The heavier and later local rains have led to lush greenery and a profusion of insects (the only one in 30 years I have been bothered by mosquitos here); as well as their predators. I had never before see the babies of the abundant local fence lizard (Sceloporus), as well as the more ground- dwelling …
Author: Steve Bodio
Osprey
John Wilson photographed this osprey near Magdalena. It is not the first I know of– I think I have seen three over 30 years– but it is the first photographed. But what is this semi- obligate piscivore doing 30 miles from any fish that is not in a freezer? “Lake Magdalena” (the sewage pond) has …
Of Dogs and Porcupines and the New West
David Zincavage’s tazi Uhlan (see below) and his basset got into a porcupine a couple of days ago in Pennsylvania, and the usual mayhem followed. I never had a porcupine hassle here but had some pretty bad incidents in Massachusetts and Maine in the old days; never lost a dog but I won’t forget the …
Dumb Snake
I generally remove, rather than kill, snakes in the yard, even rattlers. But this gopher snake that got itself stuck– braided– into the plastic anti- bird mesh in the garden yesterday tested my patience. Cutting a hot writhing largish snake which is trying to bite you out of plastic mesh with a nail scissors, using …
Sense on guns
I don’t post on political issues too much, because I have strong beliefs but no partisan litmus tests for friends and ideas. I would rather discuss other things (i.e. almost anything else). But this is a good summing- up on guns, one that people I know who differ on other issues agree with, so I …
Morocco Part Two
More from Sir Terence Clark: this time, muzzleloaders, used in a horse “Fantasia” show. He writes: “For lovers of antique guns, Morocco has some amazing weapons still in common use. These muzzle-loading rifles with their silver chased barrels are used in the Fantasia, when a group of horsemen charge full tilt at the audience and …
Moroccan Hawk ID
Terence Clark has been in Morocco for the Festival of Traditional Hunting, where he photographed some hawks. Most were Peregrines of the migrant race that they call Shahin Bari, “Bari” meaning “of the sea”– probably the far- northern Falco peregrinus calidus, which may have flown from as far as Siberia. But the young man on …
Hunt & Doggish News
Not a dove on the plateau here— though major elk season is started. But Daniel Riviera is coming down through Montana after training in ND… With Bailey & ancient hammer Purdey, a happy man… (Last photo by Katherine) And though it is still hot in Alpaugh, it is almost time to run. John Burchard still …
Situationist Graffiti
The Situationists were a sectarian bunch of heretical commie hippies who came to the world’s notice in Paris in ’68. They were led in part by Guy Debord, a philosopher so contentious that he “excommunicated ” everyone in his group, and finally himself. But, unlike their counterparts here, they had a gift for slogans that …
Two Quotes
Another Marcus Aurelius, quoted by Philip Caputo in Ghosts of Tsavo: “When Thou risest reluctantly in the morning, let this thought be present: I am rising to do the work of a human being.” And one from Federico Calboli: “… Stuff is eaten by dogs, broken by family and friends, sanded down by the wind, …