Iam being dragged, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century. In the past, I thought that a sophisticated camp site would look something like the photo on the right. My favorite camp site always consisted of a fire that was not too far from two trees where I could set up my string hammock. I would get into the sleeping bag first, and then get in the hammock (it requires a little practice). If there was any chance of rain, I would rig up a plastic sheet on a line above the hammock that was drawn back so I could see the stars when it was clear, and quickly pull it over me if it started to rain. I really don't like tents.
After buying the Delorme inReach Explorer, I finally decided to get a tablet to go along with it. The apps on my tablet can communicate with the GPS/ emergency beacon with Bluetooth, and it doesn't matter if I'm out of WiFi range as long as I have downloaded any apps, maps, etc. first. Monte has suggested setting up an expedition Facebook page so friends and relatives can track our progress. We will have, anyway, a Delorme MapShare page where our routes will be automatically recorded:
For anything that requires WiFi, a drive into Prince George will probably be required. The two way messaging is limited to 160 characters. OMG! am I being primed for Twitter too? Tell me it is not so.
After picking a tablet that seemed appropriate, and sending the link to my daughter, my son in law found a much much better one on sale for not much more. It also is loaded with some useful apps like Google Maps, and even a "turn by turn" GPS app for the car journey. My browser did not like their web site and the "order button" never loaded so my daughter ordered it and might even pick it up from the store instead of getting it shipped. Have a great weekend, I will be learning how to operate my new gizmo.
Navstar-2F satellite of the Global Positioning System (GPS)
The expedition to get to my friend Monte's land is a month away. Friends and relatives are concerned for our safety and Monte's oldest son is worried that, without a gun, Dad will be eaten by a grizzly. My daughter and son-in- law suggested that I rent a satellite phone as cell-phone reception in the area is almost non-existent.
After looking at various options and their products, I have decided to purchase the Delorme inReach Explorer which advertises itself as "The world’s first satellite communicator with navigation built-in". The cheapest solution would have been the Spot Gen3 emergency satellite beacon, but it has no two-way communication and its satellite plans are by the year. The Delorme inReach Explorer has plans which allow you to suspend service when not needed for only $4.95 a month and to switch back and forth between plans instantly and at no extra charge. A lesser model, the SE, omits the navigation features and just tracks. That might have been adequate for this trip as we are fairly familiar with the surrounding territory, but we could run into a maze of trails in the forest which are not mapped, besides, different trips are certainly in the future and this gizmo works anywhere in the world. An added bonus for the Delorme is that, until the end of this month, I can get a $75 rebate on my satellite service.
Right now, I should get ready to go buy the gadget at Mountain Equipment Co-op, with a few other odds and ends like some bells for us and the dog, bear spray, and protection from the commonest predators of all: bugs.
I will be taking a week's break (give or take) from this blog toward the end of July as I will be going to northern British Columbia (NE of Prince George). It will be the second attempt that my friend Monte and I will make to reach his land. This time, though, we are loaded for bear: 4WD with a winch and extra chain; chain saw; camping equipment, GPS gadgets and of course, bear spray, noise makers, hand flares and a Bowie knife (that's a knife).
As the hunting season will be closed at that time, we should not have to worry about hunters (unless they are poachers), but I'm getting Tristan a red bandanna just in case as he looks too much like a wild coyote for my comfort (he's a hybrid). The area where we will be traveling has a bear density (mean) of 12 bears per 1,000 sq. k. most of these will be black bear, but there are grizzlies, too. In a survey of a few years ago, different 1,000 sq.k. blocks had between 8 and 27 bears within them. While the risk of an attack is very low, we will be following all of this advice, and the Bowie knife will be the last defence against an aggressive bear which is viewing us as food (playing dead would just make for a quicker lunch for such a bear, and you cannot outrun them). Tristan will be on a leash always in the back country, I will sleep with him in the back of the vehicle and he will be wearing a bell or two, just in case.
The backlog of my Alberta Senior's Benefit was placed in my account this morning, so I am now "officially" retired and have a few bucks to spare for the trip. As it is an El Nino year, we expect it to be hot and dry in that region. As most of the small lakes are usually surrounded by marsh, we expect that traveling through such areas will be easier than it was a couple of years ago. Last time, I did find one small area that had cell phone reception, but Monte's land (a quarter section/160 acres) has a fairly high hill on it and it might also get some reception. So, until I leave, the blog will go on as before and it will resume once I'm back home.
