A Squirrely Day

An odd day so far...

Jim hits his head, starts to bleed.  Not good, because he's on medication that affects bleeding and bruising --  the simplest cut bleeds profusely and takes a long time to heal. Scary but we think it'll be okay. Keeping a watch on it of course.

A few minutes after that, we're sitting in the living room, reading, when we hear strange sounds from the side of the house. Loud, scrambling scratching sounds. It sounded close to the sound a cat makes when it scratches its claws on wood. I had a fleeting thought it was one of our cats outside scratching on the side of the house, which has never happened, and, that would be one huge cat to make such a loud noise.

Then we hear something falling down the chimney and into our fireplace. Yep, a squirrel! Fortunately for us we have a wood stove insert, and the squirrel can't get out into the house. But the poor thing is stuck inside, terrified of course, and we're sitting here listening to its frantic scrambling. We wouldn't try to do anything ourselves; Jim can't afford to get bit or scratched, we have four cats, and the last thing I want in this crazy house of ours is a loose squirrel running around.

I've called Willamette Wildlife Rehabilitation and left messages. Our neighbor tells us they respond no matter what the hour or day of the week so we're hoping they call us back soon.

This is not the first time this has happened; a squirrel fell down our chimney a few years ago. Jim climbed up on the roof and put a cap on the chimney at the time. We've had a few storms and snow so no doubt things got out of alignment up there.

Superbowl Sunday. Not that I care about that, I don't, not one bit, but Jim does, (as I realize half of America) and all he wanted to do was relax and watch the game. Poor sweetie.

image: courtesy of Public Domain Image.

More Bird Falls; Cover-Up's Begun?

On New Years, we saw roughly five thousand birds, mostly blackbirds, fall from the skies in Beebe, Arkansas. Authorities quickly arrived, in haz mat suits. Reasons from officials as to the cause of the birds falling to their deaths included spooked/disoriented from fireworks, storms... now it seems clear something else is afoot. Now Dead Birds Found In Louisiana:

Today in LaBarre, Louisiana, about 500 dead blackbirds and starlings were discovered, say wildlife officials. The birds were discovered lying dead on roads between Morganza, La. and New Roads, La. on highway 10.

And an as yet unconfirmed story of "10,000 birds" falling to their death in Manitoba, where authorities refused to talk to reporters.
10,000s of Birds found dead in Manitoba Authorities in Louisiana are telling people not to touch the birds, even though Dr. Jim LaCour with Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries "suggested that there might be no connection to the die-off in Arkansas on New Year's Eve and the one today in Louisiana."


An update on the Arkansas bird fall; the birds died from "blunt trauma" to their organs, mainly the liver . . . in mid-air! This suggests, possibly, some sort of weapons technology being tested. Sub-sonic is one possibility.

Arkansas State Veterinarian Dr. George Badley tells Today's THV that preliminary test results show thousands of birds died mid-air due to multiple blunt trauma to their vital organs.


" Its not that unusual but that many it make you think that its not a disease its something cataclysmic that happened all at one time," says Badley.

Omens on the Coast

Of dead birds, pink starfish, and Stonefield Beach . . .

We had a wonderful time on the coast over Thanksgiving. We stayed in Yachats, and took a lovely, if a bit spooky, walk on the beach. This particular beach is one in front of the motel (The Silver Surf) where we stayed, and very different from the surrounding beaches. That's one of the things I enjoy about the Oregon coast: it's diversity within a small area.

There isn't much area between ocean and where property sits. You really have to be aware of when the tides come in or you're in trouble. We saw several of these little niches or "cave-lets" as Jim called them; little grottoes within the sandstone. Hide aways for Bigfoot? :) But as always, when exploring the coastal area, my thoughts turn to Bigfoot!

A pink sea-star washed up on the shore, which is not necessarily unusual, but it reminded me of the odd story back in October back about the hundreds of pink sea-stars washing up in the area. It's been a few years since I'd seen sea stars washed up on the beach, this was my first one in a long time.

It's not unusual to see dead birds on the beach either; I often come across a dead gull or some other type of bird while walking on the beach. But this time, I found four dead birds: three gulls and one crow, in a sort of curved row. Very odd to see so many birds in the same spot like that; in a long line, about five feet from each other. The next day, about a quarter mile from the motel, we saw a gull standing in the middle of the highway. Birds always fly off when you get close, but this gull just stood there, and Jim had to swerve to avoid hitting it. The gull was standing over -- and eating -- a gull carcass. About an hour later, as we were driving back, we saw what we assumed was the same bird, dead on the road, near the cannibalized gull.

