The Denver Post tells us that a five-pound Chihuahua in Masonville, Colorado fought off a rattlesnake to keep a one year-old toddler from being bitten. Zoey the Chihuahua sustained bites herself, but survived. What’s that old saying – it’s not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in …
Author: Reid Farmer
Some Soviet Planes
I mentioned in an earlier post that for some years I had worked in jobs in aerospace and aviation. In one of those positions I worked at a flight test facility at the Mojave Airport in southern California. My employer manufactured jet engines. Engines that needed to be tested for FAA certification were shipped out …
Nanny State
Today’s Denver Post tells us that in the People’s Republic of Boulder it is illegal to attach a rope swing to a tree without the permission of the City Manager. When I last lived there 25 years ago we used to say Boulder was four square miles surrounded by reality.
House of Rain
Earlier this week I caught an interview on NPR with Colorado author Craig Childs on the subject of his recent book on the prehistoric Southwest, House of Rain. I read it back in February and really enjoyed it. I worked in the Southwest while in graduate school, but haven’t worked in that part of the …
Another Prairie Ramble
Just a few pictures from a stroll the dogs and I took last Sunday in the Hidden Mesa Open Space. This ruined windmill and tank were along the way. I haven’t found any bats under overpasses here yet, but saw lots of swallow nests under this one. I was able to catch this butterfly grabbing …
Merle’s Door
Last night Connie and I attended a reading and booksigning by Ted Kerasote for his new book Merle’s Door: Lessons From a Freethinking Dog at the Tattered Cover Bookstore at LoDo (Lower Downtown). Matt, of course, reviewed this book in a post a couple of weeks ago that elicited lots of discussion. I picked up …
The Mapinguary
The NY Times (among others, I saw it in the Denver Post) had this story of a strange beast of the Amazonian jungles that the natives there call the mapinguary – which means “the roaring animal” or “the fetid beast.” Many researchers believe that this is a legendary animal, but natives insist that they continue …
Happy Birthday, Mr. Heinlein
Tomorrow is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Robert A. Heinlein, the great American science fiction writer who died in 1988. His influence has been so great in so many areas that there are tributes to him all over the web this week. Here’s a good one and another short one from John Derbyshire. …
Quote of the Day
Steve’s internet access problems are still preventing him from posting. He e-mailed to ask if I could put this up for him. Steve is a fan of the books, print journalism, and on-line work of John Derbyshire. Derb is also a fan of Steve’s. I read his great review of Eagle Dreams long before I …
Cats Domesticated Humans
Actually, this interesting NY Times story on a cat DNA study says that it appears cats domesticated themselves somewhere in the Middle East about 10,000 years ago. But anyone who has ever been owned by a cat knows the truth.