It did not matter much that I had asked Rachel and Shane for some tacks, a hammer and something to hang over our window (ours was the only room not completely finished – still being renovated – so no curtains yet), I woke up with the sun anyhow. I may have even beaten it rising that first day of the hunt. So I was up and at em at about 0515 or so; and that is early for me, yet I had had a good night’s sleep, even better than at the Holiday Inn the night before. Brendan snoozed away as usual at that hour, and there was no reason to wake him since the hunt would not begin until after lunch. Still I got up and went downstairs.
When I got to the first floor I was greeted by Kenny. He was one of the gentlemen from the Game and Fish club in CT who had come back to hunt with Shane after an unfruitful previous year. If I could only describe Kenny with a few words they would be: kind but tough gentleman. You or I may never meet another guy who meets life each day with the gusto, guts, and love of living that this man exhibited during the week of this hunt, and throughout he was the perfect gentleman. He was on the diminutive side, but had a big presence nonetheless. Yet he never imposed on anyone. He was always ready to lend a hand in any way he could. He was quick with good humor, but if anyone razzed him he was quick with a mildly stinging but good natured comeback too. At other times he was quiet and contemplative, and as the week went on it became obvious to me that there was much more to him than met the eye at first glance. I could not have had a better way to start my day than to have met him when I got to the kitchen. He had coffee waiting for me, and we went out to the stoop where he enjoyed a smoke and his coffee, while I also enjoyed a cup of that morning’s brew. We talked hunting, and soon others had joined us, but the talk did not change.
By about 7 or so, Rachel was at it making breakfast. No need for her to rise very early and start cooking as some were still asleep, and as I have said repeatedly – no bear hunting until after lunch. I don‘t remember exactly what she cooked, but I know it was good. Everything she made was good simple home cooked fare. One of the camp favorites was biscuits and gravy. In addition there were always eggs, there was sausage, I think bacon too, muffins, toast, cereal, fruit juice, and fruit that made up some part of the breakfasts. For starters we had a small coffee maker to get the early risers going, and Rachel also had a huge coffee percolator that she fired up each morning and kept full throughout the day and into the night. Lots of coffee was drunk by almost all, even me, and I sometimes don’t drink it for months – but this was good stuff. I just had to have it everyday.
Sooner or later, actually later in this case, I woke up Brendan. He was eager to get the day going after his long sleep. I had been a bit concerned about him because he had badly sprained his right wrist about a week before and it was in a brace. Yet he proved the day before that he could shoot well while wearing the brace, and I was confident he would do okay.
The rest of the morning was spent playing cards, watching some TV, talking hunting, and of course with the hunters readying themselves and their gear. At sometime between noon and one we all had lunch. After that it was time to ready for the hunt. This was this day that Brian showed up at the lodge, at least for the first time since Brendan and I had arrived there. He was the hunter from MI who was staying in his own trailer down the road at a campsite. He was the only hunter using a bow on this trip, and it was a long bow at that. As each day passed, and he showed up, it became sort of obvious that he had a certain ritual he followed each morning in preparation for his hunt. Herb first pointed this out to the rest of us, maybe that first day, maybe on another, he was familiar with it as Brian had hunted with this outfit before. Brian was another gentleman, a soft spoken easy going type with a passion for bear hunting. You may wonder why he did not hunt in MI with the great bear hunting offered there, and I learned why near the end of the week. He told us that he did not at all appreciate the lottery system that MI had in place to select whom would receive a bear tag, and that this went even for MI residents. So instead of hunting MI bears, he hunted Maine bears.
As I looked around at all the hunters, I saw that almost all had a ritual in preparing for their hunts. The only guy who did not seem to have much of a ritual was Brendan, but since this was Brendan’s first big game hunt he will have plenty of time over the years to develop his own methods for this madness. For now he followed my lead, and he was ready to go for sure. Even though he did not have a ritual set yet, he made surer to double check that we had all we needed, and to make sure we stayed clean of unwanted scents. He had read up some on hunting, had learned some from me, and learned more from TV shows. He was and is a hunter in the making.
The atmosphere in camp was upbeat, everyone was anticipating a good hunt and hoping for a bear on day one. The weather was not bad and seemed almost cooperative with us. It was overcast, cool, with light rain now and then, really just a misty drizzle. That was in the morning into early afternoon as we got ready. If I remember right, we left camp in three vehicles at about 1:30 in the afternoon.
I hopped into a Suburban driven by Shane. We were accompanied by Brendan and randy. Randy would be the closest hunter to us, the only other hunter on the same side of route 27 as we were to be. If I understood correctly, Shane had planned to have Randy on one site, but switched him to another so Brendan would have a better chance of seeing a bear since it was his first hunt. Randy would get a good site too, and he was more than cheerful about giving up the site and letting Brendan have it as suggested by Shane. We drove quite a few miles up the road toward our site not far south of the Canadian border. Then we turned off onto a logging road out into the woods. The loggers were actually working off of this road, and we had to stop a bit while they finished loading a truck with logs before we could get by them. I think we were on site at about 2 or so. I was concerned that with these guys in the area, the bears would not come by, but Shane assured me that they would be finished soon and that they did not disturb the bears. The next thing we knew, we were pulling over, and Shane was getting out telling Brendan and I that this was our site. Shane led Brendan and I into the woods, maybe about 100 yards. Brendan was beaming with enthusiasm, yet he carried his rifle safely as he has been taught; he learned well. Shane then pointed out the bait can, and our stand. As Shane filled the bait can, we headed over to our stand from behind the can. The whole area was littered with bear droppings. From the size of some of them, at least one of the multiple bears visiting this site was a big one. Man was Brendan excited, me too.
For Brendan and me, it then was up into the double tree stand. It was set pretty snuggly against a sturdy tree. I was happy for that as I had never hunted from a stand before. I am not all that great at heights, but a stand does not bother me in that manner. I was nervous though that I might fall out of it as I am known to be a bit of a klutz at times. As it turned out this stand was almost rock solid and had a shooting rail. Once Brendan was up in it, I handed up a backpack full of gear and some goodies, then I handed up the rifle. Then it was time for me. I was happily surprised that the stand was big enough to fit both of us with a bit of comfort (at least for a couple of hours). Sadly though, just as Shane drove away, I realized we had forgotten the stand’s seat cushion. Luckily I had two foam seat pads for us to sit atop, but that other pad under them would have been a big bonus.
As we sat there, we talked just a little bit in the beginning to make sure Brendan had it right, or as right as anyone could. I was convinced he was ready, then the hard part of it all fell to me. I had to shut up for hours. As you may have guessed by how much I like to write, I like to talk too. Oh well, it was for Brendan, so I shut up for most of the afternoon, with only momentary interruptions to my silence. As the seconds turned into minutes, and the minutes grew into hours, and the hours dragged on toward the end of the day – we enjoyed each others silent company, we enjoyed the anticipation of seeing a bear, and we enjoyed observing nature all around us. We saw and heard several species of birds that flew by and around us. They were all oblivious to us being there with them, and they went about there business of looking for food as they flitted about the woods. We saw woodpeckers, crows, a hawk, some small yellow headed birds, and others. We also got to watch two chipmunks as they incessantly raided the bear bait can all throughout the afternoon. Back and forth they went from their burrows to the can, jumping up and in to grab a morsel, or searching the ground around the can for the same. At any sign of danger they chirped a loud call and ran off to hide. Once or twice we may have set them off, especially the first time I stood up to stretch, but for most of the day they just kept going at whatever food they could get. As for that stretching, you just would have to, as the darned stand seat was hard on the behind, even with our foam cushions. I stretched twice and Brendan once. I showed him how to do it slow and right, so as not to startle any animals nearby. The second time I did it, and his only time, we did not startle the chipmunks or nearby birds. During our day, we also heard a few noises in the woods, and once or twice thought it might have been a bear on the approach but we saw none. As the sun set we waited anxiously for a bear to appear. It is legal to hunt up to one half hour after sundown for bear in Maine, so we kept our hopes high.
We saw nothing, well nothing of a bear anyhow. As a matter of fact, within the last minute or so of legal hunting time, it was hard to see anything, including the bait can that was only about 30 yards away from us. It gets dark fast in the woods once the sun sets. Brendan unloaded his rifle, and we waited for Shane to pick us up. He was there shortly after, and we then all picked up Randy. Randy also had no luck with bear that day. As it turned out, no one in the group had shot a bear on day one. That was a disappointment to us all. If I remember right, I think only one person even saw a bear, but it was too far off for a safe and sure shot. I was impressed, because now it was obvious we were in the company of good ethical hunters.
It was back to the lodge for all of us. On the way back to the lodge I tried to keep Brendan’s spirits high. It was obvious to me he was deflated a bit in the morale department. I guess he just thought it would be real easy to tag a bear on his first day, what with all the preparations we had made. Shane and Randy also tried to help him keep his spirits high, and they both did a good job of it. Herb and Patrick picked up the other hunters and brought them to the lodge. Once we were all at the lodge, Rachel had dinner waiting for us. We all ate well, and over dinner, dessert and coffee we all talked about our day on our stands. Some played cards, some watched TV, others just talked. At cards Randy had a better day than he did on the stand. He won a few bucks from the other players. Sometime that evening we all met Bob, the owner of the lodge. The lodge is basically a duplex, lodge rooms on the right side and Bob’s place on the left side. He was a retired NYPD Lieutenant, and had built this lodge on the site after he had retired. The lodge is used for hunters, snowmobile enthusiasts, fisherman, and vacationers in general. Bob was friendly and jovial throughout our stay, and he made us all feel very welcome.
Our day pretty much at an end, I think everyone was out cold by about midnight. No doubt they were once again dreaming of bears dancing through the woods or something similar; I know I was doing just that. Tomorrow would be another day, another time to hunt; but for the rest of that night it was dream bears and the sounds of rough saws sawing wood.
Monday, September 4, 2006
The Bear Hunt, part 2...
On Sunday, we set out from White River Junction, VT for Eustis, ME, the site of Black Arrow Lodge. This would be our bear hunting camp/lodge. The ride was another 5 hours or so, by way of some highway, but mostly on small two lane roads through some nice country in Vt., NH and Maine. We made a few stops along the way, for gas and for some supplies. We got most of our supplies at Walmart if only because they were there when other places were not to be found (like supermarkets). I do not necessarily like shopping at Walmart, especially in light of recent corporate decisions by them to cut back on firearms sales, but I did shop at them on this trip. I have to decide if it was worth shopping there as opposed to boycotting them in light of their cutback on gun sales.
Well we finally arrived in Eustis at about 3PM. In short order, we found a sign for the Black Arrow Lodge, and we made a left turn off of route 27 into the driveway. There was a group of about 6 folks or so hanging out around the front steps of the lodge when we pulled up. As Brendan and I got out of our 1996 Ford Taurus, I heard a woman’s voice, the only woman in the group, say: “Glenn, Brendan?”. This was a voice with which we would become quit familiar over the next week, that of Rachel Crommet of 15 Mile Stream Guide Service. She and her husband Shane ran guide service for the bear hunt. Rachel had answered every email inquiry, and every question in each email, that I had sent to her (and to about a dozen or so other guide services) about the bear hunt they offered. I literally mean she answered every question I asked her; and she gave well detailed answers. That was no small feat, as this quite possibly would prove to be the Bear Hunt of a lifetime for me, so I had asked an awfully large number of questions. If nothing else, her dedication to making sure all of my questions had been sufficiently answered to my satisfaction was what sold me on 15 Mile Stream Guide Service.
We made our introductions which included Brendan and I meeting: Rachel and Shane, their son Patrick, Shane’s dad Herb, and most of the other hunters for the week. As it stood there were 6 other hunters there besides Brendan. We met John, who had stayed with Shane and Rachel the year before in 2005, when he had taken a good sized bear with only 3 legs. We also met Kenny, Randy, Tony and Z (I think his name was Mark but we all called him by his nickname). These 4 guys were all members of a Fish and game club in CT. I was surprised, when about 3 days later, I learned they had all hunted with Shane and Rachel in 2005 but none had even seen a bear on that trip. Think about that for a moment. They had not seen a bear on their 2005 trip, not one of them, yet all 4 guys came back to the same outfitters in 2006. This is a testament to the service given by 15 Mile Stream, but more on that to come later, so back to the intros. We did not meet the other hunter who would be present: Brian, a bow hunter who came all the way from MI, and who was also a repeat customer of 15 Mile Stream Guide Service. We would meet Brian on Monday afternoon just before the first hunting session.
So far I was impressed. Everyone seemed very nice, not only Shane, and Rachel and their family, but also the other hunters. This was a good thing because spending a week in a lodge with 8 other people could have been miserable had we not all gotten along pretty well. As it turned out, the week was a ice one to say the least, but you will also get more on that as we move along through the week of the bear hunt.
In no time, Rachel had us settled into our room, on the second floor of the lodge. It was a bit small, but believe me when I say not too small as I had thought it might be before we saw it. Brendan and I had this one bedroom for ourselves. We had ample dresser space for all out stuff, and the beds were comfy with lots of extra blankets if we needed them. As luck would have it the window was on the dark side of the house at sunup. This was a good thing for sleeping in, and Brendan got to sleep late almost everyday because the hunts would only begin after lunch as we had been made aware long before we had arrived. The placement of that window also assured me a better night’s sleep (or would that be morning’s sleep as I usually went to bed after midnight). Still I was up a few mornings well before 0600, but much later on some others. Heck this was a vacation, so being able sleep late on some days was a very good thing indeed. The lodge had two full bathrooms, which was another good thing when there were 3 guides, one observer (me as I was not hunting on this trip) and 6 hunters sharing the facilities. Yes there were 7 hunters in all, but one – Brian, was staying in his own trailer at a campsite down the road.
