50 Must-Read Blogs for the Conscientious Organic Shopper

I received an email to tell me I'm on this list of 50 must read blogs. While there are a couple of blogs I'm familiar with, like Crunchy Chicken and Bean Sprouts, most are unknown to me. I've looked at a few of them and I'm happy to recommend the list to you. It should make interesting weekend reading. I doubt I'll have time to look at all of them, so if you find a blog on the list you want to

This Ad Would Be Better With a Terrier

Too Many Fox in Scotland is Good for Wisconsin

Red grouse, Scotland.

Forbes magazine reports on the "Grouse Crisis" in Scotland:

Park Falls, Wisconsin may be short on single malts, tweeds and pip-pipping. But it's got something grouse hunters in the U.K. could use more of: Birds.

When the heather blooms on the Scottish moors, tweedy gentlemen with bespoke shotguns take to blasting grouse. The sport usually brings $30 million a year to the Scottish economy, according to Glasgow's University of Strathclyde. Recent years, though, have been disappointing.

In 2006 and 2007 heavy rainfall damaged nests. Surviving young fell prey to an outbreak of ticks and to predation by an uncontrolled fox population, fox hunting having fallen into disrepute. This caused sherry-sipping lords to despair that the flush days of the sport might be coming to an end. The 2008 season, which opened Aug. 12 and will conclude in mid-December, has been an improvement, owing to the use of medicated grit to treat parasites and caged watering areas to protect birds from predators. "I should say mixed is a way of putting it," says Edward Hay, director of the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust. Some moors in North Yorkshire did well, but grouse in parts of Scotland were "virtually nonexistent." Since 1985 tick infestations have gone from 4% of chicks to 92%--not a good sign for the future.

Yet 4,000 miles away and a three-and-a-half-hour drive from Minneapolis lies the Shangri-la of grouse. Fat and happy birds by the tens of thousands are tapping their toes, just waiting to be shot. The lake-abutting mill town of Park Falls, Wis. bills itself as the Ruffed Grouse Capital of the World. Ruffed grouse, named for the iridescent black feathers on their napes, are cousin to the red grouse of the U.K. Like their cousins they spend most of their life on the ground (grubbing for clover, berries and bugs) and fly only to avoid enemies.

Hunters call them "winged dynamite" for their explosive speed and sound. They're the fastest game bird in North America. Whereas most game birds take off like a helicopter -- flying straight up at first, then horizontally--ruffed grouse move like a jet plane with a busted rudder. They take off at an acute angle, sputtering loudly and fishtailing.

Wisconsin being shy on moors, the birds' habitats are groves of aspen, pine and maple. That complicates things: Not only does a hunter have to lead his target, he also has to avoid hitting branches and trunks of trees as he turns to fire. Scottish hunters can use shotguns with 32-inch barrels, which provide accuracy at the cost of weight and snap movement. Wisconsin hunters need light, agile shotguns that can be carried all day through thick woods and maneuvered quickly in tight spots.

Sharp-tailed grouse, John James Audubon print, 1837
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Along the salad trail

We have a snake living in the chook house. I think she is there for the mice and rats that hang around at night eating the leftover grain and seed. She's not bothering the chooks, she just sits up near the roof and moves away slowly if we get too close. She is a non-venomous python - either a carpet snake or a spotted python. You can see her in the photo above after she moved into the thick

Remind Me to Worm the Dog ...

Click to enlarge

Adweek reports:

This print campaign by TBWA\PHS in Finland is intended to make you wonder if you're actually feeding your dog—or the worms inside him. "

Who do you take care of?" ask the ads, which promote Pfizer's Canex All Wormer for Dogs.

Source If you want an even oozier version of the ad, click here.

Ascot scarf pattern

I don't consider myself a good knitter. I think my talent lies in picking projects that I'm capable of doing. :- ) That said, most knitting is plain or purl, or various combinations of it. My mother taught me to knit but I didn't see the value of it until I understood more about its meditative qualities and could slow down enough to appreciate and be changed by it.If you're new to knitting,

Nourishing Traditions followup

I want to thank everyone who contributed to yesterday's comments on Nourishing Traditions. I always enjoy reading your thoughts but I want to take this opportunity to explain something about myself that a few of you don't understand.

I firmly believe that everyone has the right to a different view to my own, and to express that view in a thoughtful and respectful way. Difference helps makes us

Dave The Fisherman

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Anyone Can Pull a Trigger, But Skinning is an Art

Click to enlarge .. and mind the right corner.

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Blood Tracking With Weiner Dogs

Moose and Teckel pic ripped from Born-to-track News & Views


What's the difference between a dachshund and a teckel? Mostly the owner in my opinion.

A dachshund owner probably bought the dog because it was cute and along the way he or she discovered that their dogs (a long time ago, and in a land far away) was once used for hunting badgers. Badgers? Oh my! How romantic!

A teckel owner, on other hand, actually has pictures of their dog in the field working groundhog, fox or badger, or blood tracking shot deer, elk or moose. A few shovels and a worn pair of boots and a locator collar are probably in the garage. There isn't a single pair of Manolo Blahnik's in the house.

There are, of course, some differences in the breeding of the dogs. American and British dachshunds tend to be wrecked genetic mutants with turned out feet and chests like pickle barrels. Most are far too big to go down any den hole, and some have bad temperaments and health problems to boot.

Teckels, on the other hand, are bred to the German system which emphasizes strict standards in terms of chest size, and where random breedings are sharply discouraged and standards of kennel upkeep and the quality of dogs is maintained by a "breed warden."

All of this is a small wind up to the fact that there is a nice article by Les Davenport in Deer and Deer Hunting magazine on the use of teckels for blood tracking shot deer, elk and moose.

