Althouse: At the Backyard Fox Café...

January 24, 2022

At the Backyard Fox Café...

... you can talk about whatever you want.

69 comments:

rehajm said...: Eff. Oh. Ex…; 1/24/22, 7:20 PM
Owen said...: Fantastic pics. That is one beautiful animal. Has he (or she?) been raiding neighborhood chicken coops or equivalent sources of food?

Also, re: picture taking. What kind of camera and lens? What distance? How long did you have to wait?

Sorry to be a pest but it's really fun to know more.; 1/24/22, 7:22 PM
Bender said...: If you get the wrong/right letters in the first two tries, you end up spending half an hour trying to guess even ONE word that will fit on the third try.

Wordle 219 3/6

⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜
⬜🟨🟩⬜🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩; 1/24/22, 7:27 PM
Curious George said...: "If you get the wrong/right letters in the first two tries, you end up spending half an hour trying to guess even ONE word that will fit on the third try."

No; 1/24/22, 7:36 PM
farmgirl said...: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WKrWVi9mazI&list=OLAK5uy_kmg36OuNXoqJ-qT4WlIl1qMDXSCBzmQag&index=8

This song isn’t 4everyone- I happen to really like it. My daughter watched Yellowstone w/her boyfriend and this band was mentioned by Billy’s girlfriend- so, my kid looked it up. They featured a song in the show, too.

It reminds me of when CBS This Morning featured bands and they got a real kick reading to lyrics out loud- b/c: hick, right? Until the band struck up and they were blown away- heh.

You saw your fox!!! Very splendid looking. I saw a fox Saturday and it wasn’t afraid- he was in a bit of old pasture as we drove by- what a treat:0); 1/24/22, 7:40 PM
cfs said...: Someone is missing a few chickens. That's one healthy looking fox for this time of the year!; 1/24/22, 7:40 PM
JPS said...: Beautiful pictures! I need to live someplace where it snows more.

A friend of friends died of COVID yesterday after a couple of weeks on a ventilator. I never met him but I know people who loved him. I think he was 39 or 40 years old. Ex-soldier, strong, active, in fine health. Might have been carrying a little extra weight but not to any extent you'd call risky.

I don't have any particular point, besides May he rest in peace. Certainly I have no policy recommendation based on one case. Sure, statistically he's an outlier. Several times I've read the clever line that most of those who die of this thing had "one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel." This seems to be usually true. But not always.; 1/24/22, 7:49 PM
Gospace said...: One of my 5 children lives in Florida, a free state. Tested positive for the dreaded covid. His doctor prescribed ivermectin for him. The pharmacy filled it. Just like that. And- unlike the Peoples Republic of Maine, following on in the great traditions of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, he didn’t have his medical license suspended and wasn’t sent for a mental evaluation as Doctor Meryl Nass was.

It’s about control, not about your health.; 1/24/22, 7:54 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: Boy or girl fox? Here at Semi ole beach, Florida my favorite surf spot there are foxes living in the dunes and scrub palm and oak thickets. In the South we give the pride of place. They are "Dune" foxes here at the beach or "Swamp" foxes up around the Okeefenokee swamp in Georgia. Our dune foxes love, Love, LOVE loggerhead sea turtle eggs buried under the sand. A go to feast for Momma and her kits ever of a night.; 1/24/22, 7:55 PM
Original Mike said...: A neighbor noticed a collar on one of the foxes everyones been seeing. Apparently, The Urban Canid Project collared foxes (and coyotes) in Hoyt Park a few months ago.

http://uwurbancanidproject.weebly.com/; 1/24/22, 8:02 PM
Bill, Republic of Texas said...: I failed the Wordle game today.; 1/24/22, 8:06 PM
Curious George said...: A lot of foxes in the Milwaukee area, many coming from all the fox farms in the Mequon area. They were a big part of supplying fur to the war effort in the 40's (bomber jackets).

I saw them frequently a few years ago when they were doing street and sewer work on 60th Street, as the rats were displaced and easy pickings. Not so much lately as the work is done. Nothing weirder than hearing them scream in the middle of night.; 1/24/22, 8:06 PM
RMc said...: Althouse watching Fox...?!; 1/24/22, 8:13 PM
Narr said...: Beauty. Must be a good environment for it. We see a scrawny mangy specimen from time to time around here.

Tucker had a good time puncturing the posturing war-wimps of Imperial DC tonight. His arguments for staying out are excellent of course, but not even he will spell out clearly just how poor and weak we are for some self-imposed anti-Putin crusade.

Sorry folks, the Bush/Cheney crime syndicate and their feckless Deep State successors up to Trump have bankrupted the country and overdrawn our credibility already.

