She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
Dan
Here's an animal-dietary-choice that I witnessed that had me shocked- a few months back I was working in our back yard when I heard a commotion coming from the side of the house. I walked around to find a bunch of sparrows flitting around frantically near some junk that I had piled against the side of the garage. As I approached, they made themselves scarce; I looked down into the junk pile and spotted a CHIPMUNK carrying a dead baby sparrow.
I didn't know that chipmunks had a streak of carnivore in them...
Brian (IA) http://blhanel.rrpicturearchives.net.
tree68 wrote:I've taken a few longer bike rides, but 750 miles is a bit more than I'd want to take on any more. Might make an interesting adventure, nonetheless. Get one of those trailers to carry a tent, grill, and other necessities, camp wherever you can find a hospitable spot (maybe alongside railroad ROWs?).
I've done 85 miles in 5 hours a couple of times so if I break that into...2 segments per day of say...4 hours at ~17 MPH but I'll allow for hills and delays so let's say 14 MPH as an average speed. I'd make about 112 miles/day. At that pace it'd take me a week to get there!
Jen I was hunting once and was watching a cardinal in a pine. Cardinal's are my favorite bird and, for some reason, not too common in the area I hunt. I saw some grackles go after a male and female and let's say that...some grackles are no longer around.
Q - I knew they take food away from robins, but never realized they would attack small prey. Wow....
Saw a gentle turtledove (coo coo) peck at another bird when it got in it's way. Guess it isn't only dog-eat-dog world that applies - birds too!
But on the other hand - moo and oink are in my vocabulary, so can't begrudge them getting food in any form.
Still - it was such a beautiful morning.....
J
BossHen has watched sparrows disappear outside courtesy of a local falcon (poof! - nothing but feathers)...and foxy started culling the absurd number of local rabbits.
Now that there are 2 cairn terriers (toto dogs) next door and another scottie (Chester) 5 doors down, vermin are going to have to move on. Foxy, racoon or the squirrels wander down the fenceline and all h*ll breaks loose.
Q: Bosshen looking for the hummingbird feeder recipe. Time to put the feeder to work.
Going to find the bluejuice - still dehydrated after thatching the yard this weekend and walking into an 84 degree office (chiller failure).
....Those who care to bike...come to Muncie as we have a great Trail that's over 30 miles in length now and more being added. It's ex C&O ROW. It's smoothly paved too. Bike in safety.
Jen:
Those black birds are overbearing creatures. One can see a robin find a worm and if any black bird is anywhere close enough, it will swoop in and grab it away from the robin and fly away with it.
Quentin
I never turn down roast beef.
Still not fully awake. One of the downsides of getting older - recovering from a lack of sleep takes longer and longer.
The news is now reporting that the two young men who were killed in the incident may have been returning from a "house party" and that there may have been alcohol involved in the crash. Considering that they were 17 and 20, somebody is gonna fry...
I've taken a few longer bike rides, but 750 miles is a bit more than I'd want to take on any more. Might make an interesting adventure, nonetheless. Get one of those trailers to carry a tent, grill, and other necessities, camp wherever you can find a hospitable spot (maybe alongside railroad ROWs?).
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Paula, thanks for dinner. It sure hit the spot.
Tom
COAST LINE FOREVER
It is better to dwell in the corner of a roof than to share a house with a contentious woman! (Solomon)
A contentious woman is like a constant dripping! (Solomon)
Mookie, don't believe I have ever witnessed anything like that, myself. And growing up on the farm, had plenty of all of the afore-mentioned birds plus other birds around.
Ray, if you do decide to "bike all the way down here", best not to be on any of the interstates. You'd have to take back roads all the way, and wonder how long that would take you!
Today's afternoon & evening meals consist of:
1. leftover roast, taters, carrots, etc., from yesterday and. . .
2. meat loaf, mashed taters w/gravy, shellie beans, corn, cornbread, and your choice of garden salad or cole slaw.
Desserts today: chocolate cake, chocolate pie, apple pie, coconut cream pie and blueberry cobbler.
Mookie, I have never been an avid bird watcher, and I don't know about black birds in particular, but I do know that blue jays will often raid the nests of other birds and either eat the eggs or the babies.
When I was a youngster my Dad's mother lived on a farm just across the Minnesota state line, and my grandparents had blue jays that would raid the nests of robins in their back yard. My grandmother got tired of seeing this sort of thing happen and so she went out and she bought my grandfather a bolt-action 10 gauge shotgun. I don't know if my grandfather ever actually used the gun itself, but my grandmother was adept at blowing blue jays out of the trees with it. My grandmother was not very tall, and you can picture this scrawny little woman handling a shotgun, sort of like Granny of the Beverly Hillbillies!!
