Lark Bunting. Wood Ducks. Hawks Aren’t Fancy! The Owl Comes Into Its Own. BirdNote: Woodpeckers, Loons, and Chickadees ... Aspirin. Satchmo and Terry.

 

For “Winged Wednesday”:

Lark Bunting

“The Lark Bunting is actually a North American sparrow. Breeding males are distinctive, with all-black plumage set off by a large white patch on the upper wing. Nonbreeding males and females are grayish brown with white striping.

Lark Buntings forage on the ground, mainly taking insects, especially grasshoppers. They eat seeds in winter, when they often congregate in large flocks. They prefer grassland with some shrub cover for nesting; the nest, a loose bowl of grass, fine roots, and plant stems, is on the ground. Populations in any given area may fluctuate depending on precipitation levels.

Christmas Bird Counts and Breeding Bird Surveys show this handsome bird to be one of the fastest declining in the United States; habitat loss and fragmentation, pesticide poisoning, and overgrazing are the chief causes. Livestock water tanks also pose risks; large numbers of buntings in search of a drink often drown or fall prey to domestic cats lurking around tanks.

Important conservation measures needed for the Lark Bunting include protecting and restoring native grasslands, delaying mowing of hayfields until after the breeding season to prevent destruction of nests, and minimizing pesticide use.

Help ABC conserve this and other birds and their habitats!

Listen to a two-minute broadcast about this bird!

Photo: James Ownby; Range Map, NatureServe

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Wood Duck

A female Wood Duck

“Male Wood Ducks are among the most handsome ducks in North America. But the female, while drabber, sports some vivid coloration as well. See for yourself >>”

 

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Hawks aren't fancy; they're happy just to grab a bite on the road

Sharon Stiteler runs Birdchick.com (Photo courtesy of Sharon Stiteler)

“Highways offer ample hunting ground. Litter thrown from cars attracts mice and rats, and light posts provide excellent perches for hawks to watch for small furry things. Cars also do a good job of killing raccoons and rabbits, providing a fast-food meal. Sometimes hawks don't have to kill anything, but need only fly down and eat the car-tenderized carcasses.

A red-tailed hawk had a meal along a set of railroad tracks. (Courtesy of Sharon Stiteler)

“Though roadsides and highways offer vermin bounty, they are not the safest hunting environment. A focused hawk, especially a young, inexperienced bird, can misjudge vehicle speed and collide with a windshield. Car collisions are a common injury among birds of prey brought in to the University of Minnesota's Raptor Center.”    More at: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/02/27/stiteler

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The Owl Comes Into Its Own

Matt Cardy/Getty Images

An Avian Tribe Apart: Scientists and bird lovers delve into the subtle and surprising world of owls.

“The two barred, or Strix varia, owls were just rousing themselves in the outdoor enclosure, and they looked bigger and more shaggily majestic than I expected, with capes of densely layered cream-and-coffee plumage draped on their 17-inch frames and pompous, Elizabethan feather ruffs encircling their necks. Like any good royalty, they ignored me.

That is, until I pulled out my phone with the birdcall app and started playing the barred owl song. The female’s languid eyes shot wide open. The male’s head spun around in its socket by 180 of the 270 degrees an owl’s head can swivel.

With the distinctive forward-facing gaze that can make owls seem as much human as bird, the barred pair stared at me. I played the call again, the male grew bored, and I was about to put the phone away when suddenly the female — the larger of the two owls, as female birds of prey often are — pitched her body forward on her perch, lifted up her heavy, magnificent wings and belted out a full-throated retort to my recorded call.

After a brief pause, she hooted the eight-note sequence once more, at which point an astonished zoo-goer nearby burst into applause.”  More and video at:  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/26/science/long-cloaked-in-mystery-owls-start-coming-into-full-view.html?pagewanted=all

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BirdNote Weekly Preview:

Woodpeckers, Loons, and Chickadees ...

Upcoming Shows

 

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

SUNDAY Drumming with Woodpeckers by Bob Sundstrom LISTEN NOW ►

Tree Swallow

MONDAY Birds Return with the Light by Todd Peterson LISTEN NOW ►

Red-throated Loon

TUESDAY Red-throated Loons At Deception Pass by Todd Peterson LISTEN NOW ►

Black-capped Chickadee

WEDNESDAY Voices and Vocabularies - Clever Chickadees by Bob Sundstrom LISTEN NOW ►

European Starling

THURSDAY A Tree Alive with Song - European Starlings by Bob Sundstrom LISTEN NOW ►

Great Horned Owl

FRIDAY Great Horned Owl Duet by Frances Wood LISTEN NOW ►

Mallard

SATURDAY Everybody Knows a Mallard by Frances Wood LISTEN NOW ►

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On This Day:

Bayer patents aspirin, Mar 6, 1899:

“On this day in 1899, the Imperial Patent Office in Berlin registers Aspirin, the brand name for acetylsalicylic acid, on behalf of the German pharmaceutical company Friedrich Bayer & Co.

Now the most common drug in household medicine cabinets, acetylsalicylic acid was originally made from a chemical found in the bark of willow trees. In its primitive form, the active ingredient, salicin, was used for centuries in folk medicine, beginning in ancient Greece when Hippocrates used it to relieve pain and fever. Known to doctors since the mid-19thcentury, it was used sparingly due to its unpleasant taste and tendency to damage the stomach.

