Little tiny birds can be costly

I have fed birds for years and truly enjoy them all year-long. Their songs are a nice start to the morning and I can count on the cardinals’ special chirp in the evening as they come to the feeder when there is less ‘traffic’. Watching new parents teach their young where and how they can get food from the feeder is fun as the babies are uncertain in managing their wings and balance.

Many of my plants have been installed to provide shelter, nesting, and winter berries. I have two bird baths – front and back – to give them a drink or a bath. In other words, I’ve provided all the necessities via my LANDSCAPING.

So why do they think my HOUSE is part of the package. I had trouble with the birds making nests in the vents leading to bathroom fans. Builders are now adding the cages to these vents but my home was built before they did this. My wonderful neighbor climbed the ladder to install wire mesh to keep them out. Problem solved.

This year I had overflowing gutters. I called Mike’s Roofing to fix overflows in the front and back. The front gutter problem was solved, but the back area still had problems. A guy came out a second time because it seemed there needed to be a seal between the gutter and downspout. He worked on it but it didn’t solve the problem. With this past weekend’s heavy rain, the water was gushing, making a mess in the ground below.

overflowing gutter

Today, two young guys came out again. They knew exactly what to look for. They took apart the slightly horizontal section and found about 2-feet of bird nesting materials blocking water flow!

Now I could spend money to add gutter guards, but REALLY … how much more do I have to spend? I’ve been a good naturalist by providing lots of trees for the birds to build their houses. Don’t they understand they are to leave MY house alone?

Chinch bugs have been defeated

My lawn is still recovering from the onslaught of chinch bugs last summer. Fertilization by Scotts Lawn Service, and some overseeding by me, have helped it recover. By last fall, it had greatly improved. There are still a few small patches that have yet to fill in completely but it’s looking much better than it did.

lawn repaired after chinch bug damage

The area in the foreground (above ↑ photo) looked like this last September (below ↓ photo). I did not reseed this section. It only received fertilizer, so that illustrates the power of feeding to cause the bluegrass to grow new rhizomes for thickening the lawn.

chinch bug damage

March Jobs Report A Disaster For Obama

The March-ending numbers were so bad that even the Obamabots had trouble spinning them into something positive. I wrote down these numbers as they became available on the Fox Business channel while watching Varney & Co.

  • Only 88,000 new jobs were created in March. The economy needs to be adding 200,000-300,000 in order to get things rolling again.
  • The unemployment rate dropped to 7.6% because 500,000 people dropped out of the labor pool.
  • 21,600,000 people are either under-employed or unemployed.
  • 90,000,000 people over age 16 are NOT working, either by choice or circumstance.
  • 58% of the jobs created since Obama took office have been low-wage jobs.
  • The labor participation rate dropped to 63.3% … the lowest since 1979 (see chart below).
Labor Participation Rate 1979-2013

Labor Participation Rate 1979-2013
(click to enlarge)

America has too many people not working; too many people working in jobs they’re over-qualified for; too many people having to work part-time at one, two or maybe three jobs; and too many people having to live on government hand-outs. Under ObamaCare it will get even worse when smaller businesses cut their staff below 50 employees and/or cut full-time employees to part-time to avoid the insurance costs.

Obama is not very “manly”

By now you’ve probably seen the video of Obama shooting – or trying to shoot – hoops on Easter Day. It was pretty pathetic as he made only 2 baskets out of 22 attempts. Let’s face it … he would never be described as a “macho man” and is not known for doing physical labor in his past unlike some of our other Presidents.

Some Presidents can use tools … Obama not so much:Presidents working

Presidents do various challenging sports … Obama “mom jeans” doesn’t:

Presidents' sports

Then there’s the “first ball of spring” throwing … OMG!:Presidents throwing a ball

I think the trophy goes to President George HW Bush for jumping out of a perfectly good airplane!

Who is controlling our America?

2012 election results by county

Do you see all that red area? Those are the counties that voted for the Republicans in the 2012 election*. The east and west coast people refer to us as “fly-over country”. They view us as inconsequential hayseeds. Even Obama made fun of us, saying we only cling to our Bibles and guns.

So where is the media? New York, DC and California where there are lots of blue liberal counties. Now think about the issues being currently discussed in DC and covered by the Donkey Media channels. Do you think they’re in touch with the majority of Americans?

Discussions on guns are the most telling as they only consider gun usage in the inner city where people are in close density and there is a big problem with gangs. They have no concept of why a farmer might need a obama skeetgun when he’s on a 1,000 acre ranch. Even the photo-op of Obama shooting skeet showed them to be clueless unless he was planning on shooting the ‘puller’.

DC is spending our hard-earned tax dollars willy-nilly, saying they can’t afford to make any spending cuts, but rather want even more of our money. Is there ANY family in the heartland that couldn’t find LOTS of places to cut spending without causing any harm. We know how to balance budgets because we do it with our own households. It’s not hard. HINT: you don’t spend more than you have.

Don’t you just love it when some Hollywood dufus tells YOU how to live, what to drive and how you should light & heat your home, then proceeds to get in their private jet to go one of several of their homes? Oh sure, I’m going to have those solar panels installed just as soon as Ohio gets more than 50% of available sunlight!

I really get angry when I hear a politician in DC or a TV talking head in NYC say “most Americans agree … “. They don’t have a clue what the heartland Americans want. It’s even been said that the reason NBC is planning to replace Jay Leno is that Jay’s audience comes from middle America. They want someone “cooler” that appeals to the coastal audience. We’re not considered cool, therefore, we don’t count. This could be the reason NBC is ranked 5th in viewership.

I’m really troubled that the heartland is being forced to live according to how the liberal coasts say we should live. I don’t want them to make the rules for me. I Obama doesn't salute the flagsay Merry Christmas, believe in Easter, put my hand over my heart when saying the Pledge of Allegiance, and tear-up at a military parade or when the jets fly over on Independence Day. The liberals think what I do is silly, old-fashioned and unsophisticated. Or as Michelle Obama said, “All this for a damn flag!”

YES!!! It’s called being a Patriot and loving my country … and I WANT IT BACK!

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* Obama won 51% of those who voted, but those voters equaled only 28% of the electorate. Having support of slightly more than a quarter of the electorate is NOT a mandate.
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Take a walk on the wild side!

I couldn’t do this. Couldn’t even take one step out on the platform without passing out. Heck, it’s hard for me to even sit in the balcony at church.
glass bottom skywalk, Grand Canyon
This is the Glass Bottom Skywalk that overlooks the Grand Canyon. It extends out 70 ft. The floor of the walkway is glass. Although when I lived in Tucson I liked climbing the mountains to sit on a stone ledge to overlook the city, that was different. I trusted the huge stone ledge that God built. I have less faith in human builders.

The above pic seems to be an artists rendering. Google the Skywalk for actual, breath-taking photos. I got goose bumps just looking at some of the photos.