75 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 8-18-15”

  1. Good morning everyone.

    Peter. I’m just waiting to make my bets. I expect to walk away with a dozen “Attaboys” when it’s over.
    Noj! I won’t return my trophies.

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  8. Donna, I’m doing my part for monarchs. I have at least three caterpillars I’m watching, maybe more (I think it’s more like five, but I don’t always find one on a given plant when I look for it). The caterpillars have five growth stages, called “instars,” meaning that they can grow only so much before they shed their skin and get a bigger one. And the bigger one will be a bit more boldly marked than the one before it.

    So far in my backyard I have photographed the monarch laying eggs, an egg, an egg about to hatch, a first instar caterpillar (which is really, really tiny) and a second instar cat. On the edge of the soybean field down our street, I have got a fourth and a fifth, so I still need a third. (The one(s) on our milkweed need to live long enough, another couple of days.)

    But I really, really want a chrysalis, and an emerging new butterfly. I suspect the fifth-instar I’ve been watching will make a chrysalis today, so I’ll check on it periodically.

    Once I get every stage, I’ll find a way to link to the photos, and probably send AJ a couple of them. But hopefully I can find the chrysalis. (Don’t worry, I didn’t see–or photograph–any butterfly sex, so it will be G-rated.)

    This morning I also got some decent photos of a golden orb-weaver spider on its web, something I’ve wanted since I once saw a field full of them along the road when I was driving, but didn’t have a camera with me. I got out and looked at them, but I couldn’t photograph them. (I’m not sure it was the same species, but some large impressive spider with a large impressive web, and there were a lot of them.)

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  9. I cannot stand to be micro-managed. I cannot stand to have to make a detailed list of everything I do each day when I am not allowed to plan out a daily schedule. All day, every day I react to the latest crisis.

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  11. Don’t send me no spider pics. I won’t post them. Spiders creep me out. 😯

    In fact I tried to kill several last night. But the new bug spray I bought doesn’t work very well. I drowned ’em with it, but it didn’t kill ’em. You think a bug spray made by Terminex would be good stuff, but you’d be wrong, and you’d waste 6 bucks to find that out. Save your money. I’m thinking if I ever have a bug problem, I won’t call them.

    ————————————-

    The deer in the header are nice, but what I really like is the lighting from the moon rising in the background. It makes the whole thing look kinda surreal.

    Kare also sent me some predator shots too. I figured I’d post the prey today and the predators on a later day.

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  12. I thought this was interesting and kind of telling on the Idaho mindset:
    http://lmtribune.com/northwest/crews-gain-some-ground-on-area-s-multitude-of-fires/article_275f417e-0a5c-54c7-8e0e-ce3002d4b0e0.html

    http://lmtribune.com/northwest/residents-tell-of-battling-the-beast/article_9cf3b37f-2f14-5b8a-8e08-d36c1464bc86.html

    http://lmtribune.com/northwest/fires-leave-livestock-feed-in-short-supply/article_4fd1192f-c11f-53dc-bf74-615d8aa98a87.html

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  14. Cool, Kare!

    Chas, do you have any leftovers, such as cake, to enjoy from yesterday?

    Does anyone here take CoQ10? I saw that Dr. Don Colbert recommends two per day for hypertension. I took two yesterday and my BP did go down. I had just been taking one.

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  15. Cheryl, yesterday you mentioned the cicada shed skins. We visited friends in the country when I was young. They had a lot of pine trees around their house. I went on a hunt for those cicada skins every chance I got. With their little sharp claws, I could hang them on things around the house. So I could really relate to what you wrote about your collection of crayfish 🙂

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  17. Funny, I don’t remember my brother doing that. I think he was probably out in the woods with his friend probably looking for bigger creatures. Those shed skins are really quite dainty and fragile, thus their appeal to girls 🙂

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  19. Don’t worry, AJ, I didn’t intend to send the spider shot. I know they bother a lot of people. For me, as long as it isn’t a black widow, it’s OK. We had lots and lots of black widows growing up, and there are few things creepier in life than walking along and hearing a tearing sound and knowing you walked into a black widow web and you don’t know where the spider is. (I don’t know if any other spider webs make noise when you tear them, but theirs do.)

