Dac Crossley's Western Blog

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

I nearly let it slip past. The anniversary of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.  October 26, 1881.

It's a western icon. Wyatt Earp, his brothers and Doc Holliday against Ike Clanton and the Cowboy gang. It wasn't actually in the O.K. Corral; it was in the street. It was the only time Wyatt Earp ever drew his pistol in a gunfight. And it turned Wyatt Earp into a legend (see Inventing Wyatt Earp by Allen Barra on my Shelfari page).

The Gunfight is right up there with The Alamo and Custer's Last Stand -- most everybody has heard of it. It's perfect theater. Three brave brothers and a loyal friend going against the Bad Buys (I quote Michael Blake in Wild West magazine). And the subject of some classic western movies.

Which one is your favorite movie treatment? My Darling Clementine, with Henry Fonda and Victor Mature as Doc Holliday? Anything with Fonda is good theater. Or Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas?  This is supposed to be everybody's favorite. Personally, I think Burt Lancaster never played anybody but Burt Lancaster. Then there was The Law of the Gun with James Garner. Frontier Marshall with Randolph Scott. The list goes on.

I like the recent version, Tombstone. Kurt Russell makes a good Wyatt, and I liked Val Kilmer as Doc. And finally, Wyatt Earp with Kevin Costner and Dennis Quaid. Possibly the best yet. But there's doubtless more to come.

So, what's your choice?

I think Doc Holliday was a more interesting figure, tragic, sympathetic. (after all, he was born in Georgia). And Kate Elder, "Big Nose Kate."  She pulled his fat out of the fire more than once (maybe by setting a fire and smuggling him out of town in the confusion). Michael Blake has a recent book -- Hollywood and the O.K. Corral, which I'd like to put on my shelf.

Dac

Ocboer 28, 2008

Fighting the Cold Virus

Thanks to everyone who chipped in some cold remedies. I am recovering nicely and should be back to normal very soon 

Your Suggestions included:

      Foods: Garlic and chicken soup (I used chili).

     Drinks: Bourbon, straight or with honey.
                Mescal. (!)
                Hot lemon tea.
                Beer. (I avoided alcohol because it dehydrates me). 

     Drugs:  Gan Mao Ling teapills .

        Vitamin C (I used 500 mg pills).

   Saline nasal spray .

   Zimcam.

   Vicks – in the nose, rub on, in a vaporizer. ( I didn’t have any Vicks but I’m glad the Vicks culture survives). 

Outdoors: get some sun. Are you trying to kill me? 

So what did I do:? I drank water and diet cokes, and rested (still resting). I took pills (Tylenol Sinus) and Nyquil. Used 4-way nasal spray. I’ll give it three more days and then say the cold is over.

Dac 

10/20/08        Happy Birthday Andrea, Mel and Wes. 

p.s. There is nothing on TV!

 

A nasty little rhinovirus

It’s mid-October, and I’m suffering the first head cold of the autumn. Why me? Where did I go, what did I do, to be punished with this? Runny nose, sneezing, sinuses complaining – you know the drill. No chills and fever. Just plenty of sinus secretions. 

I know it’s a virus, a rhinovirus, and there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s in there, infecting cells in my nasal system. No antibiotics work for viruses. I can develop immunity to this one and then catch another on top of it. Could be a long winter. 

I’ll probably throw this one off in a week or so. I’m taking a multiple pill (Tylenol Sinus) and a big slug of Nyquil on going to bed. I’m still miserable. 

What did your mother do for you, when you had a head cold? 

Growing up in Texas, I had a mother who believed in the curative powers of Vicks Vapo-rub. Chest, back, and a pinch of the salve in your nose. Maybe it helped some; I thought so at the time. The phenylephedrine nasal sprays hadn’t been invented yet. We had Vicks nose drops, too; they were somewhat effective. It was the Vicks salve, in the blue jars, that Mom trusted. How about your mom? 

More recently, Linus Pauling recommended the vitamin C cure. Of course, he recommended large, five-gram doses. I don’t think anyone ever tested such a large dose. Echinacea was another herbal remedy that’s gone out of favor. Most recently, zinc compounds are supposed to help. None of these are recommended by the medical profession. If they have any effect, it’s very slight.

What can I do myself, for a head cold? Rest, plenty of fluids (water and soft drinks). And good, hot chili. To heck with chicken soup! 

I’ll just watch TV. And wait for the darn virus to give up.

dac

 10/18/08    (sniff!)

 

 

 

 

Trailing up to Tennessee

     The sequel to Guns Across the Rio has gone to an editor. Like it says on the sheet music, “vamp till ready.” Just coasting right now. 

     I spent the weekend in Knoxville with son Steve and family. A home football game in Athens is always an impetus to get out of town. I don’t drive Interstates any more – too crazy for me; I take the slower back roads. And have time to look at the sights. 

     Houschton, Georgia – Scarecrows, all along every fence. Scarecrows playing a game of football. Climbing posts. 

