After the Fox

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Fox hunting is fine and dandy...unless you're the fox.

Without deer hunting season, we would have so many deer that mass starvation would take place. I am sympathetic to the fox, however, he catches rodents. Some day in my fantasy dreams there will be a posse of fox, chasing a hunter in those inappropriate red coats......revenge!!!

Without deer hunting season, we would have so many deer that mass starvation would take place. I am sympathetic to the fox, however, he catches rodents. Some day in my fantasy dreams there will be a posse of fox, chasing a hunter in those inappropriate red coats......revenge!!!

Without deer hunting season, we would have so many deer that mass starvation would take place. I am sympathetic to the fox, however, he catches rodents. Some day in my fantasy dreams there will be a posse of fox, chasing a hunter in those inappropriate red coats......revenge!!!

I can't stand it, sticky keyboard syndrome.....

I can't stand it, sticky keyboard syndrome.....

Tally Ho !!!
Myxomatosis, a highly contagious viral disease in rabbits, almost wiped out the bunny population in the UK 50 years ago, thus removing the staple diet of the foxes. Reynard, being a wily & adaptable creature turned his attentions to other food sources. It is not unusual when in an urban area late at night to see foxes strolling down the pavement intent on garbage raiding, mouse hunting etc. There was a case in the UK papers last year about a family who were had a barbecue on a hot summer evening. They left the patio doors open. A fox, attracted by the cooking smells, somehow snuk into the house & attacked a baby in its crib. The baby was probably grizzling, thus producing vulnerable easy prey noises. Foxes are becoming cheekier & more daring in built up areas. As I no longer keep chickens, I am happy to have a fox den at the bottom of my garden & watch a litter of fox cubs play-fighting among the bluebells in early summer. In the days I kept chickens, I would have been straight on the 'phone to Edgar The Pest Control & his pack of lunatic fox terriers. He didn't do fancy fox hunting or posh hunting clothes - what a character, trousers held up with baler twine, moth-eaten tweed jacket, flat cap that seemed to be glued to his head & a rabble of dogs round his ankles yapping & fighting among themselves, and a double-barreled shotgun carried broken over his arm like it was his handbag, or if you'd called him & the dogs in for rats, a single barreled 4.4 of great antiquity & accuracy.

Spell check doesn't do "Does this make sense?" were had should read were having.

Bert~ Turn your keyboard over & smack its bottom. You'll be amazed at the archive of crumbs that falls out, then put the little slurpy nozzle thing on the vacum cleaner & give the keyboard a good going over, then get one of those screen wipe things & clean the keyboard. Hope that helps.

With all the world's troubles, fox hunting may be waaaaayyyy down on my list of "what do I think?".  But, since asked:  I believe the farmers will take care of it as they always have but by passing a law, their way of taking care of it may then become illegal.  The question then would be "Do they care?"  Amusing when the people in offices get all in a dither about something like this since they can perhaps find a solution rather than worry about the major difficulties in the world today.  The difficulties for which they were elected to handle.
 
I, Hazel, would have been on the phone to my friendly Critter Control people who helped us get rid of bats in the attic (sounds like a euphonism for something my mother-in-law had).

Not THAT kind of foxes, but nice anyway...    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FikZwgj89HI&NR=1                         ;  Good morning all

Down in the South we chase fox and coyote and sometimes we use a drag.  There is nothing like running after the hounds in the cool morning with a bit of ground fog, your horse in tune with the vocals and being with other folks that like doing the same, in traditional garb and following traditional rules.  Wish I could ride side-saddle, as that would be most proper!

Bert...I'm just wondering why your computer keeps doing that? It reminds me someone I knew who had tourette syndrome. He had a facial tic and I always tried not to look at him full on as I worried that I was going to unconsciously do the same - not a good idea as he was my boss!
 
