Open Thread – Cow Parsnip
The lowly cow parsnip is a plant for all seasons. Even in winter, it’s dramatic skeleton makes interesting viewing. In the summer it’s covered with little white umbrellas of flowers. And brushing up against it can cause painful red blisters on some people (points at self). But now the old bones are impotent and stand like markers along the edges of trails, and open damp areas. We had a fresh snowfall today, and the dead stems caught the flurries like little cups. One seed still clings and has persevered through rain, snow and gale force winds. Tenacity can come in unexpected places.
Heracleum Lanatum. umbelliferae family. Used to call them snow flowers in the winter as a kid on Kodiak. Pooshkie is the Russian name by which it is called in Kodiak, which I use. It is in the same family as Queen Anne’s Lace, as well as celery, carrots, parsley, lovage, maggiekraut, etc. Also the poisonous water hemlock. The root is edible if cooked, though I haven’t known anyone who actually did it. Bears eat the seeds, which seem to mostly go right through.
Sweet photo.
Ouch…that’s gonna leave a mark! When ADN asked readers to rate Alaskan-based reality shows, Caribou Barbie did NOT do well:
“We recently asked readers on adn.com to grade each show on a scale of one (awful) to five (skookum!) and explain what they love or hate about each series.
“Deadliest Catch” and “Flying Wild Alaska” received the highest marks. After a strong start in the voting, “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” tanked, with 44 percent of participants giving it the lowest rating possible.”
http://www.adn.com/2011/02/11/1699528/alaska-based-shows-what-do-the.html
Yeah, I think a lot of Alaskans watch the little girl who didn’t even know how to work the action on a rifle, and daddy had to help her — and thought “she tried to tell us she is a lifetime hunter? Whadda pile of scat!”
Breaking news!
Immediately after leaving office this fall,
Mubarak will begin production on TLC Reality show
“Hosni Mubarak’s Alaska.”
Apologies if this has already been posted. I just came across it elsewhere on the web and snorted my tea.
Interesting article in today’s Des Moines Register written by Rekha Basu(opinion). Go to [email protected]-persistent dreamer and scroll down to related links for When Your Conscience Misguides. These religious zealots are everywhere,including the “Hawkeye State”. My first attempt to post a link. Please bear with me. Thank you.
Try this link for the Rekha Basu column —
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110213/BASU/102130309/Basu-When-your-conscience-misguides
Muchas gracias slipstream. You saved my bacon.
Bacon! Yummmm!
So many great articles today….one more:
“As the sun rose on the Frankfort capitol in Kentucky on this beautiful winter morning, 14 anti-mountaintop removal activists were already in meetings on the third day of their historic protest. After marking the second night on the floors and chairs in their Kentucky Rising occupation of Gov. Steve Beshear’s office, four of the sit-in participants, including the celebrated author Wendell Berry, appeared at the east capitol entrance for an exclusive interview with Huffington Post blogger Jeff Biggers and Kentucky filmmaker Ben Evans.”…………….
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/live-at-the-ky-capitol-on_b_822537.html
Had one in the front of my house (I bought in June) I liked how it looked (through Mom’s wheelchair-bound eyes) from inside the house.
Person after person told me it was a weed, it was poisonous; yes, I know, I’m a biologist, but Mom wasn’t going to touch it, she’s inside, it’s outside, it’s very pretty.
Someone just had to pull it. Did they ask me? It’s MY house. Sheesh. Did they plant something else? No.
Thank you, AKM, for the picture of what “might have been.”
QVC, CVQ, SNL…whatever. It’s funny as hell. Enjoy 🙂
Also, too, though, I sure hope they get Tina to play Sarah in the Game Change movie. That’d be sure to make it a hit. And just in time for the election cycle!
Interesting thought: If the Supreme Court hadn’t ‘Greenlighted’ the Citizens Untied decision, then quite possibly the Game Change movie would not be allowed to be publically shown within 60 days of a general election. At least that’s what I thought I understood about the ruling.
For some reason I had a desire to re watch this old McCain/Palin CVQ Video. Keep this in mind when people say she’s going to run in 2012…
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/mccain-qvc-open/805381
I never saw that one thanks for the link Paula was very funny
I don’t know if it’s an Aluutiq or Russian word, but here on the Kenai Peninsula, we have always referred to the cow parsnip as “pooshki”. More poetic, still as miserable in June and July…..
