We are proud and grateful our fellow Trail Mixer Blue Bronc serves with the Red Cross. Her comment yesterday about her recent experiences offered an insider perspective worth repeating:
By Blue Bronc
Florida, DR414-18 Hurricane Irma response for me was a week of delivering food, fresh cooked and served at shelters and community centers, along with Heater Meals (MRE’s but only 1200 calories). These went to a shelter in Daytona Beach, Melbourne, Bunnell and people deep in the swamps where there are no cell phone signals of any kind. We delivered pallets of water and ice to communities without fresh water because their wells were fouled. We did damage assessments all over Florida. We helped people needing the basics to live.
My second week was spent as the manager of the largest shelter in Florida. RC provides the first secure shelter after people have been driven from their homes. They get showers, clothes, three meals each day and the resources to move to the next step of their new lives. I ran a great shelter, mostly working men and women. They were the real working poor, always one step from disaster.
One of the most important points about the Red Cross is we are non-political, when I take you into my Red Cross shelter you are now in a place like the UN. We do not care about your political status. If you are affected by the disaster, you are welcome in the shelter. Fortunately, I had staff fluent in Spanish, including different dialects. It is like English, we have various dialects in the US and we are different from England English or Australian English or Indian English.
We worked twelve to nineteen hour days. No one complained, the only reason we stopped at night was we could not find anyone else to feed. The next day we would repeat the previous day. We wanted everyone in our area to have food and water while they did not have power or their wells were fouled or their homes were broken.
At the shelters, all were served. Even though the Red Cross shelter is not a pet shelter, creativity reigned. A room would be dedicated to pets and not a RC room. I have a service dog and she ended up doing a lot of therapy to the clients and staff. Letting someone pet her head was as good for them and her as for me. PTSD is a nasty thing, and finding little things that make it a background issue is great.
Posts by Blue Bronc
bbronc, hope you know many out there were comforted by you and superdog gale and many here thank you on their behalf. I can imagine hundreds of the powerless, food and waterless outlying areas (probably 70+ percent of Puerto Rico) are in dire need of the services you provided and described as
….a week of delivering food, fresh cooked and served at shelters and community centers, along with Heater Meals (MRE’s but only 1200 calories). These went to …… people deep in the swamps where there are no cell phone signals of any kind. We delivered pallets of water and ice to communities without fresh water because their wells were fouled. We did damage assessments all over Florida. We helped people needing the basics to live….RC provides the first secure shelter after people have been driven from their homes. They get showers, clothes, three meals each day and the resources to move to the next step of their new lives.
16 certified deaths the twit said pr should be proud of (vs the thousands in nola’s katrina) due his response? such an outrageous heartless comment to people who are grieving! and probably there’ll be more to grieve, preventable deaths btw. excerpt from report by cnn’s dr sanjay gupta:
As a doctor, the level of pain and suffering I’ve seen in Puerto Rico has been hard to accept.
Puerto Rico was already stressed with one of the poorest medical systems in the United States, but the dual blow of two major hurricanes has left this island with a medical crisis that is usually reserved for war zones.
“I haven’t seen anything like this. It’s really bad,” Dr. Maria Rodriguez told me when I visited her community health center, Concilio de Salud Integral de Loíza, in a small town in the northeastern portion of Puerto Rico. She was struggling to provide care for patients in her clinic due to a lack of fuel and, later, water. Medications were in short supply.
In shelters that have sprung up around the island, the situation is even worse.
“You go to the shelters and you see people sleeping on the floor,” Rodriguez told me. “The conditions, the desperation that all these people have. We are trying to still provide services to these people.”
And PatD he managed to almost double the death toll after he spoke — it’s now 34
also from cnn this morning Exclusive: Russian-linked Facebook ads targeted Michigan and Wisconsin
A number of Russian-linked Facebook ads specifically targeted Michigan and Wisconsin, two states crucial to Donald Trump’s victory last November, according to four sources with direct knowledge of the situation.
