Random 5 for April 23, 2022 – Robins, weirdos, projects, surprises, trees

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Pardon the quality. It was taken with a cell phone by a not too savvy photographer.

Hello? – We have an arched window over the front door. Yesterday I saw this robin looking in. He was standing on the outside ledge. He did a lot of walking up and down and peering. First time I saw that! So cute. The cats wanted to invite him in.

That was weird – You get weirdos visiting your site. They leave messages that don’t make a lot of sense. These are not the clearly spam comments but a little more articulate (not much) and without links so they get past the spam filter. I had an unusual one last week. Someone left two messages on my post saying he was offended. That’s all, just offended. It was Wednesday’s post on jumping to conclusions. I looked at it with different eyes. I would not describe my blog as offensive, sensualized, political, violent, belligerent, hateful or insulting. It’s more bland, lackluster, boring, etc. I clicked on the commenter’s blog and it was a sales site. Maybe his goal was to get me to click. It may benefit him somehow. His mission was accomplished. I spammed his comments. My blog, my rules. If he was truly offended, he needs to grow a thicker skin.

And it goes on – After a month of sliding start dates, tomorrow is the current magic one for the deck renovation. The reasons for not starting run the range of finishing another job, the weather to helping a friend move. At one point I was asked if I’d rather have him work on my job or finish helping his friend. I said work on my job (he had spent the week with his friend already). He went with his friend anyway (so why ask?). We have some rain in the forecast. We’ll see how this goes. Last big project. I will either end up in the poor house or the looney bin. (Was looney bin offensive?)

Speaking of contractors – I had a really good experience with a landscaper. My project was scheduled for July. That was the soonest they could get in. One part of it was planting a street tree and cultivating a front bed for flowers near the front door. I wanted those done early so I could plant flowers in May. They came this past week and not only did the tree and bed but the entire job. I was over the moon! They worked here for three days through cold temperatures and a few showers. Wish they were all like that.

Trees, trees, trees – I want to plant two more trees in the back yard, partly for screening out the neighbors and a distant highway and partly to diffuse the sun streaming in the windows. A tree is a big deal. It takes years to grow so you want to be sure you pick the right tree for the right location. The selection is endless. Bloomers or fall foliage? Taller or shorter? One thing is for sure. I want a tree that the birds love. Nothing says home like bird poop on the walkways.

So how was your week?

80 thoughts on “Random 5 for April 23, 2022 – Robins, weirdos, projects, surprises, trees”

  1. I like that the contractor was courteous to extend the opportunity to voice your opinion on working on your deck versus helping out a friend in need … and he went away. I know you’ll be happy to have it all done and you feel 100% settled in with everything how you want it. Love that robin peeking in – was there a thought bubble while nodding its head that said “I like what they’ve done with the kitchen and they made a music room – wow, so they won’t mind if I chirp before daylight to help them welcome their day to these new digs!”

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    • He got here late (9:30) and left just about 20 minutes ago (it’s raining) so he got about about 4 hours in today with a helper. Railings and half of the flooring of the old stuff is down and gone. I must learn to pace myself. We had a lot of errands today and that was good. I was focusing on other things. He does good work. I just don’t understand his process.

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      • It’s a good sign that what he got down is GONE. We had a tile guy for the shower and he was a great tiler. But he was a sensitive soul and was very creative and artsy but he didn’t come to tile until 11:00 and then Jerry made his “pour over” for him at noon just to keep him here and then went out to get his late lunch for him around two. We were willing to do just about anything to keep him here and working. He and Jerry took the lunch break together and he talked about super deep subjects that made Jerry glassy-eyed. That was John’s process for a 10 day tile job… sigh.

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  5. Would fruit trees be appropriate for your landscaping? I see them as natural bird feeders. My dad tried to grow fruit trees for many, many years and mostly, they were natural bird feeders. The only exception was the Arkansas Black apple; a dark skinned apple that is not edible when you think it’s ripe. It has to sit in cool storage for several months before it gets sweet and is particularly good in pies. It is a lovely apple to be able to store. But whoops, that wasn’t the point. Fruit trees are lovely bloomers and might produce you some good eats and at the least will feed your bird and probably squirrel friends.

    As for your weirdos. Spam commenters, I’m told, are not only trying to drive clicks to their sites, just the fact that they have links out there on many blogs raises their search rating. Or at least it did. It seems that likes do the same thing these days. I get many likes from websites selling something and far fewer spam comments than I used to get.

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    • The trees would be very close to the house so I wouldn’t use regular fruit trees. I always like critter friendly plantings whether they attract butterflies or feed the birds but I’m not looking to clean up dropped fruit on the deck. At the last house I had a bigger property and I planted fruit trees. I had to wrestle the groundhogs for the peaches. I didn’t know they climbed trees until I saw it with my own eyes. They ate the peaches before they were ripe so I was lucky to get a half dozen out of two trees. I’m used to nonsensical comments from spammers but this one surprised me.

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      • I have never seen a groundhog climb a tree! That must have been funny. I have a blurry photo somewhere of a huge raccoon reaching past the um, metal tube thing my dad made to prevent the raccoons from climbing the post to the bird feeder. It did work with small raccoons but not this big guy. PIcturing a ground hog climbing a tree made me think of this.