No war for you!; 1/24/22, 8:28 PM
Gerda Sprinchorn said...: We have had a few fox sightings here. Some were repeat sightings. They just lope along the sidewalk and don't seem to care much about humans. I haven't gotten very close to them because I like all my fingers, but they made no effort to avoid me. Then they apparently went away and I never saw them again. Maybe their lack of fear made them easy to capture.; 1/24/22, 8:30 PM
William said...: In Shakespeare, the hunchbacks, bastards, spit upon Jews, and disrespected old men are not ennobled by the world's unfair treatment of them. They're pissed off and mean to get a little of their own back from the uncaring world. The politically correct view is that victims of oppression--or anyway victims of white male oppression-- are ennobled by their pain and are more aware of the sufferings of others. What crap. That's not the way the world works. I have received a fair portion of the world's injustices and not once have I ever been ennobled by it.
Suffering has not made me a better person.....I find solace in Shakespeare. He's a safe haven from political correctness and offers useful moral lessons on how to negotiate with the world.. Now, you gods stand up for bastards in their endless winter of discontent.; 1/24/22, 8:38 PM
Jaq said...: When the red squirrels get out of hand, a fox is always a welcome visitor. And yes, their roar in the night is kind of weird.; 1/24/22, 8:45 PM
Bender said...: "If you get the wrong/right letters in the first two tries, you end up spending half an hour trying to guess even ONE word that will fit on the third try."

No

No? Hmm. I thought I did spend a half hour on that third try. Even put in a non-word after 20 minutes only to find that it won't let you. But I guess I didn't do any of that.

I had gotten blank, blank, and blank, with only one in the right spot, and I went through every permutation of letters and still couldn't get it. And then...; 1/24/22, 9:06 PM
Bender said...: You don't fail Wordle.

Wordle fails you.; 1/24/22, 9:07 PM
todd galle said...: It looks hale and hearty. We see mangy critters at work regularly, and have a 2 x 6 handy by the dumpsters for when the racoons get in to raid the trash.; 1/24/22, 9:14 PM
jaydub said...: When I lived in NC we had a fox who had a litter under our shed. My wife fed them pretty often against my advice, but it all worked out. One of the pups grew up to become friends with the next door neighbor's terrier and hung around after the others disappeared. Strange to see them walking side by side given the fox's weird gait. When we left NC they were still hanging out together.; 1/24/22, 9:18 PM
Richard Dillman said...: Very nice photos. We have a fox family or pack in our neighborhood, delightful to see them every spring. About five years ago my daughter took us to see a fox family on the U. of Wisconsin campus in Madison. Can’t remember the building, but it was charming. They were
trusting, not very nervous at all, somewhat tame. Apparently they came out regularly nearly every evening. There were quite a few people watching them.; 1/24/22, 9:21 PM
Big Mike said...: What a beautiful animal. Back when I lived in Fairfax County, Virginia, I was in the basement, and looked up to see a fox staring in from my back door. The animal just looked at me as though to ask whether we had any rats or mice inside that we wanted to get rid of. Then the critter turned and walked away.; 1/24/22, 9:34 PM
Drago said...: Given the inevitable doom that awaits Zucker at CNN per the Warner Media-Discovery merger and the elevation of David Zaslav to be the new "boss of the applesauce" for the whole media conglomerate kit and kaboodle beginning in early 2022, and given the rumors that there will be a wholesale cleaning of the house, so to speak, at CNN to facilitate a return to 24/7 hard news, Zucker took this opportunity to elevate his pathetic amigo and comrade in lefty arms Jim Acosta to primetime failure mode.

LOL

Now that's tone deafness at its finest!

What's next for our intrepid Jim Acosta having "survived" the last 5 years under the horrible conditions of TRUMP?!!!!!!!!!!

Probably Paul Ryan will go to bat "bigly" for Jim Acosta to be hired by Fox News.

Probably.; 1/24/22, 9:40 PM
Anthony said...: The fox looks quick. Any lady dogs for it to jump over?; 1/24/22, 9:46 PM
Anthony said...: Fox looks quick. Any lazy dogs for it to jump over?; 1/24/22, 9:47 PM
R C Belaire said...: Wordle: The first word I use has 4 vowels, and depending on what, if any, letter shows "green", the second word either has the 5th vowel + 4 different consonants or the 5th vowel with a "green" vowel from the first word. Can usually solve the puzzle by the 4th try.; 1/24/22, 9:50 PM
Clyde said...: I found this song by The Go-Go's from 2020 recently. They got together and recorded it for their documentary that came out last year prior to their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It rocks!