Entitled "The Little King of Deer Recoveries," the article is well-written and gives a nice introduction to the use of teckels (working dachshunds) for blood tracking shot deer.

Another article on the same topic can be found here.

And for those who are looking to include a new blog on their blog roll, let me recommend Born-to-track News & Views -- a very nice addition to the blog-o-sphere!
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Vote

Early voting is going on right now, so I went to the trailer in the Target shopping center at Silverado Ranch and voted. WOW, this one is so important and meant so much to me. I almost gave a little shout of Hurrah! as I exited but didn't want to "wigg" out the little old lady behind me. ( that is for Sarah :-)) Hope all of you will be voting and if you don't plan to vote, please don't tell me, ever, because I cannot imagine what I would have to say about that!

Another tree is completed, this one in the Master Bedroom. It's all done in browns and creams, some vintage dark golds and felt penny ornaments that I taught and made last year in a Gathering class. I am making more felt ornaments for the tree and will post pics when completed.

Next week will be the week all the Christmas stuff hits Target and Pottery Barn. There are some beautiful stitched linens at Target in greys and cream.They "took a ride in my cart" today. If they are an indication of the Christmas Ornaments to come, I'm in trouble. Sue tells me that she has a Pottery Barn Christmas catalog that she picked up at a PB demonstration last weekend and she says it is mercury glass, glitter and gleam all the way. I popped in there today and I see a lot of bright colors being unpacked..purples, greens, turquoise. That will be great if they stick to that palette, no temptation for me, although, I already spotted a terrific mercury glass compote today. sigh.

Another note: so if the economy is doing so poorly, how come all the stores were packed today? PB, Home Goods, Michaels, Marshalls, Tuesday Morning- all crowded and the people were standing in lines at checkout not just roaming about. Why was I there in this poor economy? Returning stuff I didn't use in the last photo shoot. I found a couple of treasures but they were gifts for others. I also found some great glitter things for the Dec craft article for polished. I am going to do some very luscious Victorian cones in red/silver and green/gold for the crimson and clover theme. Hope to have those completed by the weekend.

Last chance to sign up for Finish it Night, (the deadline was the 25th but if you call ASAP...) and ladies I need to know what you are bringing for potluck, so give me a ring OK? I think we have at least one sleepover guest so far. I had better do the tree in that room next so it can be enjoyed that night. As weird as it is, decorating this early, I have been enjoying the twinkle lights every night. I'll really get some use out of them this year.

Everyone enjoy the shortened week, and come on by to play if you are in the neighborhood. The studio is open and busy.

The Thin Portfolio of the Working Border Terrier

Pictures from Walter Gardner's book About the Border Terrier

The two pictures, above, show what Border Terriers looked like around 1916-1920. I think if these dogs were in the field today most people would not call them Border Terriers -- they would be presented as Fell Terriers.

Though some claim an ancient history for the Border Terrier, no breed of terrier is very old and the Border Terrier is no exception, first appearing around 1860, and being so undifferentiated from other rough-coated terriers that they were not admitted to the UK Kennel Club until 1920 -- after first being rejected in 1914.

The true history of the Border Terrier is exceedingly short and simple despite all the efforts to muddy the water with talk of Walter Scott, Bedlingtons, gypsies, and dark dogs seen in the muddy corners of obscure oil paintings. Such stuff is pure bunk.

The Border Terrier was a kennel type of rough-coated terrier of the Fell type bred by the Robson family. John Robson founded the Border Hunt in Northumberland in 1857 along with John Dodd of Catcleugh who hunted his hounds near the Carter Fell. It was the grandson's of these two gentlemen -- Jacob Robson and John Dodd -- who tried to get the Border Hunt's little terrier-type popularized by the Kennel Club.

The first Kennel Club Border Terrier ever registered was "The Moss Trooper," a dog sired by Jacob Robson's Chip in 1912 and registered in the Kennel Club's "Any Other Variety" listing in 1913. The Border Terrier was rejected for formal Kennel Club recognition in 1914, but won its slot in 1920, with the first standard being written by Jacob Robson and John Dodd. Jasper Dodd was made first President of the Club.

For a terrier "bred to follow the horses" the Border Terrier does not appear to have been overly-popular among the mounted hunts. The Border Terrier Club of Great Britain lists only 190 working certificates for all borders from 1920 to 2004 -- a period of 84 years. Considering that there were over 250 mounted hunts operating in the UK during most of this period (there are about 185 mounted hunts today), this is an astoundingly small number of certificates for a period that can be thought of as being over 15,000 hunt-years long. Even if one concedes that borders were worked outside of the mounted hunts, and not all borders got certificates that were recorded by the Border Terrier Club of Great Britain, the base number is so slow that adding a generous multiplier does not change the broad thrust of the conclusion, which is that Border Terriers never really had a "hay day" for work.

The relative lack of popularity of the Border Terrier as a working terrier is borne out by a careful review of Jocelyn Lucas' book Hunt and Working Terriers (1931). In Appendix I Lucas provides a table listing 119 UK hunts operating in the 1929-1930 season, along with the types of earths found (sandy, rocky, etc.) and the type of terrier used.

Only 16 hunts said they used Borders or Border crosses, while about 80 hunts said they preferred Jack Russells, white terriers or some type of fox terrier. Lakelands and Sealyhams, or crosses thereof, were mentioned by some, with quite a few noting "no preference"(hunts are double-counted if they mention two kinds of terriers or crosses of two types).

The Border Terrier does not appear to be faring any better today, with even fewer workers found in the field than in Lucas' times. In fact, there is not a single Border Terrier breed book that shows a border terrier with its fox -- an astounding thing considering the age of the breed and the ubiquitous nature of the camera from the 1890s forward.