Some of the Russian ads appeared highly sophisticated in their targeting of key demographic groups in areas of the states that turned out to be pivotal, two of the sources said. The ads employed a series of divisive messages aimed at breaking through the clutter of campaign ads online, including promoting anti-Muslim messages, sources said.
It has been unclear until now exactly which regions of the country were targeted by the ads. And while one source said that a large number of ads appeared in areas of the country that were not heavily contested in the elections, some clearly were geared at swaying public opinion in the most heavily contested battlegrounds.
[….]
As part of their investigations, both special counsel Robert Mueller and congressional committees are seeking to determine whether the Russians received any help from Trump associates in where to target the ads.
[….]
Members from both parties said that there was a clear sophistication in the Russian ad campaign, and they said they were only just beginning to learn the full extent of the social media efforts.
“It’s consistent with everything else we’ve seen in terms of Russian active measures — a combination of cyber, of propaganda and paid and social media,” said Sen. John Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican who sits on both the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary panels, both of which received the Facebook ads. “So, we’re just looking at the tip of the iceberg.”
dolus malus ab initio should throw out election imho
Let Them Eat Paper Towels
Beep … beep … beep …
Happy 60th, Sputnik.
******
Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz
My friends all have Porsches
I must make amends.
Worked hard all my lifetime
No help from my friends
Oh Lord, won’t you buy me
A Mercedes Benz.
Janis Joplin died 47 years ago. October 4, 1970.
Pearl.
Funny how we develop tunnel vision on subjects. Today’s headlines are worst! Ever!!! Each generation has the same reaction to whatever crisis/tragedy/oddity occurs on their watch. We are exceedingly selfish creatures.
Despite wars, disasters (natural or man made), deaths, the world continues to rotate on its axis & revolving around the sun. We get annihilated by a nuke tomorrow ….. the world continues spinning. Perhaps a better life form will evolve out of the muck. One can hope.
Saw “Finding Your Roots” on PBS last night. Featured Larry David & Bernie Sanders. Inspired subject-casting; tip o’ the hat due. Despite how one feels about the guests, very interesting, unexpected information revealed. Great series that reminds us we are all related. Somehow. Really.
“Let Them Eat Paper Towels”
craig, exact same thought when I saw it too.
from pr quoted by huffpo:
“I don’t know what this thing is about Trump, who’s Trump? I still don’t have any water,” says 74-year old Margarita Guzmán, from Manatí, while in line for gasoline at a station in San Juan. “And my insulin is on ice.”
“I don’t live in San Juan,” she adds. “Besides, I don’t even vote for the president of the United States, they don’t let us. Tell him to help, not to show off.”
on this morning joe Ignatius seems to be setting up tillerson to be fired. understand rex dropped the m-word back in july.
How will Trump react to being called ‘moron’ by Tillerson?
The Washington Post’s David Ignatius discusses new NBC News exclusive reporting on how Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had planned to resign over the summer and that Tillerson called Trump a ‘moron’.
wapo: Senators expected to largely endorse intel report on Russian meddling, sound alarm about next election
Senate Intelligence Committee leaders are expected on Wednesday to largely endorse the intelligence community’s findings that Russia sought to sway the 2016 U.S. elections through a hacking and influence campaign as they sound the alarm that states preparing for the coming election season must be vigilant against similar threats.
The planned news conference from Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) has been billed as a forum for the two panel leaders to give the public an interim status update on the committee’s long-running investigation of allegations Russia attempted to meddle in the 2016 U.S. elections, and members of the Trump campaign may have colluded with Kremlin officials to improve their chance of victory. It is one of only a handful of public events the Senate Intelligence Committee has held in the nine months since commencing its probe.
[…continues…]
BB…and to all who volunteer like Mr. & Mrs. Jack, it is your efforts that MAGA. Recognizing loss and lesser than and easing the pain and fear. Making it about the suffering and the victims, not about putie’s puppet.
