The Bluebird Of Happiness

Among the regular harbingers of spring is the return of the Redwing Blackbird, the American robin and the eastern bluebird.  One of our favorites is the bluebird and some have suggested they've been seemingly scarcer the past couple of years; we have two confirmed next boxes occupied by this species. 

The notion of the bluebird of happiness has its roots in French folklore and comes from the delightful feeling associated with the sighting of one of these birds with the faded rusty breast, white belly and blue back and tail. They're a flash of color in an otherwise brown and dreary springtime world. They’re fond of perching on the top of a post, tree or garden rake leaning on the fence and surveying their domain.  

WI.DNR.Gov

 

Meet Sialia sialis - the Eastern bluebird.  These are cavity-nesting birds and only a couple of human generations ago their numbers were in serious decline in this country as a consequence of limited nesting habitat.  They’re more common nowadays because us people have mobilized in the face of that decline and assembled and installed nest boxes for them. Multiply that by hundreds of thousands of similarly-minded bird enthusiasts and you get the drift.  More cavities – more birds.  

 

 

Most of the time house wrens and tree sparrows nest in our boxes which is just fine.  They make for good tenants.  When I was out turkey hunting at the end of last month I spotted a pair of birds checking-out the nest box above.  

 

Within a week they decided to take-up housekeeping and constructed a nest.

 

 

Then earlier this week I was out installing a nest box that needed a minor repair and figured I check on my feathered friends for a progress report.

 

So far, so good.

 

We’re about to become grandparents again.   

An interesting factoid about the eastern bluebird is that the young of the first brood assist in raising the young of the second brood.   

 

Good parenting skills the bluebird has. 

 

Dump Run

This Chevy Silverado pick-up still runs like a champ.  And it will be celebrating its 29th birthday in September.  That was when it rolled-off the assembly line in Flint Michigan in 1997.

We take care of our vehicles and tend to run them until the wheels fall-off.

It's spring-cleaning time around here so when making a trip to the town dump it's always a delight to rock some Marshall Tucker on the cassette player.

Who do you know has a working cassette player anymore?  Much less, a cassette tape collection.... 

 

May Astronomy

Monday evening before bedtime I took the pup outside for last call. The Flower Moon was bright and there was some interesting cloud action.   

The current moon phase for May 4, 2026 is known as a Waning Gibbous phase. 

Yesterday the moon was 17.9 days old and 89.21 percent illuminated. 

So I took some photos. 

And while I had some downtime in my busy day this afternoon I fiddled with some filters on one photo.  The moon is not very distinct (a shortcoming of even an iPhone 14 Pro).  But the Google Snapseed filtering allows for some interesting results.

Original, enhanced color spectrum and artsy black and white.

Pro Tip - Snapseed is a free app...
 

National Astronaut Day

I learned something today. 

 

It’s National Astronaut Day - in recognition of United States first manned space flight. Who knew?

 

Mercury-Redstone 3, or Freedom 7, was the first United States human spaceflight, on May 5, 1961, piloted by astronaut Alan Shepard. It was the first crewed flight of Project Mercury. The project had the ultimate objective of putting an astronaut into orbit around the Earth and return him safely.

 

As a space/astronomy geek even more than six and a half decades ago I was allowed to miss school that morning so I could watch the launch and recovery on television.

 

I still remember it. Better than what I had to eat yesterday…..

Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em

The device in the photo is the real deal.  A bizarre as it appears it is not AI generated,  photo shopped or a social media hoax.  It's a modern day Hookah.  If you came of age in the 1970's you would know what a water pipe or Hookah is.  But I digress.

The Robot Smoker was a novelty ashtray sold by Sears, Roebuck & Company around 1957.  It has a modern-sounding name but wasn't at all robotic; just playing on the technological advancements of  and more likely a play on the 'Space Age' aesthetic of the time.

You placed a lit cigarette into the holder of the weighted base and a long, flexible tube allowed you to have a smoke at a distance without getting up from your chair, interrupt your television viewing, putting down your book or paper or getting out of bed.  The only thing even close to robotic was the Automatic Butt Ejector; a spring-loaded feature that flipped the spent filter our so you didn't have to touch it.  Priced at $2.97 (roughly $30 nowadays).  An extra dollar got you an upgrade for a two person model to accommodate whomever you were sleeping with. 

Sears sold all sorta stuff throughout its long merchandising lifetime including novelties and gadgets.  Unlike a useful Craftsman wrench this device never became a household staple.  Within a couple of decades the health impacts of tobacco use became better-known and elaborate smoking apparatus fell out of favor. 

A couple of my pals are firefighters with the local department and they would likely be horrified by this.  The ad explicitly suggests its use while lounging in a chair or in bed.  Vintage collectors will tell you that if you coughed or sneezed into the tube you could launch a lit cig across the room.  Sounds like a peril that might very-well void the homeowners insurance you purchased from Sears as well.

Fast Fact:  Elektro the Moto-Man was a giant seven foot tall robot that demonstrated its ability to smoke cigarettes at the 1939 World's Fair ostensibly to demonstrate its air-intake system.  Maybe that's the inspiration for the name?  Alas, all is lost to history.

My smoking history was short-lived.  Good thing.   

National Wildflower Week

Always the first full week of May - National Wildflower Week commemorates the colorful blossoms that bring our landscapes to life. Whether they are on mountainsides, pastures or our own back yards, wildflowers create habitat, help conserve water and reduce erosion. 

Here's a spring perennial that is brightening our stream banks right now.  

Meet Caltha Palustris - the Marsh Marigold - a member of the buttercup family (not a marigold) and a wild flower found in bottomlands, marshes, fens and wet woodlands  this time of year.    

This is a difficult plant to miss as the bright yellow flowers are quite showy.  This plant grows along Silver Creek and in the dappled sunlit areas where ephemeral waters gather.       

This plant also happens to be edible when cooked.  Sometimes referred-to as the poor man's saffron  - the tender spring leaves or buds can be blanched in boiling water, cut into bite-sized pieces, lightly salted and served with melted butter.  The flower buds can also be cooked and pickled for use as a caper substitute.  Whatever you do - DO NOT EAT THIS PLANT RAW.     

It is sometimes called Cowslip - a throwback to the fact that it is found in low-lying areas and cows would slip-upon it when they came to the creek to drink. 

 

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