Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Every day Vance writes another chapter in the book called “Worst VP Pick Ever”.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

Everybody saw this coming.

Let me file that under fuck it.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

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

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

Republicans don’t trust women.

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Duck Blogging / Open Thread: Make a Joyful Noise

Open Thread: Make a Joyful Noise

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Open Thread: Make a Joyful Noise

This year, because I spent so much time traveling, I didn’t feel like dragging the fake tree and all the ornaments out for just two weeks (I’m a “take the tree down right after Christmas” kinda gal). So, when the real trees went on sale, 1/2 off at the local grocery store, I grabbed a tabletop tree for cheap. Gave it some basic (all white this year) decorations and enjoyed the smell until the branches started to shed their needles.

I removed the decorations this weekend and finally dragged the tree outside today and left it on the patio. I did NOT expect the ducks to be in duck heaven. See video below for their sounds of approval.

Happy New Year y’all and open thread

Reader Interactions

33Comments

  6. 6.

    CaseyL

    Wow, those are some happy noises.

    I watch farm videos on YT, and the farmers who go in for sustainable methods do give their birds all kinds of greenery: leafy branches from tree trimming, discarded stalks and leaves from crop harvests, even scraps from the vegetable garden.  AFAICT, ducks aren’t as herbivorous as geese (who graze like feathered cattle) nor as omnivorous as chickens (who apparently will eat anything, including eggs and chicken meat!) but they do like to forage at least a little.

  7. 7.

    TaMara

    @CaseyL: These two are pretty picky – I try to vary their greens in the winter and all they want is iceberg lettuce. They do love dog food (which is actually really good for them) and the occasional handful of cat food.

    In the summer they keep the yard free of all kinds of bugs, so happy for that and they love dandelions. If only they’d eat spurge.

  14. 14.

    RandomMonster

    We picked up an order of 3 dozen live oysters yesterday. Apparently our refrigerator froze them all overnight — ruined. So, 2024 is off to a good start.

  16. 16.

    RandomMonster

    @eclare: I’ll be more careful about where I place them next time. Or better yet, just make sure we’re eating them on the same day! (The best plan anyway…)

  17. 17.

    Chetan Murthy

    @RandomMonster: how much $$ was that?  I wonder if next time, investing in a bluetooth thermometer might be wise.  I know a lot of sourdough bakers do that to monitor the temperature of their dough during fridge retard.

  21. 21.

    CarolPW

    @RandomMonster: You must have missed the conversation with raven a couple of days ago about freezing oysters to make them easier to shuck, because when they defrost they open up.

  23. 23.

    bbleh

    Maybe ducks get off on whatever fir tree it is, like cats and catnip.

    Or maybe all the quacking is like “dude, where’d ya put the PIPE?!?”

  25. 25.

    RandomMonster

    @CarolPW: I guess I did. From what understand, it’s fine to shuck a frozen oyster, but at that point you’re committed to cooking them, not eating them raw.

    I briefly considered turning them into an oyster stew, but the timing isn’t really convenient…

  26. 26.

    CarolPW

    @RandomMonster: Yes, the conversation was about oyster stew. I fry mine, so I just hit them with a hammer.

    I got an AcuRitemonitor because my freezer has a lot of $$ worth of meat and fish in it, and it came with a monitor for the refrigerator too. I have been very happy with it. So far the only time it alarmed was last week when I took the 3-rib prime roast out of the freezer and put it in the refrigerator to defrost. By the next morning the refrigerator temperature was below the alarm point.

  28. 28.

    eversor

    @RandomMonster:

    IIRC freezing them doesn’t make any of the (rare but extremely dangerous issues that come from eating raw oysters) worse.  It’s the exact same dice roll.

    The warning against eating frozen oysters raw comes from two areas.  The first being that if you are buying already frozen oysters the quality is instantly suspect so you should cook them.  However this is no different than if I walk down to the local warf the cheaper live and fresh oysters are also meant to be cooked and not cosumed raw.  The ones that cost double or even more than those are meant for consuming raw.  The next is that freezing oysters alters the texture of them ever so slightly but in a way an oyster snob would detect.

    Having worked in a fine dining $$$$$ break your bank account place before a lot of the “live” seafood we served was frozen for transport from the original source anyways and even the customers with the most “skill” in tasting things couldn’t tell the difference if their lives depended on it.  A lot of the raw stuff we served was frozen and a lot of the cooked stuff we served was alive when we cooked it.

    If you’re dead set on cooking them and haven’t messed with them too much yet just grill them.  Shuck them and mix up some butter, lemon, garlic, herbs (chives, parsley, taragon all work well alone or mixed together) and put that over them and grill em.  It’s fast and easy.

  29. 29.

    RandomMonster

    @eversor: The next is that freezing oysters alters the texture of them ever so slightly but in a way an oyster snob would detect.

    This is my concern. You’ve put me in the uncomfortable position of claiming to be an oyster snob, lol! Which may be kinda true. So in this case I’d have to cook them.

  30. 30.

    Geminid

    Happy New Year, Tamara! I hope it’s a happy one for all of us.

    A big clean energy story came out of Albuquerque last week. Pattern Energy announced that they had closed on $12 billion in financing for its SunZia projects, and would commence construction in earnest. SunZia Wind will build a network of wind generators in Tarrance, Lincoln and San Miguel Counties with a generating capacity of ~3500 MW. SunZia Transmission will build high voltage, direct current transmission lines that will connect with the Arizona and California electrical grids.

    The “Western Mountain” transmission line will run alongside SunZia’s, and will connect to a Pattern Energy wind project with a generating capacity of ~1000 MW. That one is located northeast of Albuquerque, in the Cline’s Corners area. The SunZia Wind project is southeast of Albuquerque, in Billy the Kid’s old stomping grounds.

    This story made a big splash on clean energy and power transmission news sites because it is (in dollars) the largest clean energy infrastructure project in the U.S. to date.

  32. 32.

    Betsy

    Christmas lasts until Epiphany, so your tree went out early!

    I wonder if the ducks like the needles for food.  Spruce needles are edible, or at least chewable, even for humans.

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