I can only imagine that trump requested a t-shirt launcher to load supplies and shoot them to the crowd of wealthy and staged Puerto Ricans. The generals probably didn’t want him to have a weapon, however. He could hurt someone and raise that death toll even higher.
I need to comment on some personal items —
We have a teenager in our house…happy 13th birthday B-lo!
On the photo, can you spot the wasp nest? This has been a banner year for the wasps in my area and I watched a wasp visit the chain ornament for a few days…quite the mimic architect!
is it that smaller ball directly below the ornament, BW? Luv seeing yard pics, wish more of you would share
A few months back when I glanced out into the yard, I spotted a ‘rock’ beneath the finch feeder. I thought, I don’t remember putting that there! It moved and by the time I got my camera? The rock unfurled to expose a road runner looking for a meal.
San Juan Mayor Julin Cruz: “This terrible and abominable view of him throwing paper towels and throwing provisions at people, it does not embody the spirit of the American nation.” (HuffPo)
Blonde Wino,
I love your landscape. I use marble chips & colored glass more as I grow older. Easy to tend & no watering!
Don’t have a pic but I worked in glow-in-the-dark pebbles under the blue glass chips. Really neat look after dark. Phosphorescent.
Road Runners in person aren’t quite as cute as the cartoon are they?
You spotted the nest, Craig. I sure hope the wildlife in Puerto Rico returns, the natural world got decimated.
Glow in the dark pebbles, SJ. Never heard of that, must get some. How nifty.
The cartoon always had the coyote and the roadrunner. Roadrunners are fierce hunters and can kill snakes and are fearless. Their call is quite different than the ‘beep-beep’ of the cartoon fame. Their mating call actually sounds like a bassoon and the sound travels up from the bottom of the arroyo. Their call is more of tongue roll call, than a beep-beep. I usually hear the birds before I see them. When I first moved here, the roadrunners would sun on the rock walls. They have a patch of black skin on their backs and they puff-up their shoulders to expose the spot. When I first saw that? I thought they were ‘flexing muscle’ and trying to look tough. Instead, they wanted to stay warm.
sj…moonglow rocks. How beautiful.
other than bs of course, wonder what the twit will throw to the vegas folk?
this has the makings of a really dark contest.
my entry: slugs for the slots
Roadrunners…how some feathered dinosaurs must have looked
Watching tillerson deliver the TMZ WH gossip feed. Brown noser cabinet continues to rally against media reports of internal ‘ridiculosity’ and moronic references.
I Don’t have a yard. I have 2 decks, a parking lot and the ocean. There’s landscaping and all out there but it’s not exactly mine.
So: Daughter’s yard in the Catskills
No landscaping at all but a lot of grass to cut.
Sturg, that’s some fine open land for spatial gazing, one of my favorite pastimes.
Everyone has such nice features on their property
PG besides no playlist, no pets, no close friends and no sense of humor at all
Trees. I got trees. They are shedding their leaves, and aren’t even giving me any pretty colors to look at. And I got grass – too much of it. I need a more comfortable lawn tractor – my 65 year old ass is sitting on a lawn tractor that seemed fine 5 years ago, cutting grass that is thankfully slowing down for the fall and mulching leaves, rinse and repeat.
But tonight Steven Stills and Judy Collins. Life could be much worse.
We have a solid wall of ash, cherry, cotoneaster, crab, hackberry, honeysuckle, and maple across from our unit. Units to the east and west of ours can also see aspen, birch, pine, and spruce. There are a couple of black locusts in the courtyard. Saw a red fox, downy woodpecker, a soaring bald eagle, nuthatches, and some titmice yesterday. Lately, there has been a grey hawk cruising a few feet above ground level around the building. The members are debating what kind of hawk it is. Maybe Harris’s ? Anywhat it’s not too bad for city living.
refreshing to see bipartisan comradery for a change. kudos to senators burr and warner – comity alive and well… at least resurrected for the time being.
wapo: Senate Intelligence Committee leaders: Russia did interfere in 2016 elections
The leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday largely endorsed the findings of the intelligence community that Russia sought to sway the 2016 U.S. elections through a hacking and influence campaign, and they called for a “more aggressive, whole-of-government approach” to ensure future elections are not similarly compromised.
