sweasel.com

Note to self: Test anti-pecking sprays on scrap paper before applying to chickens.

Happy Thanksgiving, Stoaty and UB!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Why don’t you make little outfits to protect her from being pecked? Or, better yet, chicken armor? I think some chainmail with a Knights Templar motif would look very cool on the chooks.

Apropos of nothing, I met a couple of biologists who monitor various mammal populations in the region, and being given the opportunity to use “mustelid” in a sentence, I did so with relish. Which resulted in a gentle correction of my pronunciation.
We live in a region with loads of marmots, martins, and fishers, and I will be on the lookout for any, whenever I am wandering about in the backwoods. In the mean time, I’ll have to content myself with Stoat monitoring.

Be cautious, Feynmangroupie, we’re not an, um, nice family 😉

Happy Thanksgiving, all!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

And thank you Stoaty for creating this thing you have here.

FG, if you want to have some fun, trytracking a Fisher. I used to do so with bad intentions but I’ve reformed. I did have a clear shot once but the little bugger was eating a porcupine. It wouldn’t have been sporting and it was eating a freaking porcupine!

Mostly they like to backtrack to leave you standing in the middle of a snowy field feeling like a retard when the tracks end. Also, they tend to leave squirrel heads hear and there which is kinda like a mustelid Apocalypse Now without the crazy fat guy.

Best wished to all.

BigBluBug

P.S. If you google around, you can find a film clip of a Wolverine trying to eat a badger. Things go well for the wolverine until he gets a mouthful of badger skin. It turns out that badgers have loose skin which lets them turn into the face of the thing that’s biting them. The oh shit look in the wolverine’s eyes is awesome.

Happy Thanksgiving, all!

And I’ll add on a traditional family greeting, crafted especially for this holiday:

“Get Stuffed!”

Well, it’s traditional in my family! 🙂

And thanks for the blog, Stoatie!

I made a custom fisher cat target for somebody once, after one ate her dog. Don’t know if she ever got her revenge.

My half-brother on my Dad’s side is a flaming left-wing Gumball Warming/Eco-freak/Obamaster sychophant….And yes, he lives in Chicago! I have recently blocked him on FB and no longer open his e-mails. SO….I missed the fact that his daughter by his (lessee, 2nd or 3rd marriage?) 2nd,yeah, that’s it. She just gave birth to her first and her uncle Sven didn’t know or acknowledge it.

Needless to say that their are some noses outa joint. Tough. I’m tired of being the one to be the bobble-head with no voice when the rants begin.

Stoatie, Thanks for this island of twisted, mustelid conversation. Ms. D is caring for (4) four dogs while their people are out of town. We are headed over to a dear, dear, Conservative Christian friend’s home for the grand feast. He is a 30 year veteran, beat policeman, for the Lakewood Police….on the longest main street in America, Colfax Avenue (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colfax_Avenue)

May God bless all’y’all, Oceania included, in his Kiwi strewn Ivory Tower, on this Thanksgiving Day.

Hey, if Sven can bless the troll, I guess I can bite the bullet and say “Happy Thanksgiving from the token flaming left-wing gumball (although I stop short at that point).” And, ditto, ditto on all expressions of gratitude for this blog–which helps to keep me sane, and has given me more blessings than I can list here. Stoaty (and Uncle Badger)–I salute you, as you are the best!

Mind you. I seriously doubt that the troll inhabits an ivory tower. I’m not defending the sanity of academia in general, but I honestly think that (even in New Zealand, whose oddity I only know from himself) academe would have pulled in the reins on that one long ago.

It’s very mutual (and thanks to cousin Badger whose kind message I should have responded to on the previous thread).

Ol’ Stoaty and I often reflect on the curiously congenial crowd. Damned erudite too, which is a wonder today.

Hmm… I rather like this ‘Thanksgiving’ idea! 🙂

BTW…
As a long time hunter/fisherman. The wild turkey here in America is one devious bird. They are the toughest critter I have ever hunted.

They come from the same scientific Order as chickens, pheasants, grouse, and ptarmigans, pea and guinea fowl … the “Galliformes”. This family all have a large external tympanic membrane, (which means they hear well), great visual acuity and very good color vision. Most would rather run than fly. AND…all have and inate, insane ablility to frikken disappear when they sense a threat. A good number of the wild males have a wicked spur on the anterior lower leg used for fighting. Some taxonomists believe might have something to do with their pre-Cretaceous history.

All that being said…I am headed out the door to eat said bird, drink some wine along with all the Norman Rockwell, New England trimmings!

Happy Thanksgiving to you Both and all the Readers. Even the troll. Thankful for everything today. Since my mother will be doing the foie gras treatment next week when I go Stateside, we decided only a moderate feast was in order tonight. I went to Iceland (!) and bought a turkey/duck/goose/seagull joint and mystified The Neighbour with homemade “creamed corn.” the homemade cranberry jelly was the best. The anti-peck treatment sounds gross, Sweasel. I bet I can find an essential oil remedy–I’ll look. Much better to have them smelling of Vervain than gummy bumfodder.