In 1897, Bayer employee Felix Hoffman found a way to create a stable form of the drug that was easier and more pleasant to take. (Some evidence shows that Hoffman's work was really done by a Jewish chemist, Arthur Eichengrun, whose contributions were covered up during the Nazi era.) After obtaining the patent rights, Bayer began distributing aspirin in powder form to physicians to give to their patients one gram at a time. The brand name came from "a" for acetyl, "spir" from the spirea plant (a source of salicin) and the suffix "in," commonly used for medications. It quickly became the number-one drug worldwide.”

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Yesterday:

Jay called and wanted to work, so Misty and I went down there to pick him up.  But when we got here, he laid down on my couch.  I asked him what he was doing, so he got up and said that he was too messed up to work, and he walked to the store around the corner.  About 1/2 an hour later he called me to say he was sitting in the woods drinking beer! 

So Ray and I did all the heavy work.  We pulled the big 220v. heat/air conditioner out of it’s case in Ray’s living room window, put it on the four-wheeled hand truck, rolled it down his steps to our wash area, cleaned it with coil cleaner, and then gently hosed it down.  While it was drying, we got the case out of his window and cleaned that.  Then we took the A/C back into Ray’s and plugged it in to make sure it still worked.  Ray always covered the sensitive parts with plastic bags, but you never know with an A/C that old. 

Then it was rolled up my steps, still on the hand truck, and rolled into my living room.    We are going to hardwire it into my house temporarily, for the heater inspection. 

We had to stop then, as it was time for me to take Satchmo to the vet.  I drove to another town to take Satchmo back to the rescue's vet who saw him a week ago.  I had been feeding him more than twice as much as any other cat, but he hadn't put on any weight in that week.  Not even an ounce.  The tumor had grown, and he had other serious health problems, possibly FIV.

The vet said that it would be better, all things considered, if Satchmo went to Rainbow Bridge.  I came home, crying, without Satchmo.  I had only had him for just over a week, but I loved him very much.

The foster that had Satchmo didn't even notice that he was sick, and she switched him into my carrier inside her car, so I didn't get to really see him until I got him home. Until then I had only seen pictures of him.  He was a moth eaten skeleton, with hardly hair on his back end.  He looked a lot better after I cared for him, but it was too late.

I wish my Satchmo had had an excellent foster home who really looked after their cats, and cared for them the way we do at the SPCA.

Some things I did learn through all this, is not to feed animals out of the cans that have the white BPA linings, as it can cause thyroid problems, and make sure you get to handle and inspect the animal you are adopting.

I was so upset that the vet gave me an loving 8 (?) year old homeless cat that he had there.  They tested him and he is FIV and FeLV negative !!  I put him in the Grooming Room for a couple of hours to let him settle down, while I changed out the box, dishes and blankies in my bathroom where Satchmo had been. Then I let “Terry” wander around the house. 

What a difference a day cat makes !  Terry, though a little thin, doesn’t hide all the time, like Satchmo did.  He is outgoing, and makes ‘biscuits’ on me, purring with adoring eyes.  He is so glad to be out of that cage at the vet’s office.  During the night he jumped up and quietly slept on my bed, so we were both as happy as could be.

Satchmo will always be in my heart, but I know that this is going to be a better day.

Bolivar Peninsular, TX. Rollover Pass. Gilchrist. High Island. Hurricane Ike. Antonio de Ulloa. Hyperthyroid Cats.

 

For “Travel Tuesday” let’s visit Bolivar ‘Island’, which is in the TX Gulf Coast Region.

“Home to some of the best beaches in America, the Texas Gulf Coast region draws millions of visitors to this Texas playground. Stretching some 350 miles from South Padre Island & the Rio Grande Valley, all the way to Beaumont & the Louisiana border, this region is renowned for its wildlife & natural beauty, as well as the home of America's space program. Discover the Beaches of the Texas Gulf Coast Region.”

 

“The Bolivar Peninsula is Beautiful and that's not a ‘Ferry’ tale!
For anyone who lives inland, there's an indescribable feeling of relaxation and freedom at the first sight of water as he or she approaches the coast." - Pat Daniels Houston Chronicle

“The Bolivar Peninsula is a narrow strip of land on the Texas Gulf Coast in the easternmost part of Galveston County. The peninsula is separated by less than three miles from Galveston Island by the channel of Bolivar Roads, the entrance from the Gulf of Mexico to Galveston Bay. Free public ferries link the Bolivar Peninsula with Galveston Island.

It stretches lazily along the Gulf of Mexico for 27 miles. At it's widest point between Crystal Beach and Caplen it's 3.5 miles wide, and at it's narrowest point in the Rollover Pass area it's 1/4 mile wide. Although classified as a peninsula, it's actually a barrier Island, and is accessible by land from a bridge over rollover pass to the mainland through southern Chambers County.

Major tourist pursuits are swimming, sunbathing, fishing, hunting, beachcombing, shell hunting and bird watching. Extending the length of the peninsula at its northwest side is the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.
Bolivar's five residential communities include: Crystal Beach, Port Bolivar, Caplen, Gilchrist and High Island. The population more than doubles during the summer months as owners of beach homes and tourists arrive to enjoy the beach, sun, bay sunsets, fishing, relaxation and the many attractions of the Bolivar Peninsula "Island".

