birds and ants

Interesting bird behavior seen today and yesterday at breakfast.
Yesterday I noticed, as I sat down to breakfast, that there was some
activity at the birdhouse. I've seen sparrows lately using it.
Yesterday, One was going to the honeysuckle bush, getting something,
a seed? a flower part? and then flying back to the top of the
birdhouse, SITTING on top on the other bird who would stick it's neck
up and have it's mouth open and then fly back to the bush again. It
looked like it was hitting the bird, flying back to the bush and then
flying back again, hitting the lower bird again. Or maybe it was
mating. I don't know. Whatever it was it was funny to watch. I went
and got my camera but by the time I'd done that they'd stopped doing
it.

Today. I noticed two sparrows on the birdhouse. A third larger black
bird swooped in and was repelled. Then, what appeared to be the
previous tenant was rebuffed by the sparrows on the birdhouse. The
rebuffed bird, could have been a sparrow but might have been a wren
with its longer beak and stubbier tail, chirred from the fence post
as one of the new sparrows sat right next to it and preened itself,
confident that they had one. The old resident moved further away,
chirring, and the new residents passed a piece of tissue paper they'd
found for nesting material (litter is never too far away in this
property despite my efforts), into the nest inside the birdhouse.

I went to get my camera and looking glass for this too but when I
came back, they had finished.

This birdhouse is supposed to be for Eastern Bluebirds ONLY. I have
only seen sparrows using it, and only a few, at various spring and
fall times of year.

Also on the topic of birds, we have had geese in the neighborhood
lately, honking away. I don't know what is attractive to them here.
There might be someone's pool. Maybe someone's lawn? Both morning and
night (not so much during the day) one or two will be honking alot,
fly around and eventually come back. Something to do with the mating
season? (See also the goose on the roof story a few days ago here.)

As for the ants, I have stopped seeing the little sugar ants. I now
have, a few a day in the kitchen, larger black ants. Is the Combat
working? Is it attracting the new ones? I am happy the little ones
have stopped but wonder when the large ones will too. Ever?

The large ones are easy to capture and throw outside. They often sit
there, probably asleep and you can get very close to them without
their moving. They do run faster, and respond quicker, than the
little ants but since you can creep up on them more easily, are more
easily rounded up in cups I keep strategically near me in both the
kitchen and the living room. I open the kitchen window and band the
cup on the side and they are dropped out into the lawn below, or I go
out my front door, tap the cup on the railing and they get dropped
out onto the lawn or landing below.

For some reason, many will be attracted to my legs. Once a day it
seems I will feel one crawling up. I then walk out the front door and
shake it off. What IS the attraction to my leg? Sweat? Soap from my
shower? I don't know.

Oh I love it. Sen Domenici of New Mexico is but a shell of what he
was when he was in charge of whatever Senate committees he was on.
Seeing him in the "Reducing U.S. Oil Dependence" hearing today, is so
refreshing. When the Republicans were in charge, he was one of the
worst examples of hubris out of control, rolling over what many would
consider reasonable people who think we should do something else to
solve our energy problems besides drilling for more oil. Now he looks
badly broken. Maybe he has gotten religion... There is justice in
this world!

5 thermometers all tell a different temperature here

I have 5 thermometers in various places in my little second-story
square house which has windows in all four directions. They tend to
give different readings from each other.

Today's temperatures at about quarter of 3 pm.

#1 (outside, North) - 77
#2 (inside, East) - ~76 (hard to read)
#3 (outside, West)- 97 (in hot sun today), inside - 75
#4 (inside, South) - 87
#5 (outside, South) - 104! (in hot sun today)
#6 (inside wall by bathroom) - 75

Somehow I think it isn't 104 degrees outside today. Nor 97. More like
in the 70s (mid 70s in the shade?, hotter in the sun.)

Will try to add some more disparities as it gets warmer.

About the thermometers

#1
Where - On stereo cabinet. near Eastern window/northern side of the house.
Make/model # - Taylor 5381
Type - digital, battery operated
Indoor/outdoor? - Indoor/outdoor
Wireless/wire/one piece - wire for outside temp goes to outside of front door
Accurate? - I trust the readings on this one.
Handicap - It is on the shady side (North) of the house so will give
cooler readings in both the summer and winter.

#2
Where - inside room by comfortable chair near Eastern window/Northern
side of house.
Make/model # - "accurate" (different brand than #5)
Type - mercury
Indoor/outdoor? - Indoor
Wireless/wire/one piece - one piece
Accurate? - Well, the mercury container came loose in the holder. I
readjusted it but it may not be quite right. I consider readings from
it to be approximate.
Handicap - See above

#3
Where - On bedside table. Outdoor sensor is in mailbox that is on the
West side of the house.
Make/model # - Sharper Image OQ234
Type - digital, battery operated
Indoor/outdoor? - indoor/outdoor
Wireless/wire/one piece - wireless
Accurate? - The outdoor sensor is in a mailbox that faces the West.
It gets hot in the summer so I bet it won't be accurate. I haven't
had it long enough to really know. The indoor reading is trustworthy.
Handicap - Sensor in the mailbox gets direct sun.

