Winter's Canvas

Winter, 2015, and still here in 2016

A Bad Day for the Quail

On Monday of last week,  the neighborhood fox boldly paid us a visit. It prowled around on and under the deck hoping to catch a plump quail. The curious thing that developed, was the teamwork with a couple of goshawks who provided aerial attack while the fox worked the deck and grounds.

Seasonably cold temperatures and snow had kept prey from moving and congregating, so it appears the predators became more daring and inventive than normal.

Don't know if Mister or Missus Fox enjoyed any success, but a hawk did snatch a quail off the railing later that morning. We suspended feeding for a bit, recognizing predators have their point in life and must play their part as well.

Christmas trees

Randall Lineback Cattle: from the Brink of Extinction

Vermont Public Radio and reporter Kathleen Masterson have produced an excellent piece on the historical role and current status of a frontier breed of cattle. The original seedstock proved highly important to the nation's colonial life and survival during the Revolution.

Shown are calves of the Randall Lineback breed. Click below to link to the Masterson/VPR report recently aired on November 5, 2015.

The Randall Lineback breed is considered a "landrace" species.

“Landrace”designates animal populations that arise in local areas and geared toward and favoring local production purposes. The breeding of landraces is usually fairly casual, and they gain uniformity mainly through their isolation from other of their kind. This landrace pattern of development results in useful breeds, adapted to their particular geographies. This was true of the New England lineback cattle of the 1700s and 1800s.

Randalls became valued for their milk, meat, and draft abilities.

For more information, click on the link below and also visit the Randall cattle website sited in the Masterson article.

Randall Lineback Cattle

Some Scenes from a Great National Park

Hidden Falls near Jenny Lake . . . 
The Grand Tetons National Park. 

Blackbird or catbird hitching a ride on the road to Cody, Wyoming. Looking for a tick or lousy snack perhaps on the back of his host.

This big boy below appeared
near dusk on Elk Flats, Teton Village.

Trudging his way down to a drink and a greener meadow. His rules of the road meant using both lanes and claiming right-of-way.

A study from our hike along Jenny Lake, The Grand Tetons.

Another of Those Great Barns

Found in front of the
Mission Range, western
Montana, near St. Ignatius.


Not much in the way of
foothills for the Missions.
They rise abruptly from
the valley floor and are notably
steep.

May this survivor enjoy
a long life. Like the rail
fence, barns are becoming
antiques and relics too
costly and often too
dysfunctional today to
maintain