Not long after we were settled in, we went out to sight in our guns. John was shooting a S&W revolver, sorry I don’t recall the model, in .44 magnum. It had a low power scope attached to it. I learned he had also used a revolver on his last year’s hunt, but I believe that one had been a Ruger. He shot quite a few rounds, he seemed to be shooting a bit low, but apparently wound up satisfied he was ready to go While some shots were a bit low, his group still looked more than good enough to get a bear. Then it was Brendan’s turn to shoot. He climbed the tree stand, and then I followed him up there to sit next to him as if he was actually out afield on the hunt. He fired one shot at 30 yards, the approximate distance it was figured that his stand would be from his bear. He hit the bull’s eye. Someone said he was okay to go, hut Shane said he should fire another shot. I guess that was to rule out a fluke good shot, and I thought that a wise idea Justin case the scope screws had come loose over the last two days of bouncing around in the trunk as we drove on our trip. His second shot was about a quarter inch from the first in the bull’s eye. Herb looked at the target and in a calm laid back sort of a Maine accent said: “He’s ready”. Everyone seemed pretty impressed. Everyone else had apparently already shot, the other 4 guys had gotten there the day before us and had already practiced.
Soon after that, dinner was being served. We were started off with an appetizer of a boiled shrimp platter, crackers, cheeses, and sliced pepperoni. Then we had hockey pucks for the main course, and we devoured them. Whoops, did I say hockey pucks (sorry Rachel but I could not resist)? Actually, Rachel has Tony to thank for the description of our dinner as being hockey pucks; of course Tony was just ribbing her in a friendly sort of way. Dinner was really hamburgers, and they really were much to everyone’s liking judging by how fast they disappeared from the platter into the mouths of the hunters. I loved em. They were accompanied by other delectable treats and all was truly delicious. After dinner, there was dessert of some sort; I don’t remember which exactly that everyone had of the many there were for the week. I do remember there was ice cream available every night, and there was often some sort of pie, and cookies too. I had some home baked cookies on Sunday night for my desert, they went down well, but I admit I had little room for dessert after dinner.
As it was, Rachel was our cook for most of the meals for the week; she had warned me that we did not want Shane to cook! The meals were all prepared fresh each day, home cooking style. There was also an abundance of snacks available like chips, cookies, fruits and such. Fresh coffee, and various soft drinks and juices were always on hand. It was help yourself to whatever was available at any time, with Rachel preparing most of the 3 main meals of breakfast, lunch and dinner. No one went hungry, except maybe a certain tapeworm in one member of the group’s stomachs, and even that tapeworm had its fill before too long.
Not long after dinner a card gamer started up. Brendan watched for awhile as did I; it was some sort of money game – what could you expect at a hunting camp. I was surprised the buy in was only a dollar, that spread out a quarter per game. After not too many of these games went by, Brendan joined in too. I was happy to watch, as I would be on the actual bear hunt too. The game did not go all that long before it was interrupted by Shane who had videos for us to watch, and a talk to give us about the upcoming hunts.
The videos we saw were quite instructional as far as bear hunting over bait goes, and as far, to some extent, as any bear hunt would go. We got to see bears of different sizes from small cubs, to yearling bears of about 80 pounds, to bears of about 180 pounds, to bears somewhat bigger than that. The reason for this was so we could judge any bear that might approach our shooting area. If someone wanted a trophy or a certain sized bear, they would at least now have something to go by. It was not all that easy to judge their sizes in the videos – so it became painfully obvious that judging a bear’s size would not be that easy during the excitement of seeing one while on stand. Shane told us of a hunter from the previous season who had sworn he had shot at least a 250 pound bear. When they found it, it turned out to be about 80 pounds! Shane also told us a 75 to 100 pound bear was nothing to sneeze at, and it would be a fine animal for Brendan to bag on his first hunt. Depending on which sex a bear in that weight range would be, it would either likely be a yearling if male, and possibly two to three years old if female.
One of the bears in the videos was a female with three cubs. Her video, I think, had been shot last year. We were all given explicit instructions by Shane that absolutely no sows with cubs were allowed to be taken by any hunters who hunted with 15 Mile Stream Guide Service. This was a policy enforced by Shane and Rachel, and was not a state of Maine hunting regulation. As far as Maine hunting regulations went, there was no restriction against shooting a sow with cubs; but since young cubs were unlikely to survive on their own, Shane and Rachel set up their own prohibitions for their hunters. That was fine with everyone at the camp, and we were all aware of this even before we arrived. Shane was making sure we had not forgotten. He also went over a quick way of how to avoid shooting a sow with cubs in tow. He said that upon seeing a bear approaching, the absolute best thing to do was to wait at least a minute while doing noting except watching and listening. The reason we were told to wait was to see if cubs showed up behind mama bear. He also told us about the likely appearance a sow’s coat if she had cubs, it wood look tattered or disheveled along the flanks, just as was the fur on the sow in the video, the sow with her cubs. This would be something easy for me to do, and I would make sure Brendan would wait a minute if we actually spotted a bear.
Once the videos and the talk were over it was back to cards for some, off to have a smoke for others (smoking was only permitted outside the lodge, and was usually done on the front steps), or off to make sure things were right for the next day’s hunt. I took it easy, and talked with some of the guys who were not playing cards. Sometime after 1100 or maybe even after midnight, we all turned in for a good night’s sleep. The cool Maine air, it was in the 60s down to the high 50s overnight, made it excellent sleeping weather. Despite the excellent sleeping weather for a great night’s sleep, I sort of thought I would be up fidgeting all night, and I thought the same about Brendan. While the next day would bring the first day of the hunt, and while the anticipation was very strong, it did not overcome the magic of the cool mountain air that lulled us all to sleep. I imagine that dreams of bears were sure to have danced through the heads of Brendan and all the other hunters, just as they danced through mine that night. I awoke, refreshed and ready, well before dawn the next morning.
Well we finally arrived in Eustis at about 3PM. In short order, we found a sign for the Black Arrow Lodge, and we made a left turn off of route 27 into the driveway. There was a group of about 6 folks or so hanging out around the front steps of the lodge when we pulled up. As Brendan and I got out of our 1996 Ford Taurus, I heard a woman’s voice, the only woman in the group, say: “Glenn, Brendan?”. This was a voice with which we would become quit familiar over the next week, that of Rachel Crommet of 15 Mile Stream Guide Service. She and her husband Shane ran guide service for the bear hunt. Rachel had answered every email inquiry, and every question in each email, that I had sent to her (and to about a dozen or so other guide services) about the bear hunt they offered. I literally mean she answered every question I asked her; and she gave well detailed answers. That was no small feat, as this quite possibly would prove to be the Bear Hunt of a lifetime for me, so I had asked an awfully large number of questions. If nothing else, her dedication to making sure all of my questions had been sufficiently answered to my satisfaction was what sold me on 15 Mile Stream Guide Service.
We made our introductions which included Brendan and I meeting: Rachel and Shane, their son Patrick, Shane’s dad Herb, and most of the other hunters for the week. As it stood there were 6 other hunters there besides Brendan. We met John, who had stayed with Shane and Rachel the year before in 2005, when he had taken a good sized bear with only 3 legs. We also met Kenny, Randy, Tony and Z (I think his name was Mark but we all called him by his nickname). These 4 guys were all members of a Fish and game club in CT. I was surprised, when about 3 days later, I learned they had all hunted with Shane and Rachel in 2005 but none had even seen a bear on that trip. Think about that for a moment. They had not seen a bear on their 2005 trip, not one of them, yet all 4 guys came back to the same outfitters in 2006. This is a testament to the service given by 15 Mile Stream, but more on that to come later, so back to the intros. We did not meet the other hunter who would be present: Brian, a bow hunter who came all the way from MI, and who was also a repeat customer of 15 Mile Stream Guide Service. We would meet Brian on Monday afternoon just before the first hunting session.
So far I was impressed. Everyone seemed very nice, not only Shane, and Rachel and their family, but also the other hunters. This was a good thing because spending a week in a lodge with 8 other people could have been miserable had we not all gotten along pretty well. As it turned out, the week was a ice one to say the least, but you will also get more on that as we move along through the week of the bear hunt.
In no time, Rachel had us settled into our room, on the second floor of the lodge. It was a bit small, but believe me when I say not too small as I had thought it might be before we saw it. Brendan and I had this one bedroom for ourselves. We had ample dresser space for all out stuff, and the beds were comfy with lots of extra blankets if we needed them. As luck would have it the window was on the dark side of the house at sunup. This was a good thing for sleeping in, and Brendan got to sleep late almost everyday because the hunts would only begin after lunch as we had been made aware long before we had arrived. The placement of that window also assured me a better night’s sleep (or would that be morning’s sleep as I usually went to bed after midnight). Still I was up a few mornings well before 0600, but much later on some others. Heck this was a vacation, so being able sleep late on some days was a very good thing indeed. The lodge had two full bathrooms, which was another good thing when there were 3 guides, one observer (me as I was not hunting on this trip) and 6 hunters sharing the facilities. Yes there were 7 hunters in all, but one – Brian, was staying in his own trailer at a campsite down the road.
Not long after we were settled in, we went out to sight in our guns. John was shooting a S&W revolver, sorry I don’t recall the model, in .44 magnum. It had a low power scope attached to it. I learned he had also used a revolver on his last year’s hunt, but I believe that one had been a Ruger. He shot quite a few rounds, he seemed to be shooting a bit low, but apparently wound up satisfied he was ready to go While some shots were a bit low, his group still looked more than good enough to get a bear. Then it was Brendan’s turn to shoot. He climbed the tree stand, and then I followed him up there to sit next to him as if he was actually out afield on the hunt. He fired one shot at 30 yards, the approximate distance it was figured that his stand would be from his bear. He hit the bull’s eye. Someone said he was okay to go, hut Shane said he should fire another shot. I guess that was to rule out a fluke good shot, and I thought that a wise idea Justin case the scope screws had come loose over the last two days of bouncing around in the trunk as we drove on our trip. His second shot was about a quarter inch from the first in the bull’s eye. Herb looked at the target and in a calm laid back sort of a Maine accent said: “He’s ready”. Everyone seemed pretty impressed. Everyone else had apparently already shot, the other 4 guys had gotten there the day before us and had already practiced.
Soon after that, dinner was being served. We were started off with an appetizer of a boiled shrimp platter, crackers, cheeses, and sliced pepperoni. Then we had hockey pucks for the main course, and we devoured them. Whoops, did I say hockey pucks (sorry Rachel but I could not resist)? Actually, Rachel has Tony to thank for the description of our dinner as being hockey pucks; of course Tony was just ribbing her in a friendly sort of way. Dinner was really hamburgers, and they really were much to everyone’s liking judging by how fast they disappeared from the platter into the mouths of the hunters. I loved em. They were accompanied by other delectable treats and all was truly delicious. After dinner, there was dessert of some sort; I don’t remember which exactly that everyone had of the many there were for the week. I do remember there was ice cream available every night, and there was often some sort of pie, and cookies too. I had some home baked cookies on Sunday night for my desert, they went down well, but I admit I had little room for dessert after dinner.
As it was, Rachel was our cook for most of the meals for the week; she had warned me that we did not want Shane to cook! The meals were all prepared fresh each day, home cooking style. There was also an abundance of snacks available like chips, cookies, fruits and such. Fresh coffee, and various soft drinks and juices were always on hand. It was help yourself to whatever was available at any time, with Rachel preparing most of the 3 main meals of breakfast, lunch and dinner. No one went hungry, except maybe a certain tapeworm in one member of the group’s stomachs, and even that tapeworm had its fill before too long.
Not long after dinner a card gamer started up. Brendan watched for awhile as did I; it was some sort of money game – what could you expect at a hunting camp. I was surprised the buy in was only a dollar, that spread out a quarter per game. After not too many of these games went by, Brendan joined in too. I was happy to watch, as I would be on the actual bear hunt too. The game did not go all that long before it was interrupted by Shane who had videos for us to watch, and a talk to give us about the upcoming hunts.
The videos we saw were quite instructional as far as bear hunting over bait goes, and as far, to some extent, as any bear hunt would go. We got to see bears of different sizes from small cubs, to yearling bears of about 80 pounds, to bears of about 180 pounds, to bears somewhat bigger than that. The reason for this was so we could judge any bear that might approach our shooting area. If someone wanted a trophy or a certain sized bear, they would at least now have something to go by. It was not all that easy to judge their sizes in the videos – so it became painfully obvious that judging a bear’s size would not be that easy during the excitement of seeing one while on stand. Shane told us of a hunter from the previous season who had sworn he had shot at least a 250 pound bear. When they found it, it turned out to be about 80 pounds! Shane also told us a 75 to 100 pound bear was nothing to sneeze at, and it would be a fine animal for Brendan to bag on his first hunt. Depending on which sex a bear in that weight range would be, it would either likely be a yearling if male, and possibly two to three years old if female.
One of the bears in the videos was a female with three cubs. Her video, I think, had been shot last year. We were all given explicit instructions by Shane that absolutely no sows with cubs were allowed to be taken by any hunters who hunted with 15 Mile Stream Guide Service. This was a policy enforced by Shane and Rachel, and was not a state of Maine hunting regulation. As far as Maine hunting regulations went, there was no restriction against shooting a sow with cubs; but since young cubs were unlikely to survive on their own, Shane and Rachel set up their own prohibitions for their hunters. That was fine with everyone at the camp, and we were all aware of this even before we arrived. Shane was making sure we had not forgotten. He also went over a quick way of how to avoid shooting a sow with cubs in tow. He said that upon seeing a bear approaching, the absolute best thing to do was to wait at least a minute while doing noting except watching and listening. The reason we were told to wait was to see if cubs showed up behind mama bear. He also told us about the likely appearance a sow’s coat if she had cubs, it wood look tattered or disheveled along the flanks, just as was the fur on the sow in the video, the sow with her cubs. This would be something easy for me to do, and I would make sure Brendan would wait a minute if we actually spotted a bear.
