Alarm went off at
6:19 this morning, which gave me scant time to pull myself together and be
outside before the birds arrived in the yard. I stepped outside into an empty
yard, even though there was plenty of activity in the bushes, along with the
morning chorus of chirping. Hummingbirds
were on the feeders and sparrows were on the ground, scrounging for seed, at
6:25 a.m. Sparrows were on the suet cake
at 6:26. Sunrise was 6:36, so they were a good 10 minutes ahead of that. I don’t know what my observations are
indicating except that the birds are eating breakfast before the sun rises.
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This morning, two Collared
Doves flew into the yard. They’re
regular-sized doves so their entrance was noticeable. Didn’t stick around long,
though. Then one of them came back to the tree above a hummingbird feeder; I
kept my eye on it because I wondered if it was going to try to get to the
nectar like the Gila Woodpecker does. That would be a fun show to watch. However,
what I saw was the other dove landing nearby and then some kind of kerfluffle
was taking place between the two of them. “Aha, the mating game in
action,” is what I thought. The female didn’t seem to be too willing,
hence the commotion. Finally, the male was able to get in position on her back…and
started pecking at her neck and head! What?! Now, I’m thinking this has
to be a fight between two males.
I’ve seen male hummingbirds
get in each other’s faces when getting territorial and I’ve seen male lizards grab
onto each other’s tails in an effort to establish dominance, so I thought maybe
doves do these things also. I looked up the mating habits of doves and what I
was witnessing is known as allopreening (the act of grooming each other).
Allopreening is a gentle, affectionate behavior that
reinforces their bond, similar to cuddling. While the
"pecking" can appear intense to humans at times, it is generally
considered a gentle, affectionate act rather than a violent or painful one…so say the humans
who aren’t the ones being pecked.
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A headline on my Google news feed said something about ‘the classic song written in 15 minutes that people mistakenly think is an anti-war song”. Okay, so that caught my attention. Read the article, which first gave the background to the song, then it mentioned Stephen Stills who wrote the song and finally it got to the name of the song “For What It’s Worth”. That told me nothing. It wasn’t until the article finally mentioned the opening line of the song that it clicked. The opening line being “Something’s happening here…” Okay, now I get it. But I always thought the song was called “Stop, Hey, What’s that Sound”. Listened to the song, then looked up the lyrics because I couldn’t hear the words “For what it’s worth” mentioned. Then I googled “For What It’s Worth” and found so much information about Stephen Stills, the Sunset Strip Riots, and the song. There’s too much to include here, but this is an excerpt from the website americansongwriter.com that tells the story in a nutshell:
“For What It’s Worth” was penned solely
by Stills in response to the Sunset Strip curfew riots in Los Angeles in 1966.
It all started in the mid-1960s when hippies and young people associated with
rock and roll culture would frequently gather on the famous street in West
Hollywood. In 1966, the local government put in place curfew and anti-loitering
laws to stop people from congregating at the behest of local businesses. This
tension between the free-spirited culture and local government came to a head in
November and December 1966 when protesters clashed with police, particularly on
the night of November 12 when roughly 1,000 people showed up to protest the
closing of Pandora’s Box, a popular nightclub for young people where the likes
of the Beach Boys and Sonny & Cher performed over the years.
It’s interesting that this song was written almost 60 years ago and is still relevant to today’s
political climate.
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In reference to the name of the song, this is what I found on another
website: Buffalo
Springfield’s former manager Richard Davis told WBUR (a Boston NPR
radio station), “That name,
‘For What It’s Worth,’ is the most ‘Aw, shucks’ kind of name. Like, ‘Oh yeah,
well, here’s my opinion, you don’t have to listen to it.’ [Stills] was worried about it defining the group and
he didn’t want that to happen.
The WBUR article in its entirety can be found at: www.wbur.org/npr/693790065/buffalo-springfield-for-what-its-worth-american-anthem
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New antennas for
the cell camera were delivered yesterday, so today we jumped on the e-bikes about
9:15 to put the second camera out near the first one off Nutt Rd. Got down
there to discover that we had the cord, the stand and the antenna, but we’d
forgotten to bring the camera and solar battery. Classic case of Kim thinking I had them and me
not even giving them a thought. So, back
to the camper we go. Kim put his Pedal Assist on 5 and rode with a wide-open
throttle…I wasn’t far behind.
On our way back,
Kim stopped to talk to Jeremy, a guy across the road that we’d met a couple of
years ago. By the time we got the camera set up, it was close to 11 a.m. and a
hot day was only getting hotter. Hopefully, we’ll now see the critters coming and going,
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Took Skeleton
Lane out to Harmon, then down to Sunshine Blvd. No sign of Johnny and June when
we passed by, but given the time of day and the heat, I wasn’t surprised not to
see them. I find these hot days almost unbearable and I’m wearing the bare
minimum of a shirt and shorts…they’re covered in feathers. Anyway, we rode
almost 17 miles today and I did nothing for the rest of the day. Well, I put clothes
in the dryer and then folded them, but that was the extent of my exertion. Waking
up early combined with the heat just shut down any desire to move.
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We’ve been keeping informed of the weather
situation back in our corner of Michigan. Ice and blizzard storm warnings, outrageous
amounts of snowfall happening in our area with the U.P. getting hit far worse, with
drifting expected due to high winds.😲 Meanwhile, in Arizona, we’re experiencing near record
high temperatures (in the 90’s) with Extreme Heat Warnings. It seems like Mother Nature is having a tantrum
that’s on par with a 2-year-old’s.
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W.A. Rasic
Construction is the company that’s doing the pipeline repair between the
frontage road and the train track; a couple of their men are staying here at
the campground. While doing laundry, I had the opportunity to ask one of them
how the new section on the south side of the tracks is going to be hooked into
the existing pipeline on the north side. Trenches are dug sixteen feet deep on
each side of the track (not sure how wide, though) and an auger drills a hole under
the train track so the new can be connected to the old. That part of the
process requires 12 hour days, 7 days a week so there’s no disruption for the
trains. Four miles of pipeline are in the process of being moved and replaced due
to erosion exposing the pipeline on the north side of the tracks. He also told
me that satellite imaging can determine if there’s an anomaly (problem) in the
pipeline; a repair crew is then dispatched to that location. This is especially
helpful in remote areas.
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A cloudy sky may prevent Kim from imaging but it’s early in the night (8 p.m.) so that could change. He’ll keep checking. **Update at 9 p.m.: The sky cleared and he said everything is going good, but it was a bit challenging.
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