Our dog, BD (Brown Dog), has a thing about possums. He likes to bring them to us. I've become a bit puzzled about the possums because I've always dumped them a little ways down the road and a couple of times I've looked a little while later - and the possum was missing.
The first time I figured that somebody had found dinner. The second time I guessed it was a case of "playing possum".
Yesterday afternoon I went outside to walk down to the mailbox (about a third of a mile), BD and Zorra came running up for the pack ritual. Then I noticed another possum laying in the driveway! The dogs and I walked to the mailbox and back - and the possum was gone.
I know, they all look the same, but this possum is beginning to look familiar.
I'm thinking of marking the possom next time to see if it really is the same one. I've considered a dot of spray paint on its back - but I don't what to hurt it. Anybody else have any possum marking ideas?
This is an open thread - what else is on your mind?
Oh my... another Alabama citizen has made the news and is once again demonstrating to the rest of America that Alabamians are people of many talents and... well.... endowments. But "Markus," Nevada's first legal gigolo, may find it hard to compete with this cast of characters:
The Shady Lady Ranch successfully won state and county approval to clear the way for the "prostidude," as Nevada's newest sex worker is already being called. After a slow first week on the job, his first appointments are scheduled for this weekend.
Markus, 25, described himself as a well-read college dropout and former U.S. Marine from Alabama. He said he drove to Los Angeles to become a porn actor and left after filming two scenes, the first about a month ago.
Davis said the Shady Lady had received dozens of e-mails expressing interest in the gigolo.
There's more on page 3 of the article, but, this being a "family blog," I hate to post it publicly. Let's just say I learned more about how brothels control "health concerns" than I ever wanted to...
Senator Jesse Helms led the opposition to the bill, questioning whether King was important enough to receive such an honor. He also criticized King's activities in opposition to the Vietnam War and called his civil justice leadership "action-oriented Marxism."
On May 2, 2000, South Carolina became the last state to recognize MLK Day as a paid state holiday. Before that, state employees could take one paid day off by choosing between MLK Day and three Confederate Holidays.
Don't laugh: in Alabama we're "offiically" celebrating both Martin Luther King's birthday and Robert E. Lee's birthday today! Confederate Memorial Day is April 27th and Jefferson Davis' birthday is June 1. All state holidays.
On that day, I always tell our young people about the civil rights movement in the US, to impress upon them importance of electoral politics and non-violent social change.
It is not surprising that Dr. Martin Luther King adamantly opposed nuclear weapons. A man whose entire life was dedicated to non-violence was not about to look kindly on these ultimate, tsunami-dwarfing, instruments of violence. His words on nuclear proliferation seem particularly prescient today: He said "I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of nuclear annihilation."
Today is also the national Martin Luther King Day of Service, which was started by former Pennsylvania Senator Harris Wofford and Georgia Congressman John Lewis.
On the flip, we'll go from the admirable to the unbelievable. Remember Pat Robertson's Haiti comments? Well, now on eBay, you can purchase your own Pat Robertson voodoo doll.
The maker was able to do an "exclusive deal with the devil" to give you the opportunity to "bring black magic into your own home."
The current bid is $790, which seems high to me, but he does come with a bag of cash in one hand.
Don't miss your one and only chance to buy what's left of Pat Robertson's soul...
Well, what a week it's been in North Alabama at least. We began the post-holiday period with a "real" holiday: Mooncat's birthday on Monday.
Then, the drumbeats of drama from the local weather guys started: snow on Thursday? No snow on Thursday? Accumulation? what?????
But the real story was the COLD! As Lee Roop wrote in the Huntsville Times: "How cold is it? So cold that the possibility of snow is NOT the lead story!"
As citizens stormed the grocery stores in search of bread, milk, and beer, we cut and split wood (want to get warm? split wood by hand!) and made a couple of trips to fill the bird feeder each day.
It's even still snowing this morning here! I took this photo of the mountain about 8am.
So what about all the other LIA folks? With freezing temperatures in Florida, what's it like in South Alabama?
I remember that it snowed one time when I was at Auburn. 90% of the students cut class to play in the snow, but being a good girl, I went on to class. The instructor took roll, had the 3 students in class that day sign in, and informed us that we would received an extra 10 points on our final exam. He then dismissed class and told us to "go have fun!"
Let's all wish a big "Happy Birthday" to Mooncat as she celebrates her special "mnndnng" birthday today.
Also use it as an open thread to share what's on you mind this morning.
We hit a brrrrr cold 12.2 degrees at the cathouse last night. AND got a rather unusual mailer (4 mailers, actually) from State Senator Lowell Barron. The almost invisible state senator is inviting constituents to a "Community Chat."
