Saturday Sanity: The Antidote to the Madness (March 28, 2009) First Hummingbird and First Cactus Flower!; Wisconsin Robin; Happy Birthday, TORO the Dog!; Trooper Shows Off)

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

Just because we’ve been enjoying some great spring weather lately (although the last couple of days have been cool and windy), it doesn’t mean there aren’t signs of spring in other places, too.

Kenosha Marge sent in this report from way up north in Wisconsin after reading last week’s Saturday Sanity:

SO and I have seen a couple of Robins the past few days and were getting that “Spring Is Coming Soon” spring in our step. Yes, yes I know that the offical first day of Spring was Friday the 20th. That’s what the calendar says. When a Robin is in your backyard birdbath and on one of your backyard bird feeders that really means Spring is coming. Or maybe not. Here’s some expert who just had to rain on my parade.

Steve Lewis of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Division of Migratory Birds in Minneapolis said some robins in northern Wisconsin might have come south from Canada, “but they’re not birds that are coming back early from their wintering areas.”

Some may wonder how a bird weighing under 3 ounces can survive in a climate that can drop below zero degrees without warning.

For robins and other winter birds, it’s simply a matter of sprouting a few more down feathers for extra insulation and finding a steady source of food.

Frozen ground means no worms and frozen air inhibits crowds of insects, so robins and other birds like cedar waxwings will seek out fruit from crabapple trees and other berries still hanging on branches.

If they can keep their stomachs full, they see no reason to leave, said Dick Verch, a retired DNR employee who organizes the annual Christmas bird count for the Chequamegon Audubon Society.

“If you look at a lot of the fruiting trees – mountain ash and others – they still have fruit on them, and very often at this time of the year they’ve been stripped by birds,” Verch said. “That’s an indication there’s a good quantity of food, so maybe as the birds went into the winter with a lot of food around them, it kept them here.”
Verch said participants in the 2008 count spotted 76 robins – 56 more than the previous record of 20, set in 2004.

A few weeks ago folks in in WI were doing this...

Last week...a Wisconsin Robin!

While we’re on the subject of our animal buddies, I thought I’d share a pic of  Toro, our first dog, who turns 10 on March 31st!  Happy Birthday, TORO!  With spring in the air, Toro has taken a fancy to eating al fresco!

Birthday Boy Toro

Here’s an update on TROOPER, my betta fish.  Over the last few weeks he seems to have really “grown up” in his behavior….he’s gotten larger and more aggressive about going after his food. He’s probably reached maturity and he certainly is robust in health, especially since I change him every 4 days!  I picked up a calendar at my State Farm office which feature golf courses…and the greens and traps seem to bring out Trooper’s colors very nicely.  He’s such a dark blue that he needs the contrast to be seen at his best!

Trooper likes to hang out at the 18th hole...

Disappointing news…I’ve had to give up hope that I could entice Mario, the runaway chihuahua. The food was being eaten by birds, so it seems Mario is gone.  Best of luck, little guy…

But, some good news…On Tuesday (3/24) I was buzzed. A few moments later I saw my first hummingbird of the season!  The feeder is up and it looks like it’s being used.

The desert plants are beginning to wake up and within a couple of short days, the cactus in the front yard started blooming!

Cactus flower

The NM privet that was flowering last week is now leafing out and the larger privet in the front yard is also starting to show some leaves.

Backyard NM privet

The peach, fig, pomegranate and apricots are all continuing to bud out and the baby figs and peaches are really growing fast.  And my oldest grape vine is really starting to rev up:

Flame grape

Finally, here’s a shot of my garden beds with a lot of the plants waiting for transplanting under the sun shade. I cover them at night because it still gets chilly and the wind over the last few days dries things out in a very short time.  By the way, I found Ichiban eggplant and those fantastic pimiento peppers this week, so I can’t wait to get all these wonderful things into the ground!!

Waiting for a little less wind...

Hope spring is happening wherever you are!

I’ve Been Tagged…So Here Are Six Things About Me….

A few days ago (or was it MANY days ago…I forget, I’m losing track of time these days), I was TAGGED by our ex-pat in Italy (my ancestral homeland), American Indy in Italy….

