My cursed trip

My recent trip (July 2024) to England and Scotland could have been better. My camera stopped working several days into the Yorkshire Dales portion of the trip. I had to rely on my cell phone for taking pictures. Not only were the pictures inferior, but it was a constant struggle to maintain charge on my phone. For reasons unknown, my back-up battery packs were failing to charge. Eventually, I figured out how to make the phone last longer, but it was still a struggle to maintain charge. I needed my phone not only to take pictures, but to navigate public transport. This became a major cause of angst to me.

My week in the Yorkshire Dales was enjoyable. At the conclusion of this portion of the trip. I took an early morning train to Edinburgh. After spending the day exploring the city, I came down with Covid. The progression of symptoms was fast:  respiratory, GI, and fever. I was unable to go on my five day tour of the North Highlands. Not only did I lose the money I had already spent, but this was the part of the trip I had been most looking forward to. Instead, I relocated to a hotel in Falkirk, outside of Edinburgh. It was an expensive taxi ride, but turned out to be a good place to recover from Covid. The people at the hotel were very nice to me.

The Park Hotel in Falkirk where I recovered from Covid.

I didn't leave my hotel room much for three days. Luckily, I was in walking distance of the pharmacy and grocery store. I met two nice nurses who showed me where the pharmacy was. After I was a little better I started to venture out. I visited a few places including Callendar House, Sterling Castle, the Kelpies, and the Falkirk Wheel. I didn't feel great and it wasn't as good as visiting the North Highlands, but at least I salvaged something from my trip (to Scotland). I returned to the same Airbnb (in Edinburgh) for two nights. I was able to go on my Outlander Tour. I still didn't feel the best, but I enjoyed the tour very much. Ironically, our guide's name was Jamie. He was great tour guide and wanna-be DJ. We visited Lallybroch, Castle Leoch, Blackness Castle, Linlithgow Palace, and Culross.

The final leg of my journey was a day layover in Paris. I had a very early flight out of Edinburgh. It had sounded like a good idea when I planned it, but turned out not to be. I hadn't known the Olympics were so close when I booked the stopover. The first sign of chaos was when I couldn't exchange any money because all the computers were down. I took a train into the city, was given bad advice, and got off in the middle of nowhere. I ended up taking a cab to the Eiffel Tower. None of the cabbies spoke English. 

There were police everywhere in the city and a lot of barriers near the Eiffel Tower. I got on the subway again and found out where to catch my hop-on, hop-off "Toot" bus. The bus stop was near the Arc de Triumph. It was cool to see this classic landmark. I didn't enjoy the bus tour too much, as it was miserably hot, there wasn't any decent commentary (on what we were seeing), and the bus didn't pass by any of the main landmarks. No doubt the bus route was altered by the Olympics. When I finally got off the bus (after the two hour tour of the city), I was anxious to get back to my hotel (near the airport). I was ready to go home. I could knock Paris off my bucket list.

I got to see a few things in Paris.

When I boarded the first train, it was wall-to-wall people. It was hot and I could barely stand it. I just needed to go a few stops. A few people got off at the first stop, and it was more bearable. But then the train failed to go. There was an announcement (in French). I asked someone to translate it for me. They said it would be 10 to 20 minutes before the train left for the next stop. After a few minutes, there was another announcement (in French). The subway wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. I needed to get to the airport (where my hotel was). My translators said to follow them. They'd direct me to the right train.

After walking what seemed like forever underground, we boarded another train. We got off at the first stop, and they told me which train to take to get to the airport. When I got to the platform for my train, I learned that there were power issues and the trains weren't going anywhere anytime soon. I went above ground. I was in a large train station. I could feel my pulse racing. How was I going to get to my hotel? I decided my best option would be to take a taxi to my hotel. It was almost another $100 taxi ride with an obnoxious cab driver, but eventually I got to my room. My nerves settled. I had a nice dinner (pizza and a couple of cold cokes) and conversation with a fellow American traveler. My hotel room was very nice. My flight home the next day went without a glitch. 

