Odds and ends

Damn Mets! Build a 7 run lead and you should win. To lose 8-7 in 13 innings is piss poor. I didn't stay up for the final four innings. When the Phils tied it in the ninth, I called it quits. I was actually surprised it went that long when I checked this morning. At least Heilman pitched effectively as he produced 3 innings of shutout ball.

It's been so cool at nigh that we have been sleeping without the fans going in the bedroom. The outside temp has been in the upper 40s/low 50s each of the last three mornings. Without the fans, we can hear the birds start demanding their seed ration and the dog down the hill barking at some critter in the fields. Both had me awake this morning before Chester's tummy alarm went off and he started caterwauling at 6:15.

Terry is running around this AM getting ready to go to a shindig up on Keuka Lake. I think it's an EGA thing. I'm trying to get the energy to put together an overnight bag since I probably won't get to the Bolt Hole with the trailer until around 3 this afternoon. Don't know that I want to turn around a drive home this evening. In any event, I'll bring the laptop with me so I can check the news, sports and weather. I might even have something to blog about. Hey things happen.

Slow day at the Aerie

Been a slow day today. Terry and I met with a financial adviser today to finish up some paperwork that will take our 403b accounts and roll them over to a different--and hopefully--more responsive institution. In my case it consolidates two accounts into one and for Terry it gets her's away from the federal government program she was in and into one with real human beings to talk to.

Then she picked up her little Aveo at the garage. The one tire had picked up a nail somewhere and that was causing a slow air leak. As for the rattle she felt in the steering wheel...Ryan said they removed about 10 pounds of mud from each wheel and that seemed to do the trick.

I arranged to take the trailer in to get it inspected tomorrow morning at 10 AM and I'll then head directly up to the Bolt Hole to drop it off. (I am assuming it passes. I still don't know exactly what they inspect. NJ doesn't inspect trailers. And even in PA if it's less than 7000 lb gross weight, it can be inspected every 5 years instead of every year. My trailer weighs in at 7500 lbs. so it's got to go every year.)

Terry made another zucchini pie that was more a souffle than anything else. I liked this light and easy version. Even so, I have to wonder if eating one and sometimes two meals a day containing zucchini isn't my punishment for putting 8 plants in the ground.

Oh well. Terry leaves for Louisville this Friday and the zucchini plants will be on the compost heap by Saturday. The sad thing is, this is the best zucchini I have ever grown! The vine borers have left them alone because there is no vine (these are bush plants). The rabbits and deer have left them alone as have the raccoons, skunks, bears (if you forget the one that sat upon a plant--without damaging it!), and possums. These zucchini plants have thrived with little or no encouragement besides an occasional watering and one dose of manure tea very early on. I'll almost be sad to pull them up.

Well, the trailer is hitched up to the Tundra and all is in readiness for the morrow. I'll be heading to bed as soon as the Mets' game is over.

Now what was I doing?

My fishing/hunting buddy just sent me this via email

Looking For My Wallet And Car Keys


I think it's terribly appropriate as I approach my 59th B-day on September 17.

Shopping

Terry and I drove up to Horseheads and the Arnot Mall area this morning after we dropped her car at the garage for a check-up. (Terry's leaving for Louisville, KY and an EGA convention this Friday and we wanted to make sure her little yellow Aveo was in tip top shape. Especially since it will be carrying her to Atlanta in early October for SAGA's national convention.)

She had some stuff to get at Michael's (a 8 1/2'" x 11" frame) and Staples (a shipping box) neither of which was available in the proper size at Wal-Mart. I wanted to see about getting some landscape timbers at Lowe's. I'll need about 30 of them for two projects I've got planned. One is an 8' x 16' raised bed and the other is a border for the stone under the deck and by the walk out of the basement.

She got the stuff she needed but I didn't get the timbers. Lowe's usually has excellent quality lumber but the three pallets of landscape timbers they had in stock looked like sh*t. If they weren't bent and warped enough to be used as skis, then they were under-sized and almost round poles instead of the flat-faced timbers I expected.

