May 15, 2010

Astounding Jackrabbit Facts--and More

• Your jackrabbit is a dainty beast, very fleet of foot, and possessed of a latticework skull, so the Codger tells us.

• Jake Allsop gives us one more nickname for a kestrel, which can substitute for a hearty oath, viz.: "Oh, ********!"

• Every time we watched one of Ken Burns' national park series, M. and I wondered, "Why couldn't we have a Civilian Conservation Corps today?"  They built so much of what we take for granted at national parks and elsewhere.

Now there would be 500 more bureaucratic hoops to be jumped through, for one thing. Someone would probably object to clothing the young people in surplus Army uniforms—too militaristic! In the 1930s, they were happy to have durable clothing.

But you can visit a blog about the history of the CCC.

2 comments:

April said...

RE: The CCC, we do have certain branches of the AmeriCorps family of programs that focus on trail breaking and maintenance and similar outdoorsy work; the programs are just much smaller.

Peculiar said...

People in the '30s were also willing to live in camps and perform hard labor. We're on our way, but not there yet. But what would imagine a modern CCC doing exactly? I love a lot of the old creations in the Parks, but wouldn't be thrilled to see many more such. Energy projects would all come with a host of baggage. There are certainly a lot of wilderness trail systems that could use some serious work, though. I'd much rather see that than be continually inconvenienced by construction work on highways that don't need it.