The Daily Wiggle

Today is Apr 21, 2007.

He and I had an office so tiny that an inch smaller and it would have been
adultery.
~Dorothy Parker~

Today is Apr 19, 2007.

Civium in moribus rei publicae salus
[The welfare of the state (depends upon) the morals of its
citizens]
~Motto, of the University of Florida~


Toshiba: Following the merger of the Tokyo Electric and Shibaura Manufacturing firms in 1984, the new company's leader sought a name that would be easy to pronounce in European languages as well as meaningful in Japanese. The name Toshiba, which blends the first syllables of the names of both parents, fulfills those requirements: In Japanese, to means "east," and shiba means "expanse of grass" -- thus "east lawn."

Today is Apr 17, 2007.

Works have a stronger voice than words.
~Proverb, (Latin)~


Off the Grid: Engineers refer to the nation's electrical infrastructure as "the grid." Those who live beyond it-somtimes willingly, having removed themselves from city life-- are said to be "off the grid," away from readily available electricity. That may not be the ultimate origin of the phrase, though, for in military jargon "the grid" refers to a map, with the idea that someone living off it dwells in incharted territory, with or without electricity.

Eeww, what a wet day! A big storm system came in and is dumping heavy rain on us. My parents report snow where they live! The birds are still out singing and eating. Guess they still have eat even in bad weather. They've been busy all day. I enjoy watching them. I have all the sorts of birds visiting the feeders. Some are not as welcome as others. The not as welcome ones are the grackles, red-winged blackbirds, cowbirds, and house sparrows. All of these tend to come in large numbers, are pushy and/or aggressive and BIG eaters. They chase the other song birds away. I never knew how aggressive House Sparrows could be. They really are mean to the other birds. Other undesirables are the squirrels, neighborhood cats, and birds of prey (although I'm thankful for the close-up view of the birds of prey). We also have many American Goldfinches, a Cardinal pair & assorted male Cardinals, 2 Tufted titmice, a Carolina Wren, Chicadees, a Downy Woodpecker pair, about 12 Mourning Doves, a few white-throated sparrows, a few song sparrows, a female mallard, a Great Blue Heron, and a House Finch pair. We also have the occasional Robin passing through, an unidenitified large woodpecker, Canada Geese flying by, crows in the trees not so far from us, and swallows "hawking" over the creek. "Hawking" is when the swallows fly low over the water for bugs. I'm working on reducing the number of not as welcome birds by changing the feed to safflower & sunflower seeds. In my naive, beginner enthusiasm, at the beginning of my backyard bird feeding adventure, I was throwing a cheap birdfood mix on the ground. Huge mistake. At first, it was okay but the "word" got out and now there can be anywhere from a few to 15 or so of the not so wanted birds on the ground. I learned by lesson for sure. My fingers are crossed that the neighbors don't complain too much. I had to chuckle earlier when a squirrel tried to shimmy a pole to two feeders and slid down. Prior, it had wrapped itself around the trunk of a tree in various positions (upside down, horizontal, vertical) while holding onto a feeder eating the sunflower seeds. That feeder needs to move but it's an improvement on the one I had there prior where the squirrel could sit on the edge and eat to its heart's content. I'm learning. What's the weather like in your area?

Today is Apr 14, 2007.

Halcyon days. -King Henry VI. Part I. Act i. Sc. 2.
~William Shakespeare~


Generation X: Demographers refer to the generation born after the so-called baby boomers (who were born between 1946 and 1960) as "Generation X," with the X coming from the mathematical term menaing "not yet defined." The term dates to the earl 1950s and was first used to describe those born in the boom, not those born between 1961 and 1978, as it is now used.

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