The National Duck
Seems a mallard got it into her head to build a handy nest on the White House lawn. This reminds me of the time a duck decided to build a nest in my old Merryland home in Critter Cove.
Indeed. Right in the front yard, a yard with a dog always on patrol and right by the sidewalk pathway used by all humans to ingress and egress the house.
We watched that duck every day. When we passed by we’d give her a hearty greeting. Those times when I watered the gardens around her I would spray a squirt and she’d eagerly catch the cool water with open beak.
I got to see the ducklings hatch, an experience I will never forget. The first duckling peeked out from under his mother’s wing, caught a glimpse of the very big me looking at him, and dived right back to the safety of her protective wing. The very next day she took them all down to the water and that was that.
From CBSnews:
After four weeks as Washington's newest tourist attraction, a mother mallard duck and her — count 'em — 11 ducklings were transported in a motorcade Sunday to a new and far more suitable setting in Rock Creek Park.
The whole group took to the water, well, like ducks, although there was a bit of drama along the way.
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An Iraqi Citizen Loses Everything
Came across this article and found myself shaking my head. This fellow, a patriot of Iraq if ever there was one, endures constant threats on his life and lost his only two sons.
Sometimes I think we forget the torment and torture Iraqi citizens have to endure to gain freedom and democracy.
From The Spectator
It's difficult to know whether to take Mithal al-Alusi rise to prominence in post-war Iraq as a sign of hope or a dark omen. On the positive side of the equation, al-Alusi -- founder of the Democratic Party of the Iraqi Nation and a tireless champion of building a secular government in Iraq at peace with Israel -- has found some support in Iraq for his moderate beliefs.
But the dark cloud within that silver lining is black indeed: al-Alusi is so reviled -- even at the highest echelons of the interim Iraqi government -- for rejecting theocracy and advocating peace with Israel, that he and his entire family are on a constant state of high alert. In the past year alone, there have been nine attempts on his life, including one that killed his only two sons.
~~~~~~~~~~
An Indiana Poet
Husband sent me this email. He is originally from Indiana but since his adolescence he’s lived in Massachusetts, Merryland and now Delaware. He got tired of living in liberal infested states. Not that Delaware’s much better but Sussex county is cool.
Well how could I not post it since husband played the poet in junior high?
I think it’s kind of a strange poem but hey, it’s cute.
Hi Pat
James Whitcomb Riley was the most revered and best loved poet from Indiana.I once portrayed him in a play in junior high school. Please enjoy his famous poem.
by: James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916)
INSCRIBED WITH ALL FAITH AND AFFECTION
To all the little children: -- The happy ones; and sad ones;
The sober and the silent ones; the boisterous and glad ones;
The good ones -- Yes, the good ones, too; and all the lovely bad ones.
ITTLE Orphant Annie's come to our house to stay,
An' wash the cups an' saucers up, an' brush the crumbs away,
An' shoo the chickens off the porch, an' dust the hearth, an' sweep,
An' make the fire, an' bake the bread, an' earn her board-an'-keep;
An' all us other childern, when the supper-things is done,
We set around the kitchen fire an' has the mostest fun
A-list'nin' to the witch-tales 'at Annie tells about,
An' the Gobble-uns 'at gits you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!
Wunst they wuz a little boy wouldn't say his prayers,--
An' when he went to bed at night, away up-stairs,
His Mammy heerd him holler, an' his Daddy heerd him bawl,
An' when they turn't the kivvers down, he wuzn't there at all!
An' they seeked him in the rafter-room, an' cubby-hole, an' press,
An' seeked him up the chimbly-flue, an' ever'-wheres, I guess;
But all they ever found wuz thist his pants an' roundabout:--
An' the Gobble-uns 'll git you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!
An' one time a little girl 'ud allus laugh an' grin,
An' make fun of ever' one, an' all her blood-an'-kin;
An' wunst, when they was "company," an' ole folks wuz there,
She mocked 'em an' shocked 'em, an' said she didn't care!
An' thist as she kicked her heels, an' turn't to run an' hide,
They wuz two great big Black Things a-standin' by her side,
An' they snatched her through the ceilin' 'fore she knowed what she's about!
An' the Gobble-uns 'll git you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!
An' little Orphant Annie says, when the blaze is blue,
An' the lamp-wick sputters, an' the wind goes woo-oo!
An' you hear the crickets quit, an' the moon is gray,
An' the lightnin'-bugs in dew is all squenched away,--
You better mind yer parunts, an' yer teachurs fond an' dear,
An' churish them 'at loves you, an' dry the orphant's tear,
An' he'p the pore an' needy ones 'at clusters all about,
Er the Gobble-uns 'll git you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!
A Cute Game, a Bit Addictive
Requires a sweet timely turn of the wrist and a keen eye. With practice Daffy will land on the bullseye.
Help Daffy Parachute
Garden Questions
Ladies and Gems, I AM certified by the National Wildlife Federation as a backyard habitat steward. Which means not much except I have been trained to teach yon readers how to establish a gardening eco-system that will provide for the birds, bugs, bees and butterflies in your own yard. Which is, as I’ve always thought, a great idea. Maybe the Eco-Terrorists will get a life if we all tried to live in harmony with the critters.
So the question below, which came to me by email, is apropos in that butterfly bushes do, well, attract butterflies. Always a good things as I see it.
I like your butterfly bush idea for a whisky barrel. Do you think it would do O.K. in Wisconsin? Any annual ideas to add to the pot as the bush is small?
Thank-you
My response below:
Well as of yet the butterfly bush has not sprouted in my barrel. They do bloom in August so it might be too early for it to be sprouting. Still I am worried as barrels tend to get either too much water or too little. If you garden in whiskey barrels you might be aware of this. Generally it's too little water and even if there's been quite a bit of rain they should be checked to make sure there's enough water.