“There is consensus among members and staff that we trust the conclusions of the ICA,” Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the committee’s chairman, said at Wednesday news conference, referring to the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia was behind hackings of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign director John Podesta’s email account and had attempted to exploit public opinion by sowing false information, much of it through fake social media accounts.
“But we don’t close our consideration of it,” he added.
Burr also said that “the issue of collusion is still open” and would not be resolved until the committee’s work was done. He said that a deadline for the committee was the looming start of the 2018 primary season.
[….]
Burr also told reporters that the committee had “hit a wall” in attempting to verify the details of a salacious dossier about Trump’s alleged exploits in Russia, mostly because its author, former British spy Christopher Steele, had rebuffed the committee’s efforts to speak with him about his sources and about who paid for the compilation of the report.
“I can compel you to come,” Burr warned, hinting strongly that the committee was nearing the point of issuing a subpoena for Steele.
[….continues…]
I can’t help noticing how much I look like Messers Sturgeone and Pogo. My avatar is pretty old though; these days the mustache is no longer black. It’s more a dirty grey with bits of bread crumbs left over from lunch – cracked wheat, I believe. Sweetie says I look like a mess. The way I remember mess, that could be pretty good or pretty awful.
First things first. I’m thankful for what all us Trail Hands have and she is BB. “The Indefatigable” should be her byline. Having that proud American in our ranks makes up for bucket-loads of S(FB). Thank you Bronc!
Secondly, I join Pogo in having trees; many varieties of oak hickory birch maple fir and pine along with things of which I can’t remember the names. I do know this. My swamp cerilla are growing their tangles of seeds that will rescue 100s of birds in February and March. And the Dogwood have set their buds for next year’s blossoms. And, Pogo, I’ve had brave individual leaves spring out in shades of red in the damnedest places. I can just hear them mimicking the Little Engine—“I knew I could, I knew I could.”
Burr could compel Steele with a subpoena, if only Steele would allow himself to be found.
Oops, I left out sumac and lilac.
XR, and it’s almost time for Christmas trees.
Family relations:
related to Queen Elizabeth in 22 steps by marriage;
related to Al Capone in 35 steps by marriage;
Not related to SFB, I am human.
No skunks in Ms Bronc’s ancestry. Maybe we’re related on Adam’s side of the family.
The inequality of incomes results in inflation in the worlds of arts and gems.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/this-900-year-old-chinese-bowl-just-sold-for-dollar38-million/ar-AAsQqjN?li=AA4Zpp&ocid=spartanntp
Here we are in Bunnell, Fl. The community needed food, so we delivered and served it. Behind me are the Cambro’s, insulated containers, containing hot dogs, beans and peaches for their lunch. Right after this I went back to our base and staff shelter in Palm Coast, packed up and went up to Jacksonville for a few days to close that staff shelter, and then I went to Ft. Meyers to take over a client shelter in Esteros. Gale had a lot of miles in the cars and trucks on this deployment.
Yeah… my yard is full of trees too…. maples, oaks, pines, and lots of white birches.
BlueB… Gale is a beauty!
2 yrs ago we were in Fort Myers celebrating our 40th anniversary… hope the place didn’t sustain too much damage. We would like to go back sometime within the next year.
Flatus, about half of my trees are maples – not sure what variety, but they are very old – range from 2 1/2 – 3 feet in diameter. They generally lose most of their leaves before they try to turn, and go kinda a dark yellow – almost brown. Very seldom see red in my yard – except for one maple that is different from the others – and younger I’d guess. I’d say they’ve lost about half by now. I’ve also got a really tall old ginkgo – 3′ or so in diameter that shades and covers the southern side of my yard so that I damn near can’t get grass growing there – a couple of large pines, probably white pines, and a couple of what I believe are Beeches – although one could be a hornbeam. I’m not really good at IDing trees.
