Critters

Our home borders a wooded area. Critters tend to stop daily to sample hosta and birdseed in our backyard. Over the course of a year we regularly see: deer, wild turkey, coyote, raccoon, fox, opossum, rabbit, squirrel, an occasional stray cat and a couple years ago, a pair of fisher. Eagles flying over and recently one sitting in our yard, Cooper hawk, Pileated woodpecker, Downy woodpecker, Red-bellied woodpecker, Barred Owl, Oriole, Cardinal, Grosbeak, Hummingbird, Robin, Blue Jay, Bluebird, Indigo Bunting (2 days and gone), Mourning Dove, Gold Finch, House Finch, Junco, Wren, Flicker, Phoebe, Blackbird, Crow, Chickadee, Nuthatch, Sparrow, Nesting Mallards ...

Our new addition to critter watching is a smart bird feeder, equipped with a motion detection camera and WiFi service that transmits notifications. The best feature is a squirrel ejector. AI in the camera distinguishes between bird and "animal guests" and triggers a siren to eject the guest. Promising, and it worked for awhile but unfortunately, it either deafened our squirrel population or they've figured out the siren is just an annoyance. I'm waiting for the big raccoon in the neighborhood to discover this feeder. Not sure a measly siren will deter him.

Lonely tulip and masticated hosta

Wise guy

A visitor from Baltimore

Redd Foxx

Bird feeder vandals

Showoff

Wile E Coyote, but no sign of Road Runner 

Limpy of the broken leg

Wabbit, the hosta ravager

Roamy, the stray in search of a handout

Cooper Hawk, the bane of songbirds

Pileated & Red Bellied

Eagle & Hummingbird

Grosbeak & Turkey

Bluebird & Oriole

The trick is to plant enough for yourself AND the critters

Cheap entertainment for the old folks. 

Copyright © 2026  Dave Hoplin

Deep Thoughts May '26

For what it’s worth - and keep this in mind - this blog is free.

"What a man needs is someone to love, something to do that he loves and if possible a daughter". Tom Bodett

You can’t change the past. You can’t know the future. Make the now the best you can. 

Attacking AOC because she worked as a bartender is laughable. Here is someone in Congress who actually worked for wages in a real job. We could use a few more non-millionaires in that body.

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I like the new Minnesota state flag. It is simple but subtle, the blues of sky and water, an abstract outline of the state and the signature North Star. It is unmistakably Minnesota. I am dismayed that there are those who would attempt to use it for yet another wedge issue to divide us into hate camps.

Orban'd joins Bork'd in the political lexicon. I can suggest a few here in the US who should be Orban’d. 

Of the alleged scientific papers that dispute the consensus about climate change, the percentage funded by the fossil fuel industry is within epsilon of 100.

$1.5 trillion for DOD? How about an audit first?

The cost of war is always supplemental.

"Poetry can make you remember what you didn’t know you knew".  Robert Frost

A special forces soldier, a member of the Venezuela operation, has been charged with using classified information and betting on that Maduro excursion to make $400K on Polymarket. Good start but small potatoes compared to the insider traders on tariffs, oil, Iran, Hormuz. How about prosecuting those mega criminals?

Minnesota Star headline: "Suspicion of insider-trading is growing".  Duh.

Grandparenting has to be the greatest gig ever invented.

I judge the quality of a choir by how many times they bring tears to my eyes.

The Stanley Cup has to be the hardest trophy in sports to win. High compete level, entertaining & impressive skills on display night after night. Must win four grueling 7 game series.

Impressive is an interesting word. “I was impressed” is a compliment - unless you are a sailor.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute reports that China now leads the United States in research on 66 of 74 frontier technologies, including artificial intelligence, superconductors, quantum computing and optical communications.

"We're not covering up anything, we just not revealing everything".   Pam Bondi

Prices rise quickly and drop rarely.

New Jersey Transit is charging $150 for a round-trip train ticket to MetLife Stadium for FIFA World Cup spectators.

"Never play cards with a man called Doc. Never eat at a place called Mom’s".  Nelson Algren

Whatever happened to whistling? It used to be common among cheerful people.

