Off Topic: Why Kamala?

It's pumpkin cream soup season here.

Yes, this is another political post of many you’ve seen today. I won’t blame you for not reading, but I want to say that these are my genuine thoughts and I didn’t copy & paste them from elsewhere. I do not claim to be right or to know it all. 

The question is often asked WHY one is voting one way or the other in the upcoming election. The question is fair – why am I voting for xxx? And not why am I not voting for the other one (or party)! That seems a harder question for people to answer.

On the weekend I watched the Trump rally in Latrobe, PA and Kamala’s rally in Atlanta. I wanted to hear their campaign promises, tone, topics, etc. for a comparison and I took notes. I wanted to hear what they had to say even though I’m too cynical to believe campaign promises, believing candidates in today’s election campaigns – both in the US and in Germany – just say what they think sounds good, what they think the people want to hear, and what will get them votes. I don’t know if that’s the same for other American voters, but I go with what I see in the candidate, what her/his vision for the country seems to be, and how s/he makes me feel.

So looking at and listening to Kamala Harris, why am I voting for her?

What I see in Kamala is, for starters, empathy, joy and energy. Is the empathy only an act? I can never know that without knowing the person. In the first minutes of her rally in Atlanta she mentioned and spoke to those whose lives have been upended by the recent hurricanes, acknowledging that people are suffering. She comes from humble beginnings and I am willing to believe she has not forgotten what it is like for the middle class to live, despite no longer having to worry about the cost of groceries, energy, and gasoline herself. Is she perfect? Far from it – because she’s a human being.

There is one thing that she has repeatedly said and posted, which I tried to impress upon my students in Wisconsin every single year: No matter what we disagree on and where we come from, there are more things that united us human beings than divide us. By “things” I meant and mean dreams, desires, hopes, fears, and concerns. We are - or at least should be - human beings first. I love that Kamala keeps saying this because if we could remember that I think the world would be a better place.

Regarding her campaign promises, maybe I don’t know enough about a president’s power, but I don’t know how a candidate is supposed to accomplish what s/he says s/he’ll do. To her credit, at the rally in Atlanta she told us she has a plan to do this and that, not that she WILL do those things. She said she has a plan to

• bring down the cost of living (from medications to groceries)

• support small businesses & entrepreneurs

• take on corporate gauging

• implement a middle class tax cut, including $6000 during the 1st year of a child's life

• take on the cost of housing by building more homes and taking on landlords who buy up properties and increase rental prices

• lower health care costs for people as they age

• protect reproductive freedom

In her list of campaign promises, she shows that she is considering those of us who live average lives, work for a paycheck, are concerned about health care and its costs, are trying to buy a house, and might live beyond retirement. There was little fear-mongering and her message was mainly positive. I’m pessimistic enough; I want a president who sees the positivity I wish I could see.

It’s true, for me reproductive freedom is a big issue. I believe that every woman – regardless of her financial status and where she lives – needs to have access to health care and Planned Parenthood and all the services they provide and have provided.

At her rally there were some big topics she avoided: illegal immigration, the war in Ukraine and the crisis in the Middle East, for instance. I would not know the first thing about how any of those problems should be solved. At least she gave us no empty promises about solving them quickly and easily. I suspect illegal immigration has been an ongoing problem over quite a few presidencies precisely because it is not easy to solve. All three conflicts involve adult human beings over whom the U.S. has no control, and I do not believe empty promises are helpful. Whoever becomes president will be dealing with those conflicts and fighting against at least part of Congress all the way. I wish they were easy and solvable.

I believe Kamala respects people from all backgrounds, cultures, relgions, sexual preferences, races, and genders. I have not heard her speak of any groups of people with contempt or ill will. This appeals to me. I will not live long enough to understand how anyone can denigrate an entire group of people, and therefore somone who simply accepts others with differences is someone I want to listen to.

I do not believe my life or even my children’s lives will be drastically affected regardless of who gets elected on Nov. 5^th because I do not believe the problems I and they face can be easily or quickly solved. Inflation will not suddenly end. Prices will not suddenly come down. Wages and salaries will not suddenly go up. The costs of housing and energy will not suddenly come down. So I need to decide whom to vote for based on who I think can best represent our country at home and on the global stage and who has the interests of human beings at stake. Who can handle it, who can communicate well with others, who has a positive view of the future, and who expresses the desire to fight for people's rights and freedoms. 

For me, that is Kamala Harris.

I'll be back to posting about Kaya and falconry soon!

Happy Gotcha Day, Kaya!

Two years ago today we picked up our darling from her breeder in Hessen, and our lives were changed forever.

I still think back to those first days of sitting quietly in her mews as she was secured to a bow perch near her bathing pool and a few toys, letting her get used to me and earning her trust. Once or twice a day I’d try to entice her to stand on my glove to eat a thawed and tasty chick.We succeeded on Day 4.

She’s not just a darling, of course. She’s a fierce hunter! During her second hunting season she expanded her prey spectrum to include beyond crows (her main prey), pigeons, magpies, a duck and 2 Egyptian geese! We’re looking forward to seeing what prey presents itself this season.

