Often a naturalist or even at time a full-blown scientist will observe some critter's behavior
immediately apply it to every member of a species, as if there are no individuals. Not all animals or birds act like all other members of their species.
Case in point: A few years ago I read something about chickadees in which the author said when around a feeder, one bird will dominate, chasing others off the feeder until he leaves and they can come get their share. The way he wrote it seemed to say all chickadees do this. Take a look at that picture. Four of them visible on the feeder at one time. I have seen that more often than not. For sure sometimes one bird will chase another off but just as often more than one will be there at the same time.
There may be another aspect of what seems to be dominant behavior, like when one bird flies in and another takes off. I have seen this in gulls around harbors. One gull stands atop a piling. A second gull approaches for a landing and the first gull takes off. Rather than dominant/submissive behavior, this is probably a simple function in physics. The gull flying in has the weight and momentum to knock the first gull off the piling, so the first gull takes off, knowing full well he can't withstand a collision on such tiny platform. I've seen chickadees and other birds for that matter do the same thing.
On a step outdoors today I noticed the feeder was getting low. I had packed in 25 pounds of sunflower seeds for just that purpose. Later I went out and noticed there weren't any chickadees in sight so I figured it was a perfect time to take the feeder in and fill it, which I did.
When I brought it back out there still wewe no birds in sight. I said out loud, "Here you go guys, meat." It's only five steps from the feeder to the door but before I got there a whole cloud of chickadees had descended from somewhere to the feeder. Chickadee telegraph?
The Little Drummer Boy with the drums out front Stars twinkling in a clear night sky, we pass by a crescent moon, gold, and low on the western horizon, sitting here thinking maybe northern lights later. Christmas Eve in the Alaska Bush. Prime roast thawing on the counter. Cookies down the hill where I had to leave them along with other supplies. So it goes. My favorite music playing, including a new version of Little Drummer Boy featuring the drums. A glass of chilled wine, thinking of past Christmases here like the year I had to line my trail with votive candles in brown paper bags to convince my young son it was a landing strip so Santa could find us. Mormons singng the First Noel now. About to make one of those Jello no-bake cheesecakes for dessert tomorrow. Peter, Paul and Mary followed by Trans Siberian Railway, O come let us adore him. Searching for a recipe for yorkshire pudding. Music fills the emptiness, peace in the deep woods. God bless us, every one. And then Peter Paul and Mary again, O come emmanuel. Stilll to come the Mormons and a marvelous soprano singing Oh Holy Night. I always cry. Time now to refill the glass in oh so many ways. And to all a good night.
Do you wonder why I would start a blog post with a five-year old video of a flash mob? With good reason is all I can say.
You see, maybe nobody else has wondered or at least said anything but I have. It's about the lack of content for the past couple of months and it has been bothering me. If you have this terminal disease and all of a sudden your mind goes blank, you wonder, is this it? Is this the moment Hemingway came to before he picked up that shotgun? Is this the day you don't have another fresh idea left in you? Before you go through anger, bargaining, denial, depression, acceptance, you look around a little to see if there might be another reason.
Well for most of the year, one reason has been flitting around in my simple brain. I've spoken with others about of it and an awful lot of people have this low-level feeling of what I could only call malaise. A slight depression that colors everything else we do. To my mind any thinking person must be feeling it at least a little. The problem that is coloring everything is the damage being done to our country by a criminal idiot in the White House and robber barons in Congress. Each day's news brings another outrage as the gang does everything it can to dismantle our republic.
For me about the first thing I do every morning is cruise through the news sites on the Internet and they are so filled with what those criminals are doing it depresses and angers me and then that's how I go out to meet the day.
If I am not seeing what they have done, I am seeing what the people I agree with say about it all. At times I've been tempted to add my two cents but from this distance that seems like a tilt at a windmill. So much is said it's difficult to find some original insight to offer, so I don't write about it much.
Today a second effect of that came up when I saw that video open as a memory on my facebook page. I posted it four years ago and while I was sharing it today it hit me that I haven't seen one of those online in a long time. I loved those seemingly spontaneous flash mobs that were popular a few years ago. And as I thought about it I realized there is so much Trump stuff online there is little room on my news feed or in my mind for anything else. The thing consumes so much space humor, music,
One of those late nights with wine, a credit card and the Internet. Neil DeGrasse
Tyson was hyping these t-shirts to benefit something I agreed with at the time.
Fits the situation, don't
you think?
creative thought, fun gets crowded out from the mind and from the Internet which has often suggested an excuse to write and therein may be the reason for so few posts in the past couple of months. And it not only consumes a big part of the consciousness, it also creates that mild depressions that also dim the creative light sometimes. So there you have it.
