I had the sliding door open a little too long into an evening over the Memorial Day holiday. It was a coolish night and I didn’t think the moths were out & about yet.
I also had the front windows open. I was doing stuff in the house and didn’t close the slider or the windows until well after twilight. There were a few moths flittering around but all seemed normal. I went to bed.
I was awakened later in the night by a moth that was trying to fly through the glass door in the master bedroom. The creature was trying for all the world to get to an LED light on the rail of the deck. Grrr.
The next night, was a bit cooler, I closed the front windows earlier in the evening. At some point I heard this weird sound. I followed it to the front window and there, trapped between the screen and the glass was more moths than I could count. The screen was literally alive with them. The other window in the front of the house also had a ton of moths.
They were contained, so I didn’t think too much about them. The next morning, they were all gone. I though they’d worked their way through the gap in between the screen and the frame.
I was wrong, they came back the next night. I couldn’t imagine why they’d returned.
Turns out they hadn’t returned, they’d been hiding in the screen and window frame, How so many fit in such small spaces is beyond me but somehow they’d done it. I discovered this when I decided to clean the screen. As I pulled the screen out of the window frame it was “Moth-Ageddon”.
Standing there swarmed by moths, I wondered if this was the beginning of my becoming a MothMan of the west. Since the Window was open to the sky, I thought the moths would fly out. They didn’t, they doubled back into the house, every nook & cranny now had moths in it.
I finished cleaning the screen, then removed the creatures I could see, and waited for dusk.
As darkness fell, moths began migrating toward the windows. I’d purposely kept the lights off in an attempt to corral them. Then it was vacuum time!
2 hours later, the house was apparently clear. I increased the brightness of lights and discovered I’d missed at least 75 moths all of which were now flitting toward the lamps. The vacuum dispatched these as well. There was a satisfying “thump” as each moth got sucked into the vacuum hose.
By 11PM I called myself the winner.
At some point, I was thinking of the old Godzilla movies where Mothra and Godzilla duked it out. Now, I have a hankering to watch those movies and I’m also considering purchasing a large iguana.
If I were to have another battle like last night, I fear even the largest iguana wouldn’t have been able to keep up. The poor thing would be lying on the floor with its stomach too full to move.
Armed protesters stand guard outside a drag show at Anderson Distillery & Grill in Roanoke, Texas. (Kelly Neidert)
Antifa is looking a LOT more like the Fascists than the “Enemy” they’re supposed to be worried about.
Anti Drag Shows for Kids protestors
Of the two groups which looks more like a paramilitary group?
Are guns only bad when they’re in the hands of conservative leaning people? Is the take away that ANTIFA is protecting decency, which is arguable at best?
Was it ANTIFA that attacked the Federal Building in Portland or not? Weren’t they the folks blinding officers and throwing fire bombs trying to kill folks assigned to protect the Federal Building?
Who was it that beat Andy Ngo damn near to death? Oddly it wasn’t normal law abiding folks. But apparently that’s to be swept under the rug.
This is all about a drag show for children in Texas.
I never thought I’d be writing a sentence that contained the words Drag Show and Children in it.
WTF?
I remember being in a gay bar late one night in Laguna Beach where a child came up to the 6’5” tall, muscular as all hell, ex military demolition specialist, doorman, asking for help.
The doorman scooped this frightened child up off the ground, walked into the bar told the bartender to stop selling booze, the Saturday Night Crowd made a path to the bar. The whole downstairs bar emptied out and this scary giant of a man, tended ever so gently to the child’s scrapes.
In his deep baritone he asked what had happened.
When he and several others nearby who were providing wet clean towels, who’d grabbed the first aid kit, and an unimpaired RN, heard;
“Daddy and Mommy are fighting bad”
The doorman very gently asked, “Can you tell me where they are?”
“We’re on vacation. The hotel is across the street. I came over here because it sounded happy.”
“Are they still fighting?”
“I guess so, they fight a lot.”
“Okay little one, I’ll go check on them.”
He and several other men went to the door. Over his shoulder he called to a bartender, “Get some juice for her, don’t sell any booze while she’s here, and call the police.”
