The McCains and Robertsons

Phil, Barry, Conar, Jase

People saw this photo on my face book page and sent me emails asking about the particulars.  Well, it is like this, I grew up in Ouachita parish, Louisiana.  Spent much of my youth there duck hunting and playing football there.  I met Phil, Jase, and Jep, Robertson a couple years ago, they were at a local gun shop here in north Mississippi. My younger son Conar was with me.  We chatted with Robertons, Phil asked me about my surname, one thing led to another, he remembered my older brother Ronnie, who had played football at Ouachita High School, etc. Ronnie was considered a top quarterback in his day, along with Phil Robertson and Terry Bradshaw. This is all north Louisiana stuff.  Anyroad, we had a nice conversation, the type that men from the same background from the same area, with the same upbringing, have.  It is a north Louisiana, Ouachita parish thing I suppose.

I watched their Duck Commander show, back when I had tv service.  Do not have it now, so do not watch the A&E Duck Dynasty Show.  I did see one of their new shows on the computer a month or so ago.  I am not much for anything from Hollywood these days, but wish them well on the show and hope the pay cheques are worth it.  Excellent fellows.  North Louisiana Anglo-Celts are possibly the most talented, dynamic, people on this earth.  They do us proud.  I am curious about how they all married such good looking women.  That Celt thing again I suppose.  

Rose Breasted Grosbeak

Rose Breasted Grosbeak

This fellow came to the feeder this morning, still here in fact.  Supposed to be in migration, but he seems to be running late.  He is eating a lot of sunflower seeds.  A strikingly handsome bird.  His 'name'  says rose, but in fact, it is a loud red.  Birds are grand.  North Mississippi, is a good place to bird watch.

Gaelic Wisdom for the Warrior

Am fear a thug buaidh air fhéin... thug é buaidh air namhaid.   (as Gaidhlig Albanach)

An fear a thug bua ar é féin.... thug sé bua ar namhaid  (Gaeilge) 

The man who conquers himself... conquers an enemy.   

The Gall-Ghaeil

Love the illustration above.  It appeals to me.  I do not know who tagged on the clever saying, but I like it.  The young folk tell me this is an illustration from some 'game' they play with computers or Eboxes or something similar.  Pé sceal é....   I am this great fortune of know a lot about my ancestry. I descend from warrior stock, from a warrior caste.  I have the advantage of working with our McCain DNA project and access to primary sources about my own family from the late thirteenth century to we migrated to the New World.

We originate in mid Argyll, in what is now called Kilmichael Parish.  That is the Dunadd areas for you with map savvy.   This area was home to a people called the Gall-Ghaeil, or 'stranger Gaels.'  They were a Gaelic people who became über influenced and joined with the Norse in their lands.  It was a peaceful joining, marriages, etc., worked out well for both parties. Pé sceal é.... they gave rise to a peculiar phenomenon, i.e. Gaelic Vikings.  This in time gave rise to the Gallóglaigh and Redshanks, and pretty much is the story of my family.  We are those people today.

Nice illustration.

Gray Catbird

Today a Gray Catbird came to the feeder.  For a couple of weeks I have been hearing 'kittens' out in the woods beside my apartment.  We have a stray cat that we feed, and she has had kittens, so I thought they must be hers.  But every time I went out to look... nada, níl cat amhain ann. So... the arrival of the Catbird explains all.  It does mew like a cat, incredibly so.  Mystery solved.  Nice bird.

The Indigo Bunting

This very handsome fellow has been visiting the feeder of late, the Indio Bunting.  Very beautiful.  They are fairly common here in north Mississippi.

Chuck-will's-widow

The Chuck-will's-widow, one of my very favourite birds.  We have many of them here in the wooded hills of north Mississippi.  The locals usually call them, quite incorrectly, a Whip-poor-will.  Why?  Well, the two birds are very similar and do have similar calls, but to the experienced ear they are quite different. We do have some bona fide Whip-poor-wills in north Mississippi, but 99 times out of 100, what one hears at Twilight and at night, is the much more common Chuck-will.  Last night one was about ten feet from my bedroom window, singing his sad strange call.    It eats primarily insects, particular those active at night such as moths, beetles, and winged ants. It will also eat small birds and bats, swallowing them whole; its mouth opens very wide.  It is an odd looking, yet beautiful bird.

The Path of the Gods

Perun

 the gods only go with you if you put yourself in their path. And that takes courage....

Mary Stewart, The Chrystal Cave

Words of Odin

As a child I discovered the Norse Sagas and the Eddas.  They started me on the path, I still love them. The wisdom below, a suggestion from the Allfather.... 

Praise day at even, a wife when dead,
a weapon when tried, a maid when married,
ice when 'tis crossed, and ale when 'tis drunk.


(from the Eddas)

Birds in North Mississippi early Spring

Current set of birds observed in or near my wee feeder in the last week or so.... House finch, Golden finch, Cardinal, mourning dove (actually, under the feeder), Chickadee, Tit Mouse, Junco, Wild Turkey. White Throated Sparrows (my favs), Robins, Mocking birds, Blue Jays, come for water only at the feed station.