another!”
JoyceH
Yesterday I joined Digital Weight Watchers. (If you’re on the fence, hey, sign up for six months, get first three months for free.) Last time I did WW the internet didn’t even exist yet; it was all meetings and writing stuff down in little notebooks. I’ve been running around the kitchen using the bar code reader to check the points on things. We live In The Future!
Scout211
Ha ha ha ha!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Scout211: law’n’order!
evap
That video is wonderful! I’m visiting a friend in Arizona and there are tons of hummingbirds hanging out at her feeders, such a joy to watch. I learned that there are many types of hummingbirds here, but the RTHB is the only one that is permanent in Georgia (where I live). A few others visit in the winter, but are rarely spotted, I think.
mrmoshpotato
@senyordave:
@Ruckus:
@Ben Cisco, MSCIS Padawan: Hell of a thing when Confederate trash Jeff Sessions seemingly has more of a moral compass than you. (Yes, I realize that his resignation was self-preservation when the fascist orange shitstain bellowed, “Protect me from the investigations looking into my crimes, Jeff!”)
mrmoshpotato
@Ken:
Would you really want that, or are you being silly?
Yarrow
@senyordave: I happened to see that interview with Barr on the Today Show. He looked deeply uncomfortable when Savannah Guthrie asked him if he’d vote for TFG again if he was the Republican nominee. He shifted in his seat, looked away. It was really noticeable.
None of that changes the fact that he’s an awful person and did terrible things as AG. But it really made me wonder what we aren’t seeing. Why is he so uncomfortable? What’s he hiding? Who’s he protecting?
Alison Rose ???
@Ken: Careful, you might have just put up the Bezos Batsignal.
trollhattan
@Betty Cracker:
This is the one I use. Holds a quart, which during peak season the birbs can go through twice/week. Currently it lasts a good two weeks and in winter will take a month to empty. Then, I need to keep watch because the solution can get mold.
It appears to be a cheesy design but has held up many years, so looks can be deceiving. My only qualm is the plastic can’t handle the dishwasher, which would clean it better than I can.
Betty Cracker
FL Gov. Ron DickSantis just beclowned Disney CEO Bob Chapek, who, to be fair, was already beclowning himself on the “Don’t Say Gay” bill issue. During a shareholder call, Chapek performed a song and dance about how Disney was working behind the scenes with lawmakers and said DeSantis assured him the law would not be used to “unduly harm or target” the LGBTQ community. From Judd Legum on Twitter (linked above):
Maybe massive boycotts would focus people’s minds.
germy
@Ken:
trollhattan
@mrmoshpotato: Specifying “the Liberal Democrats are worse” means shoot-a-guy Trump is exactly right, they love him specifically for who he is.
Ben Cisco, MSCIS Padawan
@mrmoshpotato: I remember it well; the Mirror Universe Keebler Elf is from my home county. It galled me when I was forced to admit he had microscopically more scruples than the rest of the Angry Circus Peanut’s crew…
NotMax
@Betty Cracker
Wait until the five pound hummingbirds start showing up!
:)
trollhattan
@germy: Recall being boggled by that. What other entity has to pre-fund retirement decades in advance? I presume it was a warmup to W’s privatize Social Security dream.
Oklahomo
I thought I saw a hummingbird on Monday, but before I could get my phone or a camera, a tailless skink went scooting across the porch and I had to go save it from a herd of barn cats.
Betty Cracker
@trollhattan: I probably go through a quart a week. Between the nectar I put out, the firecracker bush blooms and the honeysuckle vine on our fence, there’s an endless buffet.
Scout211
@Betty Cracker:
And now the Disney Company has changed their mind. Source.
trollhattan
@NotMax:
My SIL and BIL used to live in the Sierra Foothills where they could go through a 10lb bag of sugar each week filling all their feeders. Whatever it was about that spot, they had half a dozen varieties every nesting season. It was an amazing show, so much that it didn’t even bother me being at my in-laws. There’s nothing better than having one hover face-to-face with you, deciding whether you’re acceptable. Just sorry I never mastered the human hummingbird feeder trick.
Ben Cisco, MSCIS Padawan
@trollhattan: That was the consensus at the time, under the guise of “protecting” their retirements. Usual bait-and-switch.
Sure Lurkalot
@Geoduck:
Unfortunately, there’s still the contract to “update” the fleet with gas guzzlers.
Ken
@mrmoshpotato: I’m pretty sure I remember chatter 20 years ago about privatizing the postal service. I doubt that the result would have provided mail service to everywhere in the U.S. for the price of a stamp, but some sacrifices must be made, Alaska.
But I may be completely misremembering. As germy points out, the ridiculous pension requirement was a bipartisan effort, and I thought Republicans were largely to blame.
Jackie
@narya: The new gas operated fleet of delivery trucks needs to be addressed. DeJoy refuses to switch to etrucks.
germy
@Jackie:
I wonder why he’s opposed to etrucks.
Since everything he does is related to his own personal fortune, I have to assume he owns stock or other interests in oil/gas.
Betty Cracker
@Scout211: Disney makes a big show of support for the LGBTQ community (and rakes in lots of money during Gay Day events), but they kept mum on this toxic bill until it had already passed both chambers and landed on DeSantis’s desk. So what Chapek is saying now rings hollow.
The company has donated scads of money to the homophobes in the statehouse who wrote and voted for the bill. They won’t even vow to at least stop doing that.
Maybe it’s unfair to pick on Disney, but they are so powerful in the state, and they profit so much from the talent and money of the LGBTQ community and allies. That said, I’d support a broad boycott of Florida. Not just Disney, the whole damned state. Pressure to move vacations, sporting events, business conferences, etc., elsewhere.
