Monday, May 23, 2011

A Spitting Spider in the Sink

So there Crumby was, fixing to fix his delicious, primarily canned supper dish, Crumby’s Canavecbeau, when he espied this spider in the sink. If you discover these particular spiders in these parts, they are liable to be in the sink. Don’t know why. Apparently, they do spit venom. But normally these spiders only spit at prey items, not Druid cooks.

Once in a while the Druids like to provide the ignorant masses with an opportunity to cook up a genuine Druid recipe. Here you go.

Crumby’s Canavecbeau recipe.

One large fresh onion chopped and browned in Canola oil. Use the biggest skillet you got.

Once the onion is done to your satisfaction, you may wish to add some meat. Chicken is good. So is stew meat. Cook the meat until it is pretty much done or when you feel like you probably won’t get tularemia if you eat it.

Add:

One regular can - black beans

One regular can - refried beans

One regular can - RoTel diced tomatoes and green chilis. Note: A regular RoTel can is littler than a normal, regular can of regular canned vegetables. So you may wish to use two cans. Or, you may wish to use the RoTel with habeneros which is way hotter. Way hotter!

One small can of green chilis. Hatch or generic. You should always get the whole green chilis and chop them up yourself. The whole green chilis are getting harder to find maybe.

If you can’t tell the smaller green chili cans from the bigger generic cans, that’s OK. The green chilis are mild and a few extra won’t mess anything else up.

A dash or two of chili powder, salt and pepper to taste.

Simmer on medium low until all the flavors are swapped around. Serve with tortillas and a nice salad. Mmm! Or rice. Mmm! Or cornbread. Mmmm!

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Bicycle Dos in a Bike Friendly City

Crumby has been riding a bicycle in these parts for a year now, lately. And it gets scarier every day. Goodness!

Austink, where Crumby rides along, home base of what's his name, is listed among the 50 most cycling friendly cities according to a bicycle magazine at the doctor’s office. To qualify for the top 50, no cyclist got double tapped by a motorist in Austink the month the Bike Friendly City issue was getting laid out by the editors. Either that or the Chamber of Commerce bribed the magazine’s editor, or more likely, its ownership.

Well. In all fairness, the bicyclist does get a few breaks in the “weird” city. There are sometimes bike lanes. There are sometimes sidewalks. But the best and safest place to ride your bicycle, Crumby has discovered, is, continuous left turn lanes. There are sometimes continuous left turn lanes. You may know about those third lanes situated between the other two lanes where an average motorist can go to make a left turn. Luckily for the cyclist, those left turn lanes are generally empty. Away the cyclist goes, making swift progress in the continuous left turn lane while the motorists zoom along in their own lanes, uninhibited by you, the average slow moving cyclist or target.

Course the trouble is, continuous left turn lanes, bike lanes and sidewalks are not laid out so the average cyclist can go everywhere on them. No. But there are also parking lots. Those parking lots may come in handy too. So the goal is, to plan routes that you may pedal along in bike lanes, sidewalks, continuous left turn lanes and parking lots.

But alas, you may have to pedal down a regular street sometime or other. That’s why quiet residential streets are important. You need those to. But beware. A quiet residential street may not have any witnesses to a double tap.

OK. You have planned a route to the grocery store or liquor store that is all bike lane, sidewalk, continuous left turn lane and quiet residential street. Trouble is, there are intersections on busy streets to cross. You may have to actually stop your bicycle’s progress. You may have to, gasp, brake.

Crumby personally feels like he is most vulnerable on his bicycle when he is stopped. That’s because Crumby feels like, leaning akimbo ( because Crumby is too short for his foot to actually reach the ground on his inert bike stuck at the intersection) that all the surrounding motorists hate him. How does Crumby know they hate him? Well. They yell and holler crude remarks at Crumby. They throw litter at him. They splash him by racing through adjacent puddles after it’s rained. They blow horns and whistle at poor Crumby. Yes. Such a bike friendly spot this is, Crumby always reminds himself.

So never pedal to intersections with lights, ever. There is a reason those intersections have lights. The lights are there to regulate the progress of many angry motorists in great vehicles, made still angrier from getting stopped by the light. Yes. There those angry motorists are, stopped by the light, impatiently waiting for the light to change. Then along you come, pedaling, wobbling unsteadily amid the exhaust fumes, fixing to fit yourself between a great vehicle and the curb. All the drivers are watching you, hating you, wondering if you and your bicycle will somehow keep them from getting through the light once it finally turns green. Mercy!

In these parts, Austink, the bicycle haters are so confident in their hatred of bicyclists, they send hate mail to the Austink Falangist Daily, the local Nazi rag. Yes. Before Crumby gave up on the news, he used to read some of the Letters to the Nazi Editor. There they were, unabashed bicycle haters, spewing their venom in black and white.

They use the roads but don’t pay taxes. They slow down traffic. They don’t abide by the same traffic rules as cars. They get what they deserve (double tapped).

Mercy!

OK. Here’s what Crumby has learned he can do. Do plan brakeless trips. That’s right. Every time you go for a ride, you should hit your brake(s)a maximum of twice. Once when you get to your destination (liquor store) and once when you get back home. That sums to twain brakes a trip. Note. Ideally you should reduce brake usage to zero. Zero is your goal.