So-called "reality TV" came about as a result of a writer's strike in the U.S. Most of it consists of putting members of the public in unusual situations to see how they react to it and to each other; some variations pick a profession like picking for antiques or running pawn shops. Of course, the chances of some of those great discoveries actually occurring are far less than what seems to be happening. One show that is interesting me at the moment is The Dead Files. Their web page blurb says:
"On The Dead Files, physical medium Amy Allan and retired NYPD homicide detective Steve DiSchiavi combine their unique and often conflicting skills to solve unexplained paranormal phenomena in haunted locations across America."
The premise is that Amy investigates through paranormal abilities and Steve uses police work to get the background on the building and the families involved in various "hauntings". They claim that they do not confer on any case until after each has investigated it in their own way. Of course, we have no way of telling if that is true. While this fact might bother some people, it does not bother me because my main interest in the show, past its entertainment value, is purely mythological.
Whether a myth is true or false, or based on something real is of no relevance to me whatsoever, I am only interested in its structure. You might think that the days of mythology are over for us, but you would be wrong. Current myths are more believed than the traditional myths of long ago, so much so, that we do not usually even recognize them as myths at all. The thoughts we have when we experience any creative work from a novel to reality TV actually consist of mythological elements that are reactions to the "plot". Mythology, itself, is really the original psychology, it was never a crude method to discover how nature works. That is a modern attitude and a modern misunderstanding.
The most important division between eastern and western belief is that the former is far more introspective. In the Buddhist scriptures, it is explained that demons etc. that are seen by a person after they die, and that try to drag that person down are really just of their own creation and knowing that will free that person from their effect. For most psychics in the west, though, these are actually real entities; real demons of a sort.
Yet, many psychics, including Amy, look at some phenomena as residual energies left after a traumatic event; an energy that plays on a sort of loop and can be experienced by some observers, or as an energy projection from a living person (a poltergeist). Psychics are all introverts, and thus form a sort of transition between typical western extraversion and materialism, and the eastern meditative religions that are essentially introverted and psychic. The greatest psychological health, for an individual or a society is that which produces something in the middle, that which balances mythos and logos. The two main roles in The Dead Files represent mythos and logos. Their resolutions require both. It is in the interplay where insights about modern western mythology can occur. If, and how much is fiction, is immaterial. A work of fiction is only enjoyed because it "reads" as if it was real, and it is the mythology which gives it an impression of authenticity. A few people believe that many works of fiction are actually real experiences from the author's life. That actually happened to my wife once: one of her friends imagined that a short story that she wrote represented something that happened to my wife that she did not want to admit. I'm not sure whether he believed her when she said that it was an invention.
How far I might go with this line of research is unknown to me at the moment. I am finding the thought intriguing, though.
Alberta Works is the department of the Provincial government who loaned me some money while I was waiting (a very long time) for my Federal pensions to be processed. Now, what the Federal government does not tell you is that Alberta Works expects everyone to live on about $900 a month although another branch of the same government had said that this was too little. Apparently, the departments do not talk to to each other. Actually, I once did live on about $900 a month (give or take) when I was a starving artist back in the seventies.
After the Federal government deposited my backlog of payments into my bank account, I requested a statement from Alberta Works, explaining that I had just received my Federal payments. The invoice arrived on the first of June with a note saying that I could pay it at any of their offices, so the next day I wrote them a cheque and tried to give it to them at their closest office to where I live. I was told that this particular office could not accept payments.
After getting the address of another office, not too far away, I presented my cheque there. The woman at the desk told me that her receipt book was being audited in another department and I would have to wait while she phoned to have someone bring it back. About ten minutes later, I was officially debt free (I had already paid back the other loans that I had needed to meet my expenses).
Yesterday (June 18th), I got a nasty letter from Alberta Works with the threat of the file being referred to a private collection agency unless I paid, or arranged to make payments for my outstanding debt of $3,613.00. I had received the invoice on the 1st of June, paid it and got my receipt on the 2nd June. The cheque money came out of my account on June 5th. The letter was actually dated June 10th although it was postmarked June 15th.
