MAD MAUDE AND HER TOADSTOOL CASSAROLE
by
Charles Towne
“Hey you folks, I’m up here, on the roof!” We looked up and sure enough, there was Maude.
Maude was one of the most unique people I have ever met and that day when she called to us from the roof was one example of her rare spirit.
There she was, [...]

For those of us that despise the taking of an animal’s life for whatever reason we must understand that to the Maasai his wealth and stature is contained in his herds of cattle.
When wild animals make depredations on those cattle it is well understood that the warrior will defend his property as you or I [...]

To Ratty’s readers,
Ratty, being of a somewhat shy and retiring nature, (you can understand why considering his name) has asked me to come to his readers with an apology.
The “vulture” hanging from the tower is in fact a fake. Yes, it is a scare buzzard, or a fright vulture, bogus bird, or whatever.
It did not [...]

When in my teens I found a very emaciated muskrat wandering near our home on the Fox River in Illinois. It was obvious the little fellow was starving, what wasn’t so obvious was, Why?
The wee wildling didn’t struggle as I gently begin to handle and examine it. Poking and prodding I searched for some obvious [...]

“All good things come to them that wait.” I waited.
Do you remember when we were kids and we would go out on a warm summer evening and catch lightning bugs?
A Mason jar full of lightning bugs could serve as a real neat makeshift lantern. Also, as I remember a forgotten jar of lightning bugs takes [...]

My desk is located exactly fifty feet above the ground next to an ancient cypress tree. It defies all logic and all natural laws as it floats there while I work.
As I sit at my desk I can look out over the surrounding swamp and up and down the river and now and then a [...]

The one thing I’ve learned from the writing life is that the hounds of knowledge always send the lions of fear running.
As a zoo director and wildlife photographer I have been mauled by an African lion, been on the verge of drowning twice, swam with sharks, wrestled alligators, had an African leopard shot off the [...]

SHADES OF THE MONKEY WRENCH GANG
By
Charles Towne
For those of you who have never read the cult classic, ‘THE MONKEY WRENCH GANG’ by Edward Abbey, do yourself a favor and beg, borrow or hi-jack a copy, you’ll love it.
It has been some twenty years ago when I was hiking way back on a large parcel of [...]

Man, from the earliest times has killed the bear, challenging not only his presence but, or so it seems, his very right to exist.
It is obvious when we consider the evidence at hand and all that is reasonable that man ate the same food that bear ate and when he sought shelter he would at [...]

A BRIEF HISTORY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA’S LAKE APOPKA
For a very long time, people have inhabited the area around Lake Apopka. These people were what civilized man referred to as, “primitive”. Those primitive men called the lake, “Oomic gagagic ga goomba”, or in the white man’s tongue, “The beautiful lake that will last forever or until [...]