Whether entering the Bolivar Peninsula after an entertaining ride on a ferry or by highway from Winnie through High Island, you enter a unique and exciting world.”

 

 

 

 

 

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Bolivar Peninsular.  By Jerry & Gloria Quincy

“We will be leaving Galveston Island State Park tomorrow morning. We are moving only about 45 miles to a new site we found on the Bolivar Peninsula. We feel so blessed to find this site. It is right on the beach, the private owner is building his home on the property and is renting his RV space to us for a month, the cost is only $300 plus electric. It has full hook-ups and a view that is incredible. We are about to celebrate five years on the road, this is without a doubt the BEST site we have ever had.”

“We had a very short travel day today, only 45 miles from Galveston. We are now set up right on the beach in the Bolivar Peninsular. It is the BEST sites we have ever had. We watched men fish right outside our window, we saw them catch a HUGE fish. They were catching so many fish they stayed overnight and fished with a lantern. Jerry is ready to go fishing already, he has to go and buy his license tomorrow.”

Driving on the ferry...

 

 

 

 

 

 

We took the ferry to Bolivar..

 

Our site is right on the beach..

 

 

 

 

We watched men fishing from our couch.. awesome!

We are in paradise in our new location, I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story.     More at: http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-719990

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Rollover Pass.

Woo! Look at this big boy catch!  Abel Garcia from Dayton Texas caught and released this 25lb black drum 2/16/2013 4pm at Rollover Pass

“Rollover Pass (also called Rollover Fish Pass) is a man-made strait that cuts through the Bolivar Peninsula and links the Gulf of Mexico with Rollover Bay and East Bay on the upper Texas coast in eastern Galveston County.

The pass was opened in 1955 by the Texas Game and Fish Commission to increase bay water salinity, promote growth of submerged vegetation, and help marine fish to and from spawning and feeding areas in the bay.  Rollover Pass is located in Gilchrist, Texas, on the Bolivar peninsula, approx. 20 miles from the Bolivar ferry landing.

Rollover Pass earned its name from the practice of smugglers who, from the days of Spanish rule through prohibition, avoided the Galveston customs station by rolling barrels of import or export merchandise (i.e., whiskey and rum) over the narrowest part of the peninsula.”

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GILCHRIST, TX

“Gilchrist is a resort and residential community on State Highway 87 on Bolivar Peninsula some seventeen miles east of Bolivar Point in Galveston County. The community was named for Gibb Gilchrist, who relocated and reconstructed the rail line from Port Bolivar to High Island after the 1915 hurricane had destroyed it.

Before that time the settlement in the area had been called Rollover. A post office was established at Gilchrist in 1950. A key feature of the community is the Rollover Fish Pass (or Rollover Pass), which bisects Bolivar Peninsula as well as Gilchrist and carries water between East Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Fishing in its waters is considered among the best in Texas. Rollover Pass was a natural pass that had been closed until 1955, when it was opened by the Texas Game and Fish Commission as part of its efforts to preserve and improve fish and wildlife resources. In 1990 Gilchrist's core population was about 750, but it had significantly more residents during the summer and on holidays. Several businesses catered to permanent residents as well as to sportsmen and tourists.”

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Rollover Pass   By Jerry & Gloria Quincy

“Rollover Pass is known as one of the best fishing areas in Texas. Rollover Pass (also called Rollover Fish Pass) is a man-made strait that cuts through the Bolivar Peninsula and links the Gulf of Mexico with Rollover Bay.

See photo of an aerial view.

Since the artificial pass was built in 1954, it has been hailed for providing easy access to no-fee, high-quality saltwater fishing - an "everyman" fishing spot where anglers lining the cut's edges or wade-fishing around its ends can enjoy tremendous success catching flounder, speckled trout, redfish, croaker, black drum and even tarpon.

I loved being able to drive right up to the fishing wall...

It also has been touted as a beneficial pathway for migration of adult and juvenile fish, shrimp and other marine life between bay and Gulf, as well as allowing tidal "flushing" of the bay. It is also a popular place for birding, which is exactly what I did while he fished. :-) I also walked the beach and picked up more shells for my shell collection. Another wonderful day on the beach.”  More at: http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-720552

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High Island.

“High Island Texas is on a tall salt dome on Bolivar Peninsula at the extreme eastern end of Galveston County. Its thirty-eight-foot rise above sea level makes High Island the highest point on the Gulf of Mexico.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

About High Island

“Today High Island is a small town of about 450 people on the Upper Texas Coast between Galveston and the Louisiana border. It’s usually a quiet town, but each year from March through to May, thousands of enthusiastic visitors from all over the world pour into the area to enjoy the huge numbers of migrating birds that pass through on their way north to their breeding grounds.

