Sunset

 Bracketed progression of tonight's sunset....

Update From The Oriole Ranch

The month of May brings the return of our Baltimore and Orchard Orioles.  And arrived  a week late on May 10th.  This was accompanied by the return of the Orchard Orioles and followed by the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds,  Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Catbirds and Indigo Buntings.

A new trail camera was mounted on a porch post with a clear view of the feeder.  I call it the oriole cam.  Triggered by motion it captures images of birds visiting the feeder without the presence of a human. 

Here are some recent photos from last month.

And stay-tuned for more to follow this summer...

Baltimore orioles

 

 

 

Orchard oriole

Indigo bunting

Downy Woodpecker (male) 

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Oriole

 Ruby-throated Hummingbird

 

 

 

Memorial Day

It is, in a way an odd thing to honor those who died in defense of our country, in defense of us, in wars far away.  The imagination plays a trick.  We see these soldiers in our mind as old and wise.  We see them as something like the Founding Fathers, grave and gray haired.         

  

But most of them were boys when they died, and they gave up two lives - the one they were living and one they would have lived.       

When they died, they gave up their chance to be husbands and fathers and grandfathers.  They gave up their chance to be revered old men.  They gave up everything for our country, for us.  And all we can do is remember.    

 - Ronald Reagan

 

Originally called Decoration Day - Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those who have died in service to our country.                          

There is an American Cemetery and Memorial located in Colleville-sur-Mer on the bluff overlooking Omaha Beach in Normandy, France.  Dedicated in 1956 the Cemetery and Memorial is situated closely to the site of the temporary American St. Laurent Cemetery, established by the U.S. First Army on June 8, 1944 - the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II.              

This is the final resting place of 9,388 of our military dead - most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations.  If you were to visit this place you will note that upon the walls of the Garden of the Missing are inscribed an additional 1,557 names.  And because old battlefields continue to yield their dead - rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified.              

In Plot E Row 26 Grave 37 rests James D. Johnston - Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army, 47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division.   

Jill and I walked this sacred place on a typical rainy Norman morning and while I have no connection to James Johnston, his life before the war, or his survivors following the war, what you can discern from the marker is that Johnston was from North Carolina and was a commander in the same division and infantry regiment my dad served.  

       

Howard Gaertner landed at Utah Beach as an infantry replacement.  He was a machine gunner in a heavy weapons platoon.  Dad fought in the battle of the hedgerows, the breakout at Saint-Lô and Patton's mad dash across northern France.  

Among the first allied troops to participate in the liberation of Belgium his European excursion ended less than three months later by wounds incurred in combat.  By the grace of God (and explains my writing this) he was not killed.  Following his recovery in England he was redeployed and served for a brief period in the US Army of Occupation in Germany.        

 

Johnston died from wounds suffered from the detonation of a German 88mm shell at the blood-stained Crossroads 114 near Acqueville just outside of Cherbourg.*  Death in combat was fickle in the skirmishes and battle for mere meters in the uneven and mixed woodlands and pastures of the Bocage.  Lt Col Johnston was killed - PFC Gaertner was not. 

Dad returned home from the war and lived a full and rewarding life.  He worked quietly in a public school system and never spoke about his war experiences in any great detail until I was well into adulthood.  I am alive today to muse about this subject because he survived.  James Johnston never had the opportunity to sit on the stoop with a a beer and share closely-guarded feelings about the war with a son.        

This is why Memorial Day is bit more personal for me.        

When it came time for a permanent burial, the families of the dead were asked if they wanted their loved ones repatriated for permanent burial in the U.S. or interred overseas.  Lieutenant Colonel Johnston's remains lie here with approximately 461 graves belonging to 9th Infantry Division G.I.s.           

On this holiday it is useful to remember and honor the lives that brave men and women sacrificed.

Both of those lives.   

 

 *Eight Stars to Victory - Mittelman, The Battery Press

 

Comet Watch

On May 30-31, the Earth will pass through a debris field left behind by Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann (aka SW3).

Discovered in 1930 by Arnold Schwassmann and Arno Wachmann, this comet finds its way to our solar system with an orbital period about every 5.4 years but comes closest to earth every 16 years. 

Because it is a short period comet, SW3 isn't exactly pristine. In all actuality, this old comet could be classified as wimpy when compared to a comet such as Halley. 

