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Post by epaul on Aug 11, 2024 14:03:16 GMT -5
There are threads that make this forum special. Gifts we bring each other, gifts we share, gifts that arise from our experience, thoughts, and view of the world around us.
From today's forum alone, I see two wonderful threads brought by John. The ancient pickup photos, treasures from the past found and shared, and his thoughtful post on Growing Up Together. Both threads, gifts. And, not to blow my own horn, but I brought the thread on duck penises, my gift to share with all.
We all have gifts to bring, and that's what makes a forum a forum and not something else that isn't a forum.
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Post by epaul on Aug 11, 2024 13:22:48 GMT -5
What a wonderful route!
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Sunday
Aug 11, 2024 13:19:23 GMT -5
Post by epaul on Aug 11, 2024 13:19:23 GMT -5
Morning!
Combines are rolling. There will be bread for another year.
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Post by epaul on Aug 11, 2024 12:49:46 GMT -5
When I asked Dave what happened to their Scamp, he said Death Star ate it.
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Post by epaul on Aug 11, 2024 11:59:46 GMT -5
I took a photo of the Radtke's camper rig. Pretty nifty rig!  Melva calls their camper "Death Star". It's painted in large letters on both sides and the back. |
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Post by epaul on Aug 11, 2024 11:40:56 GMT -5
I really like the Radtkes.
And while they are as comfortable to be with as slippers, soup, and a favorite chair, there are surprises every time I am with them. Dave not so much, being in the Duck Band and all (not many surprises left after a few road gigs with Dave). This time, the surprise was Melva.
We met up at the park and immediately settled into a warm, comfortable, fun, visit. Great conversation, mainly about Bill. They had great tales to tell about Bill. On my part, I had to make up my tales of Bill, but they went over great, many laughs and nods. After a couple hours or so of Bill tales, we pulled out our instruments, and that was my surprise...
Melva pulled out a little accordion! My first thought was, ohh, this might be interesting. But then, she and Dave started playing a few tunes... and they were really good together! Melva's accordion played the part of a perfect fiddle, no big chords but lovely lines, fills and riffs. All the things a good violin adds to the mix, Melva was adding. I was impressed. Dave and Melva have put it together really good.
Well, then they told me they were fresh off a two-week Branson gig and were working up some new tunes for their second CD. Well, that explained it. No wonder they sounded so good.
Well, maybe not Branson, but their open mic gigging has paid off. They were good together. And Dave can always be counted on for fresh and interesting songs. I am adding his "Jolene" to my basement gigs. He combines Jolene's lyrics with Hallelujah's chords and melody (a great melody in dire, dire need of better lyrics).
A good time with good people.
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Post by epaul on Aug 11, 2024 10:50:57 GMT -5
I'm sticking with "don't know" as my final answer. But, in the privacy of bar and forum, I do get to make non-binding guesses (the Vikings will beat Green Bay, Detroit takes the division).
Regarding trans kids the answer is and will always be acceptance, not surgery. Full acceptance from outside, inside, and the middle. All parties: society, parents, peers, self. They are what they are supposed to be as is, no changes wanted, needed, or ever asked for.
And then, one happy day, a trans-boy will fall in love with a trans-girl and they can have a family. And family is wonderful.
And if a trans-boy falls for another trans-boy, love is wonderful and can make a family in whatever shape it takes.
I'm all about family. My family is the best and most wonderful thing that has or ever could happen to me. But, if Anna and Gus had never arrived, Charlene and I would make a family comprised of a couple golden retrievers and a cat. The family part is what matters, not whatever shape it takes.
If all kids were only allowed to grow up whole and loved as is, the problems connected with adults would fade away.
Ahhh, if only...
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Post by epaul on Aug 10, 2024 23:39:43 GMT -5
But, a question. Who was that guy in the lower right corner? That was a little weird.
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Post by epaul on Aug 10, 2024 23:34:55 GMT -5
What I learned today on NPR... Only 3% of male birds have penises. Which is odd, because with all other vertebrates, 100% of the males have penises. Why only 3% of male birds? That is an evolutionary mystery that is as yet unanswered. One likely theory (ok, hypothesis), was that male birds dropped the penis as the penis would slow them down in flight and shorten their endurance for long flights. But, this theory (ok, hypothesis) had to be dropped because male ducks are among the 3% of birds that have penises, and ducks have to fly both fast and far. And not only to male ducks have penises, they have huge penises, with many species of male ducks averaging close to 40 centimeters in length. That is close to 16 inches. The record penis for a male mallard is 43 centimeters 17")... on a 40 centimeter duck. Yep, the penis has the duck by an inch. Where do they put it and how do they get off the ground? Oh, and the average male mallard can ejaculate in a third of a second! It's over pretty quick. Not a lot of romance with ducks. Yikes! 9" for a ruddy duck! www.google.com/search?q=average+size+of+a+duck+penis&sca_esv=1ca21a70e496bec3&sca_upv=1&sxsrf=ADLYWIJqM-bcxWQ4DNWj7VFDzYhmcZmqqw%3A1723350811785&ei=Gz-4Zq3QL4_dptQP1_ntyQo&ved=0ahUKEwjtydaHjuyHAxWProkEHdd8O6kQ4dUDCBA&oq=average+size+of+a+duck+penis&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiHGF2ZXJhZ2Ugc2l6ZSBvZiBhIGR1Y2sgcGVuaXNI5ypQzARY4RpwAXgAkAEAmAGKAaABnAeqAQMxLje4AQzIAQD4AQGYAgCgAgCYAwCIBgGSBwCgB-AL&sclient=gws-wiz-serp |
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Post by epaul on Aug 10, 2024 23:15:34 GMT -5
Sci-fi did see this coming... along with submarines and trips to the moon.