Once the videos and the talk were over it was back to cards for some, off to have a smoke for others (smoking was only permitted outside the lodge, and was usually done on the front steps), or off to make sure things were right for the next day’s hunt. I took it easy, and talked with some of the guys who were not playing cards. Sometime after 1100 or maybe even after midnight, we all turned in for a good night’s sleep. The cool Maine air, it was in the 60s down to the high 50s overnight, made it excellent sleeping weather. Despite the excellent sleeping weather for a great night’s sleep, I sort of thought I would be up fidgeting all night, and I thought the same about Brendan. While the next day would bring the first day of the hunt, and while the anticipation was very strong, it did not overcome the magic of the cool mountain air that lulled us all to sleep. I imagine that dreams of bears were sure to have danced through the heads of Brendan and all the other hunters, just as they danced through mine that night. I awoke, refreshed and ready, well before dawn the next morning.
CRIKEY - Steve Irwin killed by stingray...
Who would have figured it would have been death by stingray barb to the heart for Steve Irwin - the Crocodile Hunter? I always thought his end would come about because he would be bitten by one of those extremely venomous snakes he was always handling so, in my opinion, carelessly; or maybe by way of being eaten by a salt water crocodile. I guess though, my prediction of death for Irwin - by way of some accident (or carelessness) with an animal - was right on the money. He went out the way he lived, which was much better than most of us will exit life.
I did not necessarily agree with what I understood was his conservation message. As I understood that, it was hands off of nature for everyone except for guys like him. So, I believe, while he made his money promoting himself and his own brand of conservation, others were not so lucky as to be enjoying nature through way of hands on experience in places like Australia.
I am, I think, a much more hands on sort of guy when it comes to humans being in touch with nature and with animals, hands on for everyone, within reason anyhow. Nonetheless, Steve Irwin certainly had a flamboyance that surely made for an entertaining show mostly about reptiles; and since I am a reptile keeper/breeder/hobbyist, I used to enjoy his shows. That was at least until I heard about his alleged brand of conservation, and even then I liked his shows.
I did think him on the careless or reckless side when it came to handling dangerous animals though. I handle guns regularly, I handle animals regularly, I have handled dangerous animals on occasion, I also hunt - I would never hunt or handle a dangerous animal the way he did. Then again, he was himself, and I am me. He certainly did his thing his way, and the world loved him for it.
In that light, I imagine he went out, much in the way he would have chosen. He was stabbed through his heart by a stingray, the barb on the stingray's tail apparently entered Irwin's body just below the rib cage, and went into his heart. Efforts to save him were futile. See this link for an article about it: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,212037,00.html
He leaves behind his wife Terri (a beautiful dream girl for a naturalist like Steve Irwin). They were married for about 15 years (they were married in 1991) and two young children. It is a sad thing when a father leaves this world, even sadder when it is before his children are grown and married. He was a great entertainer, he brought a lot of knowledge to the world about reptiles and other animals, he was a conservationist of sorts. He will be missed; and my deepest condolences go out to his family and other loved ones. He was a real man, and an intensely passionate one at that. Happy herping Steve.
All the best,
Glenn B
I did not necessarily agree with what I understood was his conservation message. As I understood that, it was hands off of nature for everyone except for guys like him. So, I believe, while he made his money promoting himself and his own brand of conservation, others were not so lucky as to be enjoying nature through way of hands on experience in places like Australia.
I am, I think, a much more hands on sort of guy when it comes to humans being in touch with nature and with animals, hands on for everyone, within reason anyhow. Nonetheless, Steve Irwin certainly had a flamboyance that surely made for an entertaining show mostly about reptiles; and since I am a reptile keeper/breeder/hobbyist, I used to enjoy his shows. That was at least until I heard about his alleged brand of conservation, and even then I liked his shows.
I did think him on the careless or reckless side when it came to handling dangerous animals though. I handle guns regularly, I handle animals regularly, I have handled dangerous animals on occasion, I also hunt - I would never hunt or handle a dangerous animal the way he did. Then again, he was himself, and I am me. He certainly did his thing his way, and the world loved him for it.
In that light, I imagine he went out, much in the way he would have chosen. He was stabbed through his heart by a stingray, the barb on the stingray's tail apparently entered Irwin's body just below the rib cage, and went into his heart. Efforts to save him were futile. See this link for an article about it: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,212037,00.html
He leaves behind his wife Terri (a beautiful dream girl for a naturalist like Steve Irwin). They were married for about 15 years (they were married in 1991) and two young children. It is a sad thing when a father leaves this world, even sadder when it is before his children are grown and married. He was a great entertainer, he brought a lot of knowledge to the world about reptiles and other animals, he was a conservationist of sorts. He will be missed; and my deepest condolences go out to his family and other loved ones. He was a real man, and an intensely passionate one at that. Happy herping Steve.
All the best,
Glenn B
The Bear Hunting Trip, part 1 revisited...
Of Bear Hunts and other things….
Well mostly of bear hunts, because I cannot think too much of anything to which I paid all that much attention in the past week, although there were some other things.
First for the bear hunt, or at least a rehash of our first day's trip. It was an interesting experience. Brendan and I left home last Saturday morning, and we returned home a bit later on that same Saturday morning. Luckily for us, while reviewing my mental checklist of items we could have forgotten, I realized we had left tour cooler behind with most of our fishing gear packed inside of it. So after having gone about a couple of miles or so, we hit our first snag in the trip and turned back to get the cooler. Then we were off in earnest toward the woods of Maine.
We drove about 5 hours or so the first day. Not a lot of driving by any means, but that medium length drive was part of what made it such a nice day. That and the fact we had a free night reserved at a Holiday Inn Express in White River Junction, VT. This would prove to be a step up from the usual Motel 6 in which Brendan and I stay while on many of our road trips. Don’t get me wrong, I am not knocking Motel 6 (so long as you stay at one that shows it as an Accor Motel), but this Holiday Inn Express was sure a giant step up for us. Our reserved room was a suite with 2 queen sized beds, but sadly we had to take a small step down from that. The problem with it was that it was right next to an elevator shaft and the head of the beds was on the wall of the shaft. Not conducive to a good night’s sleep so I asked for a change. I guess no one had read my request for a quiet room, specifically asking not to be next to ice machines or elevators! Oh well, they changed it to a single room that really was more like a studio apartment. It had a full kitchen, a dining area, a living room area, a desk/table, a skylight, 2 televisions, and 2 double beds. After settling in, we drove around looking for a restaurant. The one recommended by the hotel desk clerk was not yet open, so we drove across the river into NH were we wound up in a restaurant/brewery. Not a bad combo. Brendan had Chicken Parm and a soda; I had a steak and a beer and a half. The beer wasn’t great, but it was okay and it was brewed on site. The next day we even got a free breakfast at the hotel, you know the free stuff like: cereal, muffins, rolls, bagels, juice, fruit, coffee and the like. It was great! Then we were off for Eustis, Maine. More on our arrival in Rustis later, sadly I have to take a break now and get busy at home.
If you are wondering, why did he just rewite the last entry, well basically to get me back into the writing mode. Later today, I'll write more, probably much more.Right now, I have to go clean out animal cages, feed the mice, snakes, turtle, tortoises, geckos and frogs. Then for a lawn mowing, and maybe a trip to the lawn mower repair shop as the lawn mower was elaking fuel last week (but the bear hunt had to go on so that trip to the repair shop got delayed). Then I'll be off to the pet shop for some stuff. After that I have to change a flat on my government vehicle (oh wait a minute, they don't pay me for that on a holiday, so that waits until I am back on the clock tomorrow). Then whatever other chores my wife has for me. Then to butcher some meat for this afternoon's barbecue. Guess what kind of meat that will be, but again, allow me to say - more on that later!
All the best,
Glenn B
Well mostly of bear hunts, because I cannot think too much of anything to which I paid all that much attention in the past week, although there were some other things.
First for the bear hunt, or at least a rehash of our first day's trip. It was an interesting experience. Brendan and I left home last Saturday morning, and we returned home a bit later on that same Saturday morning. Luckily for us, while reviewing my mental checklist of items we could have forgotten, I realized we had left tour cooler behind with most of our fishing gear packed inside of it. So after having gone about a couple of miles or so, we hit our first snag in the trip and turned back to get the cooler. Then we were off in earnest toward the woods of Maine.
We drove about 5 hours or so the first day. Not a lot of driving by any means, but that medium length drive was part of what made it such a nice day. That and the fact we had a free night reserved at a Holiday Inn Express in White River Junction, VT. This would prove to be a step up from the usual Motel 6 in which Brendan and I stay while on many of our road trips. Don’t get me wrong, I am not knocking Motel 6 (so long as you stay at one that shows it as an Accor Motel), but this Holiday Inn Express was sure a giant step up for us. Our reserved room was a suite with 2 queen sized beds, but sadly we had to take a small step down from that. The problem with it was that it was right next to an elevator shaft and the head of the beds was on the wall of the shaft. Not conducive to a good night’s sleep so I asked for a change. I guess no one had read my request for a quiet room, specifically asking not to be next to ice machines or elevators! Oh well, they changed it to a single room that really was more like a studio apartment. It had a full kitchen, a dining area, a living room area, a desk/table, a skylight, 2 televisions, and 2 double beds. After settling in, we drove around looking for a restaurant. The one recommended by the hotel desk clerk was not yet open, so we drove across the river into NH were we wound up in a restaurant/brewery. Not a bad combo. Brendan had Chicken Parm and a soda; I had a steak and a beer and a half. The beer wasn’t great, but it was okay and it was brewed on site. The next day we even got a free breakfast at the hotel, you know the free stuff like: cereal, muffins, rolls, bagels, juice, fruit, coffee and the like. It was great! Then we were off for Eustis, Maine. More on our arrival in Rustis later, sadly I have to take a break now and get busy at home.
If you are wondering, why did he just rewite the last entry, well basically to get me back into the writing mode. Later today, I'll write more, probably much more.Right now, I have to go clean out animal cages, feed the mice, snakes, turtle, tortoises, geckos and frogs. Then for a lawn mowing, and maybe a trip to the lawn mower repair shop as the lawn mower was elaking fuel last week (but the bear hunt had to go on so that trip to the repair shop got delayed). Then I'll be off to the pet shop for some stuff. After that I have to change a flat on my government vehicle (oh wait a minute, they don't pay me for that on a holiday, so that waits until I am back on the clock tomorrow). Then whatever other chores my wife has for me. Then to butcher some meat for this afternoon's barbecue. Guess what kind of meat that will be, but again, allow me to say - more on that later!
All the best,
Glenn B
Sunday, August 27, 2006
The Bear Huntig Trip, part 1...
or How Sleeping Beauty Slept.
Yes you probably guessed that sleeping beauty is my son Brendan. Right now, ay 0809, is is up in our fast asleep. We are in a Holiday Inn Express in White River Junction, Vermont. It is a nice small town, surrounded by lovely green hills, a place to which I might like to retire.
It took us about 5 hours, almost exactly, to get here from our home on Long Island, NY yesterday. From out home to Danbury, CT we averaged about only 30mph. From Danbury to Hartford, CT we averaged about 40 MPG. That was horrendous. After that we made good time. We did the total of 272 miles in exactly 4 hours 50 minutes. That was 19 minutes less than the estimate given to me by MS streets when I planned the trip. During that time, I figure, Brendan slept about 75% of the time. At least someone got to our destination for day one well rested. While I had little company that was awake, at least it did not rain as the skies threatened to do.
We checked into the Holiday Inn in White River Junction, then headed over the river (I would guess tyhe White River) to a brewery/pub/restaurant in New Hampshire. I had a delicious steak dinners and Brendan had Chickem Parmigan (spelling). It was all delicious as was the beer and a hald I had. Then off to WalMart to get some last minite supplies and back to the hotel. We watched some thriller, Lucky Number Sevin or something like that, with Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman, lousy start - good in middle - good finish. Then we watched another Bruce Willis movie, one of my all time favorites: The Fifth Element. Then to lala land for the night. I got up very early, hours ago, sleeping beauty - he is still snoozing.
Time to go bring him back to the world of the living and head out. Probably no blogging until next week again for me, I doubt there is a pc at the lodge, but who knows. Check again tomorrow.
All the best,
Glenn B
Yes you probably guessed that sleeping beauty is my son Brendan. Right now, ay 0809, is is up in our fast asleep. We are in a Holiday Inn Express in White River Junction, Vermont. It is a nice small town, surrounded by lovely green hills, a place to which I might like to retire.
It took us about 5 hours, almost exactly, to get here from our home on Long Island, NY yesterday. From out home to Danbury, CT we averaged about only 30mph. From Danbury to Hartford, CT we averaged about 40 MPG. That was horrendous. After that we made good time. We did the total of 272 miles in exactly 4 hours 50 minutes. That was 19 minutes less than the estimate given to me by MS streets when I planned the trip. During that time, I figure, Brendan slept about 75% of the time. At least someone got to our destination for day one well rested. While I had little company that was awake, at least it did not rain as the skies threatened to do.
