• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

If West Virginia and San Francisco had a love child.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Glad to see john eastman going through some things.

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

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

No one could have predicted…

Let’s finish the job.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Consistently wrong since 2002

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

Somebody needs to explain to DeSantis that nobody needs to do anything to make him look bad.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

“Cheese and Kraken paired together for the appetizer trial.”

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

Mobile Menu

  • Four Directions Montana
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2024 Elections
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / John Cole Presents "This Fucking Old House" / The Willow is Too Close to the Mourning Dove

The Willow is Too Close to the Mourning Dove

by John Cole|  June 27, 20226:07 pm| 52 Comments

This post is in: John Cole Presents "This Fucking Old House", Open Threads

FacebookTweetEmail

I was doing my weekly trimming of the willow tree, which I do so that I can still have a little bit of the back yard and for the health of the tree, when I found something that tickled me.  I have to get all up in the tree’s kilt to properly maintain it, which requires me cutting all the branches to about 6 feet tall, then getting up underneath and cutting out all the dead stuff, when i looked up and what did I spyy with my little eye:

I went around to the other side for a better picture:

 

He or she kept a very watchful eye on me, and I left as soon as I got the picture so as to not distress them.  That explains why I kept hearing the calls and it felt like they were right on top of me when I sat on the deck.  They were!

I should also add that the willow tree brings me joy every time I look at it.  It’s such a splendid tree.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « New 1/6 Hearing – Tomorrow
Next Post: Last Call (Open Thread) »

Reader Interactions

52Comments

  1. 1.

    James E Powell

    June 27, 2022 at 2:11 pm

    Until I read this post carefully, I thought they were morning doves.

  2. 2.

    germy shoemangler

    June 27, 2022 at 2:14 pm

    @James E Powell:

    Morning, noon and night.  They’re insatiable.

  3. 3.

    Alison Rose

    June 27, 2022 at 2:14 pm

    @James E Powell: the opposite of night owls

  4. 4.

    Spanky

    June 27, 2022 at 2:15 pm

    I should also add that the willow tree brings me joy every time I look at it.  It’s such a splendid tree.

    Now you’re just trolling us.

  5. 5.

    Ken

    June 27, 2022 at 2:19 pm

    @Spanky: No, that’s what happens after the willow roots grow into the water supply and start releasing the chemicals. It’s like toxoplasmosis with cats.

  6. 6.

    ant

    June 27, 2022 at 2:19 pm

    mhm

    you should wack it off at about five to six feet tall while you still can without having to pay someone to do it.

    let it grow back.

     

    that tree needs its size manged.

  7. 7.

    Joy in FL

    June 27, 2022 at 2:20 pm

    I love the tree and the birds. I love knowing those things are having their lives right now.

  8. 8.

    debbie

    June 27, 2022 at 2:21 pm

    Rustling leaves make a lovely sound.

  9. 9.

    germy shoemangler

    June 27, 2022 at 2:22 pm

    I should also add that the willow tree brings me joy every time I look at it. 

    And fortunately it’s right up next to the house for easier viewing pleasure.

  10. 10.

    Ken

    June 27, 2022 at 2:26 pm

    @ant: The technical term is “pollarding“. Interestingly, it improves the tree’s longevity, and provides nesting sites for birds.

  11. 11.

    Scout211

    June 27, 2022 at 2:32 pm

    My neighbor’s 3 huge willow trees are right behind their house and provide a lot of much-needed shade. But the bill to fix their septic tank was not cheap. The roots grew right through the concrete walls of the tank. They still love the trees, though, and refuse to remove them. They are very pretty trees.

  12. 12.

    Madeleine

    June 27, 2022 at 2:33 pm

    OT: I just heard a brief bulletin on NPR national news about  4 Directions organizing a conference between Nevada tribal leaders and state political leaders to forge a partnership. Tribal leaders from other states are also there. Great news!

    typo edited

  13. 13.

    Madeleine

    June 27, 2022 at 2:38 pm

    Great pics of the doves. I love their call.

  14. 14.

    kindness

    June 27, 2022 at 2:39 pm

    We had a big willow in our back yard growing up.  It shed like mad.  It wasn’t near pipes or the house so the only problem with the roots was over time the roots grew up.  Eventually there was a mound about 8 feet in diameter rising up about 2 or 3 feet above the ground.  My father eventually cut it down.

  15. 15.

    zhena gogolia

    June 27, 2022 at 2:40 pm

    I love those birds too. They make such a lovely silhouette on phone wires.

  16. 16.

    WereBear

    June 27, 2022 at 2:43 pm

    @Ken: and makes a lovely cave

  17. 17.

    bluefish

    June 27, 2022 at 2:48 pm

    West Va in summer house and tree porn. Enjoy. Lovely. You are cruel. Bird song. Recipe time.

    Plus, no more sex for anyone ever. Thanks.

  18. 18.