Well, I am all packed again, waiting for snow for my winter at the East Pole. My intention is when I get there to close off a lot of the political intrusion and with a little time perhaps my mind will open again and the muse will emerge from the political fog to inspire once more. If that doesn't work I will always have the "forest."
And for the fun of it in case anybody has missed them, one more flash mob, fit for the season:
The Trumpeshere is picking spots along the West Coast to place missile sites as a defense against
a potential missile attack now that North Korea has demonstrated a missile capable of hitting
Washington, D.C. Great plan except for one thing. The old saw that those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. Lining up defense along a single line has been tried before. It didn't work very well.
Prior to World War II the French built a line of permanent immobile concrete artillery installations along their borders with Italy, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Germany to protect themselves in case Germany got ideas of world domination again. It was named for Andre Maginot, the French minister of war at the time. The plan left the way open along the Belgian border imagining a counter attack through Belgium into Germany if necessary. Much to the surprise of the French, as World War II developed, the Germans drove their tanks through Belgium around west end of the line and almost unopposed all the way to Paris. Unable to target the advancing German blitzkrieg, the fixed guns of the Maginot Line never fired a shot, they were useless. The rest is history. The rust along the Maginot line also is history.
So, now it seems the U.S. wants to build a line of missile defense installations along the West Coast given that coast is closest to the potential invader, North Korea. But the world has changed since the 1930s and a single line of defense against a potential attacker doesn't really mean much. This plan came up along with the news that the North Koreans have successfully fired a rocket capable of hitting Washington, D.C. So by all means let's build a wall between us and them. Sound familiar?
Well, here's a little problem I haven't seen anyone address yet. Who says they will fire the missile from west to east? Modern warfare doesn't have fronts any more. An attack can come from anywhere, so the thinking needs to be broader. We can only hope that's the case because …
The distance from west to east from North Korea to the U.S. capital was listed as 6,800 miles but experts estimated the missile is capable of striking targets as far away as 8,000 miles. Now, I tried to figure the distance, say, firing one to the west from North Korea, over Russia, Europe and the Atlantic. I would suspect if the missile can cover 8,000 miles it can somehow be engineered to make the rest of the distance to reach the American East Coast. It's probably shorter to send one over the North Pole. So if we have this line of defense for missiles coming from the west can those missiles also intercept something coming from the north or the east or are we going to build a line that can be gone around from several directions?
Now, doesn't a bunch of missile sites in California still make us all feel safer?
Maybe the Trumpeters ought to take another look at diplomacy. Please? The Maginot Line US moves to beef up West Coast Defenses
Here's a little song the Kingston Trio did in the early 60s. It's called the Ballad of John Foster Dulles (the secretary of state in the Eisenhower administration who was the United States' chief cold warrior.)
A request for signatures on a petition
to impeach Trump came up tonight. Apparently whoever is doing it has two
million signatures already. The problem is, no matter how many signatures they
get, impeachment is unlikely in the current atmosphere. In order to impeach a
president, a majority of the House of Representatives must vote for the charges
proposed. If that happens, the president is then tried in the Senate where a
two-thirds majority is needed to convict. As long as Republicans control
Congress that seems like a pipe dream.
To my mind what seems
better is a path through the criminal and if not that the civil courts. Robert
Mueller's investigation could lead to that as his investigators get closer and
closer to the president.
What I would like to see
and what would be more possible is indictments coming out of the investigation
leading to criminal charges to be tried in a state court. The Southern District
of New York (which includes New York City) where the US Attorney there is
already involved sounds like a good bet. Why a state court? Because a president
cannot pardon anyone for conviction in state courts, only federal courts. One
can hope that would lead to a conviction and prison time. At that point
Congress could not get away with not impeaching.
Leaving it all in the political
spectrum rather than the legal one makes room for all kinds of manipulation.
I am sure this is an
oversimplification of the process, but to me it seems a more likely course to
take if something needs to be done in the next year. The trick is not to be
impatient. Mueller has been described as a methodical investigator and the time
this is taking to me means he is being very careful and making sure everything
it discovers and develops is solid evidence and it takes that to make a
complicated case like this one stick.
-->
So it's fun to carry
impeachment signs and demonstrate and feel like we are contributing, but the
eventual outcome is going to be decided in the trenches of the legal system and
let's hope it happens in time to prevent Trump and his gangsters from destroying
the Republic. #fakenews It's so easy anybody can do it
For lack of a coherent
thought train these days, offering up some incoherent random thoughts about life
and other matters.
What a treat to wake up
and go through my morning Internet routine and not end up depressed and angry.
Yesterday's elections (Nov. 7, 2017) seem to indicate the American electorate
is regaining its intelligence. However in politics victories can be short-lived
and major battles to rid the country of the Trump/GOP scourge remain. With that
in mind, I am offering the following as a rallying cry for the coming year
leading to the mid-term elections next November:
"TAKE IT TO THE
HOUSE." Go!