A STAGED PHOTO: William Carruthers poses in a photographers studio with a stuffed otter. The dogs shown are "Allen Piper", "Jean" and "Tally Ho," and the picture was taken sometime after 1923


There is some disagreement as to why the border terrier is not more popular in the working terrier community. Some mention the fact that the dogs are often slow to mature. Others note that the dogs are very expensive, while others note that borders are getting too big. Still others note that the dog is now so rarely worked that it is nearly impossible to get a pup out of two real workers.

To say that the border is not popular in the field does not mean that it has fallen out of favor in the show ring or in the pet trade, however! Border terriers are among the top 10 breeds in the UK Kennel Club, and nearly 1,000 border terriers were registered with the American Kennel Club last year -- up about 100 dogs from the previous year.
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Nourishing Traditions

We are changing the way we eat. This is a big decision for us because we're going to eat meat again. I suppose it's less of a change for Hanno because he occasionally eats meat during winter, but I haven't eaten any meat for close to ten years. I started off being meat, chicken and fish-free because I was trying to help Hanno reduce his cholesterol level - he was having problems getting to a

Ted Stevens Found Guilty!

This is God's plan for Alaska.


What a wonderful thing to happen on Teddy Roosevelt's 150th birthday!

You see, it was Teddy Roosevelt who first moved to protect the Tongass National Forest almost 100 years ago.

In recent years, however, Senator Ted Stevens and Congressman Don Young have pocketed a lot of payola from timber companies that sought to cut down 400-year old trees for the cost of a McDonald's happy meal.

Once those trees are gone, they are gone forever.

Unbelievably, under the Tongass and Chugach National Forest timber deals, America was selling public timber to private contractors at a loss.

In fact, U.S. taxpayers have been subsidising a couple of hundred jobs a year at a cost of over $200,000 per job.

Clearly this thing made no sense.

But public resource extraction doesn't have to make sense if people are being paid off.

And when it comes to timber and oil and gas deals in Alaska, everyone is being paid off. Everyone.

Now things are finally beginning to unravel (and more is to come).

First Congressman Don Young was caught on the take.

Today Senator Ted Stevens has been found guilty on felony charges of taking and concealing tens of thousands of dollars in free home renovations and other gifts.

The jury convicted Stevens on all seven counts brought by federal prosecutors. Ted Stevens' career is over, and jail time may yet await.

Happy Birthday Teddy Roosevelt! You always hated scoundrels and looters, and Ted Stevens was both. I know you are up above, absolutely beaming!



This is the modern GOP's vision for Alaska.

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Knitting and cooking

I'm very happy to tell you I'm feeling better today. I went back to the doctor yesterday and my medication was changed. It's made a difference. :- ) I can now sit here at the computer for more than 30 seconds and write what I want to write. It's been so frustrating not being able to do that.I finished off the Ascot scarf I started the other day and have now started on a pair of these

Teddy Roosevelt for President!

Today is Teddy Roosevelt's 150th birthday.

Not only is Teddy one of three terriermen on Mount Rushmore (George Washington and Lincoln are the other two), but he is also the father of public lands conservation in the U.S., the creator of both the National Forest and National Wildlife Refuge system, and a great expander of the National Parks system as well.



During his term in office, Teddy Roosevelt set aside 194 million acres of public land for permanent conservation and protection in this great country of ours.

Teddy Roosevelt was also the putative originator of the American Rat Terrier -- a dog formally launched onto the national stage when Teddy picked up a small feist from John Goff while on a bear-hunting expedition out West. Teddy grew very very fond of this dog with which he hunted rats in the basement of the White House, and though it died while he was in office, Teddy later had the dog dug up and reintered at Sagamore Hills so it would still be close to him, even in retirement.

Teddy Roosevelt, of course, was more than a hunter, conservationist and a lover of working terriers. He was also a consummate politician who framed up the "Square Deal" which was aimed at helping America's middle class being bled dry by Wall Street financiers.

Roosevelt's Square Deal plan called for a progressive tax system of the very kind decried by John McCain.

Teddy Roosevelt thought such a system was the hallmark of patriotism and common sense.

The goal, said Roosevelt in words later to be echoed by Barack Obama, was to "pass prosperity around."





In a 1910 speech entitled New Nationalism, republican president Teddy Roosevelt set out an agenda which, nearly 100 years later, is just about as current as this morning's headlines:

"We grudge no man a fortune in civil life if it is honorably obtained and well used. It is not even enough that it should have been gained without doing damage to the community. We should permit it to be gained only so long as the gaining represents benefit to the community. … The really big fortune, the swollen fortune, by the mere fact of its size, acquires qualities which differentiate it in kind as well as in degree from what is possessed by men of relatively small means. Therefore, I believe in a graduated income tax on big fortunes, and … a graduated inheritance tax on big fortunes, properly safeguarded against evasion, and increasing rapidly in amount with the size of the estate."

Teddy Roosevelt went on to talk about the economic panics of his day:

"The people of the United States suffer from periodical financial panics to a degree substantially unknown to the other nations, which approach us in financial strength. There is no reason why we should suffer what they escape. It is of profound importance that our financial system should be promptly investigated, and so thoroughly and effectively revised as to make it certain that hereafter our currency will no longer fail at critical times to meet our needs.

Finally, Roosevelt turned to his first love: the land, and our duty to protect it. He said:

"I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use the natural resources of our land; but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob, by wasteful use, the generations that come after us. I ask nothing of the nation except that it so behave as each farmer here behaves with reference to his own children. That farmer is a poor creature who skins the land and leaves it worthless to his children. The farmer is a good farmer who, having enabled the land to support himself and to provide for the education of his children, leaves it to them a little better than he found it himself .... Conservation is a great moral issue, for it involves the patriotic duty of insuring the safety and continuance of the nation."