On the other hand, I find that bulbs do not thrive in whiskey barrels as they tend to rot. Tulips, maybe, but no other bulbs that I've checked. And the tulips never come back the following year. This is a case where a whiskey barrel holds too much water.
So I'm not sure that butterfly bush is going to come back this year. It did very well there last year but I'm concerned. On my other lot I had a butterfly bush and it did fine in my garden. and this butterfly bush was a happy guy last year, which was the first year I planted it.
Now assuming you want to go ahead, another whiskey barrel caveat: Plants freeze easier in them. Thus a butterfly bush that grows well in the main garden in Wisconsin might not be able to handle a whiskey barrel. I don't think so but I try to avoid perrienials in the whiskey barrel planters. Who knows, maybe my own butterfly bush froze too much in that whiskey barrel this past winter and I live in temperate Delaware.
Not trying to dissuade you, please understand, but want to be truthful.
A small butterfly bush doesn't cost all that much so I'd give it a try. If you lose it, well you learn not to do that again. As for annuals for companion plantings in the barrel, I am assuming you will have the butterfly bush and its barrel in a sunny spot. Butterly bushes like sun. So I'd plant sun-loving annuals along side. Salvia, geraniums, petunias and marigolds would be perfect.
~~~~~~~~~~
More on Kaitlyn’s Lazy Eye
Got an interesting email re Kaitlyn’s Lazy Eye. Refer to my post
about Kaitlyn’s roaming eyeball problem.
The emailer refers to an interesting web site with a new specialty that could be EXACTLY what Kaitlyn needs.
Hi Pat,
You might want to have a pediatric vision specialist evaluate Kaitlin. And I don't mean a pediatrician or optometrist.
Check out son's doc's website and then check out his Links page; there are undoubtedly resources near you.
This is an emerging specialty, and not as well-known as it should be among pediatricians and eye doctors in general.
~~~~~~~~~~
More on Chrysler and the Peeling Paint
It was a tale of woe concerning two Chrysler 300M’s that I drove for only a few years. Garage kept cars they were and both were the same color. And BOTH ended up with unexplained scratches on the hood as if a bunch of cats danced on the thing.
The Mystery of the Peeling Paint.
As it turns out, other Chryslers have had strange problems with strangely peeling paint. My post has links to two web sites about the problem. Below an email I received.
Pat I have a 1992 Chrysler Lebaron that i purchased new in Nov. 1991.In 1998 the paint started to peel off the hood in big spots. I took it back to the dealer in Laurel and they did an "acid test" and decided it was not Chrylers fault and i had to pay 30% of the bill to have it
painted.Which i felt i was lucky but still thought Chrysler should have been responsible for the whole thing. I was working full tme and raising a family but i pursued it as best i could with Chrysler to no avail. Since then my hood and trunk lid have been painted on my own. The paint is still peeling around the windows and door frames It is a white car and i loved the car (still do) I wasnt aware of any class action law suit but i have heard of a lot of paint priblems with the Chryslers.
~~~~~~~~~~
Not Sure What This Is
But it came to me by email.
Refer to My Randolph Dial post. Dial being a man who escaped from jail, along with the assistant warden’s wife. Then went missing for ten years until their recent capture. Bobbi Parker, Dial’s “captive” claims she never had a chance to escape during that entire time. I think the following is a newsgroup posting that someone emailed to me. The comments at the end about a Blogger knowing nothing refers to me, I suppose.
At any rate, the information provided is interesting.
Way back in the 2oth Century, before the turn of the millennium, in 1998 to be precise, crime reporter extraordinaire Charles Sasser wrote a book about a convicted murderer who had escaped from a rather "open" minimum security prison set-up in Oklahoma and was on the lam. The book, still in print today in 2005, [check out www.amazon.com or Google the title or names Sasser and Dial to see reviews] was titled "At Large: The Life And Crimes Of Randolph Franklin Dial". It will soon be a TV movie from Sony Entertainment, our sources in Hollywood
tell us!
[Historical note: In August 1994, convicted murderer Randolph Franklin Dial escaped from the Oklahoma State Reformatory in Granite, Oklahoma, ... The FBI was at one time offering a reward of up to US$25,000 for information leading to his arrest.]
NOTE: Dial was re-captured on April 5, 2005! Major national news stories ensued.
[Convict Dial is now being held in a maximum-security penitentiary in McAlester, Oklahoma.]
TV ALERT: SONY TV is on the fast track to making a TV movie of the week about Dial's life, before, during and after. Should be out soon. Based on the book AT LARGE, according to our Tinseltown sources. Sony's on the ball. Don't drop it!
In additon, we heard -- via the prison grapevine -- that Dial has sort of, kind of, more or less, indirectly, intimated to the media (if you read between the lines, that is!) that he and Bobbi were lovers and that she helped him escaped. Yikes! This is just hearsay, but hearsay is not always just idle talk. Might even be true. Stay tuned. Only two people know the truth at this point. Their names are Dial and Parker.
This blogsite knows nothing. Just a blogger out here in the Blogosphere....
~~~~~~~~~~
Another Former Student Weighs In
I can't thank you enough for all the help your class was to me.
I hope all is well with you and yours. Please get back to me when ever you have a chance
~~~~~~~~~~
And Finally, a Comment from a Democrat
Although the poster didn’t mention his or her political affiliation, I knew it was a Dem by the wealth of information provided, the wise alternate suggestions to solve the problem and how succinctly the problem is summarized.
You are so full of shit it's not even funny. The current administration is a lying piece of shit.
--
Posted by Anonymous to The Kaitlyn Mae Book Blog at 5/1/2005 03:16:58 PM
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