...it was due to a combination of me being busy with other things and with an anniversary. That anniversary had me not thinking, or not wanting to think, at all about today - but today - how can I not think about 9/11. So I took a break from thinking about blogging yesterday on that other anniversary - if only because I knew I would have to blog today on this one.
You see, yesterday will forever be the anniversary of our last day of innocence. That is true whether we care to admit it or not. I don't mean to say that we as a nation are guilty of anything. As far as nations go, as far as morality goes (a universal morality as to what is good regardless of national, ethnic, racial, or religious backgrounds), as far as good versus evil goes (yes there are things known as good and evil even for atheists) the United States of America is one of the top 5 nations in the world, maybe even number one. What I mean to say by loss of innocence is that our eyes were opened, first hand, in a horrendously shocking way, to the facts that: we are hated by others if for nothing else than for the good in us because it disagrees with their plans to conquer and subjugate the population of the world... Wait a minute did I say facts, well I need go no further; that one fact is more than enough, but if you need others here they are: Our eyes were opened, at least some of our eyes were opened to the facts that we are easy targets for terrorism. We need to do something drastic to fight terrorism and save our way of living and our lives. There are a lot of out and out whining wussies in this country who would rather bad mouth the political opposition than get the job done.
What is wrong with that type of person that I just mentioned is beyond me. I don't know if it is a brain malfunction (I sort of doubt it because it seemingly affects so many), a lifestyle (I sort of think it must be) that has caused them to become spoiled little brats who have to have it their way without any inconvenience now, without any opposition, without any intelligent thought being put into deciding which way it should be, without any thought that they may actually be a target of some evil (the desire to remain innocent), without real thought as to the long term outcome of their being ridiculously selfish. Along these lines, certain people in this country want us to believe that if we just try to appease our enemies, first of all by claiming they are not truly our enemies and trying to make our own president look like our enemy, then our real enemies (those guys who attacked us 5 years ago, those who attacked us for many years before that but usually overseas, those guys who are still out to get us) will somehow either disappear or become our friends.
The fact is that they will not become our friends. The fact is that hard core Muslim extremists will always be the enemies of anyone in the world who is not a Muslim extremist, even moderate Muslims. The fact is that Islam allows for such to happen without other Muslims rising up against the so called extremists (is this due to fear of the extremists, or acceptance of their creed - you have to wonder because some of the so called moderates almost seem to defend them).
The fact is that, I see it as Islam being a religion that breeds extremism, and that seeks to convert or do away with those who are not Muslims. This is just as Christianity once was a brutal religion regarding conversions and heretics; that required a big change which took place during the reformation and afterwards. Islam too needs a big change. The fact is that those Muslims who do not readily stand up against Muslim Extremists, are in my mind, either scared to inaction and silence, advocating terrorists, supportive of terrorists, or are terrorists. I am not a whimp when it comes to saying such, nor will I be a whimp when it comes to defending the Constitution of the USA, or defending her people - no matter who they are so long as they support and uphold her constitution. In that light I will never forget September 10, 2001 - our last day of innocence; nor will I ever forget September 11, 2001. Nor will I ever mistake who are our true enemies.
I suggest you all think about what I just said. There is not all that much word wise to think about, but there sure is a lot meaning wise. If you are a true American (nationally, I do not me continentally) then get off your butts to support your nation and your president in the war against terrorism, because terrorists want to convert or kill Americans (and kill seems preferable to them). You don't have to agree with President George W. Bush; but you do have to support efforts to put an end to global terrorism; otherwise you are less than loyal to your country. Putting an end to terrorism is not an easy task, it is a nasty one. It probably requires killing lots of people who want to kill us. It also requires a lot of diplomacy. It also requires a lot of soul searching, and a lot of real thinking. This is what is being dome by those in power in the government, whether you think so or not. Whether they are doing it the absolute best way or not, they are doing it; and until someone actually has a better plan let's go with the one we have. Hear a lot of complaining but no planning other than to pull out, or pull back. What is the plan for actually dealing with the threat, for defeating the threat, for ending the threat that these others have? Whining will not solve the problem, brute force and gun-boat diplomacy may certainly do so; at least in the beginning stages - which may last for many more years.
Our leaders are doing, for the most part, what they believe is in your best interests, they are trying to protect us from annihilation. I would say this regardless of who was in office. I voted once for GWB, I did not vote the second term because of a work commitment, I was called out of state at the last moment and could not vote. Yet I may have voted for him again, but I may not have voted for the position of president because I think he has made some glaring mistakes. Still I do not think all that many about terrorists. There I think he is on track, just maybe not forcefully enough.
Whether or not you agree with me, I ask you to take a long time today to reflect on the events of September 11, 2001. I ask you to reflect upon the almost 3,000 lives that were lost that day. Then I ask that you reflect on other events, such as: the recent foiled plot to blow up several passenger aircraft flying from England to the USA, the outwardly treasonous speeches given by imams in England, the home grown terrorists in England – all English citizens by birth but all seemingly anti-English Islamofacists at heart, the recent war in Lebanon, the attacks of Israel that led to the war in Lebanon, the car burnings in France – committed by ethnic youths as per the news – some said all Muslims, the violence in Pakistan, the violence in India, the violence in Indonesia, the North Koreans trying to build nukes, the Iranians trying to build nukes and calling for the utter destruction of Israel and of the great Satan (guess who that would be), the bombings in the disco that killed scores of Australians and others (was that in Malaysia or Indonesia?) a couple of years ago or so, the train bombings in Spain (in which the Spanish capitulated to the enemy, thereby becoming the enemy much like the French in WWII), the attempted shoe bomber plot, the foiled plots and several arrests of terrorists in Germany, the riots over cartoon depictions of Mohammad (and hundreds of thousands participated in those riots), the guy who tried to smuggle in a car load of explosives from Canada to the USA a few years back, the 1993 bombing of the World Trade center, the Oklahoma City bombing (yes a homegrown terrorist who was not Muslim), the bombing of the USS Cole, the bombing of the US embassy in Kenya, the bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon, and many other foiled plots.
What do all of the above events have in common, they apparently are all acts of terrorism. What do all but two of them have in common, they are all acts of Muslims who claim to be fighting us (by us I mean the infidel or the non-Islamic) in the name of Islam. Folks, it is time to get your head out of the sand before it happens again. Give support to those who want to destroy our enemies. No, you do not have to support every aspect of everything that your politicians want to do; that would be ridiculous (or miraculous in that one guy knows how to actually do it all, and get it right). Yet, you should be supporting the real hard core efforts to rid the world of the vermin who want to either make you like them, or destroy you. When it comes right down to it, you have to make a decision to survive or not survive; and you are not going to survive with your head buried in the sand while your ass is up in the air like a big bull’s eye.
Finally, whether you are religious or not - you can pray for, meditate about, reflect upon, think about, give a thought to, feel for those people who lost their lives on 9/11, the worst attack ever on the United States of America. You can also think about those who did the act, think about their way of life, think about the terror they want to inflict upon us, think about the terror they inflict upon their own people. They are scum, think about that hard.
