Oh little red bird Come to my window sill Been so lonesome Shaking that morning chill Oh little red bird Open your mouth and say Been so lonesome Just about flown away
So long now I've been out In the rain and snow But winter's come and gone A little bird told me so
Oh little blue bird Pearly feather breast Five cold nickels' all I got left Oh little blue bird What am I gonna do Five cold nickels Ain't gonna see me through
So long now I've been out In the rain and snow But winter's come and gone A little bird told me so
Oh little black bird On my wire line Dark as trouble In this heart of mine Poor little black bird Sings a worried song Dark as trouble 'Til winter's come and gone
So long now I've been out In the rain and snow But winter's come and gone A little bird told me so
So long now I've been out In the rain and snow But winter's come and gone A little bird told me so
MAGA regret
Alison Krauss and Union Station Looks Like the End of the Road 2025 (lyrics on vid)
Democracy's lament
T Bone Burnett It's Not Too Late 1992
The wind turns like a dagger The rain falls like a hammer The sky has grown dark But it's not too late
The weather crashes down What's lost cannot be found The night is closing But it's not too late
It's not too late It's not too late It's not too late It's not too late The atmosphere is lethal But I will fear no evil
The ocean rolls like thunder The tempest pulls us under The dogs are howling But it's not too late
As broken structures rust False idols turn to dust All lies in ashes And it's not too late
It's not too late It's not too late It's not too late It's not too late The atmosphere is lethal But I will fear no evil
In the dark before the dawn The echo of the siren's song Dies away like a ghost As the day breaks
It's not too late It's not too late It's not too late It's not too late The atmosphere is lethal But I will fear no evil
In typical Michigan fashion, our old boy seems to enjoy putting on a late season show as if to say "yeah, I still got it". It snowed all morning and early afternoon but it was to warm for anything to stick. After the warm weather we have had, tis a bummer.
Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, stranded on the ISS for 9 months, have returned back safely along with American Nicholas Hague and Russian Aleksandr Gorbunov. Welcome back!
For some reason, whenever I read about their plight, this ran in my head:
3/11-sunny, breezy and cold. The snow is gone but a front swung down and it's brisky out. Mr. Redbird has been spending much time at the feeder fueling up. I watched how he steadfastly kept his place as others whipped back and forth for a bite. He and a male purple finch hung out for some time.
3/13 The red-winged blackbirds have returned!
Worm moon rising
Lunar eclipse 1.40 am. No redness yet.
Totality at 3.19 am, Rochester MI
Jamie Germano
3/14-temps reached 75°-warm enough to crack open several windows in the house. The maples have started their red buds. In the front bed, the crocus are in full bloom and are attracting pollinators! (click to enlarge)
I'm noticing that the geese are pairing up
3/15-4am thunderstorm that began with hail that woke us but not much thunder and lightning. A bit of rain later but only amounting to getting stuff wet. The day turned sunny and warmed to the lo-70s:
At lot of feeder action-here Mrs. Redbird took her turn
It was one of those afternoons where the Diner complex was hopping and pretty much all our regulars of fur and feather stopped by.
Hangin' with Mr. B
An old squirrel pal stopped by. I saw him nosing around the raised bed at the end of the deck and when I stepped out to toss some peanuts, he rose up to greet me. I reminded him of the rules: peanuts are given at the Diner, not the deck. Later, Bud had gone out and the squirrel who was on the East raised bed spotted him and bounded up.
Curiously, Buddy just sat and kept an eye on him as he came up and walked behind him on his way to the Diner. This mutual behavior made me think that they remembered each other and I believe this is our old pal Freddie. Good on him for surviving another Winter-he must be 3-4 years old. Research indicates they live 5-7 years in Michigan.
Later, he was joined by 3 other squirrels and a nutkin:
3/16-heavy rain overnight with the two day total of .75" which was very much needed. It turned colder in the afternoon and drizzle turned into snow flurries with a lot of wind.
3/17-Happy St. Paddy's day! 23° when I got up with heavy frost on the roofs. Brrrrrr. But those warm days have inspired plants to poke their heads up-the crocus now have daffs and tiger lilies joining them.
Typical Michigan: go from 70's to snow in 2 days!
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Fun vids
Side Projects by Simon Whistler:
50 Greatest Historical Events That Never Happened-not entirely historical events, some are urban legends.
4 Famous Historical Hoaxes
5 Bizarre Military Operations
Speaking of bizarre military operations, here is a story of fighters dressed as Crusader-era Knights went into battle during WW1.
