49 responses to “Well, I’ll be damned.”

1. 

   Sammy said on March 14, 2009 at 3:54 pm

   Crocuses? Loverly!

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2. 

   A. Riley said on March 14, 2009 at 4:32 pm

   YAY!!!!!!

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3. 

   James said on March 14, 2009 at 4:32 pm

   I kept looking for the hidden thing underneath the crocuses…

   (see, it’s been Spring here in the South for weeks)

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4. 

   coozledad said on March 14, 2009 at 5:04 pm

   James: But 39 degrees and sopping wet here, after all that nice weather last week.

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5. 

   beb said on March 14, 2009 at 5:34 pm

   I was out cleaning the inside of my car this morning. It was so dank and muddy outside that when we went shopping at costco in the afternoon, I threw in a bouquet of flowers because I needed something gay and spring-like in the house. My wife like the gesture, which never hurts either. It’s been a long winter, Spring can’t come soon enough. (Summer, eh, can take it’s sweet time…)

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6. 

   James said on March 14, 2009 at 5:38 pm

   coozledad:

   Shhhhh! I’m trying to be superior here.

   (yeah… it’s 45º and pissing rain here in Atlanta)

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7. 

   Linda said on March 14, 2009 at 6:00 pm

   My crocus have been out nearly a week–the snow crocus. The giant ones haven’t poked out yet, but some daffs are heading up. It will go up and down for awhile, but it’s headed in the right direction.

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8. 

   beb said on March 14, 2009 at 6:03 pm

   There is this great photo in the Saturday Freep I’m trying to find a link to, for your enjoyment. It’s on page A5 and shows a man in Linwood, Michigan trying to remove the ice floes that have been blown off the lake unto his backyard. He’s brought in an industrial size backhoe. It’s sitting on a pile that as high as the houses eaves!

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9. 

   crinoidgirl said on March 14, 2009 at 7:49 pm

   Here ya go, pic on the right of the page.

   http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009903140341

   (Looks more spectacular on paper, but still…)

   Here’s Linwood:

   http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

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10. 

    coozledad said on March 14, 2009 at 7:55 pm

    Some of y’all might find this amusing. This rail bridge in downtown Durham, NC is located near a bunch of restaurants and shops. I’ve personally heard two of these tall truck encounters while lunching at a porch-equipped dining establishment. It sounds like a bomb going off. You’ve got to feel for the truckers who missed the warning light. HT bullcityrising.com
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4KP8gR9zcc&eurl=http://www.bullcityrising.com/

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11. 

    Rana said on March 14, 2009 at 8:01 pm

    One of the signs here is the availability of fresh-cut daffodils in the local stores. I’ve been buying a few every time I go shopping, and now the house smells of them.

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12. 

    beb said on March 14, 2009 at 9:19 pm

    Thanks, crinoidgirl. I *could* *not* find the pic on the web.

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13. 

    Dexter said on March 14, 2009 at 9:46 pm

    My blogger buddy Craig in D.C. posted this last year in April when the campaign was still to bud; this is a cute video.
    Two weeks ago he told Imus that the squirrels were eating his tulips, and he was going to have to do something about that…Imus told him to get a shotgun.

    http://tinyurl.com/brnlj5

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14. 

    Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 14, 2009 at 10:22 pm

    Sheer pride and happiness this evening bids me post this — those not interested in what other people’s kids have done (and really, you aren’t obligated to care a whit), don’t click it:

    http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=62789&id=811054678&l=30de53b9ab

    It makes me almost as happy as crocuses and robins and shopping for a new mower . . . no, happier. Much.

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15. 

    michaela said on March 14, 2009 at 10:36 pm

    We saw our first crocus in bloom this morning! And to make my purple-obsessed toddler even crazier, it happened to be a purple one poking out through the dirty snow and random bits of flotsam that are surfacing these last few weeks. We are all battling the end-of-winter colds here in Maine, and the crocuses make me hope that one day soon the hacking up of lungs will cease.

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16. 

    Colleen said on March 14, 2009 at 10:37 pm

    I was all squee in my yard this afternoon, seeing the little bulbs I planted last fall (hundreds, if I counted right) peeking up. Come ooonnnnn spring!

