Oh No! Guacamole, Salsa Are "Hazardous"

Hot or mild, the salsa and guacamole Americans love to order in restaurants may be packing an unexpected kick, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The dishes were blamed for one in 25 identified outbreaks of food poisoning at restaurants between 1998 and 2008—more than twice the rate of the previous decade, the CDC said. Often, the outbreaks were traced to raw hot peppers, tomatoes and cilantro—common ingredients in salsa and guacamole. Uncooked foods, such as salsa and guacamole, are risky because there is no heat to wipe out bad bacteria, says Lisa McBeth, who supervises food safety for the Qdoba Mexican Grill chain, based in Wheat Ridge, Colo. Magdalena Kendall, one of the researchers on the study at the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, in Oak Ridge, Tenn., says salsa and guacamole sometimes aren't refrigerated appropriately and often are made up in large batches, so even a small amount of contamination can affect many customers. "Awareness that salsa and guacamole can transmit food-borne illness, particularly in restaurants, is key to preventing future outbreaks," the researcher said in a CDC statement...more

I say give CDC a "salsa salute"...with your middle finger.

10-foot gator bites off man's hand in Fla. canal

Florida wildlife officials say a 10-foot alligator bit off a man's hand while he was swimming in a canal with friends. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokeswoman Gabriella Ferraro says 18-year-old Timothy Delano of Naples is recovering at a hospital. Officials managed to catch the gator and retrieve the hand from its stomach, and doctors may be able to reattach the hand. Ferraro says Delano was swimming with three friends around 9:30 p.m. Sunday when the alligator attacked. The men swam to shore and drove to a gas station, where they called 911. Delano was flown by helicopter to a hospital. Wildlife officials say people should stay out of freshwater canals and lakes this time of year because alligators are more active, especially around dawn and dusk. AP

Talk about putting a crimp in your skinny dipping.

Tough new Chicago gun law takes effect today

An ordinance that Chicago officials say is the strictest handgun regulation in the country takes effect today. The restrictions were approved by the City Council July 2 in response to a Supreme Court ruling that local lawmakers say will put more guns in people's hands. The new ordinance bans gun shops in Chicago and prohibits gun owners from stepping outside their homes, even onto their porches or in their garages, with a handgun. Suits have already been filed by a man who wants to open a gun shop in the city and four residents along with a gun sellers group. They claim the ordinance is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court ruled in June that Americans have the right to have handguns for self-defense. The ruling effectively made the city's 28-year-old gun ban unenforceable. AP

They need to take those Chicago officials to Florida and introduce them to some of the native wildlife. Like in canals.

The Great Horse-Manure Crisis of 1894

Nineteenth-century cities depended on thousands of horses for their daily functioning. All transport, whether of goods or people, was drawn by horses. London in 1900 had 11,000 cabs, all horse-powered. There were also several thousand buses, each of which required 12 horses per day, a total of more than 50,000 horses. In addition, there were countless carts, drays, and wains, all working constantly to deliver the goods needed by the rapidly growing population of what was then the largest city in the world. Similar figures could be produced for any great city of the time. The problem of course was that all these horses produced huge amounts of manure. A horse will on average produce between 15 and 35 pounds of manure per day. Consequently, the streets of nineteenth-century cities were covered by horse manure. This in turn attracted huge numbers of flies, and the dried and ground-up manure was blown everywhere. In New York in 1900, the population of 100,000 horses produced 2.5 million pounds of horse manure per day, which all had to be swept up and disposed of. (See Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace, Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 [New York: Oxford University Press, 1999]). In 1898 the first international urban-planning conference convened in New York. It was abandoned after three days, instead of the scheduled ten, because none of the delegates could see any solution to the growing crisis posed by urban horses and their output. The problem did indeed seem intractable. The larger and richer that cities became, the more horses they needed to function. The more horses, the more manure. Writing in the Times of London in 1894, one writer estimated that in 50 years every street in London would be buried under nine feet of manure. Moreover, all these horses had to be stabled, which used up ever-larger areas of increasingly valuable land. And as the number of horses grew, ever-more land had to be devoted to producing hay to feed them (rather than producing food for people), and this had to be brought into cities and distributed—by horse-drawn vehicles. It seemed that urban civilization was doomed...more

Song Of The Day #357

Ranch Radio presents Country Music Through Time today. Our first selection for this new series will be the tune Just Because.

