A parting shot...

I want to leave you with an image or two. Luckily, although all my stuff is still tied up in the EMac, more comes in all the time. Here is a photo that Andrey Kovalenko, breeder of one of my tazis and owner of the father of another, took while on an extended ornithological trip to the drying Aral Sea and the Syr Daria delta (he works for the government of Kazakhstan). Pictured is a Turkmenian falconer and his dog, not unlike the ones we will be looking for further west-- but even more like two of my own dogs.

And here is Andrey:

I'll trust Reid and Matt to keep you informed and amused. Please check in, refresh often, buy my books, and keep Libby entertained with comments. I'm just traveling--fleas, cold, at worst bandits. She has to work, to ride herd on the beasts, to organize car repairs and computer ditto, and to supervise the building of two buttresses so our east wall doesn't fall down!! Why she puts up with me I'll never know.