I am a Raven, I speak for the trash

I am a Raven, I speak for the trash--
The litter, the waste, it's all better than cash.
What's a bird going to do with a dollar bill?
But with trash, oh ho, I can eat my fill!
Tourists are best, with their picnic lunches,
There's always scraps left for me to munches.
I'm not picky, I like both rye bread and wheat,
Just leave me your crusts on the ground, what a treat!
Scavenger by trade, I eat what I find
It's been many a Dumpster in which I've dined.
Say what you like, but you know I don't care--
With a bob and a flap I'll take to the air.
I soar high and far, my eyes are keen
Spying trash pits and garbage, that's dinner I've seen!

Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog

I just got back from spending 13 days in the Yellowstone/Grand Teton area with my family. There will most likely be a series of blogs about this epic travel journey (and epic it was) once I go through all my pictures and videos, which may take days. I take a lot of pictures.

While you're waiting breathlessly for my next post, read this book: Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog, by Ted Kerasote. It's quite good. Excellent, really. I picked it up at a Goodwill somewhere, liking the picture on the cover (Merle the dog on a mountain top) and I'm glad I did. I'd even consider paying full price for this one, which is saying a lot since I buy most of my books from Goodwill for $1 or less.

Bogie is particularly enthralled with the book. 

However, I would not recommend reading the ending on a plane, especially not while sitting between a middle-aged man and a just-barely-post-adolescent man, both strangers. I cried. Twice. Well, I did manage to keep in the body-heaving sobs, but my eyes definitely teared up. If this book doesn't at least give your heart a wrench, you probably don't have a soul. I don't normally cry when I read-- in fact, I can't really think of any other time reading when I was tempted to (not even when J.K. Rowling offed Dumbledore- but I think I was in shock)-- so that says something about the poignancy of the subject and the writing.

The book is set out West, primarily in Kelly, Wyoming (in the shadows of the Tetons, where we were on vacation). Basically, the book is about Ted and his dog, Merle, and their lives together, starting when Ted finds Merle in the Utah desert and ending with Merle's death (hence the plane sobbing). The book not only follows the relationship of Ted and Merle, but also delves into the relationships between people and dogs, where they originated, and how those relationships have evolved since then. Excellent writing, excellent subject, excellent book.

Our pets have it rough in the Smith household. 

From the prologue:
"This is the story of one dog, my dog, Merle. It's also the story of every dog who must live in an increasingly urbanized world, and how these dogs might lead happier lives if we changed some of our behavior rather than always trying to change theirs.
...[W]hat he taught me about living with a dog can be applied anywhere. His lessons weren't so much about giving dogs physical doors to the outside world, although that's important, but about providing ones that open onto the mental and emotional terrain that will develop a dog's potential. His lessons weren't about training, but about partnership. They were never about method; they were about attitude.And at the heart of this attitude is a person's willingness to loosen a dog's leash-- in all aspects of its life-- and, whenever practical, to take off its leash completely, allowing the dog to learn on its own, following its nose and running free."


Ted Kerasote's website, with information about this book and his others, including newer books about his dog after Merle:

http://www.kerasote.com/

Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog, by Ted Kerasote.
c. 2007 by Harcourt, Inc.

How To Capture and Band a Mourning Dove

First you must bait the fields, which have been disked properly by an approved U.S. Fish and Wildlife employee. The area where the bait is placed must first be raked smooth, so the doves can see the bait and have a nice landing area to wander around in and leave footprints. You should probably not joke about leaving dirt angels (like a snow angel, but in dirt) when asked by your boss if you did raked and baited correctly. (What kind of question is that though, really?) Also you should probably not leave messages written in the dirt for said boss, though said boss never did see it.

Baiting the dove field. 

After you put out the bait (sunflower seed is what we used) place a metal trap over the bait pile. There is an art to putting out bait. It must be perfectly arranged under the trap or the mourning doves won't come. They'll just hang out around the outsides of the traps and not go inside and get caught.

Whitney with the seed bucket. 

After an hour or so, go back and check the traps. If there are doves in them, cover the trap with a sheet to calm them down so they don't hurt themselves against the wire before you get them out.

Whitney removing a dove from the trap while Brady busies himself with the bands.

If you're really lucky you'll catch more than one or two doves at a time. However, in my experience, you only catch multiple doves when a big storm is blowing in and the last place you want to be is crouched over a metal trap in the middle of a wide-open field as the lightning gets closer and closer. Then you'll catch 20 at a time. Other days, maybe 5.

Lauren removing a dove from the trap. Brady stands in the back being exceptionally useful. 

After removing the mourning dove from the trap, determine age, sex, and molt status. If any of the feathers on the body and wings have buffy tips, it is a young (hatch year) bird. If it is a hatch year, then the sex is unknown. If it is an adult, males have a slate colored patch on the crown and rosy-tinted feathers on their breast. Females are plain and boring looking. Molt is determined by looking at the wing feathers and seeing which one is growing in, and therefore is shorter and a slightly different color than the older feathers.

Whitney figuring out molt status. 

Once you have all that information figured out, a numbered band from the USGS is placed around the right leg of the dove. We were given 100 dove-sized bands, so once 100 are caught we're done. The banding is done to help gather information about the doves during the dove hunt.

Brady preparing the bands. 

Once the band is on, and the the information is written down, release the dove and start over!

Lauren with a dove. 

You can't really tell, but this is an adult male mourning dove. Most of the adults we catch are males.  Nancy thinks this is because males are dumber than females. Might make an interesting study... 

Una Sinfonia para Bananas

1. Banana Dance

When banana chips

Pass my lips

I do a little dance

Good and yummy

In my tummy

Around the room I prance

But when I’m done

There will be none

Sorry, you’ve missed your chance

I'll take a beer instead

2.  Second Banana

You started in a tree

Free in the leaves and air

There, growing and living

Giving food to the spunky

Monkey, sating its thirst.

First the color of green

Seen in the leaves and grass

Class of your own, then

When you mellow,

Yellow. The typical color

Duller than the sun, but still.

Will you be split and ate,

Great with ice cream?

Dream of mashed and

Bland in bread. Or cut

But leave to dry

Try plain and sweet

Beat by none of the above

Love to eat, banana chips.

Put your hands in the air like you just don't care

3.  Dream fruit

The aroma of

Musa acuminata

Pervades my senses

The fragrant flesh with its

White seedless pulp and

Amber gold skin.

Oh ye gods! Food for you all

In this delectable fruit!

Tongue and mouth in ecstasy

Over this ethereal essence.

The name, a sacred whisper

Banana

Look into my eyes and give me a banana