I also had the joy of watching a pelican hover, swoop and hunt above the sea, among all the gulls. At first we didn't know what we were looking at; one very large dark bird among all the whitish gray gulls. Was it a large gull, an osprey? We couldn't tell at first, then realized it was a pelican. I'd seen pelicans before of course, but usually, they're just sitting around. I'd never seen one fly about and "fish" before. I don't know, but it seems like it was unusual to see it by itself; I've always seen pelicans in flocks.

I had wanted to explore Stonefield Beach; but when we turned onto the drive we found a sign announcing  that the park was closed. Very interesting; locals, according to this article, are annoyed at tourists in the area but I find that a strange response. The whole coast is a tourist area, particularly around there; plenty of areas to hike, hunt, fish, explore. I didn't notice other beaches in the area that were closed. It's possible Stonefield was closed for other reasons having to do with safety; I can't see authorities giving in to locals who might complain about peole on the beach. If that were true, the whole coast would be closed down. My interest in the checking out that area has to do wtih local lore about UFOs, aliens, and other high strangeness.

We have a great time, and the motel we stayed at was very nice but we had some odd moments of electrical high strangeness. (Not a complaint at all, just observation.)  The phone in the room kept beeping; we finally had to disconnect it. My camera did something it had never done before; I went to turn it off, and all this static happened; lots of weird bands and a kind of strobing effect. WiFi was out, but that's not unusual on the coast; I did get it fine the next day, to my surprise, because it was much stormier this morning than it had been the last two nights.  A light wouldn't come on at all, we gave up, but the next day, it was fine and  came on with no trouble. Topping things off, I found the strangest message on my answering machine when I got home; electronic buzzings and beepings, a computerized voice telling me I was being sent a text message on my land line, a string of numbers, and it wasn't from anyone I know, yet did have something to do with an interest of mine, though no one I know who's aware of that interest  has my land line number... very odd.

Related posts
Stonefield Beach on Oregon L.O.W.F.I.
On Orange Orb: Oregon Coast: Bird Omens, Sky Weirdness

Forget Pink Plastic Piggy Banks: Get the Real (Dead) Thing

Animal activists, as well as just, well, sane people, are creeped out by TheCheeky.com's offering of a piggy bank. (See Animal Activists Aflutter Over Real-Piglet Piggy Bank.) New take on a classic and iconic "toy" -- this one is a real pig. A dead pig, er, piglet, one that's been properly taxidermied. And they cost only $4,000.00 apiece. 

The company insists they find piglets that have died of "natural causes," and that's partly why the price tag is so high. Takes time to find a pristine piglet newly dead from natural causes.


The Winnipeg Humane Society commented that the bank is "a particularly callous and demeaning exploitation of a baby animal's dead body."

Again, the company insists no piglets are killed or abused, and the company seems baffled by the outcry, misunderstanding the general aura of Dr. Evil Gratuitous creepiness about the whole thing:

For some reason, people think we're breeding pigs with slots in their backs," he said. "Either these people are kids, or they're really, really special adults."

Hart, one of the founders of the company, is not for animal cruelty and agrees with animal welfare activists:

"It's important for people to back up animals, who can't speak," he agreed, "but we're not killing any animals."
 

But back to that creepy vibe; it seems Hart and his partner Ryan McCormick don't get it, or, maybe are just misunderstood in their twisted sense of humor view of the world, for another one of their products are "Glory Hole stickers." These tasteful items can be used thusly:

The stickers can be slapped on the walls of bathroom stalls to give the impression that the occupant is being watched.

At least they don't cost $4,000.00. I don't think. Unless they're made from pigskin maybe.

Deer are Stealing Xmas

Here's another example of deer and human colliding: A Rogue Valley (Oregon) Christmas tree farmer says deer are causing damage to his crop. Other xmas tree farmers are having the same problem.

Larry Ryerson with the U-Cut Christmas Tree Farm in Medford estimates that deer have gotten to about 1,000 of their 10,000 trees. They say bucks can even ruin some trees beyond repair.

It seems there's been a "deer meme" what with reports of aggressive deer -- termed so because they're attacking humans on our own turf -- crashing through windows, chasing after dogs, etc. Despite commenting that xmas tree farmers still expect a good crop this year, even with the deer damage, the idea of deer causing trouble for humans seemed noteworthy enough to write an article about it, no matter how short.


My point here isn't that I'm not sympathetic to those losing their livelihood. I'mjust struck by the Fortean irony and juxtapositions of Christmas trees and deer as iconic symbols on the one hand, and a would be battle between human and deer on the other, as one tries to earn a living by ensuring the availability of one product (xmas tree) while fighting against another (deer) who has been invited, even though unintentionally, by the plethora of trees in its habitat.

More here.