Nevertheless,  SW3 became more interesting in 1995 when it began to disintegrate.  As of March 2006, SW3 had broken into eight major pieces and as it continues to disintegrate it has crumbled into almost seventy pieces.

This event has some potential to be a big deal.  Beginning around midnight locate the bright star Arcturus - the radiant from which the meteors should emanate.  

This is the time of a new moon so dark, clear skies can make for perfect viewing conditions.

This even is basically a one-off so fingers-crossed for optimal viewing.

Learn more about the background on SW3 here. 

Hangry Birds

I kicked-off this year's oriole season eighteen days ago (May 10) with a half jar of this stuff leftover from 2021. 

Yesterday I opened another 32 oz. jar of store-brand grape jelly.

Jar number eight of 2022.  It will be gone before the close of business tomorrow.

And it isn’t just Baltimore and orchard orioles. Indigo buntings, rose-breasted grosbeaks, red-bellied and downy woodpeckers dig grape jelly. Catbirds too. 

I get scolded when a feeder goes empty. 

Hangry birds…..

 

Eggsactly How It's Done

From our walk last Sunday there was this...

Wisconsin wild turkeys mate from February thru April and hens lay their eggs during a two week period.

Mama hen will build a ground nest in a place with good cover and close to good brood habitat, which is normally an opening in the forest cover. Once she starts laying eggs, a hen will lay one egg every 24 to 32 hours. 

Continuous incubation begins when the last egg is laid. So if she lays 14 eggs it takes a couple of weeks to lay the entire clutch.  The hen will only leave for a short period to feed and may remain on the nest for several consecutive days and the eggs will be incubated for 26-28 days. 

So even though egg 14 arrived two weeks after egg number one, they will all hatch at the same time, often within an hour of one another; it’s called synchronous hatching.

Predators of turkey eggs and poults include snakes, raccoons, skunk, fox, coyote and possum.  If a nest is destroyed or otherwise depredated a hen will make up to two additional attempts at renesting.

Friday Music

The first time I published a live cover of this song was in November of 2016 – with Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard.  In January of 2017 I published the composer himself performing it live.  And in October of 2019 with a cover by one of my favorite artists - Emmylou Harris.  You cannot get too much of this tune so after a year off during the Pandemic of 2020 it’s about time I did it again.  

Written by country music artist Townes Van Zandt this is often considered his most enduring song - an oldie and a goodie.  First recorded in 1972 for the album – The Late Great Townes Van Zandt - this is a tale of a Mexican bandit called Pancho possibly betrayed by his left-hand man 'Lefty' to the Mexican Federales.  Was it Pancho Villa?  Van Zandt never ruled-out the notion. 

This enduring song has been covered by everyone.

Including this collection of stars on stage at Austin City Limits.... 

Deer Update

Odocileus virginianus - the North American whitetail deer - is a remarkably adaptable creature.  A true survivor. In pre-settlement times the deer population of Wisconsin was much smaller than it is today.  And it was about to get smaller.   The fur trade and later subsistence hunting and market hunting reduced deer populations to their lowest levels in modern history. Then a curious thing happened. Following the great cut-over of Wisconsin's old growth forest and the later collapse of farming in many northern Wisconsin counties a younger forest emerged.  And with it the population of deer rebounded. Thanks to a combination of forest succession, the species' polygamous breeding habits and scientific game management it is estimated that the Wisconsin deer herd today is four times that of the early 1960s.

You might be asking yourself why the deer in the photo looks so scruffy and mangy. The animal does not have a skin disease.

Hormonal changes bring about a molting process twice a year and deer alternately grow a faded gray coat consisting of longer guard hairs and replace it with the rusty-colored roan coat of summer. The summer coat will only last about three months before the critter begins to regrow the extra layer of longer, stiffer, hollow hair over the softer hair closer to the skin.

Until the transition is complete the local whitetails are going to continue looking a bit raggedy.

 

Take a Hike

Recently, we had an opportunity to pay a call at the Lautenbach Woods Nature Preserve near Egg Harbor.  There's no building or facilities - only a small gravel parking lot including a 1.3 mile self-guided trail.  

In any event, it's a terrific place to visit and take-in the geology of the peninsula and the seasonal changes in the local flora. 

