The suspense is killing. Report please!
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The suspense is killing. Report please!
Squirt gun update: I definitely should have gone for bigger and badder! I've certainly been able to annoy the little sucker, but he can always fly out of my reach and eventually comes back. It's certainly been entertaining though!
I do have two small feeding stations set up on the other side of the house that he isn't bothering, so I guess that's my real workaround for now.
The bird may well prevail in your battle with him simply because he has what all other animals have: all the time in the world. All the annoying animal habits are exercised by them 24 hours a day. You can’t sit out there with your squirt gun for 24 hours a day. He’s a smart bird and after a bit he will learn that if you’re not sitting out where he can see you, your yard is safe for him to come into.Quote:
Originally Posted by rosarugosa
Yes, it has already occurred to me that he can make this his life's work, and I'm certainly not goin to let it become mine!Quote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies
Well, you have certainly created an interesting connection/interaction with nature, rr. :)
But this may change once the nest is built, followed by the eggs then the baby chicks need food and support. Keep us posted please.:DQuote:
Originally Posted by rosarugosa
Will do, and I have read that this behavior (apparently not uncommon) only lasts for a finite time, so I think you're right, Razz.Quote:
Originally Posted by razz
My past experience has been in man vs beast matters the beast always wins. Even in my own house:)).
They are all tyrants!Quote:
Originally Posted by Teacher Terry
People who drive manual transmissions and then let their car slowly roll back when stopped at a light. Guy this morning let his keep rolling back. I was originally probably 10ft behind him. He nearly hit my front bumper. I was hitting my horn and his car just kept rolling back. Finally stopped. I saw him do that to other cars on the rest of the commute. I hate people
I reeeeeeally debated long and hard with myself about getting a manual transmission for my zippy red car because it is not a true sports car with an automatic transmission. But then, I thought about all of the hills in Hermann. I would often be parking on a hill. Decided against it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tradd
And now that our Herman garage and driveway has been built, there’s a little hill and a dip, that I constantly have to back out of. With automatic transmissions I don’t have to worry about the rollback problem.
The rolling back I saw was on flat pavement. No hill. Guy was being an asshole.Quote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies
I just realized that I owe you guys a mockingbird update. The squirt gun thing got old really fast, and it wasn't all that effective, because the bird could always just fly out of my range. It did provide my husband with much amusement to watch me in action though, so that's something, lol. I ended up buying another feeder and setting it up on the other side of my house. The mockingbird either realized he could not defend both feeders effectively, or did not feel the need since resources were more plentiful, but he is acting like just another backyard bird again.
If car was rolling, there was an incline. I've driven a manual trans for 50 years. They don't roll back on a flat w/o a push... That said, I can't imagine why anyone would WANT to roll back into someone. The way bumpers are constructed, he's just as apt to get a dent as you are, I'd think. Hills - that's a different story, lol. IL, I think you made a good call with having a Hermann-friendly zippy car!Quote:
The rolling back I saw was on flat pavement. No hill. Guy was being an asshole.
In the years I drove a VW bug, I developed "hillphobia" after a few rollback experiences, to the extent that I gradually came to avoid anything resembling one. As my father noted "manual transmissions seem like a step backwards at this point." Father knows bestQuote:
Originally Posted by early morning
We've been a manual transmission family for most of our adult lives, well our prior adult lives anyway. My wife is a new Beetle fanatic, currently on her 4th one and disappointed that they've now been discontinued. We've both struggled with smoothly starting again after stopping on an incline and its especially frustrating on a motorcycle. That's one of the reasons we both have automatics now, we're getting too old to coordinate both legs at the same time.Quote:
Originally Posted by JaneV2.0
Manuals are fun, and if I could ever get enough time off to do it, I'd like to get my old VW up and going. I view them as a more fun for a little drive around town, errands car and the automatics, more of a long distance/highway vehicle.
People used to tell me how much fun they were to drive, and I looked at them as if they had two heads. Cars have always been only transportation to me.
First car I ever owned was a VW beetle. Loved it!
Our 20 year old truck is manual transmission. Our 2007 Focus is our first automatic transmission car. I will never go back to manual. Having learned to drive in Pittsburgh with a stick shift...before gears were synchronized...I was GOOD at not rolling back, but I never liked it. We kept manuals while we were working as getting up hills in snow in an automatic wasn't as reliable. But, once retired and planning to NEVER drive in snow again if I can avoid it, we bumped up to an automatic with front wheel drive. HUGE comfort!
