Details

Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Blog

Published: 15 June 2026

Hits: 90

I wonder, I mean, so much is made of their intelligence and yet - when I appear they caw three times and signal all the crows surrounding that I am “here”. They recognize me regardless of my clothing, and I change sometimes 3 times a day (painting, out and about, work). Nonetheless they find me. Yet when they summon all kith and kin they joust and steal and harass each other for the peanuts I throw out? Now, if you wanted exclusivity on a resource wouldn’t you just keep quiet about it? Not let the others know? Nope, Invite everyone to the feast and fight and quarrel over the spoils…..

Watching the battle, one small crow being bullied by the big shoe-fucking pigeon, who after bullying the crow comes after me, flapping around my head, landing beside me, trying to peck me (and I shove it away, sky-rat's pissing me off).

A Murder of Crows, now a plague, a pestilence, a disappointment, discouragement, Dollarama is out of peanuts and so I’m forced to by the bulk blanched peanuts, sunflower seeds, and a small bag of expensive cashews. The crows love the cashews, the new favourite, ignoring the peanuts now, waiting for the cashew throw, and the pigeons are as stupid and annoying as ever. I conceive the brilliant idea of buying a few bulk bags of tiny seed - Quinoa, Flax, Sesame, Millet, crush up some peanuts and sunflower seeds, sprinkle this away from the theatre of crows and it stops the pigeons harassing them and me, a cup of this mix will keep a dozen of them busy for about 20 minutes, peck-peck-pecking the ground, the crows run them off to investigate but there's nothing of interest to them there...

I ran out of peanuts to feed the crows,

wherein their disappointment was quite profound,

Circled me and landed, looked askance at the ground,

Looked away, looked up, looked down, just waited in sorrow, 

or perched above while I explained,

and they all pace aimlessly around

quite dismal, neglected, abject in their despair, their distress surrounds me 

there's no doubt they've been let-down... 

Dollarama still out of peanuts, I go to Save-On, theirs - inferior quality, triple the price, asking where they are and the clerk knows - “You have a crow as well?”, we banter - could be the same ones that are touching me; hard to tell, “IS yours black as well?” I have a dozen, two of which are friendly, even without peanuts.

I suck it up and pay too much for too few peanuts of an inferior quality. I'd continue with the cashews, only I'm not rich.

***

I've tidied my apartment to a passable state for Inspection. Which won't happen until tomorrow, I'm thinking it should pass, but every closet is filled to bursting, I have far too much stuff - still, and working through it, bit by bit, piece by piece...The art supplies alone, enough to fill a 1000 sq foot studio, and they have to be used up, there's no pawning them off on anybody else, time to get to work...

***

Sleep, waking at 4:00 AM, my thoughts are rattling around my head uneasy dreams like restless rusty thoughts that clank around and around my head, inescapable loops of the days news, dire current events, stressful days at work, nothing worth dreaming about and still the thoughts go on, best described as the dry rattling of rusty chains on broken rusty sprockets, less dreams than noise. I try but the CBD, it’s a different thing, I sleep deep, well, wake and my thoughts are more like smooth, like on a cotton cloud, warm, lie in, enjoy the slightly stoned lying in before getting up and productive for the day. I need a break from social media, reddit, the internet...

Details

Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Blog

Published: 05 June 2026

Hits: 121

It's been a while since I went for groceries, instead opting to go to the Co-op and get a days worth at a time.

Eating fancy cuts of meat, like Bison and Venison and Elk, I expect to pay more for this and so there's no complaints.

But at the Save-on, and I'm confronted with how expensive quite literally everything has gotten, vegetables, Olive Oil, the basics, staples, lean ground beef at $11 a pound, sure, enough for 3, 4 meals, but still...

Bloody hell. And this is just the beginning, the straits of Hormuz still being closed and there's a famine in the pipes...