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17. 

    basset said on March 14, 2009 at 11:27 pm

    I know you’re proud of him, Jeff… my son did his Blue & Gold several years ago & made Eagle in ’07, video of his Eagle project is here:

    http://www.tnwildside.org/stories.asp?Story=746

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18. 

    Gasman said on March 15, 2009 at 2:13 am

    I tilled up our garden today and will be planting peas, radishes, lettuce, and anything else that doesn’t have to wait until after the last frost. I’ve got about 8 months worth of stinky compost that’s just about ready too. Our growing season is damn short in the mountains – we often get frosts in early September. If you wait very long, nothing matures.

    The birds are checking out our nest boxes. Spring must be coming.

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19. 

    kayak woman said on March 15, 2009 at 9:29 am

    I did a double-take when I saw that picture. I could’ve sworn it was one I took in *my* backyard last week. I labeled it crocuses but there’s a bit of dispute as Sam (your 1st commenter) thinks they’re daffs. I’ve had both in my back yard for 25 years but I have a black thumb, so darned if I know what I photographed. We’ll just have to wait and see what comes up.

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20. 

    Deborah said on March 15, 2009 at 11:18 am

    Greetings from Abiquiu, New Mexico. we’re here for our annual spring trip. We were last here for the Christmas holidays. We try to come once every season. It’s barely beginning to be spring here. The only evidence of spring so far is that the willow trees are greening. These are not the weeping willows they have in the midwest, these look like yellowish green tree afro’s. It’s warmer than Chicago though so I’m not complaining one bit. And I actually saw crocus shoots in Chicago last week too.

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21. 

    moe99 said on March 15, 2009 at 11:23 am

    It’s snowing in Seattle, big puffy flakes that are covering the daffodils and crocii (?) that have already bloomed. Sigh.

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22. 

    beb said on March 15, 2009 at 12:05 pm

    The Poorman while writing about how we’re going to finance the Stimulus makes a “Modest” suggestion — Raise the Estate tax, i.e., the “death” tax to 100%. He argues:
    <Think about the rich kids in public life: George W. Bush, Jonah Goldberg, Bill Kristol, George Steinbrenner, Paris Hilton, etc. Dumb, angry, entitled, douchebags. So, when you think about it, taking away a burdensome inheritance and forcing them to deal with life’s problems like the rest of us is a kindness, and will help our nation’s fortunate sons and daughters be happier, more productive, and more connected to the lives and concerns of their fellow citizens. The nasty politics, the drug habits, the superior attitude – these are all signs of profound social and spiritual alienation. So while society would be taking away “their” money, they would be receiving something infinitely more valuable in return: LOVE. Because that’s what life is all about [http://thepoorman.net/2009/03/13/in-praise-of-class-warfare/]

    I love me some snark in the morning.

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23. 

    jeff borden said on March 15, 2009 at 12:33 pm

    I interviewed the father of Bill Gates a few years ago, who is an outspoken advocate for not leaving lots of money to your kids. (Like Bill would need it, but his dad did make a good living as, I believe, a lawyer.) He’s on the same page as The Poorman, arguing it kills initiative and rewards complacency. It is certainly irritating to read the names above –particularly the extraordinarily untalented hacks like Goldberg and Kristol, whose punditry makes your average weather forecaster look like the Oracle of Delphi– and it would be fun to watch any of that group try to make their way through life without benefit of their family fortunes.

    For spring, I would like to plant Dick Cheney. I see that bullet-headed bastard is on the attack today, inexplicably given time to fluff W. and trash President Obama, despite the utter failure of the admininistration he ran.If you planted Dick Cheney, what would spring up? Poison Ivy? Wormwood? Weeping willows??

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24. 

    beb said on March 15, 2009 at 12:50 pm

    “If you planted Dick Cheney, what would spring up? Poison Ivy? Wormwood? Weeping willows??”

    Gall, Jeff. Lots and lots of gall.

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25. 

