Parenting In Today's World

 I have two passions that consume my time in these, my latter years.  One is writing my 'Slobbers' books. The second is keeping track of our yard's resident Great Horned Owls.

In the late winter, and early spring they make themselves known because they get very vocal during mating season. It has always been interesting to me that the male has a low-pitched hoot, which I would expect. The female, a somewhat higher pitch. Yet size wise, the male is smaller than the female. How they do court one another!

Getting to see them is difficult at best because of their nocturnal habits though at times they will spend a day in a leafless tree.  Some years they tolerate me with my ever-ready camera, other times they take off as soon as I appear. This year they have been a bit spooky until just lately. For the past several weeks the male has been perching on several snags, tree limbs, and even our pergola which is quite close to the house. If I'm careful, I get wonderful photos.

That aside, Dad is perching away from the nest because Mom is tending the eggs and now the hatchlings. I am over the moon that I located them this morning and will be keeping track of what looks to be three as they learn about life beyond the nest.

Now that they have hatched, Mom and Dad will take turns tending them so the other can rest. After the eggs are laid, Dad takes over the stockpiling of food at night while Mom guards the eggs. They both have tremendous responsibilities and they do what needs to be done to see that those responsibilities are carried out. From now until it's time to send the kids off on their own, which will be at summer's end, both parents will be hovering around their offspring, feeding them, teaching them to fly and to hunt. It's called parenting. It is wonderful to watch.

It's interesting to me that animals, be they birds or mammals, take on the challenge of what comes naturally to them, having kids and raising them.  They don't complain.  They don't run away from it. They just do what needs to be done.  It comes naturally to them.

It seems to me a lot of my fellow humans could take some parenting lessons from our 'less intelligent' neighbors.

It Didn't Have to Come to This!

 My, the Kremlin has been busy today. Let's go back a few days though.  Sweden and Finland are both tidying up their internal business so they can join NATO.  Probably a wise decision since Putin has now declared that World War 3 has begun.

Then the Ukrainians blew up a Russian ship.  First Russia denied it, then turned around and admitted it. Uh oh.  This is not good.  Never mind that the ship was in Ukrainian waters and shelling Ukrainian territory. I suppose to Putin's way of thinking, blowing up his ship was an escalation of the war. Whatever he thinks, this was an embarrassing loss for the Russians.

Now he's threatening the use of nuclear weapons. It's anyone's guess who will be on the receiving end, but you can be sure the first will be Ukraine. After all, people are escalating the war he started!

The bluster is now in high dudgeon. Putin has warned Sweden and Finland against joining NATO. He has told us to stop supplying weapons, and who knows what else since I turned off the news a while ago.

Will Biden get a backbone or will he cave to Putin's demands? This could have been avoided if we had given the Ukrainians what they needed in anticipation of the invasion.  I mean, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know something evil was afoot when the Russians were amassing forces on the Ukrainian border. A training exercise?  In a country the size of Russia, they hardly had to go to the border of a neighboring country to hold exercises.

Who knows where this is going to go and how fast.  I still wonder about two things.  One, how did Putin get inside the head of our President that in essence paralyzed him from doing what was right. Especially since there isn't much in his head, to begin with. It isn't his fault. I know that, but to think he has his finger inches away from our own nuclear button scares the hell out of me!

Two, if Putin didn't get in Joe's head, what does he have on Joe and/or his family? I've wondered about that on this blog before. Whichever, it does not bode well for the world.

I suppose the agonizing over which of our high-level officials is going to be sent to Ukraine to show that we can play like the big boys like Boris Johnson. I heard speculation it might be Kamala Harris. It may be more shrewd than I think. They could let their guard down while listening to her laugh about the death and destruction that will surround her. Or, they could lose their concentration while waiting for her to string together enough words to make a cognizant sentence.

This is not a happy post for Good Friday. It is made even sadder to think the Ukranians will not be decorating their spectacular Easter eggs this season. I can only hope they know that the American people are behind them even if our government isn't.

Where You WON'T See Biden!

 Hooray for BoJo! It's nice to see some unadulterated courage from a Western leader. Boris Johnson walking down a street in Kyiv with Ukraine's Zelensky. Never mind that Joe can barely walk on a White House sidewalk.

Hopefully, some other western nations will take a page from Johnson's book and start supplying the Ukranians with what they really need to stave off the Russians.

I think Biden and the rest of them are whistling past the graveyard in their entire approach. I don't see Putin as one to withdraw and pout. I see him as one who will become more and more inhumane the more he is backed into a corner and it will overflow into nearby countries like Poland sooner rather than later.

Why is it the west is so worried about the very appearance of escalation while that's all Putin's actions have been?  The escalation of war against a sovereign nation.

Easter Sunday is rapidly approaching. The day the son of the Christian God rose from the dead. Wouldn't it be wonderful if it signified the day Ukraine began to rise again? Unfortunately, that great power has yet to smile upon them. A sign would help.  Any sign.  Maybe the weapons they need in a timely manner? At the very least, weapons without missing parts?