I didn't come away empty handed, however. Not with all those man toys around. I did get three heavy duty extension cords/power strips for the workshop. Right now I have to unplug one power tool to use another. Placed conveniently around the room, I'll be able to leave the tools plugged in so if I go from the chop saw to the table saw to the drill press, I won't have to be constantly plugging and unplugging the tools from the single outlet extension cord. Then I'll be able to build a real work bench and several stations for the mortiser, belt/disk sander and get down to some serious wood working right after hunting season ends.

I also picked up some 10' ratchet type cargo straps so I can stop using rope to tie things down in the bed of the truck. (I know, I know...I should have down that a long time ago while we were moving all sorts of furniture from NJ to NY to PA.)

We got the latest Old Farmer's Almanac and, having read the headlines on the cover about global cooling, picked up three boxes of fire starter sticks (the fat wood from the center of yellow pine). I bought two boxes for up in the Bolt Hole last year and they beat using twigs and newspaper to start a fire 10 ways from Sunday. I sent Terry to get some for the Aerie in November and she couldn't find them anywhere.

Finally, I got another pair of heavy duty gloves. Almost every pair I've got now has holes in the fingers from picking up and tossing rocks all summer. If I have any left hand gloves that are still intact, I'll save them for raspberry and blackberry picking next summer. I use the gloved hand to lift and move the thorny canes before I c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y reach in to harvest a ripe berry. I still get scratched forearms but at least I can reach those berries hidden in the center of the thicket.

I'll check the price and quality of the timbers at the local hardware store in Mansfield tomorrow. I bought the last batch there and they were in pretty good condition. If they aren't too expensive, I'll go for 30 or so.

Turf war in Wyckoff, NJ.

Feisty puppy scares off 3 bears in NJ back yard

A 15-pound cocker spaniel-poodle mix named Pawlee scared off a mother bear and her two cubs Sunday morning after they strayed into his owners' back yard.

“Pawlee”, heh? Wasn’t there an enforcer named Paulie on The Sopranos? Yeah, a real tough guy…but sorta weird, too.

First a cat in West Milford trees a bear in 2006 and now a cockapoo in Wyckoff. Don't mess with the innocent looking pets in NJ. They can be the most dangerous of all.

Family News Flash!!!

Number One (and only) Son, Rick, just called to say, "Hi!" as he is wont to do every Sunday.

He dropped this little tidbit on us. He and Sandy are engaged to be married. They are out in Eugene, OR. She is a third year law student (born and raised in Chicago of good Polish/Slavic stock). He is a certified arborist working for a tree removal/landscaping company.

When do you want the wedding? "Either someday (next summer) or Sunday (Vegas, baby!)."

What's the ring like? "Still being made."

Democratic Party Surrenders

The Democratic Party is apparently being run much like any public school. (Appropriate considering how much the NEA and FTA are into the Dems and vice versa.) The Party set up primary election rules that absolutely must be followed “or else!” but then, a state or two didn’t follow the rules. The party boldly announced that they will be punished for their temerity in accordance with the rules as they were established. But then the states whined and threatened and fetched their parents in and declared that if the punishment isn’t lifted there would be hell to pay.

Today the Democratic Party, true to its best traditions, surrendered. Oh, not to any foreign power. No, no! They surrendered to Michigan and Florida.

Dems give Michigan and Florida full voting rights

Worst. Cartoonist. Ever.

did you read today's (Sunday's) Doonesbury comic strip? It still appears in many papers on the comics page although it really should be on the editorial page. Both the Williamsport Sun Gazette and the Elmira Star Gazette carry Mr. Trudeau's editorial.

Today this left-leaning (if it leaned any further, it would fall down) piece that is occasionally humorous hit upon the theme of President Bush being the "Worst. President. Ever." (Yes, he used the single word sentences to drive home his point.)

It angered me at first that Trudeau would harp upon such a falsehood. Especially with the Democrat Convention this week featuring such luminaries as Presidents Carter and Clinton.

Mr. Carter, lest we forget led an administration that saw the US embassy staff in Iran held hostage for months while he did nothing but whine. He also led the US economy into a real recession with double digit inflation and interest rates. And, of course, we should remember long lines at gas stations because of the OPEC nations withholding of oil. Since retiring from office, Mr. Carter has hopped around the world searching for a platform from which his criticism of the USA can be made. Usually this entails cozying up to leftist dictators.

