Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Signs of the times


Have you ever thought of crows as something dangerous?


A friend was once walking through the park on her way to school and saw what appeared to be an injured bird on the ground.

As she went closer, it seemed to be a fledgling crow.

Suddenly she was attacked by the little bird's parents, dive bombing to peck her on the head.

Even as she ran away, the crows followed her all the way to school in constant attack.












Here is another sign of caution in a park.




It is only a warning ... no advice of what to do should you get attacked.















And here is a blurry picture of the culprit ...

A Japanese Jungle crow.

Actually we also have Carrion crows, the difference being flatter foreheads and thinner beaks.

These guys are not only dangerous, they are very smart and quick to take advantage of clueless humans.

Once while camping, I saw a crow flying over the campsite carrying a small shopping bag.

What was in the bag? The ingredients of the Scout's planned dinner. (removed from the top compartment of the backpack. And, that is not the only time it has happened on a camping trip.

When we lived in Suginami-ku, the trash collection area had a green net that was to be spread over the waiting trash. One could hear the crows discussing the possibilities from early in the morning and sure enough,  every morning on collection days, they managed to pull out the smaller lighter bags or those that had not been tucked well under the net and spread it all up and down the street.

When I recently visited the old neighbourhood, I saw they had given up the net and substituted a folding mesh bin.

This opens into an oblong bin with a drop lid on top.

The biggest problem was apartment dwellers, probably dropping off their garbage on their way out to work. Not only were those bags too light to hold the net, but easy for the crows to carry off.
In the end, it was the homes that were at the collection site that had the questionable pleasure of sweeping up the scattered trash.
After doing my duty twice a week for many years, I had to smile when I saw the up-grade.

One of my friends complained that the city has a crow problem ... well. in my estimation, it is a people problem. Our current neighbourhood still uses the big net but people around here are much more careful about keeping the net well tucked over the pile.

And here is another sign.

I wonder what this one indicates.

Is the building behind a school?
Not the one where I work.

Maybe if I follow that arrow I will find my home.

There is not a lot to show on the quilting front. The snowflakes are just about all quilted.
I am hoping I can get to the border before long.

As I work, I am contemplating what to quilt in the segments of the star. (I already quilted along the seams) I have ideas for that kite-shape but have yet to try them out. With the Christmas prints, the quilting may not show anyway. Once I begin I don't want to have to take any of it out. Hopefully a picture will follow before long.  The door hanging for my second daughter .... well ... not yet begun.
Where does all the time go? Crows got it?

8 comments:

  1. Crows are a familiar "folky" motif and in fact my local quilt shop is the lovely "Quilted Crow". It wasn't until I lived in Tokyo that I developed negative feelings towards crows!!! Scary!! I don't miss all the complicated garbage rules we had;). But the netting always did its job outside our small apartment building and we never had a problem with scattered garbage, thankfully.

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  2. The building where I worked in Ichikawa had the innovation of a large "gomi bakko" on the street side. It was wonderful because it was sturdy and the trash could be put in it at any time as long as it was properly sorted. It was also crow-proof. We had occasionally to stop our guests from helpfully putting their own trash on on of the neighbor's stations.

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  3. That is funny, but a pain in the neck too.
    We get crows here, but they fly off if I go outside, they are not aggressive.

    Debbie

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  4. interesting signs!! My daughter lives in Australia and they have to be VERY wary when the magpies are breeding as they will dive-bomb with little or NO provocation .. same family as crows it would seemx

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  5. No, I really didn't ever thought that crow could be dangerous for the men !! it is very strange and that makes me think in the film of Alfred Hitchcock !!

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  6. I am aware that we, too, have to watch out for crows on garbage collection day. Our bins have heavy lids so most are fine. It is only when the bins are overloaded that the crows can pull things out. No signs around though.
    Your Chaos sign has me very curios !!

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  7. The crows are crafty around here too. The city has started using YELLOW nets over the garbage as someone has decided/discovered that crows can't see through yellow. I haven't heard if the spreading of garbage problem has lessened or not.

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  8. I was attacked by a crow when I was in Tokyo once. I was just passing them when they are poking rubbish but one of them thought I was there to scare them and flew from behind and kicked my head. I didn't use that route to go to work for a good while. Irish ones are much calmer and less scary!

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