What is this? (Sent by Jonathan Hanson) UPDATE: (Jonathan): “Apparently you screw it into a log or something, stick a piece of bait on the hook, and when something pulls on it . . . bang. Twenty two caliber.”
Author: Steve Bodio
Our culture…
As demonstrated in our social center, the Golden Spur Saloon (I have for the moment ignored ranchers and cowboys, though the Spur’s site doesn’t). Click or double to enlarge either photo. Below, my late mentor Floyd Mansell in our front yard in 1986, with son Brandon, who now has his own kids, and a morning’s …
Bad news for houndsmen…
.. and all hunters. David Zincavage reports, furiously, here. From an unremarkable story, earlier: “California Fish and Game commissioner Dan W. Richards travelled deep into the wicked terrain of Idaho’s Flying B Ranch to fulfill a long-held goal. “It was the most physically exhausting hunt of my lifetime. Eight hours of cold weather hiking in …
More on what is essential
James Caldwell, of the excellent Outdoor blog Old Gunkie in WY, wrote in with some thoughtful things to say about the meaning of “essential” possessions (see post below): “I’m finding hard to know what the word “essential” means. My wife has been taking students to Central America on medical missions for years now. When she …
Michael Gruber
Michael Gruber, our most original so- called “Thriller” writer, has a new blog up on writing and other matters of interest to Q- Philes. Gruber is nothing less than remarkable as a person & author. After a long history of ghost- writing, he emerged from obscurity with Tropic of Night, which is set in Miami …
Accidental addition
We fell into a new adventure today. Jim and I went out to feed the dogs and check the sheep. We’d just settled all the adult dogs in with separate piles or bowls of food and decided to take a few treats to the burros, which we’re in the middle of the herd, in the …
Quote on Writing
From Michael Gruber: “You may wonder, why research at all? It’s fiction, why not make it all up? The reason is that almost all readers have some expertise or experience, and will be irritated beyond reason by boners that they detect, and when they detect them, the bodyguard of truth will be penetrated and they …
Generations
A photo by Jackson taken a couple of weeks ago in Santa Fe, of his grumpy stepfather and inquisitive son– irresistible to me anyway…
House Band
Regular readers know that Querencia’s home bar is the Golden Spur Saloon, and has been for thirty some years, since Betsy Huntington was alive, first under Steve Grayson’s management (see Q- the- book, which has scenes set there). Montana Pettis (who is not thirty yet!) is the son of present owner Darryl, also bartender and …
New word
ZUGZWANG; German, from chess: “..a situation… in which a player cannot make a move without worsening his situation.” I think I got it from the WSJ but did not write down the source. It is a useful concept.