The Go-Go's - Club Zero; 1/24/22, 10:06 PM
Known Unknown said...: Thought you might've blogged this story about medieval biphasic sleep.; 1/24/22, 10:21 PM
madAsHell said...: Don Wilson from The Ventures has Walk Don't Run passed-on.

RIP Don Wilson.; 1/24/22, 10:25 PM
StephenFearby said...: Interesting...

Byron York, Washington Examiner, January 24, 2022

'...Last Friday, Politico published an article headlined, "Read the never-issued Trump order that would have seized voting machines." The piece included the text of a White House "draft executive order," dated Dec. 16, 2020, that "would have directed the defense secretary to seize voting machines."

There's no doubt it was an outrageous, dangerous, terrible, beyond-bad idea. Among all the bad ideas that floated around the Trump circle in the period between the Nov. 3, 2020, election and the Jan. 20, 2021, inauguration, it was perhaps the worst. But where did it come from? And was it taken seriously by Trump and his top aides?'

'...on Dec. 18, [Michal] Flynn and [Sidney] Powell went to the White House where they met with Trump and top advisers, including from the White House counsel's office. It was, according to a later account in Axios, one of the wildest meetings ever in the Trump White House.

Powell, Axios's Jonathan Swan and Zachary Basu reported, "proposed declaring a national security emergency, granting her and her cabal top-secret security clearances and using the U.S. government to seize Dominion's voting machines." The meeting quickly turned into participants yelling at each other — the White House staff knew the Powell/Flynn ideas were dreadful and were angry that the two had even been let into the White House. Trump mostly watched and listened, according to the account. Powell and Flynn never returned to the White House.'

'...How did it happen? The process of drafting a real executive order originates in the White House and involves the White House counsel's office, the Office of Management and Budget, the Justice Department, and other officials. Was that what was happening here?

No. According to a source familiar with the events in question, the "draft executive order" did not originate in the White House. It came, as they say, from outside the building. But — and this is important — it ended up becoming an official presidential record and thus has become part of the investigation mounted by House Democrats' Jan. 6 committee on Capitol Hill.

'...It happened like this: Someone — it is not clear who — brought the draft into the White House. And if a document, no matter how kooky or irrelevant or whatever, is brought into the White House and is shown to a White House official, the Presidential Records Act requires that it be preserved and retained and ultimately sent to the National Archives as part of the official records of the administration. (That is done automatically for documents that are originated on White House equipment.)

So the "draft executive order," which did not originate inside the Trump White House, became a presidential record of the Trump administration.'

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/byron-yorks-daily-memo-trump-draft-executive-order-came-from-outside-white-house

And thus has become useful grist for the mill of the House Democrats' Jan. 6 committee's political investigation.; 1/24/22, 10:53 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: Curious George said...

I saw them frequently a few years ago when they were doing street and sewer work on 60th Street...

Back then the foxes had a great work ethic. Nowadays they'd rather lie around the den playing video games and collecting unemployment.; 1/24/22, 11:02 PM
Rory said...: My neighbors and I have two German Shepherds and a big Labrador Retriever in a stretch of four houses. All loud. The foxes use our yards, seemingly without a care for the dogs.; 1/24/22, 11:09 PM
Wa St Blogger said...: Farmgirl

I happen to really like it.

I did too.; 1/24/22, 11:52 PM
gadfly said...: Dane County Zoning Guide for Domestic Fowl

The keeping of up to 8 female chickens, ducks, or quail, collectively domestic fowl,is a permitted use on any single family residential lot in any zoning district in Dane County. To ensure that the keeping of domestic fowl is done in a responsible manner that protects the public health, safety, and welfare and avoids conflicts with neighboring uses, Dane County Zoning enforces the following requirements:
 Roosters are prohibited.
 No slaughtering of domestic fowl shall occur on a residential property.
 Fowl may not roam and must be kept in a covered or fenced enclosure.

Someone needs to tell the fox: "No slaughtering when enjoying late night snacks - else we will put a guard dog in the henhouse.; 1/24/22, 11:58 PM
Tyrone Slothrop said...: Put out some grapes. Foxes love grapes, but if they can't get them, they despise them.; 1/25/22, 12:15 AM
rehajm said...: The FDA suspends use of monoclonal antibodies.

…because CoVid is over or because monoclonal antibodies save lives and they need a covid cover to steal the election in November or because they are all long Pfizer?

All of the above?; 1/25/22, 12:51 AM
rehajm said...: Then:
WASHINGTON — Of all the rough numbers for President Trump in the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, these might have been the roughest: The current president trails his opponent by 32 points (!!!) on who has the right presidential temperament.