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  20. The best I got for my BD was the chance to steal some chocolate cookies while no one was looking. And some ice cram on my apple pie for dinner.

    Janice I used to take CoQ10. During a physical a couple of years ago, the Dr. asked what I was taking. I mentioned the vitamins, then said, “I took a bottle of CoQ10 but stopped. They promised to make me feel like I’m 25 again. I’d settle for 55, but I couldn’t tell any difference so I stopped.” He didn’t recommend that I continue. I presently take no prescription medicine. I take fish oil because Elvera tells me to, I take Presrevision (vitamins) for my eyes and I take something that’s supposed to help with prostate problems. (You wouldn’t know about that.)

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  23. Dear Deleted,
    I will let you know next time I am going to be in Santa Rosa. I am sure we could meet for lunch at a better place than Kentucky Colonel or McDonald’s. Are you near US 101?

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  24. Wonderful photos, loved the moon shot.

    I take CQ whatever it is, 1 a day — my doctor has me taking fish oil also.

    A big caterpillar crossed my path on the front steps the other morning, he looked fat, spikey & orange. And there were several monarch butterflies fluttering in my lavender bush the other day.

    Late meeting for me last night — it was 10:30 p.m. by the time I filed the coyote story. California Fish & Wildlife are setting up new “wildlife watch” groups for communities battling coyote invasions — at least (after several children have been bitten in Orange County in recent months) it’s a little more proactive than the “live and let live” message they’ve been peddling for years, but I’m afraid it’s too little too late.

    The groups work like Neighborhood (crime) Watch groups, with neighbors banding together to make sure all food sources are cut off and to let each other know where and when coyotes have been sighted.

    There have been several sightings on my street so I guess Annie’s outdoor time will get more restricted again, although i’m still not inclined to keep her indoors 24/7.

    Got to meet the LA city wildlife guy whom I’ve emailed with for about a year now about coyotes — he attended and I caught up with him as he was leaving to introduce myself.

    Tonight it’s a meeting on the homeless that I have to cover. My editor says I can work from home today, still debating whether I need to go in or not. It’s a tempting offer.

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  25. Oops. I like the part where the deputy tells them they are going to get shot in the head if the homeowners find them lurking around. Though I suspect that is not politically correct.

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  26. Are your coyotes homeless? You might consider sending them to Central Park, we are talking of sending our wolves and grizzlies there. Where they can be appreciated.

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  27. This morning, when our daughter left for work, she simply said, “Bye.” Why is this noteworthy? It’s the first time someone else didn’t have to take her! Both of our girls are now licensed drivers, which saves us two round trips into town twice a day on every day she works.

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  28. Coyotes, wolves and bears are wild animals. They do not mix well with people.
    They are better seen at a distance.
    And they are better in their own habitat, whatever that is.
    It isn’t in the city or your neighborhood.

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  29. We can probably give them the decorated Tiny Houses.

    Shotgun diplomacy? We are shocked.

    The idea here in L.A. is to love and preserve wildlife, mumsee. They are special. They mean well. In reality, they want to be our friends, just like Mr. Disney says.

    We are one big family, all related.

    But we people are getting mildly annoyed finding half-eaten cat carcasses on our drought-struggling front lawns.

    So we are being trained in how to gently dissuade and deter the immigrant coyotes from snatching our pets and children.

    We think this will work.

    They just need to be led back to the wilderness. We can do this.

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  30. I have something in my gun safe that might help. Remember, Idaho is the wilderness. We do not want your coyotes. Or Canada’s wolves. Or grizzly bears for that matter. They all need to move to Canada. Right, Kare? Phos? Hello????

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  32. Who knows, neighborhood telephone trees just might work.

    One thing I find curious is how the wildlife officials keep blaming the drought for coyote migration — while that might be a factor, coyotes moving into cities has become a nationwide phenomenon, they’re highly adaptable and have figured out that meals are easy to come by wherever there are large numbers of people.

    Chicago and NY are both having problems — and it’s been building for years now.

    No one is sure how many coyotes there even are, there are no reliable population counts.

    I asked one of the fish & wildlife guys about where we’ll be in 5 years if the population keeps growing, he said only that “mother nature” would take care of it by naturally restricting their numbers (assuming food sources can be cut off).

