Queensland, Australia, has permanently ended bird hunting through a regulatory ruling, joining New South Wales,the Australian Capital Territory,and Western Australia. From the January/ February issue of Shooting Sportsman (not on line): ” ‘This is not an appropriate activity in contemporary life in the Smart State” [sic], announced Premier Peter Beattie. The number of citizens who …
…and of Almaty
My ornithologist friend Andrey Kovalenko in Almaty, Kazakhstan, who bred my Kiran, sent me this picture of brindle Lashyn’s grandfather Sherkhan standing on the steppes with the Tian Shan behind, by our friend (and pro photographer) Oleg Belyalov. I wish I had the “real” computer working so I could show you the drawing from the …
Dogs (and Mountains) of Home…
We celebrated the New Year’s, Jackson’s birthday, my return, and my recovery from flu, by hiking to the 10,000 foot ridge atop the Magdalenas nearby– only a 6- mile hike, but over 3500 feet vertically. It occurs that it also shows some differences in our Asian dogs, both between their two types and (greater) to …
Some Turkish Dogs
The hounds of Turkish Kurdistan are tall, strong, and long- legged. They are run on gazelles, at least in the south, as well as hares, which would certainly select for size. All we saw were also smooth coated. To me they resemble the salukis of Arabia or (most) Iran, more than those of Central Asia, …
Turkish Landscape
We started in Ankara, headed south, and crossed the Taurus range. I think the landscape, though long- inhabited and bearing traces of human presence since the Neolithic, would seem more familiar to an inhabitant of the Amercan West than an Easterner or European. The strangest thing for me was the abundant groves of nut trees …
We’re Still Standing
While I was in Turkey, Libby got a crew (thank you Simon Armijo and Charley Wagner among others) to build two concrete –or “SEE- ment” as we say here– buttresses to hold up the crumbling east wall of our 120- plus year- old stone house, which regular readers may recall was dumping fist- sized lumps …
Back to the Blog!
Despite the fact that I am still on the “Model T ” iMac and its incredibly slow speed, I thought I had best jump back in before the world passes me by! I have a bunch of purely bloggish referrals i have collected in the past week, even a few which have gotten past the …
Ancient Irrigation in Peru
This news release describes archaeologist Tom Dillehay’s discovery of irrigation canals in coastal Peru that may date as early as 6700 years ago. Recent research keeps pushing the inception of agriculture and urban life in Peru back in time. The pace of research in this important region has increased due to the more stable political …
For Sale on eBay
You can have your very own two-headed snake, for sale on eBay. Minimum bid is $150,000.
Breakfast on the Trail with Frank Hamilton Cushing
A while back Steve said we should do more food-blogging, doubtless inspired by the good things our blog-sister Roseann Hanson puts up at Three Martini Lunch. So I wanted to pull my weight in that regard, though not to short myself, a few weeks ago I did post a coot recipe that Rebecca O’Connor told …