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Gresham's Law Kills Off Another Bulletin Board

I was sent the following note about a working terrier bulletin board in the U.K. that has just closed down after several years of operation:

As of 21:00 on 26-10-08 the forum will be closing down, its been misused for long enough, the forum is for FRIENDLY hunting discussion, not arguments, petty comments, violence, and illegal posts that will and can be used against all out sports.. We are all in this for the same reason, we love or should love hunting and its related fieldsports, we should stand together not drag each other down... Its been real good whilst it lasted anyway and i've made some great friends for life on here... Good hunting everyone, hope this seasons a good one for you! - Ian

First off, hat's off to Ian for trying. It was a good effort to try to build community, and the reason it failed had less to do with his efforts that the nature of the beast: online communities always attract folks who have too much time and anonymous posts simply encourage trolls who get their jollies through defamation, vandalism and provoking endless fights.

In the case of terrier work in the UK, of course, there was another concern, one I voiced more than a year ago when it became clear to me that the board was being used as a "honey pot" operation to try to draw people into talking about illegal activity (i.e. fox hunting outside of the narrow confines of the law, and badger work anywhere in the UK).

It did not help, of course, that the board attracted an endless parade of young fools who dug little or none, but who were always anxious to get into an endless round-robin about hard dogs and various cocked up theories about breeding and breeders.

Did the board ever have solid information on how to use a locator collar and box, how to find quarry, how to do at-home vet care for an injured dog? No, little, or none.

Not too many people had any real knowledge, it seemed, and those that did could not be bothered to put it down.

And why should they, when that effort would soon be lost under an endless parade of blather and petty fighting, which are always promoted to the top of these Internet bulletin boards?

And so another online working terrier bulletin board has died.

It is not the first, and it will not be the last.

• Related Posts
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  ** Trolls, Whores and Gresham's Law on the Internet
  ** The High Price of Anonymity
  ** Honey Pots and Trolls in the Land of Eire
  ** As Predicted: Fools Get Stung at Irish Honey Pot
  ** A Game For Pendejos to Play
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Better Than the Internet

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Very Lucky Terrier Found One Mile at Sea

From The Daily Mail:

Two fishermen were left reeling in surprise when they caught a DOG a mile out at sea.

At first when they spotted the animal swimming against the tide they thought it was an otter, but when they realised that it was a dog the two lifted him on board.

Freddie, a 14-year-old cairn terrier, was later reunited with his owner - who revealed that he dislikes water so much that he hates taking a bath and avoids walking through puddles.

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Norwegian Blue Parrots are for Real

Apparently Norwegian Blue Parrots really did exist. A few years back, of course. Extinct now. Check it out.

Dr David Waterhouse, a fossil expert and Python fan, has found that parrots not only lived in Scandinavia 55 million years ago, but probably evolved there before spreading into the southern hemisphere.

His discovery was based on a preserved wing bone of a previously unknown species, given the scientific name Mopsitta Tanta - and now nicknamed the Norwegian Blue.

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Make Quick and Easy Money Dog Sitting

Or not. Based on a true story. Check out this funny short movie directed and written by Shane Anthony Belcourt and Duane Murray with Melina Nacos as the dog sitter.
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It's Always Darkest Before the Dawn

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Preaching to the Choir Makes for a Small Church

The Politically Incorrect Guide to Hunting is well-written, packed with information, and well-organized.

Unfortunately, it seems the publishing house has done as much as it possibly can to marginalize this book and keep it out of the hands of those who most need to read it.

That's a pity.

Why do I say the publisher has marginalized this book?

Simple. If you want to convert non-believers to your way of thinking, it's probably best NOT to start off the conversation by poking your finger in their eye and calling them names.

Sadly, however, that is what Regnery Publishing's "Politically Incorrect Guide" series is all about.

This series is not meant to convert people to anything, but to give die-hard conservatives a few cheap debating points to score against the Loony Left.

Which is fine, as far as it goes, but I think this book could have been so much more. You will pardon me if I mourn for what might have been.

You see, while The Politically Incorrect Guide to Hunting is somewhat flawed it is quite well written, and with a little editing and reframing, it might have been a truly important book. It misses that mark, I am afraid. Good, but no blue ribbon.

Stripped down to its essential frame, Frank Miniter's book has three core messages:

1. Modern, regulated sport hunting is generally good for the environment, almost never bad for the environment, and creates a constituency for environmental and wildlife protection that is more meaningful than that generally offered up by arm-chair bunny huggers who tend to be ill-informed romantics;



2. Modern, regulated sport hunting benefits all people, from tractor-driving farmers to SUV-driving suburban motorists, and from meat-eaters to vegetarians.



3. Without regulated sport hunting, the cost of taxpayer-funded wildlife control would drive up taxes rapidly, even as public land and wildlife initiatives would be left politically weak and economically impoverished.

A lot of Miniter's research is pretty good.

For example, he offers up terrific data on deer-vehicle impacts, and his first chapter on the differences between alligator management in Florida and Louisiana should be required reading in every college.

Miniter correctly skewers the League of Conservation Voters for ignoring non-controversial and popular environmental votes (such as on the Conservation Reserve Program) in order to play up wedge environmental issues that may be less important to the overall picture.

Similarly, Miniter gets it about right when he says a lot of the Big Green organizations are selling out to large corporations and white-shirt-and-tie foundation managers.

He is spot-on when he talks about the failings of the deer immuno-contraception programs championed by the dithering idiots at the Humane Society of the United States.

