The insanity continues, more on the Pope...

...the quote that he made, and the reactions of Muslims and others round the world.

I just read an article over at CNN @
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/09/19/pope.defense.reut/index.html

in which we learn that some world leaders believe he was sincere in his apology, yet most Muslim leaders, at least those quoted, seem to think he owes more to the believers of Islam in the world.

Now I ask you to analyze exactly what the Pope did that then resulted in riots by Muslims gone berserk, destruction of property again by Muslims gone berserk, burning people in effigy again by Muslims gone berserk, calls for the destruction of the west and Christianity again by Muslims gone berserk but also apparently by those who also appear quite calm and deliberate, the killing of 2 or three people (the nun, her body guard and I believe a hospital worker in the hospital in which the nun was killed) suspected to have been done by Muslims in retaliation for the Pope quoting those words he uttered. In essence, if he did anything wrong at all, is was to have most likely been that he inadvertently insulted a group of people. Even if the perceived insult - for that is probably only what it really is as I doubt an insult was meant purposefully - had actually been a purposeful one, does it deserve the reaction(s) it has received around the world?

Let me give you a few quotes from the CNN article to which I have provided a link above:

"Italian media said an al Qaeda group in Egypt called for the German-born pope, who is 79, to be punished by strict Islamic Shariah law for insulting their religion."

Yes you got it. The Pope said something, while in his own domain, under the protection of the Vatican, under the protection of Italy, and certain whackos want to try the Pope by strict Shariah law, or the law of the Q'oran, because of an insult. Well that maybe all well and fine if you are a Muslim who believe in that stuff; I prefer to believe in a law that is just and righteous for all based upon law not religion.

Now, lest you think the above type of statement was made only by extremists/terrorists like al Qaeda, and that it could never really come to fruition, here is another such quote calling for the arrest of the Pope, it is from the same CNN article:

"Workers at Turkey's Directorate General for Religious Affairs, or Diyanet, petitioned for the arrest of the pontiff when he makes a scheduled visit to Turkey in November."

Hmm, let's see, are those guys whacko extremists or terrorists. It appears not, in fact it appears they are part of the Turkish government! Yet they are petitioning for the arrest of the Pope should he visit Turkey as planned. See a pattern forming yet? Maybe you do, but I'd wager not the one of which I am thinking.

Here is yet another quote from the world of Islam, again from the same CNN piece:

"In Iraq, where an effigy of the pope was burned Monday, parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani called his apology "inadequate and not commensurate with the moral damage caused to Muslims' feelings.""

Can you imagine that, the Pope's apology was not sufficient when compared to the amount of moral damage it did to the sensitivities of Muslims - it hurt their feelings and this guy is implying a better apology would make them feel better. Oh give it a break, and I say this because the pattern continues, well maybe more than one pattern continues, but certainly the one of which I am thinking; and in addition the pattern of over reaction on the part of Islamists.

Again, yet another quote from the world of Islam, also from the CNN article:

"The grand mufti of the Palestinian territories, Sheikh Mohammad Hussein, said the pope must make "a personal and clear apology to 1.5 billion Muslims in this world for the insult caused by his lecture. ...""

Again talk of insults against Muslims. Remember now that the so called insult, whether real or perceived, whether intended or unintentional, has resulted in what amounts to, in my opinion, maniacal over reactions on the part of Muslims throughout much of the world. The over reactions were those I outlined above, as well as these quoted statements from the Muslim world. Have you guessed what pattern I see that keeps recurring that is really crazy?

Just in case you have not yet guessed it, here is one more clue from that CNN article, another quote but this one reportedly from the president of the 'mostly' Catholic country of Slovenia:

"The president of mostly Catholic Slovenia, Janez Drnovsek, said on his Web site that Muslims were justifiably upset and that the pope should be big enough to learn from his error."

That’s it. If you don't see the pattern yet, I give up, I'll break down and tell you. The pattern is that everyone who was quoted, and quite conceivably all of those who are rioting and destroying things and calling for the victory of Islam over the rest of the world, are all seeking the Pope to make amends for what he said. Yet, not one of them has been quoted as saying that the Muslims - who have over reacted by going berserk, by destroying property, by killings, by calling for the destruction of Christianity and the west, by calling for the rule of Islam over all - should be prosecuted under the law, or owe anyone any sort of recompense let alone an apology! This fact makes this whole affair nothing more than lunacy fired by religion, as I see it!

