A Hawk With a "Come Hither" Look

Hawk Stalking

Blue Jay Way

Blue Jay in the hedge today. Few small birds are as willing to rumble and squawk.

Rolling With the Wee Wolves

White Women at Dog Shows

Dog shows are not normal places, not even in the world of dogs.

While 71 percent of men age 18-44 own a dog (as compared to 60 percent of women of the same age), a 2002 report from the AKC Delegates Meeting reveals that 75 percent of AKC breeders, and 72 percent of AKC buyers, are women. This is a phenomenal gender bias, and it's about dog SHOWS, not dogs.

As "Showsight" notes:

The lower the level of competition, the higher proportion of women. It’s not uncommon to see classes in most breeds made up entirely of woman.

 

And it's not just gender that skews; so too does race.

Minorities at dog shows are phenomenally under-represented, while white woman are phenomenally over-represented.

While white women represent about 36 percent of the US population, white women represent twice that percentage of exhibitors at dog shows.

What's all this mean?

Well, at some level it means that if we are looking to end the breeding of diseased, deformed, and dysfunctional kennel club dogs, we need to think about the audience we need to be talking to, which is disproportionately white women.

What are their values, and why does canine health, function, and temperament rate so low that these attributes are still afforded ZERO points within the kennel club show structure?

What is it about white women that seems to disproportionately attract them to a system of competitions where appearance and fake story are valued more than genuine canine health, canine work, and canine temperament?

It may be a combination of things:

1. Women who want to compete but have less places to do so;

2. Women with hair dresser and beauty queen frustrations forged in very early childhood;

3. Women with displaced maternal instincts (no children or grown children) who are redirecting with dogs.

Points #2 and #3 may be why there are a disproportionate number of women and gay men at dog shows — a phenomenon explored in the comic film “Best in Show”.

Another factor may be politics. A lot of women at dog shows are conservative republicans of a certain age — folks who may reject the idea that women are much more than the sum of their body parts, or that skin (or coat) color are of no importance.

Whatever the reason, the phenomenon is easily observable.

If something is broken in the world of show dogs (and it is), then it’s got something to do with the folks who show dogs — a cohort that is NOT representative of either America or of dog owners.

A Nation Full of Guns, But Not Gun Owners

There are about 393 million guns in private hands in the US (i.e. more guns than people), but a lot of those guns are in relatively few hands.

It turns out half of all the guns in the United States are owned by just three percent of American adults, and 78 percent of American adults do not own a gun.

Some 7.7 million Americans own between eight and 140 guns each. 

Rifled Barrels and Internal Combustion Engines

Rifled gun barrels (after 1860) and semi-automatic self-loading gun technology (after 1900) improved the accuracy and efficiency of guns. 

When new guns met the Model T, which allowed people to quickly access remote lands, the stage was set for wholesale destruction of wildlife, especially among top-end predators which are always relatively rare.

The good news is that legislators caught up, setting bag limits and seasons, and eventually banning or severely restricting the shooting of certain species. As a result, we have more deer, lion, wolf, bobcat, bald eagles, golden eagles, red fox, and coyote today than we did 50, 80, or even 100 years ago.

Double Eagle Nests

I bilked with the dogs to check on a Bald Eagle nest on the tow path, and discovered that the eagles are building a second next next to the first.  

I've never seen two nests in the same tree before, but Bald Eagles are very loyal to nest locations, often moving just a few trees over if a nest falls apart, or if a tree collapses. 

A Cautious Hawk

The Illegal Aliens Spread Smallpox Blankets

Thanksgiving during a viral pandemic is as good a time as any to review the history of how native Americans were treated by European illegal immigrants.

The native people saved their illegal aliens by showing the lazy and incompetent British how to plant corn and hunt deer.

The British illegal aliens turned around and declared biological war.

Ever hear the story about “smallpox blankets”?

It’s true.

The fellow intentionally spreading disease to native Americans was a British General by the name of Lord Jeffrey Amherst — the fellow Amherst College and the town of Amherst, Massachusetts are named after.

In a letter to General Amherst on July 13, 1763, Colonel Henry Bouquet suggests the distribution of smallpox blankets to "inocculate the Indians" with disease.