The oddity is the date. Here's the text from the postcard:
Sen. Barron will host a Coummunity Chat at
Gurley Town Hall Mon. Jan. 5th 5:00pm
---- and ----
New Market School Mon., Jan. 5th 6:30pm
"I want to hear your questionsand comments. Let's chat!"
hmmm... are the chats Monday or Tuesday? January 5th is a Tuesday, not a Monday. And it sounds like people better be succinct with their comments. It takes at least 20 minutes (probably a bit longer) to get from Gurley to New Market, so it doesn't sound like he's planning to chat very long - whatever the date.
Still, it's nice to see him out in the district talking with voters.
Ok y'all. Enough of Parker Griffith for a bit. His ugly, turncoat mug is enough to make the eggnog sour. He also makes me want to indulge in way too many Black Russians.
So let's have some fun. What gifts do you hope to receive this year?
I know what Sarah and I want, but we aren't likely to get it:
Looking for a great gift for someone who's really hard to buy for? How about a case of beer from one of Alabama's own microbreweries? Or wine from a local winery? Surprisingly (at least to those who think our workers can't walk and chew gum, much less build airplanes), Alabama brewers and vintners are turning out some really high quality drinkables.
Beer drinkers in Huntsville are rejoicing at the news that the Good People Brewing Company in Birmingham is expanding into the Huntsville market.
h/t to Reactionary at Flashpoint for his post about Good People's expansion and inclusion of this timely reminder of how important it is to support local businesses:
This came from The Nook, a local beer lover's paradise:
Ever thought of the many persons / organizations affected by the simple act of ordering a GPBC Coffee Oatmeal Stout and the exponential power of supporting your local economy? While you are enjoying your pint, you are supporting the following organizations:
Good People Brewing Company and… . their accounting, legal, advertising, etc. services . local transportation companies . utility companies providing energy / water used at brewery . local / county / State taxes
Primavera Coffee Roasters located in Cahaba Heights.
J3 Organics uses spent grains (brewing by-product) donated by Good People as composting medium.
Continental Bakery uses donated spent grains in some of their products.
Birmingham Beverage distributes the beer: employing people, paying taxes, etc.
Free the Hops gets support from Good People to raise awareness of craft beer and lobby for better Alabama beer laws.
Pubs and restaurants sell the beer: employing people, paying taxes, etc.
… the power of supporting your local economy is pretty incredible, not to mention you get a pretty good beer out of the deal.
Local businesses employ your friends and neighbors. They support local ball teams, theater companies, sponsor events, and more.
Note that Huntsville has a local brewery as well - Old Towne Brewing Company - and its beers are quite popular in North Alabama.
Learn more about the Good People Brewing Company at its Facebook page. They also have a Web site, but it's a dreadful all-Flash affair that I hope they didn't pay a lot for.
Check out these Alabama wineries for gift ideas for your oenophile buddies.
It's Piggieheart's birthday today, so he may not be snorting around the blog too much, but a big "Happy Birthday" to him anyway. Have a wonderful day!!
So, Halloween is next weekend. What interesting plans do you guys have? Tomorrow, the cat family (CountryCat, DaddyCat, and RobiticCat) will be donning our finest Zombie ensembles and participating in the 3rd annual "Zombie Walk" in downtown Huntsville.
Hold on to your brains, everyone The Zombies are coming!
Republican Gomorrah is the first book that actually "gets" what's happened to the Republican Party and in turn what the Republicans have done to our country. The usual Democratic Party and/or progressive "take" on the Republican Party is that it's been taken over by a far right lunatic fringe of hate and hypocrisy, combining as it does, sexual and other scandals with moralistic finger wagging. But Blumenthal explains a far deeper pathology: it isn't so much religion as the psychosis and sadomasochism of the losers now called "Republicans" that drives the party. And the "Christianity" that shapes so much "conservative" thinking now is anything but Christian. It's a series of deranged personality cults.
I'm thinking that might be some really, scary Halloween reading!
If you wondered why Mooncat has been missing from threads these days, here's what Mooncat has been doing: This is the laundry room, which has been essentially unchanged since 1984.
Mooncat has torn out a couple of shelves to clear the window, patched the sheetrock, painted the room, and laid the tile (with incompetent help from myself).
The small red lights on the floor are part of the household laser inventory, which ranges from these small fry used to set tile alignment all the way up to these 2.2 TeraWatt big fellas , known as "The Claws of MoonCat".
Which, as I have said before, you do not want to see in action.