THE HISTORY OF HIGH ISLAND
High Island was undoubtedly used by Indians for thousand of years. No archeological sites have been excavated on the island, but shell middens, pieces of black pottery and arrow points dating from as far back as 1200 A.D. have been found on Bolivar Peninsula and around Galveston Bay. These indicate the presence of hunter-gatherers who roamed the region collecting shellfish and hunting the abundant wildlife. Indians may have also visited the mineral springs that were a result of the minerals associated with the salt dome mixing with ground water, which used to exist on the “Island.”
According to the legend, the pirate Jean Lafitte and his crew sometimes had parties in the big grove of oak trees that covered the island when they cruised the coast in the early 1800’s. There are rumors that the pirates buried some of their treasure here. Although many have searched, no one has ever reported finding any trace of the pirates or their treasure.”  From: http://www.birdinghighisland.com/about.htm

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Hurricane Ike Impact on High Island, Texas September 20, 2008

“East of Galveston, Texas, a thin barrier beach—Bolivar Peninsula—stretches along the coastline. Like Galveston, this barrier beach lay directly in the path of Hurricane Ike in September 2008. On the far eastern end of Bolivar Peninsula is High Island, so named for the salt dome that boosts the area some 11.6 meters (38 feet) above the rest of the Gulf Coast between Mobile, Alabama, to the Yucatán Peninsula.

These images show High Island before and after the destruction caused by Hurricane Ike. NASA’s Landsat 7 satellite captured the bottom image on October 22, 1999. In this image, the encircling Oilfield Road delineates High Island, which otherwise looks similar to the surrounding landscape, with its mixture of urbanized and vegetated areas. The white rectangle in this image outlines the area shown in the top image. A photographer with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) took the top photo from an airplane on September 16, 2008. In the top image, High Island really has become an island. Off the edge of the salt dome, water has submerged the landscape, and an oil slick floats over Oilfield Road.”

More at: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=9107

I hope you enjoyed this little tour of Bolivar Peninsular.

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On This Day:

Antonio de Ulloa tries to govern Louisiana, Mar 5, 1766:

“A brilliant Spanish scientist and explorer, Antonio de Ulloa's political talents prove far less impressive when he tries to take control of the formerly French territory of Louisiana.

Ulloa faced a difficult situation in Louisiana. Encompassing most of the western half of the Mississippi Valley as far north as the present-day state of Montana, Louisiana Territory was originally claimed and settled by the French. In 1763, the French transferred the territory to Spain under the terms of the Treaty of Paris, as a reward for having been an ally in the French war with England. The French colonists of Louisiana, however, had not agreed to the treaty. Many were determined to frustrate any attempt by the Spanish to assert control over their home.

This impulse to resist only strengthened when the Spanish failed to immediately dispatch a new governor for the territory, leaving the administration in the hands of the acting French Governor Philippe Aubry. After a three-year lag, the Spanish crown finally sent one of its most distinguished scientists and explorers, Antonio de Ulloa, to govern the territory.

Arriving in New Orleans on this day in 1766, Ulloa faced widespread antagonism to his rule. Before coming to Louisiana, Ulloa had led a brilliantly successfully exploration of Peru, which he publicized in the widely read book A Voyage to South America. Ulloa had also gained fame among European scientists by founding an astronomical observatory and a mineralogical laboratory. However, Ulloa's scientific accomplishments did not impress the French inhabitants of Louisiana.

For all his scientific brilliance, Ulloa proved a timid and ineffective governor. When the French troops of Louisiana refused to recognize his authority, Ulloa did not even attempt to stage a public ceremony marking the formal transfer of power to the Spanish crown. Instead, he decided to execute his orders through Aubry, the acting French governor, preserving the appearance of continued French rule. Possessed of a personality that dangerously combined shyness with arrogance, Ulloa was completely unsuited for the delicate diplomatic task of bringing the people of Louisiana under Spanish control.

Ulloa's attempts to force the French colonists to use the handful of Spanish-dominated ports in the territory further alienated his subjects, as did his refusal to honor old French promissory notes held by many of the colonists. In 1768, the French political leaders revolted, forcing Ulloa to flee to Havana, Cuba. Although subsequent Spanish officials were better able to control the French residents, Spanish control over Louisiana continued to remain tenuous. In 1800, Spain finally abandoned its claim to the territory and handed it back to the French. Three years later, Napoleon Bonaparte sold it to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase. Unlike their Spanish predecessors, the Americans eventually succeeded in winning the loyalty of the Louisianians.”

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Yesterday:

I had to stay here as the new wall heater was arriving, and I didn’t want to take the chance of it being stolen off my front step.  So I had to postpone Satchmo’s visit to the vet for his thyroid test.

So, while I was waiting, I spent a lot of time researching the disease, symptoms and treatment. Even without the test, I know Satchmo has it. His thyroid is enlarged and he has an insatiable hunger, and even with 4-5 feedings a day, he is still begging for food.  It seems to consume his life, and he isn’t a very happy kitty.   Skittishness seems to be another side effect of the disease.  He seems happy here, but just seems uneasy all the time. He will stand next to Misty, so he’s not worried about her.  When he comes up to me, it is usually to ask for food.

I had hoped to find successful less aggressive forms of treatment, but when I joined a Yahoo group for Hyperthyroid Cats, I read so much woe, worry and distress for the cats having the conventional radiation treatments.  Throwing up, diarrhea, itching, shaking, and hiding.  I had found out about some holistic treatments, but I didn’t even have to post on there asking about them, someone already had.  Apparently, it only works in the first stages when they aren’t showing the main symptoms.  The quality of life for the cats doesn’t seem to be so great.  Some of the cat ‘parents’ seemed to be selfishly prolonging their cat’s suffering. 

We need to get this heater installed pronto, but Satchmo is my priority, so I am going to see if I can get him seen by a vet today.

