Author Archives: B

Raptor update:

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So the bird survived the night. They gave her (she’s a young female, probably a year and a half old, according to the wildlife refuge folks) some fluids last evening, and she perked right up. 

Apparently, she ate a mouse this morning, and is drinking. 
She does still appear somewhat disoriented, snd they think that my analysis is correct: that she was tumbled by a car or truck.
The reason she cannot fly is that most of her primary flight feathers are broken….probably from being tumbled by the vehicle.
She has no obvious broken bones, but is bruised. 
They think she was on the side of the road for a while, likely several days. She did not poop during the evening hours, which apparently indicates that she has not eaten for a while. 
Prognosis: Good. She will have to live in a cage for a while while her feathers grow back, and they think that as long as she is eating and drinking she will recover and be able to be released in a month or two when her feathers are back to the point at which she can fly again.
It was only plain luck that she tried to fly as I drove past.  If she’d have waited 20 seconds, I’d not have noticed her there on the side of the road…in fact, my brother had driven that same road only 20 or 30 minutes before, and he did not notice her…he’s pretty observant, and would have likely seen her had she been struggling when he drove past (and he’d have done the same thing I did, if had seen her).  
When I saw her, I assumed that she was entrapped by a silt fence that was there in the median, as she rose up, then fell back. I figured she had a foot tangled in the silt fence or something like that. ‘Twas just luck that the timing put me there and that I saw her struggle. 
Lucky bird, on many accounts. 
So it looks like full recovery and release in a month or a bit. 
I’ll be making a small donation to help feed and house her during her recovery. 
If you care to as well, the website is https://humaneindiana.org/wildlife   They apparently have a facebook page as well, but I don’t facebook. 
I am supposed to get some photos later so if they email them to me, I will post ’em here. 

Raptor rescue

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I did my Good Deed for the day….

So there I am, driving down the highway at about 50 miles an hour (construction zone, so not speeding). 

And there, on the side of the road, I see what appears to be a hawk flapping and trying to rise. It was only a glimpse, but when I looked back in the truck’s mirror, I didn’t see anything take off….
So I turned at the next safe spot and reversed course. Back a mile, and then turned again.
As I approached the spot, I pulled off the active lane and into the cones marking the construction zone, and parked the truck. 
Yep, sure enough, a hawk, right at the edge of the pavement on the far side of the road….When I say the edge of the pavement, I mean the bird’s tail feathers were ON the pavement.  
I approached the hawk, and it didn’t move. I could see it breathing heavily (panting) in the hot sun, but it didn’t seem to have the energy to do more than eye me warily. (S)he looked stunned and kinda weak. 
I called the local wildlife rehab agency, but they did not have the staff to come and pick it up. Shit. Oh well, time to improvise. Needs be when the devil dances and all that. Do nothing and the bird is gonna get hit by a car again, or maybe die on the side of the road. 
So I looked in the back of the truck and found an old zippered hoodie, got out some thick leather work gloves, and walked across the one lane of traffic. Tossed the hoodie over the birds head, and scooped her up. Wrapped the sweatshirt around the bird, and back to the truck. She struggled a bit, but settled nicely. As MC was with me, I got her to open the door and we (me and the hawk) settled in the passenger seat as MC closed my door and she got in the driver’s seat…and on the way to the wildlife rehab facility we went…with me holding the bird snugly on my lap. 
She was mostly quiescent, but did get one foot down on my jeans-clad leg sharp talons, I tellya. Real sharp. and pretty strong too….no real damage, but my leg is gonna have a bruise….. part of the gig, I guess.  
15 minutes later, we are at the wildlife rehab facility. They took the hawk and put her in a cage. She was somewhat disoriented, but aside from a limp, appeared to be relatively uninjured. We shall see how it goes. Live or die, I tried. 
I think she (or he) got hit (or sideswiped) by a car. The bird was somewhat dehydrated and I think it had been there most of the day, maybe longer. ‘Twas luck that I was it struggle, really. 
Hopefully, they can get it back to health and release it. 