    That’s a tall order, cutting off all natural food sources for coyotes which are known scavengers. How do you even really do that? There’s always trash cans, pet food, pets …

    But at least now people maybe will feel like they’re “doing” something about it with the new groups. I don’t mean to be cynical (but I’m doubtful it’ll be any kind of a big fix).

    Still, it’s better than the naive “well, they were here first” responses I’ve heard from people who oppose even so much as chasing them away from your neighborhoods.

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  33. I was off to the dentist this morning where I did not hear the good news of ‘all is well; come back in six months’. 😦 However, I was chuckling to myself as the dental assistant was telling me about the hunting shack she and her brother just built this summer. She is currently getting ready for bear hunting. I thought I should mention that she make sure they don’t have a collar and are not someone’s pet. She may find herself out of a job! We do have collared bears and a sanctuary where they can be watched. Otherwise, most people here are not going to object to one less bear to get into garbage cans or bird feeders.

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  35. I’ve been on a FB page for the last 18 months or so called San Pedro: born and raised and proud of it, or something like that. I got on it about the same as my high school reunion class set up a page.

    As a result, I’ve spent more time learning about my hometown in the last 18 months and thinking about people and places I’ve haven’t seen in easily 30-40 years, than ever.

    Today, someone posted about the death of Father Jabro, who was the priest at Holy Trinity Church. Long ago when I was 17ish, after I’d become a Christian and shifted to the Lutherans, I had a vivid dream. This is what I remembered upon waking: “And Father Jabro will speak.”

    It was Sunday, so I went to mass. He spoke. I don’t remember him saying anything memorable, but I’d always liked him.

    In reading through the comments, I saw he had left the church. I googled, and discovered he had his own web page, a wife, and was an engagement and bereavement counselor. He also did weddings–any type you liked. No mention of the Catholic Church, he was Rev. Bob Jabro.

    He seemed harmless enough, but I’ve been downcast about him all morning long. It’s one thing to leave the Catholic priesthood for the reason my father-in-law did, not believing in God anymore, which is absolutely the right decision. But to me, it’s something else to go from giving your life to Jesus and then wandering off into something that looks like unitarianism.

    My husband and I were talking about it–if you disavow that first vow to serve God all your life, does that completely undermine your relationship to Jesus?

    I’ve only know three ex-priests, but all of them wandered far from the cross. It grieves my heart this morning.

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  37. Trying to verify the spelling of a name that’s in my story that’s already posted — which is requiring a lot of phone calls and emails. Still debating whether to work from home or not today. But I guess I already am.

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  38. Ah, raccoons are another issue and apparently some raccoon trappers have been releasing them in the park where last night’s meeting was held. I remember getting calls from people about a year ago saying their dogs were getting attacked by the raccoons as they walked them there … but, of course, there also are lots of feral cats so you have cat food being left out by the feeders.

    Again, how do you ever remove all the food sources for coyotes once they settle into a community? I don’t think you really can.

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  41. My electric bill was only $133.00 which is low for July. But our annual property tax bill has skyrocketed up to $3,000.00. I have sticker shock. I think it was around 2,400.00 last year and recently was $2,000.00.

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  43. Janice is bragging about rain again

    We have a lot of open areas and a natural, wild ravine that cuts through several of our neighborhoods, providing a natural den for coyotes that then fan out into the neighborhoods in search of food.

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  44. Michelle, good question: “My husband and I were talking about it–if you disavow that first vow to serve God all your life, does that completely undermine your relationship to Jesus?”

    If we realize a vow is sinful, can we not break it? Taking vows as a Catholic priest, vowing not to marry for example, is a vow that one might realize is unbiblical. In which case, he might “break” his vow by leaving the priesthood and marrying.

    I have a couple more thoughts, but that is enough for the moment.

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  45. More on vows . . . I know someone who teaches children at camps, VBS, and such, and one of the things he does on some occasions is asking them to sign commitments that they will never drink alcohol, smoke, or take illegal drugs.

