Killing Blue Jays

A local weekly newspaper ran a short piece by a contributor who was having trouble with Blue Jays at her bird feeders. Her solution was to buy a powerful bb gun and shoot them. This revelation caused a small firestorm of response from readers, biologists and even the Georgia State Department of Natural Resources. It is, after all, a state and federal crime to kill any migratory bird. Blue Jays fall into this category.
Blue Jays are aggressive, noisy, pretty, funny and part of the natural world of birds. When I sit on my porch and watch birds, I watch them all. Even the bronze headed Cow bird. They are all part of the natural mix found in the woods and fields of this area. If you put up feeders they will come. It makes no sense to attract birds with a feeder, and then try to screen the clients. Consider the Jays as the clowns of the bird circus and enjoy them. Besides, they are usually the first to spot snakes, and have a very particular “I see a snake” call. I have never failed to find a snake when the Jays are telling me about it. The other birds are appreciative as well.
As for the snakes, well, they belong there too. It is axiomatic that if you increase the density of food, the predators will show up. So bird feeders are natural places for snakes. I don’t kill them either. Simply pick them up and move them away. Sure, they get a few birds, but after all, it is a “bird feeder” isn’t it?
Image: www. allaboutbirds.org
Youtube video of baby jay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdgKhHYEu_0

Right to Life Ends at Birth?

Too bad the Republicans concern for right to life begins at conception and ends at birth. Think about it. The current Republican House has passed legislation to reduce food available to children through subsidy programs like WIC and school meals. They opposed health care coverage that would make children healthier. They support the death penalty for a variety of crimes, and they oppose family planning and women’s health assistance. Now what has family planning got to do with right to life? Well, if women cannot get access to birth control advice and contraception, they will get pregnant at a higher rate. No abortions (right to life) so more (unwanted) babies with not enough help to keep them healthy. And the connection to child health and pre-pregnancy health is obvious: poor prenatal care is causally connected with less vigorous babies, and a VD infected mom delivers a VD infected baby.
Oh, and where are all the JOBS JOBS JOBS bills? With so much damn time taken up trying to regulate a woman’s reproductive system, they just didn’t have enough time. What bozos.
Image: www. totaldiatribe.com

Death by Coat Hanger

When I was growing up, I heard about “those girls” that “got in trouble”. At first I didn’t know who they were or what the trouble was, but the treatment was called “back alley” and involved a coat hanger.
When I hit the teenage years I came to understand that “those girls” were the girls I knew and lusted after, but it was none of my business if they “got in trouble”. Then one day one of them died. Death by coat hanger. Not strangled with one. Not beaten to death by one.
Penetrated by one. Punctured by one. Infected by one. Killed as surely as if a bullet had been fired into her young uterus. And no, I wasn’t the cause of the pregnancy, and yes, I finally figured out that it was my business if they “got in trouble”. So I supported Roe v Wade and the feminist movement. And Planned Parenthood, because it seemed to me that the best way for girls not to “get in trouble” was to not get in trouble in the first place. Get it? Birth control. But if that failed, at least there would be a safe alternative to the coat hanger.
Now, conservative bible thumpers are driving us back to the days of the coat hanger. Kansas will probably become the first state to have no legal abortion services for the bad girls that “get in trouble”. What will they do then? Go out of state if possible, and if not, find a back alley and a coat hanger and go at it.
If I believed that prayer would help I would pray for the girls of all the adults that support this madness. I don’t, though, and predict that sooner or later their little girls will “get in trouble” and God help them then.
Image: www. http://www.politicsplus.org/blog/?p=4757

Abortion: Back to the Discussion

Back to the “hot button” issue that Ashley and others so passionately responded to. I talked to a friend who I can depend on to tell me what she thinks. She didn’t join the fray earlier because, paraphrasing her, she gets so angry over this issue she didn’t want to just rant. Fair enough. But her (any misinterpretation is mine if such is the case) anger is directed at people who think that “Just tell them not to have sex and abortion won’t be an issue”. Going back to the early 90’s she cites statistics that indicate in the range (conservatively) of 60% of teens that get pregnant have been sexually abused in some fashion, usually by a close family member. This takes the issue of “choice” and erases it.
A young girl has no choice when an older man forces or coerces her, or seduces her in some way not violent. No child has a choice when presented with a powerful (and are not they all to a child) adult. Forced sex alone can lead to pregnancy, and it can also lead to an otherwise cautious girl becoming a less-than-cautious teen.
I know. That leaves 40% “doing it” without obvious coercion. Operative word here is “obvious”. Media, peer pressure, male pressure, lack of self-esteem; the list goes on and on.
My point in bringing this back for a second round is this: merely supporting “choice” isn’t enough. Yes, positively yes. I believe to my core that a woman has the right to choose what happens to her body. But when that choice is co-opted, then without doubt every woman should have the right to choose what to do next.
So folks, here it is: you all have valuable and personal opinions on the subject of abortion and birth control. Fine. Keep your practice of these things to yourself, and let others do the same. Support a woman’s right to choose for herself as you want that right for yourself.
It is only right. It is OK to discuss. It is not OK to impose.
(Sorry to my friend if I have screwed this up.)
Image: www. blackwomanthinks.blogspot.com

Victory in New York, or, We Must All Hang Together.

