Trivia that’s guaranteed to impress when the topic comes up: Today’s song title ‘Little Burrowing Owl’ is the 2023 Children’s Category Grand Prize Winner of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest.
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Walked only to the tractor tire today…did a yoga session yesterday that
made some muscles sore. Kim got his
three miles in. I did another yoga
session this afternoon, being very glad that the truck is parked in a manner
that hides the yard from other campers passing by. I like doing yoga; I don’t like being watched
doing yoga.
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Hummingbirds don’t
sleep; they enter a state called torpor, which is defined as a state of physical or mental inactivity; lethargy. Torpor is similar to hibernation,
but it’s not the same thing. Like hibernation, torpor is a survival
tactic used by animals to survive the winter months. It also involves a lower
body temperature, breathing rate, heart rate, and metabolic rate. But unlike
hibernation, torpor appears to be an involuntary state that an animal enters
into as the conditions dictate.
Due to this torpor thing, I thought that hummingbirds were slow risers;
that they came out of torpor as the day warmed up, maybe mid-morning. This morning, I went outside to read at 8
a.m.; it felt a bit chilly to me. Even in the chilliness, a couple of hummers
were already at the feeders. My
immediate thought was that hummingbirds and humans must have totally different
ideas of warmth.
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Listened to “It Was Said” on my walk…today’s listening pleasure was the
episode about Margaret Chase Smith’s Declaration of Conscience, delivered on
the Senate floor during the McCarthy era. She was a Republican senator from
Maine, speaking against the actions of a fellow Republican, Joseph McCarthy, without
ever mentioning his name. The full speech is available a government site by googling
“Margaret Chase Smith, Declaration of Conscience”. It eerily speaks to some of the shenanigans
and turmoil being perpetrated by some of today’s politicians. What follows are excerpts
of the speech (in red) from the website www.senate.gov:
When Smith rose to deliver her fifteen-minute speech in the Senate chamber, McCarthy sat two rows behind her. Smith began her brief remarks by
denouncing the fact that some members were turning the Senate into "a
forum of hate and character assassination." She called for a renewal of
"the right to independent thought" and a return to the principles of
the Republican party as "the champion of unity and prudence." Her
party should base its opposition to the Democrats on "proved cases"
rather than "unproved charges." Smith concluded with a five-point
"Declaration of Conscience," in which she was joined by six
Republican colleagues.
*Mr. President, I would like to speak
briefly and simply about a serious national condition. It is a national feeling
of fear and frustration that could result in national suicide and the end of
everything that we Americans hold dear. It is a condition that comes from the
lack of effective leadership either in the legislative branch or the executive
branch of our government.
*Mr. President, I speak as a Republican. I
speak as a woman. I speak as a United States senator. I speak as an American.
*Surely it is clear that this nation will
continue to suffer so long as it is governed by the present ineffective
Democratic administration. Yet to displace it with a Republican regime
embracing a philosophy that lacks political integrity or intellectual honesty
would prove equally disastrous to the nation. The nation sorely needs a
Republican victory. But I do not want to see the Republican party ride to
political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny--Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry,
and Smear. I doubt if the Republican party could do so, simply because I do not
believe the American people will uphold any political party that puts political
exploitation above national interest. Surely, we Republicans are not that
desperate for victory. I do not want to see the Republican party win that way.
While it might be a fleeting victory for the Republican party, it would be a
more lasting defeat for the American people. Surely it would ultimately be
suicide for the Republican party and the two-party system that has protected
our American liberties from the dictatorship of a one-party system.
This is the last paragraph, the
fifth point in the Declaration of Conscience:
*It is high time that we stopped thinking
politically as Republicans and Democrats about elections and started thinking
patriotically as Americans about national security based on individual freedom.
It is high time that we all stopped being tools and victims of totalitarian
techniques-techniques that, if continued here unchecked, will surely end what
we have come to cherish as the American way of life.
Afterward, Joe McCarthy ridiculed Smith
and her cosigners by calling them Snow White and the Six Dwarfs. “But in
1954 she had the satisfaction of casting a vote for McCarthy's censure and
effectively ending his campaign of falsehood and intimidation--what she had so
effectively denounced as a political attempt to ride "the Four Horsemen of
Calumny--Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry and Smear."
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It clouded over this afternoon, so we decided to take the truck instead
of the bikes to check out the burrowing owls. A year or so ago, we discovered an
area outside of Marana where the burrowing owls hang out. There was always an owl or two or six peeking
over the edge of the water canals and it was always a thrill to see them. Today we got skunked on Hardin Rd., but also
owned up to the fact that it was probably too early in the day for them to be
hanging out above ground. I’ve read that
early morning and pushing dusk are the best times to see them; we were there
about mid-afternoon.
Now we’re thinking this field has been made into a burrowing owl sanctuary of some kind. It didn’t take long to come up with an organization that might be involved. I emailed them when we got back to camp…hope they answer. I love doing this kind of thing. 😎
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Made
progress on the hippo…now I have a body and a head. Worked on the head last
night with both Kim and I brainstorming as to how to make it look
hippo-ish. I think we did a good job. Next step is to wrap the body with colored
wool and then attach the head to the body.
Then it’ll be up to Charlie to give it a name.
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Beautiful clear sky tonight! Kim has several targets that he images
every year…they’re his progress benchmarks. Tonight, he’s imaging the Heart Nebula,
which is a new target for him. And for
once, it’s appropriately named.
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