     Dawsonville, Georgia – home of stock car racing. Moonshiners raced their souped-up cars on weekends. Dawsonville Pool Hall, home of one of the best cheeseburgers anyplace. 

     On the return trip, I ventured I-40 through the Smokies, along the Pigeon River Gorge. The mountain plate tilts to the west, so this route is all uphill and trucks go slowly (in the eastbound lanes, the trucks – well, think of a herd of migrating Wildebeest). Lots of leaf color from dogwood and tulip trees, bright in the morning sun. 

     US 441 down to Georgia, mountain valleys where little farms persist, along the Little Tennessee river. I’m still in wonder of that tiny stream, which eroded its way right through the uplifting Blue Ridge, still flowing through gorges. 

     In Georgia, at Mountain City, the Blue Ridge Divide is clearly marked; north versus south drainages. Have they got it right? 

     Finally a quotation -- from Wild West mgazine’s Words of the West.

“Now I see why you wanted me to become a Christian. I feel fine, so nice and warm and happy. Why didn’t you tell me that Christians did this every Sunday? I would have joined your church years ago” – spoken by Lakoda Chief Gall to the Rev. Deloria after drinking an entire chalice of communion wine. (From Robert W. Larson’s Gall: Lakoda War Chief). 

dac

10/16/08

The Time of the Yellow Flowers

     Here in Georgia, we are in the midst of season of yellow blossoms. Years ago, I followed insect dynamics in weedy fields, and found there were two peaks of abundance. In the springtime and early summer, insects surged over a variety of colored flowers. In July, insects declined, but they increased in late August and September – the season of yellow flowers.

     This month, goldenrod and camphorweed mix together for an impressive mass of yellow, strewn along our roadsides. Camphorweed (Heterotheca sp.) does, indeed, smell of camphor when the leaves are crushed. Goldenrod does a number on my sinuses. But I can’t stay away. Their insect associates still attract me.   

     Look closely at the goldenrod blossoms. See the little soldier beetles, black and yellow, working away, gathering and eating the pollen? (Watch out for honeybees and wasps, although their numbers are really down this year). Look more closely. Is there a bigger, two-inch-long black and yellow longhorn beetle there? If you’re lucky…

     That larger beetle is the Locust Borer. Their larvae bore into the trunks of young black locust trees. The adults gather on goldenrod and eat pollen. They don’t seem to get any nutrition from the pollen. It’s a gathering place for beetles seeking mates.

     For Locust Borers, goldenrod blossoms are singles bars!!

     Developing forests in the Southeast have a predictable succession of tree species. Black locust is an early type. It’s a legume, and like the beans in your garden, will add nitrogen to the soil. The borer kills many of those trees, causing them to release nitrogen from their roots. The added nitrogen helps the next wave of tree species, such as Tulip Trees. 

     From an ecological viewpoint, the Locust Borer is a beneficial insect. Aren't they all?

Dac

10/9/2008

 

    

 

 

 

     

The little white fuzz on the desert cactus.

     Autumn is closing in on us here in Georgia. My trees are putting on their fall colors, a little at a time. They will be pretty, but I am longing for springtime in the desert. After a rainy spell, when all those little annuals burst into color and my insect friends visit them. And the cactus blooms with its yellow roses. 

     Years ago, I was in an Arizona desert with my mother, after a rain, admiring the abundance of blossoms. She pointed out the big red mites running around on the ground. “Look, Sonny, cochineal bugs!” 

     “Mother,” I said, “You're looking at Velvet mites. The real cochineal insects are over there, on the cactus pads.” I was showing off my recently-acquired entomological knowledge. Not a good idea; you should never contradict your mother. 

     Growing up in South Texas, we kids would pull the little white tufts of wax off the cactus pads (carefully!). Inside the wax we’d find a tiny bug. If you squashed it you got this dab of red dye, which was hard to watch off your fingers. These were the cochineal insects, making carmine dye. 

     We didn’t know that the carmine dye used to be so very valuable. After silver, cochineal was the most valuable export from colonial Mexico. The Aztec and Maya people used it. After a similar artificial dye was made in Europe, cochineal lost its value. It is returning in importance, however. Cochineal is natural and is not toxic or carcinogenic. 

     In the 18^th century, the Spanish and Portuguese had a monopoly on Cochineal. Britain needed its own source. The dye colored the army’s “red coats.” A sea captain introduced the insect, and its prickly pear host, into Australia, hoping to give the British their own source of carmine. 

     It was a disaster. Prickly pear escaped and flooded the countryside of Australia. An early, and ferocious, example of an invasive weed. The cactus was finally brought under control by an imported caterpillar, Cactoblastus. 

     Prickly pear cactus is widespread in the US. I haven’t seen the little cochineal insect on prickly pear here in Georgia, but I’ll keep looking. 

     P.S.  Those big red Velvet mites? They were eating termites. 

Dac    

10/5/2008.      (Happy birthday to Joyce H. and Gail B. )