We checked into the Holiday Inn in White River Junction, then headed over the river (I would guess tyhe White River) to a brewery/pub/restaurant in New Hampshire. I had a delicious steak dinners and Brendan had Chickem Parmigan (spelling). It was all delicious as was the beer and a hald I had. Then off to WalMart to get some last minite supplies and back to the hotel. We watched some thriller, Lucky Number Sevin or something like that, with Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman, lousy start - good in middle - good finish. Then we watched another Bruce Willis movie, one of my all time favorites: The Fifth Element. Then to lala land for the night. I got up very early, hours ago, sleeping beauty - he is still snoozing.
Time to go bring him back to the world of the living and head out. Probably no blogging until next week again for me, I doubt there is a pc at the lodge, but who knows. Check again tomorrow.
All the best,
Glenn B
Saturday, August 26, 2006
One last rant before our trip...
and it is really not a rant at all, just a copy of an email that a good friend of mine sent to me. It was the first time I saw this, I wonder if it is true. Take a look and wonder about it yourselves:
SIGN IN A STORE WINDOW "WE WOULD RATHER DO BUSINESS WITH 1000 AL QAEDA TERRORISTS THAN WITH ONE SINGLE AMERICAN" This sign was prominently displayed in the window of a business in Philadelphia . You are probably outraged at the thought of such an inflammatory statement. One would think that anti-hate groups from all across the country would be marching on this business , and that the National Guard might have to be called to keep the angry crowds back. But, perhaps in these stressful times one might be tempted to let the proprietors simply make their statement . . We are a society which holds Freedom of Speech as perhaps o ur greatest liberty. And after all, it is just a sign.
You may ask what kind of business would dare post such a sign? Answer: A Funeral Home (Who said morticians had no sense of humor?)
You gotta love it!!! God Bless America!
Friday, August 25, 2006
I'm Grateful Its Not A Polar Bear Hunt...
...because if Brendan and I were about to depart on a polar bear hunt, instead of a black bear hunt, I guess I would just have to call it off after having heard the latest dismal news about polar bears. I mean, even I am not that into hunting that much so as to be heartless enough to go out and hunt a species that is going through all the problems that polar bears seem to be facing lately.
First of all they have it pretty rough up there north of the Arctic Circle with Eskimos hunting them, and because it is about as cold as it gets on this earth much of the time. Yet, now that they have evolved to get used to that extreme bitter cold, what happens - global warming - or so Al Gore would have us believe (and after his recollection of his dad singing him that Union Ditty as a lullaby years before it was even written - I don't know how much I believe anything he says). Then as if Global Warming and all that super insulating fur was not enough to screw the polar bears over, what else could happen to mess up their chances of survival?
Well, I'll tell you what else could happen, if only because I read it at FoxNews.com @
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,210444,00.html
Here is a tiny bit of what they had to say at Fox:
That has got to be, shall I say - uncomfortable! Besides the obvious discomfort in that, can you imagine they just might freeze and fall off! As you probably remember from physics class, now that I remind you, smaller things lose heat faster. Egads man could you imagine that predicament - double ouch and turning blue and falling off at that. That is unless of course Al Gore is right about Global Warming; in which case shrinking testicles might not be a bad thing because they would not get all that sweaty if they were smaller since they would retain less heat.
Of course, as it stands now, scientists are worried that this shrinkage factor (thank you George Kastanza of Seinfeld fame) will effect their love making abilities. I wonder, is this because it will have the girl polar bears laughing at the guys with the really tiny balls? My guess is, if a guy polar bear was lucky enough to have been super sized before this all started, he would be normal sized after being effected by the pollutants in question, and therefore none the worse for the wear. The girls would not be laughing at him, would they?
Who was it that taught us about natural selection and the survival of the fittest, was it Darwin? I guess time will tell if he was right, at least in regard to polar bears. All kidding aside: I, for one, hope that there are a large number of survivalist polar bears out there which will make it through this latest set of problems, if these problems really exist at all. They have always been one of my favorite animals; and the planet truly would be at a great loss without them. They are magnificent beasts.
All the best,
Glenn B
First of all they have it pretty rough up there north of the Arctic Circle with Eskimos hunting them, and because it is about as cold as it gets on this earth much of the time. Yet, now that they have evolved to get used to that extreme bitter cold, what happens - global warming - or so Al Gore would have us believe (and after his recollection of his dad singing him that Union Ditty as a lullaby years before it was even written - I don't know how much I believe anything he says). Then as if Global Warming and all that super insulating fur was not enough to screw the polar bears over, what else could happen to mess up their chances of survival?
Well, I'll tell you what else could happen, if only because I read it at FoxNews.com @
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,210444,00.html
Here is a tiny bit of what they had to say at Fox:
The polar ice cap may not be the only thing shrinking in the Arctic. The genitals of polar bears in eastern Greenland are apparently dwindling in size due to industrial pollutants, a new
study finds.
That has got to be, shall I say - uncomfortable! Besides the obvious discomfort in that, can you imagine they just might freeze and fall off! As you probably remember from physics class, now that I remind you, smaller things lose heat faster. Egads man could you imagine that predicament - double ouch and turning blue and falling off at that. That is unless of course Al Gore is right about Global Warming; in which case shrinking testicles might not be a bad thing because they would not get all that sweaty if they were smaller since they would retain less heat.
Of course, as it stands now, scientists are worried that this shrinkage factor (thank you George Kastanza of Seinfeld fame) will effect their love making abilities. I wonder, is this because it will have the girl polar bears laughing at the guys with the really tiny balls? My guess is, if a guy polar bear was lucky enough to have been super sized before this all started, he would be normal sized after being effected by the pollutants in question, and therefore none the worse for the wear. The girls would not be laughing at him, would they?
Who was it that taught us about natural selection and the survival of the fittest, was it Darwin? I guess time will tell if he was right, at least in regard to polar bears. All kidding aside: I, for one, hope that there are a large number of survivalist polar bears out there which will make it through this latest set of problems, if these problems really exist at all. They have always been one of my favorite animals; and the planet truly would be at a great loss without them. They are magnificent beasts.
All the best,
Glenn B
Must have done something right...
...just recently anyhow. I say this because I have been getting an average of 9 people visiting this blog per day since it started, and today I have had 16 visitors so far. Nice to see more people are stopping by. It makes me sorry that I will be away for a week without any blogging in that time, but the Bear Hunt must go on. Of course, when Brendan get back from Maine, I suspect I will have some good stories to relate whether or not Brendan bags a bear. After all, the actual kill is only one of the parts of the overall hunt. Not that I don't want him to get one, I am anticipating bear meat steaks through much of the winter, at least the fall through the holidays anyhow; but I have hunted enough times where I got skunked to know the kill is not all there is to an enjoyable hunt. It certainly makes even a miserable trip well worth it though, if only for what winds up on the plate later.
Well anyhow, thanks to all of you who have visited the blog, I hope you have enjoyed it so far. I hope you will start checking in about September 4th again, when I figure I'll be blogging again. By the way, if they have a PC at the lodge, which I sort of doubt, I will try to write up something.
Thanks again to all of you.
All the best,
Glenn B
Well anyhow, thanks to all of you who have visited the blog, I hope you have enjoyed it so far. I hope you will start checking in about September 4th again, when I figure I'll be blogging again. By the way, if they have a PC at the lodge, which I sort of doubt, I will try to write up something.
Thanks again to all of you.
All the best,
Glenn B
Blogging versus Bear Hunting...
...guess which wins!
Today is the last day before Brendan and I depart for the north woods of Maine for our bear hunt. We will be preparing for the trip today, so we will be busy throughout most of it. For example, in a few minutes, I'll be on my way to get the oil changed in the car. I'll pick up some windshiled wiper blades, and washer fluid and get that all set just right. Then it is time to do the laundry, to get our scent off of our clothes. Then time to pack our gear, check our guns and so forth. Then I have to buy our licenses online. All in all it will be a busy day.
Once we leave, I doubt I will have any access to a computer, and if I do, I may not have access to the internet. So once I get up from where I am sitting right now, my blog probably will effectively be shut down until we return from the hunt, that is unless I have a oment tonight. I hope the few readers I seem to have will understand, and that you will all come back to read my stuff once Brendan and I return from the hunt. That should be on or about September 3rd.
Take care of yourselves and your loved ones. Stay safe and enjoy other fine blogs such as www.theothersideofkim.com Thanks
All the best,
Glenn B
Today is the last day before Brendan and I depart for the north woods of Maine for our bear hunt. We will be preparing for the trip today, so we will be busy throughout most of it. For example, in a few minutes, I'll be on my way to get the oil changed in the car. I'll pick up some windshiled wiper blades, and washer fluid and get that all set just right. Then it is time to do the laundry, to get our scent off of our clothes. Then time to pack our gear, check our guns and so forth. Then I have to buy our licenses online. All in all it will be a busy day.
Once we leave, I doubt I will have any access to a computer, and if I do, I may not have access to the internet. So once I get up from where I am sitting right now, my blog probably will effectively be shut down until we return from the hunt, that is unless I have a oment tonight. I hope the few readers I seem to have will understand, and that you will all come back to read my stuff once Brendan and I return from the hunt. That should be on or about September 3rd.
Take care of yourselves and your loved ones. Stay safe and enjoy other fine blogs such as www.theothersideofkim.com Thanks
All the best,
Glenn B
Loose lips - not in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Two weeks after an alleged plot to blow up U.S.-bound airliners was thwarted in Britain, Pakistani authorities have screwed tight the faucet that had trickled intriguing details from their investigation.
The above quote is from FoxNews.com @ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,210404,00.html.The thing about the statement and the whole article is that you get the feeling, or at least I get the feeling, that at least as far as the writer of the article, and maybe one or two others quoted in the article, it is implied this tight lipped trait on the part of the Pakistani government is a bad thing.
I see it as a great thing. Read the article and see if you agree with me. By being tight lipped, the Pakistani government is not keeping the information from the British, or from other friendly governments who need the info to conduct investigations of terrorists; but they are keeping the information from being leaked to such folks as those in: the media, in terrorist organizations, and to others who do not have a need to know. Good for Pakistan.
It is about time that some government shows some restraint in the amount of information they release or leak, to the media, the public, and to government bodies that do nothing but then blab it to the press, about these investigations. If you say - hey wait a minute, I am the general public - well just let me remind you that so too are the members of al Qaeda. Any leaked information, even about the names of those who are being detained could give a tactical edge to the bad guys. This would not be good. As it stands now, without this information being released, they have to wonder who is being detained, what knowledge might the detainees have that is potentially available to those detaining them, and so on. Keep them in the dark, and it gives the good guys an advantage to some extent at least. If the news media or the public does not get the information as soon as they would like, well in the words of Sister Walter Phillip (a nun of the Dominican order from my grammar school days): Tough Noogies!
It is about time that at least one government in the war against terrorism showed some sense in this regard, my hat goes off to Pakistan.All the best,
Glenn B
Thursday, August 24, 2006
A Peaceful Country Prepares For War...
There are many countries in the world today, at least 192 as I recall. Some of these nations are not all that peaceful, they boast about how they are preparing for wars of annihilation against other countries. Some are more peaceful but yet ready to go to war for certain reasons. Others have had civil wars of one sort or another ongoing for a number of years. Many have standing armies, at least one does not. Not many have had a state policy that was extremely anti-war for their own government and people, a policy geared at preventing that particular country from ever engaging in a war. Yet, Japan was just such a country.
The people of Japan have had good reason not to want to engage in military struggles ever again. They learned a lesson about the consequences of unfettered military at the end of WWII. It is a lesson that luckily the rest of the world has not had to learn in the same manner as has Japan. Japan was the only country to have ever been attacked by nuclear weapons. They paid a heavy toll for their aggression in WWII. They learned a lesson and learned it very well. For the past 61 years Japan has not developed a military capable of even defending itself.
That is all changing, and apparently changing rapidly. Japan is about to purchase a fairly large number of advanced Patriot interceptor missiles from the United States of America, as reported on in FOXNews.com @ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,210256,00.html.
Why the change, what could compel Japan to move so strongly back into the realm of nations preparing for war; what could make them forget the lessons of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
Well, first of all I don't think they have forgotten the lessons. They well remember the price paid for unfettered aggression, and they remember the lesson of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I think they remember those lessons very well; and I think that they also have learned from them very well. In fact they learned from these lessons so well to have come to the conclusion that the current world situation is one in which they are at great risk of sustaining another nuclear attack on their homeland. This is absolutely unacceptable to them. They are now preparing for the possibility of just such an attack, and they are gearing up to prevent one should it come. This time though, the attack will not come from the USA; instead it is the assistance to counter such an attack that the USA will give to Japan.
Japan realizes that China, India, Iran, Korea, Pakistan, are all potential nuclear threats. Relations between India and Japan seem stable, they are an ally to the USA and Japan. Pakistan is an ally of the USA and therefore an ally of Japan (so long as the current Pakistani government remains in power, and that hold on power is tenuous at best). China has never been all that friendly toward Japan, and the build up of the Chinese military forces has been a large one in recent times. Why are they building up, possibly as a defensive measure, but who knows at this point. North Korea, they are another story altogether. They have already fired missiles over Japan in so called tests. If they get nukes, they may well decide to strike Japan with the US military bases that are there. North Korea is an enemy of the USA and Japan - make no mistake about it. Even if they have not started a war yet, it is in the making. Iran is an ally of North Korea.
The Japanese are practical people in most respects. The one thing I do not believe they have been at all practical about for many years since WWII was the defense of their own nation from attack. They had an extremely limited military, they depended upon other nations too much. Now things seem to be changing. They are stocking up on defensive missiles. These are missiles that were developed to shoot other missiles out of the air. Those other missiles, the ones the Patriot missiles shoot down, they are not defensive in nature they are offensive, aggressive – they may well carry a nuclear warhead. North Korea is about to develop nuclear weapons, that is if they have not been successful at it already. Iran is developing its nuclear capabilities while snubbing its nose at the United Nations resolution that has forbidden it to do so. The Japanese are a smart people, and they long for peace, they have lived as a peaceful nation for 61 years. Yet they are smart enough to live by an old axiom: They who long for peace must prepare for war.
