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Michael T. Barrett
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Mar
7
Sunday Silence
Category: Life, Opinions | Leave a Comment | 0 words | Print
Mar
6
Another Day With The Eagles
Category: Birding, Life | Leave a Comment | 163 words | Print
Okay, so I didn’t get much done yesterday or today. I cracked a toe on my right foot (that darned footstool jumped out in front of me, really it did), and I didn’t feel like walking all over the backyard today, so we met some of the guys from our local camera club and went to West Point to make photos of the Bald Eagles.
The young one was learning how to model,
and the parent was looking for lunch.
We saw many other birds, including this Great Blue Heron who was learning to dance.
The Double Crested Cormorant offered us some lunch,
and after our siesta,
We hit the road and started the drive back home, but we didn’t get too far before we felt like we were being watched.
we made it home just before dark, thankful to have spent such a fun day with the guys enjoying some of God’s most magnificent creations. I hope you had a good day too!
Sphere: Related ContentMar
5
Time Out
Category: Life | Leave a Comment | 101 words | Print
It happens from time to time. Today, I need to step away to get some other things done.
What could be more important than writing here on 101 Dead Armadillos?
Let’s see. I am working on a project, and I am about two days behind schedule.
Spring is right around the corner so I need to clean up the backyard (dogs have a way of destroying things we never knew we had), clean the garage (before the spiders and other crawling critters wake up) and schedule a yard sale (probably next weekend).
So, I am outta here. See you tomorrow.
Sphere: Related ContentMar
3
You would think, after getting laid off last year, and attempting to make a living working for myself now, that I would have some extra time in the evenings to work on some of the little projects I have bubbling up in my head.
Well, I have finally started devoting some time to my “continued” education and I am working on two small projects. One of those projects is Stuffr for the Mac and Stuffr for the iPhone. The other is a yet to be determined app for the iPhone.
Instead of standing by the shore getting my feet wet, I have jumped in completely. It won’t hurt to have ‘Mac / iPhone Developer” on my resume now will it?
I’m not sure how much time I am going to have in the next couple weeks, thanks to President Obama and the Democrats on Capitol Hill.
White House officials tell ABC News that in his remarks tomorrow President Obama will indicate a willingness to work with Republicans on some issue to get a health care reform bill passed but will suggest that if it is necessary, Democrats will use the controversial “reconciliation” rules requiring only 51 Senate votes to pass the “fix” to the Senate bill, as opposed to the 60 votes to stop a filibuster and proceed to a vote on a bill.
Are they crazy? No less than 60 percent of the American people are against this bill. Passing this bill, especially through reconciliation will be political suicide for all of them, President Obama included.
Sen. Tom Harkin told POLITICO that Senate Democratic leaders have decided to go the reconciliation route. The House, he said, will first pass the Senate bill after Senate leaders demonstrate to House leaders that they have the votes to pass reconciliation in the Senate.
Harkin made the comments after a meeting in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office including Harkin and Sens. Baucus, Dodd, Durbin, Schumer and Murray.
When asked whether the leaders had made the decision, Durbin said: “We are moving ahead with a version of the health care reform bill that we believe has a good chance of passing both the House and the Senate.”
Personally, I don’t think they have the votes in the House or the Senate to pass the bill with reconciliation, but we shall see.
That’s it for tonight. Who knows, I might have a screenshot of the new Stuffr app by tomorrow.
Mar
2
Another Day, Another Snow Job
Category: Life, Opinions, Politics | Leave a Comment | 587 words | Print
Yesterday some weather forecasters said we’d get snow while others said we wouldn’t. Of those calling for snow, one was correct. We got exactly as much as he said we would, and that’s why I pay attention to Glen Burns at WSB-TV. After 13 years of watching (and listening to) him, he’s right more often than anyone else.
I took the video fairly early in the day. We ended up with about 3 inches total here at our house, but at one point it was melting as quick as it was falling.
It was pretty to watch, but it was a heavy, wet snow and the kids didn’t find much interest in it. Amazing really, because we rarely get snow, so you would think they would want to be out there all day.
With all the snow falling outside, I couldn’t help but wonder if hell had frozen over. After reading the news today, I’m still not sure.
House Ways and Means Committee Charlie Rangel was on the verge of losing his gavel Tuesday night as a trickle of Democratic defections turned into a flood.
It wasn’t clear how Rangel would go – voluntarily, by force, temporarily or permanently – but the tide had clearly turned against him by the time he walked into a closed-door meeting with Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s staff Tuesday night.
“The dam broke today,” said a senior Democratic aide.
Charlie Rangel has been in the House of Representatives for 39 years. House members are elected every two years. That’s one election and 17 re-elections so far for those of you keeping track. By now, Mr. Rangel is pretty settled into his job as a career politician, but it looks like his days are finally numbered.
Sure, it’s only a leadership role, but a very influential one at that, so if hell is freezing over, I’m hoping his days as a Congressman could be coming to an end as well.
Another interesting development today was the sudden “switch” by Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY).
For days now he has blocked a bill extending unemployment benefits, highway funding, and other government programs because the bill was unfunded.
Tonight, however, he switched his position because Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) promised him a vote on his amendment forcing the $10 billion bill to be offset by closing a tax loophole, as well as a chance to offer amendments on the next Senate jobs bill which will cost $150 billion.
Just moments after he agreed to Scary Harry’s terms, the extension bill passed 78 – 19 and his amendment failed with only 43 Senators voting for it.
So what did Bunning gain out of this? Nothing. Nothing at all. He folded under the pressure when he should have stood his ground. How much longer can we write checks with nothing to pay them with? Here’s Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) speaking on the Senate floor today before Sen. Bunning caved.
The one bright side was seeing which 19 GOP members voted against the measure. Senators Alexander, Barrasso, Bennett (UT), Bunning, Burr, Coburn, Corker, Cornyn, Crapo, DeMint, Ensign, Enzi, Gregg, Hatch, Johanns, McConnell, Risch, Sessions, and Thune all voted against a bill that will cost $10 billion with no money allocated to pay for it.
Even though he voted against the bill itself, by dropping his opposition to the bill Jim Bunning helped increase our national debt by $10 billion in just a matter of minutes. Thanks, Jim!
Feb
28
Silent Sunday
Category: Life | Leave a Comment | 5 words | Print
Feb
27
A Kick-Back Saturday
Category: Life | Leave a Comment | 365 words | Print
I realized when I woke up this morning that I missed meeting some of the guys for breakfast. What a bummer. I was really looking forward to it, but for some reason my body decided it needed more sleep than I wanted to give it. My body won.
I had no plans for the rest of the day, and I am not planning anything tomorrow so I can watch the USA v. Canada Olympic hockey final. The race from Las Vegas is on too, but I’m pretty sure Jimmie Johnson is going to win, so why bother watching, right? Go USA!
We watched intently today while Hawaii awaited the tsunami, but thankfully it was minor. I spent a year in Hilo, Hawaii going to college. It’s a beautiful city that was completely devastated by a tsumani back in 1960. I’m glad they didn’t suffer from the same result this time.
I made bacon-wrapped chili dogs for dinner this evening, and I got to thinking afterward, I am going to have to post that recipe. Everything tastes better cooked with a pound of bacon!
I was shocked to learn that Rep. John Linder (R-GA) is retiring from Congress. He was a champion of the Fair Tax movement, and I really hope someone picks up the torch, because something has to be done about our current tax code.
“I made the decision last Tuesday night and notified my staff Wednesday morning. I told them not to share the news because I planned to make the announcment during a speaking engagement Saturday,” said Linder.
Gwinnett GOP manager David Hancock said the announcement, which came at the end of brief speech by Linder, caught attendees off-guard.
“You can’t keep doing things forever and I never intended to stay as long as I did,” said Linder. “Eighteen years is a long time,” he said.
Funny isn’t it? The most effective and ethical leaders are the ones who know when it’s time to step down. Congress was not meant to be a “career path”, and hopefully in the future we can persuade others it’s time for them to go too.
Feb
26
Our Day At Eufaula National Wildlife Refuge
Category: Birding, Life | Leave a Comment | 1,034 words | Print
Yesterday was an incredible day.
Our middle son, who is 10, finished reading the entire Harry Potter series of books and as a reward for his dedication to reading, I offered him his choice of location for a day of birding. He chose the Eufaula National Wildlife Refuge.
We learned about Eufaula NWR from a friend of ours, Jim Enterkin, at a recent Sweetwater Camera Club meeting. Since the day he told us about all the birds he saw when he visited the refuge, the boys had been anxiously awaiting yesterday’s trip. It was only natural that we would invite Jim to make the trip with us, so he could see more birds too!
We departed at 6:00 in the morning and arrived for a quick stop at West Point Lake at 7:30 to see if we could spot a few Bald Eagles before continuing on to Eufaula. We were out of the truck no more than three minutes when Jim spotted one mature, and one immature Bald Eagle sitting in a tree. They called out to each other and then flew for a few minutes, landing in a tree directly across the river from us, making our stop a great start to a very incredible day. In fact, our photos show a second adult Bald Eagle sitting in the tree where they landed.
