Monday, April 01, 2019

EAGLE UPDATE -- COG SLIPPING -- TRUST AND BETRAYAL


Big Bear Bald Eagle Update. (see original blog post timeline March 24th)

Live Video Cam:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b2dUgK6VV4

2 Eggs expected to hatch with the first egg about April 10th   -- next week?
-- the second egg maybe 3 days later

Sat. 3/30 evening:    I took a quick peek to see either Jackie or Shadow sleeping on the nest, head and beak tucked into wing feathers.   Hours later I peeked again to discover whichever eagle it was had awakened and was turning the eggs before settling down to sleep again in a  different position.

Sun. 3/31 late afternoon:  A brief visit revealed the eagle making a big yawn-n-n; later a couple of instances of the eagle appearing to regurgitate stored food for meal-time digestion.    

     “Eagles have an out pouching of the esophagus called a crop, where they can store food   when the stomach is full.  The crop also separates indigestible substances, such as feathers, fur, and scales from the meat.”  described in Bald Eagle Info link.

I also heard the eagle produce several different calls. 

        “For such a powerful bird, the Bald Eagle emits surprisingly weak-sounding calls – usually a series of high-pitched whistling or piping notes.” 

The sound we hear the Bald Eagle make on TV and in movies is usually the dubbed-in much fiercer sound of the Red-tailed Hawk though it’s a much smaller bird.   You can hear a sound comparison on this National Public Radio link.  

***
COG SLIPPING

Earlier in the week I arose one morning reviewing in my mind that I had an appointment later in the day as I engaged in my personal care and dressing.  I had slept-in to compensate for night owl hours the previous evening, so brunch was my first meal of the day.   A few hours later I actually arrived a little early for my appointment.  I sat down to wait.   My thoughts reviewing my previous hours activities suddenly resulted in my realizing this wasn’t the weekday I thought it was  -- my appointment wasn’t until the next day!  Here I was trying to skip a whole day!  

Everyone there and I had a good laugh before I returned  home.    I’m rationalizing this whole event, that I haven’t slipped a cog, based on the fact that for several weeks we had been changing my regular appointment around for a variety of reasons and this week we were going back to our regular day and time ..... but this wasn’t that day.   Somehow, I was just discombobulated     Hm-m-m, sure hope I’m not “losing it”.  

I do take comfort in the knowledge I’ve occasionally mixed days for decades, especially when my children would have a weekday off from school due to special teacher’s meetings, or whatever.  Still, when we are slotted into the “being old” category and memory-related functions occasionally misfire we can wonder. 

***
TRUST AND BETRAYAL

What happened?    Has there been a betrayal?     Who do we trust?     

The CIA, FBI, National Security Agency and others have all reported Russia did interfere in the U.S. 2016 Elections.  (Yeah, I know, our President says he believes Putin who denies interfering).  We’ve been told Russia is  expected to continue interfering as we go into our 2020 elections.

I think a non-partisan investigation needs to continue into how and what is being done.  We need to know that actions are being taken to insure the security of our elections – the voting system that is the foundation of our democratic process.  This is the patriotic thing to do.  

Meanwhile, back in the bird cage (I think that fits better than saying "back at the ranch" .........

Attorney General William Barr’s four page letter summarizes “the principle conclusions” in an ongoing review of the long-awaited special counsel Robert Mueller Report of nearly 400 pages as reported in the NYT. 

The report explains that the Special Counsel and his staff thoroughly investigated allegations that members of the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump, and others associated with it, conspired with the Russian government in its efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, or sought to obstruct the related federal investigations. “

Responding to legislators and the public’s demand to see the whole Mueller Report AG Barr has announced such a release to be “mid-April, if not sooner”,  following review for legally necessary and security redactions.   Our President has said he has no objection to that reports full release to the public.

The Mueller Report found that the Trump Campaign and its associates had not conspired with Russia in the 2016 Election.   Whether Trump obstructed justice  was a conclusion Mueller declined to make.  

