≡ Menu

Open thread 4/26/23

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • ghostsniper April 26, 2023, 8:28 AM

    Your good thing of the day.
    Keep in mind she just started 3 years ago this month.
    Amazing!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lso2Z4f6C2s

    • John Venlet April 26, 2023, 10:05 AM

      Cool link, Ghostsniper! The basses she is strumming are bigger than her.

  • Joe Krill April 26, 2023, 8:32 AM

    Bye Bye Miss American Pie
    The average American’s attention span is not too high
    Went to the well once too often
    And came up dry.
    Bye Bye Miss American Pie

  • John Venlet April 26, 2023, 8:35 AM

    Still life, with lots of lemons, time to make some lemonade.

    Lots of birds moving north on a daily basis. Yellow Rumped and Yellow Warblers showed at my trout camp yesterday. Many of the year rounders are here, of course, Black Capped Chickadees, Dark Eyed Juncos, Red Bellied and Downy woodpeckers, Common Redpolls are on the move, Song Sparrows have showed up, Pine Siskin was by this morning, Cardinals are becoming year rounders here now also, after many years with not a one around. Blue Jays of course, Grackles have showed up, Red Wing blackbirds have been here a few weeks, Tom turkeys are gobbling, Ruffed Grouse are drumming, and, best of all, Hendrickson mayflies are hatching and trout are feeding not only on the nymphs, but on the just hatched mayflies on the surface. Consistent warm weather still has not kicked in. Was 27 degrees this morning at 6 a.m., and we might make 44 today. Spring is doing its best to spring into action.

    • SK April 26, 2023, 11:43 AM

      Frost this morning and expected again tomorrow so it’s still chilly in these Great Lake latitudes.
      I’ve seen most of the same birds you mentioned. Sadly though, I’ve seen not a single red wing. Years ago, for me, seeing them was the true sign summer was coming and they arrived in the hundreds. I’ve read that they are especially sensitive to pesticides but don’t really know why their numbers have declined so much. You are lucky to have them. We have had also blue birds and sand hill cranes arrive. The cranes are marvelous – with their Jurassic park voices and funny strutting and dancing. A joy to behold them all as they come back from their holidays in the south.

      • ghostsniper April 26, 2023, 12:25 PM

        The reason you people aren’t seeing any cardinals is because they’re all over here at our crib. Hundreds of them, all day long, all year long.

        Why?

        Cause we treat em right. At least 80 lbs of black oil sunflower seeds and 16 or more suets, every month. Yeah, it’s like the Holiday Inn around here for them with an all day continental breakfast.

        cardinals, blue jays, black caps, titmouses, nuthatches, red bellied woodpeckers, red headed woodpeckers (rare), downy and hairy woodpeckers and the massive pileated woodpeckers, sparrows, wrens, red wing blackbirds, mourning doves, and BIG black crows.

        That’s what’s around here right now. A half dozen others come around throughout the year. Saw a solitary bald eagle last week. Gray herons now and then, canada geese flying overhead all the time, the occasional cooper hawk, and of course the buzzards.

        We’ve invested a lot of time and money over the past 17 years to attract a wide variety of wild life to our property and we enjoy watching them. Oh yeah, forgot, redneck and greenback, the hummingbirds, showed up last week to freshly filled feeders.

      • John Venlet April 26, 2023, 12:27 PM

        SK, it was a tad frosty here this morning at 27 degrees. We’ve only made 43, now, at 3:23 p.m. EST. I’m about 20 miles east of Grayling, MI. Sandhills typically don’t hang out close to me, but I’ve heard them in flight, and my buddy outside of Calumet, MI tells me the couple of pairs that hang out by him are there. Didn’t know about pesticides affecting the Redwing population. We see them all the time along the roadway ditches, especially where cattails are present. A half ago, while sitting out watching the feeders and the crick outside the cabin, we had Bald Eagle drop out of a tree just downstream from us and fly by at eye level, as our deck sits about 20 feet above the crick. Too cool!

        • DT April 26, 2023, 3:45 PM

          Used to spend time near Roscommon. Summertime wild wintergreen and low-shrub blueberries stick in my mind. Faulty memory? Left Mich decades ago – land of my birth and youth. Milliken was guv. Don’t think I could live there again … certainly not inside the I-69 loop. Politics. WTF happened? Wouldn’t go back except for remaining family and Mom’s grave. Miss it sometimes though. Then I remember skeeters.

          • John Venlet April 27, 2023, 4:36 AM

            DT, still lots of those low shrub, wild blueberries around both Roscommon and the Grayling area, especially in the Mason Tract. Lots of wild raspberries around too. I don’t look for the wintergreen, but I’m certain it’s around. 24 degrees this morning, so it’s a frosty start to the day.