You can also do the same for our future - think about it, and reflect too upon our past. We are one of the most generous nations on this earth, even after 9/11 we helped the victims of the Tsunami (by the great majority Muslims). Weigh our good against our bad then compare that to our enemies, see what you come up with. Then make a decision about what needs to be done and who (across party lines) you would trust to do a better job of getting it done. Then give your support to those folks, give it whole heartedly, otherwise you may wind up dead sooner than you think. There is no other reason to vote for a candidate this fall that will be more important than our own security. If we are not secure, then we will have fallen, and we will no longer be Americans. Think about that right up until the moment you cast your vote this November.
Now, I am going to reflect upon September 11, 2001, and give a thought and a prayer (even though I am not religious I still pray in my own way)for all those who lost their lives: in New York at the WTC, in the Pentagon in Washington, DC, and in the fields of Pennsylvania. I will also do the same for all those brave souls who have lost their lives, or their limbs, fighting terrorism throughout the world.
Stay safe if you can, but don't try to stay safe by appeasing terrorists, it will only cause you to lose in the end. Fight terrorism with every breath you have in you.
Best regards,
Glenn B
Monday, September 11, 2006
Saturday, September 9, 2006
Ballseye's Boomer - Ortgies .32ACP Pocket Pistol
What can I say about this classic, but somewhat unknown, little pocket pistol. I like it! Those three words, for me are enough, but I guess I owe you some explanation as to why I like it.
Let me begin by saying the Ortgies was manufactured in pre WWII Germany. It is the only firearm of German manufacture that I own. Overall it seems well made, you know that German thing about quality, and that is good. Besides that my wife was born there and I too have at least some German blood in my veins. So it is nice to have a firearm from there.
As to the gun itself, as I said the quality seems very good. It has an all steel frame and slide. The grips are wood with a medallion inset that indicates manufacture by Deutsche Werke, which means it was not produced by the original Ortgies company but by the one that took over later production, still prior to WWII, and still high quality. It is semi-automatic in operation, possibly blowback but I am not sure. The gun feeds and goes bang every time I try to fire it, and it extracts and ejects every round flawlessly. I should add that when I first got it, it did not go bang every time with certain ammunition. Replacing the firing pin (striker) spring remedied this immediately. This was a simple operation even for me, and I am not trained in any gunsmithing techniques. It is fairly easy to field strip and to reassemble. If you have one and need those instructions, leave a comment asking me for them.
Originally my pistol would have been blued steel, but as can be seen in the picture, the years have taken their toll and much of the finish has worn off and otherwise been turned into that so called "plum" coloration. No rust though.
As far as safeties go, this one has a grip safety on the backstrap, much like a Colt 1911 .45 ACP pistol. There is a small button on the frame of the pistol, that will activate the grip safety if it becomes disengaged then want to reengage it. There is no external hammer. The magazine release is at the bottom of the grip and to the rear. The magazines (yes those are originals in the picture) are chromed. If I recall right they hold 8 rounds (it has been a while since I shot it). The trigger squeeze is not too bad, and I left it just as is. The sights are a fixed grooved rear sight and a fixed blade front sight. This makes this little pistol capable of fairly accurate shots out to 15 yards in the hands of an average shooter, although I suspect you would be better off using it close in for defensive shooting. I note that I do not carry this pistol for self defense all that often. First of all, it is old, and all of the springs should probably be replaced because of its age before use as such. Secondly it is .32ACP, which can be used for self defense, but I prefer a somewhat larger caliber when I can carry one.
This is a great pistol for plinking, maybe a decent one for self defense, and a nice one for the collector (not too expensive, one could be had for about $250 nowadays).
All the best,
Glenn B
Friday, September 8, 2006
Of Intruders, and No-Nonsense Nurses...
I figure I wrote enough about what I consider nonsense in my last blog, so I would give you a bit of a no nonsense story to sink your teeth into. Again from FoxNews.com comes an article, this one: Oregon ER Nurse Strangles Intruder With Bare Hands, see this link:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,213022,00.html
It appears that the emergency room nurse came home from work only to find an armed intruder in her home. Now she could have performed some act of nonsense when she found this guy in her house such as: screaming and fainting, running away, hiding, begging the guy not to harm her and offering him all her money, calling 911 and waiting until after she may have been killed for them to arrive; but she did not do any of that despite the fact that the alleged bad guy was armed with a hammer.
Instead of doing something nonsensical, our brave nurse took action, and probably action that the alleged intruder never for a moment contemplated she would have taken. She took his neck into her bare hands and strangled him to death. If the facts are as reported, then GOOD FOR HER is what I say!
I also say good for Oregon, which reportedly has a law allowing reasonable force, including deadly force, to be used against intruders in folks' homes. Lest you think that the nurse made some sort of terrible bad judgment, allow me to point out, that according to the FoxNew.com article linked above, the alleged intruder "...had convictions including conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, robbery, drug charges and possession of burglary tools." Can you imagine that!
I feel better than I did before I read that article.
Good night all,
Glenn B
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,213022,00.html
It appears that the emergency room nurse came home from work only to find an armed intruder in her home. Now she could have performed some act of nonsense when she found this guy in her house such as: screaming and fainting, running away, hiding, begging the guy not to harm her and offering him all her money, calling 911 and waiting until after she may have been killed for them to arrive; but she did not do any of that despite the fact that the alleged bad guy was armed with a hammer.
Instead of doing something nonsensical, our brave nurse took action, and probably action that the alleged intruder never for a moment contemplated she would have taken. She took his neck into her bare hands and strangled him to death. If the facts are as reported, then GOOD FOR HER is what I say!
I also say good for Oregon, which reportedly has a law allowing reasonable force, including deadly force, to be used against intruders in folks' homes. Lest you think that the nurse made some sort of terrible bad judgment, allow me to point out, that according to the FoxNew.com article linked above, the alleged intruder "...had convictions including conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, robbery, drug charges and possession of burglary tools." Can you imagine that!
I feel better than I did before I read that article.
Good night all,
Glenn B
Of Giant Smelly Earthworms and Nonsense...
So there I was perusing the news over at FoxNews.com when I came across an article with the title: Federal Protection Sought for Giant Smelly Earthworm. Now I am all for protection of species that require protection, and if this earthworm requires it, then I say go for it so long as within reason. Within reason would include not stealing someone's property or livelihood to save the worm, not curtailing agriculture to save the worm, and not spending hundreds of millions, heck not even tens of millions of dollars, to support saving this worm when the research to do so is conducted by people who talk nonsense. Just inn case you are wondering what nonsense I mean, you can see the whole article at: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,212990,00.html. I am all for good science, but I am not at all for scientists, naturalists, or others jumping to wild conclusions about creature they discover or rediscover. If you don't want to read the whole article, you can just read the quotes I make below, all from said article, and then decide for yourself, is any of this nonsense!
