Open Thread
Pens hockey tonight.
BTW- a quick update on the bird feeder obsession. I’m now up to four feeders- one in front and three in the back, and I have quite a chirpy posse these days. My latest addition was one like this that I filled with sunflower seeds, and the cardinals are all over it.
And the craziest thing is my favorite birds to watch are actually the ones who don’t care about the feeders- the robins. I like how they just sort of hop around doing their thing then WHAMMO- out of nowhere a worm gets it. They don’t even see it coming. I saw a robin eat a worm so big this morning it could have been a snake.
April 30, 2010 7:32 pm
Posted in: Open Thread
99 Comments
99 Responses
Antonius - April 30, 2010 | 7:36 pm · Link
So, I have this psychotic Robin that keeps slamming himself into the glass doors and windows facing the deck. He’s not making a mistake, he’s deliberately attacking the glass, over and over again, hanging out on the deck rail between bouts. Any ideas to get him to move on?
Thanks,
Antonius
JenJen - April 30, 2010 | 7:37 pm · Link
Go Habs Go!!
Sorry, Cole, for some reason I don’t even remember anymore, they were my first real hockey team love.
So bring it, Cindy Crosby and the gang!! :-)
Mike Kay - April 30, 2010 | 7:37 pm · Link
sounds like a Predator-Drone strike.
SIA - April 30, 2010 | 7:38 pm · Link
Fantastic! Nothing better than watching birds enjoy your yard. I’m on the porch watching papa and mama go in and put of a birdhouse trying to keep some babies fed while another bird is splashing on the bird bath.
When you get tired of the squirrels hogging the food use some sadflower seed.
Good times.
/retired partier
SIA - April 30, 2010 | 7:39 pm · Link
Fantastic! Nothing better than watching birds enjoy your yard. I’m on the porch watching papa and mama go in and put of a birdhouse trying to keep some babies fed while another bird is splashing in the bird bath.
When you get tired of the squirrels hogging the food use some safflower seed.
Good times.
/retired partier
sukabi - April 30, 2010 | 7:39 pm · Link
you’re so flush with birds that by next week you’ll be cussing all the bird shit that’s covering the feeders, and the weeds that are sprouting in your yard from the spilled seed.
LOL
Jade Jordan - April 30, 2010 | 7:41 pm · Link
John, beware the cycle of life. Next spring the birds will build nests in your trees and shrubs, have babies, and your husband won’t let you use the front door because you might upset the babies. Oh wait, that’s my life.
The chirping of the always hungry babies will drive Tunch and Lily crazy.
Violet - April 30, 2010 | 7:42 pm · Link
@Antonius:
Get a fake owl and put it near the window. Or you could try to put something that moves in that area, like a fan or streamers. Something that makes it unattractive to birds.
Excellent news in the bird feeders. Watching birds is really fun. Wait until you see a “new” bird, one you haven’t seen in your yard before. Very exciting times! Don’t wait to get a bird book, because when that happens you’ll want one.
Keith G - April 30, 2010 | 7:42 pm · Link
What a riot. You complete me, well almost.
JGabriel - April 30, 2010 | 7:44 pm · Link
John Cole:
And it would eat you too if it could get to the size of its Tyrannosaur ancestors. Those robins may look cute, hoppety-hopping all over the place, but they think of nothing but murder all the day long.
.
Hugh - April 30, 2010 | 7:45 pm · Link
I don’t think worms see anything coming. Stupid worms.
MikeJ - April 30, 2010 | 7:46 pm · Link
@sukabi: Onanistic birds?
JGabriel - April 30, 2010 | 7:46 pm · Link
@Antonius:
Cat?
.
SIA - April 30, 2010 | 7:46 pm · Link
@ all sorry for double post. Apparently can’t edit or delete from blackberry!
Plus no such seed as “sadflower”. Fortunately.
soonergrunt - April 30, 2010 | 7:47 pm · Link
Anyone who liked the old Mechwarrior franchise, there is great news:
Download the original Mechwarrior 4, plus the addon campaigns and mech packs for free, fully patched and 100% compatible with Win7.
Also, Smith and Tinker, a new company founded by FASA founders, has acquired the IP rights to the franchise is creating a reboot. The trailer is out.
