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Screeched to a halt

Upon returning from picking up Serena at work early Friday morning (she is temporarily caring for the dogs at the kennel in the morn, too), Ted noticed an unusual, brown lump in the road near our driveway. He went back to investigate, after turning into our drive, and returned to deposit the said brown lump in Serena’s lap. It was a screech owl! It had evidently flown into a car, and had the good fortune to land in the center of the lane such that car tires straddled it as they passed. It did not have the good fortune to be uninjured from the crash, however. Ted and Serena rigged up a perch for it in a critter cage we had. It sat on the perch in a dazed but quiet condition all the while it was at our house. It would look at us out of its left eye, but kept the right eye closed.

Saturday, we were going in to Louisville anyway, and were able to make contact with Raptor Rehab. of KY, which is based there. The director informed us that this is “hit-by-car screech owl season”! It happens every year, because they are more active, presumably courting. There were 6 cages lined up in the back already, containing hit screech owls. Unfortunately, the volunteers weren’t encouraging about our owl’s prospects, due to the blood in its throat, the damaged eye, and the bloody stool it had while at our house (internal injuries). At least it will be in the care of folks who know what to do for it.

Here’s the poor little fellow, in our cage, and at the rehab. center.

Injured screech owl in our cage

being examined by Raptor Rehab. volunteer

And here’s your tidbit for the day: In Raptor Rehab’s newsletter that they gave us, one of the articles was about barn owls. Did you know that they are nicknamed “the flying mousetrap,” and that they can catch more mice in a night than 10 cats??? Imagine!

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Caribou and SNL

Folks, it take a lot to get me to watch TV.  I kissed it goodbye almost 40 years ago, and my life has been full of exciting times, productive work, lots of books and movies and thousands of conversations with live people.  In a word, TV (generally) is for the brain dead.  If you’re feeling a little offended right now, I suggest you … take a hike 😉  If you’re still here, however, I must confess that I just watched Continue reading “Caribou and SNL”

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A Failure of Nerve

My father tells me that my grandfather, one of the most respected and best known farmers of Shelby County, seriously considered giving up and selling out in the 1930’s.  It was after the stock market crash; times were very hard; he was in serious debt due to an unfortunate turn of events a few years before, and he wanted to sell out and become a doctor instead.  He was almost 40 years old at the time– this would have been a very iffy road.  He, and the farm, were saved Continue reading “A Failure of Nerve”

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Receprocity & the 2nd Amendment- UPDATED

Caution–New York is the only state that prohibits the transportation of handguns without a license. Travelers should therefore be particularly careful since they face severe consequences should they inadvertently violate the state’s highly restrictive statutes.

On June 26 [2008], the Supreme Court ruled in District of Columbia v. Heller that the Second Amendment—”A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”— protects a purely individual right, as do the First, Fourth and Ninth Amendments. “Nowhere else in the Constitution does a ‘right’ attributed to ‘the people’ refer to anything other than an individual right,” the court said. “The term [‘the people’] unambiguously refers to all members of the political community.”

On Sept. 8th, while traveling home from a building seminar in NY state, I got a first hand look at how law enforcement in a “gun unfriendly” location interprets my right (see above) to individually carry a weapon as a means of protecting myself and my wife.  Although I was not actually arrested, I was effectively taken prisoner Continue reading “Receprocity & the 2nd Amendment- UPDATED”

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There went the Bride

Well, it’s over. Sarah got married! She is now Mrs. Hartman. It was a grand occasion, and everything went beautifully and smoothly. My impression, looking back the next week after we got home was, “Gee, that was only a blip on the radar screen! It seems as if it should have made a bigger impression. Maybe the Jewish folks, and others who celebrate for a week have the right idea after all!”

So many people asked me if I was stressed over wedding preparations. The answer is, no, Sarah and Rainey did most of the planning and preparation down there (in GA). I ordered her wedding gown, which fit perfectly so that I didn’t have to alter it. I had to find a mother-of-the-bride dress to match some jewelry I already possessed — a deal, but not a big deal. Hey, I got to shop, didn’t I? I went down 2 weeks before the wedding to take them 2 chest-of-drawers, alter Sarah’s reception dress, and help her with a little bit of shopping. I helped set up the church and arrange a few flowers and bows the day before the wedding. The most stressful part of the whole affair was fixing 3 people’s hair the morning of the wedding. And the best part was hearing Sarah say, after I finished her hair, “That’s perfect, Mom; it’s exactly what I wanted!”

I’ll put in a picture that I took of Sarah when she was all dressed and ready. Ted will fuss over the way I do it and go back and edit the post! If anyone is interested enough to want more pictures, go to this website: http://bbandcompany.zenfolio.com/p1038900398 . The password is “thomas0816” There are over 400 pictures there, but only a fraction of those actually taken. It takes 15 or 20 minutes to view as a slide show.  To order pictures as prints, please contact Brenda Brooks at BB & Company.

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War & judgment

The title itself makes you want to skip this one, but– hold on a sec.  This is actually about your financial future, how your government spends your tax dollars to educate children, whether your brother dies in the nuclear attack on the city where he lives and whether the Supreme Court becomes a tool of oppression for anyone who might be a moral conservative.

In this article, Noemie Emery makes the point that Iraq news is so good now that both McCain and Obama have a problem.  For McCain, who staked his career on the success of the surge in 2007, it is that Continue reading “War & judgment”

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Indian Winter and the Brontosaurus in our yard.

“Indian winter” is a term just coined by Lydia. It refers to the fact that, in all the 20 years we have lived here, this is the first time Ted on the BrontosaurusI have been cold in August. (Since Indian summer is when you have summer-like warm weather in the fall, then Indian winter is when you have cold weather in the summer, right?) Our weather all this week is incredible! Good incredible! While usually this time of year we are suffering under temps. in the 90’s with high humidity, our weather this week is topping at 85 or less, and getting down to the low 60’s at night. I just wish I could take it with me to Chattanooga for the weekend, where Sarah will be getting married. Her reception is outside, and the high that day is supposed to be 89. Oh, well, anything for a daughter getting married!

In other news, there has been a giant brontosaurus in our yard for the last few days. (I know, there was really no such thing as a brontosaurus. It’s more properly called an apatasaurus, but the b- word sounds better!) This brontosaurus was big, orange, metal, and weighed approximately 10 tons. It didn’t exactly eat tree branches, but it carried Ted and his chain saw on its long neck 60 feet in the air to trim the giant oak trees whose limbs were encroaching on the roof. The only catch to this mechanized brontosaurus was the short in its wiring that sometimes caused Ted to get stuck 60 feet off the ground! It took a little persuasion with a hammer to get it going again. Here’s Ted at his work.

We’re off day after tomorrow to attend Sarah’s wedding festivities. My next post will likely be pictures from the wedding!