Okay, so that sounds pretty good so far. Maybe they really thought it extinct for good reason, then again maybe they just looked in all the wrong places. I will for the sake of argument say they actually rediscovered it and it is rare.
Not so bad, pretty good consider that the Buckley quoted is a spokesman of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. But as it usually would be once the bureaucrats step in, things are about to get, in my opinion, quite silly.
Did I just read that right? Someone, from the USFWS is wondering how it could be that an earthworm of some sort was able to survive in an agricultural area? Maybe I am a dingbat, or maybe I am just ignorant of certain very special conditions which this particular species of worm needs (or at least WAS THOUGHT TO HAVE NEEDED) to survive; or maybe I have just hit on one of the silliest statements I have ever heard about earthworms in my life.
Is this guy really serious when he says that survival of this worm, an earthworm, is 'beyond' him because it had been found in an agricultural area? Correct me if I am wrong, but earthworms thrive in many heavily used agricultural areas, and at least some of the reasons that they survive in such areas is because the conditions in agricultural areas are pretty much perfect for them. The soil is cared for on a regular basis, it is often turned, mulched, fertilized (with either natural or chemical fertilizers), and watered. When I do this in my garden, the worms have thrived - even when I have used chemical fertilizers, and when the insecticide from my neighbors lawns has drifted over my garden. I have seen worms thriving in gardens wherein insecticides and chemical fertilizers were widely used.
The article goes onto say:
Again, I have to ask, at least if the reporter reported this in context and it was not a joke, is this guy for real. What kind of educational requirements are needed to work for USFWS? Do you need any common sense at all? Does this government spokesman really believe that fishermen will be out there in the fields trying to dig up 3 foot long stinky earthworms when they can easily buy them on the cheap at places like Wal-Mart? Heck, if I go out into my back yard, and turn over a handful of the stuff in my very small compost pile, I will probably see at least 6 earthworms in it. Why would I bother driving out to the plains of the Palouse region in Idaho and Washington to look for a rare worm, only to use it as fish bait. They have got to be kidding, please tell me they were only funning us.
Besides all of that, get a load of this question posed by a so called 'worm supporter':
I can tell you that not too many of today's kids would want to play with worms, and I have some anecdotal proof, or at least conjecture. What would that be you may ask? Well I'll tell you: THE WORMS WERE NOT REDISCOVERED BY KIDS WHO HAD DUG THEM UP TO PLAY WITH THEM. Kids today play with computers, Bipods, Play stations, X-Boxes, electric race cars, all sorts of other electronic gadgets, heck they even play with baseballs and Barbie Dolls, but not too many play with giant, smelly, spitting earthworms!
Had kids loved to dig em up and play with em, had fishermen thought them such great bait, then why haven't they been digging them up all along. Maybe just because they spit at you once you dig em up, and no one wants all that slimy worm spit all over em in the first place. Of course, maybe they are very rare, and kids and fishermen didn't know about em. Maybe now that they do, there will be a stampede of bored nature starved kids, and crazed fishermen, and wily worm hunters making for the Palouse Prairies. Maybe once they see the prairies, the fishermen, hunters, and the kids will realize that what little of them are left would be worth saving.
Of course all these worries about fishermen using them for bait, and kids digging them up to play with them only to be spewed upon by worm spit, are just so much spin put into all of this by the environmental folks, whackos n y opinion, who want to protect the worms and the prairies. Don't get me wrong. I see nothing wrong with protecting the worm in a sensible manner; nor do I see anything wrong with protecting part of a vanishing prairie if such is also done within reason. The things I find fault with are all the nonsense spouted out by so called experts, so called scientists, by government spokesmen, by worm supporters, and quite possibly by extremists (of one sort or another) who would pose themselves as protectors of our planets flora and fauna when all they really want is to push their will upon others. I am not saying this is the case here; yet I am saying my nonsense alarms have been clanging loudly since I read those quotes from that article.
Make up your own minds if this is nonsense or not. As for me, I am going fishing, I just found some bait that guarantees I'll catch a big one. I'll tell you about it someday, even if it gets away...
All the best,
Glenn B
Long thought extinct, the worm was rediscovered in the past year, occupying tiny swatches of the heavily farmed Palouse region along the Washington-Idaho border.
Okay, so that sounds pretty good so far. Maybe they really thought it extinct for good reason, then again maybe they just looked in all the wrong places. I will for the sake of argument say they actually rediscovered it and it is rare.
If it deserves more study, there will be a year long review to decide if
endangered species protection is needed, Buckley said.
Not so bad, pretty good consider that the Buckley quoted is a spokesman of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. But as it usually would be once the bureaucrats step in, things are about to get, in my opinion, quite silly.
"When you consider how the Palouse prairie has been utilized, with all the agriculture down there, how anything like that survived the effects of agriculture is beyond me," Buckley said.
Did I just read that right? Someone, from the USFWS is wondering how it could be that an earthworm of some sort was able to survive in an agricultural area? Maybe I am a dingbat, or maybe I am just ignorant of certain very special conditions which this particular species of worm needs (or at least WAS THOUGHT TO HAVE NEEDED) to survive; or maybe I have just hit on one of the silliest statements I have ever heard about earthworms in my life.
Is this guy really serious when he says that survival of this worm, an earthworm, is 'beyond' him because it had been found in an agricultural area? Correct me if I am wrong, but earthworms thrive in many heavily used agricultural areas, and at least some of the reasons that they survive in such areas is because the conditions in agricultural areas are pretty much perfect for them. The soil is cared for on a regular basis, it is often turned, mulched, fertilized (with either natural or chemical fertilizers), and watered. When I do this in my garden, the worms have thrived - even when I have used chemical fertilizers, and when the insecticide from my neighbors lawns has drifted over my garden. I have seen worms thriving in gardens wherein insecticides and chemical fertilizers were widely used.
The article goes onto say:
He can also see other reasons the worm might need protection. "If you are a fisherman, it might be a bonanza if you found something like that," Buckley said.
Again, I have to ask, at least if the reporter reported this in context and it was not a joke, is this guy for real. What kind of educational requirements are needed to work for USFWS? Do you need any common sense at all? Does this government spokesman really believe that fishermen will be out there in the fields trying to dig up 3 foot long stinky earthworms when they can easily buy them on the cheap at places like Wal-Mart? Heck, if I go out into my back yard, and turn over a handful of the stuff in my very small compost pile, I will probably see at least 6 earthworms in it. Why would I bother driving out to the plains of the Palouse region in Idaho and Washington to look for a rare worm, only to use it as fish bait. They have got to be kidding, please tell me they were only funning us.
Besides all of that, get a load of this question posed by a so called 'worm supporter':
"What kid wouldn't want to play with a 3 foot-long, lily-smelling, soft pink worm that spits?"
