Nothing good ever transpires in an argument carried past 2AM. (Gerard Vanderleun)
Country Life
A long thoughtful post about the good and bad, but above all the different things about country as opposed to urban life. A snip: “More often there is instead a deep reserve of caution. This wariness is a byproduct of living a connected life. The outsider does not know or feel the history of shared …
Philip Larkin…
… was a very serious poet, but he may be best known for his mordant “This be the verse”, with its famous NSFW first line that was even the theme for an issue of Granta. I was surprised and tickled to see a YouTube of Larkin photos over a reading of that poem at Carl …
Dead Stuff
Says Darren, blogging about his mummified fox : “I think everyone seriously interested in animals collects dead animals, or bits of dead animals.” Certainly this is true of me, and of most other naturalists I know. The comments turned into reports on collections. Mine, responding to and quoting an earlier one, was: ” “Those of …
Thanksgiving Hunt
I’m back home from a week’s hunt in Texas, my usual Thanksgiving trip augmented this year by the coincidence of the annual North American Falconers Association Field Meet, also in Amarillo this week. These trips are the highlight of my season and uniformly fun and productive hawking adventures. I’ve posted about them here and elsewhere, …
Wintering goldens
Yesterday I drove through the sagebrush country of the Little Colorado Desert, which is always a pleasure as it serves as a winter home to migratory golden eagles. I’ve noticed our eagle population has substantially grown over the last few weeks – the birds arrive with winter temperatures. They come from the north, and most …
Frozen waterhose
Before I’m willing to turn on the big stockwater tank and its heater for the wintertime, for some reason I procrastinate until my little tank is empty and the waterhose that feeds it is completely frozen. That happened today. Usually the hose freezes overnight, but thaws during the day so I can refill the tank …
Web Miscellany
The US faces an invasion from another alien species, the Madagascar hissing cockroach. In Rome, the city government is attempting to deal with a starling investation with a team of starling stalkers. Apparently with mixed results. I believe I know some falconers who’d be willing to take on the job for the $187,000 the city …
Cat’s Yellowstone Wolves, and others
Our own Cat Urbigkit has just published a book on the Yellowstone wolves and their reintroduction (so to speak as you will see.) She brings a unique perspective as she is both a sheepherder and a naturalist- observer, one who can appreciate big carnivores but doesn’t want them killing her sheep or her livelihood. Her …
Poem
THE HEAVEN OF ANIMALS Here they are. The soft eyes open.If they have lived in a woodIt is a wood.If they have lived on plainsIt is grass rollingUnder their feet forever. Having no souls, they have come,Anyway, beyond their knowing.Their instincts wholly bloomAnd they rise.The soft eyes open. To match them, the landscape flowers,outdoing, desperatelyOutdoing …