Terrierman's Daily Dose
Information on working terriers, dogs, natural history, hunting, and the environment, with occasional political commentary as I see fit. This web log is associated with the Terrierman.com web site.
Friday, March 29, 2024
Lambs and Easter
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Practice Resurrection
Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front
by Wendell Berry
Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.
So, friends, every day do something
that won’t compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.
Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.
Listen to carrion — put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?
Go with your love to the fields.
Lie easy in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn’t go. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Fools and Their Money Are Some Party
The Most Ferocious Enemy of Justice
“It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.” — James Baldwin
Monday, March 25, 2024
Long Wings on the Cliffs
The Battle Against Predators
A local Audubon preserve has pretty poor habitat (weed-crowded fields and secondary growth of a very small caiber), but they are big on well-defended Blue Bird boxes, and they also have a Purple Martin set up, as well as a bat house and a large artificial chimney for Chimney Swifts.
Sunday, March 24, 2024
Saturday, March 23, 2024
Motorcycle Overlanding With Airedale in 1951
Canine Kinetic Chemistry
Three Feet Versus Seven Feet
Friday, March 22, 2024
Bald Eagle Chicks Have Hatched
Thursday, March 21, 2024
The Terrarium Abides
A Fabulous Trunk
After coffee, the wife and I went down to "Great Stuff by Paul,” which has been running a "sale" for over a year. A close inspection found that, indeed there was less inventory overall, but still quite a lot of stuff. Most notable was this massive late-1800s barrel top trunk with fabulous metal work and a terrific custom-interior. I think Paul said this trunk was owned by an Italian ambassador’s wife, and that it’s her portrait painted on the inside.