I've graduated from parrot videos to oxen videos. This is progress. Seriously. I started reading an excellent book, "The Best Land Under Heaven," by Michael Wallis. It's about the infamous Donner Party of 1846 and their misadventures on the way to California. It is easier to relate to some of this because I have camped on the old wagon trails this summer. At the moment I am stranded in the rain while camping above Cokeville, WY. Will it even reach 50 F today? The book shocked me when it said that virtually all of the wagons were pulled by a single yoke of oxen, that is, two oxen side by side. That isn't what they show on "Wagon Train," starring Ward Bond. I should sue his ass. Ward Bond, screen shot from Imdb.com Of course horses are pretty and they move faster than plodding oxen, so they look good on camera. But I was feeling pretty stupid. What is an ox, exactly? I always thought it was a breed or sub-species of bovine that was quite distinct from a st
Early retirement, mainstream-media-free, bicycling, classic books & history, RV camping, and dogs.