When are the people of the non-Muslim world going to realize that Islam, at least much of it, is apparently hell bent on being the enemy of the rest of the world. There was no justifiable reason for all of the riots, the property destruction like firebombing of churches, or the killing of that nun and her associates. But even some who are not Muslims somehow believe the Pope owes more of an apology and apparently also believe that Muslims owe no one anything, This is madness in my opinion. Evil was not perpetrated by the Pope, at least nothing intentionally, and nothing derving of the reaction it got. Yet evil was committed by Muslims in reaction to what he said, and people want to blame it all on the Pope. I tell you this is a form of madness that has seeped into every aspect of society in the world. We feel apologetic when they go berserk, when they destroy property and lives because of an insult! This is something that many Muslims are using as a quite effective tool to defeat us, our own feelings of guilt, or passiveness, that lead some of us to believe that if we leave them alone, they will be nice to us. What a big and possibly fatal mistake that could become for us.

Surely, not all the followers of Islam are bent on the destruction of the non-Islamic world, but enough of them are, as evidenced by these recent disruptions, and by those after the Mohammed cartoons, to absolutely convince me that we are on the brink of the end of our world as we know it. The fuse has been lit folks, there is no putting it out before it hits the powder kegs. You can try to hide your head in a hole in the ground, but if that is the way you choose, it makes your cowardly posterior a better target. Did I just say cowardly, yes I did, and I meant it. Those who say nothing, and those (Muslim and non-Muslim) who keep on appeasing the violent Islamists, are little more than timid children hoping that the boogeyman will not hurt them. Well in this case people, the boogeyman is quite real, quite nasty, and he hates us vehemently. Those who appease these animals or who just do and say nothing need to wake up to the realization that the shit has already hit the fan, and a lot more of it is headed our way.
My hat goes off to those who oppose these beasts, who realize this is a fight to the death, a fight for our survival. This too goes for Muslims and non-Muslims alike. You see it isn't just the west and Christianity that the violent extremist Muslims wish to destroy, it is also any other Muslim who does not bow to their extremely strict manner of beliefs. Did I hear someone say Islamo-Fascists? I could not agree more; there are an awful lot of them out there.

Be vigilant, stay prepared, be ready for the fight for your life. I believe it is coming all to soon.

Stay safe,
Glenn B

The Sane World Owes the Pope Bigtime...

...if only all of us would open our eyes, and see the truth.

As is now common knowledge, sometime over the past few days, the current Pope quoted some Byzantine king on what said king believed about Islam, in essence, being a violent religion, that soought to spread itself by the sword. In that regard the quote also, in essence, stated that nothing but evil came about from the teachings of Mohammed through the Q'uran.

What happened next seems only too typical of the followers of the religion that calls itself the religion of peace; and that which happened was not peaceful. There were riots around much of the Islamic world. There were burnings in effigy of the Pope and others. There were calls for jihad against Christianity and the west. There were calls for the utter destruction of the west. There were people blaming this all on George W. Bush, oth in the Islamic world and in the world of the political ultra leftists in the USA. There were churches that were firebombed or torched. There was other property damaged. There were at leasat two people, and I think three, who were killed in alleged retaliation for the words the Pope quoted. All of these actions, with the exception of blaming it all on GWB, was carried out by Muslims, or suspected of having been carried out by Muslims. Islam is not, as I see it, a religion of peace. It appears much more to me to be a religion of fanticism driven by a hatred of anything not Islamic or of anything that questions or criticizes Islam or its prophets.

So what is for which we owe a big debt of gratitude to the Pope. Well his statement brought on all of this furor from many of the followers of Islam. His statement was the so called catalyst, really just an excuse though, for the rioters to go berserk, to bring out their nature. For that is exactly what they have done. The words he quoted were the excuse that the Islamists used to riot, destroy property, burn people in effigy, call for the destruction of Christianiy, the destruction of the west, the killing of the pope, and the destruction of St. Peter's Basilica - among other things. His quoting someone else were what they used as an excuse to show the rest of the world their true makeup.

I am very happy the Pope did not apologize for the words he uttered. He gave his apology very carefully, and said in essence that he was sorry if any one was offended. Too bad the Pope did not also then add that the Islamists of today, who took these heinous actions, put more truth into those words he quoted that anything that he could have ever said in his lifetime. What has been done, in relation to the quote made by the Pope, was absolutely evil as I see it.

Why it is that everyone who is not a Muslim does not see this, why it is that the so called moderate Muslims do not see this, why it is that some people want to blame the Pope for the destruction and death done by Islamists? It is all beyond me! Wake up folks, the sky really is falling, the end of the world as we know it is quite possibly just around the corner, the enemy is at the gates and the gates are crumbling, and heck they already have their spies within them. To quote a somewhat famous rock band, Credence Clearwater Revival:

"I hope you have got your things together, I hope you are quite prepared to die."

