cyclonefence
cyclonefence's JournalMidnight snacking
I generally take in the big bird feeder, the one with sunflower seeds, at night because raccoons will empty it every time I don't. I stay up until 10 or 11, and if I don't forget, I turn on the outside light (that's because one time when I didn't I walked into a skunk raiding the feeder. I backed away slowly, murmuring "bon appetit, monsieur", check to see who's out there--I don't like interrupting male deer who are looking for a fight, either, even if they're on the other side of the yard--and usually just the light coming on causes the big fat raccoon who lives in my backyard to waddle off into the darkness.
Last night I turned on the light and saw raccoon-shape on the feeder. I went ahead out the door, figuring Fatso would be gone by the time I got outside. Wrong. And wrong again.
It wasn't Fatso. It was The Fruit of Fatso's Womb--two baby raccoons about the size of small house cats, one clinging to the feeder and shoveling in the seed, the other perched on top of the post, hanging over and waiting for his/her turn.
I expected Junior and Missy to take off when this unknown stack of smelly human advanced on them. Nope. As I got closer I started clapping my hands and "shoo"'ing them, to no avail. They watched me closely but sans peur as I approached nearer and nearer. I tried waving my arms and puffing myself up (I read somewhere that's how you scare away an aggressive swan), but they sat and enjoyed the show.
I was a little afraid that they would bite me if I tried to push them away or made any kind of physical contact with them. I confess that rabies crossed my mind, but only for an instant--I once saw a rabid skunk, and those are symptoms you don't forget. As soon as I dismissed rabies, the question of where Mom was crept in. While I was focused up high on the younger generation, was the old lady going to attack my ankles?
Never once did it occur to me that this was an almost-empty-at-this-point bird feeder so what was I doing. I had a galvanized trash can just inside the back door full of sunflower seed. No titmouse was going to go hungry if I didn't intervene.
Then I thought to myself "if I get bit by a raccoon, that'll be something to tell the (nonexistent) grandchildren about" and reached out for the feeder--I was so close to them I could count their whiskers. They were making little gutteral noises that might have been baby raccoon growls. We had stood nose to nose for several minutes, and they were damned if they were going to move, so it was up to me, the adult, to get the show on the road.
As I say, I reached out for the feeder. Junior/Missy clung. I shook it, and baby jumped off. I unhooked the feeder under the baleful eye of the sibling, fully ashamed of myself by this time--Big Brave Woman, scaring off hungry baby raccoons--and told the little guy "Aw, fuck it." I hooked the practically empty feeder back onto the post and went inside.
The light was still on, and I watched through the window to see if Mom or the other baby would return. Braveheart stayed there, clinging to the post until I decided the light was hampering his moves. I turned it off and went to bed.
This morning, every goddam sunflower seed was gone.
Starbucksed at amusement park
On Father's Day, a young black special ed teacher, his girlfriend, a young man he mentors and the young man's girlfriend went to Dorney Park near Allentown PA. After they got off their first ride, an armed guard approached the teacher and asked him to empty his pockets. The teacher complied. The cop said he'd been stopped because "several people" had reported that he looked like a pickpocketing suspect. The teacher objected, was escorted out of the park and banned from it for six months.
Don't believe me? Read it for yourself:
http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/jenice_armstrong/dorney-park-philadelphia-teacher-starbucks-treatment-fathers-day-brian-mildenberg-jenice-armstrong-20180629.html
Family torn apart at movies?
A black family and friends of their children went to see the new Jurassic Park movie in West Philadelphia. The parents left the older kids in their seats while they went to ask the manager for a refund because of a recurrent loud beeping noise that made it impossible for them to enjoy the movie. The refund was given, but when the parents wanted to go retrieve the other children from the theater, trouble started. According to the parents, the manager told them they could not re-enter the theater. An argument ensued, and before you can say "wypipo" the cops were on the scene:
The manager provided the refund but said the Jimenezes could not reenter the theater, Ismael Jimenez said. The couple said they needed to get their children. The manager refused and, upon hearing they were going to get their kids, said he was calling the police, Jimenez said.
<snip>
A Cinemark spokesman disputed Jimenez’s account and said that “at no time was the family restricted access to their children.”
Jimenez, a member of Black Lives Matter Philadelphia, said the first officer approached him while his wife went to retrieve the children. The officer, police said, had advised radio communications he was responding to a disturbance. But the officer did not answer when they tried to reach him again. That’s when the “assist officer” alert went out, police said.
