Got out of work early, so I went to the park to check on the owls. Annabelle and Otis were there doing their thing, but I didn’t see old Hootie. I was hoping they had moved him inside or something since he was so old, but when I talked to the staff, they said he was not doing well the day after Thanksgiving, so the vet took care of him.

Hootie came there as an adult over 20 years ago. He had half a wing removed, lost one eye to disease a few years ago, and lost vision in his remaining eye this year. He was a tough old owl.

The staff was sad to lose him, but as he was close to 30, the lady said he must have enjoyed his stay there to be around as long as he was. They couldn’t tell his exact age, but he was definitely well into his 20s. Wikipedia says there are only 6 recorded captive owls that lived to 30, so Hootie was around pretty darn long.

The photo is the last one I took off him near the end of October. I will miss you Hootie! You never did much or really even moved when I was there, but you were always there doing your thing!

  • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
    15·
    6 months ago

    Otis

    I went back to Otis 4 times, and this is how he looked every single time… He’s a shy guy.

  • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
    15·
    6 months ago

    Annabelle

    She was annoyed I kept interrupting her nap, but she was less vocaly grumpy with me then normal.

  • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
    5·
    6 months ago

    Margough was up and about when I got there, but that was right before nap time.

    Didn’t take any pics of them, but there must have been at least 50b black vultures hanging around the park.

    I talked to the one lady working there for at least a half hour. We recommended some raptor books to each other. She was happy I was a vulture fan.

  • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
    61·
    6 months ago

    Hootie looks like the cool grandpa. You know the one that just kind of lets you get away with stuff as long as you don’t burn down the barn.

    Also the the one that leaves you his gin still… (we won’t get into that.)

      • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
        41·
        6 months ago

        I… happen to have grandpa’s recipes for gin. I don’t think i saw that in there… but there were explicit instructions to add my own.

        actually… so his dad and grandad both were gin makers during prohibition… the recipes started with them. When I was in highschool he showed me some of it… it was kind of a secret from grandma though I have no idea how she didn’t notice all the pint sized mason jars going missing… cuz he’d pass them out to his friends as gifts…

        In any case, when he passed and we were (me, my parents, grandma,) were cleaning out his barn, they shuffled to the back and were like “What the heck is that?”… “Oh. that’s the still…” That only prompted, uh, more questions.

        • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
          2·
          6 months ago

          At least that is a fun story to come out about Grandpa! You should “find someone” to make it one day so you can all taste it!

          • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
            21·
            6 months ago

            I mean, if the ATF asks, yes, I still have the still… it’s a planter in the kitchen for the microgreens growing in it.

            (actually, It’s a bit too large for the little booze I actually drink… and my state are a bunch of assholes who want their tax dollars,)

            • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
              2·
              6 months ago

              It’s still neat you have it at least and are enjoying it in some form.

              I distilled like a pint of brandy once just to see how difficult it was. It was fun as an experiment, but it only seems worth it if you’re making an amount that would probably get you in trouble.

              Homemade wine is fun though, but like you, I hardly partake of anything much anymore. Chocolate pomegranate was probably my most creative experiment, and banana was really cheap and good.

              • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
                21·
                6 months ago

                So, they do make stove top things. that are more useful for the kind of micro batches a home disteller would use. The caveat is… to do it legally, you’d have to segregate it from your house in a shed that is only used for distillation, possibly on commercial-only property, and that’s just to get the federal permit.

                gotta be careful in the US, because its illegal federally. without a commercial licenses, that is. Taxman gotta get his cut). and some states FREAK OUT over it. Minnesota is one of those states. They’ll tell you it’s about keeping people safe, which, I mean, you screw up, people go blind… but it’s funny how they’re always worried about collecting their cut of it as the first order of priority, (minimum, 1k/yr, not to mention having a segregated shop where that’s basically all you do with it. I suppose you could have a bar in front, if you really wanted to,)

                • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
                  1·
                  6 months ago

                  Someone has done their homework! 😁

                  I’m in Pennsylvania, the home of the Whiskey Rebellion, so we know how far those guys will go to get their tax!

  • ArugulaZ@kbin.social
    51·
    6 months ago

    Hootie was inconsolable after he found his turkey wife on the table as the main course.

    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
      21·
      6 months ago

      So… funny story from yesterday. Driving into work I was listening to a shortwave episode about bio-mimicking drones that were meant to spy on other animals and stuff (cuz, like normal drones scare elk.) now, they started off the episode talking about the “birds aren’t real” stuff and kind of making fun of it.

      the road at the time was blocked by turkeys just chilling in the road, glaring at me like their operators just… knew…