I have been fascinated by some of the battlefield archaelogy in Germany in recent years, namely the discover of the Teutoburg site and also some nameless Iron Age battle which as I recall took place somewhere near the Elbe. Doubtless you know the particulars. Doing this in Germany must be both fun and frustrating, since so much of the country was so wild and sparsely settled for so long.
I remember that my father discovered the Goons on our public radio and on records around 1970 or so. We couldn't understand a good half of it, but we laughed ourselves sick anyway.
I can remember the original broadcasts - difficult to understand even then. Spike was actually well up on his military history and many of the seemingly lunatic premises had a grounding in historical reality. For example on one occasion Denis Bloodnok refers to his old regiment as The Foreign Deserters. If one looks at the British OOB in the Peninsular War part of the Cadiz Garrison was 2nd Battalion Foreign Deserters (one assumes that the 1st Btn had deserted). In one episode they are building a wooden replica of Britain in the N Sea so that when the Germans invade they can pull the plug out but in WW1 there was a half baked scheme to build a wooden lit up skeleton of Britain in the N Sea for the Zeppelins to bomb - and so on and so forth
The unnamed battlefield: The Bronze Age battlefield in the Tollense Valley – conflict archaeology and Holocene landscape reconstruction in fact a little sensation (hope the information from the link is not too "nerdy") for so long is the formula: my district for example is inhabitated since 10.000 BC, the town where I´m working since more than 4000 years After such a really tremendous amount of time the landscape is littered with relics and artifacts...
I've been cutting grass all week, Monday through Thursday. Today (Friday) it rained like a cow pissing on a flat rock, so no riding of the motorbike took place. Other than that, not much else changes from day to day on the home front here. It's get up, go walk, eat lunch, read the paper, go ride something (lawn mower or the motorbike), hit the showers, cook dinner, eat, watch TV, hit the fart sack. I shaved today. Yay.
I miss newspapers. You're lucky to still have one to enjoy. Our Atlanta daily birdcage liner is truly awful.
The first Europeans did not arrive in this area until 1610. 12,500 years ago this region was under an ice sheet.
I subscribe to and read The Advocate here in Baton Rouge. It used to be The Morning Advocate. There was also the evening paper called The State Times. They were both owned by the same people, but the font was slightly different so everyone thought that it was a totally different paper altogether. The Morning Advocate was slightly more liberal and the State Times was slightly more conservative, so everyone was happy. Now the both papers combined into The Advocate, and it clearly more left of center. But it's the only rag in town now, so I read it. Mostly out of tradition and habit if you will. There's more articles and business ads in the driveway delivered paper than in the online version, so I am happy enough. I do realize that the traditional printed paper is on the way out, but I am a stickler for tradition and the old ways so to speak.
She has send me your picture ... and I think she's right for this time Will it scare off the bears ...or does it attract them?
Itdan - That reminds me of a visit to the Slavic settlement of Gross Raden (Germany) a couple of years ago. A reconstructed slavic settlement and a Ring Fort from the early middle ages. At the time it was protected by marshy ground and water which made it difficult to access. The Ring Fort originally lay like an island in the middle of the lake.
Perhaps some of the lawn mower aficionados could enlighten us on how the Slavic settlers kept the grassy areas around the fort so neat and tidy. I am guessing that they used those organic lawn mowers otherwise known as sheep. In fact they are visible in the 7th photograph. Slavic lawn mowers.
Followed up with a slice of Cougher's pie, but please, hold the pistachio cream! Kind regards, always, Jim.
They actually didn't because the fort at the time was surrounded by water (see sketch). Gross Raden lays in the former DDR (East Germany). This is how the 'East' Germans or 'Ossies' afterwards managed ... the ... DDR Kult-Rasenmäher Trolli ESM 35.3-1/II Mäher
I think that there were problems with the Mk. II as the waste disposal tended to spoil the lawn and it had a tendency to nibble the hedgerows. The Mk. III (a) was big improvement, despite the longer horns and the shaggy beard.
If one of the Germanic tribes turned up and released a barrel load of Death Watch Beetles to lay their eggs in the wooden palisades of the fort, would it be considered biological warfare? It might take some time to be effective but playing the long game, it might just work.
This is a proper, but slightly over restored, British castle, no concerns about woodworm with this one. Hopton Castle of Civil War infamy.
I would rather that you didn't mention that as I am trying to get the Louisiana Lawn Mower Association back into this thread. (They are feeling a bit left out, no castles over there you see).
