Just a few strange things

I had a covered call option exercised on Thursday.  The option expires Friday, so it was exercised a day before I expected it.  I've never had this happen before.  Options are usually exercised when they expire, not a day before.

It's no big deal.  Just weird.  I went ahead and bought the stock back and sold another option against it.

Another strange thing is the hummingbird action around here.  At least a dozen of them--and maybe closer to two dozen; they're hard to count--have staked a claim in the backyard.  They're fighting over the two feeders, and it's absolutely bonkers.  They've always been territorial over food sources, but these past couple of weeks have been different.  It's like they're on crystal meth or something.  I've never seen them this aggressive before.  

To make it even more weird, almost all are female.  I think there's only one male in the bunch.  Where are the other males?  Have they already left for Mexico?  It's awfully early for migration, but that's the only thing I can figure.

When it rained a day or two ago, one of the hummers just sat on the feeder perch and bathed in the rain.  She raised her head to the sky and fluttered her wings.  It was pretty neat.  It was like the hummingbird version of this:

Hummingbirds are in full swing

It must be time for the hummingbirds to start putting on fat for the long flight across the Gulf of Mexico, because they've been particularly active lately.  The aerial jousts have been crazy.  There's a whole swarm of the critters flying around and chasing each other nonstop.

There's also a dragonfly that has a patrol route in the same area, and he occasionally gets a close buzz from a hummer.  He flinches and dodges for a moment before resuming his patrol pattern.  I can almost see him shaking his little dragonfly fist at the hummers.  "You're screwing up my hunt!  Why can't you lunatics just eat seeds like normal birds?  Get off my lawn!"

Watching nature is fun.  :D

I can haz tank?

Well, this is something you don't see every day.

 

German pensioner given hefty fine for WW2 tank in house

 

Here's the best part:

 

Local media reported that the man had been seen one winter using the tank as a snow plough.

 

Heh.  :D

I must admit to some envy here.  I'd like to have a tank.  I mean, who wouldn't want a tank?  Tanks are awesome.  I'd drive that sucker everywhere.  I'd be like FPS Russia going through the White Castle drive-thru.

The only question would be how I should paint it.  Black with flames?  Red, white, and blue?  Something else?  Hmm...

According to the defendant's lawyer, a US museum is interested in purchasing the Panther tank.

 

Yeah, no kidding.  I'm sure plenty of American civilians would like to purchase it, too.  The demand from wealthy collectors is greater than the supply of Panzers.

I hope this elderly German fellow can get that fine reduced.  The courts should be a little lenient towards an 84-year-old guy.  I mean, he's just a harmless collector.  It's not like he's going to invade Poland or something.

Forty days and forty nights?

It seems like it's rained every day for the past five weeks or so.  It's crazy.  The insect population has exploded, particularly the mosquitoes.  It's like a swamp.

Finally, though, there's a string of sunny days ahead.  Hot days, too.  If that forecast pans out, then the plant life is going to absolutely go insane.  The whole Deep South will look like a jungle practically overnight.

But it's still better than drought.  I remember the drought of 1998-2000.  Back then, it seemed like everything was going to turn to dust.  Even full-grown oak trees were stressed.  They started dropping their leaves in July of 2000; that's how bad it was.  In August, though, the drought broke, and we had two weeks of non-stop rain, and then the yard was full of mushrooms.  We haven't a drought like that since, thankfully.

Such a time will eventually come again, of course.  Weather and climate are cyclical things.  Right now, though, it's just afternoon showers every single day, and I'm looking forward to a few sunny days.

Almost time for the Olympics

My favorite part of the Olympic Games is the Opening Ceremony.  I'm a sucker for that stuff, and I'm excited to see what the Japanese do.  The people have a rich and beautiful culture, and I really hope they put that on full display.

The ceremony can be watched live starting at 6:55 EST on Friday morning, or you can catch it on the replay later that night.

Prices

I just got done browsing through the "Buy it again" page in my Amazon account.  I was curious to see what current prices were like for products I'd purchased in the past.

To my surprise, they were pretty much unchanged.  I expected otherwise.  After all, the lockdowns created disruptions in the supply chain to the extent that we're now seeing shortages of all sorts of things.  Prices outside of Amazon have certainly risen, so why hasn't Amazon followed suit?

I don't know the answer to that.  But whatever the reason, I'm glad Amazon's prices haven't risen.

Happy Independence Day

It sounds like the Battle of the Somme here at the moment.  My neighbors are putting on a fireworks display that is at least the equal of any of the televised displays.

I hope everyone who celebrates this holiday does so in a safe and enjoyable manner.  Happy Fourth, y'all!