The day went from overcast to partly cloudy, lo 70's, gentle breezes and comfortable inside.
Buddy didn't really want to hang out on the couch-he preferred to be outside. But, he wanted to stay in contact so he chilled on the upper deck, a couple of feet from the slider screen so he could see what I was up to.
Buddy displaying roly-poly syndrome.
Mr. Birch is shedding his seeds, which are everywhere and this delights Bud as he loves to roll in stuff so C and I will clean it off.
Mr. Jay made multiple requests for peanuts (which I fulfilled), and he began to message his wife: "baby, peanuts are on the buffet at the Diner" (for a limited time only, while supplies last). One of his Crow cousins joined resulting in a duet of call and response.
M/M Purple Finch ate supper together.
Mr. Redbird waited in the honeysuckle for the feeder to open up.
Freddie stopped by for a snack:
Mamachuck got up and was hungry:
Jo Nutkin had whipped in earlier. Napoleon had the joint to himself:
Later, one of the Stampy's visited although was alarmed when DHS swung by on patrol:
Buddy came in and settled down for some premium Mother's Day belly scritches from his Mum while we were watching the tube:
Friday Night Music: Death Cab for Cutie "Soul Meets Body"-earnest indie pop from 2005:
Delicious pun from C:
"This is the dawning of the Age of Asparagus..."
From English artist D.D. McInnis: "The Moon Who Dreamt He Was A Kite"
Another British artist-Annie Ovenden, 'Murmuration over Lanhydrock Park
Master of camouflage from India: Oakleaf butterfly
Wat Sam Phran Temple in Thailand:
This 17 story temple is roughly 25 miles west of Bangkok.
In Thai art and literature, dragons are the most common mythical
creatures. The dragon mythology of Thailand has a huge influence on
Indian, Chinese and Japanese legends.
It should be noted that in Thailand, about 94% of the population is Buddhist. Thus, Buddhism has had an influence on Thai dragons. Moreover, Thai culture and history have a common past with Laos and Cambodia.
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The beginning of a severe solar storm was evident on the evening of May 10, with a spectacular display of Northern Lights over North America and Northern Europe. This photo was made of St. Mary's lighthouse in NE England. The storm is expected to last a few days.
Owen Humphrey
Similar displays were seen in the Southern Hemisphere. Here is a shot from Spring Beach, Orford, Tasmania:
Steve Long
Fallstreak or hole punch clouds
Jamie Vix
From Wiki:
A fallstreak hole is a large gap, usually circular or
elliptical, that can appear in cirrocumulus or altocumulus clouds. The
holes are caused by supercooled water in the clouds suddenly evaporating
or freezing, and may be triggered by passing aircraft.
A divided sky:
According to an Indian Express news report, the visual spectacle is
attributed to the shadow cast by a colossal cloud positioned below the
horizon. This cloud obstructed direct sunlight, preventing it from
reaching the clouds nearer to the ground and creating the illusion of
two distinct celestial landscapes, the report further elaborates.
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Pink Sand Beaches: Eleuthera & Harbour Island, Bahamas
One of 7 pink sand beaches on the planet, the result of red coral mixed with white sand.
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In Derbyshire, England, a "plug hole" used to release water from the Ladybower reservoir:
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Classic silly gardener sign:
Moose wanna lick your vehicle!
In Canada, to obtain minerals lacking in their winter diets, moose are licking chloride-based deicing materials from a rural highway.
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Capybara, native of South America, is the largest rodent on the planet. They are quite sociable, in fact they are everyone's pal. They will often be paired with critters of a different species who are withdrawn or lonesome.
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I've noticed that in my neighborhood and those practically throughout the whole country, there is a prevailing aesthetic emphasizing the importance of the street view of the house and lawn. Something wild, weird or ostentatious out front seems to be avoided or frowned upon. While there is no HOA here, I think the realtors and township ordinances are partially responsible for the perpetuation of this ethic: you put something odd out front and your house won't sell. As well as since one person's taste isn't always agreeable to all-you can annoy many with an "eyesore" causing friction amongst neighbors. So, people often feel more comfortable displaying their eccentricities in the backyard where for some, it becomes their secret garden.
