OT Things to ponder

[rustysi]

We exported our most "boring cultural spies" to infest the USofA - Wayne Gretzky, Mike Meyers, and Nickleback....our nefarious plan is working.

Not that they're boring but, ya gotta take Justin Bieber and Ted Cruz back.

my Pirates will prob'ly be circling the drain (in their preferred direction), 'round about playoff time. Because, Tradition!

The reference here seems to be about the Pittsburgh Pirates, a baseball team here across the pond.

[geofflambert]

Took this pic of a young Cooper's Hawk in my backyard. I have a few bird feeders and throw some seed or peanuts out on the ground from time to time, hence drawing birds to forage on the ground and drawing his interest.
Somebody saw him perched on my fence the day before. The wheelbarrow is there because I'm trying to get my garden going for spring.
The shot is from 50 - 60 feet through a glass window which is why it's a bit blurry.

[geofflambert]

Here's something for baseball fans. The Cardinals did something last night that's never happened before (in Major League history). It's fairly unusual for a team to send in 3 pinch hitters in the same game. Tony LaRussa would, but everything he did was unusual. Last night a pinch hit (pinch hit means by three different batters who are only sent in to bat once) home run was hit in each of the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. The statistical likelihood for that is somewhere between slim and none. Has Mike Matheny (the Cardinal Manager) become a diabolical incarnation of LaRussa?

edit: I forgot to mention, in all of last season the Cardinals scored a grand total of 4 pinch hit home runs.

[geofflambert]

It's Spring. We work in our gardens. Squirrels think we are great big giant scary squirrels. When they see us down on our knees working our gardens, they view us with envious eyes. They are quite certain that we are hiding our nuts. As soon as we return to our nests they come down and dig up everything we placed so carefully, trying to find our nuts. Que sera sera.

[ndworl]

I know from empirical observation that too much alcohol results in the room spinning in the opposite direction, depending on which hemisphere you think you're occupying at the time..

[geofflambert]

There's such a thing as too much alcohol? Where'd you hear that? Maybe you need to toke a little to counterbalance things. Not that I have any empirical knowledge of that.

[pontiouspilot]

be careful where you bury your nuts....those little rascals have sharp teeth!!

[wdolson]

One day a few years back I noticed blue jays making a fuss and dive bombing something on the ground in the backyard. When I investigated I found a bald eagle just sitting there ignoring them. After a few minutes it took off and had a rabbit in its claws. We have a lot of them around here, I call them the Columbia River Pigeon, but it's the only time I've seen one in our yard. I hear them in the woods about a block away in the summer.

Squirrels are funny to watch. One day last fall I was walking down a side street near our little downtown and noticed a squirrel burying something in the dirt patch between the sidewalk and the road. They have a bunch of decorative rocks and trees in those strips. He didn't hear me coming even when I bent over him trying to see what he was burying. When he did see me he freaks out and shot up the nearest tree.

Bill

[decaro]

ORIGINAL: wdolson

... Squirrels are funny to watch. One day last fall I was walking down a side street near our little downtown and noticed a squirrel burying something in the dirt patch between the sidewalk and the road. They have a bunch of decorative rocks and trees in those strips. He didn't hear me coming even when I bent over him trying to see what he was burying. When he did see me he freaks out and shot up the nearest tree.

Bill

Years ago when I was peace-keeping in Bosnia, something spooked one of the local squirrels -- a species not as smart as the Eastern grey squirrel -- that caused it to immediately run up the leg of one of our senior sergeants, who promptly let out a blood-curdling scream in a very high voice.

As the sergeant was dressed in woodland camouflaged BDUs, we wondered if the squirrel thought he was running up a small tree -- a "tree" that was very concerned for his own "nuts".

Yes, squirrels are funny to watch -- but only at a safe distance.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Joe D.

ORIGINAL: wdolson

... Squirrels are funny to watch. One day last fall I was walking down a side street near our little downtown and noticed a squirrel burying something in the dirt patch between the sidewalk and the road. They have a bunch of decorative rocks and trees in those strips. He didn't hear me coming even when I bent over him trying to see what he was burying. When he did see me he freaks out and shot up the nearest tree.

Bill

Years ago when I was peace-keeping in Bosnia, something spooked one of the local squirrels -- a species not as smart as the Eastern grey squirrel -- that caused it to immediately run up the leg of one of our senior sergeants, who promptly let out a blood-curdling scream in a very high voice.

As the sergeant was dressed in woodland camouflaged BDUs, we wondered if the squirrel thought he was running up a small tree -- a "tree" that was very concerned for his own "nuts".

Yes, squirrels are funny to watch -- but only at a safe distance.

[:D]
Had a similar experience many years back when our family had a small cottage at the lake. No plumbing, just a biffy. One squirrel kept finding his way in and chewing up the toilet paper to line his/her nest. My brother and I caught it in the act and chased it out and up a small sapling tree.

Being about age six and seven we decided to shake the tree to get the squirrel down. We got it swaying back and forth pretty good so the squirrel fell down on top of my brother's head, and while he was still screaming at the sharp claws it ran down his shoulder and arm and off to the big trees further away. Never tried to shake a squirrel out of a tree again!