And Mr. Clinton was impeached. Not for having sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky, but for lying about it. He oversaw the weakening of the US military to the joy of our enemies while at the same time commanding strikes in Somalia and the Balkans. Like Carter, Clinton kissed up to the Palestinians to get them to sign a peace accord, the Oslo Accords, which lasted about as long as it took for the signatures to dry. There was Travelgate, White Water and the Marc Rich pardon. And the Lincoln Bedroom might as well have been a luxury suite at the Hyatt considering how it was rented out to the highest contributor. Such dignity while in the Oval Office!

So I guess the likes of G. B. Trudeau need to repeat the "Worst. President. Ever." meme often and with vigor in the hopes that someone, somewhere may believe that it is true and will forget the actions and character of the last two Presidents who had a (D) after their names.

3:00 AM

The ridiculousness of a 3 AM text message from Obama to his supporters telling them that he has chosen Biden for a running mate has some folks upset.

Some didn't like the fact that the main stream media seemed to know the evening before when they (the text recipients) were supposed to get an exclusive.

Some don't like the fact that they were awakened at 3 AM by their cell phones ringing.

Others just aren't happy The One chose an old white guy whose been in the Senate for ever.

To all of them I would say, remember who has shown the most support of Obama during this primary run. What time was it in Germany when the call went out? There's a six hour time difference making it 9 AM in the land where 200K allegedly showed up to hear The One speak.

Obama/Biden '08?

I've been trying to stay away from the Presidential politics but I'm finding it more and more difficult.

Don Surber says that Fox News Channel won’t air this ad because it upsets people to consider who Barack Obama calls friends.



Perhaps it is time to start upsetting people. With friends like this, Obama shouldn’t even be in the Senate, let alone running for the Presidency.
(And that doesn’t even take into account Rev. Wright, Tony Rezko, or the rest of the Chicago machine and everyone under the bus.)


The McCain folks were quick to pick up on Obama’s choice of Biden for VP. And they played dirty. They used direct quotes from Biden.



Ed Morrisey on the timing of the text message announcement:

I’m not sure a political campaign could possibly screw up a running-mate announcement as badly as Team Obama. The e-mail message that the world awaited for days finally came — at 4:50 am ET.

Michelle Malkin says It’s Smarmy and Smirky ‘08!

If this was such a great choice, why announce it very late Friday night/early Saturday morning? This is the time when all bad news is usually announced because newsrooms are undermanned and because no one is going to be paying attention come Saturday morning.

Also, Peggy Noonan wrote this week in the Wall Street Journal about why Barack Obama seems to be falling in recent polls:
They're Paying Attention Now.


Oh, yeah, I nearly forgot. The man hasn’t been declared the official candidate yet. That might happen next week at the convention in Denver. Might not.

Marauders!

Well, the deer got all those rose buds I talked about the other day. Terry noticed they were nipped off this morning as she went to harvest more zucchini from the garden.

Monday night I thought I heard a deer huffing outside but couldn't spot one even with the million candle power light. Flower buds are like candy to deer. Concentrated energy.

*sigh*

At least I won't have to do much pruning. I will have to see about a small fence tall enough to prevent a repeat next year.

Company at the Aerie

Yesterday, Terry and I celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary and were lucky enough to have company to help us do so. My fishing/hunting buddy and Terry's cousin, Joe, and his wife, Pat, stopped by for the night as they made the circuit from NJ-Catskills-Niagara Falls-and back to NJ.

The two of them are great people and it's always a pleasure to just kick back and relax with them around. This being their first visit to the Aerie, however, we didn't relax much! After a tour of our home, we gave them an auto tour of the county as we went over to Wellsboro, Leonard Harris State Park (The Grand Canyon of PA), and up Route 287 to Hammond-Tioga Lakes and the Corps of Engineers facility before returning to the Aerie via Route 15 and Mansfield.

Joe was born on Terry's 5th birthday so they've always had a "connection" as she figured he was a present. He was into hunting long before I begged him to show me the ropes and help me get started. He and I have been going to Quebec to fish out of Ceasar's Lodge for over 15 years. They have three kids and our two are about the same age as their two oldest. They have become grandparents as their eldest has been married for two years and has a little girl. Joe will be retiring next June/July and they will then be looking to move out of NJ to southwest Virginia. Pat is an RN and will continue to work part time wherever they end up.

