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Friday, January 28, 2022

Open Thread – Sheep!

A beautiful Dall sheep overlooking the traffic on the Seward Highway south of Anchorage.

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Comments
28 Responses to “Open Thread – Sheep!”
  1. jimzmum says:

    Ah, another day in dementiaville is coming to a close. A record for me – I threw “The 36-Hour Day” across the room four times! Didn’t get a parade, but I did make a nice pot of coffee. Miss Suzie will be moving to a very good assisted living facility in a few weeks. I wish we didn’t need to do this, but the downhill slope is becoming very obvious. Today, she very carefully put away a 10K check and then five minutes later, couldn’t find it. Called me in a panic. I went out and it was sitting right by the coffee pot, ready for me to pick up in the morning and take to her bank. Why the check? Oh, she decided she was running short of cash so she took it out of her Teacher Retirement Account. *sigh*. I brought it home, along with her checkbook. Have to call and get all that straightened out tomorrow, and call her broker as well.

    The nice thing? I was telling her about the doings here today, and that sweet woman had no idea as to the identity of Mayor Palin! LOL! Miss Suzie is living in a very special world. I googled on my phone to show a picture of her, and her comment was, “Bless her heart, does she have shoulder problems?” I said I didn’t think so, and why? Seems she thought she couldn’t raise her arms enough to wash her hair. Made my day, even though I am sure that was worse than snarky.

    Oh well, all in all, an interesting day.

    • Zyxomma says:

      Bless Miss Suzie’s heart. She may not have all her marbles anymore, but she still has insight. And taste.

  2. leenie17 says:

    A few years ago I was in Rocky Mtn National Park in an area that has a fairly substrantial population of bighorn sheep. My family and I waited patiently, peering at the rocks trying to spot something. There was a Park Ranger nearby, making sure that everyone was being safe and answering questions.

    A small group of older tourists, who were clearly not used to being in the wilderness, were asking him some really dumb questions, which he politely answered. One of them finally asked asked him what time the sheep are scheduled to come out. He had obviously heard the question many times before because, without missing a beat, said, “Well, the Rangers are putting on their costumes now so they should be here in about 10 minutes.”

    It was really hard to keep a straight face!

    • fishingmamma says:

      I used to work for State Parks here in AK. We had a running list of tourist comments. One was the guy that ran through the door of the park office at Potter Marsh and hollered that “someone better get out there, a farmer has let all his sheep loose and they are down by the road”

      My favorite, of course, was when they would get off the cruise ships and ask how far above sea level we are. Oh! and “Do you take American money?”

    • That was really funny. Thanks.

  3. beaglemom says:

    I don’t know what the Dall sheep would make of this, but the Republican Party in Pima County, Arizona (Rep. Gifford’s district), is holding a fundraising raffle of a Glock pistol and ammunition, the same kind of gun that killed six people and injured at least nine, including the congresswoman. (Source: ImmoralMinority – I don’t know how to attach a link.)

    At least once a day, I find myself shaking my head and asking the universe, “What is wrong with this country?” If it’s not Michele Bachmann blaming Hurricane Irene on God’s anger over the deficit (which she apparently forgets that she helped create during the Bush years), it’s another deranged Republican member of Congress wanting to defund some important government agency, or any of them, or all of them. But this news from Arizona simply takes the cake. And not a word of criticism from the Arizona governor or any members of the Congressional delegation, including John McCain.

    Maybe the Dall sheep has an answer because I sure cannot figure it out.

    • leenie17 says:

      I just read that story and I’m still in shock. I can’t believe there isn’t SOMEONE in that state’s republican (they no longer deserve the capital R) party who didn’t say, “Hey, everybody, maybe that’s not such a brilliant idea.”

      Then again this is the same party that spawned the heartless Eric Cantor who wants to hold FEMA funds hostage (even from people in his own district) in order to get some budget cuts they want and won’t get any other way. And THEN he lies about it, claiming that the bill to increase FEMA funds ‘has no strings attached’ when there are actually enough strings to keep the Bering Sea fishing fleet in nets for decades!

      I’m beginning to believe that, immediately upon joining the republican party, members must have their hearts and consciences surgically removed.

  4. Zyxomma says:

    Here’s the latest on Rick Perry, courtesy of (union shop and stellar journalists) TruthOut:

    http://www.truth-out.org/perry-hates-regulators-theyre-bad-his-business/1314798796

    “But Perry has at least one other reason for smacking down those bureaucrats so eagerly. When environmental regulators do their job properly, that can mean serious trouble for Perry’s largest political donors.

    “The outstanding example is Harold Simmons, a Dallas mega-billionaire industrialist who has donated well over a million dollars to Perry’s campaign committees recently. With Perry’s eager assistance — and despite warnings from Texas environmental officials — Simmons has gotten approval to build an enormous radioactive waste dump over a crucial underground water supply.”

    Wonder what Juanita Jean would say about that.