I swear nuthatches must
be the pickiest eaters in the bird world. I watched one today land on a hexagonal
bird feeder then hop around to each of the six perches, picking and tossing
away two or three seeds at each stop then flying off. I'm not sure she took a
seed with her. At least she was feeding the grosbeaks who seem to prefer the
ground.
From Introverts are Awesome facebook page
I have ended up once
again, sitting here in November waiting for enough snow to move to the East
Pole for the winter. I've seen posts saying moving is one of the five most
stressful situations people face. No doubt but I had never applied that to the
annual trek to the cabin. But sitting here waiting with everything but
perishables purchased and packed, I go up and down, anxious to go, but dreading
the actual first moving day. Then this meme came up on facebook today. A gentle
comment on the favorite Alaska pastime, always getting ready. Amen brother.
A couple of days ago a
fellow came by to check the well water (and sell me a $2,000 filtration
system). Very friendly social sort, who never stopped talking.My favorite kind of person, right? :=D.
He asked several questions that to me seemed a little too personal and made me
a little uncomfortable. I finally told him I had to get back to work just to
get him out of here. Perhaps it was the question he asked that made me do that.
He asked where I was from originally. I told him and then he asked what did I
miss most about the place where I grew up. That question stopped me. I finally
answered "nothing." He looked surprised. There's nothing you miss
about where you're from?" I thought for a moment and said, "nope, I
belong here." He gave up then. But later my response bothered me a little.
Why wouldn't I miss something from the place where I lived for the first 25
years of my life? I thought through it and there was a submarine sandwich shop
I liked and then when you think of my home country and sandwiches, roast beef
on Kimmelweck rolls might count. But nothing else really comes to mind. It's
not that there aren't memories of good times and bad, and people recalled with
fondness, but I came to the conclusion that I'd rather be here than there and I
can't think of anything I miss enough to want to go back. Have to wonder if
this might be personality flaw.
We all have signs that winter is upon us. I became aware of a new one this year, something I just realized though it has happened almost every year of my life. You know winter is coming when you have to fight your way through at least three layers of clothing to whiz. It's a man thing. And that's all I have to say about it.
Now, speaking of waiting for winter this list crossed my mind. Kind of a
reverse bucket list
Alaska things I've done:
Drove the Alaska
highway and on entering Alaska asked them to close the gate.
Built a cabin in the
bush and lived in it
Lived on a boat
Faced down an approaching
grizzly bear.
Fished commercially for
king crab
Drove a dog team.
Drove a boat through
the Inside Passage (several times)
Crossed the Gulf of
Alaska in a huge storm in a 40-foot sailboat.
Sailed Alaska to Hawaii
Split cords of
firewood.
Wrote books about
Alaska. (5)
Twice made it through a
whiteout in a small airplane
Operated a fishing
charter boat
Experienced several 7+
earthquakes
Caught all five species
of Alaska salmon. Aware there are a sixth and seventh species (not counting
farmed) but not in Alaska.
Hit a moose with a car
(twice, though the second one hit me)
Traveledhundreds of miles on snowmachines.
Was in Nome twice for
the finish of the Iditarod
Survived life in
Anchorage
Fell through the ice on
a snowmachine into the Talkeetna River
Served as editor of the
Nome Nugget newspaper
Hit icebergs with a
boat (well, burgey bits anyway)
Built three houses
mostly by myself,all three of
them in winter.
But keep this in mind.
No matter what you have done in Alaska, somebody has done it better, gone
farther or higher or deeper, faster and under tougher conditions than you have.
OK now I thought this was titled Take it to the House, but it's not. The song with that title is a rap with lots of objectionable language. This is from the old Tim Allen Show Home Improvement, the band from K&B Construction. Burning down the house. Same message lol.
A male and female Pine grosbeak pick among the leavings for the bird feeder over their heads. During the heavier gusts the stood almost perfectly still, facing into the wind.
There are reports from the Bering Sea of waves 100 feet high as a huge storm pounds the western Alaska coast. Williwaws ahead the storm blast their way down this glacial valley and across the yard sending up billowing clouds of fallen leaves, sometimes swirling like dust devils or tiny tornadoes, splashes of yellow against a gray sky. Under the feeder half a dozen Pine grosbeaks battle the wind, while they continue picking through the skeletal garden for sunflower seeds the chickadees and nuthatches have thrown off the feeders. More huddle among the thick spruce branches, pressed tightly against the trunks on their leeward side. One broken spruce in the yard leans into another and will have to be taken out when the wind dies.
He was visiting America. It is said that he was sitting, resting, when
he heard a woman screaming. He looked up to see a black woman being surrounded
by the police. The police had her handcuffed, and were beating her. He thought
the woman had committed a terrible crime. He found out "the crime"
she committed was to sit in a section reserved for whites.