We'll begin with an early version by Leon's Lone Star Cowboys, move forward to a humorous version from the 60's by Don Bowman and close with an instrumental version of the tune by the great fiddler Chubby Wise.

Here's hoping Ann let's Tom sit through all three versions.

Administration issues revised moratorium on offshore drilling

The Interior Department has issued a new offshore drilling moratorium that is different, but not very different, from the one blocked recently by a New Orleans federal judge. The six-month moratorium announced in May in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill barred drilling in waters more than 500 feet deep. The moratorium announced Monday doesn't mention water depths, but it bars drilling by the types of rigs and drilling technology typically used in those waters. A senior Interior Department official said none of the 33 rigs whose activity was interrupted in May would be able to resume the exploration drilling activity they were involved in then. The Justice Department said that the new order supersedes the earlier one and renders the legal challenge to the moratorium moot. That challenge had been mounted by Hornbeck Offshore Services and other drilling firms, which had won an injunction from a district court judge. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Interior Department's motion to stay the preliminary injunction pending appeal...more

UN to climate scientists, "keep a distance from the media"

The 831 researchers who will contribute to the next round of assessments of climate science and policy options by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have been sent a letter admonishing them to “keep a distance from the media” and send any press inquiries about the work of their author groups to supervisors...more

House and Senate Western Caucuses to Hold “War on Western Jobs” Hearing

Chairmen Rep. Bishop and Senator Barrasso Invite Secretary Salazar to Explain Administration’s Policies

Senate Western Caucus Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY) and Congressional Western Caucus Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) will host a bicameral House and Senate Caucus hearing entitled “The War on Western Jobs” on Tuesday, July 13, 2010. The hearing will examine the Administration’s policies and their negative impact on jobs and communities throughout the West. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the West has maintained the highest regional unemployment for over 12 months.

Today, Senator Barrasso and Congressman Bishop sent a letter to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. They invited him to attend the hearing and answer questions about the economic impact of the Administration’s policies.

Excerpts of the letter:

“The purpose of this hearing is to examine the negative economic impacts on western jobs and communities from policies currently being pursued by this Administration.

“As Secretary of Interior and former Senator from Colorado, you know firsthand what is happening on the ground in the West. Many western communities are facing extremely complex and diverse problems- population growth and development, water supply and quality, housing, overlapping federal bureaucracies and conflicting regulations, and immigration. However, the most pressing issue of the day is jobs for all Americans. Unfortunately, many of these challenges are exacerbated, not alleviated, by federal policies emerging from Washington. Too often, federal policies stand in the way of real job creation and economic growth.”

Hearing Details:

WHAT: Joint House and Senate Western Caucus hearing on “The War on Western Jobs”

WHERE: Dirksen Senate Office Building
Room 406
Washington, D.C.

WHO: The hearing with feature notable guests such as, Utah Governor Gary Herbert, Bill Kovacs- Chamber of Commerce, author Chris Horner-Competitive Enterprise Institute, Congressman Devin Nunes (CA-21) who represents much of California’s Central Valley, and others from western states and industries.