    Old School

    June 27, 2022 at 2:50 pm

    I was doing my weekly trimming of the willow tree

    Weekly?

  19. 19.

    R-Jud

    June 27, 2022 at 2:50 pm

    I like mourning doves, I just wish they wouldn’t bully every other bird that visits my feeders (except the magpies: nobody messes with the magpies).

  20. 20.

    CaseyL

    June 27, 2022 at 2:52 pm

    More birbs!  How wonderful!

    Did the chickadees, or finches, or whoever they were, ever return to the nest on your porch?

  21. 21.

    Gravenstone

    June 27, 2022 at 2:52 pm

    @Scout211: When I bought my home (mistake), the pre-sale inspection of the septic found that one of the native willows had grown into the tank. Idiot original homeowner had planted one of the many cuts he took from the mother willow literally right on top of the fucking septic tank. They had to pull the thing out roots and all to pass the inspection. Had the guy who cleaned it out in to pump mine out some years later (mandated every three years here) and he said they were pulling roots out by the wheelbarrow full.

    Add insult to injury, the progenitor willow decided to rot and drop one of its big branches onto an adjacent spruce, shattering the top. Ended up having to remove both of them.

  22. 22.

    Rob

    June 27, 2022 at 2:59 pm

    @James E Powell: I learned what mourning was as a young grade schooler interested in birds when I saw a Mourning Dove at our feeder in the afternoon.

  23. 23.

    persistentillusion

    June 27, 2022 at 3:01 pm

    Out here in sunny Colorado, mourning doves have been forced out by ring-necked doves.  Look and sounds similar, but apparently the ring-necks are invasive.

  24. 24.

    pluky

    June 27, 2022 at 3:04 pm

    On a tree by river . . .

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClR3410r2Bc

  25. 25.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    June 27, 2022 at 3:11 pm

    This post reminds me, whatever happened to the Find Mr. Frog posts, John? I enjoyed those

  26. 26.

    sab

    June 27, 2022 at 3:15 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): My own personal guess is that the ransomwear thieves stole access to those.

  27. 27.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    June 27, 2022 at 3:26 pm

    @sab:

    Oh no, I wasn’t taking about the old posts, I was talking about how he used to post new Mr Frog pictures his parents would send him. I was wondering why he stopped

  28. 28.

    sab

    June 27, 2022 at 3:27 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): His mom probably still has the originals, but he spent days organizing them

    ETA that organization might be lost in the hijacked cloud.

  29. 29.

    Dangerman

    June 27, 2022 at 3:32 pm

    @Alison Rose : Obligatory posting about the saga of Nellie the Night Heron; Google away if you are a bird person. She was something to witness in person.

  30. 30.

    C Stars

    June 27, 2022 at 3:35 pm

    Aren’t willow trees what aspirin comes from (with a bit o processing)?

  31. 31.

    JMG

    June 27, 2022 at 3:46 pm

    Willow trees are indeed very beautiful, but there are few of them on Cape Cod. Nor’easters are the reason. Back in suburban Boston, our neighbor two houses up had a beautiful old willow, but a blizzard did for it a decade ago.

  32. 32.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    June 27, 2022 at 3:48 pm

    @sab:

    Ah, okie dokie

  33. 33.

    Bruce.desertrat

    June 27, 2022 at 3:58 pm

    Wow an actual intelligent Mourning Dove. This is the one who nested in the ladder up against the side of the house  around 7 feet away from the door we use all the time. Completely in the open.

    https://flickr.com/photos/35245797@N00/48631990991/in/album-72157681914184865/

    And yes that was our mop propped up to dry after I used it.

    She never laid any eggs, though.

  34. 34.

    joel hanes

    June 27, 2022 at 4:07 pm

    @R-Jud:

    Throw some of the cheapest corn/millet food on the ground; the mourning doves will prefer to eat there, and mostly leave the feeders to the other birds.

  35. 35.

    Leto

    June 27, 2022 at 4:08 pm

    We had a pair of robins nest in the tree right outside our sunroom. We were able to watch as they constructed the nest, laid eggs, then watched those eggs hatch into noisy beaks sticking up just out of the rim of the nest. It was a really fun 3-4 weeks.

  36. 36.

    sab

    June 27, 2022 at 4:09 pm

    @C Stars: I think you are right. Aspirin’s scientific name and willows’  are very close, and every healer in every historical novel makes willowbark tea.

    Salix is the plant family. Salicylic acid is ancestor of aspirin.

  37. 37.

    sab

    June 27, 2022 at 4:14 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): We should lean on him to bring back that frog. It was a good idea then, and we certainly tension relievers now.

  38. 38.

    sab

    June 27, 2022 at 4:15 pm

    Duplicate. How did that happen?

  39. 39.

    schrodingers_cat

    June 27, 2022 at 4:20 pm

    Lily in the rain

    From my yard

  40. 40.