Me, I am a man of peace, I love a peaceful life. Yet, I have my things together. If it comes to it, I am quite prepared to die to defend my country and her Constitution. I would rather live and be able to continue to enjoy my liberties and freedoms in peace, but don't let anyone who would try to take those liberties and freedoms from us believe even for a moment that my love of a peaceful life means I will defend them any less. I will fight for them, to the death if need be, you can bet on that. To quote The Grateful Dead:

"God damn, well I decalre,
have you seen the like?
Their walls are built of cannon balls,
their motto is "Don't Tread On Me"

And it is about time we remember that, and start living up to it.

All the best,
Glenn B

Oh Willie tell me it ain't so,...

...please tell me it ain't so.

As per FoxNews.com @
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,214340,00.html

Willie Nelson was "...issued misdemeanor citations for possession of narcotic mushrooms and marijuana..." I wonder, what does that do to this guy's image as one of the best of Country/Western music? Probably sells more albums for him. Oh well, I don't condone it. Then again, I guess his using this stuff, if in fact he does use it, doesn't make his music any better or worse. I still like him for his tunes, but I wish he would clean up his act if these charges wind up being upheld.

The frequency of E. coli outbreaks and...

...the outrageous numbers of illegal aliens in this country from Mexico has me wondering is there a link between these two stats. It is already considered factual knowledge that the outbreaks of bed bugs across the USA is linked to the populations of illegal aliens in areas where the outbreaks occur. It does not take all that much imagination to wonder if illegal alien populations and E. coli outbreaks are linked.

If you recall, over the past several years the numbers of E. coli cases have seemingly risen in good number; so to has the population of illegal aliens, especially those from Mexico. Now think about where the E. coli outbreaks occur, not as in what areas have the people who get infected, but in what kind of places do the tainted food products which spread E. coli originate. They originate in places that food is processed, or in agricultural settings. Granted, many illegal aliens work in agricultural and meat processing jobs. From personal experience, I can tell you that the hygiene standards in countries like Mexico are not anywhere near our own. I have seen first hand, Mexican field laborers harvesting lettuce, vomiting on the lettuce, taking the soiled head(s) of lettuce and throwing them into the box along with the clean ones. I saw this on several occasions in my 4 years as a Border patrol Agent. It disgusts me today as it did back then. I have also seen these same type of field workers with smelly dirty hands, right after they did the dirty toilet thing, and they did not clean before resuming work picking produce that could have become your dinner that week.

Now as per an article I saw at Foxnews.com @
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,214310,00.html

"The FDA and California Department of Health Services planned Monday to work toward tracing the infected greens to individual farms. The inquiry will review irrigation methods, harvest conditions and other practices at farms possibly involved."

They state somewhere else in the article that this outbreak could be related to fouled irrigation water. I wonder what substance it is that fouled the water, could it be human waste? Where oh where did that come from? Nowhere does the article state, and at no time have I heard any suggest this could be due to lack of hygiene on the part of illegal alien field workers. My bet is that if they find one human at a farm who is carrying this germ or somehow else spreading it, they will stop looking if the guy is anything other than an illegal. If the first guy is an illegal, I would bet they keep looking until they find it on someone who is here legally, just to be politically correct in favor of illegal aliens.

Of course, I could be wrong in my hypothesis, and that is all it is, that this outbreak or others have been caused by illegal aliens with horrendous hygiene, but I'd be willing to bet on it, just a little anyhow, that is if betting were legal. Since it isn't legal, and since I am a U.S. Citizen, I'd also GUESS that if I did gamble illegally, I'd be arrested. If only I were an illegal alien, I might get away with it.

Best regards,
Glenn B

Global Warming, Hurricanes, & the Experts...

...on such things are a topic that just sort of popped into my head while driving to my office today. Truth be told, the subject of hurricanes popped into my head because I was listening to the news on 1010 WINS a local NYC news radio station. They mentioned something about Hurricane Helen changing into a category 2 storm, but I think said it posed no threat to the mainland USA. Go figure.

What is it you ask about that I am telling you to go figure? Well I am thinking we should all try to figure out just what is happening with all the talk of global warming, and the claimed effects it is to have on our planet. That is of course if global warming is in fact a real thing. I am not saying it is or it isn't, I think we don't know enough yet about it to say so. Yet there are folks out there who claim to know all about it, and who claim it is or very well could be our doom, and who know beyond a doubt (at least in their own minds) that mankind has caused global warming.