DATE: Tuesday, July 13, 2010

TIME: 2:30 p.m. EDT

Press Release

Wolf quota fits with long-term goals for species

Montana Department of Fish Wildlife and Parks officials are proposing the quota for wolves taken in the upcoming hunting season to be increased from 75 to 186 - an increase of two-and-a-half times. The lawyers will be in full throat. Bet on it. The numbers alone will be sufficient ammo for endless briefs and longwinded arguments. But, despite that certainty and all the angst that will go with it, both real and ginned up, this is one hunting quota increase that should win approval when the Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission meets next week. Since wolves were re-introduced to the Yellowstone region 15 years ago, their success as a recovering species has exceeded all expectations. The state's wolf-management plan - which met the approval of federal Fish and Wildlife Service officials - calls for maintaining a population of at least 150 wolves and 15 breeding pairs. As of last year there were an estimated 525 wolves in the state, with 37 breeding pairs. Overall wolf numbers increased despite last year's initial hunting harvest, and those hunter-killed wolves were in addition to 145 specimens killed in response to livestock-predation complaints...more

Red hot chili peppers arrive in sub-zero Arctic Seed Vault

A new collection of some of North America's hottest foods—an eclectic range of New World chili peppers—were delivered to the cool Arctic Circle environs of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault this week, where their exotic tongue-scorching qualities can be kept safe for centuries. The seeds were delivered to the vault by a seven-person bipartisan delegation from the U.S. Congress, led by Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), Chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, and including Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL). Other members of the bipartisan delegation are: Chris Smith (R-NJ), the Helsinki Commission's Ranking Republican; Senator Tom Udall (D-NM); Representative Louise McIntosh Slaughter (D-NY); Representative Robert B. Aderholt (R-AL); and Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-TX). "The journey of the chili pepper from the indigenous cultures of the Americas to its current status as an essential ingredient in many Indian and Asian cuisines is a marvelous example of the global disbursement of agricultural diversity," said Senator Udall. "I'm very pleased that we are saving one of New Mexico's most famous and most delicious crops in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault."...more

At least Udall is consistent...he's leaving ranchers, the Border Patrol, the Sheriff and others along the border out in the cold too.

Georgia cowboy matches world calf-roping record

Everybody was shaking Ryan Jarrett’s hand and giving him high fives when he won the $100,000 bonus in the calf roping at the Calgary Stampede last year. Everybody, that is, but his travelling partner Clint Robinson. He gave Jarrett hell. Robinson insisted Jarrett should buy the calf and take her home — like a trophy. “A great calf? Heck, me and my dad pre-condition a lot of cattle so it was just another calf to me,” he said. “I ain’t never looked at a calf as being special.” Jarrett might have to now. The Georgia cowboy, who makes his home in Oklahoma, tied the world record Saturday with a time of 6.3 seconds. He swung his rope only twice before catching the red calf, which fellow Oklahoman Mike Johnson was 7.5 seconds on in Friday’s opening round. Jarrett, the 2005 world all-around champion, also won the first round with a time of 6.6 seconds, a tick off the arena record. “I might slip out there and buy this calf,” Jarrett chuckled. “Maybe she is special.” It wouldn’t be the first time a cowboy has purchased a farm animal after setting a record. Texas calf roper Ricky Canton established the world record at Strathmore in 2005. He did it during the slack with about 30 spectators in the stands and 40 or so ropers down around the chutes, compared with the 13,000 who watched Jarrett...more

Arena records, sure. But these "World Records" in the timed events are questionable.

What's the beef with Stampede roping, anyway?

As they were setting up for the Calgary Stampede a few weeks ago, I got a taste of an annual Stampede event of a more sombre variety. Signs and PETA pamphlets in hand, eight protesters lined a park on 17th Avenue S.W. in their attempt to ban the rodeo practice of calf roping. However, I took a decidedly less sympathetic view of the Vancouver Humane Society, which has again launched an anti-calf-roping tirade without having bothered to actually visit Stampede or talk to the calf ropers or cattle ranchers. Instead, they've told me they're basing their opinions on the reports of activists. Reliable. I have a similarly stark view of the 50 British MPs who on Thursday signed a motion condemning the rodeo and asking our government to stop the Stampede. What, did these guys run out of problems in the U.K.?...more
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Roy Rogers auction in NYC offers Trigger's remains