I just went and watched a video of an AR15 equipped with a bump stock and all I can say is HOLY SHIT!!! Costs range from $99 to $149. It is chilling.
One of our resident hawks just posed for me.
Poobah, very cool!!
Renee – most of the Ft. Meyers, Tampa, Naples is nearly back to normal. Still a lot of damage to handle, if I was smarter back in the 60’s I would have gone into the sign business in Florida, but overall most businesses are back to operations. There is still a lot of standing water, so the rain we had Friday night and Saturday made flooding happen. Several families moved into the shelter because of that.
My honeymoon was spent at Venice, but I did not have time to drive up to look over that area.
It is important to note that last year Matthew veered a few miles off to the east and spared the Florida Atlantic coast severe damage, but with flooding in Georgia and the Carolina’s. This year Irma hit the Cuban mountains before aiming north, that spared southern Florida a lot of damage and caused Irma to wobble off the projected course saving most of Florida from catastrophic damage. So far nothing like Andrew or Wilma has hit in years. One of these years there will be one or more going on the path leading to destruction.
That said, I am considering moving to Florida to retire. Construction codes have changed a tremendous amount since Andrew. Going around from coast to coast, north to south, it was obvious which buildings were newer construction. They withstood the storms, and possibly the embedded tornadoes, with minimal damage. You could see two older homes standing next to each other, one without windows the other unharmed. The unharmed had new windows installed to the new codes. Even trees falling on buildings caused less damage on new construction.
The only place where the codes did not apply were those on the Atlantic shoreline. The ocean cared nothing when it roared in and took the shore out with it. Those homes went in the water.
The hawk visits my yard.really let me in close.
I call him the Anti-Duck
Craig – Sturgeone- hurray for the hawk. Nice to have around to keep the bad critters under control.
Flatus – Thank you. I enjoy what I do, and now Gale has joined me in the fun. She is one experienced dog, traveling in airplanes, trucks, cars, emergency vehicles and the occasional elevator. She comes through willing to let all pet her head. One of the things RC people do is trade pins. Our pins are where our chapters are, mine is Southern Maryland of the Greater Chesapeake Region, or which DR’s we have been on or other things Red Cross does. Gale was given pins from other RC volunteers. Me, not so much. But I enjoy her getting awards for her volunteer service.
Weather reports – if Florida the only weather reports I received were for the location I was at. Spending life in 90 degree weather (been in this before) tends to let you think the world is at your temperature. Surprise me about snow in Colorado (and the Rockies). Of course I used to live there and was used to snow there in September. Life can be very narrow if you let it be.
Linda Dono
@LindaDono
2h
Want to remember Tom Petty? Donate to the Red Cross, his family says, usat.ly/2kps5o0 via @MarkHinson (@samjones photo) pic.twitter.com/cW1RiqLTeS
Sturg, yours also looks like a Red Shoulder. They could be cousins.
Blue Bronc – I am impressed not only that you went to Florida to help, but that you knew how to make yourself useful once you got there!
Stephen Stills and Judy Collins opened their show tonight with a Tom Petty song – Handle With Care – in tribute to him and closed with Suite: Judy Blue Eyes. Really nice evening.
Hi, Mr Daveb !
I think yours is a marsh hawk, Mr C. Also called a harrier. If he flies close to the ground in stalking prey, I’m prolly right. If not, I’m prolly wrong.
dshr_grp_activity_chart.pdf
Dave – The RC requires a minimal amount of training to be an associate. Supervisors and Managers need a lot more. Some is acquired by classroom or video training, a lot comes by on the job training. The RC has a single word to describe us at a disaster – “flexible”. My replacement put it very well Sunday. I saw the person who was replacing one of the shelter supervisors had placed a copy of the Disaster Shelter Supervisors Manual on a counter top. I asked him if he had read the Disaster Shelter Managers Manual. His reply was correct, he had read it just a few days ago, but it had little to do with a real shelter.
