On the Hunt

Happy Friday! Are you up for a little Bill Maher humor?

I recently heard a portion of his “New Rules” show and wanted to share some of his commentary on hunting:

“Did you know yesterday that Texas adopted a law allowing you to shoot a deer with a silencer? How is this even a problem? …

“It’s a deer. You have a gun; it doesn’t even have hands. How much more of an edge do you need?”

Don’t Look Now, But…

Ohmygoodness. I happened upon this pic today and had to share it with you. Read the story at Life with Dogs.


[Photo by Mircea Costina.]

Calling All Birds

When we signed the lease for our new apartment, the one thing we liked about it was the small birch tree right outside our living room window. Besides being one of our favorite types of trees, it added beauty to the dull landscaping, provided a bit of privacy for us, and made a nice rest stop for birds.

However, months later, the property was sold. Our new landlord didn’t share our perspective and promptly cut down the tree. Had the bushes around the building been so easy to remove, they’d probably be gone, too.

So we went shopping. We couldn’t replace the privacy or beauty of the tree, but we could do something for the birds. We bought a lovely ceramic arts-and-crafts style bird feeder for starters, along with a special blend of seed to attract songbirds, and placed it just outside our living room window. We hear songbirds all the time, but rarely see them and haven’t yet been able to identify what we’re hearing. We expected the feeder to entice a flurry of activity (and, selfishly, we expected to be endlessly entertained by the feathered flurry).

It hasn’t. We haven’t.

The other day as I sat down at the computer (the scene the birds can see if they look through the living room window from the feeder), three birds passed by at feeder level and I waited to see if they would turn back to light on the feeder. This, I thought, could be the beginning of our vision come true.

Before the birds were out of my view, though, I noticed a Siamese cat following behind. In the air—as if on invisible wings. As if s/he was just another bird.

Lots of felines roam their own yards in this neighborhood, but I’d never seen this one before. S/he didn’t live here. Was our feeder attracting the wrong element? Would it make us accomplices to feline hunting sprees? Our birch tree substitute may have to become a mere objet d’art.

Pity.

[Scarlet Tanager pic by Alan Murphy. Tough-guy Siamese/Snowshoe cat is available for adoption on Petfinder.]

Stranger in a Strange Land – No. 7

A Link Between Kissing and Hunting

I’ve always fancied the look of mistletoe—its small pearlescent berries, its delicate rounded leaves. But I never thought much about where it grew, only that I could usually locate it at a local florist come Christmastime. I guess I presumed it to be a cousin of the holly bush.

But I was so wrong.

Am I the only one who didn’t know that mistletoe is a parasite? Grows high in the branches of majestic trees? Is hunted here in the South? Yes, hunted.

Folks actually seek out trees where the mistletoe has rooted and shoot at the evergreen to bring it down. Shooting mistletoe and taking it to market can be a lucrative pastime; it can also be a frustrating endeavor.

I noticed that the discovery of a new type of mistletoe in Mozambique made the news this week. And when looking for a photo I could post on Lull, I learned a bit of mistletoe history (it’s the floral emblem of Oklahoma and was used on gravesites when other flowers weren’t affordable or available).

Well, ain’t that somethin’? Now when you sneak a kiss under the mistletoe ball, you’ll know the lore and travails behind the Christmas tradition.

This is part of an ongoing series regarding my transition from the Land of Lincoln to the Bluegrass State. For a list of previous articles in the series, type Stranger in a Strange Land into Lull’s search function on the right.