There are a lot of things that made me proud of the community that night. The short list is this.
The men that followed the doorman out all knew how to handle themselves. They were either military, ex military, bikers or fighters of various stripes. All the men in the bar stopped drinking They all put their glasses on the upper Bar They changed the music to something happy but not blaring. The patrons adopted proper decorum and spoke quietly among themselves.
After 10 minutes, the doorman came back with bloodied knuckles, carrying a small boy who’d obviously been smacked around, followed by a dazed battered woman.
Without question the RN moved on to address the bruises and scrapes on the woman and little boy. The doorman, with easy familiarity grabbed a clean bar towel, filled it with ice from behind the bar and wrapped his right fist.
The little boy was watching the doorman closely, obviously curious about the towel and ice.
The doorman, smiled. He got up and made a smaller towel with a little bit of ice. He handed it to the little boy, “Hold this against your eye. It might hurt at first but the cold will make it feel better.”
The doorman rewrapped his fist and sat quietly watching the RN taking care of his patients. Eventually the RN got to the doorman’s scrapes & cuts.
The doorman tried to wave the RN away.
“Thad, let me do my job!”
The doorman sighed, “Okay, but I’m fine.”
The police arrived. They were obviously a little stunned. Usually, when they came into the bar it was rowdy and they were enforcing a noise complaint. Yet this time, the lights were on full and everyone was quiet and respectful.
The doorman, spoke briefly to them. A few minutes later an ambulance pulled up in front of the hotel.
Statements were taken and the woman and her children left with the police. Before they left, the children ran back to the table where the doorman was sitting and climbed onto him. They hugged him tight and he hugged them back with tears brimming.
“You’re going to be alright children. Take care of your mommy.”
Their mom said, “Thank you so much,” then collected her kids and left.
That is the gay community I remember. Yes, hated by many, but good men and women.
We at the time, were fighting for our equal place in society. We knew that equality would only come when we demonstrated in all other respects, except who we peopled our bed with, we were just like everyone else.
Drag shows are not the place for children. Gay bars are not the place for children. The LGB community knew that instinctively without question. The story above illustrates that simple fact.
What the fuck has happened to this community? Just because we were outliers then doesn’t mean we have to keep being outliers.
I know of no folks in the LGB community who would think for an instant that a Drag show should be attended by children. It’s adult entertainment for adults. You wouldn’t take children to a strip show. You wouldn’t take children to a bar with half naked go go boys dancing on the bar.
Hell, if you’re a responsible person you wouldn’t even show a movie with such depictions to children.
It’s not even about morality or puritanical religious squeamishness.
It’s about protecting a child’s innocence!
We all find our various kinks when we’re of age, when we’re ready for it, and when we’re old enough to handle it.
Let a child be a child, for God’s sake!
Then we have in Texas, a drag show with armed ANTIFA in black out clothing forming a perimeter. What the hell kind of message does that send?
What does a child think of that?
Especially after Uvalde and all the noise about AR-15s being dangerous. ”Only bad people carry AR-15s, run and hide if you see someone with one of those”.
Then 6 weeks later that same parent is saying, “come on in here don’t worry about the rifles.”
You’ve already got a confused child, then you subject them to bad drag.
If that doesn’t cause a fear of clowns and makeup, I’ll be surprised.
Pennywise from IT
It’s long past time for the LGB community to stand up. It’s time for us to put a stop to this because we’re uniquely in a position to do so. The trans activists have hitched their wagon to the LGB community and the community has allowed it.
So now it’s our responsibility. We allowed this mess to be made it’s on us to clean it up!
Are we willing to let everything we fought so hard to gain be corrupted and stripped away by the actions of a fringe group of trans activists?
Are we willing to be shamed back into the closet by 1% of the population who simply choose to hitch their wagon to ours?
Will we allow all that we’ve accomplished to be degraded back to things like; Gays can’t marry, can’t have jobs, can’t have places to live, sodomy laws, and all that we managed to fix so that we can be thought of as equal?
I for one refuse!
I like being LGB and being treated with respect and normalcy. I like being able to get my freak on without worry of someone ratting me out to the cops for immoral behavior.