Ray
Wow - Monday here in the true midwest - will be 80 again today with lots of sun. Everything happy, happy!
Was sitting here by puter watching out back window. The Observer (our resident rabbit) was there with blue jays, blackbirds, sparrows, cardinals and turtle doves. Still Happy Happy.
Then a juvenile sparrow got too close to a male blackbird and he attacked it! Covered it with his wings to protect it from mom and dad who were attacking the blackbird, pulled out a few feathers and then flew off with the body! Not so happy, happy!
I am two stories up and didn't think I should interfere with nature, so just watched in horror.
Now all you birders out there - do blackbirds normally eat other small birds? I could do research here in my busy work day, but thought some of you might have some first-hand knowledge on this.
I thought tv was violent! Going to go look in my closet for awhile - nothing violent in there!
Mook
Good morning. I got out of bed a little better than an hour ago. We have at the present moment here i Sioux Falls 57 degrees, and it is promising to be a pretty nice day.
I took one of my bicycles out last night and hit the bike trails, went over to see a couple friends of mine, Mark and Linda, but they were not home. Mark is a track laborer with BNSF.
Anyway, this morning while I was sleeping I had a dream and in my dream I was cruising through Mark and Linda's neighborhood, and having been to their house I thought, "Walt and Paula live ONLY A FEW miles from here, I think I'll go see if I can find them at home." Well, I'm really not prepared to peddle a bike some 750 miles to connect with Walt and Paula!!
I hope the rest of you out there have a good day.
43. Windy. Raining.
I want my pillow (and the rest of the bed along with it).
good morning
cw thanks for breakfast.modelcar have a safe trip.going to get a nap then we have chores to do.
stay safe
joe
Deshler Ohio-crossroads of the B&O Matt eats your fries.YUM! Clinton st viaduct undefeated against too tall trucks!!!(voted to be called the "Clinton St. can opener").
....46.8 is the reading right now. Very bright in the east with thin clouds but looks like we'll see the sun at least part of the time. A calm morning....My flags out front, are just motionless. So no wind. That's a change from the last two days.
We'd like to see it warm up a bit to the "normal" range now this week and of course we need a nice upcoming {holiday}, weekend....Maybe the averages will lean to that since we've been in the cold and wet stuff for a while. Yard is growing fast.....
Today, I will continue to polish our automobile....I'm behind on that schedule...It's overdue. Did get done back to the front door edges yesterday and it looks great. It's an easy one to do....So smooth.
Must do the truck too....after the holiday. Have to go east first.
Wishing a good week to all.
PS: Must go and check out my early morning TV program: "Morning Joe".
Good Monday morning, to one and all. Cool here in Louisville this morning: 50 degrees, but the sun is shining, so maybe it'll soon start warming up a little bit. Then, sometime tonight, we're supposed to have rain coming back into the area.
Coffee has finished brewing, and fresh juices made and in the cooler. Water hot for tea and cider. On the breakfast bar this morning: turkey bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, homemade buttermilk biscuits w/sausage gravy, buttermilk pancakes w/syrup, beagles (bagels), and bear claws.
Think my brain is still , as I seem to not be able to think of things this mornig.
Tree - I think you need a good secretary/housekeeper! Can you set me up to do the work by e-mail? Maybe in the diner. Maybe between meals. And naps. And train-watching and and.....
(wonder if I can do housework by e-mail....?)
JoeKoh wrote: eveningwell a good day at deshler today.we had alot of canadian visitors today.We came back home and watched as the redlegs sent the indians back home unhappy.Cw thanks for supper.Hey Ray tonight is my monday... anyways.larry as always thanks to all the firefighters who help keep us safe.stay safejoe
evening
well a good day at deshler today.we had alot of canadian visitors today.We came back home and watched as the redlegs sent the indians back home unhappy.Cw thanks for supper.Hey Ray tonight is my monday... anyways.larry as always thanks to all the firefighters who help keep us safe.
I appreciate fire fighters too. In the last place I had been living I had a gas stove. One morning I decided it was time to do some major cleaning in the kitchen. My Mom once told me that I should pull the stove out and clean behind and underneath it. Same goes for the refrigerator. I proceded to pull out the stove and when I did, I broke the gas line! The shut-off valve was underneath the kitchen counter and I did not have a wrench to shut it off with. I picked up the phone and dialed 911 and the fire department was there in less than five minutes. I suppose an errant spark could have blown the whole house sky-high and me along with it!!
