For more wonderful stuff from Worriedman visit his Substack, there’s poetry and mules and barn cats and flowers!
Naughty Beaver Nice Times!
(I bet that got your attention.)
In Poland’s Silesia region beavers had been gnawing down trees near a pond in the Lubliniec forestry district and the tree stumps (I originally typed trump slumps, and that is a pretty good typo) were a tripping hazard for passersby. So foresters put up a sign that said, “Warning! Damage Caused By Beavers.”
They put the sign up on a wooden post. You can guess what happened next.
The foresters didn’t put the sign back, they didn’t need to as people started sharing photos of the chewed up sign and soon everyone in the area knew about the naughty gnawers.
Fun YouTube follow recommended by Reader, it’s That Steve Guy and he describes what he does this way: “I’m Steve. Welcome to Chestnut Street. I’m your unreliable source of neighborhood gossip.”
I want to smoke weed with this guy. He is quite talented at digressions.
Forest Hill Park Nice Times!
(Update to the story of Stu & Kathy, park volunteers; original Nice Times story is here.) What was once the Rockefeller estate, Forest Hill Park was gifted to two cities, Cleveland Heights and East Cleveland. East Cleveland doesn’t have the money to properly care for its section which is 2/3rd of the park. The fishing pond and some sections are cared for by volunteers; the park is nearly 248 acres and volunteers can only care for small areas. The paths are in bad shape, decaying trees put people at risk as some huge ones have fallen on these paths. Two weeks back I noticed some big changes: Workers were marking trees and they had started removing them. They had a wood chipper that they put entire trees into, a giant claw would pick up a tree and recreate the scene from Fargo. This was a massive undertaking. It was Cleveland Metroparks equipment and that was unusual because they do not oversee this park.
I discovered that East Cleveland had received $2 million in a federal grant to improve the park. They turned that money over to the people who know what they are doing, Metroparks. They have removed all the diseased trees. Today they were busy putting grass seed down. (I made sure to thank the workers.) The plan includes repairs to the boathouse, new bathrooms, fixing the paths and improved lighting, with the project scheduled to be complete by the end of the year.
East Cleveland is in talks with Metroparks to completely take over the park, which would be great news for everyone. In 2023, efforts to do this fell apart as the two sides couldn’t work out an agreement. Mayor Sandra Morgan said, “If we agree with Metroparks, Metroparks agrees that they will take over the management of this park ultimately, and that’s down the road. This park is absolute life for the residents of the city of East Cleveland, and so I’m really glad that we’re getting this work done, and I’m grateful to the Metroparks for agreeing to do it.”
I was introduced to Mayor Morgan’s assistant who was touring the park with the president of the park association, Gordon Hay. We discussed how to care in the wintertime for the domesticated ducks who had been dumped at the pond. The city is invested in improving this historic and vital community space, even caring about the critters who call it home. Gordon introduced me as the “duck rescuer” and since it was in front of the mayor’s assistant I think it is now an official title. I want a badge!
I mentioned the fishing pond. It is very special to me.
I met a wonderful young family. They had brought their little girl who had the day off from pre-k. When asked what she wanted to do, she said, feed the ducks.
The parents saw that I had put down food and came to chat. They had talked to someone who had informed them that feeding the ducks bread was not good; so they had a bag of oats instead, which is a perfectly fine choice as the ducks love grains.
I had a chance to tell them all about the different duck breeds, and the plan to keep them fed over the winter. They loved hearing about Duck Berry and the removal of the fishing line. Dad was a fisherman and said he made an extra effort to pick up left behind fishing gear wherever he went.
It was nice to talk to with people like that, we introduced ourselves, the dad was in construction, we talked about the upgrades happening to the park. Mom asked when I was usually there, I hope to run into them again. I’m going to carry an extra little bag of the All Flock/cracked corn mix to give to the little girl.
Prior to this I had met a lovely older woman from Spain named Mercedes. She told me about her family and how much she loved watching the geese on the fishing pond. She had beautiful eyes that looked out over the water with such a wonderful sense of peace.
I love this park so much. It is about community. If you get the chance to chat with another, do it, I assure you they would like to talk too.
Drunk History Nice Times!
I would guess many of you are familiar with the Comedy Central series Drunk History. It is one of those shows lots of people really wish had not been cancelled. They brought it back! Three episodes are available on Comedy Central. The basic premise is a comedian/actor gets drunk and retells a historic moment, while well-known actors play it out exactly as it is retold.
WonkPets’ Nice Times!
From Tecolate: “We have a desert tortoise named Sammy. He hibernates, like clockwork, going in around Halloween. He gets really active during that last month outside, trying to bust out of his part of the yard that has been fenced. They’re named gopherus agassizii, and their digging prowess certainly lives up to the ‘gopher’ part of that name. They will also stubbornly push and pull to move things to climb over. They can push up until they’re completely vertical, standing on their back legs, and they can move their bodies sideways to wedge in between stuff like cinder blocks. Sammy made several escapes over the past two weeks, but we managed to find and return him before he got into trouble. There’s a workshop in the back yard where he has his own space for snoozing it out. Brought him in yesterday afternoon, before the rain began. All is well.”
From Up Here in the Clouds it’s the adorable Tigger!
Random Recommends!
For this weekend’s Random Recommends! we offer 1964’s Dr. Strangelove (Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb). A VERY loose adaptation of Peter George’s (Peter Bryant) Red Alert (Bookshop link), Kubrick tackles the absurdity of the Cold War, nuclear deterrence and mutually assured destruction, paranoid conspiracy theories, and fragile masculinity, all slathered in a layer of snicker-inducing crass Freudianism. Available for free with ads on Tubi. $3.99 everywhere else.
The song referenced in the title is Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) by Green Day and I thought it was a perfect way to end this week.
We finish with Everybody Gets A Kitten by Jeremy Messersmith.
Please send Nice Times suggestions, personal nice times, pet pics (with names!), and original art to ziggywiggynicetimes@gmail.com. It can be all levels of Nice Times! As you can see Nice Times is a community project, keep sending your suggestions. Be sure to include your screen name so I can give you credit! Thank you.
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This is one of those after the credits things that movies do now, why yes, yer punk rock zigster is a Swiftie!
OK, kids, don't let the headline throw you off, this is NOT the swan song for Ziggywiggy's Nice Times columns. Sometimes a nostalgic song is just a nostalgic song.
Also too, if you left an off-topic comment in the Book Club comments section, please copy it over here if you want people to see it. I'ma delete off-topic comments at the Book Club around 2 EST
Nice Time. My brother texted me earlier this morning to report on his wife's status (stable overnight), and said that he might have to get a bit ugly when he discovered that the MRI she was scheduled didn't happen.
My response: "Get your teeth wet, Bro."
One of her sons talked him off the ledge; a CT would reveal more and faster than an MRI apparently. She's still responsive to some commands, meds for slight fever, still breathing on her own and stats still good.