Spring here, life is skittles and life is beer, I think the loveliest time of the year is spring. Don't you?
Beautiful weather in Hampshire today (I should say that's 'Old Hampshire' to avoid confusion), though there's still with a brisk breeze. I bought a mixed bunch of irises and tulips from the local shop, and together with some daffodils plucked from the hedgerow, they're gracing my huge coffee table (which I've grown used to after my initial horror). Best of all the magpies who haunt the wood are being drowned out by birdsong - there's a blackbird 'giving it large' on every rooftop.
I'm in a state you might call annoyingly chipper :)
Comments
Tom Lehrer ...
... if I'm not much mistaken?
Geoff
I am not going to the Park with you
If I see you feeding pigeons or squirels I am turning you into the authorites.
Personally I am her remembering my lost love while I Hold Her Hand in Mine.
Don't get into a Tom Lehrer quoting contest here. We have his songbook and every recording he has made, even a few of the Prarie Home Companion songs he did -- short musicals I think.
Word of advice, unless it is a huge room, NEVER force paperwhites indoors. Their scent is overwhelming to the point of sickening.
We may get snow again soon in Wisconsin and we've had over twice our winter average.
John in Wauwatosa
John in Wauwatosa
Tom Lehrer on PHC?
Oh wow, Tom Lehrer was on PHC? That's even better than when Studs Turkel or Martin Sheen was on. I want details, links, ...
I'm a Lehrer diletante I'm afraid
I bought a CD of his after hearing Neil Innes cover a couple of his songs (which reminds me, I keep meaning to buy some Jake Thackery recordings) - I sometimes sing PPITP in the office to scare colleagues :)
I know Garrison Keillor only through his books. Strange as it is to believe Lake Wobegon rings very true to anyone born in my corner of South West Wales... the hills are alive with bachelor farmers, and we've interdenominational rivalry in spades with Calvinist Methodists, Independent Methodists and Wesleyan Methodists (my lot).
getting PHC outside of US
His book 'Pontoon' is a compilation of Garrison's monologues from his show. You should rent the movie 'A Prairie Home Companion' to get a sample of what the radio show is like. The 'Guy Noir' and 'Lives of the Cowboys' sketches are highlights of the show. Also, you should be able to listen to old shows via the link:
http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/
Neil Innes?
Neil Innes? Why does that name sound familiar? (google, google...)
Oh yeah! THE BONZO DOG BAND! God, BCTS is such a weird place!
I love all the wacky obscure stuff people are into here.
(Well the Bonzos might not be obscure in the U.K.,
but I'll bet only one American in 1000 ever heard of them.)
Here is a cartoon from the Monty Python show
featuring a favorite song of mine by them.
(Although somehow it doesn't represent
this cheerful little song in quite
the way I'd always pictured...)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Jvcx_216yg&mode=related&search
What borders on pure insanity?
Canada and Mexico.
.
Vivian Stanshall
The Beeb produced a fantastic biography which may be available online somewhere.
After reminding myself to track down his recordings I went looking on YouTube for Jake Thackray... there's not a great deal there, but this reminds me of watching him pop up on the oddest television programmes in the seventies...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1P4DAQM6F0&feature=related
Sister Josephine
What a funny nun you are! LOL!
How appropriate to BC!
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Lehrer
I have his box set, but I don't think it includes PHC stuff. I know it's got the Electric Company songs, though.
My first major exposure to him was through Dr. Dememnto.
... but it's not against any religion!
To want to dispose of a pigeon!
Well, the meteorolgist's
Well, the meteorolgist's first day of Spring is March 1 -- offically, it is further down in March.
So, I am with anyone who wants to celebrate Spring early. I accept March 1, even though we had a blizzard in March of 1993 in Alabama, but I understand that was mostly nation-wide.
Love,
Billie Sue
Billie Sue
wish I was there
Current weather in chicago: high of 28F, had 4-6" of snow fall yesterday. I can't wait for spring! LOL
A beautiful sunny week in the Pacific NW
Took the dog for a ride in the motorcycle and shot squirrels from my front porch. It's not officially spring, but it seems like it! No flowers yet, but the tulips and daffodils are poking out of the ground.
Mr. Ram
Squirrels
We here in the Big City (tm) simply ADORE squirrels! They're sleek and graceful, with big fluffy tails and cute little paws and ears. Why, I don't think Disney himself could have made them any more adorable. I don't know a single person who has ever complained about a squirrel.
Now, why exactly are you shooting them? Unless you're going to answer that they're particularly tasty in your lovingly remembered traditional ancestral recipe, or that you're part of some sort of wildlife disease survey project and they were promptly and properly packaged and sent to the lab, it's not going to make me feel the least bit better about this situation.