It is about time the rest of the world woke up, if a peace loving country like Japan is scared enough by the potential threat, then so too should the rest of us be likewise.
The people of Japan have had good reason not to want to engage in military struggles ever again. They learned a lesson about the consequences of unfettered military at the end of WWII. It is a lesson that luckily the rest of the world has not had to learn in the same manner as has Japan. Japan was the only country to have ever been attacked by nuclear weapons. They paid a heavy toll for their aggression in WWII. They learned a lesson and learned it very well. For the past 61 years Japan has not developed a military capable of even defending itself.
That is all changing, and apparently changing rapidly. Japan is about to purchase a fairly large number of advanced Patriot interceptor missiles from the United States of America, as reported on in FOXNews.com @ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,210256,00.html.
Why the change, what could compel Japan to move so strongly back into the realm of nations preparing for war; what could make them forget the lessons of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
Well, first of all I don't think they have forgotten the lessons. They well remember the price paid for unfettered aggression, and they remember the lesson of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I think they remember those lessons very well; and I think that they also have learned from them very well. In fact they learned from these lessons so well to have come to the conclusion that the current world situation is one in which they are at great risk of sustaining another nuclear attack on their homeland. This is absolutely unacceptable to them. They are now preparing for the possibility of just such an attack, and they are gearing up to prevent one should it come. This time though, the attack will not come from the USA; instead it is the assistance to counter such an attack that the USA will give to Japan.
Japan realizes that China, India, Iran, Korea, Pakistan, are all potential nuclear threats. Relations between India and Japan seem stable, they are an ally to the USA and Japan. Pakistan is an ally of the USA and therefore an ally of Japan (so long as the current Pakistani government remains in power, and that hold on power is tenuous at best). China has never been all that friendly toward Japan, and the build up of the Chinese military forces has been a large one in recent times. Why are they building up, possibly as a defensive measure, but who knows at this point. North Korea, they are another story altogether. They have already fired missiles over Japan in so called tests. If they get nukes, they may well decide to strike Japan with the US military bases that are there. North Korea is an enemy of the USA and Japan - make no mistake about it. Even if they have not started a war yet, it is in the making. Iran is an ally of North Korea.
The Japanese are practical people in most respects. The one thing I do not believe they have been at all practical about for many years since WWII was the defense of their own nation from attack. They had an extremely limited military, they depended upon other nations too much. Now things seem to be changing. They are stocking up on defensive missiles. These are missiles that were developed to shoot other missiles out of the air. Those other missiles, the ones the Patriot missiles shoot down, they are not defensive in nature they are offensive, aggressive – they may well carry a nuclear warhead. North Korea is about to develop nuclear weapons, that is if they have not been successful at it already. Iran is developing its nuclear capabilities while snubbing its nose at the United Nations resolution that has forbidden it to do so. The Japanese are a smart people, and they long for peace, they have lived as a peaceful nation for 61 years. Yet they are smart enough to live by an old axiom: They who long for peace must prepare for war.
It is about time the rest of the world woke up, if a peace loving country like Japan is scared enough by the potential threat, then so too should the rest of us be likewise.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Don't Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch...
...is how I think the saying goes. I wonder if that also applies to snakes? The fact is I keep a variety of herps (reptiles and amphibians) and I breed some them. This year I bred Baird's Rat Snakes and Western Hognose Snakes. Last year I had eggs from both of these species only to have them all get cooked in my incubator when the heat element over heated. This year though it looks as if success is here at least in part so far. The Western Hognose Snake laid 9 eggs, so far 4 of them have hatched out completely, three others are partially hatched out (takes a baby snake a while to get out of the egg), and two not yet slit open (they slit rather than crack because they are more leathery and not fragile). The Baird's Rat Snake laid 8 eggs, all due to hatch in about 2 weeks. While I have not counted my snakes before they have hatched, I do anticipate a good year this year. If lucky I can trade or sell the babies to keep my hobby going. Now you may ask why do I keep such critters. Well when I was a kid I was not allowed to keep a dog or cat or bird in our apartment. My uncle went out and bought me a turtle and he also got one for my brother. I have bee hooked ever since. Five years at summer camp catching garter Snakes, Water Snakes, frogs and turtles just kept it all going. These creatures fascinate me. Of course, we now have three dogs and a cat too, and we have kept other small mammals and birds too; but we also have: several snakes of various species, three lizards, two tortoises, one turtle, and two frogs. Oh yeah, I forgot the mice, we have them too. My son likes them all too. Keeps him out of trouble somewhat, and teaches him some responsibility about caring for things. He now works his first job at a veterinarians office as a kennel worker. An okay job for a HS kid. He is dreaming of becoming a vet someday, and you know he maybe on the right track for it. Not a bad hobby, something to interest both children and adult alike, something in which a parent must help a child until the child is old enough and learns enough to do it alone, and it helps them in biology class.
If you have an interest in herps, or want to see if they are for you or your kids, you can visit these sites: www.lihs.org, or www.kingsnake.com.
If I get some pics of the babies, I'll post em here later.
If you have an interest in herps, or want to see if they are for you or your kids, you can visit these sites: www.lihs.org, or www.kingsnake.com.
If I get some pics of the babies, I'll post em here later.
Comments, only a few so far....
...what is up with that. I now have a hit counter on the site, and I know I have gotten a fair amount of visitors to the blog since I started it. Yet, I am getting very few comments. Is it difficult to leave comments on this blog? I mean that as a real question. Is there some confusion as to how to do it? I am pretty sure they can be left by registered and unregistered viewers, and can be left with or without a name. Or is it that the rants I leave here are not worth a comment? Heck, even if you don't agree, I would love to hear from you explaining why - so long as it is kept respectable. Won't you please leave a comment for me if you read my blogs, that way I know if they are worth writing as I do them, or if I need to make changes. Thanks.
All the best,
Glenn B
All the best,
Glenn B
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
A Venerable Libra Among Us...
I just got through reading a few articles in my new copy of the American Rifleman. I usually glance at them when I receive them, read the Armed Citizen section (gotta love those dirtbags falling to armed citizens) ; and maybe I read an article. Tonight I read two articles, plus the Armed Citizen. The articles were both very interesting, one about the Model 1903 rifle and how it changed from a 30-03 to 30-06 chambering, the other about the 30-06 cartridge itself. I will have to get me a rifle in this cartridge one of these days. It will probably be used, and old, but somethiung that is neat and fun nonetheless; maybe a Winchester 1895. Of course, brand new, in the box, would be very nice.
One thing both of these articles did was to wake me up to the fact that this year marks the 100th anniversary of the adoption of the 30-06 cartridge. One of them also brought to light that the 30-06 was first adopted on October 15, 1906. I am not all that up on astrology, but I believe that makes the cartridge a Libra; something I share in common with it. If luucky, maybe I will receive a rifle chambered for it on my birthday. If there is anyone out there who likes my blog and has lots of money, you can feel free to bestow such a gift upon me. I will humbly and thankfully accept it. Then I'll do a write up on it and on your benevolence.
All the best,
Glenn B
One thing both of these articles did was to wake me up to the fact that this year marks the 100th anniversary of the adoption of the 30-06 cartridge. One of them also brought to light that the 30-06 was first adopted on October 15, 1906. I am not all that up on astrology, but I believe that makes the cartridge a Libra; something I share in common with it. If luucky, maybe I will receive a rifle chambered for it on my birthday. If there is anyone out there who likes my blog and has lots of money, you can feel free to bestow such a gift upon me. I will humbly and thankfully accept it. Then I'll do a write up on it and on your benevolence.
All the best,
Glenn B
Another Hitler In The Making - Maybe
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran said Tuesday it was ready for
"serious negotiations" on its nuclear program, but a semi-official news agency reported the government was unwilling to abandon nuclear enrichment — the
key U.S. demand.The above quote was from FoxNes.com @ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,209722,00.html
If it is true that Iran has once again snubbed its nose at the United Nations resolutions to stop Iran from enriching uranium, then something needs to be done, and it maybe something drastic. Iran is mirroring, more and more each week, the activities of the Third Reich shortly before the outbreak of hostilities that led to WWII.
Just as there were accords and pacts in place prior to the outbreak of WWII, there are resolutions now. The restrictions prior to WWII were geared at preventing Germany from building up its armed forces, those today at preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power capable of creating its own nuclear weapons. Back in the 1930's, Adolph Hitler thumbed his nose at the rest of the European continent, and at most of the rest of the world. He blatantly spewed out his speeches of hatred geared toward the destruction of misfits, the criminally insane, and physically and mentally handicapped people; this led into his ravings against the Russians, his wish to conquer Russia, and of course to his ranting diatribes against the Jews. Of course this culminated in his attempt to rid the world of Jews, his attempt to successfully conquer Russia and his attempts to conquer the world and create a master race.
Does anyone truly believe that the president of Iran is much different than Adolph Hitler was in the 1930's. Many of the same types of behavior are evident in his speeches and his behavior. The United States is seen as the great Satan, the Jews are seen as worthy only of utter destruction, the holocaust has been said not to have taken place, and the race to achieve nuclear power status and to be capable of creating nuclear weapons goes on unabated. No one is doing anything serious to stop this threat, just as no one did anything to stop Hitler before he unleashed blitzkrieg and the holocaust on Europe. Are we going to wait until it is too late again. Do we have to see countless millions of people suffer and die because a madman wants to wipe a people from the face of the earth?
This time we will not have allies in France, they have already capitulated to the Muslim nations by offering to send only 200 troops (100 combatant and 100 non-combatant) to Lebanon to enforce the ceasefire. We will probably not have allies in Spain, they have capitulated to the terrorists after the Madrid bombings and pulled out of Iraq. We may not have one of our historically staunchest allies in great Britain, as many of the people of that nation have turned their backs to us. We certainly will not have many other nation members of the Untied Nations supporting us, they turned their backs on us and greeted terrorism with open arms long ago.
Who will stand by us? I hope England, but as I said this is not certain. Italy almost positively. Poland, Denmark, Australia, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand, some other European nations, and maybe Russia. Of course Israel will be at our side, but sadly will in all likelihood be the first target should Iran ever fire off nukes.
We need to take action now. We need to forget about outdated rules of engagement in Iraq and get serious at killing the opposition. We need to regroup troops in Afghanistan. We need to institute a major military recruitment drive. We need to stockpile munitions for our air force and navy and ground troops. We need to be ready should war break out with Iran; and we need to be ready to perform surgical pre-emptive strikes to neutralize Iran and any nuclear ability before it is too late. We need this done with lots of planning, so it works out right and does not turn into a quagmire. Then we need to act, again before it is too late and we wind up with hundreds of millions dead because we ignored another madman who seems on the verge of being quite capable to create havoc in the world.How can we do this, by writing to our elected officials and letting them know we want action, and we want it now. Start by asking that we pull out of the U.N. and that we make sure to strengthen our alliances with those nations in NATO, and with outr allies in the Eastern hemisphere. Do something before it is again to late to prevent tens, maybe hundreds, of millions of deaths.
Best regards,
Glenn B
I'm Out On Sick Leave But I'm Not Sick...
...and yet I am not playing hooky from work. I had to take my son to the doctor today, an orthopedic surgeon to be exact. This past Saturday evening my son punched something, let's just say for the sake of this piece, that it was a punching bag. He hurt his hand and wrist while at it, as a matter of fact he walked in the door and told me he thought he had broken his hand. I looked, felt, prodded, and squeezed. He did not go ouch too much, no swelling, no bruising, so on the ice it went. It stayed the same until last night, Monday evening when it began to swell. Oh well, a call to the pediatrician who told us to see an orthopedic surgeon who specialized in hands. Brendan was seen by the OS today. First order of business was an x-ray, then about a 2 hour wait to see the doc. Doc asked what happened, and Brendan told him about hitting a heavy bag. Funny how the doc immediately joked that a broken hand on a Saturday night was usually the result of a fight! Brendan's eyes opened in surprise at that, but the doc insisted he was only joking. The OS said he did not see any fractures, but since it was the hand and the wrist that was hurting and swollen, off to a radiologist for a CT Scan. After about a total of 4 hours at doctors, good news - no breaks.
As it turned out, the OS told us if not broken he can shoot next week, but it probably will hurt quite a bit. Hopefully he will need only one shot. If we are lucky Brendan will still be able to shoot straight on his upcoming hunting trip to Maine this coming weekend. By now he has already figured out that you have to think before you do some things, punching something is one of those things to which you have to put some thought, at least just a bit of thought anyhow. He is 16, maybe it will sink in. He is missing a week of work that he did not have to miss, and he will miss the money sorely, maybe more so than his hand hurts. He has also been grounded to avoid any other unfortunate decisions on his part that may lead to another such accident. In addition he is wearing a wrist brace, and will be for a couple to a few weeks. Luckily it can come off for the hunt.
Life goes on.
As it turned out, the OS told us if not broken he can shoot next week, but it probably will hurt quite a bit. Hopefully he will need only one shot. If we are lucky Brendan will still be able to shoot straight on his upcoming hunting trip to Maine this coming weekend. By now he has already figured out that you have to think before you do some things, punching something is one of those things to which you have to put some thought, at least just a bit of thought anyhow. He is 16, maybe it will sink in. He is missing a week of work that he did not have to miss, and he will miss the money sorely, maybe more so than his hand hurts. He has also been grounded to avoid any other unfortunate decisions on his part that may lead to another such accident. In addition he is wearing a wrist brace, and will be for a couple to a few weeks. Luckily it can come off for the hunt.