This trans activist bullshit has got to stop.
There are things that Trans folks need to have addressed. But not everyone is Trans!
How dare Trans activists imply that if someone likes the same sex they’d be happier transitioning to the opposite sex. There are little boys and little girls right now who would probably grow up CIS and LGB and be quite happy about it.
Those children deserve to discover their preferences in their own time, in their own way. How many boys and girls will have that joy of discovery ripped away from them by people deciding for them?
Isn’t that the same thing the Trans activists are saying is so wrong, when they say things like a Doctor assigns sex at birth?
Where have all the heroes gone? I’m sure as hell not a hero but if I’m all there is, then I’ll do my best.
Not Thad. But they’re cut from the same cloth
Thad – where ever you are now. 40 some odd years ago, you taught a green young man being gay or bi didn’t make you less a man, as men we still had responsibilities to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves. You taught me that gay or bi didn’t have to be my whole personality, it was just a part of who I was. You gave me a memory of decency and strength. I’m eternally grateful.
I didn’t say the recognition was necessarily positive…
The fact that it’s not being censored by twitter is amazing in itself.
Give it time… The Twitter fact checkers will find some reason to shut down the hashtag as misinformation.
What’s happening is people all over the country are taking photos of empty shelves in grocery stores and posting them with #BareShelvesBiden. The fact that it’s trending on the Twitter platform is demonstrative of how wide spread shortages are becoming.
As I said I’m sure the Twitter fact checkers will find some reason to censor it. When they do, it’s possible that a large portions of people will have undeniable proof that Twitter is not the bastion of truth and honesty they believe it is. The real question will be; Are they going to believe their own eyes?
Biden is supposed to give a fiery speech about voter rights in GA today. He’s staunchly opposed to the new GA laws that are designed to prevent potential voter fraud.
He’s opposed to such heinous things as:
Not sending mail in ballots out automatically to all registered voters. A mail in ballot must be requested. Absentee ballots have a narrower window to be requested, however for voters over 65 once an absentee ballot is requested additional absentee ballots will automatically be sent for the duration of the election cycle. A voter will have to present ID to vote. If a voter doesn’t have a driver’s license, there are alternate methods of providing ID, A voter ID card, for example and other methods beyond that. Limitations on the number of voter drop boxes.
Apparently this is all racist voter suppression. I’m still unclear how it’s racist or voter suppression because these seem like fairly benign rules. Then again I’m an uneducated hayseed with no concept of how the “real” world works.
Apparently Biden thinks that him giving a speech in GA is going to help congress push their voter protection act.
Biden and his handlers haven’t yet learned that his speeches usually have the opposite intended effect. There will always be people that hang on Biden’s every word. But I think the majority of folks that bother to tune into his speeches are more interested in the tragic comedy of his gaffes.
I don’t think the price we’ve paid as a nation to free ourselves from “Mean Tweets” was worth it. On the other hand I’m glad Biden is The President.
I can think of no one who better exemplifies the failure of both political parties. In the rarified atmosphere of Washington DC politics If Joe Biden was the best they could do, we have much larger problems.
Sure, the Democratic Party shoved this dementia riddled old fossil down our throats, but the Republican Party has sat idly by and taken no action to remove him for incompetence. Both parties are content to continue their masturbatory hearings while the country “burns” so to speak. Both parties are like greedy parasites hungrily gorging, oblivious to the fact that their host is dying.
It’s entirely likely that in the midterms we’re going to see a Democrat rout. Generally speaking, people are seriously upset with the way things are going. I suspect that the Republicans may also see an unexpected turnover in their congressional ranks as well. People are just as pissed off about their inaction.
I wonder if we’ll see wailing and gnashing of teeth and endless recount demands after the midterm election. It will be interesting if recount demands and accusations of fraud come from both sides.
One of my Grandfathers said, “I hate all politicians. They’re liars, thieves, and corrupt to their core. I think the way to keep them in check, because we unfortunately need them, is to find the most corrupt two or three every year and hang them on the steps of the capital building. That would maybe serve as a reminder to the rest of ’em. On the other hand, it could just make ’em a lot more clever in their thievery.”