The fox is not endemic to the southern hemisphere. It was however introduced to Australia in 1855, by English settlers, purely for the sport of foxhunting. Within 30 years of its release into the land, it had become an "agricultural pest" and over the last 200 years, it has been implicated in the extinction of numerous mammals. In Tasmania, I think we've lost only the Tasmanian Tiger though a couple of species are on the danger list. Reported sightings of foxes, real or imagined, get huge media here in Tassie as it wants to be a fox-free state.

The game is nearly over the hounds are at the
door
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhHPv9P4JxY
 
It started on your side of the pond, Hazel,  and we
turned it loose in a field of bluegrass.
 

Galgito, aren't you near Aiken?  I have a friend there who is a part of a club that DOES ride sidesaddle...                   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjQRzH-S_JM

Paolos, great mines stink alike, as Myles naGopaleen would say.

Country Gentlemen>>>Osborne Brothers>>>Joan Osborne.  J O is best known for an absolutely atypical hit, but she is from Suburban Louisville,where she learned to siong like THIS:                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEgbBmU8wh0&NR=1                         ; OK, orf to work now...

Today, I am most thankful that I am not THE fox.

As the trend continues toward urban and surburban lifestyles and mindsets, the reality of the country life finds farmers, ranchers, loggers and landowners operating from a disadvantage having to compete with Disney cinema concepts and other well meaning Do-gooders who join movements and get a t shirt yet know very little about true conservation and a way of life that is different from their own. As we get away from cities full size pick-up trucks and SUV's are essential. Guns and knives are tools for work and recreation and protection. There recreation is often reflective of their traditions of daily interaction with the land, the weather, and other direct contact with the realities of the plant and animal kingdom up close and personal. Animals starve when they are not hunted to thin the population. Old growth forests burn down and threaten homes when preventative practices are not carried out. Those hunting dogs are doing what they are instinctively drawn to do and should be doing that rather than be trapped in an apartment and taken out once a day for a short walk. That is equally cruel for some breeds. A little common sense and respect for the choices of others would go a long way on both sides of the issue. It is not always either/or and can quite often be both/and in these situations. No one is more dependent on the land and its resources than the people who live and play there.  
 
  

Chances are pretty good that if you have not seen a fox, a fox has seen you. If you have not covered his footprints, he has walked in yours.
http://www.wildernesscollege.com/fox-tracks.html

Two foolish young men on snowmobiles in fresh deep snow, ran down and killed a red fox and the evidence was all there.
Their snowmobiles, the snowmobile trailer and the truck that pulled it were all seized and I can't recall whether they were forfeited.
Unfortunately, for them, the event took place after comprehensive computer records of misdeeds had shown that a lot of baby-shaking, spouse-abusing creepy men had incidents of animal cruelty in their pasts and laws had been written to deal with them harshly. Good.

Imagine gardening having become impossible owing to an unchecked deer population. Imagine further, deer stricken with chronic wasting disease and having spread it to domestic livestock writhing in their death throes in your yard or the playground.
The park; with instead of sixty Canada geese, sixty thousand.
Who you gonna call?

Thanks for that explanation of "Pinks," I had always wondered about that.

One night, not so long ago, I saw a magnificent fox, trotting diagionally across an interesction not so far from downtown Chicago. Alas, I could not get to my camera fast enough to record the moment.
,
However, we do have coyotes here too. This clip was recorded the other night in the Chicago loop, the midst of downtown, just 2 blocks for my building. I did not know that they were city employees though.

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local-beat/Coyote-on-the-Lose-in-Chicago-108140529.html

paolos~ Ha! You lot sent grey squirrels over here & they are a serious pest. They have almost bullied our smaller, cuter native red squirrels to extinction.
Riding to hounds is a very inefficient way of culling foxes, but it gives the horsey lot a good fun day out & the hounds love it. It is a spectacle to see the hunt galloping over an open field after the hounds, with a rag-tag of (mostly) young girls on ponies bringing up the rear.
Someboby up there mentioned riding side saddle - I had a go on a friend's very good-natured horse & I'll swear the horse laughed the third time I fell off. Got the hang of it eventually.