In a shelter you have a mix of people, homeless, working, children, singles, retired and often non-English speakers. You have a little village, unless it is a mega-shelter like the one opened in Houston, which is a town or even a city. As a manager you have a lot to handle, and you better hope you have very capable supervisors.
The RC has many positions in Disaster Services as you can see in the GAP chart. A frequent question I get starts with “I would like to volunteer, but I do not want to . . .” The rest of the sentence is often finished with, “deploy”, “drive a truck”, “work with disasters”, or anything they see RC Disaster Services volunteers doing. I tell them go to RedCross.org and click volunteer. Anything you can do is on the chart and we do train. Not everyone should go into a disaster. It can be very difficult physically and/or emotionally. But, making sure the accounts are correct at the local chapter is important too.
speaking of how to handle natural (and un-natural) disasters
wapo: Hillary Clinton on Jimmy Fallon: ‘I want our country to understand how resilient we are’
Clinton recalled urging the administration (in a tweet several weeks ago) to send naval assets to Puerto Rico, which was heavily damaged by Hurricane Maria.
“It’s hard to figure out,” she said. “What are the priorities if 3.5 million Americans — and Puerto Ricans are Americans, let’s make sure people remember that — if they aren’t the highest priority of your government in responding to such a terrible natural disaster. What are you people spending your time doing? Golfing? Tweeting? Watching cable TV? I mean, find some time to tell the Navy to get down there and rescue people and provide food and provisions and medical care.”
[…]
“You may not lose a presidential election, but you may lose somebody close to you. You may lose a job you want,” she continued. “There’s all kinds of challenges in life, and so I want not only individuals — and so many of them as they’re coming to my events are telling me that it has helped them — but I want our country to understand how resilient we are. We are such an extraordinary collection of people, and energy and all sorts of great potential. And I don’t want people to get depressed, and worn out, and tired because they see things they disagree with that are contrary to who we are. There is something for everybody to do.”
“Not everyone should go into a disaster. It can be very difficult physically and/or emotionally. But, making sure the accounts are correct at the local chapter is important too.”
bbronc, bet you would agree that donating to those accounts is another important way to volunteer.
I agree with renee, gale is one good-looking gal.
Seventy years ago Harry S Truman made a speech asking Americans to cut back on grain usage so as to help feed starving people in Europe.
No other comment, just that comment. It stands alone.
Patd – contributing to the RC is very important. Contributions can be directed to specific disasters, locations or uses. Some will donate and specify that it go to pet food, or to a specific shelter or overall disaster. Unspecified donations are used for all activities in the RC, from disaster relief operations to keeping the lights on at the chapters.
There are people out there who hate, and I do mean hate, the RC and spread all sorts of bogus stuff. That can be very discouraging to the staff and volunteers who are doing their best to support all of the RC operations. All large operations have something go off kilter, that does not mean the organization is bad, just a piece is. Those are corrected and things put back together.
Right now blood donations are needed across the country. The holidays are coming up and donations tend to drop during those.
morning joe today high lighted this story from pro publica:
Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. Were Close to Being Charged With Felony Fraud
New York prosecutors were preparing a case. Then the D.A. overruled his staff after a visit from a top donor: Trump attorney Marc Kasowitz.
Xrepub, my source is strong on that, a friend and former Pres. of Florida Audubon Society has identified our hawks as Red Shoulder. But often different regions have different names for the same bird, so we could both be right.
surprise surprise… another goper is found to be a hypocrite. who woulda thunk it?
from Pittsburgh pa patch: Pro-Life US Rep. Tim Murphy Won’t Seek Reelection After Abortion Texts Revelation
The embattled congressman reportedly advised his mistress to get an abortion during a pregnancy scare.
[….]
“You have zero issue posting your pro-life stance all over the place when you had no issue asking me to abort our unborn child just last week when we thought that was one of the options,” Edwards wrote in a text message when an anti-abortion post appeared on Murphy’s Facebook page.