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Post by epaul on Aug 10, 2024 23:07:44 GMT -5
I've been thinking about sex for a good forty years... Got you by ten! (15, actually) |
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Post by epaul on Aug 10, 2024 22:59:46 GMT -5
I didn't read the essay and I only made it half-way through the podcast (half-way only because it was long and I got sleepy) but in the half I watched, I found myself liking both Hanson and the pod cast guy and nodding every so often. Hanson was amiable and he was interesting, and I did feel a strong sense of place from him as he talked about his farm and the California he grew up in.
Anyway, this was a much more agreeable to me Victor Davis Hanson than the one Duck was linking to during the early stages of the war on Muslims. Might have been the beer I had with my grilled ribeye, but I found myself thinking, as regards the economy, is there some common ground to be found between Victor Davis and Bernie?
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Post by epaul on Aug 10, 2024 15:33:07 GMT -5
(to be fair, Dave bought me dinner. Nothing like a fresh carrot in season. (the carrot came with a steak and shrimp)
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Post by epaul on Aug 10, 2024 15:28:06 GMT -5
It was a great visit. I'll have more to say later when I have time. But, for now, I will say that Dave made quite an impression on the folks at the Hobo. I stopped in today and I saw that Stacy had framed the one dollar bill he left for a tip and hung it on the wall. Don't know who took your photo, Dave, but you are now on the Hobo Wall between two of the Maki boys, Tyrone and Thorvald.
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Post by epaul on Aug 9, 2024 12:45:30 GMT -5
So if you see a clump of feathers but no bird, it doesn't take a Sherlock to deduce what happened). The bird got hot and took them off? Elementary, my dear Radke. |
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Post by epaul on Aug 9, 2024 11:15:04 GMT -5
My bottom line is, I don't understand, and I don't have to. Which is good, because I really don't understand.
But, I have an inkling that it isn't that there is all kinds of strange to me new stuff showing up in the world, but rather, the strange and new to me has always been there, been with us in the world, they've just been stuck away in closets and suffered in shadows. And now, more and more is being allowed, are being allowed, into the sunlight.
There aren't more trans kids, it's just something that was cruelly hidden is gradually becoming unhidden.
And again, I don't know what to do. And I know for double damn sure the politicians and preachers don't either. But there are parents and people who are working to understand and accommodate the people they are trying to help and work with.
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Post by epaul on Aug 9, 2024 10:48:39 GMT -5
Look, when I first heard about this, I thought WTF? What the hell is going on! I think that about a lot of things nowadays. Just one more for the list. And I unloaded a bit while playing gin rummy with my daughter, Anna, a middle school math teacher. "Anna, what the hell is going on with all this Trans stuff and pronoun abuse."
We talked for several games. I got most of my "What the hell is going on?" out right away and pretty soon just shut up and listened. And I was impressed as hell, once again, at just how warm, perceptive, articulate, kind, and sensible my daughter was. Must have come from Charlene.
The gist I got out it, other than how proud I was of the person my daughter had grown to become, was that apparently Trans kids weren't invented by Democrats, they are there and the schools are doing their level best to accommodate all their kids. And they have a wild crazy mix of kids with a wild mix of homes and non-homes, parents and non-parents (far too many non-parents).
And some of these kids are doing great, some are doing ok, and some have real problems and aren't doing well at all. And others float between all the possibilities from week to week. And the school is trying its best to accommodate all of them. And as a teacher, Anna cares about all her kids and is doing her level best to understand how to best help them do well in her class and, and because she is who she is, to feel good about themselves in the process. (and it is a stressful job)
But the least of what she does, the least of the accommodations to make, and the easiest, is to address the kid the way they ask to be addressed. It is such a little thing to ask and so easy to do, and it matters... sometimes just a little for only a short time, but other times, it can mean a lot to someone, more than you might be able to understand, definitely more than I can understand.
And her school does have some bathrooms that are set aside for menstruators and they are equipped with tampons and such. The schools are just trying to accommodate the needs of their students, all their students, the best they can within the limits of what they are able to do. The schools deal with the kids the world sends them, or in Anna's case, Fargo.
I still don't know what the hell is going on, but there are good people doing their best to understand and deal with the crazy mix of mixed up kids they see every day of the school year.
As for Trans kids, all I know is that politicians don't know a damn thing about Trans kids. And preachers don't know a damn thing about Trans kids. All politicians and preachers can do is listen to the parents who have Trans kids and the doctors and clinicians who have worked with Trans kids. And, most importantly, the Trans community itself.
Some politicians and preachers do listen. Many don't. They know it all without listening or learning.
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Post by epaul on Aug 8, 2024 22:57:41 GMT -5
Pretty good idea. She's brought in a dozen or so baby rabbits. The same or more mice. Hasn't brought us a bird yet. Nor are there any clumps of feathers to be found around the feeders or the deck (a good sign as no predator eats the feathers. So if you see a clump of feathers but no bird, it doesn't take a Sherlock to deduce what happened).
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Post by epaul on Aug 8, 2024 22:49:19 GMT -5
Sheesh, Rick. You sure stuck a knife in this thread. Not an Olympic peep for 4 days now.
There is still some good to be found. Personally, I think Women's Beach Volleyball is trying to stick as close to the Olympic ideal as they can without getting arrested, and I applaud them for that. And I watch them as often as I can.
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Post by epaul on Aug 8, 2024 22:37:11 GMT -5
I can categorically state that the boys bathrooms in Warren are tampon free. And they are clean, too. Easily passed Todd's 12-point inspection guidelines as listed in his travel blog, "On the Road (and when you really need to pull off it)."
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