From our walk Blonde Dog found this.
A common garter snake.
It's not uncommon to see snakes in the fall. They definitely don't move as fast with the cooler temperatures and are likely making their way to a nearby hibernaculum to over winter.
On a rare occasion you might even spy a snake basking in the sun on a warm, sunny December day.
It didn't have to get this bad.
Republican voters against Trump are going to send this man packing.
Vote.....
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| NASA.Gov |
Lastly, Blue Moons defined as above are not blue in color. If you were to see a real blue-colored moon it would be because of very poor air quality conditions that have a great deal of particulate matter in the atmosphere. If you see a photo of a blue-colored moon it likely a result of Photoshop.
You can learn more here.
Yesterday's economic report was good news indeed. The expected 33 percent annualized rebound is evidence of a partial recovery from the Trump economic collapse earlier this year.
Before you pop a celebratory bottle of the bubbly it is useful to remember that this is a bounce off the bottom. Furthermore, even including this rebound the economy shrank 3 percent from the third quarter of 2019 to the third quarter of this year. This decline is among the largest recorded recessions over the last half-century - eclipsed only by the 3.9 percent decline hit in the second quarter of 2009 during the financial crisis and subsequent Great Recession.
From a strictly numbers perspective we would have needed 46 percent growth in the third quarter just to get back to where we were. Getting the economy back to where it would have been without the impact of Trump's Covid mismanagement would have taken a 63 percent gain in the third quarter.
Nevertheless, these numbers are evidence that stimulus policy has had a positive impact. The federal government borrowed a shit load of money and sent it out to individuals and businesses and it worked very well.
As for the current decline we are witnessing in the stock market this is most likely a consequence of a combination of factors. Namely a virus picture that is worsening and a lack of confidence in the Trump administration's response (or lack thereof). Add to this the absence of any progress towards a further stimulus deal - which will translate to much weaker fourth quarter growth. So weak that we run a very real risk of tipping back into a double dip recession.
Stay-tuned…..
This is a classic song written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart in 1934. The doo-wop group, The Marcels, made it a number one international hit.
It has also been covered by Mel Tormé, Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan and too many others to list. My favorite version was recorded by the Cowboy Junkies originally recorded inside Toronto's Church of the Holy Trinity on November 27, 1987, with the band circled around a single microphone.
This is a rare live version from Austin City Limits. Blue Moon Revisited (Song For Elvis)…..
This is a buck rub. Every day we see more of them while out on our daily walk.
Around here the tree of choice for rubbing seems to be willow, younger aspen and tamarack. This happens to be an assault on a basswood tree planted about a decade and a half ago and happens to be in our front yard. Is it something about the bark? Is it the diameter of the tree? Is there a scent imparted by the tree to the deer? Or vice versa?
It's actually the versa.
So here's the rub. If you've ever had an opportunity to watch my Labrador retriever in action it's all about scent. When she is running hot on a trail she isn’t following with her eyes as much as she is following her nose. Deer scrapes are much-ado about scent-marking. A deer rub carries with it a sensory experience that engages scent and visual impact.
The rub above was made by a dominant buck - brought about by the impact of testosterone overload. It would not be unusual for other bucks to add their contribution to the rub but it's more to do with establishing the hierarchy amongst the local bucks.
The term dominant buck is apropos given that one of the reasons for this behavior is to mark their territory and curb and intimidate the lesser bucks both psychologically and hormonally. This suppresses testosterone levels in the subordinate males allowing the dominant whitetail to exert his influence.
The glands located in the forehead of the dominant male send a signal that this is my turf. It also signals to the ladies of the male's readiness to mate. It is the whitetail equivalent of leaving your name and phone number with someone at the bar.
If I had to hazard a guess I think I am witnessing pre-rut activity - colloquially the same as the beginning of the breeding season.
One of the things about being an old, retired, former financial advisor is that I carry the scars from wounds long-ago healed as evidence of decades of turmoil and uncertainty.
Sure, mistakes were made. Nevertheless, I survived the Darwinism of roll-up your sleeves capital markets to emerge on the other side not just a survivor - but a winner. Tell me what the rules are and I can play the game successfully.