Also, the outdoor reading sometimes appears blank. It is receiving a
signal but it doesn't display the temperature sometimes.

It has memory so I can tell how hot and cold it has been since the
last time I changed the battery. (~ 2 or three months)

#4
Where - On the kitchen table near windows that open to the South.
Gets direct sunlight
Make/model # - Atomic Time RCL-19 (radio controlled AM/FM clock radio)
Type - digital, runs on house power
Indoor/outdoor? - indoor
Accurate? - It gets direct sunlight. In the summer it gets hot.
Winter is probably more accurate.
Handicap - Sitting in the hot sun in the summer I doubt it is
accurate of the room temperature but it may be close.

#5
Where - On the kitchen table near windows that open to the South.
Get's direct sunlight.
Make/model # - "Accurate" (different brand then #2)
Type - digital, battery operated
Indoor/outdoor? - indoor/outdoor but I only care about the outdoor reading.
Wireless/wire/one piece - wire to outdoor sensor
Accurate? - Since it is in the sun it tends to show higher than air
temperature. The outdoor sensor even though I covered it with a
makeshift cover, tends to show higher than real temperatures.
Handicap - Indoor temperature is read from clock radio that sits on
kitchen table. Outdoor sensor even though shaded, gets hot.

#6
Thermostat
where - on wall by bathroom. Shaded all day.

#7
Where - in car
type - mercury

Jazz Fest notes (Fri 5/4 - Sun 5/6), listening to WWOZ on the internet and watching the AT&T video stream

Friday, May 4

I see that OZ has not updated its web page. The schedule for Fri 4/27 is still up and there is no more information. I'm not surprised.

We'll wing it today. See if they tell us who's on when.

They go to the fairgrounds at 12 ny time. level is low for cd.
Charley B & the Problem Child DJ

(NO times) Sharon Martin 12:20, Ellis Marsalis 1:25 - 2:25, blah blah blah, Who else is on?..., Dirty Dozen 3:50 - 4:55!, World Sax Group? Quartet 2:50, John Boutte (not broadcasting that???)

John Boutte from last year's fest, LA 1927. I'm glad they're playing this often. Very good.

Problem Child: wuffman... (for Walter Wolfman Washington.) Level goes up. "There was so many people came"... "arch-chivist". No, it's archivist...

Charley: "just ahead" (An hour from now. Is that just ahead?)

We hear the DJs come on and the director telling them what to talk about! Talk about food...

I don't think I want to know about that banana.

Dis Pas De Marriage - Little Band Of Gold. Un hunh. I prefer the un-rock and roll versions.

Skeleton crew! Glad to hear they are still around.

Before they go to the cd I hear the director say ID...

t1 >1550 zydeco (not worth saving)

Nice to see some pics of OZ'ers on the blog.

Wee wee hours again.

Give the director a mic if he is going to talk to the DJs on air. No, Ellis Marsalis is after Sharon... not WSQ/G.

(I recycle the tape. Nothing in this first hour and a half worth saving.)

We go to Sharon. She's singing but we can't hear her very well. (What a little moonshine can do.) Can barely hear the piano and band. Good mix. Nothing being done about it. Is anybody home?

Next song, Blue Skies, still bad mix. Either they are unable to fix this or they don't know the mix is real low.

Next song, still low. Antonio Carlos Jobim - Ge Ge? Level comes up a little. Yawn. Not my cup of tea. Nice drum solo. Some nice vocalizations.

Dj IDs.

Level is still very low. Rt 66. Signal breaks up, bad cable or VERY dirty fader. Now level goes up then goes back down.

Suddenly level goes up. Better. Thank you.

Background hiss is horrendous as DJ comes on and very noticeable otherwise.

I Will Survive, not exactly on key and oh so tired a song. At least the mix is up to a proper level. I like her singing but not this song. Nice ending.

Horrendous hiss/white noise as the DJs come on. Great. Horrendous! Is anybody aware of this? The DJs are oblivious. Hear the druming? No, all we can hear is hiss. Hiss gets worse. Your listeners on the WWW are hearing nothing but hiss, folks. Gambe Brass Band from Gambia. So, the CD works fine, no hiss. The mics are total hiss.
If OZ had an e-mail alert line I would let them know this. 'Course, they wouldn't necessarily read incoming e-mails....

CD stops or ends and then we have silence. Why?

I go outside to have lunch and when I come back we have audio. Probably Ellis Marsalis's set. A familiar tune.

Nope. A CD.