  • ghostsniper April 26, 2023, 8:49 AM

    Ever wonder where the expression “Case of the Ass” originated?

    I first heard it in the Army and it’s when the First Sergeant, or “Top,” gets “a case of the ass” – and at that point, virtually everyone needs to clear the fuck out of the AO else find yourself under the unhappy gaze of a hoon with godlike powers who has brought cursing and vindictiveness to a new acme of human behavior.

    It is shorthand for the expression “A case of the red ass”, also known as a “Chapped Ass”.
    Can be caused by many things but mostly happens due to damp or wet britches while walking, running or hiking…
    People with a chapped ass are known to be quite irritable and short tempered due to the nagging pain in their ass or buttocks. That is why somebody with a poor attitude is referred to as having a chapped ass, a case of the red ass, etc.

  • Mike Seyle April 26, 2023, 11:34 AM

    My first sergeant tried to get me killed. When I wouldn’t rat out a guy who was ETSing in three days, the first sgt said he’d put me under the jailhouse. I luckily came down on orders for Germany the next day. My guy called a lifer friend at the relocation station in Frankfurt, who put me with an artillery unit down in Neu Ulm that was headed to Nam. More to the story (I didn’t wind up in Nam) but the short version is, yes, those first sergeants know other lifers across the world, and they have each others’ backs. As it should be. But it cost me. I’ll remember that guy’s name until I die.

    • ghostsniper April 26, 2023, 2:10 PM

      We got a new 1st sgt my 3rd year in Wildflecken Germany. Top Harris. 46 years later I still remember that name. Single, late 30’s, large, negro, and a serious permanent case of the ass.

      His first morning formation, the entire company at parade rest, he says, “I’m first sgt Harris and I’ll make this short. All you married folks can go ahead and pack your shit cause I’m going to put you out of my army. I got no time for all that mamby pamby married folk shit and it does not work for combat arms units. The rest of you soldiers can get back to work. DISMISSED!”

      I never crossed him and PCS’d a few months later back to Ft Campbell for my last 7 months.

      • Mike Seyle April 26, 2023, 3:29 PM

        The stories I could tell, but won’t. Some wag said “I wouldn’t take a million dollars in exchange for my service time, but I wouldn’t accept a million dollars to repeat it.” (I botch things these days, but the quote is something like that.) If you were there, you understand.

        • ghostsniper April 26, 2023, 5:11 PM

          Time perspective.
          I was 19 when I went in and 23 when I got out and to me at the time it was the longest 4 years in world history.
          I thought it would never end.
          Now, 45 years later, it seems like the blink of an eye.
          Similar to what you said, I didn’t like it when it was going on but I’m glad I did it.

      • Pebo April 27, 2023, 12:39 PM

        It was 1970 during the 4th week at Parris Island when Martin’s dad came to visit. All 60 of us had moved out to the rifle range. Martin’s dad, a retired Master Gunny Sgt had been through PI for Korea and wanted to know why his son had stitches one his face. Something about an assistant drill instructor and a broom stick. Back in Atlanta that evening Martin’s dad typed out a letter to General Chapman, Commandant of the Marine Corps which led to 3 investigators at the squad bay door the following Friday. When they left a couple of hours later they must of had 40 lbs of paper from all of us describing what had happened and what we had seen. Did I mention one guy with a broken ankle from an assistant DI kick, marching on our knees. Afterward, out new Black 5′-6” senior DI Actie was the best. Even he laughed when a sea gull from overhead shit on his prized Smokey the Bear DI hat. During the court martial testimony we were all asked about that guy wearing a poncho made to do jumping jacks in the squad bay with a metal bucket over his head that had a little ammonia in it. Lockup for 6 weeks in the old WWll wooden barracks. We finally did graduate and it was off to Camp Lejeune.

  • ThisIsNotNutella April 26, 2023, 5:49 PM

    OK Boomersssss:

    https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1651376097349578753

    Better keep an eye on his Twitter feed if you’re thusly inclined.

    • ghostsniper April 26, 2023, 7:37 PM

      Thanks for the link, I’ll check it out now and then.

    • Terry April 27, 2023, 7:34 AM

      Thanks for the link. My thoughts on the Tucker thing is that the DS is planning a very serious “event”.

      We may see something shortly.

      • ghostsniper April 27, 2023, 7:46 AM

        I’m getting the same signal Terry from multiple directions.
        Keep everything stocked at all times, tanks full, etc.
        Get in touch with a coupla old friends, see whats up.

        • azlibertarian April 27, 2023, 8:25 AM

          “…Keep everything stocked at all times, tanks full, etc.”

          While I love her to death, the wife unit has a habit of running the gas in her car down to just a few miles remaining. Then, getting to a gas station becomes either a) urgent, or b) cause to take my truck on her must-do-today errands. For me, I’m headed to the gas station when the gauge shows 1/2. Yeah, it means that I’m at the gas station twice as often as she is, but I always know that I’ve got another 150+ miles range if things turn spicy.

          And really, if things turn spicy, then we aren’t going anywhere anyway. The pantry and 2 fridges are full and we’ve already decided that we’re gonna hunker down right where we’re at.

          • Terry April 27, 2023, 6:06 PM

            My dearest runs her gas tank to the vapors thinking that I may be the next driver, and fill it up. Kind of frustrating to say the least. We keep fuels here at the “shack”.

            My primary concern is a power grid sabotage.

  • Gnawbone Jack April 26, 2023, 6:59 PM

    I wondered if you guys were still around. Man I miss this site…

    • ghostsniper April 26, 2023, 7:35 PM

      Hey Jack,
      Gerard died this past Jan. Some of us can’t let go.
      Was down at your store the other day, I didn’t go inside.
      My wife bought some flowers.
      Still hasn’t planted them because of the cold and rain.

      • DT April 27, 2023, 3:46 PM

        “Some of us can’t let go.”
        Have to let go of too many things these days. Gerard’s not really gone until this site goes down. No point speeding towards that day.

  • Casey Klahn April 27, 2023, 8:27 AM

    I got a bad case of the ass the other day when I put a lemon slice in my Vesper. It had been in the fridge half peeled, so under the Biden Economy I used that defective lemon. Friends, do not do this. I make a mean Vesper Lynd, shaken, not stirred.

    Yesterday I bought some new fancy lemons, and my wife is usually upset when she can’t find them because they wind up in the art studio as subjects for a still life.

    • ghostsniper April 27, 2023, 9:49 AM

      Never use the “exposed face” of an already cut fruit or veg.
      Recently got an already cut tomato out of the fridge and it was in a sealed tuperware, cut side down.
      Plucked it out of there and went to slice it and saw the face was not right. Discolored slightly and a little bit gooey. It was a very nice specimen and didn’t want to ditch it. So I cut about an 1/8″ slice off that face and taa-daa!…a brand new face. Yayyyyy! and all was well once again in ghostville.

      If the fruit-veg has been sitting more than a day or 2 this may not work.

  • Anne April 27, 2023, 9:31 AM

    A vicious cycle: the rancher next door was trying to be environmental. He didn’t poison the ground dogs “let the coyotes and wolves, eagles and hawks keep the population balanced”. That year campers near by complained that the coyotes howling were too scary to sleep with, so the rancher went out and did away with the coyotes. The following spring the ground dogs ran all over the place–the whole field undulated brown in the first bit of spring. After he put the poison out we didn’t see hawks or eagles again for several years–did reduce the ground dog population to an acceptable population level. We have eagles and hawks back but not nearly at the population level they were before. I have no freaking clue where the coyotes and wolves have gone!

    • ghostsniper April 27, 2023, 9:54 AM

      What is a ground dog?

      A groundhog?
      A woodchuck, whistlepig, thickwood badger, Canada marmot, monax, moonack, weenusk, red monk, land beaver?

    • Casey Klahn April 27, 2023, 10:38 AM

      Man needs to at least attempt to husband the wildlife around him, for the good of himself and the wildlife. Hunt just the right amount, control the right amount, etc. If you leave it be, the environment will encroach on your home and the next thing you know the mailman is scared of wild turkey roaming the neighborhood. The coyote is the most opportunistic wild creature, and he takes every advantage of the humanscape. He knows your name, what you smell like, your coming and goings, your diet and also he knows the names of all of your cats. He keeps to himself until he realizes you’re not capable of controlling him, and then it’s “game on”.

      Two negative things have happened in my rural environment and it’s because of stupid environmental do-gooderism, rather than well thought out methodology. The introduction of wolves where they had been cut back by our much smarter fore-bearers, and the cessation of using dogs to hunt cougar. These stronger predators have totally changed the wildlife balance where I live, and the result is the eradication of the Whitetail Deer species, locally. This also has reduced the coyote population, and as a result all of the critters the coyote ate are now overabundant.

      Environmental science is a big mess, nowadays. Groundhogs pocket good grazing fields and cause livestock to either break legs or limit their feed areas. I hate to see places where the groundhog has been let alone and become over-populated with the critters. Our riparian population, exactly where I live, is probably one the most amazing things. If someone is interested in them, this is definitely the place to be.

  • Anne April 27, 2023, 5:23 PM

    Had three beautiful big cougar walk across my path two years ago. They could care less about me!

  • Jim in Alaska April 30, 2023, 7:51 AM

    Cloudy morning up here atop the world. A bit of rain and snow predicted. I’ve pulled the Blizzacks, winter tires, off the truck and the Jeep and mounted the summer skins.

Next post:

Previous post: