Blizzard 2009 - Not Too Bad...

...is how I have to look at last night's blizzard. I measured several spots in my backyard and several out front of my house. Out back almost every spot I measured was between 14" and 14.5", out front they were all between 10-12". So if I lived on the other side of the street I would be shoveling more is how I see it. Just the way the snow lands. A snowstorm like this is unusual around here especially in December but we were lucky because it could have been more. Back in 2006 we got well over 2 feet of snow but then again that was in February. In that storm, NY City had its all time record snowfall of 26.9 inches, that is about 25 miles west of where I am now. I know, not a lot of snow for places like Masena or Buffalo, NY - but an awful lot in NYC and just east of NYC in Nassau County on Long Island. Further east on Long island, in North Haven, NY (very close to Sag Harbor) my sister measured 25 inches in her yard in a level spot. Yes it could have been worse.

Back to it not being as bad as it could have been. Lucky for me I have the habit of going out when a few to several inches has fallen and clearing it away so there is not as much the next morning. I did about 6 inches worth last night. Also, lucky for me, my neighbor let me keep my government car in his driveway overnight. If on the street it would have gotten a ticket for obstructing the snowplows and they would have buried it. There is no room for it in my own small driveway with my own cars parked therein. As I was digging out my driveway and just contemplating going over to dig out my G ride from the neighbor's driveway, I saw he was stuck in the snow in his small SUV. I dug his 4 wheel drive out of the snow just outside of his driveway with the ass end of the car sticking out in the street stuck in the pile left behind by the plows. Yep kiddies, SUVs get stuck in snow too when it is deep enough.

That was a bit of a chore but I figured since he allowed me to leave my government car in his driveway overnight, I owed him more than a thank you. Right after that he brought out a snow blower and did my front sidewalk. That was nice. He then told me his back was killing him and asked if I would continue on to his sidewalk. I know his health is not the best, so it was my pleasure to help him out even though his sidewalk is about 3 to 4 times as long as mine (corner lot). Man what a breeze it was with that brute. It ate it up and spit it out and took minimal effort to push along. That left me only my front walk, and getting my work car out of his driveway. Just getting the driveway clear for my G ride was a lot of work as I did that with the shovel. Only shoveled as wide as the car in a path about 12 to 15 feet long but lots of snow was built up at the curb from the plows. Got it done though and got the car right out and parked back on the street. As I said, not too bad, could have been worse. Lucky I did not have to shovel all of the sidewalk on my house and his without the aid of the snow blower. I have done it before when only a few to several inches and it is a lot of work. With what we had last night, it was probably a heart attack waiting to happen. Now that I am getting older and Arthur I. Tis is a constant companion, I may have to cough up enough for a snow blower. That will wait till next year since I will not be here this winter with my Phoenix trip upcoming. As for this winter I foresee my sons back getting stronger. (Thanks Brendan!)

Right now, I am typing and listening to Nat King Cole's Christmas For Kids CD. Great stuff. I am also enjoying a nice big cup of coffee and letting the Aleve do its stuff (which usually is not much but I guess it helps a little). Of course, if I was a kid or even a teenager (maybe even in my young 20s) I'd be out there now waxing up the rungs of my Flexible Flier and screaming full blast down the steepest hill I could find trying to crash into one of my buddies (that's one of the reasons me and Arthur I. Tis are such good friends nowadays). As for me now, I guess I'll spend the rest of the day puttering around the house and maybe I'll clean my guns and oh yes - I'll be hoping we do not get any more snow for awhile.

All the best,
Glenn B

Snow Shoveling Induced Insomnia

Yep, it is 0330 and I am still up and wide awake. I suppose getting pumped up shoveling last night has kept me going. Oh well, time to hit the hay in a few minutes. When I do wake up I think that about the only thing good for the day will be some gun cleaning and of course - more shoveling. I shoveled about 5-6 inches before and there is more than double that now where I already shoveled. Yowza!

Hopefully we will not be snow bound. I wonder if Al Gore is in town?

All the best,
Glenn B

The Blizard of 09...

...is doing its best to try to knock down our power lines making it impossible for me to blog, or watch TV or make phone calls (well the phone does have battery back-up for a few hours) so I will get a quick blog in right now. (by the way, I am not exagerrating when I call it a blizzard, I am repeating what I just read in online weather accounts.) Besides doing its darnedest to knock out the power, the storm is also doing its best to make me shiver with cold. Fact is though, I am sitting at my computer sweating like it was 90 and am enjoying a rather large dram of fine spirits on the rocks. I am not sweating because it is hot in my home, the thermostat is set at 62. Nor am I sweating because of the demon rum (err - whiskey in this case). I am sweating because I was outside not too long ago and was shoveling around my house. It sure isn't as easy as it was even a few years ago. Every joint was creaking and now every joint is aching, well almost all of them anyhow. So I figured I had better relax quickly and thoroughly and take something for the pain. Since I have nothing other than aspirin or Aleve, I figured I have a drink instead. I'd rather not mix any of them so my Saturday night drink is just a wee bit bigger than usual.

My guess is that so far we have had at least 5 to maybe 6 inches of the white stuff, and that was where it was flat and evenly distributed. It is pretty fine and powdery and because it is in the mid 20s (reports says it is 25 here) the snow is pretty dry. It is, perhaps, the kind of snow that skiers dream about waking up to on the slopes. It is the kind of snow I dream about when they say we are going to be hit by a major winter storm that will deposit anywhere from 7 inches to 14 inches of snow that I need to shovel (at 3:30AM I saw this had been changed to 12-18 inches expected). If we have to have snow, well then - I am happy when it is like this. Drier snow, fine powder, is just easier to shovel than the really heavy wet snow we are more likely to get.

The storm promises to drop more snow, and the weather man is saying it may also be somewhat spectacular in that we may also get some thunder and lighting. That is always somewhat weird to me, you just don't see lots of thunder/snowstorms, at least not around here but it is something we seem to have had more of in recent years. Must be due to all that man made whatever. If the lightning comes through the clouds it will sure brighten things up with all that powder on the ground and should put on quite a show. If the dogs start barking loud enough tonight to wake me up my first guess will be a thunder storm.

All the best,
Glenn B

Hectic X 10

No it's not due to it being one week before Christmas, well not completely anyhow. I kind of figured that Christmas time would be less hectic than in recent years this time around if only because I got shopping done for almost all the men in the family over a month ago. That includes Brendan, my brother, my two brothers-in-law (my wife's brothers), and my other brother-in-law (my sister's husband). They are all getting something small but nice. I also got the shopping done for my wife's gift last week. She got just what she wanted, it is set up already, I figured early delivery was better than late. It's a SONY 52 LCD TV. That set me back a pretty penny I will admit, but she is worth it even if she cannot stand me. It will give her a retreat so to speak. So, there is not much shopping left for Christmas gifts. I have to get something for my daughter and I already have something in mind that I'll pick up while on lunch break at work this week or while on the way home. Then there is my sister and my mother and mother-in-law but I think my wife took care of theirs.

So as you can see, the shopping is almost done and not causing much of a problem. What is causing a bit of commotion, I suppose at least for me, is that I am leaving for Phoenix 3 days after Christmas on the 28th. There is not much time to get ready for that with this also being Christmas time and there is a lot of getting ready to be done. It is not only packing and such, heck first I have to find things I need to take along. What I mean is mostly gear. I just changed cars at work and emptied out the trunk of the old car and put stuff in my garage.. My son moved most of it and did not pay attention to where he put this or that or another thing I will be needing. So the search has begun. While searching I realized what a mess is our shed and garage and basement. So I have been cleaning up too as I search. That is always chaotic fun for me.

I also have to get my arse in gear to get the Soldiers Holiday Care Package ready. I have some stuff but not a lot. I suppose I will be at Costco today picking up items for the package. Yes I keep saying package. There will only be one this year. I am footing the bill for all of it, no problem, it just means there will be less than when I received help from my readers, in the past, to help give our troops a nicer Christmas and Chanukah. I hope that the lack of donations this year means that each and every one of you who has donated in the past has decided to send a package yourself to our troops in Harm's way this holiday season! I figure to send about $100 to $150 worth of goodies; I think it will put a smile on my assigned Soldier's face. I hope so. If you send something, even a package with $10 or $20 worth of items in it will help make it easier for one of our young men or women who are on foreign soil facing the prospect of a cold, depressing, and lonely Christmas or Chanukah.

Got to go, I am in the middle of setting up our tree and just took a blog break.

All the best,
Glenn B

Ballseye's Gun Shots 44 - Oh Henry...

...what a fine little survival rifle you have made. It fires both standard and high velocity .22LR, has a semi-automatic action, uses an 8 round box magazine and comes with two of them, is compact and lightweight, takes down easily (pretty much by just unscrewing a screw in the pistol grip and unscrewing a collar where the barrel and receiver meet - no tools required), stores within itself (all components, other than the stock, store within the stock), and it supposedly floats (or so I have heard). The bolt handle is pretty small and is collapsible as it needs to be in order to accomplish the self storing feat of this rifle. The safety lever is located on the right side rear of the receiver and is meant to be operated by the thumb of the right hand. The magazine release is inside the front of the trigger guard. The Overall it is about 35 inches long when assembled but when taken down it is closer to 17 inches long. Its weight is an astonishing 2.5 pounds because a lot of the rifle is plastic - including a barrel shroud - the barrel itself is a fairly thin steel tube covered by plastic which in turn is covered by Teflon; that low weight combined with its takedown and self storing capabilities makes it a great addition to a grab and go pack. It comes in three finishes or color variations of black, silver and camo I am of course writing about the Henry U.S. Survival Rifle, read more about it here:

http://www.henryrepeating.com/h002_survival.cfm.

If you read the info on it at the Henry Repeating Arms site (link above) you may note that it says this rifle breaks down into three parts. That just ain't so. The actual breakdown is into 6 parts. They would be the barrel, the receiver assembly, two (2) magazines, the stock and the butt cap. Even if you leave one magazine in the magazine well, which is necessary if storing both magazines in the stock, and consider the buttstock and butt cap as a single part, that would leave the barrel, receiver assembly, stock and spare magazine - or 4 parts. Yes, I can be pretty persnickety at times.

I have owned one of these diminutive rifles for several years now; mine is the black version. It is the only firearm of which the purchase was due to my wife! Some years back she got me a gift certificate at a local gun shop. The gun shop owner was a crook, super high prices, but I was able to pick one of these up from him at about only $25 over what it would have cost elsewhere (and the gift certificate was not returnable nor did they make change on it except for credit left over) so I bought one of these. Of course I ruined a good thing by telling my wife about the guy being a crook - she figured I was faulting her for getting the gift certificate there and has never gotten me another for a gun - not anywhere! Oh well....

As for mine, I have had a blast with it. It fires pretty reliably, can hit the broad side of a barn (and smaller targets) at out to about 20 or 25 yards and is just a fun plinker. As for betting my life on it as a survival gun, I don't know about that - maybe and maybe not. If it was the only gun available, well then, fine - it would make a good survival rifle. If there were other, more accurate, rifles available then I might have to go with one of them. These guns are not bad shooters but the trigger pull leaves a lot to be desired. Their sights also leave a lot to be desired, at least do the sights that came on mine. The front sight is adjustable for windage and just a push on it with my thumb causes it to move. That is not good because it means the front sight is easily pushed out of proper alignment. The rear sight is adjustable for elevation and is a peep sight sort of design but it too leaves something to be desired. Despite those glitches I can do fairly well with it out to about 15-20 yards, maybe even 25 yards. I figure I could probably hit a animal the size of a gray squirrel at 15 to 2o yards fairly reliably and a larger rabbit at out to 25 yards.

While this gun will feed and reliably function using a wide variety of .22LR ammunition, because of the sights and because I think it less inherently accurate than some other 22 rifles I have shot and or own, I suggest finding the ammo that works best in it not only for reliability of function but for accuracy. As you may or may not be aware, even an expensive 22 target rifle will vary in how well you hit the target because of different ammo you use in it and different types and brands of .22LR ammo can vary considerably in how accurate it is out of any given gun. In this gun that effect seems to be multiplied to some degree. Again, I am not saying it is terribly inaccurate, it is simply not as accurate as I would wish it to be, or as I am sure it could be if a few things about it were changed, for a rifle on which my life might depend in a survival situation. I seemingly am not the only one who thinks about this rifle the same way along these lines. See what Gun Test magazine had to say about it here:

http://www.henryrepeating.com/survival_guntests.cfm.

Like the guys at Gun Test Magazine though, I give it a 'buy it' recommendation. If you are looking for a fun, lightweight, compact for storage, rifle in 22 caliber - this could be the one.

All the best,
Glenn B

Soldiers' Holiday Care Packages

Surprisingly, at least to me, there has not been one red cent donated to my efforts to raise money for a Soldiers' Holiday Care Package this year. That's okay, I am not complaining, just saying I am flabbergasted as to why that has happened. Last year and the year before, there were plentiful donations and I was able to put together some really nice packages for our troops. This year, I will still put together some really nice packages for our troops too, just without any financial help from anyone else. I'll start shopping in earnest tomorrow and try to get the package(s) out by Saturday. Yes, that will be later than in the last two years but I was sort of hoping for some help and holding out with that hope. No more though, no time for that, so a shopping I will go.

All the best,
Glenn B

Pretty Impressive Video - Pretty Impressive Man

This video has been around since at least November. I do not know how I missed it for almost a full month. This is what it is coming to, you know it and I know it. America is going to change thanks to the president who ran on a platform of change, I think though the change will not be what he expected but change it will be!



All the best,
Glenn B

Happy Chanukah

Happy Chanukah To All Who Celebrate It. I wish you a safe and happy holiday for all eight days of it and wish you b'hatzlacha in all you do.

All the best,
Glenn B

The Deer Get The Last Laugh

Once again I have been skunked. The deer that were in the Cascade Valley State Forest yesterday are still there today. There was a car, a pickup truck and an SUV parked along the road yesterday when I arrived and throughout the day I did not hear even one shot from the state forest area. I had thought it would be a good day for deer because I saw some out along the road on the way up. It was a bit foggy or misty, overcast, promised to snow and rain, and was just the miserable kind of day on which deer love to roam about during daylight. I decided to still hunt, no sitting in one place for me since the ground was covered with about 2- 3 or 4 inches of wet snow. I saw lots of tracks in that snow. First thing I saw was a set of bear tracks. Probably made the day or night before. They crossed the stream, that runs through much of this piece of state land from north to south, right near where I had been on stand the two weekends before this hunt. Had I been on stand on Saturday instead of Sunday I might have had bear steaks in the freezer right now and a belly full of bear stew. I then walked over to the area in which Brendan had had his stand and found three sets of deer tracks. Oh well! I followed them for a ways until they went onto private property. They too looked to be about a day old. Don't ask how to tell how old they are, it is a bit complicated and takes some telling. If you were there with me I would explain why I thought they were that old. Could have been days older, but I think not fresher than from at least a few hours before. Well anyway, after they veered onto private property I turned north and found other deer tracks. I figure to have come across about a dozen sets of tracks in all. As I walked it started to snow. The snow was crisp not mushy and wet. No rain was good and a cold snow was better. About a couple of hours later it changed to light rain, then steady medium to heavy. My hunting coat is not waterproof but did not get slogged down too badly. Underneath it I had on a waterproof inner jacket/liner (from my sons waterproof hunting outfit) so I stayed dry. My pants were just old camo BDUs. They got wet at the bottom but not bad. Funny how the tops stay dry even in a downpour. My boots stayed waterproof through about 5 stream crossings but finally got soaked through from all the rain. My feet were wet for about a good 2 hours before I called it quits at around 3:30. I had another hour to go. Not sure why I quit. Yeah I was getting wet, but was not cold. That was amazing considering how wet my feet had gotten - they were soaked.

I suppose I left early because I just did not want to get any wetter and then get cold. I also wanted to hit the road before things froze over. I guessed the roads were sure to be treacherous. I was right on that one. Within the first 100 miles I saw at least 10 accidents - one about every 10 miles. One, on a curve going up hill, had three or four vehicles off the road slammed into a cliff side. The left lane was open and the semi in front of me was going up the hill sideways. I was already committed to the left lane and tried it. I achieved all of about 2 mph on the sheer ice. A state police officer stood at the roadside watching me and pointing me out to a stranded motorist and shaking his head. I guess he figured I was doomed. I made it. I guess the police stopped traffic for a while right after I got through because I did not see another set of headlights behind me for the next 10 to 15 minutes. Then a slew of vehicles passed me - all doing about 60-70 - apparently trying to make up time. I was driving at the breakneck speed of about 40-45mph. I imagine that some of the other accidents I saw involved at least some of those who had passed me. I hit a few more icy patches but I took them at a reasonable speed and got home safely. I was truly amazed (always am) at how fast some jerks drive in SUVs because they have 4 wheel drive. At least 1/2 of the accidents, I think more, I saw involved SUVs, all probably because the drivers were going to fast and lost control on ice. Mind you, if you count, and I did, SUVs do not account for 1/2 of the vehicles on the road at any time, but they usually account for more half or more of those going too fast in bad weather.

My return trip home was 2 hours or so longer than my trip to the hunting spot had been. I suppose I should point out that 1/2 hour was set aside for a nap in Roscoe, NY. I was just too sleepy to keep driving safely so caught a few z's. That helped a lot and then once refreshed I was on my way again. Good thing I stopped too what with all of the ice and accidents and the added hours to get home. The drive of 187 miles had taken me only 3 hours and 10 minutes to get there earlier in the day. The drive home took a bit longer at 5 hours and 15 minutes. The return trip was a bit nerve wracking and tiring with the extra 2 hours but I got home safely. As for the deer, well there is always next yearand I left them laughing. At what? Well, at my lack of success and at the picture of me leaving the woods after getting pretty drenched. I must have looked a funny sight at that.

All the best,
Glenn B

Going Hunting...

...within a few hours; last day of deer season. So I had best get to sleep - don't ya think? A 3 1/2 to 4 hour drive to the Happy Hunting Grounds. Nope, I won't be there at 0430 but should be there by about 0800 or 0900 if I ever get some sleep tonight at all. Wish me luck. Goodnight!

All the best,
GB

Ballseye's Gun Shots 43 - I Am Off To Do Some Christmas Shopping...

...and it made me think that maybe you have a shootist for whom you need to shop. Of course, while you are probably not about to buy him or her a new gun for Christmas (or Chanukah) my guess is you might like to buy him something to help him enjoy his firearms sport pursuits. So what is it that you can get for some, who shoots, or collects guns, without actually buying him or her a new gun. Instead of taking pot shots in the dark let me point your sights in the right direction so you hit the bull's eye when you put that shooting accessory under the tree or the menorah. (Do you actually put items under or next to the menorah?)

I love opening up whatever I find in my Christmas stocking. I usually only get something like a Mounds bar or three in there, but that's okay cause they are great. There are some shooting supplies or accessories that make great stocking stuffers. Small items like the following all fit well into the stocking hung by the chimney with care:


A Bore Light
Shooting Glasses
A Magazine Pouch
Silicone Gun Cloths
A Box of Ammunition
An NRA Membership
A Range membership
A Portable Gun Bench/Rest
A Portable Gun Cleaning Kit
A Set of Sand Bag Rifle Rests
A Spare Rifle or Pistol Magazine
A Small Gunsmith Screwdriver Set
A Gift Certificate at his local gun shop
A Bottle of Gun Oil like Breakfree CPL
A Pocket Knife (no not really anything to do with guns but guns guys usually like knives too)

The list of smaller things that can fit in as a stocking stuffer goes on and on. Of course, if you are somewhat more aware of your loved one's shooting needs or just wanting to give something a little bigger and put it under the tree or next to the menorah there are many other choices to make:


A Spotting Scope
A Shooters Vest
A Box of Targets
A Hunting Jacket
A Rifle or Pistol Case
A Rifle or Pistol Scope
A Range Membership
A Universal Gun Cleaning Kit
Shooting Muffs (hearing protectors)
A Gift Certificate for gun related items
A Few or Several Rifle or Pistol Magazines
A New Holster (you maybe better off buying a gift certificate with a holster maker)
A Firearms Book (like The Standard Catalogue of Firearms - The Collectors' Price and Reference Guide (for 2010) or The Blue Book of Gun Values or a firearms manual or a book about firearms' history)


Now if you are feeling really generous, you could go for the gusto:

A Case Ammunition
A Complete Reloading Kit
A Life Membership with the NRA
A Paid For Training Course such as that offered by Front Sight
A Gift Certificate for the price of a new gun at your local gun shop

Now you all know what you can give me, especially those ones in red or green to your loved one if he or she is a shootist. Chances are that anything you get them along these lines will be appreciated. Heck, it took my wife about 13 or 14 years before she bought me something related to shooting - a gift certificate at a local gun shop which I used to buy a rifle. Oh no, wait a moment, she did buy me that fleece pullover about 8 or 9 years into our marriage, I am wearing it today - great quality item. I suppose it is sort of related to shooting since she told me to wear it when hunting. I said no way, she got insulted. The thing is though, it has an awfully close resemblance to some of the colors of a whitetail deer! Oh well, it is my favorite sweater and I still have it and love it even if she maybe had hoped it would shorten our marriage!

If you do go out shopping for firearms accessories and such, and if you are going to buy something like ammunition, a gun case, a scope, magazines or whatever - make sure you are getting them for the right gun in the right caliber or size. If you are not sure, well then, a gift certificate may be the way to go.

By the way, as I mentioned above you can shop at your local gun shop but if they are price gougers like the ones around me you may want to set your sights on alternate sources for firearms accessories. Some places you can try are online sources such as: http://www.midwayusa.com/, http://www.sportsmansguide.com/, http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/, Natchez Shooters Supply, and the like. If you are more conventional and want to shop at a store other than a gun store, then try places like: Dick's Sporting Goods, The Sports Authority, Big 5 Sporting Goods, and Walmart or other stores that sell sporting goods.

All the best,
Glenn B

Ballseye's Gun Shots 42 - Twas The Night Before Christmas At Ballseye's House

I can only hope that Clement Clarke Moore (or was it really Henry Livingston) can forgive me my transgressions with A Visit From St. Nicholas (aka: The Night Before Christmas or Twas The Night Before Christmas):

Twas The Night Before Christmas

At Ballseye's House

aka: A Visit From A Balless Prick

or: Ballseye's Happy Holiday Hopes

For Mrs. Ballseye

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was unarmed, not even the mouse.

The 45s were slung on our hips with care,

In anticipation a burglar would soon be there.

The children were nestled snug in their beds,

With dreams of .22 rifles in their heads.

Mama with her Colt, and papa shotgun on my lap

Had just snuggled close after setting our trap,

When out in the backyard there arose such a clatter

I jumped to my feet to see what was the matter.

On went the night vision goggles in an eerie green flash

I peered out the window to see a thief holding a gun and cash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow

Lit up this armed interloper creeping so slow.

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear

But a half-track sleigh pulled by an armored John Deere,

With a heavily armed ex-cop, so lively and quick

I knew in a moment, it was my saintly neighbor Nick!

More rapid that comets his bullets they came

As he shot and shouted and called each by name

"Now, Crasher! now, Lancer! Now, Death Dancer and Vixen!

On, Stompit! on Shoot-it! on, Blunderbuss and Blitzen!

"From the bottom of his torso, to the top of his head...",

He shouted, "...we like em alive, but we'll take em dead"!

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

Twin blued 38s were brought up, just under each eye,

And rat a tat tat, his bullets they flew

With flashes of fire, they all flew true.

When outside I joined the battle, I heard on the roof

An accomplice, who till then, had remained aloof.

As I brought up my shotgun while turning around

Down the chimney the crook went with nary a bound!

He was all dressed in black from his head to his foot

His clothes blended in with the chimney soot.

A bag of my neighbor's goods, he flung off his back

Nimbly dropping his loot while under attack!

His eyes how they widened, he did not look merry,

His cheeks they were pallid, no color of cherry.

No smile on his face, no Christmas ho-ho-ho,

The mask on his face had fallen down low.

The grip of a .380 pistol he held tight in his hand,

And as he landed on hearth, of my wife he made the demand:

Drop your gun to ground, and lay flat on your belly,

Or I'll shoot you dead and turn your brains to jelly."

He was dirty and nasty, undoubtedly no right jolly old elf

So I ran inside quickly, to protect family and self.

An evil look of his eye and a turn of his head,

Then gave me to know, I had everything to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And pointed his gun at me, oh what a jerk!

And when curving his finger astride of his trigger,

My wife showed him then, whose gun was bigger.

She sprang to her feet, her Colt reporting a bang

And immediately next, I 'd swear two bells rang.

Then I heard the crook exclaim, as he hobbled out of sight,

"She's shot me in my balls on this Christmas Eve night."

Of course, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Chanukkah and a Happy New Year but should your holidays be interupted by a lowlife or two hoping to help themselves at your peril, here is hoping that you wind up the winner in any such encounter.

All the best,

GB

Arizona Bound Again

It's been confirmed, I am again going to Arizona for my job. This time I'll be in Phoenix. I had hoped to get Tucson again but it does not look like that is about to happen. I am still keeping my fingers crossed on that one though since I like Tucson so much better.

I'll be leaving home right after Christmas and be out there for 3 months. Since I'll be staying in an apartment complex this time around I suppose there will be no blogging by me for up to the whole three months unless I can find access to a public computer at a library or someplace like that. An apartment setup will be nice for such an extended stay but it will be lacking some of the amenities of a hotel such as daily maid service, free breakfasts, premium cable channels, and a guest PC. I suppose that having a fully stocked kitchen will make up for that. By fully stocked I imagine they only mean with pots, pans and utensils but that will do. I have not cooked in quite some time but used to enjoy it and I like to eat my own cooking so it should be a plus over lots of eating out.

Maybe, eating my own cooking, will help me lose weight. One can hope.

All the best,
GB

Wow - No Blogging Since Saturday!

That must be a record for me. I'd be willing to bet my wife would give almost all she had to hear me shut up for that long.

As for the blogging, I have been kind of busy, lots of different things have kept me preoccupied. Not necessarily important things mind you, but certainly issues which have had my mind elsewhere than here. If you were to place all of those issues in juxtaposition to my blog I suppose some would be more important and others, well let's just say they would be not so much a waste of my time as idle pursuits. One of them, a total waste of time, but lots of fun, has been Fallout 3. Others have not been so trivial but not of much import either.

While whatever it is that has been keeping me from blogging may linger a day or two longer, it will be banished from my thoughts by the weekend and I promise, barring further disturbance of my literary faculties, to blog up a storm over the coming weekend.

All the best,
Glenn B

The Kids Are Getting Older...and so are the Mali's

Yes the kids are getting older. Brendan just turned 20 not too long ago. Celina will be 25 in the not too distant future. Heck they really are not kids any longer. Next thing you know they will be married and Linda and I will be grandparents.

The Mali Uromastix are older too, they are only just about 2 years or so old I think. Can I call them kids? I suppose not any more. They are starting to to acquire their adult coloration. The male, the one in the pic to the upper right, is really showing his adult colors with the blacks and yellows starting to come in nicely and the female has some slight yellowish in the creamish colored areas but as to be expected she is much more drab than is the male. Note that in the pic of the male, the yellowish light in the upper left hand corner of the shot is from the tortoise tank. It is not effecting the color of the Mali at all - he was right in the flash and you can see from the surface there is no yellow from the lamp interfering with his coloration. The way he looks in this shot is the way he looks with some variation due to temperature.

Hopefully within another year or two they will be breeding and producing fertile eggs. My guess is that in the wild they may take longer to mature but in captivity when cared for well with a readily available good diet they mature earlier. My pair is well cared for. No I don't treat em like my kids but they do eat well and get the light and heat they need to grow big and strong.

All the best,

Glenn B

Wishing A Merry Christmas or Happpy Chanukah to the ACLU

Oh those crazy emails that I get. I have friends and family send me emails covering just about every subject both normal and kooky of which you can think. I get em okay: ones about gators eating hogs, others about safety tips for women, or about our current president being the greatest (I told you some of em were kooky), ones with pictures of cute animals, ones with games atatched like stop the illegals (a shooting game at that), ones about our current president being less than competent, others about gun rights, ones full of dirty jokes, ones with videos about the holidays, ones with news, ones with petitions, ones asking for money, ones with lots of pictures of our military, one with pictures of girls and there attributes (yes I mean big-uns), ones about health care, ones about religion, ones just to say hello, millions (it seems ) with advertisements, others just to say I stink, more to comment on my blog, and on and on and on.

Out of all the emails I have ever received, there is one that has the potential to be the best so far. That one, read by me just minutes ago, is one that has an idea in it. The idea is brilliant. Not a knew idea I am sure, but one that has been resurrected (I chose that word carefully) and that is being brought forth at this time just before Christmas and Chanukah when it may well have the most effect that it could have over any other time. As you are all probably aware, the ACLU has often sought to ban religious symbols on government property - or at least they often are supportive of the person(s) who brought such case(s) against the government and therefore in essence against those of you who practice religions of any sort. They also support such anti-religious things as Gay marriage and are against Capital Punishment. Yes, truth be told, they also have often supported religious freedoms (bet you did not know that).

To me though, they seem to have a twisted outlook and therefore a bad track record though of what is right and wrong when it comes to government involvement in religion. Our Constitution says this: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." Thus it allows for the freedom to practice your religion and assures that Congress shall pass no law respecting an establishment of religion. Get it - no law "respecting" an establishment of religion. They did not say no law about a religion or effecting a religion but the courts, due in great part to the efforts of those akin to the ACLU, have decided that is what they meant. It also does not say that there should be no government involvement in religion. Now I am not saying I would like to see our government run by a religion or religions. I am very against that. I am saying I would like to see prayer as allowed on the floor of Congress to continue, prayer in public schools, religious symbols freely erected on government property on the religious holidays of all faiths, 'In God We Trust' remaining on our currency, religious symbols being erected in honor of our war dead and so on. I would also like the ACLU to realize this is how most Americans want to see things in our country and realize they need to pay attention not only to the minority but to the majority because we too have rights and liberties.

Well, time to get back to the idea. The idea, in essence, is that all of you go out and buy a Christmas card and stamp, then send the card to the ACLU (yes it was specifically a Christmas card but allow me to add on Chanukah cards also). Don't stop reading yet - I know the thought of spending money in these hard times can be a turn off - an especially big turn off for most of my readers if it includes spending money regarding the likes of ACLU - but hear me out before you click on another blog. The rest of the idea goes like this: you buy a regular postage stamp at .44 cents, then buy a cheap religious Christmas card (and I will add that it could also well be a Chanukah card). I figure $1.50 including tax for a card although you may already have lots of cards at home already that you are waiting to send out this season and you likely will have one left over. You then send the card to the ACLU wishing them a Merry Christmas or Happy Chanukah, keeping it respectful, and you address the envelope as follows:

ACLU
125 Broad Street, 18th Floor,
New York NY 10004

Of course, you can also contact you local affiliate of the ACLU in the same manner. Look for their contact information here: http://www.aclu.org/affiliates.

Why do this? Well first of all it will make the ACLU realize that - We The People of the United States of America - do want to see religion practiced freely as it should be and that includes on government owned ground. Secondly, it is a nice thing to do at the holidays - isn't it? Sending out wishes for a Merry Christmas and for a Happy Chanukah are the good Judeo-Christian things to do at this time of year and, after all, our whole form of government is based upon many of the principles found within those religions. It also will give the ACLU something to think about in more ways than one. If enough of you send out cards to them, they will wonder if there is some type of revolutionary movement going on among the religious of our great nation - one geared at sending them a message. Maybe the message will have an effect - stranger things have happened. The effect could be anything from the ACLU reconsidering its stance on some issues (maybe realizing that as oppose to whom they usually represent - we have rights too) all the way down to someone just taking the cards and destroying them. Of course, before they destroy any such mail, they likely will open each and everyone looking for important correspondence or donations. Because of that they will in all likelihood see each and every religious card they have been sent and will get the message from us about religious freedom. Sure it may only be a mailroom clerk who opens them, but I think otherwise. I think this will go all the way to the top if they receive enough cards. Of course, they will be busy, very busy indeed, opening our mail for some time to come if we send enough cards, and I suppose that would be a good thing too because it again will make them realize how many of us their are who feel strongly about the issue of freedom of religion without ACLU interference that supports only the minority. There may also be another effect, it may cause a few (or even one person) at the ACLU to go out and actually celebrate one of these religious holidays who would not have done so otherwise. I am not saying or implying they are all atheists, but who knows on whom these cards may have an effect or how - they just may prompt someone at the ACLU to celebrate either of these religious holidays or maybe both.

The thing is that we would need to send enough cards to have any of these results - lots of cards. Remember the movie classic Miracle On 34th Street - the old one from 1947 (that was a nice movie). Remember what the post office did to help out the guy on trial as to whether or not he was Santa Claus or was crazy instead. The postal workers delivered all the mail in the post office to him that was addressed to Santa Claus. It was quite the pile of mail - lots of mail at that. The result was that the case against the guy claiming to be Santa Claus was wisely dismissed because the state court judge did not want to contradict the Federal Government about the existence of Santa Claus since the G had obviously decided Santa Claus did in fact exist and was in fact the defendant since the federal government delivered his mail to him. Just think how joyfully wonderful our wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy Chanukah will make the workers at the ACLU feel if they get a pile of cards about the same size. So I am asking you to let others know about this idea. Tell other bloggers and ask them to post about it on their blogs or to link to this particular blog post. Email your friends and relatives and associates from work. Let the ACLU know that we will not stand for the destruction of our rights for the protection of those of just a single person or a small group of person. Yes they have rights that also need to be protected but not at the cost of the majority losing their rights too. Let them know the majority intends to celebrate their religious beliefs and at the same time wish them a joyous Christmas and Chanukah.

Drum up enough support for this and you can bet there will be a good outcome if nothing other than someone at the ACLU having a Merry Christmas or Happy Chanukah because of all the nice cards they will have received. Even if you consider the ACLU your opponent when it comes to your liberty to exercise your rights, sending them a religious holiday card is the nice thing to do and if it results in even one member of the ACLU celebrating one of these religious holidays or having a nicer one or just a nicer day in general, then it will all have been worth it.

One other thing, keep your cards religious in nature (at least saying Happy Chanukah or Merry Christmas) and keep them respectful. To be disrespectful would defeat the purpose in sending them out because it would not be very Judeo-Christian of us to do so. So keep em nice and keep em right in the spirit of the upcoming Chanukah and Christmas holidays. Remember, we don't want to harass them, we want to wish them a Merry Christmas and a Happy Chanukah while at the same time sending them a message from the heart of America about our freedom of religion.

All the best,
Glenn B

Safety Tips Email???

I received the following email from a couple or a few people over the past 2 or 3 weeks. It give advice on what to do if a woman is accosted by a bad guy seeking to do her harm or rob her or hijack her car and so forth. I suppose it is just about as applicable to a man who is accosted by a criminal. I read it and said to myself, wow I wonder if all the facts stated are true. Then I thought what does it matter because some of the advice seems pretty good to me. Now I will not say it is all good or that it seems that way to me, but some of it is. All the parts about defending yourself seem good to me in my opinion.

Of course, along those lines, I think there are several,pother points that should have been made but were left out for some reason. So, when I received essentially the same email tonight, I decided to reply to all recipients of it with what I thought and still think is some good advice (again just my opinion).

Below for your perusal is the content of the email I received. That is immediately followed by my reply to it. I can not say with certainty that either contains good advice, but I know for sure that in my opinion it is better to fight back than allow yourself to be seriously hurt or killed.


The Content of the Email:

Crucial

Because of recent abductions in daylight hours, refresh yourself of these things to do in an emergency situation...

This is for you, and for you to share with your wife, your children, everyone you know. After reading these 9 crucial tips, forward them to someone you care about.
It never hurts to be careful in this crazy world we live in.

1. Tip from Tae Kwon Do : The elbow is the strongest point on your body.
If you are close enough to use it, do!

2.. Learned this from a tourist guide. If a robber asks for your wallet and/or purse, DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM. Toss it away from you.... Chances are that he is more interested in your wallet and/or purse than you, and he will go for the wallet/purse. RUN LIKE MAD IN THE OTHER DIRECTION!

3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car, kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy. The driver won't see you, but everybody else will. This has saved lives.

4. Women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping, eating, working, etc., and just sit (doing their chequebook, or making a list, etc. DON'T DO THIS!) The predator will be watching you, and this is the perfect opportunity for him to get in on the passenger side, put a gun to your head, and tell you where to go. AS SOON AS YOU GET INTO YOUR CAR , LOCK THE DOORS AND LEAVE.. If someone is in the car
with a gun to your head DO NOT DRIVE OFF, Repeat: DO NOT DRIVE OFF! Instead gun the engine and speed into anything, wrecking the car. Your Air Bag will save you.
If the person is in the back seat they will get the worst of it. As soon as the car crashes bail out and run. It is better than having them find your body in a remote location.

5. A few notes about getting into your car in a parking lot, or parking garage:

A.) Be aware: look around you, look into your car, at the passenger side floor, and in the back seat

B.) If you are parked next to a big van, enter your car from the passenger door..
Most serial killers attack their victims by pulling them into their vans while the women are attempting to get into their cars.

C.) Look at the car parked on the driver's side of your vehicle, and the passenger side. If a male is sitting alone in the seat nearest your car, you may want to walk back into the mall, or work, and get a guard/policeman to walk you back out. IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY. (And better paranoid than dead..)

6. ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs. Stairwells are horrible places to be alone and the perfect crime spot. This is especially true at NIGHT!) 7. If the predator has a gun and you are not under his control, ALWAYS RUN! The predator will only hit you (a running target) 4 in 100 times; and even then, it most likely WILL NOT be a vital organ. RUN, Preferably in a zig -zag pattern!

8. As women, we are always trying to be sympathetic: STOP It may get you raped, or killed. Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a good-looking, well educated man, who ALWAYS played on the sympathies of unsuspecting women. He walked with a cane, or a limp, and often asked 'for help' into his vehicle or with his vehicle, which is when he abducted his next victim.

9. Another Safety Point: Someone just told me that her friend heard a crying baby on her porch the night before last, and she called the police because it was late and she thought it was weird.. The police told her 'Whatever you do, DO NOT open the door.' The lady then said that it sounded like the baby had crawled near a window, and she was worried that it would crawl to the street and get run over. The policeman said, 'We already have a unit on the way, whatever you do, DO NOT open the door.' He told her that they think a serial killer has a baby's cry recorded and uses it to coax women out of their homes thinking that someone dropped off a baby. He said they have not verified it, but have had several calls by women saying that they hear baby's cries outside their doors when they're home alone at night.

10.. Water scam! If you wake up in the middle of the night to hear all your taps outside running or what you think is a burst pipe, DO NOT GO OUT TO INVESTIGATE! These people turn on all your outside taps full ball so that you will go out to investigate and
then attack. Stay alert, keep safe, and look out for your neighbors!

Please pass this on This e-mail should probably be taken seriously because the Crying Baby Theory was mentioned on America 's Most Wanted when they profiled the serial killer in Louisiana

I'd like you to forward this to all the women you know. It may save a life. A candle is not dimmed by lighting another candle. I was going to send this to the ladies only, but guys, if you love your mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, etc., you may want to pass it onto them, as well. Send this to any woman you know that may need to be reminded that the world we live in has a lot of crazies in it and it's better to be safe than sorry. Everyone should take 5 minutes to read this. It may save your life or love one's life.


The Content of My Reply:

They left out, I think, a couple of very important ones, they are in my opinion:

If you can afford it - buy a handgun and get a carry permit if required.

Get training on how to shoot and get training on self defense with a handgun.

When you are an innocent and are threatened with imminent loss of life or serious bodily injury by a criminal - shoot the bum in self defense!

Want to go advanced: Get training on handgun retention and handgun take-aways; you would be surprised how easily you could shoot a bad guy with his own gun.

More people carrying and using their firearms when legally justified will probably help save lives, it happens more often that you probably know.

Never be too afraid to defend yourself or other innocents from people who are about to do you serious bodily harm or kill you; if you cower in fear you my die like a cowering dog. You deserve better than that from yourself.

As my mother has often said over the years: "Life is cheap." I never quite knew what she meant by that, I always thought life was precious. Then one day, out of the blue it hit me like a ton of bricks. What she meant was that these dirt-bags who want to rob you, rape you, molest you, hurt you, kill you consider life cheap - that is when it is your life they are considering.

If you cannot bring yourself two buy a gun, then buy a TASER (note only buy these things if you can legally do so) or a stun gun, or pepper spray, or mace, or carry a knife (very difficult to master the use of one though).

Think about it. If you are willing to crash your car to get away from a bad guy who you think is about to really hurt you or kill you, would you not also be ready and willing to defend yourself with a weapon to even things up some or better yet to have you come out the winner and alive. I would, I have, I will again if necessary.

Again, let me say, I do not know if either actually gives good advice, but in my opinion I think that fighting back is the best key to survival although, of course, there is still a risk of being injured or getting killed if you do fight back. It is a tough decision to make and one you need to make for yourself if you are ever in an encounter wherein someone is threatening you with imminent serious bodily injury or death.

All the best,
Glenn B

Ballseye's Gun Shots 41 - Hunting Season Almost Over - How Do Your Guns Spend The Winter?

Well, here in the great State of New York (the so called Empire State but maybe it should be called the Socialist State) the main parts of the hunting season are soon to come to an end. By the end of this month, the season for just about everything for which you can hunt will be over. I imagine that is much the same across a lot of the country. So I wonder: Does that mean you clean and oil your guns and then put them away?

Not me. Of course, this year I will make sure to take the scope off of my Marlin to see if any rust developed under the scope mount. Shame on me I did not do that at the end of last season and then earlier this year I found a lot of rust under the scope mount atop the receiver. Only surface rust and easily removed but so was some of the bluing. So I will make sure to get it done this year. For now a good squirt of WD-40 under there may help to keep out moisture. I do not use WD-40 on my firearms regularly because I do not like its properties, I much prefer Breakfree CLP to lubricate and protect my firearms but in this instance I can spray the WD-40 under the part and maybe that will work. I hope so.

I will also clean the rest of the guns that were used on the hunts, but they are simpler to clean since we did not use another scoped gun this year. Then into the gun locker they go but certainly not to remain there until the next hunting season. Late fall, winter, and spring all see me shooting my firearms when I have the chance. The indoor range may only be 25 yards long but it will do for something to stir up the boring doldrums that always seem to come with colder and drearier weather, and shorter days of this time of year. Yes I realize the days actually are getting longer after the first day of winter but they are still pretty short, and therefore pretty dreary and pretty boring pretty often even if they look pretty when covered with snow. I guess you can tell I am not a skier or I might feel differently.

So, since I don't practice many other wintertime activities, I like to shoot. Of course, there are other activities I enjoy over the winter, but none as much as shooting I suppose. I have my tropical fish tank to keep me busy, and my cool water tank too, and my reptiles and amphibians that all require care that helps me enjoy spending my time; but if I can get to the range to shoot, well that is just the best way for me to break up an otherwise monotonous day. I truly envy folks who live where they can utilize outdoor ranges in the winter while wearing only a light jacket, places like southern Arizona (I do love it there) but I live here in NY and make it work as well as I can. This year I may call the outdoor range that Brendan and I use to see if they are open throughout the winter for outdoor shooting. It might behoove us to try to get in some longer distance shooing than we normally do.We usually shoot at up to 50 yards. That is mostly because if we hunt here in NY, 50 to 75 yards is about the furthest distance we would shoot, with 25 to 50 being much more likely than the longer distance. Still though, shooting at 100 to 200 yards would be fun even if I could not see the target at 200 yards (only kidding about that last part). This would certainly give Brendan a chance to sharpen his shooting skills far beyond the point they are at now. I hope he will have enough time with school and all, but I think we ought to be able to swing one or two trips per month. I suppose that is a plan, and I will go with it if I do not go back to Tucson on another temporary work assignment. If I go to Tucson, I will push him to go to the range on his own.

Besides just shooting, the winter months are a great time to work on your firearms. This is a good time to add a scope, put on new sights, refinish a stock, reblue the metal and so on. I am not a gunsmith, so unless there is something wrong, I do not work on the actions (bolts, trigger groups, sears, etc...) of any of my firearms except to clean them. If they are broken and it looks too complicated for me to fix, I would send them off to a qualified gunsmith. Despite that though there is enough with which I can keep myself busy - for instance I may have to refinish the stock of one of my Mosin Nagants, and my Remington 870 stock sure could use some more boiled linseed oil and lots of elbow grease.

So what do you do with your guns over the winter. Are you one of those who puts them into the gun locker to await the next hunting season, or are you one of us who likes to shoot whenever the opportunity presents itself?

All the best,
Glenn B

Do You Have The Patience Required?

If you read my immediately previous post straight through, then I suppose that maybe you do. Sorry but that was sure a boomer on my part, a long one at that. I just measured it, 8 pages in MS Word format! Hope, that if you read it, you enjoyed it too. If you didn't read it, well read it in parts - it may be easier to take that way and may help you develop one of the finest hunting skills of all - Patience.

All the best,
GB

Still Hunting - A Lesson To Be Learned - Patience Required

The deer have won again...then again so did the squirrels. Yes I remembered to take along a .22 revolver this time, just in case I was stampeded by squirrels like the last time I went deer hunting a week ago. I don't know what it is about those little bushytailed nut thieves, maybe they can smell blued steel revolvers or maybe their eyesight is keen enough to discern certain looks of shiftiness on the faces of hunters. You know, the type of shifty eyed look that tries to convey being at one with nature, an animal lover, a nice guy bearing nuts-a-plenty but instead that is covering up the fact that I am a maniacal killer of forest friends who is on the prowl for the ingredients for a good sized pot of Brunswick Stew. Whatever it was - my not so nice and all too nefarious look -the smell of my blued steel Smith & Wesson Model 17, the good clip of the wind through the willows (yes it was whipping at a speed that would have made clipper ship seaman of your quite happy because with winds like that they probably would be home a week early) or just that they had me figured out because they listened to me muttering miserably at myself the week before for not having brought along a 22 - they were nowhere to be seen or heard!

On Friday, I started out kind of late. Now that may have had something to do with me not seeing anything that day but I doubt it. The fact that I was pretty hung over may have had more to do with it. I stayed in a hotel in Binghamton, NY that just happened to be about a block and a half from a busy little strip of bars in the downtown area. Being the curious type of adventurer that I am, I decided to check out most of them. Oh my aching head. Nothing that a good long snooze restful watch for critters while under a hickory (or was it a white oak) tree could not cure. After just a few seconds in the transcendental state of mind I rapidly achieved - little men bowling nine pins could not have disturbed me. While I was sleeping keeping my eyes peeled and pondering insightful thoughts about how to snare my next dinner, I was so engrossed in dreamland deep thought that maybe I missed a squirrel or three that came to visit because I was so intent on looking for deer. Of course, there were several times that I rolled over changed my point of view and looked for squirrels in the tree tops so maybe, just maybe, I missed a deer too. It is a tricky balance of ones powers of observation that must be maintained as one attempts to keep a sharp eyed lookout for denizens of the tree tops as well as for those of the forest floor. Just a glance in the wrong direction at the wrong moment, or the blink of an eye, let alone a relaxing slumber for a few seconds, and all hope of bagging supper can be lost. That is unless you have about $7 handy and there is a McDonald's nearby. Let me just say this: Rip Van Winkle had nothing on me - not even the dissatisfied wife. Well maybe he had the dog to bring along, my wife would not let me take one of ours.

Saturday was a different story. Where as I slept fine on Thursday night, late into Saturday morning for that matter, I suppose thanks to an overindulgence of fine spirits, it was the spirits that kept me awake on Friday night. On that fateful eve the winds began to howl and by the wee hours of the morning they were literally screeching or should I call it more akin to the whistling of the dead. Yeah that's it - the way whistling zombies would sound. At least that was how it sounded to me. Besides the howling and whistling giving me the heebie-jeebies keeping me awake for most of the night - I must also admit that when the window of my room was whipped open by the wind, then slammed shut, I jumped out of my bed about three feet straight up. When I landed - it was lucky for me - and for the hotel door and walls (and maybe for the guest in the next room) - that for some unknown reason I had left my pistol on the other side of the room instead of on the night stand as usual. I thought I was about to become the victim of a hotel room invasion. All in all, I was awakened on and off about twenty times, at least, by the howling of wind throughout the late night and early morning plus that one almost heart stopping slamming of the window. I can see now how it was that people who lived in drafty old houses were the best authors of ghost stories. It kept me awake almost all of the night, much like I suspect it would have kept you awake as your awaited the ghost of Bob Jacob Marley to announce the three ghosts of Christmas. After all, in the old days when awake at night what was there to do but make babies - or if by yourself then to light a candle and write. Of course, maybe you would have slept more soundly than me once you put your pistol under your pillow (I don't do that ever, and recommend against such - I only use this as a metaphor of security for a night full of howling, whistling wind and banging windows - otherwise you might shoot yourself). Must have been a night like that, in a cold and drafty house, without a gun nearby, and a lot of candles, a good quill with a deep inkpot, that inspired at least that part of Dickens' Christmas Carol. Let me tell you, I could have written a masterpiece that night by flashlight with a Bic. Next time, I am staying at Motel 6 where they leave a light on for you instead of at a place named after a Bing Crosby movie that is noisy and drafty!

So as it turned out, on Friday night/Saturday morning, I was pretty much wide eyed and awake when my alarm went off at 0345. Note I said wide eyed, not wide awake! As it turned out though, I was out in the woods before dawn. I can tell you this, on a cloud covered night, with the winds howling and screeching and the treetops snapping cracking and rustling as they are whipped into an angry frenzy because the wind is making so much noise - you have to be one brave son of a gun (there I go with guns again) to even step foot into the not so enchanting forest. Me, I was already to head out to my deer stand at about 0515 - about 10 minutes after I had parked my car on the roadside of the state forest. I had been thinking of waiting in the car and staying nice and toasty as I enjoyed my cup of Java from Mickey D's (not much else was open at that hour on the way to my hunting spot) but I decided if I wanted to really do my best to get a deer I had best be on my stand well before first light. So I was out of my car, with my trusty little head lamp strapped to my noggin (using the red light so as not to scare any of the forest beasties), and had just taken my very first step into the woods, having planted my left foot on terra-firma, when I heard large gust of wind, akin to a hurricane force gale going through a subway tunnel, go through the woods in front of me. That was followed by a loud cacophony of tortured sounds - the rustling, and slapping together of the treetops, the grinding together of tree against tree, an almost creaking moaning of the trees as if in protest, a vibration of the ground under my feet (I swear it so), and then a loud cracking noise followed by a crashing the din of which I have not heard even at construction sites in New York City. At least it sounded like that to an ardent observer like me - who at that precise moment had stopped in mid-second step with right foot in air so as to be able to take in every minute aspect of it though someone might have thought I looked like a deer frozen with fear in the headlights of an oncoming truck - almost as if the forest had just given me a warning - pass this way at your own peril!

All of a sudden, that have drunk coffee in the cup holder between the front seat of the Corolla was singing a sweet Siren's song of promised delights to me. I opted for the warmth of my heated car, a semi warm cup of Joe, and a Johnny Cash to keep me company either until the wind died down a bit or until I could see where I was going and not wind up directly in the path of a tree that looked as if it were about to be blown over. I could tell you precisely when first light came, that is if I had paid attention to the clock on my dashboard. For some reason, I was just checking to make sure my door was locked (about the 20th time or so since I got back in my car to stay safe toasty and comfortable, as the light turned on. It was ever so dim at first, almost imperceptible but when I looked up after checking the locks, I could see that the eastern sky was a bit grey where it had been dark, very dark, just moments ago. When I did look at the clock it was 0600 precisely, so maybe it was light just a minute or less before that. Still though, the forest was dark. It was not until about 0615 that I felt brave it was light enough for me to safely venture into the woods and head to my selected slumber hunting spot.

The walk to my stand was uneventful. The wind had died down some, but was still blowing at a pretty good clip. I don't know if it was because the wind had died down slightly, because dawn was well upon the forests in those parts, or because this time I took my first step with my right instead of left foot (not that I am superstitious mind you but because I am the curious type who always wonders about how one thing may effect another even if seemingly unrelated) but this time there was no angry din, the forest remained noisy but relatively calm as compared to its earlier state and nothing - like an old rotted tree trunk or a huge branch, that could have just as easily landed on me - crashed to the ground this time. I was about 10 paces down the old abandoned logging road toward my goal when I was suddenly illuminated by light much as if lightning had struck at my feet. Someone in a pickup truck had just turned in on the road and came darned close to hitting me. You would have thunk that the knucklehead driving had just seen me enter the woods as he drove up on my car parked at roadside but apparently he had not or maybe just wanted to give me a scare. If the latter was the case, little did he realize that I, the intrepid hunter and adventurer, had been given a run for the money by good old Mother Nature herself and there was nothing that was going to deter me from reaching completing my quest. About 10 minutes latter I was seated, in relative comfort under a tree. Was it an oak, a hickory, an ash, I know not, but it was to be my back rest for the next few hours. As it turned out, it really was a good hunting spot. No I did not bag a deer while there, but you certainly remember those other hunters in the pickup truck. Well they apparently spooked a deer and it came by me on the very trail off of which I was sitting awaiting just such an opportunity. The thing was it was still too dark to see, what with all the cloud cover it was a gray dawn indeed. I heard it go by though, and though perhaps I caught the glimpse of a ghoulish shade shadowy deer like figure pass me by. Then again, in that light, for all I know it could have been one of the other hunters trying to creep and crouch by me through the woods - that light, with the wind still moving around the bushes a bit - can play tricks on a guy.

Oh well, the rest of the morning, up until about 0930 was uneventful. I had wisely set the alarm on my cell phone to go off at 0930 and had put it on vibrate just in case a deer was about to get shot by me at that precise moment. I would not want to have ruined my concentration what with my alarm going off sending the deer into a leaping and bound run through the woods toward safer haven nor would I have wanted to be awakened my an unnatural sound after all the commotion of the night before. That is of course, had I been sleeping. I can tell you, and this is no lie, a tree of proper width against your back at proper angle with head propped and held in place by a folded sweater can be a comfortable and sleep alluring trap. Not for me though, I stayed wide awake - and I saw nothing. After that I tried rattling up a buck. Then I waited about another half an hour to see if a deer would actually show up after I made more commotion than had the forest with all the wind just hours before. Truth be told the wind was still giving a good blow now and again so I am none to sure the sound of the rattling carried all that far over the noise of the treetops whipping about.

Once I had waited that ever so long 30 minutes, I decided to get up and go with my plan. My plan was to get up and get going. No, I was not going home. I was going to do some Still Hunting. It is kind of funny, the vernacular of the hunt. You "sit" on a "stand" (yes you can stand to, but most sit sooner of later, some, but not me, even lay down and sleep) and you walk while you "still" hunt. 'Still Hunting' amounts to stalking game animals. It is not easy, it takes patience, skill and luck. I have the patience usually, and I have the skill; no bragging but I have walked to within 15 of deer, 30 to 40 feet of a bear, and about 20 feet of a bobcat before because, most of all, I was patient. That is most of the skill in still hunting - being and remaining patient. In other words you move slowly; it has sometimes taken me 3 hours to walk a mile while still hunting. The trick is to walk and make any movements slowly, to stop often, to wait from about 10 seconds to 2 minutes (or more) before walking on again, and to observe what is around you and to remain patient and let the deer move. I have had deer stand there looking at me, and actually had a young buck (button horn) walk right up to me and sniff me from only inches away, it took patience not too move. It was a thrilling experience. Patience would prove to be the ticket I needed to see deer on this hunt.

While out and about, I headed from south to north walking upstream against the course of a forest stream. No I was not in the water, but on a deer trail that ran along the stream. I passed on hunter in the woods who I saw had looked around and seen me (otherwise I would have spoken in a loud voice letting him know I was there but he waived acknowledgement of me - something I do not recommend when you do not know the other hunter and his hunting skills - people have been accidentally shot when they moved by other overzealous and less than safe other hunters). I waived back, but only because I was sure by his waive that he had seen me, and I continued on. All in all I probably walked 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile and the break neck pace which allowed me to do so in about an hour and a half. As I got to the point where the stream turned toward the west, I kept headed north. I was in a mixed forest of pines, hemlocks and hardwoods and the going was crunchy. There were an awful lot of branches on the ground (having been cut previously and what with the wind last night - the dead, dry, branches were in abundance in my path in this particular stretch of my path). Best as I could, I tried to avoid snapping branches, but at about 215 pounds with a 25 pound backpack and a 7 pound rifle, and some heavy clothing and boots, I weighed in easily at about 250. It is virtually impossible not to snap branches, but that really does not matter all that much if you do the rest of the Still Hunting thing right. It seems I was doing it right. I had made sure to eliminate my scent with proper washing before the hunt (using a scent eliminator soap), I had some deer scent on a drag (deer urine on a pad dragged behind me on a cord). I try to keep it off of me to avoid having a buck attack me either in a buck on buck rage or in a mating frenzy depending on which type of male or female deer pee I use. Either way, it would hurt and hunters have been attacked and hurt by bucks before.

Back to the hunt. As I said - this time I had again gotten it right despite the cracking of branches underfoot. Well part of it right anyhow. The stream bed was about ten feet lower than foot level for me down a gentle slope at that point. There was a fairly large down fall about 15 to 20 yards in front of me and to my left about 15 yards. I had stopped and just started walking again, I had taken one or two steps both of the rather crunchy variety when I saw two dashed of gray ghost like swaths moving toward me from behind the downfallen tree branches. All I could tell was that it was a large animal or animals, I was uncertain if it was a deer or a bear. I stopped and out stepped two does. One an average sized doe and the other one was pretty huge looking sort of like a large wooden barrel around her belly. I had to give a second look to make sure it was indeed a doe and not a buck but there were no antlers anywhere to be seen. My heart was immediately in overdrive, I suppose due to the quart of high test adrenalin that had just been flooded into my system. I froze, one deer just stopped directly in front of me - only 15 yards away at most, maybe even half that distance, but I'll say 15 yard because I know that tunnel vision during times like this makes things seem closer. I glanced to the left, moving just my eyes, and the other deer - yes there were two - was still behind the down fall though close to the end of it nearest me.

