Lost Lemmings

Actually I'm hunting deer because it's deer season again! What a magical time of the year. Rifle season opens up tomorrow morning and will run for 11 days. The deer then get a two day reprieve, which includes Thanksgiving, and then it's another 9 days of muzzleloader season. Fun times ahead.

This year I decided to build some new tree stands in areas that I have scouted the last two years with my pop-up blind. I also had some extra lumber from some construction projects over this past year, making the construction of the stands that much cheaper. So I built two more stands in the woods(One on buck point and the other in the thicket) and one stand on the side of a freshly planted rye field. Currently the rye is about 2-3 inches tall and the deer have been in it almost every night.

It appears that my self-imposed herd management last season seems to have worked for this year. I have a few game cameras placed in various spots of the woods that have caught a couple of 8-pointers walking around as well as quite a few does and smaller bucks. When I scouted the area, I found 10 4-5" rubs that were probably from the 8-pointers. I found a whole slew of smaller rubs from the smaller bucks. However what excited me the most were the two 9-10" rubs that are hopefully from a real big boy walking around in the woods - I just don't have a picture of him. I have also found some nice scrapes that are approximately 6 feet high and 3-4' in diameter. I just hope that the big one makes a mistake and walks by where I will be hunting.

OH NO! Say it ain't so! I always thought that mass suicide would be the reason for my decline. Instead it is this?!?!?! How could it happen?

Why would you want to implement a Nationwide Medical Database full of patient records when stuff like this, this, and this keep happenning?

It seems to me that paper records are much safer than an electronic database.

Do you really want a lawyer to be president?

"From each, according to his abilities. To each, according to his needs."

Any ideas as to who this quote is attributed to?

Any ideas which candidate for president supports these beliefs?

I am going to speak in all symbols, such as ... Son-of-a-#*&$%! or &#*@ you!

That's how the cartoons do it, isn't it?

If you aren't familiar with this, please check it out. This article is about the tv converter that will be required for the vast majority of televisions for people who do not have satellite or cable tv. Unfortunately you will still be required to shell out $10-30 per unit after using the coupons. Personally I have 4 tvs, all older, in my house that all have amplifying rabbitear-style antennae. Therefore, it will cost me a minimum of $120 to be able to use them after Feb. 18, 2009.

Enough about the converters, which are an inconvenience, but not a problem. The real problem itself lies within the actual digital broadcasting technology. If you live out in a rural area, as I do, you get weak tv reception, which I compensate with an amplifying antenna on each television. This works great with analog signals. If the signal is weak, it will still show up on your television, however there will also be some "snow" on your screen. Now, once we switch to digital broadcasting, it will be either all or nothing - like binary code. There will be no "snow" on your screen from a weak signal, instead there will be no signal at all. There is no "fuzzy" logic here, no gray areas, it is either black or white. OK, so to compensate, I will probably have to install a large, whole-house aerial antenna - no problem, I figured that I would have to do this at some point anyway.

One more thing, what happens to digital tv broadcasts during bad weather like tornados??? It gets weaker. What happens to weak digital broadcasts? They do not show up on your screen. What does the media tell you to do during bad weather? Turn on the tv to know what to expect. What does this all mean??? DURING BAD WEATHER, LIKE TORNADOES, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO RECEIVE TV BROADCASTS TO INFORM YOU WHEN TO SEEK COVER. THIS MAY MEAN THAT THERE WILL BE AN INCREASE IN DEATHS TO AN UNINFORMED PUBLIC.

And to think that this mandatory switch to digital broadcasts was mainly due to congress wanting to show that they were keeping up with the Japanese in terms of electronic technology. It sounds a lot like keeping up with the Joneses' to me. I know that you will hear that it will save airspace since digital broadcasts use less bandwidth than analog broadcasts - Well what were they going to use the saved bandwidth for anyways? This argument is a load of crock!

There is also the argument that the picture quality will improve upon switching to digital broadcasts. A huge majority of the television stations will continue to broadcast using the same picture quality they are currently using with analog broadcasts. Therefore, there will not be a change in picture quality on Feb. 18, 2009 for a large majority of you. Yes, they can do a high-definition broadcast in which will be a better picture quality, however you will need an HDTV in your house to be able to recieve the superior signals. Chances are, if you have already shelled out the money for an HDTV, you also pay for satellite or cable HDTV service and will not be affected by this change. I couldn't care less if I am watching the news and local programming in HDTV or analog. The big difference that I can see is that you will be able to see all the blemishes on the broadcasters' and actors'/actresses' faces.This will probably lead to an earlier retirement age for these individuals.