I can tell you that not too many of today's kids would want to play with worms, and I have some anecdotal proof, or at least conjecture. What would that be you may ask? Well I'll tell you: THE WORMS WERE NOT REDISCOVERED BY KIDS WHO HAD DUG THEM UP TO PLAY WITH THEM. Kids today play with computers, Bipods, Play stations, X-Boxes, electric race cars, all sorts of other electronic gadgets, heck they even play with baseballs and Barbie Dolls, but not too many play with giant, smelly, spitting earthworms!
Had kids loved to dig em up and play with em, had fishermen thought them such great bait, then why haven't they been digging them up all along. Maybe just because they spit at you once you dig em up, and no one wants all that slimy worm spit all over em in the first place. Of course, maybe they are very rare, and kids and fishermen didn't know about em. Maybe now that they do, there will be a stampede of bored nature starved kids, and crazed fishermen, and wily worm hunters making for the Palouse Prairies. Maybe once they see the prairies, the fishermen, hunters, and the kids will realize that what little of them are left would be worth saving.
Of course all these worries about fishermen using them for bait, and kids digging them up to play with them only to be spewed upon by worm spit, are just so much spin put into all of this by the environmental folks, whackos n y opinion, who want to protect the worms and the prairies. Don't get me wrong. I see nothing wrong with protecting the worm in a sensible manner; nor do I see anything wrong with protecting part of a vanishing prairie if such is also done within reason. The things I find fault with are all the nonsense spouted out by so called experts, so called scientists, by government spokesmen, by worm supporters, and quite possibly by extremists (of one sort or another) who would pose themselves as protectors of our planets flora and fauna when all they really want is to push their will upon others. I am not saying this is the case here; yet I am saying my nonsense alarms have been clanging loudly since I read those quotes from that article.
Make up your own minds if this is nonsense or not. As for me, I am going fishing, I just found some bait that guarantees I'll catch a big one. I'll tell you about it someday, even if it gets away...
All the best,
Glenn B
Wednesday, September 6, 2006
There Really Are Monsters Among Us...
Just before Brendan and I left on the Bear Hunting trip, I remember hearing a blurb on the news about some young lady who had escaped from a kidnapper after being held for a number of years. I thought at the time this took place in Australia, but I found out it really had been in Austria. When I returned from our hunt, I checked out the news and saw the articles about Natascha Kampusch, who was kidnapped about 8 1/2 years ago at age 10, and then given up for dead.
Imagine that, being kidnapped as a 10 year old child. Imagine being held captive for most of that time in a small cell below a garage. Imagine the fear, then the terror, the isolation, the hopelessness of her situation. Imagine enduring as did she, being the captive of someone, someone whom I believe must have been a monster, for 8 1/2 years. Then think about it time wise, because 8 1/2 years while long, does not say it right: it was about 3,102.5 days, or 74,460 hours. Imagine the slow passage of each of the 4,467,600 minutes, or the interminable ticking of each of the 268,056,000 seconds as they dragged on. It is only my guess, but I guess she was at the mercy of a twisted, deranged, criminal who was in my mind probably a pedophile - for all that time; and I would bet that much of it seemed like an eternity.
Imagine the thoughts that went through her head, imagine living with those thoughts since you were 10 years old, up until you were 18 years old. One of those thoughts has been reported as being: "I was very distraught and very angry... from FoxNews.com @ . I'll bet she was; and that anger built up over all those years. I'll not go into the details of her other statements, but from some of them it is apparent she has suffered severe mental trauma at the hands of this, in my opinion, beast.
In that sense, it is sad that monsters of almost all sorts fear the light of day. Just as all sorts of imaginary monsters hide in the shadows, so to do the real life monsters like pedophiles, kidnappers, and the like. The guy who allegedly kidnapped the child, now a lady, in question went out and committed suicide just hours after she had escaped from him. It seems he was too fearful that the light of justice was about to shine upon him, the light reflected off of the sword that justice wields. That sword would have undoubtedly torn apart the curtains behind which this fiend had his dirty secrets hidden away, and would have exposed them and him for all to see.
Why did I say it is it sad, you may wonder that he feared the light of day? It is sad because now much of the truth will never be revealed because he quite possibly was too afraid to be exposed for what he must have been. Sure a lot of it will come to light through the accounts given by the young lady, the survivor of this alleged horrible atrocity; but only what she can bring herself to tell us about. I think we would have learned more from the man who was her captor.
You may also wonder why we need to learn as much about this as we can. Well, let me be very blunt - so that we do not remain indifferent because of our ignorance or because of our not wanting to see. Anything we can learn about evildoers who kidnap, torture, molest or otherwise harm children should be brought to the light of day for all to see if only so we know what to look for to prevent such from happening again.
When you see a child being badly handled by a supposed parent, and the child seems terrified, why not stop and question the supposed parent? If you are too afraid to question them, then why not call 911. If you see someone pull a screaming child into a car, write down the license number and description of the car, the child and the possible abductor, then call the police. If you see things of any nature, out of the ordinary, that appear to be possibly criminal - why not call 911. When you hear that the police in your town have been forbidden to engage in high speed pursuits, think about this case because this girl was abducted and thrown into a van while the bad guy made his getaway with her. What would have happened had the police seen him go through a red light in your town? Would they have been allowed to pursue him. make sure to give politicians a wake up call when they enact ridiculous restrictions on law enforcement in the course of their duties.
We have to wake up and realize, if we do not do such things, then they will continue pretty much unabated except for the few the police can thwart. There are an awful lot of monsters out there, real nasty, vile, dirty minded monsters who want to hurt our children, and hurt us - why not do all you can to help put an end to it.
Go to the link above, and read the article. Then read the other linked articles on that news site. Then go out and do something even if only writing a letter you your local politico to see what he or she is doing to prevent such things in your neck of the woods. These are our children folks, and there really are monsters out to get them.
As for this particular young lady; hopefully the press will not hound her. Hopefully she will seek out and receive therapy that will be effective. Hopefully she will blossom into a young woman who has the traits of compassion, tranquility, inner peace, and forgiveness. Not forgiveness for her captor but for those whom she probably at one time believed abandoned her, and most of all for herself. I say this last because she is likely at some level to blame herself for what happened even though it was not her fault at all. Nothing that happened in those 8 1/2 years was her fault, not one little thing. The only one at fault, as I see it, was a monster; and now that monster is dead.
Be safe,
Glenn B
Imagine that, being kidnapped as a 10 year old child. Imagine being held captive for most of that time in a small cell below a garage. Imagine the fear, then the terror, the isolation, the hopelessness of her situation. Imagine enduring as did she, being the captive of someone, someone whom I believe must have been a monster, for 8 1/2 years. Then think about it time wise, because 8 1/2 years while long, does not say it right: it was about 3,102.5 days, or 74,460 hours. Imagine the slow passage of each of the 4,467,600 minutes, or the interminable ticking of each of the 268,056,000 seconds as they dragged on. It is only my guess, but I guess she was at the mercy of a twisted, deranged, criminal who was in my mind probably a pedophile - for all that time; and I would bet that much of it seemed like an eternity.