Bert - is it a new keyboard?  Is the touch perhaps more sensitive than you're used to?  Or do you really want to get your point across ;)

I  AM   BEER  HUNTER

luckily, I know better than to do it from a horse

Aaaaaahhhh-FOX POO! (I just looked at a link to a link) Dogs, especially those recently bathed will find the most smelly, disgusting stuff to roll in. There being a shortage of lion or tiger poo, fox poo is way up on the popularity scale of designer perfumes for dogs. Failing that, decomposing sheep is a good one. The dog can be shampooed 3 times & it still stinks.

RY  -- as usual LOL

Show me a Cowboy that rides Side-Saddle, and I'll Show You a Gay Caballero ...

If you need another reason to watch THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO, check out Robert Sean Leonard's explication of  the anti hunting movement's big push from BAMBI.  And, if you think side-taking in nature is limited to Disney, watch that coyote clip again.  Coyote good. Vermin bad. Ummm, Rabbit Vermin? Cute little bunnies bad?           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8gQ-YdgeMU

Y'all remember now, that a FOX is a Feline and NOT a Canine ... Anyone allergic to cats shoud not wear a Fox Stole ...

If it were not for the hounds, could there be a better explanation for my photo#49?

I am flying several times over the next few weeks. I am going to be kind to TSA employees. This is going from a legitiamte policy issue concern for some to personal attacks. I fly hundreds of thousands of miles every year and while I question the overall policy of not profiling potential risks, demeaning the employees trying to do their job is absurd. This is not sexual and to say so is ridiculous.
****
Do we as a nation have the guts to make and enforce a tough policy toward North Korea without consulting the Chinese or will any policy on our part be entirely shaped by a foreign state based on a totalitarian/ industrial system that has a financial stranglehold on us while enslaving its own people? This is not a partisian issue. Mr. Obama is about to be placed in the position of being a true leader. Events are unfolding rapidly. Ireland's financial system has all but collapsed and this is the time when one should become Trumanesque. If he does so it may ensure his presidency.    

Hazel, our grey squirrels are a not but a bunch of
little old ladies...wouldn't harm a fly.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpenn4zLLDg  Y'all have a good rest of the day.  

 

Willie Trask~ No such thing as a cute little bunny in my vegetable patch.
Ivan~ I love the idea of a side-saddle riding gay caballero!
paolos~ Those grey bushy-tailed arborial rats are a pest.

I have always wanted to go on one fox hunt in my life.  I think it would be very exciting!
 
As for the TSA...my baby brother is a TSA Manager.  He is a profiler for a very large airport.  I hope he has an uneventful holiday.

I hope I am not alarming anyone, but the thought of an exploding giant aircraft right above my head, showering burning debris, and parts of someone's dearly beloved, is enough to make me campaign for  microscopic inspection of everything,and everyone, on that thousands of tons of highly flammable filled flying mountain of aluminum,and peanuts.....

and with that goes the defense department's strategy of shooting one down that may be filled with hijackers....I think we ground dwellers may have something to protest in that scenario....jus sayin'   so let them probe

Roadyacht, I so agree with you....How do the Israelis do it?  Seriously. They seem to have a put up and shut up attitude: if you're going to fly El Air, you're going to be scanned.  And you know what?  Even if TSA agents have the same attitude or worse than those morose, mean, and misanthropic DMV "people" who put you through mental hell when all you want is to renew your license with a spotless record -- even if they're like them, I don't want to have the image eli described forever etched in my memory.  That's one experience I can live without, as I'm sure those who belong to the falling bits and pieces could have done without.  Go ahead, scan. We'll worry about all the extra radiation from scanners and cell phones etc. etc. when the dire illnesses and birth deformities start showing up.

