In the neighborhood: the overwintering robins are back in numbers-one checked out the new bird bath:
GF Birch's leaves are turning:
10/25:
Warden Longfellow on patrol:
Lil' Birch-we always like how his leaves pop against the dark green background of the big pine:
Benny's maple is dropping leaves in a hurry:
Sophie is still around-she ventured out on this fine afternoon:
A BigTail at the Giving Stone:
A Nutkin came up on the back deck, shocking Buddy who of course was curled up on his deck chair. Not sure if this is the same one I have been seeing but this one has a white stripe on his tail:
The avians are missing GF Birch's big bare branch on the now-departed trunk as shown below:
The branch was a park bench waiting area for a spot at the feeder. Now, what is left on the East side are spindly branches which are tough for the heavier birds such as the Cardinals, Jays, RBW and Robins. Sorry folks.
Hunter's Moon:
10/26
Mr. Maple
GF Birch's golden doubloons
Dramatic Hunter's moon
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Your daily dose of philosophy
The Two Birds: Famous allegory from the ancient Indian Upanishad literature written between 500-200 BCE although the core metaphor and verse are much older: 1500-1000 BCE.
In memoriam:
Geri Caesar aged 93, Tawas City, MI
C's last link with her parents generation, Geri was married to C's father's brother.
Walter Koenig, age 89
He was in the original Star Trek series beginning in 1967 and a number of Star Trek feature films and series portraying Ensign Pavel Chekov.
Seen while out and about: C and I went to our pharmacy for flu shots and were waited on by the head pharmacist wearing a mask and hood (this pic is from one for sale on Etsy):
Curious juxtaposition: we're getting our potentially life-saving vaccine from The Terminator! He took it off for a while and revealed he was wearing black kohl makeup around his eyes like Uncle Fester from the Addams Family:
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Super obscure early Fleetwood Mac song from 1969: Some-body's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonite. It was recorded under the name of Earl Vance and The Valiants featuring a Elvislike vocal and punk/garage band attitude.
Not the greatest song in the world but strangely prescient of what was to come in later decades. Thanks algorithms!
FUBARland:
Musical satirist Randy Rainbow's newest piece: It's Mitchcraft!
A new virus is spreading: the desire for change as people are sick and tired of their current government's corruption, incompetence and BS. Brings up memories of the famous line from the film Network:
I'm as mad as hell and I'm not taking this anymore!
Brazil-president Lulu held on to defeat Flávio Bolsonaro, son of the former right-wing president. Of course, he is refusing to recognize the results claiming wide-spread fraud.
Albania-the current movement has merged with the ongoing "Flamingo Revolution," an anti-corruption and anti-development campaign that started earlier in the year in response to a controversial luxury resort project on the protected Adriatic coast linked to family members of U.S. President Donald Trump and Jared Kushner.
France-President Macron has been blind-sided and dumbfounded by the ferocity of student protests across the country-lousy schools and funding especially in the poorer quarters.
Serbia-The long-serving strongman leader of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, conceded defeat on Sunday in an election that pitted him and his right-wing party against a diverse student-led opposition movement that spent two years protesting his government.
It was a seismic political shift in the Balkan country where Vucic, who had been endorsed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and who denounced the student movement as a foreign-led attempt to unseat him, led with virtually absolute power for 14 years.
Spain-Students and youth have held demonstrations in Madrid and other cities over a severe housing crisis, high rents, teacher strikes, and precarious living conditions. Things exploded after a 97 year old woman was evicted from her home. She later died.
India-Young people and student groups have protested in New Delhi against the Modi regime which has been in power for 12 years and nationwide over education policies, job concerns, electoral roll issues, and political controversies. Most prominent group is the Cockroach Janta Party.
Italy, Belgium, Portugal, Argentina and Chile have had student protests as well.
China-XI, preparing to claim another 5 years in power is doing some major weeding of "dead trees" in his party and military.He“remains perpetually disappointed by the people expected to carry out his wishes,” and complains that some officials are still disloyal, apathetic and corrupt, and has said that tougher measures are needed.
Meanwhile...