In the message thread the Post-Gazette obtained, Murphy responded: “I get what you say about my March for life [sic] message. I’ve never written them. Staff does them. I read them and winced. I told staff don’t write any more. I will.”
Murphy was excoriated for the exchange.
“Never fear, pro-choicers: Tim Murphy believes in exceptions to abortion restrictions,” The Washington Post opined. “For rape, incest, the life of the mother and … Tim Murphy.”
Murphy’s actions, the paper continued, are “the dictionary definition of hypocrisy. Murphy’s countless critics have accused him of adopting a public stance that doesn’t line up with his private views to score political points.”
There are some beautiful humans on the trail, but the the domestic, farm and wildlife animals are gorgeous. Is your hawk male or female? Enjoying the photos and molting makes the difficult job of IDing a bird even harder. In my area, the goshawk female molts while nesting and once she is able to hunt? She a is a better hunter than the male and covers a larger territory.
Holy suicide pact! Trio or rat pack bonding over trump.
Tropical Storm Nate.
Scalesi whose life was saved by a married lesbian to speak at National Convention of Anti-LGBT Convention.
Also includes identities of all the other speakers at Family Research Council’s Values Voter Summit
I don’t know he from she in Hawk Land.
We used to make hawk calls when I was a kidnik….. Certain bush cut off a stick about 4″ long, maybe 1/4″ in diameter….slit the end of it about a good inch in and insert a leaf, trimming off the excess on the sides…..if you blow thru it just right it will make a hawk sound.
Experiment with diameter and depth of split.
my hunch, BW, is that one in my picture is female. The male in that couple has slightly darker feathers and was circling overhead for the 20 minutes or so she was sunning on our yard wall, as if watching over her. She keep looking up at him too. Was fun to watch. Plus she was more plump than usual, maybe pregnant? Now I could be just imagining things.
We have two hawk couples and at least one pair of owls that hang out. Sometimes they clash, don’t seem to like each other much.
The Fermi Paradox continues….it was only stardust
Craig, our night owls are back, too.
Hanging in various limbs on the family tree, I have Rob Roy MacGregor and Ann Boleyn. Take your pick: A cattle thief or a lady who lost her head.
Owls lay eggs…I do not think pregnant is the correct term for ‘pre-menstrual bloat’ (puffiness) of an owl.
I’ll save the yard pictures until it is less of a hazardous disaster area due to balcony/patio construction followed by landscaping.
Love the puppy, hawks and other wildlife visitors.
Lonely roadrunner bearing gifts for any nearby lady roadrunner
good vid of the RR, jamie. Recent vulture swirl over the arroyo, the original meet and greet. An essential bird, the turkey vulture with some pretty gross adaptations to keeping it clean!
Craig, I think your bird friend should post here and write about his thoughts on birds…POTAS (President of the Audubon Society). I would love to hear about his love of birds and his experience.
I was referring to the Hawk, BW, but pregnant probably not the correct term for them either.
Craig, as always, trying to make a joke…clinging to my humor and science in these difficult times. I know I should be concentrating on yet another year with health insurance insecurity.
Speaking of birds, the Florida Eagle cam has welcomed back mated pair Romeo and Juliet. They are busy cleaning up their nest. Let the laying begin shortly
http://www.nefleaglecam.org/
Wish Corker would stay put. Only thing worse than Marsha Blackburn in the House is Marsha Blackburn in the Senate.
Okay, Mr C, Red Shoulder it is. I had a pair of those once upon a time. A Great Horned Owl chased them away. The GHO is a fearsome fowl.
The thought of blackburn in the Senate is unsettling. Especially w/judge roy ‘bean’ moore on her squalid side.
Poobah, Oh, god. Now you have me afraid, very afraid. Hard to think of anyone dumber – maybe Gomert – but jeez, what a low bar. And imagine if you can, a Senate with Roy Moore and Marsha Blackburn. Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!!
