69 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 4-4-16”

  2. Good evening, Jo.
    Good morning, all.
    So, I awakened at 5:00 with fever and a severe headache…looks like I’ve succumbed to the flu. Perfect. Please pray Becca doesn’t get it, too….

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  3. Good Morning Everyone. I have ragged fingernails and cuts and scratches on my hands. It’s my own fault because I refuse to wear garden gloves. We do have the basic bones of three new flower beds in the back yard to show for it. God love my husband, he lives in constant pain in his back but he was out there helping me just the same. I quit before he did. It is still wet back there and I was crouched down to plant–because being all girlified like I am I didn’t want to kneel or sit on the wet grass and mud. I also didn’t want to itch.

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  4. Ann, be careful and take good care of yourselves. It seems to me that getting the flu in warmer weather is harder on your body. It has to be hard being the getting sick when you already have a sick child. Luckily, all three times BG had it, I didn’t get it.

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  6. Oh, Kim! I love my garden gloves. I have some plants that have thorns or stingers. I wear them as much as possible. My hands are nothing great to look at anyway. 🙂

    Hope you both get well fast, Ann.

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  7. Good morning! I have a pair of gardening gloves and I wore them to haul the trash can to the street along with the other can of yard debris this morning. My friend in CA sent the gloves one year in one of our gift box exchanges. The gloves probably get used more than anything else she has given. I don’t use them for weed pulling though since I have to use the sense of touch to make sure I follow the weed to its root in the ground and don’t mistakenly pull the wrong plant.

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  8. That gull has a great viewing pedestal! Good pics, Donna.

    Why do I never remember seeing baby gulls? All I haver ever seen at the beach look grown. Maybe I am not there at the right time to see the young?

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  9. Good morning. It snowed here two days ago, so I’m not doing much gardening. 🙂 Although it did get into the 70s yesterday, so that was very nice.

    I hope you can get good rest, Ann. I pray the flu doesn’t get any farther through your household, and that you and Lindsey are restored to health soon.

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  10. Here’s a piece of music I heard for the first time yesterday. A quick and good Monday-morning pick-me-up I’ll share with you.

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  14. Photos were taken at the fishing slip where there are always plenty of birds waiting for scraps. There used to be a big fishing fleet here but it shrank as competition from canneries in Mexico drew business south.

    It’s still a very cool area, though, gritty and smelly but a fascinating close-up look at a way of life that once dominated this community.

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  19. Eugene Robinson, he challenges what I think. Both of those are more opinion pieces though. I don’t have any news reporters I admire.

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  20. Work gloves, all the time. For gardening, feeding, shoveling, raking, mowing, setting mouse traps, emptying mouse traps.

    Speaking of mouse traps, the intrepid mouser continues. We know this because there are several mouse tails on the front porch.

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  21. Todd channels mumsee.

    As far as broadcast journalists go, I like (and miss) Brit Hume. He’s still on Fox as more of a commentator now, but definitely one of the better ones on that station. I like Jake Tapper at CNN, he’s fair and even-handed.

    The media landscape is often confusing and is certainly a mixed bag these days. While there’s much more diversity (which is good), consumers need to be much more discerning.

    I think it’s good to expose yourself to different voices — it goes against our natural tendency to listen only to those we agree with, but that also may be what’s partly responsible for our current state of polarization.

    In general, I prefer the straight news segments to commentary although there is room for both. On the radio I like Dennis Prager — I don’t always agree with him but I think he’s one of the more thoughtful people on “talk” radio.

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  22. No news reporters you admire mumsee? Ah-hem. cough cough.

    😀

    Reporting the news is tough these days, you’ll be accused of being biased no matter what. Sometimes there is bias, but sometimes it’s more of a perception based on the reader’s or listener’s own views.

    But the news business isn’t a monolith (though it’s often thought of and spoken of that way).

    In some ways, I think reporting was more conservative and tempered/cautious when all we had were three 30-minute nightly news shows. The explosion of the 24-hour news cycle, bloggers and the Internet has created something of a beast. The danger is that people listen only to their “side” (and I’ve been guilty of doing that).

    I think it was Hume who said in an interview recently that when Fox was created that the idea was it would spur other news channels to see that they were missing many stories that should be covered.

    Instead, he said, it led to a polarized news-commentary environment that now has people listening to only what they will agree with. What’s probably suffered as a result is the middle ground, I’m afraid, the down-the-middle news reports.

    “Faux” News as it’s called by liberals is detested (though rarely watched by them).

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  24. Now see? There is a good example of a news reporter ignoring the facts. The question was: Besides Donna, which news reporter do you admire? I already gave Donna her hug, way back there and Michelle stated Donna was obviously outside the box and fully appreciated, and she wants more. That’s okay, I will give it. I admire your reporting, Donna. I have read some of it and it is thoughtful and thorough. And I watch as you chase down stories in all directions. I am continually amazed by your energy and focus. Something I could never do or even keep up with.

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  25. Looks like we will be testing the theory with those tomatoes today. Lots of rain and possible snow with lows in the low thirties. Highs in the high forties.

