Friday, October 20, 2017

America 1, Bad Luck 0

Earlier this week, walking distance from my home, this happened:

Bald Eagle Spotted Eating Black Cat on Downtown Norfolk Sidewalk


    A bald eagle randomly alit onto a sidewalk on Monticello Avenue in Norfolk and made a public feast of a black cat.

    Highlights from the Virginian-Pilot Article:
    • Dozens of people crowded around as the eagle ate the cat on the sidewalk. 
    • The eagle was more than two feet long from head to tail and stood around a foot and a half tall.
    • The eagle’s meal looked like a fully grown black cat. 
    • The eagle nearly picked it clean over the course of about 45 minutes.
    • Stranger still: the bird seemed unperturbed by the onlookers. “It was going to enjoy its meal as long as nobody was bothering it.”
    There's a reason our nation uses this bird as a symbol.  Bad-assed.

    There's a video of it in the Pilot article for the gross people among our readers.

    A few years back, this happened in my back yard.


    That's what we believed to be a Cooper's hawk devouring a squirrel on our deck.  As you can imagine, given my long friendship with the gheorghie sometimes known as "The Squirrel," that was very upsetting.  So I videoed it.

    This time, however, I am exulting in what I take to mean a symbol of the USA beating back bad luck.  By eating it.  AMERICA!!

    Unless this is supposed to be a harbinger of unpleasant results from this week's Monday Night Football game.  In which case . . . yeah, that's about right.



    63 comments:

    1. In some circles that bald eagle might get the gas face.

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    3. i saw this headline yesterday all over the internet and intentionally avoided the image. because i have a black cat of which i'm quite fond. so this is REALLY FUCKING TRAUMATIC TO ME. thanks for nothing, whitney.

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    4. but four posts in two days, boys? well done.

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    5. Postcount > sleeping at night

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    6. And funny that the dead cat got you worse than the dead squirrel.

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    7. A while back I think I mentioned my destiny of getting to go to the Price is Right as it makes it way through lovely Worcester, MA. Little did I know it's really 'The Price is Right Live'. So Drew Carey is not running this game show spectacle but Jerry Springer is. Yes, that Jerry Springer. I plan on drinking heavily tonight and wished I had made a 'Jerry, can you confirm the DNA results for my baby mommy?' t-shirt.

      Eagles and hawks are badass. My older brother used to caddie at The Country Club in MA. One day they saw a hawk swoop down and snag a small dog out of the backyard of a house along the course.

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    8. I saw red-tailed hawk swoop out of a tree at like 100 MPH and slam onto an empty bottle of Dasani--I guess he wasn't that hawk-eyed--in Harvard Square one morning. It scared the daylights out of me. Big bird, loud noise when it hit the bottle.

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    9. Have an acquaintance whose hobby is falconry. He actually has a hawk that he trained. Sat next time him at a work dinner one night where he filled me in on how to go about this. It starts with holing the bird up in a dark room for a very long period of time, feeding him just enough so it does not starve so that he becomes entirely dependent on you. It was fascinating.
      Falconry is cool as shit...sat through a display at a boondoggle in Scotland many years ago - Sterling Castle. The finale was a bald eagle but included hawks, an owl, and others. It was....amazeballs.

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    10. Falconry = initiation?

      The raptor show at the Stone Zoo is like that, just crazy.

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    11. This is a shocker, but the woman at IAH airport in Houston who apathetically told me I had nothing to worry about when I checked a bag 75 minutes before my flight proved to be a liar. Too bad there's no electronic news delivery mechanism available in society that can tell my if my bag made it on the plane or not, which would allow me to avoid killing 30 minutes of time in the bowels of Newark. Who needs time at home w/ the family anyway?

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    12. I came home to find an unexpectedly barren booze stash in the house. One scotch pour and two beers has proven unacceptable, given home reno and Yankee stress. So I did a deep dive in the home and came up with...a ten y/o bottle of ouzo. This could prove to be an epic bad decision.

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    13. I'd watch a lot more soccer if all matches were like this Chelsea Watford goal fest.

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    14. Zman, check on TR. And as thought 'The Price is Right Live' is to be missed.

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    15. Did they have Plinko or the mountain climber game?

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    16. I love that yodel mountain climber game. Bob Barker made Harvey Weinstein look like a gentleman.

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    17. TR's joke made me spit my breakfast beer out.

