Open thread
Ex-PH2 wants an open thread where she can spin her yarns, and I always do what she tells me to do. So here you go.
And to open the discussion, there’s a story going around the internet about 60-year-old Beula Montgomery who supposedly ventilated two street thugs who tried to play the “knock out” game with her. I’m calling BS on the article because there’s no media coverage of the incident, there’s no city listed in the story, so I can’t verify it with the local PD, and a lot of the blogs that linked to the story initially yesterday are taking down their links today. And the story sounds too good to be true. I passed on the story yesterday, so please stop sending me links to it. If you want to read it, the whole thing originated at the Mixed Martial Arts forum.
Category: Who knows
A bit constipated today….took some time to push out my Giduck
And people looked at me like I was crazy when I told them I saw a coyote on Redstone Arsenal (north Alabama, next to Huntsville) in the early or mid-1990s. (I’d lived in the Southwest for awhile by then and damn well knew a coyote’s distinctive gait when I saw one.)
They’ve moved east and are now established pretty much coast-to-coast. We humans enabled that by getting rid of their competition (wolves and big cats), then quit hunting as much. They’re simply taking over the niche formerly occupied by wolves – to an extent (they’re generally solo vice pack animals, thankfully).
If ya own a cat or smallish dog, it’s best to keep them inside if you want to keep them.
The talk about snow – which as a general rule I detest – brought back two of the very few pleasant memories I have of that . . . stuff.
One I’ve previously written about here:
http://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=33683
The second was a fleeting occurrence in the US Southwest one cold winter morning. It was one of the most beautiful scenes I’ve ever seen.
If you’ve never lived in a desert climate, it’s very difficult to imagine the stark, unexpected beauty of a desert snowfall. Seeing the Southwest desert snow-covered is a rare thing – as in maybe a few times a year (at higher elevations/latitudes) to once every several decades (low latitudes and elevations). But when it happens, well . . . .
http://cdn.c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000XtSyp30S99s/s/900/900/Star-Pass-Snow.jpg
The linked photo was about 60 miles away from my location. Where I was we were a bit higher and in general tended to get somewhat heavier snow – on those rare occasions we got any.
There have been a few times in my life I’ve truly regretted not having a camera immediately handy. The linked article and what I just described were two of them.
At least two others also occurred in the US Southwest. Seeing a double horizon-to-horizon rainbow is perhaps even a rarer thing, and is similarly stunning.
@21/22: PBR!?!? PBR!?!? WTF are you drinking that parts cleaner for?? That stuff was slop n’ foam back in the late 70’s and I don’t think they improved it since then. Geebus, you might as well be drinking Carling’s Black Label or Red, White, and Blue!!
Old Trooper: see comment 32. Those Navy types aren’t wrapped too tight. (smile)
If you’re somewhere further south, you should have been able to see Comet ISON on the southern horizon near Saturn and Mercury in the morning sky, just before sunrise.
No snow.
Coyotes are all over the place, very bold, very territorial. They will chase dogs right up to your back door, jump the fence to do it, and smash your storm door just to get at your dogs.
There’s also the bush wolf, or as the Canucks name them, the Tweed wolf, a coyote-wolf crossbred that started in 1907 near Tweed, ONT, with coyotes and wolves breeding with each other. They have a recent common ancestor, so they can do this. Gray timber wolves crossing with female eastern coyotes. They’re the size of German Shepherds and they aren’t afraid of people, because they aren’t being hunted around her. They’re like ants at a picnic – annoying, greedy and unwelcome, but they’re here to stay.
Bears are next. Cougars have already been spotted and game-photo’d.
Ex-PH2: game-photo’d, hell. Out west, cougars (the 4 legged kind) have been documented stalking and attacking humans.
http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/field-notes/2013/09/man-uses-spear-kill-mountain-lion-attacking-woman
That’s only one article of many on the subject.
Felis concolor is one of the few predators in North America capable of single-handedly dispatching a healthy adult human. Unless the human is armed and/or has help, that’s almost a foregone conclusion in an encounter between an adult human and a healthy adult cougar.
I can tell you from personal experience that hearing a cougar’s angry yowl is one of the most hair-raising (literally) and disturbing experiences you will ever have, even if it occurs under conditions of perfect safety. I think that’s because we humans know, viscerally, that the cougar is one predator they have damn good reason to fear.
They are one of the most magnificent animals on the planet – and also one of the most dangerous apex predators. In the Americas, IMO only the jaguar and grizzly bear are more dangerous.
I could never drink PBR or Hamms beer… You just couldn’t get it cold enough.