Imagine the thoughts that went through her head, imagine living with those thoughts since you were 10 years old, up until you were 18 years old. One of those thoughts has been reported as being: "I was very distraught and very angry... from FoxNews.com @ . I'll bet she was; and that anger built up over all those years. I'll not go into the details of her other statements, but from some of them it is apparent she has suffered severe mental trauma at the hands of this, in my opinion, beast.
In that sense, it is sad that monsters of almost all sorts fear the light of day. Just as all sorts of imaginary monsters hide in the shadows, so to do the real life monsters like pedophiles, kidnappers, and the like. The guy who allegedly kidnapped the child, now a lady, in question went out and committed suicide just hours after she had escaped from him. It seems he was too fearful that the light of justice was about to shine upon him, the light reflected off of the sword that justice wields. That sword would have undoubtedly torn apart the curtains behind which this fiend had his dirty secrets hidden away, and would have exposed them and him for all to see.
Why did I say it is it sad, you may wonder that he feared the light of day? It is sad because now much of the truth will never be revealed because he quite possibly was too afraid to be exposed for what he must have been. Sure a lot of it will come to light through the accounts given by the young lady, the survivor of this alleged horrible atrocity; but only what she can bring herself to tell us about. I think we would have learned more from the man who was her captor.
You may also wonder why we need to learn as much about this as we can. Well, let me be very blunt - so that we do not remain indifferent because of our ignorance or because of our not wanting to see. Anything we can learn about evildoers who kidnap, torture, molest or otherwise harm children should be brought to the light of day for all to see if only so we know what to look for to prevent such from happening again.
When you see a child being badly handled by a supposed parent, and the child seems terrified, why not stop and question the supposed parent? If you are too afraid to question them, then why not call 911. If you see someone pull a screaming child into a car, write down the license number and description of the car, the child and the possible abductor, then call the police. If you see things of any nature, out of the ordinary, that appear to be possibly criminal - why not call 911. When you hear that the police in your town have been forbidden to engage in high speed pursuits, think about this case because this girl was abducted and thrown into a van while the bad guy made his getaway with her. What would have happened had the police seen him go through a red light in your town? Would they have been allowed to pursue him. make sure to give politicians a wake up call when they enact ridiculous restrictions on law enforcement in the course of their duties.
We have to wake up and realize, if we do not do such things, then they will continue pretty much unabated except for the few the police can thwart. There are an awful lot of monsters out there, real nasty, vile, dirty minded monsters who want to hurt our children, and hurt us - why not do all you can to help put an end to it.
Go to the link above, and read the article. Then read the other linked articles on that news site. Then go out and do something even if only writing a letter you your local politico to see what he or she is doing to prevent such things in your neck of the woods. These are our children folks, and there really are monsters out to get them.
As for this particular young lady; hopefully the press will not hound her. Hopefully she will seek out and receive therapy that will be effective. Hopefully she will blossom into a young woman who has the traits of compassion, tranquility, inner peace, and forgiveness. Not forgiveness for her captor but for those whom she probably at one time believed abandoned her, and most of all for herself. I say this last because she is likely at some level to blame herself for what happened even though it was not her fault at all. Nothing that happened in those 8 1/2 years was her fault, not one little thing. The only one at fault, as I see it, was a monster; and now that monster is dead.
Be safe,
Glenn B
Tuesday, September 5, 2006
The Bear Hunt, part 4...
Day 3 of the week, or day 2 of the hunt, depending on how you look at it was a lot like the first day of the hunt except that it was Tuesday instead of Monday. I got up pretty early, but this time I think a few of the guys were up before me instead of just Kenny. When I came down Tony and Herb were already there with Kenny. Coffee was waiting, and sleeping beauty (Brendan) still slept, along with a few of the others who had not wanted to give up their dream bear scenarios.
Once everyone was wide eyed and busy tailed, except Brendan, Rachel made breakfast and we all enjoyed it. There is something about the combination of a good cook, and cool, fresh, clean Maine air that just makes your appetite spike, as if mine needed any help. After eating we all helped clean up, but Z really did a number. It had become apparent he liked to keep things tidy around the camp, and he later wound up giving Rachel a break and cooking a few meals. He was pretty good at it too. I think Z going out of his way to help clean up got some of the other guys more into cleaning up after themselves; though his cooking did not inspire others to cook as his and Rachel’s were so good. My guess is that had some of us cooked we would have poisoned the group. I did try to get Brendan to cook Breakfast, he is darned good at pancakes, eggs and bacon, but he wanted none of the cooking chores preferring to sleep late.
After breakfast there was talk of bears, predictions for the weather, predictions of who would get a bear that day, a game of cards, readying for the hunt and so on. There was a lot of good natured ribbing and other joking too. Tony was pretty good with the ribbing and the jokes, he sure kept things on the lighter side and that was always good to give everyone a laugh. When the talk got to bears although everyone knew something, we always deferred to Shane and Herb. Both of them were pretty surprised and disappointed that none of the group had seen or shot a bear the day before. They were pretty sure that our luck would get better, or at least pretty hopeful. I was pretty certain that a bear or bears would be seen; I had heard this neck of the woods was good bear country; and the sign I had seen at Brendan’s stand was impressive.
The talk continued out on the porch, and the card game continued inside. Somewhere along in the discussion of the hunt, someone mentioned sitting on stand without moving for a few hours and how hard that was on the posterior. I was thankful because I had forgotten the one cushion the day before, and now made a mental note not to forget again. I agreed out loud, how hard it had been, and Rachel said that the store in town sold cushions. I decided right then to go buy another and thicker cushion. Just before I left, Shane told me there was a sign in the store in town, that would show the number of bears registered from the first day of the hunt on Monday; he asked me to check to see how many had been tagged there. I went into town to pick one a cushion but they were out of the type I had wanted. I also went to the next town but no luck there either. I did remember to check the sign over the register, and I saw there had been 4 bears registered at the check in station for the day before.
When I got back to the lodge, I told Shane and the others about how many bear had been taken according to the posting at store. My announcement was greeted with looks of dismay; it seems only 4 bears for day one was none to great, at least for the hunters. I decided I would do everything I could to help improve Brendan’s chances that second day to at least see a bear in the woods. I called Brendan over and we started to get ready for the day’s hunt. First off we showered up using scent blocking soap. Then we changed into our hunting clothing that had been stored in a plastic box overnight with a couple of white socks, now black, full of activated charcoal. I had gotten this at a pet shop, much less expensive than scent block bags, and works on the same principle – or so I think anyhow. When we came down we made sure to avoid the smokers in the group, or at least to avoid their cigarette smoke. When it was time to leave we grabbed our gear, Brendan taking the rifle, and headed out – again with Shane driving and Randy also aboard. We left somewhat later today.