1st trip to Kazakhstan

It's been 30 years since I made my first trip to Kazakhstan. I went with David G. and Eldon G. as part of the Farmer-to-Farmer program with Winrock International. We flew into Almaty (Alma-Ata; the capitol at the time), but didn't stay long. We went to Shymkent and Dzhambul (in southern Kazakhstan) to do our work. Our job was to work with sheep farmers. 

Kazakhstan is a Central Asian country and former Soviet republic. It is the world's 9th largest country by area and largest land-locked country. Kazakhstan was colonized by Russia and later ruled by the Soviet Union. It was the last republic to gain independence from the Soviet Union (in 1991).  The population was about 50:50 when we were there: 50% Russian and 50% Kazakh. The Kazakhs have their own language (similar to Turkish) and are Muslim (moderate, no head cover).

Kazakhstan possesses abundant natural resources, which were greatly exploited by the Soviets. In the old Soviet Union, Kazakhstan was a major sheep producing area. Only Australia is said to have had more sheep than the USSR.  At the time of our visit, there were supposedly 37 million sheep in Kazakhstan. Numbers plummeted to 12 million head by 2003, but have since rebuilt to 23 million head, as of September 2023.  Wool was the emphasis during the Soviet era, but meat production has become more important.

Traditionally, Kazakhs were nomads who raised livestock. Yurts were the traditional housing of the nomads and remain a symbol of Kazakhstan today. In 1995, the Kazakh Embassy (in Washington DC) brought a yurt to the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. It was a fancy one. We had a "gathering" inside it. On my trip to Alaska (in 2018), I stayed in a yurt. It was very nice inside (but no bathroom).

David, me, and Eldon

Two-way traffic

David coming out of a yurt.

Card trick

David teaching about wool

Kazakh cowboy

First time on a camel

Group photo

David was gifted a horse.

The obligatory sheep head

Kazakh currency is a Tenge.

The pictures in this post aren't the best because they were scanned from old slides.  Not only old slides, but probably Seattle Filmworks film (a lower cost slide film).  Some of the pictures are scanned from photos from the same film (colors are better with the photo scans).

A year ago

Yesterday marked a year since Greg and I went to get Cash in Ohio. It's hard to believe I've already had Cash for a year. He's already had such an impact on me and the household. I don't regret the money I spent on him at all. He is worth every penny. I love him so much. He has grown into a very handsome cat who's personality is just as extraordinary.

Cash has a following on Facebook. Friends urge me to post pictures of him. I've seldom seen a cat as beautiful as Cash. There's one in the Forest Cats Facebook group that rivals him. Bronson is a different color, but looks the same in the face. Maine Coon cats are very pretty, but Cash is among the prettiest of the ones I've seen. Of course, there's something special about the orange (red) ones, too. I'm not a bit biased.

While Cash usually does his own thing during the day, he always come to visit me in the mornings and evenings while I'm in bed. The purr machine goes on at full blast. He wants his loving. He's such a sweet boy.  I wish he and Oliver were better friends. They each do their own thing. Ty is usually insignificant to Cash.

A Belated Welcome to Stretch

Stretch joined the farm in the fall of 2022, but I never did a post about him. He is a Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dog. My 4th. He has not been neutered. He stays with the sheep. He was given to me because he suffered a seizure (as a pup) and the breeder/trainer did not feel comfortable selling the dog to anyone. She knew I was looking for another guardian dog, but wasn't inclined to fork over $1000. It's hard to justify such an expense when you have small flock and no apparent predator problems. 

11 months old

At first Stretch was very timid. Now he is not. Sometimes, he is too playful. Like a lot of guardian dogs on small farms, he'd probably prefer to be a pet -- but I think he's got a pretty good life as an outside dog. He's so-so as a livestock guardian dog. He has never harmed any of the sheep, but he moves fast and often scares them, causing them to knock things over. That's not really his fault. He guards his food pretty closely. He does a good job patrolling the perimeters of the property. I wish he would scare the guinea fowl away. The same neighbor has released guinea fowl into the neighborhood again.

