Picture Title: Backyard Red & Fox Squirrels (Ypsilanti, Michigan)
Why this one? - I try to always take extra pictures every day because I never know what will excite me when I review them. I am racing to the end of 2022 and I found this taken on the 30th. A cute squirrel navigating on a shepherd's pole in the desire to get something to eat. I likely have a good picture elsewhere - but this just struck me as something nice.
Picture Description: Red squirrels and fox squirrels at our house in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Here are some pictures of my squirrel neighbors coping with the cold & wet weather at the end of December, 2022.
Picture Title: Visit with Runyon to Swift Run Dog Park (Ann Arbor, Michigan) - Thursday December 29th, 2022
Why this one? - Been a few days since we were at Swift Run and both of us were happy to see our old gang. Runyon loves playing with Phoenix and was able to do that a good deal. We are going to try to go on less crowded days in the new year - as Runyon will likely be better behaved. Lots of fun and great picture taking opportunities!
Picture Description: Off with Runyon to Swift Run Dog Park (near the intersection of Platt and Ellsworth and across the street from Lillie Park). Pictures from the mild morning of Thursday December 29th, 2022.
Picture Title: Fox Squirrels in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan
Why this one? - I loved how this little squirrel started climbing my leg. She was happy to see me after a few very cold days on campus. I have not had a leg climber in a long time - so it was nice to get a good picture and showcase this. Martha (I give names to the ones with bad mange) will get a second dose of meds next week.
Picture Description: Fox squirrels getting ready for a cold winter in Michigan - taken on Wednesday December 28th, 2022. I would not normally be on campus during the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, but a house call was in order. There were a good number of squirrels who had bald patches on campus - a sign of mange. If there was a red mark on the skin - that meant they were scratching. I gave a whole bunch the first dose and I needed to wait a week to get them dose number two. Hence the decision to come in during the break. I think I will make Wednesday my main medicine distribution day - so I do not give any of the squirrels too much Ivermectin. I did have to pickup more treated pecans from my contact at Friends of Wildlife. I will need to get more soon as lots of squirrels had mange. Two had really large bald patches. Martha (over by Martha Cook) was very happy to see me and I will get a second dose next week. Hatcher was one squirrel I saw on the Diag who had more scratches on the bald spot. The one I did not see was Max Power - who I gave a first dose on the 21st. I will look again when I am back on campus next week. Hopefully we will get these squirrels on their way to healthy living soon. Many squirrels will share a nest and that is how mange will spread. Wishing you joy, health and peace wherever you are.
If you live in Michigan, you have seen ad after ad bashing Michigan Congresswoman Haley Stevens during her speech on the floor of the House of Representatives. It was passionate and it was rushed. Her opponents are viewing it as hysterical. And while it is hard to hear (and that is the case when you are trying to squeeze a three minute speech into 60 or 90 seconds), it is good stuff.
Haley Sevens represents the 11th Congressional District of Michigan. She is not my Representative, but I would be very proud if she were.
Her passionate speech was rushed because clearly it was too long for the allotted time. And as she recognized this, she spoke faster and faster.
While the text is below, many conservative critics have focused on her glove and her appearance. If you read the text below, you would definitely see someone who understood the gravity of our crisis back in March. This is definitely someone who deserves our vote and our support. Not our mockery.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Stevens).
Ms. STEVENS. Mr. Speaker, I rise before you today in this Chamber during this critical time in the United States of America, where our country faces a battle with a pandemic, the biggest battle we have faced as a nation together in generations. Amidst uncertainty, we work
to keep Americans alive by stopping the spread of COVID-19.
In these times, heroes will be made and not selected. We are in a global pandemic. Many Americans may perish unexpectedly and suddenly in unfair circumstances.
These are not pleasant words to hear. Treatments and cures are needed. They will take time. Economic security must be guaranteed.
The outbreak of COVID-19 has spread throughout our land. Listen to the scientists and the doctors who have spent a lifetime in this space. Listen to Dr. Fauci. This is not a moment to provide the false comforts of times past.