So where does Miniter go off-track? A couple of places:

• Miniter's first three chapters are about alligators, bears and cougars, and here he suggests that the real reason we hunt animals is so that they will not kill us, which is complete nonsense. Alligators, bears and cougars kill fewer people in this country than swimming pools and lawn mowers. Is control of these animals necessary? Absolutely. Can they be dangerous? Sure. But according to Miniter's own book, alligators, bears and cougars kill less than 8 people a year combined, while 93 people were killed from injuries related to hunting in 2003 alone. I am not opposed to control of bear, cougar and alligator (not to mention wolf) by well-regulated hunting, but let's not suggest that the motivation of hunters is to protect us from the dangers lurking in the woods and swamps, eh? It's simply not true. Most hunters are after sport, a few are after a peak experience and (with bear and cougar) a trophy. The state's motivation for having a regulated hunting season for large predators may partially be to reduce human-wildlife conflict, but that's not why hunters themselves are buying hunting licenses. Admit it and move on.



• Miniter fails to give so much as a nod to a huge swath of American hunting. While Miniter spends a lot of time talking about such rare sport as hunting bear, alligator and cougar, he gives little (generally no) mention of such common fare as rabbit, squirrel, quail, pheasant, duck, grouse, dove, geese, wild pig, groundhog, raccoon, and fox. This is like saying American anglers are all about controlling shark numbers -- never mind that most of us are casting for bass, trout, sunfish, catfish, croakers, stripers, and blues.



• Miniter trims history to fit his thesis. This is a serious problem with ideologues on both the right and the left, and a problem if your goal is to convince and persuade folks to join your side of a debate. Miniter's take is that the Big Green Groups are staffed and managed by bunny-hugging idiots, while hunters are leading the charge for the environment. Sorry, but that's not quiet true. After all, it was the National Audubon Society that sued the Humane Society of the U.S. in order to keeps traps legal in California, and it was Audubon, the Sierra Club, and The Wilderness Society (along with many other small green groups) that led the push to protect 60 million acres of roadless forest across the U.S. The National Rifle Association was nowhere to be seen in that debate. And while Miniter was demonizing liberal environmental organizations as being "anti-hunting," the Sierra Club was sponsoring a "Why I Hunt," essay contest, National Audubon was putting a "Wanted: More Hunters" cover on its magazine, and The Nature Conservancy was busy creating and promoting the kind of conservation easement programs that Miniter speaks so fondly of (and which he fails to give proper credit for).
  
  
• Miniter does not give enough credit to Mother Nature, the Endangered Species Act or Big Government programs funded by mandatory taxation. Hunters did not bring back the cougar, the alligator, the bald eagle, the wolf, or the manatee; Mother Nature and the Endangered Species Act did that. And though state wildlife agencies worked very hard to trap, move and reintroduce white tail deer, elk, bison, geese, turkey and beaver into areas where they had been extirpated, it was generally not hunters doing this reintroduction, but state wildlife agencies. Yes hunters paid a lot (but not all) of the tab through a compulsory tax system, but let's not kid ourselves that state wildlife management programs are some sort of voluntary "Point of Light" thought up by Peggy Noonan and Ronald Reagan. In fact, the Pittman-Roberston Act is a Democrat idea (both Sen. Key Pittman and Rep. A. Willis Robertson were Democrats, as was FDR), and at its core this program is all about the power of taxation and the positive roll of Big Government. And, let it be said that Big Government has been doing a generally fine job of restoring wildlife, year in and year out, regardless of which political party was in office (either locally, regionally, or nationally).
  

So what's the bottom line? Simple: Frank Miniter has written a pretty good book and it's well worth the price.

Buy it and read it.

That said, keep a skeptical mind. When Miniter brags that the NRA (his employer), has two-million members, remember that this is less than one-sixth of all hunters, which is a nice way of saying 84% said of all hunters are not members of the NRA. When you find out that of those 2 million NRA members, only 1 million wanted a free copy of American Hunter magazine, you can figure only 9% of hunters are actually NRA members -- and 91% are not.

When he says that urban sprawl is good for wildlife, ask which wildlife this sprawl is really good for (and here's a hint it's not any wildlife we actually need more of).

Also, ask yourself whether your own hunting access in your area is being improved by the rise of plastic houses in the countryside, or whether it is being constrained.

Above all else, remember that while wildlife may be influenced by political decisions, the wildlife in our forests and fields are not political animals in and of themselves.

The point here is that good science-based wildlife management and land stewardship is NOT going to happen by increasing the divisions between Liberals and Conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, but by unifying this country under the rule of common sense and moderation.

Sadly, this is a mission that Regnery Publishing has never signed up for. And so this book, which might have been great, slips down quote a few notches to the level of "a very good passing read." I really believe it could have been much more. Sadly it is not.

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If You Enjoy Cavity Searches

If you enjoy cavity searches, just wear a pair of these to the airport. More information >> Here

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Barkers for Britain

FDR and Fala

In 1941, Franklin Roosevelt's dog, Fala, was named "president" of Barkers for Britain.

At the time, Britain was besieged by German aerial bombings and U-boat attacks causing serious supply shortages. A program called "Bundles for Britain" was started in the U.S. with the aim of collecting cash contributions and donations to ease shortages in the U.K.

Barkers for Britain was created as an analog to "Bundles for Britain" with the goal of getting dog lovers to support the Bundles effort by buying special engravable dog tags at a cost of 50 cents each.

Barkers for Britain raised about $15,000 between April and October 1941. The tag picture above right is Tag #1 which, of course, went to Fala.
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Hedgerow Loss in the U.K. and the U.S.

Hedge laying in the UK.