Now:
WASHINGTON: Biden hits out as Fox reporter asks him about inflation: ‘What a stupid son of a bitch’

Some people made a grave error in judgement. How will you make amends?; 1/25/22, 1:00 AM
SteveWe said...: StephenFearby said...

Very interesting about the point in question. Just goes to show how "facts" become a meal for rats.; 1/25/22, 3:52 AM
StephenFearby said...: "You Can Get Anything You Want At Alice's Restaurant"...Or Walmart:

Texas woman, 49, is arrested after she tried to buy a stranger's BABY for $500,000 at Walmart

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10438403/Texas-woman-49-arrested-tried-buy-strangers-BABY-500-000-Walmart.html; 1/25/22, 4:10 AM
Scott Patton said...: Now are the foxes!; 1/25/22, 5:22 AM
Jaq said...: Forrest Bennett@ForrestBennett · Jan 21

This week I filed HB3129, which codifies that a father’s financial responsibility to his baby & their mom begins at conception.

If Oklahoma is going to restrict a woman’s right to choose, we sure better make sure the man involved can’t just walk away from his responsibility.

This guy apologized for this because conservatives immediately jumped on board with his idea and he then had to admit that conservatives agreement with the sentiment hurt the pro-abortion cause.; 1/25/22, 5:45 AM
Jaq said...: I used to work with a guy who toured with a band that opened for The Go Gos, and he said it made him quit rock and roll because he was just too old for all of their shit.; 1/25/22, 5:49 AM
RMc said...: The Go-Go's from 2020 recently. They got together and recorded it for their documentary that came out last year prior to their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It rocks!

The documentary is excellent, but the song is only meh, mostly because Belinda really can't sing anymore. Shame, that.; 1/25/22, 5:52 AM
wendybar said...: So pretty!!...and it will keep the mice away from you house!!; 1/25/22, 5:55 AM
wendybar said...: tim in vermont said...
When the red squirrels get out of hand, a fox is always a welcome visitor. And yes, their roar in the night is kind of weird.

1/24/22, 8:45 PM

We had a red squirrel that guarded our backyard from gray squirrels. They never bothered us...we had a peanut feeder for them on our fence, so they left our birdfeeders alone. I miss them. The gray squirrels are OUT OF CONTROL where I live now.; 1/25/22, 5:59 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Also, re: picture taking. What kind of camera and lens? What distance? How long did you have to wait?"

I work on my computer in front of a lot of windows that look out on the yard, so I notice movements out there, usually squirrels and rabbits and birds. So it's easy for me to see the occasional fox, and in this case, Meade had texted me that he was seeing the fox in the neighbor's yard. I just grabbed my iPhone and stood at the window. I'd say the fox was about 30 or 40 feet away.; 1/25/22, 6:01 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I've never noticed any chicken-keeping in this neighborhood.

Foxes eat a lot of things. There are plenty of creatures here. The foxes never look like they're starving.; 1/25/22, 6:07 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I just learned that chipmunks hibernate in winter. I was going to say there are lots of chipmunks (which seem to be a good size for a fox's meal).; 1/25/22, 6:07 AM
Rory said...: "he was just too old for all of their shit."

My understanding of the Go-Gos is that the shit was pretty much their profession, and they learned to play instruments to provide a cover story for it.; 1/25/22, 6:13 AM
Clyde said...: I'm up to 17-for17 on Wordle. Here is how it has gone, not including today' word:

Date Word Seed #
1/09 GORGE ATONE 5
1/10 QUERY QUAYS 2 (spoiler)
1/11 DRINK AROSE 3
1/12 FAVOR AROSE 4
1/13 ABBEY STARE 4
1/14 TANGY RATES 4
1/15 PANIC LATER 2
1/16 SOLAR UNTIL 4
1/17 SHIRE LATER 5
1/18 PROXY SCARY 4
1/19 POINT RAILS 4
1/20 ROBOT COINS 3
1/21 PRICK AROSE 3
1/22 WINCE STARE 4
1/23 CRIMP RATES 3
1/24 KNOLL NORTH 5