When pedaling on sidewalks or hike and bike trails employ a horn or bell to move the pedestrians out of your path. Like Crumby has a bell which he rings when pedestrians get in the way. Don’t worry. They’ll move if you ring or honk soon enough. And once they move, you won’t have to employ your brakes.

Do run stop signs. We have already discussed how you do avoid lights. But stop signs can be almost as bad. So time yourself and always run those stop signs. Always!

Uh! OK. You may have to stop at a stop sign sometime. But you have already planned your route. So if you must stop, make sure you are likely situated on a seldom used street with no angry American Nazi or Christian motorists lined up behind you. Goodness!

Do you know why the average American Nazis or Christians hate bicycles? Maybe not. The reasons are few, and so semi-complex, that we, Ray and me, can not go into them on such short notice. But at some future date in time or space we may assay to answer the terrible question, Do you know why the average American Nazis or Christians hate bicycles?

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Oh! Isn't It Cute!

This colorful little leaf beetle is found on the CB skunkbush sumac. But we have finally figured out that its larva is what we previously identified as possible sawfly larva, thus blaming an innocent plus non-existent sawfly for eating up the Rhus. Dang it.

But this reminds Crumby of the Druid dichotomy: Which is better, to have sinned and been forgiven, or never to have sinned at all? Mercy me, and me oh my. This is a very tough or difficult Druid dichotomy. Because Crumby and Ray also, the twain bosom companions, are always sinning, and then being forgiven. But what if Crumby and Ray commit some sins but are run over by a great vehicle before those particular sins can be forgiven. Then what?

Hmm. This is precisely why many people get old. As we age, we are maybe less likely to be filled with sinful energy, so we commit fewer sins, and thus, are less likely to require forgiveness. Also, with age, may come wisdom. And burdened with wisdom, plus age, we may sin less.

But like what happens if Crumby has misidentified a bunch of bugs, sinned and sinned again in other words, and then got run over while riding his bike to the liquor store? Will the WG show Crumby any mercy? Probably not. That's why the average sinner needs to make a clean breast of it long before he or she is apt to get run over.

Well. At least Crumby won't burn in Hades over this dern vermin. Please see the corrected version of the 3-28-2011 entry to this venue and see how Crumby atoned for this particular sin.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

The Spring Migration of DY 6

For heavens sake. Are practically all the neotropical migrants deceased? Yes. The great spring migration has come and gone in these parts. Once again, literally dozens of migrants have possibly passed this way. Yet this year only two warbler species exploited the CB; Nashville and yellow. Round about there was a chat, a couple of blue grosbeaks, a rose-breasted grosbeak, plenty of clay-colored sparrows and some willow flycatchers (song). That’s about it. Bad suck, aint it! The death of nature.

Whut the Great Horned Owls Et?


Goodness gracious sakes alive! Mercy me and me oh my! Here’s a gander at the remainders left by the urban great horned owls. The keen and knowing observer will recognize parts and parcels of Class Aves. Here a foot, there a skull, there a synsacrum. Interesting that the bird parts got passed through minus much of the pellet process.




OK though. What’s the common, wild, outdoor rat in these parts? Did you guess, super Sigmodon?

Friday, May 13, 2011

The Owls Fledged, We Hope

This morning, May 12 of the Julian, Crumby headed over to the great horned owl nest. Lo and behold, all the owls were gone. Praise the WG with great praise! Course in these evil times, something could have got the owls. Evil doers are everywhere. But probably the owls fledged successfully, hopefully.

After making sure that the owls were quite gone from the nest tree, Crumby sneaked over to collect pellets. Yes. Crumby wanted to see what urban owls eat. Right away Crumby was astonished by all the feathers lying around. Not owl feathers either. Goodness! These owls ate up lots of birds. More on the owls’ diet later, maybe.

After a short search Crumby returned to the CB with a bunch of pellets. But then, wonder of wonders, the rains came. You may know that these parts have not had any rain since February. But it’s raining now. Hard! So everything else is on the back burner while we enjoy the rain. Praise the Goddess!

By the way. Evil doers have literally attacked the CB. More on that later too.

Monday, May 09, 2011

A Rapture Hypothesis

Oh well. There are plenty of signs that point to The Rapture fixing to occur. And all these signs are pretty well documented; for example, earthquakes and volcanoes are typical of the many well- documented signs or portents that anticipate, The Rapture. But what about tornadoes? Some say that tornadoes are becoming more frequent, more powerful, bigger in every way. Therefore, tornadoes might also be construed as a sign for the upcoming Rapture.

The Druids though, don’t agree. No. Sorry. Tornadoes are not a sign for The Rapture.

But if tornadoes are not a sign, what are they? Well. Tornadoes are a mighty wind, rotating in a counter clockwise fashion. Well actually nearly all the tornadoes in these parts rotate counter clockwise. However, in South America , where tornadoes are rare, they rotate clockwise. Go figure.