Last year, on the day I was to leave for the airport to go to Ireland, I found Stretch with a face-full of porcupine quills. I dropped him off at the vet and my farm sitter picked him up.  I tried pulling a few of the quills (he let me), but thought he would need a more thorough job.  He did. A year or so ago, he had an encounter with a skunk. I guess he's doing his job. 

Stretch and Ty are good buddies.

Like my other Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dogs, Stretch is a gentle giant. He lets me do most anything to him (unlike Ty, the crazy dog). He listens to me. Stretch gets along well with Ty.  I just wish Stretch hated guinea fowl. The vet didn't think Stretch would have any more seizures after the first one, but there was no guarantee. He has not had any seizures since I have had him. He's been healthy. His only problem is the bug bites on his nose, same as the other dogs used to get.

They all love the snow.

Secret Connected Pasts

A recent (6/9/24) Sunday drive took us (Mom and I) to High Rock and Fort Ritchie. We'd been to both places before. High Rock is a scenic overlook in South Mountain State Park, off the Appalachian Trail. Fort Ritchie is a former mountaintop military base in nearby Cascade. Who knew they shared a secret past. 

Our first stop was Pen Mar. It was crowded so we drove onto High Rock. High Rock was crowded, too. There was even a biker "gang" there. It was a beautiful spring day. Clear as a bell. The view from atop the rocks was awe-inspiring.  Sadly, I've gotten used to all the graffiti on the rocks. But this was the first time I witnessed the defacing. Parents were giving their children cans of spray paint. Still, I took pictures. Amazing colors, especially with the graffiti (I admit it).

I knew that High Rock has a history. It used to be a popular site for hang gliding. It was part of Pen Mar, a popular resort from the 1870s to 1930's. On our last visit to Pen Mar, we visited the museum and learned about the Pen Mar Resort. There used to be an observation tower at High Rock. Because of the views it offers, during the Civil War, High Rock was used by Union soldiers as a lookout. Many notable troop movements were witnessed atop High Rock.

Fort Ritchie's secrets only came out within the past few decades. Fort Ritchie was a training site for the US Military to teach soldiers the art of interrogation and physiological warfare. The soldiers were dubbed the Ritchie Boys. The Ritchie Boys were responsible for gathering a lot of the intelligence that helped the Allies win WWII. After the war, Fort Ritchie served as a communication center in support of the very secret Sire R (Raven Rock Mountain Complex; alternate military command center). The base closed in 1998. But what about all its secrets? What happened to them?

Because it was such a beautiful day, I started taking pictures at Fort Ritchie, of the same buildings.  I told Mom that every day is different when you're taking pictures outside:  different season, different light, different cloud cover, etc. I was taking a picture of the church at Fort Ritchie, when a man invited us inside to see the church. As part of the Ritchie Revival, the church is being reopened, non-denominational, as it was when the base was open. All military churches are non-denominational. The man and his wife had just celebrated their marriage.

His wife (Angela) greeted us and we began talking. She was native to Smithsburg and knew a lot about the area and some of its secrets. She told us that High Rock had been affiliated with the US military. She said that the military moved a lot of the rocks there, that it's not a completely natural rock formation. She said High Rock was used as a communication site. The military used to parole the area. I already knew about a communication site somewhere near there. Of course, communications was the function of Fort Ritchie after the second world war.  

So many interesting places in Washington County. She told us there was a house in Smithsburg that still had a cannonball embedded it its window. Smithsburg saw some action in the Civil War. We couldn't find the house and there isn't much mention of it on the web. Who knows what Mom and I will learn next as we take our weekend drives, in and around Washington County.

Side bar

I just watched two programs about the Ritchie Boys:  a 2004 documentary and a 2022 episode of 60 Minutes. Both programs featured Ritchie Boy Guy Stern, who died December 2023 at the age of 101. He was the only one from his Jewish family to get out of Germany. He had colorful stories to tell about his time as a Ritchie Boy. He would impersonate a Russian officer to get German POWs to talk. The Germans were deathly afraid of being turned over to Uncle Joe. Mom and I both agree that Hollywood needs to make a movie about the Ritchie Boys, so more people learn about their heroism and contributions to the war effort.