The one thing they can be sure won't be there for them is the United States. I never thought I could see a darker hour than the Afghanistan withdrawal in our current day and age, but I have.  We can't be accused of abandoning them in their darkest hour when we haven't even acknowledged it exists. 

This administration should be ashamed, but alas, it is not. And we, the citizens, are all paying dearly for it. Not as dearly as the Ukranians, to be sure, but dearly, never-the-less.

If Ever There Was An Empty Word It Would Be "Sanctions"

We continue talking about more sanctions while people are still dying.  What's wrong with this picture?  Janet Yellen even stated we'd apply sanctions on China should they invade Taiwan!

Well, we all know how well that works! And now we're sanctioning Putin's daughters and the wife of his foreign minister.  What does that mean?  They can't run off to Paris to do their shopping? Please!

Financially, the Ruble is almost as strong as it was prior to the beginning of the sanctions.  Why? Because the world is still buying Russian oil.  Why?  Because we can't supply it because we're so obsessed with going green we won't lift the sanctions on our own production to make up the slack. Please!

Okay, I understand the politics of it - to an extent.  Biden is afraid of the far left and they are the green weenies. Therefore he won't lift the sanctions on domestic production. He's apparently also afraid of Putin.  I've asked before, why?  Putin's military is severely weakened and he really doesn't want a nuclear confrontation any more than anyone else because he, too, will be destroyed.  I've harped on this before, I know.

Yesterday I watched with a mix of sadness and horror at a lost old man wandering around a reception room at the White House after remarks by himself and former President Obama. He was totally ignored while the attendees swarmed around Obama.  Even he ignored Biden. This old man, lost and alone, is our President. Talk about sadness and horror. 

It just irritates me that all these suits, his minions, sit around talking while people are dying. From my perspective, and it's a pessimistic one to be sure, there will be no World War 3 because the suits will just roll over. They wouldn't want to make Putin mad.  Putin is one man! How can the whole world be so afraid of him that no one will stand up to him? 

Let's face it.  What wins wars? Superior weaponry or at least an even playing field and the will to win. And maybe, just maybe, being on the right side of the fight.  In the case of Ukraine, which side are we on?

Biden's and the World's Bloody Hands

Moral indignation, my foot! How can anyone, even a politician, claim to have moral indignation yet turn a blind eye to the atrocities happening in Ukraine by the Russians?  And how in the world, can we be using Russia to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran?  This whole administration needs a sanity check.

Actually, Biden isn't alone.  For some reason, this mentally feeble old man seems to have the entire free world cowed when it comes to giving the necessary weapons to Ukraine.  Why is that?  There but for the grace of God is all of them! They will be there if Ukraine loses. In the name of God, give the Ukrainians the MIGs! 

Oh, how I wish at least one of the six or so people who read this blog had the ear of someone with a degree of sanity along with some power in this administration. Could he possibly, really want Putin to win?

When Biden stated Putin should be removed, well, so should he.  Unfortunately, the two in immediate succession are as bad as he is.  Have you ever heard Kamala Harris utter a comprehensible sentence?  Have you heard a coherent utterance from Nancy Pelosi of late? It's downright frightening and depressing that these are the leaders of our country.  Elected by us, no less.

In case you think my argument about age-related acuity is blowing smoke, let me suggest this. Seek out someone 80 years of age plus or minus a year or so. Sit down and have a chat with them.  Look for how many times they have to stop and search for a word or a name.  It will happen. Watch to see if while you're speaking or looking at something on your phone or computer together, they nod off.  It will happen. If you ask them about it, they'll deny it. Guaranteed. Watch what time of day their energy begins to fade and what time they retire.  It's part of the aging process.

People like this have no business trying to run a country.  They forget things if they even comprehended them in the first place.  Don't be fooled by the likes of Trump.  He may look like the Energizer Bunny next to Biden, but I guarantee you he will be suffering from the same lapses. Pair that with his ego, his bent for revenge and his being a lame duck from the get-go if re-elected, what would we be getting? No improvement, that's for sure.

It's time for the rest of the world, someone somewhere, to step forward and take control of the armament of Ukraine. Bear in mind that no weapon is a weapon of aggression when your homeland has been invaded. Remember, too, if you want to look at it this way, Ukraine is the only landmass that stands between eastern Europe and the Russians. If it falls, guess who will have tanks on their border waiting for the signal.

Don't forget the innocent civilians - the women who have been raped in front of their children and the children who have been slain, the men found dead with their hands taped behind them, dogs wantonly shot - for target practice? Civilians.

Putin has nothing to lose. He's finished in the eyes of the world. The rest of the 'free' world, including us, could be finished too if they/we don't stand up to him now. Or let the Ukranians do the job, they are at least willing, but for God's sake - give them the MIGs!