Three of my wife's four Beetles. One passed down to our daughter and another passed down to our youngest grandson. Only the latest one is an automatic, it's a family affair!
https://scontent.fluk1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...sQ&oe=6274DFE1
I am quite jealous, Alan! My first car was a 1970 Beatle. I am so sorry I don't have it still.... I drove manual trans VWs until they got so expensive I had to switch to a cheaper (still manual) car. I'm 65, and unless my knees give out, I'll not switch to an automatic. I don't like cars that think they know more than I do, lol. And when you only have four cylinders, you need to be able to use that extra power in the lower gears sometimes! I do think a car is for transportation, but I love to drive and appreciate some cars more than others - they are simply more fun to handle. Our truck is an automatic, and our beater van - but those were acquired due to their price, not for any specific features. I don't like to drive either one. I made both of our kids learn to drive a stick before they could drive an automatic, and both thank me for it. My *highlight* of driving a manual - in the mid 70s, I was in my late teens, working reception at a country club, and we had a big party. Someone showed up in a Maserati and neither of the car parkers could drive a stick (I know, right??) and one of the boys came in to get me to park it (because they weren't about to tell the owners they couldn't do it!). It was SO HARD to not take it for a spin! But I parked it all nice and neat. I was off work long before the party was over - I heard later that they had to get one of the bartenders to bring it round when the owner was ready to leave. And man, if I had a Maserati, I sure wouldn't hand it over to some teenager to park!
While they are pretty, I have a hard time thinking of the "new" Beetles as the good old VW Bug. LOL. It's like someone pressed on the top of them and squished them down to make them a little flatter and wider. Again, that's just what I think when I see them.
Yep, but that's not the only difference, the 2 liter turbos and wider wheel base in the three in the photo make them feel like a Porsche on the road. The several older Beetles we owned in the 70's were cute but they had their problems too. Little or no heat in the winter, rusting floorboards that caused water to splash your legs when you drove over a puddle, needing to begin accelerating a mile or so before reaching the hill near our house in order to make it to the top and in one case, having the back seat begin to smoke whenever you hit a bump make the new Beetles a much better vehicle. :+1:Quote:
Originally Posted by happystuff
Ahhh... the memories of my youth! :laff:Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan
We had an old Beetle in the late 70s and a new Beetle in the early 2000s--we got the New previously owned one for me to share with DD who was away at college. So she had it 75% of the time and when she graduated, I turned it over to her and I bought my Prius. That car was very cute, and we both got a lot of use out of it, including taking it on a mother-daughter cross-country trip from Texas to New Jersey. Lots of great memories there.
The only thing I didn't like about that Beetle was if the gas gauge said you were on the reserve tank, you better hie thee to a gas station PRONTO! More than one family member has run out of gas in that thing.
Yeah, that original Beetle was a little rough. I do remember the rusted floorboards. But it was still a lot cooler than the other two manual transmission cars I drove: a Chevy Vega and a Chevy Chevette. I think both have been on a few "worst cars ever" lists.
I had to sell my 2000 Beetle when I was paralyzed for four months and could not drive stick.
You can fit a wheelchair in the back, I found out!
Alan, gas or diesel?
Those look so much like the one our old Sysco salesman drove. He did the biodiesel conversion and ran it on shortening samples. After the death of a relative he drove their car and I considered buying it. (he wasn't ready to sell it and then gave someone else first dibs when he became ready)
I like the generation 2 of them better, but I still think they are a waste considering the same powertrain, etc. of a Golf.
All the Beetles have been gas. I did have a Passat diesel for a couple of years. I loved that car with it's roomy interior, peppy response and 50 mpg, 750 mile range on one tank of fuel. Unfortunately, about 2 years after buying it a lady busy texting on her cell phone crossed over the center line right in front of me resulting in a head-on collision which totaled both cars. I still miss it.Quote:
Originally Posted by ToomuchStuff
That's also the only car I ever made money on. I purchased it before the VW Diesel issue came up and totaled it during the VW buy back program. Between the buy back value (which became the figure the insurance company paid) and the settlement amount from VW I ended up with several thousand dollars over the purchase price in my pocket after 2 years of use.
I learned to drive on a stick VW Beetle.Quote:
Originally Posted by happystuff
I remember driving DH’s manual transmission truck in a parade. It was 1.5 hours of start and stop, start and stop. Towards the end I was starting to panic because I wasn’t sure I could make my left leg push down any more.
I did a hike in the Columbia Gorge area once--miles and miles from Portland on I-84.
I spent the whole long ride having to pick up my leg and move it from pedal to pedal. :0!
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And I walked miles in the snow--uphill both ways...)
Going down hills as well. Was grateful this winter to be driving down a treacherously icy hill with a standard shift.Quote:
Originally Posted by nswef
Great story, Early!Quote:
Originally Posted by early morning
That is quite a fleet Alan. The Black Beetle Brigade.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan
Not quite as impressive anymore, grandson traded the 22 year old one for a 10 year old Malibu. At 6'2" he said he needed more leg and head room.Quote:
Originally Posted by iris lilies
Your wife needs some variety in colors.
Did you know that in the New Beetle era VW has offered 6 different shades of black? She is actually quite discerning.Quote:
Originally Posted by Teacher Terry
I didn’t know that:)).
IMO, most automotive paint jobs are as dull as dirt. One of the reasons I liked the PT Cruiser line was its lovely colors over the years. So I bought "Vanilla." What was I thinking? https://duckduckgo.com/?q=pt+cruiser...2F48053884.jpg