I am sorry I will miss it:

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I’m talking country fairs…

This is the week we would have had the county fair in my county. This week and the one two weeks prior are the 2 weeks that I looked forward to going to a county fair….
The hot afternoon heat and dust, the scent as one approaches the gates of dust from the parking lots….the smell of sweat, of cooking food that isn’t good for you…fried things….battered stuff that has way too much salt, and too much fat, and too much of everything that tastes good, but is so bad for you…of roasting meats and vegetables, of sweet corn and hot dogs and sausages. 
The scent of sweating people. of the animals in the barns, of diesel exhaust from the generators, of grease and hot bearings and unwashed carnies. 
The scent of sweets of all kinds. fried dough, cinnamon and sugar, of lemonade and root beer, Of cotton candy, and melting ice cream.  
Close you eyes, you can smell it if you try…
Sadly, due to the Wuhan Crud, it ain’t gonna happen this year. 
 

We need more of this:

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So Trader Joe’s got a complaint: Their brands were “racist”. 

About time some companies had some leadership that stops bowing to a small minority of crybabies. Enough is enough. Changing policies or branding of colors of your logo or whatever because one person is offended and gets his or her 3 friends to sign a petition is bowing to the tyranny of the minority….One cannot win, as no matter what one does, there will be another tiny group of people that will find something offensive or just simply complain….
No one has a right to “not be offended”. Enough of this pandering to those who complain just to complain. 
I believe the one of the first instances of bowing to the minority was “Taco Neck Syndrome” wherein Taco Bell had a long and well funded ad campaign planned featuring folks who turn their head sideways to eat a taco without spilling the contents…with Shaquille O’Neal as the spokes-celebrity…
After the first few days of the opening of the ad campaign, some folks with an affliction called “Dystonia” screamed and cried loudly and long enough that Taco Bell cancelled the ad campaign.…costing MILLIONS of dollars. 
There were, at that time, less than 4000 people in the country diagnosed with Dystonia, an affliction of the neck, also called “Spasmodic Torticollis” 
But they got Taco Bell to toss a multi million dollar ad campaign over a few people being “offended”. 
It has snowballed from there, with corporate appeasement happening more and more. 
Kudos to Trader Joe’s for (finally) saying “NO!”. 

Triple jeopardy?

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So, for a third time, the case of Michael Brown was reviewed….and still, the investigator could not find any evidence that the police officer involved, Darren Wilson….and, for the third time, there was not enough evidence to show wrongdoing. 

This time, as some have pointed out, it was a black prosecutor….(why that matters, I dunno?) who exonerated Ex-officer Wilson.
Is there ever gonna be a time when Mr Wilson will be left alone? Will the Black Community ever accept the fact that Brown was simply a thug, a jerk, and a guy who got shot because he believed that “Might makes Right”…and he found out that sometimes it doesn’t? 

RongSpeakkk:

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So some kids in Evanston, Illinois were at the beach….and one of them had a beach towel in the form of a Confederate Flag. 

Much controversy. 
Odd. innit. There is Rightspeak, and Wrongspeak, and some folks symbols are sacred (like “Black Lives Matter” murals) but others are deemed “Bad”. Some things are acceptable, but others are not. 
Just because a (currently) special class of people are offended, then a symbol (like the Confederate flag) is verboten. 
Of course, once the election is over, and the Dems no longer have a need for an agitated African American population (until the next election cycle) than the huhu will die down and things will go back to normal-ish…

No.

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delaying the election:

Bad Idea. 
Mail in voting? Up to the states. 
I’m not a fan of the idea, and we already have enough fraud in our elections….Mostly DNC based, but some on the other side as well. 
But not voting on Nov 3 but some other, later day? I’m agin’ it. Period. 
If it is safe enough to shop at your local grocery store, Wal-Mart, or Home Depot, then it is safe enough to vote. If yer afraid, then stay home, or sign up for an absentee ballot. So I see no reason to need mail in balloting either. 
I don;t care whether Trump or the DNC propose it,  both mail in ballots or postponing…….both are a Bad Idea…
ETA 7:30 pm Central: From the comments
“if high ranking officials can safely gather in close proximity for a 4 hour funeral for john lewis. ……

us common peons can stand in line for a short time to vote in person”

Cannon



What he should have done:

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When the senator castigated Bill Barr for his minions “attacking peaceful protesters” he should have thrown a rock, or a water glass, or some other fairly heavy object at the Senator and asked him just how “peaceful” that was.