Dry Camping. Solar Panel Theft. Solo Women RVers. Amazon. Fuel Line To Genny. Egress. Off-Grid Washer. Cherokee Phoenix. Washington Monument. Malcolm X.

 

For “tRaVersing Thursday, or RV day”:

Basic tips for "dry camping"

”Dry camping, camping without utility hookups, requires special preparations -- and that includes wise use of electricity. Here are a few basic energy-saving tips for getting you started.

•When not in use, turn off all appliances, lights, radio, TV and anything else that requires electricity.
•Turn off your porch light.
•Coordinate your generator use with power-hungry devices. For instance, schedule your showers (the water pump uses power), furnace use, and use of microwave, coffee marker and other appliances at a certain time when your generator can power them all at once. This also charges your batteries.
•In cold weather, dress warmly: save your heater. Its fan gobbles power.
•Rise and retire with the sun. This saves power for lighting.
•If you read in bed, use a small rechargeable battery-powered reading light.
•Monitor your house batteries charge with a voltage meter so you don’t run them down too low, which can damage the batteries. Deep cycle batteries are considered fully charged at about 12.6 volts and completely discharged at 10.6 volts. Recharge before they get below 60 percent, or about 12.0 volts.”   By Bob Difley
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How to prevent your solar panels from being stolen

“Reports from around the sunny side of the nation show that theft of solar panels is on the increase. Some brazen thieves are marching into yards and removing the precious panels from sticks and bricks homes, but RV solar panels are attractive as well. Read more.”

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Solo Women RVers:

“Travel writer Joei Carlton Hossack of Surrey, British Columbia, has been RVing solo for more than two decades. Read more about her.

She first hit the road in 1989 with her husband, Paul. They bought a class B in England and traveled for 2-1/2 years throughout Europe and parts of Africa.  "Sadly," she said, "he died unexpectedly of a heart attack in a German campground on that trip. He was only 52."

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Temp Jobs Available with Amazon

“When e-commerce giant Amazon built its huge new fulfillment centers, the smart and mobile RV work force was high on its list of potential employees. Where else could they find armies of able, motivated workers who wanted temporary jobs and who could bring their housing with them? CamperForce was born. Read more.”

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Tapping generator fuel from motorhome's tank

Dear Gary,
”Is it possible to connect a fuel line from the gas tank directly to the generator that I have added to my 23-foot Honey motorhome? Can we do it ourselves? I've been looking for any technical help for so long. Hopefully, you are the right one.” --Marciano, (Savannah, GA)    Read Gary's response.

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Do you have a RV emergency escape plan?

“When we plan a trip in our RV we tend to think about all of the good aspects of the upcoming adventure. Where we are going, what we'll do when we get there, and all of the things we will see and experience along the way. What we don't really think about is what if something happens during the trip and everybody needs to exit the RV in a hurry. What if there is a fire? What if the entry door is blocked and you can’t get out. What’s the plan? Is there a plan?” Read more.

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Bill's Hints    Pilot light
“Unless you are using your oven a lot, leave the pilot light turned off when you are not cooking.  It uses a surprising amount of propane.”

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Random RV Thought
”A sandwich eaten in your RV at a highway rest stop is ten times better than a meal at a fast-food place. There is something extra special about being able to pull over, stretch your legs, prepare your meal, and then dine at your own table. It's fun to watch all the people scurrying about in the rest area, too.”

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Off Grid Laundry.

“This is how we wash clothes using a 5 gallon bucket and plunger as an agitator.”

“You forgot something, the reason why your plunger is sticking to the bottom is because you haven't cut holes in the plunger to allow the water to flow....cut three round medium size holes in the largest part of the plunger and VIOLA the water will flow through and won't stick to the bottom............”

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“Demonstrating our bucket washer. 5 minutes per cycle, one wash, one rinse, 2 gallons or less of water per cycle. Use the rinse water for the next wash cycle.”

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Mobile Washer (Hand Operated Washing Machine)

$14.95    “This washer uses a technique of pushing and pulling the water through the clothes without excess friction (which also reduces the wear on your clothes). This washer uses minimal water and because of the agitation motion, less soap.” http://www.amazon.com/Mobile-Washer-Operated-Washing-Machine/dp/B003SQ7I5S

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So how do you wring out the clothes?

“Laundry press. Press out the water before hanging on the line.”

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On This Day:

Cherokee receive their first printing press, Feb 21, 1828:

“The first printing press designed to use the newly invented Cherokee alphabet arrives at New Echota, Georgia.

The General Council of the Cherokee Nation had purchased the press with the goal of producing a Cherokee-language newspaper. The press itself, however, would have been useless had it not been for the extraordinary work of a young Cherokee named Sequoyah, who invented a Cherokee alphabet.

Ridiculed and misunderstood by most of the Cherokee, Sequoyah made slow progress until he came up with the idea of representing each syllable in the language with a separate written character. By 1821, he had perfected his syllabary of 86 characters, a system that could be mastered in less than week. After obtaining the official endorsement of the Cherokee leadership, Sequoyah's invention was soon adopted throughout the Cherokee nation. When the Cherokee-language printing press arrived on this day in 1828, the lead type was based on Sequoyah's syllabary. Within months, the first Indian language newspaper in history appeared in New Echota, Georgia. It was called the ‘Cherokee Phoenix’.