[geofflambert]

About twenty years ago or so there was a pair of orphaned very young squirrels in the maple tree in my front yard, crying for the parent that never came. I got some peanuts out and leaned against the tree and talked them down. One was wary but got pretty close. The other got on me and was running all over me and when I sat down was rolling around on my lap in an apparent state of joy. I gave them the peanuts and some milk (I think) and did not try to make pets out of them. As I understand it squirrels will adopt orphans and I expect they were. Saw them around for about a week.

[wdolson]

Funny squirrel stories. I just remembered another one from when I was a kid.

My mother had size 6 AAAA feet and couldn't walk very well. One time we were visiting some friends of my parents in northern California and we went for a picnic in Mt Lassen National Park. After lunch everyone went for a hike except my mother who stayed behind at the picnic tables. When we came back, my mother was sitting stock still, paralyzed with fear with a squirrel sitting on her knee. She was also scared of all animals. She kind of tolerated the family's cats over the year, but she really didn't like them at all. (The rest of the family are animal lovers, my sister going most nuts with a herd of horses, as well as many dogs and cats.) The noise of the two families approaching scared off the squirrel, but my father and I thought it was hilarious, even more so because we knew full well how terrified my mother was of animals. It was kind of karma that the squirrel would seek her out like that.

Her mother told me she was afraid of animals because she was scratched up pretty good by a friendly but over exited dog when she was 3. The dog just wanted to play and didn't realize it was hurting her, but she was terrified of animals after that.

Bill

[Canoerebel]

A Sunday school teacher asks her young class, "What's furry with a long tail?"

The class stares at her, and nobody raises a hand to answer the question.

The teacher gives them another clue: "It climbs trees and eats nut."

When there's still no reply, the teacher prompts, "Well, doesn't anybody know?"

A boy timidly raises his hand and says, "I know I'm supposed to say 'Jesus,' but it sure sounds like a squirrel to me."

[geofflambert]

Which regiment did this Sunday School Class belong to?

[Canoerebel]

34th Georgia Infantry

[geofflambert]

I have a friend who would (while she was living) go out to his mother's to take care of her and the house. He liked feeding the birds while there. She liked watching them. I would go sometimes. There was a chipmunk that would come to collect peanuts. In fact the entire menagerie was always waiting around for him and knew his car. Mostly birds but rabbits too. When he put out the peanuts the others would stay clear of him but the chipmunk would come up to the porch to take the peanuts while he was standing or sitting there. The blue jays were too much the scaredy cats. The chipmunk would come up and sniff his shoe to make sure everything was alright. In time it knew me by sniffing my shoe. Usually it would eat a peanut then stuff one cheek and then the other with them and run off to its den and come back for more. Likely had a brood to take care of.

[geofflambert]

I was just reading something about some skuas or some species similar who had never seen humans before or any of their ancestors for that matter. Very quickly they were able to identify individuals regardless of the clothing worn. This was evident because the people who got too close to the nests were attacked and the others ignored, as in if they saw you they would attack just you, a day later or a week.

[wdolson]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

I have a friend who would (while she was living) go out to his mother's to take care of her and the house. He liked feeding the birds while there. She liked watching them. I would go sometimes. There was a chipmunk that would come to collect peanuts. In fact the entire menagerie was always waiting around for him and knew his car. Mostly birds but rabbits too. When he put out the peanuts the others would stay clear of him but the chipmunk would come up to the porch to take the peanuts while he was standing or sitting there. The blue jays were too much the scaredy cats. The chipmunk would come up and sniff his shoe to make sure everything was alright. In time it knew me by sniffing my shoe. Usually it would eat a peanut then stuff one cheek and then the other with them and run off to its den and come back for more. Likely had a brood to take care of.

The blue jays around here are among the boldest birds in the neighborhood. I was out front the other day doing some work on my car and a blue jay sat nearby in a tree and squawked at me the entire time.

Bill

[geofflambert]

ORIGINAL: wdolson

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

I have a friend who would (while she was living) go out to his mother's to take care of her and the house. He liked feeding the birds while there. She liked watching them. I would go sometimes. There was a chipmunk that would come to collect peanuts. In fact the entire menagerie was always waiting around for him and knew his car. Mostly birds but rabbits too. When he put out the peanuts the others would stay clear of him but the chipmunk would come up to the porch to take the peanuts while he was standing or sitting there. The blue jays were too much the scaredy cats. The chipmunk would come up and sniff his shoe to make sure everything was alright. In time it knew me by sniffing my shoe. Usually it would eat a peanut then stuff one cheek and then the other with them and run off to its den and come back for more. Likely had a brood to take care of.

The blue jays around here are among the boldest birds in the neighborhood. I was out front the other day doing some work on my car and a blue jay sat nearby in a tree and squawked at me the entire time.

Bill

Were you wearing your cat suit? I haven't seen (but have heard) any crows around here since the West Nile epidemic started.
Haven't seen any corvids for years and no mockingbirds either. Anyhow, in my experience if you make eye contact with a crow it will fly away.
They know how dangerous we are.

[geofflambert]

I just got this second hand, as in an acquaintance of a friend. This acquaintance was in a map making unit in Nam and frequently had to get in a jeep and go out to deliver maps or to recon stuff. He said when he drove through territory controlled by South Korean troops they had guerrillas they'd encountered hung from trees by the roadway, as a warning.