Hunting Song

I stole this lovely thing from my friend Rebecca’s blog; I think it is in this anthology. Frontier sons are lifelong illiterateswho know only how to hunt big game and brag about being tough guys.They feed their Mongolian ponies white grassto make them plump and strong in the autumn.They race proudly on their horses chasing …

Read more

I confess..

.. that I virtually NEVER watch the State of the Union Address. Howard Veit rather snarkily sums up why: “…are you kidding? Not only does it not make any difference what was said, it doesn’t make any difference period. I fell asleep watching an old movie. The Iraq War is still going; Iran is still …

Read more

Another reason to write

From gun writer and pistolero emeritus Colonel Jeff Cooper come these eloquent words: “Did you write it down? If you did not, you should have. This is because only what you have committed to paper has significance. Man’s experience is only that which he has recorded. The more you consider that, the more significant it …

Read more

Pretty Gun..

If you are in the market for an $85,000 goose gun– sadly, 8- Bores are legal only in England– I may have found a deal for you. It’s a pristine Prussian (“Lindner”) Charles Daly in Regent Diamond grade, with 36- inch barrels, from the turn of the last century. Maybe a LITTLE too much gold …

Read more

More Cetacean Stuff

Ah, synchronicity! Yahoo News has this interesting piece today titled “Killer Whales Set Traps for Gullible Gulls.” Seems researchers in Canada observed a young orca who figured out if he left pieces of chewed fish floating on the water’s surface it would attract gulls who would land to try and eat it. He would lurk …

Read more

Roundup

A day late and a dollar short– well, usually more than that– as usual, so, first, a roundup of the usual suspect subjects… The Alpha Environmentalist has a good post up on coyotes. Look, I have no objection to ranching, period, or to killing coyotes that kill stock. But a Gummint Agency killing coyotes on …

Read more

Whale Attack!

Last Wednesday evening at just before sunset, Gerald Gormley left Santa Barbara harbor in his new 27 ft Bayliner boat. It was a brand-new boat, only the second time he had taken it out, and two friends accompanied him for a planned sunset run. They were off Leadbetter Beach and Santa Barbara Point when a …

Read more

Great Proulx Quote

I just finished Annie Proulx’s collection of short stories, Close Range. This one includes the good story, now very well known, “Brokeback Mountain.” (It’s a Western!) The quote I’d like to share comes from a different story, entitled “The Governors of Wyoming.” Here the misguided but earnest anti-ranching activist Wade Walls (I don’t think “eco-terrorist” …

Read more

Andre Codrescu On New Orleans Public Libraries

Southeast Louisiana’s favorite in-house ex-pat social critic, Andre Codrescu, wrote this piece recently on the state of N.O. libraries, on books, reading and the general state of these institutions. Good thoughts, miserable situation.

More NAIS

On a keyword search at Yahoo news (for “NAIS”) I found this story today seeming to offer a hint of evident opposition, if not quite hope that the whole idea would simply crumble beneath its own ridiculousness. Here’s a snippet: “USDA, after hearing strong opposition from the industry, has abandoned its earlier decision to allow …

Read more