Trillium

Long-Spurred Violet

Pileated Woodpecker Activity 

Downy Yellow Violet

Door County Geology Includes Caves 

Forest Canopy

Wild Leek (ramps)

Wild Sarsaparilla

 Large Crack/Crevasse In The Dolostone Formation 

I'd return with friends from out of town and make it an opportunity to get some quality outdoor time and may lunch or dinner at a chic northern Door restaurant.

More Early Blooms

It isn't only the woodland wildflowers that are beginning to bloom.  Just as yesterday's lilacs and apple trees so are the other trees.

The white oak tree in the yard was a bare root stick when planted eighteen years ago.  In almost two decades it has grown into a handsome pre-adolescent.   

The other day I noticed that the tree had large numbers of catkins hanging from the prior year’s growth as the leaves of 2022 emerged from their buds.  These are one of the flowers that are produced by the tree – the male flower to be certain.  This species is monoecious – meaning that it produces both male and female flowers. Each male flower typically has six stamens (ranges from two to twelve) which have long spreading white filaments when the flower fully opens.  The female flowers are more reddish-green and appear as small slender spikes in the axils of new growth. 

I gave this tree a thorough examination and could find no flowers of the female persuasion. Not surprising inasmuch as they are not visible to the naked eye.  It is from the female flower that acorns are formed.  White oaks mature sufficiently at twenty or more years of age before they are capable of producing acorns.  Large numbers of acorns won't materialize until the tree is fifty years of age.  Which makes sense for a tree that will live many hundreds of years.

Right on Time

It's my favorite time of year to be out in the yard.

This weekend the ancient, ancestral lilacs and original farmstead apple trees bloomed.  Whoever settled here in the 1800s had the foresight and wisdom to plant three apple trees and lilacs surrounding the house.  The house is long gone but the prehistoric apple trees still bloom and bear indeterminate, but tasty fruit.  The lilacs have grown into an impenetrable hedgerow.

And the bumble bees were have a terrific time of it.

Right on-time.....

Sunset

Thirty more days until the sun reaches its northernmost advance. 

Crazy sky tonight. 

Ethereal mix of fire and darkness……

 

Quote of the Day

Related to today's video from Peter Zeihan As a presidential candidate the senator from Utah was equally Prescient.  In 2012, he noted that Russia was the biggest geopolitical adversary to the United States.  Today that threat has been magnified in scale and should be a source of great concern to both Republicans and Democrats.  

 

Romney was and is spot-on. Given the magnitude of consequence of a nuclear strike, our potential options merit thought, by our leaders and by American citizens alike.  If Putin uses a nuke or weaponizes a Ukrainian nuke plant NATO should give thoughtful consideration to obliterating the Soviet military from the face of the earth. 

By conventional means. 

 

Better yet, Russian military leadership should eliminate the cancer in their midst, retreat to 2013 borders and reach a negotiated settlement to repair and rebuild the destruction they inflicted-upon the Ukrainian people. 

Short of that I would be confirmed in my belief that the Russians are garden variety barbarians.  Rape, brutality and depravity is embedded in their DNA. Godless they are.

Some things never change…..

 

Prescient

This is a country convinced it is in it's last generation 

Yikes! 

My pal, Braumeister, recommended that I check-out material that Peter Zeihan has published.

This presentation from 2017 nailed-it, spot-on.

I had always understood the basic crumbling demographics in Russia and how this was contributing to it's growing status as a failed state.  Nevertheless, watching this in 2022 is pretty incredible - the main points he made in 2017 (falling population, degrading demography) are contributing circumstances behind the Ukrainian invasion. 

On Friday the Soviets announced they were eliminating age limits for military service.  Clearly the demographic squeeze has been complicated by the growing casualty toll from the Ukraine aggression and now requires that Putin cast a wider net for additional cannon fodder.  Just as the Nazis had to conscript children and old men before their capitulation so does the Russian warlord. 

It is all coming true...

Trump-Putin Caucus Afternoon Update

In further news there is this:

Russia announced today that it has banned 963 Americans from entering Russia — a largely symbolic move featuring a wide-ranging collection of Biden administration members, Republicans, tech executives, journalists, lawmakers who have died, regular U.S. citizens and even actor Morgan Freeman - and would continue to retaliate against what it called hostile U.S. actions.

Curiously, Donald Trump is not on the list.  