The smell of horses and hay permeated the marble-floored galleries at Christie's in Manhattan Friday as potential bidders previewed items including the preserved remains of movie cowboy Roy Rogers' famous horse Trigger. The auction house is selling items from the now-closed Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum in Branson, Mo., next Wednesday and Thursday. Unlike the fine furniture, paintings and jewelry that Christie's is famous for, the centerpiece of this auction is a stuffed and mounted horse rearing on its hind legs. It also will feature another type of horsepower — Rogers' 1964 Bonneville convertible adorned with collectible silver dollars, its door handles and gear shift replaced by silver-plated pistols. The car is estimated to draw $100,000 to $150,000. Trigger is expected to fetch $100,000 to $200,000. Other items for sale include: Rogers' and Evans' performance outfits; the preserved remains of Rogers' dog, Bullet; about 60 pairs of cowboy boots; the Rogers family dining table; and the Jeep "Nellybelle" from the Roy Rogers TV show. Hundreds of items will be offered for sale, many of them with estimated prices in the low hundreds. Hand-drawn music for the theme song "Happy Trails" has a pre-sale estimate of $300 to $500. So does a grouping of two Rogers' guitars...more

Ranchers' brands bought and sold amid rising costs

Thomas Dyekman of Loveland twice passed up the opportunity to sell the title to the historic cattle brand that has been in his family since before the turn of the 20th century. "I chickened out," Dyekman said. The heft of history, a heritage of the Old West with its open ranges and cattle rustlers, was too hard to let go. But his rare, two-character ZL brand, first recorded in 1885, is now on the block. The price tag: $12,000. "My son has the farm now, and he's going to sell it and move to Wyoming," Dyekman said. In Colorado, a brand is private property that can be bought or sold. Some are priced as low as $500. Others, like a set auctioned for charity, fetch as much as $44,000. Assessment fees for a five-year brand registration have nearly doubled in recent years, from $125 in 2002 to $225 today. Late fees climb to $100 at the end of the three-year grace period...more

Good fences, good neighbors

When settlers arrived with their cattle, sheep and horses, farmers were required by territorial law to fence their property to keep their animals in and others out. Architectural historian Tom Carter says that in 1876, the Mormon community of Grouse Creek, Box Elder County, pole fences were made of Douglas fir or willow. Forty miles east in Park Valley, junipers (locally called cedar), were hewed to fence in meadows and build stockades. Before there were fences in the Intermountain West, there was open range — lots of it — free forage, unrestricted competition, loose land policy and little range science. Cattlemen, sheep men, free-range speculators and small ranchers moved herds from seasonal pasturage on both private and public lands, and sometimes ran into trouble. Sheep wars, cattle disputes, raids, stampedes, killings and conflicts over rangeland and water use, illegal fencing, land ownership and public domain discrepancies are well branded in frontier history. When the Homesteader Act of 1862 came into existence, and people were “legitimately tied to the land with rights on the federal range, they started fencing,” Gary Rose, Park Valley rancher and past president of the Utah Cattlemen’s Association, told me. “Improving upon the land, they then pushed the Forest Service to divide up their land into grazing districts.”...more

Leon Metz: Irishman built empire on rustling of cattle

Pat Coghlan, an Irish immigrant who reached American shores in 1845, enlisted in the U.S. Army and was discharged in 1852 at San Antonio, Texas. By 1873, he had migrated to New Mexico territory, settling in Tularosa. By whatever questionable means, Coghlan from then on always had plenty of cash. He built a substantial adobe house with walls three feet thick, all the whle obsessively persisting in efforts to acquire additional land and cattle. And as his empire expanded, he ruled over it with an iron fist and -- for a while -- with legal impunity. So while it lasted, Coghlan was "King of the Tularosa," a name bestowed upon him by local and regional newspapers. With headquarters at both Tularosa and Three Rivers, including property that included a saloon, store, town lots and ranches -- plus herds of cattle -- Coghlan lived what might be called the good life. He smoked fine cigars, drank aged whiskey, always had plenty of cash, raced pure-bred horses and took occasional trips to California and Ireland. But Coghlan's primary business involved stolen cattle. A recently arrived New Yorker named Henry McCarty, a young man soon going by the name of Billy the Kid and whose age would not have been 21 but closer to 25. Well, the Kid became one of several individuals supplying Coghlan with much of his "imported" beef...more

