More Trilobites

Another museum stop in San Francisco was at The California Academy of Sciences, also located in Golden Gate Park. While there, I saw these wonderful trilobite fossils.

You might recall a post I did early in the month, that linked to a New York Times article on trilobites that had a rather amazing picture of a fossil from Morocco. I was pleased to see this specimen of Drotops armatus, also from Morocco. I boggled at how big it was - about the size of my hand. As we discussed in my earlier post, you have to wonder how they prepared it.

This is Phacops rana, from Ohio. It (and the specimen in the picture below) are more the size I had expected, maybe half again the size of a cockroach.

This is Reedops deckeri, specimen collected in Oklahoma.

Gottardo Piazzoni and a Friend

Earlier in the month, Connie and I took a trip to the Bay Area. Connie was taking a training course in San Francisco on Thursday and Friday of that week, and while she was in school, I played hookey and hit a couple of museums. On the weekend, we drove up to Sonoma County and toured wineries, etc.

One of my visits was to the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and its excellent art collections. When I got there, I was surprised and pleased to see this sign, advertising works by Gottardo Piazzoni (1872-1945) a Swiss-born California artist, who I had read about, but whose work I had never seen.

The room houses two murals:

The Sea (1931)...

and The Land (1932). Please click to "embiggen" these. The angled shots were the best I could do with the size of the room and my 18mm lens. Each mural is done in five panels and they were meant to give the impression that the viewer is looking out through a colonnade, west to a seascape and east to a landscape. They were originally painted for and installed in the San Francisco Public Library. They were moved to the de Young after the library was repurposed as a museum for oriental art.

Piazzoni was the grandfather of contemporary artist Russell Chatham, who you may know, did the painting on the cover of this book. In the short memoir he wrote for his book, One Hundred Paintings , Chatham describes how he spent endless hours in his youth copying his grandfather's paintings, which were a great inspiration to him. I believe you can certainly see Piazzoni's influence in his work.

Here is another Piazzoni painting that was in the gallery, Silence (1912).

And in the gallery near Silence, I was able to view this Maynard Dixon painting I had not seen before, November in Nevada (1935). You all know how I feel about Dixon.

Dixon and Piazzoni were contemporaries and friends, part of a group of writers and artists who regularly had dinner together at Coppa's, an Italian restaurant in San Francisco.

Big Tom

Connie and I were visiting a local land reserve a few days ago and saw this guy struttin' for the ladies.

A Very Old Site In Brazil

Last week the New York Times had this article about a rock shelter in Brazil that had yielded a date of 22,000 BP for its earliest human occupation. The article goes on about its implications for dating the peopling of the New World, which if you have been reading some of our posts here, you'll know the theories regarding it are undergoing a tumultuous revolution. RTWT.

These old dates from South America have been kicking around for a while, including the almost 15,000  BP date for Monte Verde in Chile, and they expose one of the flaws with the old single Beringian migration paradigm. If the old paradigm were true, logically we should find that the earliest dated sites in Alaska should be the oldest and the earliest dated sites in Tierra del Fuego should be the youngest. Numerous studies have shown this doesn't hold true in any sense.

And I have to point out that it is sad to see good archaeologists asserting that the tools associated with the early dates must have been made by monkeys to try to deny the findings.

Weekend Doggage

Shiri just took these photos of the ever- amazing Larissa. Can't believe how she has blossomed since she got out from under the domination of her slightly tyrannical mother Ataika.

It also shows the skills and stamina our dogs must display to hunt successfully in this harsh country. Go Riss!

And I am starting to process many oldies too, so expect the unexpected. Here is one of Riley, whose mother was the deerhound Lepus and father the golden brindle country greyhound Diamond.  Below that are two of Floyd's hounds.

Riley caught, single hand, the big coyote whose pelt is buried with Betsy Huntington. Notice his size beside the grey Lady and the white saluki cross "Gates".

Photos from 1985 I think, loading up Floyd Mansell's dog truck. I have better photos of the truck but these are good of the hounds. Click to enlarge...

Motto

It was "Isaak Dinesen's" as well as one that was quoted a bit in many venues in the 70's. Can't fault it:

Navigare necesse est;  vivere non est necesse...

From Plutarch , if a borrowing; even then;  also recently attributed to everyone up to William Burroughs, who did not say it first-- though he used it in favor of exploring Space!...

