Recent of ours, all but Irbis showing a little age, by Gail Goodman, and Cousin Nura in Scotland. Taik, Rissa, Kyran, Lash, Irb; two of Atai’s niece Nura courtesy of Mark McBride.
Month: May 2011
Baby
If all works out, my next hawk and first Harris at Matt Mitchell’s last week…
Hunting Eagles
If there is a common image of eagle falconry it is that of a fur- hatted Kazakh or Kyrgiz nomad on a short furry horse, hunting foxes or wolves; this has been reinforced by my own book, by the wonderful art of Vadim Gorbatov, and even by the BBC TV show referenced here a few …
Lambing season
Despite snow and rain storms, our lambing season has gone really well this year. Our ewes give birth out in the sagebrush and are not penned or sheltered. It’s a natural way of doing things, and we hold off on lambing until mid-May so we’ve made it through the worst of the storms and the …
“Mesabi”
Tom Russell has a new album coming this fall, called Mesabi after the Iron Range mining country of northern Minnesota (Hibbing, home of Bob, Dylan stands there). It’s one of the best yet from the man who might be America’s best songwriter storyteller. Tom’s work is unique. It is not just that he is hard …
Gun News
New grips from Herrett’s for my odd (unique?) but useful little S & W .22. I have put Herrett stocks on all my DA revolvers for years– I recommend them without reservation. The other? Well, I have cut my “collection” radically to what I can really use. But– well, here is what i wrote to …
Stealth of the Chicken Hunter
Just before Christmas last year, I lost my best girlfriend to breast cancer. I’m thankful that although Sheri’s no longer physically present in my life, her spirit endures, and that wild woman’s genes are coursing through the veins of her granddaughter, Kylie. A few days ago, Kylie’s mother looked out the window to catch Kylie …
Elisha Tripp, 1974- 2011
Eli Tripp, one of Jackson’s two closest high school friends and a constant presence in our lives during the Bozeman years, died this week of complications of Cystic Fibrosis. He was 37 and fought himself and his disease to remarkably good health for years. CF is still a killer though. His obit in the Bozeman …
Andrey’s Photos
Andrey Kovalenko, ornithologist, breeder of our Kyran, and ace photographer, has a new wildlife photo site. He travels all over Central Asia but I bet more of them are from his own Kazakhstan , with its incredibly varied landscape, than anywhere else. Here is an example, plus one of him with Kyran’s father Berkut and …
Commonplace Book
Another good quote: Samuel Johnson from Boswell’s Life: “Questioning is not the mode of conversation among gentlemen. It is assuming a superiority, and it is particularly wrong to question a man concerning himself. There may be parts of his former life he may not wish to be made known to other persons, or even brought …