Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[AlexMartin]

I took Red for a little countryside excursion yesterday, & we had an absolute ball.

If ever you want to learn about the countryside, & nature, have an hour in the country with Tim, it's just the greatest.

The story will follow, but amazingly, we had a discussion about an animal which is becoming incredibly common in the UK, almost THE most popoluos species of Deer in England now, I gather. And Tom had never heard of it!
I had seen one of these recently, & mentioned it, but Tom never knew of it. That's gotta be a first.

It's called a "Muntjac", & is invariably spelt incorrectly, usually "Monkjack". It's a sort of miniature Deer, sort of the size of a large dog.

Here's it's Wiki page.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muntjac

The photo below is misleading as to size. In size, they are to regular Deer what Shetland ponies are to horses.

Call that bluff, absolutely no way Tom doesnt know what a muntjac is. Interesting story, was pretty young (13/14) and was in a beating line at a family shoot near Radlett. the keeper was an old 70ish guy called Vic, who keepered a smallish shoot to a ridiculously high standard, one of my dad's freinds was a gun there and i used to go and beat. anyhow, 1st drive and im chatting with Vic as we go up a small hill in a conifer wood, just before we lineout. A big muntjac gets up infront of us and runs off. vic has a lot of dogs, 3 springers, 2 labs and some little thing, not sure but probs jr cross. they are following us when vic points (loosely, dogs would tell otherwise) to where the Muntjac has got up, there is the tiniest baby muntjac curled up, about as big as a dinner plate.

 the guns have followed and everyone is chatting away readying to hear Vic's pre-drive talk. Vic walks over to literally right next to the fawn and starts talking, his dogs at heel. Im in a bit of a conundrum as i dont want to see bambi get mauled by the jr, which is surely gonna sniff it any second. Vic looks at me and puts his finger to his lips, obviously detecting a bit of anguish. He starts talking and im watching as his youngest black lab goes and sits squarely on the fawn. thing doesnt move, dog has no idea dinner is underneath him. He gives the speech, everyone walks off and then informs me that when very young muntjac dont give off scent and they are pre-programmed to lie and not move. Really musculed adults can really hurt you if they panic and run into the line and i know a guy whose 1st car was  a madza mr2 who hit one at 40phm, wrote the car off and the poor creature still limped off. Delicious also.

[GreekStein]

Did Maria's dad show you the family album?

[tikay]

These were everywhere, too, but sadly, pheasants are nowhere near as bright (intelligent) as corvidae, not at all, & their naivety leads to needless death, so often. I would imagine that more pheasants are run over on roads by motor traffic than almost any other bird.

[Karabiner]

Just got back from a 14-hole solo gallop around Wollaton Park Tony, you'd have loved it.

I had the course virtually to myself and noticed loads of crows picking the remnants of their winter coats off the backs of the red deer for nest material I guess and the stacatto machine-gun sound of woodpeckers was all around me. I hit a few decent golf shots too.

Excellent! That's the kind of post I adore.

Flushy was very complimentary about your golf game, I might add.

A few Diary Posts coming up may interest you, Ralph....

Flushy is already a pretty decent golfer and he's only been playing a couple of years.

His putter was red-hot that day too.

I really enjoyed our game even if it did knacker me physically for the next few days as it was my first full round for about six months.

[tikay]

Did Maria's dad show you the family album?

Excellent Spot, Mr Cos!

Great likeness, too, though Maria has a much longer tongue, I would imagine, judging by how she blathers on. Yesterday, she hosted a barbecue at her place, for family. Bet she enjoyed that. Not. 

Maria's Dad, sadly, refers to me a "Grandad", which is the sickest rub ever - he's older than me!

[tikay]

I took Red for a little countryside excursion yesterday, & we had an absolute ball.

If ever you want to learn about the countryside, & nature, have an hour in the country with Tim, it's just the greatest.

The story will follow, but amazingly, we had a discussion about an animal which is becoming incredibly common in the UK, almost THE most popoluos species of Deer in England now, I gather. And Tom had never heard of it!
I had seen one of these recently, & mentioned it, but Tom never knew of it. That's gotta be a first.

It's called a "Muntjac", & is invariably spelt incorrectly, usually "Monkjack". It's a sort of miniature Deer, sort of the size of a large dog.

Here's it's Wiki page.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muntjac

The photo below is misleading as to size. In size, they are to regular Deer what Shetland ponies are to horses.

Call that bluff, absolutely no way Tom doesnt know what a muntjac is. Interesting story, was pretty young (13/14) and was in a beating line at a family shoot near Radlett. the keeper was an old 70ish guy called Vic, who keepered a smallish shoot to a ridiculously high standard, one of my dad's freinds was a gun there and i used to go and beat. anyhow, 1st drive and im chatting with Vic as we go up a small hill in a conifer wood, just before we lineout. A big muntjac gets up infront of us and runs off. vic has a lot of dogs, 3 springers, 2 labs and some little thing, not sure but probs jr cross. they are following us when vic points (loosely, dogs would tell otherwise) to where the Muntjac has got up, there is the tiniest baby muntjac curled up, about as big as a dinner plate.

 the guns have followed and everyone is chatting away readying to hear Vic's pre-drive talk. Vic walks over to literally right next to the fawn and starts talking, his dogs at heel. Im in a bit of a conundrum as i dont want to see bambi get mauled by the jr, which is surely gonna sniff it any second. Vic looks at me and puts his finger to his lips, obviously detecting a bit of anguish. He starts talking and im watching as his youngest black lab goes and sits squarely on the fawn. thing doesnt move, dog has no idea dinner is underneath him. He gives the speech, everyone walks off and then informs me that when very young muntjac dont give off scent and they are pre-programmed to lie and not move. Really musculed adults can really hurt you if they panic and run into the line and i know a guy whose 1st car was  a madza mr2 who hit one at 40phm, wrote the car off and the poor creature still limped off. Delicious also.