In recognition of his service, the Cherokee Nation voted Sequoyah an annual allowance in 1841. He died two years later on his farm in Oklahoma. Today, his memory is also preserved in the scientific name for the giant California redwood tree, Sequoia.”

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Washington Monument dedicated, Feb 21, 1885:

“The Washington Monument, built in honor of America's revolutionary hero and first president, is dedicated in Washington, D.C.  Three years later it was opened to the public, who were permitted to climb to the top of the monument by stairs or elevator. The monument was the tallest structure in the world when completed and remains today, by District of Columbia law, the tallest building in the nation's capital.”

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Malcolm X assassinated, Feb 21, 1965:

“In New York City, Malcolm X, an African American nationalist and religious leader, is assassinated by rival Black Muslims while addressing his Organization of Afro-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights.”

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Yesterday:

Apart from the usual chares, and taking care of Miss Priss after her surgery, I spent a lot of time comparing products and trying to decide which kind of ‘permanently affixed heater’ to buy.

 

One reason Miss Priss wouldn’t  settle down is that she didn’t want the pink fluffy soft bed in there, she wanted the old beige one.  Picky, picky!!

I had just about decided to go with a Mini Split Air and Heat, when one of the local HVAC companies finally returned my call.  I was under the impression that it cost about $500 to get one installed, but he burst my bubble when told me it was more like $1000-1500!  Back to square one.

Miss Priss acts like she had never had any surgery and was so anxious to get out of her big cage that I let her out to play in the Grooming Room this morning.  But I did make sure that there were things that she could step on to get to higher places. She is what is referred to as a ‘tree cat’, and likes to be high up.

Satchmo prefers his high-up place looking out of my bathroom window during the day, but at night time he comes out and sleeps on the end of my bed.  He is so sweet, and gradually gaining weight. 

The weather is still chilly in the mornings and then warms up to a lovely, warm, sunny, windows-and-doors-open day.

Gluten and Obesity. Weed of Disease. 'Gluten-free' GMO Foods. Death Penalty. Welsh Oil Spill. Dale Earnhardt Sr. ‘Satchmo’s Arrival.

 

For “Foodie Friday”:

Wheat Gluten Newly Confirmed To Promote Weight Gain

“…Considering our previous investigation of the weight-promoting effects of wheat in cattle, discussed in our essay The Dark Side of Wheat, we are not at all surprised by these most recent research findings.  Wheat grain-fed cattle, while much sicker, are always heavier. Grass-fed, on the other hand, are healthier and yet weigh less. Certainly, therefore, the notion that feeding wheat to mammals may increase their weight is not novel.

The time has come for us to recognize that the consumption of grains, that is, the seed form of the cereal grasses, is a evolutionarily novel behavior. While we have been doing so for 10,000-20,000 years, this is only a nanosecond on the scale of biological time. Albeit, culturally, it may seems like forever.

Weight gain, of course, is only one of over 200 adverse health effects associated with wheat consumption. Whereas weight gain often speaks to our vanity, the reality is that cardiovascular health, psychiatric problems, autism, irritable bowel, and many other common health complaints can be tracked back directly to this "king of grains." The time has come, we believe, to give wheat and gluten elimination a good try. After all, only your first-hand experience can determine with any certainty whether these concepts are just theory or truth – for you.”  More at: http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/wheat-gluten-newly-confirmed-promote-weight-gain

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So how did wheat, “the staff of life,” become a weed of disease.

“Wheat is not the same today. It has been agriculturally hybrid, not genetically lab engineered over some decades to resist fungus, grow more quickly, and be more pliable for industrial bread baking. As a consequence, 50-60 years ago wheat containing only five percent gluten has become 50 percent gluten today.

Agricultural resources used the hybrid process for wheat to accommodate the baking industry’s mechanical requirements of pliable proteins, leading to the 10-fold increase of wheat’s gluten.

The processed food industry’s concern for production efficiency and perception of consumer demands has focused on the bottom line with the usual disregard to negative health consequences.

Slightly different high speed methods of baking evolved over time. By artificially bleaching flour and adding “improvers” with often toxic additives and mixing the dough violently, loaves of bread could be baked, cooled, and packaged within a few, short hours. Cheap, unhealthy foods for many with massive profits for a few.

This is beginning to change with measures that seem to offset gluten’s damage for some. For example, Whole Foods has their own bakery providing fresh breads daily without bromides, which can displace the thyroid gland’s iodine contents and create hypothyroidism.

Other local bakeries may provide sprouted grain and real sourdough breads, which even some celiac sufferers manage to consume without adverse reactions.

If you wish to cut out wheat products completely, beware of gluten free products. Most contain high glycemic substitutes and GMOs.”  More at: http://myscienceacademy.org/2013/01/16/gluten-confirmed-to-cause-serious-weight-gain-or-wheat-belly-scientific-research/

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Majority of 'gluten-free' foods found to contain GMOs

“In the wake of all the recent revelations about the dangers of GMOs, a special warning needs to go out to all those health-conscious consumers buying "gluten-free" foods. As it turns out, most "gluten-free" foods sold in the USA contain genetically modified organisms.

Why is this so? Because the primary ingredient in most gluten-free foods is corn. And most corn-based foods are made with genetically modified corn. Around 85% of the conventional corn grown in the USA is genetically modified corn, and that corn is engineered to produce its own deadly insecticide right inside every grain.