Which means I have to write 6 things about myself and write to 6 other people. I’m going to include the crew at IA in this, too, just to cover all the bases here at IA.  I’ve probably broken the chain, but here goes:

1) I graduated #1 in my class in Automotive Technology back in the mid-80’s and then was given jobs like fixing water leaks on convertibles instead of the money jobs like brakes.  See how long my being pissed goes back??? (and it goes back even further, believe me!) (At least to my undergrad and graduate student days at Cornell and Rutgers School of Library and Information Studies, which is now called something else…)

2) I really love COOKING!  My latest kick is watching Gillian McKeith on BBC America. The show is “You Are What You Eat” and it is brilliant!  The one recipe that I have adopted with gusto is here Sweet Potato Pie Pizza….that crust is AMAZING!!  I top it with greens like fresh-from-the garden steamed mustard, kale or collards, or stir-fry up some broccoli and top the crust with that and lots of olive oil and garlic.   I’m making it tonight!!

3) I’ve gardened for at least 25 years and really got into it while recovering from foot surgery. I read lots of books since I couldn’t walk for awhile.  I had a huge garden in Jersey complete with a Troy-built rototiller. I canned tomatoes for the whole winter.  I’ve had to re-learn everything for the Southwest (high desert) and have two raised beds (about 3 feet high) to spare my back (had surgery 9 years ago).  You can see pictures of my winter garden on this site in various places.  I planted more lettuce yesterday, by the way.

4) My doggies and betta fish are my babies. Toro, the oldest and the one we bought via the vet, a chi but with lots of rat terrier in him (a “deer chi”).  Tico, who is probably a mix of chi and Pembroke Welsh Corgi, and Slick, the min pin rescued from the street.  The fish is still unnamed and I could use a  few suggestions.  I’m trying to learn chess, and still listen to shortwave radio.  But I’ve just found a new site that I will be writing about that is really great…foreign TV!  My favorite TV channel is Turner Classic Movies, especially anything they air that’s pre-1970.  Preferably black and white.

5) I lived in London during the mid-80’s and made a lot of trips there before and after that experience (and the rest of Europe, too, including behind the Iron Curtain, including a foray alone into East Berlin). I had a work permit and had a blast working around London. I also attended Vidal Sassoon to perfect my haircutting (I had graduated from a local “academy” and got a work permit for the UK since I had been a student at 35!)  The only time I ever got sick traveling was when I went to Paris for a quick few days. On the train to the Hovercraft, it started.  So, I actually got sick in London, not from the traveling!!  I had also planned to go to Moscow and Leningrad and had my tickets all set from the official tourist bureau…but Chernobyl blew up.  The Russians decided to refund my money….I guess I was caught in the radioactive cloud as I walked around Kew Gardens that day…

6) I started inviting folks to contribute to the blog and wound up with the crew you see on the sidebar! Kenosha Marge is a really talented seamstress!  Grail Guardian is a history buff and works with computers!  American Lassie has worked in the tax field!  And Leslie works in a Chicago hospital setting and is a long sufferer as she deals with the media there!

So now I have to write to 6 bloggers…I don’t know who’s been tagged, but I’ll find some folks and tag them as soon as I eat lunch!!!

The Past Week: January 4-January 10, 2009 (Donor Fatigue among Obamacrats; Wes Clark; Ms. Magazine–Total Sellout; Tess; Street Numbers Man; “Grounding” with Harvesting; Betta Fish Drama)

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

It’s  just over a week before the Obama juggernaut is officially in office. I’m trying to put it out of my mind. Every morning my mother comes into the kitchen fresh from listening to the radio. She’s armed with the latest news.  I usually know about it, but the little report from my “mother-who-doesn’t-like-Bush-anymore-but-still-defends-him” always manages to get me bugged. And no matter how many times I tell her I don’t want to hear it, I wind up hearing it because she thinks it’s a delightful game to taunt me about the demise of the Democratic Party…the REAL Democratic Party.

***

Chicago Correspondent Leslie sent this along…the SHOCKING NEWS that Obama has actually sent out an email message WITHOUT asking for money!

The LA Times “Top of the Ticket” blog snarks:

Breaking: Obama sends national e-mail with NO plea for money!

This is no Friday joke.

Word has just been received at The Ticket that President-elect Barack Obama sent out an actual e-mail today without asking for more money from tired donors. No, really.

The N.Y. Times’ Katharine Seelye recently reported growing donor fatigue among eager and happy Obamaites to whom it has occurred that they’ve already given nearly $1 billion to buy all this change to believe in, even many long weeks after the ex-freshman senator won the White House already.