I am now trying to find out which congressmen voted for this mandatory switch so that I can use that information in this next election. I believe the bill was passed in 1996 or 1997 and I think that it was the Telecommunications Act or the Balanced Budget Act. I am still trying to figure it out.

One more thing for all you conspiracy theorists out there, why do you think that the mandatory date was changed from December 31, 2006 until February 18, 2009? Could it have had anything to do with campaign ad time for this next presidential election? Were the parties worried that they could not have gotten their message out to the rural and low income areas? I don't know, but it is something to think about.

As stated in my previous post, I just back from a little two week excursion to Hawaii. My wife surprised me about a month with this trip to celebrate me turning the big 3-0. At first I thought two weeks was too long to go, but once I was there I did not want to return. I can't tell you how many people I met on the islands who were originally from Missouri. Most of their stories were the same - they sold their business back home after a trip to the islands and decided to open a new one in the tropics selling fish or flowers or giving tours, etc., etc. It got my wife and I thinking about what talents we have that we could use to survive on the islands. Finally, logic prevailed and we came back home. But to go from 75-85 degrees with lush vegetation and gorgeous flowers to 30 degrees and brown leaves hanging from deciduous trees, it turned out to be a tougher decision than I could have imagined.

We arrived in Hawaii on the 1st of November and stayed in a very nice hotel about two blocks from Waikiki beach. We were planning this trip using three books Hawaii for Dummies, Hawaii by Fodors, and Hawaiian Cruises. We were able to find this hotel in one of the books as a reasonably priced nice hotel, however nothing extravagant. When we got to Honolulu, we found that the book was right on. We booked one of their Deluxe golf course view rooms with two sliding glass doors and a balcony that wrapped around the corner of the building. Therefore, we had excellent views of the beach, the mountains, the lagoon where the kayaking teams like to practice, and a golf course. We rented a car from Enterprise using my Discover card cash back points(You can double your points with Enterprise - I used them whenever I could on this trip and was able to rent intermediate-sized cars on one-day excursions for only $5-$6 a day.) and were able to get a Toyota Camry. I always prefer to drive a car made from the US Big 3 (I know I am perceived as an old-fashioned ignorant American when making that statement since most parts and assembly are done outside of the US, but it is just a stubborn preference of mine. It is one of those old habits that are tough to break. I think it stems from my preference to use standard sized wrenches instead of metric sized wrenches when performing repairs. I always lose those stupid size 10 and 11 mm wrenches!) but the Camry turned to work very well for us. It was also small enough to make island navigation pretty easy - however on Oahu this isn't really a problem. When we arrived at the hotel, our fears were realized when they charged $15/day to use their valet service. If you did not use their service, you had to park your car on the street and those spots were very difficult to come by. We warned in our book about this but didn't think that it was really true - it was.

Oahu

While on Oahu, we spent about a day walking around and shopping on Waikiki beach which was pretty fun. By the end, there were too many people for my taste. I like a less crowded atmosphere. Nightlife on that beach was quite entertaining - it reminded me a lot of nightlife in Madison, WI. There were street vendors and street entertainers everywhere - from mimes to jugglers to painters to comedians. There were even hula dancer shows on the streets. My wife bought a ton of stuff that was definitely imported, I'm not sure whether it was imported legally, but it was definitely imported.

Another day on Oahu, we drove up north to visit the Dole Plantation. That was outstanding! I am a huge fan of tropical fruits - especially pineapple, so this was the place to go. They had pineapple everything! They also had an outstanding plantation garden to walk through. One of my favorite hobbies are horticulture and botany so I loved this place. I finally put two and two together and figured out what type of plants pineapples are - bromeliads! Why I didn't see this sooner, I don't know. I found out the story of James Dole and why he grew pineapples on the north side of the island. The land there is red and full of iron - Fe3, I believe. This iron is not usable by plants so not much will grow there. Therefore he had the idea to grow an agriculturally important bromeliad there. It was a simple idea, however he was a genius to come up with it. For those of you who don't know, bromeliads are the plants that you see growing on the electric lines and in cubby-holes of trees in the tropics. If the plant has the ability to obtain all of its nutrients and water from air and rain, why wouldn't it grow in harsh soil? Simple, yet ingenious.

After the plantation we drove north to the north shore of Oahu where they host many international surfing competitions. They were actually preparing to host another the following week. We then drove they long way down the western shore of Oahu to check out the scenery. While we were driving down this road we passed by a couple of roadside fruit stands. Now while I was in Puerto Rico, I used to stop at these to buy fresh fruit and loved it. I finally talked my wide into stopping at one and there we learned the different between coconuts with good coconut water and coconuts with tasty rind. We purchased one of each along with some of their native "apple-bananas", a couple papaya, and a couple of kiwi. I was ready to pay for the fruit after showing my wife how much fun it was to stop at these stands, when the old man decided to start talking religion with me. If you don't know me, I am not a religious guy. I know that one day, I will turn to religion when I need it, but right not I am able to do a good job explaining why things are happening around me. Anyways, this guy decided they we looked like we needed to join the Mormon religion and went on a spiel about it. After about 30 minutes, he finally took the money out of my hand and we were on our way, however now we also had a Mormon bible. I don't think my wife will be stopping at any roadside stands in the near future with me again.

Saturday night Oahu experienced rain like they don't normally experience this time of year. I saw a graphic on the TV showing that Honolulu normally receives 3-4" of rain in November. Saturday night they had rain showers producing 3" of rain in an hour. I think we say that most places received 10-12" of rain that night. The news reported that everything was flooding. However this rainfall did not deter our plans from visiting Pearl Harbor Sunday morning. According to the books, they said to arrive early, which we did. We still had to wait in line, but the line was not very long. Sadly, due to the rainfall and the falling rivers, the Navy had suspended trips out to the Arizona memorial. We were able to watch the video and visit the museum, but we were not able to walk across the memorial. While I was reading the signs by the harbor, I was standing in water that was half-way up my calves. I guess I can understand why they wouldn't want to navigate their ships through it. The whole area was very sombering yet I found it fascinating learning up-close about the history of the events. You can read all you want about the events in the books, but until you are actually able to see where the events occurred you cannot grasp the importance of the events. One other quick thing about Pearl Harbor, I picked up a replica copy of the St Louis news paper from Dec. 7, 1941 from their gift shop. The only newspapers they offered were the Honolulu and St. Louis papers. Why the St. Louis one was there was beyond me.

After the Pearl Harbor museum, we toured the USS Bowfish submarine which was located right next door. we also walked around the museum and went and visited the USS Missouri - where the US and Japan signed their treaty after WWII. By this time the rain was finally slowing down and we decided to visit the "Official Store of Hawaii" Hilo Hattie. The store was nice and had quite a few different items in it, but the find find at this stop was that while standing in line to check out, my wife met a woman who lived on Oahu. She was kind enough to tell us some places to go see.

The first place we went after Hilo Hattie was the PunchBowl. It was a little difficult for us to locate, but with it being Sunday there wasn't any traffic in Honolulu. I know that this may sound kind of like an odd place to visit on vacation but the PunchBowl is the military memorial cemetary in Honolulu. It is in a prestine location atop a mountain just above the city. There is a spot in the top left of the park where you have an unbelievable 360 degree view ranging from mountains to the city to the beach to the ocean. We found it very interesting walking around the cemetary reading the plots of the veterans that have served bravely in the military. I was very humbled by the number of Hawaiians that fought for this country even before it was declared as a state. It was very impressive.

After the PunchBowl, we drove back to our hotel, getting lost a couple of times on the way. Once back, we changed and headed down to Waikiki. We found a food stand on the beachnad ordered some food. We then sat in the sand and watched the beautiful Hawaiian sunset.

Monday morning we had to pack our stuff up because we were changing our accomadations. We decided to board our cruise ship as early as we could, so we arrived at the pier at 1pm. After waiting in line, answering their questions, and going through security we made our way to our room. The ship was ENORMOUS. It held 2500 passengers plus ~2500 crew members. The name of the ship was the Pride of Hawaii by Norwegian Cruise Lines. We stayed on the 9th deck of the ship at about midship. The view from our blacony was superb. My wife immediately went on the restaurant tour while I stayed in the room to recieve our bags and tip the luggage deliverers. She returned and told me that she had made reservations for that night and the following night. We then decided to watch their hula dancing show and go on a tour of the ship. The hula dancing show was entertaining and I got try a Blue Hawaiian for the first time in my life. It was quite good. The tour was very informative because since the ship is so large, we probably wouldn't have been able to find everything on our own within the week that we were onboard.