Once again, out on the logging road, we ran into the loggers hard at work. They moved the truck to let us pass, they had quite a few logs left to cut and placed into the truck, and we would have been there for a while had they not moved for us. Then we were out to our stand as the day before. Again it was another day on the stand much the same as it was on the first day. A bit of difference that was obvious from the start was that we now had an extra seat cushion that fit right across the whole seat. We made sure not to forget it today. That one added to the other two smaller ones we had made for a more comfortable sit. Soon after Shane pulled away, maybe 20 to 30 minutes, we heard a loud cracking/crunching noise off to our right front. We stayed quiet. All we heard in that time was the fairly far off drone of the loggers saw now an then, the flitter of birds wings and the chirping of birds, and the scurrying of the chipmunks. There was not even the slightest breeze to rustle the leaves. After about another 30 to 40 minutes, and our hearing nothing new, we began to breathe again. During that wait, Brendan’s excitement level rose like a sky rocket, then slowly sailed to earth again without having exploded its beautiful colors overhead. I do not know what made the noise, but my guess would be either a bear or a moose stepping on an old partially rotted log.
We sat, we stretched, a couple of times each, and we waited again. We enjoyed the birds flying around us, landing in the trees to look for a meal, and we enjoyed the antics of the chipmunks at the bait station. A hawk landed in a branch right behind us, and then took off to apparently look for larger meals than chipmunks, leaving the two near the bait station to go about their business. Again, like the day before, the seconds turned to minutes, the minutes to hours, and the hours passed through the afternoon. At about 1800 we heard a gunshot, it came from the direction of Randy’s stand. I figured he had gotten a bear. The day before, we had also heard a shot from his general direction, but that one had sounded way further off from us. About 15 minutes later Brendan thought he heard another shot from the same general direction, but lower. I did not hear it. I had been telling Brendan that I was pretty sure I had just heard a bear vocalize from our rear and over my left shoulder. Brendan had not heard that. We decided to keep very quiet and to make sure we did not fidget in the stand.
At least a half hour had gone by, and neither of us had heard anything that sounded like a bear approaching. We were both well aware they can be very quiet, but I am also pretty adept at picking out sounds in the woods even though my hearing is not what it once was. Another 15 or 20 minutes of so passed and I began to think that whatever I had heard was either my imagination due to wishful thinking, or was something that went the other way. Brendan seemed pretty sure that noting was coming either. It was now getting close to sundown and I could see he seemed a bit down in his mood. It was about 7PM or so, and sundown was minutes away, then just another half hour of hunt time. All of a sudden there was a loud clamor in the woods to my left, much closer now than the noise I had attributed to a bear earlier on. This was no bear though, that was obvious. It was a chipmunk giving a loud alarm call, and judging by the rustling leaves and branches we heard it had been pretty startled. Brendan and I turned to stone, it was a tense moment.
I slowly motioned to him with a finger on my lips; he knew to be silent and if he had to move to do it slowly. We both scanned a bit but saw nothing. I would guess the noise had come from less than 50 yards away. I whispered to Brendan to be ready because the sound had come from basically the same direction as the noise I had heard earlier and it might mean a bear approaching. Again we waited silently and still. About another 20 or 25 minutes passed in which we heard nothing. It is difficult trying to sit there silent and not moving, tense with anticipation, and with your adrenalin flowing a bit; but we did it. Then a few minutes more went by and I heard something behind us. What I had heard was definitely footsteps of an animal, and I hoped it was a bear. I ever so slowly turned to my right to look at Brendan. I motioned my finger to my lips, then I gave a thumb up and pointed my thumb toward my chest to signal something was behind us. He only nodded, he had heard it too.
Again seconds became minutes, but they went no further this time in our wait. I heard a soft swooshing noise down below us to our right front at about 1 o’clock, about 20 yards away. I looked and as I turned my head, I saw Brendan turning his. There it was, in some ferns, a bear cub. It was facing into the wind which had been coming in from our 11:00 o’clock, so it had been angling from our left front toward our right rear. With the bait in front of us, any bear coming into the site would get a noseful of scent from the area by walking around our rear and then coming out exactly where this bear showed itself. I was happy, but not happy. First of all it was great to see a bear; but there would be no shooting of sows with cubs, and we would simply not shoot a cub either, even though legal to do so. I scanned and listened for the sow but heard nothing. After a couple of minutes the tiny little cub left the ferns and walked out into the open toward the bait can. It was no cub after all. Apparently while it stood in the ferns, our vision was obstructed enough so we only saw a little bit of it. Still it was not a very big bear as I saw it. I guessed anywhere from about 80 to 180 pounds, but more likely that it was on the bottom end of that. It is pretty hard to judge the size of a bear while your heart is thumping at about a thousand beats per minute.
Brendan was tense with excitement, his adrenalin must have been pumping about a quart per second. He glanced at the bear and slowly over to me for only a moment. I gave him the sign to wait at least one minute to find out if this was a sow with cubs. I also motioned to him a signal that it was up to him to shoot. The bear had been walking very slowly but deliberately toward the bait can, then stopped and sniffed around. It was not nervous from the looks of it, just being cautious. That lack of nervousness was the sign of an adult bear. Brendan was already bringing up the rifle to take off the safety before I could whisper that it was ‘anywhere from 80 to 180’, just like two bears in the videos we had watched. To me they both had looked exactly the same size, and Shane had shown us the video to show how hard it is to judge size. Then Brendan hesitated to aim in. I looked down and saw the bear just sitting there, he gave a look left toward us, then a look right. He had not heard my whisper, that was good. He got up and headed toward the can again, he stopped to sniff the ground, then he sat down again. Boy do they look bigger when they sit down.
I was about to tell Brendan to take a shot at the bear as it sat there. It was, after all, a broad side shot, just with the bear sitting. The bear did not give me a chance, it got up and again headed toward the can. Then it stopped about 8 feet from the can, broadside to us. I nudged Brendan, he brought up the rifle, ever so slowly, and aimed in. I told him the word “squeeze”. That was the word I had used to get him to stop flinching in anticipation of recoil. By him silently saying that word to himself once he was aimed in, he thought of nothing else, and thus his shooting had improved greatly over the past few weeks. That word was all it took. He fired, and somehow I had the foresight to have raised my right finger to cover my right ear, the ear on the gun side. As all this went down, my eyes were on the bear and never left him, well except for a second to look at my watch hanging in front of me off the rail. Brendan had 6 minutes left to legally shoot. All else I could think of now was: “remember where the bear was last” – words told to us by Shane should Brendan shoot a bear. The shot rang out, the bear flew up into the air, did a complete somersault, hit the ground, turning around as it did so, and tried to run. It moved all of about 2 feet, moaned a few times. I told him not to worry, that moaning as soulful as it sounded, was a sign he had shot the bear with a good shot. I was hopeful that was correct. I looked again and the bear was absolutely still and absolutely silent. It took a lot less time for that to happen than it did for me to just describe it. Then I had a thought: It had been pretty easy to remember where the bear had been last, right about where it stood when it had been shot.
