May 7, 2011

At the Nature-and-Civilization Café...

P1080708

... there's a sandhill crane walking along the railroad track, and you can talk about anything you like, as incongruously as you want.

(Enlarge.)

40 comments:

edutcher said...

Interesting shot, Madame. Once animals get used to humans, they learn to fit in in sometimes amazing ways.

PS Is that train track in use?

caplight said...

I find it amazing how far behind your Wisconsin trees are compared to northeast Kansas. Seems like six weeks or so.

Irene said...

We just saw a coyote napping in our yard. It awoke when a red fox scampered by, and then the coyote gave chase to the red fox.

This incident explains why I don't believe in electronic fences. You can keep the dogs in, but you can't keep the critters out.

Robert J. said...

Annals of Professional Journalism:

A CBS headline news story right now reads:

"A vane Osama bin Laden shown in new videos"

(I saved a screen cap; all the comments on the story are about the spelling, and none about bin Laden)

Fred4Pres said...

That is no regular sandhill crane...

That is a Navy Seal team in action.

Shhhh.

Trooper York said...

I have this vision of Bob Crane escaping on Hogan's Hero's and him finding and beating Osama to death with a camera tripod but I can't put it together yet. Maybe I need some of that stuff from the prior thread.

Kirby Olson said...

The Neal Cassady of the boyds.

Irene said...

One of the cloistered Cistercian nuns from the Valley of Our Lady Monastery blogs about the recount ballot flap.

Trooper York said...

Wait a minute. Is that a gay Crane?

Is his name Niles?

Did he start boringheads?

Not there's anything wrong with that. Being gay that is. Boringheads sucks though. Just sayn'

Anonymous said...

A hobo crane.

Unknown said...

Ever notice how lame the bad guys turn out to be after they loose all control of their image, as in dying. When we eventually learn their private lives, they are always terribly pathetic, vain, weak men. I'm not sure they start out that way but power may cause a degradation to the soul and character.

If we had this Bin Laden Home video we wouldn't have had to find the bastard.

JAL said...

Arncha glad you don't have that high speed train?

How will they keep the cranes off the tracks?

JAL said...

Joan that's cool. You spelled vain correctly.

Our spell checker from below will be so very happy.

wv fiest
Not the correct spelling for feast. Or feist.

Unknown said...

I often watch cranes in my back yard. They eat gofers, fur teeth and all, whole, down the hatch like sardines.

ricpic said...

Elegance sometimes invades the nondescript;
Though elegance knows there's safety in downshift.
Who's that tailored gent walking beside the tracks?
A sand hill crane disguised as a bindlestiff.

Palladian said...

THINK

Find or

ff

Palladian said...

I'm going to take this opportunity to, once again, flog my sketchbook, and to encourage everyone to purchase an inexpensive and beautiful print of any of the drawings, or perhaps even an original artwork!

And don't miss this timely ink & watercolor drawing, which to me is primarily a still-life surrounded by figures and also a study of various blue articles of clothing.

Chip Ahoy said...

Wooing crane. Source pic nicked from the Nature and Civilization Café @ Althouse.blogspot.com.

Big Mike said...

Is that train track in use?

Almost certainly. The enlarged image appears to me to show the top of the tracks as being silver-colored. This means that train wheels regularly roll on them.

John Burgess said...

Not incongruous. I see white ibises strutting around with turkey vultures, hanging around the dumpsters. That's incongruous!

Sal said...

Is that train track in use?

Yeah, I just saw a crane go by.

traditionalguy said...

Damn, a high speed crane is already up and running. That Obama is awesome.

Anonymous said...

Too bad there is no way to post photos in the comments as here in Florida there is a pair that hangs around the patio most every day.

Bartender Cabbie said...

That bird is prettier than most Wisconsin women I have known.

edutcher said...

Irene said...

We just saw a coyote napping in our yard. It awoke when a red fox scampered by, and then the coyote gave chase to the red fox.

This incident explains why I don't believe in electronic fences. You can keep the dogs in, but you can't keep the critters out.


True, but keeping the pups out of the street is the purpose for which they're used.

PS Tell the coyotes and foxes to stay on their side of the Big Muddy. You-know-who is armed and dangerous.

(believe it or don't, she was once contacted by Special Forces looking for someone who could be trained in demolition and communication. we always thought they mistook her for a man with the same name, but, given her background, one never knows, do one?)

Ron said...

Thus I name him, Findorff The Crane!

traditionalguy said...

Speaking of nature, the Green Progressives holding their unconfirmed Czar status or, just hanging out in the UN money pit, plan edicts to declare human rights for nature. I guess goddess gaia is getting serious about respecting her jurisdiction. It seems so easy....just call CO2 a pollutant, or ...just call the flora and fauna equal to people. Just say it, stupid. The media will cower in the corner and repeat that Obama is awesome.

Peter Hoh said...

Scenes from a plant sale.

We're open from noon until 4:00 on Sunday, and everything is 33 percent off. Minnesota State Fair grandstand.

Details.

Phil 314 said...

Shameless commerce just breaking out everywhere!

Palladian said...

There is no shame in commerce!

Chip Ahoy said...

Tom, please show us your cranes.

Blogger, Photobucket, or Flickr, Picasa, and many other sites host for free. You can link the photo here. Often those places even give you the code to do the linking.

Chip Ahoy said...

I always avoided planting Columbines, Colorado State flower. They seem kind of weak and flimsy.

But a few weeks ago I broke down and bought three small plants. They have taken hold in their new pot. They seem to like their shady spot. They're blooming like crazy. I've never seen so many Columbine flowers from one clump. (This is three clumps, but still, it's a lot of flowers.)

As my whimsy leads me.. said...

What a day to talk about (the) Animal Kingdom!

Toy

Peter Hoh said...

Chip, my only complaint about columbines is that they get leaf miner damage. I'm not a fan of ugly foliage.

But the blossoms? Just lovely.

Here's a peach-colored columbine that popped up in a crack along the sidewalk.

AlanKH said...

I'll have my sandhill crane with lemon butter and pilaf rice.

Ralph L said...

Wiki says columbines are perennial, but mine only lasted a year. The roots and seeds are toxic.

Quaestor said...

Ann wrote: you can talk about anything you like, as incongruously as you want.

Don't we always?

Quaestor said...

Animal Kingdom!

Yes, let's. Much better than boring old flowers.

Chip Ahoy said...

My friend bought a Prius. He was showing me all the doo-dads like a kid with a new toy. He's quite well chuffed about being a good little environmentalist.

I mentioned that I knew what those red-breasted finches are that are flying around chirping all over the place. My friend goes, "They're not too afraid of people, one landed on my head." It was a baby and didn't know any better. Somehow he destroyed the nest accidentally. Then a robin built a nest under his steps and when it was done raising babies he destroyed that nest too, except there was a new batch of eggs in it and they all got crushed. Then another bird built a nest in his mailbox and he destroyed that one too but his mistake was that there were little baby birds in it at the time. He also left his starting plants outside in a plastic greenhouse and they all burned.

Great environmentalist, he, killer of birds, destroyer of plants.

Humperdink said...

I trust the crane is not in the endangered list. If so, the Obama administration would probably shut the train for an environmental review. Could take years.

I wish my mother were around for Mother's. She was always, I mean ALWAYS, my ally. Gone for 6 years now.