EAD- Tell your brother on my behalf that most of us out here appreciate what he does and their patience with a public that is led around my news agencies on both ends of the political spectrum to whatever frenzy of the day is occurring. LOGIC is in dire need.
***
Expanding on that thought, about 38,000 people die every minute or so or about 650 every single second.  Yet we gratuitously pick and choose and watch on the evening news whose deaths are important and noteworthy and whose are not even worth mentioning in the news cycle. The hunt at least makes the capture and demise of the prey (fox) at least a notable and ceremonious event. Imagine dying completely unnoticed after living a life completely unnoticed in some forsaken place. What is wrong with this picture? Peterman is making us think a lot of thinks to paraphrase Dr. Seuss.

RY, no more peanuts because of allergies. One less thing to worry about.  And now, for those making their way home, one more from J.O.                                     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZEO1Lug25s

TT~ you are so right! And the TV folks that shout "radiation!" ??   Do you have any idea how much more radiation you are exposed to when flying?

oooh, and do not ever get ice from an aircraft ice maker- - they are rarely cleansed

OMG! I think I need to hide under the comforter for a spell

RY- Yep. Flying and trips to the doctor and dentist. And I grew up near Oak Ridge, TN. I should be glowing. As a human I was born to die. We live like royalty and all we do is bitch. I try not to take unnecessary risks but I am afterall living on a freaking planet spinning through space at 66,000 mph while spinning around over 1,000 mph and black holes are gobbling up galaxies & the center is molten and spewing up here and there while its entire surface is shifting to and fro. Each moment is a bonus. I belong to the GET REAL PARTY. And I am tired of fluff shows telling people how to have a stress free Thanksgiving. Gratitude alone is enough stress reduction. I would be happy with a sackful of Krystals or White Castles and a six pack of PBR and not having to shave.

People worrying about radiation from a scan....absurd.  I just about light up a room from all the scans I've had recently and will continue to have....theoretically to prevent and or detect that which people are afraid it will cause.....sort that out if you can.

Maybe, ...... just maybe, if folks do not wish to be scanned and/or patted down..... they should all take a deep breath and slow-the-eff-down and take a train, a bus, or drive instead. Colour me naive but I like to think the TSA is attempting in good faith to protect us and not just lying awake at night, trying to conjure up new ways to totally piss us off. Just like any implementation of this magnitude, there are going to be some unanticipated complications, some of which can be pretty bad.
 
It would sure be swell if the person with the ultimate and foolproof solution that will not only stop the threat of terrorism in the air but also make air travel a pleasant, convenient, comfortable, and stress free experience, would please step forward and fix this.

The public's reaction to this just seems to me like another example of us pointing the cannons inward instead of at the real culprits.

I must be in a bad mood today ‘cos I don't like fox hunting either..... may as well just drive around in land rovers and get them with heat seeking missiles. If there is a legitimate reason to thin-them-out I just don't believe that is reason for grown ups to get their jollies by running them down on horseback and a pack of over excited dogs.

Maybe it's the dramatic change in the weather..... grumble..grumble... Anyroads, peace out.

p.s..... PA4.... So glad the bad weather missed you folks up there..... still too close for

comfort. Be well and keep warm..... HU3

It's not the radiation from a scan.  It's the accumulated radiation that a body is being exposed to over the course of its existence.  I don't say cower under a coverlet, it's got dust mites in it, everyone knows that, and that can be fatal to those with allergies. (facestious comment).  I'm saying that there are many of us who could glow green in a darkened room -- we're past the point of no return.  We've been radiated all our lives.  What will be will be.  We're not dead yet, we don't know what we'll die from but glowing in the dark is probably not a good thing.  But what's done is done.  Now enters a new generation that is exposed to much higher levels of radiation, more frequent cat and pet and regular old x-rays and I wonder about the accumulation of radiation on this new and very young generation.  And no one knows yet, no one can know...we'll wait, we'll see.//In the meantime, no scan will stop me from flying.  I don't light up a room yet or glow in the dark, but I'm not dead yet.  And I've got a lot of scans and MRI's and such to go through.  At what point do I start glowing if ever?  I'll let you know.//Just saying, it's not one particular exposure, it's the accumulation of exposures.  And the jury's out on what effect that might have.  Or do you all have some irrefutable conclusion that discount everything I've just put out here?.......Off to go light up a room with my glowing personality, LOL.

