The peregrine (who I sometimes call Bella II after an older bird of the same breeding I once had, who moved to Utah ended up killing five- pound sage grouse though she only weighed about what this one does, 23 ounces) is pretty well trained now. She even has good manners. She never screams or …
Tag: Country Life
Some “Country” Music Videos: Nostalgia and Chills…
Not all “country” music is unsophisticated or even American. Here I give you a bunch of stuff I have been working through and following. Let us start with Tom Russell’s classic “US Steel”— a straight- up traditional country lament complete with sweet pedal steel, but set in Pennsylvania rather than on the border or even …
Scotland
Mark McBride may take the largest and most varied bag of any of us as he does pest control and other hunting on neighbors’ Scottish estates. This day saw the initiation of Taik’s niece Nura to ferreting for rabbits. She caught on quickly– no surprise. Nura (the name of the eagle & tazi town in …
Friends in action
New Mexico, Scotland, Pakistan– everywhere friends with dog relatives and near- relatives seem to be having wonderful seasons. Starting close to home, Daniela attended an informal meet where, as she put it: “…every hound in the field that day was descendant from Libby & Steve’s hounds, including these two 5 month puppies, Lily & Lola, …
Pursuit Hawking
Terence Wright was kind enough to send two splendid photos of the kind of hawking that I can probably no longer do– coursing with dog and pursuit falcon, sometimes over miles. I’ll still try with others this fall, but suspect I just can’t keep up. It was a good run! The dog, lurcher Percy, has …
Johnny UK
Meet (“officially”) Johnny UK and his wonder dog Petra. John Hill is one of our most frequent commenters, an old friend (we met through Darne shotguns), an East Anglian, an honorary Magdalenian and frequent patron of the Golden Spur bar here. He plays blues saxophone and loves good shotguns, wine and French food. Here he …
I hate full moons
Surely I’m not the only person who hates full moons. Although beautiful to gaze upon, full moons provide all the light needed for animals to be up and about all night when they should be sleeping (so I can be sleeping). This includes grazing animals like sheep, deer and pronghorn, and all the things that …
Of Mutton and Saws- Alls
Our friend Pieter Ditmars raises grass- fed meat sheep on Dunhill Ranch in the western foothills of the Magdalenas, using livestock guard dogs (Pyrenees) and border collies as assistants. We always buy a lamb from him. But we had found him a lot of new customers, and this year he offered us a 5 year- …
Quotes of the day
“In an 1879 letter to John Fordyce, Darwin wrote: “It seems to me absurd to doubt that a man may be an ardent Theist and an evolutionist.” “..I think the FDA’s war on raw milk in favor of pasteurization is a fitting allegory of American life writ large—all life must be killed before it kills …
The Kids Are All Right
Our own youngsters are growing too fast to keep up with– in photos anyway. Both have grown in the last week.