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Fun vids:
Weird Planet
Humpback whales forming spirals of bubbles as they hunt krill
Such a beautiful Spring-most trees and shrubs are fully leafed out.
The purple iris and alliums are in bloom out front:
The white spiraea in the West Garden is blooming for the first time since I planted it 3 years ago:
On campus, there are a couple of huge trees with unusual blooms-they are Japanese Horse Chestnut:
I was working in the Back 40 when a Tiger Swallowtail flew past:
His Lordship keeping an eye on things around the Diner. We've seen Mamachuck just a couple of times and a young Stampy came by at Dusk. It was seen a month ago with a sibling-both had tails with white tips.
The West Garden is filled with the scent of lily of the valley:
We're had a stretch of rain about every other day. The lawn was pretty high but at least the dandelion rush is over. It was drizzling so Bud found a dry spot under C's bedroom window.
On May 7, heavy storms were pounding much of the center of the country. Early in the evening, conditions were such that the Weather Service issue the first ever Tornado emergency for SW Michigan. Tornadoes swept through Portage and Kalamazoo doing some major damage but killed no one. Luckily for us, the strength of those systems that spawned the twisters dissipated by the time it reached here. We got .6" of an inch of rain.
A EF-2 with winds of 135 mph struck Portage. A real twig snapper!
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Orangutan researchers in Indonesia witnessed one of their subjects chew up the leaves of a medicinal plant and apply them to a facial wound. It healed in 5 days. This is the first time a wild primate was seen using medicine to try to heal itself.
Meanwhile, our own attempts for better health as seen in a recent ad on my YT feed-The Squatty Potty:
That's right! With a tagline of "poop like a caveman", SP suggests that this bench creates a more natural angle for your colon that is more comfortable, faster and more efficient in emptying your bowels. Ahh, capitalism: better, bigger, brighter! Only $24.99 made of sustainably resourced bamboo.
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I enjoyed the 1963 film Jason and the Argonauts featuring the fabulous stop-motion special effects by Ray Harryhausen. The other day I wondered if there had been a recent remake and found that indeed one came out in 2000 as a two-part TV miniseries from Hallmark. It sucks. How bad is it? Well, Jason is portrayed sporting an awesome mullet.
Hallmark decided to follow the time-worn trend of writing dialogue with that archaic manner that turns up in biblical epics: "I have greater things to ponder than these games" declares Jason. Oi. I only made it through 20 minutes although the scene where Jason talks to a Minotaur was cool. Dennis Hopper co-stars chewing the rug with his patented crazy guy routine portraying Jason's murderous uncle.
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The Richat Structure aka The Eye of Sahara:
Located in Mauritania in Northern Africa
It is an eroded geological dome 25 miles in diameter, exposing sedimentary rock in layers that appear as concentric rings. While long known to indigenous people, it did not receive European attention until the 1930's.
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Ectotherms (old designation cold-blooded) version of hibernation or dormancy is called brumation. It is triggered by a lack of heat and a decrease in the hours of daylight in winter, similar to hibernation. Reptiles including turtles, lizards, snakes and crocs generally begin brumation in late autumn (more specific times
depend on the species). They often wake up to drink water and return to
"sleep". They can go for months without food. Reptiles may eat more than
usual before the brumation time but eat less or refuse food as the
temperature drops. However, they do need to drink water.
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Who is this Simpson's character?
The unibrow baby’s real name is Gerald Samson, and he’s the exact same age as Maggie,
though he has been seen standing steadier than Maggie. Both babies were
born on the same day and at the same hospital, but there were some big
differences in how they were treated there. At that moment, the
Springfield General Hospital had only one diaper left, and it was given
to Maggie, while Gerald was wrapped in the discount section of the
Springfield Shopper. This made Gerald develop a rash that has persisted,
and so he blames Maggie for this uncomfortable situation and spends a
big part of his time plotting his revenge against the young Simpson.