I turned to Brendan who was now looking at the bear, then at me, and I told him to reload just in case. I knew there was no ‘just in case’ in this case, this bear was dead; but I wanted him to be ready for future hunts – just in case. We watched the bear, it still did not move or make a sound. As I congratulated him on a successful hunt, I noticed Brendan was doing three things. He was making sure to hold his rifle safely with finger off of the trigger and pointed in a safe direction, he was shaking like a leaf in a hurricane, and he was grinning from ear to ear. I told him to go ahead and unload the rifle, to make it safe. He did so. Then we talked some more about his success, that was until I remembered to turn on the radio in my pocket to call our guide. Minutes had passed since Brendan had shot, and we were supposed to have called Shane as soon as we realized we had gotten one. Oh well. Shane was on the air as soon as I called to tell him Brendan had bagged his bear. Unknown to us at that time, Shane had driven down the logging road to about ½ mile away from us in anticipation of picking us up. He got on the radio and told me he had heard the shot (later telling me it had sounded like a cannon, and he knew it was Brendan shooting). As he drove down the road we could hear him coming. He got back on the radio to ask if the bear was dead. I told him it had seemed to have been well hit, had cart wheeled, moaned, and stopped moving so I was pretty sure it was dead. He was on site a minute or so later. That is when Brendan and I got out of the stand. We had waited in the stand on the instructions of Shane, this was one of his rules for the hunt – safety was a prime concern.
Brendan finally got to see his bear close up. He was a happy hunter. We got a quick picture, Shane took two others, and then dragged out the young boar, which is what he saw it to be.
He figured about 80-90 pounds and about 1.5 years old. He told Brendan it was a good bear, and Brendan was a happy camper, or should I say a Happy Bear Hunter. Then we picked up Randy, he had had no luck that day either. We then went to meet the others, apparently some of them had also bagged their bears. Brendan was till shaking during the ride to meet the others, oh those adrenalin rushes - but as for me I was quite calm, and quite content!
Mote to come, but shorter parts after this one...
Once everyone was wide eyed and busy tailed, except Brendan, Rachel made breakfast and we all enjoyed it. There is something about the combination of a good cook, and cool, fresh, clean Maine air that just makes your appetite spike, as if mine needed any help. After eating we all helped clean up, but Z really did a number. It had become apparent he liked to keep things tidy around the camp, and he later wound up giving Rachel a break and cooking a few meals. He was pretty good at it too. I think Z going out of his way to help clean up got some of the other guys more into cleaning up after themselves; though his cooking did not inspire others to cook as his and Rachel’s were so good. My guess is that had some of us cooked we would have poisoned the group. I did try to get Brendan to cook Breakfast, he is darned good at pancakes, eggs and bacon, but he wanted none of the cooking chores preferring to sleep late.
After breakfast there was talk of bears, predictions for the weather, predictions of who would get a bear that day, a game of cards, readying for the hunt and so on. There was a lot of good natured ribbing and other joking too. Tony was pretty good with the ribbing and the jokes, he sure kept things on the lighter side and that was always good to give everyone a laugh. When the talk got to bears although everyone knew something, we always deferred to Shane and Herb. Both of them were pretty surprised and disappointed that none of the group had seen or shot a bear the day before. They were pretty sure that our luck would get better, or at least pretty hopeful. I was pretty certain that a bear or bears would be seen; I had heard this neck of the woods was good bear country; and the sign I had seen at Brendan’s stand was impressive.
The talk continued out on the porch, and the card game continued inside. Somewhere along in the discussion of the hunt, someone mentioned sitting on stand without moving for a few hours and how hard that was on the posterior. I was thankful because I had forgotten the one cushion the day before, and now made a mental note not to forget again. I agreed out loud, how hard it had been, and Rachel said that the store in town sold cushions. I decided right then to go buy another and thicker cushion. Just before I left, Shane told me there was a sign in the store in town, that would show the number of bears registered from the first day of the hunt on Monday; he asked me to check to see how many had been tagged there. I went into town to pick one a cushion but they were out of the type I had wanted. I also went to the next town but no luck there either. I did remember to check the sign over the register, and I saw there had been 4 bears registered at the check in station for the day before.
When I got back to the lodge, I told Shane and the others about how many bear had been taken according to the posting at store. My announcement was greeted with looks of dismay; it seems only 4 bears for day one was none to great, at least for the hunters. I decided I would do everything I could to help improve Brendan’s chances that second day to at least see a bear in the woods. I called Brendan over and we started to get ready for the day’s hunt. First off we showered up using scent blocking soap. Then we changed into our hunting clothing that had been stored in a plastic box overnight with a couple of white socks, now black, full of activated charcoal. I had gotten this at a pet shop, much less expensive than scent block bags, and works on the same principle – or so I think anyhow. When we came down we made sure to avoid the smokers in the group, or at least to avoid their cigarette smoke. When it was time to leave we grabbed our gear, Brendan taking the rifle, and headed out – again with Shane driving and Randy also aboard. We left somewhat later today.
Once again, out on the logging road, we ran into the loggers hard at work. They moved the truck to let us pass, they had quite a few logs left to cut and placed into the truck, and we would have been there for a while had they not moved for us. Then we were out to our stand as the day before. Again it was another day on the stand much the same as it was on the first day. A bit of difference that was obvious from the start was that we now had an extra seat cushion that fit right across the whole seat. We made sure not to forget it today. That one added to the other two smaller ones we had made for a more comfortable sit. Soon after Shane pulled away, maybe 20 to 30 minutes, we heard a loud cracking/crunching noise off to our right front. We stayed quiet. All we heard in that time was the fairly far off drone of the loggers saw now an then, the flitter of birds wings and the chirping of birds, and the scurrying of the chipmunks. There was not even the slightest breeze to rustle the leaves. After about another 30 to 40 minutes, and our hearing nothing new, we began to breathe again. During that wait, Brendan’s excitement level rose like a sky rocket, then slowly sailed to earth again without having exploded its beautiful colors overhead. I do not know what made the noise, but my guess would be either a bear or a moose stepping on an old partially rotted log.
We sat, we stretched, a couple of times each, and we waited again. We enjoyed the birds flying around us, landing in the trees to look for a meal, and we enjoyed the antics of the chipmunks at the bait station. A hawk landed in a branch right behind us, and then took off to apparently look for larger meals than chipmunks, leaving the two near the bait station to go about their business. Again, like the day before, the seconds turned to minutes, the minutes to hours, and the hours passed through the afternoon. At about 1800 we heard a gunshot, it came from the direction of Randy’s stand. I figured he had gotten a bear. The day before, we had also heard a shot from his general direction, but that one had sounded way further off from us. About 15 minutes later Brendan thought he heard another shot from the same general direction, but lower. I did not hear it. I had been telling Brendan that I was pretty sure I had just heard a bear vocalize from our rear and over my left shoulder. Brendan had not heard that. We decided to keep very quiet and to make sure we did not fidget in the stand.
