Randomness Challenge! Tangents Only Thread

[CaptainPete 832]

It's the circle of life.

"Circle of life, man. Circle of life."

 

I see falcons from time to time at work, as they've moved into one of the bridges on the river. It keeps that bridge free of pidgeon poop and they scare the living daylights out of the Canada geese that live at my work. I wish they would go after them more, nothing quite like dodging goose poop in the dark.

 

I know the crows at work reconize me because they always caw at me when I walk by. They've even been known to follow me around. Kind of creepy.

[ub3r_n3rd 152230]

So when I was a kid I'd safety pin about any long cloth item around my neck and be pretty sure I was superman with a cape. At some point I was given a long black sheet and I cut it into a rather large Batman cape. One day I was going to go in the house to get a drink (or whatever I did when I was about 8) and for no good reason I pinned my black cape to the tree in the front yard. A little while later when I came back outside, there were about 100 crows in my front yard all milling about and looking at the 'cape'. I don't know if they thought it was some sort of crow messiah, or just liked the look of it, but the image has stuck in my head all the years since.

 

All hail the Crow Messiah! 

 

I know the crows at work reconize me because they always caw at me when I walk by. They've even been known to follow me around. Kind of creepy.

 

 

Birds of a feather?

[TGP 59970]

That also reminds me that we have these little birds that have nests in the trees around our parking lot at work. These little [email protected] will actually attack any people or other animals they see if they get too close to their nests. One of the people in my office was just walking out to his car one day and got attacked by a couple of them, he's an old man and tried to dodge and ended up falling and hurting his back really badly (he now needs a cane). A few months ago I was walking into the building with the sun at my back when I noticed one buzzing by my head back and forth behind me, I only noticed because of the shadows on the ground. Yeah, they are vicious little things.

 

BlueJays? that sounds like Bluejays.

 

I had some swallows visit my porch years ago. They would pull up sharply and 'jettison' any excess weight they might be hauling just as they zipped under the eave. Kept leaving little white splats all over my blue front door.

 

So to discourage this I bought an Owl. Not a real one. I am much too lazy to be feeding an Owl. Probably not legal anyhow. I brought a proper fake owl, made of realistically tinted and coloured plastic. I planted him up underneath the eaves looking at the front door and overlooking the usual approach pattern the swallows were using.

 

I got to see it work once.

 

A swallow cruised down my sidewalk, pulled up sharply (apparently empty; there was no splat) he pivoted to land on the ledge opposite the door and then... Panic!! Emergency vertical dive! pull out almost on the deck, full afterburners, zoom and flee !!!

 

But they got wise to it.

 

A few weeks after seeing the panicked swallow I noticed they had built a nest right at the feet of 'their buddy'    the owl sculpture. After observing them a bit more I learned that they were common Barn Swallows and that they eat flying insects. I detest all flying insects. So, I let the swallows have their way and just didn't use the front door much.

[ub3r_n3rd 152230]

 

That also reminds me that we have these little birds that have nests in the trees around our parking lot at work. These little [email protected] will actually attack any people or other animals they see if they get too close to their nests. One of the people in my office was just walking out to his car one day and got attacked by a couple of them, he's an old man and tried to dodge and ended up falling and hurting his back really badly (he now needs a cane). A few months ago I was walking into the building with the sun at my back when I noticed one buzzing by my head back and forth behind me, I only noticed because of the shadows on the ground. Yeah, they are vicious little things.

 

BlueJays? that sounds like Bluejays.

 

No, they are grey and tan little birds, mean and territorial. Not sure what kind of birds they are, definitely not blue jays though.

 

Edit to add:

Found what kind of birds they are... Brewer's Blackbirds, I've seen the males and females around didn't know they were of the same species as they are different colors, but the females are the ones who seem to like to attack people, guessing because they are protecting their nests as they see it.

Edited February 4, 2014 by ub3r_n3rd

[ShadowRaven 54481]

Sharp Shinned Hawk, Siri, I think so anyway. We used to have barn swallows try and build a nest by our house, so we hung up our plastic owl. Got rid of them, but it didn't get rid of the rabbits that where living under the porch. The resident great grey owl however did that.

[Sirithiliel 64145]

I'm leaning towards Sharp Shin as well, due to the thin legs and the square tail tip =)

[Pingo 108186]

I wonder if President Obama is in town. There have been an unusual number of helicopters over the neighborhood today.

[TGP 59970]

I wonder if President Obama is in town. There have been an unusual number of helicopters over the neighborhood today.

 

According to this he is in Maryland [?]: http://www.whitehousedossier.com/2014/02/03/obama-schedule-tuesday-february-4-2014/

[ub3r_n3rd 152230]

Slooooow day here, just want to get home so I can paint today. 2h 20m to go...

[Pingo 108186]

 

I wonder if President Obama is in town. There have been an unusual number of helicopters over the neighborhood today.

 

 

According to this he is in Maryland [?]: http://www.whitehousedossier.com/2014/02/03/obama-schedule-tuesday-february-4-2014/

Huh. Now I feel like a conspiracy nut. I wonder what the helicopters were for, then. We don't usually get them except for the nearby hospital's emergency one, and that one's pretty distinctive.

 

Ah well, life in the futuropolis.

 

(City or no, we had a whole family of Cooper's Hawks just west of our house last summer.)

[Talae 37484]

Today is the first day I came home to no "likes" or anything else in my notifications section. Apparently, if you don't post anything much for a few days, people don't give you any likes...

[klarg1 35141]

Today is the first day I came home to no "likes" or anything else in my notifications section. Apparently, if you don't post anything much for a few days, people don't give you any likes...

 

I dunno. A while back, somebody decided to threadomancy my "Garrick the Bold" WIP by linking to it from in the KS2 questions thread, and I got home to a bunch of surprise likes. It took me a while to figure out where they were all coming from.

 

It can happen.

Edited February 5, 2014 by klarg1

[klarg1 35141]

Slooooow day here, just want to get home so I can paint today. 2h 20m to go...

 

Do you have colored pens/pencils/makers/crayons? You could doodle pictures of your minis, and plan out your paint schemes while you wait!

[buglips*the*goblin 91968]

I think I'm synchronizing with the cat.  All I want to do is eat and sleep.

 

A nice scratch wouldn't hurt, either. 

[Darsc Zacal 45933]

I think I'm synchronizing with the cat.  All I want to do is eat and sleep.

 

A nice scratch wouldn't hurt, either.

 

The Force is strong in this cat.

 

When you go to feed him, do you get a sense that this was not the food he was looking for?