Andy:  it's the lesser of two evils, isn't it?  When facing an MRI, that's what I tell myself...but we don't know.  We can hope.  We have to hope.  Until and if there is a better less dangerous treatment for what ails us.  I hope that comes along soon, if not for us, for the next generation...but soon.

Peter Lake ~
As is so often the case, I am in agreement with you when it comes the almost royal impatience and bizarrely implausible modesty of air travelers.
Get over yourselves folks.
When I tuned into Fox the day that scan/pat story broke, it was almost like watching an Onion send-up.
Shepard Smith was seething and his expression decidedly not one of: "We report, you decide."
On the other hand:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzV8wrnLfS4

Shep is probably one or two of these from being back at Ten Minute Oil Change.

Park4 ~
Sadly, there is no longer any money in licking watch dials for a living.

P4- After a year long bout with Lymphoma with very positive results, my mom had her routine scan last month and Thank God the cancer was gone but on the scan they found an Aneurysm that was of a size that could potentially be fatal. Odds are 80% in 5 years according to the Doc and they are going to repair this in early January after me begging for a reprieve through the holidays. The doctor said something profound, "We attack the immediate enemy." Mom is an 85 year old fighter and my hero and my inspiration to deal with whatever comes your way with a logic and faith cocktail. Blessings on you.

TT:  I'm so happy for your mother's success with treatment.  I have a 90 year old mother in law who's the same kind of fighter, and 'good on both of them.'  Please try to understand:  I'm only saying "we don't know."  I'm not avoiding scans and x-rays, I'm just saying "we don't know."  Until we do I think your mom's doctor's statement was very wise, and I agree with him about attacking the clear and present danger.  I'm just sayin:  down the line, we'll know more about the effect of scans, since people are getting more of them earlier and earlier.  It's good, but it's a question mark.  Like everything in life, it's a crap shoot, I think.  My own mom, after a long battle with a lung disease said to me "if the illness doesn't kill you, the treatment will."  That wasn't true in her case, after surviving the treatment, she was killed in a car crash.  So I'm just saying:  we don't know, do we?  We don't know much about much, actually, so we do what we decide is best given what we know now.  Which is completely reasonable, I wouldn't want it any other way.............And as always, the future will take care of itself, one way or another.  That's the way of things.  I send your mother, via you, all best hopes for continued good health and the care of that very wise doctor.  It's something to give thanks for, indeed.

P4- You make good points as usual. A dose of healthy skepticism is probably good medicine and the statement about the treatment has made me think twice about "What will I do?" Thank you. 90 is our goal and then...
 
Stoney- Funny ...licking watch dials for a living....and what has become of those big scares,  "pissed off cow disease or "lemon" tick or the brown "standoffish" spider bite? 

Park - Amen to that, but meanwhile, we can read in bed without the light on :)

Andy:  that is the definite up-side to The Glow. ;)

PARK..........ssssshhhhhh...........this is obviously a secret in our country because otherwise we would have completely adopted it since it works INCREDIBLY well...............the Israelis don't care about political correctness, their courts will not put up w/ ridiculous lawsuits that suck time & money from their country...........they don't care if you get your feelings hurt; they DO care that you are coming to their country to do no harm and that when you leave you get to where you are going unharmed................somehow we got to a place where people's feelings trump safety, where judges don't throw the book at people who bring useless lawsuits, that people who mire our country in useless waste are not humiliated for life. I don't care if you feel sad, bad, or your feelings are hurt about being racially profiled & that shouldn't be too hard if Janet Napolitano goes ahead & gives Muslim women the right to not be body searched under their robes. RY's scenario sounds ridiculous until you figure that into the equation. Israel does not care about your feelings, they care about your life.....................American security; the ultimate Abbott & Costello circle jerk...............
 
PL..........late on the uptake, so very glad you all are okay.........
 