Kaya is now two years old and in her third flight, as we say in German (zwei Jahre alt und im dritten Flug). “In her third flight” means that she’s in her 3^rd hunting season. To be fair, the season has started but we haven’t yet because Kaya hasn’t finished her molt yet. She’s still growing new feathers but we’ll start her with some light training on the creance (Langfessel, a long light leash) this week. I am really looking forward to getting started again. I like to think she will enjoy more action again as well and the chance to refill her freezer with new meals.

I'll finish this Gotcha Day post with a photo dump from the past year with Kaya and what we've been up to.

Sitting on her favorite bench

Upside down head, trying to understand what she sees

First hawking success of the season

Manteling over her kill to guard it

Vacation accommodations

Another success

On her favorite bench in the setting sun

During a falconry meet near Freiburg

Floofed up on a cold day standing on her pillar

Winter crow

Time for a poo sample

This is called a "warble" - a double wing stretch

First visit to the veterinarian, in the waiting room

At an expo - some of the PR work we do

With saker falcon Smilla at our favorite local restaurant's
Mittelalterliches Bierfest.

Playing in her mews with pine cones

Bad hair day after a rain shower, which she loves

Riding in June

More PR work at a Jägerfest in Böblingen

Another Jägerfest, this time in Freudenstadt

Our adventure continues! We look forward to each new day with Kaya and hope for another successful and healthy, injury-less hawking season. 

Until next time...

Falknersheil!!

Stolpersteine in Stuttgart

Ein Stein. Ein Name. Ein Mensch.

A few days ago I read in our local paper that the artist Gunter Demnig himself would be in Stuttgart today to lay eleven Stolpersteine in several different locations. At one of those locations, Uhlandstraße 14A, he would be laying six Stolpersteine, two of which were sponsored by students at the Stuttgart High School, an American school on Patch Barracks.

Since hearing about Demnig’s art initiative quite a few years ago, I have looked for the Stolpersteine and told guests and student groups about them. Biographical information is available online about most of the people commemorated by the Stolpersteine, as is fitting to Demnig’s goal that the victims of the Nazi regime not be forgotten. “One stone. One name. One person.”

I arrived early, as I am wont to do, and just as the organizer (Frau Bouché from the Initiative Stolpersteine Stuttgart) started to ask if I was part of the group expected, the American students arrived. I snapped some photos from the background and let their chaperone know who I was, that I was there privately and wouldn’t post photos of the students anywhere. However I gave her my card and said if she emails me, I can send her any photos I take.

Frau Bouché spoke to the students a bit and told them Demnig would probably dash off quickly after laying the stones because he had more to do after these. I told the chaperone I am not shy about asking for certain photos in situations like this, and if I saw an opportunity I would ask Demnig to pose for a photo with the students.

I knew Demnig as soon as he arrived, as he is quite recognizable. He briefly greeted a few people and got to work. 

Gunter Demnig

The Stolpersteine Demnig laid at this spot were for Isak and Johanna Falk, their nearly-adult children Fritz and Carry, and Meier Rosenstein and his daughter Frieda Süß-Schülein.

After he finished he packed up his tools and buckets and I sidled up to him and asked if he’d pose with the American students because they were the sponsors of the two Stolpersteine for the Falk children. He graciously agreed and I got several nice photos. I can’t post them because of obvious reasons and because I told the chaperone I would not.

After Demnig drove off, the ceremony began in which Frau Bouché told us in English about the six individuals and their story. One of the students spoke very good German, welcoming those gathered and introducing her group, and another student read a poem she’d written for the occasion. 

The last thing Frau Bouché told us was that in 1943 her parents and older sister had moved into this very apartment where the Falk family had lived before being forced to leave this home in 1939 to take up positions in a Jewish nursing home near Heilbronn. She said her mother knew a Jewish family had lived there and it saddened her, but they did not ask what had happened to them. It clearly meant something special to Frau Bouché that she has been able to honor the Falk family in this way.

For more information about Gunther Demnig's Stolperstein initiative, click on the links above or here. To learn the stories of the people named on Stolpersteine in your area or ones you come across on your travels, google the person's name along with the word "Stolperstein." It may also help to add the name of the town in which the Stolperstein is found.

Stolpersteine continue to be laid in communities across 21 countries in Europe. It costs €132 to sponsor a stone, which is usually placed in front of the individual's last known residence. 

The 100,000th Stolperstein was laid in 2023.

Kaya is TWO!!

 Happy Hatchday, Kaya! Alles Gute zum Schlüpftag!

our current favorite photo of Kaya

Today for Kaya is like any other cold, crappy April day. She doesn’t know it’s her hatchday, but we do!

What present would I like to give her? A knitted sweater vest to keep her warm in her mews during this cold snap! If I’m cold, she’s cold. Isn’t that how it works?

AI image created by stability.ai

What she’s actually getting is a nice big quail (Wachtel) for her hatchday lunch.

We’ve had a fun and exciting second year with her even though I posted precious little about it. We ended her season of 63 hawking days with 52 crows (Krähen), 3 magpies (Elstern), 2 pigeons (Tauben), 1 duck (Stockente) and, quite impressively, two Egyptian geese (Nilgänse)!