Victory in New York just in time for the Gay Pride parade. Some homophobe this morning described this as a short-lived win. "Picking the low hanging fruit", and " Wait until New Yorkers get their constitution changed" and crap like that.
Quoting Ben Franklin:
"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."
(At the signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.)
I love that New York passed this legislation. And it has no residency or waiting period. But the homophobes of the country will keep working hard and picking off the states one by one. Like the abortion clinics in Kansas. What is needed is a Federal law that settles the issue. Not the DOMA abortion. Not the DADT monstrosity. A simple law that defines marriage as a union of two people in love. What the hell is so hard about that? Love isn't a "God-given" condition. (Difficult anyway with out a god). Love just is. No bounds and no limits.
What I fear here is the real possibility that "- - - assuredly we shall all hang separately."
Image: www.famousquotesabout.com

Patriot = White Supremist?

This guy really looks Supreme, doesn't he? Bet he could lead the country in the right direction.

Patriot as defined in the OED:
a. A person who loves his or her country, esp. one who is ready to support its freedoms and rights and to defend it against enemies or detractors.
b. derogatory or ironic. A person who claims to be disinterestedly or self-sacrificingly devoted to his or her country, but whose actions or intentions are considered to be detrimental or hypocritical; a false or feigned patriot.

I get so tired of hate groups calling themselves “patriots”. A small college I know sold shares in a time capsule as a fund raiser and called everyone that coughed up a hundred bucks a “patriot and citizen”. So the price of partriotism is a hundred bucks. What a crock. Check out the article on Kalispell, Mt. (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gg8rdUcUb2BBadNHJUJ3GgepCmVg?docId=84e43afb2c0945e89b196894c7b6270c) to see what I mean. What Crap.

Image: http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2008/12/tattooed_white_supremacist_sus.php

"Just Mice" is Just Right for Snakes

Today I deployed my funnel snake trap. This is a humane no kill trap that gets the snake inside via a funnel, like a lobster trap, and then you release it when and where you want to. I baited the trap with “Just Mice”, a ground up mouse mixture that mouse eaters can’t resist. We will see just what happens. There are some pesky water snakes that I think are eating my gold fish, and lots of others that are no problem. I’ll post photos (see, optimistic at the start) of the catches as they happen.
And, if there is no action in the trap, I can always mix the Just Mice with a little Vegemite and spread it on toast. Yummmmy. (KC, you can field test it for me.)
Image: www. dunnsfishfarm.com

Dining in Nicaragua One: Guapote

Guapote is a fine fish to eat. This fish belongs to the cichlid group of fish, a very aggressive predator, and the name is pronounced “wa-po-te”.
We were staying at a place on the isthmus between the volcanoes on Ometepe island in Lake Nicaragua. Not much of a place by gringo standards, but clean sheets, fans and not too many bitey things. And a restaurant. This was comprised of a couple of plastic tables with plastic chairs set out on the rear porch. The kitchen was an open air affair, wood burning stove, and an old coke cooler, chest type, for refrigeration. Thatch roof and open air. Rats usually seen running along the rafters waiting to grab something left carelessly out. The grill was a couple of pieces of rebar, bent and sagging from years of use, with a single log underneath providing the heat and smoke.
I had a grilled guapote, crosshatched in one inch squares with garlic rubbed into the cuts. This beauty was grilled to a charred perfection, along with several others for other people, and served with lime, rice and beans and I don’t remember what else. And Victoria beer, of course. The fish was probably the best I have ever eaten, bar none. The ambience was wonderful, the company outstanding and the beer cold and plentiful. Of course a bottle of 7 year old rum was on the table.
Now there might be some dispute over “Victoria” versus “Tonya” beer, but other than that, all agreed it was a great meal. And it was my birthday to boot. What a treat.
Image: www.panoramio.com. Typical way to serve guapote.

Boehner: Won't Play Golf with Women!!

What a day for hypocracy. John Boehner again. This time the news that he belongs to a Golf Club that doesn't allow women members or golfers. This from a guy that professes to represent "the people". What a crock. I wonder if blacks and jews are also banned? Would you really be surprised? Why would anybody vote for this guy, much less women? Once again I don't get it. (See also http://searchesworld.blogspot.com/2011/06/hypocrites-lead-us.html.)

Image: www.sanityscraps.tumblr.com

Charlottesville Virginia in the old days had a small college hangout where drinking got rowdy and duck races (rubber) were held as needed to relieve tension. References to this place on the web are scarce, and even the spelling is in dispute. One site calls it “Carrol’s Tea Room” while another “Carroll’s Tea Room”.
Not in dispute is the next line of the sign: “No Carrol (or Carroll), No tea. No Room.” There must be a picture of this once infamous place, but no one has bothered to post one on the web that I could find. Almost a lost bit of history.
Carroll’s came to mind yesterday as Sal and I were starting our Sunday walk. Near the house is Beaver creek, a fairly steady creek that flows into lake Talavana. We walked down into the small floodplain, under river birch arches and over to the white sand creek. I looked down and said, “No Beavers and No Creek”. Beaver creek was dry as a bone in the sun. Not even a puddle. We talked a minute about the disastrously low rainfall and the fire potential. None of the branches of Beaver creek were flowing, and only a few had so much as a puddle. Not good for wildlife.
Later that day we noticed a black rat snake coming from one of our small fish ponds, and for some time we have been seeing water snakes hanging around and in the ponds. Click! It seems we have one of the very few places with water where critters can get a drink.
Last week I ran into a guy in Texas who keeps a sharpened hoe by his door to kill snakes. My feeling is they were here first, and if they can get by with a little help from their friends, good. Rainbow Rise, our place, is a “No Kill” zone. And an oasis as well, it seems.

Imagae: www. nokillmovie.com

Two of a few references for “Carroll’s Tea Room”.
When Objects Talk: Solving a Crime With Science (Discovery) by Mark P., Jr. Friedlander and Terry M. Phillips (Sep 2001)
e Architecture of Jefferson Country: Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia by K. Edward Lay (Jan 22, 2000)