  5. ks sunflower says:

    Ah, one can only hope this is the start of something big. Read the post “Girl Fun” for September 1, 2011.

    http://juanitajean.com/

  6. Zyxomma says:

    I posted this on The Forum (on the non-political humor thread), but a lot of visitors to this site never go there. Choose your favorite, they’re all fun:

    http://egotvonline.com/2011/08/29/29-examples-of-funny-sticker-placement/

    I’d love to look up to a mountain (here in NYC I look up at buildings) and see a Dall sheep.

    • If you could teach Dall Sheep to catch and eat pigeons and clear Central Park of muggers and rapists.I’m quite certain Peregrine Falcons wouldn’t mind the company.

  7. scout says:

    Our President, quietly working to make things better: “Local Vet Worked with Obama on Higher Education”: http://kaaltv.com/article/stories/S2261132.shtml?cat=10217

    “Stewartville Veteran Joseph Kidd worked as a hospital corpsman overseas but that experience doesn’t count back home has a civilian.
    “He has to go back to school for a nursing license. And Kidd expressed that concern to President Barack Obama earlier this month when they had lunch together in Cannon Falls.
    “Monday we’ve learned President Obama listened. Now change is happening at the U.S. capitol.” snip

    • Zyxomma says:

      I wonder if Kidd is looking into the right line of work. Maybe he shouldn’t be in LPN school, but EMT. Of course, he might prefer nursing (I don’t know the man), but my former hiking partner was in EMT training back in the 80s, then went on to become a paramedic. We were great people to have around in an emergency.

  8. Alaska Pi says:

    Mike from Iowa- Are you hearing anything about all this?

    AKM had a twitter thingy a couple days ago pointing to this story.
    This is a big deal on a variety of fronts.

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-29/monsanto-says-100-000-acres-of-corn-may-harbor-resistant-bugs.html

    • Alaska Pi says:

      http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/6840-subsidies-for-monsantos-corn-in-us-and-philippines-
      And this has been bugging me since 2007 but haven’t tracked down where it all stands now…

      • I have been aware of potentials for insecticide-resistant bugs since Round-Up Ready corn was introduced. Most people that farm knew eventually the technology would allow resistant survivors to propogate. For a lot of corn insect pests that have a two year lifecycle,we rotated crops(corn and soybeans and alfalfa) every year to help break the two year cycle. Then we would use insecticide that was incorporated in the furrow as we planted. There are always some survivors that get a taste of pesticide,but not enough to kill them. They will eventually become resistant. I have not watched as closely as i would if I was still engaged in farming. Thanks for the heads-up. There is an organization of concerned grassroots people in Nebraska that keep close tabs on this stuff. They helped organize the Farm-Aid concerts. I will find their website for you.

  9. Might be a terrorist in training doing some overt/covert spying. Looks fron the front like it could be bulimic,too. Our fearless leader,President Obama announced he was going to give his jobs speech on the evening of the seventh,a Wed. He did not want to give it on the eighth because that is the initial NFL game for the year. Well apparentlt rethugs had a presidential debate scheduled for the seventh and SOH Boner asked the Potus not to step on rethugs debate and give his speech on the eighth. Obama told them pesky rwnj to take their debates and sho…..he said he didn’t mean to cause a row and decided to interrupt the NFL on the eighth. Oh my kingdom for a backbone!!

    • Dagian says:

      To be fair, the Republican debate has been scheduled for months. But I don’t understand why having him give a speech AND having the televised Republican candidates debate one another on the same night would be a bad thing.

      *looks around cagily at my office mates who are born and bred Steelers fans*

      I don’t watch football, so it’s not a hard choice for me to watch on Thursday.

      • Linda says:

        Well , the President will now force the GOP candidates to speak on their jobs plan and heck the President will get more young people to watch/hear his jobs plan on the 8th.

        • I think by now the rethuglicans have made it clear that their jobs program is to make Obama a one termer and then give more tax breaks to the wealthy,while cutting all safety nets for the lower class and elderly. That way they hope to save their jobs and make their owners happy. That is the extent of their jobs programs as I see it. The Potus should be allowed the courtesy of whatever time he chooses to announce programs that might help the majority.

  10. Dagian says:

    Probably wondering when the heck the people will get out of its backyard.

  11. ks sunflower says:

    What an amazing photograph. To think you could be driving along the highway and look up and see this beautiful animal watching you. How wonderful!

    I hope we never get to the point where wildlife is considered only an inconvenience. They are a measure of the health of not only our environment, but also our own spiritual health. To live in harmony with them should be one of our highest goals.

  12. beaglemom says:

    After all the kerfluffle over Sarah Palin in the last day or two, it is lovely to see the beautiful Dall sheep watching from above. I wonder what the sheep thinks of all of this.

    • I’m pretty damn sure he/she is carefully watching for nutters in airplanes and helicopters. Guv Greaseball of Texas signed a bill to allow Texans to slaughter wild porkers from helicopters.On a lighter note, a court in Texas struck down Perry’s anti-abortion bill as unconstitutional and is Perry in a snit about that.