Chalk that-up to the ongoing Putin-Trump Bromance. 

Then the Tump-Putin Caucus got the finger from the senate minority leader.

Mitch McConnell returned to Washington this week following a rare overseas trip that included additional Senate GOP leadership determined to stomp the isolationist wing that is poisoning the Republican party.

The Republican leader is determined to stamp out a pro-Trump wing of his party that has pushed back on $40 billion in aid to Ukraine.

I am encouraged.

Woodland Wildflowers

Fragaria virginiana, known as Virginia strawberry, wild strawberry, common strawberry, or mountain strawberry, is a North American strawberry that grows across much of the United States and southern Canada.

Friday Music

Written by Wayne Carson and first recorded in 1967 this was the Box Tops biggest hit.  It’s been covered by many other artists – most popularly – Joe Cocker’s 1970 iteration.  It ranks as number 372 on Rolling Stone magazines 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, the  Roll Hall of Fame includes it on the list of 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll and it has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.  It’s on my Top Ten list too.  

Hailing from Israel - Ouzo Bazooka represents the pop music scene in Tel Aviv.  Yet there’s something more ethereal in this cover - rock, grunge and garage band - hard to put my finger on it.  Maybe something else….

 

The Great Replacement

The Great Replacement, also known as the replacement theory, is a white nationalist far-right conspiracy theory, disseminated by French author Renaud Camus. Nowadays racist conspirators will tell you that Joe Biden is intentionally trying to replace the population with people imported here from the third world.  Not only will this dilute white culture it will also influence the outcome of elections.  Somehow these imported, dark-skinned people will immediately become citizens, eligible to vote and replace hundreds of years of your culture overnight.  It is like magic.  But I digress.

But as conservatives once understood, ideas can have consequences; and poisonous demagoguery can have bad outcomes.  This Great Replacement Theory has been cited by several mass shooters since 2018.  This includes Robert Bowers who has been charged in the killing of eleven people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.  Patrick Crusius killed twenty three people in El Paso and John Earnest murdered one and injured three others at a California synagogue.  And now, in Buffalo, where the killer issued a 180-page manifesto that echoes previous killers and embraces the Replacement Theory.  

A number of Republican politicians, including Rep. Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Rep. Scott Perry (Pa.) and my own Sen. Ron Johnson (Wis.), have openly espoused the great replacement theory too. 

Remarkably, only a few hours after the Buffalo shooting, Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters (R) posted a video advancing the crazy hypothesis that the Democrats want open borders so they can bring in and amnesty tens of millions of illegal aliens — that’s their electoral strategy.  Apparently he missed the part that only legal immigrants that attain citizenship can vote. 

No one, however, has done as much to bring the Replacement Theory into the heart of our political culture as Tucker Carlson. 

The fact of this matter is that there is no evidence, whatsoever, of individuals from overseas being imported en mass to make our population more brown or to sway domestic elections.  Moreover, Carlson didn't pull the trigger at the Buffalo mass shooting.

Tucker Carlson laughs all the way to the bank when he provokes the left with this bullshit.  The problem is that MAGA world believes it and returns for a double helping.  Nearly half of all Republicans believe that there is a plot to “replace” native-born Americans with immigrants.

Rational individuals don't fall for this.  Sane and decent individuals distance themselves from this race-baiting nonsense.

The responsibility for the murders in Buffalo lies with the murderer himself and the “blood on their hands” crowd needs to keep that in mind.  Carlson may be poisoning minds but he's not inciting violence. 

How'd the GOP get so nutty in my lifetime?

Update From The Oriole Ranch

The month of May brings the return of our Baltimore and Orchard Orioles.  And arrived  a week late on May 10th.  This was accompanied by the return of the Orchard Orioles and followed by the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds,  Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Catbirds and Indigo Buntings.

A new trail camera was mounted on a porch post with a clear view of the feeder.  I call it the oriole cam.  Triggered by motion it captures images of birds visiting the feeder without the presence of a human. 

Here are some recent photos...

Baltimore Orioles

A Ruby Throated Hummingbird 

Indigo Buntings

Orioles and an Indigo Bunting

Rose-Breasted Grosbeak and Baltimore Oriole

Stay-tuned for more camera action from the Oriole Ranch.....