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As someone who grew up in the '60's, it is still startling to hear the first Saturday of the month tests of the warning sirens conducted by the township. Especially when it is not a stormy day.
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I watched "A Month in the Country" with very young Colin Firth and Kenneth Branagh starring as two soldiers who survived the WWI trenches and grappling with PTSD. It's 1920 when they meet up in Yorkshire, Firth hired to restore an mural in an ancient church that had been white-washed; Branagh ostensibly tasked with an archaeological dig for a lost grave.
They have a conversation about the mural now restored. Branagh comments: "A wintery hard-liner, that ancient Christ from the early days-All Justice, no mercy".
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The Odessa TX Stonehenge:
From Roadside America site: The officially titled "University of Texas of the Permian Basin
Stonehenge" was built in the summer of 2004 by stoneworkers Connie and
Brenda Edwards. The University thought that a nearly-full-size
Stonehenge would make a good teaching tool -- and an alluring Druidic
tourist attraction for the city.
Although the original Stonehenge
took 2,000 years to complete, this one went up in only six weeks.
Connie Edwards reportedly said at the time that he'd be happy just to
build Stonehenges for the rest of his life.
Made of limestone
slabs up to 19 feet tall and 20 tons apiece, Permian Basin Stonehenge is
slightly shorter than the original, but it's exact in horizontal size
and astronomically accurate. Although a plaque in front of the 'henge
claims that the replica is "as it appears today in England," that's not
exactly true. The slabs are blocky leftovers donated by a quarry, so
they're approximations, not duplicates; the Stonehenge stands in a
circle of reddish Texas gravel, not the green Salisbury Plain; and the
Heel Stone, which marks the summer solstice, had to be stuck in the
ground across a street.
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Fun vids
Convex lens experiment:
Visualization of space debris in orbit around Earth 1957-2016:
A peaceful polar bear in a field of purple flowers:
Seal needed hug from diver-inter-species luv:
The Milky Way is not a flat disc:
A probe lands on a comet:
Trippy time-lapse aboard cargo ship:
A school of striped eel catfish that swim in swarms as a protection strategy against predators:
Lunar wobble or Libration:
Not to be confused with libation-"oh dearie me, Luna has gone on a bender again".
Rocket J. Squirrel!
A year in 40 seconds:
William S. Burroughs voice sounding weirdly similar to Simpson's Dr. Glavin Frink:
session player from OK-later played on Clapton's Layla
Jim Keltner-drums
session player from OK
What’s the matter with me
I don’t have much to say
Daylight sneakin’ through the window
And I’m still in this all-night café
Walkin’ to and fro beneath the moon
Out to where the trucks are rollin’ slow
To sit down on this bank of sand
And watch the river flow
Wish I was back in the city
Instead of this old bank of sand
With the sun beating down over the chimney tops
And the one I love so close at hand
If I had wings and I could fly
I know where I would go
But right now I’ll just sit here so contentedly
And watch the river flow
People disagreeing on all just about everything, yeah
Makes you stop and all wonder why
Why only yesterday I saw somebody on the street
Who just couldn’t help but cry
Oh, this ol’ river keeps on rollin’, though
No matter what gets in the way and which way the wind does blow
And as long as it does I’ll just sit here
And watch the river flow
People disagreeing everywhere you look
Makes you wanna stop and read a book
Why only yesterday I saw somebody on the street
That was really shook
But this ol’ river keeps on rollin’, though
No matter what gets in the way and which way the wind does blow
And as long as it does I’ll just sit here
And watch the river flow
Watch the river flow
Watchin’ the river flow
Watchin’ the river flow
But I’ll sit down on this bank of sand
And watch the river flow
It's a lovely day in that brief period in Spring featuring a 1000 shades of green. In France, there is a tradition of giving loved ones sprigs of Lily of the Valley and it is also Labor Day. They aren't in bloom here yet due to being farther North than Paris.
Out in the Back 40 this morning, Mr. Bun was enjoying a locust bean for breakfast.