At least a half hour had gone by, and neither of us had heard anything that sounded like a bear approaching. We were both well aware they can be very quiet, but I am also pretty adept at picking out sounds in the woods even though my hearing is not what it once was. Another 15 or 20 minutes of so passed and I began to think that whatever I had heard was either my imagination due to wishful thinking, or was something that went the other way. Brendan seemed pretty sure that noting was coming either. It was now getting close to sundown and I could see he seemed a bit down in his mood. It was about 7PM or so, and sundown was minutes away, then just another half hour of hunt time. All of a sudden there was a loud clamor in the woods to my left, much closer now than the noise I had attributed to a bear earlier on. This was no bear though, that was obvious. It was a chipmunk giving a loud alarm call, and judging by the rustling leaves and branches we heard it had been pretty startled. Brendan and I turned to stone, it was a tense moment.
I slowly motioned to him with a finger on my lips; he knew to be silent and if he had to move to do it slowly. We both scanned a bit but saw nothing. I would guess the noise had come from less than 50 yards away. I whispered to Brendan to be ready because the sound had come from basically the same direction as the noise I had heard earlier and it might mean a bear approaching. Again we waited silently and still. About another 20 or 25 minutes passed in which we heard nothing. It is difficult trying to sit there silent and not moving, tense with anticipation, and with your adrenalin flowing a bit; but we did it. Then a few minutes more went by and I heard something behind us. What I had heard was definitely footsteps of an animal, and I hoped it was a bear. I ever so slowly turned to my right to look at Brendan. I motioned my finger to my lips, then I gave a thumb up and pointed my thumb toward my chest to signal something was behind us. He only nodded, he had heard it too.
Again seconds became minutes, but they went no further this time in our wait. I heard a soft swooshing noise down below us to our right front at about 1 o’clock, about 20 yards away. I looked and as I turned my head, I saw Brendan turning his. There it was, in some ferns, a bear cub. It was facing into the wind which had been coming in from our 11:00 o’clock, so it had been angling from our left front toward our right rear. With the bait in front of us, any bear coming into the site would get a noseful of scent from the area by walking around our rear and then coming out exactly where this bear showed itself. I was happy, but not happy. First of all it was great to see a bear; but there would be no shooting of sows with cubs, and we would simply not shoot a cub either, even though legal to do so. I scanned and listened for the sow but heard nothing. After a couple of minutes the tiny little cub left the ferns and walked out into the open toward the bait can. It was no cub after all. Apparently while it stood in the ferns, our vision was obstructed enough so we only saw a little bit of it. Still it was not a very big bear as I saw it. I guessed anywhere from about 80 to 180 pounds, but more likely that it was on the bottom end of that. It is pretty hard to judge the size of a bear while your heart is thumping at about a thousand beats per minute.
Brendan was tense with excitement, his adrenalin must have been pumping about a quart per second. He glanced at the bear and slowly over to me for only a moment. I gave him the sign to wait at least one minute to find out if this was a sow with cubs. I also motioned to him a signal that it was up to him to shoot. The bear had been walking very slowly but deliberately toward the bait can, then stopped and sniffed around. It was not nervous from the looks of it, just being cautious. That lack of nervousness was the sign of an adult bear. Brendan was already bringing up the rifle to take off the safety before I could whisper that it was ‘anywhere from 80 to 180’, just like two bears in the videos we had watched. To me they both had looked exactly the same size, and Shane had shown us the video to show how hard it is to judge size. Then Brendan hesitated to aim in. I looked down and saw the bear just sitting there, he gave a look left toward us, then a look right. He had not heard my whisper, that was good. He got up and headed toward the can again, he stopped to sniff the ground, then he sat down again. Boy do they look bigger when they sit down.
I was about to tell Brendan to take a shot at the bear as it sat there. It was, after all, a broad side shot, just with the bear sitting. The bear did not give me a chance, it got up and again headed toward the can. Then it stopped about 8 feet from the can, broadside to us. I nudged Brendan, he brought up the rifle, ever so slowly, and aimed in. I told him the word “squeeze”. That was the word I had used to get him to stop flinching in anticipation of recoil. By him silently saying that word to himself once he was aimed in, he thought of nothing else, and thus his shooting had improved greatly over the past few weeks. That word was all it took. He fired, and somehow I had the foresight to have raised my right finger to cover my right ear, the ear on the gun side. As all this went down, my eyes were on the bear and never left him, well except for a second to look at my watch hanging in front of me off the rail. Brendan had 6 minutes left to legally shoot. All else I could think of now was: “remember where the bear was last” – words told to us by Shane should Brendan shoot a bear. The shot rang out, the bear flew up into the air, did a complete somersault, hit the ground, turning around as it did so, and tried to run. It moved all of about 2 feet, moaned a few times. I told him not to worry, that moaning as soulful as it sounded, was a sign he had shot the bear with a good shot. I was hopeful that was correct. I looked again and the bear was absolutely still and absolutely silent. It took a lot less time for that to happen than it did for me to just describe it. Then I had a thought: It had been pretty easy to remember where the bear had been last, right about where it stood when it had been shot.
I turned to Brendan who was now looking at the bear, then at me, and I told him to reload just in case. I knew there was no ‘just in case’ in this case, this bear was dead; but I wanted him to be ready for future hunts – just in case. We watched the bear, it still did not move or make a sound. As I congratulated him on a successful hunt, I noticed Brendan was doing three things. He was making sure to hold his rifle safely with finger off of the trigger and pointed in a safe direction, he was shaking like a leaf in a hurricane, and he was grinning from ear to ear. I told him to go ahead and unload the rifle, to make it safe. He did so. Then we talked some more about his success, that was until I remembered to turn on the radio in my pocket to call our guide. Minutes had passed since Brendan had shot, and we were supposed to have called Shane as soon as we realized we had gotten one. Oh well. Shane was on the air as soon as I called to tell him Brendan had bagged his bear. Unknown to us at that time, Shane had driven down the logging road to about ½ mile away from us in anticipation of picking us up. He got on the radio and told me he had heard the shot (later telling me it had sounded like a cannon, and he knew it was Brendan shooting). As he drove down the road we could hear him coming. He got back on the radio to ask if the bear was dead. I told him it had seemed to have been well hit, had cart wheeled, moaned, and stopped moving so I was pretty sure it was dead. He was on site a minute or so later. That is when Brendan and I got out of the stand. We had waited in the stand on the instructions of Shane, this was one of his rules for the hunt – safety was a prime concern.
Brendan finally got to see his bear close up. He was a happy hunter. We got a quick picture, Shane took two others, and then dragged out the young boar, which is what he saw it to be.
He figured about 80-90 pounds and about 1.5 years old. He told Brendan it was a good bear, and Brendan was a happy camper, or should I say a Happy Bear Hunter. Then we picked up Randy, he had had no luck that day either. We then went to meet the others, apparently some of them had also bagged their bears. Brendan was till shaking during the ride to meet the others, oh those adrenalin rushes - but as for me I was quite calm, and quite content!
Mote to come, but shorter parts after this one...
Monday, September 4, 2006
The Bear Hunt, part 3...
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.
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.
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
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