At the end of the last ice age, Britain formed the northwest corner of
an icy continent. Warming climate exposed a vast continental shelf for
humans to inhabit. Further warming and rising seas gradually flooded
low-lying lands. Some 8,200 years ago, a catastrophic release of water
from a North American glacial lake and a tsunami from a submarine
landslide off Norway inundated whatever remained of Doggerland.
The result of the demise of Doggerland was a human migration SSE into Southern England. This event is explained nicely in this vid from Paul Whitewick:
Huge Lake Superior waves during Winter storm
First ever meteorite crash caught on film with sound in Canada
FUBARland
Donny's AutoMart
A few days ago in an early morning rant, Roach proclaimed that he was the most important person in American History, one step above George Washington. For some reason, I immediately thought: he'll be wanting his face added to Mt. Rushmore. Turns out, he's been musing about this since 2020. An AI generated image:
I attempted to create one myself on a free generator Canva only to be stymied because they won't allow political content. Canva is an Australian company but it reveals the extent businesses WORLDWIDE are covering their butts just in case Dear Leader gets upset and vengeful.
Such concerns do not worry the Swiss. An anti-Trump parade took place during the annual Fastnacht carnival in
Basel, Switzerland. Known for political satire and theatrical costumes,
participants throw confetti and poke fun at global events.
3/1-February is over! It was an exhausting month between the relentless snow and cold, being ill throughout and coping with the never-ending shitshow of the current vile regime. Now, March has always been my least favorite month-the bi-polar nature of the weather and the drab overall browness of the landscape. We've had days in the past week reaching 50° but today is barely in the 20's and there has been a lot of wind. But, the sun is warm and soon the crocus will be up.
Since late Fall, there has been a new squirrel in our neighborhood. Its tail is a bit scraggly so I wonder if this is the offspring of the BentTail clan. I haven't sexed it yet but it is fairly fearless-it will tolerate my presence when I go out to fill the feeder although very nervous, tail switching and vocal.
One of the new nutkins who appeared in late Fall-this may be a female
The snow is pretty much gone except in shady spots and parking lot piles.
For the first time in weeks I heard Mr. Jay. They have been around all season until that stretch of heavy snow cover. Now with the snow gone, he is back. On hearing his call, I immediately grabbed a handful of peanuts and flung them off the deck to the Diner. Curiously, I did not hear his usual double call from him when he sees the peanuts-one part thanks and one part "hey, honey-peanuts available at the Diner" call to his mate. But since we're getting close to egg making time, they have been busy. Males generally gather nest materials while females take care of construction. Perhaps Mr. Jay needed to fuel up as I believe he solely snarfled up the peanuts. I was hanging out with Bud on the couch surfing when I saw him come over to a birch branch closest to the house. He looked into the room and peered directly at me.
I took the hint: the buffet needed refilling.
C cleaned out the department frig and added to the buffet
Sunny but cool
DHS keeping an eye on the apartments
Then came in and curled up for a well-deserved nap
3/8-A dusting of snow overnight left the rooftops, drives and street painted white. Meanwhile, the first crocus shoots have poked through the mulch. With temps next week in the 50s and 60s, I believe we shall hit a long-standing benchmark of crocus blooming by St. Paddy's day.
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Curious marketing for a frozen pierogi:
Oh-My-Gawd, you finally bought me! I've been waiting sooo long!
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FUBARland
US military firsts among the 26,000 images flagged for deletion in Trump DEI purge. Among them is this:
Yep, the famous B-29, named for the pilot's Mom, that flew the first atomic attack in history to Hiroshima. All because of Mom's name containing the banned word "gay".
What a bunch of maroons. You tell 'em, Bugs!
Winston Churchill, 1918
From
Wiki: The Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War consisted of a
series of multi-national military expeditions
that began after the Armistice of 11 November 1918, to help the White
Russian forces in the Russian Civil War against the Bolsheviks. After the
Whites collapsed, the Allies withdrew their forces from Russia by 1925.
This effort was adamantly supported by Winston Churchill and looking back at the failure of the Allies, he said:
“I think the day will come when it will be recognized without doubt,
not only on one side of the House, but throughout the civilized world,
that the strangling of Bolshevism at its birth would have been an untold
blessing to the human race.”
When I came across this, I thought: here
we are again. We have with Trump and Maga, an entity that needs to be
snuffed out in its infancy to save our democracy and quickly end the
suffering that has been inflicted in this past month.
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At 2:51, this tornado begins to form a large white skirt akin to an image of a whirling dervish
