Victor Davis Hanson Set Loose About a decade ago I came across the old cattle term “free ranging”—but now curiously applied to child-raising. It had grown in popularity in antithesis to the “helicopter parenting” of Tiger Moms. The retro idea was that rural folk (I’m not sure free ranging would be viable among 21st-century suburbanites), …
VDH UltraA Child’s Garden of Animals. Free Ranging, Part One. Read More »
Victor Davis Hanson A Child’s Garden of Animals The Queensland principate followed. I found one at the pound and gave him to my father. He sat on the console of his truck and toured the farm every day. This was about the time of Road Warrior and “Breaker” looked exactly like Mad Max’s pet. At …
Victor Davis Hanson A Child’s Garden of Animals I have had “several” dogs at once for most of my life on the farm, save the period I was at the universities and lived abroad. My parents handled them then. Looking back, I’ve noticed that we all went through “cycles” of particular breeds. My earliest ownership …
Victor Davis Hanson A Child’s Garden of Animals Why stop now? Nonetheless, workers were told to thin out. The house was full of materials for almost completed jobs, with an end almost but not quite in sight. So close, but so far…Romex, paint cans, wood—all stacked around the house. One day last week in just …
Victor Davis Hanson A Child’s Garden of Animals I remembered all the wisdom, once caricatured, of my high-school coaches, and their rah-rah Americana inspiration talks during wrestling and football practices. And I now followed it: “Why not the best?” “Quitters never win; Winners never quit!” “Take this loss as a learning experience.” “Anything worth doing …
Victor Davis Hanson A Child’s Garden of Animals And then a trigger set things off. A Dish installer remarked the roof was “squishy.” I confirmed it was. Curious, I took a look into the attic. The remnants of an early cedar shingle roof had half fallen into the attic, on top of the filthy insulation. …
Victor Davis Hanson A Child’s Garden of Animals I have lived in my great-grandmother’s, great-grandfather’s, grandfather’s, mother’s home since I was 26. I won’t name all those who have spent their last nights in the bedrooms before going to die in the hospital the next day. I was lectured in my twenties “to take care …
Victor Davis Hanson A Child’s Garden of Animals My paternal grandfather Frank Hanson was drafted in 1917—although he was married and a bit old at 28. And as part of the war effort he had a small six to eight cow dairy I was told. No matter, he was one of the first to drafted …
Victor Davis Hanson A Child’s Garden of Animals I once talked to the Land Bank officer, a smart though cranky accountant near retirement. He called our farming operation “non-rational,” after he viewed the layout of my grandfather’s 120 acres. My Punjabi neighbor (who begrudgingly admitted that, as one of the first Sikhs to arrive in …
Victor Davis Hanson A Child’s Garden of Animals I used to think America was divided into two halves: the majority who have never spoken or known those born in the 19th century, and the minority who have. The latter were given a great gift that is imprinted upon them since youth, a glimpse into wisdom …