Osbick Mouldfinger

So, I've briefly seen Goldfinches shooting past the window twice today. I suspect they're hitting the tube feeder, which is a generic one I've more or less optimized for Sparrows, although everyone's welcome. I'm tempted to put up a specialized Finch feeder. They're one of the few altricial species where you can help feed the babies directly, since they eat the exact same thing as the adults (seeds, ideally sunflowers or thistle seeds, which need a weird feeder design to dispense correctly). Because the babies need seeds, they're always one of the last birds to raise families each summer. Everyone else raises babies when bugs are everywhere. Goldfinches have to wait for autumn, almost.

*****

Watched the race from St. Louis tonight. Sato, Carpenter, and Kanaan, my three favourite drivers, all together on the podium. That was a masterpiece of strategic racing on Sato's part. He was last, 2 laps down, just before the halfway mark. I love watching him. When he's aggressive, he's like a 1970s sprintcar driver, but then he can be so very tightly controlled and calculating too. He reminds me of Al Unser in a way.

Belatedly...

Typed this out last Sunday night, but didn't post it for some reason...

*****

Okay, first-lap pass at Pocono was just a touch maniacal on Sato's part. Sato and Rosenquist are both lucky to be alive after that.

As has been the case for the past 45 years or so, my expectations, set in childhood, haven't really kept pace with safety engineering. I'm generally trying not to cry watching stuff like that happen realtime, and especially if I'm at the track. Some part of me never got over watching Dave Savage in that beautiful blue and orange McLaren exploding on the front stretch at Indy.

*****

Next to Indianapolis, Pocono is my favourite track because it's designed to be driven flat out (and it's fun to watch them go bouncing down the backstretch for some reason). It's well-suited to drivers like Sato, but then again, when things go wrong, it's usually pretty dramatic in consequence of that.

*****

„Ich wollte nur ein bisschen Autofahren.“

It's a big damn shame that they don't tell the kid's name. Assuming that I'm still alive in ten years, I'd want to see if he popped up in F1.