As my faithful readers & good friends all know, Val is a big sci-fi fan but it needs to be decent sci-fi! Of course Star Trek is the ultimate for me, but I have watched Star Wars & Terminator, Blade Runner and many other popular franchises…
So I was excited to hear of good reviews for “The Lobster” when it was released - I was startled to recognize that it came out 10 years ago (Time’s getting away from me) - unfortunately this was not good sci-fi; it was some dystopian mess that couldn’t decide whether it wanted to be a black comedy or social commentary. And it lost me entirely when they cruelly tortured & killed a dog who used to be this guy’s brother - I’m out! (Spoiler alert: Single folks are herded into a hotel where they must find their human partner or be transformed into their spirit animal) For some reason, this movie title came to me after last weekend’s awesome rides -
Sam & I had gone out alone about half an hour behind the few other folks who had showed up**, and as we passed through a gate, there was a kestrel who had caught her foot in the barbed wire & was hanging helplessly upside down, fluttering weakly & waiting for death. I dismounted to free her, placed her on top of some rocks. It took Lard Ass a few moments to remount, but then we went on - circled back later on that day & she was gone. As we rode across the crest of the hill, a kestrel darted out of the woods - I don’t know if it was her or not but I’d like to think that it was…
** I find it deeply ironic that, with recent controversies over the potential sale of this ranch, only 7 of us showed up last weekend to support ongoing equestrian use of their facilities. “The Magnificent Seven”, ha! Everyone thinks that here in Texas, we have pretty much unlimited access to riding but that is absolutely untrue - since not only is so much of our land under private ownership, even public lands are severely restricted for equestrian use. There are only a handful of state parks that allow equestrian camping, for instance…
Oh, dear. That kestrel was lucky to have human help come along.
ReplyDeleteSo true everywhere, about land access, for many uses. Even back when I was a child, the discussions about farm access for hunters here on the great plains were common. It just keeps getting worse as more and more residential development encroaches.