Mookie wrote:Tree - when you go out like that, how many people do you have on your squad? And this is all volunteer, isn't it? I am not too familiar with volunteer fire/rescue, since I have always lived with full departments.
After several naps and an illness ambulance call - I still haven't gotten anything on my list done today. I am so behind.
Depending on the call, we may see anywhere from a half dozen to 20 or so. I don't remember how many signed the book for this one. We were dispatched after-the-fact. The original location given wasn't in our district, but the scene ended up being about 2 miles from our station. All they asked of us was traffic control as the neighboring fire department that was originally dispatched handled the scene.
We went back later to assist with some of the scene clean-up.
Volunteer fire and rescue in this country is on shaky ground - the state of PA has documented a loss of well over half of their volunteer firefighters. People just don't have the time any more, between everything else in their lives and the increasing training requirements. It's not just go squirt water on the fire any more.
We're all on call 24/7. My pager is either on my belt or in the charger in my bedroom. Because I answer medical calls (not everyone does) as well as fire and other assistance calls, if the pager blats, I'm out the door. If it's a major fire, I can usually leave work (another problem for volunteers - many can't be spared at work any more). We don't just do fires, either. Flooded basements, trees and wires down, auto and other accidents, you name it, we get the call.
Many of us are a dedicated lot. At our banquet Saturday we gave out service recognition for 25 (2), 30 (2), and 35 (2) years of service.
For many communities there is no option other than volunteers. A single career staff engine company of four people will cost about $1/2 million a year, just for salaries.
CW, a roast beef dinner with mashed potatos, gravy, sweet peas and so forth is an excellent idea. I would have made this suggestion before leaving for work this morning, but I was in a hurry and didn't have the time to post my thoughts on dinner.
I used to go home to my Mom's house for dinner on Sundays, and she would often do a pot roast with potatos and gravy, and carrots that were so good and tender that they would almost melt in your mouth. Mom passed away in December of 2001, and naturally I miss going home for her good cooking. I will bet though, that she is cooking up a storm in God's Heavenly kingdom!
Ray ooo ooo ooOOOOOo
Mookie, I'll bet Larry is already in "nighty-night land".
Since no one gave me any suggestions for Sunday Dinner, here is the menu I came up with:
Beef Roast w/mashed taters & gravy, green sweet peas w/carrots, homemade buttermilk biscuits & milk gravy, nice, fresh garden salads, some fresh sliced tomatoes, creamed corn, and for dessert: chocolate cake, yellow cake w/caramel icing, and blueberry clobbler w/vanilla ice cream.
Now that I've gotten this taken care of, I'm going to go take a nap. See you all later.
Got an Oh-dark-thirty wake-up call this morning from my pager. Ended up blocking off one end of a stretch of road while police started their investigation of a double fatal. They're still there. I'm sorry for the families, but it appears that some substantial speed was involved, and given the hour, alcohol can't be dismissed as a factor.
Seat belts would have helped, too. One victim was reportedly found some 60 feet beyond where the vehicle ended up.
Pardon me if I doze off.........
....Oh I have no trouble finding the local club Tom....have a friend who is deep into the 2 meter ham stuff locally, even gives tests. He has the highest rating license, etc....really knowledgeable with it all.
I suppose if you think it might have value to some local fellow {Ham}, I can ask "Alan" to find out.....I just hate to see it go for scrap. It's just as plumb as it was when I put it there 37 years ago, etc....Thanks for the response. {Perhaps the reason it's still standing "tall" I based it in a "yard" of concrete}.
You're not the only who hasn't got his June issue yet. Yikes!
....Good Morning all......The sunshine is pouring in my east office window here. I did hear a bit of rain during the night but have not been out to get the paper yet, hence have not peeked at the rain gauge. It's 52.9 here right now. Might be a bit cooler but sure looks nice out there now.
Tom {or anyone}, have a question...Several fellows have advertised to take down unused "towers" in the area {just for the scrap value}....I've been wondering if my good {unused}, Spaulding 32' unit {4 sections}, would be any intetest to local "Hams"....Do you have an opinion...?
I hate to see it cut up for scrap...{maybe a 100 dollars value from it}, in disposing of it....The lable is even still visible on it even after being painted at least twice over the years.
Trivia: Sitting out on the patio reading a magazine yesterday afternoon...{no not TRAINS, haven't got the June issue yet}, and our Humming bird feeder was within a few feet of me and a greenish color one stopped by 4 times while I was there...Those wings really do make a noise when they get close.
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