Our successes together are no doubt notable for a young bird, but if I average her hawking days with 5 flights each, that’s about 315 flights and a total of 60 kills. I only mention that to illustrate that her quarry still has the better odds.

in a tree in our training ground between flights

She should be molting now, but several things have stood in the way of a good start. Right before the long Easter weekend, I noticed some wounds on the bottoms of several of her toes, which we had looked at by a veterinarian who specializes in birds and reptiles in Karlsruhe. The first available appointment was 12 days later, and as of then we started 3 different medications. Medications are not good for the molt, so we didn’t expect anything during the 6 days she was on them. The wounds are nearly healed and she's off the meds, but now it’s too cold! This cold spell is supposed to last another week, so here’s hoping for a good Mauser re-start next weekend!

Kaya brightens our every day and she is so much fun during the non-hunting season!

This is her cute & curious pose.

She seems to appreciate her evening playtime, when M goes out to toss pine cones for her to catch. When it’s dry enough, she gets the zoomies as she dashes about her mews throwing and chasing the pine cones. Occasionally she’ll do this alone, but she much prefers a playmate or at least at audience.

holding her emotional support pine cone
while staring sceptically at her new carpet

One of her mew perches had lost all its bark, so M replaced it with a nice new branch ten days ago, which she has found greatly upsetting. It’s a lovely perch with a slight bend in it, so if she ever tries it out she’ll see she can sit even higher than before while she watches the neighbors come and go. Since she likes change about as much as we do, she still won't go near it. 

biiiiiiiggggg stretch!

She's such a sweet bird and we love spending time with her whether we're at an exhibition (Jagdmesse), out for a walk, hawking, or just sitting on the patio. She's got a charming personality, which she shows off when she's feeling safe and comfortable. She also tries to be really scary and hawky when something isn't fittin'. We continue to feel incredibly privileged that this wild animal* has accepted us and trusts us - even at her first visit to the veterinarian - and doesn't hold a grudge against us when we try new things like hooding her in preparation for the vet visit or failing to hide her medicine inside her delicious food. That was the first time we ever saw her pick up a piece of food, think twice, and spit it right back out!

*She came from a breeder and has never been in the wild, but a raptor is never tame or domesticated. She will always remain a wild animal, and we, her falconers, must never forget that.

The Verband Deutscher Falkner stand
at the Forst Live Messe (trade show) in Offenburg

We're looking forward to another year with our girl and all the adventures it brings!

Until next time...

Falknersheil!!

Hawk Diaries: Speaking of Horses!

 This morning we were planning to go crow-hawking with Kaya, but when we weighed her, we discovered that she was "too fat to hunt." She was 1060 grams, and while we'd have taken her out at 1045g, 1025 is better and 1060 is just too high. Plan B was to wait a few hours and go out around noon.

HELLO PLAN C!!

We'd planned a few weeks ago to meet a falconer friend and her Saker falcon Smilla at her friend's stable where we would try horseback riding with the birds, but M and I were struck down with Covid and had to cancel. This morning quite spontaneously the friend (IH) sent a message and asked if we wanted to meet and ride in the season's first snow. 

We are the least spontaneous people you don't know and I really can't stand winter, snow, or being cold*, but after a quick consultation with M, I started scrounging for my riding pants, boots and helmet! Smilla and her human couldn't come, but we will all surely meet next time!

* Blame it on Wisconsin! 44 years of that, and I've had enough!

Seriously, does it get any better than this?

We arrived, met IH and her beautiful Icelandic horse, Kvikur, and got Kaya out of her travel box.

Kaya: "Whoooaaaaaa, WTH?"
Kvikur: "'Sup?"

Kvikur was totally cool, like nothing can rattle him. And he's already met Smilla the falcon, so this was not his first rodeo, as they say. Kaya, on the other hand... As reported earlier, she has been in the presence of horses, but not frequently. And never on top. However, we really do believe she trusts us and has learned that she's safe when she's on my or M's glove.

At first we walked a bit so Kaya could get used to Kvikur and his human, then I handed Kaya to M and hopped on. M handed Kaya back, and she tried to settle in. 

"Mom?!? You sure about this?"

IH took the reins and led Kvikur so I could focus on Kaya until we knew how she'd handle this. M tromped along and snapped pictures the whole time, and although you'd think we would have thought to take ONE photo of the three of us with Kvikur, we did not. Next time!

IH has longer legs than I do!
I could just barely reach the stirrups, but no matter.

It was cold but ok, and then it wasn't. 😂 Schneeregen, Schnee, wind... And still, I was happy as could be, riding with Kaya! It was a lovely ride and I can picture all kinds of horse & hawk adventures for the future!

Look at the pup!
This is how he spent the whole walk! 😍

I don't need to write much more - the photos say it all. What an amazing and fabulous experience this was! We are so grateful to Smilla's human, IH, and Kvikur for this day. 

I've loved horses all my life, and now falconry IS my life. What could be better than combining the two on a snowy day?

Falknersheil!!!