All the corvids appear to be highly intelligent. They’re capable of solving problems and using tools.
I’ve seen a documentary where scientists have demonstrated that crows are capable of passing along learned experiences to their offspring.
The scientists wore masks and did something that scared/harassed the parents before the eggs hatched, then left and only came back with their their unmasked faces. They tracked the offspring and when the offspring were nesting somewhere nowhere close to the parents, wore the same masks and just walked by the new nests. The offspring crows, which had never, ever seen those masks before, would sound the alarm when the masked scientists reappeared.
And I seem to recall a story where they actually attacked someone who was hassling a person who’d been feeding them for a while, à la The Birds, and drove the harasser off, but I might be thinking of a fiction story as opposed to a news story on that last.
My mom’s independent living place is now on total lock down. They had been opening up with face to face visits. Back to waving at her window. I am glad they are taking precautions. But I miss my mum!
Just an update – my wife is STILL in the ICU. They had to reinsert the breathing tube on Thursday, and then swapped it out on Friday for a tracheostomy tube (safer, they say, and more effective).
There’s also pretty clearly some kind of infection–they’re talking maybe c. diff or sepsis, but no one knows for sure, and of course it’s a weekend so we probably won’t know anything till Monday. If then.
I was there today, in addition to a couple of times during the week, and she’s…barely present. She can’t talk of course, but she’s not responding to much of anything from outside her. No one seems terribly concerned about it, which is good I suppose, but still…
Thanks for the kind words, those of you who have posted in support. They are appreciated!
So, like everyone, I’m getting old. I feel it every day. Joints ache, less flexibility, I get tired more often, putting on weight, I have acid reflux, etc. If I describe such things to a Doctor they would say “Well, of course. You’re just getting old, aren’t you? It’s what happens.”
But when I tell anyone else “I’m starting to feel old” they start regaling me with reassurances and platitudes like “You don’t look 50” and “Age is just a number!” and “You look great! What’s the problem?”
All completely unhelpful bullshit that misses my entire point, which is: as I age my options become more limited. People won’t hire me, I can’t do physical tasks as easily or at all, I can’t walk as far or as quickly, I can’t stand up for longer than 30 minutes before needing a rest, and it’s all just going to steadily get worse from here on out.
Telling me “50 is the new 40” is really not what I need to hear from anyone. What I want is acknowledgement of the facts, accommodation of my new limitations, and some basic listening skills of what I am actually telling you about myself!
We mulch planting beds with grass/leaf clippings bagged while mowing. This year a windstorm blew all of the leaves out of our yard, into one of the horse pastures. I thought it saved me a ton of work and was thrilled.
Turns out my gf’s still wanted shredded leaves for her plant beds. So I had to go out after leaves. Twice the work than if the leaves weren’t blown away.
Funny how, no matter how egalitarian a marriage, there are still some jobs…
My wife: “I admire your feminism. But not right now. Now the rain gutters are full of leaves.”
or, the latest: “Hey, Mister Hunter/Gatherer, can you go hunt/gather us some takeout jambalaya?”
Have you tried calling your city / locality? Where I live, when the city cuts down or trims trees, they chip everything and it’s available to anyone with shovels and buckets.
@GuanoLad I feel your pain. I know I was much healthier prior to kidney transplant (thank you pandemic) and I hate there is so much I could do two years ago compared to now. When I talk to my doctor about it I hear “You know you’re 51…”
Try to discuss insomnia? “As you get older…”
Try to discuss neck pain? “Well, you probably have arthritis, it’s common at your age…”
Fuck you so very much, doc. Go back to your lollipop.
Regarding my crow buddies: while I don’t have them bringing me gifts, if I go sit out front one or two will always join me. They hang out in the tree, cawing and dancing. I’ve been told it can be creepy to drive past my house and see a dozen sunning themselves on my roof.
I wish! I was sure she was sedated when I was here on Thursday, and even said “How much sedation is she on right now?” To which the answer was “None.” No sedation today either. Though I’m sure there’s still vestiges of the anesthetic they used to do the tracheotomy on Friday. She’s asleep right now, which is probably a good thing.
Whelp. Our power is out. Estimated time is restoration is 48 hours. And it’s cold. So we are packing up allll the baby stuff and heading to a hotel. I’m extremely anxious about the baby not adjusting well to hotel life, but what else can we do? All family members in the area are reckless about COVID, so hotel it is.
I don’t remember how old your baby is, but if she is not mobile yet, it will probably (fingers crossed) make no difference to her at all - fed, changed, and smiled at makes a happy baby.
If mobile, a hotel is an adventure in new things to explore, so a happy time for the kid (maybe not so much for you).
The SpiceKit is around half a year old IIRC (spring baby, yes?) and so - and I say this with much love @Spice_Weasel - I doubt a baby at that age would give a shit.
The giving-a-shit is very much real for the adults, though. Sorry your power is out & you have to temporarily relocate. There’s no place like home.
So, I had to stop taking Abilify due to my pregnancy. It’s not that it is super dangerous, its more that it hasn’t been studied. Well, today, I am really feeling the lack of it. I slept basically not at all and I am tired, empty and just overwhelmingly sad. Stupid brains.
Some of my husband’s Trump-loving family visited us this weekend. Before they arrived, I asked my husband not to bring up politics, and if they happened to come up, just leave me out of it.
So they came over, and one of them said, “I don’t see many signs up…do you have a lot of conservatives out here?”
My husband says, “Some, yeah…I couldn’t have voted for Trump, though, because my wife….oops, she told me not to say that!”
