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House Finches at Home in Fake Christmas Tree
We managed to get some critter cam footage of the male and female house finch pair nesting in the fake Christmas tree in our front entry way yesterday. Crank up the volume on your audio to hear them singing. The male sports a red face and chest. The female is plain brown except for brown…
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House Finch Nesting in Our Artificial Christmas Tree!
A couple days ago, Sena found a bird’s nest in our front porch artificial Christmas tree. The small nest is made from the clippings of Sena’s ornamental grasses. It has 4 small eggs, which are white with dark specks. We could hear a bird singing while we were sitting in the house and it always…
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Earth Day April 22, 2024
Just a reminder, Monday April 22, 2024 is Earth Day. The theme is get rid of plastic waste.
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Jim Does the Walmart Self-Checkout
Yesterday I did the Walmart self-checkout thing after grocery shopping. Sena told me a few weeks ago that she saw some people abandon their full shopping carts and just walk out of the store after learning they might have to use self-checkout. I had mentioned to Sena that I probably would try the self-checkout on…
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Cat-astrophizing About the Association Between Cats and Schizophrenia Risk
It seems like every few years there is a spate of news stories about the supposed risk of developing schizophrenia from having a pet cat. The bottom line is that there is no direct link, but you can’t tell a reporter that. I mentioned the issue in a blog post about a feral cat in…
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NAMIWalks Johnson and Linn Counties 2024
There is a National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) walk scheduled for May 4, 2024 at Terry Trueblood Recreation Area. See the announcement here.
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Still Working on That Shower Juggle!
I’ve been working on that shower juggle pattern for a year now. Progress is slow but a couple of days ago, I noticed it got better when I held my arms pretty rigidly within the pane of glass. You can still tell I tend to morph between a half shower and a full shower. It’s…
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Reminder: FDA Advisory Committee to Meet in May 2024 to Discuss Updating Covid-19 Vaccine:
Just a reminder: the FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) will meet on May 16, 2024 to make recommendations on Covid-19 strain selections for the fall vaccine of 2024-2025.
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Svengoolie Movie: Island of Terror!
The Saturday night Svengoolie movie was Island of Terror. This one was released in 1966 and starred Peter Cushing as one of the scientists who battle monsters who are snacking on the skeletons of humans. The monsters are also silicon-based. These two elements reminded me of a couple of other things. One was the short…
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KCCK Big Mo News and More
Well, ever since last fall, the Iowa jazz and blues radio station KCCK has been available only on channel 88.3 FM on our radio dial. Channel 106.9 has been out for months. We just found out that 106.9 is now working again and has been for over 3 weeks. It has been a translator channel…
Go Retire Psychiatrist 