Found it. Use some vinegar when you bath them. And put a drop or two of Oregano Essential Oil (Holland & Barrett) on their vulnerable pecking spots. Can’t hurt . . . .

Ach! That was me posting. Stoopid iPad.

Happy Thanksgiving to Stoaty, Uncle B. and all who help make this a great place to hang out.

UB & BBB,

I have no desire to interfere in the daily goings on of critters, but I do like to watch them from afar if I happen upon them, not that it occurs often since I’m usually accompanied by my dogs. I usually make lots o’ noise so that critters can slink off before my dogs catch a scent or see them fleeing. My dogs and I have lots of experience with wild interactions, and I have since invested in long-distance shock collars to prevent them from forgetting their manners or losing their lives.
Anyways, I promise NOT to try and pet the nice mustelid chewing the guts of out another critter. No matter how cute they look with intestines hanging out of their mouths.

Happy Thanksgiving Badger, Weasel, chickens, and assorted misfits!

Remember y’all, your belly is full twenty minutes before your brain.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Happy Thanksgiving to all – even trolls.

A belly filled with lovely moist turkey, splendid nut-and-sausage stuffing, baked sweet potato, spinach, five-pepper salad, and pumpkin pie with real whipped cream induces an irresistable surge of omnidirectional benevolence.

(My sister cooked the turkey, stuffing, and pie; my mother cooked the sweet potatoes and spinach; I made the salad. One does what one can.)

Hunting in America?

That involves build a club house on top of poles, stocking it with food, TV, and porn, and then waiting for a deer to walk past and then machine gunning it to death.

No, that’s ice fishing.

Don’t hunt myself, although I used to back when. Nothing against it, mind you – just don’t have the time or inclination any more. I’m perfectly content to just go to the range and slaughter paper and gongs and such these days. Although there are days when I’d like to shoot the cat. And there are days when I pop the squirrels raiding the bird feeders with the old Benjamin pellet pistol – not pumped enough to damage them, mind you, but rather just enough to convey the fact that they shouldn’t do that.

Anyway, hope everybody had a good one, or will have a good one for those who had to delay.

Oh, and offhand, I can’t think of any states that allow full auto weapons for hunting. Besides, have you checked the prices (for normal citizens) of full auto weapons in the US recently? I could buy an entire herd of deer for less. I’ve fired them, and they’re neat, but that’s definitely something for people of wealth.

Hunting methods vary a lot. The construction of deer stands is a nice sideline for the welding shops around here, and a few of the more extreme ones start approaching Oceania’s ideal. TV is fairly rare, though. The generator isn’t a problem, really, but the commercials will run the deer right off. The real sophistication is in the solar-powered, computerized community organization machines, which deliver regular dollops of grain to get the deer in the habit of being in a certain place at a certain time rather than foraging for themselves.

Which is fine. White-tailed deer are a little prettier (and tastier) than rats, but occupy the same niche in the ecology.

On the other hand, my farrier is also a hunting guide who organizes two-week-long expeditions into the remote New Mexico hunting areas. The participants pack everything in and out on mules, including their kills if any, their only real concession to modernity being a helicopter on call for the occasional heart attack victim. Curtis has no problem filling all the places, and more than one of the hunters has to save up for years to afford it. They don’t take full-autos along. That much ammunition is too heavy.

Regards,
Ric

Oceania, dear simple minded, feeble brained Oceania. Have you never heard of the old phrase “Better to be thought a Fool than open one’s mouth and remove all doubt”? Your comments just cement your troll status. You should give thanks that folks put up with you on Stoaty’s Blog.

Still, despite your over-weening simplicity of leftist mind, Happy Thanksgiving, you goofball troll.

Automatic fire, by the way, is useful only for suppressive work: to avoid being overrun or to maneuver. It’s Useless with a capital U otherwise. Aimed semi auto fire is the rule at any other time. So, since deer seldom overrun a stand, auto fire is overkill. Leave it to a troll to get everything wrong from the get-go.

Stoaty, Thanks to you and Uncle B for this blog. I found it as an off shoot of Ace of Spades, and spend more time reading this than that anymore. Never know how things are going to turn out.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, including the troll.

And since no one asked, my handle Sandman refers to my training and emloyment in the sleep technology field. No mustelids there, unless one counts weasely Doctor types.

I’m too lazy to track down the source so you’ll have to trust me on this but there are more deer in the United States now than there were a century ago. The generally open fields with patchy wooded areas are better deer habitat than deep woods.

In my home state of Pennsylvania they are a very frequent cause of car accidents. My brother-in-law has had two cars destroyed by deer who didn’t use the deer crossings.

In Williamsburg Va where we vegetables rooted for a while, they were tremendous pests. Imagine taking your morning coffee to the patio just in time to see Bambi and her gang finishing off $200 worth of flowers you’d planted the day before.

Corn feed stations have always been considered usporting in my neck of the woods but largely because there are so damn many deer it’s unnecessary. When hunting you’ll often let a few go by waiting for a better rack (we boys never change, do we?)

