Things stack up when you are busy! Nanny state part one thousand and ???: Britain now is suggesting compulsory training in nursery rhymes for inept parents. Can’t make it up… While Beijing is pursuing a compulsory one- small- dog policy— not that Albuquerque mayor Marty Chavez wouldn’t do the same if he had the power. …
Surf Fishing
Most of us tend to think of Great Blue Herons as large, freshwater wading birds. Around here, they’re almost as likely to try their luck on the salt as this fellow is doing at Goleta Beach.
Lunch with the Blowhards
Last Tuesday I had lunch with Michael Blowhard and his wife at the Beachside Cafe at Goleta Beach. They were in town on vacation and we were able to meet up. Michael is the principal contributor to the group blog 2blowhards, a daily must-read for its take on culture, the arts, history, fashion, architecture, literature …
One More
Gorbatov is working on illustrating a monograph on the sakers for a German scientist. He knew I would like this one because it depicts petroglyphs at Tamgaly in the Kazakh steppes, where we have both seen sakers. (See “Sunhead” and other posts below). He confirms a rumor I have heard: these images are of horses …
Gorbatov 2: Sampler
Just a taste. A Turcoman falconer: “Sandstorm, Karakum Desert”. “Young Hunter”: Gos over water. “Berkutchi”: relatives of my dogs– really! “Seton’s Lobo”– for a Korean edition of the classic. Vadim painted these illustrations– in a two- page format– from backgrounds we sent, before he had ever been in New Mexico. Can’t wait to see the …
Gorbatov’s Visit
We have just been graced by a visit from Russia’s greatest wildlife artist, Vadim Gorbatov, “guided” by our friend Peter Reshetniak of the Raptor Education Foundation in Denver. It was a whirlwind — we attempted to show him all of our corner of New Mexico in one- and- a- half days, plus cook two good …
Neanderthals in the Gene Pool
Well that didn’t take long. Remember my post last week that discussed possible Neanderthal/modern human interbreeding based on skeletal morphology evidence? You may recall, I figured that genetic evidence would tell the tale. Today Nicholas Wade of the New York Times reports on a study that finds circumstantial evidence that a gene for brain size …
Scapa Flow
After the signing of the Armistice that ended the First World War in 1918, the warships of the defeated German Fleet were interned at anchorage at the main Royal Navy seabase at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands in the north of Scotland. The ships were kept there with skeleton crews of German sailors to …
Chupacabra
I have always been intrigued by the legend of the Chupacabra. Terrierman Patrick Burns and his working terriers have hunted one down, and he has the pictures to prove it.
I Wonder if Steve Remembers This Picture?
Or this one? UPDATEWell, since I got Steve to bite, I’ll let everyone know where these came from. I was rummaging through books the other night and found “Quail Hunting in America” by Tom Huggler. The guy drove three-quarters of the way across the country in 1985 hunting along the way so he could write …