Angry v. Placid v. Hungry Birds

I have been regularly filling the bird feeder in my back yard, and the hungry little ones have been cleaning it out completely in about two days.  The robins and cardinals seem to just chill out and wait for the little birds to knock a bunch of seeds onto the ground.  They seem to do this quite frequently, but I am not sure if this is an intentional altruistic effort  on the part of the little birds, or just sloppiness.


Maybe they are just SO EXCITED that this stupid woman keeps shelling out her hard earned dollars to buy birdseed for these wild creatures, that their exuberance causes them to be messy while eating.  Or perhaps they are throwing out the small round seeds to get to the bigger sunflower seeds, or other yummy morsels?!?

Waiting area on the power line - good thing they don't weigh too much!

When I put out a suet feeder the first fall we lived in SE Michigan, I put it in a place that I could see from the kitchen window that looks out into the backyard.  When no birdies were enjoying this free bounty, the nice lady at Wild Birds Unlimited suggested that I put it in a more private location where the birds would feel somewhat sheltered while nibbling on the fatty goodness.

So I moved the suet to a location underneath the pine trees, where I could not see it from the kitchen window, but the squirrels appreciated this new spot, as they could easily get to it from a secluded tree branch without alerting me.  Those buggers are quite healthy and fat, and they hang around sleeping most of the winter, so I didn't think they really needed any additional nourishment for a long migration south.

Last week I bought a shepherd's crook metal feeder holder, which can also accommodate a nice wind chime that we got for our wedding.

Perching room only!

Now I have noticed a few hummingbirds hanging around in the backyard.  They checked out the hanging feeder, but I think they were attracted by the sap in the pine trees, or the nectar from the trumpet vine on the side of the house.  Our composting also attracts a lot of tiny flies, so that is a good source of protein for those fast paced critters.

There are at least 4 on the feeder in this shot.

The angry birds are the ones I hear or see fighting in the trees.  I think the mating season is over for them, so I am not really sure that their problem is.

Makers v. Takers = Shakers v. Bakers

I was listening to Terry Gross on Fresh Air  within the last few weeks, and she was interviewing one of the stars of the HBO series "The Newsroom" John Gallagher, Jr., and they played an audio clip from the show.  The main stars are Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer and Sam Waterston, and their performances are quite excellent from my point of view.  Jane Fonda plays the big boss, and she does a great job of manipulating all her minions.  And the spouse will tell you that I have watched a LOT of television, so I might know what I am talking about in my review of this show.

They deal quite frequently with politics and public opinions in general, and the specific discussions of what they should feature on their nightly news programs are quite fascinating.

The audio clip I mentioned in the first paragraph had to do with the Makers v. Takers argument that Governor Mitt Romney tried to advance during his presidential campaign of 2012.  This is one of the most misguided statements that he made, though my favorite is still the Binders of Women comment during one of the debates.

[borrowed from http://www.whatamimissinghere.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/118899-47-Color-by-Eric-Allie-Caglecartoons-515x356.jpg]

While I was mulling over this comparison of who Romney believes are producers as opposed to consumers of public largesse is exactly backwards.  The makers are the people breaking their backs to actually support their families at little more than minimum wage (people like bakers and fast food employees, etc), while the takers are the ones shaking down the government for lower tax rates so they can keep more of their millions of dollars they make each year.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

Always keep the vermouth guessing!

I must confess that I am a big fan of Martinis.  Not the James Bond version with a crazy lemon peel and vodka AND gin, but the more pedestrian classic semi dry and dirty Martini with olives.  The little green fellows can be stuffed with either peppers, garlic cloves, some sort of yummy stinky cheese (preferably gorgonzola or bleu),  or if I am feeling more spicy, I will go with straight jalapeños or pickled okra.

I couldn't find a cool vintage advertisement from the cheap brand of vermouth I usually use, but this one was from my second choice brand.

[borrowed from http://rlv.zcache.com/martini_rossi_torino_vermouth_bianco_vintage_ad_poster-r14507a846fa4418ab0ae50ad40295e1c_ez7u_8byvr_512.jpg]

The meaning behind the title of this blog involves anthropomorphizing my bottle of vermouth and assuming that it can sense which bottle, gin or vodka, might be joining it in the shaker.  When I want it to be really perplexed, I delay a few minutes before grabbing the gin or vodka out of the liquor cabinet.

Why do I attribute sensation to a bottle of spirits?  Why do I try to figure out what the cats, fish or turtles are thinking?  Kind of relating to the crazy way my brain works.

Salute, salud, skol, kam-pai or whatever toast you may prefer!

Oh yeah, never drive a motor vehicle or boat under the influence.  Stay safe out there!

lawnmowers and leafblowers

Most of our neighbors have their lawns mown by professionals (read teenage boys employed by landscape companies), and thursday is the day that has been chosen for the days on the right and left of us to get their lawns manicured.

Now that I am retired and get to sleep in on weekdays AND weekends, I am greeted in the mornings of nearly every thursday (except those with torrential rainfall) at 8AM by a symphony of lawnmowers and leaf blowers.  Those do not bother me as much as the nasty high-pitched weed whackers they use instead of the edgers which take more time to operate effectively.

The whackers make a bunch of grass bits and the blowers follow them up pushing those clippings back into the lawn.