Sitting in Bacliff Texas trapped in my RV…
Cold wet and miserable…
I left Wisconsin because of weather like this, now I get it here. I am coughing, sneezing and just tired and bored all the time…
It’s too cold to ride the Harley so I am stuck…
Oh well, It’s still warmer than it is in Milwaukee right now !!!
Take care friends.
Hondo, I know about those things.
I was talking about cougars actually being recorded in Illinois. The Illinois DNR said it wasn’t possible until a healthy male cougar in 2008 found his way into Chicago and met with his end at the gunpoints of a bevy of frightened Chicago cops. He had wandered in from South Dakota.
Here’s a video of it: http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=cougar+in+chicago+video&FORM=VIRE10#view=detail&mid=1DF709785645F96860891DF709785645F9686089
Up until then IDNR was in complete denial of cougars even existing in Illinois. A recent infrared, in September, of a large cat in the forest preserve clearly indicates that there are more in the bush, 5 years later, and they are now being recorded on game trail cameras. They follow the waterways.
And when I said ‘bears are next’, if the black bear is invading housing developments in New Jersey, they’ll be wandering down here from Wisconsin before too long — if they haven’t already done so. Plenty of food, plenty of water, plenty of garbage cans to raid, and those multi-car garages make great denning-up spaces, don’t they?
And this just in: the crack-smoking mayor (Ford) of Toronto has a 42% approval rating from voters.
This is a higher approval rating than Congress and bodaprez get from American voters.
OH, there are SO MANY snide things to say about this! But I will step aside and let others of you have at it! 🙂
If this were the National Enquirer I could word this as “WWII veteran comes back to life after major surgery!” Since this is an open thread I guess I can get away this this.
Last Wednesday evening the Steam Railroading Institute in Owosso, Michigan presented the newly rebuilt Pere Marquette 1225, one of the few remaining operational large steam locomotives. The 1225 was built in 1941 and so you could say it served in WWII. Also, the 1225 was used for all the sounds and as the animation model for the movie “The Polar Express”.
Most of the rebuild work was done by volunteers. I have been a volunteer for the past 18 months so some of the elbow grease, sweat and sore muscles that went into the rebuild are mine.
Here’s a video of the locomotive rollout before the first run the night of Nov 20, courtesy of the Mayor of Owosso. There’s a writeup in the Youtube article under “show more”.
@62 – Thank you for the video. It made me feel like I was 6 years old again.
Ex-PH2: given the Toronto mayor, I’ll say one of those snide things: maybe South Park got it right about Canada. Or at least, about the Toronto area. (smile)
On coyotes:
There are everywhere here. PA is just about 20 miles away. In PA there is a open season 25 dollar bounty on coyotes (no limit). Last year a large coyote cross my land mid day and walk within 100 feet of me. I yelled and it turned looked at me without missing its stride. Coyotes have been seen in the Bronx. Essentially, they are out of control. But we live in an area of NY where bear, dear, wild turkey and now beaver abound. So the addition of a growing coyote population is just more work for farmers and hunters … And good for the local gun shops too.
MCPO: the problem is that a large coyote is large enough to kill not only small pets, but also can do a number on small children. And as you’ve observed, they’ve adapted to living in close proximity with humans – and thus now have little or no fear of us.
Pretty soon, it may not only be reports of cougars stalking – and in some cases, attacking – humans. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am.
The Iron Bowl is in Auburn this year.
Boys and girls: The road to the title is going through the state of Alabama, as usual.
#40 MCPO,
What?! Only 1400 ft elevation? You’re living in the swamp bottoms. In the Salt Lake City valley, we’re at 4000-4500 ft elevation. And that’s BEFORE hitting the canyons and foothills next door (literally, a short 15 minute drive).
And for all’ya’all amazed at the wildlife coming in to the city, it’s a normal regular news report throughout the winter in the SLC uptown toney neighborhoods – moose and deer for sure. Not sure about coyotes and cougars, but wouldn’t be surprised.
Chicago decided to bring in coyotes with radio collars as a means of controlling the rat population, since poison and feral cats weren’t doing the job.
Now there’s a problem with coyotes. One of them bit a small child, who thought it was a dog, on the face.
And to make things worse, the possum population is thriving, and the raccoons are about the size of medium-sized dogs like fox hounds, but they’re quite fat. Up to 60 pounds. And people feed them in the winter time because they feel sorry for them and think they’re cute.
Green Thumb: If Bama wins, yes. If Auburn wins, that will require some help.