I now belong to the ranks of grizzled, cantankerous, Silver Backs – with long hair – and who only occasionally wear socks. And I would like to share some wisdom that comes from experience that has to do with a topic everyone seems to be tiptoeing around nowadays – namely politics. Now that I'm retired I can speak freely about such things.
When clients bring up politics it can be useful to be prepared to speak about it in a thoughtful, sensitive, and productive fashion. Let’s face it – it is pervasive – like an old-school miasma. And there are many very good reasons to discuss politics including connecting with a client to know what is on their mind – to ascertain what makes them anxious, to demonstrate empathy and be an active listener. The consummate financial professional knows to listen, to respond rationally, address uncertainties, sort fact from fiction and never allow irrational thinking to impact important planning decisions.
The risk is that much of this is done with some measure of professional peril. If it is sloppy and ill-conceived clients may feel embarrassed, disconnected, confused and lose confidence. The very best of advisors always make a point to leave personal politics at the day job door. They are masters of political agnosticism. They listen with the intent to understand and not to debate. And they know at all times to separate planning from politics.
The takeaway? It’s OK to talk about what’s on your mind with your trusted financial advisor. The relationship will be all the more stronger as a consequence.
Alas, when you see a financial
services individual getting their undies in a snit with a bout of
Feigned Face
Book
Outrage – that’s just unprofessional. Social media outrage is
for amateurs. Introducing political bias to the planning process is done at great peril for both client and advisor.
The Mother of all Admonitions - never let politics cloud your planning judgement. It is just fine to talk about it as long as it does not cloud sound, rational judgement. The truth of the matter is that partisan politics does not impart one side with a winning strategy versus the flip side of the political card.
It makes little - if any - difference.
That is a fact.
Smart people can profit readily under the rules advanced by inept and even unsavory political leaders. Knowing what the rules are is the key to winning the game. Policy should take precedence over personality.
And if you want to spout-off about politics - there is plenty of time for that in retirement.
Two of rural America’s most enduring and most treasured institutions – the United States Post Office and the Volunteer Fire Department - were the brainchild of Benjamin Franklin. That's right, Old Ben is the father of these revered institutions.
Neither the postal service or the fire department are businesses - they are services. As a consequence neither of them lose money – they cost money. They both are essential government services to those of us who make our homes in rural America. Rural folk never enjoy the level of government services that city folk do and as a consequence we place a very high value on our letter carriers and first responders. As a matter of fact - of all government agencies - the postal service boasts the highest favorability ratings among both republicans and democrats.
So I have to wonder about the political strategy of slamming the US Postal Service. Will deconstructing rural mail delivery improve it? Make it faster? More efficient? Less costly? Is it smart politics? Will it win hearts and minds? I dunno. If I had to hazard a guess likely no more popular than defunding and privatizing the volunteer fire department.
When you live a thirty to sixty minute round trip from essential services the post box at the end of my driveway is an important daily destination. I rely on rural pick-up and delivery for everything from spices and kitchen supplies.
Trust me it's not a scam or a hoax.
So lay-off already with this nonsense about how you shouldn't trust the people that deliver your stuff.
Sheesh.....
Recently I was taking a walk down memory lane while looking at photos of our black Lab taken over the years. We sure had some adventures - that is for sure. Anyway, there was this photo taken thirteen years ago - October of 2007. Almost to the day.
That's our Inky dog on the porch checking-out the pumpkins from the garden.
As a test of your powers of observation - can you ascertain what time of day these photos were taken?
Other than the addition of the blonde Lab and loss of the black Lab what else has changed over the last thirteen years?
Speaking of the rut after the morning walk this was discovered in the south corner of our front yard.
This basswood tree had been planted about fifteen years ago as a tiny potted 'stick' of a tree. And over the last decade and a half it has grown into a handsome and straight native hardwood of about 3+ inches in diameter near its base.
Overnight Mr. Buck decided to pay a nocturnal visit and tear-up the bark on the south-facing side of the trunk to mark his territory and establish dominance.
Grrrrr.......
The whitetail rut has commenced.
From our walk yesterday morning (Saturday) there was evidence of a fresh scrape in the foreground of this trail camera.
