Outback Notes

This has been a bad year for the Northern Pocket Gopher (Thomomys talpoides). Perhaps I should rephrase that. It has been a good year for them, and a bad year for me where they are concerned. Last year they pretty much gave us a pass. This year they we…

If weeds were edible (and I guess some are) there would be no world food problem. I could probably feed all of Bangladesh out of my little garden plot, at least this year I might’ve as they seemed especially vigorous and fast-growing. I know there are many schemes to avoid or defeat weeds, but next [...]

Anyone who has visited this blog more than once or twice knows that dogs are, and have been, a very important part of my life. I have been enormously privileged to have lived with some really fine dogs. By fine I do not breeding, pedigrees, and the like. I mean character, intelligence, and spirit. In [...]

We haven’t had any rain for quite a while. But this morning a gentle drizzle began to fall. The birds lined up on all the fences and flapped their wings happily. The dogs, usually not fond of getting their feet wet, went out and played for a while in the cool air. When Emma and [...]

We humans are pretty jaded critters. It’s hard for us to get too excited about “fun activities” unless they are expensive extravaganzas, often involving lots of alcohol and other added “entertainment” magnifiers. Dogs don’t have that problem. They still know how to have 110% fun with the simplest things. A 49¢ tennis ball. A bone [...]

Bison are for the most part very companionable creatures. They are group-oriented in the extreme. While you will occasionally encounter a solitary old bull, they are the exception rather than the rule. When bison roamed the American plains the male-female ratio was much closer to 1:1 than it is now in controlled herds. Nowadays the [...]

Someone recently wrote me about the collar that appears often on pictures of Jack. I answered then and later thought that I should post that answer here. Here it is… Thanks. My dogs are happy. A genuinely happy bunch. Jack’s tail almost never stops wagging— except when he’s after birds or something else he can [...]

I swore to myself I’d never again stand behind a commercial mo’om pitcher camera. But I am weak, and at the request of the ranch foreman I have been doing some filming of his critters lately. He wanted some footage of moving them between “pastures.” The word pasture does not really convey the meaning of [...]

Today is the 89th anniversary of the death of Michael Collins. Who knows how the history of Ireland would have been shaped had Collins lived. Would he have been the savior of his country, or would he have slowly morphed into a military dictator? Both, I think, are overstated positions. What cannot be disputed is [...]

Pictures of my three all together are few and far between. They’re most often tearing around doing their own thing and trying to get them together, quiet, and attentive is almost impossible. But last month, for a split second, it all came together. They were playing together in the cool of dusk, I called them, [...]

That’s the tentative name anyway. The new place is quite a bit more “southwesty” than my present digs, even though it’s at the same altitude although further south. As I mentioned earlier, the dogs and I spent last weekend on it, getting the feel of it, and with me digging out prickly pear of which [...]

The other evening I noticed Jack out on the lawn nibbling away at a forepaw. I went out to find he had some quills in it, as well as a couple in his nose. I got the pliers and pulled them. He didn’t care much for the process at all, but was a very good [...]

I apologize for not paying much attention to this blog of late. I was really touched by the several kind souls that emailed to see if I was still among the living. Kind indeed, and somewhat guilt-inducing (but nothing I can’t handle). Thanks, friends. Truth is I have been pretty busy of late with not [...]

Yesterday Emma and Jack found a turtle in the yard. Jack got bored real quick since he couldn’t see any sign of feathers. But Emma thought it was very interesting and since it would peek out from time to time she knew somebody was living inside. I was afraid she’d flip it onto its back [...]

Late in the afternoon yesterday as I was putting equipment back in the shop I noticed a large bull snake lying on the apron in front of one of the overhead doors. I tried to shoo him OUT but of course he decided to go IN. Rather than search for him I decided to leave [...]

Went down to the country seat yesterday to help out with a community project and stayed for a while to watch the annual parade. The gentleman on the right of the color guard is no spring chicken, but the fellow on the left is 90 years old. He and that Garand he’s toting (or one [...]