    Sky

    June 27, 2022 at 4:23 pm

    @C Stars: The original commercial aspirin produced by Bayer was made from Spiraea, which also contains salicylic acid (hence the name aSPIRin).

  41. 41.

    Ann Marie

    June 27, 2022 at 4:27 pm

    @R-Jud: My father thought the same way about them.  He would get so annoyed when they would eat all the seeds.  But I loved their call.

  42. 42.

    mrmoshpotato

    June 27, 2022 at 4:32 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: That’s a flower, not an adorable dog.

  43. 43.

    mrmoshpotato

    June 27, 2022 at 4:32 pm

    @sab:

    We should lean on him to bring back that frog. It was a good idea then, and we certainly tension relievers now. 

    Agreed.

  44. 44.

    M. Bouffant

    June 27, 2022 at 4:34 pm

    Here are a few shots of a male mourning dove foraging in front of the local 7-Eleven.

  45. 45.

    SuzieC

    June 27, 2022 at 4:42 pm

    That’s a very poetic title.  Now finish the poem.

  46. 46.

    Sherparick

    June 27, 2022 at 4:54 pm

    @Spanky: in the two stories where a willow tree is a character, they were definitely trees with attitude (“Ol’ Man Willow in LOTR & Womping Willow in “Harry Potter.”

  47. 47.

    karensky

    June 27, 2022 at 5:43 pm

    @Madeleine: Great to hear!

  48. 48.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    June 27, 2022 at 5:59 pm

    Thank you for the lovely tale of the doves. I have some that live in my backyard sometimes. Always makes me happy to hear them.

  49. 49.

    joel hanes

    June 27, 2022 at 6:06 pm

    @Sky:

     

    But aspirin has not been made from a plant feedstock for quite a while.
    Salicylic acid is synthesized directly from bulk chemicals.

    alicylic acid is produced commercially via the Kolbe-Schmitt process. Here phenol and sodium hydroxide are reacted to make sodium phenoxide. The phenoxide is contacted with CO2 to form sodium salicylate. The salicylate is acidified to give salicylic acid. The acid is usually crystallized from aqueous solution to give a technical grade 99.5% salicylic acid product. For a pharmaceutical grade product a further purification step is required. Typically this is achieved by sublimation.

    The Kolbe-Schmitt synthesis is very old and a number of manufacturing methods have been used. The old Wacker process was carried out in phenol solution. Later processes have used ball mill autoclaves, counter-bladed kneader/mixers, and other batch reaction means.

  50. 50.

    J R in WV

    June 27, 2022 at 6:10 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: ​

    “Lily in the rain”

    That is beautiful!

    Also, sorrow for what’s happening in your home nation. I worked with so many Indian software geniuses back in my working days, I’m sure most of them are as crushed as you are.

  51. 51.

    Hilfy

    June 27, 2022 at 6:21 pm

    John Cole, please give us some pictures of your willow tree as it looks now,  been a long time since we’ve seen your back yard..  Contemplating widow trees is restful to the soul.

  52. 52.

    Cmorenc

    June 27, 2022 at 7:26 pm

    ‘@john cole:
    Our house at the nc coast has had a resident pair of doves every spring using a nest on top of one of the pilings supporting the house (barrier island houses are on story-high pilings to allow any storm surge to pass underneath the house).  I welcome the female’s return every spring, patiently sitting atop her nest, secure from the many outdoor cats living next door.  I am always careful to not disturb her, or permit anyone else to do so.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Recent Comments

  • Baud on Thursday Morning Open Thread — Nancy Pelosi: Every Day Is A Matter of Life and Death (Apr 18, 2024 @ 9:47am)
  • TBone on Thursday Morning Open Thread — Nancy Pelosi: Every Day Is A Matter of Life and Death (Apr 18, 2024 @ 9:46am)
  • JPL on Thursday Morning Open Thread — Nancy Pelosi: Every Day Is A Matter of Life and Death (Apr 18, 2024 @ 9:45am)
  • Hildebrand on Einstein Zoom and Other Things (Apr 18, 2024 @ 9:44am)
  • Betty on Thursday Morning Open Thread — Nancy Pelosi: Every Day Is A Matter of Life and Death (Apr 18, 2024 @ 9:44am)

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Balloon Juice Meetups!

All Meetups
Talk of Meetups – Meetup Planning
Proposed BJ meetups list from frosty

Fundraising 2023-24

Wis*Dems Supreme Court + SD-8
Virginia House Races
Four Directions – Montana
Worker Power AZ
Four Directions – Arizona
Four Directions – Nevada

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
Positive Climate News
War in Ukraine
Cole’s “Stories from the Road”
Classified Documents Primer

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Twitter / Spoutible

Balloon Juice (Spoutible)
WaterGirl (Spoutible)
TaMara (Spoutible)
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
ActualCitizensUnited

Political Action 2024

Postcard Writing Information

Balloon Juice for Four Directions AZ

Donate

Balloon Juice for Four Directions NV

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2024 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!