Grandpa was born in 1902. He was a plain spoken man. He was polite, but didn’t suffer fools or criminals. He was a lifelong Democrat and union member. He’d give you the shirt off his back if you asked, and were in need, but he’d beat you to death if you just tried to take something without asking.
He was a finished carpenter, as he and his neighbors aged and retired you could always find Grandpa anywhere in the neighborhood by following the sound of hammering. For as long as he was able, he repaired steps, doors, and windows, built ramps to peoples homes if needed, mended fences, or whatever. He did this without charge and was quite content if someone made him dinner or a nice pie as compensation. Some of his neighbors would do the maintenance on Grandpa’s car in exchange for his carpentry skills. He loved building things.
He was also incredibly hard on squirrels when we were hunting.
That’s an inside family joke. Several of us were hunting deer with Grandpa. It had been a bad day, and we were heading back to camp empty handed and depressed. As we rounded a curve on the trail, there was a very large squirrel in a tree. Grandpa just couldn’t go back empty handed. So he raised he rifle and fired. Grandpa forgot that his gun was loaded for deer not squirrel.
The poor creature exploded. Grandpa stood there for a second then said, “Damn! The meat is spoiled,” he shouldered his rifle and continued walking back to camp. For several years after that he’d go to the hunting camp with us but he wouldn’t join us in the hunt. He’d stay at the camp keep the fire stoked and the coffee hot. He’d be prepared to help us dress the meat if our hunt was successful and offer solace if our hunt wasn’t.
It seems that Grandpa concluded he was dangerous, since he’d forgotten something basic like what ammo was in his gun. He’d go to shooting ranges with us, and enjoyed target shooting but obliterating that squirrel signaled to him that his hunting days were past.
Grandpa accepted the limitations of advancing years with grace and humility.
So in the family, references to being hard on squirrels has much deeper and loving meaning. All of us who were with Grandpa that day smile and remember Grandpa fondly. The story has been passed to the next generation. Those who didn’t know Grandpa remember him through the story. He’s forever woven into the beautiful colorful fabric of our little tribe.
Joe Biden, and a lot of the other fossils in Congress need someone to tell them, “You’re really hard on squirrels,” though I suspect that they’re far too arrogant to accept the lesson.
That’s really a pity.
In my family, being told that, means you’re loved. It’s someone telling you, “we’ve got your back, we’ll take care of you right to the end, because you’re valuable to us. So rest easy Elder, ask us for whatever you need you’ll not go wanting, hungry, or alone.”
Maybe if more families thought that way, things would be better all around.
There’s security in that. It’s a feeling that I’m fortunate to have.
This dog is more of a clown than any dog I’ve ever had. That’s saying something.
All of my dogs have had personalities, for better or worse they’ve been individuals and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
This guy seems to have gone through the personality line twice when he was being built.
In this picture he was trying to hide from me. (Leash notwithstanding.) He was playing, “I’m going to hide and then jump out of the bushes and throw snow all over you.”
He’d gone behind the bush in the foreground and crouched, just as I got the camera ready he saw something across the wash so the picture caught him standing instead of in his goofy, “I’m hiding and you can’t see me crouch.“
At least he picked the right color bush to hide behind.
This dog loves the snow and cold more so than any other dog I’ve had. It can’t be too cold and the snow can’t be too high for him to be happy.
When he’s finally tired from the day’s goofiness then you get the other side of him.
The next photo is him realizing that I’ve just come from the kitchen. In his world this means that I must’ve made something for him. “Uh, no pup, I was stirring the soup but it’s not ready yet.”
This is the “I’m too cool for school look.“
A.K.A. Where is the food man?
He’s also taken to talking to me. He does these weird vocals that crack me up. There’s one in particular that means. “Dad. You’ve been looking at the computer too long, it’s time for us to go out and play.“
There is a lot of play and a lot of walks too.
Then at the end of the day, after the dinner plates have been cleared and the sun is setting there’s this. It’s not dignified but he seems comfortable. Although it does limit the use of the couch.