Paul McCartney was shocked. There was no segregation in England. But, here in America, the land of
freedom, this is how blacks were being treated. McCartney and the Beatles went
back home to England, but he would remember what he saw, how he felt, the unfairness
of it all.
He also remembered
watching television and following the news in America, the race riots and what
was happening in Little Rock, Arkansas, what was going on in the Civil Rights
movement. He saw the picture of 15-year-old Elizabeth Eckford attempt to attend
classes at Little Rock Central High School as an angry mob followed her,
yelling, "Drag her over this tree! Let's take care of that n**ger!'"
and “Lynch her! Lynch her!” “No n**ger b*tch is going to get in our school!”
McCartney couldn't
believe this was happening in America. He thought of these women being
mistreated, simply because of the color of her skin. He sat down and started
writing.
Last year at a
concert, he would meet two of the women who inspired him to write one of his most
memorable songs, Thelma Mothershed Wair and Elizabeth Eckford, members of the
Little Rock Nine (pictured here).
McCartney would tell
the audience he was inspired by the courage of these women: "Way back in
the Sixties, there was a lot of trouble going on over civil rights,
particularly in Little Rock. We would notice this on the news back in England,
so it's a really important place for us, because to me, this is where civil
rights started. We would see what was going on and sympathize with the people
going through those troubles, and it made me want to write a song that, if it
ever got back to the people going through those troubles, it might just help
them a little bit, and that's this next one."
He explained that when
he started writing the song, he had in mind a black woman, but in England,
"girls" were referred to as "birds." And, so the song
started:
"Blackbird
singing in the dead of night Take these broken
wings and learn to fly All your life You were only waiting for this moment to
arise."
McCartney added that
he and the Beatles cared passionately about the Civil Rights movement, "so
this was really a song from me to a black woman, experiencing these problems in
the States: ‘Let me encourage you to keep trying, to keep your faith, there is
hope.’ "
"Blackbird
singing in the dead of night Take these sunken eyes
and learn to see All your life You were only waiting for this moment to be
free."
~ Paul McCartney, born June 18, 1942
My own note: I don't know if it was before or after the song, but at some time it became a condition for anyone signing a contract to produce a Beatles concert had to agree there would be no segregated seating.
This came up as a conversation on facebook today. A peek into the past. Seems like half the influences in life are the ones you have to overcome rather than ones that help you along.
Originally published by The Adult Side of Tumbler
Tim JonesIn both my junior and senior years I was told I could not join the creative writing class.
Jan Williams SimoneDon't you wish you could go back in time and bring one of your books to class? Or articles? Or your blog? Or your newspaper work? Etc.
Tim JonesAs far as I know I am the only one from that class who has had anything published, except for one fellow who may have published some music.
Lara Simone BhasinThe American public school system is not a monolith. It is quite diverse and will function better if it is allowed to stay that way, rather than being overly controlled by the federal government.
Tim JonesMy complaint is more with guidance counselors. I showed something I had written to the teacher of that creative writing class and he said I should be in there. No one ever did anything about it, though.
Jan Williams SimoneYou saw what I wrote about my brother after he skipped a grade? That was a problem with the teacher. The only solution I can think of is for parents to intervene on their kids' behalf.
Tim JonesThe problem there was bigger than one writing class and neither I nor my parents realized what was wrong until almost graduation. I had changed schools between freshman and sophomore years and never got very high grades. As a result I was put into a put into a program one level short of vocational. Late in my senior year when the national test scores started coming in, the guidance counselor called me into his office and essentially blamed me for not telling him I was intelligent.
Tim JonesPart of the problem in the 50s was when the Russians put up Sputnik it scared the hell out of people and all the emphasis was put on science and math for a few years.
Jan Williams SimoneJust because science and math were being emphasized doesn't explain why YOU could not be in creative writing. Seems like pure incompetence to me.
Jan Williams SimoneThat reversed when I was in high school. In fact, I was in my high school's first humanities class, which was for only a select group of us, chosen by the teaching team (English and social studies).
Jan Williams SimoneThe previous class fought for it but they didn't get to participate. Other people always did the fighting for me, LOL. Including my brother....
Tim JonesWell, you can't let the past rule your life and I am sure I'm not the only one who faced discouragement for seeking an artistic life. I was able to overcome it for the most part.
This whole exchange may seem a little self-serving, like oh poor me, but I guess all experience leads you where you eventually arrive or at least pass through. I can't blame my lack of production on this for sure, except in this sense. This kind of negative influence from several directions, including the school, my family and almost everyone else in my life, was discouraging enough that I did not commit to writing until several years after moving from school out into the world, losing what for many writers are the most productive years, if not for actual publications, for learning the craft and, too, experiencing what you want to write about. I finally got to the experiencing and eventually writing but I always thought I came to it late. So it goes.