YAY GIANT ROBOT GAMES!
soonergrunt +2
LuciaMia - April 30, 2010 | 7:48 pm · Link
Re: robins. I love how they scuttle along, then suddenly stop and cock their heads like they’re listening. As a kid was told that they really can pick up the sounds of the worms underneath.
HumboldtBlue - April 30, 2010 | 7:51 pm · Link
If it aint the Flyers it aint worth watching, although San Jose is a close second and then only because their radio play-by-play guy, Dan Whateverhisnameis is pretty damned awesome for a nasally-voiced hockey geek.
Martin - April 30, 2010 | 7:52 pm · Link
In 2 years, Cole will be in here bitching about the need for bird seed entitlement reform.
JK - April 30, 2010 | 7:53 pm · Link
Yin Yang in public affairs programming over the next few days.
On the yin side, tonight PBS airs the final broadcasts of Bill Moyers Journal and Now. Another great news program, WorldFocus, aired its final broadcast earlier this month. It’s an incredible bummer to see PBS ending the broadcasts of 3 of its best news and public affairs programs. The loss of these 3 programs is made more aggravating by the fact that the cable news channels piss away millions of times greater sums of money than PBS producing bullshit infotainment masquerading as news.
On the yang side, at the opposite end of the spectrum, tv offers up 3 super-sized, heaping servings of pure, unadulterated bullshit on Saturday and Sunday.
1. The Cheap Babylonian Whores/Confederacy of Dunces Dinner, the Woodstock for Washington’s Wanker Class, also known as the White House Correspondents Association Dinner airs tomorrow night. A moronic exercise in narcissism by a bunch of preening, prissy, overpaid, underworked, airheaded lemmings who don’t know their asses from their elbows and couldn’t perform a serious act of journalism if their fucking lives depended upon it. It’s only fitting that smarmy, phony “Mr. Nice Guy” Jay Leno is the headline comedian at this year’s proceedings.
2. MSNBC adds insult to injury with a special Sunday edition of its putrid, steaming mound of excrement known as Morning Joe to regurgitate the highlights of the WHCA Dinner.
3. C-SPAN2 gives a big, fat, wet, sloppy, French kiss to Confederate History Month on Sunday from 12:00pm – 3:00pm with a live interview and call-in program featuring Pat Buchanan.
RIP Bill Moyers Journal , Now, and WorldFocus. Also RIP to Benjamin Hooks, Dorothy Height, Wilma Mankiller, Ed Roberts, Evelyn Cunningham, Dede Allen, Dixie Carter, Malcolm McLaren, and Mike Cuellar.
Sentient Puddle - April 30, 2010 | 7:54 pm · Link
Donated blood at work today. I get home, and it’s at about the four hour mark they recommend me keeping my bandage on, so what the hell, I’ll take it off. Blood begins squirting out of my arm.
That was an experience.
robertdsc - April 30, 2010 | 7:54 pm · Link
Can’t call him that anymore. He’s got a Cup and a gold medal to his name. I hate his guts but I won’t call him Cindy.
South of I-10 - April 30, 2010 | 7:58 pm · Link
The catfish farm we went to on the Kindergarten field trip today is very close to a rookery. As I was fishing a pair of Roseate Spoonbills flew over, they were gorgeous. Y’all will be happy to know that I caught two catfish and hooked a big one, but my line broke. I think the Dads on the trip were jealous of my mad fishing skills.
LuciaMia - April 30, 2010 | 7:58 pm · Link
This was my big laugh for tonight, Headline over at Free Republic,
“In a major development in the campaign to defeat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in his campaign for re-election, Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher – best known as “Joe The Plumber” has endorsed conservative Republican, Sharron Angle, in her campaign for U.S. Senate to Defeat Harry Reid.”
Yes, ‘major!’ I’m sure a tremor went thru DC when this pronouncement was made.
Just how the hell is Wurzelbacher spending his time these days, besides sounding less coherent than Palin?
khead - April 30, 2010 | 7:59 pm · Link
Dad loves the crows/ravens. They are smart and will eat anything you put out once they start coming around.
I watched one drag a steak off the lawn the last time I was home.
Nicole - April 30, 2010 | 7:59 pm · Link
Just wait until the hawks discover the marvelous smorgasbord you’re serving up for them in your yard. Awesssommmme….