Each day I read the Star’s obit columns for anyone my age. It's taking ever longer to get through.

Some of the world's greatest fiction can be found in newspaper obit columns.

Can someone explain why people spend 3 nights watching/obsessing over the NFL draft when you can get the draft picks in 2 minutes from the web? I don’t get it.

I possess an abundance of patience but I tend to hold it in reserve.

I fear the cynicism and lust for power inherent in the gerrymandering wars is causing irreparable damage. Politicians choosing their voters rather than vice versa spells disaster for democracy.

Americans are treating war like a video game. Have we lost our humanity?

Trump’s aides keep him happy with daily video montages of “stuff blowing up”.

The dumbification of America. More than 30% of Americans under 50 believe in astrology. 

""There’s many a best-seller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.  Flannery O'Connor

I would think being a member of a firing squad would be traumatizing.

Remember the "Gold Card" program - buy your USA residency for $1M? The Commerce Department reports exactly 1 approval to date.

When you excel at something you make one friend and ten enemies. Unknown

Our home borders a wooded area. Critters tend to stop daily to sample hosta and birdseed in our backyard. A single tulip survived these critters this spring. Grateful for small blessings.

I hope someone left you a May Basket.

One of my favorite stats is the Gini coefficient. Zero means everyone has the same amount, 1 means one person owns everything. When France hit .83 in 1789, they started cutting people’s heads off. We’re at .85.   Scott Galloway

Half of the people DHS claimed to have detained in MN, those featured on the worst of the worst website, were already in state custody.

"You have to be fond of men. Very, very fond. You have to be very fond of them to love them. Otherwise they’re simply unbearable".  Marguerite Duras

The NCAA men's (and women's) final four games were more like a street fight than basketball.  First team to 60 wins.

Anyone who categorically rejects books must be deeply flawed.

The Library of Congress has 650 miles of shelves, and 150 million items, including more than 35 million books.

I read on average 75 books a year. So many books, so little time.

During our testing, we found that Mythos Preview is capable of identifying and then exploiting zero-day vulnerabilities in every major operating system and every major web browser when directed by a user to do so.   Anthropic AI

He picked a fight with the Pope.

“Want to stop a data center in your community and impose common-sense controls on AI? Well, that’s a non-starter because the Trump family has invested in data centers and in AI firms. Want to regulate crypto and stop its use as a vehicle for crime? Well, um, no, because the Trump family has amassed billions from their crypto holdings. Want to rein in the pernicious effects of prediction markets. I don’t think so, because the Trump family invests in Polymarket. Want to shift America towards safe, clean renewable energy? Think again, because petrostate oligarchs have poured $500 million into Trump’s World Liberty coin.” Paul Krugman

Quick. Renew your passport before it gets faced.

Back to the 50's? Nostalgia for things that never were.

The Supreme Court is complicit in the destruction of the rule of law, granting immunity to crimes by a president, undermining Civil Rights and endorsing the right to order the DOJ to violate the constitution.

Of the 20 horses in this year's Kentucky Derby, 19 were related to Secretariat.

"A first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool". Richard Feynman

Binomials.  Autocracy and corruption. Crypto and crime. Fish and chips.

Haagen Dazs has a new Dubai style chocolate mini ice cream bar. Delicious. Just the right diet size. Unless of course you eat 4 at a time.

Major street work happening outside our front windows. Bulldozers, backhoes, fiber optic boring equipment, water main replacement. What could go wrong?

When the power goes out, rescue the ice cream from melt.

At 50, everyone has the face they deserve.  George Orwell

And at 75 it’s a roadmap of a life traveled.

We have more private security guards in this country than high school teachers.

Shocking. I was ignorant of this, thinking TB was a conquered disease. But ...tuberculosis (TB) kills an estimated 1.23 to 1.3 million people annually - more people die of TB than die of malaria, typhoid, and war combined… "a cure—why we didn’t find it until the 1950s, and why in the decades since discovering the cure, we’ve allowed over 150,000,000 humans to die of tuberculosis". The vast majority of deaths occur in developing regions, maybe the "why" is in that fact.  Read Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green

Of all the many cuts to social programs, I believe gutting USAID is the most cruel and callous. Since the cuts there have been 600,000+ preventable deaths (and counting), mainly children. 