See the rest of the story on the $$ that Obama has raked in, including post-election,  as well as details on the email that was sent out in praise of “ideal leader” Tim Kaine after he was named part-time DNC head–without any begging for cash.  Bush also appointed a part-time party chair because he had Karl Rove hanging around in the White House.  Obama is following the same pattern, but we’ve got David Axelrod pulling the puppet strings now.  Big change, huh?

Anyway, doesn’t this pair inspire you??

Obama & Kaine, Perfect Together

As for Kaine, I recall how often he campaigned in Virginia to get Kaine elected governor of Virginia and how I already had misgivings about Kaine  (I was separating myself from Clark by then.)  By the way, what’s Clark up to now?

***

Well, after campaigning for Obama he made appearances on the Stephanie Miller and Ed Schultz shows in late November. More recently, he wrote a column for the Washington Post entitled “Taking Command”  [12/21/2008] discussing how Democrats and the military can get along. His message concludes:

We have a president-elect who has set out a pragmatic, nonpartisan, visionary course. It’s time to lay to rest the old stereotypes about feckless, pacifist Democrats and authoritarian, war-mongering soldiers. If there were ever a time to get the relationship between Democrats and the military right, this is it.

Clark brownies up everyone in sight and now he’s following Obama and embracing “nonpartisanship” and Obama’s VISION.  Clark mentions “authoritarian soldiers”–I guess he doesn’t see that characteristic in his new “leader”?? To think I once actually worked for his campaign for President…

***

Recently, we’ve posted quite a few entries about women and the treatment we receive, so Ms. Magazine’s cover on their “Inaugural Issue” really turned our stomachs.  Heidi Li broke the news on Friday.  Go over to her site read her story, but I’m posting  the cover art here just to give you an idea of why she (and we) are so aghast!  The hits just keep coming…Honest to Goddess, are these people NUTS???

Delusion or Dementia??

***

Tonight (1/11) is the concluding segment of the BBC production of  Thomas Hardy’s “Tess of the D’ubervilles” (link takes you to the BBC site).  Part 1 was SO DEPRESSING, especially in light of what women have put up with this year.  I almost can’t bear to watch Part 2.  Let me tell you, we’re heading back to Tess’ world at the rate we’re going…

***

UPDATE on The Man Who Paints Street Numbers…(Final Installment in Our “Season of the Heart” Series) (1/1/09)

I emailed the story and link to the local “Life” reporter on Monday 1/5 as planned…but still, no response!!!  Fingers still crossed …

***

Enough news, it’s onto more important things like gardens and betta fish!  Seriously, without the plants and the dogs and fish, I think I’d go nuts myself.  There’s nothing more “grounding” than harvesting fresh broccoli, feeding the birds, and loving the family fauna.

The pak choi was eaten last week and I’ve got to plant something else one of these days. Today I had delicious collards and harvested a second batch of  broccoli. Tomorrow it will be steamed, then sauteed with garlic and olive oil and served with pasta.  Oh, that’s SUBLIME!   The mustard is still going strong after multiple cuttings…nothing better than steamed mustard drizzled with olive oil, topping a sweet potato pizza crust that’s been baked with olive oil and garlic.  Amazing!

Betta Drama

The betta looked sickly a few days ago and I did tons of research. Bought a Master Kit for testing the water and did a few partial water changes and he’s looking 100% better.  There’s a lot of conflicting info out there on bettas, tanks and how to keep them clean…the stumbling block for me was the issue of cycling the tank (mine is probably too small to do it correctly) versus just changing the water the old-fashioned way. I’ve mastered the vacuum so today the partial change I did took only about 15 minutes.   I’m doing several until the ammonia levels reach “O”  and then will clean the tank the old-fashioned way and forget about cycling.   The cam is back on betta (still haven’t named him!) since he is back to acting like a happy fish, so he’ll be featured during the evenings.  The camera angle catches the doorway and you might catch the dogs wandering in an out, too!

THE PAST WEEK

*By American Lassie

Obama “Media Advisory”: Groups Being Used to Build Public Pressure for “Recovery Plan”

Used Body Parts (Female)

Women in Power: The Example of Prime Ministers in Bangladesh, “A No-Casserole Zone”

Make Your Plans for Inauguration Day NOW!! Important Info on Alternate Events to Help Get Through the Day!!

*KING HARRY SAYS “HE’S NOT WELCOME” (UPDATE 1X) Burris Stopped by “Paperwork”

The Past Week: December 28, 2008-January 3, 2009 (Court Dates; Barnicle on Bloggers; Burris-Delmarie Cobb Connection [Clinton Supporter]; Economic Collapse; The Feeding Machine)