WereBear - April 30, 2010 | 7:59 pm · Link
I’ve discovered that when I’m commenting from my iTouch, I “click” on the dateline of a post, and then the edit button appears. Likewise, the reply button.
Go figure.
Elisabeth - April 30, 2010 | 7:59 pm · Link
@JK:
Sorry, but the president was a riot last year at the White House Correspondents shindig. His joke about John Boehner being a person of color still makes me guffaw. (The whole thing, though, is stupid as an institution.)
General Egali Tarian Stuck - April 30, 2010 | 8:01 pm · Link
It is almost May here and cold as ice. Windy too. Temps will get down to near 20 fucking degrees. Glad I put off planting the mators.
In other news.
And if you feel any shortage of wingnuttery in the airs today, this should perk you up, as the godbotherers take their mean spirited crazy on the road.
The American Taliban sticking their noses in other countries business half way around the world to make sure every nation state owns a woman’s uterus, even if having a baby will kill her.
Jay Sekulow again, grim reaper from Jesus Street, US or A.
Now back to Obama’s Katrina.
Cat Lady - April 30, 2010 | 8:05 pm · Link
@Antonius:
I had a cardinal outside my house that literally followed me from room to room flying into the (closed) windows of the room I was in. I named him Cujo, and he kept it up for two consecutive years. It freaked me out – it got so that I could identify his chirp in one chirp (Name That Chirp) and he’d start at the crack of dawn at the bedroom window and would hang on a window and look in and keep moving from window to window until he saw movement, and then would start tapping and crashing into the window. Then, one day, he was gone, and I have never been able to figure out how or why. That’s not helpful, but the expression “bird brained” exists for a reason.
Jennifer - April 30, 2010 | 8:09 pm · Link
Re: the robins and the worms: just wait till you see them go after a snake. I’ve seen them do this in my backyard…they found a snake that was either hibernating or sluggish one winter day, and pecked its head off. They know who their enemies are.
Re: the robin attacking the sliding door: probably a male, seeing his own reflection. It is bird mating and egg-laying season, and they get very aggressive not only with other birds, but with other animals as well. There are several weeks each spring where my cat really can’t enjoy the back patio, because the jays and mockingbirds dive-bomb her until she goes inside. She has a cafe table she gets on under the window, and one day last spring, I kept hearing this mockingbird bitching – went and looked, and it was sitting on the back of one of the chairs pulled up to the table, not even 3 feet from kitty, and screaming in her face. She, in return, was doing that bitchy “meow” back at the bird (and given your relationship with Tunch, I’m sure you know what that meow sounds like).
I have a pair of purple finches who nest every year under the awning at my kitchen door – they’ve been nesting in this spot every year for the past 5 or 6 years now. The mama bird flies off when I go out the door – but only if I look at her. Babies just hatched a few days ago, so now they perch in the crape myrtle on the other side of the driveway and make distressed chirps whenever anyone is in the vicinity of the nest. But obviously they’re not too distressed, or they’d stop nesting there.
Next up, Cole, you’ll be getting the martin house. Right about now is when the martins will be looking for housing in your part of the country. Great birds – but you have to keep after the sparrows or they’ll take over the house.
mr. whipple - April 30, 2010 | 8:10 pm · Link
@South of I-10:
Hey, did you get any catfish?
Corner Stone - April 30, 2010 | 8:11 pm · Link
Can’t your Doc prescribe something for…that…oh.
General Egali Tarian Stuck - April 30, 2010 | 8:11 pm · Link
Wait till the Bluejays find you out. It will like a West Side Story
rumble. The only ones that can tame the gangsters around here are the Curve Billed Thrashers who are the bad asses on the block. Fonzi Birds with ‘tude and miles of cool.
South of I-10 - April 30, 2010 | 8:11 pm · Link
@WereBear: Helpful tip! Sometimes the reply button would show on my iPhone and sometimes not. Now I know!
Antonius - April 30, 2010 | 8:11 pm · Link
@Violet: Thanks! Maybe that explains all the fake owls in the neighborhood…
jackie - April 30, 2010 | 8:12 pm · Link
@Cat Lady: A goldfinch has done this to me the last two summers. At first it was amusing but I started to feel really creeped out at him stalking me.