A visible tornado as espied by the naked eye is funnel- shaped. The narrow end of the funnel-shaped, whirling vortex or tornado may actually touch the ground, whereas the wider end is situated up in the heavens. Yea verily, the wider end is way up yonder, in heaven.

Because the tornadoes are apparently getting worse in these parts, they may already be capable of actually sucking an average-sized, adult human up into heaven. For sure, even now, they are plenty strong enough to suck up babies, toddlers and midgets. So it is really easy to imagine that as the tornadoes gradually get more and more super charged, they could actually suck up practically anybody, even including the grotesquely obese.

Now that we have already learned what a tornado is and how tornadoes can suck up people, we still need to discuss how tornadoes may relate to The Rapture. If they are not a sign or ovation announcing The Rapture, what are they? Well. Perhaps many have already guessed the hypothesis. Yet the obvious still needs to be conjectured upon out in the open. So without further ado, the Druid hypothesis is: Tornadoes are the actual physical mechanism whereby The Raptured are vacuumed or sucked up into heaven

That’s right. A tornado comes along. Yes it does. And these particular tornadoes have been taught by Jesus to recognize the rare, the pure, the virginal, sin-free souls dwelling amidst the wicked multitudes. So that at the time or times of The Rapture, tornadoes shall suck up the pure few, leaving the sullied or soiled sinners behind, to rot or putrefy within the murky and malodorous bowels of Hades for all eternity plus one.

Please consider the proof. Where do most of the people on Earth that believe in The Rapture, abide? Did you guess, the US Bible Belt? And where do most of the tornadoes occur? Again, Did you guess, the US Bible Belt?

Paraphrasing Jesus, none of you dumbasses shall know the exact hour or minute when the tornadoes shall be released. Not even Jesus knows that. Because there is no precise time. Instead the tornadoes shall be released gradually over a period of many moons. This time release of the tornadoes shall give the righteous plenty of opportunities to get sucked up. Like if you get missed by one tornado, just be sure to stand in the path of the next tornado that comes along. Off you go. Heaven Bound!

Mercy! Did you know that some have already undergone The Rapture, carried off to heaven by a tornado? Well. They have been Raptured. Yet you are still here. Mercy!

Saturday, May 07, 2011

Fixin to Fledge


The baby great horned owl pair is fixing to fledge. Here they are, out of the nest. Know what? Owls are important WG totems. That in addition to being important unto themselves.

Crumby is not happy with the sharpness of the 60D x 400mm. This was shot on a tripod using a remote shutter. It's way too blurry at 100%. Dang it.

OK. Now for an important religious interjection. To whit; Druids should pray really hard for the rapture. Like please WG, help Jesus or the responsible party waft these superstitious dumbasses out of these parts.

Huh-huh. Uh-oh! What if the rapture came along and nobody got took? That would be like the sound of one hand clapping, all righty then.

But of course somebody might get took. Like all the baptized yet innocent babies might get took. Oooh! Man alive! Mercy! How spooky would that be? Heck! My precious baby has gone missing and I can't even get its little picture on a milk carton. There's no more room on the milk cartons. Boo-hoo-hoo.

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Ecology Action Photography

Just like at a nursery business, where you may find ecology pots; that is, pots with a group of diverse plants growing together in the same pot, not merely a monoculture, in nature you may take pictures that include multiple elements in the same pictures. Multiple elements makes for ecology action.

Here we espy three main or major elements. These are a blister beetle, a thistle (Cirsium texanum), and a digger bee, maybe. But this is a still shot so you will need to imagine what else is happening. Like that bee may be fixing to get jumped by a blister beetle larva. The blister bee larva get on the bee. Ride back to the bee hole. Then they eat up the bee larva. Mercy!

Monday, May 02, 2011

Shrike Babies Fledged

Waaaaack!

That's right. Three shrike babies were out of the nest today. When Crumby first went by, all three babies were squatting in a leafless bald cypress. What a cute picture that would make. But alas, Crumby had no camera.

A while later Crumby came back to the same general spot with a camera. Yet the shrike babies had scattered. But there were still five shrikes present. Three babies (here's one) and the twain adults. Waaaack!

They wern't shradding much. Reckon they know and like Crumby well enough? Anyway. Here's mom or dad tearing off a piece of luckless songbird to feed to the babies. Anyone who feels like the tacking up of prey items is ceremonial, should maybe reconsider.

Sunday, May 01, 2011

May Day, DY6

Note. There is an important errata alert on the April 5, 2011 entry.

Well. We officially got through the entire month of April with no rain. And now, we are in Drought Stage II, Extreme Fire Hazard. So it makes sense that everyone should stop watering to save water. Right. Right.

No. Everyone should use more water. Everyone should do their level best to keep their vegetation from becoming tinder like.

Course one effective way the responsible parties control how much water goes to nature is the price of the water. So during these never-ending “droughts” the responsible parties jack up the price so average people can’t afford to keep the plants on their properties alive. Mercy!

Anyway. It’s May Day. And May Day should be a happy day celebrating the various accomplishments of the WG and the international proletariat. But that was then and this is now and Crumby has run out of patience. Let it rain, let in rain, let it rain.

Jadera haematolomoa sports international proletariat colors on May Day. Actually every day.