During a single 10-year period (1984-1993), more than one-third of all hedgerows in the United Kingdom were lost -- a whopping 121,875 miles of destruction (see data table here) . At least another 96,000 miles of hedgerow were lost in England from 1945 to 1984.

British hedgerows are fabulously vibrant ecosystems supporting myriad plant and insect species in dense thickets.

An analysis of hedgerows has found a close correlation between the age of a hedgerow and its plant diversity, with some British hedgerows estimated to be as much as 700 years old.

As hedgerows have vanished, so too have seeds and insects that once sprang from these hedgerows. One result is a very rapid decline in sparrow populations in the UK.

Why are the hedgerows disappearing so rapidly? Much of the blame lies with agricultural policy and the desire to boost agricultural outputs by plowing edge-to-edge with ever-larger farm machinery.

In addition, as more and more people have moved into the countryside to live on mini-estates, hedgerows have fallen to new housing developments and road widening.

Though a 1997 law was enacted in the U.K. to try to slow hedgerow destruction, the bulldozers continue to do their work there as they do here.

Last week I was driving a section of Maryland countryside which I had hunted on six or seven years earlier.

Since then, hedge and field have been bulldozed clear and replaced with plastic houses and font laws. "Possum Ridge" it was once called, but there were no possums there now; just plastic toys, playground equipment, fresh cut lawns and asphalt driveways.

To read more about what is happening to the land around Washington and Baltimore (and why) read The Fox Versus the Stork.
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Ron Howard (with Special Guests) on This Election

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Funny. Check It Out.

1. Blow your mind. Guaranteed.
   
2. And more good stuff here.

Putin Has This as His Ringtone

Just mention Sarah Palin overseas, and folks burst out laughing. And now the laughter is captured in song! You bet'cha!

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Stitch by stitch

Knitting has been my saving grace these past couple of days and nights. At first I couldn't concentrate on my knitting, or read a book, but with the pain easing slightly, I've taken up the needles again. I'm also reading a very interesting book, but more about that in another post. I started another Ascot scarf, for which I'm using a soft Australian 100% merino wool. The needles I'm using on

Rural Rednecks for Obama!

From Reuters comes news that Obama and McCain are tied among rural voters in 13 swing states. Unbelieveable!

After trailing by 10 points in U.S. rural areas, Democrat Barack Obama is neck-and-neck with Republican John McCain among rural voters in 13 swing states, a potentially key group for winning the White House, according to a poll released on Thursday.

Obama was supported by 46 percent and McCain by 45 percent of 841 likely voters surveyed from October 5-21, as U.S. financial turmoil deepened, according to the poll commissioned by the nonpartisan Center for Rural Strategies in Whitesburg, Kentucky.

A month ago, the poll showed McCain led 51-41. This time, respondents said Obama would do better than McCain on the economy, taxes and "the financial crisis in the country."

Nearly 20 percent of Americans live in rural areas. They tend to be social and fiscal conservatives. President George W. Bush won rural districts nationwide by 19 points in 2004.

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Fall photos

Some of my favorite things this fall

1958 Frank Capra TV Episode on Global Warming

A 1958 episode of The Bell Telephone Hour entitled "The Unchained Goddess" clearly explains Global Warming and its dangers. Produced by none other than Frank Capra.

• Related Posts from the Blog:
  
  ** An Inconvenient Truth
  ** Pasturing the Horses

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1938 Chevy Ad: A Dog Is Like a Car

LINK TO VIDEO

Bizarre!

After the first bit of announcing, there is no sound for a little while (during the sheep herding portion), and then there is an odd segway into dog design as a metaphor for car design.

From 1938, when advertising was still its infancy.

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Sarah: It's Not About the Shoes

For Obama wearing out his shoes is part of the job. This picture was taken prior to his third resole on this pair. And no, they are not the $525 Italian imports favored by John McCain.


It turns out Sarah Palin has taken over $150,000 of campaign donations and spent it on clothes, including a Louis Vuitton bag for her 7-year old (see slide show at link).

The campaign also trowled $13,200 worth of makeup onto her face in September alone. Wow! What is she hiding under all that foundation? We've all heard about putting lipstick on a pig, but that's ridiculous!

The funny thing is I have always thought Palin looked like she bought her clothes at the bargain rack -- an excusable thing from somone who no doubt lives far from a Nordstrom or Bloomingdales. Silly me! It turns out Sarah Palin simply has bad taste. How else to explain this dowdy look for $150,000?

As for Barack and Michelle Obama, they have gotten fashion respect for being the very essence of good taste.

So, how do they do it? Simple: they buy good stuff off the rack (most of it pretty moderately priced) and they maintain it as if they paid for it themselves (which they did).

And no, that kind of clear level-headed thinking does not cost a fortune. It simply requires good choices, solid discipline and a firm belief that, no matter what the game, it's not about the shoes.

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As the wheels come off the McCain bus, and the sagging frame scrapes the tarmac so hard it throws a rooster-tail of sparks into a darkening sky, everyone is moving to distance themselves from what appears to be an inevitable political crash. Florida Republican Governor Charlie Crist, for example, has already noted that he buys his suits off the rack at Dillard's department store in Florida.

But still the hits keep coming.

It turns out Sarah Palin charged the state of Alaska over $21,000 for her children to travel with her to events to which they were not invited. When she was caught out on that, she then amended her expense reports to say the kids were on "official business." No explanation for how a 40-minute speech turned into a four-day junket with her daughter in New York City with accomodations at a $700-a-night hotel. . .

This little scandal follows on the heels of the revelation that Ms. Palin used a government "per diem" allowance to charge Alaska taxpayers for more than 300 nights she spent in her own home.

And, of course, there is the house itself. It seems her house in Wassila was built by the same contractor that built that $12 million sports complex (for a town of 6,000). Hmmmmm.

