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The Hunted
Lord, anti- that first was the funniest deer video--almost fell out of my chair! On taxidermy, I once presented at a Berkeley conference around Halloween, with the theme of the "Undead." I presented on the human taxidermic practice of "plastination." Unfort, the Web page is no longer up, but a colleague gave a paper on Walter Potter, the eminently creepy Victorian taxidermist. The link below gives more than an idea of what his work was all about. Tea parties with kittens are among the most disturbing of the tableaux: http://seesomethingstrange.blogspot.com/2009/05/w… As for the hunting, I don't like it any more than you do, MsGrant, and find hunting for purely recreational reasons abhorrent. However, I do feel more at ease with those who hunt meat legally and locally in order to feed themselves. I disagree that we as human beings have a deep "need" to hunt or even consume meat, but would agree with NorCal that to condemn alimentary hunters is a puzzling and hypocritical attitude on the part of those who consume meat from environmentally disastrous and ethically unsound factory farms.— June 4, 2009 6:50 p.m.
I Played God
Merci, AG. Not to take FF's posts lightly and I will emphasize again that clearly, I am just recording my own observations, but as for the bird feeders--it is curious that though one of my Fallbrook cousins cats has a bird feeder on her deck, right outside the living room, her cat has not once yet caught a bird at it--and he is a fierce guy. It is for him just like Bird TV, starring a fat lot of sassy jays, mocks, and finches of all sizes, more than happy to dine several times a day ;)— June 4, 2009 5:10 p.m.
Racquetball Rorschach
Wait--they charge you to get it framed? I thought if you win the contest, you win a framed cartoon. What a racket! That's like those ads for cheesy poetry "contests," where they actually just want you to pay to "publish" yourself in a giant book of crappy poems, along with other rubes who paid to get in.— June 4, 2009 4:22 p.m.
Racquetball Rorschach
Cool. Are you going to pony up the 75 to get this guy's strategy? I agree that studying the dictionary is a great thing to do anyway--anytime I look a word up in my big old desk dictionary, I always get caught up reading more than I intended... Boggle...I'll assume you're not speaking of my perpetual state of mind...:o Not sure I've ever tried Boggle, and really suck at games--truly. Rules just mentally leak right out as soon as I try to absorb them. It feels like wasted energy. One of my cousins sometimes coaxes me play "dictionary" with her. We make up rules as we go along--four syllable words starting with "H," for example, or two or more syllables related to a given topic. It is very ping-pong like, a fast-paced and high-pressure lobbing of words back and forth. She invariably beats me--though by a narrow margin. Ever tried that? You can make it into a drinking game if you like (guess that can be done with anything ;) How do you think you'd fare at that, J?— June 4, 2009 4:17 p.m.
I Played God
FF, I appreciate your apparently well-researched facts, and will try to further educate myself on the substance of your report, including the claim that there is such a mass slaughter of indigenous birds. I can only offer my personal observation at this moment--my family has three properties in Fallbrook, where unfortunately people dump unwanted pets, and semi-feral cats breed and roam unchecked. An elderly neighbor has an enclosure in which cats sleep and eat at night, but are released during the day. Presumably, she lives on social security, and surely cannot afford to neuter and spay, or provide medical care, so other neighbors, including my family, try to adopt and treat as many cats as they can, to keep as pets, and to try to help control the breeding population (my current fur associate comes from this population, and lives completely indoors). These cats do catch birds now and then, but after many years, I've concluded that they predate mostly on lizards and young rabbits--birds appear to be much harder to catch. The cats in turn are easily and voluminously preyed upon by coyotes. It is a relentless, short-lived cycle, and these felines don't have much of a chance, and don't live beyond a few years. It is crazy-difficult to keep them in at night, and everyone has trouble locating and getting the cats in before dusk, and keeping them in. Short of a massive spay and neuter attempt on the part of the county, which is already overloaded with abandoned domestic pets--and this area is unincorporated--short of the enclosures, which seem unlikely, I don't know how you would realistically propose to control the feline population. At any rate, I think you need to let up the pressure on MsGrant. She was at the least able to get the cardboard vise off this poor creature's neck, and put it in capable hands. She should be commended for her responsible actions. Many people just don't care at all, so let's 'grant' kudos where due.— June 4, 2009 3:29 p.m.
Rubber Hose
No flatter, just the facts, sir ;) I think you should add in more material, such as above, about your father, too--good stuff! "This is a man, my father, who shot and killed a buck, dressed it, and made steaks from it; yet he loved that dog too much to part from it...He drew his lines in the sand, and in doing so, made his strengths my weaknesses and his weaknesses my strengths." Lovely. It could tighten the theme of transitioning from childhood; learning about human sensibility through observation of how adults treat and relate to family animals. Inspires me to write about a few summers I spent on an Oregon farm as a kid--shock and almost sacred awe tantamount to Lord of the Flies finding out about slaughter and the daily care of farm animals--so different from our brutal, inhuman practices at the factories... Anyway, this must have been tough to write--good work!— June 4, 2009 1:38 p.m.
Holding Tight to Friendship
Wrote you in private, dearie. Let us know how Johnny Fever is doing, if you have heard any news.— June 4, 2009 1:24 p.m.
Rubber Hose
Ah, you are pulling some easy strings, refried, and making me cry. Looks like you took up the theme of "so much depends" yourself, friend. More sentences like these! "He walked with his head on a swivel, in case his memory and sense of touch somehow deceived him, so that in case he ran into anything, he was prepared to defer to the static object in front of him."— June 4, 2009 12:50 p.m.
Don't Bring a Bat to a Gun Fight
rickeysays, are you a fan of Edmund Burke?— June 4, 2009 noon
The morning after the fires are reflected on the water; from the J st marina
Makes perfect wallpaper! Thanks :)— June 3, 2009 11:02 p.m.