Maggie's Farm

Just the usual old winter friends lately: SC Junco, WT Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Blue Jay, RB Woodpecker, Carolina Wren, Cardinal, Chickadee, some dang House Sparrows, Tufted Titmouse, Mourning Dove.

I need my Sharpie back to eat those overfed House Sparrows.

(It's interesting to see how just some of the Juncoes - ground-feeders - figure out how to use a hanging feeder, but most do not. Have yet to see a WT Sparrow on the hanger. I throw handfuls of seed on the ground each morning for the ground-feeders, figuring it will all be gone by late afternoon so as not to encourage rats.)

Also, a flock of Robins stopped by yesterday to finish off the Holly berries. Not a single berry left, now. I had a few early blackbirds last week - Grackles - but they are probably back in Georgia by now. I do usually see some Blackbird species around by Feb 15, trying to push the envelope.

The lack of Pelicans at my feeders would appear to disprove global warming catastrophe models. I'd write it up for a peer-reviewed journal, if the gummint or the EU would give me a generous grant: Effects of Global Warming on Pelican Occurrance at New England Bird-Feeders. $1.3 million would cover my research just fine, or at least help me get it underway. I will guarantee a research product which will help "the cause," and the $ will help me hire a handy research assistant/pelican-counter like one of Theo's so we don't lose all of our critical data:

You probably already knew that the so-called Sphinx had been deeply eroded by rain from when the Sahara was wet, that the Sphinx has been buried under sand through most of its lifetime, and that the face is likely not the original. What I did not know is that the body of the sculpture was not constructed, but rather carved out of a single piece of limestone in the middle of a quarry.

Good update at Smithsonian.

...when liberal wring their hands because the U.S. seems to be ungovernable, we conservatives chuckle. That's not a bug, liberals; that's a feature.

From Chantrill at Am Thinker

From the post:

The Nazi propaganda poster says: "This person suffering from hereditary defects costs the community 60,000 Reichsmark during his lifetime. Fellow German, that is your money, too."  

Story here. His pictures kind of pleasantly remind me of 1950s illustrations. Image is his Motel Pool:

From Mrs Ike: Memories of the Life of Mamie Eisenhower, which contains a lot of letters Ike wrote to Mamie during the war. A quote from one of them: 

"When I find myself contemplating a post-war experience, I always picture a little place away from the cities (but with someone near enough for occasional bridge) and the two of us just getting brown in the sun, (and possibly thick in the middle).  A dozen cats and dogs, with a horse or two, maybe a place to fish (not too strenuously) and a field in which to shoot a few birds once in a while - I think that's roughly my idea of a good life."

Image is Currier and Ives' 1851 portrait of "America," the first boat to win the famous race.

The America's Cup (named for the sailboat, not the country) is now sailed with multi-hulls with 17-story masts. 33 knots out of a 10 knot wind speed. Here's winner US-17:

h/t, SDA, with links to more details of the race

I am making my usual St. Valentine's Day day steamed mussels and lobster feast, but I did at least one other act of love today - remembering that love is action, not sentiment. Carpet cleaning done! (They have a special spray for dog pee bedroom carpet spots. Isn't it romantic? Carpet sucks, in my opinion.)

Love Sick, live in Stockholm, 2009 (lyrics here):

No more eccentric than the rest of her Amherst family. Indeed, her life has been sentimentalized.

Well, always interesting to have an epileptic nympho around the place, especially on St. Valentine's Day when the Christian saint seems to give way to the celebration of Eros.

Eros (Cupid) - "desire" - is the mischievous prankster son of Venus who, at the same time, is responsible for keeping humanity thriving. He is, indeed, a troublemaker and a pest, isn't he, with his devilish little arrows and bow? As Kesler and I observed the other day, those little arrows can hit you at the oddest, most unsuspecting moments. Like at the supermarket.

You can refresh your memory of the folktale of Cupid and Psyche here.

This is Caravaggio's c. 1600 Eros Victorious:

h/t, Theo

To a Skylark (1825)

          ETHEREAL minstrel! pilgrim of the sky!
          Dost thou despise the earth where cares abound?
          Or, while the wings aspire, are heart and eye
          Both with thy nest upon the dewy ground?
          Thy nest which thou canst drop into at will,
          Those quivering wings composed, that music still!

          Leave to the nightingale her shady wood;
          A privacy of glorious light is thine;
          Whence thou dost pour upon the world a flood
          Of harmony, with instinct more divine;                      10
          Type of the wise who soar, but never roam;
          True to the kindred points of Heaven and Home!

Photo: Tenerife, Canary Islands

Mrs. BD and I have been engaged in a month-long debate about trips this year (in addition to the usual Cape Cod family reunion and, I think, hunting in Manitoba).

Cruise or car or trains? Scotland? Provence? Vienna and Prague? Venice and Veneto and the south Tyrol? Canary Islands and Madeira with stops in Morocco and Portugal? Turkey (I love that country)? Sailboat down the Turkish coast? Israel and Egypt?

Carpe diem, right? Now, or never. Could get hit by a bus tomorrow.

I am more in a Provence mood (or maybe Sicily again), but I always do love to get on a ship or a boat. It gives me a reason (besides tuitions) to work. (My theory of life? We can relax when we are dead.) Put it on the credit card...

Where do our readers want to go?

A Catholic Church is the only thing that saves a man from the degrading slavery of being a child of his age.

G.K. Chesterton (h/t, Anchoress)

2008 -

Who knew? The restoration of Elk to Kentucky has been a huge success. (Thanks, reader.) Now they need their hunting season, since the predators haven't found them yet. No Cougars or wolves seen in KY lately, alas. Wildcats, yes! A wonderful state, but too far from salt water for me.

There used to be forest-dwelling buffalo ("Bison" for purists) throughout Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri, Tennessee, Illinois, Ohio, too. How about trying a restoration of them? I do know that they bust through fences...