And more seems to come out everday, from no knowing what the Vice President does (it's not to "run the senate" as she had repeatedly said), to demonization of all of America that is not small town and pure white.

And more is yet to come, no doubt. On Friday, Palin will have to give a deposition in the "Troopergate" fiasco. She has already been found guilty of violating state ethics laws by a bi-partisan investigation. Now a the Personnel Commission (which she can fire at will), has to decide whether to sanction her for those violations. No matter what they do, that is sure to be more wood to the fire.



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Reconnecting

Our driveway with a wall of star jasmine and agapanthus.I'm not sure if I told you all about my knee. I had a painful attack like this about five weeks ago, just after driving back from my aunt's funeral. Now it's back again after another long drive associated with the conference I went to last week. After the first episode, I went to the doctor and had an ultrasound, xrays and blood tests.

Dogs in Danger

Here's a site that aims to rescue dogs by giving folks a simple message: the clock is on.

Type in your zip code and explore.
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Water, Stone, Time

"The finest workers in stone
are not copper or steel tools,
but the gentle touches of air and water
working at their leisure
with a liberal allowance of time."
- Henry David Thoreau
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Hello!

Hello everyone. This is just a short note to let you know that I'm okay but I have a sore knee and it's not letting me sit at the computer for any length of time. I've been sleeping in a lounge chair for the past three nights. However, it seems to be showing signs of improvement this morning so I'll be back with a post, and to answer all those emails and comments, hopefully, later today.

Get Your Carving On

From www.yeswecarve.com

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Digging on the Dogs

This groundhog seemed to have a patch of mange.

On Saturday night, after coming in from JRTCA Nationals, Connie and Kelly and I had a terrific dinner and a lot of laughs at Larry and Linda Morrison's.

The next morning I met up with the ladies at Larry and Linda's, and got treated to one of Linda's wonderful breakfasts (biscuits, eggs, sausage, home-made jam, potatoes).

We then loaded up the truck and headed out to a nearby farm to see if we could work off a few calories with shovel, digging bar, and terriers in tow. The weather was about perfect!



The corn had not yet come off of most of the fields, and the creek banks and hedges were dramatically overgrown with multiflora rose and cockleburs.

The ground down by the lower creek appeared to be a bit loggy, so we cut up through the corn to a small wooded copse to see if we could locate a few on higher and drier ground. There we found our first groundhog of the day under a pile of massive old cow femurs and bits of old farm detritus.



The second groundhog of the day was located in a massive multiflora rose break, which we cut down to size in short order with the help of a machete.

Kelly's young dog Lolly (pictured above) got face-to-face with her first groundhog at this hole, and she bayed it up, and then Wager got behind the groundhog and pushed it to bolt into a snare.

The third groundhog of the day (pictured at the top of this post) was located by Connie's dog Wager, who got in and bottled it up very nicely.



By now the day was getting a bit long in the tooth, and we were getting hungry, so we trundled back to the truck for water and cookies, before heading back to the Morrison's for another fabulous meal (deer steaks!) and more laughs.

I was a bit late rolling for home (apologies to the wife), but the time out was well-spent. Good people, good times, good food and good laughs. What more do you want from life? Nothing!
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The Law of Unintended Consequences

In the U.K. it is now illegal to practice catch-and-release terrierwork -- you must terminate every animal that has been dug to, and none can be relocated.

This insane law is a direct result of the "animal rights" movement writing legislation about something they know nothing about and do not understand.

Ironically, the end result, when combined with restrictions on the number of dogs that can be used while fox hunting, is that fox are simply being shot in record numbers as they are now seen as pure pests and have lost all economic value as a hunted (and therefore economically valuable) species.

Even as fox are losing value as a quarry species, their numbers are proliferating due to people feeding them out their back door.

The result, as seen above, can be extreme population densities which are inevitably controlled through the raveages of disease, vehicle impact, or shooting (the picture above is of 23 fox shot in one night on a UK golf course by a professional pest exteriminator).

It is ironic, but true, that nothing has been better for fox than fox hunting! Not only are the mounted hunts inefficient (meaning they could never hope to extirpate fox from an area), but they tended to disburse fox populations and pick off the weaker and sicker animals -- often before they could spread disease to other animals in the fox population.

In addition, the mounted hunts, by creating jobs and a vocal voting political constituency, worked to protect both fox habitat and discourage wholesale fox shooting. Finally, the mounted hunts were responsible for introducing red fox to countries all over the world -- including the United States.
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JRTCA Nationals

I spent a good chunk of Saturday at the national trial of the Jack Russell Terrier Club of America -- the only dog show I go to. As always there were a lot of dogs -- somewhere between 900 and a 1,000 terriers -- and quite a lot of them very good looking examples of the type.

I spent most of my time schmoozing with folks, but I did do a quick cruise of the stalls where I found a first edition (1931) copy of Igloo for sale for $14. I had actually posted a bit about this book a few weeks back, and the price was right so I snapped up the book on the assumption that God clearly wanted me to actually read it.

I did not spend too much time watching the dogs being paraded around the ring (there are no professional handlers at a JRTCA trial), but I did pause to note that this year 30 dogs got Bronze Medallions for having successfully worked three kinds of quarry in the ground (groundhog, red fox, gray fox, raccoon, badger or possum are the options) before a JRTCA hunt judge. For the record, these are real hunts in field, forest or hedgerow, and the JRTCA judges are not paid for their time, their gas, or their expertise. This is all voluntary and 30 Bronze Medallions represents a considerable amount of time in the field.

The weather for the trial was picture-perfect, and to my untrained eyes everything seemed to go off without a hitch.