Not including the spoiler 2 and including today's 4, I'm averaging 3.81 guesses per game.; 1/25/22, 6:29 AM
rehajm said...: Our resident foxes do the head dive into the pine straw for the mice and moles…; 1/25/22, 6:47 AM
Jaq said...: We opened the hatch of my daughter's car once, and found a red squirrel nest, it had chewed through the seats and dragged in all manner of detritus from the cedar tree. Red squirrels have the energy, gray squirrels are too lazy to cause much trouble. I never thought of buying off the red squirrels with peanuts, but with all of the cedar around, they had plenty to eat anyway. They also built a nest in the attic, would eat the tops of the tomatoes for the water the instant one started to ripen. I can't imagine inviting them to the neighborhood.; 1/25/22, 6:56 AM
BUMBLE BEE said...: https://gab.com/KanekoaTheGreat/posts/107679279986606271; 1/25/22, 7:04 AM
Jaq said...: I think that 4 is a "par" on Wordle, and three almost always entails a somewhat lucky guess. I had a five once where I had three of the letters in place after two, and only the third legal "hard mode" guess was correct. It felt like a three putt, but honestly, I could find no solid reason to have guessed the words in any other order. Maybe I should try throwing up non hard mode guesses to see if it shortens the average load time.

I lost once, on "REMIE" which is a word, but from a technical domain, and I didn't know it. I could have 'won' in six by substituting the remaining letters, since I had RE_IE, and would have hit on it, but what would have been the point? I was beaten.; 1/25/22, 7:09 AM
320Busdriver said...: Neil Young has asked Spotify to remove his music from the platform because “Science” He’s upset about Joe Rogan’s interviews with Dr’s Malone and McCullough on Covid.

“I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform,” he wrote, according to Rolling Stone. “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.”

I love a lot of your work Neil, but you’re a whackadoodle. And just plain wrong.; 1/25/22, 7:20 AM
farmgirl said...: Tim: 8084?; 1/25/22, 7:42 AM
Gerda Sprinchorn said...: Wordle needs more of an emotional payoff for solving in x rather than x+1 tries (e.g., 4 rather than 5 tries). If you play to just solve in 6, then there is an uninteresting strategy where you try as many letters as possible in first 5 guesses and then solve the puzzle like Scrabble. Five tries, each with 6 letters means you can try almost all letters in the alphabet. (The small number of vowels will force reuse of some letters, but, OTOH, after 3 tries, you can usually rule out some letters.)

I'm preferring Spelling Bee at this point because it is a real challenge to squeeze those last few words out of the metaphorical toothpaste tube.; 1/25/22, 7:47 AM
farmgirl said...: William: Jordan Peterson would call that a phase on the road to nihilism. That’s what causes mass shooters to find the lowest of the low inside of themselves and do what they do. Justifying chaos…

My good friend- the one who gives me crap all the time about my beliefs lol- her best revenge in life was to take care of herself. And it looks good on her. She’s strong mentally and physically, as much as she can be- because that’s a big f/u to those who would tear her down. Every challenge she faced turned into another reason to improve. And she has had her challenges! Attitude- character- rubs off on those of us who watch.

I’m going to have to read more Shakespeare. Sr. Jacqueline tried to teach me- maybe I’ll honor her(the meanest Little Nun in the Kingdom) and try again.; 1/25/22, 7:51 AM
wendybar said...: Well I hope Neil Young will remember
America don't need him around anyhow...

Go back to Canada...nobody cares.; 1/25/22, 8:01 AM
wendybar said...: Got
Wordle in 2 tries today!!; 1/25/22, 8:10 AM
Gerda Sprinchorn said...: I wonder how many little doggies run out to make friends with the fox.

Foxes probably won't take on a doggie, even a little one. Coyotes, on the other hand, look very capable of snacking on friendly little doggies.; 1/25/22, 8:37 AM
Mark said...: Five. I am not amused.; 1/25/22, 10:19 AM
Rollo said...: The potato wart epidemic threatens our supply.

Brian Stelter seriously concerned; 1/25/22, 12:02 PM
Rollo said...: Animals: how often do they just want to play, rather than just kill, eat, or mate?; 1/25/22, 12:04 PM
Readering said...: In LA coyotes are a big problem for little doggies. My little doggie invariably barks at others dogs. But one night walking him we crossed paths with 2 coyotes walking on the other side of the street. To my surprise and relief he acted oblivious of them and they of us. But a good reminder not to walk dog off leash in LA.; 1/25/22, 1:01 PM
Gospace said...: Ah, a fox and coyote discussion. We have fox in our yard. Across the street they have coyote. They don't occupy the same territory- they fill the same ecological niche. I prefer fox. From what I've heard from farmers, they do also. Fox may go after chicken and other fowl, but they don't go after livestock. They both eat cats.; 1/25/22, 3:54 PM
madAsHell said...: I found this song by The Go-Go's from 2020 recently.

Whoa!! ummmmmmm.......I see the Go-Go's have re-invented themselves as middle aged suburban housewives.

Ya' know.......Go-Go has a whole different meaning after about age 55, but it Depends!!; 1/25/22, 4:45 PM
walter said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/25/22, 8:14 PM