Israel-has elections 10/27 for the Knesset and whether of not Netanyahu continues his 17 year reign as Prime Minister.
United States-has its mid-term elections on 11/3 with control of the House and Senate and a number of state Governorships on the line.
In the neighborhood: the mystery of Where in the World is MamaC? continues. She has not been seen in days but her presumed child seems to have taken her place.
Hard to sex-too young for nipples and can't see anything else. Odd hole in fur by her upper left neck. Wound? Is this why it came home? Did its Mum stay long enough for it to get settled in before heading to Carrier Creek to make her hibernation home? Stay tuned!
As she is part of Gen Beta, I am naming her Sophie, which according to the SSA, is the 5th ranked human girl names.
10/16-17: Rainy, cold dreary day. We got about .9" with winds picking up towards the late afternoon with dropping temps.
The Diner has been restored-I managed to install the new bird bath in-between showers:
A perfect day for the first fire of the season!
And, since we're well into the Halloween season, I put out our magic black cat lantern:
Our estate warden, keeping an eye on things-this is Buddy's new title as DHS has been disgraced and he is more than security (certainly NOT a rent-a-cop):
He has a new trespasser to deal with: past couple of evenings, a new cat has appeared-again from the west. The first encounter was while we were watching the tube and we heard him let out a growl-he was by the slider and on the upper deck was a black and white kitty-back arched and hissing. C ran out and drove it away. Next late afternoon, we were gathered by the fireplace and I spotted it coming along the berm along the honeysuckle. I went out on the deck hollering and clapping. Yeah, pal-every time we see you, this is your reception. Gawd, just what we need-more combat, more wounds on our beloved warden. Update: early next morning, I was awakened 1am by a feline duet out front. Must have been a quick fight as there was only the single howl unlike the extended battles with TBK. Since then, again in early evening, we spotted BWK in the back 40 again so I went on the deck and hollered. It immediately ran to the West. The next day, Warden Longfellow went out to investigate:
The rain brought down a mix of leaves:
Johnny's burning bushes:
Morning of the 17th was frosty: 32° at the airport, 34° here. All my neighbor's roofs were white. While not a killing frost, I thought it was time to pull the annuals on the morning of the 18th from the East and Deck gardens:
Buddy catching some rays:
10/19: Curious weather pattern that we are having-loads of sunshine and dry for the next 10 days! The back 40:
Things are getting back to normal at the Diner. Mr. Red-bellied Woodpecker (RBW) has become a regular:
So far, the only avian who has used the new bath has been the chickadees, which is typical of them as they are quite bold and hardy. Others I am sure have been checking out the huge bath just to the East although dealing with the pool cover might be unsettling to some.
Nutkin has taken a look:
This is the only Nutkin to have come back after GF lost his trunk. Some folks are sensitive to major changes in the landscape or this one is on its own, matured and moved away from family. Later, Nutkin approached one of the young squirrels who was hanging out. They stayed together for a good 3 minutes. Cuing up War's Why Can't We Be Friends:
Update: a member of the BigTail clan checked out the bath:
And enjoying a bite in the warm afternoon sun:
Warden Longfellow taking his siesta on this lovely 69° day:
Our mating pair (presumably) of Juncos. They're rather flighty, getting used to a new neighborhood I reckon, so they have been difficult to photo.
From Elton John's Burn Down The Mission, a favorite line of his:Deep in the woods the squirrels are out today and that has certainly been true in the Back 40. A veteran short-tail who knows me, several Long-tail clan members and of course LG have been quite busy. 'Tis the season! This guy hung onto GF Birch with his back claws while eating a snack!
Buddy snoozing on my bed:
Mr. Maple out front:
Good crop of crabapples on Mrs. Krabappel:
C bought a drastically marked down mum at Kroger:
She said that she's been watching prices at several places for a while. This is something she picked up while living in Paris: looking for bargains during seasonal markdowns.
