Beth Johnson

I too would bring it in. I don't think its oil gland is working yet and it's not feathered out. So there's a possibility that it could go in the pond, get water logged, and get hypothermia if the duck you've seen doesn't adopt it.

I'm qualifying all of my advice with "I think," because mine have usually stayed inside in a brooder for what seems like forever.

Can you tell if its feathers repel water?

May Lotito wrote:I will start saving wildflower seeds growing in my yard here in zone 6b. Here is the list that I am going to collect:

Dandilion, white dutch clover, red clover, winter cress, violet, blue-eyed grass, mayapple, coneflower, tickseed, black-eyed Susan, penstemon digitalis, rue, butterflyweed, common milkweed, ironweed, plantain, ox-eyed daisy, blazing stars, goldenrod, self heal, wild pink, dead nettle and many more.

Fabulous, May!

Rufus Laggren wrote:Beth

From what you said, it sounds like you like anger. Is that true?

Are you asking me if I'm an angry black woman?

Rufus Laggren wrote:> husband never says anything about this. He doesn't point it out or complain. This is NORMAL for him. I'm the angry one

Elle. More power to you. But, please, keep your lucky charm on you at all times... And act to win - which usually means letting go anger in order to pay attention fully and respond as ruthlessly and craftily as possible.  But you can never know the whole situation - it all goes to chaos with the first move. Understand that. Be OK with it. I think your husband knows this - he sounds like a survivor. Maybe take his smarts into account a little more. (gotta stick up for us guys <g>).

I got myself into some really dangerous physical situations as a kid and young man. One reason I survived, I believe, is that when I finally realized just how bad it was, I dropped everything from my mind but awareness of the instant moment. I could not afford to be scared, to even think, or it was over - just to respond fully. Sometimes we must drop our feelings, our own self, in favor of being one unified purpose. So don't hold onto your anger. Bring online your  full awareness and purpose when the situation requires.



Cheers,
Rufus

I disagree with all of the advice regarding "letting go of anger." (That advice is not limited to the quotes I selected, but it was simply easier for me to choose these.)

Righteous indignation should not be denied or stifled. Ignoring this emotion is harmful to those feeling it, and it's always going to come out in some way.

You can't wish away injustice, and if I understand elle correctly, she continues to be not only baffled but horrified by her partner's treatment. Not only that, but she sees how he has adjusted to this treatment because it is so common, and for him to do otherwise could cost him his life.

I think people who are telling us to have happy thoughts think injustice can be wished away. If it could, it would have stopped by now. Imagine how many people have wished and prayed (if prayer is part of their lives), that this injustice would end. And yet it's here.

No. Righteous indignation is important. It requires that we recognize and vocalize that what is happening is unjust, and it can make us act to rectify the wrongs.

@elle: I'm with you.

john mcginnis wrote:I was born in Florida. I am also old enough to remember segregated bathrooms, drinking fountains and dining areas.

My father as well (except for the Florida part). He and his brother were boy scouts and were on a trip with other troops. The bus stopped at a restaurant in Texas, and he and his brother were forced to eat in the kitchen while white scouts ate in the dining room portion of the restaurant. Racist treatment of that sort turned what was a good time for them getting to know scouts in other troops into a defining moment in their lives. My father and uncle were publicly humiliated, and they had to get back on that bus with the other scouts.

The police stop my father when he is driving in his neighborhood because he doesn't look like he belongs there. He has to sit patiently while part of him dies inside every time he is stopped. He cannot not say anything or do anything that could possibly be construed as uppity. He doesn't even ask why he has been pulled over. White people threw bricks at him when he walked to high school. This is in Pennsylvania.

No one is throwing bricks at my father, but the police are still pulling him over. As a human being, both are dangerous to his physical and mental health. Knowing that these things and others have happened because he is black has scarred him for what remains of his life.

If my son looks sideways at a police officer who has stopped him and wants to search my son's book bag, his life could be in danger if he declines to allow the officer to do so even though it is within my son's Constitutional rights to refuse to acquiesce unless they have a search warrant. The police are peace officers. They have a duty to protect and serve. My child has another good 60 years left to live. He has another 60 years to be afraid of the police unless we do something now. I have another good 30 years to be afraid for my son. This is about more than toilets and water fountains. It's about life. It's about liberty. It's about the pursuit of happiness, the ideals that our foundational document, The Declaration of Independence, says all share. That all men are created equal. We're not there yet. I'm hopeful that we will be soon. I'm hopeful that I will not have to see another video of another man dying in the street calling out, "Momma! Momma! I can't breathe."

Lif Strand wrote:Please, PLEASE offer printed (or at least text/photo PDF) versions of your videos and other info. [snip]  Thanks!

Yah. I have no way to play a DVD.

ETA: IOW, I can't play the older DVDs

If you're able, please peacefully protest with us.

Learn about the organized protests and see if there is something you would like to do - it doesn't have to be protesting itself, but if there isn't sustained pressure put on police departments, government, and corridors of power, nothing will change. https://blacklivesmatter.com/about/

If you are not a person of color, please read how BLM requests allies to act, and read BLM's initiatives that go beyond the the United States. It is a global movement for freedom, liberation and justice. https://blacklivesmatter.com/resources/

We need allies. We do. We all have stories from slavery to the present day. Every generation of my family has stories. My grandfather was almost lynched for marrying a white woman in Lackawanna, NY in 1943. My father is still routinely stopped by the police in his own neighborhood - my father is 79. My son has been stopped while walking from the train station to his apartment. He was coming home from class, and they wanted to search his book bag. He knew that he could legally refuse, but he didn't. He had to do a cost benefit analysis - stand up to the police who wanted to perform an illegal warrantless search and place his bodily security in danger or let them search his bag. He let them search his bag. He cried when he told me. He was angry and humiliated.

While I was raising him, I told him, "There are people who will look at you and think they know you. But they will have no desire to get to know you. I'm sorry. It's wrong, and it kills me to tell you this. But this is racism in America, and we're just too brown."

Cell phone images have made allllll the difference in the world. Not enough people believed our fear of police brutality and/or the extent of such fear and brutality until they saw it. And saw it again. And saw it again. And we continue to see it during the peaceful protests. This fear is like a type of tinnitus - it's always in my mind buzzing while I try to live my life.

Think about the 75-year-old protester in Buffalo who was shoved by an officer in riot gear. He fell, hit his head, was unconscious, bleeding from his ear, and the police continued to walk past him.

These things break my heart. I shouldn't have to tell my son to surrender his civil rights because if he doesn't, it could cost him his life.

I'll support the kickstarter.

How much do you project the greenhouse will cost in materials (just curious to see if it would be something I could afford to do).

A pair of bald eagles were buzzing my yard, but the crows weren't having it. What shocked me was that a Great Horned Owl made off with one of my ducks. Before dusk. I saw the aftermath, and it wasn't pretty. There are plenty of places for them to take cover, but owls are so stealthy. It took the lightest color duck, so I no longer consider owls a nighttime predator. ::sigh::

They are now sleeping in my garage until I can figure out how to build a better duck house that is easier for me to muck out. For now, the ducks march right into the garage where I keep their food, water, and a kiddie pool. I rake out the straw, hose down the garage, clean the pool - I wish I'd done this sooner. It helps that I have basically nothing stored in it.