Not so random doggage

Daniela’s Shunkar, who had already survived a bad bite (you can see the damage from the old one) got bitten by a rattlesnake as he was coming in from a walk with Daniela. He is expected to recover, but it is no fun. Warren’s Lola, granddaughter to both Ataika and Lashyn, is one of those …

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The New York Horses

Jon Katz, despite his recent open heart surgery, is still fighting the good fight for the Carriage horses of Central Park and against the combined forces of AR supporters and the City’s incredibly clueless mayor: “They are coming for the horses, and they are coming for the ponies and elephants and working dogs and chickens …

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Hemingway Metafiction?

Annie Hocker sent me this fascinating piece of Hemingway criticism from the New Yorker, in which he calls The Sun Also Rises , at least the new edition, a piece of proto- metafiction. I disagree on definition, but he makes a decent case; it is still a must-read piece for Hemingway fans and scholars, and …

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English guns, big and small

I am tempted to agree with Bob Braden and Cyril Adams, authors of Lock, Stock, and Barrel; for SHOTguns, at least side – by – side doubles, you really can’t beat the English. The new ones’ prices are barking mad, far more than my house; for the Best London ones, easily three times as much …

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Visiting

Mark Cortner, old friend and variously biologist, cowboy, rancher, farmer, and fine gun nut– (we have traded various things including guns, books, and horses since Betsy was alive) stopped by just before sundown with Harry the Peruvian paso, one of the nicest horses I know. I still get jealous every time I see a gaited …

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Hemingway, with burger

I have been saving this found image of Ernest and Patrick Hemingway. Patrick, closer to 90 than 80, doesn’t look all that different today, but then, he did when he was about 8, too. This month,  Saveur published a real Hemingway hambuger recipe.We just made two, and I swear it may be the best I …

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Steve Grayson, 1950- 2014

My friend Steve Grayson died two nights ago. He owned the Golden Spur for over thirty years, and made it into THE community center for Magdalena and the surrounding ranches. Betsy Huntington and I met most of the people I still know there, not to mention the increasing number we have lost. He makes an …

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If You’re Happy and You Know It, Make Gumbo

I ran across this piece in the Washington Post that discussed the ratings of the ten happiest and ten unhappiest cities in the US. It was immediately clear to me that six of the ten happiest cities are in or near Southwestern Louisiana: so the higher the percentage of Cajuns in your population, the happier …

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Quote

The novel is a prose narrative of some length that has something wrong with it. – Randall Jarrell