Recent Comments

1. about 4 hours ago on Non Sequitur

   @LJZ““…urban locked from a true natural forest.” How do you suppose they got there in the first place?”

   Same way the deer and owls and hawks and all the rest; they were here before the major roads cut off their access to deeper wood.

   “My ‘disdaIn’ is reserved for the negligent cat feeders who feel cats need their ‘freedom’”

   Not sure of whom you are referring to, but it sounds like you feel your yard is your precious kingdom or that cats do not deserve to be outside. Anyway, all cats have the same needs as humans and all other pets—and for quite a few, that involves being outside at least occasionally. Most times it will depend on how they were raised, though. Every day—weather permitting, the pup, myself and three to five cats take a walk, sans leashes, to the pond—a few hundred yards down back. We go as a group and return that way too. Two of the cats will actually seek me out on days that I am late. That’s how important it is to them.

   ""It’s a pleasure having a civil conversation… for a change!"

   I try to keep it civil at least until the snark is rolled out and/or the misdirected disdain and then I, too often, return the favor. That’s my bad. I try not to be presumptuous and claim I know everything about a subject until I have at least done a little homework and apply it to the bigger picture. And I understand that we all come from different life courses and because of that try to establish the motive for certain preconceived notions that may or may not be applicable everywhere.

   But at this point, any conversation that doesn’t involve the PINO-Noir (President-in-name-only-from-the-dark-side) is one I will entertain with some pleasure.

   Be well.

2. about 4 hours ago on Non Sequitur

   Ya’ know, it helps to tag the person you are responding to, but being here for years, I have learned that it’s best just to leave some tabs open for those in a haste to respond.

   ““Colonies” implies a sh1tload of invasive predators -how did they get that way in your area?”

   Colonies is what they gravitate to when left by those that wanted a pet, but life back stabbed them into having to alter their lifestyle and/or move. Right now, one of those colonies has dwindled down to merely three cats after years of attention. They tend to gravitate to areas that have sources of food waste due to the foot traffic. Half of our house cats were saved from an existence of cutting their faces on tossed canned foods.

   “Your feeding them is not curbing their instinct to hunt”

   Really, have you watched them personally? Over our lifetime we have come in contact with well over a hundred cats and the majority are not, as you posited, natural predators. Many we have fostered and then found homes—loving homes. And the majority? They would much more prefer eating, playing with the toys we provide, and laying in the midday sun. Especially as they reach their older years. The other option would be euthanasia.

   “There are ways to mitigate deaths from anthropogenic sources…”

   A supposition at best. Funny thing, that point about the wind turbines came up over a year ago and people with first hand experiences called it a minimal contribution to the overall death rate, at best, as in, no, there are not piles of dead birds at the base of those apparati.

   “the fly population generated by the daily cat sh!t in my yard…”

   Yup, there it is. The cause of your disdain. We have a bunch of house cats that go outside everyday and it has yet to increase the fly population here. Our dog leaves far more exposed fecal mines than the cats do as they usually are quite diligent at covering them up. But we have over a acre, so that helps.

   (cont’d)

3. about 6 hours ago on Non Sequitur

   I’m not sure what’s changed, but if memory serves, we were both in a thread last summer and agreeing on something or other. So, I’ll ask, are you doing okay now or what?

4. about 7 hours ago on Non Sequitur

   “Sounds to me that you are just a cheapskate!”

   And it sounds to me as if you want everyone to be just like you with your exact priorities or face your disdain. Seems to me that in this particular matter your high horse needs grooming.

   P.S. Additionally regarding yearly bird deaths? We estimate that from 500 million to possibly over 1 billion birds are killed annually in the United States due to anthropogenic sources including collisions with human-made structures such as vehicles, buildings and windows, power lines, communication towers, and wind turbines; electrocutions; oil spills and other… " Imagine that.

5. about 7 hours ago on Non Sequitur

   “these are the predators you are encouraging.”

   Well, at least your repost got the 1.5 billion right verses the 150 billion you posted before. And no, we are not encouraging what comes natural to all predators in the wild be they: snakes, coyotes, squirrels, foxes, frogs, AND…wait for it…other birds. We ARE supplementing their diets for the express purpose of one, not watching them starve, and two, reducing their need to hunt. Although, I am sure most would not have an issue when their menus consist of unwanted rodents.

   And to be fair, I guess I should have been clearer. She has also purchased 16 traps including standard, large, drop, and set-overs such that she can trap, neuter, and release them. They are then returned to the colonies where they are fed by her and her friends every day until nature reduces the numbers over time as cats are prey as well. Which is the most one can do outside of just killing them out right or maybe that would be your wish—it certainly isn’t ours and what she et .al. are doing is promoted by our county. So, I guess it then becomes a debate over which species is more valuable birds or cats, similar to cows verse humans and hawks verses blue jays and so on.

   “Most of the artists are syndicated and are not paupers”

   Most is not all and how rich or poor they are has no bearing.

   “You should not feed wildlife since they will become depend*e*nt…”

   As to the other animals being dependent on us? That’s not really what I would consider fully relevant considering that they are urban locked from a true natural forest. You probably take issue with my wife feeding the birds too, including sugar water for the hummers that, oh by the way, eat far more than just the sweet water—watch them sometime. So, it’s all supplements to what they can find in the wild. Our nuthatches spend most of the day upside down on the trees; same goes for the woodpeckers.

   (cont’d)

6. about 10 hours ago on Mike du Jour

   " Mother in law?"

   Yup, and a very well educated democrat to boot.

   “don’t understand what a vaccine is supposed to do for you”

   Yeah, and it’s such a simple concept; introduce the body to a benign version of the virus such that the immune system can gear up the defenses and recognize it when the live version comes flying through other wise your body is but a foxhole sans the specific munitions needed. And since it takes time to “arm the foxhole”, then the sooner the shot, the better.

7. about 12 hours ago on Bob the Angry Flower

   Fingers crossed that 2022 will be the start of the turning point.

8. about 12 hours ago on Non Sequitur

   In Firefox, I have No Scripts added to it. Nice little add-on that stops any nasty bits trying to work in the background. I think that add-on may control the scripts that throw up the “you can’t read here” curtains.

9. about 12 hours ago on Non Sequitur

   “If $20 per year is going to break you you are in pathetic shape.”

   Nice horse ya’ got there; ride it much. And no it is not just 20 bucks, it’s the addition of another twenty dollars to all the other media charges that we are paying for, on top of the cable fees. And did you miss the part about how little the artists get? And in direct emails to the owners of this site, it was said that the staff is a small one.

   But yeah, I can see how one would feel privileged not having to worry about a budget. However, that being said, the wifey feeds two colonies of cats 5 days a week. And at home, we have a family of opossums and a family of raccoons that are fed servings of dog food every night just as if they were family. And those do not include the dog and quite a few foster cats that are inside. so, pardon us if our priorities differ.

10. about 12 hours ago on Mike du Jour

    I got all the covid shots, pneumonia, shingles (both), and the annual flu. The primary reason is my age. As the retired MIL, about 13 years ago, picked up that year’s flu. It got worse to the point that she entered the hospital with pneumonia around Valentine’s Day…and after weeks and weeks and one move to a managed care facility…she still never made it home.