What a great story, Alex! Post more of that stuff. You should Post an animal story in Alex Martin poker speak.

You never ate Bambi, did you? Say it ain't so.

Amazingly, & to my utter astonishment, no, Red had never heard of a muntjac. I raise.

[RED-DOG]

I took Red for a little countryside excursion yesterday, & we had an absolute ball.

If ever you want to learn about the countryside, & nature, have an hour in the country with Tim, it's just the greatest.

The story will follow, but amazingly, we had a discussion about an animal which is becoming incredibly common in the UK, almost THE most popoluos species of Deer in England now, I gather. And Tom had never heard of it!
I had seen one of these recently, & mentioned it, but Tom never knew of it. That's gotta be a first.

It's called a "Muntjac", & is invariably spelt incorrectly, usually "Monkjack". It's a sort of miniature Deer, sort of the size of a large dog.

Here's it's Wiki page.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muntjac

The photo below is misleading as to size. In size, they are to regular Deer what Shetland ponies are to horses.

Call that bluff, absolutely no way Tom doesnt know what a muntjac is.

Thanks Alex. I told him he wouldn't get that one through.

[TightEnd]

Even i have head of Muntjacs, see them several times a month in fact. Tom is having you on.

[RED-DOG]

On the Corvidae wiki page, note the sections on "Social Life" & "Intellligence".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvidae

Stunning.

[tikay]

Even i have head of Muntjacs, see them several times a month in fact. Tom is having you on.

You have to trust me here, Tighty - he had never heard of them.

Still, he made up for it with his knowledge on tree fungi, of the (I think) "plate" variety.

We stubbled across a tree - just the one - covered in this weird fungi, & he knew all about it. "You peel off the tough skin & cook it, it's delicious". And he demonstrated by peeling the skin off of one.

"Can you eat them?" I asked

"Yes"

"Not poison, then?"

"No".

"Have you ever eaten them?"

"No, can't be sure they are not poison".

Amazing things, though, almost artificial in their shape & perfection. Not "natural" at all.

[tikay]

So, this "nature nonsense" was all in THE most unlikely of places, a magnificently splendid country estate. It's about 2 miles from Luton Airport, roughly the same from G-Luton, & maybe a mile from the M1.

Over 1,200 acres in all - one lake alone is 50 acres - with a grand entrance drive which is about a mile round - it's a sort of one way affair, a proper tree-lined avenue.

The most beautiful rolling countryside you can imagine, & landscaped areas which might be one of Capability Brown's finer efforts, & it has his stamp all over it, with so many varieties of trees, magnificent in thier maturity. Many of the trees were there long before Mr Brown was ever born, some must be 500 or 600 years old, with huge girths.

And set right in the middle of this is the mansion, built in 1750 or so, now a hotel, which takes it's name, "Luton Hoo", from the estate. It was the biggest single house Robert Adams ever designed. Not so many places can boast both Robert Adams & Capability Brown in their pedigree, surely?

To get a feel for the sheer scale of all this, the estate was sold in 1762 to the then Prime Minister, the Earl of Bute, for no less than £94,700. How much would that be in today's money?

It changed hands a good few times, & ended up being owned by the Wehrner family, who made their fortune from gold mines. He married a member of the Russian Royal family, & she became known as Lady Zia. She was "quite well-bred & connected", (distantly related to Prince Philip, I believe) see....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anastasia_de_Torby

She owned Brown Jack, & Epsom Derby winner Charlottetown, & there are many paintings & photos of both in the house.

Aftey they died, the house remained in the family, with a grandson, Nicholas Phillips, in charge.

He developed a Business Park - "Capability Green" adjacent to Luton Airport, but went busto, & took his own life 20 years ago.

See.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Harold_Phillips

Eventually, the Estate & Mansion house were sold to a hotel group.

Many films have been shot there, & I was told last night that the McLaren F1 Team often take the place over for days at a time.

All this, a few miles from G-Luton. Luton has a bad rep for beauty, & tourist attractions, but there can be few better attractions than Luton Hoo.

5 stars for me.

[tikay]

A quick PS on Luton Hoo.

I cannot find reference to it at the mo, but I believe that just after WW11 ended, Winston Chruchill hosted a "Victory Party" there - & over 100,000 people turned up to hear the great man give forth.

[tikay]

I spotted this today, after I was messing around on some Venn sites......

[tikay]

This, too, on the same site....

[GreekStein]

Do you know who that bird is Tikay?