Yikes! And I thought we were busy a couple of weeks ago. The garden is laying me this week and I should be thankful for the bounty. Instead, I'm overwhelmed just by what I picked TODAY:
Paste tomatoes: 5.6 pounds
Slicing tomatoes: 3 pounds
Blue goose peas: 2.75 pounds
Tomatillos: 1.2 pounds
Jalapenos: 1.5 pounds
Bell peppers: 2.75 pounds
Okra: 2.5 pounds
Green chiles: .75 pounds
Yellow squash: .5 pounds (don't worry, the second planting is coming along nicely)
In other agricultural news, I've included a video clip of Agriculture Commissioner, Ron Sparks, discussing genetically modified food during his recent campaign stop in Huntsville. That's on the flip.
It's been a wonderful, productive summer in our corner of North Alabama!
The bees are buzzing, the okra is blooming, the apple tree is groaning under the weight of tasty Liberty apples, and - as you see - my beloved sunflowers are brightening the day of everyone who sees them. Which, given our location, isn't that many people, but every little bit helps!
I've attached some photos below the fold, but first, let me brag about our garden harvest so far:
Yellow squash: 73.6 pounds
Small canning tomatoes: 48.3 pounds
Slicing tomatoes: 19.6 pounds (seems small, but they're ripening with a vengeance!)
8 dozen ears of sweet corn
35 pounds of pickling cucumbers (now, if I could only make edible pickles)
and more.... the peas, okra, peppers are just now beginning to produce big time and we picked our first watermelon this morning!
Also below the fold is a photo of a large pile of cat fur. That's interesting only because it's what we got off our cats IN ONE DAY when I bought this newfangled cat brush called the "FURminator ." Normally, I'd never do a product endorsement at LIA, but I know that a lot of our regulars have companion animals. And this brush is AWESOME!
Driving home today, I quickly tired of Sean Hannity and his wingnut guests - like our own Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions - and tuned into NPR just in time to hear an absolutely riveting story about... librarians in competition at the annual meeting of the American Library Association.
Five teams of librarians — dressed in costumes ranging from Vikings to Elvis Presley — competed for the coveted "Gold Book Cart." They marched in drill-team formation, equipped with metal book carts.
[...]
The team from Oak Park, Ill., makes the day's most dramatic entrance. They swoop in wearing full Viking regalia, including horns, breast plates and swords.
Here are clips from the 2007 competition.... It's only 2 minutes!
Holy cow, those gals (and guys) in the stacks haven't gotten press like this since the FBI whined about "radical, militant librarians" for "kicking us around" about the PATRIOT Act....
Yeah, I know... we have everything from special elections to health care to the Supreme Court to worry about today. But there's no reason we can't have some fun too...
What do you do when your stand of beautiful Alabama sweet corn is under attack from renegade raccoons?
Well, some people would load the shotgun, but we choose the more humane option... the "Have A Heart" trap. It's a live trap that you bait with whatever your prey holds dear.
If it's cats, you go for tuna. If it's possums, it's just about anything, if it's Republican Congressmen, you use either a young attractive man or a female hooker (depends on his prey of choice, obviously). And if it's a raccoon, you use CORN!
We were having horrible problems in the garden with crows - we thought - destroying our corn. Then, Daddycat put our little live trap down there, just in case. SUCCESS! We caught the perpetrator.
Ok, those LIA regulars know that I am a bit prissy when it comes to bad language, but that's only because it's over-used. If you describe every person or situation as a #%$ %$### *(($#)! (or something similar), it loses its impact.
But please, watch the video on the flip. And you'll understand why Daddycat called the little raccoon bandit "a mean little shit" and why I repeated it on the front page. We're lucky we're not both getting rabies shots right now....
I know that y'all will be busy reading the Declaration of Independence (Do it. It's good for your soul and citizenship), grilling, swilling ice cream, shooting fireworks, and waving teabags.
Well, maybe not that last, but you know what I mean.
How are you celebrating today? And what does Independence Day mean to you?
It's Saturday, but I was too busy with family and house stuff to put up our traditional garden blog. Although I do have pictures and honeybee video - if I ever get some time to download/upload it.
Watched the House debate on CSpan with interest on Friday and came away convinced that you have to FAIL an IQ test to get elected as a Republican congressman in some districts. Damn... some of these guys could barely string together a coherent sentence. And those who could? Well, I heard exactly the same talking points on the way to the store when I tuned into Sean Hannity's show. At least we know they get their information from a "credible" source....
But moving along: I always like to visit the DailyKos site on Saturdays because that's when Markos posts the "highlights" of his hate mail. Today's is truly classic. I've included some of it below the fold. Remember, I'm a bit of a puritan about language, so I won't put it on the front page.
