Hallo all. It's a brand new week!
Morning all: Hee-hee. Leafblowers R Us; Dyson vacs; DIY Petrie. Very funny.
Auntie; Great pix; thanks. I tried to click on them to see better, but it was taking ages to load so didn't wait. Anyone else have that problem or am I just too impatient?
We have an interesting court case going on in Wyoming. I'm a bit fuzzy on the legalities so bear with me:. Eagle feathers and talons are used in Native American religious ceremonies. Both Bald and Golden Eagles are on the U.S. Federal government's list of protected species and have increased in numbers so the populations are healthy. But Native American "sovereign" nations are, to some extent, exempt from Federal law (they have their own tribal police, etc.). To satisfy their religious requirements, the Federal government has established an Eagle Repository where dead eagles (killed by vehicles, power lines, old age, etc.) are preserved and the feathers and talons made available to various tribes. The indians claim that these birds are "damaged" and not good enough to use in religious ceremonies. Also, the demand for parts exceeds the supply available through the Repository, so the Federal government provides a way for Native Americans to kill the occasional eagle, but it's a very complicated and not well publicized option, because the Feds want to make it as difficult as possible. A member of the Arapaho tribe in Wyoming apparently shot an eagle to use the feathers in the Sun God ceremony (one of their holiest events) and the Feds are prosecuting the case (the penalty is one year in jail and a $10,000 fine). It's seen as a test of tribal vs. U.S. Federal law.
Off to have breakfast with daughter.
Good Day Everyone! I think I'll use that since we're dealing with so many time zones here. =O) Speaking of strange weather, I just clicked on to see if the Lincoln Nebraska Peregrine is home and it's all fog there, even at this late hour in the morning. Strange, very strange...............
Oh, that's wonderful Alan. I did laugh.
Now gotta get ready to go to work. Wonder if the girls will still be where they are (were) when I get home. HOpe so. I consider Mallachie needs the rest and the fishing. Later ......
Hi Annette. And a very 'Oh dear' in regard to the court case. I'm just glad I don't need to have an opinion.
Hello, All. A grey day here, & the only time it broke into drizzle was just as I came out of Sainsburys with a full trolley but no umbrella. that's life..
WATTLE: Thanks for interesting pics. of your strange weather there. Woke up this morning to the views of Sydney in a red mist, on our BBC News reports. Hope it all blows away soon, as it seems to be doing. Some friends of mine just arrived in Sydney yesterday, doing a tour of Oz & N.Zealand, so don't know what their 1st impressions will be!!
ANNETTE: Glad the floor is sorted now- now you can walk on it at last & I bet it looks great. Very impressed with your celebrity connections- especially like the story of Indiana the dog. What a shame there is such a conflict of interests about the eagles, traditions are usually so important to hang on to, & I have great respect for native culture; have always admired your native americans as they feel at one with nature unlike a lot of us who seem to have forgotten who we are in the scheme of things. (sorry, ranting again)
Many thanks to all for the suggestions as to rhymes with 'osprey' - will give it some thought but no promises of a result!
ALAN: Look forward to your being put in charge of the winter TV scheduling.
NEW BLOG from Alice: No change.
auntie: Oh, My! Just found the time to go and look at your link to the photo site- how wonderful they are, thank you SO much.
Thanks for posting the court case info, Annette, I certainly will be following it. I have to agree, stepping in to the American Indian moccasins, that birds killed by collision or calamity are damaged and therefore not useful for sacred purposes. The "repository" birds were not prayed to and thanked for their lives prior to being killed and they died suddenly and horribly which is bad mojo, if I may use that term. I would trust an Indian's purpose for killling a bird and to use all of or most of that bird or dispose of the remains in a sacred way than I would anyone else's. Indians never take more than they need and use all or the most possible of what they have taken for good and useful purposes, not sport or amusement. Eagles have been a sacred, spiritual guide or talisman to those people for many centuries before contact with other peoples ever began.
Once at a Pow Wow I attended, a dancer lost an eagle feather during a demonstration dance. The whole place stopped and was silent. Everyone from the drummers, dancers, to the vendors and spectators stopped what they were doing and a prayer was said to their creator, asking forgiveness for dropping this sacred feather and that the dancer meant no harm to it or disrespect from where it came. What a moving and powerful moment to have witnessed and I learned just dropping a feather is not just dropping a feather, depending on your perspective.
It saddens me that there is a court case and heavy fines involved over a religious issue where one bird was needed and taken for legitimate purposes. So many of the Indians have nothing, live far below the poverty level and are penned up on reservations. ( I won't even get started on the deplorable conditions in the great majority of reservations.) If this man is convicted, does anyone really think he, his entire family and all their neighbors put together have $10,000.00? Come on, really now!
I hope this case gets thrown out because there are so many larger issues needing to be handled by the Feds than this one. Okay, I'm stepping off my soapbox now! =O)
Hello all.
Wattel15: just saw on telly pics about the weather in Australia, surreal!
Alan: is there any possibility that those new TV-shows could be seen here as well?
my photos in flickr
auntie: I think we should write to the BBC & to your TV people, and ask that Alan be put in charge, these shows sound a lot better than some of those on offer at the moment, & with winter coming, things usually get worse as the nights draw in. I might even have to read a few books instead. Have just run out of ink on my printer as I copied so many of your pics of ospreys on the site you mentioned.
I think that there might be a fair possibility to see those shows here. We do have lots of UK & US shows in our TV.
And Lindybird, thinking of those endless winterdays with nothing to do, if You print those osp.pics in black and white then buy some nice crayons and voilà!
Must go, take care everybody