This may have been posted on Friday but well worth a 2nd posting:
Fox insider admits that they just make things up :
http://bit.ly/iiR6ue
*** Indeed, a former Fox News employee who recently agreed to talk with Media Matters confirmed what critics have been saying for years about Murdoch’s cable channel. Namely, that Fox News is run as a purely partisan operation, virtually every news story is actively spun by the staff, its primary goal is to prop up Republicans and knock down Democrats, and that staffers at Fox News routinely operate without the slightest regard for fairness or fact checking.
“It is their M.O. to undermine the administration and to undermine Democrats,” says the source. “They’re a propaganda outfit but they call themselves news.” ****
Another paragraph :
***** “It was a kick a s s mentality too,” says the former Fox News insider. “It was relentless and it never went away. If one controversy faded, godd*mn it they would find another one. They were in search of these points of friction real or imagined. And most of them were imagined or fabricated. You always have to seem to be under siege. You always have to seem like your values are under attack. The brain trust just knew instinctively which stories to do, like the War on Christmas.” ****
At Christmas, I would slog through snow or rain (depending on the winter) and chop down the puski (phonetic), which is what they call it in Homer. A can of gold spray paint and gold glitter, and you would have magnificent dried flower arrangements for the holiday season.
If you want a good chuckle, go over to Gryphen’s (IM)for the latest she-who-must-not-be-named picture (if it’s not the first on the post, scroll down–it’s worth it).
I was going to add that suggestioin too…the photo is outstanding and should be put on banners and magnets….know I’d buy them and give to all my friends that dislike Palin in the same manner that I do. How do we get it done?
I read stuff like this and I just feel doomed:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/opinion/13rich.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
But it’s not just financial reform that has fallen short. We still don’t have cops to catch those who break the law. Which brings us back full circle to Madoff. Not the least of his cautionary tale’s subplots was the one starring Harry Markopolos, a private financial investigator and whistle-blower who repeatedly contacted the Securities and Exchange Commission for nearly a decade with evidence of Madoff’s fraud — only to be ignored.
Markopolos was lionized on “60 Minutes” and published a book, “No One Would Listen,” dramatizing his lonely crusade. And where is the S.E.C. today? Caught in the federal budget freeze — and bracing for further cuts by the antigovernment, antiregulatory Republican House — the agency can’t hire the employees needed to enforce existing security laws, let alone new ones created by the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul. It must use archaic technology to chase high-tech trading systems that operate “at the speed of light,” as Mary Schapiro, the S.E.C. chairwoman, put it. The agency’s new whistle-blower office — created precisely to welcome informants like Markopolos — has been put on hold.
Great article by Frank Rich. We still need so much financial reform to move forward. It is why we all need to work to give Obama the Congress he deserves in 2012. Lot’s of good information in the comments too. Hope all the Mudpuppies take a look. We need to understand this stuff and what’s at stake.
I wish they’d investigate Sarah’s PAC as they are doing w/Bachman! I just don’t trust anything that has her name on it.
I’d like that too. But I want to know what happened to all the Public Pension money that Wall Street got away with “stealing” via the toxic assets they dumped into the Pension funds prior to 2008. Our police, firefighters and teachers are going to pay big time with reduced benefits while the wealthy get more yachts. Just not fair.
http://nation.foxnews.com/media/2011/02/12/palin-crushes-time-magazine-over-their-lies
wwhhaaatttt? palin demands apology & accuses article of lying about her by reporting her lies! If I asked this once…to myself…I’ve asked it a thousand times!!! “WHO does she think she is?!!?”
OMG she’s a nasty 6itch!
The pro-Palin comments certainly were depressing. However, if the CPAC poll is any indication, these comments are probably put up by either paid bots or by people so enthralled by her mystic that they no longer have even a flimsy grasp on reality.
Still, just enough concern remains that I believe we should not take our eyes off this woman – while directing more attention to the more likely contenders. I am just not comfortable yet dismissing her for the nasty piece of work she is. Someone powerful is still backing her and stranger things have happened than to have a totally incompetent piece of poop take control (oh, wait, didn’t I just describe the Bush-Cheney years?)