Arroyo Grande Township established in 1862

Arroyo Grande Township was established by the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors in 1862, allowing for 300 square miles of territory. The Village came into existence when a schoolhouse and blacksmith shop were built. The main thoroughfare was Branch Street, named for Francis Ziba Branch, who owned Rancho Santa Manuela, an 1837 Mexican land grant that included the townsite. Branch came to the Arroyo Grande area on a bear hunting expedition in 1832. Charmed by the untouched beauty of the land, he later purchased 16,000 acres and became a successful cattle rancher. Among other things, he established the first grain mill in the area using a pair of grinding stones brought by sailing ship from Mexico to Cave Landing, now Pirates Cove, and hauled to the rancho by ox cart. The one surviving stone has been preserved and placed on display by the South County Historical Society near the Santa Manuela Schoolhouse just south of the Swinging Bridge in the Village of Arroyo Grande. After a year-long drought devastated the valley in 1864, Branch and other ranchers began to sell parts of their land to settlers. By 1876, a total of 35 families had settled in the valley and established two stores, two saloons, a wheelwright, a butcher shop, a laundry and a livery and feed yard...more

Song Of The Day #356

It's Swingin' Monday on Ranch Radio. You'll find no Blue Mondays here.

Today's selection is an instrumental version of Oklahoma Swing, which you can find on the CMH CD Pickin' on Vince Gill.

Sunday shootout in Juarez leaves three cartel gunmen dead

A predawn, hourlong gun battle -- the latest volley in an escalating series of attacks on Mexican federal police by drug cartel hitmen -- left three cartel gunmen dead Sunday in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, a federal police spokesman told CNN. Local reports said some of the suspected traffickers were carrying grenades. The gunfire could be heard by residents across the border in El Paso, Texas, local observers said. "We believe these attacks are in direct response to recent seizures by the federal police force," federal police spokesman Ramon Salinas told CNN. The gun battle Sunday pitted Ciudad Juarez municipal police and the federal police against drug cartel gunmen who attacked the officers, Salinas said. There was no information on whether any civilians were injured in the gun battle, but Salinas said the three dead gunmen, who authorities linked to a cartel, were the only fatalities. There had been relative calm in the city since elections were held in Juarez on July 4. But Sunday's attack against Mexican federal police marks the third major incident of its kind in recent weeks...more

BP Officers fire on SUV at Zaragoza Bridge

The El Paso FBI is investigating an early Sunday shooting at the Zaragoza Bridge. FBI Special Agent Martha Terrazas said the investigation involves the police pursuit of a sport utility vehicle that fled a crash site in El Paso's Lower Valley. The FBI is investigating because U.S. federal law enforcement officers at the bridge shot at the suspected SUV that fled across the Zaragoza Bridge into Juárez. It was not known Sunday night whether the driver of the SUV was shot. Police Detective Mike Baranyay said El Paso police had responded to a report of a crash before 1 a.m. Sunday at the intersection of Lee Treviño Drive and Castner Drive. An SUV involved in the wreck fled the scene. Baranyay said a police officer who spotted an SUV matching the description of the fleeing vehicle began a pursuit. Once the vehicle headed toward the Zaragoza bridge, the police ended their pursuit at Roseway Drive and Zaragoza Road. Customs and Border Protection officers at the bridge fired shots at the fleeing SUV, but the vehicle did not stop...more