Those very same experts were all tickled pink when Al Gore came out with whatever it was that he came out with upon the subject of global warming. They were all tickled pink when they claimed the polar ice caps are melting. They were all tickled pink when we had all those hurricanes last year (I think it was a record season for number of hurricanes, or at least for number of them at a certain storm intensity). Immediately upon reaching the end of the hurricane season last year, the experts got to jabbering about how we would likely face even more hurricanes this year because of the intensified or continuing global warming. Their predictions were for massive destruction from the predicted storms. They said not only would there be more such storms, but that the intensity would likely increase. Anyone else remember this: they were blabbing about it often enough that I imagine someone else other than I actually heard them.

Well low and behold, here we are in the middle of September; and at the risk of bringing down the wrath of the hurricanes upon our friends down south, or even up here in the northeast, allow me to say the season is almost over, and as I recall we have not been hit by one hurricane this year. As a matter of fact, all of the hurricanes so far this year have pretty much petered out without much more than some extra rain in some areas. I also seem to remember that this was one of the coolest summers I can recall in many years. What is going on, what will the scientists, the politicians, the religious ultra right, the foreseers of doom and gloom, and the whacko environmentalists (note I said whackos because I believe there are also rational environmentalists) have to shove in our faces next year. Well, if we get plenty of hurricanes they will say it is due to global warming, or that global warming is due to man's sins (in the case of the weird holy men). If not, and if next year is like this one, they may make up something else to try to scare us all into falling under their control. Of course they may already try to come up with some new convoluted reason(s) about why we had few hurricanes this year. They may even try to convolute their own global warming theory that supported the guess more big hurricanes would hit us this year than last; they may say this was an outcome of global warming that caused an expected pause and hurricanes will be cyclical every other year - who knows.

Bear (no pun intended, and you are about to understand why I just said no pun intended) in mind that these same so called environmental experts have told us all about the plight of the polar bears. They have told us the ice does not form early enough in the fall, and melts too soon in the spring to allow polar bears access to their hunting grounds on the ice packs. They have told us that the polar bears are getting stranded at sea when the ice melts suddenly, causing them to drown (and wasn't it the same experts who for years have shown us nature films of polar bears, and magazine articles about them, in which they tell us that polar bears can swim for days if need be). Well whatever, now these same self proclaimed experts are saying that the downfall of the polar bears may actually come about because their testicles are shrinking! What is it they will come up with next? As I said - go figure. By the way, if you look hard enough you will find a blog I did on just that subject a couple of weeks ago.

Me I am not falling for it. I am not moving off of Long island to high ground yet. Right now I think the worry about global warming is possibly a real one, but I think blaming a worldwide, decades maybe even centuries long (so far), weather phenomenon on mankind may be stretching it a bit; and I think the sudden doom we are told we may face is a bit far fetched. I also wonder if it was due to man that the earth warmed up after the last ice age? Were there pundits back then claiming this was the case. Oh no that’s right, back then they blamed it on the gods of the sky, the weather, the north wind and so forth - nowadays the whackos don't believe in god so they blame it on mankind. I guess they need a scapegoat. Oh well, maybe that is what it comes down to after all. Finding a problem, then finding someone to blame it on instead of trying to correct it. Anyhow, before I go jump off of a building or anything silly like that (kids, please understand I am only joking in a certain way, its called sarcasm, and I will not be jumping off of a building because that probably would be very dangerous), I am going to enjoy the warmer winters, that is if they really are warming up. Then again, you could have fooled me that the weather has been all that much warmer lately. Oh well, that's it for now, I've got to go grab a sweater, its chilly in here.

All the best,
Glenn B

Just how sick can people get...

...to make them want to do anything like of what three young men have been accused?

Reportedly three men were accused sexual assault after allegedly attempting to dig up a woman's corpse to have sex with the corpse. See the article at FoxNews.com @ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,214125,00.html

There are truly some unbelieveable or truly bizzare aspects to this case, and I do not mean simply that these young men allegedly wanted to sexually put it to a corpse. Look again at the charge with which they were charged; it was later dropped, but please explain to me how anyone could within the realm of reason be charged with assaulting, or attempted assault, of a corpse. Maybe I just don't get it - in fact I really do not get it at all - so please explain that one to me.

The next thing that is a bit weird is that there is no charge for necrophilia (or attempt of such) in Wisconsin. So these guys will wind up being charged with destruction of property or some other lessor crime than I would imagine necrophilia would be. If it was me as prosecutor, and if the allegations were upheld by sufficient evidence, I would have already charged them with every imaginable crime of which they could be charged to include: criminal trespass, burglary, criminal possession of burglars' tools, destruction of property, conspiracy to commit all of the above.

