Secrets of the City

Actually we’ve decided to switch from calling it GOPFest ‘08 to OMGWTFBBQGOP ‘08.

That is all.

Is anyone actually planning on staying in town that week? The city was enough of a clusterfuck in 2004 any time W or Cheney came to town…can’t imagine what it’ll be like when the gang’s all here.

I don’t think I’ll have any choice, as I don’t think I’ll have enough vacation time to leave town.

The plan is to link the protestors to the democrat party at every opportunity. Anytime anyone mentions “the protestors” in any news story or even in conversation, they’ll be referred to as “the democrats.”

From the PioneerPress: “The protestors democrats began chanting inane anti-american slogans and had to be pepper sprayed by the cops. They ran away screaming”

It’ll be fun. Watch for it!

Thankfully, that won’t hurt Obama, because he’ll be the nominee of the Democratic party.

Will you ever spell the Democratic Party correctly, Maz?

Republicans are people who vote for the republican party.
I guess democratics are people who vote for the democratic party.

Fair enough, maz, if the other side can write “The Bush-Cheney Republican Convention opened today in Minneapolis, Minnesota…”

(Bonus drinking game: Take a shot everytime the national media refers to Saint Paul as Minneapolis)

Thankfully, that won’t hurt Obama

He seems to do that well enough without any help.

At the baggage claim last night I was listening to some dorky college aged kid talking to someone who looked like his Mom about Obama.

“I don’t care if he doesn’t have any experience. He’s idealistic. That’s just what we need in Washington.”

Groan.

Just ignore Maz and his infantile refusal to refer to things as they prefer to be called needs no response.

You gonna hold your breath until I quit, simpleton?

True dat, Rat. That Abe Lincoln guy was a total loser, too.

Maybe Obana could have won the 1860 election. No wait … he had to wait for the republicans to free his people first.

The Rat’s Idealism
B. 1965 Minneapolis, MN
D. 1990 Atlanta, GA
RIP

Groan

When Obama loses 40 states I’ll clean up after the kids again.

Come on, with Civic Fest going on, I don’t know why anyone would consider leaving the cities. I mean, who doesn’t want to see a replica of the White House? That’s entertainment.

All right, this is not a democrats versus republicans thread. Cut it out.

Just think, 7 more months of this bullshit, Max!

BTW, I’m becoming more and more of a fan of Birdchick’s blog…even though birds freak me out.

No wait … he had to wait for the republicans to free his people first.

That’s why African Americans vote Republican in droves, I guess.

Don’t encourage the partisan nonsense, please, Rat.

Awright, I’ll get off it. Got my point in anyway.

Can’t think of much to say about a 33-year-old birder though. Thought that was a hobby for someone much older.

I challenge Rat to make a statement not based on some sort of archetypal stereotype for an entire day!

If he can accomplish this he gets a pat on the head and an oreo.

OK:

Maybe the median age of birders is 33. Hell, I don’t know.

44

I was wrong:

Median Age of Birders according to NPR’s Birdnote :as good a source as any.

54

Archetypal stereotype?

My bad, I just took 44 from google. 44 is the median age of Audubon Society members.

But seriously, I really would like to know where they are putting detained protesters. Inquiring minds want to know.

Also, since I signed my paperwork in July, I’ve been working to convince my bosses that we should just work from home the week of the convention. I just might be able to pull it off.

I hope.

My best friend works at Travelers, so it’s amusing hearing how they are progressing when it comes to getting people to work and whatnot.

Just because a stereotype has a kernel of truth doesn’t make for edifying commentary. It’s more the inanity of saying obvious things over and over that for some misguided reason you think we are interested in reading.

Oh its windy usually in April.

Just because a stereotype has a kernel of truth doesn’t make for edifying commentary

We might be looking at a whole ear, and not just a kernel.

I like Birdchick’s blog and she does hang out with “Mr. Neil” Gaiman.

She just has the same issue as many other local blogs, too holier than thou to answer/acknowledge comments.

Republicans are people who vote for the republican party.
I guess democratics are people who vote for the democratic party.

Try Jew vs. Jewish.

My wife reads birdchick’s blog, but I can’t… I’m too overcome with raging jealousy that she gets to hang out with Neil Gaiman.

