Walking the Berkshires

Nothing Beside Remains

Nothing like a ghost town in the desert to get me thinking on Ozymandias:

"Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

This place was called Kolmanskop and it lies in the restricted diamond area or Sperrgebiet about 10 kilometers inland from Namibia's sand swept port Luderitz.  In the early 1900s it was a German mining town, complete with wooden skittle alley, and now the dunes rise to the rafters.

A good place to explore if you are in the neighborhood.  There is precious little else you can do on the road from Aus to Luderitz except look for wild desert horses and drive around the sand that drifts across the tar road.  There is, or used to be, an L-shaped pool table in a German bar back up the road in Keetmanshoop that I have fond memories of playing.

The Battle of Egremont?

The Sons of the American Revolution maintain a list of every action of any size that occurred in the New England colonies during our war of Independence.  Aside from places, dates, and color codes to distinguish who came out on top, there is not additional data provided, which is going to cause me to do some digging because I find that something  of a military nature took place on 5/1/1777 in Egremont, Massachusetts, just up the road a piece from where I write in the Southern Berkshires.  Around here we remember the final act of Shay's Rebellion which played out in nearby Sheffield on the Egremont Road, but no one mentions a skirmish, raid or other standoff in Egremont during the Revolution. 

So naturally I had to do some sleuthing.  It turns out that the fight was probably not in Egremont but actually a raid launched from there in April, 1777 on Tories over in New York.  The Albany / Hartford Turnpike - now Rte 23 - passed over the Taconics between New York and Massachusetts in Egremont, and there was a longstanding feud over rival claims to the southern Berkshires between the Livingstons and Massachusetts patent holders.  According to the pension record of Egremont militia soldier Andrew Loomis:

"... in April 1777 I was called out with the militia of Egremont aforesaid under the command of Capt. Ephraim Fitch, & marched under his command to Livingston's Manor in the state of New York to subdue & disperse a party of British & Tories assembled there — we were out two or three weeks — the commander of the British, called Capt. Hooper (I think) was killed, several wounded, some taken prisoners & the rest effectually dispersed."

Ephraim Fitch, incidentally, would later vote against ratification of the Federal Constitution and though a justice of the peace was yet a strong supporter of Shay's Rebellion. 

This will take some digging into.  I'll let you know what I uncover.

If You're Happy and You Know it, Kiss a Fish

Bluefish, that is.  David Churbuck placates the fickle fates by offering the first Blue of the season back to Neptune.  Carpenters nail a tree branch to the ridge board of a new house to bestow good luck, so why not kiss a fish?

Don't Got Milk

Here's a swell idea. Tax dairy farmers for the methane produced by flatulent cows.  Now it is true that cows produce more greenhouse gas than any other source, including vehicle emissions.  Yes, livestock are major resource consumers and yes, overgrazing, deforestation and a host of other ills can be pinned on unsustainable farming practices.  But taxing the farmer for cow farts is a bit like punishing the prostitute and not the Johns.  Estonians must not like milk.  The Kiwis made a stink about a similar measure in 2003.

Join the Circus

"Just join the circus like you meant to do, when you were so high.
Pitch your troubles under a tent and you’re bound to lose ‘em by and by.
Say so long to fair Schenectady greet sweet Santa Fe.
Toss your hat and cane in a sack again,
Shoulder your pack and then hitch up the shay.
Kiss the cat and never look back again,
When the circus comes your way."

The "Greatest Show on Earth" is in Albany, and four tickets came my way for my birthday, so today we packed the clowns in the car and headed for the circus.  Old Uncle Ira would have been proud. Thanks Mom and Dad!

The Beeb Goes Chumming for Traffic

Why do you suppose this is the most e-mailed story the BBC has posted today?

Callous Youth Head Cases

The AP reports:

"Three teenagers were arrested after two of them told police they dug up a secluded grave north of Houston, removed the skull from the coffin and converted it into a marijuana bong." 

Appalling.  Though not unique.  No points for creativity, cretins.

Back in our frontier days, human trophy taking included more than scalping.  One of the brave lads of Chivington's 3rd Colorado Cavalry cut off Arapaho chief White Antelope's scrotum after the Sand Creek Massacre to use as a tobacco pouch.  We've come a long way, kids.

Call for Posts: Cabinet of Curiosities #7 at Walking the Berkshires

Supposing you had this photograph in your attic, in among the other family accumulations, and nothing was written on the back to tell you anything about it.

Don't let this happen to you!

The next Cabinet of Curiosities blog carnival will be right here at Walking the Berkshires on May 19th.  Now is the time to post about that the tea your ancestor shook out of his breeches after the Boston Tea Party and passed down through the generations, or the oddest roadside attraction you visited on your last vacation.  Now is the time to tell us about your collection of coprolites (or the one your "friend" has if you don't want to own up to it).

Bring me your stories behind the historical or religious relics, artifacts, mementos, talismans, specimens and ephemera in your steamer trunks, sock drawers and dusty fireplace mantles. Dazzle us with the oddities you have found in the World Wide Wunderkammer.

Submission deadline is May 18th at 12:00 p.m. EST.  You may e-mail them to me at greensleevesenviro AT sbcglobal DOT net or use the submission form.

Arborphilia

Be sure to make some time for this month's Festival of the Trees, "the world's greatest collection of arboreal blog brilliance."

Great Balls of Fire, or just Flaming Out?

Note to self: "Never apologize for undisclosed mistakes in my life." It didn't work for Elliot Spitzer.  It sounds just as grim coming from Roger Clemens.

NEW YORK (AP) — Roger Clemens apologized Monday for unspecified mistakes in his personal life but denied having an affair with a 15-year-old.

The Daily News reported last week Clemens had a decade-long relationship with country star Mindy McCready that began when she was 15 and an aspiring singer. The newspaper also linked the star pitcher to former Manhattan bartender Angela Moyer and Paulette Dean Daly, a former wife of champion golfer John Daly.

"Even though these articles contain many false accusations and mistakes, I need to say that I have made mistakes in my personal life for which I am sorry," Clemens said in a statement issued by spokesman Patrick Dorton. "I have apologized to my family and apologize to my fans. Like everyone, I have flaws. I have sometimes made choices which have not been right."

The apology was first reported by the Houston Chronicle.

Clemens, his stock trading at an all-time low, does himself no favors with this vague admission of personal failings.  Too bad he's not trying to get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Jerry Lee Lewis made it just fine in 1986, despite marrying his 13-year old cousin in 1957.