TH White and Falconry

Courtesy of Jon D'Arpino and the Journal of the North American Falconers Association, with special thanks to Conor Jameson, The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas in Austin, Helen Macdonald for taking me there and of course Stacia Novy, who got me to write it.

Cock Fighting, Naturally

It's that time of year again: Greater Sage Grouse are gathering on their leks (breeding grounds), with plenty of strutting and displaying by the males in attempt to impress the females. I've spent the last three mornings on a lek near our home in western Wyoming, and today was the only day I've managed to get any photos. The other two mornings, I was "eagled" which is my version of skunked while fishing. A golden eagle came over the lek just as daylight was breaking, blowing all the grouse off the lek before I could get a decent shot.

The sage grouse cocks did plenty of slapping at each other this morning, but it all begins with trash talk. "What? You talkin' to me?"

The two then strut around each other, taking measure of the opponent, before squaring off to fight.

The fight is furious for several seconds.

There were about a dozens males remaining on the lek, continuing their disputes, a full two hours after my arrival. Meanwhile, the hens had quietly picked their males and had melted back into the nearby sagebrush.

T H White: Endpapers for The Sword and the Stone

Way better than Disney:

Mahakala(s): Mongolian Free Association

I took a bunch of Mongolian artifacts to the Magdalena Library Saturday as visual aids to a talk by my friend Ian Jenness. He and his wife had taken the Trans- Siberian to Lake Baikal and Irkutsk, then dropped down to Ulan Bataar, spent a week or so in Mongolia in ger camps, then continued by rail through China.

I bought snuff boxes and 19th Century books and clothing and a muzzleloader and folk paintings, and several images of this guy:

Though he looks monstrous to Western eyes, he is in fact supposed to be a fierce protector; one of his "jobs" is Protector of Monasteries. This may well have special relevance to Mongolia in the past (and Tibet in the present?) Although Choibaltsan is sometimes called the Mongol Stalin, and ruled for about the same span of years, his reign was marked more by stultifying bureaucracy then terror-- except for monasteries and (as always with dictators?) minority tribes. I was once shown a cave where he had ordered 30 monks burned alive in the 50's, with soot still visible on the roof. It was refreshing to know that the family who showed me the cave were the proud parents of a novice monk, who took a day off to join us at our feast at their summer ger.

(From Wiki: " Choibalsan oversaw violent Soviet-ordered purges in the late 1930s that resulted in the deaths of an estimated 30,000 to 35,000 Mongolians; mostly Buddhist clergy, intelligentsia, political dissidents, ethnic Buryats and Khazaks, and other "enemies of the revolution." His intense persecution of Mongolia's Buddhists brought about their near complete extinction in the country.")

But wait-- there is more. Mahakala is also the genus of a small but taxonomically important feathered Mongolian Dino, a sort of roadrunner with a bony tail.

Brian Switek writes about his discovery here; and Carl Zimmer tell us how his lineage illuminates the bird- Dino lineage here.

Random Photoblogging

In front of me:

In front of my house:

T H White Memorial

I am an unabashed fan of Terence Hanbury White; whatever his personal faults and agonies, he left a legacy of good books about things that interest me and my friends-- probably all naturalists and writers on country matters and falconers who understand honesty. If he had written just the Arthurian trilogy and The Goshawk he would be remembered; as it is, though he is the only writer I formally collect, I am still missing two of his many (what?-- you think I am going to the library to count?) books, despite three decades of searching.

Falconer- biologist Stacia Novy, who has appeared here before, found out that there is no memorial to White, neither in England where he is temporarily forgotten, in Greece where he died on a cruise, or in the US where he is dimly seen as someone who inspired a hit musical (Camelot) and a children's cartoon (The Sword in the Stone, a miserably Disney- fied version of what may just be one of my favorite books of all time).
Stacia:

Stacia knew I had done some White research in his papers at the Harry Ransom Center in Austin with Helen Macdonald, whose forthcoming book on training a Gos and reading White, H is for Hawk , should be on the must- read list for all Q- Philes.

So she recruited me and the young English nature writer Conor Jameson, whose recent book Looking for the Goshawk is worth ordering on English Amazon without waiting for a US edition, to make a case for White.