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    18. I feel like that video should be preceded by the national anthem.

      My wife teaches 6-8 year olds; Last year they ate lunch outside one day so they could watch a hawk devour a small rodent. I won't name the critter specifically though, since that might be considered insensitive.

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    19. it was a squeaky, wasn't it?

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    20. My kids soccer team isn’t nearly as bad as I originally thought. There are far worse teams playing U6 soccer in Indialantic, FL. My team is decidedly mid table.

      Since I was out of town for my birthday, my wife arranged for us to ditch our kids for the afternoon and evening so we could celebrate/booze. We are beginning the boozing now.

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    21. The U Texas QB - Ehlinger - his dad is the one that had the heart attack in the 2013 Escape from Alcatraz tri that I partook in. Did not know that. Now I know.

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    22. Wow. Random connection. He’s a very young QB and will be a cornerstone of the rise of that program under Herman.

      You excited about ND-USC, Dan?

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    23. damn, saban is running it up against tennessee. that doesn't make me sad.

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    24. Yes Mark. But I have low expectations.Self preservation I guess. Kelly just doesn’t get it done in these games. Very sad.

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    25. i admit i haven't watched as much Yankees this year as in my peak viewing years, but holy shit the nerves of a Game 7 still don't leave ya as a fan

      here. we. go.

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    26. and, much like danimal, im watching this nd/usc game with bated breath

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    27. K State lost that game in a pretty brutal way. And both of these prime time CFB top 25 matchups aren’t quite living up to the billing so far.

      Does this mean I have to watch baseball? Lol. No. I’ll put it on the third TV. And root for the Astros.

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    28. settle down, college football superfan

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    29. I really miss Pat Haden and Tom Hammond calling ND games.

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    30. Sam Darnold is Blake Bortles.

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    31. Marls, I see your nephew is on the ir here in Jax. Opening night this eve....looks like they had a big crowd. Icemen!

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    32. Is William and Mary that bad this year guys?

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    33. watched patton oswalt's new netflix special with my 13 y/o this evening. she's a big fan of standup comedy. and it's a brilliant set, the same one that whit and marls and i saw in dc. but it ends with an extended bit where oswalt pitches a kids movie using scenes from hardcore porn films as examples of his creative vision. hearing the term 'lake of cum' while sitting next to my daughter on the couch was a new one.

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    34. Ummm....Chicago is performing right now during ND’s halftime.

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    35. Hahaha. That’s a hell of scene Rob just laid out.

      TJ- eat a dick. Yankee Superfan. Love you.

      I’m Team Rosen over Team Darnold.

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    36. Just give Saquon the Heisman now. Like present it to him postgame.

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    37. I love Penn State’s uniforms. I just wish that school wasn’t such a fucking cult.

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    38. The 92 and 97 Gheroghies missed a festive weekend in the Burg. W&M has learned how to do reunion weekends--and I'm sure Whintey would agree.
      Thanks to Marls for hosting a lovely tailgate party.

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    39. This Ian your reminder that Rob’s fried chicken take is fucking trash.

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    40. When I redo my kitchen I'm getting a deep fat fryer mounted in the counter, just like Vin Baker, expressly so I can fry chicken.

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    41. That is a tremendous idea, Z.

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    42. what is my fried chicken take? the one where the effort isn't worth the payoff?

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    43. I believe you said it was overrated. That, sir, is bullshit. I had fried chicken thighs with eggs and hash browns for breakfast. Nothing overrated about that at all.

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    44. Good fried chicken is anywhere fro sublime to transcendent.

      I'm fretting taking the Titans in my suicide pool.

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    45. Miami's DC looks like TR with bad beard hygiene.

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    46. I bet on Mike Mularkey. I deserve to lose.

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    47. Derrick Henry has hands like Maurice Carthon.

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    48. I had my first straight up shit talking episode w/ a parent from another kid's soccer team. Shit gets real when kids are 10/11 y/o.

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    49. today is ichiro's birthday. celebrate accordingly.

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    50. Japanese bondage porn?

      Oh wait, that Hideki Matsui. My bad.

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    51. So sorry to have missed y'all yesterday in burg, Whit and Shlara. I was there and what a gorgeous day! And it was fun! I kept getting delayed on finding y'all...some of Monroe 3rd, class of 92, had a 40' RV in the Hall lot --too funny. And yes--homecoming has changed tremendously!

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