Ancestors

The Subject of Money

Jungle Dogs

ANNA DIBBLE AT GANDER GALLERY:  http://gandergallery.net/News-Detail.cfm?NewsID=73

OPENING RECEPTION JULY 6, 2012  5 to 7 pm Through July 20, 2012

The weather has changed for the better.  More sun now, and warmer but not too hot.  Only 2.5 weeks left here, so having to work harder than we did before.

an Anole

These Anoles spend time in the sun on the wood of the deck .  They do not change color like a chameleon.  They currently are in mating mode and sometimes one will raise its head and a thin red, white spotted blade thing darts straight out from the pouch under its chin, while the lizard makes humping movements.

sorry.  no pictures of that phenomenon

The oyster shells I’m collecting on the gulf shore are ancient.  Fossil shells from a time when this island – a barrier reef – was a lot wider.  The oyster shells were originally from the bay side of the island – where there is still a wild oyster reef – one of the few left in the world.  The only sizable wild oyster reefs left in the world are in the Atlantic ocean below southern Virginia to Florida, and on the Gulf Coast.  All of the others are gone due to human development, and other environmental hazards.

the studio

the source

The feral cats are former house cats left behind by terrible owners who once rented houses on this island.   At first glance they look like domesticated cats – of the tiger, yellow, black or white varieties – but on closer inspection there’s a mangy, wild quality that house cats definitely are lacking.  They seem to do pretty well out here.  Not too skinny.  Probably getting handouts as well as birds, mice, maybe even squirrels.  Although the SQUIRRELS here are super squirrels – lightening quick – dashing through the tree tops – not at all phased by our ferocious dogs.  Dark fur – unlike our Vermont red squirrels, and not really like the common gray squirrel of the Northeast.

The day after we arrived we went to Boss Oyster for lunch.

Softshell crabs with the fixins

Gulf shrimp, red beans and rice, hushpuppies.

wish you were here.

our temporary home

Cabbage Palmetto.  Florida and S.C. state tree.

settling in.

Longleaf pines – they are everywhere on this island.

we’re getting back to work now. more reports later.

A birder named Bradford Storey is walking across the country  with his Siberian Husky, Xena.  His trip is partially an effort to raise money for the Audubon Society’s “Important Bird Areas” program.  The blog has lists of birds he’s seen, people who have helped him along the way, and many updates on XENA, the dog.

http://birdmanwalking.wordpress.com/2012/02/09/feb-2-and-6-the-desert/

I found the Bird Man when I tried to research John James Audubon’s dogs.  Audubon led a wild and remarkable life, and made long and extensive travels throughout the USA.  In his portraits he is usually posing with a dog, and he often traveled with at least one dog, sometimes many.  It will take more time than just a quick internet search to find out more about Audubon’s dogs.  Here he is with one of them.  Looks like a Brittany Spaniel.

In my search for historical Traveling dogs, I found a bit of information about Lewis Meriwether’s Newfoundland, Seaman.

He’s considered one of ‘our country’s greatest canine explorers’,  and – with a quick search – here are a few things I found out about him:   he was an excellent guard dog.  One night he awoke everybody at  the Lewis and Clark camp  when a bison bull stopped by for a visit,  he enjoyed eating dog meat (which Lewis apparently enjoyed too, but Clark wouldn’t touch), he almost died when a beaver bit his hind leg, and cut an artery, and his collar was exhibited in a Virginia museum at one point.  Below is an excerpt from Lewis’s  journals:

Navigating down the Ohio River, Lewis, wrote on September 11, “[T]he squirrell appears in great abundance on either side of the river. I made my dog take as many each day as I had occasion for, they wer fat and I thought them when fryed a pleasent food.” On November 16, near the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, Lewis mentioned that an encampment of Shawnee and Delaware Indians were encountered. “[O]ne of the Shawnees a respectable looking Indian offered me three beaverskins for my dog with which he appeared much pleased…I prised much for his docility and qualifications generally for my journey and of course there was no bargain.”

Meriwether Lewis

And finally, to wrap up this short preview of traveling dogs – here is a picture of Dr Horatio Nelson Jackson’s pit bulldog, Bud, who, in the spring of 1903, traveled with Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson and Sewall K. Crocker in a 20 horsepower Winton Touring car on the first automobile trip across the United States.  The car was christened, The Vermont, in honor of Nelson’s home state.  Bud wore goggles, as did the men, to protect his eyes from the dust.  Ken Burns made a documentary about the journey, called Horatio’s Trip.  This is Some famous travelin’ mutt!

AND, now back to the not so famous traveling mutts.

Last day on the road.  These pine forests in Georgia are ideal for dog walks.  But at this particular spot, two things happened.  First, we noticed that the main dog backpack that had carried the originally lost dog leashes, a sizeable stash of special rawhide sticks purchased at great expense, Pepper’s special ear cleaning medicine, and two well used and beloved ‘kongs’, as well as a spool of radio fence wire had been stolen from the back of the truck.  Most likely happened that night when Pepper barked when we were in that room at the bad B.Western in Gastonia, NC.  And just after this sad discovery, at the exact second  I was backing up into a side road that led to the highway (and I DID look in the rear view mirror) some clown decided to make a U-ey, and backed his truck and farm trailer onto the wrong side of the road.  The side two passenger doors on the Tundra were badly scraped. Nobody hurt, dogs didn’t even notice.

Wounded truck, happy travelers, relieved dogs – all arrived fairly safely.  This is the causeway from Eastpoint to St George Island.

Next time:  Boss Oyster, Worm Gruntin in Sopchoppy, and other local thrills.