Life goes on.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Something old...
This is something a bit old, at least by the standards of today. I wrote this back in 2003, but I figure it is just as applicable today as it was back then. Enjoy.
GUNS IN THE BEDROOM
One Man’s Opinion
Here is my opinion, about keeping a loaded gun in the bedroom. It is only my opinion; well maybe it is a bit of humor too, or maybe a clever ruse to get certain people to believe one thing and be later surprised to find out otherwise. You be the judge.
I like guns, I like being able to use them, I even don't mind shooting some dirtbag who breaks into my house and whom I believe is threatening me or my family with serious bodily harm or death. But I am not going to tell you that I keep a loaded firearm in my home. I still have one child, my son, living at home, and a wife and two dogs and a cat and lots of snakes and lizards and a turtle. My daughter is at college nearby, and sometimes comes home unexpectedly at all hours of the night/morning – I hope never with a snake or lizard of a boy. I would rather not shoot her (her boyfriend maybe another story - but right now I like him, he is a good guy) or any other family member because I was awakened by a noise, and in some half asleep groggy state I take action that is terminal. Of course, chances are my dogs will wake me before anyone even gets into the house or; if they only wake up after the bad guys are in the house the dogs will most likely keep them at bay long enough. That is long enough for me to take a moment to wake up fully, realize what may or may not be going on, and load for bear just in case. My dogs are scared of their own shadows and bark at almost everything. Hell I bet though that if a burglar broke in they would lick him to death. In that case his laughter would wake me if he was the ticklish type. If not, oh well I guess I’d sleep though it and call the insurance company the next day (talk about real burglars).
Back to guns for a minute here: Loading for bear includes not only loading the gun, but grabbing a flashlight, putting on shoes (a very important step, no pun intended). I don't need to jam my toes on the stairs. You know what comes next don’t you? Then in a knee jerk reaction I squeeze one off. What do you mean you don’t understand how a knee jerk reaction would make me squeeze one off? You know - the toe bone is connected to the foot bone, the foot bone connected to the ankle bone - on up through the knee - thus the knee jerk reaction. Eventually we follow those bony connections all the way up to the trigger finger. With my luck I'd shoot my other toe and start all over again!
My next action would be to ask my wife, in a loud voice, if she has her gun ready. I hope she has enough smarts to say yeah, instead of asking “what gun”??? Now do you really want to find out if my wife has a gun? Stop by unexpectedly at 4AM and find out first hand! During this time my wife will be calling 911, then either gathering the kids to our room or having them lock themselves in their rooms. We will let the dogs out into the hall - hopefully they will keep their courage (Ha!) and go for whomever it is doing all the intruding. I will be on the move with the dogs and the light. BUT before any of us goes out of the room, I will in loud voice challenge any potential intruder. "Helloooooooo Mr. Or Ms. Intruder, is anyone out there? Please leave us alone. I have a gun and my wife knows how to use it, err I mean we both have guns and both know how to use them."
Now you may ask, and I don’t blame you: “Why take the time to do all this and then to announce that I am coming out to take a look around?” Well this is serious, really serious: I, for one, would rather not be surprised to find out the police just raided the wrong house and I came out shooting or even pointing a gun at them. Chances are I or you would lose in that one - don't you think. (Please note we are out of the serious zone and back to delirious once again.) I would rather not wake up in heaven - is there really such a place for guys like me, and I shudder to think the alternative is real! Nor do I want to wind up in jail for shooting a police officer, not even for a night and then be released with a justified finding (yes I am being serious again just for a moment). Psychologically speaking, I do not think I could live a normal life (what is normal anyhow) again after that kind of a mistake even if it was the officer's fault for breaking into the wrong house, not identifying himself (or whatever), wearing a full black ski mask and holding a bag full of loot (or was that entry gear). Of course if you hear someone yell: THIS IS THE POLICE, but you for some reason have strong doubts: you can always go lock yourself in your room, and ask them to prove they are police or other law enforcement officers. They have ways that can convince you, believe me, yes we do.
Now on the other hand, if someone - let's say like the jealous husband of your neighbor's wife - gets all the way to your room with a weapon of almost any sort, forget your gun. If they want to whack you they are going to be able to do it. Man you must have been really drunk to let him get in that far without waking up! Of course, if you were in that much of a drunken slumber, be happy you did the right thing by not having a loaded firearm around because guns and alcohol really do not mix. Of course this will be little solace to you as someone cracks your noggin with a baseball bat just as your neighbor's wife jumps out of bed and runs out of the bedroom, along with your neighbor's dogs, screaming "Help Police". Now wait just a darned minute - let me go back to the Police issue here for a moment and get this straight. If your neighnor's wife and dogs just ran out of the bedroom in which you were having a nice drunken slumber - well is it possible just for a moment that the Police are in the right house after all - right behind the enraged husband who is hitting you up side the head with a bat? Was it that your neighbor called the police to come and get your fat behind out of HIS bed, and he decided not to wait for them to protect HIS wife and HIS dogs and HIS honor? Man you have gotta remember which house is yours in the first place - and no wonder you couldn't find your gun - it was under YOUR pillow, in YOUR bed, at YOUR house, right next to YOUR wife, where you should have been!
Speaking of wives here is another thing to be wary of when keeping loaded firearms in the bedroom. I would hate to wake up, grab my loaded gun from a night table and commence firing at the big bad hairy burglar/robber who just jumped me, only to find out my wife finally made it through the ice age and decided to - well you get the picture! A darned shot at that moment could ruin a truly promising good time! (Enough of delirious for a moment, let’s get serious again.) You really have to be careful with loaded firearms around the home. Do something to give you that extra moment to wake up before even thinking of picking up a loaded firearm if you can. Then if it is really a bad guy, and you cannot get away, and your life or a family member's life is threatened or you are threatened with serious bodily harm (or whatever your state's laws say are the proper guidelines to follow - and they have been met) then my guess would be: go ahead, you can legally blast the guy. Remember shoot to stop - but if the bad guy does not stop threatening your life until dead - well you shot to stop and he finally stopped). If you decide to do it otherwise, you know, outside the law - well you too may wind up in prison with: no house, no money, a divorce, no chance to see your kids ever again, and with a big hairy boy friend. I can attest, no matter how little I have gotten since I have been married, I do not ever want it where the sun never shines, as it so often comes to men in chains! Yes I think I would tend to be careful in such a situation, but I would definitely shoot if that is what had to be done to protect my life or a life of a family member from a bad guy. Now if only I can stop shaking long enough to load those darned bullets, I'd be ready for anything.
GUNS IN THE BEDROOM
One Man’s Opinion
Here is my opinion, about keeping a loaded gun in the bedroom. It is only my opinion; well maybe it is a bit of humor too, or maybe a clever ruse to get certain people to believe one thing and be later surprised to find out otherwise. You be the judge.
I like guns, I like being able to use them, I even don't mind shooting some dirtbag who breaks into my house and whom I believe is threatening me or my family with serious bodily harm or death. But I am not going to tell you that I keep a loaded firearm in my home. I still have one child, my son, living at home, and a wife and two dogs and a cat and lots of snakes and lizards and a turtle. My daughter is at college nearby, and sometimes comes home unexpectedly at all hours of the night/morning – I hope never with a snake or lizard of a boy. I would rather not shoot her (her boyfriend maybe another story - but right now I like him, he is a good guy) or any other family member because I was awakened by a noise, and in some half asleep groggy state I take action that is terminal. Of course, chances are my dogs will wake me before anyone even gets into the house or; if they only wake up after the bad guys are in the house the dogs will most likely keep them at bay long enough. That is long enough for me to take a moment to wake up fully, realize what may or may not be going on, and load for bear just in case. My dogs are scared of their own shadows and bark at almost everything. Hell I bet though that if a burglar broke in they would lick him to death. In that case his laughter would wake me if he was the ticklish type. If not, oh well I guess I’d sleep though it and call the insurance company the next day (talk about real burglars).
Back to guns for a minute here: Loading for bear includes not only loading the gun, but grabbing a flashlight, putting on shoes (a very important step, no pun intended). I don't need to jam my toes on the stairs. You know what comes next don’t you? Then in a knee jerk reaction I squeeze one off. What do you mean you don’t understand how a knee jerk reaction would make me squeeze one off? You know - the toe bone is connected to the foot bone, the foot bone connected to the ankle bone - on up through the knee - thus the knee jerk reaction. Eventually we follow those bony connections all the way up to the trigger finger. With my luck I'd shoot my other toe and start all over again!
My next action would be to ask my wife, in a loud voice, if she has her gun ready. I hope she has enough smarts to say yeah, instead of asking “what gun”??? Now do you really want to find out if my wife has a gun? Stop by unexpectedly at 4AM and find out first hand! During this time my wife will be calling 911, then either gathering the kids to our room or having them lock themselves in their rooms. We will let the dogs out into the hall - hopefully they will keep their courage (Ha!) and go for whomever it is doing all the intruding. I will be on the move with the dogs and the light. BUT before any of us goes out of the room, I will in loud voice challenge any potential intruder. "Helloooooooo Mr. Or Ms. Intruder, is anyone out there? Please leave us alone. I have a gun and my wife knows how to use it, err I mean we both have guns and both know how to use them."
Now you may ask, and I don’t blame you: “Why take the time to do all this and then to announce that I am coming out to take a look around?” Well this is serious, really serious: I, for one, would rather not be surprised to find out the police just raided the wrong house and I came out shooting or even pointing a gun at them. Chances are I or you would lose in that one - don't you think. (Please note we are out of the serious zone and back to delirious once again.) I would rather not wake up in heaven - is there really such a place for guys like me, and I shudder to think the alternative is real! Nor do I want to wind up in jail for shooting a police officer, not even for a night and then be released with a justified finding (yes I am being serious again just for a moment). Psychologically speaking, I do not think I could live a normal life (what is normal anyhow) again after that kind of a mistake even if it was the officer's fault for breaking into the wrong house, not identifying himself (or whatever), wearing a full black ski mask and holding a bag full of loot (or was that entry gear). Of course if you hear someone yell: THIS IS THE POLICE, but you for some reason have strong doubts: you can always go lock yourself in your room, and ask them to prove they are police or other law enforcement officers. They have ways that can convince you, believe me, yes we do.
Now on the other hand, if someone - let's say like the jealous husband of your neighbor's wife - gets all the way to your room with a weapon of almost any sort, forget your gun. If they want to whack you they are going to be able to do it. Man you must have been really drunk to let him get in that far without waking up! Of course, if you were in that much of a drunken slumber, be happy you did the right thing by not having a loaded firearm around because guns and alcohol really do not mix. Of course this will be little solace to you as someone cracks your noggin with a baseball bat just as your neighbor's wife jumps out of bed and runs out of the bedroom, along with your neighbor's dogs, screaming "Help Police". Now wait just a darned minute - let me go back to the Police issue here for a moment and get this straight. If your neighnor's wife and dogs just ran out of the bedroom in which you were having a nice drunken slumber - well is it possible just for a moment that the Police are in the right house after all - right behind the enraged husband who is hitting you up side the head with a bat? Was it that your neighbor called the police to come and get your fat behind out of HIS bed, and he decided not to wait for them to protect HIS wife and HIS dogs and HIS honor? Man you have gotta remember which house is yours in the first place - and no wonder you couldn't find your gun - it was under YOUR pillow, in YOUR bed, at YOUR house, right next to YOUR wife, where you should have been!
Speaking of wives here is another thing to be wary of when keeping loaded firearms in the bedroom. I would hate to wake up, grab my loaded gun from a night table and commence firing at the big bad hairy burglar/robber who just jumped me, only to find out my wife finally made it through the ice age and decided to - well you get the picture! A darned shot at that moment could ruin a truly promising good time! (Enough of delirious for a moment, let’s get serious again.) You really have to be careful with loaded firearms around the home. Do something to give you that extra moment to wake up before even thinking of picking up a loaded firearm if you can. Then if it is really a bad guy, and you cannot get away, and your life or a family member's life is threatened or you are threatened with serious bodily harm (or whatever your state's laws say are the proper guidelines to follow - and they have been met) then my guess would be: go ahead, you can legally blast the guy. Remember shoot to stop - but if the bad guy does not stop threatening your life until dead - well you shot to stop and he finally stopped). If you decide to do it otherwise, you know, outside the law - well you too may wind up in prison with: no house, no money, a divorce, no chance to see your kids ever again, and with a big hairy boy friend. I can attest, no matter how little I have gotten since I have been married, I do not ever want it where the sun never shines, as it so often comes to men in chains! Yes I think I would tend to be careful in such a situation, but I would definitely shoot if that is what had to be done to protect my life or a life of a family member from a bad guy. Now if only I can stop shaking long enough to load those darned bullets, I'd be ready for anything.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Luscious Libations 1...
A glass of Chardonnay on ice. To be more specific, a glass of Chardonnay Bourgogne (a white wine) by Louis Jadot. The vintage probably does not matter, this is a fairly common table wine, but if it does matter to some of you then allow me to say the one I am currently enjoying is 2002. As I recall this is one of those rather simple pleasures that should be affordable by just about anyone in this country, I am pretty sure it was less than $12 for the bottle. For me it usually is a one or two glass at a sitting kind of thing. Right now, as I sit here typing this rant, I am enjoying a sip now and then between keystrokes. Everyone else has already retired for the night and I am left alone with the computer, the keyboard, my thoughts and the wine. Not a bad arrangement at all, I highly recommend it to those of legal drinking age who are responsible, and do not have problems with alcohol, consumption.
I am also a fan of other white whines and also some red whines. More about them as I enjoy them. I am a bigger fan of beers and ales, likewise more on them in the futre. For now though let me tell you this glass of whine is going quite well with my mood and with my writing. It makes for a bit more of an enjoyanle night time entry into the land of the virtual rant.
I am also a fan of other white whines and also some red whines. More about them as I enjoy them. I am a bigger fan of beers and ales, likewise more on them in the futre. For now though let me tell you this glass of whine is going quite well with my mood and with my writing. It makes for a bit more of an enjoyanle night time entry into the land of the virtual rant.
Going Postal
Today, August, 20, 2006, is the 20th anniversary of the event that started it all for the term "Going Postal'.
I don't want you to think I am making light of the situation, I am not. It is a serious problem, and the problem is not just limited to the post office. Of course, many try to take the easy, pretty much brainless way out of this, they say it is all due to people having guns. I say not, if only because of the overwhelming number of people with guns who would never do such a thing. I also remember a day when things like this were unheard of, or at least were very rare occurrences and folks had guns then too. Now events like these seem almost commonplace in postal facilities, schools, churches, parks, other businesses, city streets, and just about anywhere you can imagine. Whatever it is, it seems, at least to me, people working for the post office are somewhat more prone to this than those employed for other businesses, though the problem seems as rampant in schools. I would think there is an underlying psychological/social cause for this, though I am not expert enough to say what it is; I am smart enough to realize that most of the so called experts are apparently full of crap when they name the reasons. My main guesstimate as to why these things happen are because of: a breakdown of a universally acceptable morality, a breakdown of people learning how to be responsible for their own actions, a lack of strict or even severe criminal penalties for such actions, a breakdown of interpersonal skills, an overall atmosphere in this country and the world of the 'everything has to be my way or no way mentality' and this leads to rage when it goes some way else.
All in all there may just be too many rats in the cage, and some should have to be eliminated. Heinous criminals who do such things may not be worth keeping around, but that is a point for another discussion at a later date. Of course, it is also a great shame that citizens are not permitted to be armed at all times, in all locations, in order to help protect against such terrible acts of criminals and madmen.
Today though, let's just try to remember those who have fallen victim to such attacks and give a thought or prayer for them. Also let us not forget those brave souls who in some way took real action to help end such attacks as they were ongoing.
On Aug. 20, 1986, Patrick Henry Sherrill tucked two .45-caliber pistols into hisApparently not only the term has stuck with us, but so too the actual act of Going Postal in the most literal sense. Over the past 20 years, according t said article, there have been 50 violent deaths in the Postal Service, including the case of six postal workers who were shot earlier this year at a postal facility in California by a former postal worker who then killed herself. The article stresses how the Post Office has tried to prevent such incidents from occurring. My guess is that they have been none too successful. Maybe there is some combination of the paper dust, the glue, being a federal employee, doing the same thing day in and out, the non-stop flow of the mail, or maybe in some manner the stress of a relentless tide of mail coming in over and over again is akin to an unending invasion, much like illegal immigration. Wasn't it the character of Neumann on the old Seinfeld show, when asked by Jerry what it was about, who said something like: 'Its the mail, it never stops coming'.
postal satchel, locked the doors of a post office in this Oklahoma City
suburb and systematically killed 14 people, then committed suicide.
This quote was from an article at FoxNews.com @ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,209463,00.html
I don't want you to think I am making light of the situation, I am not. It is a serious problem, and the problem is not just limited to the post office. Of course, many try to take the easy, pretty much brainless way out of this, they say it is all due to people having guns. I say not, if only because of the overwhelming number of people with guns who would never do such a thing. I also remember a day when things like this were unheard of, or at least were very rare occurrences and folks had guns then too. Now events like these seem almost commonplace in postal facilities, schools, churches, parks, other businesses, city streets, and just about anywhere you can imagine. Whatever it is, it seems, at least to me, people working for the post office are somewhat more prone to this than those employed for other businesses, though the problem seems as rampant in schools. I would think there is an underlying psychological/social cause for this, though I am not expert enough to say what it is; I am smart enough to realize that most of the so called experts are apparently full of crap when they name the reasons. My main guesstimate as to why these things happen are because of: a breakdown of a universally acceptable morality, a breakdown of people learning how to be responsible for their own actions, a lack of strict or even severe criminal penalties for such actions, a breakdown of interpersonal skills, an overall atmosphere in this country and the world of the 'everything has to be my way or no way mentality' and this leads to rage when it goes some way else.
All in all there may just be too many rats in the cage, and some should have to be eliminated. Heinous criminals who do such things may not be worth keeping around, but that is a point for another discussion at a later date. Of course, it is also a great shame that citizens are not permitted to be armed at all times, in all locations, in order to help protect against such terrible acts of criminals and madmen.
Today though, let's just try to remember those who have fallen victim to such attacks and give a thought or prayer for them. Also let us not forget those brave souls who in some way took real action to help end such attacks as they were ongoing.
Light Blog Today...
It's Sunday at about 0945. I just got home from pulling a midnight shift at work, a fairly rare thing for me at this point in my career since that is usually for the younger bucks. In addition, I have been up since about 0800 yesterday, with a grand total of about 4 minutes quasi sleep. I looked at my PC monitor in the office to check the time early this morning, saw it was 0729, then I realized suddenly it was 0733. I have no idea what happened in between those times. If that can be called sleep, then I guess I was sleeping for about 4 minutes.
It was a fairly full day yesterday, going to the bank, doing some shopping, going to the range with Brendan, doing some gardening, taking carre of my animals, watching a movie to relax, then off to work for the midnight shift today. I suppose what I am trying to say is that I am exhausted. With that said, let me wish you all a happy day; I am off to dreamland.
All the best,
Glenn B
It was a fairly full day yesterday, going to the bank, doing some shopping, going to the range with Brendan, doing some gardening, taking carre of my animals, watching a movie to relax, then off to work for the midnight shift today. I suppose what I am trying to say is that I am exhausted. With that said, let me wish you all a happy day; I am off to dreamland.
All the best,
Glenn B
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Something To Do On A Saturday
I was thinking of blogging about world events today, then I remembered it is Saturday. I have betetr tings to do on Staurdays than to use all of my time blogging, but I will give you a small one here before I go to the range with my son.What better then to talk about than going to the range as a way to spend some quality time with your loved ones, or even by yourself. Brendan and I love going to the range to improve our marksmanship skills, to prepare for hunting trips, to have fun, and to bond. It is one of the best places to bond for a parent and children that I can think of. Let me explain why I think so.
Teaching a child to shoot signifies something very special to your child, and to you too. First of all it means that you want to do things with your children, probably something you already love doing, so you want to share it with them. Secondly it means that you think your children are ready to do something which requires a lot of trust of them by you. It also indicates that you are willing to do something that requires you to pay an awful lot of attention to your child for an extended period of time, afterall you do not just hand a child a gun and say go have some fun, nor is it like teaching a child to ride a bike. Once they learn how to ride, they ride off with there friends. If you teach them to shoot, they surely cannot go to the range themselves at, let's say 9 years old. You have to continue to take them to the range and teach them about shooting, and shoot with them, if they are to continue this as a hobby or sport as a child. You have to spend time with them, during which time you pay an awful lot of attention to them, but yet during which time your continuously strive to get them to the point where they are fully capable of handling a firearms safely by themselves. The whole process is something that gets them to exercise things you have taught them, to accept responsibility and to act responsibly, to continue to closely bond with you the parent even throughout their teen years, to learn about one of our greatest rights, to prepare for times in their lives when they will combine all those things to make tehemselves fine upstandinbg adult memmbers of the community.
Going to the range with the kids though is not just a narrowly restricted activity. In the case of my son and I, I try to spread out the range trip experience with other things. Because of that, I choose to go to a range that takes us about 45 minutes to an hour to reach. My son, who now has a learner's permit, usually gets to drive. Sometimes after we are done at the range, we go to visit my mom who lives wioth my sister, my brother-in-law and my nephew. It makes for a nice family visit. We may also stop out and get some shopping done (maybe at Home fdepot, so I can get some work done around the house). A typical range trip witout the vist to our relatives may take about 6 to 8 hours total. With a trip to my mom, it is an all day affair.
My son could choose to do many other things on a Saturday in the summertime (he is almost always off on Saturdays since he works on Sundays). He could ride his bike, play ball, work on a project in the garage (lord knows what he is doing, but I know it isn't building bombs, he gets enough bang at the range), or he could hang out with his friends. Hanging out with friends is normal activity for a teenaged kid. He can do it almost as much as he likes, as long as he is done with his math studies (he get tutoring over the summer to be ready for the fall), done with his chores (which he sometimes slacks off on), and as long as he is not being restricted for having messed up. Iam pretty happy, and proud of him, that he chooses to go to the range with me on Saturdays when I ask him to come along. It makes me realize I am doing something right as a parent if he is still interested in doing things with me. That is a real good feeling.
Friday, August 18, 2006
Just when you think people cannot get much worse...
along comes a story like the one , with some pretty terrible allegations. I just read it on the 1010 WINS radio station website at this link: http://1010wins.com/pages/70993.php?contentType=4&contentId=190780. It is a story about an alleged child molestor, who allegedly has preyed upon children between the ages of 23 months and 8 years old over the course of the years 1998 through 2005. As per the report, the alleged suspect was a contractor who molested children in the homes in which he was working. I don't know how long they leave these stories up on the net, but if you want to read it I suggest clicking the link as soon as possible.
Amazingly this guy, according to the article: allegedly molested the children often while the parents were in other areas of the homes. He allegedly sometimes showed them pornography while he molested them, he allegedly restrained some with rope and or handcuffs, and he allegedly videotaped himself and the children in some instances as he molested them and or as childen were in various states of undress.
According to the article, a neighbor interviewed about him stated: "Never in a million years would I think he would do what he did,'' said Mandeville, who said he's known Bilski for 15 years. "He was a good friend. It's sad. It's terrible what he did to the families and it's terrible what he did to himself.''
Well I have to boom about this one. In my opinion, if this actually winds up being proven to have happened and this guy is found guilty, then it will not be only sad that this happened it will be, as I see it, absolutely intolerable! I am of the belief that anyone convicted of such crimes against children should, at the minimum, receive 25 years incarceration per instance of any child being molested. So if you were to molest a single child 5 times and be convicted of that, you would receive 125 years in jail - no chance of parole. If you molested 2 children at once, you would receive 50 years if convicted; and so forth. If you were found guilty as a repeat offender, I am of the opinion that the death penalty would be too good for you. This guy, if convicted, would be in jail for at least many lifetimes if he lasted that long.
Of course I am not in charge, and I have no power on my own to try to get the necessary legislation passed that would implement strict sentencing guidelines for those convicted of such offenses, those whom I believe to be heinous monsters. Then again, I can vote, and I do vote regularly in all major elections and in some minor elections. I suggest you all do the same and that you all vote for law and order candidates who want to put a stop to things like this from happening. I also can write, as is evidenced here; but I also write to my elected officials on a fairly regular basis about issues that are of concern to me. I will be writing to my congresswoman, my senators, and quite possibly to the governor of NJ about this one. If as many of us as possible did likewise, then at least people who were convicted of such offenses would stand a very slim chance of ever being able to do it again. Tolerance may be a good thing in some cases, but I am of the ilk that tolerance of this sort of thing is insanity.
A final note, lest you think I have condemmed this man already. All of the allegations above, were just that - allegations. They were, in essence, reported in the article. This man has not been found guilty of anything, though it appears allegations have been made and charges have been filed (quite a large number of them). Yet based on allegations and charges alone, I will not convict and condem anyone. This man, like anyone else in a criminal prosecution within the USA will have his day in court, probably many days in court, and so it should be. I kind of have some hope that he would be found not guilty because I would like to believe that things like those alleged cannot and do not happen. Yet,if he is guilty of these alleged offenses, I would have little if any mercy for him as those children would probably suffer through the rest of their lives.
All the best,
Glenn B
Amazingly this guy, according to the article: allegedly molested the children often while the parents were in other areas of the homes. He allegedly sometimes showed them pornography while he molested them, he allegedly restrained some with rope and or handcuffs, and he allegedly videotaped himself and the children in some instances as he molested them and or as childen were in various states of undress.
According to the article, a neighbor interviewed about him stated: "Never in a million years would I think he would do what he did,'' said Mandeville, who said he's known Bilski for 15 years. "He was a good friend. It's sad. It's terrible what he did to the families and it's terrible what he did to himself.''
Well I have to boom about this one. In my opinion, if this actually winds up being proven to have happened and this guy is found guilty, then it will not be only sad that this happened it will be, as I see it, absolutely intolerable! I am of the belief that anyone convicted of such crimes against children should, at the minimum, receive 25 years incarceration per instance of any child being molested. So if you were to molest a single child 5 times and be convicted of that, you would receive 125 years in jail - no chance of parole. If you molested 2 children at once, you would receive 50 years if convicted; and so forth. If you were found guilty as a repeat offender, I am of the opinion that the death penalty would be too good for you. This guy, if convicted, would be in jail for at least many lifetimes if he lasted that long.
Of course I am not in charge, and I have no power on my own to try to get the necessary legislation passed that would implement strict sentencing guidelines for those convicted of such offenses, those whom I believe to be heinous monsters. Then again, I can vote, and I do vote regularly in all major elections and in some minor elections. I suggest you all do the same and that you all vote for law and order candidates who want to put a stop to things like this from happening. I also can write, as is evidenced here; but I also write to my elected officials on a fairly regular basis about issues that are of concern to me. I will be writing to my congresswoman, my senators, and quite possibly to the governor of NJ about this one. If as many of us as possible did likewise, then at least people who were convicted of such offenses would stand a very slim chance of ever being able to do it again. Tolerance may be a good thing in some cases, but I am of the ilk that tolerance of this sort of thing is insanity.