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  28. _________________________________

    Ventura, Calif. – For the first time in history, anyone with an internet connection will have the opportunity to watch a California condor egg hatch in the wild via a live video camera. Eyes will be glued to livestreaming footage from a cliffside nest at Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge in Ventura County, California that will capture the special event and journey to adulthood in real-time. …

    “This live cam takes the viewer right into the nest cave with the condors to watch their behavior and hear the sounds they make,” says Charles Eldermire, Bird Cams manager at the Cornell Lab. “We hope it will really raise awareness about these spectacular but highly endangered birds and the threats they face. We know from past experience that people form a real emotional connection to the birds they see on the cams as they witness a part of nature they’ve never seen before.”

    The egg was incubated as part of the California Condor Recovery Program’s captive breeding effort at Los Angeles Zoo, ….

    … Today, due to intensive, ongoing recovery efforts by multiple public and private partners, including a captive breeding program, the California condor population has grown to around 430 birds worldwide, with more than half of the population flying free. …
    ________________________________________

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  30. Thanks Kevin. 🙂

    More on the condors:

    “On April 2, the captive-bred egg was placed into the nest. The soon-to-be condor parents, 22-year-old female condor, California condor #111 and her seven-year-old mate, California condor #509, have been courting since fall of 2014, and hatched their first wild chick together in April 2015. Sadly, the pair’s first chick died from lead poisoning, a harsh reality of the man-made threat condors continue to face in the wild.”

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  32. Good Afternoon, Y’all!
    Haven’t been here much lately…lots going on…I’ll catch y’all up soon…

    Pics make me homesick for the beach…and instantly reminded me of Jonathan Livingston Seagull!

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  33. I don’t watch television news much anymore. The time c offices with what Art wants to watch. Mostly I can’t tell much difference between the shows and news stories, except generally the show have better looking characters.
    🙂 😦

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  36. The Navy tried to do that to us but we evaded them for the moment. I did have to give up my local pharmacists, however, for CVS. Irritating but the costs to stay with the little guy . . . .

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  38. Yes Express Scripps– now you do save a bit of money with them and when it’s all running smoothly with your account it’s got it’s conveniences — when something goes haywire, it’s a real hassle to fix sometimes

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  39. Hugs to everyone!
    The news reporter I admire is Shannon Bream (FoxNews). I believe everything she tells me. 😉

    A five hour trip is harder than it used to be. and when I got home, I had to change the rear turn signal light on the Merc. It took about half an hour because I had to go in from the trunk and everything was awkward. Only three screws were involved, but they were hard to get to.

    But it wasn’t a bad trip, speed limit all the way.
    TSWITW is still there with her sisters. A lot of racket in the background when I called. It will be that way till Friday. Five women in that place.
    You can see why I made my escape.

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  40. Janice, actually many of the gulls you see are probably juveniles, since it takes four or five years to get into their full adult plumage. Gulls are maddeningly hard to identify if you live in a region with more than one or two species, since they have slightly different plumage winter and summer, and juvenile plumage varies year by year until they reach adult plumage. Here in Indiana, I photographed some gulls and almost didn’t even try to identify which species they were, knowing that about gulls. But I looked up which species we have anyway, realized we have just two, and the ring-billed gull is distinctive both in looks and in actions (it often hangs out in parking lots), so it was obvious which species I had.

    Well, a couple of years ago we were in Michigan, and I got a bunch of photos of gulls with black heads. I didn’t get any really super detailed shots, but I figured identification should be easy, since they had all-black heads. Then I discovered that Michigan has several species of gulls with all-black heads and white bodies. Oh well!

    I suspect, though, that the reason you don’t see any fuzzy fledgling-looking gulls is the same reason you don’t see such obviously juvenile pigeons, downy woodpeckers, or several other birds: they don’t leave the nest until they are full-size and have adult-looking feathers. (In the case of the downy woodpecker, you can tell a juvenile male because his red patch is on the top of his head, not the back, and male and female juveniles both act clumsier than adults. But just to look at them, it isn’t obvious they’re fledglings.) Sparrows and finches leave the nest when they still have fuzzy looks and really short tails; and robins that have just fledged look much different from adult robins. Baby bluebirds are really cute, too. But that isn’t true of all birds.

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  41. I am happy to report that I got that rose buried, the one husband brought home from Home Depot yesterday. One of the roses in my rose garden had died. Yes, I know how to get roses started, but I went the easy way instead so it would fill the space quicker. And, I wanted to have a better idea what I was getting.

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  42. Cheryl, I thought of you yesterday as I was watching the Golden Eagles circling my guinea fowl and soaring into the sky beyond sight. That is not why though. I thought of you because I was looking at the blue bird house on the buck goat run. The bluebirds were killed by the cats years ago and the swallows have been using it. But this time I was watching a sparrow go in and set for a while, then it would fly out and a swallow would fly in and set for a bit. Any chance they would lay eggs in the same nest and raise the others’ hatchlings?