Well...getting busy again, more on this later.

And man, are my arms tired...

I just got back from a two week hiatus at Hawaii. I've got a few things I need to catch up on, but will post again after I am all caught up. It was gorgeous there. And now I realize how ugly Missouri really is. Wow, do I yearn to return.

On several occasions during my senior year in high school, my parents and I would visit a family counselor. There were many reasons for these visits, none of which I care to elaborate on, however there was one thing that was repeated to me on virtually every visit. If I maintain the level of stress that I was under, I would not live to the age of thirty.

Well guess what, at 3:06 pm today, it will have been thirty years since I ventured upon that Goonies-esque fantastic voyage out of the womb (To keep going with the Goonies reference, don't most babies resemble Sloth when they are first born?). And you know what, my stress level has maintained its level if not increased throughout the years. So take that you long-haired, goofy, wanna-be hippie shrink. You think you know your stuff? Well I'll prove you wrong every time.

Now to practice the art of danger-avoidance until this afternoon. It's a good thing I don't believe in jinxes.

I've decided that it is time to wear the "Got Postseason?" shirt again. It is about time that they called up Ankiel. I'd love to see Edmonds take either Ankiel or Ludwick under his wing and show him some tricks to playing the OF. I believe it will be one of those two who will take over for Edmonds and not Rasmus as everyone else has been saying. Think about it, two years from now, an outfield of Duncan, Ankiel, and Ludwick. Wow.

This is getting ridiculous. First this. Then this. Then this. And now this??? I'm sure that I missed some in between as well. At first I just asumed that it was the individual companies trying to make an extra dollar by spiking the wheat gluten so that when tested it appeared to contain more crude protein than it actually did. Now after so many in such a short time, I'm starting to wonder if it is actually some sort of Chinese government-influenced movement.

Now I am not trying to put all the blame for all of these recalls squarely on China. I mean, what did the American public think was going to happen when you start outsourcing all of your manufacturing to countries that do not have the same safety standards that we do? You can do QC checks until the cows come home, but you still will not be able to catch everything that they try. The public only hears about the items that get through the QC inspections. I wonder how many times products have to be returned to China beause the QC people actually caught something when it happenned?

I know, everything is cheaper when it is made in China. But you get what you pay for. If you purchase a toy that was manufactured in a country that is trying to reduce the size of its population and you find out that toxic material was used to make the toy, is it really a surprise?

Labels: China, Recalls, untrustworthy

Even though I don't agree with how Bernie assessed the Imus situation, I do applaud him for making a connection between it and the Duke lacrosse case. Where is the outrage?

My major disagreement with him on the Imus case is that he doesn't characterize Imus' show as comedy. IT IS COMEDY. I for one have spent many mornings listening to his show when it used to be on a local affiliate when I was in undergrad. The type of humor that he uses is sarcasm. If you don't understand sarcasm, change the channel. The insults that he hurls are sarcasm. And he hurls them equally no matter what your race, gender, religion or political views are. Get over it and let him talk.

I've heard some audio files played of some of the speeches concerning Imus. People are going so far as to call for new government regulations for the type of talk that is delivered on the airways. It seems to me that this would increase similarities between us and China. What's next, deciding which websites we can view? Oh yeah, they're already trying to do that.

I guess that I should also add that I have now removed msnbc from my list of favorites. From now on I will get my national internet news from the NYT, cnn, and fox. I will also no longer watch msnbc on cable or satellite. And I will change the station at work during the hour that Keith Olberman comes on the Dan Patrick show.

If they can do it, I can too.

I abhor Al Sharpton. I don't know why he has any credibility. Doesn't anyone remember this?


On a lighter side...
Don't you hate it when your leg falls off when you are trying to make a getaway? It really pisses me off.

Labels: botched getaways, rational hatred

This weekend will be another fun one full of taping, mudding, painting, and hopefully a little planting.

I guess that I just can't get enough of the whole remodeling thing, but now I have switched locations again and am remodeling a business in both Hermann and Montgomery City. Granted I am not doing major projects, such as moving walls. But I am tearing out damaged drywall and other wall coverings and replacing them with new drywall. I am just about finished with the front of the one in Hermann and have moved to Montgomery to take care of the front of it. When I am done with that, I will go back to Hermann and take care of the rear of the building followed by the rear of the building in MC. Did I mention that I am doing all of this on nights and weekends? Did I also mention that I have a huge project about to begin at my full-time job and will probably work 110-120 hours on it over the next two weeks? And did I mention that I am trying to put in a vegetable garden and berry bushes at the same time? How about the fact that I have now been handed control of the lawncare at these two business locations? Jeez, 4-5 hours of sleep at night has made me feel like I am aging at double the rate I am used to.