We are so proud of Americans who are sacrificing so much right now. Our students, gone from their beloved classrooms and classmates. We beam for our manufacturers who have no----
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
Ms. STEVENS. I request 30 more seconds because I rise before you adorning these latex gloves not for personal attention, but to encourage you to take the----
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentlewoman from Michigan an additional 30 seconds.
Ms. STEVENS. Join me in the calls of servitude, sharing in the profession with those who have now come before you. Similar times of trying medical need, wars and flus past, you will see darkness, you will be pushed, and our society needs you to stand together at this
time. Our country loves you.
To our doctors and our nurses, I wear these latex gloves to tell every American: Do not be afraid.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has again expired.
Ms. STEVENS. I tell my fellow Americans do not be afraid. Look and see the beauty and opportunity in nature and humanity all around you.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from Michigan is no longer recognized.
NOTE - With the fundamental changes because of COVID-19 and the precautions to curtail this pandemic, the needs of food banks may actually be greater.
We are continuing our Food Drive and you can make donations to the Kresge Suite (K4521) in Michigan Ross.
There are many populations that need help more than ever. So if you are leaving campus with the move to online classes - please lighten your load and help out people in the area.
We are going to make deliveries to local food banks and pantries on a regular basis instead of waiting until the end of the term.
#BeAHelper
Corey Seeman - March 14th, 2020
Original Message -
9th Annual Kresge Library Services Food Drive - Now through Friday May 29th, 2020
Please join Kresge Library Services of the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business as we embark on our 9th springtime food drive for Washtenaw County food banks. We are looking to collect non-perishable food donations that will be distributed to local food banks in June. We are undertaking this food drive now for two big reasons:
While many organizations coordinate food drives around the holidays, hunger is a year round problem. Food drives during the spring and summer are less common, but are critical for food banks’ ability to help families in need.
At Ross, nearly 40% of our students graduate every year after Winter Term and many leave Ann Arbor. A food drive is a great way to lighten your load as you head out with your degree in hand, while helping less fortunate people in Michigan.
Starting today and running through Friday May 29th, Kresge Library Services will be collecting non-perishable food items and other personal products for Washtenaw Area food banks (Saline Area Social Services and the Hope Clinic in Ypsilanti).
The best part of this program is that we can assist local food banks at a time when donations are at their lowest. During our food drives since 2011, we collected between 30 and 50 boxes each year for Washtenaw County Food Banks thanks to the generosity of the Ross Community. This could be a challenging year for many of us - so helping those in need would be doubly appreciated.
Here are the specs:
Dates: Monday March 9th through Friday May 29th, 2020
Location: Drop-off food items in the Kresge Library Services suite (K4521) on the 4th floor of Kresge Hall. The cart is right at the entrance of the Library's suite.
Times: You can drop off food anytime the building is open.
Per the guidelines established by many food banks, we ask you to make sure that the donated items are:
• Non-perishable food products
• Contained in factory-sealed containers
• Currently not expired products
• Not in glass containers (most food banks avoid these as they can break in transit)
Food Items in great need include:
• Tuna Fish or other canned fish or meat
• Beef Stew, Meat Soups
• Hearty Soups
• Canned Spaghetti or Pasta
• Chili
• Beans (kidney, pinto, green, yellow, refried or black beans)
• Baby Food or Formula
• Ensure or other nutritional supplement drinks
• Rice
• Dry Beans
• Noodles, Macaroni
• Powdered Milk
• Pancake or Baking Mixes
• Cereal/Oatmeal
• Granola Bars
• Peanut Butter
• Jelly (in plastic jars)
Many Food Banks also collect unopened personal products including:
• Diapers
• Toothpaste
• Toothbrushes
• Soap
• Shampoo
• Disposable Razors
• Travel sized personal products are also very useful
If you would rather make a donation to these organizations, that would also be wonderful:
So I have been very, very fortunate over the past year. Maybe not everything was perfect - but from a squirrel perspective - it was a great year. I thought it might be fun to pull together some of the highlights of my squirrel obsessed life in 2019. It was a banner year - and I hope to do this every year for Squirrel Appreciation Day - January 21st.