SPRING F.............you brought up movies.........I think Gong Li is one of the most beautiful women in the world...............Ever since I saw Ju Do (could be Du ), I have been in love w/ her. The movie w/ Jeremy Irons & her in Hong Kong on the eve of its independence is one of my favorites.................
 
I could never kill a fox, that's just me.................
 
TT.............I am so happy that your mother is doing well..............
 
 
 

Stoney..... I guess Shep was wearing his Fruedian Slip that day.

Remember when political correctness did not exist and it was fashionably cool for women to wear fox furs with their heads (sans skull) still attached?  I remember when I was just an ankle biter having to sit behind a lady in church who always had a fox staring at me..... really gave me the heebie-jeebies.

PL- when will the Owner's Manual feature that garment? Or the paternity jacket and trousers, available to be worn separately or as a suit?

Speaking of Foxes and radiation (I'm not sure of the connect, but I'll run with it), I did a 2 year stint in the finest Baptist Hospital (I'm non denominational mind you) in Atlanta after what most might consder to be a fatal accident...I didn't die but wished I was dead a time or 200.
 
On one of my many tests to check the circulation in my recently crushed left lower leg, 2/3's of the way down my shin above my ankle, I was doing a "nuclear medicine test" which involves injecting dye into one's veins and having a X-ray view of ones pipes in action. This was to make sure there was viable circulation, meaning I wouldn't have to have my leg amputated after all the hard work and wings of houses that were built by my insurance company for numerous doctor's practicing their craft.
 
On maybe the tenth time I had the procedure done, I assume because my insurance was paying 100% and other folks' bills needed to be paid, I was scheduled to have yet another ink injection and X-ray scan. I was wheeled into the same area, and as I waited, I was met by a dude in a Chrome Suit looking like he might be about to congratulate Mr. Gorsky just after he stepped on the surface of the moon. I had an internal catherter (sp) installed in my forearm to aid in my collapsed veins from the hundreds of sticks I recieved weekly.
 
He hung the bag, the normal method used when they would insert the dye, but I noticed the skull and cross bones was just a little bigger than normal and he was in a space suit. A small voice told me to question this dude as to the deal with the fancy space man suit and the big skull and bones thing. I asked him as plainly as possible "Hey Dude, I've had this done numerous times but never by someone as fashionable as you" just as he was about to stick the needle in my port.
 
He impatiently looked up at me and said "Mr. Green, this is your normal Chemo treatment, is there a problem?" with irritation in his voice.
 
I smiled and said politely, " Nurse Neil Armstrong, my name is not Mr. Green"
 
 
What a day that almost turned out to be.

Radiation - the devil we know best of all.  Yes, it's dangerous BUT we know more about its effects and the dose-response curve than we know about all other chemicals combined. 
 
It's absolutely sane to respect (and perhaps fear) something that will kill cancer and that we are exposed to with many medical scans but we should also remember that humans and every other creature on earth evolved being exposed to radiation.  Constantly, unrelenting, without benefit of chemical suncreens.  Indeed, studies exist that reveal that bacteria (and other higher forms) do not develop properly in the absence of radiation.
 
I don't advocate needless exposure but let's not get all up in arms about something we have lived with for eons and know more about than almost any other human toxin/carcinogen.
 
 

I hope I only need to relate this one time: Some of you know my strory, I lost my wife to "C"..and it was one of our macbre jokes that the only people that really know when they are going to die .....are on death row....and even then....

RY- Wow! Prolific stuff. Yep, for me there are those times when you feel like you're the only one left in the room and they turn out the lights and there you sit with a head full of thinks and a funny look on your face in the dark feeling like Sam Spade caught up in something crazy.
Hey somebody! This day has been one of those nights. Put a quarter in the jukebox and play something soft and pretty.

TT~ put the coin into the coin operated mirror (we need$ the money) and see yourself smile...

By the way, it is two for one tuesday,still- - - you may look at yourself twice for the same coin....don't thank me, it is just part of the service....