Most people would probably phone them to say that the debt was paid promptly, but I am curious as to just how inefficient this department really is. It already seems obvious that the departments do not communicate with each other but now. it seems, neither do offices within the same department. I am not responding at all to the nasty letter (being polite and helpful are qualities apparently disallowed there). I want to see what comes next. Will they realize their mistake and do nothing? Will they sell my account to a collection agency? (that would be especially funny). Or will they realize their mistake and send me an apology for all of the inefficient and rude treatment I got? For you gamblers out there I am offering ten to one odds if you want to bet on the latter. ;-)
One more thing before I go: coydog Tristan is now exhibiting very civilized behavior to other dogs, even small ones (whom he especially did not seem to like). Tristan is on the right in this photograph I took this morning. Next to him is Chihuahua Indy, the most well-behaved, calm and happy chihuahua I have ever met. He and Tristan have played together twice now. The older dog on the left tolerates Tristan's youthful enthusiasm, but will growl at him when Tristan gets too insistent that he play. Tristan then backs off. Have a great weekend.
Yesterday, William emailed me from his secret cyber-bunker to say that he is developing remote access to edit and add records to the Celtic Coin Index Online. Hence the "log in" button on the main page of the development site. The normal site is just as it was before. The development site is a copy so that I can test the features as they are being developed without screwing up any data. After logging in, the records can be accessed to edit through one page or through an "edit" link which will then appear on each record.
We could probably save the British government a huge amount of money by doing something similar for the PAS. William's database is also on a very fast server: years ago, the hosting Lexicom ISP was proofed against even power failures or a breakdown of the local telephone system. Lexicom hosts the CCI as part of its philanthropic activities and community services and it is impervious to economic downturns, wars and that sort of thing. William is a database/server wizard, eschewing commercial applications, William says "I like to roll my own".
I will be able to grant password protected access to edit or add any records, and that service will be made available to museum staff and to anyone else authorized to update the records. It is early days yet, but after I told William of the changes at the B.M. he is moving it up in the list of his priorities.
She went to the cobbler's To buy him some shoes; When she came back He was reading the news.
While I try to avoid the typical bad and sensationalist news that desensitizes us to the things that we should be caring about, I now and again run into some quirky news stories worth repeating. The following three dog stories came about from noticing one headline link while checking the weather for the day, and that led me to the other two.
The first story comes from Calgary. What would you do if someone offered to sell you some jewelry on the street? I would simply refuse the offer, it would be fairly obvious that the jewelry would be either fake or stolen (but most likely the former posing as the latter). I cannot imagine phoning the police about it, but I can imagine that some people might. I think that most, though, would not try to engage with the crook first. What then ensued reads like a rejected script idea for a Police Academy movie. The only person involved who was oblivious to the subsequent events was the crook.
Next, we have all lost things on planes or at airports, usually baggage or a coat, though, not a dog. This story does not answer the question that I had: why would you want to take your dog to Cuba? The main point of the story seems to be the involvement of folks using Twitter to resolve a problem. Hundreds of people got involved (would such people be called Twitterites or just Twits for short?). What was not emphasized was that it seems that the matter was resolved by the dog-owner and airport staff in Canada and Cuba. The Twitterites just got to fret about a lost dog.
Finally, something that I think is newsworthy, and another local story. Wrestling with a mountain lion to save your girlfriend's dog? Something worthy of Herakles I think.
It seems, from the mention of it being assigned two of the three Waverley criteria, that an export permit would not have been issued. This is hardly surprising: an assistant keeper and a retired keeper of the British Museum both expressed regret that the identification and significance of my own example had been missed and that it had been issued an export permit. Just about everyone core to the subject of early Celtic art had heard of my example after Vincent Megaw had spread the word about it. It was a very exciting discovery of art-historical and archaeological significance even as a stray find (which is most typical for this sort of material).
Correct identification is often a problem for such extremely rare examples of an art style not widely understood. The latest example has been described as 4th century BC but it is really of the 3rd century BC (or just afterward). My finial example was first described by a dealer as a "decorative pin", but I am almost certain that it is a sword pommel and it has iron within its ferrule. This latest example was first thought to be sword pommel, but now it is understood to be the top terminal of a linchpin.
The shape of the linchpin is typical for continental examples, but not for the British, and to the best of my knowledge, no such shape nor anything similar is recorded from Britain. This does not mean that it is not British however, after all, we have only two British finds of the style.
Although it seems most likely that the two objects are from the same workshop, there is a possibility that the linchpin is from a continental workshop as it is more of a bas-relief style than the finial in which the triskele design is bent at 90 degrees and flows from the top of the finial to its sides. Both, however, display the trumpet shapes common in British early Celtic art, but formerly known from later examples.