Five pepper salad? **ears perk up**

I wouldn’t pester here, because I know Uncle Badger hates it when we break into an orgy of recipes, but I can’t seem to find an actual recipe on the web. . .so, pretty please, Rich Rostrom?

(And, Stoaty–how did the rolls turn out?)

Here in Little Rhodie, there is such an overpopulation of deer that you can get 8 or 9 tags and easily use them all. I see dead deer on the roads every single day; and if you whack one while doing 60mph, you’re in a pretty serious car crash.

We also have a panoply of turkey, but if you want to bag a Tom, you better be good at being invisible. Contrary to popular belief, turkeys ain’t stupid.

BBB

I no longer hunt elk for a variety of reasons. Age being one.

My partner and I hunt pronghorn antelope and plains Mule deer, no stands, no baiting. It involves scouting with binocs, stalking, doping the winds and taking 200+ yard shots. The longest successful shot I have made paced of at 385 paces from point of shot to where the antelope dropped from a single heart shot. Not bragging, just an example of what it takes.

Pronghorn are built for the wide open plains. They have incredible cardio/pulmonary capacity for their size, can run for sustained periods at 25-30 mph and will hit bursts of 60 mph in a heartbeat. They have 270 degree field of view and eyesight that basically compare to a human using 8X power binoculars. They are tough critters in a unforgiving environment.

Oceania, I’m truly thankful that I don’t have to live in your skin.

Machine gunning game animals? Ye gods, Oceania, have you not seen the price of ammunition these days? Not to mention the damage sustained bursts will do to all that tasty venison?

Gather your wits, please. I have a pair of tweezers that you can use.

I’m no hunter, never have been even remotely interested, although the fellas on both sides of my fam were/are–and don’t let’s get sexist about the fella part, as the wimmenfolk were happy to get the menfolk out from underfoot in the falls and winters, believe me. Not a game person meself, having grown up eating it, and was happy to eat bland domesticated turkey yesterday with older daughter and sister only, missing the rest of the fam, but grateful to be on this side of the dirt still. Blessings to all during this coming holiday season!

Okay, okay, even the troll.

Speaking of hunting, Husband’s cousin posted this little tidbit yesterday: I shot my first turkey this morning … scared the crap out of everyone in the frozen food section at the neighborhood Wal-Mart.

Happy Thanksgiving, y’all. I hope you had a wonderful time with friends and family. We went to the beach and it was glorious! Padre Island on the Gulf of Mexico. 🙂

Implicit flattery is irresistable.

Five pepper salad:

1/3 of a head of romaine lettuce, or 1/2 of a head of leaf lettuce.

2 green onions.

1 each green bell pepper, red or orange bell pepper, poblano pepper, banana pepper, cubanella pepper. (When I make it for me, I add one red jalapeno pepper.)

3 oz croutons.

In a large bowl:

Tear the lettuce into small pieces.

For each pepper:

-Cut off the top and bottom.
-Remove seeds and excess rind. Leave some of the rind on the banana, poblano, and jalapeno – that’s where the heat is.
-Slice vertically into 1 cm strips.
-Slice horizontally to about 6mm x 10mm pieces. (Cut the jalapeno a bit smaller.)

Remove the root ends of the green onions, slice in half axially, then chop into 5-10mm pieces. Break up the layers in any pieces that don’t come apart.

Add the croutons, pour on dressing, toss thoroughly.

Serves a whole bunch of people once, or me for two or three days. It ages well; the croutons absorb moisture and dressing and get soft. Also, the heat from the jalapeno spreads evenly through the mix, so one gets a little bite without getting flaming blasts of heat.

Oh the banana pepper and cubanella pepper are both light yellow, 2-3cm by 12-18cm. Some stores confuse them. This is bad, because banana peppers are fairly hot, while cubanellas are sweet.

Banana peppers are round, and taper to a single sharp point.

Cubanellas have 3-4 vertical lobes (like bell peppers), and end in a roundel for each lobe, with a recessed center.

I get the banana, cubanella, poblano, and red jalapeno peppers at the local Mexican supermercado, but they can be had at most Indo-Pak markets and produce stores. (I get the bell peppers there too, because they’re a lot cheaper than the supermarkets.)

Bon appetit!

Rich R: Well, I would have classed the flattery as explicit. . .but, whatever! Thanks for indulging me–recipe saved to disk! (and thank you, Stoaty and Uncle B, for providing the opportunity. . .). Um. Dressing. Not defined in the ingredients, very much in evidence in the process: I assume that almost any standard dressing that won’t clash with, and will complement, the peppers would be acceptable?

I assume that almost any standard dressing that won’t clash with, and will complement, the peppers would be acceptable?

Caesar, blue cheese, Italian, and vinaigrette all work for me. But dress lightly, so as not to overpower the vegetables.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Finally recovering from the dinner overload on The Day!! I’ve been packing boxes to send to my Soldiers & Marines all morning. I’m ready for spring any time now.