A final note, lest you think I have condemmed this man already. All of the allegations above, were just that - allegations. They were, in essence, reported in the article. This man has not been found guilty of anything, though it appears allegations have been made and charges have been filed (quite a large number of them). Yet based on allegations and charges alone, I will not convict and condem anyone. This man, like anyone else in a criminal prosecution within the USA will have his day in court, probably many days in court, and so it should be. I kind of have some hope that he would be found not guilty because I would like to believe that things like those alleged cannot and do not happen. Yet,if he is guilty of these alleged offenses, I would have little if any mercy for him as those children would probably suffer through the rest of their lives.
All the best,
Glenn B
Simple Pleasures, quite frankly maybe the best of all...
Today is Friday, or I should say it is my Saturday this week because I worked this past Sunday. While technically not Saturday it is my first day off this weekend. Not bad. I puttered around on the Internet today trying to locate a local dealer who had in stock a riflescope for which I have been searching. Well I actually looked for a few scopes, but none of them were to be had anywhere locally, and I needed it by today for a shoot tomorrow. The scope is mainly for our (my son Brendan and I)upcoming black bear hunt at the end of the month, and it will sit atop our Marlin 336. I was pretty disappointed that I could not find a the illuminated reticle scopes for which I was searching. In fact, I did find one 2 days ago at B&H Photo in NYC, but it was scratched and the last they had in stock.
As it turned out I went down into the basement, and cleaned the 336. That was simple pleasure number 1. Talking to Brendan about the gun and about our hunt, as I put it back together, was simple pleasure number 2. Then I grabbed a Tasco 3-9x42MM, Mil-Dot reticle scope that I have had laying around unused for a few years, and I slapped that on the Marlin. I have only mounted one scope before, and I did a fair to good job on that one, so I hope I did likewise with this one. Brendan and I will take it to the range tomorrow to sight it in. I was none too happy not to have found a scope with an illuminated reticle, but having had this one on standby, so to speak, was nice; that was simple pleasure number 3 today. Finally getting a scope mounted on the 336 was also nice, simple pleasure number 4 was that I got it done at all.
Not too long after I was done with that, I realized my daughter had taken our car, and I was stranded at home - well not stranded really but too far from the gun shop to walk there to get ammo within a reasonable time. I gave her a call on the cell phone and she told me she would be home soon. When I asked where she had been,, she said looking for a job; that was simple pleasure number 5.
Soon after that, my wife got home from work. My daughter and son came in just after that. My daughter got a phone call almost as soon as she had walked in the door, it was someone telling her to come in for a job interview based on her looking today! That was quick, and it was simple pleasure number 6.
I put the finishing touches on the Marlin and then put it away. Then I mowed the lawn while my wife was making leftovers for dinner along with a nice fresh salad. The salad had some tomatoes from our yard in it. We ate dinner outside on the patio, and we each had a glass of wine with dinner. I enjoyed my wife's cooking and her company immensely. That was simple pleasure number 7 for today.
Simple pleasure number 8 was when I realized that the whole family was nice to one another today, no moaning, no groaning, and no arguing. I am not as grumpy as I once had been. It wasn't a very special day, yet all those things above that I have labeled as simple pleasures made it one heck of an especially fine day. We didn't have to go out and spend a lot of money on things, we didn’t have to go somewhere special to spend the day, we didn't have to go to a fancy restaurant, we didn’t have to have a special meal, we didn't have to do anything out of the ordinary, we just had a nice day. A nice day is one of the simplest pleasures of them all, and when shared with your family, at least even in part, a nice day is hard to beat.
All the best,
Glenn B
As it turned out I went down into the basement, and cleaned the 336. That was simple pleasure number 1. Talking to Brendan about the gun and about our hunt, as I put it back together, was simple pleasure number 2. Then I grabbed a Tasco 3-9x42MM, Mil-Dot reticle scope that I have had laying around unused for a few years, and I slapped that on the Marlin. I have only mounted one scope before, and I did a fair to good job on that one, so I hope I did likewise with this one. Brendan and I will take it to the range tomorrow to sight it in. I was none too happy not to have found a scope with an illuminated reticle, but having had this one on standby, so to speak, was nice; that was simple pleasure number 3 today. Finally getting a scope mounted on the 336 was also nice, simple pleasure number 4 was that I got it done at all.
Not too long after I was done with that, I realized my daughter had taken our car, and I was stranded at home - well not stranded really but too far from the gun shop to walk there to get ammo within a reasonable time. I gave her a call on the cell phone and she told me she would be home soon. When I asked where she had been,, she said looking for a job; that was simple pleasure number 5.
Soon after that, my wife got home from work. My daughter and son came in just after that. My daughter got a phone call almost as soon as she had walked in the door, it was someone telling her to come in for a job interview based on her looking today! That was quick, and it was simple pleasure number 6.
I put the finishing touches on the Marlin and then put it away. Then I mowed the lawn while my wife was making leftovers for dinner along with a nice fresh salad. The salad had some tomatoes from our yard in it. We ate dinner outside on the patio, and we each had a glass of wine with dinner. I enjoyed my wife's cooking and her company immensely. That was simple pleasure number 7 for today.
Simple pleasure number 8 was when I realized that the whole family was nice to one another today, no moaning, no groaning, and no arguing. I am not as grumpy as I once had been. It wasn't a very special day, yet all those things above that I have labeled as simple pleasures made it one heck of an especially fine day. We didn't have to go out and spend a lot of money on things, we didn’t have to go somewhere special to spend the day, we didn't have to go to a fancy restaurant, we didn’t have to have a special meal, we didn't have to do anything out of the ordinary, we just had a nice day. A nice day is one of the simplest pleasures of them all, and when shared with your family, at least even in part, a nice day is hard to beat.
All the best,
Glenn B
Thursday, August 17, 2006
If we don't take action Asian Union May Spell Disaster for the USA
The following blocked paragraph is from Yahoo News at http://news.yahoo.com /s/afp/20060817/bs_afp/
aseanjapanchinaskoreaaustraliaindianzealand
_060817122005>
aseanjapanchinaskoreaaustraliaindianzealand
_060817122005>
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Japanese officials have proposed a sprawling 16-nation free-trade grouping with China, South Korea, Australia, India, New Zealand and the 10-nation Southeast Asian bloc.
Go to the linked site, read the whole article, although you can get a good picture of what is to come from just that first paragraph if this actually goes through.
What I think this all means is that there will be a European Union that has made the European economy stronger in most countries within that union, and an equivalent in Asia that will likely strengthen the economies of many of the nations within that union. That leaves this side of the world including North, Central and South America.
What options does that leave to the United States of America? Of course, the USA could form a wonderful union with all of the nations within North, Central and South Americas. This might be a great boon to the economies of many of the poorer nations involved in such a union; but what would that do for the US economy?
Countries in Europe got to team up with other European nations that had strong economies and that actually were quite productive as far as things like manufacturing and agriculture went. For example Italy gives its European counterparts things like wine, Fiats, and great tourist spots. Switzerland gives them the Alps, skiing, chocolate, clocks and banking. Germany gives them Mercedes Benz, fine Solingen steel, and some of the greatest beer in the world; and the list goes on for other countries in the EU.
In Asia it will be likewise. Japan brings a wealth of manufacturing, the cultured pearl business, fishing fleets, Sony, Toyotas, and aggressive marketing. South Korea gives us Hyundai. Australia gives exports of lamb and other agricultural products, great tourist spots, and a strong military. Chine gives a very strong military, nuclear technology, a wealth of people resources and agriculture. The list also goes on.
In our neck of the woods the USA would be able to give: education (for free to illegal aliens), a wealth of other free services such as health care (to illegal aliens), low or no taxation (for illegal aliens), a wealth of agricultural produce (often given for free or through government subsidies to illegal aliens), manufactured products such as the flags of all South and Central American nations (waved by illegal aliens during protests of tougher Immigration laws), wide open spaces (which are currently being quickly filled in by illegal aliens), constitutional rights (which are being usurped by crooked politicians who favor acceptance of illegal aliens).
What does the USA get in return from its neighbors. If you guessed illegal aliens, well you would only be partly correct. You see we do get agricultural products from Canada to include timber, and food products, and they also give us a better view of Niagara Falls from their side of the border, and from what I understand there is great hunting and fishing to be had north of our border. I don't always agree with Canada's political train of thought, but I like Canada for the most part. Now we turn to Mexico, what do they give to such a Union. Yes you guessed right, their main contribution has and probably would be a mass of illiterate, unskilled people who come to the USA to recolonize it. We currently often refer to the great majority of these folks as illegal aliens. They also give us something else, illegal drugs. Each year millions upon millions of dollars of illegal narcotics are smuggled into the United States from Mexico. These include soft drugs like marijuana; but also include killers like cocaine and heroin. In addition we also wind up getting an overflow of opportunistic thieves and other criminals from Mexico. This is why the auto theft rates along the southern border are historically often sky high. We get much of the same from Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Colombia, Venezuela (which also gives us the threat of being our enemy) and so on. In addition, lest you think I have overlooked them, our neighbors in the Caribbean such as Haiti give us more of much of the same. Of course lest I forget we also get some special things from places like El Salvador such as MS-13, the violent crime gang.
So what can we do to strengthen our future in light of all of this. First of all we can get rid of the illegal aliens who are here sucking us dry. Then we can submit an economic unionization plan to our neighbors to insure they will use their resources to the best of their abilities to foster strong economies. This would include eliminating: drug trafficking, illegal border crossings, sweat shops, and the like. It would also foster instituting: decent wages in said countries, fair labor laws, a decent educational system, and so forth. Can it be done, sure it can. Will it be easy – hell no. Yet countries like Mexico, that actively seek to promote illegal immigration to the USA by the poor of Mexico, is one of the richer nations on this side of the world. They have huge oil reserves, but getting to them through the systemic political corruption in a country where mordida (the small bite, aka: bribery) is a way of life is almost impossible, and certainly not cost effective.
The truth of the matter is that the USA is going to have to depend largely upon itself, as it always has done, to remain a viable economic power in the world of the future. In order to do so we need to manage: our resources carefully. This means not giving them away to tens of millions of illegal aliens. We can continue to welcome legal immigrants tom our shore, but ilegals, let's face it - many of them commited a crime as their first act upon our soil. In addition, we will have to manage our domestic and foreign policies wisely. This means a replacement of most of the politicians on state and federal levels by politicians, whom we vote into office, who truly have the good of this nation as their goal as opposed to having an anti one person outlook. Let’s face it folks, if all the majority of one of our political parties wants to rant on about is how we need to get rid of our current president, well then something is drastically wrong with our politics. First of all, don’t these folks realize that he is out in a couple of years no matter what! So why rant on about getting rid of him? Likewise why does the other side, or at least much of it, feel the need to support him 100% in everything he does?
As I see it, we need to get together on this across party lines. This does not mean we have to all vote for one candidate or for a third party candidate (though that might be a help, that is if there was a really viable third party – which there is not currently). What it does mean is that we, and our current elected leaders, ought to get together to plan a reasonable, well thought out plan, for the economic survival of the United States of America before it is too late and we slide down the slope to becoming a third world nation. I am open to suggestions about how to do so, suggestions that are non-partisan, and logical. My first one was mentioned above, let’s get rid of those, many of whose first act upon our soil was a crime, of course, by whom I mean illegal aliens. Then let’s work onward from there, let's get rid of politicans who drag us into the dirt and replace them with men and women whose only goal is to better the USA; it can only get better for us if we do so.
All the best,
Glenn B
Ballseye's Boomers: Beretta 70S
Aah, my Beretta 70S in .22LR is one of my favorite guns. I bought one back in the early 80s when I was living in El Centro, CA, and working in the Border Patrol in Calexico, CA. It had a minor problem that needed repair, or maybe I sent it in to get a longer barrel fitted to it (that was long ago and I now vaguely remember that it may have been for a barrel fitting and not a problem at all), so I sent it into Beretta. They did what they had to do to it, sent it back to me via UPS, and UPS in their ultimate wisdom left it on my front doorstep because I was not home when they made the delivery. When I got home, the gun was not home anymore. Apparently someone helped themselves to it while it sat there all lonesome and such. Well after me filing a report with UPS, Beretta and the Sheriff's office, I finally got a replacement Beretta shipped to me by Beretta, and paid for by UPS. The one in the picture is that replacement.I have taken good care of it over the years, and have also had a lot of fun with it. If you ever want o purchase a reliable pistol in .22LR, this is one that you should consider. Of course, they are no longer in production, but they can be found with some fair regularity on sites like GunBroker.com. I made sure to buy extra magazines for mine, and I am quite happy that I did so. Extra magazines may actually be harder to find than are the pistols nowadays. All in all, one of the best firearms purchaes I have ever made. I can assure you it convinced me that Beretta was a quality firearms manufacturer - as will be evidenced in future postings of Ballseye's Boomers.
This particular pistol has an alloy frame, steel slide, adjustable rear sight, fixed front sight, and holds a magazine with an 8 round capacity. The mag release is on the lower left side of the grip. The action is single action only. Safety is mounted on the left rear of the frame (like a Colt 1911). It can be carried cocked and locked though I recommend against this. I believe it has an inertia firing pin, but do not hold me to that.
Lots of fun to shoot, easy to take care of, and made with the quality control that is a halmark of Beretta.
Safe shooting,
Glenn B
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)