Some things I've learned while hanging drywall:

1. A straight piece of angle iron works just as well for marking your lines as the more expensive drywall straight edge tool.

2. If you are using nails, make sure you use ring-shank nails. They will stay in the wall much longer than straight or fluted nails.

3. I prefer screws over nails anyways. When you are driving your screws in, you would definitely benefit from using a driver like this one. That way you never break the outside paper on the sheetrock.

4. I like to glue my drywall to the wall and will use liquid nails to do it. However, it is a bitch to take down later.

5. If you have water damage, or suspect that a leak could happen in a certain spot in the future, make sure you douse the stud wall with bleach before you put the drywall up. Once you have the drywall up(Make sure it is the green stuff) and have it mudded, put a coat of Kilz paint on it. This will help inhibit mold from growing.

6. When the drywall is off the wall, it is always a good idea to grab your digital camera and snap a few pictures of the stud wall. That way you will have a reference for where the wires and plumbing pipes are located.

7. Before you hang the drywall, make sure you let your wife/girlfriend look at what you are doing. Be sure to mention multiple times about how you should be in the wall because it is, afterall, a "Stud Wall."

8. Self-adhesive drywall tape is a gift from god. When you don't put up drywall for a living, it gets very dificult to hang paper tape without bubbles or wrinkles in it.

9. Use pre-mixed drywall mud. It is not nearly as messy and the ratio of water-to-mud is always right.

10. Last but not least, make sure you have a shop-vac and an extra filter for sucking up all the dust after sanding the stuff.

Well time to get back to work. The one saving grace through all of this is that the regular season begins Sunday with a win over the Metropolitans.

Labels: building stuff, drywall, regular season

You know you are in a lazy liberal town when this story is in the local headlines for weeks before it happens. I'm not saying that I agree with everything that is represented by the Neo-Nazis, because I certainly do not. I'm saying that everyone has a right to make their opinion be heard. You certainly didn't see this type of coverage when they were having anti-war marches in town. Nor did you see this coverage when the University sent out a mass email telling students to skip class to show that they are boycotting the war. I'm just glad I work in Columbia and don't live there. I do not want to be in town during this march, it could get ugly. Hopefully their next stop will be in Madison, Wisconsin, followed by Berkeley, CA. That should really get the news agencies going.
[UPDATE: The link has been fixed. Thanks Liam.]

It seems that when many people reach middle age, they make lists of things to do before they die. I'm not sure whether or not I will make one when I get to that point, but if I do, I can't imagine it to be very long. This individual apparently had made one of these lists and was checking off the final items when he was 50. I don't think there is anything else left that principal Acerra could do before he dies. If there is, he certainly went through his list in the wrong order.

Labels: lists, outrageous

For all you gardening enthusiasts to get those annual flowers planted. I planted my creeping petunias, regular petunias, eggplant, and celery two weeks ago. I've got some petunias and eggplants germinating already. I will probably remove the covers this afternoon. Next time I get a chance I will be planting my pepper seed since they need eight weeks before you can harden them off outside. 2-3 weeks from now I will be planting my tomato seed.

Unfortunately I didn't do anything with my vegetable garden this past fall, so I will have to do some major cleanup this spring. First I will pull out all of my posts, cages, fences, and labels. I'll then roll up the landscape fabric and burn it in the fire barrel. Next I'll pull up my irrigation hoses and inspect them to make sure they are not busted. Afterwards I think I will light the garden on fire and burn all the old plant tissue. Once I till the ash into the soil, I'll have something to work with. Now to just wait for some of this mud and water to disappear.

The porn is always mightier than the sword. I think that I need to acquire a sword myself so that I will be able to rescue a damsel in distress.

However you're there. If I'm here and you're there, then how would you know that I am here? What a disturbing question.

