This was so good Nicholas. Also, happy to explain / show you how to case skin mustelids anytime so you can save / dry / tan / ask me to tan their skins.
But here’s the really spooky thing. I have never found or tanned a polecat, just squirrels and foxes of several kinds. Then, 30 mins after reading your piece, my partner called me from the roadside having just found one and asking if I wanted him to bring it home for tanning and skeleton cleaning, same as you.
Peak synchronicity. Anyway, you have my number, so let me know if you need skinning instructions for the best results. Happy Easter!
And good to see you here, Jeremy! About a week ago I found a roadkilled screech owl, red phase. First screech owl I've had contact with since my brother died more than five years ago.
Thanks Nicholas. I bless every roadkill I pass, and often stop to move them off the stark pavement, into a more restful final place in the vegetation they knew.
Hello: good to see you are still writing. I miss reading your stuff. And now you are in my territory with roadkill. Last time I was in Cambridgeshire we went to a prehistoric farm site in the fens and found a road kill water deer. The fen roads are narrow and too busy for stopping, but my brother was undaunted and pulled over. We caused a traffic jam. Sadly the head had been crushed and one long shard of canine lay on the road. I took a photograph instead. Amazingly, i sold this image after being contacted by a writer who needed a shot of a roadkill water deer. I found a polecat in Hertfordshire too, many years and stopped to photograph it. I was unsure then if it was a wild or feral animal. I go to Australia in a few days. The road kill there is copious and our road trips punctuated by frequent stops. I have been meaning to contact you about that Katu village we stayed in - I can never recall the name. There was an old woman, round and red as an apple, who claimed to have shot down an American plane when she was a girl. Were you there that time? Do you remember it? Or did you hear the story some other time? Was it true? I told it recently and everyone accused me of making it up.
This was so good Nicholas. Also, happy to explain / show you how to case skin mustelids anytime so you can save / dry / tan / ask me to tan their skins.
OOO!
But here’s the really spooky thing. I have never found or tanned a polecat, just squirrels and foxes of several kinds. Then, 30 mins after reading your piece, my partner called me from the roadside having just found one and asking if I wanted him to bring it home for tanning and skeleton cleaning, same as you.
Peak synchronicity. Anyway, you have my number, so let me know if you need skinning instructions for the best results. Happy Easter!
And good to see you here, Jeremy! About a week ago I found a roadkilled screech owl, red phase. First screech owl I've had contact with since my brother died more than five years ago.
Thanks Nicholas. I bless every roadkill I pass, and often stop to move them off the stark pavement, into a more restful final place in the vegetation they knew.
Hello: good to see you are still writing. I miss reading your stuff. And now you are in my territory with roadkill. Last time I was in Cambridgeshire we went to a prehistoric farm site in the fens and found a road kill water deer. The fen roads are narrow and too busy for stopping, but my brother was undaunted and pulled over. We caused a traffic jam. Sadly the head had been crushed and one long shard of canine lay on the road. I took a photograph instead. Amazingly, i sold this image after being contacted by a writer who needed a shot of a roadkill water deer. I found a polecat in Hertfordshire too, many years and stopped to photograph it. I was unsure then if it was a wild or feral animal. I go to Australia in a few days. The road kill there is copious and our road trips punctuated by frequent stops. I have been meaning to contact you about that Katu village we stayed in - I can never recall the name. There was an old woman, round and red as an apple, who claimed to have shot down an American plane when she was a girl. Were you there that time? Do you remember it? Or did you hear the story some other time? Was it true? I told it recently and everyone accused me of making it up.
Yes I remember her well. In Aur in A Vuong. Of course they might have been making it up but it is definitely what we were told.
I also stopped for a water deer the other day but someone must have been there before me because the head was gone.
Have a great time in Australia.
Did you record her story?
I also found a headless corpse, but no footprint in the dust so very unsure how it was decapitated. Perhaps the head continued with the vehicle. https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremy_holden/albums/72177720310625082/