Much like House Democrats and their teabagger Senate sycophants, I am clueless as to how this whole debt ceiling/government shutdown thing is gonna go. It’s at least starting to sound as though we’ll get some kind of crappy, short-term debt limit increase, but not anything to open the government back up. I’d like to see this end with a solution that prevents this kind of hostage taking in the future – holding one half of one severely gerrymandered branch of government should not give you the ability to nullify the results of an election. But we’ll see. As a civil servant myself, I feel for government workers who have been furloughed and can’t pay their bills.
There seems to be some notion that public employees make millions of dollars a year and live extravagant lifestyles, but that just aint the case. Especially in DC, where the cost of everything is ridiculously high – housing alone is over 150% more that it is in, say Rochester NY. So, as I heard a furloughed federal employee say in an interview yesterday, many workers were living paycheck to paycheck before this nonsense. I don’t know what the hell they’re doing now (it’s not like the grocery store is gonna grant you a line of credit or your landlord will be OK with you sliding on the rent for a while). Even with the guarantee of back pay, people are gonna be running up their credit card balances and if this goes on much longer, well, it’s just plain gonna suck (never mind the all the shit that’s not getting done, like safety and health inspections).
I read an article this morning where one worker said she was applying for unemployment, and I was wondering how that works since they enacted a law guaranteeing back pay. Not that they don’t deserve it. I mean, they need to pay their bills now, not in a week or a month or god knows how long from now – the last one lasted 21 days (and that was over Christmas). But if they get benefits, will they have to pay them back? What an unnecessary hassle for everybody involved.
We’re in the midst of a massive tick invasion around here lately. I don’t know if it’s the combination of relatively warm weather with a bit of rain or what, but I’ve been yanking the damn things off the dogs constantly. My wife even had one attached under her chin (now I’m gonna have to get Frontline for her). Let me tell ya, that makes you pretty paranoid, ‘cuz the little fuckers’ bites contain anesthetic, so you can feel ’em. I’m constantly checking myself for the damn things. Icky.
Oh well, I suppose it’s almost time to sign on to work for the day. Friday working from home is the absolutely best day to end the week – especially since the weekend is supposed to be warm and sunny, Monday’s a holiday, and I’ll be working from home again on Tuesday. I don’t have to suffocate in my dark little cave again until Wednesday. Sweet.
Shelter Island has had a Lyme disease problem for a long time. Lyme, of course, is one of several diseases spread by ticks. The ticks like deer and there are many deer as there are few hunters (thank goodness). There was a point when walking in the backyard was not possible without getting ticks. We put up deer fencing which is 8′ high wire mesh. That kept the deer in the woods and helped a lot.
The town, with the help of grants from Cornell U and others, deployed 60 4posters. They’re baited with hay and when deer eat the hay, permethrin insecticide is applied to them. It worked very well. That year we saw very few ticks. This year the grants were not available and there were only 4 units deployed and the incidence of Lyme spiked 200%.
Now Shelter Island and other eastern Long Island towns, are a looking for ways to bring the 4posters back. Shelter Island is actually putting some in their budget, looking for grant money and getting donations.
The 4posters have to be approved by DEC and I believe they require a waiver as feeding stations for deer are illegal. (Hunters like to do that so that the poor deer come to eat and they shoot them.) The person who applies the permethrin to the rollers needs a special license.
They are also considering a deer spaying program.
We never had a tick problem up here, but now, what with climate change and all, it’s gotten pretty bad.
I’d get some chickens to eat the ticks, but between the dogs and the cats, we’d probably go through a lot of chickens.
Guinea hens are the ticket to ticklessness. :banana: (and sp’s tip). Our Guineas wiped out the ticks and fleas…of course, keeping the Guineas alive was the other challenge. You can releases them during the day and they’ll come home to roost in a safe place at night, though.
Do dogs & cats go after them? Wonder how they would fare in upstate NY winters. I’ve been considering getting chickens but there are a lot of logistics involved in addition to having a hound that will chase anything that moves & barks like a fool at every little sound. But having fewer ticks & fleas would be nice. My chin still hurts from the tick bite which is now an ugly dark red spot. No bulls-eye rash, though (yet). Nasty little bastards. :growl:
Yeah, well, we’ve got one cat that’s rather expert at murdering birds (among other outdoor critters – god forbid she should kill an indoor mouse). Not sure how our dogs would be. There’s one that would at least make their lives interesting, chasing them around all the time.
