Here comes W day

[altivo]

But this time it marks just three more days to vacation. Nine whole days off that are, unfortunately, going to fly by with all the stuff I need to do. At least the weather was nicer today, though I think the thunderstorms are due back tomorrow. We have water running across the pastures again thanks to the Brit neighbor who cut down all his trees and then overgrazed the treeless area so it won't absorb water any more.

Orioles, rose-breasted grosbeaks, and cowbirds. Multiples of each today. Time to start listening for the wood thrush I usually hear in May. Our friend Susan reports that she is hearing a whippoorwill at her house, but she has a lot more land than we do. If you've never heard the distinctive sound (which makes me homesick for Michigan) there's a sample on the referenced page.

Cleaned databases at work, purging a lot of expired records. Also cleared up some longstanding bugs in the Alpha configuration there, with the result that I now get a full graphical desktop on my Linux system, even though the DS10 itself has no VMS-compatible graphics card.

I find it amusing that the swine flu panic has sent pork futures lower even though humans don't catch flu from eating pork or even from exposure to pigs. Just shows how irrational the supposed "free" market actually is. Not only that, but Jewish and Muslim complaints about the term "swine" flu being offensive to them are just over the top. Get over it, folks. The virus contains an element of DNA from a flu virus endemic to swine populations. That's the way it is, no matter what you think about pigs. It probably also contains DNA from chicken viruses if that makes you feel any more Kosher about it.

Comments

[chibiabos.livejournal.com]

I like Blue-Jays too though I know they are thieving if handsome devils.

Do I have some kind of blues theme or what? :P

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Blue jays are handsome and fun to watch, even though they are just little crows. They can be obnoxious around smaller birds, but I love to watch them picking on squirrels. "Bully" is the only word to describe it.

[chibiabos.livejournal.com]

Is it just me, or are Robins getting more and more ginormous every year? I've been seeing quite a few of those.

I rather like the chorus of crow caws we sometimes get. I think crows are handsome devils, too ... but then I'm a pushover for birds and a variety of critters, heh.

I hope you can snap a pic of that fox if you manage to spot her again.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

This morning we had a wood duck in our trees. That's a first for us, at least that we know of.

You saw last year's fox photos, no? If not, start here and proceed to the right. If we see her this year and I can get to the camera fast enough, yes, there will be more.

[equusmaximus.livejournal.com]

Orioles, rose-breasted grosbeaks, and cowbirds, Oh MY!
Orioles, rose-breasted grosbeaks, and cowbirds, Oh MY!
Orioles, rose-breasted grosbeaks, and cowbirds, Oh MY!

Silliness aside, it's great to see the birds coming back. Out here, we've got plenty of robins and sparrows, and geese and ducks galore! Today we had two hawks just riding the wind current directly over the house; it was amazing to see them like that, just basically hovering in place, riding on the wind. Showoffs... ;)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yep. The hawks are the "politicians" whether you use the word in the ordinary sense or in prison jargon.

[chibiabos.livejournal.com]

Hawks are anti-social, arrogant feather-tards. My first boyfriend was definitely right in adopting a red-tailed as his fursona ... he shared a hatch-day with Hitler and it showed. Charm, showmanship, and an unquenchable thirst to rule all.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Okeys. So contrast that with eagles? Condors? Other feathery raptors?

[chibiabos.livejournal.com]

Contrasted with hawks and the popular notion that they are solitary hunters, Eagles are actually quite social birds. Great flocks of them will roost around a big food source (like a fish-heavy river) and squawk with each other and even other birds of prey (such as ravens). Goldenstallion could give you a lot more of a first-hoof knowledge, but the view that eagles are solitary, fierce hunters like hawks is wrong. Hawks don't flock together, they get together once a year to mate, but don't mate for life (Eagles do).

Not sure about Condors. Vultures tend to not squabble too much when they find a feast, they all just dive in and take down what they can, signalling each other when they find something.

Crows of course are social, you can hear them cawing to each other by the dozens, hundreds or even thousands sometimes, heh. They don't chase each other away the way Hawks do.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Heh. And of course, crows hate raptors, including owls. I've seen them pestering owls, and even picking on a sharp-shinned hawk who was half the size of just one of them.

Yet crows are not above stealing other birds' eggs or even eating their chicks from the nest.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

I think the stock in pork has sunk precisely because people are silly enough to think that it's somehow linked to swine flu. We've all (at work) been issued with cotton masks this morning. Even though there is no infection in my part of the UK yet. I think people are letting this spiral out of control a bit.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes, that does sound like a serious case of overreaction.

It's hard sometimes to figure out whether the politicians (for it always comes down to them) really believe this crap, or if they are acting just to make it look as if they actually care. The Bush administration was constantly taking stupid actions "for the look of it" and not because they cared at all.

[soanos.livejournal.com]

So... How about the alleged connection with Roche and Rumsfeld? I have heard some rumours about that. The swine flu (after the bird flu scare) scare would be all too convenient if it was true. What next, dog flu? :P

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Republican flu I hope.

[soanos.livejournal.com]

Hah! That was a good one. :P

But honestly, I just wish people would just be reasonable with things and not so stubbornly up their own arses with their opinions. World would be a much better place.

Fun (?) read: www.notalwaysright.com I hope the flu will only be caught by nasty people and the ones that are better away from the gene pool. :P

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Gawd, swine flu and pork futures drop??

I'm starting to think people who don't understand the stock market shall not be allowed to use it.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes and yes.

[songdogmi.livejournal.com]

On Sunday at Dave's house near Louisville, we got the chance to watch a veery in a bush right by the house, through a window. We were maybe five feet away, but it didn't see us through the window screen. A robin came up and looked at it, but robins don't like to get into dense underbrush much so it left the veery alone. Cute little guy. On its way further up north, I'm sure (the map in Peterson's said so, at least).

[altivo.livejournal.com]

The veery has a remarkable song. Check it out here if you didn't hear it. Some of them summer in lower Michigan, so you might well see them not far from home.

[soanos.livejournal.com]

I couldn't help but laugh about the people panicking over a flu.

I am not saying it is harmless, but then again, it has not exactly been killing that many people. Even the normal flu kills thousands of people every month all over the world.