At that precise moment, a lot of things were coursing through my head like Santa's reindeer course through the nighttime skies on Christmas Eve - at the speed of impossible x 20: Should I move, should I stay frozen, should I try to take a shot - no don't shoot all you can see of the deer right in front of you is about 8 inches of its right hindquarter, there is a wide tree between you and it, did the deer stop like that on purpose, are deer that smart, my back is killing me, my hips are killing me, arthritis sucks, this is it, the big chance I have worked so long for is here, this is the moment, this is it, look at that huge doe right in front of me, damn that tree and whomever planted it there, her head is behind the tree she cannot see me, when the deer leaves it will present a shot, don't move, wait for the deer to move, as the deer walks away it will present it self from behind the tree, wait, don't move, why are you lifting up the rifle, she cannot see you - lift it get it ready , sight in on where she will come out from behind the tree, do it slowly, move very slowly, no don't move, why not, do it now, she cannot see you, okay I am doing it remember to quietly take it off of half cock, heck I already did that a second ago, finger off the trigger until ready to shoot, okay it's where it belongs, move slowly, you jerk too late there they go, oh ^%&*$%##@....." Yes I had lots of thoughts and the last one was a discordant symphony of me cursing myself for not being patient enough to let the deer make the next move and for not just standing still no matter how much I was ready to run a marathon with all that adrenalin coursing through my arteries.

Of course, she did not see me raise my rifle for a shot. Chances are, even if she had, had I waited and let the deer move first, she would not have been alarmed enough to run. They were not all that afraid of me, that is evidenced by them stopping. They were uncertain of what I presented to them. Was I a threat or a harmless forest beast? They almost assuredly had thought a buck was approaching, they come on none to cautiously when they think they are walking up on a ready to mate doe or on another buck itching for a fight. Does react to buck snapping branches and rustling the leaves in stride - as part of their lives - and they are attracted to it. I also had been using a buck call and a doe bleat. They may have thought it was a buck and doe approaching. They came right over toward me and were in no big hurry - that is until I raised my rifle. Once I moved like that, they made me out most assuredly as an upright threat, not as a four footed deer. Had they moved first, they may have trotted or walked of a little bit then stopped again. That is the way of deer, even ones slightly frightened and unsure of a possible threat. The one I had wanted to shoot could not see me, no way she could have, her view of me was blocked by the tree that blocked me from seeing most of her. For the life of me though, I have no idea how it is that I just completely disregarded the other deer that still could me.

I forgot all about that one in the matter of mere seconds. So when I raised my rifle, ever so slowly, that one was watching from about 17 to 20 yards away to my left from behind the deadfall. It took of like a bat out of hell, may have been shot at before, but certainly has encountered humans that scared it. Why had they not run outright. Well deer cannot see all that well, certainly they cannot distinguish a hunter from the background of trees with all that much ease, not even a hunter in blaze orange as was I. First of all, they are color blind. Secondly they have trouble distinguishing one thing from another. What they do not have though is trouble scenting things nor seeing movement. Their hearing is also good, but as I pointed out they can be deceived. They did not scent me, even though the wind was blowing from right to left carrying any scent from me right to them. They would have bolted right away or hidden behind the downfall had they scented me as human. Instead they came to me likely expecting another deer or two. It was only when I moved that it keyed in on me not being another deer. Both of them bolted, maybe more like Santa’s coursers is a better analogy that like a bat out of hell - but they were gone in almost no time. I did have a good opportunity for a running deer shot. The one I wanted presented a spine shot. I could have hit it, of that I am pretty certain, I am a fair shot. The thing is that they were within 50 yards of a road to the left, from when they came. Should they have veered that way and I followed with them in my sights, well then I may have shot and should I have missed there were cars of hunters along the road, and a house in that direction. They ran straight then right - further into the forest. I figured a shot at a running deer even toward the woods was a bad chance to take with all the other hunters out and about on state land. I waited about 10 minutes then tried to stalk them, but they had gone much further once spooked than they would have had I put into practice the most important hunting skill of all - patience.

If you doubt I would have gotten a shot had I been patient, let me just say you probably are very wrong. I once walked dup on three deer, two does and a fawn on my uncles farm. I was on an old overgrown logging road, they were coming across it, at least headed to et, feeding on acorns (or whatever) on the forest floor. I had stopped and was looking around slowly and there they were about 15 to 25 feet (not yards but feet) away from me just having come over a small rise. I had no human scent, I used deer scent, I was moving at a snail's pace and stopping frequently, and when I saw them I did not move. I stood there looking at them, only turning very slowly a few inches so I faced them straight on, and I watched them for at least 5 maybe 10 minutes. They had absolutely no clue that I was there, or if they did they ignored me totally as they got closer and closer while foraging in the leaf litter on the forest floor. I was hunting - not practicing as I had done often before. I had my shotgun, even if they ran I could have snap shot at least one of them. The thing was I had no doe permit, so I watched. After awhile my back started to ache badly. I also had on a small but fairly heavy pack then (I almost always have one when hunting). I squirmed a bit they did not notice. The big doe close, I probably could have jumped a bit and touched her before she took off - that close. I figured oh well, I'll take a shot doe permit or not. I fired a single shot into a safe backstop and the three deer took off for the life of them. I figured I would make them a bit more cautious and more fun to hunt the following year if I got a doe permit. I stayed put after the shot because while the two does ran over the rise in the direction from which they had come, the fawn hid in some pines and a down fall. It bleated and guess what. With about 5 minutes, the two does were back, the fawn had come to their sides, and they were feeding again right there in front of me. This time though I was moving a bit more because I was uncomfortable from the pack and from holding my shotgun all the while pretty much without moving except to fire the shot. The older doe came very close to me but this time realized something was afoot. She sniffed a few times in my direction, snorted, stomped her front hooves but I did not move. Then she came even closer sniffed, snorted loudly and took off for parts unknown followed by the other two. Why - probably smelled the burnt gunpowder residue - enough of a foreign smell to spook her.

The whole point is, had I been patient with the two deer on this recent hunting trip - I likely would have scored some venison for the table. There is no way to know how you will react and then continue to act in any given circumstance. Other deer have fallen to my guns before because I remained patient. This time though, I don't know what it was - was it the hangover of the day before, combined with a lousy night's sleep caused by the howling wind that had me thinking Jacob Marley's ghost was about to introduce me to those other three specters in my hotel room, or just my buddy Arthur I. Tis who always accompanies me nowadays (and is a pain in the neck and back and joints) and who was especially bothersome with that backpack on my back, or if it was just the excitement of seeing a shot present itself like that after my not having bagged a deer in a few years now - but patient I was not. In fact, I was so impatient as to have completely disregarded, in fact forgotten, all about the other deer that was watching me as I raised my rifle. While I can blame a lot of things for my impatience it all comes down to it being me who is still hunting and that is what happens to most hunters who try to Still Hunt!

Mind you, I did have one more opportunity to hunt coming up. That would have been today. Truth be told tough, while I faced lots of perils in my life, especially during my 30 year career as a federal agent, I can say without a doubt I was not brave enough to go at it again. Maybe it was just the prospect of spending another night facing the unknown - I mean who knowingly plans on getting hangover, or trying to sleep in noisy, drafty hotel on a windblown night, or to walk through the woods in the dark as huge limbs crash to the earth after being broken by a gale. So I decided to take the safer course and to head for home last night, besides that I was just not patient enough to give it another day and as I have said somewhere before - patience is required. Funny, I am not a patient guy at home but I can be while out hunting. Anyway, I would rather face the prospects of an accident with one of the many crazed and raging impatient motorists on the New York highways, even the part of it through sections of New York City, than to face the prospect of hoping another day would do the trick. That would mean that I would have had to have remained patient enough and have all else go right enough again other than having my hopes come crashing down as did that tree limb in the windstorm - or those deer go crashing through the woods - both scenes not witnessed and unthought-of by any but one impatient man.

I decided to be patient and wait until next weekend or the one after that because until the season ends, tere is always next weekend, or the one after that, if I can get one of our cars. Who knows, maybe by then I will have gone over this failed hunt enough times in my mind to really learn the lesson that I should have already known about patience and Still Hunting. If not, then maybe I will, at least, embarrass myself into getting it right the next time I have a dream shot like that with a deer only 15 yards away presenting itself broadside to me. And no, no matter what you may be thinking by now, I do not mean to infer that I was dreaming when it happened.

All the best,
Glenn B