On Friday April 5th, 2019, I got my picture of the year. There is a cavity nest in the Law Quad in a tree that has since been taken down. I had seen this squirrel coming out of her cavity nest a few times, but I got the picture of the year one day around 10am when I got a great old yawn as she left the nest. I loved this picture right from the time I first saw it.
I decided that it would be a perfect one to send to the Comedy Wildlife Awards. I was thrilled when it was selected as a semi-finalist and then a finalist. In November, it was announced that this picture was recognized as Highly Commended!
Michigan Today Podcast
When I was asked by Deborah Holdship if I wanted to do a podcast about my interest in squirrels - I believe I said something to the extent of "you had me at squirrels." We did this late in the year and it came out just before the holidays.
Dude's got class....
When the Ross School of Business launched their Online MBA this year, the team they assembled to support the new endeavor were located in our suite. Among the team they brought in was Toon Mertens, a tremendous videographer who would produce a number of videos for the online program. They wanted to create a prototype of a 'pitch' video that faculty could use to attract attention for their classes from students.
I had just met Toon and he 'pitched' the idea to me upon returning from a February vacation. I was hoping that he would find a better idea - but he persisted. So off we went - co-writing this piece. Furthermore, he asked me questions that were recorded to get more spontaneity. This is a version that does not have the Block M - but it is just as much fun. This was tremendous fun.
Albino Squirrels in Olney, Illinois
Barbie National Convention was in Kansas City this year and Pam and I decided to drive. I learned about the albino squirrel population in Olney, Illinois from a great article in the Squirrel Week Series from John Kelly of the Washington Post. When I discovered that it was kinda on the way from Michigan to Kansas City, a plan was hatched!
We spent one night in Olney. On the first day, we visited with Belinda Henton, a certified wildlife rehabilitator and she invited me to look her up when we got into town. Pam and I went out to visit. She had a newborn albino (you can tell by the white in the nails) who needs to be bottle fed as it fell out of a nest. Then there was Rocky Dale. Rocky Dale seems to have suffered some brain damage as a result of a fall. He can move around, but only turns left (so he picked up the name Dale to honor the NASCAR legend). She let me hold Rocky Dale and he climbed all over me. It was amazing and the most fun I have had in a good while. She said that Rocky Dale is not like that with everyone - so that felt good.
The following day, I got this great picture of an albino squirrel by the Olney Library - because you can always find everything you need at the library!
The Squirrel Doctor Makes House Calls
I once spoke with a faculty member at Michigan who also is a fan of squirrels - and she mentioned about medication you can give squirrels who have mange. So when I started noticing some squirrels with mange in the Law Quad, I reached out to the Friends of Wildlife Michigan. They connected me with someone who has worked up some medicated pecans for me to feed the squirrel. Each dose is two pecans - to be given one week apart.
Here is "Patches O'Houlihan" on Monday July 1st 2019 in the Law Quad. This was a couple of days after I gave her the first dose. I named all the patients after characters in the 2004 movie "DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story."
Here is Patches on August 7th, 2019. Her fur had almost entirely grown back, with the exception of this area on her left leg that she was agitating. Over the coming months, it would be harder and harder to tell which ones had mange - so that was wonderful news.
Project 365 Squirrel Pictures at the University of Michigan
Here are all my pictures of the day featuring squirrels from the University of Michigan during 2019!
Lefty!
I do not give all the squirrels names - but one is so famous, she has actually two names. In December 2018, I first noticed a squirrel who was missing her front right paw. She also had part of her right ear removed. I have named her Lefty - though colleagues at the President's House and Tappan Hall call her Tripod. She has been seen in Law Quad, behind Martha Cook, in front of the Clements Library and by the President's House. All these locations are near South University.
I have seen a great deal of Lefty over the course of the year. There isn't a day where she does not cheer me up. She does great and does not suffer one bit by having three paws.