Antonius - April 30, 2010 | 8:13 pm · Link
@Cat Lady: My crazy Robin gets uneasy and will fly off if he sees me on the other side of the glass, so now I’m counting myself lucky :)
Corner Stone - April 30, 2010 | 8:14 pm · Link
@Jade Jordan:
I loved where you were going with this.
LivingInWingnutHell - April 30, 2010 | 8:14 pm · Link
@Antonius:
That is so weird…we’ve got the same exact problem this spring. We’ve got this psycho robin who spends all day long attacking our windows. He’ll peck at the windows on the deck in the backyard and then he’ll fly around and do the same in the front.
I love birds and birdwatching, but it’s about ready to drive me crazy. Not only does the noise wake me up on the weekends (he starts EARLY morning), but he’s crapping all over the deck and the stoop. I’m at a loss about what he’s up to.
Tattoosydney - April 30, 2010 | 8:15 pm · Link
@SIA:
Hee.
Corner Stone - April 30, 2010 | 8:15 pm · Link
Military tells Congress to keep gay ban for now
Loon Juice - April 30, 2010 | 8:15 pm · Link
The Pens seem to have some sot of plan going on the power plays. All three power play goals have been from straight up the slot after some passing.
monkeyboy - April 30, 2010 | 8:16 pm · Link
JC sez:
Are you sure it wasn’t a snake? video on Flickr
Gravenstone - April 30, 2010 | 8:18 pm · Link
@soonergrunt: This was out almost a year ago. Although the Win 7 compatible download is a new touch (was only XP compatible when first offered).
I agree it’s certainly drool worthy and I hope and pray it actually comes to fruition. However, last I saw, S&T didn’t even have a publisher lined up for the game. Plus, they appeared to be focusing their efforts on a totally different intellectual property.
General Egali Tarian Stuck - April 30, 2010 | 8:19 pm · Link
@jackie: Maybe he just wants a date. A little dinner prolly wouldn’t hurt. Maybe a granola dessert. I had a young White Wing Dove do that to me. Used to land on the window sill and just stare at me lying in bed, looking all trollopy like. May September romance though with the seasonal migration thingy.
Ash Can - April 30, 2010 | 8:19 pm · Link
The robins don’t care about the feeders because they’re too into the worms. They aren’t that big on seeds. In fact, I can’t remember seeing them eating the seeds in our back yard at all. I’ve seen them devouring the little crabapples on the tree in our front yard in the fall, and yanking worms out of the ground the rest of the time, but they don’t give the feeder a second look.
Jennifer - April 30, 2010 | 8:20 pm · Link
Oh, and again with the “Pens” bit: on first read I saw that as “Pen*s hockey” and again thought, not good…not good at all.
And also, I saw a golden eagle about a month ago. HUGE bird. He was chowing on a skunk on the side of the road and flew off when I drove by – his (or her) wingspan had to be about 6 feet.
Mark S. - April 30, 2010 | 8:20 pm · Link
This should make everybody happy:
I have a hard time believing the military needs a year to study this. There’s something else going on here.
ETA: I see Corner Stone got there first.
rknight44 - April 30, 2010 | 8:20 pm · Link
Yaaay! Bird Pr0n. You go, John Cole. Sorry, can’t stay; talking to folks (trying to talk them down) in very lower LA. You folks that pray – please throw an extra for the Gulf.
steve - April 30, 2010 | 8:21 pm · Link
good Obamacare cartoon
Thadeus Horne - April 30, 2010 | 8:23 pm · Link
Twelve years ago, I hurt my back so badly that I did not want to walk. I could walk, but it hurt so badly that I did not want to.
For therapy, I built a bird feeder and stocked it. Then I started to identify the customers that came to my feeder. The variety of birds was amazing and the number was incredible. I found myself refilling the feeders numerous times each day. Those damn birds were making me walk again.
Long story short, if it wasn’t for those birds, I probably wouldn’t be here now to torment you with this story.
You can thank the birds.
SIA - April 30, 2010 | 8:27 pm · Link
@ Tattoosydney
Being a quiet homebody is rather pleasant. When one’s gone thru all the other options. :)
beltane - April 30, 2010 | 8:27 pm · Link
@Thadeus Horne: That is a beautiful story. Thank you.