    Catherine said on March 15, 2009 at 12:54 pm

    Jeff and Basset, thanks for the Scouts sharing. What a great tradition for them to be part of. My girls are madly doing service projects and selling cookies so that they can bridge in May. 8 YO will walk across the Colorado St. bridge here in Pasadena and become a Junior:
    http://tinyurl.com/ck85sy
    And the 11 YO will cross the SF Golden Gate to Cadets. I’m bringing hankies to both events.

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26. 

    Catherine said on March 15, 2009 at 1:08 pm

    Wow, I just saw that Cheney interview on CNN. I can’t quite wish him (or anyone) “planted,” but I sure do wish he would crawl back under his rock and STFU. Isn’t that what anyone with an ounce of grace does when a new president comes into office? Not to mention, when his party has so decisively lost.

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27. 

    jeff borden said on March 15, 2009 at 2:22 pm

    On second thought, I doubt anything would grow wherever you planted the rat bastard Cheney. It would be like spreading radioactive waste.

    The sight of a soulless creep who somehow finagled five deferments to avoid service in Vietnam acting all tough guy for the cameras is beyond nauseating. I’d enjoy seeing how tough Deadeye Dick would act if he were charged with the crimes he committed while veep. He’d probably curl into a fetal ball and sob.

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28. 

    MaryRC said on March 15, 2009 at 2:23 pm

    I’m thinking about the Poorman’s comment that beb quoted, specifically the examples he cited and really, it’s not the money — it’s the connections. I don’t imagine the Kristols or the Goldbergs or the Podhoretzes, to name another family that handed their kid a job on a platter, are or were millionaires but their offspring have landed in cushy jobs because of their parents. Same with George W. — his way was paved because of who his dad and grandfather were, not necessarily because of the Bush family money.

    And I kind of like Paris Hilton. She does work — even if it’s only to keep herself in the public eye. She doesn’t really seem entitled to me. And I see a glimmer of a sense of humor about herself.

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29. 

    coozledad said on March 15, 2009 at 2:26 pm

    Cheney has to know it was his spectacular incompetence that killed three thousand people at the World Trade Center. The cokeslut figurehead was never even part of the equation. We essentially paid George to what he’s done all his life, which is wave his balls in people’s faces and dare them to do shit about it. Now all they’ve got is masturbatory fantasies about the death of more Americans to keep them and the base reaching for the Jergens. Despicable people. I hope this administration is keeping an eye on them.

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30. 

    jeff borden said on March 15, 2009 at 3:31 pm

    Cooz,

    That’s the real genius of the Bush Administration. . .sidestepping culpability for 9/11 and painting itself as the decisive defender of America. Maybe if the wee man from Crawford had read that directive back in August 2001. . .or maybe if Condoleeza Rice had paid attention to the briefings of her predecessor that the biggest danger facing the country was Islamic fundamentalists. . .maybe we might have been able to prevent the attacks. Maybe not. The point is these guys were in their chairs when the worst terrorist attacks in the history of our country occurred, but they sloughed off every shred of responsibility for those attacks.

    I wish I were more religious so I could believe that W., Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Wolfowitz, Perle, Libby, Addington, Yoo, Gonzales and their cheerleaders in Congress would indeed suffer for all eternity. Unfortunately, I don’t. And the prospects of them receiving justice in this life is slim to none.

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31. 

    moe99 said on March 15, 2009 at 3:33 pm

    I bet someone here would know the answer. My grandmother, a dyed in the wool Republican from NW Ohio (Defiance and Paulding to be exact), went for a year to Miami University in Oxford, Oh. At some point when George HW Bush was Vice President, I recall my grandmother telling my that Prescott Bush (she called him “Pres”) was a BMOC on the campus of Miami when she was a coed there. I cannot find any verification whether that’s true or not. Prescott Bush graduated from Yale, iirc. Does anyone here know anything about this? Thanks.

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32. 

    Snarkworth said on March 15, 2009 at 3:42 pm

    Moe, I think Barbara Bush’s parents went to Miami/Ohio. I’ll e-mail my friend who works in the development office.

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33. 

    Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 15, 2009 at 4:41 pm

    I do know that Prescott’s dad, Samuel, i believe, is buried in Greenlawn Cemetery in Columbus, Ohio.