It would suck for those of us who live here, but hitting the powers that be in the wallet might be something that could stop these troglodytes from dragging us back into the 1950s.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@germy: I honestly chalk a lot of resistance to environmentalism as pure and simple cultural resentment. The hippies (like Al Gore) can never be right about anything
Scout211
@germy:
DeJoy claims it is about time and money. They need the money NOW and they need to sign those contracts NOW and those electric trucks are just so darn EXPENSIVE. The congress needs to act NOW. *rolls eyes* Source.
Geminid
Although the story will be overshadowed by the news from Ukraine, the Times of Israel reported today on a significant event in an article titled, “Hosting Herzog in a landmark visit, Erdogan lauds ‘turning point’ in relations.”
Israeli President Herzog was making the first visit to Turkey by an Israeli President or Prime Minister since 2008.
The two leaders were reported to have discussed the war in Ukraine and eastern Mediteranean matters. They both said that Turkey’s Foreign Minister would be conferring with his Israeli counterpart soon about reopening the two countries’ embassies.
Herzog’s role in Israeli politics is largely ceremonial, and he was accompanied by his wife.
NotMax
@Betty Cracker
A lot fewer Cubans settled in the state in the 1950s.
//
Dan B
@Betty Cracker: Thanks for posting on the Don’t Say Gay bill. It’s being replicated in Tennessee and South Dakota – slightly different forms but same effects. Disney didn’t object to LGBTQ people being labeled “groomers”.
Betty Cracker
@Dan B: It’s an infuriating time. I just read that Georgia is also jumping on the shitty bandwagon.
trollhattan
@Betty Cracker: Sure is great to know we have all these states that have cleared up every fucking important problem and issue, and are now straightening up their legislative sock drawers and rolling the cupholder pennies from their pickup trucks.
Baud
@trollhattan:
They do these things because they don’t want to address important problems and issues, because they are far more often than not the cause of our problems and issues.
no comment
@Ken:
Thom Hartman thinks the pre-funding of USPS pensions was due to anti-environmentalism/lobbying by oil & gas companies. Says the pension thing was put into effect right after the USPS announced a surplus of money & planned on buying electric (or maybe hybrid at the time) vehicles. He thinks getting rid of prefunding now so Dejoy can buy gas guzzlers is for the same basic reason.
Why did some Democrats support prefunding pensions in the first place? I’m guessing lobbying? Investments in oil companies?
NotMax
@Dan B
Library visitor: “Do you have any books by Gay Talese?”
Another visitor: “Police! I demand this man be arrested!”
– – – – –
Florist shop customer: “I’m looking for an inexpensive nosegay.”
Another customer: “Y’all heard that, right? I’ll hold her down while you dial 911.”
– – – – –
And we won’t even mention the sports collectibles shop displaying mint Gaylord Perry trading cards. Or the music shop which stocks recordings by Marvin Gaye.
“Right out in the open, where children can see them!”
Geminid
@Geminid: The Israeli President is a second generation politician. Isaac Herzog’s father Chaim Herzog served two terms as Israeli President during the late 1980’s to the 1990’s. Chaim Herzog’s father was Chief Rabbi of Northern Ireland before emigrating to the British Mandate of Palestine in the 1930’s..
Kay
You wonder if they’re 100% confident in this approach though – all culture wars all the time- and they’re totally invested in it at this point. They’re all in. No backing out now.
Seem a little touchy and prickly about it to me – defensive. I suppose we shall see but none of this is necessarily the proven political winner they all clearly believe it is.
NotMax
@Geminid
“Anyone know when the next boat is due in? We’re having trouble rounding up a minyan.”
:)
KrackenJack
@Betty Cracker: It’s the More Birds Big Gulp feeder. Because boids suck down the syrup half as fast on this one compared to the Perky Pet, I don’t usually fill it up completely even if I’m going to be away for a while.
Consumption seems almost independent of the two feeders being within three feet of each other. The Perky Pest dispenses 20 oz every 2 – 3 days in the winter, the Big Gulp 20 oz would take several weeks. My territorial hummer doesn’t seem interested in defending the Big Gulp, either. I only put it up out of guilt for going away on vacation.
I do wonder what would happen if I put the old PP blossoms on the Big Gulp. Maybe that’s what catches their eye.
Ohio Mom
@JoyceH: In my day, WW gave you a little booklet where you colored in little circles, squares and triangles — they symbolized what, I don’t remember — protein, fats and produce? Anyway, each day you got so many of each shape and colored them in as you consumed them.
Heard that later, WW switched to a point system, and now they’ve gone digital? You have to give them credit for creatively repackaging the same thing over and over and over.
WW taught me to stay hydrated and to make an effort to include fruits and vegetables at every meal. I may not have kept off the weight I lost but I’ve eaten healthier ever since.
trollhattan
A.K.A. Northern Ireland’s loneliest man.
NotMax
@trollhattan
Belfast’s Maytag repairman points at the rabbi and lets loose a Nelson Muntz laugh.
;)
Geminid
@trollhattan: Rabbi Herzog might have been a little sad to leave Belfast, but he did go on to be the first Chief Ashkanazi Rabbi of Israel.
WaterGirl
@Scout211: It’s tough to read that last paragraph and not snort out loud in disbelief at the way-beyond-lame totally-unbelievable bullshit.
Which I did.
Miss Bianca
@Scout211: Yeah, “more effective behind the scenes.” Like that trick ever works. No, Disney just didn’t care enough about the issue – or its employees, many of whom I am sure are LGBTQ – to make a public stink about it. Bad cess to them.