AG Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein after an initial brief  Mueller Report review as printed in the New York Times wrote:

  “The Special Counsel states that ‘while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.’”
                                       * .                                     *                                 *

Because actions cannot be proven illegal for prosecution to a degree achieving conviction in a court of law, does not mean they did not occur.  

Meanwhile our President trumpets the Mueller Report of the Trump campaign and its associates not having been found to have conspired with Russia in the 2016 Election in his usual bloviating manner – fact mixed with falsehood, exaggerations, and misrepresentations.  How do we trust someone like that?

Not to be ignored is the fact there have been multiple criminal indictments with prison sentences for those associated with him.


For a President whose character, ethics and value system are questioned by many with no political axe to grind, is it any wonder some common questions and sayings also come to mind:
Can a person be known by the company they keep?  
Are people influenced by those with whom they associate?
Do birds of a feather flock together?

Some of the topics this week prompt me to think of all kinds of birds at the risk of insulting a few -- Bald Eagles, Red-tailed Hawks, Night Owls, and then there are the Flighty Birds, Jailbirds, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Dodos, Coots, Buzzards plus Loons and Cuckold Cuckoos  ....... 


27 comments:

  1. I've showed up on the wrong day before, too. Embarrassing even though I was the only one who knew.

    Trump is doing so much to try to erode the public trust in our institutions. If he gets re-elected our country is officially on life-support and dying. The Mueller Report needs to come out but his supporters are willing to accept Barr's four page report on it as gospel.

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    1. I can see where it could be embarrassing in some situations especially if I was insistent I had an appt. and hadn’t realized my mistake.

      Well, that’s his schtick, to destroy our trust so we’ll place it all in him, then we’ll want him as our ruler, I think.his actions and words show us. That’s what history teaches us occurs with autocratic takeovers.

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  2. Well, I don't know enough about US politics to make any useful comments, except for agreeing that just because something can't be proven illegal doesn't mean that no criminal offences ever occurred.

    No doubt you're also following the deepening Brexit quagmire, the lack of any clear decision about anything at all, and the increasing despair of civil servants, EU officials and EU politicians to whom Britain has become a global laughing stock.

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    1. Yes, the Brexit situation must be maddening for Europeans.

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  3. Like many, I shake my head at the criminal shenanigans in the US - no accountability, no transparency, an out of control emperor and his puppeteers, the repercussions of the school shootings resulting in suicides and on and on. His pronouncement on wind power even took my breath away, I thought it satire but no, he is feeding and dog whistling his ignorant base. And yes, the next election will be stolen too if things go on the way they are and the Electoral College isn't archived forever.

    XO
    WWW

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    1. Never thought I’d live to see the day so many Americans would be conned like they have been to our freedoms detriment. Some people will do anything for power.

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  4. When we are retired, keeping track of days is a chore. The worst I did was to go to the wrong office once. My doctor had two offices, 40 miles apart. I actually went to the one farthest away which was my normal one. Oh well.

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    1. Oh, gee, going to the wrong office would be a mixup — and at such distance. Hope it was a scenic drive both ways.

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  5. Totally been off schedule as well from time to time. It's both funny & a bit frustrating.

    Does it really take 400 pages to parse out the idea that there wasn't collusion? In any case, Jr approaching the Russians for dirt on Hilary then lying about it by claiming his actions had to do with adoption isn't nothing.

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    1. If everything was so innocent why lie?

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  6. As a first-semester college freshman, age 17, I missed to final exams - partly because of my inherent inability to keep track of what day it is. One minute, I'll be on track; the next minute, totally off. OTOH, I had an uncle who had physical and mental challenges (his mother had had measles while pregnant with him) who always knew what day it was and what was scheduled for that day. Even with the help of my computer, I'm not as talented as was he, in that regard.
    Cop Car

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    1. I can sympathize with missing an exam in college because I did that, too, I overslept, fortunately only that one final exam time. I raced to the test room but they had finished. Thank heavens after some preliminary questioning of me the head of our department agreed to give me the test which I passed.

