Seagull Paradise

 

Seagulls love landfills.

What's not to love? 

They get a constant smorgasbord of stuff to eat, renewed and refreshed with each arriving garbage truck.  The most work they do all day is fly fifteen feet or so to avoid a bulldozer.  

They normally have no natural enemies at the dump, although some places like Orange County California have spent millions to hire falconers to control their population. I'm not sure why - maybe because there are some people who can't stand to see anything having life that easy.

Shades

 

I’ve never read 50 Shades of Gray

But listing them made E L James rich they say

So, here’s my list of shades of green

There’s Corydon, emerald, aventurine

Viridescent, malachite and glaucous jade

Aquamarine and a touch of verdigris

are bound to help my wealth increase

Chartreuse and olive and lime

It’s only a matter of time

just watch all the green come flowing my way

Imaginary Squirrel

 

I was sure I had posted about this last winter, but a search of my blog tells me I didn't.  

I seem to remember writing about our Gray Squirrels having white ears, and even talking about the solid black, Gray Squirrels we used to see at a campground near Romayor, Texas.  The blog post should be there, but it isn't.

Anyway, our squirrels don't have white ears anymore.  Our squirrels did have white ears last winter, but they don't now. I suppose that is their version of a winter coat.

DIDN'T

 

If you're like me (and everybody else I know) you probably pronounce the word didn't like did-unt.  There's even a YouTube video 

that shows you how to pronounce it that way.

When I was in high school, I dated a bright and attractive young lady who didn't say did-unt.  She pronounced it more like did-nit, which I suppose is more phonetically correct, but set her apart from all the rest of the English-speaking world.

I spent days trying to say did-nit, but I never could get it right.  

I wonder if she still says it that way.

Once in a while

 For those who have followed my blog over the years, you know that it has disintegrated lately.  It has gone from daily posts to occasional posts, sometimes only a couple in a month.

Recently, I promised to do better, but I've changed my mind.  From now on, what you see (and when you see it) will be what you get.

Woodpecker

 Way back in February, I posted about the woodpecker that visits our bird feeder Here.  Well, I finally got a picture -

Back then, I commented on the fact that although it is known as a Red-Bellied Woodpecker its belly is actually white.  

I don't think you can see it - even if you blow the picture up - but it does have a rosy glow between its legs, almost like a severe case of jock itch.  It is several degrees south of what I'd call its belly, but I suppose Red-Bellied sounds better than Red-Crotched

Outside of the (C.J.) Box

It should be no surprise that I am a huge fan of C. J. Box, and his Joe Pickett novels.  I may or may not have written about them a couple years ago.

I recently discovered the TV series, and I think, overall, it's pretty good.  Sharon Lawrence, for example, is perfect as Joe's mother-in-law, Missy.

There are some allusions to Joe's childhood that I don't remember from the books, but otherwise the story line is close enough.

Except for Nate Romanowski - 

In the books, Nate is a tall slender man of Eastern European heritage who wears his hair in a blonde ponytail. On TV, he is a black guy who looks like a retired linebacker. Mustafa Speaks, who plays Nate is doing a creditable job, but he still looks like a retired linebacker, and that grates.  For those who are fans of the books it is hard to swallow, and I can't for the life of me understand why the change was made.