Slogthrop Imponderables and Incommensurables: 9/14/23

Thursday, September 14, 2023

In bed at 9:30, awake at 4:58, and up at 5:20. 50°, high of 68° under clear skies and AQI of 18, wind Nw at 4 mph, 2-10/14. Sunrise at 6:30 at 85°E, sunset at 7:03, 12+33, losing more than 2.5 minutes/day.

Birdcast, a product of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Colorado State University. tells us that 337,000,000 birds, more or less, were migrating south last night as the daylight diminishes and the temperatures cool. Some start leaving their breeding grounds for their wintering grounds as early as July while others wait until October.

LTMW at 6:50, I see a tiny, immature downy woodpecker who seems to have set up shop on the sunflower/safflower feeder. He's been there for several minutes, pecking away like crazy, but appearing to do no eating of seeds. The tube is about 2/3rds full and continues to attract many chickadees while many others focus on the niger feeder. At 7:00, the sun is just under treetop level across the street, casting its beams through the trees onto Geri's seating spot on the sofa. The early morning sun, low in the sky,t enhances the beautiful red coloring on the male house finches who no longer seem to be paired up with their female nesting partners now that their yooung'uns have left their nests. The woodpeckers pretty much rule the roost when they are perched on the short tube, with 4 or 5 finches and song sparrows/siskins perched on top of the shepherd's crook waiting for the woodpecker to finish and fly away. At 8:30, a young mother and a friend walk briskly along Wakefield Court with a baby in a stroller and their dog. They are followed by another young couple with another stroller and child and dog. Norman Rockwell scenes. Life among the privileged.

How the times and tastes have changed. While puttering around in my basement sanctuary a few days ago, I turned on Pandora and opted to listen to the Patti Page station, just because I nostalgically felt like listening to some of her lovely songs. "The singing rage, Miss Patti Page." One of songs that played was "Mockingbird Hill" which was a big hit in early1951 when I was 9 years old. I remember it well, hearing it often on WGN or WMAQ or whatever radio station happened to be playing on our kitchen radio in those days. I've been perseverating a bit on the song each of the last few days and thinking how incredibly corny the lyrics seem today and of how unthinkable that it would get a play on today's pop music stations. In 1951, it reached #2 on the popular music charts. How the times change.

Tra-la-la, tweedlee dee dee it gives me a thrill

To wake up in the morning to the mockin' bird's trill

Tra-la-la, tweedlee dee dee

There's peace and goodwill

You're welcome as the flowers on Mockin'bird Hill

When the sun in the mornin' peeps over the hill

And kisses the roses 'round my windowsill

Then my heart fills with gladness when I hear the trill

Of those birds in the treetops on Mockin'bird Hill

When it's late in the evenin' I climb up the hill

And survey all my kingdom while everything's still

Only me and the sky and an old whippoorwill

Singing songs in the twilight on Mockin'bird Hill

(I'm imagining these lyrics delivered Hip Hop style!😀 Cool! or perhaps Taylor Swift in a revealing sequined costume trilling 'Tra-la-la, tweedlee-de-de 😳)

Covid boosters and reactionary politicians. I have had 6 COVID vaccinations to date and plan to get my 7th, the second bivalent booster, not later than next month. Ditto an RSV vaccination. We are almost 3 and 1/2 years into the covid pandemic and I have yet to become infected, for which I am grateful and for which I credit mostly the available vaccinations. I was vaccinated against polio as a child and again in the Marine Corps. In my 4 years of active duty in the Marine Corps, I received more vaccinations than I can remember, especially before deploying to Vietnam. I get the flu vaccine every year and have been vaccinated against pneumonia and shingles. I have never come down with any disease against which I have been vaccinated, with the possible exception of a possible case of flu a couple of years ago, in which the symptoms were very mild, which I attribute to the vaccination I had previously obtained. I believe in and am thankful for vaccines.

Florida governor and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis and the Florida state health commissioner he appointed are doing all that they can to discourage Floridians from getting vaccinated. "In a call live-streamed on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, DeSantis and Surgeon General Joseph A. Ladapo repeated comments made in a live event last week in Jacksonville, Fla., and argued there isn’t enough evidence that the booster’s benefits outweigh any risks. “I will not stand by and let the FDA and CDC use healthy Floridians as guinea pigs for new booster shots that have not been proven to be safe or effective,” DeSantis said in a statement after the call with Ladapo and other doctors, which opened with the title “No way FDA.”"

Words fail me.

Thoughts on watching motion hearing in Georgia election case. (1) The 34 year old freshman judge in the case is very impressive, very capable, very professional. (2) I can't help thinking the case is too big and fear that it will become a train wreck at some point(s), notwithstanding the best efforts of the judge. (3) . I am SO thankful to no longer be in the litigation business.

Starting a New Painting.