45 thoughts on “May 15 16, 2020: Juxtapawhatzits?”

  1. Weirdest thing in the fan-less BVB-Schalke match is the echo in the stadium.

  6. Just saw a tern while driving. Couldn't positively identify what type (turned around in again hope of tracking it down, but was too late,and it flew back over the lake), but I hadn't seen one in quite a while.

  7. Historically, I am awful with my yard. In the first ten years here, the only thing I ever planted was tulips, and I sat back as creeping Charlie and other weeds overpowered my grass. Last year, I spilt a bunch of hostas and they held up great.

    Now, with all this extra time at home (instead of taking the kids to the playground or soccer or wherever), I've been trying to garden a little. I've split and planted numerous hostas and some daylilies. Today, I bought and planted two cornflowers, catmint, and a astilbe. The grass is still a lost cause (I'll work harder after a dying plum tree is removed this week), but it's giving me something to do.

    2. I've laid waste to many things around the yard in the past couple weeks. The chainsaw has been a fun addition to the house. Those bushes on the south side of the house better be eyeing that thing nervously.

    3. Me too largely because the size of yard and length of commute were incompatible.

      But now I'm actually getting somewhere. We had the flower beds actually raked out before anything started coming up. And I'm finally doing something (2,4-D) about the Creeping Charlie, dandelions, and burdock everywhere.

      2. Our yard is teeny-tiny (entire lot is just 50x80), so I wish I had that as an excuse. Mostly, it's apathy and ignorance (about 98/2 on that split).

        1. Yeah, I'm with you on that. More time is the only reason I've put this much effort into it, and it's still not that much. Our next door neighbors* are obsessive over their yard. It's impressive to watch. It's only barely rubbed off on me.

          *It's nice to see two people so dedicated to the same things find each other. And those two things are landscaping and smoking.

    4. I am also historically terrible with my yard, mostly because I just don't care. I mow it weekly, seems good enough.

      2. I actively loathe it. A lawn is such a waste of everything. I've been trying to figure out something that will fit the trifecta of not mowing, no ticks, but still decent for kids to play. Being in an area with many parks would mostly solve the last issue but we aren't.

  8. I saw my first oriole of the season today. I think it was an Orchard Oriole. I had left some grape jelly on a branch and it was eating it. Every time I jumped up to get a better look, I spooked him and he flew off.

      1. My "Oriole feeder" is the bottom portion of a milk gallon with grape jelly in it and two nails to impale orange halves. The oranges keep disappearing. I think it is squirrels.

        1. Squirrels seem very likely; we put out orange halves a few days ago and one of my boys saw a squirrel in the yard, having taken one half. And then the other half was gone this morning.

          Our neighbors a couple blocks away have a fancy setup for feeding orioles; I'll snap a photo next time I'm there. (The peperoncino's new hobby is walking over and hanging out in their yard to watch for birds. They also have a hummingbird feeder, and we saw a gorgeous ruby throated hummingbird there a few days ago.)

          1. I belatedly put up our hummingbird feeder last week. The feeders are supposed to be out in the spring to be there when they migrate north but I forgot. Nonetheless, we got our first visitor only a few days later. It's been visited a few times since then, not yet with the same level of traffic as last year where we'd sometimes get hummingbird fights (they're fiercely territorial). Yesterday we had our first oriole at the hummingbird feeder. I missed it but the wife was able to take a few distant photos as proof.

            Oriole SelectShow

    2. Last night I took a walk with the kids and saw a sort-of lifer: a Common Yellow Throat. I had only previously seen a deceased one that had crashed into a storefront window, so this was my first ever live one.

      1. I like these guys. They show up at our place annually. Windows are a problem.

    3. The other day I was thinking its been quiet at the park because the orioles are not here yet.
      Heard one this morning. Made me happy.

    4. We were really happy to discover earlier this week that a pair of cardinals had built a nest in the pergola on our patio.

      1. He apparently was also a big baseball fan. This comes from Chris Epting, author of Roadside Baseball: The Locations of America’s Baseball Landmarks:

        “When we first started hanging out in about 1990, Fred and I would sit and talk for HOURS about old ballparks. He shared with me shots he took when he BROKE IN to Forbes Field in Pittsburgh after it was all shut down in 1970 – he was performing in town with Ace Trucking Company – he set his camera's self-timer and took images of himself all throughout the park. A few years later, he and I and Charlie (maybe one year old) explored Olive Memorial Stadium in Burbank right before they took it down.

  10. Awesome. We just had a trio: Drummer (one of the drums was a pickle bucket), accordion, and a Tuba, going down N. Beacon Street. Inspiring.

  15. Pazzaluna is gone. Bumma. We used to go there once a year with friends over the holidays. I would always order Linguini ai Frutti di Mare which was never on the menu, but they always delivered it con gusto.

    1. Bachelor Farmer as well. I had an outstanding meal there several years back. bummer.

Comments are closed.