I’m no birder, but I do appreciate seeing all the birdlife on my morning walks. There are very few other types of animals that can infiltrate our urban landscape in such variety to remind us of the wonders of nature. Just the other morning in my neighborhood I saw:
Cooper’s Hawk
Cardinal
Great White Egret
and on several occasions we’ve spotted Bald Eagles over Medicine Lake.

I just have to get over the fact that my mother-in-law is a birder.

I’m a birder, but mainly because of our neighborhood.

We have a cooper hawk that lives in the yard and we’ve had cardinals,blue jays,woodpeckers and a myriad of other birds all winter.

It’s kind of cool to see so much wild life outside the kitchen window.

Pardon me, while I go make tea.

Don’t forget the crumpets.

Rat obviously needs a Twitter account.

I was shooting pidgeons in my backyard yesterday with my trusty Daisy model 880. Does that count?

My buddy got some great shots of a Cooper Hawk stomping a pigeon into a bloody pulp in his backyard a few weeks ago.

I saw a bald eagle skimming the treetops in a park near Stately Moffitt Manor while walking the dog last week. Mrs. L (who now has the dog-walking gig while I heal) reports that the goldfinches have returned to the area.

We have cardinals roosting overnight near the garage, and a few winter junkos still picking up seed under our feeder. Raptors sighted in our back yard includ the sharp-shinned hawk abd and the great horned owl.

I was shooting pidgeons in my backyard yesterday with my trusty Daisy model 880. Does that count?

I knew the economy was bad but I didn’t know times were that tough at the Maz Compound. Can every one chip in so Mrs Maz can have a meal not entirely consisting of flying rat?

I saw a gull in the SuperTarget parking lot yesterday in SLP. I didn’t realize they were so huge.

Annie Oakley, er, Hillary Clinton’s got nothin on me. The DA calls me “hawkeye.”

mmmm….bastilla.

@justpbob – The finches have indeed returned. And we have 3 types of Juncos, one that is supposed to live in Oregon.

Also, there’s been Fox Sparrows which look and act like chickens.

About 5 months ago I had a bald eagle ripping up a rabbit in our yard. I was on the way to work so I didn’t get a pic.

I see a bald eagle almost every day on the way home from work. They nest off of highway 36.

P.S. – That airgun site is NSFW – It’s blocked my our software as(weapons/bombs)

I saw a gull in the SuperTarget parking lot yesterday in SLP. I didn’t realize they were so huge.

It’s the doughnuts.

Once in Dulute, I observed a gull engaged in aerial combat with a bat. In broad daylight. Strange.

I’ve also been eagerly awaiting the ducks that hang out around my apartment building. After a big rain, they like to float in the giant puddle in the back lawn.

SuperTarget in SLP has a little pond and creek at the end of their parking lot that’s always full of geese, gulls, ducks, etc. It’s cool to have all those birds, but it’s so busy around there I’m surprised there hasn’t been any Alabama cassarole in the road. Last summer a family of ducks was trying to cross the road that lead to Target and caused a big back up in their pursuit of 30% off of Issac Mizrahi fashions.

The mallards showed up at my place two weeks ago. The ice on the lake just started to melt away from the shore last week. Yesterday it was only 3-4 feet away from shore. This morning it was at least 30 feet out.

A cardinal showed up last week, saw a robin on Sunday. Still haven’t seen the blue jay or the herons yet.

we used to hunt bats at dusk during the summertime with pebble filled socks and tennis rackets. good times.

alie…believe it or not, that’s Minehaha Creek over by that Super Target in SLP.

I thought so grote, but I thought it was more of a little offshoot of the actual creek.

Bats are also flying rats…bleah!

The mallards moved into my broken pool a few weeks ago, but only come around occasionally since the ground has melted and the pool no longer holds water.

I find it curious that in many areas the blue jays and cardinals seem to “come back”, but in others that are near we have them year around.

Maybe they’ve been around. I just haven’t seen them since last fall sometime. Or, maybe the area around me doesn’t have good winter food sources, so they relocate, and “come back” to my place for nesting.

Actually, I think you’re correct mnblrmkr. I think they really do leave certain areas only to return in the spring. I hear this a lot.

It’s just interesting that when they leave they often seem to only go a few miles away.

Bats are also flying rats…bleah!

…that severely limit the number of mosquitoes that bite ur ass.
Love them.

A bat can eat between 600 and 1000 mosquitoes per hour!

Whatevs, baker, they’re still grody…those beady eyes and that creepy nose…blargh!