I find no fault in anyone requesting –even demanding!– a retraction of, and apology for, an untrue story. We should all hold journalists to the highest of standards, among them being: only reporting researched, verifiable facts (AKA: truth), as opposed to ‘information’ copied and pasted from other sources. I think, personally, it’s the duty of citizens to hold journalist’s feet to the fire; our individual and collective duty to make *sure* they don’t try to get away with reporting bunk as if it were factual. That said…
I am amazed at the tone of Missy Quitty Pant’s email. The passive-aggressive sarcasm of it does not say to me: ‘maturity and emotional stability’ — it says, ‘snarky little brat’. I’m also amazed that it was not, apparently, proof-read, before it was sent (“You guys were fooled into running a fake story that even US Weekly pulled and apologized for their blunder.” Whaaaa?).
What strikes me most about the email, though, is the abject disconnect between her (snarky) request that Time Mag print a retraction and apology for running the story premised on an lie (which, imho, it definitely should!) and her own actions. I’m blown away by the fact that she, apparently, sees no disconnect between her demand of Time to ‘right a wrong’, and the DAILY misrepresentations, skews, and outright lies *she* continually tells the American public about herself, US history, our current POTUS, and this current administration. Truly mind-boggling.
A huffy public display of “do as I say, not as I do” probably isn’t a very good way to show –once again– that you are anything more than a Class-A flea-phart hypocrite. Just sayin’… beth.
Ahem — from what I’ve been able to find, and (as ‘they’ say) upon further review…
The email Missy Quitty Pants sent to TIme was in response to the mag’s story about –wait for it– Conan! The story about Conan! included the line: “And you thought Sarah Palin went overboard by commenting that she wanted to deport the singer?” (the words, “wanted to deport” were/are highlighted/underlined, and link to a satirical, totally-made-up story about her ‘comments’) here: http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/02/08/conan-blasts-christina-over-super-bowl-anthem-blunder/#ixzz1DrvT4xtQ
Soooooo, she’s taking a story about Conan –a late-night comedian!– and making it all about her. She’s blasting Time for linking a story about a comedian and *his* comments on the rendering of the National Anthem, to a satirical piece which is, by definition, also comedic! Aiiiiii, she makes my head spin!
The article was *not* about her! It did *not* do anything but LINK readers to the satire…it did *not* say the quotes attributed to her –in the linked piece of satire!– were actual quotes. It wasn’t even written by Jay Newton-Small, the mag’s Congressional Corespondent– it was written by Nick Carbone, under the mag’s sub-category of “Celebrity”. Sweet Yeebus — what a piece of work she is!
She’d have been MUCH wiser to just keep her gosh-darned mouth shut! What’s that saying about it being better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt? Again, just sayin… beth.
“The article was *not* about her!”
No, no no, you’re wrong! Don’t you know by now that EVERYTHING is about her, the Queen of Me!
The trouble is, that although the report was not true, it sounded like her, and was quite feasible that she would say exactly those things so most everyone believed it. Wonder if she realizes that. Who would have believed that Hillary Clinton said that? President Obama? But it was believable and fit right in with her persona.
But it wasn’t even Time who said it! Time didn’t even make/publish/upload a single quote of what she supposedly said…they just took a satirical piece that ‘quoted’ her, and referred/linked to that!
What I find so amusing (in a very sick way), is that she’s directing her wrath at Time and not at the originators of the satirical piece (then again, she knows all about satire, doesn’t she? Those on the right can have/do it, but no one else. Right?) In her little mind, it is Time (and Jay Newton-Small) who has so grievously wronged her.
All the “4Pailn” sites are all over the story and how she “crushes” the mag…and I presume, also, too, “crushes” Jay Newton-Small (the non-author of the article). As I said above, if Time (or any journalist/media) runs a story premised on a lie, imho, they should print a retraction and offer an apology — that was not, and is not, the case here. $arah is, once again, mountaining a molehill, putting to rest the bs that she has, as she says she does, ‘tough skin,’ and putting to rest the biggest of all lies: that she is the least bit capable of being anything more than full-blown idiot. beth.
ice hole tilting at snow banks
Right ya are Beth IMO she is trying to keep her name out their good or bad. Her bots won’t see that the magazine did not lie ,palin put her foot in mouth again
What’s coming down the pipe in Alaska?
http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2011/0212/Alaska-oil-pipeline-has-safety-and-environmental-risks
I believe, that, according to most republicans, that safety and environmental risks don’t exist. Depending on which type of republican one is, this state of affairs is because 1. no company would ever have a business practice that could be harmful or 2. when G– created the universe 6,000 years ago, He didn’t create safety, environmental risks, or even change.