A couple hours on the bicycle soothes the soul and strengthens the heart. Grateful I can still do it, albeit at a considerably slower rate and fewer miles covered than a few years back.

And then a trove of e-bikes go by at 25 mph. Kind of destroys the mood.

Metal plates in the body are an unwelcome, uncomfortable, necessary intruder.

Be patient. Often nothing is better than something.

Baseball was present at creation. Read Genesis .. In the Big Inning ..

Copyright © 2026  Dave Hoplin 

The Wonderful Quirky World of Baseball

We’re a month into the 2026 baseball season and the perennial fan optimism is trending toward realism. We’ve even had our first manager firing so there's early panic in some quarters. The Twins have hit their stride to the bottom. 

But baseball brings joy even when hope fades. At every game, you will commonly see something you’ve never witnessed before - a runner hitting a triple, tripping rounding 2nd and performing an in air somersault and continuing smoothly into 3rd; a long flyball bounces off the right fielder’s head and over the fence for a home run; a miraculous fielding play guaranteed; the pitcher catches a hard line drive in his jersey - look mom, no hands. 

And these.  (Full disclosure - I was not present at any of these)

1908 Merkle's Boner

In 1908 the Cubs and Giants were down to the wire for the National League pennant. In a game at the Polo Grounds, the score was tied in the 9th inning and the Giants had runners on 1st & 3rd with 2 out. Al Bridwell smacked a single to left, scoring the runner on third and Giants' fans mobbed the field. However, Fred Merkel, the runner on 1st, simply ran off the field to join the celebration. Johnny Evers, the Cub's 2nd basement grabbed a ball, probably not the ball, and started jumping on second base.  Yes, Merkel never touched 2nd and therefore was a force out so the winning run did not count. The game resumed the next day with the Cubs winning the game and the pennant by 1 game. They then won the 1908 World Series but not again until 2016 - 108 years of suffering for Cubs fans.

1912 Fred Snodgrass

Poor Fred. He dropped an lazy fly ball in the 1912 World Series and the Boston Red Sox went on to defeat his New York Giants for the title. He never lived it down.  He had made several outstanding running catches in that game. After the game he said "I just dropped the damned thing."  But his obituary was: Fred Snodgrass, 86, Dead; Ball Player Muffed 1912 Fly

1920 Ray Chapman

In baseball's dead ball era, 1903-1919, a baseball left the game only rarely. No new ball every time it hit the dirt. No requests from pitchers for a new ball. And there were no restrictions on pitchers doctoring the baseball. The substance of choice was tobacco juice. So by the late innings the ball was a dirty brown orb. In August 1920, Cleveland Indian shortstop, Ray Chapman stepped into the batter's box at the Polo Grounds to face Yankee pitcher Carl May. It was a gloomy, cloudy afternoon. May was a submarine pitcher ie. his delivery was underhand, releasing the ball from around his shoe tops. Thus the pitch went from low to high rather than the standard high to low overhand delivery. At this point of the game the ball was its customary tobacco stained brown and difficult to see. May's delivery struck Chapman in the left temple crushing his skull. Chapman had made no attempt avoid being hit, apparently not seeing the ball. He fell unconscious, bleeding from his ears and was rushed to hospital, where he later died. Ray Chapman is the only player killed in a major league game. Cleveland, wearing black armbands for the rest of the season, went on to win the American League pennant and claim their first World Series championship. Chapman's death led to rule changes requiring replacing dirty baseballs and eventually banning the spitball. Helmets were not mandated until 1956.

1926 Grover Cleveland Alexander

In 1926 Grover Cleveland "Pete" Alexander was a 39 year old pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals near the end of a Hall of Fame career that logged 373 wins. He had won games 2 and 6 over the mighty Yankees and was called in to relieve in game 7 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis with the bases loaded and 2 out. He may have been drunk. Tony Lazzeri launched a long fly ball to left that just went foul and Old Pete then struck him out to end the inning. The game ended with Babe Ruth thrown out stealing in the top of the 9th, giving the Cardinals their first World Series championship.