    Catherine, i strongly endorse hankie preparedness for those events. Cried like a sensitive new age guy last night, didn’t care who saw. Then they invited me to come up with the Cubmaster and they had the two of us crossover, too, and i wished i had a hankie.

    Our pack-troop group has a little bridge in three sections, the middle part elevated a bit and we use dryer vent and a bin full of dry ice that gets a teapot full of boiling water to create the “river flowing” underneath on stage, that we store with the Pinewood Derby track. After the Blue & Gold banquet, the crossovers get to sign the underside of it before it gets stored away for another year (and the troop invited me and Al to sign that, too). But i love the idea of crossing a big, honking, vivid, non-metaphoric metaphor! And you could take sharpies and sign the underside of it, i guess, except there’d be a $500 fine for tagging. Guess you shouldn’t.

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34. 

    Sue said on March 15, 2009 at 5:24 pm

    MMJeff, just skimming today, so maybe I missed an explanation – what’s blue and gold? Gotta go, will check in tomorrow.

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35. 

    LA Mary said on March 15, 2009 at 6:30 pm

    I went to the big farmers market in Hollywood this morning and it was full of green garlic and leeks and fennel and more types of kale than I knew existed. I spent 40 bucks and came home with four big canvas bags of great stuff. We had sauteed kale with green garlic and a fritatta made with local cheddar and spring onions for lunch. I’m looking forward to using the carrots, cauliflower, golden beets fennel and leeks this week. Dinner tomorrow will be bay scallops with fennel and leeks. Maybe I’ll roast the beets.

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36. 

    Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 15, 2009 at 6:37 pm

    Oh ho — Blue & Gold banquet is the traditional once-a-year dinner for a Cub Scout pack where the awards are given and the oldest boys “crossover” to Boy Scouts, like a “flyup” for Girl Scouts; if you can stomach more about a particular one . . .

    http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1359378&l=089266dab7&id=811054678

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37. 

    Gasman said on March 15, 2009 at 7:19 pm

    Deborah,
    Even though Los Alamos and Abiquiu are only about 35 mins. apart (for the sake of everyone else unfamiliar with NM geography), we appear to be having much more spring than you. We’ve had crocuses out for at least 10 days. We also had a decent snowfall on Friday. This is the fickle time for mountain weather.

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38. 

    Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 15, 2009 at 9:28 pm

    Of course, you’re likely to be on a south facing slope in Los Alamos, Gasman, while Deborah is more likely to be facing north-ish (but that’s general topography, and your immediate locale may differ); that would be worth a hundred miles or two in latitude.

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39. 

    beb said on March 15, 2009 at 9:30 pm

    Sat outside for a little bit on our glider this evening. It was kind of cool, but not cold enough to enjoy the spring-like evening. It was great.

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40. 

    MichaelG said on March 15, 2009 at 11:11 pm

    Damn, Mary. I had planned to go to the farmers market today for the first time this year but it was raining so I rolled over and pulled the covers over my head. Next week.

    My grandson the Cub Scout and his mom the den leader notwithstanding the blue and gold is Cal.

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41. 

    Deborah said on March 15, 2009 at 11:23 pm

    Gasman,

    I was out more today, just arrived yesterday, and you are right there are more signs of spring than I thought. Some kind of yellow flowers are beginning to bud right outside our window today. A glorious day, all sunshine and light winds. We ate our dinner outside, wearing jackets, but still. Earlier took a hike in the arroyos around our property, had to take my sweater off and just wear my T-shirt. I’m sun burned!

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42. 

    Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 15, 2009 at 11:37 pm

    Deborah and Gasman, you both might find yourselves fascinated by a book i only just got around to reading, released in 2001 and still in print in pb — http://www.anasaziamerica.com — we’re looking at it closely these days as we try to understand, in central Ohio, what happened around 450 AD to the Ohio Hopewell. Their story is starting to look very similar to how the Hisatsinom/Anasazi responded, following 1100 AD, in your neck of the woods. Success is followed by explosive growth followed by maladaption followed by dispersal and reformulation of society in smaller, more adaptable units . . . and of course, there may be some lessons for circa 2010 AD.