Congratulations to all who work behind the scenes to put these kinds of things on -- it is a tyranny of details and thankless work to boot. Hat's off to all those who do it!

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Seth and Polly

I can't tell you how good it feels to me to be home again doing "normal" things. I thought that going away for a couple of nights would be sort of semi-exciting, how wrong I was. When I was out, I was in the middle of a large and extremely busy city; when I was "home" I was in a hotel, cut off from nature with air-conditioning, thick walls and a little glass door that lead out to a very

Massive Recall of Defective Pugs

From The Onion comes this little treasure:

WASHINGTON, DC—Citing centuries of quality- control issues that have resulted in chronic unreliability, cascading system failures, and even total unit shutdown, the American Pug Breeders Association announced a recall Monday of all pugs produced between February 2006 and the present day.

"We apologize wholeheartedly to any and all owners of the 2007 pug," APBA director Betty McAndrews said at a press conference, standing before a table where 10 defective pugs were displayed. "While pug owners are accustomed to dog malfunction, the latest animals are prone to more problems than just the usual joint failures, overheating, seizures, chronic respiratory defects, and inability to breed without assistance. The latest model pug is simply not in any way a viable dog."

Read the whole thing. A hat tip to Janeen at Smartdogs for pointing this one out to me.

Of course, there is more truth here than you can imagine. As Pugvillage.com notes:

The bottom line regarding Pugs and health is that Pugs are prone to a myriad of genetic health issues, and require more veterinary care than the average breed of dog. If you get a Pug, be prepared to make a lot of trips to the vet... . If you don’t have the time, money or willingness to commit the next 12 years to a dog that may have frequent and significant health problems, don’t get a Pug.

Hmmmm. Maybe another better way of saying that is: "If you object to intentionally and willfully inflicting a lifetime of unnecessary misery on a dog, then club anyone who breeds or even owns a pug."

Because that is what a pug is all about. This is a basket-case of a dog. Due to their pushed-in faces, these dogs are known to overheat while sitting on the couch in an air conditioned room. Run around in a field? Play catch? You have to be kidding! A pug's respiratory system is so defective-by-design (another case of the Kennel Club embracing defect and deformity) that the dog can do little more than catch a cold.

As for giving birth, forget it. Here too the Kennel Club has embraced a standard for defect and deformity, prescribing a dog with a huge head and narrow hips. The result is a dog that not only cannot give birth without cesarean section in most cases, but in many cases it cannot even mate!

Yes, that's right: most pugs are artificially inseminated because the dog is so structurally unsound it cannot even have sex!

But, of course, that's not all that comes with pugs. This dog is also known to have frequent eye problems (cataracts, corneal ulcers, dry eye, ingrown eyelashes, Progressive Retinal Atrophy) as well as elongated soft palettes, encephalitis, hip dysplasia and legg-calvé-perthes to name just a few problems.

And did we mention nearly intractable skin problems? Yep, this dog is likely to have that little misery to contend with as well.

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Sheep Dog Trials in Gordonsville

Last weekend, I went up to Gordonsville, Virginia to see a little bit of the sheep dog trials and to finally meet Don McCaig, who is a terrific writer, a true gentleman, and a font of knowledge about the history of dogs.

I reviewed one of his books, The Dog Wars: How the Border Collie Battled the American Kennel Club in a previous post on this blog. Check it out!

I also heartily recommend several other books written by Don, starting with Eminent Dogs, Dangerous Men, which is about his trip to Scotland to find a working border collie to help him run his sheep farm in Highland County, Virginia (a New York Times best seller).

Two other books by Don McCaig that I enjoyed quite a lot are Nops Trials and Nop's Hope, which are good dog-centered novels.

I have also read A Useful Dog (a 75-page book of good dog essays and stories) and I have Jacob's Ladder on my book shelf, though in truth I have not read it as it is about the Civil War. If you are from Virginia, where Civil War battle fields surround you, you do not go lightly into a book about the Civil War. Maybe this winter.

As for the Gordonsville sheep dog trial, it was ... a sheepdog trial.

How to describe it?

It starts off with a few white dots so far up the field they are mere rumors of wool. From in front of us dogs would start up the hill in a long curving outrun. A small bit of pressure would then be put on the sheep by the dogs as they curve around from the right just uphill from the sheep. The goal here is to put on just enough pressure to generate the "lift." Generally the dog is still quite a long ways away from the sheep when this occurs. With the lift accomplished, and the sheep just beginning to move down hill, the dog would then start the longer portion of the job -- the fetch and drive down the hill, with the woolies required to go through various gates before getting "penned" in a small square-sided bit of four-board fencing.

Needless to say, it's a lot harder than it looks, and some dogs and owners are a better team than others.

At least one dog started an outrun and simply kept going; I'm not sure it even glanced at the sheep. More training needed there!

The penning is the most fun for an ignorant novice like me to watch, as it's easy to understand and well within eyesight. If a dog puts too much pressure on the sheep, they bust left and right. If the dog puts on too little, the dog and the flock stand there eyeing each other in an uneasy Mexican standoff. Too slow and you lose points; too fast and you lose it all.





The land on which this trial took place was drop-dead gorgeous, and right where the spectators and participants were set up to watch the action was a terrific set of old farm equipment, including a steam-powered tractor and locomotive, with big belt wheel on top to drive a lumber mill.

I suppose we gained a lot with the internal combustion engine, but when you look at these old steam engines, if feels like we lost a little something too.




I did not ask Don what he was writing at the moment; these things are best not talked about while in vitro. Suffice it to say I am pretty sure he is writing something, and that when it comes out I will be adding another book to the shelf.

A good writer is hard to find, and Don McCaig certainly qualifies!
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