Oh Patrick, that is sad. :(

No rant, no rave, just that.

Rave:
the Washington Wizards. We finally have a winner in Washinton.

Patrick, what a sad thing to see.

Tiff, my rave (well, one of them) is that I have booked the Blue Fin Bay for a three night stay in June. Thank you for all your help.

My other rave is that I am leaving for Hawaii on Wednesday.

No rants.

Hi Cmcfong,

I remember you! :) Blue Fin is a great choice, enjoy your trip, I know you will.

I'll check in, just in case you have any other questions!

Safe journey, and enjoy! T.

Oh, and cmcfong, my p.s. to you is, Aloha, I know you enjoy Hawaii too!

:) T.

Patrick, I did not know Florida had panthers. That would be an upsetting scene.

But your news about your family all being together. That is beautiful. How excited your mother must be. It is hard to keep in touch with everyone when families are spread so far apart.
Enjoy this special family time! Sure hope your mother will be able to enjoy it too. Best wishes.

Rant: Patrick, so sad about the panther. They are so incredibly endangered.

Rave: happy travels to all that are going someplace.

Rant: WAAAAAAAAH!!!!! I can't go anywhere for awhile.

Rave: well, I take back part of the last rant. Going down to the Bay Area next weekend to meet my girlfriend in SF and see Menopause the Musical.

Hi Creefloors, don't forget to honk when you come by!!! And have fun in SF.

BTW, it looks like the old NutTree will finally get some attention soon. Conference Center, hotel, destination restaurant(s), speciality shops, park etc. We will see. Anything would be better then the weedpatch it has become.

The Florida Panther: There are only about 70 total in existence, all in Southwest Florida, in a rather limited area of The Everglades. Despite efforts to help them, such as fences and special crossings for them on Alligator Alley, and signs for them along US 41, there have been 44 of them killed by car collisions since 1972 (make that 45 now).

My understanding was always that they are slightly smaller than the western cougar, so I was amazed to see this one which seemed clearly as large as a standard tiger you'd see in a zoo or circus. He was quite large and beautiful. I had a very close up look at him by the side of the road. He gave a couple of kicks, but seemed not to be breathing. He had a box about 6 inches square strapped to the top of his neck -- most of them are being monitored.

Patrick, I remember years ago, driving the road between Ft Lauderdale to Marco Island, Alligator Alley? and seeing road signs that told the number of panthers left .
This is SO sad, what is the speed limit in this area? Is there no way of being more careful?
A lot of good a monitor does if it only lets them know when one more is gone :(

I guess it's kind of like the Manatees and the speed boats...they try to control it but it doesn't seem to help all that much. It would be nice if EVERYONE cared, but they don't. The problem with trying to save animals like the Florida Panther is when it gets down to so few animals, the gene pool becomes very weak...it's happening with Cheetas in Africa, and the animals that are born are not as strong and healthy as they should be so they die from disease among other reasons. I'm not sure there's an answer to any of this and I get really frustrated sometimes. I really appreciate those people who are working with the various endangered species to attempt a recovery. Their devotion and hard work is amazing.

Oh Patrick, what a heartbreaking story! The loss of one of the few remaining panthers is so sad.

But last week we were celebrating the first sightings of ivory-billed woodpeckers since the 1940s. Maybe the panthers can make a miraculous comeback, too.

Obviously we are wildlife (and tame-life) lovers!

Byrd

Byrd,
We had a house wren build her nest by our front door this year, 4 babies hatched and took flying lessons on my porch.
Now we have Mr and Mrs Cardinal sitting on their baby/ies outside our back door.
It is a very Birdy place here :D

Scarlett,

Perky little wrens, with their tails in the air are just determined to live as close as possible to people, aren't they! I know you enjoyed watching the flying lessons!

Some years ago when we were building our camphouse on the river, the Wren Family decided to homestead on the big saw set up in the main room of the house.

Of course, we, the old softies, stopped inside construction for the weeks it took for the newborns to get on with their lives. (So we got the deck overlooking the river done early!)

Boredom is not a problem as long as you have a yard with birds and places to garden!

Byrd

No boredom is not around here these days :)
BTW- we have big ole crows with a nest at the top of one of the many Carolina Pines in the back yard, today mama and daddy crow had a big fistfight with a hawk who came too close. So cool!

OK, sorry guys, back to Ranting and Raving :D

Oh, Rave:
Baby boy called from Japan to wish Mama a Happy Mothers Day.
Baby girl called even though sick with strep.
Good babies :D

Since there's a discussion about birds going on, I may as well jump in with a question. I have two feeders outside my window: one with seeds and dried fruit, another with thistle seed. We see lots of goldfinches at the thistle feeder. Today we have some new visitors. They are sort of colored like purple finches, but they're much bigger than the goldfinches. They have red heads and tummies, with brown backs and tails (a little white and black mixed in). They're bigger than a sparrow but smaller than a robin. They jump between the two feeders. Perhaps house finches? Are they too big? I'm in Oklahoma.

By the way, we have a family of killdeer just outside our backyard fence. I took the kids over there the other day to watch the babies run around and see daddy's broken wing act. So cool.

Jocelyn--I bet your visitors are house finches. My Peterson guide says they are "ofter mistaken for the Purple Finch, with which they may associate at the feeding tray."

They're definitely larger that the goldfinches.

Rave: Great Mother's Day here...

Byrd



Byrd

Jocelyn--I bet your visitors are house finches. My Peterson guide says they are "ofter mistaken for the Purple Finch, with which they may associate at the feeding tray."

They're definitely larger that the goldfinches.

Rave: Great Mother's Day here...

Byrd

I have no idea why my answer posted twice...

Regarding carelessness and the panthers, that really isn't it. I was shocked when I saw that panther bound across the road -- at first I thought it was a deer, if you have any idea how fast they jump out in front of cars you'll know what I mean. This cat leapt from off the road, hit once in the center of the road and in the next leap was over the guard rail on the other side. And it was fast. It came back the same way. Incredibly fast and long strides -- his body stretched out flat as he leapt through the air. If the car had been driving 25 miles an hour, it still would have hit it. The speed limit at that point is 50 I believe.
There's no way the poor guy in the car could have stopped. I'm pretty sure he had just slowed way down from seeing it jump across in front of him going the first way. He and his wife didn't come back to look at it. One of the other drivers went up to where they had stopped their car and they were too upset and shaken to go take a look at it.

When they rebuilt Alligator Alley as an interstate highway, the panthers were a major concern. The entire road is fenced off -- not to keep the alligators off the road as most people think, but more to keep the panthers from crossing. There are numerous special panther crossings, sort of tunnels under the road. Of course at the time the joke was that they were rounding up all the panthers and forcing them to go to school to learn to read the "panther crossing" signs. But it has apparently worked on there. I suppose they could do the same thing on Tamiami Trail, but it is a scenic highway through the wilderness, and I suppose they don't really want to chain link it off from the natural state.