I just received my first copies of the about-to-be-released bilingual version of my Brave Dogs, Gentle Dogs: How They Guard Sheep book. This was my first children’s book, and is still my favorite, because it’s some of my favorite subject matter. The Spanish translation was done by Aida E. Marcuse, and the new edition is …
Month: July 2009
Milton v. Dante, the Cage Match
Continuing the ecclesiastical theme begun by Cat, our shepard, I thought I’d share some thoughts on related readings. I’ve been on a damnation kick lately (possibly spurred by a recent birthday) and have read in the last few weeks C.S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce, all of Wayne Barlowe’s fascinating infernal art and text, John Milton’s …
The mark of the cross
There are plenty of legends and stories about what wonderful and loyal companions burros make – miners and shepherds of long ago talked to their beasts of burden and treated them like old friends, which they often became. I’m going to venture into new territory here and share a story about the cross mark on …
Evening in the pastures
Final check of the day today was beautiful, with stormy skies and a breeze. The sheep and their burros were down by the river, munching on greasewood and bluegrass. Never got a photo of the guard dogs, since they were getting fed at camp nearby. On our way out of the pasture, flushed two red-tailed …
Bat quest
We have a maternal colony of little brown bats in the barn next to the New Fork River. There is an old stack of doors and plywood leaning against a partition, and the bats move into the spaces between the wood every summer to have their babies. I call the photo above “The Four Amigos.” …
Turkey vultures
I know very little about turkey vultures, but am fascinated by them. Thirty years ago when I reported I had just seen two vultures in Sublette County, I was met with disbelief. Although still not common here, we do have a few turkey vultures in the summer these days. Our western migrants spend winters in …
Caption contest?
Okay, clever minds, submit your captions for this photo.
Beaverslide
My post of draft horses yesterday included a photo of what we call a beaverslide, which is this wooden contraption used to stack loose hay. Beaverslides dotted ranches throughout the West until the last few decades and its modernization/mechanization of hay harvest. Nowadays, most outfits use gas or diesel-powered balers, but there are still ranches …
Mystery Hound
I would have said Taigan myself, as did about 90% of respondents, here and on email But she is an Afghan- poodle cross– a rescue, but unaltered. After three hours with her I can see nothing about her that isn’t oriental sighthound- temperament, gait, structure, voice, even smell. Fascinating! (Yes, Jess, she has the “Afghan …
Working drafts
Bondurant, Wyoming, gets one heck of a lot of snow in the winter, but grows lush crops of native hay in creekside meadows in the summer. The Campbell Ranch at Bondurant is an old-time outfit, been there forever it seems, and still uses draft horse teams to cut hay in the summer and feeds the …