Soccer In Raincouver

The kids’ soccer season has officially started. My last season coaching as my second son ages-out at the end of Grade 12.

Every season opener for the last 4-5 years has been played in glorious sunshine so it was only reasonable to expect the same this year. Alas, it wasn’t to be. It’s been raining for a couple of weeks so the soccer gear is already perma-damp. Balls, pinnies, bags – the whole lot smells mouldy and is stinking up the car. Nice.

Last night’s game was a typical North Shore outing. Pissing rain at the start. Heavy traffic on the Iron Workers’ Bridge and that “why the fuck am I doing this” feeling at 7pm on a Saturday night when I’d rather be sat at home drinking a nice glass of Merlot. Keep repeating the mantra “It’s for the kids”.

Anyway, the good guys won 4-2 after a physical game complete with one red card (my centre back) and a psychotic player on the other team who oozed barely-suppressed violence. The cream on the cake was the ref: a pedantic disciplinarian from the military school of reffing.

Someone else’s team enjoying the rain.

Say Cheese

A recent scientific survey carried out in my back yard focused on Corvid food preferences. What foods do crows find uber tasty? The carefully designed experiment consisted of randomly throwing different foods onto our lawn and seeing what my crow buddies went for first. Bottom of the list: peanuts. They eat them if they’re there but given the choice between peanuts and dog kibble, the kibble goes first. Close to the top of the pile is any form of meat protein or raw fat – chicken, beef fat, bacon, chicken skin etc. But I suspect that what they really like best is a nice bit of cheese. Rather than stuff it into their crops to stash away somewhere for later, they’ll happily munch away on any cheese. No stashing that stuff.

In a recent survey, 9 out of 10 crows said they prefer cheese

The Business I’m In

Investor Relations is a necessary part of the mining business. The strict definition of IR is that it provides sufficient information about a company to allow an investor to accurately value that company. Er… right. Too many charlatans and promoters who know absolutely nothing about the business other than pumping a good story. And with that said, I love this video.

PS: Check out Pt 1 as well…

@LostFootballs -essential Twitter

@LostFootballs is one of my favourite Twitter feeds. Photos of lost soccer balls set to song lyrics. Simplicity itself. “The saddest sight in the world – lost or discarded footballs. Honour them, send in photos. No rugby balls allowed. ” I’ve just received my copy of their 2019 calendar in the mail. Aiming to have one of my snaps in the 2020 version.

Lost, Forgotten. Unloved. Deflated. The saddest sight.

My urban crows

Pouring with rain, 2 of my 3 regular visiting crows -moulting and looking particularly ratty- perched on the back deck waiting for a few peanuts. They get my attention with a low rolling clicking call. There were only 2 for the longest time but recently a 3rd has been edging its way in to the social group. Hard to say if it’s related but it persisted and appears to have been accepted by the pair, BUT it feeds last.

A short on line search threw this up (which makes total sense given the context I’ve noticed): “One of the more commonly heard non-caw crow vocalizations is a series of low-pitched rattling sounds or clicks, rather like the sound of a ratchet being turned rapidly, or a higher volume version of the chittering of a squirrel. These calls sometimes appear to be addressed to humans. They are also made by juvenile crows during their rambling vocalizations, by courting crows, during mock and semi-serious crow “dog fights,” and at other times. The context for the use of rattle calls often is when a crow is interested in something or someone – crow, human or other animal – but uneasy about approaching it too closely.”

“I bloody hope it’s not peanuts again”