Fantasy Girl
I joined a fantasy league for the first time this year. I think it's not a *real* fantasy league, in that the stats are simplified and it was free, but it was a good place to start. I was hovering around the 40-50th percentile for most of the season, but recently my percentile has just gone up and up inexplicably until today I'm in the 81st! And I'm 7th on the Chicagoist team of 36! WTF?!

Unfortunately, I have a turkey I want to replace (Casey Blake of Cleveland), but I can't afford to, if I'm reading the stats right (I'm still a little confused by the columns of mystery numbers). If I sell him, I will be left with roughly negative $4 million to buy a replacement. And I don't know many left fielders who will pay $4 million for the privilege of playing.

Today's ecology lesson: mourning doves are usually ground-feeders, not known for their eating-while-clinging-or-perching skills. They're also fairly large birds that you wouldn't expect to be interested in thistle seed. Well, it turns out that if you put a hanging pot under your thistle sock, the mourning doves will happily snuggle into the plant, leisurely reaching up for seeds when the mood strikes, and aren't especially concerned about nearby humans or dogs. Which is how I got this:

- posted by Diane @ 4:53 PM