I don’t think even beating Bama and winning the SEC championship game gets Auburn into BCS #2 position if Ohio State and FSU both stay unbeaten. However, if either loses . . . certainly. That’s especially true since both Oregon and Baylor lost yesterday. Only possible fly in the ointment there is if Michigan State or Oklahoma State also wins out – those would be close, but I think Auburn gets the nod in those cases.
As I said above: this year’s Iron Bowl should be a good one. I’m guessing a 7 point or less game.
Guess what, A Tiger just went accross my front lawn, you talk
about a bunch of bull shit, I heard it all today, think I’ll have to give this computer a break.
The Colts start playing in about 5 minutes.
Comet ISON has been under surveillance for over a year. It is now approaching its perihelion and will attempt a sungrazing maneuver, at a distance of 730,000 miles from the sun, after which it will return to the Oort Cloud from whence it came.
http://news.msn.com/science-technology/will-icy-comet-survive-close-encounter-with-our-sun
Since comets have historically been associated with the decline and fall of kingdoms and losing a battle (Halley’s Comet, Battle of Hastings 1066, Edward gave up and let Duke William run him over), does anyone besides me view this as a possible portent for the decline and fall of some government persons, and possibly other bad stuffs in the near future?
Ex-PH, got the links! I like what I’ve read so far. Very well done! Sorry for the delay in replying, I’m working on getting setup for Audio/Video transcribing.
So, I go to bed last night, secure in my belief that the Broncos (then up 24-0) have the game in the bag. This is the NFL. No way NE is coming back. @#!%$#@22!
Streetsweeper, thank you!! I’m working on more. When I get something completed, I post a ‘new release’ about it on my blog. Click on my name and you’ll go to my blog.
Thank you, Street!
Just as a reminder, Cracker Barrel, as always, is having their traditional complete Thanksgiving Day dinner ($9.99 for adults), if you’d rather go out than wash dishes.
http://www.crackerbarrel.com/restaurant/thanksgiving
We finally had some snow this morning, not even enough to make a mouse worry.
Pathetic.
@ Hondo … Coyotes in Warwick, NY – BAD! Cougars in NYC – GOOD! Some of those Cougars are smokin’ hot!
Hondo – oddly, I remember an article in (I think) Reader’s Digest when I was a kid…circa 1960? It was about how the coyote was so adaptable and had been sighted as far east as Ohio, when previously its stomping grounds were west of the Mississippi. Seems to me I have read recently that they ave been spotted outside New York City…
MCPO – you do know you can dump the Brit (formerly Buick) small V-8 in that MGB? All the last model Bs’ engine compartments were made large enough for the MBG-V8. And that is an engine that will comfortably hit 275-300hp, which would give you a power-to-weight ratio of the old small block Cobra.
@ David … This is a no sh!tter … coyotes have been spotted in the BRONX and Westerchester counties. Fairfield county CT and I have seen them (on my property) and heard them (howling like in was the end of times) in Warwick (Orange County) NY. Last spring we saw and scraggley looking coyote sitting on a fallen trees 4 miles north of George Washington Bridge in Alpine (Bergen County) NJ.
Before you know these coyotes will be begging for money in the streets of NYC like the rest of the unshowered, hippie, homeless, rabid liberals that run wild in NYC!
About my MGB … I have plenty of power with my straight 4. Bored to the max and set up for racing … it is just right!
I enjoy all the room … it makes maintenance and cleaning more funnerer!
We’ve got some black bear and coyotes here in Western Mass suburbs. We recently had a 60 year old biker killed when a black bear ran across the road and impacted the motorcycle…there are a lot more of these animals today than in the recent past…
The Canada geese have settled in at Brookfield Zoo. Why should they go south when there is food everywhere in Cook County?
Mikey is buried under his blanket, says ‘hello, don’t bother me’.
VOV, we’ve got black bear and coyotes here. One was killed on the I-96 freeway in Grand Rapids, Mi. We lost one of our barn cats to a coyote this month.
@84 My wife rescued a couple of shelter cats, they made her sign a promise to not let the cats outside due to the coyotes in the area….of course she signed it and her being honest and all I get to deal with these stupid cats being in the house 24/7…I much preferred spending my time with the black lab (died recently) instead of the cats but for some reason one of the cats seems to think it’s a black lab too and has chosen to torture me as its’ best friend….I’m not a cat guy, I don’t mind them I just don’t prefer them…
My favorite very ghey German guy at Vat19.com has a new video and great product for the holiday season …for all you beer drinkers!