Jimenez, however, said his encounter with the officer was not initially loud. He questioned why the officer couldn’t hear the radio.
more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/philadelphia/black-family-cinemark-theater-philadelphia-police-radio-20180628.html
Why is the fact that the father belongs to BLM relevant? Is he being painted as a troublemaker? (lifts jaw off floor)
Sheshe2's post about white people saying white people without saying white people
reminded me of things I continue to struggle with. I wonder if any other white libs/progressive have the same problems I do.
Some years ago, I was inspired by watching a cop show on tv, where the victim of a crime had to describe the perp so an artist could create a drawing of the man they were looking for, to wonder if I could describe a black person in a way that she could be identified by my description--if an artist could make a picture from my description that would be recognizable as the person I was trying to describe.
I thought about some black women I am close to, women I spend time with almost every day and whom I care about, and tried to describe one of them to myself. I know their faces so well--I could easily locate them in a crowd; hell, they appear in my dreams--but I felt like I didn't have the words to tell what their facial features were like. I could say whether their skins were dark or light and give a fair description of their hair (although for some of them, the hair changes every day!), but I could not describe their eyes, noses and mouths the way I could those of the white people I know. Generalizations like "really pretty" or "always looks mad" came easily, but those don't tell anyone else what these women look like.
Do I not see their faces? Do they "all look alike?" Of course they don't, but giving myself this exercise has made me understand the basis of that canard. (I recently read a New Yorker article about Chinese immigrants in Italy who were having trouble assimilating in part because all the Italians looked alike to them.)
Now when I'm with my black friends I make a point of examining their faces, locking into my memory what color Marlo's eyes are and the shape of Brittany's nose. I am ashamed to tell them what I'm doing and why--thank god for the anonymity of DU which liberates me to talk about things I am ashamed of--but I am making progress.
You can easily test yourself by thinking of a prominent black person--a movie star, say--and try to describe her in such a way that someone else would be able to guess who you're talking about.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders doesn't get to describe her behavior
as "I politely left." It's up to other people to decide whether you are polite or not. You could have flounced out farting with every step, knocking over tables as you went, and described yourself as polite. Not up to you to judge.
The throwing her out of the restaurant is cosmic on so many levels. It illustrates the tone-deafness of this administration in assuming that they are welcome everywhere, that everyone is happy to work for and with them. BZZZT--WRONG. They have a complete lack of awareness of how hideous their behaviors are, and that they each bear personal responsibility for their part in creating the atmosphere of hate they've forced on us.
Her whining about it on official twitter: WOMP WOMP.
Her father calling refusal to serve based on ethical beliefs--like baking a wedding cake for a gay couple--"biased." Well, sure it is, but you guys wanted it this way. Like the border patrol, we're just following the law.
I was so proud of Seth Rogan
On Colbert, he described being invited to speak at an Alzheimer's awareness event, a cause he supports, and two young fans asked for a photo with him. He was happy to oblige. Then the kids' father showed up and asked for a photo. The dad was Paul Ryan. Taken aback, Rogan *refused* to be photographed with Ryan and furthermore told him why: I hate everything you are doing to this country, and I can't wait until you are no longer in a position to do harm to us.
I'm so proud because it was in front of Ryan's kids--Rogan said he was aware and concerned about that, but he felt the sons needed to know about their father--and it was so unexpected and sudden that the normal response would have been "sure," but Rogan kept his head about him and refused.
Go Seth Rogan!
The public shaming we are seeing of members of this administration is heartening. When is the last time we've seen a white woman refused service at a restaurant in Virginia? When has an elected official been hounded out of a movie theater by shouting citizens?
I think the tide may have turned.
Jesus, I hope so. I don't know how much more of this I can take.
Are there any Republican lawmakers visiting the holding facilities
for the children taken from their parents at the border? If no, why not? The optics are glaring: only Democrats care enough about the fate of these innocent children--and babies!--to try to find out how they are being treated.
But we knew that already. Why would Republicans care what happened to vermin and other animals?
Remember "don't impeach Trump because Pence might be worse?"
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
We were so young and foolish back then.
Melania is headed for Texas
to check on the immigrant children. She will speak Spanish to them. No, really. Spanish. Really she will. It will be a comfort. She speaks Spanish. Yep.
Norsemen on Netflix
This is a funny show, a little homophobic, but funny. It's 1/2 hour episodes and only one season, so an easy binge.
I binged season 2 of Marcella and was disappointed.
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