    For a couple of reasons, I don’t think that is a valid vow. One reason is simply that neither culture nor Scripture recognizes the validity of vows made by minors who are under parental authority without (in some cases) parental consent. That’s why minors cannot marry (though they sometimes can do so with parental consent), and if they’re young enough they cannot give consent to sex. If the child is in a household that believes drinking to be biblically acceptable, asking that child to make a vow otherwise is inappropriate–this is a gray issue, not black-and-white, and one cannot override parental authority in such a way.

    Second, the vow is made with the understanding that all of these are morally wrong. The child, without studying Scripture on the issue, is believing the adults who say drinking alcohol is always wrong. What if further study reveals otherwise? is he bound by that vow? I do not believe he is. Now, if he makes that vow at 50 and is later convinced by Scripture that drinking is acceptable, can he be released from his vow? I do not know. That is why Scripture says it’s better not to vow if there’s any question about the vow.

    Third, I can’t help but compare it to the vows we sometimes ask for, that children vow not to have sex until they are married. (From what I understand, a pretty large percentage of these young people “get around it” by engaging in oral sex, but that’s a different issue.) But in this case, what they are vowing not to do would be sin even without the vow. What does the vow add? I never made such a “vow.” But understanding that my body was not my own, and I was not free to give it to another until God joined us in marriage, I did make such a commitment–much the same way I’ve made a commitment not to murder, not to get drunk, and so forth. But we don’t need separate vows for each potential sin. We obey because God has commanded, we repent when we sin, and no vow is necessary.

    But what if someone has made an unbiblical vow, such as the vow to chastity? I don’t think that a vow to the Catholic church, which has no authority to ask for unbiblical vows in God’s name, somehow trumps Scripture, which tells us that the person who struggles with sexual temptation should not stay single, but should marry. It is not more holy to stay single. If I were counseling such a person, I’d send him to his pastor, but my inclination is that it is an errant vow, based on a false understanding of Scripture, and thus not binding–any more than a homosexual “marriage” would create a binding vow.

    My two cents worth.

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  47. Michelle,
    I have an appointment on the 28th in LA. I might be driving down on the 27th. Maybe we can meet for lunch. I am not firm on the dates yet so don’t count your chickens. I will let you know by the weekend though.

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  48. Just finished a bowl of Private Selections huckleberry pie ice cream. According to the carton, there was a recipe contest for ice cream flavors representing various states, and huckleberry pie was Idaho. It was OK, but I was thinking of “huckleberry” more than of “pie,” and the extra things in it didn’t, in my opinion, add to the berry flavor.

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  49. I can’t remember who was talking about that since same sex marriage has been legalized that many companies are dropping benefits for couples that were covered before but unmarried. Now the same sex couples are being forced to marry to keep benefits. Maybe that has been discussed on the blog and I missed it?

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  50. Pinatas can be tricky. We had one that was sealed too tightly and took a pounding before it released the goodies.

    Great memories of fun parties for son. That’s a wonderful activity for summer birthdays.

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  51. I don’t think it is a teacher’s place to require children or youth to do a vow unless it is a situation where parents are not involved with their children as in drug addicted, etc. That might be appropriate for some things like illegal underage activities, and any illegal activities at any age. When the Scouts went on their High Adventure trip to the Bahamas they all had to commit to no al oholic beverage consumption. If they broke the commitment it could mean the whole troop would be sent home although I think the laws were lax there about young people drinking. Two of the Scouts did break the commitment and got in serious trouble but they did not send the troop home. I think those two ended up no longer being in the troop, but I do not know if that was their choice or it was made for them. With the adult leaders being responsible for the group of young men, I felt that commitment was reasonable.

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  52. Morning all. Gray and cloudy here, it would be wonderful if those clouds would release some rain.
    I take vitamin D, fish oil, and turmeric. I upped the turmeric as Mumsee mentioned and am slightly better.
    Working after school on materials for a student who will be at the training course until Nov. 3, another going to Germany to visit family until Nov. 6, and a new student at the training course until December. That means getting everything ready for next term. Good thing the school secretary is such a hard worker. and my aide helps so much.

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  53. Husband’s pharmacist told him he could not OD on tumeric. Did you not know it always rains there? I read that somewhere so it must be true and you must be mistaken.