1932 Babe Ruth's Called shot

The 1932 World Series pitted the Chicago Cubs against the New York Yankees. In game 3 at Wrigley Field, Babe Ruth appeared to point to center field and on the next pitch blasted a home run to that spot. Newspapers used billiard terminology saying he had "called the shot".  Did he or didn't he? Whether Ruth really pointed or pointed with intent is debatable. But he had promised a kid in the hospital he'd hit a home run for him. Ruth never claimed he had pointed or intended to call-the-shot, preferring to let Ruth legend grow unaided.

1946 Enos Slaughter's Mad Dash

The 1946 World Series featured the St. Louis Cardinals against the Boston Red Sox, the Sox's first appearance since 1918 and Ted Williams one and only shot at a ring. In the 8th inning of game 7 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis with the scored tied, Enos Slaughter, Card's outfielder, led off with a single. The next 2 hitters made outs. Harry Walker then lined a single to left. Leon Culberson was playing centerfield for Dom DiMaggio, a gold glove class outfielder, and was a bit slow to the ball. He threw to the cutoff man, shortstop Johnny Pesky, who turned and was surprised to see Slaughter rounding 3rd on his "mad dash" for home.  His hurried throw was off-line and Slaughter scored giving the Cards their 6th World Series title. Scored from 1st on a single.

1951 Bobby Thompson's shot heard round the world

Everyone knows of Bobby Thompson's "shot heard round the world", his 3 run walk-off home run in the 9th inning in a playoff for the National League pennant against Brooklyn, off Dodgers' pitcher Ralph Branca, giving the Giants a 5-4 win and the National League pennant in 1951. If you are old enough you can close your eyes and probably hear radio announcer Russ Hodges going wild with "The Giants win the pennant. The Giants win the pennant." What people forget is the Giants lost the '51 World Series to the Yankees.

1954 World Series. Willie May's catch

Municipal Stadium, Cleveland.  "The Catch". Off Vic Wertz bat. Was this the greatest catch in MLB history?

1956 Don Larsen' Perfect Game

Don Larsen was a less than stellar pitcher for the Yankees in the 50's, finishing his career with an 81-91 record.  But one day in October 1956 his name became immortal. In game 5 of the World Series, against the Brooklyn Dodgers, he pitched the first and only World Series perfect game. Larsen had recently switched to a no windup delivery and perhaps that threw off the hitters' timing and contributed to the futility of the Dodgers that day. Yogi Berra celebrated by jumping into Larsen's arms creating the iconic photo.

1960 Bill Mazeroski walk-off

Maz's 1960 walk-off home run in the 9th inning of game 7 at Forbes Field against the Yankees won the World Series for Pittsburgh and got Bill Mazeroski into the Hall of Fame.

1978 Bucky F'ing Dent

Bucky Dent was a light hitting shortstop for the New York Yankees in the 70's. He hit 40 career home runs. But his home run in Fenway Park in the 1978 playoffs to give the Yankees the pennant over the Boston Red Sox earned him a new middle name in New England.

1986 Bill Buckner

In 1986 World Series the Mets faced the Boston Red Sox.  In game 6, with the Sox up 3 games to 2 and with the lead, Bill Buckner was inserted for defensive purposes at first base. Mookie Wilson hit a slow roller toward first which went between Buckner's legs. Ray Knight scored from 2nd and the Mets took the lead. The Mets went on to win game 6 and then an anti-climactic win in game 7. Poor Bill. Couldn't set his foot in Boston for years. Forgiveness came in 2004 when Boston finally won its first World Series in 86 years.

1989 San Francisco Earthquake

Not a baseball play, but game 3 of the 1989 World Series game between San Francisco and Oakland at Candlestick Park was halted by an earthquake.

1991 Kirby Puckett / Jack Morris

Kirby's game 6 catch followed by his game winning home run in the 11th inning. Followed by Jack Morris 1-0 10 inning 7th game shutout win - possibly the greatest World Series pitching performance in history.  Iconic, at least for me. World Series win for the Twins.

2001 World Series.  Jeter's relay

Remember, Jeter was a shortstop and he took this relay throw in first base foul territory. Out at home.

Copyright © 2026  Dave Hoplin