We were not in a good position to get ‘great’ photos, but it was an awesome sight. What a great start to an incredible day! After a quick bathroom break, in heated bathrooms nonetheless, we continued on to the wildlife refuge.
We were 10 minutes out from the refuge headquarters when we spotted another Bald Eagle flying over some water. Moments later, we arrived at the refuge headquarters to learn what birds had been sighted in the area. The ranger told us about other wildlife in the area, but the sighting of the Bald Eagle only pumped us all up for the adventure we were just beginning, so we didn’t pay much attention to the “other wildlife” part.
It didn’t take long to spot Eastern Bluebirds, American Robins, American Crows, Chipping Sparrows, a Purple Martin, an Eastern Phoebe, Northern Mockingbirds, Common Grackles, and a few Palm Warblers.
At the first pond we were able to view a solitary Canvasback, half a dozen killdeer, a dozen Ringnecked Ducks, and five Buffleheads. While we were observing the ducks, our youngest spotted something flying above the grass trying to stir something up. It turned out to be a Northern Harrier trying to rustle up some grub.
We spotted a total of six Northern Harriers in the area, along with a Red-Shouldered Hawk and a couple Red-Tailed Hawks. As we were observing two Northern Harrier’s in a tree, we had a couple little friends who kept popping up around the truck.
A total of five Yellow-Rumped Warbler’s were hanging out with us at that point in the wildlife refuge.
The roads were all dry and clear, but the “summer” routes were not open and won’t be opened until March 1st, so we were “forced” to walk part of the road in the Houston Unit. Jim told us that they had seen dozens of Great Egrets when he was at the same location just a few months ago, and just steps down the road, the egrets began to fly.
And boy, did they fly! We saw a total of 26 Great Egrets along with three Anhinga, 15 Great Blue Herons, numerous Northern Shovelers, Double-Crested Cormorants, hundreds of American Coots, several Common Moorhens, and quite a few Pied-Billed Grebes.
At one point a couple of Osprey decided to check us out as we walked back along the road. I love how they hover when they check out the water for their next meal.
The Osprey wasn’t the only bird that flew close to see what we were doing on their turf.
After visiting the Houston Unit, we decided to eat lunch in Eufaula, Alabama, and then venture over to the Bradley Unit on the Georgia side of the refuge.
We saw more Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Ring-Necked Ducks, Bufflehead, Wood Ducks, American Coots, and Common Moorhens.
Just moments after snapping this shot, we heard something rustling on the shore next to the road. We glanced down in time to see a 5.5-6 foot alligator go running into the water. It was 15 feet away from us. That’s when we remembered the “other wildlife” part of what the ranger had to say. She mentioned some rather large alligators sunning themselves on the banks of the water and on the side of the roadways.
As we walked back toward the truck, we joked with each other about not slowing down. None of us wanted to be the guy in back, in case that gator decided to give chase.
As I said when I started this post, it was an incredible day. I added five new birds to my life list, the boys added 6 to theirs, and we all had a great time, even after we took this final photo at the refuge.
Notice the “visitor” in the foreground of the photo. Do Great Blue Herons not see bumpy backed alligators if they hide their heads under some vegetation? Even though that gator was quite far away from us, it was large enough to make us rethink sticking around any longer. None of us were interested in tempting fate and becoming a dinner item at the Bradley Unit that day.
We still had a few hours to spare, so we drove down to the Walter F. George reservoir dam, but didn’t see too much while we were there except some deer, a lot of Ring Billed Gulls, Double Crested Cormorants, and a few barking Great Blue Herons.
It took us a little over three hours to get home and call an end to one of the best birding days any of us had seen in a long, long, time.
Of course, now that we’re all rested, we’re ready to head down there again. Soon. Very soon.
Sphere: Related ContentFeb
25
Gone Birding!
Category: Life | Leave a Comment | 29 words | Print
In a daring attempt to escape the mundane cycle of everyday life, I have run away today and won’t be back until tomorrow.
Feb
17
I was going to try and take the night off tonight to catch up on some much needed rest. I’ve been working on a project, the house is a mess, I need to get a load of firewood (which involves a lot of lifting and stacking), my sister will be arriving in town tomorrow afternoon, and I’ve had these headaches off and on for two weeks. Instead, what do I do?
I spent hours watching the Winter Olympics. Curling (my favorite), women’s downhill skiing, speed skating, the half-pipe, all of it. Then what did I do? I sat here and watched more curling online, worked a bit on my project, and took the Pew Research Quiz.
I did pretty darned good.
Now that I have reassured myself that I know what the heck is going on, I can relax and go to sleep. That is, if curling isn’t being broadcast at this very moment.
So, how did you do on the quiz?