One year ago today: May 13, 2024, the failed feeder.
Five years ago today: May 13, 2020, my mismatched lids.
Nine years ago today: May 13, 2016, [UNAVAILABLE]
Random years ago today: May 13, 2014, trip to Winter Haven.
When my phone rings at 9:00AM, only a couple times a year these days, I still have the habit of answering, “Immigration & Customs”. Whoa, did I connect with some bastards in California this morning. I heard the gasp at the other end. Cupping my had over my mouth, I began pretending I was tracing the call in my accentless Spanish. Ha, “Estacion Seite-Nueve Dinamarca Queso Zaragosa”. Usually I get a hangup, but this one dropped the phone and could distinctly hear an office-load of panic running for the door.
The good news is the birdies eat good. This is the new peanut feeder stocked full. I don’t know how long they will keep in the Florida climate, but for $2.78 in peanuts, we’ll find out. The woodpeckers took to it quickly. I will now reinstall better perches for the cardinals if the woodpeckers prefer the peanuts. By what is that wonderful aroma? It was pancake time and we feasted this morning. Oh, you mean the other lovely scent. It’s a two ingredient cake you make in eight minutes plus prep time. I’ll tell you how.
You could buy two of those Jiffy yellow cake mixes, but for $1.18 you can pick up a full package of mix at Wal*Mart. It’s called Deluxe Moist Yellow Cake Mix. So far so good, now you thoroughly blend it with a can of mashed pumpkin. Spoon into a sprayed glass cake dish and into the microwave for eight minutes. Know your tools, I put mine in for six, then let it cool a big while I make coffee, then add the last two minutes.
America is loving the reaction to the Afrikaan refugees. The left is ballistic. A week ago they were pro-immigration and now are against it with a frenzy. Even their die-hard supporters are witnessing their hypocrisy. Trump is beating them at their own game. It’s a group of 59, plainly refugees with family groups and belongings, not military age men carrying nothing but a smart phone and credit cards. PBS denies any White farmers have been killed in South Africa, which is the kind of open lying that got their funding cut. Some smart aleck posted on Gab that the Boers “even look like Americans are supposed to.”
This is my water gauge. It’s an old thermos bucket missing the lid. But it was in the open for a few times when I noticed the depth after a storm always matched the reading on my store-bought model. Shown here, although it never did really rain that hard or that long over the previous two days of flooding, there was 5-1/4” dumped on us just paces from my door step. Somehow I slept right through it.
Ten-mile crossing, Idaho.
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I made sure for most storage in my sheds, valuables were at least four inches off the ground. Most means I had some digging out to do this morning. It was the neighbors who got walloped. The Festus fan got half his barn flooded, my guess is he’ll have to throw out a lot of materials. Nothing there can be salvaged. The city sent a truck to clear the street drains, but no way they got there fast enough for many. Here is picture of a problem being solved. This is a wood handle, a magnet, and some crazy glue, all from the dollar store. The magnet is glued on one end, but why? Read the addendum.
Here you see the game camera being calibrated. There is a rat dead center along this known animal path. As I gain familiarity with the workings, my attempt is to get you more dramatic shots than before. My plan is this area is the best way for critters to get between my yard and the stand of trees along the neighbor's yard. I can’t create the scenes, but if I get any, the business of this path should keep most critters there on the move. Sigh, the lengths I go through to get you all this content.
If they don’t follow the trail, I’ll set out some bait. That slight scratching sound has not repeated, but I suspect if there are babies, they are looking for a shelter. And there’s fifty ways to get into this joint. I updated the books. While prices are dropping mildly, I don’t know how others are managing. My austerity measures are either on or off, mostly. Thus, when I clamp down, I get a surplus. These days, that doesn’t mean what it used to, I’m just more likely to take it easy than look for fun. It’s a sad thing, though the consolation is most people manage that before they hit fifty, ha-ha.
Before dark, I toured the perimeter of the building to find any spots these varmints might get through to any sleeping spots. Nothing obvious, but I boarded over a couple suspect spots. Raccoons are excellent climbers so don’t give them a break. I am trying to watch an old Russian movie called “Battleship Potemkin”. It’s a hundred years old and I’ve never seen any part of it. In the opening scenes it show sailors sleeping in hammocks. That is something I did once in my life and never again—sleep in a hammock, the most uncomfortable possible position for me.
Blog rules, I must report this light activity taxed me to the limit, just 15 minutes of light work. I was out for hours after. This will not do. I can do the work, it’s the consequences, which is the same old story we hear about everybody who gets on in years. How tired was I? I did not play any bass today. I’m awake now, but it’s too late to crank the bass, so I’ll review a few songs on the new list, see it I can hear any spots that get missed by other bassists.
Yes, two spots. One is that indistinct bass line where the Em fits into the chorus. There’s six-note guitar riff I’ll play instead, nobody is expecting that. And the refrain part has a slight “ghost” note that is one step away from playing a blues chromatic scale. I think it is an F, which is technically wrong but I hear something at that spot.
ADDENDUM
In the endless Squirrel Wars, the most elaborate birdfeeder is the one that’s supposed to self-close when the weight of a squirrel is on the perch. I’ve shown you pictures of how the squirrels just learn to hang from the beam by their back toes and feed upside down. There is a secondary problem that the little wire perches are too small for the red cardinals, my favorite feeders. I tried attaching a bigger perch, but that just helps out the squirrels.