Of course there’s always 3. Any of them. All of them.
Regarding the nameless one: Alaska Dispatch has a great review by Rick Sinnot of SP’s latest book. Besides knowing all about bears, he’s a darn good reviewer.
http://alaskadispatch.com/voices/tundra-talk/8736-americas-exceptional-because-a-frenchman-says-so.
The New York Times had an article Feb 5th following the nameless one’s speech at the Reagan Ranch Center, owned by the Young America’s Foundation who describe themselves as “The principal outreach organization of the Conservative Movement”
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/us/06palin.html
“The dinner, which was at a far smaller venue than the big rallies Ms. Palin often attends, had tight security and rigid rules. She entered the room just before she spoke — forgoing the ritual of sitting through dinner and mingling with guests — and exited before the applause ended.
People were admonished to stay in their seats and not approach Ms. Palin as she walked through the room.”
Bear in mind this was at the Reagan Ranch, White House West as it was called. One could reasonably suppose this was a friendly audience of young folk who may well be the movers and shakers of the party of the future . Unlike Ronald Reagan she did not schmooze. Is she afraid? If so, of what?
I thought the Times article was remarkably balanced and free of snark. Obviously not, read a nice refudiation here full of information that no media would have because, naturally, they were banned from covering it:
Link: http://www.yaf.org/Blogs.aspx?id=5746&blogid=78
The dinner wasn’t at the actual ranch, but a small office building in Santa Barbara about 45 minutes from the ranch. YAF is mostly funded by the DeVos Family Foundations who have gotten their fortune from Amway, the cult soap sellers.
Decades ago I had a cousin who got sucked into Amway. I even went with them to a meeting in Houston. It was amazing. A huge ballroom was filled with mostly couples who were getting the “message”. It was all about “making it” as an individual by filling your garage with soap products and recruiting others to do the same. It was sold as being the way to “freedom”.
It really was like some religious cult that keep talking about the way of soap was the only road to a happy life. The speakers kept appealing to a want to not work for an oppressive “boss”. Reminds me of the same line used now about getting rid of the oppressive “government”. A kind of “if only I didn’t have to have a boss or government” then life would be honky dory. Just project blame to the “other” to solve your own feelings of being inadequate.
This was such a non event, it hardly registered in the Santa Barbara local press. The thought of having to have that much security in a place like this is laughable. Santa Barbara is used to having the rich and famous with entourages, with security, groupies, and so on. All that tight security was a joke here. People here know the real deal (as opposed to the rill dill) when they see it.
As an aside, I used to deliver pizza out to Rancho del Cielo. It is, for the area, quite unremarkable. Santa Ynez is beautiful in and of itself. But the Reagan Ranch only served as a prop, much as the Crawford Ranch did for another President. He didn’t even choose to have his presidential library there, but in Simi Valley. Of course, there’s always the chance he wanted it there, and Santa Barbara County said no. He, frankly, isn’t the most well known person to live in the area. Not by a long shot. Nor did he spend much time there until he got really sick. His neighbors that I knew were pretty unimpressed. So was his caretaker–the guy who ordered pizza! 🙂
Yeah, Hoover’s house (a mile or so from the Reagan place) was perched on the ridgeline with a great view of the Pacific and the channel islands.
Reagan’s place was stuck in its own little hole with no view.
You can write the etaphor — I’m just describing geographic locations.
er . . . metaphor. You can write the metaphor.
that was an excellent read. many more people should be exposed to it. thank you for sharing.
good article and from what I remember about the Puritans was that they were overtly religious and forced their beliefs on anyone close by, reminds me of Evangelicals of today’s world. Quitty and company also like to disparage France as a country that will always need our help when the going gets tough. Rethugs fail to remember if it wasn’t for French assistance in the Revolutionary War,we Americans would be speaking a far different brand of English-namely the King’s English.Cheerio and all that rot.