Now, at LIA, we get news tips, helpful hints, and a smattering of junk email. Nobody sends us stuff like this! Either we draw a better class of visitors or we just aren't trying hard enough...
We have quite an active group of gardeners at Left in Alabama, so I thought I'd pass along these tips from the Natonal Wildlife Federation's "Garden For Wildlife" campaign:
Top 5 Ways to Help Pollinators
Did you know that one out of every third bite of food comes to us thanks to pollinators? From beautiful butterflies to busy bees, it’s clear that pollinators are essential to life on our planet.
But, declines in pollinators in North America and around the world pose what could be a significant threat to biodiversity, global food webs and human health.
Help pollinators in your neighborhood during National Pollinator Week (June 22-28) by taking one or more of these five simple actions:
In case you missed the news in an earlier thread, two LIA front pagers are celebrating their wedding anniversaries this weekend! Redeye and Mooncat are celebrating 20+ year anniversaries with their spouses this weekend, so blogging is bound to take second place to cuddling...
This is June, and a relatively quiet garden time in North Alabama. We're picking a pound or so of yellow squash and cucumbers each day, but the snowball is picking up speed. We're sure to be covered up with green beans, melons, corn, peas, peppers, tomatoes, and more in the next month or so.
In the meantime, here are a few photos from our little corner of paradise. Note that this bee is feasting on a "real" blooming onion - and not the kind sold at Friday's! I love it when when we have onion, leek, and/or garlic bloom: they look more like props in a Star Trek movie than flowering allium from Alabama.
So, what's up in your garden and what's on your mind in general? It's an open thread, so type away...
Ok, so I've had a marvelous 24 hours. I went out with the family for a delicious dinner on Friday night followed by a synagogue service. Then this morning, I co-officiated (with the rabbi who married me and Daddycat) at the bar mitzvah of the son of a close friend. He was one of my first students when I started as a volunteer religous school teacher for first grade at the synagogue.
So I'm in a good mood and ignoring the "chaos, panic, and disorder" I find we've all experienced since yesterday afternoon.
Everyone share something GOOD that happened to you this week or to someone you care about. There has to be at least one good thing.
I'm kicking it off with this 1 minute video of hummingbirds. I recorded them last week at the feeder we have just off our deck. It's not often that you see a group of hummingbirds eating peacefully together. We had a tiny, tiny nest in the tree outside our bedroom window. Maybe they're kin?
The video is on the flip (to make the home page load faster). And hey, what's happening in YOUR garden?
Last weekend, driq favored us with a non-gardening diary - at least I think it was last week....
In any case, here's a flower, critter, and gardening photo diary for the end of May. I'm particularly proud of the butterfly photos - and give my most sincere apologies to those on dial-up. But they turned out so good, I had to share.
So... what's happening in your garden? Or, other than Bob Riley, what's on your mind?
The first time I figured that somebody had found dinner. The second time I guessed it was a case of "playing possum". 
Senator Jesse Helms led the opposition to the bill, questioning whether King was important enough to receive such an honor. He also criticized King's activities in opposition to the Vietnam War and called his civil justice leadership "action-oriented Marxism." 
On the flip, we'll go from the admirable to the unbelievable. Remember 
Then, the drumbeats of drama from the local weather guys started: snow on Thursday? No snow on Thursday? Accumulation? what?????
Also use it as an open thread to share what's on you mind this morning. 
?
Yikes! And I thought we were busy a couple of weeks ago. The garden is laying me this week and I should be thankful for the bounty. Instead, I'm overwhelmed just by what I picked TODAY:
It's been a wonderful, productive summer in our corner of North Alabama! 
." Normally, I'd never do a product endorsement at LIA, but I know that a lot of our regulars have companion animals. And this brush is AWESOME!
Driving home today, I quickly tired of Sean Hannity and his wingnut guests - like our own Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions - and tuned into NPR just in time to hear an 
Well, some people would load the shotgun, but we choose the more humane option... the "Have A Heart" trap. It's a live trap that you bait with whatever your prey holds dear.
I know that y'all will be busy reading the Declaration of Independence (Do it. It's good for your soul and citizenship), grilling, swilling ice cream, shooting fireworks, and waving teabags.
So I'm in a good mood and ignoring the "chaos, panic, and disorder" I find we've all experienced since yesterday afternoon.
In any case, here's a flower, critter, and gardening photo diary for the end of May. I'm particularly proud of the butterfly photos - and give my most sincere apologies to those on dial-up. But they turned out so good, I had to share.
