Monday, September 1, 2008

Lazy Holiday Stuff


Can it really be September 1st? Labor Day! Yea! To us in Cape May County, that means just one thing. They are going home! Yes, I know, "They" are a large part of our economic life. But to most locals, it is a happy day when at least all of them who have children returning to school, are leaving. The beaches are ours again!

I see that my counter for US Deaths in Iraq has gone missing again. Widgets are funny things. No doubt it will be back soon, if it isn't already when you read this. And sometimes when the site is under maintenance, it gives the wrong total. I now have another widget - a Schmap Widget. Found it Sunday, and just thought I'd try it out for fun. It, too, comes and goes. Guess it's just the nature of widgets.

I found some hummingbird facts, new to me. The hummers have been very busy at my feeder lately. According to the people at Hilton Pond Center for Natural History, down in South Carolina, the rubythroats that we see here fly down to central Mexico or Central America for the winter. I always thought they went farther than that. They say that recently some only go to south Florida or east Texas, which could be a result of global warming. I learned that they don't suck up the necta
r we give them. They lap it like a cat or dog with their little forked tongues. And I learned that this time of year, you can't really tell the males from the females like you can in the spring, because the young males look like the females until they mature. What I already knew was that when we make nectar for the feeders, we shouldn't put red coloring into it, and that the proper ratio for the nectar is one part sugar to four parts water. Oh yes - and they say you can leave the feeders up as long as you like, because you might attract a few strays right into October. They don't really depend on our feeders though, because they eat lots of insects as well.

The Democratic Convention is over. I must say, I was pretty impressed. I thought there was a minimum of nonsense (Well, everything is relative.), and some of the speeches were pretty great: Kucinich, Gore, and Obama himself. A few that the media made much of didn't impress me much. Mr. McCain surprised us all with his choice, didn't he? I'm not sure if she will be good or bad - for him or for his opponent. Guess that remains to be seen.

140 more days.

I'm ready for cooler weather now. Actually, I was ready for it a long time ago, but now I'm really looking fo
rward to it. I can't take the heat any more. It lays me low. Can't go anywhere much nor accomplish anything it seems. Please give me some nice, crisp, cool air.

Ok. Enough of this. Are you ready for a silly chicken joke?


























Well, I scheduled it for 9/1 early morning - honest. But it keeps publishing on 8/31. Oh well......
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OK. Another mystery. - I'm adding this about a half hour after I typed the above.

Since my counter is missing, I went to the iCasualties site where I've been getting my info for months now. Instead, I got a big red warning saying that it was an "Attack Site" (although they have no record of any kind of problem with it). Then I went to the site I got the counter from, and got an entirely different page than I had ever seen before, but no casualty information.

I contacted my son-in-law, who knows all about the workings of computers. He had a reasonable probable answer. Don't think I'm going to discuss it here at present, but the information will probably be back in a day or two. We'll see.

11 comments:

Rambling Woods said...

All good hummer info..I still have a few here near Buffalo. I loved Obama's speech...

Sylvia K said...

I loved the hummingbird info. We have a number of them around here, but I didn't get around to getting feeders until late. There is one that apparently hangs out at a neighbors feeder, but then he flies to a nearby tree and spends a few minutes off and on during the morning, fluttering his wings. I would see him about breakfast time and I almost felt like we were communicating because he was there every day!
Guess all we can do now is cross our fingers and hope for the outcome we know this country needs.
Thanks again, always enjoy your posts.

Judy said...

Love those chicken jokes! Thanks for the hummingbird info. They are such fascinating little birds. I loved Obama's speech also. I am ready for fall, too.

Unknown said...

Thank you from me as well for the hummingbird information. We knew about the red coloring but didn't know the sugar had to be that dense. Thank you.

Regarding the convention: for a different twist on things, if you go to my blog and find Godless Liberal Homo on my blog, he's posted some less known footage from the DNC.

Both Barak and Michelle Obama's speeches really impressed me. Their backgrounds are familiar to me. When they both said how they made it through great colleges on scholarships and student loans, it really hit home. As you know, Bobbie, my parents immigrated here to the U.S. and I got an education but I'm trying to make sure that my kids get a better one.

Scholarships, student loans, parent loans, and believing in my kids. That's where I come from to.

Other aspects of the convention that I found about later from my daughter and libhom's site, really trouble me.

I haven't yet had time to tune in to the RNC. I won't like it, will probably down-right hate it but I should find about what going on there.

Cliff said...

I was here. I liked some of it.

I'm glad you and Lisa had a nice tour.

Anonymous said...

Too hot here as well, and even more on the way. I think they need to revise the "law" - no white after Labor Day, and no over 90 degrees either!

Daryl said...

I have no doubt that the #s are down because the site is being maintained ... by the GOP


:-Daryl

Ramblings of a Villas Girl said...

I am glad that it is labor day. I went to Wawa early for milk and was surprise how little traffic was on the road. Yippee.

dianasfaria.com said...

Now I get what you mean about everyone going home after labor day! that must be a great relief to you!

Linda Murphy said...

We saw a few hummingbirds on our weekend trip and two years ago, we had a hummingbird nest in our front year tree-which was fascinating and I photo-documented it each day. They are really amazing little creatures. Thanks for giving me more insight and information!

We are ready for cooler weather here too...

me ann my camera said...

I find it so surprising to learn that Hummingbirds eat insects!

Also I found myself watching the American political conventions over the past week; this is not something that I often follow. Even though I am not American I find myself intrigued by the drama of it all as it plays out on my tv screen. Fascinating for sure.