That’s quite the literary analysis coming from a former biologist!
The Republicans use history and historical literature like they use the Bible…they pick and choose that parts that support their particular points of view and ignore the rest.
Same with the US Constitution. They get in front of TV cameras and read the parts they like . . . and leave out the parts they don’t.
Rick Sinnot is an honorable man and that was an excellent article!
I just watched Meet the Press where they discussed the current field of GOP possibles for a run at the WH. Holy Cow…She-who-must-not-be-named wasn’t! Absolutely every other potential candidate was discussed but her name did not come up once! Happy Happy day.
I know! I was putzing around my bedroom listening to the show and when her name wasn’t included I sort of stumbled. On the early morning Chris Matthew’s show she was nearly left out , as well. Her name was mumbled in passing at the end but more or less in the framework of a joke.
Nice !
Have a look at this as well (a UK take on the field): http://politico-junkie.blogspot.com/2011/02/uk-view-gop-presidential-field.html
“Michele Bachmann is a poor man’s Sarah Palin at a time when the former Alaska governor’s stock is diminishing. Mike Huckabee, who like Palin stayed away from CPAC, is distrusted by fiscal conservatives and in any case appears most interested in a Fox News career.”
“
That’s what happens when you trademark your name. No one want to risk a lawsuit by mentioning it! I love it!
I thought of that too. I wonder how it affects books that are already in the pipeline?
Very interesting. Thanks.
Are cow parsnip and wild parsnip one and the same?
http://herbalistpath.blogspot.com/2007/05/cow-parsnip.html
Wild parsnip is considered an invasive species.
http://dnr.wi.gov/invasives/fact/parsnip.htm
The rash is photosensitive, meaning exposure to the sun after exposure to the plant can be very serious.
The sides of the Vermont highways have been taken over by this plant.
Looks cool, but look from far away with a telephoto lens. 😉
The plant in AKM’s photo is called “Queen Anne’s Lace” here in Maine. The field behind our house is overrun with it. I didn’t realize it caused any kind of health problems.
It’s a different plant, though related, I believe… I remember Queen Anne’s Lace and no health issues from it. Cow Parsnip has some kind of secretion that comes from hairs on the stem. Some people are sensitive to it when it gets on the skin and combines with sunlight. Others have no problem at all. Strange… AKM
awesome photo. Good eye there. It’s amazing what nature provides us to enjoy. The best and most creative artist is our earth itself.
You too, have a keen photographic eye, Ripley in CT.
You are very kind to say so. 🙂
Somewhere on Kodiak Island,a bald eaglet is missing his or her Great Grammy or Grandpa,who was unceromoniously electrocuted on top of a utility pole. According to the report,said dead eagle was banded 25 years ago and was thought to be the second oldest bald eagle in Alaska.My apologies if bald eagles should be capitalized,I’m not sure. On a lighter note,I went to a nearby Staples store and bought a new office chair for my computer. This one has adjustable lumbar support and a headrest for when I nap. My old chair had several issues and is gonna be retired to the garage for spot duty as a sit-down creeper.Weather has been decent for February and some snow is melting.
Mike we are supposed to hit the fifties today
I covet that lens. Beautiful picture. Thank you.
Hubby just pointed this little item out to me. He found it in the Guardian. Make sure to watch the video. Enjoy. 🙂
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/punctuated-equilibrium/2011/feb/12/1
Loved it! Just sent it to our thirty-something daughter who is moving into a new apartment today, and talking about getting a kitty. Hmm – coincidence that you sent this here? Hmmm.
There are no coincidences!
Yikes. I have TWO cats.
Also 2 dogs, 2 kids, fishband frogs. No hope.
None. None whatsoever…. (I have 3 cats & two lovebirds. And my brother, Walt. Walt counts, right?)
Yes, Walt counts.
Very funny. Thanks!
That was a HOOT! Thanks to you & hubby for the find!
My cat is considerably less subtle – he just stared at the last guy a lot. And bit him occasionally. Same effect, though.
cute one Irishgirl
I’ve been a victim. Mountain biking across Johnson Pass turned in to a painful affair after the blisters showed up. Yikes. A lesson learned.
I’ve never seen a cow parsnip before. Nice photo, AKM.