Finally the other seemingly weird thing about this was that they allegedly were not even going after a fresh corpse, which is, i imagine, probably even weird among those who actually practice necrophilia. The woman reportedly was killed on August 27, and these guys allegedly were trying to dig her up to have sex with her on September 2. Remembering there are 31 days in August, this was then at least part of 7 days that she had already been deceased, and I would imagine a few days after she was buried. If these allegations are true, just how sick are these guys?

I think they all need mental examinations if the allegations are found to be supported by fact and evidence. I think a search of each of their residences and places of business may well be in order to seek out any further evidence of this alleged crime and any others along the same lines. I think if they are convicted, their pictures should be posted on milk cartons to scare children away from strangers. Yeah, I know they are not charged with any crimes against children, but they would sure be guys I would want to scare my children away from for sure if they are guilty.

Hopefully they were not really attempting to dig up the corpse of the departed lady in order to attempt some sort of perverse sexual acts. Hopefully this is a misunderstanding. Hopefully the youth of our nation is not as sick or perverse as it would have to be to do something like this. Yet my guess is the police have some sort of evidence to indicate this is what they were doing, otherwise why arrest them on sexual assault charges in the first place no matter how weird those charges seemed to me.

One final 'hopefully': Hopefully, and understand these are my hopes, if they actually did this, they will be put in jail for as long as the law allows on as many charges as the law allows. I say this last one because if they are indeed guilty under the law, then as I see it, they don't belong out in normal society cause folks, stuff like that, it ain't normal by any stretch of the imagination.

All the best,
Glenn B

Ballseye's Boomers - Ruger Mini 14

Here is a case of a gun I sold that I sometimes kind of, sort of, wish I had not sold, but am still happy I sold it. Go figure, but here is the scoop on this one, particularly the one I had that is shown in the picture.

I was quite eager to purchase a semi-automatic rifle in a readily available caliber, and it was a toss up between something in .223, 7.62x39 or .308. I decided on the .223 if only because I could get ammunition really on the cheap, as in free at that time. I decided on the Ruger for a few reasons. It was made in America, I had a couple of other Rugers firearms, my experience with Ruger had been a good one (no problems with my other Rugers), Ruger had a fine reputation even if the Mini 14 got somewhat mixed reviews.

Well when I got mine some years back, I immediately took it home and cleaned it. I noted a few disturbing things. The disturbing things were a lot of machine marks inside the receiver, and a lot of seemingly sloppy welds. Then it was off to the range. I fired up a lot of ammo. I had a few jams, heck I needed something to whack the bolt handle to open it a few times, it did not extract and eject, leaving expended shell casings in the chamber at least a few times. More cleaning and different ammo and it worked better. Then I looked at my targets, where were the bullet holes. On one target, as I recall, I hit it about 5 times, this was out of many, many more shots. I adjusted sights and fired away, and after many such adjustments I got it sighted in as good as it would get. The big problem was shooting from any sort of a rest, doing so threw off my groups big time if I had sighted in the rifle from a no rest position.

I was not impressed and I had shot many a Ruger Mini 14 on my job with much better results. They were all blued steel, this one was stainless; they were all manufactured at least 10 years earlier, my new one was current (for then) production. I called Ruger, they said send it in. I had second thoughts, I sold the gun. The guy who got it loved it. Go figure!

The Ruger Mini 14 is loved by many and hated by many, my experience can illustrate why some hate it, the experience of the guy who bought it from me can illustrate how some love it. It is apparently a decent design even if not one of the most inherently accurate rifles out there. These rifles usually group good enough out to about 125 maybe 150 yards; some further. Therein I think lies a problem, it is in my opinion different - vastly different - in quality control from one to another. I could be wrong on that, but from all the feedback I have heard on them, that is my guess.

It has been years since I have shot or owned one. It maybe time again to try one out, probably this time in .223 again (only because 7.62x39 has proven difficult ammo to buy recently). Maybe I'll get a good one to satisfy me, or maybe I'll just have to sell it again. If anyone wants to make a donation let me know.

All the best,
Glenn B

Good friends are nice, and work stinks...

...and a wise man once said that the only good job was a windy one - if you get my drift.