(3:15 NY time) brass band CD. Bonerama? Nightcrawlers? A familiar tune. I say Nightcrawlers. Could be Dirty Dozen but they aren't as good as that. Levels are good on CDs...

DJ Freddy Bloom is familiar from last week. Ah, the rain has caused the problem. WHY doesn't the DJ have any info about the fest? WHY WHY WHY? Idiots. Big bad thunderstorm moving through on the weather maps. (OK, so I know it's raining. What I want to know is why the feed is out. Why doesn't the DJ know that?)

Stupid song.

3:32 NY time they go back to the fest, Ellis Marsalis. Ellis over at 3:45 NY time.

Problem Child: WSQ on at 4:15 NO time, Walter Woofman...
So it looks like things are pushed back about an hour and 15 minutes.

Have some slight activity at 16k (for that CDs at least). Don't know about the fest feeds.

Bonerama - familiar tune/song (doesn't have any 16k).

Dirty Dozen - Meet The Flintstones. Lots of brass band CDs being played today. Thank you.

Tom Morgan & Cousin Dmitri. 4pm NY time. 2-3" of water at spots in the Fairgrounds. Hey, it sounds better... no hiss.

I'd be out there in the rain for Etta James!

007 reggae cover of Summer Breeze. Ugh.

Endless cover tunes. Will New Orleans ever get sick of them?

They go to the WSG at 5:30 NY time, beginning of t1 b side. This at least should be interesting. We hear a tune then silence. Then another. Good, no DJ inbetween.

Little Wing! (a cover, I admit). Some bass from some other stage is bleeding through.

MC is out of the mix.

Getting some, not much, 16k out of the festival feed.

Dmitri does ID at 6 pm NY time, inbetween tunes. Nice and tight.

Done by 6:20 NY time.

The difference between a band like the WSQ/G and most of the brass bands of New Orleans is that these guys know what they are doing; when they go off into free-form, it makes sense and is in known keys. Most brass bands, and many other New Orleans bands, are just plain oblivious to playing in key even when they are trying to be avant-garde.

Fuck. No Dirty Dozen. Goodbye.

***

Saturday, 5/5/07

I forget to record via Radio Recorder until I get home from a day out so I miss all day up to about 5pm NY time. Roy Hargrove is on. I'm not interested. I set up Radio Recorder to record the rest of it since I am going out tonight. I'll have to listen to it later.

Same with Sunday. I'll be out all day so I'll have to record it all and listen to it later.

(Now listening to the recording I made with Radio Recorder.)

A woman singing straight jazz (Sept In The Rain). Some fun scat with the band backing her up.

Mostly drumming then big band...

Poetry. Chuck Perkins. Open to all kinds of influences.

Deacon John - Some Day I don't know this song but I do remember him sounding great back in 1991 or so with some of the best sound I ever heard at a concert. Might have been on the riverboat before Etta James.

Is this Henry Butler's piano piece? Yeah, Orleans Inspiration, live at the fest.

Tom Morgan and The Problem Child.

They had a shout band? Who? Ah, The Madison Bumble Bees. Sorry I missed them. (Twice!)

Donald Harrison on now... It's great to play these back using the Quicktime player at 3X the normal speed. It'll get me to where I want and breeze through the stuff I don't want to listen to in real time.

They do an African Blessing with Bill Summers. Starts off with one of the vocalists out of the mix. It gets better when the percussion starts.

A Mardi Gras Indian tune, sort of.

That closes out Saturday night.


***

Sunday, 5/6/07

I start to listen for the Breakfast Jam. Some interesting stuff. Holmes Brothers sound good and I usually don't like them. Will recored stuff once I leave. I'll be out all day today but will record all of it, once I leave.

Holmes Brothers talk is OFF MIC! What idiots OZ are. You couldn't set up the mic so that when they talk we can hear them? Good mix otherwise.

I start recording at noon, NY time, as they go to the fest. (Theme song: Oh Poop Oop A Doo). Mark Hawkins & Sondra Bibb as DJs, nice. "Saddening" news: Alvin Batiste died. tribute comes with "added brevity"??! So I guess 4:10 Marva Wright, 5:45 Taj Mahal are what OZ will webcast. (They just say they have them on X stage....)

Marsalic Music?

Damn. AT&T is streaming video and audio of:

May 5th Lineup
01:00 PM Theresa Andersson!
01:21 PM Rockin' Dopsie, Jr!
01:34 PM Jon Cleary!
02:05 PM Buckwheat Zydeco!
02:53 PM Henry Butler!
03:12 PM Subdudes!
03:31 PM Galactic
04:17 PM Zachary Richard!!
04:40 PM Marcia Ball!
04:57 PM New Orleans Social Club!
05:37 PM John Mayer
06:22 PM Norah Jones
06:37 PM Rod Stewart

May 6th Lineup
01:00 PM Irma Thomas!
01:46 PM Allen Toussaint!
02:57 PM Mahalia Jackson Tribute!
03:39 PM Johnny Rivers
03:42 PM Luther Kent!
03:57 PM Brad Paisley
04:53 PM Bonnie Raitt!
05:31 PM Joss Stone
07:00 PM Harry Connick Jr!

and I am missing it all! Damn.