Cain - April 30, 2010 | 8:30 pm · Link
@sukabi:
Hah, that’s what I got right now. We are blessed to be living on a small mountain and it’s FULL of bird life and not the common robin variety.. it is quite nice. Unfortunately though they seem to have a thing fgor my garden furniture and I swear they are either doing some kind of bombing run because while there is a ledge nearby it’s not really that convenient to sit there.
At least they aren’t crapping on the cats. Speaking of which, my tuxedo cat has decided to start some kind of ferry service for mice. He seems to enjoy it but the mice don’t seem to like the idea of not be given a choice for this service. Worse they don’t seem to survive the service. They don’t even get eaten, just tossed aside while the guy goes back to the forest to find new customers.
cain
MikeJ - April 30, 2010 | 8:32 pm · Link
I know that parsing Palinese is pointless, but I have to attempt:
Will make us more peaceful? Is she flat out saying, “We won’t invade as many people if we drill here”? All the DFHs who said invading Iraq was about oil were right?
The Grand Panjandrum - April 30, 2010 | 8:33 pm · Link
Make fun of Arizona all you want. At least the Arizona Senate has the courage to outlaw Human-animal hybrids! Take that you lefty pinko commie pansies. NO Human-Animal Hybrids in Arizona gosh darn it.
Gonna be a lot of lonely goat and sheep farmers in AZ.
JGabriel - April 30, 2010 | 8:35 pm · Link
@South of I-10:
Aren’t you a little young to be posting here?
.
SIA - April 30, 2010 | 8:37 pm · Link
@ JGabriel, haha! Thanks for the laugh!
General Egali Tarian Stuck - April 30, 2010 | 8:37 pm · Link
@The Grand Panjandrum: They gave up on a law demanding Obama show his looooooooong form birth cert. Looks they opted to to go for something a little more passable.
sloan - April 30, 2010 | 8:37 pm · Link
A song for John.
South of I-10 - April 30, 2010 | 8:39 pm · Link
@mr. whipple: Got the leftover fried catfish in the fridge. Little South was especially impressed at my ability to bait a hook with liver. Shoulda brought that Velveeta.
ETA: Has anyone heard from Red Kitten? How is Sam Kitten today?
Cat Lady - April 30, 2010 | 8:39 pm · Link
@jackie:
Yeah, no shit. It’s quite an experience to feel bashful getting undressed in front of a tapping bird.
toujoursdan - April 30, 2010 | 8:40 pm · Link
On the show “Daybreak” on CBC Radio One Montréal, they pointed out that there are more Canadians on the Penguins than on the Habs.
But now that the Sens are knocked out, the Habs are my team.
mak - April 30, 2010 | 8:41 pm · Link
WTH? Around here we’re lousy with robins,* but cardinals are about as common as hen’s teeth. Blue Jays are even harder to come by.
*I assume they’re robins, and not orioles, cause they’re pumped up like Perdue chickens.
Cat Lady - April 30, 2010 | 8:43 pm · Link
@South of I-10:
He woke up feeling fine. All is well.
comrade scott's agenda of rage - April 30, 2010 | 8:45 pm · Link
The horde of Baltimore Orioles just arrived yesterday. They’re now coming down to our feeders.
One of the few advantage of living here in East Bumblefuck, Misery.
South of I-10 - April 30, 2010 | 8:46 pm · Link
@JGabriel: I only wish! No, kindergarten is a little too far back. I am probably older than you!
General Egali Tarian Stuck - April 30, 2010 | 8:46 pm · Link
@The Grand Panjandrum:
The twinkies of AZ are not letting up on their ethnic cleansing rampage, not a bit.
And for the cherry on top.
The obligatory afterglow smoke
Somebody hand Lou Dobbs a dry rag.
I fully expect refugees to start arriving here in NM from the Republic of Arizona, before this is over. Nolo joking.
mr. whipple - April 30, 2010 | 8:47 pm · Link
@South of I-10:
Cool!
Morbo - April 30, 2010 | 8:49 pm · Link
Hey, look at that, there’s a rabbit in my yard right now.