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  6. I’d eventually love to hear more about the trees you choose, Kate. I enjoy landscaping projects and regional differences in what grows well. Your contractor’s question about whether you’d prefer he finish your job or keep a commitment to a friend is pretty funny. I don’t know how you didn’t laugh out loud. Or maybe you did? And I think the “offended” blogger must have thought he was being funny. There are some really odd people out there, and sometimes we just have to field an occasional curve ball! I’d say you do very well at that. 🙂

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    • Early in my blogging days, a woman tore me up and down for my comments about “old people.” The offending post itself was about me and the foibles of aging. She went so far as to put a post on her blog telling everyone what a bad person I was. I was new to blogging then so I apologized. Nowadays I just delete and go on with life. People be weird.

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      • I think if I’d had that “attack” early in my blogging I might have given up. That kind of confrontation, even from a distance, tends to unnerve me. You do have to ignore so much with people these days, almost everywhere we go!

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    • No it didn’t look like a non-English blog. We bloggers tend to cultivate people like us so it was a shock to have “offended” someone by I’m not sure what. It wasn’t at all controversial. It gave me something to blog about! 🙂

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  8. Clickbait!!!
    So the gardener says not one with flowers. This is because we have had a particularly gusty month, right when all the trees have been blooming, and it’s been a nonstop headache for him with all the sweeping and cleaning out the fountains (front and back). If I sit and look out the window I see a shower of petals raining down every afternoon. But if you ask me, I say, they are so beautiful!!!!!

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  9. Well. That’s an interesting clickbait strategy. Find the most innocuous blogs with nothing but pleasant everyday thoughts and say you are offended. It would have worked on me too. And I occassionally take a position that offend people. But not explaining would have gotten me. Its really a good snare for a click. The sneaky bast@rds continue to get sneakier.

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  11. I haven’t had very many strange visitors to my blog. If I did, maybe I’d become used to getting rid of them more quickly rather than pondering over whether there may be a sliver of truth in what someone is saying. I like your conclusion: “My blog, my rules.”

    I’m beginning to think that trees grow faster than we might think. Either that or “time flies.” Yesterday we went to the Washington Park Arboretum. I hadn’t been there for 4 or 5 years, and the trees had grown so much that sometimes I didn’t recognize where I was. Of course, once a tree gets going, I think it grows faster.

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  12. WordPress catches most of the spammy comments but every once in a while I get something like that. I also have a lot of sales-type bloggers subscribing to my blog… I assume they are just looking for either a hit (which I give them since I always check if someone subscribes) or a follow (never). What a question for your deck contractor to ask… was he trying to make you feel guilty? I wish they all could be like your landscaper.

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    • I think he was betting I’d say “aw go on, help your friend” because I’m such a nice person (?). Maybe if it had been the first week he wasn’t here, I may have but he’s 3 weeks later than he promised so no. I’m not that nice.

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  13. There have been two who commented that I blocked. One just made strange comments. The other seemed to think he knew me. He wrote about how unfaithful I was in my marriage (I have never been married) and about awful traits I had like alcoholism and drug abuse (I have an occasional glass of wine and I don’t use drugs). Way weird!

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  17. I can imagine a bird that close to your cats could cause some real agitation. Congrats on the landscape job completed, and good luck with the deck. As far as planting a tree, the choices are endless, and at least at my age, I laugh out loud at the maximum height in 20-30 years. 🙂

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  18. I am thankful for you and your blog. I find your writing far from boring. With my job in WordPress.com support I see a ton of blogs, and certainly can’t follow all of them. But yours is one I definitely follow. I’m glad you spammed the spammer.

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    • We signed a contract with a deposit in February. He has purchased the decking materials. It would be a huge hassle to untangle all that and get someone else in. For another contractor I’d have to go in queue again and it wouldn’t get done until late summer. I’ll see how this goes and keep it in mind going forward.

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  20. Good lord, the question that deck contractor asked you! It borders on insulting. I hope in the end he does a good job for you.

    The only time I got any flak for anything I’ve written was from a man who questioned my knowledge about South American culture, after I clearly confused two different countries. I apologized and fortunately the matter was closed (and I repaired my error!). I think you have correctly guessed that this “offended” guy of yours was merely trying to get you to click on his own site. – Marty

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  24. Your blogs are entertaining and sometimes you offer solutions and sometimes you just need to vent. All in all I look forward to all that you present. Thank you. And, spammers are unnecessary slime in the order of the species! Good luck with your deck.

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  25. Tring to understand bots and spammers is a foreign language to me too. Your approach sounds like a good one. Congrats on an early completion of the landscape! Hoping the deck project starts now. You’re very courageous trying to accomplish major projects on the new house.

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  26. Your posts are NOT offensive to anyone with ordinary sensibilities. Those with extraordinary sensibilities should stop reading blogs! 😆

    In this case, I’m sure he was a spammer and should be relegated to the “Spammer Slammer.”

    Good luck with the projects.

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  27. I think the “I am offended” or insulting comments are part of a new strategy amongst spammers/scammers to pull a response out of bloggers (and their readers!) and thus drive traffic to their sites. It’s happening to other bloggers too. It might even be happening to me, if my blog was working….grrrr.

    Deb

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  30. Tree selection is tricky. I am currently looking for the messiest tree I can find to plant next to my tree-hating neighbor’s driveway…which he expanded to the property line. So far the front runners are ginkgo and jacaranda. And I am willing to spring for a bigger one.

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