I killed a birdie

[tigertoy]

When I got home and started unloading the groceries, there was something fluttering around in the garage.  Just as I slammed the hatch closed, I realized that the bird had perched in the shadow of the hatch.  There was a sort of a strangled squeak, and when I popped the door back open, a small gray bird fell out, quite dead.  It's surprisingly hard to recognize a bird when it's lying dead instead of being a bird, but I'm pretty sure it was a phoebe.  My bridge flycatcher was probably taking shelter in the garage from the unexpected cold.

I am sad.

Comments

[ntrlstgrl.livejournal.com]

:( When I was in high school and just learning to drive, my mother & I were driving to Gillette (Wyoming) to get groceries or something and I ran over a bird (all these years later I’m still certain it was an American goldfinch). HOW the heck I managed to run over a bird with the tire on a car and we were going 65 MPH I have no idea. I pulled over and cried and didn’t ever want to drive again. I remember being highly traumatized and it still upsets me when/if I kill an animal/bird accidentally. A few years back I took the tour road out of the NSNWR for some reason and a thirteen-lined ground squirrel dashed across the road and there was no way to miss it; it bounced off one of my wheels and when rodent meets car, generally rodent loses. Some folks might consider that no great loss but I think they’re cute (and I LOVE chipmunks even if they do nibble my plants).

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

That sucks.

I still cringe over the rabbit I hit (and presumably killed) on the on-ramp to I-275 last fall. A couple of rabbits were the only animals I've ever cared about as individuals, so while I don't like killing anything on the highway, harming a rabbit really hits home.

Yet I feel no guilt about eating about 0.05 cow per year. Go figure.

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

I don't feel guilty about the phoebe exactly. I've long since come to terms with the fact that sometimes critters will dive under my wheels or sometimes even my feet too late for me to be able to avoid them, and this isn't any different. Intellectually at least, I refuse to feel guilt for bad things I didn't actually have control of. Some would argue that since I choose to move around rather than standing still, I am responsible for anything I hit, but I reject that; I am only responsible for going through life with a reasonable level of caution and care. No level of caution and care can prevent all bad outcomes, but it's easy to prevent any good outcomes by being too worried about bad ones.

As for eating meat, I feel absolutely no guilt in principle about it. In fact, I feel righteous about it; eating meat is a natural and proper part of life. I feel a small amount of guilt about the way meat animals are treated; if I had the choice of paying a small premium for humanely-raised meat, I would. But while free-range chicken is available, it costs something like 5 times as much and is only available in limited forms, and free range beef and pork aren't even on offer where I shop. I feel guilty enough that I might pay 25% extra, but not enough to pay far more than 100% extra and certainly not enough to give up meat.

[ntrlstgrl.livejournal.com]

No level of caution and care can prevent all bad outcomes, but it's easy to prevent any good outcomes by being too worried about bad ones.

Indeed, indeed. And that is another topic for discussion on another day.

On the topic of eating meat...I get very edgy this time of year wanting the downtown farmers' market to be open NOW (it opens in May) because I can finally be back in practice of purchasing my steaks/pork/etc. from a farmer who doesn't use any drugs/hormones/etc. raising his cattle. They're not completely "organic" but it's waaaaaaay better than buying meat at the store. I really don't like buying meat at the store...I've become accustomed to talking to the people who raised my dinner! Nice thing...their prices are comparable to (and sometimes cheaper than) the store.

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

I never get to my local farmer's market because it is on Saturday morning. If I'm going to be out of bed at all on Saturday morning, I don't want to be shopping. Especially with my current schedule, where sleeping in Saturday morning is the only chance I get all week to get any recharge. Since my Sundays are consumed by my work at EFRC (and that's not a complaint; the time I spend there gives me the emotional strength to live through the rest of the week), and my work schedule keeps me from getting anything constructive done during the week, Saturday is the only time I have to do *anything*. I'm really trying to work on that, finding ways to make more productive use of the time on weekdays.

[ntrlstgrl.livejournal.com]

I deliberately get up early on Saturdays during the market season so I can get downtown, get what I want, and get out before people show up. I'm down there when they open (7:00 a.m. ish) and when I can still walk around without tripping over the idiots who put on their high heeled sandals, tuck their toy dogs into their purses, put on makeup and do their hair, and walk around because it's the place to be. *gag* LOL (TMI probably) I'm lucky if I remember to brush my hair...it's literally roll out of bed, throw on clothes, and hop in the car. I try to buy things and then plan my menu around what I've found at the market. Sometimes it works, sometimes not so much.

Your comment about caution/care/worry etc. came at what seems an opportune moment. I'll ramble in email and then you can ignore/delete at your convenience! LOL

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

...walk around because it's the place to be. *gag* LOL (TMI probably)

Sounds just like me.

I'm lucky if I remember to brush my hair...it's literally roll out of bed, throw on clothes, and hop in the car.

Unfortunately, I am so low-functioning in the morning that I'm doing really well to get out of the house in an hour. And then it's a half an hour drive into town to where the market is. And if I did buy meat, then I'd have to take it home and put it away, so I'd be back home with half the morning gone and no closer to any place I really want to be.

I try to buy things and then plan my menu around what I've found at the market. Sometimes it works, sometimes not so much.

I do that a tiny bit (at least to the level of "gee, they have zucchini on sale, so I'll buy some; now I need to make something with zucchini), but the universe of things I feel confident preparing is too small. Most of my veggies come out of cans, except for carrots and celery that keep well and thus don't need to be used right away.

[ntrlstgrl.livejournal.com]

Do you prefer canned to frozen veggies? The only thing I use canned veggies for is one of the casseroles I make and I think I could even substitute thawed frozen veggies instead.

And if I were that far away from the market I might not go either...but I'm not so I get to revel in the fact that the market starts in just over a month. May 12th...wheeeeee!!! I know there won't be much there so early in the season...the first few weekends it's more like "HEY it's started!" LOL

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

Almost all my meals are one-pan meals (with occasionally a second pan to cook rice or boil pasta). Cooked into a one-dish meal, I don't see any point to frozen. About the only veggies I ever eat as a separate side item are beets, which I don't think are available frozen, and very rarely corn and lima beans. The lima beans would be a bit better frozen but it's not worth the trouble. I like canned corn.

If I used frozen veggies instead of canned, I'd need a freezer that I don't have space for (the one built into the fridge is already overburdened with meat and the small amount of frozen convenience food I keep around), or else I wouldn't be able to have several weeks' food on hand at any given time and only buy when there's a good sale.

[ntrlstgrl.livejournal.com]

LOL
I'm just thinking about the chaos that often ensues in my kitchen when I'm cooking. (Definitely not a one-pot cook!) And I bought a second-hand freezer from some friends for $50 or so which means I can store lots-o-stuff and I love it! :) And besides...if you like something...go with it! It's one of the reasons I don't understand buying something because it's expensive or a brand name or whatever. If I like the generic, that's what I buy. If I like the $10 bottle of wine instead of the $100 bottle of wine, that's what I buy. (Come to think of it I've never paid that much for wine and probably never will...although the 1990-ish Langtry Cabernet blend that I had recently is one exception...GODS that was an amazing wine. 2nd best Cab I have ever had.) If someone likes Budweiser (here comes the beer snob moment) *gag* then they should drink it and leave the good beer for the rest of us. (No offense to anyone who actually does drink it...I guess...)

OH Lordy this girl needs to attempt to focus on work. BAH.