Body Count

As the barbarity of Russian war crimes and atrocities continues to be revealed to a civilized world the Trump-Putin Wing of the GOP has become slightly less strident in their support for their Soviet Savior.

Why do you suppose this is?

Has it simply become more difficult to rationalize the looting, rape and horrific noncombatant death toll to a rational audience?

Maybe it makes polite individuals uncomfortable?

No need to over-analyze these sociopaths; the Trump-Putin apologists are basically loud-mouth cowards.

For instance an intellectual MAGA heavyweight had this to say...

“So far, Putin hasn’t killed as many people as the Clintons.”

Jesse Kelly, Jesse Kelly Show

February 2022  ·  Quote Source 

 

I am amazed that MAGA world still falls for this bullshit.  

 

I won't hold my breath for a Trumper to point me to the location of the Clinton mass graves....

 

Woodland Wildflowers

Caltha palustris, known as marsh-marigold and kingcup, is a small to medium size perennial herbaceous plant of the buttercup family, native to marshes, fens, ditches and wet woodland in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.

Talking Turkey

From the trail camera trap line last week are some images of the local gobblers strutting their stuff...

 

 

 

 

Super Bloody Flower Moon

According to the Old Farmers Almanac - we adopt full moon names that were used during Native American and Colonial times to help track the seasons.  This practice is traced to the Algonquin tribes who lived in the same areas as the Colonists.    

May’s full Moon is known as the Flower Moon.  It signifies the wildflowers that bloom in May.  This includes wild iris, sundrops, marsh marigold, violets and more that are found around here.   The month of May marks a period of increased fertility and the warming days that made it safer to bear young.   For that reason it is sometimes called the Mother’s Moon.  Other names include the Corn Planting Moon and Milk Moon.  

The moon will appear full tonight but will reach its peak of fullness at 11:14 PM on Sunday.   

May's full moon also includes a couple of bonus features - namely it is a Supermoon and is witness to a Lunar Eclipse.

The moon's transit around the earth is not a perfect circle.  It is elliptical.  When a orbit of a full moon coincides with a closer pass near earth the moon will appear larger than it ordinarily would.  Hence it is referred-to as a Supermoon.

photo - NASA

Tomorrow, beginning around 8:32 CST, the moon will be entering earth's shadow or penumbra.  In short order the surface of the moon will begin to darken as it enters earth's full shadow or umbra.  

The full eclipse will begin around 10:30 PM and peak at 11:11 PM.  It will conclude around midnight.   

During the period of totality the moon will assume a ruddy, rusty color as a consequence of the earth blocking direct sunlight from reaching the moon's surface.  This phenomenon is called a Blood Moon.

Fingers-crossed for clear night skies to witness a special full moon experience this month.

Friday Music

This tune was written, composed, first recorded, and first released by Kris Kristofferson.  

Kristofferson is an interesting personality.   He earned a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University and graduated with a Bachelor of Philosophy in English literature.  Raised in a military family, and under no small amount of pressure from his folks, he joined the U.S. Army, was commissioned as a second lieutenant and attained the rank of captain.  He became a helicopter pilot and also completed Ranger School.  In the early portion of the the 1960s he was stationed in West Germany with the 8th Infantry Division.  

In 1965, after his tour in Germany ended, Kristofferson was given an assignment to teach English literature at West Point.  Nevertheless, having nurtured a love of music he left the Army to pursue songwriting. 

His family disowned him because of his career decision.

He swept floors for a job at Columbia Recording Studios in Nashville where he became acquainted with June Carter.  He used that relationship to unsuccessfully pitch recorded tapes of his to Johnny Cash.

He also worked as a commercial helicopter pilot for south Louisiana oil company where he flew helos from oil platforms in the Gulf.  He split his time between flying and pitching songs in Nashville with little to show for his efforts. It was sitting on an oil platform that he found inspiration to compose Help Me Make It Through The Night and Bobby McGee.

Finally in desperation Kristofferson landed a helicopter in Cash's front yard to get his attention.  After Cash heard Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down - Cash recorded it and in 1970 Kristofferson won Songwriter of the Year for the song at the Country Music Association Awards.  The rest was history.

This song was recorded in 1971 and while it was not promoted on country music radio it did climb to number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100. 

The Highwaymen performing Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again) from American Outlaws: Live at Nassau Coliseum, 1990.....