I was essentially called into work on Friday, though I had other plans for the day and was going to take it off. (By the way this had me forget to blog yesterday but as you can see I am up and at it very early, at 0600, today on a Saturday.) A big stink had been made about something or other on Thursday afternoon in my office, and it fell to me to get it corrected even though I had not done anything to cause it by either my action or inaction. I cancelled an appointment I had for the day, a door installation but heck it rained all day so it wwould not have been good to get done anyhow. Then I completely forgot about another responsibility I had for Friday. Well that is I forgot about it until I got home from work late Thursday night. Then I remembered I had a shipment arriving on Friday for which I had to sign. In fact someone would have to be home to receive it if only because of the sontents of the package I would be receiving.

Thinking quickly on Friday morning, I wrote a note to the deliveryperson. I asked that the deliveryperson bring the package to my neighbor in the next house over and deliver it to her, or otherwise if possible to leave it in my garage. Since I figured it would require a signature, I signed the note. I left it taped onto my door so the delivery person would see it, it was a regular sized piece of computer paper, pretty big.

Then after I left home in a hurry to make it to my office, I remembered I had not asked my neighbor if she would accept the package. I called her quickly. I explained my situation with the package and being required to go to work on a day I had planned to be off. I told her what was to be inside the package. She agreeed to accept it nonetheless, and told me that is what good friends are for. Well, since my family and I moved into our current home about 12 years ago, I have not had to many social friends. We see the neighbors socially every now and then, that has been about it for me except a long distance friendship or two that I have. This lady though, my neighbor, is a true friend.

While a neighbor accepting apackage may not sem like a lot to you, it was a big deal for me, and could have been the same for the contents of the package. You see one thing I failed to mention to you above, but I did not fail to mention to my neighbor, was what the package was to contain - live critters. She did not even ask what kind, I guess ebcause she knows I keep snakes, lizards, tortoises, frogs and the like. She has no love for those creatures, yet she agreed to take them in until I arrived home. Very nice of her indeed. She is a good friend if only because 'It is a friend indeed who helps a friend in need.' (Did I just coin a new phrase?)

As it turned out, when my son got home from school, he found the package on our front doorstep, wrapped in plastic. I doubt the delivery person ever went to my friend to deliver the package, something I have to bring up with the delivery service, you know those folks who have all those brown trucks. Oh well, it makes her a friend nonetheless for sure. Nice to have good friends.

It wound up that the 7 snakes in the package seemed to be none the less for having been left on opur doorstep. It was a mild day in the seventies with no sun since it had been raining all day so they did not bake had they might have if left there on a hot summer's day. Even though my neighbor apparently did not take them, she would have left them in her garage, I owe her for the offer. Yes it is nice to have real friends.

All the best,
Glenn B

Slowly but surely...

...the site traffic has picked up a bit for this blog. I have had 183 page visits to date, with 490 page views, from at least 4 continents, and 8 countries, to include: Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Jordan, Tunisia, the United Kingdom, and of course, the United States. My blog is getting about 8 page visits a day recently (from different people), but that is up from what had been only 3. Some folks have spent a few seconds looking, and some others well over a 1/2 hour per visit. That is encouraging.

Hopefully word of my rants will spread and more folks will become readers. If anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to leave them in the comments section. Thanks for visiting, hope you are enjoying what you see here.

All the best,
Glenn B

Have you wondered why I prefer Foxnews.com...

...and why I make more references to news material I have found at FoxNews.com than to other news organizations such as CNN? In fact I think almost all of my references since I started this blog have come from Fox. Well there is a reason dear readers, and I will explain by a comparisson between articles I just read about the passing of ex-governor of Texas Ann Richards.

CNN reports on her death here:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/09/14/richards.obit/index.html

According to CNN she was quick witted, which maybe she was, and to this so called quick wittedness, CNN attributes the following statement that she made about former president George Bush (the older one folks not the current one):

"Poor George. He can't help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth. "

As seems to be the norm for the left, they readily attack their opponents with rhetoric of no particular value other than maybe that it gets a snicker or a laugh, or wins a vote from an ultra lib. Ann Richards was, in my opinion, often irreverant when there was no call for such; but she was more than that, she was an effective politician too.

Despite the fact that she was a sweetheart of the Democrats' party, it is rather interesting to consider that CNN reports on what she did for a living once she left political office, after having served in various positions since about the mid 1970s through her last political spot as the governor of Texas for 4 years from 1991 to 1995. According to the same CNN article:

"She never ran for office again and spent the next years working as a consultant and commentator and serving on corporate boards."