And following the upload of the contents of the SD card was evidence of Mr. Buck freshening it the evening beforehand....
Grainy images and really crappy composition but I think you get the picture of the what these fellas will do to stake-out their territory and signal a willingness to breed.
That is at least a ten-point buck too.
This 1964 song was recorded by the Dave Clark Five and reached number six on the US Billboard Hot 100 Chart. This marked an expansion of the British Invasion as the first group other than the Beatles to chart a big hit both here and abroad.
This is a fun cover featuring Joan Jett, John Mellencamp, John Fogerty, Billy Joel and others at the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony at Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York in 2008.
Glad All Over…..
Gravlax, or gravlaks, is a Nordic dish made from salmon that is cured using salt, sugar, and dill. As with lox it is cured but not smoked. Gravlax is usually served as an appetizer, sliced thinly and traditionally accompanied by hovmästarsås - a dill and mustard sauce.
We like it served on sliced baguette or caraway snack rye with cream cheese, capers and minced shallot. It’s a terrific appetizer, snack or breakfast accompaniment.
When eventually we can throw a party with guests and adult beverages a ginormous slab of homemade gravlaks is going to be the star of the show.
This recipe is adapted from that courtesy of the incredibly creative foodies over at the New York Times……
Gravlax
Yield 10 to 12 servings (about 3 pounds)
Time 30 minutes, plus 5 days curing
Ingredients
For the Cured Salmon:
1 side clean, fresh and fat Alaskan king salmon, skin on, pin bones removed, neatly trimmed of all undesirable bits of fat and tissue (about 3 to 3 1/2 pounds total), or 1 fat and gorgeous 2 1/2-pound fillet cut from the widest part of the body
½ cup kosher salt
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup finely ground black pepper
2 bunches fresh dill (about 4 ounces each), clean and dry, left intact (no need to pick fronds from stem), coarsely chopped (about 2 cups
For Serving:
Cream cheese
1 medium shallot, peeled and finely minced
Capers
Rye or dark pumpernickel snack bread or fresh-baked baguette.
Preparation
Cure the salmon: Lay salmon skin-side down, flesh-side up in a glass or non-reactive stainless-steel baking dish. (A large lasagna dish works well.) In a small bowl, toss together the salt, sugar and pepper until blended. Sprinkle the mixture over the salmon evenly, with abandon, until fully covered, as if under a blanket of snow. Use all of it.
Spread all the chopped dill on top of the cure-covered salmon to make a thick, grassy carpet.
Lay plastic wrap or parchment paper over the salmon to cover and press down, then place a heavy weight — such as a 2-gallon zip-top bag filled with water — on top, to weigh heavily on the curing fish. Refrigerate just like this, without disturbing, for 5 days, turning the salmon over midway through the cure — on Day 3 — then covering and weighting it again.
Remove salmon from the cure, which has now become liquid, brushing off the dill with a paper towel, then set fillet on a cutting board.
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| Finished product |
Suggested breakfast serving.....
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| Breakfast of Champions |
Pro Tips – Ditch the Ziploc bag filled with water. The zipper will pop and you’ll have gallons of water all over your kitchen counter, hand-held device, tablet and the floor. I substituted a couple of flat rocks in the Ziploc. A couple of bricks would work too.
I also recommend a short rinse with cold, running tap water to remove any remaining cure. Blot it dry and allow to air-dry on a clean towel in the fridge for a half-day.
If you care to go traditional following the Hovmästarsås instructions linked in the first paragraph above.
This recipe appears to lend itself to improvisation. The introduction of (single) alternative aromatics such as coriander, caraway, juniper berries or other herbs to the cure might yield good results.
Lastly, I vacuum-packaged some chunks of cured salmon with my FoodSaver® and froze them. Thaw, slice and serve as needed. Freezing does not appear to impart any change in texture or favor.
Cheers!
In case you’ve been sitting on pins and needles waiting for an election year October Surprise there is this.
Donald Trump promised
that Obama administration officials would face federal charges for
plotting a coup to bring down his presidency with an illegal probe of
Russian ties to Trump’s 2016 campaign. What became of that?
Nothing.