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  7. A comment was not published here for failure to meet several blog policies including:

    This blog’s policy requires comments submitted as Anonymous must have a writer name identification link which it did not. (Note the Anon comment above follows the policy appropriately.)

    Civility is also required.

    The comment not published was unrelated to this post’s topics having even made a false assumption as to the correct generation that produces this blog.

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  8. I manage to keep appointments straight by writing them on the calendar and then in the morning using my computer to be sure what day I am in. With no schedule that is regular, I can easily lose track of dates.

    I think most people today are in bubbles on either side. They believe the same thing and reassure each other. It's difficult to find truly open forums to hear the 'other' side of anything partisan particularly.

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    1. You have a good system. I have an appt calendar, too, but somehow had it in my mind it was a day later than it actually was and don’t usually need to verify the day of the week.


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  9. I showed up to an appointment on the wrong day, and it was in my calendar! I had even put in it there wrongly. Sigh. I turn 60 next month, and if this is happening NOW, I shudder for my future. :-O

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    1. I missed an appt earlier this tear because I didn’t check my calendar. When I phoned the office to offer a mea culpa turns out even though I had a card with my date and time on it they had failed to put it on their schedule so guess we all have our moments.

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  10. Ironically, I have a doctor's appointment today at 1:40 pm. Hope that is the correct day and time.

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  11. I've been enjoying the eagle cam. Yes, it was today that I had an appointment at the eye doc's. LOL

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    1. Glad you’re enjoying our So Cal Bald Eagle live cam. Just read your account of eye doc appointment and neurologist visit. Gee, I think your other doctor should have been able to see you even if you were a few minutes late. BP issues matter.

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  12. I was astonished to read that they sometimes dub in a red-tailed hawk call for that of an eagle. Production value is everything, I suppose! I love bird cams, and have been watching an osprey nest in Montana. The female's just returned; now regular watchers are keeping an eye out for her mate. Sometimes at night, I turn on one of the cams from the Cornell site and just enjoy the sounds. Lately, the Ithaca cam has been filled with the sound of geese at night. I think they must be at the pond.

    I often have to stop and wonder what day it is because of my work schedule. Since it's determined solely by the weather, I may work Monday and Tuesday, be unable to work again until Friday, and then go ahead and work Saturday and Sunday to make up the time. A couple of weeks of that, combined with starting and stopping times dictated solely by weather, and I've been known to ask what day it is. It sounds to me like the changing appointment times left you in a similar situation.

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    1. Sounds like you have an interesting group of birds you’re following. I’ve been tracking a blogger’s osprey account.

      Your schedule is really erratic. I’d have to be checking my calendar daily, I think, to keep up.

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  13. I don't recall ever showing up for an appointment at the wrong time but I normally call ahead of time and verify my appointments. There have been times when calling I have found out I had the wrong day on my calendar.

    As far as the Mueller Report goes, I tend to agree with Mark Shields and David Brooks of PBS fame, even if the whole report is released the majority of us have already drawn our own conclusions regarding the whole issue and regardless of what the report says, are quite unlikely to change our personal conclusions on the matter.

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    1. Some med appointments I’ve had, the Drs office calls a day ahead as a reminder. If I had any distance to drive i might call to check in advance.

      Yes, I heard Brooks and Shields and agree minds will likely not be changed, but I still think it’s important the report my tax monies were used to partially pay for be released to the public — entirely too much secretiveness with this President who seems to arrogantly presume he has no accountability so can do or say anything without personal repercussions — a dangerous type leader to have with such a mindset and few checks on him or her.

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  14. That's quite an array of topics … from a magnificent Eagle to a Loony Toon in the White House.

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    1. Something for everyone, especially any who might wish to avoid or skip over political commentary.

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