35 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 9-13-18”

  2. Generally I try to avoid manmade objects in my nature photos, but sometimes it is a necessary part of the photo, as here. The repeating pattern is nice, but so is the way it allows us to see the toes of the male eastern goldfinch. He’s alert and in full summer splendor, and overall it works to show a bird that is wild but completely at home in human surroundings.

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  3. Silly question I know, but I have wondered about it for weeks.
    There is a commercial for Choice hotels on TV. A guy who has no apparent reason for being there, ends the commercial by saying “Or, byda book, byda boom”.
    Does anyone know what I’m missing here?

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  4. Lol, Chas. You sound like my husband. That commercial drives him nuts, because he tries to figure it out. It is stupid, but he remembers it, doesn’t he? Whether it makes anyone want to go to the hotels may be another matter. You are missing nothing.

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  9. I said eastern goldfinch, but meant to say American goldfinch. (Sometimes it’s hard to keep those secondary words straight, northern cardinal, American robin, eastern bluebird . . . )

    I love this little yellow bird. He is so bright and pretty in summer. But he can be seen and identified from farther away than just about any other small bird. First off, he’s so bright yellow, but his flight is very distinctive, too, a roller-coaster flight with multiple dips–you wonder how it doesn’t get dizzy. Even in winter, when the bird isn’t yellow, you can identify it half a block away by its flight.

    The female doesn’t have the black cap and she isn’t as bright. She’s a varying greenish yellow, sometimes almost bright enough you expect her to be a male and sometimes quite pale. As bright as this little fellow is, he pretty much disappears among sun-dappled leaves at times. It doesn’t look like camouflage he is wearing, but it very nearly is at times. He’s also bright and cheerful, comes readily to sunflower feeders, thistle feeders, and as Mumsee says to patches of weeds. They love coneflowers, and will check them several times during the season to see if the seeds are ripe yet, and they come in a flock when they are.

    They nest later in the summer than just about any other bird–they wait till thistle seeds are ripe. Most seed-eating birds feed their nestlings insects. Insects are plentiful in summer and they are high in protein for growing birds. But the goldfinch thinks insects aren’t good enough for his babies, so he waits to nest so he can feed them seeds. The goldfinch also uses thistle down for lining the nest.

    This is the male’s summer suit. By the time he is feeding fledglings, he is already molting out of it into a yellowish brown winter plumage that doesn’t look the same at all. Interestingly, he molts into summer dress over a period of several months. (I think the fall molt is quicker.) All birds molt at least once a year, but some, like the goldfinch, molt twice. Some, such as ducks, do one full molt and one partial molt. Actually, I think the goldfinch only molts its flight feathers once, too, keeping its black wings year-round, but don’t quote me on that. But starting in January, you see yellow feathers coming here and there in the winter plumage, and eventually he’s more yellow than brown, and one day he’s all yellow–but doesn’t seem to stay that way long.

    Of the really bright birds we have in the east, it seems only the cardinal stays bright and stays here all year. Hummingbirds are only here in the warm months. Orioles are only here long enough to breed, then they head to the tropics again. (And they look like they should be tropical birds.) Goldfinches molt out of their bright yellow plumage. Indigo buntings molt out of their bright blue AND they migrate south. But cardinals stick around and look beautiful and bright in the snow, so we can’t help but love them extra especially well. (Cardinals are the state bird of more states than any other species–seven. I realized only a year or two ago that those are seven contiguous states.Seven of us have decided we love this bright red bird that stays bright, and stays here, all year.)

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  10. Last night DJ mentioned being accused of being a liberal.

    I am sick and tired of people slapping a “liberal” or “conservative” label (or “Trump supporter” or “Never Trumper” these days) on someone, and then using it as a reason to dismiss what they have to say. I have seen thoughtful articles or comments completely dismissed (or not even read), because the writer was not of the correct political persuasion, or the source was considered too liberal or too conservative.

    There are articles in liberal sources that could give my conservative friends an interesting perspective to consider, and there are articles in conservative sources that could give my liberal friends an interesting perspective to consider. IF they will allow themselves to read them.

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  11. It’s really upsetting what’s happened to our public discourse. (this was what was posted about me yesterday: ” … has her own left leaning political opinion. She’ll never publish what you want & only if it fits her left view narrative.”)

    There was a comment that actually made me laugh.

    I sent that one to my former editor (who now heads up our investigative reporting team — he and I chat a lot about politics as we’re both conservatives) and said, “OK, now this one’s just funny.”

    It’s the comment (amid all the mud slinging I’d already gotten, with no specifics about the stories per se, mind you, just angry mud thrown) that freed me from worrying so much about what this particular group of people thought. (Um, because they don’t think? They just emote and react based on their own misconceptions.)