When GM corn is harvested and made into gluten-free foods, the insecticide stays with it and resides in the gluten-free food. As a result, people who are buying gluten-free are often exposing themselves to the risk of toxicity from GM corn.
What are those risks, exactly? No one knows for sure, as GMOs are still a radical agricultural experiment being conducted on the population at large. But French researchers recently found that feeding a lifetime of GM corn to rats caused a huge increase in the risk of developing horrifying, massive tumors and premature death. The rats who were fed GM corn also suffered widespread organ damage.

How to avoid GM corn in gluten-free foods

The only gluten-free foods that don't contain GM corn are those foods that either don't use corn as an ingredient or ones that use certified organic corn. GMOs are not allowed under an organic label.
Sadly, there are very few gluten-free foods that are also USDA organic. So gluten-free shoppers have very few choices if they wish to avoid both gluten as well as GMOs.”    More at: http://www.naturalnews.com/037494_gluten-free_gmos_gm_corn.html

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Three Hidden Ways Wheat Makes You Fat

‘How Wheat -- and Gluten -- Trigger Weight Gain, Prediabetes, Diabetes and More’, by Mark Hyman, MD

“The biggest problem is wheat, the major source of gluten in our diet. But wheat weaves its misery through many mechanisms, not just the gluten! The history of wheat parallels the history of chronic disease and obesity across the world. Supermarkets today contain walls of wheat and corn disguised in literally hundreds of thousands of different food-like products, or FrankenFoods. Each American now consumes about 55 pounds of wheat flour every year.  It is not just the amount but also the hidden components of wheat that drive weight gain and disease.

This is not the wheat your great-grandmother used to bake her bread. It is FrankenWheat -- a scientifically engineered food product developed in the last 50 years.

This new modern wheat may look like wheat, but it is different in three important ways that all drive obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, dementia and more.

1. It contains a Super Starch -- amylopectin A that is super fattening.
2. It contains a form of Super Gluten that is super-inflammatory.
3. It contains forms of a Super Drug that is super-addictive and makes you crave and eat more.

The Super Starch

The Bible says, "Give us this day our daily bread." Eating bread is nearly a religious commandment. But the Einkorn, heirloom, Biblical wheat of our ancestors is something modern humans never eat.

Instead, we eat dwarf wheat, the product of genetic manipulation and hybridization that created short, stubby, hardy, high-yielding wheat plants with much higher amounts of starch and gluten and many more chromosomes coding for all sorts of new odd proteins. The man who engineered this modern wheat won the Nobel Prize -- it promised to feed millions of starving around the world. Well, it has, and it has made them fat and sick.

The first major difference of this dwarf wheat is that it contains very high levels of a super starch called amylopectin A. This is how we get big fluffy Wonder Bread and Cinnabons.

Here's the downside. Two slices of whole wheat bread now raise your blood sugar more than two tablespoons of table sugar.

There is no difference between whole wheat and white flour here. The biggest scam perpetrated on the unsuspecting public is the inclusion of "whole grains" in many processed foods full of sugar and wheat, giving the food a virtuous glow. The best way to avoid foods that are bad for you is to stay away from foods with health claims on the labels. They are usually hiding something bad.

In people with diabetes, both white and whole grain bread raises blood sugar levels 70 to 120 mg/dl over starting levels. We know that foods with a high glycemic index make people store belly fat, trigger hidden fires of inflammation in the body and give you a fatty liver, leading the whole cascade of obesity, pre-diabetes and diabetes. This problem now affects every other American and is the major driver of nearly all chronic disease and most our health care costs. Diabetes now sucks up one in three Medicare dollars.”  More at: http://drhyman.com/blog/2012/02/13/three-hidden-ways-wheat-makes-you-fat/

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On This Day:

The death penalty--then and now, Feb 15, 1933:

“Giuseppe Zangara shoots Anton Cermak, the mayor of Chicago, in Miami, Florida. Zangara's shots missed President-elect Franklin Roosevelt, who was with Cermak at the time. Cermak was seriously wounded and died on March 6.

Immediately after Mayor Cermak died from the gunshot wounds, Zangara was indicted and arraigned for murder. He pled guilty and died in the electric chair on March 20, only two weeks after Cermak died. Today such a swift outcome would be practically unheard of, particularly where the death penalty is concerned.

Changes began in the 1950s. In the most notable case, Caryl Chessman spent almost 12 years on California's death row before going to the gas chamber in 1960 for kidnapping. His appeals kept him alive while he wrote three published books and caught the attention of Hollywood and the international community, who lobbied publicly on his behalf. The Chessman battle did more than any other case to politicize the death penalty; some credit it with bringing Ronald Reagan (who fiercely opposed commuting Chessman's sentence) to office as California's governor. Chessman was one of the last Americans to be executed for committing a crime other than murder.

Such cases have become commonplace in modern times. Jerry Joe Bird met his demise through a lethal injection in Texas in 1991, after 17 years on death row. In 1999, two inmates who had been on death row for 20 years appealed to the Supreme Court that the long delay itself was cruel and unusual punishment. The Court declined to hear their appeal, ruling that the prisoners had caused the delay themselves.”

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Oil tanker runs aground near Wales, Feb 15, 1996:

“On this day in 1996, a supertanker, the Sea Empress, runs aground near Wales, spilling 70,000 tons of crude oil. The oil spill did not take any human lives, but severely damaged several bird sanctuaries.