Boudica - April 30, 2010 | 8:50 pm · Link
@robertdsc:
I have to laugh. My maiden name was Cindy Cosby. The first time I heard his name, I did a double take. BTW, Sidney is now more often a girl’s name.
demo woman - April 30, 2010 | 8:51 pm · Link
What did I miss today while painting the stucco from hell? Oh Obama called out the SWAT team in Illinois because he was to stupid to have free speech areas and he caused the biggest oil spill in US history that will kill all life on the LA coast. What am I missing? Oh, yeah, if McCain were President he would have overturned DADT by now.
slag - April 30, 2010 | 8:59 pm · Link
It’s great that you’re enjoying your new feathered friends. But if you ever want to go into politics, make sure you don’t associate with any gangster birds: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/s.....07/03.html.
Corner Stone - April 30, 2010 | 9:00 pm · Link
@Mark S.:
That’s what she said.
Tattoosydney - April 30, 2010 | 9:03 pm · Link
@SIA:
Believe me, you are preaching to the choir.
/37, happily baking cakes this weekend instead of taking too many drugs and dancing till 7am
Yutsano - April 30, 2010 | 9:08 pm · Link
@SIA: Ssshhh…you’ll give the poor lad ideas. He’s already seriously considering becoming a dilettante as it is.
@Tattoosydney: You usually don’t have to audition to get into pastry school. Then again you might do things a wee bit differently on that side of the planet.
burnspbesq - April 30, 2010 | 9:09 pm · Link
Mets appear to have broken open game 1 of this weekend’s series with the hated dickweeds from South Jersey Adjacent. 7-1 in the seventh.
Edit: Make that 8-1.
jackie - April 30, 2010 | 9:11 pm · Link
@General Egali Tarian Stuck: I don’t want to give the taliban any traction with the first you let the gays get married and then you gotta let people do polygamy with goldfinches. Besides that bird looked like the jealous type. Both times it stopped when my husband got back in town.
jeffreyw - April 30, 2010 | 9:14 pm · Link
Damn, I was out stalkin hummers and missed the open thread. Mrs J brought home a pic of the latest shelter addition, an adult basset hound-”George”.
Yutsano - April 30, 2010 | 9:15 pm · Link
@jeffreyw: Someone needs to e-mail T-Bogg stat. Hell I’d think about getting that sweet boy.
DCLaw1 - April 30, 2010 | 9:15 pm · Link
Hey Cole –
I should probably already know this, because I’m a (fairly) regular reader, but where are you from, Pens fan?
I hail from the Little Pittsburgh That Couldn’t (aka Johnstown, PA), so Pens fandom is almost as required as Steelers obsession.
BTW, here’s some random foolishness:
http://insideoutthebeltway.blo.....ction.html
S. cerevisiae - April 30, 2010 | 9:21 pm · Link
@General Egali Tarian Stuck: I’m sure that law is going to go over real well up on the Navajo Nation – or on any of the dozens of reservations in AZ.
I have a nice big yard with many wild fruit trees and bushes, plus snags for nesting so I get a nice variety of birds. Yesterday there was a Pileated Woodpecker excavating on a spruce stump.
Twins up 6 – 3, but I am flipping to it during the hockey commercials.
The Gulf is fucked.
Mike Kay - April 30, 2010 | 9:39 pm · Link
@burnspbesq: which part of city do you live in?
Tattoosydney - April 30, 2010 | 9:42 pm · Link
@Yutsano:
Can’t I just like cake?
We do. We put beetroot in our hamburgers, never eat Bloomin’ Onions, don’t know what a “key” lime is, and eat both our national emblems.
Tattoosydney - April 30, 2010 | 9:44 pm · Link
@Yutsano:
I have several of those in my bedside drawer.
Tattoosydney - April 30, 2010 | 9:46 pm · Link
@jeffreyw:
That made me go “daw… puppy!” right out loud…
Yutsano - April 30, 2010 | 9:48 pm · Link
@Tattoosydney: Bloomin’ Onions are pure caloric disasters. I don’t care for them myself. Key limes are just smaller versions of the common lime, they’re mostly associated with southern Florida although they do show up in Malay cooking. They’re a lot more tart than the original version too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_lime
Our national emblem is a big eagle, they tend to be a bit tough in the stew pot. In fact they were originally hunted only for plumage.