Other dogs were not allowed on the furniture, (unless my back was turned). With this guy, I realized I was fighting a losing battle and now I vacuum the floors and the furniture as part of the daily cleaning ritual.
This picture was taken after we’d been on a walk on a rainy day. Thank goodness he was dry by the time he’d moved to this nap position.
He’s been with me just over a year. He’s becoming a nice dog to have around. On our daily walks he’s alert and curious. More than once over the year he’s stopped on a trail, sniffed the air, then turned 180 and took us back the way we came.
I can only assume that he smelled something that he didn’t want any part of.
The next day, we’ll go through the same area and he doesn’t twitch at all.
He still hasn’t figured out the size difference between himself and deer. If we encounter a deer, hold on to your socks! It’s going to be a wild run/drag through the undergrowth and trees until the deer loses us.
Then he looks at me like it’s my fault the deer is gone. (He’s not wrong.) He is fast enough he could probably catch a deer if he wasn’t dragging my fat butt behind him. I have no idea what he’d do then, I seriously doubt he has a clue either.
The funniest thing he’s done, is stopping in front of a neighbor’s house whose Christmas decorations include a realistic looking plastic deer and fawn. He went on point and then was confused that the deer didn’t run. Then he started barking his fool head off at the plastic deer.
I was laughing so hard I was crying. The owner of the house came out to see what the ruckus was. He took the situation in, and busts up laughing. His wife came out to see what was going on and she busted up too.
Eventually the owner waved us up onto the lawn so my dog could sniff the deer and understand they weren’t real. All three of us were wiping tears of laughter from our faces watching the dog cautiously approach then jump away.
Finally he sniffs the plastic then looks at us with a WTF? look.
It was a nice way to meet the neighbors.
I also found that the guy has a wicked sense of humor.
He’s moving the deer around his yard and watching my dog stop to analyze the situation.
You can almost see the wheels turning in his head, “They’re not real, they smell like plastic, why do they keep moving?“
In the end, we come home and the dog sleeps on the matter.
It’s the simple things in life that bring the most joy…
I hope your Christmas season has a lot of joyous little moments and that you have the time to appreciate them.
Big news yesterday was that a bear wandered down from a mountain to the East, walked along my fence line and then through a neighbors garden then up the mountain to the South of the house.
Nothing at all unusual about that, well not to me at any rate.
I live in a canyon on a mountain. The peak to the south of me tops 8000 ft (maybe higher, I don’t feel like digging out the topo maps for an exact altitude.) I live at 6250 FT above sea level.
In this area we have bears, coyotes, bobcats, and the occasional cougar (mountain lion). We also have rabbits, raccoons, deer, bats, owls, and hawks. Not to mention a variety of snakes, poisonous and non poisonous.
Part of the reason I like living here is that there are birds in the trees, and wildlife is pretty abundant.
I get a kick out of the way people down below get their panties in a bunch when they see a critter.
On the one hand they’ll oooh and ahhh and protest about the destruction of the Brazilian habitat and yet they’ll freak out when they encounter a Coyote on a trail near their tract homes.
God forbid a Bear should walk through a neighborhood… Mountain Lions? You’d think that a T-Rex had been found alive.
(Down Below… That’s how we refer to the areas which are not Mountain towns. Yes it sounds effete and I guess it is, so what? Even my Orange County friends live on the top of a mountain, Yes, we do look down on some areas.)
I understand that these people are so disconnected from nature that the only way they ever interact with wildlife is via the Discover Channel, Green Peace, or a nice safe zoo.
Their support of environmental causes doesn’t do anything to minimize their blatant hypocrisy. There are times when I want to slap them and point out that protecting the environment starts at home.
Maybe people should tear down some of their 15FT high concrete walls around their homes. How about creating easements so that critters could once again migrate to better hunting grounds and sources of water easily?
Oh I see, that’s too scary… You’d have to be responsible and keep an eye on your kids & pets.
I get it, it’s the same mentality that says “put criminals in prison, but don’t build the prison near me.” Or “I want cheap clean electricity but it can’t be nuclear and solar panels are so ugly… Thank goodness my homeowner association won’t let those in our development.”