Sen. John Thune Blames Shooting Victims For Not ‘Taking Precautions’ And Not ‘Getting Small’ To Avoid Being Shot
WRITTEN BY STAFF WRITER (1 DAY AGO)
After the massacre in Las Vegas on Sunday night, Americans are looking for answers as to why Stephen Paddock committed this terrorist act. But, while many are calling for gun control laws, Republican Senator of South Dakota John Thune thinks he knows exactly who is at fault here—the people who were being shot.
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“It sounds like [the shooter] used conversion kits and other things, you know, to make the weapons more lethal,” Thune told MSNBC’s, Hallie Jackson. “We’ll look at the facts when we get them all in here. I think a lot of us want to do everything we can to prevent tragedies like that from happening again.”
So, how do we prevent this from happening again? It’s not gun control. Thune states that “[I]t’s an open society and it’s hard to prevent anything.”
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The real problem is that victims don’t have Ant-Man’s shrinking abilities and are too easy to target. “I think people are going to have to take steps in their own lives to take precautions,” he suggested. “To protect themselves. And in situations like that, you know, try to stay safe. As somebody said — get small.”
Instead of addressing the issue of gun control, he essentially says that these things are just going to happen and all we can do is hope for the best, and try to shrink our size on demand.
Bless Senator thune’s tiny, little, itsy-bitsy micro-heart.
Add Thune to the stupid senator list, please.
Thune must be very small between his ears.
KOTA territory news: South Dakota senator getting backlash for commenting on deadly Las Vegas shooting
Moore and Blackburn, can’t be any dumber than Thune appears to be.
The worlds most elite club is seemingly populated with a lot of stupid people of late. Were I a member I think that I would go out in public in a disguise. Not a lot of stature associated with being a member of the senate these days.
Had been waiting for the gun nut blame the victim routine. Guess they’ve decided it’s not too soon anymore.
Craig,
Their solution is to pass out Kevlar to folks who attend concerts, go to movies or attend school.
jace, not all senators. lizzie and al seem to be smarter than the average bore…oops I mean bear there. see yesterday’s hearing:
Bloomberg: Failure Has a Name at Equifax. Al Franken Says It’s ‘Gus’
“…pass out Kevlar to folks who attend concerts, go to movies or attend school”
jace, now that they’re allowing guns in church, just what kind of sunday bonnet goes with Kevlar?
now that they’re allowing guns in church, just what kind of sunday bonnet goes with Kevlar?
patd… I believe it’s called a helmet…
Well, this is not all that great:
Ft. Myers
The Ft Myers NBC is not up any longer.
Patd,
“They cling to their guns and religion….”
As true today as it was when it was when it was said. Nothing is going to change. The price of freedom is random carnage and unspeakable heartache. Apparently none of the absolute second amendment types has ever been adversely effected by the actions of a madman with an automatic weapon.
“Get small” would make good sense to a soldier, but I wonder how many concert goers are really familiar with the concept…..
And I’m not sure “get small” would do any good when you’re out in the middle of a field……..I see Custer telling his men: “Get small, Men…Get SMALL!”
It happened so fast that Old Cus didn’t even have a chance to “take it like a Roman”.
He probably read about those guys a lot, being a West Pointer……
I wonder if anybody’s ever researched about where his old scalp got off to…..
BB
You are a wonderful and amazing person.
Here’s a picture of what I’m seeing in my front yard on this beautiful autumn afternoon.
KGC – thank you.
One thing that was of interest to me was not one person made any comment or issue about me being transgender. At the Esteros shelter one of the clients came up to me and told me that people in the shelter were saying I was transgender. I told her that it was okay. That I am transgender and that is the fact. I asked if it was a problem with anyone, she said no. I told her it was no rumour and if anyone was concerned they should come to me. Nope. Not a problem, they found me interesting. Many expressed sadness when they learned I was leaving. I think that was most of them thought Gale was really Pam.
Lovely RR, and that’s quite a collection of bird feeders.
Sturgeone
Custer was not scalped, but an Indian named “Yellow Hair” was in revenge for Little Big Horn.