So we did, in the Journal of the North American Falconer's Association. Unfortunately it is at least right now not available to non- members-- I may publish it here later, as it is not long. Stacia has persuaded the Peregrine Fund to make a memorial for him at the World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, a place any raptor- phile must visit, if we can come up with the relatively reasonable sum. If you have been delighted or moved or even irritated by White and Gos and The Wart, consider contributing a few dollars. The pages below, annotated by Stacia, will show you how-- right or double click to enlarge. Remember, this is just HOW-- you must go to their site first! She adds these instructions:

1.  Type this link into the browser:      https://my.peregrinefund.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=352

2.  The online form will appear on screen; it will look exactly like the attached screenshots (top and bottom)

3.  Do NOT press the big, red, round button at the top

4.  Monetary Donations must be in US Dollars

5.  Fill in the yellow highlighted areas of the Donation Form Top

6.  Select item(s) indicated in the drop-down menu(s)

7.  If the Address menu does NOT have the state or foreign country listed, select "N/A"

8.  Fill in e-mail address to receive an automatic donation receipt

9.  Fill in the yellow highlighted areas of the Donation Form Bottom

10.  Fill in applicable credit card information

11.   Fill in Tribute Information as shown: "Terence Hanbury White"

12.  Click the square "Donate Now" at the bottom of the screen

13.  An e-mail confirmation will be sent as a record of donation

SMLE sporter

Well, this one is late. As some may know, Gerry Cox made me an old English sporter out of an SMLE, the kind most fine English makers offered in the early 20th century. He did this out of kindness, friendship, and the challenge, in return for a minor favor. I am not only touched-- it is a useful rifle; the biggest rifle cartridge I have at the moment, in an action that, unaltered, may have, as Dave Petzal said, killed more big game species than any other. (Bonus lit point: Geoffrey Household's English agronomist used an SMLE and a "16 bore from Eibar" in Dance of the Dwarfs). Here is a typical page from an early 20th century catalog:

Gerry obtained a functional but not pretty specimen with a Fajen 50's style stock, took my measurements, and proceeded to work magic. Several people who know something have complimented him on the nice wood in the stock, not knowing he had to patch and blend more than one spot, invisibly. And though he didn't fake grain, he did stain it to the perfect color (colour?) And then he checkered it, doing rather better than some custom gunmakers I know.

Before:

His understanding of fitting was such that when I raise it up swiftly my eye comes to rest on the bead in the center of two concentric rings, the peep and the sight hood-- that is, it fits perfectly.

I'm keeping this one.

And then I remembered that the hand -embroidered gun slip from Uzbekistan that textile scholar- falconer Eric Wilcox had given me years ago was made for an Enfield (obvious from the hole for the bolt handle). Full size military rifles were right for length but too bulky; Jungle carbines so short you folded over a couple of inches. But my new sporter, like Goldilocks' porridge, was just right-- the slip covers it entirely.

I like to imagine the slip was a gift to some player of the Great Game who was also a sportsman, like Shipton. Or a naturalist- hunter, like Salim Ali. His friend Meinertzhagen like to call him a "treasonous little Wog", a fact recorded by Ali in his autobiography with great good humor. History at the moment is kinder to him that the Colonel.

Gerry was here this week with his wife and companion Caroline. The wind was up and we didn't go to the range; in fact, we talked so much, and the talk was so good, that we never took pics; I am hoping that somehow they did. Gerry?

Turf Battle

Mid-March on the western Wyoming range: Jim and I were surprised yesterday to see these two pronghorn antelope bucks engaged in a furious battle in the sagebrush.

Since it's not breeding season, we assume it was a territorial dispute.

The two fairly evenly matched bucks went at each other for several minutes, until one buck broke away and fled. It appeared the slightly smaller buck had won, but not before both bucks were bloodied.

Teddy's Team

Just a little photoblogging for today, as I have another deadline. This is Teddy Moritz's team of Dachshund and Harris, working so well together they barely need a human. Teddy bred our Lil what seems a lifetime ago, and she continues to field her team in places close to civilization on the east coast.

Kurland

Bruce Kurland may be our best still life painter. After studying many masters, he came 'home' to do something so old it is original again...

See a little (Francis) Bacon in the last? Winslow Homer in the first?

Bruce has a new book: Bruce Kurland: Illusion and the Little World. Check it out on Amazon.