We ate and drank and talked for the balance of the night, generally enjoying the comfort that comes with being around good friends.

They just left and I miss them already.

Fay is coming to Disney World

I'm glad I don't have plans to be in Orlando this week...or Tampa or St. Pete or just about anywhere in Florida.



I've friends and family in the Tampa area and almost due east over near the Cape. Here's hoping they stay safe.

Fidgitty Frittelaries

Walking about the yard yesterday while snapping pictures, I spotted this one orange butterfly (one of the many frittilaries) sitting upon a flat stone sunning itself--or maybe it was advertising as a streetwalker does.



Moments after I took that picture of the frittilary flapping its wings and posturing upon the stone, a second one showed up and a short and--I imagine--suggestive dance took place with the first leading the second around the stone before taking off for the field of goldenrod and bergamont. It reminded me of the newsreels of Gypsy ROse Lee dancing for LBJ--lots of shaking and wagging and fan/wing waving.



I suppose they went off to make little fritillary caterpillars or something.

More Bird Pics from Sunday morning.

Sunday morning while standing on the deck getting buzzed by the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, I also took pictures of some of the other visitors to the feeding area. Using the digiscoping equipment (Nikon Fieldscope ED III and Nikon Coolpix P1) I was able to capture some of the larger visitors who were willing to sit still long enough. The smaller ones (Tufted Titmouse, Chipping Sparrow, Black-capped Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatch, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Dark-eyed Junco, Hairy Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker) were either too quick for me--zooming in for a seed and disappearing into the trees before I could focus, or just too doggone jittery for a good picture. Others, like the American Robin and Eastern Towhee stayed too far afield for me to get them in the scope before they moved on.




An immature Northern Cardinal. You can tell it's an immature by the spikey, bright red Mohawk it is sporting. (Actually, the gray on the back and mottled white breast help too.) This is probably a male (again the Mohawk is prominent) and he'll be bright red in a couple of weeks.



Another immature bird. This time it's a Blue Jay. Man, that's a face only a mother could love! Lucky for this bird, it will sport much brighter and colorful facial feathers in a week or two. Male or female? Only a member of the opposite sex could be sure!



That immature Blue Jay was accompanied by at least one adult.



Several (okay, make that over a dozen) Mourning Doves have found the yard a good place to pick up a free meal from the spilled seed. Unfortunately, several have fallen prey to the local semi-feral cats who like to stake out our feeders for a (nearly) free meal.

A rose by any other name....

Last spring, Terry and I were down at the Agway when we noticed some Sub-Zero Roses on sale.

Well, we had already pounded some holes into our clay and rock mixture of a yard, but this plant didn't look like it need much more than a little hole so we bought it. It was only about $10 and Terry likes roses. It didn't take much to chisel out a one-and -a-half-gallon hole, pour in some peat moss and potting soil and plant the little twig of a rose bush in the sun.

Well, by golly, something went right. It started to grow! And then it started to put out flower buds. Three of them to be exact. And then in early July the roses opened. They were gorgeous but all too soon they were gone and I thought we would have to prune and wait till next year for more flowers.

Curiously, despite Japanese beetles all over the raspberry bushes and the blackberry canes (next year there will be traps!), there didn't seem to be any attacking our little rose bush. The leaves were unmarked and glossy green signs of a very healthy plant.

A little over a week ago we noticed another batch of blossoms appearing on the little bush which still stands less than 2 feet tall. There are now seven buds in various stages of maturity.

Goldenrod and Yellow Jackets

I mentioned that the goldenrod was about to burst into bloom a week or so ago. Well, some of it has.

This is one of the most undeservedly maligned plants out there. Everyone believes it is responsible for the hay fever (runny nose, itchy eyes, etc.) which really begins to affect people about the same time as these yellow flowers appear. In reality, it is not the goldenrod that is the cause. Another plant, one with non-descript green flower that blooms at the same time: ragweed.