It is rather funny how CNN reports on this without really reporting, at least in this article, about what she got done as a politician. She was best known not as a quipping comedian, nor as a corporate leader; she was best known as a politician. Why would they so readily let the world know that once she left office she went and did what many conservatives do, find employment in the dreaded (at least by ultra leftists) corporate world, that is without giving her much, if any, credit for what she accomplished whilem in political office? Pretty much the only other things the CNN article mentions are some other quippy quotes from her, the fact that she had overcome alcoholism, and some other things about her "unconventionality", and personal life. It is kind of strange, as I see it, that these are the type of things which CNN decided to report upon regarding her.

Although the CNN article does not tell much more about her than mentioned above, FoxNexs.com does tell a little about her actual politics here:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,213731,00.html

What the FoxNes.com articles points out is that she was a "...champion of women and minorities". As far as I recall she did her best to open the Texas state government to those of all ethinic backgrounds which I guess is how it should be since we are a multi-ethnic nation. A quote relative to this was also in the Fox article. I wonder why CNN made no such mention, because as I remember it is one of the things for which she was most well known and most well respected in the world of Texas politics.

She did many things along the lines of firsts in Texas government. The FoxNews.com article points some of them out in this paragraph:

"As governor, Richards appointed the first black University of Texas regent, the first crime victim on the state Criminal Justice Board, the first disabled person on the human services board and the first teacher to lead the State Board of Education. Under Richards, the fabled Texas Rangers pinned stars on their first black and female officers." (From the same Foxnews.com article linked above.)

The FoxNews.com article also went on to list several ofhter things she had accomplished or tried to accomplish while she was in Texas political office. Much of that is to be found in this paragraph, also from the same article from Fox to which I gave the above link:

"She also polished Texas' image, courted movie producers, campaigned for the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico, oversaw a doubling of the state prison system and presided over rising student achievement scores and plunging dropout rates."

She was a darling of the left, and even well liked, or at least well respected by many of the right. So why is it that an apparently (at least as i see them) left leaning news organization such as CNN does not give her, what I believe, is her due and talk about her real political achievements? Why is it a right leaning (or is it really a fair and balanced news organization) like FoxNews.com actually talks about her political achievements in some detail? I just don't get it, unless Fox really is fair and balanced. Do you? You know, maybe those on the far left will say it is some sort of a right wing conspiracy, and that would give me a laugh, but at the same time be so typical.

While CNN does give a few more quotes that she made during her lifetime, they leave out this one (at least in the CNN article to which I linked above), one that FoxNews.com had in its article:

" "I did not want my tombstone to read, 'She kept a really clean house.' I think I'd like them to remember me by saying, 'She opened government to everyone." "

She lived, she died, and even though I did not agree with much of her politics I must admit she did a lot in her service to the people of Texas. That is how she wanted to be remembered. FoxNews.com gave her the respect that I believe she deserved; while CNN, in my opinion, did not. Go figure. Now you know, or at least have an example of, why I prefer FoxNews.com.

All the best,
Glenn B

Vote...

...on election day. Including today there are 55 days and a wake-up until election day. It is critical that folks go to the polling places this year in large numbers and vote to keep our nation secure, to keep us alive and well. That is not hyperbole, there are lots of folks out there in the world today who hate America and who want to get us. If you don't think so, then read a few of my previous rants, read the news, watch the news, or just in general - wake up.

As a nation we need to unite with a few certain objectives in mind this coming election day, and on the one in 2 years. But for this one in 2006, we need really have only one major goal on our minds, voting for the candidates who will protect the United States of America and her people. The ideal candidates in those regards would be willing to put all else aside, at least make all other issues secondary, to the main issue of our security until the threat is done away with. I mean that quite literally too. I think that our politicians, whomever we elect, ought to get together after the elections (if they got together like this beforehand it would be a great platform on which to win)no matter what party affiliation, and make a pact with the American people that they will have one primary goal - our security as a nation.

This would mean that until the threat has been terminated, they will not address such issues as abortion, economic reform, education, environmental concerns, gay rights, the right to keep and bear arms, same sex marriages, tax reform, trade, treaties with other nations, unless they relate directly to the threats we face from terrorism, or unless they were involved in some sort of emergency. So what would they address: border security, foreign policy (to determine our true allies and enemies), immigration reform, military rules of engagement, national security, nuclear proliferation, the United Nations and us pulling out of it or staying in it, the war against terrorism.

What effect would this have? Would it stagnate our government? I think not. I believe it would focus those in office, and force them to deal with the really critical problem we are all facing right now - terrorism. My bet is that the problem would be done away with, or reduced so much, within a year as to be of minimal concern for a long time.