Fortunately, there is a simple test to determine whether it is of British manufacture: if an XRF analysis reveals a high (up to about 0.3%) cobalt content paired with a very much smaller nickle content, then it is British. I would expect (or at least hope) that the British Museum will have such an analysis performed. Early Celtic art can be full of surprises so it is best not to assume anything until the results are in.
The Catch 22 in all of this is that by my publication of new Celtic finds, I am making it more possible for export permits to be refused which is going to reduce my own acquisitions. I have no intentions of donating my own example (other than perhaps leaving it to my family) but I might be convinced to sell it to the U.K. at a considerable reduction of any appraised value. Years of study of this material deserves some reward and, unlike academia, career advancement is only open to those with careers.
As it will soon be two years since I adopted Tristan and Living with a coyote hybrid(Coydog) has been my most popular post, I thought it time for an update.
Every day (weather permitting) we go to one of two dog parks. The first dog park where he roamed free was fenced, but the one illustrated on the right has no fences at all. Tristan knows he is supposed to keep on the grass, but whenever he goes close to the sidewalk or a bike path he will stop or return to me on command. He is also getting along well with other dogs, although both dog parks are not well-used. Today, we encountered no dogs at all. On the way home, however, we encountered a cat: it came up to us with its tail raised in friendship. I told Tristan to say "Hi" and they sniffed noses. Tristan showed no hostility but seemed to want to play. Had I not been so surprised by this meeting, I might have thought to get a photo of it.
Tristan hears a sound along a side trail in the wood
In the centre of this dog park is a wood with a small creek running through it. Tristan likes to go in the water and often runs through the water with his lower jaw under the surface as if trying to scoop up fish like whale feeding on plankton. I keep trying to get a good photograph of this, but I'm ready to give up with the camera on automatic focus and the darkness of the wood combined with Tristan's speed in the water would make it difficult to get a clear shot even on manual. Perhaps I will try it with a flash on manual next time. Wild coyotes are expert fisherman (video)
I never have to worry about Tristan getting too far ahead of me on the trails through the wood because if I am out of his sight for about a minute, he comes back to make sure I'm not lost. Although Calgary does not allow dogs to be of their leash on the streets, I have risked a fine by training him to walk at heel, sit at the curb and cross the street only on command while off the leash. I think this is important as a dog might be well trained to do such while on the leash, but if the dog got out on his own, he might not be so well-behaved. I think the laws are poorly written: dogs should be under control at all times, and some dogs do not need a leash top be properly controlled. Tristan seems to understand the importance of such exercises and is even better behaved off his leash than on it.
We finally met the Wolf Man, he is a neighbour who I have heard owns a wolf-hybrid. We stopped by a garage sale at the community centre and a man looked at Tristan and said "He has some coyote in him." Most people do not recognize a coydog. We got into a conversation and, as so often happens with dog owners especially of "difficult" breeds, he brought up methods of training etc. He did not believe in giving the hybrids any raw red meat as it would reinforce their wild side. I have heard this before, but I don't really believe it. My own philosophy is very different; I think it best to allow Tristan to express his wild side, but by hunting mice or by chasing squirrels (he has not realized that he cannot climb all trees, just some of them). If a behavior is too suppressed, I think it possible for a dog to act it out when in a very stressful situation. Better to give it a harmless channel from the start and make sure that the dog knows what is allowed and what is not.
One slightly problematical side of me keeping him away from small children and animals at first is that he is now not too sure about small children. I think that he believed I was keeping him away from them because they are dangerous. The other day, a small girl tried running up to him. He gave a couple of warning barks and retreated toward me for protection. His training will require some adjustment.
Tristan will be coming camping in northern British Columbia with Monte and myself in a month or so. We are going to make another attempt at getting to his remote quarter section. As it is grizzly bear country, we will be taking hand flares and noise makers, but I am also going to buy Tristan a red bandanna for his neck so that some hunter does not mistake him for a wild coyote. Our food will be suspended from the branch of a tree some distance from the camp, of course. I think Tristan is trained enough to be able to handle the trip properly, but I am going to be extra cautious of course, especially when it comes to potential encounters with black or grizzly bears and moose. This trip will be with a 4WD equipped with a winch, a come-along and extra chain, and a chainsaw for felling any trees that have overgrown the trails.
