The New York Times today tells us of a Fall ritual in the town of Columbia, California: the Annual Poison Oak Show. Apparently there is fierce competition in a variety of categories: Best Arrangement of Poison Oak, Most Potent Looking Green Leaves, Most Potent Looking Red leaves, Best Photo of Poison Oak Rash, Best Poison …
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Owl
I saw this Great Horned Owl while driving home from work yesterday afternoon. He (she?) was hanging out on a cottonwood limb waiting to fly out and hunt for breakfast. Connie and I had seen this fellow several times over the last couple of months. These birds are so big they really stick out. Here’s …
Hunting and Alligators
I meant to comment a while back on Patrick’s post here, in which he considers the difference in fatal alligator attacks on people in Florida (a small number) with that figure in Louisiana (none). What’s up with Florida? Patrick says: Perhaps such attacks are not too surprising in a state that has an alligator population …
Science Proves Keen Interest in Animals “Vestigial”
Well, not really. But a conclusion to that effect was drawn from research published recently in the (online) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. From the story by Jeanna Bryner of LiveScience.com: The research…reveals that humans today are hard-wired to pay attention to other people and animals much more so than non-living things, even …
Bilibin
Artist friend Nance McManus sent me this wonderful image by the 20th century Russian artist Ivan Bilibin. I wasn’t aware of him, but there is a lot on Wiki here, including many wonderful paintings and other images. I won’t be owning one soon– Sotheby’s asking price for “The Hunt” was in the middle hundreds of …
Another Travel Essay..
… from Phillip Grayson, who will soon be reporting from Poland. The Number 1 Most Secret Best Part of Istanbul The first thing one should do on arriving in Istanbul is hop in a cab and head to your hotel in Taksim, the downtown heart of cosmopolitan Istanbul. There are cheaper hotels in the center …
Soon..
A book review (Rob MacFarlane’s The Wild Places). Why public land ranching has one major environmental GOOD effect. Related: while it is good to bring back wolves it is also good to kill (some of) them; and why how you reintroduce them is also important. Doves Wyatt Earp.
Alumni
Far Away and Long Ago (in Craftsbury Common, Vermont to be exact) Annie Proulx started a writing workshop and talked me into being the first instructor, though I had never taught anything before. Two of my students published good books this year. Both are far wiser and older than I, and have written before, but …
A Bodio Connection to the Whydah
Last month I posted on some new underwater archaeology discoveries at the wreck of the Whydah, a pirate ship that sank off of Wellfleet, Massachusetts in 1717. Steve’s sister, Karen Bodio-Graham, visits the Wellfleet area often, saw the post and sent us an e-mail and pictures about her and her family’s interest in the Whydah: …
More Mule News
Today’s Denver Post has a follow-up on their story of a foal born to a female mule in western Colorado. I posted on this back in July and we added Dr. John Burchard’s comments on it a bit later. Further research on the foal has shown that he is a genetic lawbreaker: “Genetic tests have …