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Seen while out and about: with Saginaw Hwy. down to 2 lanes west of Waverly Rd., I've been cutting south to Michigan Ave via one of the side streets east of the old golf course. One of the homes had a front yard filled with 10 ft. skeletons and this:
9 ft. tall. C said that a member of her writer's group has a skeleton in their front yard, located in one of those tiny lots off Michigan Ave. on the Lansing east side like on Foster, Francis etal. They regularly change its apparel like putting on MSU shirts on a game day.
Speaking of sports, I was watching some NFL highlights and encountered this statement from one of the play by play commentators:
That play was emblematic of the entire night for the Dallas team.
Yep, the once mighty Cowboys are sucking this year with a dismal 2-4 season so far.
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I'm noticing a new trend in creative content where the term Made By Humans has emerged in these early days of widespread AI use. Many vids have labels in the upper corner stating such. To take it a step further:
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Fun Facts: Lake Erie, the smallest of the Great Lakes, holds only 2% of water in the entire system. Yet because of its shallowness (average of 60 feet, putting it above sea level) where more sunlight penetrates and warms the water, it produces more fish for human consumption than the other 4 lakes combined!
NOAA just added a new higher level status to their warning system vocabulary: Particularly Dangerous Situation wording for select blizzard and ice storm warnings. This action is in response to the New World Order (weather division) where a new language has to be created to address the increased intensity of our climate events.
Fun Vid:The Draken Harald Hårfagre is the largest Viking longship built in modern times.
Extraordinary tale. Full versions of building and voyage also available on YT.
Key Specifications
Length: 35 meters (114–115 feet)
Width (Beam): 8 meters (26–27 feet)
Mast Height: 24 meters (79 feet), made of Douglas fir
Sail Area: 260 m² (silk sail)
Oars: 50 oars (25 pairs, requiring at least 100 rowers)
Displacement: 95.5 metric tons (approx. 80 tons)
Construction Materials: Clinker-built oak hull, hemp rigging, and over 10,000 hand-forged iron nails.
History & Voyage
Built: Construction started in March 2010 and the ship was launched in 2012 in Haugesund, Norway, by Viking Kings AS under the direction of owner Sigurd Aase.
Design: It is modeled after historical "great ships" described in Norse sagas, archaeological findings like the Gokstad ship, and traditional Norwegian boatbuilding methods.
Expedition America (2016): The ship sailed across the North Atlantic from Norway through Iceland and Greenland to North America (Newfoundland, the Great Lakes, and New York.
Lovely animated short by Mamta B. Herland-The Swan That Longed to Bloom:
FUBARland:
I've been watching vids by Dr. Jason Smart, who has advised political leaders and campaigns across the former Soviet Union (Eurasia) and Latin America, with prior campaign experience in the United States (including the 2008 and 2016 presidential elections). He daily follows the dire circumstances happening in Russia and this recently caught my eye:
Today in Russia, there is a situation where the population sees no future and realize one person is to blame for how the got country there and his name is Vladimir Putin. What's more alarming for Putin is not this, but the fact that more and more of the elites are agreeing and ready to make a change.
I think America is nearly there as well. Ironically, this is a deja vu moment featuring Reagan's "are you better off now than 4 years ago" from his 1980 campaign against Jimmy Carter. But today, the script has been flipped and this same message is being used by the Dems, especially the Progressives against the Roach regime. However, unlike Russia, I don't see our elites rising up against the regime. Instead, they are pouring zillions of bucks into mid-term campaigns that will benefit them. There's no money in Russia so many of their elites won't be staying-they may move to the west to avoid the potentially deadly chaos when Putin collapses. Many are already moving the assets they still have and male children the hell outta Dodge.
Meanwhile, the Roach turns his back on Ukraine and makes a diesel "deal" with Putin. An oldie but goodie from Roach 1.0 featuring our old late friend Bin:
To my readers: Blogger is issuing in December 2026, a lengthy update to their content policies. Bear in mind that Blogger is owned by Google and these rules, especially when it comes to political content, have a whiff of pre-emptive concession in my opinion, to the current regime. I may have to end the regular FUBARland section of the blog. I'm still under sanctions by META until 10/26-my crime was using the words Seig Heil in a post comment. Stay tuned.
