We Still Have A Long Way To Go

[kiltedsawyer]

Wound up at the Goldbelt having an elk burger....real elk meat.

Yeah, I hate it when they use that imitation elk meat.

[Mark E.]

A few years back I got the question "Is that a REAL kilt?" (this was pre-Braveheart-the movie). My reply was, yes, it is. The follow up question was, "so, you Irish?" to which the reply was "Of course NOT!" They were lucky my voices were sleeping.

I used to have a bumper sticker that read "I love animals-I eat them and wear their skins"

And I do. Mostly whitetail, birds, squirrels, and rabbits, though. Tried muskrat a few ways, and roast beaver. Raccoon, too. Along with a few other things I'm not telling about. Got a local fellow that raises "beefalo"-hybrid bit I think. Have been considering going on a raid and acquiring a couple. Or one...They're pretty big.

Mark

[Mike_Oettle]

Azwildcat wrote: “Yes, meat! Cheers to meat! int: I had an ostrich burger a couple nights ago. Yummy!”
And later: “Ostrich is like a beefy red meat, and very lean.”
It’s very good eating.
Bugbear wrote: “Ostrich burgers are good. I've never had an ostrich egg, though.”
One ostrich egg will make you a very large omelette – you could share it with 20-odd fellow diners. Very tasty eating, too.
Bugbear wrote: “Ostrich sporran . . . ”
Well, ostrich leather is not only very durable, but has a characteristic appearance – wart-like bumps mark the feather follicles. It is highly sought after.
And I am sure Kate McPherson could do an excellent job with black ostrich body feathers, white tail feathers and white plumes.
Those are the colours of the male bird. The female has grey body feathers and white plumes and tail feathers with a black stripe across each barb.
And if you want to go to town, you could have the feathers dyed (only the plumes and tail feathers take dye).
Regards,
Mike

[Bugbear]

You know... It seems like I have heard of "cowboy boots" being made of ostrich leather. I'm not an expert in boots, leather or ostriches, though.

I just remembered the ostrich jockies at our ostrich fests.

[Mark E.]

You know... It seems like I have heard of "cowboy boots" being made of ostrich leather. I'm not an expert in boots, leather or ostriches, though.

I just remembered the ostrich jockies at our ostrich fests.

Not putting down any "cowboys" out there (or ostrich lovers)...but can you imagine going walkabout 100 years ago and trying to explain why it was your digs were made from giant chicken skins?...

Mark

[Mike_Oettle]

Nothing chicken-like about ostrich skin.
In fact, the guides at the ostrich farms (I was one for 14 months) always point out the resemblance between the ostrich and the dinosaur.
That’s one tough hide.

As for ostrich jockeys, I have ridden those birds. I did not do so regularly, since at 6ft 3in I am rather large for them to carry. But the men used to pick out a strong male bird for me to mount.
The last time I went back for a visit I rode one in a race, and if memory serves I won!
The chaps who usually ride the birds (in fancy silks) are small-bodied, like the men who ride racehorses.

In fact, since Mark mentions “going walkabout 100 years ago”: a century back there was an ostrich farm in Hollywood. People used to take a streetcar to visit the place.
I wonder what happened to the birds . . .
Regards,
Mike

[Bugbear]

Ostrich Boots at caboots.com

I found several other sites offering ostrich cowboy boots; I didn't think I was remembering wrong.

I would guess that an ostrich sporran would be just fine.

However, I don't think you would want to ride an ostrich while kilted; that would be funny to watch, though.

[Mike_Oettle]

Bugbear wrote: “However, I don't think you would want to ride an ostrich while kilted; that would be funny to watch, though. ”

Too true!
But only from the point of view of those watching. I doubt that it would hurt any more than when wearing trousers.

Those cowboy boots are a bit overdone, though. The “complete ostrich boots” are somewhat spoilt by the fancy stitching. The leather has a sufficiently interesting texture to make it worth leaving it undecorated.
Ciao,
Mike

[Mark E.]

Shoot, I have enough trouble finding a horse to carry me (6'-3 and 215ish). I have a newfound respect for those ostriches now.

So, here comes the question...however long back...

"Bill, put down your beer. I give you a whole King's guinea if you can catch one of those buggers and RIDE him 100 meters without a'fallin' off..."

Totally agree it's not something to do kilted. I rode a mechanical bull once, kilted...That's right up there on the list.

[Bugbear]

I've started looking a little through David Livingstone's 1850s South Africa writing for ostrich descriptions.
these quotes are from, Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa by David Livingstone (Project Gutenberg, EBook #1039).

From chapter 2 on the use of ostrich egg shells:

The dread of visits from Bechuanas of strange tribes causes the Bakalahari to choose their residences far from water; and they not unfrequently hide their
supplies by filling the pits with sand and making a fire over the spot. When they wish to draw water for use, the women come with twenty or thirty of their
water-vessels in a bag or net on their backs. These water-vessels consist of ostrich egg-shells, with a hole in the end of each, such as would admit one's
finger. The women tie a bunch of grass to one end of a reed about two feet long, and insert it in a hole dug as deep as the arm will reach; then ram down
the wet sand firmly round it. Applying the mouth to the free end of the reed, they form a vacuum in the grass beneath, in which the water collects, and
in a short time rises into the mouth. An egg-shell is placed on the ground alongside the reed, some inches below the mouth of the sucker. A straw guides
the water into the hole of the vessel, as she draws mouthful after mouthful from below. The water is made to pass along the outside, not through the straw.
If any one will attempt to squirt water into a bottle placed some distance below his mouth, he will soon perceive the wisdom of the Bushwoman's contrivance
for giving the stream direction by means of a straw. The whole stock of water is thus passed through the woman's mouth as a pump, and, when taken home,
is carefully buried. I have come into villages where, had we acted a domineering part, and rummaged every hut, we should have found nothing; but by sitting
down quietly, and waiting with patience until the villagers were led to form a favorable opinion of us, a woman would bring out a shellful of the precious
fluid from I know not where.

From chapter eight on hunting the ostrich:

The ostrich, even when not wounded, can not, with all his wariness, resist
the excessive desire to slake his burning thirst. It is Bushman-like practice to take advantage of its piteous necessities, for most of the feathers they
obtain are procured in this way; but they eat the flesh, and are so far justifiable.

There's also lots of descriptions of the use of ostrich feathers, and wild beast hides, etc, etc. I'm counting this time expenditure as research...

***
This quote, from chapter 15, does bring up a kilt, though it would not be a Scottish type of kilt.

On the 6th of January we reached the village of another female chief, named Nyamoana, who is said to be the mother of Manenko, and sister of Shinte or Kabompo,
the greatest Balonda chief in this part of the country. Her people had but recently come to the present locality, and had erected only twenty huts. Her
husband, Samoana, was clothed in a kilt of green and red baize, and was armed with a spear and a broadsword of antique form, about eighteen inches long
and three broad.

There's a few other mentions of these kilt-like garments in the document. Very interesting reading.