Details

Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Blog

Published: 04 June 2026

Hits: 106

• Crows,

Now, the Pigeons have proved a problem. One particularly big and bright one figured out that the Crows appeared when I appeared, thus the peanut crumbs appeared when I appeared and somehow - in some great leap of imagination or reasoning, decided to come straight to me, the source.

So I crushed a couple up under foot, and thus began his harassment of me. All the other pigeons, they haven't figured it out, the bob-around aimlessly in their hit-and-miss style, but the big boss comes right to me. 

When he's fed he can get quite aggressive, chasing off the competing pigeons, despite there being plenty enough to go around.

Fact #2, apparently they recognize people.

Now - this is the strange thing, he does all sorts of ridiculous things to get my attention - jumping to sit beside me on the concrete barrier, swooping me, even - while on the ground and running about my feet - tilting his bobbing head to catch me in his eye.

If you've ever watched a pigeon, or stared one in the eye, you'll probably share my sentiment it's hard to fathom what's going on in there, but - nonetheless, there has to be something.

I try the experiment of lying out a half-pound of peanuts and sunflower seeds. The disappear, quickly, and yet none of them seem full. Do they get full? Do they ever leave the buffet? I mean, they're all well-fed, healthy, so what the hell is up with this perpetual eating? Do they have nothing else to do? Is this what the life of a pigeon is, eat your fill and then go look for more to eat? Is there nothing else?

***

The crows, in the morning, are frequently besieged by the pigeons. The smart ones fly away to a tree or lamppost, a brave few try and eat it in the parking lot; they don't want to lose sight of me, they'll run the pigeons off by stooping and stabbing with their beak, when they finish the nut they turn and look beseechingly at me hoping I'll throw another.

Most keep a 20-30 foot distance. But there are 2 that have gotten pretty "Familiar", and will sit a couple of feet from me to eat their nut. One is pretty big and will follow me to the building and sit on the handrail when I'm out of nuts. Naturally these are my favourites.

The crows, while I prefer them, are of course no better than the pigeons, (more intelligent, sure) - jostling and jousting over nuts, 2 peanuts and invariably one crow will try and grab them both while obstructing the other. I swear I heard one growl like a dog at another the other day. And, occasionally if you listen and spend enough time with them you'll hear other vocalizations - more pleasing than the too-oft "Caw-Caw-Caw", low warbles and growls, glug-glug noises, etc. I should download a few of their vocalizations on my phone and see if I can't get a conversation going. 

Anyways, the landlady's back in a few days, this party will have to move out of the parking lot to someplace a little further afield, she doesn't approve of my getting-on with nature and having an outdoor pet, and once moved we can undertake some more serious training of this circus...

Details

Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Blog

Published: 03 June 2026

Hits: 79

Tom Bilyeu and Simon Dixon

This was an interesting listen. And it makes sense of current geopolitical events - America can't possibly pay it's debts, they need to destroy the old fiat based currency and create a digital currency. That the world is governed by a few large industrial complexes. That wealth in and of itself - certainly great wealth and power, implies some great degree of "Compromise" and the admission to a club that no one should ever want to be a member of. 

It sound's like a load of Whackdoodle, but so did a lot of other things once upon a time...

And he sounds very reasonable and explains it in historical terms and provides a reasoned, verifiable point of view.

This, of course, is the meta-truth; that the "Current Administration" south of the border is governed by megalomaniacal leaders; grifters, opportunists, etc, is a side effect - it's Capital's Last Ditch Grab at what resources remain. Trump's actions, howsoever erratic or insane seeming, are proof that his strings are being pulled, and certain names like Peter Theil, BlackRock, Other members of the club are handing him a script of things to do and say every morning with his Alzheimer's medicine.

Which, in his own inimitable way he's getting done.

There is no doubt that America, regardless of whatever happens, is a failing civilization, but the upside is China is doing well - and will be doing better, and that the Global South (Africa, South America) - long ignored, stands to profit greatly from America's collapse.

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4RawKdA_gM