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Archive for 2010

The World Fire

Some say Coyote did it. Cocky, he was. He'd stolen fire from the sky. He'd stolen fire from a magnet. He'd learned to steal fire from water. He'd rubbed two sticks together until the fire had come out from its hiding place. He'd found fire in a black stone. He was feeling pretty good. He was strutting. He wanted to show off. So he got a little careless. It was an accident, some say. Or a spill, maybe. There was a girl, there, would do it for money. Maybe that was involved. Maybe he thought: "I'll have more women than Solomon." …
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A Lonely Yearling, for Laura, who witnessed it.

(Where, after all, could it lead? …
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On the Sixtieth Day There Was Much to Mourn

In Afghanistan, a farmer, shot through the neck, …
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An Economy Not Worth Saving

An economy that is dependent on people buying things they don't need, ever new gewgaws and gadgets, with money they don't have, is not worth saving. An economy that has to grow just to cover its own debts is not worth saving. An economy dependent on the energy of fossil fuels to avoid collapse is not worth saving. Why is an economy where most of the profits go to one percent of the population worth saving? …
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Bobcat came back

My office door was open when I heard a sudden bird commotion by the rocks along the stream: jays squawking and finches chattering. Mushroom, our Bengal cat, was sitting just inside the doorway, eyes and ears fixed toward the rocks. I put my binoculars to my eyes just in time to see the bobcat walk off with a big quail. He is so casual. I've seen him make kills twice now, and both times he's made it look easy. Mushroom, herself the best rodent huntress I've ever known, seems to think the bobcat is really hot. She's careful though. I could tell where the bobcat was eating the quail just by watching Mushroom's ears. She waited about ten minutes before going out, then, very slowly, approached the scene, smelling everything along the way. She finally worked her way onto a rock where she could stare down at the stream—evidently from a respectful distance. They seem to have it worked out. …
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Our first lazuli bunting

I've been wanting to see one of these ever since I first saw the drawing in Peterson's Field Guide when I was a kid. We're hoping he attracts a mate and stays in the neighborhood for the summer, nesting with the finches and the black phoebes. …
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Disaster Twin-Pak

"The Disaster Twin-Pak, Plus Zeitoun," my review of Rebecca Solnit's A Paradise Build in Hell, Dave Eggers' Zeitoun, and Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine are up on Huffington: https://dalependell.com//www.huffingtonpost.com/dale-pendell/ithe-disaster-twin-pak-pl_b_598273.html, and in Essays, here. …
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43rd Day

Clearing cattails …
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On the Fortieth Day

“On the fortieth day the earth was still bleeding” …
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“Hot Air”

My review of three books on global warming, originally published on HuffPost,  is now in Essays. …
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