Arkansas Blog

You better call that company with the annoying coon advertisement that had been on the right side of the blog (glad to see it's no longer there!).

Well I spoke too soon... I had to sign in and there was that damn coon eyes ad!

I hope the raccoon adv never goes away. Love it!

I have yet to see a city deer in Fayetteville-springdale. Seems you must drive at least 10 miles out of the city to encounter urban deer. However, about 9 years ago we had a black bear scavenging around our neighborhood in east Fayetteville. It was a large one too. Three people saw it. Black bears seem to be the urban wildlife in Fayetteville. Several incidents with them over the years. I did have red fox that was displaced when the old Wilson farm was destroyed on Old Wire Road and the fox survived by hanging out between the wooded 20 acres in back of our place and commuting to what remained of the farm. He was like clockwork, 5:00 Am to 5:30 Am each morning and at dusk every evening. It became so accustomed that once or twice s/he would stand in front of the window and stare at me. It's an indescribable feeling to encounter something that rare and wild in the middle of a suburban area.

eLwood, my son lives on Mount Sequoyah and says there is at least one, maybe two, black bears roaming the area. He's seen them on his early-morning jogs.

Jeez, eLwood, what happened to the Wilson farm? I officiated a wedding there many years ago for a Wilson. It's gone?

I know it's not marked as the open line for Sunday, but I thought others might be interested in the news release that Morgan Tsvangirai, who is in a run-off with Robert Mugabe in Zinbabwe for the Presidency, has withdrawn. click on handle for story.

Zimbabwe's economy makes Bush/Cheney/Rove look like geniuses

". . . consider this: at a supermarket . . . toilet paper costs $417. No, not per roll. Four hundred seventeen Zimbabwean dollars is the value of a single two-ply sheet. A roll costs $145,750 - in American currency, about 69 cents. . . ."

My husband was sitting on our screened-in porch in Hot Springs Village and called me out to watch as a bobcat strolled casually across our backyard. This week's Village Voice has a picture of the bobcat strolling across a neighbor's yard. A baby bobcat visited also so we have a family. We see foxes, coyotes, deer, turkeys, skunks, raccoons, brown bears and cubs, but a bobcat is the most exciting.

Not an open line but thought this was of interest.

The Green Party appears to be nominating some quality individuals.

Here is a misogynistic rant by the candidate for District 42. Does Jim Lendall really want this kind of candidate to represent his party. It was posted in the Jacksonville Leader in October of 2007

EDITORIALS>>Women take over
To the editor: Look alive, men! The women are conspiring against us. They are hiding behind hay bales and planning in the full moon. They are quietly reconnoitering to take the U.S. presidency.

Ladies! Don't do it.

You have been discovered. Cease and desist. Go back to your kitchens where you belong. You know full and well that your husbands, preachers and fathers will not allow you to vote for that woman, Ms. Clinton.

Be good girls, and do what you know is right. Vote for "the man." You, Republican women! Do not vote in the Democratic primary. They will not let you join their team. Stick to the Republican primary, where you belong. Don't even think about it.

Stop thinking!
Gene Mason
Jacksonville

LOL, I wouldn't go that far, doc, nothing is ever going to make Bush/Cheney?Rove look like geniuses. The whole world is just one big mess, isn't it?

Guess they didn't require any candidates to read the platform first. Here is number 7 on the list of Green Party Values.

Feminism
The Green movement is profoundly inspired by feminist values. The ethics of cooperation and understanding must replace the values of domination and control over others.

Correction: Bush/Cheney/Rove
Sorry 'bout that.
Kiz

I can't guarantee it, Stump.. but that was funny sarcasm, intentionally so, imho.

So sad to say - George Carlin has died of heart failure at the age of 71. He died in a Santa Monica hospital. A one-off, he was.

mag beat me to it. I am so dreadfully sorry that George won't be here on November 5th to celebrate a new day in America. He spotted Cheney-Bush for the evil that they are very early on and never missed a chance to inform the world what shit we had living in our White House. But he's free of Cheney-Bush now.......since his soul left his body and flew to a garage in Buffalo. Rest in sublime nothingness George!

Stump,

I thought that name sounded familiar. That nut has been writing letters for decades.....

wow...that's really weird and a shame.

I spent several hours yesterday watching George Carlin on dailymotion (click blue name for some of his acts). One of the things I watched was him on the view. I thought to myself that he looked like he was in bad shape and wondered if he'd be around much longer. I'm not sure when the interview was done but it must have been recently.

There was a myth about the 'big one' that lived in our area and was supposedly seen near the railroad tracks on 227 on occasion. I thought it was fun - sort of like Big Foot sightings. One day as I was returning home after a trip to the high school I saw him just before I turned on my street. I'm not a deer hunter, so I often think what others call "big" is actually pretty small, but this guy was "big", even to my eye. He ran across the highway and through a yard and into some trees near a little creek, never to be see again by me. I remember my son, who was about 14 at the time saying "I KNEW he was out there". I suppose he died of old age, or he's still roaming around wise enough to come out only after midnight - who knows?

The sighting that really gave me a laugh was also a few years ago when everyone I knew was out in the woods somewhere turkey hunting. I was on my way to work and at the junction of 227 and 270 I was waiting at the red light. On my right was a mobile home dealership which was not open as yet - about 7AM - and from between two mobile homes strutted a big old tom turkey with tail feathers all spread out and pretty and he crossed the four lane highway and went into the trees on the other side. I laughed all the way to work that my whole family and the doctor for whom I worked were in woods somewhere and probably wouldn't even see a turkey.......

eLwood,
A doe ran into my car while I was driving on Gregg St. last spring.

Used to see foxes in the wee hours in Hillcrest, along Woodlawn, and even Lee, near Pine Street. Not up that late much anymore, so can't vouch for their prevalence these days.

A number of years ago there were woodchucks or groundhougs to be seen in Allsopp Park. Haven't spotted any in the last six or eight years. I believe the wild chipmunk still stalks its environs, however, so beware.

And my small dog cowers when those big hawks sail over our placid little Hillcrest enclave.

Farkleberry, I very much envy you for getting to see a bobcat in the flesh. They are among the most elusive of wildlife. So much so, in fact, that many seasoned hunters have never seen one. Perhaps this is why I've always found them so fascinating. George Carlin gone with the wind. I'm having a difficult time processing that one on this Monday morning. He will be missed; but who's to say with certainty that we won't see him again on the other side of the River Jordan?

The same viewings over here in western Arkansas, Farkleberry. I have two bobcats on my place (located on the Ouachita River), and old one and a young one. My son has a couple of bears giving him hell (destruction to windows, sheds, etc.) and the wildlife people have tried to trap 'em but to no avail so far.
I tried to raise guineas but failed afte five flocks were wiped out by bobcats so I quit trying.

In Central Texas we had lots of bobcats and wolves galore. We had horses, so the only attention we paid was to the weird screaming off in the distance at nite- but neigbors were always losing a baby calf here and there.