HI,
Tomorrow is the anniversary of the inauguration of the new capital of Brazil, Brasilia (1960), the festival of Ridvan when the founder of the Baha’ faith spent 12 days in a garden in Baghdad after which he proclaimed his mission as god’s messenger, it’s Rome’s birthday (753 bc), the Red Baron was shot down (1918) and Kartini Day, honoring Raden Adjeng Kartini the emanicpator of women in Indonesia (1879). Birth anniversaries include naturalist John Muir (1838), actor Anthony Quinn (1915) and novelist Charlotte Bronte (1816).
The eagles in Harmar have at least one egg (no eggs last year). The PixController web cam is pretty much level with the nest and you can’t see in. Some saw her laying the egg.
Dorothy, the long time resident peregrine falcon at the Cathedral of Learning passed away last year at the ripe old age of 18 (that’s a huge accomplishment for a peregrine falcon). Her long time mate E2 (Erie was her first mate that disappeared shortly after the two became a couple). They seem to have the same recipe for naming as I do, first there was Razor, then RJ (Razor Junior), then Rayzette. 🙂 E2 picked up a new mate, Hope that had been nesting under the Tarentum bridge joined E2 in November and laid a clutch of several eggs. Unfortunately, E2 was found dead in the East End in someone’s yard (he was getting pretty old as well). So the fate of the eggs is looking kind of dire. Hope can’t stay on them to keep them warm alone without a mate to share that and get her food.
The single largest killer of birds is not wind turbines, pesticides or even cats and other predators, it’s windows! I have been aware of this, but, recently I had a robin fly into my dining room window as I was setting up for breakfast. Knocked the crap out of it, it laid on it’s side on a seat cushion for awhile. Thinking it was dying, stupid me went outside and started stroking it’s breast with the back of my finger. Far from dying, just stunned, she jumped up and opened her beak in a threatening manner. 🙂 There are a lot of options out there to help the birds differentiate between the reflection of the glass and nature. One source is Bird Savers, another is Bird Tape, still another is Collide Escape. It can be something as simple as putting screens over your windows. But if you’re like me and like an unobstructed view, particularly of my bird “infested” Courtyard, you can just hang string, paint washable stencils on your windows. Not all windows need treated, my leaded glass around the Library and some bathrooms work fine.
On a happier note, the National Aviary just got a baby sloth, it’s the cutest! It’s probably sacrilege, but the adult sloth is my favorite in the Aviary. I can stand in front of him (her?) for the longest time. Scroll to the bottom of the page to see the picture of the baby.
The house used in the movie Silence of the Lambs in Layton is for sale at an again reduced price. From $300k it’s now down to $225k. Supposedly totally renovated.
As you are probably aware, March 18 was the bicentennial of the incorporation of Pittsburgh as a city. Photo Antiquities on East Ohio Street here on the Northside has a special photo exhibit commemorating our founding. Photography wasn’t created for another 23 years so there are no photos of the celebrations or city at that time. Photo Antiquities has a trove of pictures never before exhibited and included in this stash are a series taken by Fredrick Thomas & Thomas Jon Gretton chemist brothers that worked for Jones & Laughlin Steel. Their heirs donated their negatives that are on glass plates and Bruce Klein and associates printed images from these negatives. One image is a picture of George Farris’ first Farris Wheel somewhere in Pittsburgh (probably Luna Park in Oakland), where the gondolas could hold 30 people taken around 1885 (eight years before the attraction became the darling of the Chicago Worlds Fair). There’s also images of steel mills in the late 1880’s. To include one of child labor of “pull boys” in a mill.
If you have a millennial in your sphere of influence, a couple of questions you might want to ask him/her/them is “What is the interest rate your credit card charges?” A recent poll of millennials showed 50% didn’t know what the interest rate was! Also, cash advances on a credit card usually have a higher interest rate than normal charges and usually there’s a one time fee on top of this. (I fell victim to these when I first opened in Florida and was extremely cash poor). Another question you might ask is “What is the credit limit of your credit card? A third of respondents didn’t know what it was. If they are not paying the credit card off each month, it is better to have two cards and split it between the two. Say they have a $1,000 limit and have $900 on the card, it’s more or less maxed out. Credit reporting agencies really frown on this, they feel someone shouldn’t have more than 25% of credit available to an individual card tied up. Now $450 between the two cards is not 25%, but a lot better than 90%. 35% of millennials didn’t know what their credit score was, it’s extremely important at this time of their life. Many aren’t aware that a late payment doesn’t effect their credit score, unless it’s over 30 days late, which is huge (again I fell victim to this back in my early days with my Discover card (-a long story I think I talked about in the past). Finally they don’t know they can ask for waived or lower fees. My Worker’s Comp company charged me $30 in February to keep my policy active (my last payroll fee was $18)! I had a problem paying for worker’s comp when I didn’t have a payroll, so I canceled them and switched to another carrier, the insurance group I have my property insurance with (Insurance Services United). Which lowered my monthly charge. March rolls around and the previous insurance company was going to charge me $8.08 for a maintenance fee. I called them and told them I was going to file a formal complaint with the PA AG’s office. Steve told me he was going to stop the $8.08 withdrawal and credit me the $30. I told him if I see that in my account, I would not file the compliant and he thanked me. Bitching has it’s benefits, you need to be calm, polite and precise about what you want.
Even though it’s been a mild winter, finally, I am so ready for spring, it’s right around the corner, chins up,
ed