Ya’ll  know you’re in the South now.  Civil war stuff,  many jesus stations, crosses gracing necks.  Should have taken the sticker as a Sign.  A motel from hell.  Well not really.  But pretty bad, and by far the priciest – because it was an Executive Plus version.   After 3 years of this trail between VT and FL we now reserve rooms with exterior entrances.    Dog motels tend to isolate the dogs and their people in a section far away from petless travelers.  If one dog in one room barks in the middle of the night….  The first night we made this journey, three yrs ago, we stayed in a Howard Johnson’s motel on top of a hill, overlooking the worst part of Lexington, VA.   We were in a room on the ground floor, and many dogs regaled us in a night long bark frenzy.  The next morning at the ‘free continental breakfast’ and in the parking lot with leashed German Shepherd, Cocker Spaniel, Doberman, Lab, and Pepper and Radar, all primate heads were down, all eyes averted.  Never knew who started it, but it wasn’t ours.

In the Executive Plus canine suite.  The outdoor entrance rooms were about 75 feet from I77.  Quite the roar.  Chilly temps, and the heater was one of those types that had no thermostat so if it was On it blasted heat forever.  No middle road.  One window looking out on grim parking lot with weird smoking man wandering around and leering at me – or perhaps the dogs?  Watched the Florida primaries on CNN.  Took the dogs on a walk around the premises which included a grassy hill above a Cracker Barrel establishment – what is Cracker Barrel?  From the outside it appears to be a hokey fake country store, but it acts like a restaurant in ways.  Wouldn’t dare actually go in one.  Good dog stuff, these places always provide good scents for those amazing noses – the noses are magnetized by the surface of every parking lot, grassy strip, car tire, sad tree or shrub .  Major kicks out of what we consider to be ordinary, rather boring objects and failed attempts at landscape design.   About 3 A.M. the television jolted us awake.  It was the weather channel, not CNN.  They were doing a story about these dogs who were chasing Canada geese across a frozen lake, and how one fell through the ice and was rescued.   About 4 A.m.  Pepper barked, rather frantically, at something outside. Later we figured out what it was (see next post)

The best stopping places are the official Rest Areas which are virtual archeological sites – strata of dog excrement dating back to traveling dogs of yesteryear, now long gone.  Our dogs are so mesmerized and stoned on these odiferous offerings they momentarily forget to add their own contributions to history.

and the very best rest stops are the Welcome Centers.  This one emulated a Greek temple – well, sort of.

Inside the Greek Temple – don’t ask.

yep, and this too.

they sure like water.

Ate our sandwiches here at the Georgia welcome center.  Listened to a radio program from the South Carolina Natural Resources Dept.  Talk about Wild Hogs – Feral hogs whose ancestors escaped from local farms are fairly prevalent in this part of the world.  And like the Burmese pythons in S. Florida, they’ve been successful breeders.  According to the radio program, the population is decreased with frequent forays into the woods  of men with dogs and hand guns.  The wild wild south east.

The last night on the road in still another Best Western in Macon (pronounced like bacon) Georgia.  This place made up for the previous night in comfort,  quality, and quiet, at half the price.  Ate in again – the last of the sardines, stilton, almonds, coleslaw, and smoked salmon.  Old Grandad for us, water for tha dogs.  Good night’s sleep.   Only bad thing was the ubiquitous continental breakfast.  But it was free.

STAY TUNED…..

Left Vermont on a late January morning.  10 degrees with stiff sharp breeze, spitting snow, driveway shiny with frozen version of recent rainfall.  Started out by losing the leashes.

Although we’d packed the pod in the truck bed the night before,  we had to repack it.     Loaded two and a half large purple bags of dry dog food  into industrial strength garbage bags for waterproofing, and stored them outside the pod to make room inside for more of our stuff:  laptop, printer, scanner, clothes, essential kitchen tools, work materials for both of us – light box, pencils, ink, papers, watercolor pastels, casein, watercolors, acrylics, brushes, reference materials, sketchbooks, J’s briefcase, papers, job folders, boxes of envelopes, padded envelopes, rulers, two old backpacks with dog supplies – rawhide sticks, toys, kongs, ear cleanser,  dog tranquilizer vitamins, old tennis balls…., as well as two dog beds in the back seat, John’s fiddle, bathroom stuff to take in and out of the motels, and an overnight pack for the same purpose.  After last minute trips to the post office and the bank, we headed towards Albany, 2 plus hours behind optimistic schedule.  Not too bad.              This is Pepper.

and Radar

the glorious billboards of Pennsylvania.  Stills and movies.

We carry the water in plastic grapefruit juice containers.  The food and bowls are stored in a small galvanized garbage can in the back of the pickup, next to the gate.  Someone didn’t secure the lid, and somewhere between Pennyslvania and Virginia where we spent the first night, we lost the lid. (hope it missed the cars and trucks behind us…)   Fortunately the weather was fair.

Winchester, Virginia. The ‘Lee-Jackson Best Western’.  Large prints of Lee and Jackson above the check in desk, small statues below them.  The Jackson statue featured the Confederate flag.  We’re not in New England anymore.  A good night, on the whole.  Though only a thin grassy strip outside, for the dogs.  Being country dogs, they are only comfortable peeing on actual ground, not macadam.

Although this photo makes this food look anemic, it is a lot tastier than any of the food we can find on the road.  My brother in law told me that Waffle Houses weren’t bad, so we tried one for breakfast here in Virginia.  They actually cooked real food on real stoves.  Good grits and country ham with the eggs and homefries.

Virginia farm land.

TO BE CONTINUED….STAY TUNED.