    The problem is people are now so used to their partisan media bubbles that any story that reports both sides strikes them as … Unfair! Biased! Slanted! Fill in the blank with 4 letter words attached. Boycott the paper!

    As someone who always strives to report both sides of these issues, I am continually perplexed by these reactions (and, again, when I asked for specifics to be emailed to me … Crickets.)

    One of them was upset because she sent me something like a page full of comments when I requested a response to something and I pulled a couple quotes from it. The nerve! I didn’t quote her comments, verbatim, in full. Huh?

    We have space and time limitations in what we can write and how someone who’s an adult doesn’t understand that baffles me. I probably won’t be contacting her (or many in “her” group) ever again for a comment, to be honest. I don’t need the grief. What’s happened to people’s critical thinking skills, not to mention their ability to, well, simply know how to work professionally with other people with some civility?

    The hostility out there is chilling. I, for one, have had enough of it.

    I think what they really want is advocacy journalism that touts their own particular view of an issue. They can’t (or refuse to) really see or admit that, I guess, but that’s what it all boils down to.

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  12. So bottom line is that truly objective, old-school journalism is attacked now by both sides because the “sides” are now so used to reading their own talking points alone.

    That’s what I mean when I say that bias so often now is in the eye of the reader or news consumer. Not always. But it definitely happens, I’ve seen it all too often now.

    Liked by 3 people

  13. That is pretty much how people have always thought. Listening to our own sides reinforces that what we believe must be true. It is not good but it seems to be the way of the world. But now we have become rude, and can’t seem to hear each other at all, assuming that anybody who does not agree with us is whacko.

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  14. Thank you, Kizzie, it is indeed. I am now much older and wiser than little brother (and Ricky, I think) and absolutely as old and wise as older brother. Sixty one.

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  16. And now we have the Internet and people flocking to the explosion of all manner of angry citizen “journalists” — on both extremes — who are basically provacateurs. People have started thinking that’s “news.”

    Ah, rain, I honestly can’t even hardly imagine it anymore. Maybe this year ….

    Happy Birthday Mumsee!

    What are we doing to celebrate?

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  20. Thank you, all. For celebration, I am thinking of actually going to town with husband and two children to buy feed for the animals. A regular party animal.

    Liked by 6 people

  21. Happy Birthday, Mumsee!!!
    ◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇
    AppleSlicesCookedW/cinnamonClovesBrownSugar&ButterYum
    SlightSweetendWhippedCream
    ~ChoppedToastedPecanLayer~
    CreamCheese&CoconutFrosting
    ~Spice&YellowSwirlCakeLayer~
    BarvarianCreamFillingW/Pecans
    ~Spice&YellowSwirlCakeLayer~
    SurroundedByMarzipanApples
    ○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○

    Enjoy!!!

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  22. Donna, it is because the consequences are more serious.
    It used to be a ‘go along, get along” thing.
    McCain campaigned, “I can cross the aisle.” That is give them only half of what they want. We’ll do the rest next year.
    Trump doesn’t work that way.

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  23. I thought I made the perfect fall apple cake, but when it came out of the oven, I saw the top had overflowed. Oops! It should still taste good, but if not, it can always be fed to the goats.🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐

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  25. Thank you, Janice, for the lovely cake. I will tuck my half away for another couple of weeks, we are still on the whole 30. No sugar, no grains, no dairy, no legumes, no strange additives. But that sure leaves a lot of good things to eat! Just not birthday cake.

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  26. Happy Birthday.

    People no longer know what “liberalism” is. I think in the true sense of the word many of us would identify ourselves as being liberal.

    This is the attitude of mind which has come to be known as liberal. It implies vigorous convictions, tolerance for the opinions of others, and a persistent desire for sound progress. It is a method of approach which has played a notable and constructive part in our history, and which merits a thorough trial today in the attack on our absorbingly interesting American task. [Guy Emerson, “The New Frontier,” 1920]

    https://www.etymonline.com/word/liberal

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  28. Happy Birthday, Mumsee. I am so glad to have met you. I picture you on your place enjoying your children and your animals. God has given you a unique job and you do it well. Blessings on your new year.

    Liked by 1 person

  31. Bonne… oops, I mean Happy Birthday Mumsee!

    Today was sit inside and do online coursework day. Blah. We just got a whole lot of homework to do again. You’d think we have nothing better to do than write summaries, and research papers, and presentations, and reflections, and journal…
    I’m whining and complaining, aren’t I?

    Liked by 1 person

  32. That is one term for it, but we will call it analyzing your circumstances, where you are priviledged with the opportunity to show God’s love and joy and peace to others. Praying for you.

    Liked by 2 people

  33. Happy Birthday Mumsee!! 🎂
    That is a lovely goldfinch Cheryl! We have had a few hang about our part of the forest this year…mostly they fly to the birdbath and just hang out…they certainly bring a smile!

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