DINING OUT

The subject of today's blog is the avian world and its members search for a good meal.

Sometimes that involves a bit of disagreement over whose meal is whose.

It seems this struggle goes on with smaller birds, as well, though perhaps a bit less strenuously.

Some of our colorful friends prefer to be fed directly by the chef, though this fellow seems to be considering the daily fare with some skepticism.

And always, in the bird world as in the human universe, there are the gourmets, who gaze on their impending meal with a curious eye and an imperious attitude.  Even a piece of cheese can be dissected for provenance, for appearance, for aroma before the ultimate test, taste.

I hasten to add that I took none of the preceding photographs and I know nothing of their creators.  As I said yesterday, they came in an e-mail, the modern way of receiving something "over the transom."

OVER THE TRANSOM

As I was thinking of a title for this blog, it occurred to me that many of you may be unfamiliar with a transom window.  I guess it's not a feature of many homes these days.  I suspect it was a feature dreamed up before air conditioning became prevalent.  Basically, it's a small window directly over a door that could be propped open for air flow.  Here's a photo of one.

Anyway an expression evolved as "something came in over the transom", meaning something unexpected came into your house through that window.

Now that we have that straight, I have a variety of items to show you that came to me by e-mail today (or over the transom.)

First is a series of remarkable photographs by a professional sports photographer in Phoenix of a giant dust storm this summer.  Take a look at the amazing photographs from the blog of Mark J. Rebilas.

Next some photographs of a home project at my cousin Bonnie's house in Billings, Montana.  The deck around their house was about 30 years old and they decided they needed a new one.  Here's how it began.



And here's the finished product.

Pretty darn nice, isn't it.  As Bonnie said, not bad for a bunch of amateurs.

You may remember my cousin Bonnie from an earlier post.  She's a bluegrass musician, playing a variety of instruments.  Looks to me like she's got her own stage for some concerts now.

Not being much of a handyman myself, you can well imagine when I saw these pictures I was all eyes.

  Or should I have said "owl eyes."  Actually, that was one of a number of photos sent to me by my friend, Meggie who blogs from "way down under", as we Northern Hemisphere snobs like to say.

I'll try to put some more pictures from "over the transom" on in another post.



DIDJA MISS ME?

I know, I know, I keep having these lapses in my blogging.  And I know when I don't post, there are millions out there who feel bereft. 

Well. 

Maybe not millions. 

Maybe thousands.

Hundreds?

Tens?

O.K.  Two or three.

But, you see, as I have said many times before I live a very sedentary life these days.  I don't think you'd be interested in my trips to the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions.

Or my now infrequent visits to the kitchen to try to cook something.

(However, I did make a foray there last night.  We had some leftover Kraft macaroni and cheese.  And several pieces of chicken that were cooked a few days ago.  So I had the idea to plate the mac and cheese and slice up the chicken fairly finely and arrange it over the m&c and heat it up in the microwave.  But I figured it might be pretty dry so I tried a trick I'd seen many fancy chefs use on the food channel.  I fried an egg, sunny side up, and placed it on top of everything else.  Y'know what?  It was pretty darn tasty!  But I don't think I'll send the recipe to Bon Appetit.)

So, any way.  I need something to blog about before I can bring myself to blog.  After several days of what we used to call in broadcasting "dead air", it arrived in an e-mail from the BRD this evening.

She said she'd brought the plants in for the winter and arranged them along with a couple of cat beds.  And she said it seemed to be kitty approved.  I agree.  Here's her photo.

On the top level, Lilly and Jet.  Underneath, Mister Taz.

The newcomer down below originally was called Taz, short for the Tasmanian Devil.  But of late the BRD says she's been calling him "Mister" more often.  So I have dubbed him Mister Taz.

Or, like most cats, maybe he just chose his own name.

WAIT 'TIL NEXT YEAR!

The season is finally over for my Arizona Diamondbacks.  The Milwaukee Brewers finally ended it for them in the bottom of the 10th inning this evening with a hard-fought one-run victory in the 5th game of the 5 game series.  So congratulations to the Brewers.

But D-Backs fans have nothing to be ashamed of.  They went from worst in their division last year to first this year, defeating the incumbent World Champion San Francisco Giants by 8 games.

The real star of their team is this man.

He is their manager, Kirk Gibson.  He is given credit for changing the attitude of this team and making them champions of the National League West this year.  Nearly everyone says he should be named the National League Manager of the Year.

Meantime, as we Brooklyn Dodgers fans used to say back in the 40's and 50's - "Wait 'til next year!"

OH . . .

It is always such a good night when the Yankees get beat!

W, YOU'RE LOOKIN' BETTER EVERY DAY

I was a big critic of George W. Bush during his presidency, for a lot of things but largely because of his crippled syntax.  But he looks darn near eloquent, next to Sarah Palin.

I quote from Ms. Palin's interview with Greta Van Susteren on why she decided not to seek the presidency in 2012.

"I concluded that I can be an effective voice and a real decisive role in helping get true public servants elected to office, not just in the presidency, but we have 33 senate seats coming up, we have a House of Representatives that we need to strengthen in numbers, conservatives who understand that our country has got to get back on the right track economically here and governors' seats around the nation."


Now, I ask you: does that make any sense?

Does Sarah Palin ever make any sense?

W, we hardly new ye.

BREAKING NEWS

I have decided, after much consideration of the ins and outs, that I shall not, this year, seek the presidency of the United States.  I'm sure you're all disappointed but, as New Jersey Governor Chris Christy said yesterday, "now is not my time."

I think you should know that I have put in virtually no thought to running for president.  I have not discussed it with my wife or children or her children or my grandchildren or her grandchildren.  Neither have I mentioned it to my brother or his children (my nieces and nephews) or any of their children.

None of my friends have been consulted about this great decision.  I don't have a pastor but if I did I can assure you that he would not have been consulted either.

Nor would my psychiatrist, if I had one.  Nor any of my doctors, of which I have too many.

No, this has been totally my decision, reached after I stopped laughing when I just read that Sarah Palin has decided that she won't run for president in 2012 either.

Needless to say, I am still happy to accept any monetary donations that my friends, families and followers would care to send me.

Gosh darn it, this is shaping up to be quite a politicial season, isn't it?