Will my plan ever take place. Probably not, it is too simple, too logical, and would expose those in political office who were true to their word like never before. That of course would not be a bad thing, but it would also expose those who were little more than blowhards when it came to political promises. So politicians would never agree to it. Too bad, it just might work if they did things that way to tackle all problems. One at a time, focus on one thing and get it solved - then move onto the next - instead of trying to focus on one worm inside a can full of worms as they do it now.

Still though, you should make sure to vote, carry out your responsibility as a U.S. citizen. Remember when you do vote, vote for our survival.

Oh well, off to work for me.

All the best,
Glenn B

Hopefully justice will be done...

...but in this case it has not yet been executed. You see: Mohammed Ali Hamadi was reportedly released from a German prison back in December 2005. You may not be familiar with the name, but chances are you will become familiar with it sometime in the future. It seems that when he does things they are noteworthy in a nasty infamous sort of a way. I gleaned all of the above information at FoxNews.com @ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,213521,00.html. Read it for yourself, or see y summary below.

You see, Mr. Hamadi was convicted, by German authorities, of having committed two different crimes. He was arrested in Frankfurt, Germany in 1987 for having explosives at Frankfurt's airport. I wonder what he was going to do with them, and I wonder how many Germans and others would have died had he not been arrested. When the Germans charged him they charged him with the explosives crimes, but they also charged him in the murder of an American citizen.

You see, back in 1985, a group of 4 terrorists took over a TWA passenger jet, and hijacked it to Beirut, Lebanon. Over the next 17 days they held passengers and crew hostage (at least part of the time for the passengers as I recall, they may have released some of them). It was a notable hijacking because they flew from city to city seeking to have their demands met.

It was also notable for another reason. On the second day of the hijacking, the terrorists discovered that a passenger, Mr. Robert D. Stethem was not just an ordinary passenger, he was a passenger of interest to them. The reason for this interest was that Mr. Stethem was a U.S. Navy Diver. When they discovered this fact, the terrorists beat Mr. Stethem into unconsciousness, they then shot him dead, then dumped his body onto the ground from the plane. I remember much of this from seeing it on the evening news back then, it was horrific.

When the Germans arrested and tried Hamadi, he was convicted of the explosives charges and the murder and he was sentenced to life in a German prison. Apparently Germany does not have, or did not have, the death penalty, otherwise I would think they may have done away with him. Now, after having released Hamadi in December, one can only hope they do not come to regret that decision. Mr. Hamadi's accomplices were never caught, but reportedly one is suspected of being responsible for the barracks bombing in Lebanon in which 241 U.S. marines were killed, and then later being responsible for killing a CIA station chief.

So if Hamadi was released back in December, why am I talking about it now. Well you see the FoxNews.com article to which I supplied the above link has this title: Terrorist Ali Hamadi Rejoins Hezbollah Following Release From Prison. It seems Hamadi recently rejoined Hezbollah. Isn't that wonderful (sarcasm alert for those of you who have not figured it out)! I wonder what his future plans are to be, maybe a school bombing, maybe blow up a military base, maybe kill a few hundred people in an airport in Frankfurt, Germany. The article points out that some hypothesize that Germany released Hamadi in order to secure the release of a German citizen who was being held hostage. If that proves true, who do you think got the better deal? My guess would be Germany got the stinky end of it.

Whatever the Germans hypothetically got for Hamadi, such as the release of a German hostage, or the promise of no further attacks on German soil or against German citizens, was it worth it? If Hamadi decides he has unfinished business back in the Frankfurt airport what is to stop him from carrying out whatever he was about to do when he was arrested with those explosives back in 1987. Do the Germans hypothetically believe that him crossing his heart and hoping to die will make his word as good as gold! He probably wants to die so he can get his 72 virgins.

My bet is that Germany may come to regret, what I see as, their horrendous decision to release him, though for the sake of innocent people I hope not. I have to say though, that it is enough to make me sick. When I now think about my favorite beers, which are German biers, I feel like puking.

Of course the U.S. government protested his release vehemently, but to no avail. Our allies in Germany saw another wisdom and chose to release him. The U.S. still wants him for prosecution, but I am hopeful he is never captured. That is only because my hope is that the Israelis know his whereabouts, and they have a missile all prepped and ready to launch. They know how to take care of guys like this. Then again, maybe our own military will pleasantly surprise me and hit him with a cruise missile. They seem to have a lot of practice over the past few years and they have become quite good at it. Either way, I don't care, it would rid the world of whom I believe to be another vile monster.

My thoughts go out to Mr. Stethem's family; hopefully they will see justice done in the not too distant future.

All the best,
Glenn B

I did not forget to blog yesterday...

...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

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

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

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!

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

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

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...

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.