Drinking Horn:
http://www.vat19.com/dvds/das-horn-drinking-horn.cfm
@65: We used to have a bounty on coyotes, here, but that hasn’t been in force for many years. The downside is that our Pheasant population is very low, compared to South Dakota, and I believe that the low Pheasant population is connected to the larger coyote population and the fact that there is no bounty on them, anymore. I’ve talked to many friends that live in the country and they see a lot of coyotes and fox, so they very rarely see any Pheasant, anymore. I wish they would put a bounty on coyotes, again, because I could use the money to build up may ammo stash, again.
Of course, all the do-gooder enviro nuts lose their mind whenever someone mentions such nonsense, because the poor little coyotes need to be protected, etc. They lost it when the DNR opened up a wolf season, even though the number of wolves has increased to the point where they are becoming a problem.
VOV, your kitty friend can act as an alerter when/if your turf is invaded by unfriendlies like coyotes. They’re just as territorial as dogs. My Himmie has fits when anything goes through my little yard, even if it’s human.
Bear is nothing new in my neck of the woods. Despite my warnings against bird feeders, they stay up. And a couple of times a year, some bear or another tears them down.
Then again, the river stones we used under the bird feeder are worse. The turkeys come along and dig them out all over the lawn, scratching for feed, and it takes damn near forever to rake them all up and put them back in the feeder area, lest the lawnmower turn our windows into Swiss cheese.
But at least it’s nice to know that when the zombie apocalypse comes, I can nail those bastards out my back door with a pea shooter.
@Ex_PH2
I bought and read three of your books last week. I could relate to several of your examples of Asshole bosses in your book about working for them, and it was a funny read.
In Mayday I liked the ship descriptions (I’m a big Honor Harrington fan) and the story. I sort of lost the point of letting the murderer go at the end and figured you have a sequel in the works to explain it?
Your Bullets and Babes book was my favorite, and I liked the way you put so much of the TAH crowd into it. Viveca Vercingetorix was my favorite character because I liked her name (and can pronounce “Vercingetorix”) Amusing to read, and the BOGO pink duck tape was hilarious.
Jim Legans, thank you, thank you, thank you!
In ‘Mayday’, I wasn’t sure the point would get across – that Bartleson had psychotic episodes in which he killed people (it happens in real life), and he could either be executed, or locked up in a sealed box for life, or agree to be a test subject for an anti-psychotic drug administered in a way that he couldn’t avoid, and being monitored from a distance. I’ve thought seriously about extending that to maybe 30 years in the future, and I may do that, but he’s sentenced to that planet for life.
There is a second story in the works for Babes & Bullets. They will ALL have more to do and many more oddball projects to complete.
And I am also working on a series of short stories.
I don’t think I have nearly enough to do.
Thank you again. You’re making my Thanksgiving very happy!
One thread closes…..Waiting on another thread to open. I have a few gems for one of our more popular topics, but until Jonn gives the all clear to send rounds down range, I’ll hold them in reserve. And if I do say so, I think their are “spew worthy”.
I closed the Monkress/Wickre discussions because I’m tired of Wickre and the same old bullshit – he sounds like Wittgenfeld on crack now. But the update post, I’m told, is coming soon.
I knew in advance.
If I’m so very psychic, Hack.Stone, why do I never win the Lottery?
Okay, because I don’t want Ex-PH2 stressing, I have a question for one of our more frequent visitors.
If you have to pick up trash on a local highway as part of your court ordered community service for a DUI, can you still put up a sign reading “This Highway Adopted By All Points Logistics”?
Will that be in fashionable orange?
Still didn’t answer my question, HS.
@62, George, yeah, I read about thet, too, nice work! The TVRM had a successful hydro test on Southern 4501’s boiler, she ought to be steaming again soon, I’m glued to the news about UP 4014’s progress, that brute is gonna be a sight and sound to behold when it steams again!! I just wonder when they’ll finally start on N&W 611’s resurrection?
In case you are wondering what lucky sperm looks like.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/35063
Well, if whats-its-name does show up here, he can be considered obssessive as a resentful stalker.
Resentful stalkers pursue a vendetta because of a sense of grievance against the victims – motivated mainly by the desire to frighten and distress the victim.
Except I’m neither frightened nor distressed. Not even annoyed. Mostly bored silly with its attempts at intimidation.
In #84, I should have said I was speaking of a black bear that got hit on I-96.
@#87, I haven’t seen, or heard, a pheasant around here in two years. About the time the coyote serenades picked up. Used to see pheasants in my drive way, or pasture all the time.
So – there were no further stalking incidents last night. If I’m correct, our local special snowflake troll-stalker will be busy with holiday stuff at the demand of his signif other.
There may be more attempts, but I believe they will taper off. Besides, we have been offered an update, and I do await the updates over here in my corner, intense with anticipation.