I used to be terribly allergic to grass, tree and especially ragweed pollen. From mid-August to October I would be one messed up person. And then it would start all over in mid-April when the trees would start blooming. I have undergone desensitization shots to reduce the problem to almost nothing. Still, when it's time to pull ragweed from the garden up north, I don my long sleeve shirt and leather gloves because if any part of the plant touches bare skin....

I used to be allergic to bee and wasp stings, too, but a long series of shots fixed that problem and I no longer have to face the possibility of sudden death should I run into a yellow jacket (a type of wasp) or fifty.

The goldenrod flower blooms just when many flowers have faded and its many florets supply pollen and nectar for insects well into the fall. In fact, while milkweed plants and flowers may fuel the Monarch Butterfly's caterpillar and young adult, it is the goldenrod in one form or another that sees that it can migrate south in the fall.



These may not be my favorite insects (Yellow Jackets) but this is one of the busier fueling stations in the yard right now.

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.

I wonder, has anyone has ever been gored to death by a hummingbird?

I could ask by friend Joyce out there in Colorado on the Front Range just north of the Air Force Academy. Last time we visited her, she had 8 large hummingbird feeders arranged on her deck rail. Each had 6 or so feeding stations and every one of them had a waiting line. Yeah, she has a hummingbird infestation every summer that sees her go through several hundreds of pounds of sugar. And some of her little friends will land on your finger to sup.

Last year I was thrilled to have a pair of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds nesting somewhere nearby and visiting the feeders every day. There was one male and a female whom he would not allow to feed. He just kept chasing her away from the feeders every time he spotted her there. So I put up two more feeders to keep them separated. And it worked. They would feed maybe ten yards apart.

This summer started off the same way. One male staking out a territory and a female who seemed happy enough to mate and take orders. Then there was at least one more male and one more female as the feeders were supplemented by the wild bergamont, raspberries, blackberries, roses, and the perennials we planted.



With 7 or 8 little hummers in the yard, I've only managed to spot one adult male. The rest, like this one, are either females or young of the year that have not attained adult plumage yet.

This afternoon, I took my life in my hands and sat on the deck to watch the aerial display as humming birds zipped here and there chasing one another away from the feeders either in territorial fights or just for the heck of it. There were at least 7 or 8 zooming back and forth from the front deck to the woods; perching on the electrical wire or the hanging baskets; hovering a foot in front of my face; and chattering all the while. I got exhausted just watching them.



Several times I thought a bird flew so close that it went between my face and my eyeglasses. Or, barring that, in one ear and out the other.



Even when eating they keep the engine revved up.

Every now and then a truce would be declared and they would stop at the feeders to refuel.



Truce or no truce, a bird's got to be on the lookout for a sneak attack!

Soon the little guys and gals will need all the muscle they are building and energy they are storing as they will make one of the great migrations to the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico and beyond to the Yucatan.

Blackberry Jam

I went up the hill this afternoon and picked blackberries. I had been out there last Friday for about an hour and picked about three pints. But I had been rushed and was keeping my eye on the time since I had to drive the Tundra in to get it serviced and inspected. Today I had all the time in the world and came back with two quarts of blackberries. That was more than enough to make four and a half pints of blackberry jam. Which I did.


I was a little afraid the stuff wouldn't set up properly as three of the pint jars were very, very liquid even after quite a time out of the water bath. I began to think the pectin might have been a tad too old. But then I recalled it had worked fine with the blueberries. Eventually, the jam set and solidified nicely once it reached room temperature. Unfortunately, the seeds from the crushed blackberries separated and floated toward the top so the first couple of tablespoons out of those slow setting pints will be chock full of small seeds. Maybe next time I'll go through the trouble of running the mash through a jelly bag and make jelly instead of jam.

I now have 8 pints of blueberry jam and 4 1/2 pints of blackberry jam in the larder. And that's not counting the quart bags of blueberries in the freezer or all those zucchini breads stacked up in there like so many bricks.

Now I go in search of fresh peaches. And tomatoes. And then apples!

The Birdchaser: BIADD

The Birdchaser: BIADD

The above site has a diagnosis for what ails many an avid birder. BIADD = Bird Induced Attention Deficit Disorder.

And I am a sufferer (?) of this ailment.