Friday, September 7, 2012

Fact checking and hummingbirds

I don't write much about politics here anymore. And I don't talk about politics much anymore either.

I sometimes write about politics in my weekly column, but it's objective and I offer no opinion.

Accordingly, I watched very little of either convention. In fact, I watched none of the Democratic convention and only a few minutes of the GOP gathering.

Here's a mystery to me:  after the speeches at both conventions, "fact checking" news reports told us how what a speaker said was an outright lie or spun in such a way that is was a half-truth.

Wonder if any of them ever thought of doing that fact checking before opening their mouths?

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Wife gave me a hummingbird feeder as an anniversary gift.

It is one of the best gifts I have ever received. I hung it on the back deck, right in front of a big picture window that frames our kitchen table.

I had a customer within a half-hour of hanging it and it wasn't long until he told his friends. We have daily visitors now.

They're a curious bunch, those hummingbirds. One will come fluttering up to the feeder and here will come another, and then another, but they don't imbibe at the same time, even though there are three different little holes where they could consume the sweet nectar together.

No, when one is there enjoying the treat, another comes and chases him (or her) away. I want to tell them that there is plenty to go around and plenty of room at the table, so to speak, but they'll have none of it. It's one at a time and appears to be everyone for himself.

I love watching them. I often sit and work at the kitchen table in the early morning and they start coming soon after the sun rises. Needless to say, sometimes I have trouble getting my work done.


4 comments:

Kelly said...

My only feeders these days are for seed, but we still have the occasional hummingbird come to the althea bushes.

Birds are fascinating to watch and I've learned there really is a "pecking order" around the feeders. Hummers can be downright visious to each other!!

Steve H. said...

I'm amazed how one party can be so "outraged" at the blatant lies on the other side and having no concern whatsoever for the same problem on their own side

quid said...

How I miss my hummingbird feeder (not many in Florida) and my butterfly garden from my last house! I took as much enjoyment as you from watching.

I tried to stay away from the convention coverage as much as possible. Tho I'm still quite political, I'm frustrated by things like the filibuster of the Veteran's Job Act this week more than the campaign. You spend money to create jobs to fix the infrastructure of this country, and only veterans, who have one of our highest unemployment rates can apply. Kinda like the old CCC camps. Sigh. They couldn't even get that one done with bipartisan support. Gridlock.

Debby said...

Hummingbirds are fun. Ours used to roost on the clothesline, and it was fun to watch them hold still.

I did not watch the conventions. It just seems to me that everything has devolved to rhetoric and finger pointing. When people begin to talk rationally, maybe I'll tune in again.

I was thinking of you the other day. How is your column going? Is there a link to it?