Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Birth, Death and All That Stuff in Between
How to Honor Labor Day, Every Day
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Easy for you to say: To the elites on mass immigration
For NYC on 9/11, Sailors' Snug Harbor
Pickled Peaches
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Labor Costs in U.S.
Your "identity"
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Uses of Hot Pepper Jelly/Sauce, Chutneys, and Jams
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Saturday, September 4. 2010

Thomas McGuane and his dogs - A re-post

The relationship of humans with dogs is an astonishing thing. Author Thomas McGuane understands and loves his dogs. A quote:



On a bright and cold October morning in Montana, my dogs Abby and Daisy, The Pointer Sisters, are in my closet helping me select my clothes. On the left end of the rack are everyday clothes; on the far right are coats and ties for the occasional urban jaunt; and in the middle, clothes for sport, especially hunting. Here sit the two girls, tails whisking the floor between the shoes. They moan, grumble and pant wishfully while my hand hovers over the coat hangers. I shouldn't do this as dogs don't enjoy being trifled with. They know where the thorn-proof pants hang, since the red suspenders dangle to eye level for them, but they watch my hand. I don't move; Abby turns to stare at my boots with such longing she must think they can scoop me up and take me into the hills. Finally, Daisy can't stand it and barks at me: I pull the hunting pants from their hanger and with a cry of triumph they scramble out of the closet to watch me dress. Let others withstand the elliptical trainer, the rowing machine and the NordicTrack. Mama wants two partridges for tonight's table and I will walk long miles hoping to get them.



Read the whole thing in the WSJ. (Photo from the article. Where's his blaze orange?)

Posted by The Barrister in Hunting, Fishing, Dogs, Guns, etc., Our Essays, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 11:22 | Comments (15) | Trackbacks (0)

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If ol TM is half as good with his fowling piece as he is with his pen the birds dont stand a chance. His novel set in the Keys...(98 degrees....) is one of my all time favorites.
#1 Dave J on 2009-04-02 12:56 (Reply)
Actually, I'm not replying to anyone.

By coincidence I picked up 92 to give to a friend the other day. Couple weeks back, I saw Rancho Deluxe again for the first time in years.

In the early 70s it seemed I followed McGuane around (by accident): Key West, Livingston, Upper Peninsula. Read most of his books and have always been fond of his antic self and, as the years passed, his self-discipline.

His hunting and cutting horse stories are all good. Plus, he got around with some pretty hot women back in the day.

Bless 'em all, bless 'em all.
#1.1 Larry on 2010-09-04 22:39 (Reply)
Sorry that would be "92 degrees in the shade" Its been a while.
#2 Dave J on 2009-04-02 13:01 (Reply)
Damn, I'm losing it. here is the link sorry for the multiple title bust:

http://www.amazon.com/Ninety-two-Shade-Thomas-Mcguane/dp/0679752897/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238691722&sr=1-1
#2.1 Dave J on 2009-04-02 13:04 (Reply)
He's right about the sporting dogs. My shorthair has high expectations, so we try to meet them. He and I work the fields and fencerows every day, two and a half hours on weekdays and four or five hours on weekends. I've never seen such joy, such need to do what he was bred to do.

No matter how grim the rest of the day has been, one motion toward the boots and coat brightens everything right back up as the happiest and handsomest dog in the world gets ready to do his work. He caught a rabbit Sunday, and a groundhog yesterday.

It's why we live in farmland, we both need it.

McGuane is a fine writer
#3 Jim on 2009-04-02 14:12 (Reply)
We have a foxish terrier from a shelter who is also very pack-oriented and cues marvelously on our activities. If I get a plastic bag and a can, he is ready for an outing -- if I include my son or daughter. If they aren't coming, I must leash him and take him for a drag. Since we usually go out when I get home from work, he follows me to see if I'm putting on walking shoes. Because my sweetheart calls her mother before going to get her, Buddy assumes that hanging up phone = go out in car. For all his socialized cooperation, he does have selective hearing when we would like him to quit sniffing and get back to frolicking.
#4 Geoff on 2009-04-02 15:21 (Reply)
As to blaze orange, it isn't required for small game hunting in many Rocky Mountain states (and not at all in NM) and, if you're in a remote area or (as I suspect McGuane is) on your own place, not necessary. Nice article, but I hate to read McGuane claiming to have seen a "jovial grandmother sitting behind a pile of machine guns" at a gun show. Must have been a rich and careless Class III dealer (perhaps why she was jovial) to manage that.
#5 mdmnm (Link) on 2009-04-02 15:42 (Reply)
Just got back from all afternoon at the vet. Dog news here is not good.
#6 rightwingprof (Link) on 2009-04-02 17:34 (Reply)
Sorry to hear that, RWP. My sympathies.
#6.1 Luther McLeod on 2009-04-02 17:38 (Reply)
Thanks so much for this post and the photo. Both fantastic. The man can write words I can only dream.

I hunt from time to time in Alberta, just north of where this man poses with his dogs. I can tell from the vegetation and the terrain. I googled him, but knew beforehand that he was in or near the Sweetgrass Hills.

I had the privilege of driving east to west 500 just north of the line last November. Birds, antelope, Mulies running for the coulees, air so clear that I had seen the Sweetgrass hills clearly from the Cypress hills 85 miles away. That vision tempted me to destroy my tires and windshield for 3 or 4 glorious hours on Alberta 'highway' 500, which is gravel roughly crushed apparently from sharp flints.

We don't require funny clothing colors up here in Alberta either. Why bother when the buckbrush is 3 feet high and you can see for 2000 yards in any direction on a foggy day? If you look closely at the mountain in the far background in the photo, that's Mount Fuji - Montana and Alberta visibility is 8 or 10 thousand miles in good weather. You fog bound easterners are welcome any time.
#7 Fred Z on 2009-04-03 00:49 (Reply)
I'm not sure, but some might consider it racist him calling his dogs The Pointer Sisters.
#8 sean on 2009-04-03 08:56 (Reply)
I assumed he was hunting Turkey (they aren't colorblind).
#9 NJSoldier on 2010-09-04 18:04 (Reply)
Mr. McGuane has a particularly nice way with words.
The story only makes these last few weeks before the season opener in the NE all that more unbearable.
The long walks have started and the setters seems to sense an old familiar smell in the air. Fall is few days away.
RWP, thoughts and prayers are with you. Lets hope for the best and another season ahead.
#10 Bonasa (Link) on 2010-09-04 19:50 (Reply)
huh, never quite found an actual "thorn proof" pair of pants. I want to go to his hunting supplier... or go where his wussy thorn bushes are for birds :)

Heading out for ringnecks this coming week, after the holiday. Can't wait.
#11 Sean G on 2010-09-04 20:41 (Reply)
Actually, our internet friend RWP died of cancer a year or so ago. Some of our re-posts contain prior comments, and I have some of his posts here in the archives, altho he kept his site going til the very end. RWP lives on, here.
#12 Bird Dog on 2010-09-06 15:02 (Reply)

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