I got to thinking about these things because a neighbor has family visiting. The family is from one of the most artificial warrens of humanity I’ve ever seen… New York City.
The Grandmother was so freaked out by the fact that a bear had been sighted she’d been keeping the children inside for fear that the bear would carry them off and devour them.
She kept asking why no-one was concerned and why didn’t we contact animal control or the police? (I heard it all through the open windows, sound carries here in the canyon.)
She just assumed that the locals (us) didn’t have a plan.
Obviously we were ignorant savages because we weren’t freaking out about it. (Hummm now that sounds familiar… in what other context are people presumed to be too unintelligent to handle their own affairs?)
We do have a plan. When we see a bear we contact those people we know have kids first. Then folks with small pets. We inform each other that a bear or other critter is in the neighborhood and to take appropriate action.
Often this results in families gathered on their decks well above ground watching the critter pass harmlessly by. It’s a great show and we feel privileged to have been able to watch.
Then when the critter has gone, the kids, and dogs go back outside to play and life returns to normal.
We’re prepared, we keep our garbage in special containers and we don’t leave edible things outside to attract critters. We also know that most critters aren’t at all interested in us.
Coyotes & Hawks keep the rabbits, mice, and other rodents in check.
We don’t as a rule have to worry about gophers, squirrels, or rabbits, getting out of control in our gardens.
Sure, we might have to replant a few plants one morning but the telltale blood on the ground tells us that the rodent met it’s end.
Replanting a few plants is a small price to pay for not having to poison the environment.
Notice I said, “out of control”… I lose a few raspberries, blackberries, and apples each year to rodents and birds. I’m content to share, they have to eat too.
FYI there is nothing like watching a Hawk snatch a critter off the ground and fly off. It’s amazing. Yeah, I feel sorry for the critter but it’s not going to suffer.
I do my part, I accept losses in my garden so that I can witness hawks and snakes doing what comes naturally.
Watching coyotes hunt in the evening or the early morning is a study in teamwork. It’s very interesting to watch and surprisingly often, the prey slips between the coyotes paws and the pack goes hungry.
I enjoy the acrobatic flight of bats snagging insects out of the air.
When I get to watch a bear wander around. The light on their fur makes them look shiny. The last bear I saw had dark black fur but the sunlight playing across its shoulders hinted at a reddish undertone.
You think about bears and cougars as being somewhat monochromatic but they’re not. They have variations and each one is unique, just like people.
You can’t really appreciate that unless you get to watch them in their natural habitat.
All of these things are worth the minimal risks. The kids learn a lot more practical lessons and hopefully appreciate nature a little more than the denizens of glass and concrete.
My neighbors were trying to explain all of this to Grandma, but she was having none of it.
This was wild and uncontrolled (therefore dangerous) and we have to protect the children! I knew for sure that Grandma was from a big city when she said that.
Protecting children is obvious, for the most part instinctive, and even those like myself without children will go out of our way to protect them.
(“Protect the children” as a phrase has lost all meaning as it has been overused to forward an agenda. I personally believe that agenda will in fact increase the danger that children face. I’m a believer in knowledge and experience being far better protectors of children than fear and insulation from the world. That’s another completely different story, for another time.)
I couldn’t help but think about the noise that kids make. They’re loud and active and every animal on the planet knows that where there are young… Mama’s not too far away.
Nothing is more dangerous than a mother protecting her young. So between the noise and the mama rule… Critters are going to give the area a wide berth.
I thought I could have some fun by pointing out the wide variety of poisonous snakes and insects that no doubt existed where the kids had been playing. And that the kids were far more likely to break bones or come to other harm by running around barefoot in the yard.
Thus far I’ve refrained.
No sense in terrorizing Grandma, she’d just make it harder on the kids.
My neighbor pointed out to the Grandmother that I tended to keep an eye on the kids too.
I’m sure that raised eyebrows because so many people nowadays automatically assume the worst. At least it gave her something else to fixate on.
I notice the kids are outside running around enjoying themselves again.
Here’s the scoop. 
I finished cleaning the screen, then removed the creatures I could see, and waited for dusk. 