Maurice Brown at 11:30, Jermaine Bazzile follows. "Commemorative" bumbled.

I leave at 12:45 NY time, some straight jazz (from CD?) is playing.

(Listening to the recording on Monday now.)

Woman singing.

Mark and Sondra on now. Marva Wright and Taj Mahal coming up.

Jesse McBride.

Tom Morgan & Lisa Barrios on now.

Radiators coming up? Don Vappe & The Creole Serenaders? Bob French?

WSG.

Music Came - Henry Butler/Alvin Batiste


I come back at about 6pm. Bob French is doing (repeating endlessly) Do What You Wanna. Sounds good. End one recording, start another 6 hr.

Ella Smith sings Do You Know What It Means (To Miss New Orleans).

Just A Closer Walk With Thee - Original Tuxedo Jazz Band with Branford Marsalis and Harry Connick Jr (5/6/07 5:59 - 14:36)

Didn't He Ramble 26:49 (Not worth saving)

By Bob. Good riddance.

Somebody at OZ trips over the mic. Tom's mic is set wrong, he sounds off mic.

Good Prof Longhair tune. Waiting for Taj Mahal.

1:14 we go to him.

Nice. After, he talks and is low in the mix!

Next song (12 bar blues) , he is low in the mix. They find him but the mix is still bad. Organ is low, drums - all we hear are the cymbals and the snare.

Next, we hear him just fine. Electric dobro? My Creole Belle. His great low voice! Nice!

I'm A Goin Fishin. Yeah! Nice gtr.

Corrina! 'A beautiful blues song, not just dit da dit da...'! Yes indeed.

Play a little of that cool 60s pop organ tune...

Blues with a Feelin. (His voice sounds thin in all of these due to the mix. And I'm listening through the stereo. Too bad it's mono too.)

His between-song voice sounds good.

His Wolfman Jack voice is pretty cool. His voice is much better in this song's mix. Full. (Sweeter Than The Honeybee)

'I know you're feelin good cuz I can smell it'!

Cool electric blues. Disco style. The Blues is Alright, everybody singing along!

Nice set, Taj!

'Thought they were gonna get some old blues man. No, it ain't like that!'

Idiot MC, 'you want some more, lets hear it'. What the fuck do you think they are screaming for? You think you need to rile up the crowd? Idiot.

'I got a banjo and I know how to use it.' Too bad the banjo is low in the mix.

(Lookin at the interactive Cubes on the OZ site, I'm wondering why the Jazz Fest site doesn't have an interactive page like that too? That's ONE thing OZ did better than anyone.)

Nice encore.

Tom comes on to close it out.

Best set today - Taj. best set all fest. Taj probably. A pretty lackluster Jazz Fest from what we could hear over OZ. Let's hope the AT&T video stream will have some good stuff.



Notes on watching the AT&T video stream Sunday.
I'm watching Bonnie Raitt on the AT&T page too! Woman Be Wise. Switched cameras!

Plenty of problems with the AT&T player on a Mac. I see Joss Stone now, when it works. Doesn't work well enough so I give up.

OZ is talking to Henry Butler about Alvin Batiste.

Got VLC player to work. It's jerky but ok. Joss Stone.

They fade to some fest B-roll. Then to a Harry Connick promo. Then they go to him on stage in the middle of a song. OK. Bill Bailley.

Very little at 16k but it sounds good.

Jambalaya.

others. fun to see the trombone player channel louis armstrong on top of the piano.

Hello Dolly?

Earlier, a corner from the backdrop was flapping around. Someone tied it down soon after I saw it. That kind of attention to detail is what OZ/NO needs... Do a good job.

Goin to the Mardi Gras! Butt shakin!

Junco Partner. Piano pounding! Yeah, you right!

birds and apple blossoms

Taken with a still picture camera so that's why it looks so bad.

Geese on the roof, again

This morning at about 7 AM I heard a goose that sounded like it wasn't doing well. I'd heard this before in the past few days. A little while later I heard what sounded like the goose landing on the roof! I thought about getting out of bed to try to look at it but didn't think I would get to see it, the roof is angled so that I can't see much of it. I did hear a little rustling, the goose walking around but it was mostly pretty quiet.

A little later on, I heard a honk and some rustling so I got up and looked out of my front window. TWO geese had just flown off my roof and were flying past my landlady's house. I was worried they may not find a route to fly away with all these trees around here but they seemed to make it without a problem.

See also the goose on the roof story in an earlier blog posting (posted 7/10/06 but took place in April, 2006).