    At any rate, “Anasazi America” is compelling read even for folks with barely a passing interest in archaeology. IMHO.

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43. 

    Catherine said on March 16, 2009 at 12:19 am

    Jeff, that book sounds fascinating & I just put it on my amazon wish list. Have you read Constant Battles: Why We Fight? The thesis is that warfare was much more a factor in pre-history than we, with our postmodern blinders, necessarily see. We expect to find the noble savage, for the most part at one with the environment. Once we start looking for the (culturally specific) signs of warfare, they’re everywhere. The author, who has excavated throughout the Southwest, suggests that in Chaco, at least, climate change led to decreased carrying capacity, led to war, led to the abrupt decline of an amazing civilization. Lessons for 2010, indeed.

    PS: Nancy, do you get any $$ for amazon plugs? cuz we’re rife with ’em.

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44. 

    Gasman said on March 16, 2009 at 12:24 am

    Jeff (tmmo),
    Not much southern facing anything here – well, it’s less important than the east-west orientation. Los Alamos is nestled on the east side of the Jemez Mountains. I am actually in White Rock – 10 miles from “the Hill”, and we slightly more removed from the mountains. However, the crocuses which I saw were in Los Alamos proper, about 1/4 mile from the front range of the Jemez. Weather in White Rock is usually about the same as Santa Fe, while Los Alamos gets a bit more precip and is usually cooler.

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45. 

    Gasman said on March 16, 2009 at 1:11 am

    Jeff & Catherine,
    I remember reading of a theory posited by some anthropologists about 2 years ago that really pissed off the local descendants of the Anasazi, the Tewa, Towa, and Tiwa speaking peoples of the surrounding pueblos. The hypothesis was that it was cannibalism which helped lead to the demise of the Anasazi. The cannibals in question were supposedly the descendants of the Maya, who would have migrated north from Mexico. There is apparently fairly compelling evidence that people munching occurred – telltale remnants in human poo, and all. Nevertheless, the local pueblo people are none too fond of that theory.

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46. 

    Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 16, 2009 at 6:48 am

    The Puebloans are truly ticked about that work, but the data sure don’t seem to be lying (my favorite archaeological word – coprolite!).

    http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/06/0601_wireanasazi.html

    Not so much descendants, though, but Tewans may have, through trade and contacts, picked up cultural habits from the Maya, such as “eat your enemies and find a whole new avenue to success!” That and the stresses that led to the breakdown of the San Juan watershed era of their society focused on Pueblo Bonita and Kiva Rinconada clearly led to bad things happening in their cookpots, whatever the destination of the contents, What should be good news to the modern Puebloans, and what Stuart’s book i linked to above argues, is that they did not vanish or collapse after a generation eating (or at least cooking) a victim/enemy group, but “re-booted” their culture, dispersing quite successfully in two (ok, three) major contingents — the Hopi, the Zuni, and the Rio Grande Pueblos, where they became a new but remarkably stable cultural group right down to the present day.

    I’m no doomsayer, but if there was some sort of major economic collapse, i’d put my money on the Hopi being around 100 years after, while the scraps of suburban lifestyles would be as useless and esoteric as Linear B. Of course, no one wants to hear that great-grandpa was a horsethief, so there won’t be much happiness from any Tewans over discussions by archaeologists over who ate whom.

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47. 

    beb said on March 16, 2009 at 7:42 am

    Jared Diamond talked about the Pueblo dwellers in his book, Collapse, and about the evidence for cannabilism. He concluded that the cannabilism happened after their agriculture had started to collapse, and happened because the people were starving. And not that it was any part of their traditional culture.

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48. 

    nancy said on March 16, 2009 at 8:37 am

    Interesting term I learned from that article — “pot polish,” the characteristic wear on bones that comes from bobbing around in the boiling stew for a few hours. Man-meat takes a long simmer to tenderize, I guess.

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49. 

    Catherine said on March 16, 2009 at 10:25 am

    Linear B — useless? esoteric?? OK, Jeff, you must really want an argument. Now, Linear A, that I could go along with. 🙂

    I have a friend who claimed to have excavated the largest human coprolite ever found (in Turkey). But, if you google that term, you’ll find a lot of contenders.

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