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  44. Busy day. I worked in the office with Guy today. I got ready to come home because I have multiple monitors at home, and I need to have several programs open. He had sent a to-do list this morning and asked what I got done off the list. I looked and told him nothing. I reminded him that he had been sitting next to me all day and knew I had been busy.

    I have an interview tomorrow at 9 am. Please pray things go smoothly in the morning and I won’t be a wreck when I get there.

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  45. We were forced into mail order long ago. We have the local for emergencies. I spent time last week dealing with a major switch with insurance. I wonder what our great, great grandparents would think about all this?

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  47. I have not checked the prayer thread, but I saw on Facebook that Michelle may have broken her arm at Zumba. I hope that was a late April Fool’s bad trick, but somehow I don’t think so. 😦

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  48. Mumsee, no, those two species wouldn’t share nesting duties–more likely a female house sparrow would evict the rightful owners and lay her own eggs. But it’s likely you are seeing male and female swallows. Females (at least in some species) don’t have the forked tails and they’re marked more plainly. But swallows are not birds I know a whole lot about.

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  49. Well, the past several years, I thought the female looked like the male but then this year, it changed so I thought I might not remember correctly. I don’t mind if the sparrow took over, the swallows were pretty mean to the bluebirds until the cat stepped in. We have lots of nesting places though, so something can be found.

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  50. Oops, I opened somebody else’s piece of mail. We got a whole bunch of envelopes from the courthouse to different eighteen year olds and me and I thought to my husband who has the same name as one of the eighteen year olds. I picked up the one to husband or me to find out what we were learning now only to learn it was a notice that son had a fine for failure to provide proof of insurance. We thought we had him convinced to get his insurance through his own options since he is no longer a student and no longer living at home. But he is living with people who don’t think insurance is that big of a deal, or heeding laws at all. Soooo, I wrote him a letter and enclosed the notice. In the letter I explained the notice so he would know what the ramifications of not paying on time might be. Not sure his people there would tell him. I don’t think this boy would do well in jail. Hopefully, he will listen, but I am not sure. I will back it up with seventeen year old contacting him. Seventeen has been his guide for the past six years. Maybe he will listen to him.

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  51. The others, as far as I know, are notices of party affiliation and where we are to vote. Shocking as it is exactly where I voted the last eighteen years. Our government at work.

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  53. This is Donna’s virtual hug.

    I agree that it is good to listen to the opposition once in a while. Or to listen to someone more radical than yourself. I often listen to Michael Savage at night. I don’t like most of his attitude (he yells a lot) or his support for Donald Trump. But he makes sense on many Conservative issues. The same with Bill Cunningham. I stopped listening to Rush when his ego took over the show. And Hannity has an annoying voice. Denis Prager, on the other hand, has a calming effect with his voice, and is reasonable in his presentation.

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  58. And they could fly around the living room and land on the couch. And sleep on her pillow. Maybe perch on the dogs as they got bigger. Because, she would have the whole flock following her around, idolizing her.

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  60. Mumsee,

    Funny you should mention swallows…….

    The females around here look like the males, but less color. You will see quite a few examples tomorrow, along with a short video. 🙂

    Seriously, I’m not kidding. 🙂

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  61. Brother just told me of an unusual activity that some young people participated in when my mother was young. A young person would go to a house, knock on the door, when it was opened, the young person would walk in uninvited and take a seat, sit there, and not say a word. They called those who did it ‘dry sitters.’ Brother said one came to my mother’s home and that her brother got the shotgun and threatened to shoot if they did not speak or leave. This was in NY Alabama about 50 miles from Mississippi. Has anyone ever heard of that? Maybe Michelle in all her research? Maybe Chas?

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  65. My grandpa Charlie would come out from Iowa every year as he was getting up in age.

    He loved visiting several places — among them, the Angel’s Flight red car line in downtown LA and the swallows returning, right on schedule, to the old mission at Capistrano in Orange County.

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  66. Beautiful bird Donna…and hugs to you our favorite reporter!!
    Praying for you and yours Ann….thankful Connie is there to care for you!
    I dislike Express Scripts….after Paul retires it won’t matter much….it’s all out of pocket no matter where I go….
    Long day…worked all day, stopped at grocery after work, came home ate, sat down to watch a bit of Antiques Roadshow and panicked thinking we forgot to lock the front doors at the shoppe….texted my coworker (shop owner is out of town this week) she said she didn’t lock the doors….I didn’t lock them…Paul and I drive as fast a we could back into town…got to the shoppe and the doors were locked…how did it happen…I don’t know…I think I’m losing my mind….on the way home we stopped at ChickFilA and got a chocolate milk shake….I feel better now 🙂

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  67. hmmm…. 66 is the number we ended with yesterday so I will mess it up. 🙂
    I did graduate in 67 so that is a good number.
    Okay, my newsletter is approved. I have Ann’s email address, is anyone still up who would please send me 6arrows email? I don’t have it. Of course she can always get it late.
    Coming soon to an email near you…

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  68. thanks to Nancyjill being awake in the middle of the night, I have the email!
    First day of term 4 tomorrow morning.
    I will have to be up and at em and ready to go.
    I get paid in hugs! 🙂

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