Aside from anything else, I deplore waste.
Dead Squirrels
Two reasons for my war on squirrels, they have invaded my attic. I can hear them running across the ceiling and in the eaves, they have caused some damage in the in the attic. Also, they raid the bird feeders. Spring brings a variety of colorful birds to the region, the squirrels clean out the bird feeders and the birds don't stop by.
Mr. Ram
Feeders, Traps, and Wire Cloth
It's all about habitat.
Shooting the squirrels is no solution. It might offer some petty sense of revenge, but it doesn't fix anything. You need to modify the habitat to solve your problems.
You have sucky bird feeders that don't repel squirrels. Buy or build better bird feeders. One type I've seen has a conical roof through which a cord is used to tie it to the branch of a tree, from which it dangles, far off the ground. Any squirrel that manages to climb down the cord, slides down the roof and falls off.
Your attic has been invaded. It will continue to be occupied and/or invaded as long as there is heat, shelter and entry. A ladder, a staple gun, and a bit of hardware cloth can cure the latter. If you can't scare them out (smoke? firecrackers? bird calls of owls and hawks?) before you cover the entries, live traps can collect the stragglers in your attic. Cutting tree branches that overhang your roof is probably a good idea, too. Besides giving the squirrels a harder commute, it might even protect your house in a windstorm.
Unless you kill every last squirrel in the state, as long as you have food and shelter for them, they'll keep showing up.
Skwirlz Rool!
Squirrels are the intelligentsia of rodentry. One of the funniest "wildlife" videos I ever saw was made by some students in the UK documenting how clever squirrels can be at getting into things. Two of the segments involved just such birdfeeders, one of which was conquered by a squirrel using a tree limb as a catapult! Another used a slack telephone wire as a swing to conquer a similarly hard to reach bird feeder.
Around here though, some people have found that putting hummingbird feeders near the other bird feeders helps keep squirrels away. "Pointy-beaked little hummers are agro as shit," one squirrel was heard to mutter. :)
Hugs,
Tongue-in-cheek Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Feeders
Besides the passive squirrel-resistant feeders, there are also active ones where the perch that the birds can use to feed is a moving part with a weight threshold. When a squirrel shows up, its weight moves a lever which closes the feeder. This is also useful for fending off greedy pigeons.
They had one of those...
... in that video I mentioned. The squirrel engineers just jammed the mechanism. :) "T'mair they overrthink the ploommin', the aisierr it is to stapp oop t'drrains!"
My dad always claimed that squirrel stew was some of the finest eating there was. Never had any myself. He had a scar on his forearm from a squirrel he had "barked" who didn't stay stunned quite long enough. Never had one of those, either. :)
- Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Daylight Robbery was the name
Here's a link to a clip of my favorite part from the it's follow up, Daylight Robbery II.
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/squirrel-obstacle-course/3...
Scott
-- Moliere
Bree
The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.
-- Tom Clancy
http://genomorph.tglibrary.com/ (Currently broken)
http://bree-ramsey314.livejournal.com/
Twitter: @genomorph
No, it works, at least temporarily!
I have been all over the house, blocking entrances to the attic and cutting back branches, the squirrels eventually find a way in. It is amazing how small a space they can squeeze through. Once I kill off all the local squirrels, it takes a few years before a new batch figures a way in.
As to bird feeders, I am convinced that "squirrel proof" bird feeders are a myth. Believe me, I have tried many different designs.
New people moved next door, I was hoping that their five cats would take care of the squirrel problem, but those cats are a bunch of pussies! :) At least they leave the birds alone too!
Mr. Ram
Camping with Squirrels
Longer ago than I care to remember, we were camping at a state-prepared campsite near San Diego. These campsite had stone campfire circles, picnic tables and upright wooden pantries set in cement. Our whole family watched as some people unpacked their stuff from a station wagon at the campsite downhill from us then they all packed back into the car for a trip for firewood. While they were gone, the ground squirrels went up into their pantry from the bottom and extracted potatoes which they then rolled on the ground into their holes like kids rolling old tires. :)
- Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Yes, squirrels and chipmonks are cute
but, all they really are is rats in designer furs! We have tried everything short of dynamite, but the critters still infest our attic space! Pigeons and sea gulls? Flying rats. *giggle* I still love 'em all though, darn it. They ARE fun to watch.
Catherine Linda Michel
As a T-woman, I do have a Y chromosome... it's just in cursive, pink script.
Pushing the Season
In my so-called semi-tropical part of the world, we are having the coldest winter in 40 years! Bah!
And I hate squirrels. Nasty little vandals that play havoc with a garden. Hugs, Daphne
Daphne