Dude is an Artist!
On December 1st, 2019, I participated in my first art show and showed a number of squirrel related items featuring my wonderful campus squirrels. This wonderful event was very well attended and featured 20 artists (including me) at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor). I also had my photos at Carrigan Cafe in Saline in September. Seems I will be the regular September artist at the cafe for the next few years!
Delmarva Peninsula Fox Squirrels
We were in Baltimore for the Integrity Toys Convention. Two hours to the south is Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. Was it worth driving nearly two hours each way from Baltimore to see these little ones - ABSOLUTELY! Here are pictures of Delmarva peninsula fox squirrels I saw on the trails near Wildlife Drive. I was very excited to see these squirrels for the first time on the Marsh Edge Trail and the Woods Trail along Wildlife Drive. They were tricky to photograph - as they were constantly moving and deep in the brush on the bottom of these wooded areas. So I did each trail at least three times to make sure that I got to see as many as I did. I ended up tossing nearly 2/3 of the pictures because they were not good. The squirrels are fantastic and I am so glad that I made the trip.
This is my first visit to this wonderful refuge - and hopefully not the last. Taken on Thursday October 10th, 2019.
Been an exciting year - from a squirrel perspective! Here's hoping for another great year in 2020!
Here is my fourth entry in my Librarians on Old Time Radio series. After two episodes featuring crimes and one featuring the old American West, I think it is only fitting that we feature one of the comedies. Sometimes the comedies do not translate well to modern sensibilities and tastes, but they are part of the genre and definitely part of the culture at the time. And since immigration is such a common story in the news these days, spending a half an hour with Luigi Basco might be in order.
Wrigley Building in Chicago - May 2014
From 1948 to 1953, CBS Radio featured a weekly half-hour situation comedy telling the story of a recent immigrant to the United States in the times after World War II. The program is Life With Luigi, a comedy series staring J. Carrol Naish in the title role. It was the brain-child of Cy Howard and starred J. Carrol Naish plays the title character, Luigi Basco, who was spending his new life in Chicago. Character actor Alan Reed (maybe best known as the voice of Fred Flinstone) plays Pasquale, Luigi's sponsor and best friend. Each of the episodes starts off this the same opening - as announcer Bob Stevenson would say:
We invite you to enjoy life – Life with Luigi – a new comedy show created by Cy Howard and starring that celebrated actor, Mr. J. Carroll Nash with Alan Reed as Pasquale.
A year ago, when Luigi Basco left Italy to start his new life in America, he promised his mother that he would write and tell her about his adventures. So now let’s read Luigi’s letter as he writes to Momma Basco in Italy.
The episode we are featuring first aired on May 1st, 1951. Luigi starts off (as he does each week) with his letter to Momma Basco and was talking about a great picnic they went to back in the old country. Then it goes to their citizenship class as it often does. But all the students, immigrants from all over Europe, could not remember who wrote the Village Blacksmith (it was Longfellow). What had the students all worked up? They were all going to Riverview Park that coming Sunday, and everyone had two tickets. So who were they going to bring? Would Luigi bring Rosa? Nope, he needed a real date...but where? He finds a date in a place he was not expecting - the library. He had to go there after class to return a book that was overdue. It did not take him longer to read, but he was lending the book to others. He seemed to be running his own private library. But talking with the librarian led to small talk - and the next thing you knew, Luigi had a date to the park. Sure they took advantage of making all the librarian jokes you can think of - they do have a certain charm. But when Pasquale finds out that he is not taking Rosa, he places a bet that he would not get a kiss that day. And things do not end exactly as Luigi might have wanted, but they were good in the end. The cast includes J. Carrol Naish, Alan Reed, Mary Shipp, Joe Forte, Ken Peters, Hans Conried, Jody Gilbert and was written by Mac Benoff and Lou Derman.
While a comedy, I think they always respected the characters and what they did to come to the States. There were a number of programs that had immigrants as major characters, but this is one of the best known. Kinda interesting when you listen to the episodes today. I hope you enjoy.