Amherst’s reply of July 16, 1763 approves the plan and suggests as well they “try Every other method that can serve to Extirpate this Execrable Race."

These same letters discuss the use of dogs to hunt and kill the Indians, the so-called "Spaniard's Method” detailed in a previous Columbus Day post.

Amherst approves of the practice of using giant dogs to terrorize, kill, and eat Indians, but says he cannot implement it because there are simply not enough dogs.

View From the Mountain

Lots of wind, so I drove up a mountain for the view before attempting a bike ride with the dogs.

On the upside, you can see the kind of thin woody hedgerows we have in our farm country. Lots of woods around here too. Bears on this mountain, and rattlesnakes too.

Wathing Over the Field and Stream

Deer Spotting

Shoot the Moon

Another handheld shot of the moon with the Nikon P90 point-and-shoot.

A Deer Struggling On

I’ve watched this deer for two years; very notable as the rear right leg has been broken and (apparently) healed. She gets around OK, but is never with the other deer — almost always on my side of the creek and alone.

Apparently the black spots are fibromatosis -- a type of common skin tumor, common in deer, called fibromas which are caused by a type of papilloma virus.

Moon Shot

Taken at 4:50 in the afternoon with a hand held camera.

Starlings Flocking in the Last of the Daylight

Deer by the Creek

Covid-19 at the Mink Farms

From The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Two Wisconsin mink farms under quarantine after more than 5,000 animals died from COVID-19

Two mink farms in Taylor County are under quarantine after animals in the facilities tested positive for ARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 in humans.

Between the two farms, more than 5,400 mink have died, said Kevin Hoffman, the public information officer for the state Division of Animal Health. 

The virus was confirmed at the first farm in early October when a dead mink tested positive for the disease. The farm was quarantined at that point, meaning no animals or animal parts could leave the premises. It's believed the virus jumped from a human to the animals, Hoffman said, but an investigation into the transfer is still underway. 

The outbreak at the second farm was found more recently, Hoffman said. It is not believed that the virus jumped from the first farm to the second. 

More >> here  

The Lucky and the Heroic of World War II

Staff Sgt. Casimer A. Nastal of Detroit, Mich., was a waist gunner on the Memphis Belle. Here he’s flying “Virginia”.

On May 17th, 1943 the crew of the Memphis Belle were one of the first to complete 25 missions without being shot down. As heroes – congratulated by royalty, awarded Distinguished Flying Crosses, and immortalized on film – they were rewarded by crisscrossing America selling war bonds with Stuka, their Scottish terrier mascot.

This is Madness

Raccoons in the US can carry rabies, distemper, mange, and roundworms.

Do You Even Science?

Luke the Dog, Silent Screen Star

 

On this day in 1920, Buster Keaton released his third film, the 19-minute silent short called “The Scarecrow” which co-starred Luke the Dog (1913-1926) an American Staffordshire Terrier (Pitbull) who was a recurring character in American silent comedy shorts between 1914 and 1920. 

In real life, Luke was the personal pet of actress Minta Durfee and her husband, comedian and director Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, who did the actual training of the dog.

“The Scarecrow” was Luke the Dog’s last film due to the divorce of Roscoe and Minta. 

Luke died in 1926 in Los Angeles at age 13. 

Luke’s break out performance was in in “Fatty's Faithful Fido,” which can be seen below.

 

Willow Establishes a Routine

This is Willow, the Italian Greyhound X Boston Terrier cross we got from a rescue about a month ago.  She's 5 months old now, and just 7-8 pounds. The ears are ridiculous, but otherwise she's very much an Italian Greyhound in body shape -- very long legs and thin frame.  She potty-trained in a week and has been accident free since then. She was born in rescue from a dam who arrived pregnant.

Deer and Blue Heron Down by the Creek

Pair of Red Fox

At the old house.

Hunting in the Shallows at the End of a Winters Day

The Man and the Myth

Showing the rippling physique I am known for, as well as the craftsmanship and sartorial magnificence that has made me famous. This was Kenitra. Morocco, around 1969.

There Is More to Life Than Increasing Its Speed