Then of course we have lots of raccoons and coyotes, not to mention the hawks.
Guineas are better flyers than chickens so can more easily escape predators. They can be trained to return to a safe coop at night. Nighttime was when the coyotes and racoons seemed to get ours when they roosted in the trees instead of the coop. The Guineas were extremely effective at removal of the little bastids. Hate ticks. We get a few now and again in The Big City. Have to keep the dorks away from tall grass.
What do you do with chickens when it gets cold?
A coop! Melina has chickens and she’s up your way.
Melina is definitely the go-to poultry ranching authority.
RG, while the bullseye rash is a symptom of tick borne disease, the absence of it is not a guarantee that there is no infection.
It’s my understanding that if you remove them within 24 hours, you’re safe. At least that’s what my vet told me (for the dogs, anyway).
Ive heard the same. But i never know when the tick first bit.
Oh, I do a complete tick check on the dogs and myself at least twice a day. Really, whenever the dogs come in, I feel ’em up.
Didn’t know that no one else went on camera.
Wow, is that your Mazda, or some other lucky citizen?
No. That belongs to the woman across the street. You can see my Geo in the last shot, the car with a plastic bag window. I knew I should have asked them to stage that shot differently. Come to think of it, maybe I should have claimed that he hit my car, too.
😉
Nice to see you, Vern.
We do the same but as deer ticks are really tiny and as Lola is a curly fluffy dog, I have missed them . I have also missed them on Mike because they are tiny black dots and I have mistaken one or two for tiny skin moles or freckles. Dog ticks are much larger and much harder to miss. Unfortunately, deer ticks also attach themselves to dogs, cats and people. Deer ticks are the ones that carry lyme.
I might not have been so merciful if I had read this before being interviewed.
Sounds like a nice guy. “Unnecessary use of horn.” Never heard of that one, but apparently that’s a real thing. Go figure.
I wonder if there’s an “unnecessary use of middle finger” too.
I am so hungover right no. I drank way more than I should have last night.
Oops, I meant right now.
I have a Rascals hangover from seeing them last night. Great show. Never gave them enough due.
A couple of days ago, I got turned on to a new group that I’d never heard of before. Probably Vernon knows them, and certainly art does, as they’re a Boulder band. But, damn, I think they’re great. And the fat guy that plays guitar reminds me of myself (except he can play guitar, and I can’t). They’re called Leftover Salmon (watch in full screen if possible).
PJ, Mr. FK will be at U of Syracuse Newhouse school of journalism to present a showing of The Hornest Nest on Monday 10/28 at if you can make it. He said it’s early evening, not sure of exact time yet. He’d love to meet you guys. My brudder and cousin will be there as well. You’ll love them. And I’d love for you to see the film. :nixon:
PJ — Please contact O-Kat/Mr FK off-blog about logistics. This is an opportunity not-to-be-missed. :banana: Thanks for the heads-up, O-Kat — we’ll make plans for this. 😉
Jealous!
That sounds great. But it’s SU, not US.
Thanks for correction. :billcat:
No problem. Just don’t want Mister to come out and say “it’s great to be here at the University of Syracuse” cuz then people will laugh and probably make “Gaylord” jokes. 😉
Hopefully this doesn’t come up.
Yeah, thanks a bunch for pointing that out, Vernon.
As if James Inhofe and Tom Coburn weren’t reason enough to dislike Oklahoma.
I was trying to be fair and balanced and find some WVU v. UOk stats.
Hey, is that a young Kim Jong-il in the audience at about the 42 second mark?
Well I do know of Leftover Salmon. They once forgot to leave my tickets at the door at The Fillmore. To make things worse I was stuck in the will call line behind Wavy Gravy and they couldn’t find his tickets. Why he just can’t walk in on his own recognizance I’ll never know. He even suggested that they try his real name Romney mit no success. Having McNemar as a last name I am familiar with just about every permutation a will call can deal.(‘M’, ‘Mc’, ‘N’, ‘V’…). I suggested that they try ‘G’ for Gravy. Bingo! :billcat: