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Thursday, June 30, 2011
Photos, Goose Roundup, Delafield, Wisconsin, 6-2011
More photos from Jim Pfeil, resident of Delafield, Wisconsin who witnessed brutal roundup of Canada geese on 6-20-11. The geese were stuffed into trucks and later gassed at undisclosed location. For the full story, please read previous two blog entries below.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Goose Roundup for Gassing, Delafield, Wisconsin (Follow-up)
As follow-up to the last entry, here are some of the photos from Delafield, Wisconsin that Jim has shared with us.
Please note the size of the crates in which from 3 to 6 adult geese are crammed in.
Small goslings separated from parents in one crate.
Note, the ganders still trying in vain, to protect their families.
Note, the ganders still trying in vain, to protect their families.
Keep in mind the geese, when loaded on the trailer were taken away to an undisclosed location for gassing.
Keep in mind, these SAME roundups are occurring now all around New York City with the geese being sent on a journey of hell, 2 to 4 hours away to a Pennsylvania slaughterhouse.
Keep in mind, that according to the photographer and witness to the Wisconsin massacre, "the geese were half dead by the time they were loaded on to the trailer."
PLEASE ATTEND tomorrow's (Thursday) Friends of Animals protest at the Mayor's townhouse, 17 East 79th Street (Between Fifth and Madison Ave) beginning at 6: PM! The geese need every one of us to speak up for them! -- PCA
Saturday, June 25, 2011
The Human Toll and Trauma of Goose Culls
So much happening this past week.
Articles breaking out all over the country concerning goose roundups and kills occurring in Alabama,Wisconsin and other areas.
And of course the intended ones for New York City.
Please go to our FB pages for the latest in articles and other information:
In this endless sea of Canada goose "culls" and horrors, there is nevertheless some good news to report -- though even that is somewhat dubious.
Roundups and gassings of geese will not occur at Prospect Park this year.
City officials and the USDA claim that's because, "The cullings of last year were so successful, it isn't necessary to return this year to PP."
Considering they conducted an extermination last year at Prospect Park, yes, it was impossible for the geese to "recoup" their numbers.
Add to that, the harassment of the spring and current goose numbers at the 600+ acre park are now below 20.
However relieving the news might be that no culls will occur at PP this year, the rest of the news for NYC geese is not positive at all.
The city and USDA are threatening to round up and kill 800 geese from "undisclosed locations" around the city in the next few weeks.
DEP and USDA won't disclose the kill sites because they don't want the USDA workers "harassed" by members of the public who care about the geese and what is happening to the wildlife in our city parks.
They claim of course that this is for the "welfare" of the geese, but that is just one more PR spin and lie added to what is now, a very long list.
Whatever "humanity" might exist for the flightless geese terrorized on watercourses by humans in boats, driven to land, corralled and then grabbed and stuffed 4 to 6 to small crates and shoved into trucks where they are then driven to their deaths, would only occur were there witnesses with cameras or video to record.
Such was the case, a few days ago when a resident of Delafield, Wisconsin, went out with a camera this past Wednesday morning to photograph USDA workers rounding up 80 geese and their goslings who, to that point, had been residing peacefully on a lakefront property of more than 900 acres. But, there was very little "humanity" to witness.
I spoke with "Tim" (not his real name) by phone on Thursday evening, one day after the trauma that caused this man severe emotional trauma and insomnia.
This is what he told me:
(Tim) --"I knew something was up, when I looked out my window and saw a man in a kayak wearing a life jacket. People don't normally wear this gear when going out on boats. I grabbed my camera and went to the lake."
(Me) "What time was this?"
(Tim) "8 A.M. There were three police cars and a team of USDA workers. The cops would not allow me to get too close. I shot many pictures. It was horrible. The man in the boat drove the geese and goslings to the land. There, workers corralled them and started cramming them 3 to 4 to a crate. Some of the goslings were screaming. The woman directing the operation was laughing...."
(Me) "How long did this take?"
(Tim) "Four hours. From 8 Am to Noon. The geese were terrified. They were pooping all over themselves. Most of them looked half dead by the time they started cramming them into the trailer. It was a huge trailer, but they crowded the birds anyway."
(Me) "Do you know where they took them?"
(Tim) "I understand they were taking them somewhere for gassing. When they finally left, I tried to follow them in my car. But, the police blocked me from doing that. Many of these goose families I knew -- in some cases, for more than five years. They even took my 'Buddy!'"
Tim then explained how he had rescued a goose several years ago who had been shot with pellets. The goose was almost dead when Tim rescued and brought him to a vet. But, the goose survived and was one of the geese rounded up the other day. Tim took that particularly hard.
(Tim) "I took pictures as they chased Buddy out of the water and stuffed him into a crate. He kept poking his head out. Now, I can't even look at the photos. I have not been able to sleep since this happened. Yesterday was the worst day of my life."
Tim and I actually talked for a couple of hours.
He told me he had been trying to fight this action for months, but the Mayor of the town would not listen to any pleas from those caring about the wildlife. Apparently, a very wealthy neighbor resented the geese being on his side of the lake and demanded that the town and the government, "get rid of them."
Though a claim was made that "egg addling" had occurred, either they did not follow procedures properly, were lying about the oiling, or the parent geese successfully removed the oil. More than half of the geese rounded up on Wednesday were goslings at different stages of development.
I begged Tim to write down and document his experience as both a way of dealing with the trauma and as means to share with others. I begged him also to email me some of the photos.
"Tim," I said, "One of the problems in fighting for the geese, is that to this point, we only have three photos of a roundup and none of us in New York have personally witnessed a roundup and can testify to it. You are one of the few people who can testify to this and you have photos. We really need your help if we are to get the word out about this stuff to the press and the public."
"It kills me to look at the photos now. They make me relive the whole horrible experience," Tim replied.
The man was so distraught and sleep deprived, I don't know that he will do actually do these things now. Hopefully, he just needs some time.
However, he did tell me that I was free to give his name and number to any members of the press that might be interested in doing a story.
The problem is, I don't have media connections.
But, am telling Tim's story anyway -- even without the photos and personal documentation.
In all the debate and discussions about the goose slaughters occurring around the country, what we rarely hear about are the tolls and traumas to those Americans who truly care about nature and these long persecuted birds.
They, like Tim, suffer in silence and with the terrible memory, guilt and sorrow of birds they so loved, but in the end, could not protect or save. -- PCA
Sunday, June 19, 2011
The Most Critical Question
I haven't written in this journal for a few days because of the events and media reports that have exploded around the recent DEP press release of, "Rounding up NYC geese to feed to the poor in Pennsylvania."
This ploy is obviously to make "palatable" to the public, the notion of killing birds from city parks for no other reason, then that they fly.
Among the many (mostly cookie-cutter) articles that printed verbatim, the DEP press release, came one that actually cited the number of geese that the city is targeting.
"1,000," according to this piece from MSBC and the National Post:
This is, needless to say, extremely disturbing because it is difficult to see how we presently even have that many geese in NYC to capture and slaughter.
Several articles have claimed we have as many as "25,000" geese in New York City. But, that figure has been quoted for at least a couple of years and long before the "cullings" of last year or even the year before.
It seems the media does very little investigation of actual claimed "facts." Indeed, the reporters don't even question the action.
The DEP press release claims NYC geese will be corralled (since they cannot fly now), crated and sent to a "processing plant" (i.e. slaughterhouse) in Pennsylvania. However, they don't give the actual location of the (waterfowl) slaughterhouse. That is something the media should question and demand.
The fact is that wild geese who have never been handled by humans will be crammed 6 to 7 to small, "turkey crates" and trucked to an "undisclosed location" at least two hours away from New York City in the heat of summer.
Does this not in and of itself, constitute "cruelty to animals?"
My personal guess is that at least half the geese will be dead by the time they arrive to the Pa "waterfowl" slaughterhouse due to the heat and stress. And those will be the LUCKY ones.
The "reason" cited for trucking the geese to Pennsylvania is because NYC doesn't have a waterfowl "processing plant." But, we are threatening to build some goose slaughterhouses for "next year."
Why is the press not questioning any of this?
If, in fact, any "questions" have been raised at all over the past few days, they have had to do with how to "cook the geese and how they taste."
It is indeed dispiriting that so few people and no reporters are asking what should be the most basic questions: "Why are we killing birds for the simple act of flying? Isn't flying something the geese were designed by nature to do?"
The excuse for the slaughter would of course be, "Public Safety."
But, the fact is that not one New Yorker has died as result of Canada geese.
On the other hand, thousands of people die in car accidents every year and at least three people (including a toddler) have been killed over the past couple of years in NYC by falling tree branches.
But, we are not banning automobiles and we are not chopping down trees for these reasons. Rather, (in the former case) we build better cars that are less likely to kill people during a collision. Well, the same should be the case with airliners that sometimes collide with birds. "Build them better."
Because of the quota number cited in the above article, I will not be sharing numbers or locations of geese observed in Central Park over the next month or so. Since the geese are molting now and the roundups will soon be occurring, I would not want to possibly jeopardize any geese I personally see (and know) by putting such information on a public Internet site.
It is sad and borderline paranoid to think this way, but it has become crystal clear that we cannot take anything for granted -- even the safety of the few geese in NYC's most famous and prestigious park, Central Park.
It seems we are all drinking the Kool-Aid to go along with the "cooked geese."
That is, with the exception of this one lone article from January of this year.
It asks the one and most critical question in all this:
"Why?" -- PCA
Thursday, June 16, 2011
"Humane Disposal"
No sooner had yesterday's "God's Birds" entry been posted, that a slew of grisly articles suddenly appeared, proclaiming in Pollyanna fashion, that this year's rounded up park geese will be sent to Pennsylvania slaughterhouses. The Huffington Post referred to this as as, "disposing of the birds more humanely."
Obviously, the press doesn't "get" either the issue itself or the story.
Invading city parks to conduct massacres on exiles who have merely escaped persecution elsewhere is akin to thieves invading our homes and shooting our pet dogs and cats.
What would it matter how "humanely" they disposed of our beloved animals's bodies? Or, if the bodies were then "fed to the poor?"
Please read this piece from yesterday's NY Times:
And this article from the Wall Street Journal:
Please immediately go to the "For the Love of Geese at Prospect Park" Facebook page for directives on important calls to make today to save the geese.
I now have to get cracking to make some calls, among them, to my representatives and the Mayor's office (311). -- PCA
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
God's Birds
Pivotal" is, I guess the most accurate way to describe yesterday.
It began with painful, knife-in-the-gut, death-in-the-family kind of news. The kind of stuff that sends some people to shrinks or medications. The kind of confusion that begs the question, "How could this happen?" and "Why did it happen?" The kind of life event that one has no ability to change.
Indeed, it was the kind of occurrence that sometimes compels us to question the existence of God.
But, this journal isn't about those kinds of soul wrenching matters and life altering events
Rather, it is simply about animals and specifically for the moment, Canada geese.
(Interpersonal dynamics and events aside, they can nevertheless, set the stage for what later occurs.)
It was with heavy and confused heart that I left with my two dogs yesterday before dusk to return to Turtle Pond in Central Park.
I hoped to find the four geese observed the night before, flying south over the park. A part of me also wished that two of them might be Mama and Papa goose returning to "their" pond after mysteriously vanishing a couple of weeks ago. But, I dared not hope too much of that. It was a dim possibility and I knew it.
Temperatures were cool and the end of the day, misty. A light rain intermittently fell, sending many park goers scrambling towards the park exits as I entered.
Lots of troubling thoughts and questions were mulling through my head as I approached the Great Lawn.
But, they were abruptly interrupted when looking out over the quiet and plush, green lawn through the hazy mist.
A memory suddenly intruded my head and overwhelmed the senses.
Mama and Papa goose and two of their grown goslings peacefully grazing on the grass.
The image was from less than a month old and occurred on a similar rainy and misty day.
But, reality this time, was that the geese were no where to be seen on the forlorn and damp field.
It simple appeared green and endless.
I tried to will the juxtaposing images of the geese on the field out of my head, as it was in such sharp contrast to the stark emptiness before me. But, the memory would not leave.
Rain started to fall a little heavier, then blending with tears suddenly streaming freely down my face.
A part of me was grateful for both, the rain and the fact there weren't many people around. I could not seem to control the torrent of unexpected emotions running through me like a huge, crashing wave.
Gathering my dogs and trying desperately to regain composure, we left the Great Lawn area and walked towards Turtle Pond.
But even before arriving there, I knew I would not see any geese.
More disappointment and more uncontrollable tears. The pond appeared so still and lifeless without the two familiar geese on it. The small rock where Mama and Papa rested at night and frequently groomed themselves was likewise, barren and empty.
More tears flooding and blurring my eyes.
I can't come to Turtle Pond anymore. I can't look at this emptiness anymore.
But, the pond was not, in fact, entirely "lifeless."
Two mama ducks with tiny ducklings rested on the set of rocks at the east side of the pond. -- The same rocks where Mama and Papa used to sleep at night with their goslings.
I attempted to focus attention on the new duck families and went with my dogs to shoot some photos.
One mama duck had 8 tiny ducklings clustered together at the edge of the rocks near the water. The other mama had only one (older) duckling and she and the one surviving baby were with a mallard. I wondered if the mallard was the "daddy" of the little one and thought it unusual for a family of mallards to actually be together. Usually, the mother mallards (unlike geese) raise their babies alone.
While the ducks lightened, temporarily, the melancholy and despair otherwise weighing on my soul, I still wanted to search the entire area for any possible geese.
After tossing some seeds to the two duck families, Tina, Chance and I walked the south side of the pond leading up to Belvedere Castle.
I looked at the green, lush grass areas where Mama, Papa and their goslings used to graze last year. So plush and healthy looking. But now so empty and lonely.
More tears, mixed with a some disgust for the ways geese have been so falsely accused of "destroying grass." Nothing could be in fact, further from the truth.
Finally reaching Belvedere Castle and peering down over the empty rocks -- the same rocks where Mama sat on her nest in late April, only to later lose her eggs, I once again became emotionally unglued.
Closing my eyes and finally burying my face in my hands, I could not look anymore at the lifelessness and kind of "death" before me. Death where once, so much life had been.
It seemed everything was gone.
Please, God, help me. What does this all mean? I need some sign of something...of hope.....its all so hopeless.....so empty.....so gone.....Help me.
But, there was no great light beam in the sky -- just the rain still slightly, but steadily coming down and seeming to obliterate, the fading light of the day.
Nevertheless, suddenly feeling somewhat and ironically energized despite the overwhelming sense of loss and despair, there was still one place I had not looked.....
I had no expectations when going to the lake and indeed, at first glance, it appeared to be the same emptiness that I'd been looking at during the previous hour.
But, something caught my eye -- what appeared to be some bird-like shapes on a far rock.
Could it be? Am I now imagining things in the dark?
I had to get closer to get a better look.
Traversing little winding paths through scores of trees and brush, I had no idea where my dogs and I were going, but merely followed sense of direction and some seemingly guiding force.
Finally reaching an opening to the lake, I looked out on a rock to see a small group of mallards peacefully resting.
Disappointment washed over me again, when realizing that is what I must have seen when first arriving at the lake. As much as I love ducks, they weren't the geese I was searching for.
Not wanting to disturb the mallards any further, my dogs and I continued to walk quietly along the little path facing the lake, ready at last to give up and return home.
But, then suddenly, I was stopped in my tracks.
There, just a few feet in front of me was a gaggle of ten geese quietly standing on a large rock!
Oh my God. Is this a mirage?
I almost could not believe my eyes. Suddenly this huge feeling of relief and gratitude and, I don't know, achievement or validation of some sort suddenly swept over me.
After securing my dogs to the small fencing, I removed some cracked corn from my bag and started to toss some to the geese who slowly, but confidently approached me as if in recognition.
It was then I noticed, one of the geese walked with a pronounced limp!
It was Papa goose! -- And right next to him, Mama!
It was like a miracle.
Within minutes both geese, so intimately familiar, were nibbling gently from my hand.
There are no words to express the sense of peace and joy I felt --like a cozy fireplace and warm homecoming with loved ones. Like a huge weight had suddenly been lifted off my back.
Adding to the sense of suddenly being blessed, was the realization that at least four or five of the other geese were the grown goslings from Mama and Papa of last year. Two of them joined their parents in confidently taking treats from my hand.
I stayed for some minutes just taking in this miraculous site before me and even chatting to the geese. It was a moment I wanted to hang on to for a lifetime.
It was funny to note, once gain, Papa goose nudging the tail feathers and asserting authority over a couple of the youngsters as he did back on Turtle Pond. The whole scene in fact, was like old times.
I also noticed that at least half of the geese, including the parents, appeared to be molting.
One of the ganders however, who had not yet lost flight feathers was acting as "sentry" for the group. I found that interesting, considering that Papa was the presumed leader of the gaggle. Perhaps the sentry goose was from a different family or more likely, took on the protective position because he could still fly and perhaps represent threat to a potential predator.
It was wonderful to be enjoying these sweet moments with the "family" once again. Even more wonderful, this wasn't a memory. It was real and it was in the present.
Rain started to come down a little harder and the evening had then turned dark.
It was time to say good night to my friends.
"May God keep and protect you."
Retracing steps back to the Great Lawn once again, I sat with my dogs on a wet park bench in the same location that earlier had wrought sobs, tears and sense of profound loss.
I found myself strangely crying once again, but this time, I could not fully understand why.
So many things had happened on this day. So much I didn't understand and couldn't find explanation for.
But, then through this haze of questions, fears, confusion, longing and loss, but at the same time, joy and reunion, came one clear and concise thought:
You have to keep fighting for the geese.
And suddenly the events of both the day and the night began to make some clear, but troubling sense.
The sacrifices, ridicules and burdens would be many and they would be great. So too, would be the questions, losses and doubts. Could one ever hope to have the strength to bear them out and withstand?
But, it wasn't my place to understand the "whys" of them, as much as to simply recognize and embrace them.
I had asked for guidance and sign and they had been granted. -- PCA
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Unusual Occurrences (Or, The Ones That Got Away?)
I don't know if this means anything or not.
But, at least six new geese flew into the north end of Central Park yesterday.
While walking to Harlem Meer just before dusk, I heard familiar honking overhead.
I looked up and saw four geese quickly flying over the trees and heading south over the park.
Wow, that's odd! I thought.
It is, in fact, highly unusual to see geese flying this time of year, because as noted, the geese start to molt around this time (rendering them flightless) and usually the geese don't molt at Central Park.
There were also two new geese on the water at Harlem Meer. They were swimming alongside Bozo and Bonnie.
According to reports from Prospect Park, a number of the geese there have already begun to lose their flight feathers.
But, obviously the ones I am seeing are still flying.
The unusual occurrence causes one to wonder if USDA has already started its June cullings around town and those geese who could still fly, made a quick get-a-way?
This could also be the case with the new geese who have suddenly appeared at Prospect Park over the past week or so.
It is of course, terrible to think this way -- perhaps even "paranoid."
But, unfortunately, knowledge of continual harassment on these birds, as well as thousands rounded up and gassed over the past few years causes necessary alteration in thinking. If we are overly "suspicious," it is because we have to be.
Reality is that I haven't seen geese flying over Central Park in at least a month.
It is unusual that they would suddenly be flying in now just prior to molting and especially to a place they don't normally molt. What would cause this change?
Later today, I will return to Turtle Pond and the boat lake.
"Normally," one would not expect to see geese at these locations during the molt, (with the exception of last year when Mama and Papa raised their five goslings at Turtle Pond).
But, nothing is obviously "normal" anymore so I try not to anticipate or expect anything these days.
Each day is a little surprise.
Between trying to figure out the normal flying and behavior patterns of geese, but factoring in the impacts of harassment and cullings, it is impossible to be sure or confident about anything right now.
It is frustrating to be so "in the dark" and to be fraught with so many unanswered questions.
Has the city and USDA already begun goose cullings?
If so, where and when?
Will they be returning to Prospect Park?
What is happening in the other city locations where geese have been rounded up and gassed in the past?
Will the feds show up at Central Park?
What is really needed is a network of "Goose Watchers" from around the city who could report and share with each other, the happenings in their own areas.
Perhaps then, we could begin to put pieces of the puzzles together.
But, for now it is grasping in the dark, notation of unusual changes, and taking nothing for granted.
Everyday, a little surprise. -- PCA
Monday, June 13, 2011
The Myth of "Resident" Geese (Or, In Praise of Native, American-Born Geese)
New geese have arrived at Prospect Park within the past two weeks bringing the cited number up to 39 with one gosling.
The fact new geese have flown into Prospect Park just prior to molting suggests that Prospect Park is a likely and popular molting site for Canada geese.
There are apparently ample food supplies and the geese feel reasonably protected and "safe" for the six weeks that they shed their flight feathers and are unable to fly.
Of course, "safe" might just be an illusion.
The flightless birds are, in fact, extremely vulnerable to any clandestine 4 AM raids and roundups at the deadly hands of the USDA. Normally, the USDA goose "culls" occur from June 15th through July 15th to coincide with the goose molting period.
Then again, we don't know what "normal" is anymore and so far, none of the agencies are talking or sending out press releases this year.
We also don't know if the new geese arriving at Prospect Park recently have actually flown there to molt or if they were simply chased and harassed from some other location.
Regardless however, this suggests that most of the 368 geese rounded up and gassed from PP last year during the molting season, were not in fact, "resident" geese, at all, but rather birds who merely flew in for six weeks to molt (or were chased there from another location.)
The likelihood is that most of the massacred geese would have left Prospect Park anyway, once their flight feathers grew in by late July or early August of last year.
Where would the geese have gone?
They would have returned to a "staging" location -- such as Harlem Meer in Central Park.
What is a "staging" location?
Normally, after raising any potential young and/or molting, the geese then leave the breeding/molting sites and return to what are called, "staging" areas.
A staging or "meet-up" site is the location where the geese meet up with other gaggles of familiar geese (in some cases, extended family members) to rest and prepare for the upcoming winter migrations.
The geese will often stay in the staging areas for up to two months, resting and eating heartily to build up fat reserves for the upcoming winter. Gradually, the geese leave the staging areas in small or large groups to fly south for the winter.
At the same time, geese from the far north (such as Canada or the Arctic) fly south to New York City or other areas in the North East to "winter" from late November through February.
In Central Park, the wintering geese from the north usually take up brief, two month "residence" in the Central Park Reservoir -- providing it does not entirely freeze over.
But, then as soon as the ice melts (late February), the migratory geese are gone, starting their long journeys back north.
All of this raises the question of what really are "resident" Canada geese?
Or, is there even such a thing as a "resident" goose?
Not, really.
The fact is, that NO goose stays in one location for the entire year (unless injured and incapable of flight).
The "resident" label has thus been falsely applied to Canada geese who, even if born in America are not "resident" to any one location for a period of more than three months.
For purposes of clarification and to differentiate geese born in other countries from those hatched in the states, it would be more accurate to refer to foreign born geese as the "wintering" or transitory geese and those hatched here as "native" geese.
All geese in fact, "migrate" in fall and spring, even if it is only moving from one state to a neighboring one.
And all geese move from breeding and/or molting locations in late summer to staging locations.
It seems use of the term, "resident" has been wrongly applied to insinuate that some geese are "lazy" and stay in one location their entire lives.
This term seems to invite hostility from many humans complaining about so-called, "resident" geese, while at the same time, claiming admiration and respect for "migratory" geese.
But, in fact, there is little, if any difference between the two types of geese with the lone exception being the countries they were originally hatched.
From that standpoint, we seem to appreciate far more, those geese born in Canada or the Arctic who winter in the states, than the geese who actually originate from here.
We advocate protection for foreign born geese, while declaring all out "war" on our native goose population!
Something seems very weird and even "un-American" in that.
What is a resident Canada goose?
No such thing any more than someone staying in an area for three months would be termed a "resident" of that location, as much as a visitor.
American born geese are simply native geese.
One would think we would value and appreciate them every bit as much, if not more so than the visiting geese from the north who "reside" here during the winter. -- PCA
Saturday, June 11, 2011
"Build It and They Will Come......."
"Build it and they will come."
We are all familiar with this famous line from the movie, "Field of Dreams."
But, real life is not a movie.
In recent years, 27 million dollars has been spent to "restore wetlands" areas in New York City.
What do wetlands attract?
Waterfowl of course -- including, Canada geese.
Last year, among 19 New York City sites where Canada geese were rounded up and gassed by the USDA, were 3 locations where "ecological restoration projects were being conducted costing, 6.2 million, 20 million and 1.3 million dollars respectively."
These were the Marine Park Golf Course, Alley Pond Park and Pennsylvania Landfill Complex.
A total of 454 geese were rounded up and gassed from these three locations alone.
It is hard to understand exactly how a golf course fits the definition of "wetlands" or even "ecological restoration project," but apparently it does.
But, for the misfortunate geese who dared to show up to these "restoration projects," or "wetlands," it was like someone being invited out for a date and then being shot when actually showing up for it.
"Build it and they will come -- and then we will round up and gas them."
The USDA "observed" 1,877 Canada geese last year at 26 different city locations.
Of those, 1,676 geese were later rounded up and gassed from 19 locations.
That is an 89% "reduction" rate. -- Or, what some of us might consider, an extermination campaign against the geese.
The FAA and the US Air Force, has in fact, declared a "Zero Tolerance" for any geese within seven miles of a airport.
This information is derived from The Goose Removal Report put out by the USDA, entitled, "Summary: New York City Canada Goose Removals in 2010:"
Other interesting tidbits of information are contained within this report.
For examples:
Eight geese were rounded up and gassed from Brookville Park.
Fourteen were rounded up from Fort Totten.
And nineteen from Flushing Meadows.
Apparently, low goose numbers are not enough to deter the USDA hit squads from invading public parks and killing geese.
However, 157 geese were rounded up and killed from Van Courtland Golf Course in the Bronx.
Obviously, those geese "loafing" (a word actually used in the report) around on golf courses are a huge threat to airliners.
The reports does not state how far any of these locations actually are from the airports.
But, we do know that Prospect Park which was the site of 368 geese rounded up and gassed in 2010 is more than 9 miles from the airports. -- far outside the so-called "7 mile radius" indicated for cullings.
Oh well. What's a few small details?
After all, "they are only geese."
Still, if it distressing reading actual stats of the goose massacres conducted last year around the city (as well as 2009), it is nothing compared to the "recommendations" for the future contained in this report.
They include:
"Utilize additional capture techniques to increase number of sites and geese that can be captured.
"This may have to be done other times of the year besides the molt."
In other words, the geese can be rounded up and killed aside from the June through July molting window and they can presumably be rounded up from any NYC location and in whatever fashion or "technique."
The geese quite literally have no place to go in New York City.
We have created the "wetlands" and other "restoration sites" and invited the geese in.
Only to put targets on their heads when they actually show up.
"Build it and they will come.
And we will waiting with our plastic crates and gas chambers."
Its like of like the old adage:
"The light at the end of the tunnel is really the headlight of an oncoming train."
For the geese, it tragically is. -- PCA
Friday, June 10, 2011
"What Good are the Geese?" -- Ask the Other Birds
(Photos: 1-- Bozo and Bonnie approaching me in greeting. 2-- Mallards hanging peacefully with the two geese. 3-- Birds safely in water from chasing dog, thanks to Bozo)
Many happenings over the past couple of days.
Most significant is the condemnation by the HSUS of the planned, USDA roundup and gassings of around 20 geese and goslings peacefully living on the grounds of a Saranac Lake, New York school because of complaints about "goose poop."
The school board just approved the roundups to take place next week:
Please comment to the article and go to our FB pages for information and contacts to write the school and protest:
Protests have occurred in Clarence, New York (Buffalo area) resulting in a deferring for the moment, further goose shootings after hunters were called out last week killing geese on a local pond and raising the ire of community residents. The shootings of the geese resulted from one woman's complaint about the geese being a "nuisance:"
It is good to see people like Ted McHuge of Clarence, New York speaking up for the geese and bringing this barbarism and lunacy to the attention of the media and the public. It proves that when motivated for the right reasons, even a small group of people can bring about important change:
On the local level, developments remain disturbing regarding the vanishing geese at both, Central and Prospect Parks.
It is apparent from photographic evidence, that the "new" goose family at Prospect Park with the one gosling is not the same as the original family, who at last count, had three remaining goslings, but have not been seen in more than a week.
Both sets of parents had their eggs oiled, but goslings hatched anyway.
The first family had six eggs hatch, but later lost goslings over the ensuing month. We don't know how many eggs hatched from the second set of goose parents. To this point, they have one surviving gosling.
Once again, this raises questions of what happened to the first goose family?
Did the last three goslings die? Are the parents now out on the lake with other geese?
Or, did something happen to the entire family?
One thing we do know:
"Nature" has nothing to do with these bizarre happenings and unanswered questions at Prospect Park.
Yesterday morning, I returned to Harlem Meer in Central Park to check on the two remaining geese there, "Bozo and Bonnie."
Much to my great relief they were still there.
What was particularly fascinating was how the small group of mallards (about a dozen) still at the lake, huddled around the two geese, presumably for security and early danger warnings.
Tossing out some seeds to Bozo, Bonnie and the ducks on the small, sandy, beach area, suddenly at one point, Bozo, looked up alertly, honked and along with Bonnie made a fast bee line for the water. The mallards quickly followed them.
That's strange! I thought, looking around and not seeing anything of immediate danger.
But, then, within a minute, a small, off-leash, Cocker Spaniel made a mad dash towards the water and birds, though he did not venture into the water far enough to pose a viable threat.
Bozo had sounded out the early warning to all the birds a full minute before the dog actually appeared, giving chase!
In almost all the articles about Canada geese these days, little, if anything at all is said about the amazing qualities of these animals and their importance to other animals and the environment.
But, the facts are that not only will the peaceful geese accept orphaned goslings into their flocks (unlike other bird species), but they serve as vital security beacons to other birds and early warning systems of danger.
"Get rid of the geese" and you get rid of all those waterfowl species who hang with the geese and depend upon them, primary amongst them, mallards.
Recently, I came across a New York Times column from last year that also speaks to some of the unique qualities of Canada geese and answers the question, "What good are they?"
A question that is really like asking, "What good are flowers?"
What good are the geese?
Ask the other birds. -- PCA
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
"The New Unnormal"
What is so disturbing about the goose gassings that occurred last year at Prospect Park (and other city locations) is that both, public understanding of wildlife and trust in the system have, in many ways, been compromised and decimated.
We the people don't know what to expect anymore and have to be prepared for anything.
"Normal" things can be suddenly suspect.
On the For the Love of Prospect Park Geese Facebook page (For the love of the geese in Prospect Park (92)) someone recently posted that the park is issuing more tickets for those in the park past 1 AM.
There are two ways to look at what now appears to be a sudden enforcing of park rules:
1-- The park normally ups enforcement during the warm weather when more people are likely to be testing the hours rules.
2-- USDA is coming back to round up the Prospect Park geese and the city, park and feds want to insure that no one is around to document or call the press.
Of the two possibilities obviously, the first one is nothing to be concerned about, but the latter one is. The problem is, we don't know which is true and there is no real way to find out.
Harassment of the geese is also taking its toll on what nature lovers can anticipate and/or understand as goose "normal" flying, mating and gosling-rearing patterns and behavior have been seriously disrupted and interfered with.
No one for example, could know what to "expect" when two parent geese whose eggs were addled back in April somehow managed for their eggs to hatch anyway. According to experts, rain can sometimes wash off the oil or the mother goose might succeed in rolling the eggs sufficiently to remove the oil.
But, no one seemed to have answers on whether the hatched goslings might suffer birth defects or health compromises as result of having been deprived of oxygen for an unknown period of time while in the eggs.
Its been a "wait and see" game ever since the six goslings hatched at Prospect Park in early May.
But, it is a month later since the "miracle hatchings" and we know even less now than when the goslings were actually born.
Less than a week after the hatchings, two of the goslings vanished and presumably died.
Then, a couple of weeks later, a third gosling disappeared and is also assumed dead.
But, then last week, the whole family seemingly vanished!
Only to perhaps turn up in another location at Prospect Park with ONE gosling!
Is the same or a different family?
There is no way to know for sure.
If the parent geese with the one gosling are in fact, a different family, then what happened to the first family?
If it is the same family, then what happened to two of the three remaining goslings?
We are grappling with questions that, rather than having any answers at all, simply raise more questions.
The problem is, we are no longer dealing with "normal," but rather the new unnormal.
Under normal and natural circumstances, geese would rarely, if ever suffer an extermination of its entire native population in one area. Nor, would they be subjected to daily harassment or have their eggs oiled.
But, at Prospect Park, the entire native population of geese was rounded up and destroyed last summer.
And the fact is, we don't know anything about the "new" geese who are at PP now.
We don't know where these new geese came from or whether they will stay. We don't know their ages, sexes or their relationship (if any) to each other. We don't know if the different groups and widely varying numbers of geese now at Prospect Park are extended families or just "random" geese who are popping into the park wily nilly or been chased to Prospect Park from somewhere else.
How can anyone understand or "predict" anything about the geese at Prospect Park now when we don't know even who they are or the very basics about them?
Moreover, while it is certainly not "normal" for a pair of mated Canada Geese to lose virtually all of their young a month after hatching, no one seems to have actual data or evidence on the possible effects of egg oiling on embryos who later hatch into live goslings.
(On this note, one has to ask why we are doing things like egg addling and harassment if we don't know and can't predict the later effects on species health and species behavior?)
While an argument can be made for non-lethal harassment and population control measures (such as egg addling) in small areas where there are large populations of geese, where is the merit of these arguments in large areas with small populations of geese?
The sad fact is, we have no idea what has been killing off the Prospect Park goslings over the past month or even worse, possibly the entire family.
Most disturbing of all in terms of the geese currently at Prospect Park, we don't know if they will be left in some kind of "peace" (highly unlikely), endlessly harassed or rounded up and gassed, like the native geese last year.
If our knowledge of goose health and behavior has been seemingly thrown out the window over the past year due to the "unnormal" events at Prospect Park, our trust of the powers that be has likewise, been compromised.
The new "normal" is in fact, the unnormal.
That is what happens when not just geese are annihilated, but also, public trust and faith in the system.
We are in some ways, like a betrayed spouse, who, having been cheated upon and lied to, now suspect our partner even if s/he merely goes out for pizza.
Once destroyed in an instant, trust can be infinitely difficult to build up again -- especially when there has never been acknowledgement and sincere remorse for wrongdoing.
As far as the exterminated geese at Prospect Park, we have gotten neither acknowledgement of wrongdoing nor apology -- even a year after the fact.
Instead, we and the geese have gotten harassment and been told we should be "grateful" for it. (i.e. "Its either harassment or gassings.")
That is like a unfaithful spouse saying to his/her betrayed partner, "I won't go out and cheat behind your back anymore. I will instead, engage in Internet affairs and flaunt them in your face. You should be grateful."
Grateful, indeed for pile-on.
And "pile on" is exactly what has occurred around the city with regard to our treatment of Canada geese.
These days, either harassment or round-ups and exterminations are occurring all over as our Mayor (Bloomberg) has publicly proclaimed that he wants the geese virtually eliminated from everywhere in New York City save perhaps the most southern tip of Manhattan.
Yesterday, I counted only TWO remaining geese, "Bozo and Bonnie" at Harlem Meer. That brings to 12, the TOTAL geese in all of Central Park right now.
Even park goers who are not normally "birders" are wondering and questioning, "What happened to all the geese who used to be in Central Park? I don't see them anymore." (A question posed to us the other day at the Animal Rights event.)
I can't answer that question, as despite my daily observances of Central Park wildlife, nothing is "normal" these days.
Are some of the "new" geese at Prospect Park those who were chased out of other locations, including Central Park?
It is certainly possible.
Were Central Park geese chased out to locations where they will be rounded up and gassed?
That is certainly possible, too.
Did the Central Park geese simply leave on their own to "molt" someplace they consider safer? -- A sometimes normal event under normal circumstances.
The problem is, we don't have "normal" anymore.
Once a species has been targeted for destruction, all "normal" goes out the window.
And once public trust has been breached by exterminations, lies and cover-ups that have occurred in the past, it is extremely difficult -- like Humpty Dumpty -- to put it back together again.
The new normal is the unnormal. -- PCA
Monday, June 6, 2011
"If a Tree Falls in the Forest...."
(Photos -- From the "Our Planet, Their's Too" Animal Rights event at Union Square yesterday)
"If a tree falls in the forest, but there is no one to hear it, did it make a sound?"
We are all familiar with this common riddle.
Yesterday, there was a sizable event held at Union Square to commemorate and acknowledge the (mostly denied) rights of animals the world over. Although at least 200 people actively participated in the, "Our Planet, Their's Too" celebration for animals and thousands of others stopped by tables to pick up information and support, the action was apparently not covered by national or local media with the lone exception of the Daily News.
Question: If an event is held to raise public awareness to timely ethical and social issues, but it is not covered in the national press, did it happen at all?
Perhaps what both questions really ask is, Are the eyes, ears and brains of humans the only acknowledgements to existence and actuality?
Present day reality is that the media (i.e. what we see, watch, learn or read through media sources) is the evidence of newsworthy existence and actuality to most people.
If it wasn't on Sixty Minutes or reported in the The New York Times then it is probably unimportant in terms of social significance or doesn't even exist.
But, the torture, abuse and killings of many billions of animals annually certainly does exist and clearly it should represent something of greater importance and social significance then whether a young man takes a girl to the school prom or whether a handful of musicians are unhappy about some "Quiet Zones" in city parks.
And yet the latter two stories received wide coverage in the local media today whereas the widely attended and public, Animal Rights event has so far, received pitifully little.
What is wrong with that picture?
It seems only reasonable and logical to conclude that on the, "Falling Tree in a Forest" riddle, the tree certainly does make a sound to the thousands of creatures in the forest who hear and could likely be effected or even killed by a falling tree. (Humans, after all, are not the only life forms capable of hearing.)
Just because humans aren't around to hear or see something, does not negate its actuality or connection to social, inter-species or geological importance. Indeed, the planet itself existed millions of years before the first human ever walked on it.
But, in our incredibly myopic and self-centered human world, if we aren't there to hear the falling tree, then it did not fall.
And nature-born "rights" for animals (i.e. the right to exist and attempt to survive within the balance and challenge of nature) do not matter or exist because we humans have neither granted such rights nor necessarily agree with nature about them.
"Out of sight, out of mind" simply means something never happened or is happening.
The problem with this philosophy is that it is simply not true.
The ethically (and ecologically) questionable torture, abuse and slaughter of billions of non-human animals every year absolutely does occur (though usually far from most human view) and it does bear connection and significance to almost everything else in life.
And yet, when some humans attempt to open the doors and provide rare glimpse into slaughterhouses, factory farms, vivisection labs, animal shelters, or avian gas chambers, we are shut out by the major media (i.e. the eyes and ears of the social, ethical and cultural worlds) in favor of more "important" news, such as prom dates and a handful of disgruntled musicians.
Apparently, a trillion trees could suddenly fall and few, if any of us would hear them.
But, we could tell ourselves they neither existed nor mattered. -- PCA
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Can This Family Be Protected and Saved?
(Photos: Family of Geese at the 59th Street Pond in Central Park. Children feeding or photographing geese and ducks. But, can these birds be protected?)
More very troubling reports.
A close observer of Flushing Meadows park has just reported that there are now "ZERO" geese there as of this past Wednesday. The observer finds this, "absolutely mind boggling."
This occurs at a time the Mama and Papa geese have mysteriously vanished from Turtle Pond at Central Park, (along with several geese from Harlem Meer).
On Wednesday of this week, I reported that the remaining ducks at Harlem Meer last Wednesday appeared to have been very "traumatized."
Meanwhile, people are still searching for the family of geese at Prospect Park. Although two geese were spotted there with one goslings a few days ago, we cannot be sure that is the same family of five whose eggs hatched despite being oiled.
Whether it is or not, bizarre things are happening at Prospect Park, as well as the other locations.
All of these disappearances are occurring at the same time that the USDA traditionally carries out its "goose removals" (i.e. capture and gassings.) and a time that geese don't normally migrate or take off mysteriously. Certainly, a family with young goslings cannot fly away out of a park.
Central Park of course claims that it has "never allowed" USDA to come in and round up its geese.
However lately, officials and spokespeople for Central Park have been less than forthright about its goose management program. Various inconsistencies and evasiveness now lead one to question everything we have been told so far.
If, for example, the USDA did go into Central Park and round up geese, would anyone from Central Park admit to that to a member from the public?
Certainly, CP officials would know from all the bad publicity to Prospect Park last year (over the gassings of 368 geese), that such would not be the kind of information most park goers would welcome and want to hear.
Can all of this just be "coincidence?"
A couple of weeks ago, I was told by a birder at Turtle Pond that there was a new goose family at the 59th Street Pond at Central Park.
Yesterday, I went to check this information out.
Indeed, there is currently a family of geese at the south side of Central Park (an area I don't normally go to as it is almost two miles from my home.)
The family consists of two parents, four, one-month-old goslings and what I speculate to be, four grown goslings from last year's breeding cycle.
I say "speculate" because the behavior I saw yesterday from the papa gander towards the four grown geese mimicked exactly the same behavior I saw from Papa goose at Turtle Pond towards his grown goslings from last year: Acceptance, but laying down strict lines on where the juvenile geese can and cannot go. (Rules are very firmly, but gently enforced by goose families and the "kids," even when grown, respect and follow them to the letter.)
The 59th Street Pond in Central Park is about the same size as Turtle Pond, though it is presumably, much more heavily trafficked by people and tourists.
The goose family is therefore, very socialized with people and it did not take long yesterday to witness small children feeding and even photographing the goose family, as well as about a dozen or so mallards in the pond.
But, after witnessing and learning what is happening with geese in other areas of the park and city right now, I am worried for these guys.
History, after all, tends to repeat itself.
Is this family of geese at the 59th Street Pond at Central Park SAFE?
I cannot answer that.
I thought Mama and Papa goose at Turtle Pond were safe. But, their eggs were destroyed and now even they are gone.
Over the past two days, I have been unable to find these two geese anywhere in Central Park and I have now been to just about ALL the watercourses. Where could Mama and Papa be?
One would like to think that the goose family at the south end of Central Park would be safe and spared from any government cullings -- especially since they have enjoyed such high visibility and welcome from thousands of people and kids.
But, "Target and Beaky" were not spared at Prospect Park last year, even though they were very high profile geese who even had write-ups in the New York Times for having successfully survived pedestrian cruelty.
But, neither Target nor Beaky survived the cruelty of the city, Prospect Park leadership and the USDA.
History is the best predictor of the future.
I am not confident about the survivability of the goose family at the Central Park, 59th Street Pond at all right now.
Not unless they somehow make it through this month.
Since the pond is not close to me and I am still trying to monitor the North side of Central Park, I am putting out an emergency call to others to closely monitor this family on a daily basis for the next four weeks.
Is there anyone who can help in this?
If so, please email or contact me immediately.
The lives of this extended family of ten geese and their baby goslings may depend on it. -- PCA
Saturday, June 4, 2011
The Season of the Witch
(Photo: One of six, very wary geese last night at Harlem Meer)
Even before hitting the small pier at Turtle Pond yesterday morning, I knew I would not see Mama and Papa goose.
A very bad feeling suddenly overwhelmed. I was not surprised when looking at the empty rocks, empty pond and empty lawns. On the contrary, I halfway expected it.
Nevertheless, I initially tried to dismiss and even laugh off the bad feelings as my once-again "paranoia."
The geese are playing hide and seek again! Maybe they are rock climbing at Belvedere Castle! Or, maybe they are sight-seeing at the lake or the Reservoir. Don't panic!
But, more than an hour later, after searching the rocks, the lake, all the surrounding lawns and even the Reservoir with no sign of the familiar two geese at Turtle Pond, I was forced to give up the search and return home with my two dogs, Tina and Chance.
Emotionally, I was a mess. Part of me felt numb. But, the other part was becoming unglued. I fought back tears while walking along crowded, uptown, Manhattan streets.
Still, there was that part that tried to maintain hope and balance:
Go back later. You usually see them at dusk anyway. Maybe they take some kind of romantic day trips in the mornings.
I didn't believe that of course. But, it was worth trying to convince myself. At least for the moment.
Once home, I called the Central Park Conservancy (again) to ask the simple question of whether "Goosebusters" (i.e. harassment) was being used against the geese at Central Park?
The Conservancy advised me to call the Park Rangers (which of course have nothing to do with harassment).
But, I called the rangers anyway.
"Border Collies have been used in the past to chase the geese, but I have not seen them this spring," the pleasant-sounding ranger told me over the phone. She then added, "Some people don't like the harassment. Its possible the person who reported it to you was remembering it from the past."
"Please add my name to those who don't like the harassment!" I said to the ranger. "But, getting back to the point, the photographer told me he had seen harassment as late as a couple of weeks ago."
"I just know I haven't seen it," the ranger reiterated, "though I don't get here at 6 AM like the photographer."
"What would make these two geese suddenly leave Turtle Pond?" I asked. "Its not migration season. Normally, geese don't move very far this time of year. These two geese usually stay at the pond until mid July."
"Sometimes people allow their dogs in the water," the ranger answered. "A dog might have scared the geese off."
"These geese successfully raised six goslings at Turtle Pond last year! They are well used to people's dogs and they know the terrain."
"Let me check with my contacts at the Conservancy and ask if harassment has been used recently. I will call you back as soon as I find out."
"I would greatly appreciate that."
And with that, the call ended.
But, I never heard back from the ranger yesterday.
Either she was unsuccessful as I in getting definitive answers from the Conservancy. Or, she did get the information and simply did not want to tell me. I had, after all, made my position very clear on the harassment. "ADD my name to those who don't like it."
And so I was back to square one. No answers from anyone in authority on whether harassment was being used on the Central Park geese or not. And no real explanations for the vanishing geese throughout the entire north end of the park -- including now, Mama and Papa geese, my very favorites and most well known.
Still, I elected not to write in this journal yesterday because there was so much I still did not know or have actual evidence or admittance to.
There was only one thing to do last night.
Return to Turtle Pond.
But, it was the same story as earlier in the day.
No geese and just a few ducks, including the mama mallard and her six still-surviving ducklings.
Having looked everywhere else for Mama and Papa goose without success, I decided to return to Harlem Meer.
The sun had just set when arriving at the Meer. Though the lake appeared mostly empty of waterfowl, I could make out a few geese in the middle of the lake and a few more mallards than observed two nights ago.
Jillian and her four ducklings were swimming in the water, as were Brad and Angelina and most of the other mallards.
They appeared more normal and less stressed than Wednesday night.
The geese however, remained very wary and unmoving in the water.
Once it got dark, I moved to one of the embankments and tossed some seeds to a few of the mallards, as well as Brad and Angelina.
Only when doing this for about ten minutes, did the geese begin to move very cautiously in my direction. When climbing on the embankment, the gander I presume to be "Bozo," gave a short, greeting honk to me, though his body language was cautious and tentative.
I counted a total of six geese, though one of them (probably the ever wary, Bonnie) did not approach and remained in the middle of the lake.
Her mate, Bozo meanwhile, was far more subdued than normal. No antics, no hissing at my dogs and no bullying of the four other geese he came with.
Nevertheless, Bozo did seem to take on a leadership and "sentry" role. -- Watching out while the others ate. I am guessing the other four geese were much younger and perhaps might even be the goslings from Turtle Pond -- though if that was true, they were much more nervous and skittish than I am used to seeing them.
I did not see at all, Mama and Papa goose from Turtle Pond.
Finally, Bozo gave a honk signaling to the younger geese. And with Bozo in the lead, they all left the embankment and returned to the center of the lake.
I then gathered up my two dogs and we started to make our way home, saying a goodnight to the then chatty mallards who, for all intensive purposes, appeared pretty close to normal.
A few were even chasing each other once again.
By the time we arrived home, both my dogs and I were knocked out having put in more than 4 miles in the park yesterday.
But, still I had no answers to all the bizarre happenings of this week.
Meanwhile, the goose family at Prospect Park has seemingly vanished this week, along Mama and Papa goose from Turtle Pond. Though people have been looking for them, no one has been able to find the parent geese and their three surviving goslings.
Or, maybe it is only one surviving gosling now.
One Prospect Park observer just photographed yesterday, two parent geese and one gosling at the Prospect Park lake.
6,5,4,3,2, 1.
It is the season of the witch. -- PCA
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The bathroom is arguably the most important room of any house, providing a haven away from the stresses of modern life. From finding the ideal bathroom suitesand tiles, to sourcing rugs and mirrors, shopping for bathroom fixtures can actually be a little bit fun.
Call Churchill? Oh Yes!
Before you get going on any renovation plans, it is important to remember the age old saying 'he who fails to plan is planning to fail.' Whilst unlike Winston Churchill you are not guiding a country through World War II, renovating any room sometimes feels like a bit of a battle. Choose your fights carefully and fix any existing problems before you get going, this will save you a lot of time and even more stress as work gets underway. One way in which to ensure the space available within a bathroom is maximised is to have a spring clean no matter what time of year it is and complete a detailed floor plan of the area. This way, you can plan where bathroom suites,cabinets and towel rails will fit best. You do not want to have everything installed only to discover that the space does not fit in with your lifestyle and needs.
Like any good leader, before you commence proceedings it is advisable to be honest with yourself. If you would like solid gold taps but know your budget will not stretch to such luxuries, it is best to make sure your budget and shopping list correlate from the get-go. However, there is no reason why a smaller budget cannot produce equally impressive results. Compare prices for items both online and in shops, taking your time to find the best deal and ensuring you are spending your hard earned cash wisely.
Cheap and Cheerful
There are a variety of ways to bring your bathroom bang up to date without spending a lot of money. Old furniture, such as storage cabinets, can be up-cycled with a fresh lick of paint and new handles. This is one way to bring your personality into the space. Another is to add rugs or pieces of art to the room. These personal pieces will not only add a style injection but instantly catch the eye of any visitors and become a talking point. Additionally, a splash of colour can be achieved through employing tile paints and stickers. This cheap and easy alternative to re-tiling creates an imaginative look and there is no reason why you cannot mix and match colours and prints to produce a truly innovative design. Lighting is another cheap way in which to add some glamour. There is a huge array of products on the market, from spotlights to chandeliers, so spend some time searching for the perfect one for you. A final cheeky tip to banish the spending blues is to focus on accessories. Purchasing fresh towels and decanting shampoos and conditioners into vivid containers will make every product look gorgeously glam. Containers can be used to reflect the season, with bright colours reflecting the spring mood.
Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
There are some instances where you may need to spend a little more to achieve an amazing result. Splurging on bathroom suitesis not to be sniffed at; after all, you will be spending the majority of your time in the bath or shower once in the room. Power showers and state-of-the-art radiators are similarly worth spending some cash on as they will add to the overall appearance of the room and make a real design statement. Whichever style you go for, once the renovation is complete ensure you treat yourself to a long, relaxing bath. Chances are you deserve it.
Aimee Coppock is a freelance writer who specialises in renovating bathrooms and sourcing bathroom suites.

subset: commoncrawl


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CASA was part of A PLACE IN TIME, an exhibition in Nirox Sculpture Park, in the Cradle of Humankind, curated by Helen Pheby, curator of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, UK in 2016. The piece is now part of the Park's permanent exhibition.
Casa is a meditation on home.
The piece confronts the viewer with the paradox of an inaccessible refuge: a warm and permanenlty lit wooden house that tempts the viewer to go inside, but there are neither windows or doors.
The piece is meant to be built in different places around the world, each reflecting on different idealizations of home.
It has been built in the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa (Nirox Sculpture Park) and Buenos Aires (Argentina). Next construction will be in Detroit (United States).
Aprox. Size: 500 cm x 400 cm x 400 cm high.
Materials: Local recycled wood, lamps.
BIRD was presented in A PLACE IN TIME, an exhibition in Nirox Sculpture Park, in the Cradle of Humankind, curated by Helen Pheby, senior curator of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, UK in 2016.
A still, faraway dot. As it gets closer, the eye can see the bird, its yellow and green feathers, its shine. The eye is able to imagine the softness deriving from its touch.
The bird lies on its back, suspended, its legs recoiled, still. No sound can be heard.
"Bird" explores man's ability for empathy.
The distance between man, his surroundings, and fellow men.
Without a glass to determine a limit between the bird and its onlookers, the artistic intention is to reflect upon the possibility to amend this apparent separation.
Standing opposite the bird, the human hand wonders weather to approach or touch it. The eye becomes restless, comes closer to find the inanimate creature and suddenly wonders whether there is still any trace of warmth. The eye perceives all the beauty enclosed in that fragility.
A bird; On a small shelf, just for one day; afterwards it shall return to nature, where it would originally have been found lifeless.
The possibility of empathy has a limited window of opportunity.
This piece reflects upon compassion and our ability to put ourselves in the place of any being with whom we share the essence of life.
Victoria Gessaghi, Anthropologist
historia, memoria y silencios was published by Schilt (Neatherlands) 2011 and Postcart edizioni (Italy) in 2012.
The book was distinguished by PhotoEspaña 2012 and PDN, United States, as one of the Best Books of the Year.
Archival ink on Cotton Paper.
Size: 50 x 40cm
historia, memoria y silencios was Guillén Vaschetti's first book, published by Schilt Publishing, Netherland and by Postcard Edizioni, Italy in 2011. The book was selected among the best books of the year by PhotoEspaña and PDN.
As photographs they have been widely exhibited. Archival ink on cotton paper. Sizes are 145 x 105 cm and 15 x 10cm for historia, memoria y silencios and 40x40 cm for Unopened.
"It is all in the past" my mother said when she let me know she had thrown away all family slides. I was able to recover only one small box containing slides: some were loose - which I photographed leaving most details out of focus- others were wrapped in small packages, which I decided to keep un-opened.
Between silences, secrets and oblivions there are many stories and with them we can built and rebuilt our own, and with it, our identities.
Un-opened negative cans, slides wrapped in small packages, tiny pieces of paper. Part of my family record my mother decided to throw away.
Between silences, secrets and oblivions there are many stories and with them I built and rebuilt my own.
Qu'import la victime si le test est beaux (Laurent Tailhade, 1893)
The relationship between victim, violence and beauty has existed in the history of culture since antiquity and its presence within aesthetics changed over the centuries. Nowadays it is a displeasing and yet paradoxically attractive comfort zone.
In Qu' importe la victime si le geste est beau, the combination of photographic images of details of old master's paintings together with alternative photo based work, provide a mirror to explore this complex relationship.
Aprox size : 110 x 230 cm (43'' x 90'').
The paradox of dancing tango without physical contac. An exploration on men and women's relationship.
Painted Rituals was Lorena's first widely exhibited series, photographed in Australia in 2004.
The text is by Facundo Cabral.


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Borisov State Polytechnic College is a modern educational institution. Highly-qualified teachers use advanced methods of teaching and effective educational technology. Its material and educational base lets the college compete successfully with vocational schools. It occupies a decent place in the continuous professional education system in the Republic of Belarus.
In 2017 BSPC underwent independent external audit and was awarded Certificate of Conformance to Quality Management System ISO 9001-2015.
Students are offered day-time and distant education at their option. They are trained to have the following professions:
|Specialty (Specialization)
|Worker's Professions
|Special Training,
Improvement of Qualifications
|2-38 01 31
"Manufacture, Maintenance and Operation of Devices and Apparatus"
Specialization "Maintenance and Operation of Electric and Electronic Equipment"
|technician-electro mechanic
|— Assembling fitter of radio electronic equipment
— Assembling fitter of measuring and control equipment and automation
— Assembling fitter of automatic control equipment
— Electrician of electronic equipment
|Basic OS Windows MS Office
|2-36 01 01
"Machine building Technology"
Specialization "Computer Aided Manufacture Technology
|— Turner
— Milling machine operator
— Multiprofile Machinist
— CNC machine operator
|2-43 01 05
"Industrial Thermotechnics"
Specialization "Operation of Thermo technical and Heating Equipment"
|technician- thermal technician
|— Repair of boiler and dust-preparation shop equipment fitter
— Repair and operation of gas equipment fitter
— Chemical water purification operator
— Boiler operator
— Maintenance and repair of ventilation and air conditioning system fitter
— Drying equipment operator
— Central heating system operator
|— Boiler operator
— Boiler machinist (stoker)
— Chemical water purification operator
|2-37 01 06
"Automobile Maintenance"
|— Automobile repairer
— Category "B" driver
|2-56 02 01
Specialization "Geodesy in Construction"
"Cadastre Geodetic Support "
|— Geodetic, mapping and mine surveyor
|2-27 01 01
"Economics, Manufacture planning and Organization"
|— Entrepreneur
|— Entrepreneurship
The graduates have an opportunity to continue their professional education at university short-term course. They are in demand at the labour market.
The students are involved in extracurricular activities, they take part at scientific societies, subject Olympiads and contests.
The college driver's school train category "B" drivers.
Deadlines for submission of the Application:
Full-time education (on the basis of General basic education) July 20 to August 3
Full-time and part-time education (on the basis of General secondary education) July 20 to August 9
Fee-paying education July 20 to August 14
Enrollment: free education till August 14
fee-paying education till August 16
Students are provided with hostels on demand.
Address: 68 Gagarin St, Borisov 222120 Minsk reg. Belarus
Tel. (8-0177) 74 28 38 (Admission Board), 74 46 36, 74 49 66
Fax: (8-0177) 74 49 66
Web-site: www.bgpk.bntu.by
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


text: This Pizza Hut two slices meal costs a whopping €14.80. Welcome to Norwegian pricing… But this was only a stopover on the way to Helsinki. With a lot of squinting, one can see the outline of Helsinki harbor in the last picture. Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:Like Loading... Related Categorised in: Flying, Travel


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Late last century, Geoff Dyer visited the Leptis Magna ruins in Libya and experienced the atheist's equivalent of a revelation. In a Prospect essay from 2000 he describes walking through the Palaestra, "an expanse of grass and scattered columns," where he was suddenly seized by
the sense—which I've had in only a few places in the world—of entering not so much a physical space as a force-field, where time stands its ground . . . [Leptis Magna] is not a place you enter, but the dream-space of the past: a zone.
Grass and scattered columns? Metaphysical insights and implications? A force-field beyond time? Fans of Andrei Tarkovsky's 1979 film Stalker—in which the unnamed title character leads two men, known only as "Writer" and "Professor," into an abandoned disaster area called the Zone—will recognize the terrain immediately. When Dyer published an expanded version of the essay in his 2003 travel book Yoga for People Who Can't Be Bothered to Do It, he didn't settle for mere allusion; in the book Leptis Magna is no longer a zone; it is now the Zone. Pivoting off the sight of the ruins, Dyer writes in Yoga,
If it weren't for Stalker, I'm not sure I would ever have realized that the place I wanted to be—and the state I wanted to be in—was the Zone. Before I saw Stalker, I only had the need, the longing. In some sense I might have been to the Zone prior to seeing Stalker, but part of being in the Zone is realizing you're in the Zone, and since I didn't know there was such a thing as the Zone, I was not really in it.
Now we have Zona, Dyer's book-length explication of the film that he has been mulling over in print for more than a decade. Like the film's journeying hero, who devises his route by randomly tossing bolt nuts and trudging after them, he's taken his time getting to the point. But the end result is revealing; despite its critical trappings, Zona reads like a personal history, even more so than Dyer's many actual personal histories.
Of Dyer's other books, Zona most resembles Out of Sheer Rage, his 1997 paean to D.H. Lawrence. That too is a self-examination disguised as an exegesis—of "the writer who had made [Dyer] want to become a writer." But he barely discusses his initial encounters with Lawrence's writing or the reasons why Lawrence made him want to write in the first place. (For that you'll have to read his introduction to the Modern Library edition of Sons and Lovers, included in his 2011 omnibus Otherwise Known as the Human Condition.) Instead, Out of Sheer Rage is infamously a record of its own creation, a book about writing a book. At every point the action is occurring now, because every anecdote, digression, and close reading exists only to explain how the book came to be. Like everything that Dyer has written to this point, it feels relentlessly youthful, a celebration of the here and now and all the ways—sex, travel, drugs, books, nervous breakdowns—that we can fill it.
Same for the wonderful essay "Sacked," also from Otherwise. Ostensibly a chronicle of Dyer's first and only experience being fired, it's actually a tour through his post-collegiate years. The job itself is a MacGuffin— it turns out that the initial ten pages of memoir are merely a setup for Dyer's explanation of who he is, at the desk, at the very moment he writes. Looking at his diary from that time, Dyer boasts,
It meant nothing to me, that job. Compared to the books, the films, the parties, the drugs, the women, the sex, the laughing, the drinking, the clubs, and the friends, that job—and the career of which, had I been unlucky, it might have formed a part—was insignificant.
The soul of Zona, however, is defiantly in the past, amid that riotous procession of drugs and movies that "Sacked" commemorates. As such, this is the first of his books that that reads like the work of an older man. Which isn't to say that the book is crotchety or nostalgic or even more stylistically reserved than usual—he still writes in the same charming, scholarly free-associative register, and his ability to synthesize arts criticism and memoir remains nonpareil. But Zona, though structured as a present-tense tour through Tarkovsky's ruminative pseudo-sci-fi film, is really a reminiscence of Dyer's past viewings. "This book is an account of watchings, rememberings, misrememberings, and forgettings," he writes in an early footnote, "it is not the record of a dissection." Out of Sheer Rage, by contrast, unspools into wilder, more unforeseen territory, but could nevertheless be aptly described as a dissection.
"The first few times I saw Stalker were during a phase in my life when I took LSD and magic mushrooms quite regularly," Dyer explains, as if we couldn't have guessed. This admission comes during his description of a scene midway through the film, when the three exhausted travelers lie down by a stream and fall asleep while discussing the role of art and artists in society. We then get an extended footnote about the role of age in determining one's own personal canon of films. "I suspect it is rare for anyone to see their—what they consider to be the—greatest film after the age of thirty," Dyer writes. "After fifty, impossible." (Incidentally, he turns 54 this year.) By seeing Stalker when he did, his "capacity for wonder was . . . subtly enlarged and changed."
Perfectly understandable. As he says, we've all had our own moments of "enlargement" thanks to art, moments that are by definition the product of our being a certain age. But then, Dyer, who (I say with great gratitude and respect) has written some of the most irrepressibly immature and self-obsessed books I've ever read—but whose saving grace has always been his self-awareness—goes full Dad:
It happens that the phase of my getting into serious cinema . . . overlapped with the intensely creative period of what might be called mainstream independent filmmaking, when American directors, having absorbed the influences of the European auteurs, carved out the freedom to realize their cinematic ambitions. I saw Taxi Driver when it was first released, and Apocalypse Now (and Jaws and Star Wars, which, together with the financial catastrophe of Heaven's Gate, heralded the end of this phase).
I saw Stalker slightly later but I saw it when it came out, within a month of its release, when Tarkovsky was at his artistic peak. I saw it, so to speak, live.
Beyond the first paragraph's cursory, obvious treatment of contemporary film history, this passage is unique in Dyer's writing for being so blatantly nostalgic. Even when he occasionally wrote with a blasé, seen-it-all-before weariness, it never before registered as so resigned and reflective. In "Editions of Contemporary Me," an essay on jazz in Otherwise, he describes the "evangelical zeal" that he developed for house and techno music in the early 1990s, when he would have been in his early 30s. More recently, in 2006, Dyer rapturously described the artist Idris Khan's composite photographs as "an out-of-body experience made flesh." In both cases Dyer appears to have experienced the "wonder" that he values so strongly in Zona, despite his relatively advanced age. Perhaps music and visual art are different; tellingly, Zona's age-specific criteria for valuing art only extends to movies, though this seems bizarre coming from a writer who has so seamlessly integrated photography, prose, poetry, music, and now film into his personal canon.
So, what could account for the sudden fuddy-duddification of Geoff Dyer, whose recent novel Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi contained extended odes to cocaine and anilingus? It's worth considering his subject. Stalker is foremost a movie about time and epiphany. The Stalker himself (played by the hunched and looming Alexander Kaidanovsky) is a beaten man with a beleaguered family and a prison record. The Zone, assumed to be the byproduct of a meteorite or alien invasion, is heavily guarded by police, and the "stalkers" who guide people across its border are more like underground shamans than a discrete professional class. This particular monkish journeyer routinely risks his life to escort other lost souls because the Zone is the only place on earth he feels useful and fulfilled; outside he has only a harried and angry wife and a disabled daughter, who may or may not have inherited her handicap because of her father's experience in the potentially radioactive Zone. The Stalker is a natural born seeker, but one with a rapidly declining faith in his only reliable source of transcendence.
When the Stalker returns from his trip with Writer and Professor, he is in despair, convinced that no one cares about the Zone as much as he does. He's a proselytizer without an audience, which is nearly indistinguishable from a madman. But the movie's final shot is haunting, miraculous even. Dyer calls it "one of the all-redeeming moments of any art form," and I would add: Spoiler Alert. Stalker's daughter, Monkey, alone in a room at home, directs her silent attention to a table, where three glasses begin to move as if by telepathy. Visually the shot is magnificent, simultaneously simple and unbelievable. But its thematic implications are even more inspiring: rather than a failure and the possible cause of his daughter's handicap, the Stalker is revealed to be a true seer. The supernatural forces to which he's devoted his scanty life do indeed exist, not in a quarantined no-man's land but in his own home.
Though his life may be tragic, the Stalker's faith is heroic—he's right about the one thing in life that he cares most about, even if he likely won't ever know it. Stalker is open-ended enough to function widely as a metaphor, but my preferred reading corresponds with Dyer's: Stalker is an artist, sacrificing his own stability to guide strangers to profundity. By Dyer's own admission he himself has passed the point of ever again finding a new Zone, a film that will move or unsettle him like Stalker did. So Zona is more soberly pensive than Out of Sheer Rage, and lacks its structure of ongoing inquiry. It is Dyer's attempt to guide people down the path he took to get to an earlier revelation decades ago. It's not his most inspired work, but it's essential for anyone looking to discover the origins of his extraordinary voice and career.
John Lingan is a contributing editor to The Quarterly Conversation.
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Sunday, 22 February 2015
FNSI- A New Project
11 comments:
Wow that was a marathon effort!! Well done to get it all cut out and sorted. Very nice fabric. Enjoy your quilting weekend.ReplyDelete
love it all.....big nightReplyDelete
Dedication! Hope your final solution works out! That's a gorgeous quilt, will be worth the late night!ReplyDelete
Very brave.....I wouldn't touch a rotary cutter after a few wines (or after midnight!). But good to have the fabric on its way so you can stitch all weekend.......wish I was going too.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous22 February 2015 at 22:24
Hi Ralee oh my glad you both got it all sorted out,it will look fantastic and boy mighty effort you both put in xxReplyDelete
Oh my goodness !ReplyDelete
Well done !
Have a nice day !
Great effort!.. I'd better pull my finger out and get something organised too!…don't think I'll do a 4am stint though!!… I'll save that for the weekend!! HAHA!!ReplyDelete
The fabrics alone are a feast for the eyes! Isn't it fun losing track of time with a friend working on something together! Best wishes on this great project! Love the new blog layout too!ReplyDelete
It will be a lovely quilt..quite a trial for you in the cutting..having someone else working on it as well will be a help.ReplyDelete
The worst part is over It will be a lovely quiltReplyDelete
Did you have your eyes propped open with matchsticks! You deserve a medal for cutting through the night like that. Still it'll be worth it when you arrive at retreat ready to hit the sewing machine. Glad you managed to find more border fabric.... have fun xxReplyDelete


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Hours: 7:30 am - 4:30 pm (M-F)
Since 1929, Standard Electric Company has grown to a dominant position in the electrical industry with sixteen branch locations throughout central and northern Michigan.
We continue to drive forward, offering new technology, products, and business methods. Our vast product offering encompasses electrical, automation, and network communication systems and components.
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Standard Electric Co can be found at S Dort Hwy 1514. The following is offered: B2B Electrical Supplies. The entry is present with us since Sep 9, 2010 and was last updated on Nov 14, 2013. In Flint there are 6 other B2B Electrical Supplies. An overview can be found here.
In the mid and late 1990's, Standard Electric diversified into the world of industrial automation and network communications. The Industrial Automation Division provides sales and support in the area of industrial computers, programmable logic controllers, man/machine interface, and adjustable frequency drives. The Network Communication Division offers a wide range of communications products,...


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6 Historic Cities that are Fun for the Family
Walk down the historic path By Mimi Slawoff
While Washington, D.C., Boston and Philadelphia may be among the first historic cities to come to mind when planning a family vacation, numerous others throughout the country have their fair share of fascinating stories to tell as well. There's nothing better than visiting a city firsthand to experience its arts, history and culture. These six cities are steeped in history but have a playful side that you and your kids will enjoy.
Founded in May 7, 1718, Louisiana's largest city is known for its Mardi Gras, live music and amazing cuisine. Eat your way through the historic and family-friendly French Quarter (beignets, please), take a mule-drawn carriage ride, explore Jackson Square and learn about the city's role during the Civil Rights Movement as well as the introduction of voodoo in 1719.
More fun: Go on the New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum's cemetery walking tour to the tomb of priestess Marie Laveau, who died in 1881.
(MORE: Find kid-friendly hotels in New Orleans.)
Founded in 1565, the nation's oldest city attracts visitors for its Spanish colonial-era buildings. Step back into 18th-century American life at the Spanish Quarter Village. There's modern fun too. Bring the pack to the kid-oriented attraction of St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park where you can glide over live alligators and crocodiles on a zip line.
Don't miss: Soaking up rays at the seven-mile stretch of beaches.
The Alamo, built in 1718, is famous for the battle of 1836 when 189 Texan heroes fought with General Santa Ana's army of thousands. See the 4.2-acre Alamo plaza, church, long barrack and Alamo Hall. Nearby is HemisFair Park, home to the 750-foot Tower of the Americas that was built for the 1968 World Fair. Ride an elevator to the top for panoramic city views. Stroll along the River Walk, a cozy pathway lined with hotels, restaurants and shops and learn about the river on a narrated boat tour.
Don't miss: The annual Spring Fling, featuring music, parades and festivals for two weeks in April.
Stand on the site where the first shot was fired during the American Civil War in 1861, climb aboard a WWII aircraft carrier and learn about the Low Country's early settlers at the city's many museums and historic sites. The Patriots Point Navy and Maritime Museum offers several tours that focus on U.S. Navy history. For more than 200 years, the Charleston City Market has been the hub for clothing, jewelry, souvenirs, art, food and the famous sweetgrass baskets.
Don't miss: Chill out by the pineapple-designed fountain at the 12-acre Charleston Waterfront Park.
Artistic inspiration, zesty food smothered in red or green (or both) chili sauce and the Spanish-Pueblo architecture attract many visitors to North America's oldest capital city. Visit the Palace of the Governors, which has been around since the city's formation. Shop for jewelry and munchables in American Indian and Spanish markets and enjoy live music at the downtown plaza (built in 1610). Stroll through the art-filled La Fonda Hotel, peruse galleries along Canyon Road and buy fresh goods at the Farmers Markets at the Railyard.
Don't miss: El Rancho de las Golondrinas, now a living history museum, was an important rest stop along the famous El Camino Real trail from Mexico City to Santa Fe in the early 1700s.
(MORE: Discover more kid-friendly attractions in Santa Fe.)
While you don't have to be a country music fan to appreciate the theaters, honky-tonk bars and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, you might become one after touring Music City. Visit Studio B where Elvis recorded 250 hits and catch a show at the Ryman Auditorium, built as a church in the 1880s and converted to a live performance venue in 1943 (note the intact stained glass windows and pews).
Don't miss: The Grand Ole Opry at the Grand Ole Opry House is the world's longest running radio show.
Mimi Slawoff, a Los Angeles-based journalist, contributed this to MiniTime.com.
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Monday, December 5, 2016
Native American lands stolen again with no choice by the people who live there.
If it isn't bad enough to have a pipeline going across your land that you don't want now your land gets taken to exploit in any way the Trump Government wishes. Isn't Native American land supposed to be sovereign to the Native American people. We are going back to the old days when ever things like gold was found on Native American land those Natives were forced to move. The next Trail of Tears will be created by Trump ,if you think those Native American will sit back and take it you will be very surprised.
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Diversion is the ultimate mobile game: 175 levels, 5 Worlds, 600 characters – and only one touch! Over 2 million players!!!Tags: 3D, Action, Arcade, Battle, Physics, Puzzle
Updated:November 6th, 2012
Requirement: Android 2.0.1 and Up
Developer: Ezone.com
Size: 18748 KB
Price: Free
Diversion is the ultimate mobile game: 175 levels, 5 Worlds, 600 characters – and only one touch!
Over 2 million players!!! Also, the game is now XPERIA PLAY optimized.
Feature Highlights:
- Challenging gameplay requires timing and puzzle solving
- Cheat codes for in-game prizes: gem packs, characters, levels!
- Daily Bonus! Earn gems and characters every day you play!
- Boss battles!
- 600+ fully-animated playable characters to unlock and collect
- 175 Levels
- 5 Unique 3D Worlds
- High Resolution graphics
- Play your own music
- 3rd person camera: see all the action
- Different every time you play!
- Physics powered by PhysX
- Remove banner ads
Note: Diversion is a graphically intensive game and a high powered device is recommended.
Troubleshooting Tip:
If you're having trouble installing, try saving to internal phone memory first. To do this, unmount your SD card and download the game. Then remount your SD card and move the game to the SD card.
Upgrade Tip:
We suggest you save your progress with the free 'cloud save' feature. That way if something goes wrong during the upgrade you can restore your game progress.
Social Contact:
http://facebook.com/ezonecom for details!
Download and Play this exciting Android Game NOW!


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The Nationals traded catcher Kurt Suzuki to the Oakland Athletics, the team that they acquired him from last year. The San Francisco Chronicle was the first to report the news.
Suzuki said the Nationals were on the bus after their game against the Cubs and pulling up at the team plane when he got pulled off the bus. "Mike Rizzo came back and said, 'Don't get on the plane, you're staying here,' " Suzuki said. "Everyone was looking at me like, 'What?!' "
Suzuki arrived in Washington last Aug. 3 and became the Nationals' everyday catcher while Wilson Ramos was out with a torn ACL. Suzuki filled in for Ramos again this season when the latter suffered a strained left hamstring, but since Ramos returned to the lineup July 4, Suzuki has seen little playing time, appearing in just 12 complete games.
Suzuki is the third player that the Nationals have lost in the last week; they released Roger Bernadina and traded for David DeJesus Monday, but DeJesus was reportedly claimed off waivers by the Rays Thursday.
Thank u nats fans for the love and support! I enjoyed every minute. First class org. It's a business and now it's time to go get that ring.
— Kurt Suzuki (@kurtsuzuki) August 23, 2013
Follow Adam on Twitter @AdamVingan and e-mail your story ideas to adamvingan (at) gmail.com.


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Oct 24 2011
Tip #1: Do your own due diligence!
Some might say it's those words sellers hide behind but what does it really mean?! It means you better research for yourself the property you are buying! The issues that should be researched depend upon what your investment purposes are for buying the land. Here are a few ideas to think about:
What is the zoning on the property?
Can you put in a septic or is there sewer in the street?
Can you install a well or is their public water in the street?
Does the county or state have a minimum acreage size requirement to build?
Stay tuned... We have more to come! :-)