The Pembrokeshire coast of South Wales is an area teeming with wildlife, particularly seals and seabirds such as shelducks, teals and curlews. It is also an area often traveled by oil tankers carrying oil from North Sea drilling operations. On the evening of Thursday, February 15, at 8 p.m., the Sea Empress, a 1,300-foot, 147,000-ton tanker was traveling to Milford Haven on the Welsh coast through poor weather conditions. The ship, registered in Liberia, was carrying 128,000 tons of crude oil for Texaco.

The Sea Empress slammed into some underwater rocks and ran aground. The hull was pierced, causing oil to leak from the ship. The 28-member Russian crew worked feverishly to re-float the tanker, while attempting to move the oil to undamaged holding areas. Despite the quick response, the foul weather reduced the effectiveness of these measures. The Sea Empress was pushed aground a second time when tow lines from a towboat snapped.

Eventually the crew was pulled off the ship by Royal Air Force helicopters. High winds prevented most salvage operations, so the only measure officials could take was to drop detergent and dispersal chemicals on the growing oil spill. Approximately 70,000 tons of oil spilled from the tanker, causing a 12-mile-long oil slick. Nearby beaches were covered with the slimy oil, resulting in the deaths of thousands of seabirds.

The bird sanctuaries on nearby Skomer and Skokholm islands suffered severe damage that was still being repaired 10 years later. Nearly a week after the accident, the Sea Empress was finally pulled in to port.”

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Victory at last for Earnhardt at Daytona, Feb 15, 1998:

“On February 15, 1998, after 20 years of trying, racing great Dale Earnhardt Sr. finally wins his first Daytona 500, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) season opener and an event dubbed the "Super Bowl of stock car racing." Driving his black No. 3 Chevrolet, Earnhardt recorded an average speed of 172.712 mph and took home a then-record more than $1 million in prize money. Following his victory, crews from competing teams lined the pit road at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, to congratulate Earnhardt, who drove his car onto the grass and did several celebratory doughnuts, or circles.

Earnhardt, whose tough, aggressive driving style earned him the nickname "The Intimidator," was born on April 29, 1951, in Kannapolis, North Carolina. The son of a racecar driver, the younger Earnhardt dropped out of high school to follow in his father's footsteps. He went on to become one of NASCAR's most successful and respected drivers, with 76 career victories, including seven Winston Cup (now known as the Sprint Cup) Series championships, a record he shares with Richard Petty. Despite his success as a driver, victory at the Daytona 500--a 200-lap, 500-mile event first held in 1959--eluded Earnhardt for years. At the 1997 Daytona 500, Earnhardt's car flipped upside down on the backstretch; however, he managed to escape serious injury.

His win in February 1998 represented Earnhardt's sole Daytona victory. Tragically, on February 18, 2001, Earnhardt died at the age of 49 during a crash at that year's 43rd Daytona 500. After being cut from his car, he was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead of head injuries. As it happened, the race which cost Earnhardt his life was won by Michael Waltrip, who was driving for the Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI) racing team. Earnhardt's son, Dale Jr., also a DEI driver at the time, took second place. Three years later, on February 15, 2004, Dale Earnhardt Jr. won his first Daytona 500, with an average speed of 156.341 mph.”

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Yesterday:

Misty and I picked up Jay, and also Lil Miss, Jim the mechanic’s dog.  I had locked Miss Priss up in her big cage, as I didn’t want her to ‘help’ me groom.  She has done that when I groom my Misty. Jim had said that he would come and look at the breaker box.  But he wasn’t ready at that time.

So Jay cleaned up the rest of the lumber from the torn down RVport, while he was waiting for Jim, and lit the burn pile.   I was busy grooming Lil Miss.  

I surely wanted to get all the shelf units back on the wall, and get everything back on them.  Jim came with a tester, tested various places on the box, and said it was safe, so Jay put all the shelf units back upon the wall.  I still have to put all the things back on the shelves though.

Then I took Jay and Lil Miss back to their homes, and Miss Priss was let out of the big cage so she went out onto the screen porch to watch the birds at the feeder.

In the afternoon, I drove to Montgomery (TX), to pick up Satchmo, the old cat that I had been given. He is very sweet and gentle, and when we were on the drive back here I put my fingers through the carrier door, he would rub them with his head.

There was no way that I was going to let him be around Miss Priss, for two reasons.  He has no claws to defend himself, and she doesn’t need to be in contact with an unknown cat for health reasons.  After he goes back to the vet for his dental check-up, and has a clean bill of health, I’ll introduce them gradually.

I set him up with everything he needed in my bathroom, turned the bathroom TV onto Animal Planet, and closed the door.  He could quietly get used to the new smells and noises of his new home.  I was told he was shy, so I wasn’t surprised when he found a hiding place in the linen cupboard.  But he did come out, eat some of the canned food, and ask to be petted, then went back in his hidey-hole.

By 8.00 PM, he was in the best seat in the house, Bobbiecat’s bathroom window, and was very content. He doesn’t seem to have a complex about everything being pink, and snuggled up to Bobbiecat’s favorite pink mouse.

I hope he will be very happy here, I know I am very happy with him.  During the night, he came out of the bathroom, and came to sleep on the end of my bed.  That made my day!