Day's end

Long day come to an end. Obama spoke at the memorial in Arizona today and he did a fine job but, like he said, "words cannot express". I did the moment of silence NASA held.

In his excellent article at Slate today (Palin Failed the Test), and indeed she did, John Dickerson linked a poem on grief by Philip Booth, "Sorting it Out". It's universal, not heavy handed. Just describes what we live with after everything is said and done.

Anyway, the flu/food poisoning whatever got bad for a while and now seems to be on the wane. Tonight I got to eat cheesy bread. It's that silver lining thing when you're sick, things you get to eat because you can't. Well, that's about all the news from out here along the language barrier. Next chance you get, be kind to someone in another species.

Oh, and in case you missed it, the score in the inter-species contest Man vs. Dog is

Dogs:1 / Humans:0

Moving on

Another bleak day here. Yesterday was one of those do a million things, accomplish nothing kind of days and today looks like more of the same. Plus I'm feeling a bit sick. Maybe flu. I dunno. Headache, slightly nauseous, no appetite, general malaise. I washed my hands with sandlewood soap this morning and the fragrance is bothering me. That heightened sensitivity is generally a sign that it's more than a slow start. We shall see.

I'm the short one

Time out

Keith Olbermann's commentary on the Arizona shooting is a must watch. Please do. I know it's more fun to play but take a time out... just for the next few minutes. Come on....  

STOP - LOOK - LISTEN
(There will be a test.)

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

"Violence, or the threat of violence, has no place in our Democracy, and I apologize for and repudiate any act or any thing in my past that may have even inadvertently encouraged violence. Because for whatever else each of us may be, we all are Americans." - Olberman's concluding remarks. I could not agree more.

Sarah Palin's America

Last year Sarah Palin called for conservatives to target Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. She marked Giffords district on a map with cross hairs and people have threatened Giffords in various ways ever since. It will be interesting to watch now how the blamestream media backs away from the criminal implications of their ongoing hate speech while continuing to goad people to, as Palin puts it, "take a stand".

Click to enlarge

Morning musings

An “actual” dove just dropped by the Bird Park. I say “actual” because, although pigeons are actually doves, Mr. Lee is given to calling them flying rats, as though rats and, by comparison pigeons, are somehow nasty. There are varieties of doves, just like there are varieties of people and yet we are all still people. Right? Cretin racists need not respond to this point. Racists do not deserve "equal time" because they do not represent a legitimate “other point of view". Anyway, pigeons are doves but, what people generally think of as a dove, showed up this morning and that's pretty cool.

What was I talking about? Oh yes. Bananas. I am having my breakfast at the moment, oatmeal with bananas, banana, and every time I open a banana I think of monkeys. And my Irish mother. How could she possibly have been an expert on the best way to peel a banana? But when we were kids we didn't question it. She taught us most of those little life skill things, but guess what? Peeling a banana from the stem down really doesn’t work as well as peeling one from the top down, not from the stem up. Which is how I do it now. However, every time I peel a banana I wonder about two things.

Click for tutorial

How much other childhood misinformation I still hold dear and how do monkeys open bananas? After all, they are the experts. I am always on the lookout for a monkey opening a banana whenever we're in Central America. So far no such luck so this morning I did a a little research. Thanks internet. I believe I finally have an answer.

If it weren't for good luck....

Okay, here's a video to go with your morning or whenever coffee.

Second shift and One-Legged Pete

Grackles and the one-legged magpie

The grackles were late for breakfast again today. Competition is fierce here at the Bird Park and five or ten minutes late can mean the difference between eating or not especially since the starlings have started showing up. Their specialty is muscling up to the trough. Anyway, I refill things during the brief break after the magpies leave so there was still food when they arrived although there are always a few lingering from the first shift. Notice the magpie drinking water. That's One-legged Pete. He does pretty good.

Harp Seal in my backyard

Last night's storm left a Harp Seal in my backyard.

Behind the scenes

Harry and Max have both been Invisible Theatre cast members for quite a while now but only recently, actually over the New Year's weekend, became new best friends. It's kind of nice as they are both, well, odd. Max was a total loner and Harry's only other friend until now has been Clown Girl and then awhile ago she started hanging out with the gorilla.

As for me, I re-shuffled shelving around in my office this morning. Everything is much more accessible now and the light is better. Plus I finally dragged myself to the gym. Woo-hoo.The new year is off to a roaring start.

Happy 2011 everybody

While I'm waiting for the magpies to finish their breakfast of kibbles, nuts, cheese, soy chips and apples I want to wish everyone happy new year. So happy new year. May all your dreams come true. Dream wisely. Gotta go. Time to restock the buffet for the shift change. The grackles arrive about 7:30. Today they will be getting rice with oil along with kibbles, nuts, grapes and apples all served with a generous helping of guilt as the birds in the Bird Park are enjoying a better new year's breakfast than many people in the world. Life is strange. I hope you feed some birds today too or someone who is hungry. Here's a little something you can do in flick of the wrist magic. Just click the pretty purple icon below and feed a hungry shelter animal.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Postscript

:( The grackles didn't come today. Too bad. I like them. They have very cool songs. But the little birds are here filling the trees and the starlings came plus, of course, the hip to everything magpies came back for seconds. I swear, they have a sentry posted in one of the trees keeping an eye on the place all day. They don't miss a thing. Oh, and the one-legged magpie came for breakfast this morning. That was nice.


Postpostscript

The grackles just showed up but they are an hour late and the place is totally picked over. It's snowing like crazy and there are lots of birds rummaging in the mounting drifts. At some point, someone will get startled and they'll all fly off for a few minutes and then I'll sweep off the table and restock it with goodies.

Postpostpostscript

It just occurred to me why there are so many birds today. It's not just because of the snow. There are NO CATS. The bastards are staying inside this morning because of the snow.