Donald Trump promised to unveil - 'The greatest political scam, hoax in the
history of our country' – with the exposure of Obama administration
officials who conspired to obtain the identities of individuals whose
names were redacted in intelligence documents. What became of that?
Nothing.
In a continued airing of personal grievances and perceived slights
Donald Trump has continued to lash-out at Attorney General Barr –
referring to him as ‘a disgrace’ - for failing to target his
political adversaries. And what became of this?
Again, nothing.
Finally, Stephen Bannon contacted the New York Post about emails purportedly found on a hard drive left in a Delaware computer repair shop. And Rudy Giuliani supplied a copy of the hard drive to the New York paper. The original hard drive was rumored to be traced to a laptop allegedly the property of Hunter Biden. Coincidentally, this as a tired, worn and predictable Soviet Cold War disinformation tactic used to pass forged information. Leak it to a low-brow newspaper with few if any standards for vetting - yet ideally-suited to surfacing and amplifying false information.
It is no surprise that virtually all mainline media refused to be trolled by a potential forgery and suspicious disinformation. It's even more telling that Twitter and Face Book didn't rise to the bait either.
Six days ago the FBI seized the laptop and hard drive by means of a grand jury subpoena. By the time this post was published Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe reported 'there is no intelligence that supports ' the idea that the purported Hunter Biden laptop and the emails on it 'are part of a Russian disinformation campaign.'
The investigation continues and we'll have to wait for an October Surprise or a big, fat, nothing burger.
Struggling for relevancy and continuing to throw as much of anything against the wall - not much is sticking. And as a consequence it is becoming harder and more difficult for Donald Trump to distract the American public from his failure of leadership. A failure of leadership and willful blindness that has led to:
Be reminded that I'm not here to blow sunshine up your ass. It's gonna go worse before it gets better folks.
Regardless of the outcome of the election this shitstorm is going to grow over the next eight to twelve weeks and beyond.
Stay-tuned.
And brace for impact........
Even a routine trip to the town dump today had its own compensations.
The view on the way was absolutely spectacular....
In the United States alone cats, like the one pictured above, kill billions of mammals and birds every year. Many, many-fold more than are killed by human-related causes such as wind turbines, power lines, farming practices and automobiles.
Cats are predators of the highest order. They are an introduced, non-native and thus an invasive species. And allowing these stone cold killers to roam is not cute and is not doing native wildlife any favors.
The negative impact of domestic and feral cats goes beyond just killing.
Other damaging effects include disturbance or fear effects – for example, one study showed that briefly placing a taxidermied cat near a blackbird nest reduced subsequent feeding of their young by 1/3. Cats compete with other wild animals such as owls for small prey. And cats introduce rabies, feline leukemia and other diseases to native wildlife.
There is not a single socially redeeming element to tolerating feral and free-roaming domestic cats.
If you are interested in a provocative read there is this from National Geographic - To save birds, should we kill off cats?
Shooting ditch tigers is the harshest of sentences.
Keep your cats indoors people.
The liberty of expressing and publishing opinions may seem to fall under a different principle, since it belongs to that part of the conduct of an individual which concerns other people; but, being almost of as much importance as the liberty of thought itself, and resting in great part on the same reasons, is practically inseparable from it.
Secondly, the principle requires liberty of tastes and pursuits; of framing the plan of our life to suit our own character; of doing as we like, subject to such consequences as may follow; without impediment from our fellow-creatures, so long as what we do does not harm them even though they should think our conduct foolish, perverse, or wrong.
Thirdly, from this liberty of each individual, follows the liberty, within the same limits, of combination among individuals; freedom to unite, for any purpose not involving harm to others: the persons combining being supposed to be of full age, and not forced or deceived.
- John Stuart Mill
'so long as what we do does not harm them even though they should think our conduct foolish, perverse, or wrong.' In its simplest interpretation this is doing the right thing. Wash your hands, maintain a safe social distance and when you cannot - wear a face covering.
We have a responsibility to everyone in society to do the right damn thing and slow the spread of the virus.
This is simple economics people.
It is not a political statement.
You can read more about legendary conservative John Stuart Mill's essay on Liberty here.
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