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  55. Janice, an agreement not to engage in a particular activity for a certain length of time–particularly a time period of one single event–isn’t really what I was thinking of in terms of a vow. What I had in mind was a lifetime commitment, signing “I will never . . . ” I would think, for example, that high schools could say, “None of our students are drinking age, and we need to make sure that if they drink, they know they are disobeying the law and also subject to discipline at school.” Therefore they make students sign an agreement “I will not drink alcoholic beverages while a student at X School, and I understand that if I do, I will be subject to the following consequences. . . .”

    That’s much different from “As a student at X School, I have learned that drinking alcohol is a sin. Therefore, I do covenant and swear that I will never consume alcohol as a beverage, and I will immediately leave a party where alcohol is being served, as long as I live, for the glory of God and in obedience to Him.” Or however they might word those vows to suggest that any good Christian would avoid alcohol and be willing to state so publicly.

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  58. Fish & Wildlife guys set up what looked like a stuffed coyote for their presentation at last night’s meeting. Kind of weird and creepy, it looked like he was posed in a mid-run or attack. I should have taken a picture of it. Might have made a nice banner shot.

    So I’m off to cover another tiny house-homelessness meeting tonight (at the library), both sides are rallying the troops from the looks of it. One person suggested bringing popcorn.

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  61. There is no faster way to cause a youth to run as far and as fast as they can away from the church than to make them sign some stupid vow. I had to sign a vow that I would not listen to rock music or go to the movie theater or attend a dance or some other stupid something. I had to sign it to attend the school (which my parents were paying for) or receive demerits which would cause me to be expelled every day until it was signed. It taught me to lie and then do what I wanted anyway. When I got out of that place I was un prepared for the real world. I also spent a while in my early 20’s swearing never to darken the doors of another church as long as I lived.
    Eventually I found my way back. I don’t think I ever lost my faith in God, but I sure don’t trust churches like other people do. I want a written doctrine and I don’t want a diva-minister. I want an humble servant of God

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  62. I am at the office now and see that beautiful header photo with the bright moon. I love it!

    There were many threatening clouds on the way down to the office. I hear a little thunder in the distance. It has already rained at least once today at home and may be raining right now by the looks of those dark clouds.

    Cheryl, there will probably always be those who act extreme when they are in charge of young people. Some will go the way you are mentioning, but I fear more are going in the opposite extreme and influencing young people to do things they would not have thought of on their own. I remember in my college Psychology class that the professor told us if we drink then brain cells die. But then he quipped about that we wouldn’t miss a few brain cells given how many we have. That was years ago. I have no idea what teachers joke about and say these days when they are wanting to influence the young in their own vices.

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  64. Re the person I know getting kids to sign vows: he has no real authority over them (he can’t “make them” sign something as the camp speaker), but he does have influence (children love him) and he can be really persuasive. If you convince children that drinking alcohol (along with drugs and tobacco) is really dangerous in addition to being morally wrong, what child won’t say, “Of course I won’t do something like that! I’ll sign.”

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  65. The moon picture is of mule deer (I’m pretty sure) or they could be white tail deer – the only two species found in the Canadian Prairies. The other picture is of an elk (wapiti).

    Grasslands National Park is where the moon picture was taken, and Prince Albert National Park was where the elk picture was taken.

    Bears, wolves and coyotes definitely live in MY neighbourhood (or, rather, I live in their’s), along with lynx, cougars and foxes.

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  66. Kare, thanks. They’re lovely!

    I saw that the second photo was labeled “elk” when you click on it and when I googled “elk” I did find one looking about like that. I’ve only ever seen females, and that only once, and the photos I’ve seen of males have always looked quite different. I’d love to be able to see male elk someday.

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  69. Elk bulls are quite majestic. That one’s antlers are not full grown yet, but you can tell by the brow tines that he’s going to have a full rack.

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  70. Aaaargh.

    Covered a chaotic (read: much shouting and even some tears) two-hour meeting, spent more than an hour writing the story when … our system crashed. Gone, everything.

    Just sent a text to my editor to see if he wants me to start over so it can post tonight.

    I’m tired. 😦

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  75. Janice, those who host him appreciate what he does; they agree with him. Remember that many Baptists do believe that consumption of alcohol is a clear sin.

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