@Tattoosydney: Methinks wifey may yet make a trip down south for that sweet face. She’ll be cooing for hours.
jeffreyw - April 30, 2010 | 9:49 pm · Link
@Tattoosydney: Mrs J sez he’s a real sweetie. They found him wandering along a highway, scarfing down possum flats.
ChockFullO'Nuts - April 30, 2010 | 10:30 pm · Link
@General Egali Tarian Stuck:
At this point, Dems here are basically reeling. Trying to figure out what happened, under the cover of a yearlong series of daily stories of the legislature supposedly battling with crushing budget problems … suddenly it appears that they have unleashed a laundry list of crazy shit just before the end of their session.
The Dem talk on the street here is that a strong Dem governor kept this in check until she got picked off to be in the Cabinet, letting a Republican Secretary of State assume the job and ….. caved into the nut fringe in the Republican legislature. Now the animals are really running that zoo.
Dems are dazed. We thought we’d made serious gains here in this longtime red state, electing a liberal Dem governor, gaining more than half the congressional seats, making some headway. And now this. It’s unreal.
I saw Rachel Maddow today do a very intelligent background check on the money and politics behind this stealth lunatic movement here in AZ, and it was sobering. The legislature here now is in thrall to the craziest elements in the Republican party. Even level headed Republicans here are worried.
All of this seems timed to create maximum agita right at the start of the 2010 campaign season.
Years of hard work by Dems and moderates here are going up in flames. LD and I are looking into hooking up with a petition drive to put SB1070 on the ballot, which could delay implementation for up to two years, according a story I read yesterday. It will take 76000 signatures to do this according to the wire story, and not a lot of time to gather them. More on this when I have some time to find out more.
Yutsano - April 30, 2010 | 10:34 pm · Link
@ChockFullO’Nuts: I wish you much luck in that endeavor good sir. I think the best thing you could do about that is get Goddard into the governor’s chair and see if that will put some of the genie back in the bottle.
RedKitten - April 30, 2010 | 10:34 pm · Link
@South of I-10: Much better today. He was a little feverish again this afternoon, but nowhere near as bad as yesterday. I got some Motrin for him, which made a big difference.
Katie5 - April 30, 2010 | 10:59 pm · Link
Oh Cindy, you may be a girlie man, but you captain a dominating team.
My Canadiens, the Cubs of Hockey.
General Egali Tarian Stuck - April 30, 2010 | 11:11 pm · Link
@ChockFullO’Nuts: I know for a fact there are a lot of good dems in AZ, I hope you all can rally with each other and turn back this craziness some. Good luck
ChockFullO'Nuts - April 30, 2010 | 11:24 pm · Link
@General Egali Tarian Stuck:
If only I could drink. Going through this sober is really adding insult to injury.
gbear - April 30, 2010 | 11:57 pm · Link
@sloan: Ha. What a fun little song.
How is Mr. Cole going to feel about Robins once he realizes that they’re already singing up a storm at 4:30 in the morning? I’ve got robins in my back yard too and I also love watching them, especially when the babies start showing up.
asiangrrlMN - May 1, 2010 | 6:44 am · Link
@Mark S.: Haven’t they already had many years to study this? It’s just an excuse, damn it. Fuck it. I need a drink. Shit. It’s too early to drink.
@jeffreyw: Squee! Puuuuppppeh!
That is all.
matoko_chan - May 1, 2010 | 8:46 am · Link
umm….in colorado ppl take their seed feeders down in may and put up hummingbird feeders….returning to seed in the fall.
just sayin’.
patty gann - May 1, 2010 | 10:59 am · Link
john, look at the robins with binoculars when they catch a worm. their eyes will totally freak you out.
efgoldman - May 1, 2010 | 5:09 pm · Link
John – At least at our house (Southern New England), that kind of feeder stands no chance at all.
If the rodents don’t find it (and they will) the grackles mob it, driving all the songbirds away. They can and will empty the cylinder in a couple of hours.
Someone upthread mentioned an oriole. We have one, he used to be in the maple tree right outside my den window, but this year he lit further away. I can hear him (very distinctive call) but I can no longer see him.
I think he’s a straggler. We’re pretty far north for his range.