I am Spartacus

A number of bloggers are all following Drifty's lead, in standing up for Shakespeare’s Sister who announced that she is bowing out of the Edwards campaign. It is a sad development for a number of reasons, some of which can be found on Mock, Paper Scissors. If you have a blog, join in. Blue Gal posted an update that: RedQueen's got "I'm Spartacus" shirts for sale now at Cafepress. All profits are going to Shakes and family.

Snowed in, called out

I got up Wednesday morning, the morning of the big snowstorm, fully intending to go to work. I looked outside and yeah, it looked bad. The road was white with packed-down ice from the few drivers who'd ventured out, and the car--well, we park right next to the road rather than on our steep driveway when it snows--the car was buried under about two feet of powder and plowed snow from the road. Still, I got in the shower and made Kat's coffee, thinking that she might still want to go to school.

I got out of the shower and woke Kat, who said the university, which NEVER closes due to snow, was closed, so why was I waking her up? At this point, I realized that we probably weren't going to get the car out of its icy tomb, and I wasn't going to work. It was just as well, because I took the day to read, from cover to cover, my Audubon guide to backyard birdwatching and feeding. What a great book! I took little notes (like the English major I am), planned some bird-friendly spring plantings (I'll blog on that closer to spring), and kept the feeders out back filled. Exhausting day! Somehow, I managed to cram a viewing of Return of the King and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in there too! I know, I know--I'm a dynamo.

Boy, did those birds eat yesterday. I read in my Audubon book that more mourning doves will come to feeders during hard snows and colder weather; I saw proof of that yesterday. As it's gotten colder this winter, I've noticed that each week, I get a couple more doves, and since the big snowfall they decided that my al fresco grill was the place to be. I had twelve birds at one time, setting a MODO record.

I also had white-throated, song, and tree sparrows; dark-eyed juncos; two female (never seen more than one a time) and one male cardinal; bluejays; black-capped chickadees; the downy and the red-bellied woodpecker; white-breasted nuthatches; tufted titmice; and one female house finch. They eat continually throughout the constant snowfall, and I filled the one hanging feeder nearest the house three times and scattered seed underneath each time. Of course, they had to dig for it only a few minutes after each time, and I tried to help them with that by digging with my boot down to the buried stuff.

I took some photos but they're not too great. Some are through the porch window, and even the ones taken outside suffer from not enough light:



Isn't he handsome? I love me some Mr. Cardinal.


This next picture reminds me of a great song:

"I'm not waiting on a lady,
I'm just waiting on a friend."

I also read in my book that unlike brown creepers or woodpeckers, nuthatches can go up or down a tree thanks to their toe structure and the fact that they don't need to prop themselves up with their tail feathers. Neat.


The marsh and backyard:



I wonder what he's thinking. Probably something like, "It's sure gonna suck to dig that car out tomorrow." My sore back, shoulders, and neck can attest to that, little sparrow.

Top Female Cops Back ... on DVD

It seems impossible that it's been 25 years since Cagney & Lacey first hit the airwaves. Sharon Gless and Tyne Daly played tough New York City cops who never set out to be role models, but that is exactly what they became.

The series will mark its 25th anniversary on May 8 with the DVD release of its first season. The first set also contains a two-part documentary and commentary from Gloria Steinem, who championed the show for featuring women in roles that typically went to men.

The program was initially cancelled after it's first season, but a letter writing campaign to the network -- led by the National Organization for Women -- convinced CBS to bring back the program. The shows producer, Barney Rosenzweig, credits NOW with saving the series.

Cagney & Lacey was a solid hit with the critics and viewers, winning virtually every important industry award possible, including 14 Emmys, a Golden Globe and Directors and Writers Guild awards.

"It changed the history of television for women," Gless told the AP Tuesday. "Absolutely changed it."

Gless, 63, said she has "never seen a better female character" than Cagney, who struggled with alcoholism and man troubles.

"She was ambitious, very strong," she said. "She was very complicated. She was kind of screwed up. Had a lousy attitude, hated authority. She was not what one would ever consider a hero, and that's why I love her. But she was. She was just very, very real."

Daly, who has stared in numerous Broadway productions, was last seen on television in the series Judging Amy, and Gless played the P-Flag mom everyone loved on Queer As Folk.

"I haven't seen it for 17 years or whatever it's been," Daly, who played Mary Beth Lacey, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "Eighteen years? 25 years? ... So, you know, I haven't seen them in a very, very long time, but walking down the street in New York City I still get 'Cagney and Lacey' instead of, you know, other stuff I've done."

"I'll be really interested to see if anybody wants to see them again," said Daly, 60.

I met the two in 1995, first at a premier NOW hosted for the "return" of Cagney & Lacey, and later when the two top cops agreed to emcee a rally NOW held on the issue of ending violence against women. Our paths cross again in 2004 at the March for Women's Lives in DC, and Tyne was a keynote speaker last year at NOW's 40th anniversary conference.

The wonderful thing about being an activist is that every decade or so you get to catch up with friends ... some who have inspired you for 25 years or more!