As I am sure that everyone else has been, I have been quite busy lately. Since November, I have been remodeling my in-laws kitchen/den/office at their house. This included installing new lighting circuits, minor drywall repair, painting the walls and the ceiling, applying a texture coat to the walls, laying ceramic tile above the backsplash, mounting cabinets and a countertop that were never permanently mounted, installing a new kitchen sink and faucet, laying laminate tile on the floor, fixing a leaking roof, painting trim and doors, caulking trim and doors, and stalling a chair railing. I've been doing this only on nights and weekends and when the roads are passable. There's approx. 5 miles of gravel road to travel to get to their house. With this weather that we've been having, it's slowed me down significantly. I am almost done with this project, however. One more day this weekend and it will be over with.

In the meantime, we also had holiday parties at our house for various factions of people, you know, her family, my family, her employees, etc., etc. Now it appears that the holiday season is finally over.

We have a new tradition for Sunday nights at our house. A few weeks ago my wife purchased a Wii for me for an early Valentine's Day gift. It came with the Sports game which is quite fun. I've since ordered a second remote and nunchuck and now we box every Sunday night. Screw the marriage counselor when you can box your spouse.

I've also been quite consumed with my gardening recently. Now is the time to begin planting your seeds and taking cuttings for next season. While I have been working on this, I've been watching seasons 1 and 2 of The Office. That has got to be the funniest show on TV. Whether they're putting Dwight's stuff in Jello or moving his desk into the men's bathroom, the show just keeps me laughing. If you have the chance, I would highly recommend picking up either season when you are next shopping.

Anyways, gotta get back to work. Tata for now.

Which do you think he cares most about? I know his ads say family values but according to KSDK, he apparantly owed(owes?) child support money to woman from when he was known by his former name, Mark Bastain(Just scroll down to the second post from the bottom). Now again, do you think he cares more about family values or his family jewels?

The reason why I bring him up is not because I live within his district, which I don't. It is also not because of his political views(Hell, I don't even know what they are, much less do I care. However, he does bear a striking reseemblence to Malcolm X.) The reason why you are reading this incredibly boring post is because he has introduced a bill to remove Big Mac's name from I70. This is hogwash. Five years ago, he would have been impeached for this type of behavior. I think they should laugh him off the house floor next time he brings it up.

So what do you think is going through this Moose's mind? "This is ridiculous!" Better yet, what if you were in another another vehicle with a bunch of friends heading the other direction. You pass Mr. Moose's car while it was slowing down but you were the only one in your car to see the moose. How would you describe it to your friends? Even better, what if you were drinking when you passed Mr. Moose's car? How long would it be before you had another drink?

Well, we had our first of many Christmas parties this past weekend. My wife and I held it for her employees at our house. We try to do something a little different each year to keep the parties enjoyable and to keep her employees guessing. Last year we went out and bought a choclate fountain which was a big hit. Everyone seemed to love dipping their own strawberries, oreos, pretzels, etc. under the flowing chocolate. This year to be a little different, we rented an inflatable money machine for them. We filled it up with money and green and red paper and let them have two turns inside. Everyone is just laughing and trying to get a bearing on what is going on during their first turn. Their second turn, however, is much more lucrative for them because they have figured out how to catch the blowing bills. I think they had a great time there.

By the end of the night, we had pulled out one our new games, Drinko. The directions were great with the final rule being "Last Man/Woman standing wins." For more on possible changes to the rules, check out the comments here. We sill have yet to pull out the Shots and Ladders game as well as the Roulette Shot Game. We'll have to try those during the subsequent parties.

All he needs now is a green mustache to go with that soul patch.

Ever since the Ricky Clemons saga happenned at Mizzou, I thought it would lead to the downfall of both head coach Q and President Floyd. However, it did not happen with the speed at which I had thought that it would occur. But in the end they both fell off their pedestals. Quin went first and Elson followed even after he stated that he would not quit.

I finally got one. He's an 8-pointer with 3 kickers. I shot it on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving with my MuzzleLoader on a farm northwest of Kirksville. It is by far the largest buck I have shot to date. Unfortunately the night before I shot this one, I missed a much larger one. I guess that's the way it goes.

After I shot this one, the whole valley that I was in filled up with smoke. This was due to two reasons, one it was lightly raining and two, I was using regular Pyrodex black powder in my gun. SInce the valley filled with smoke, I was not able to tell where the deer went. After a couple hours of looking, I finally found a trail and with the rest of the fellas at the camp, we tracked this guy for five hours that night until we lost the trail. I was able to recover the buck the next morning about 50 yards from where we lost the blood trail. We skinned him last week and took the head to the taxidermist in the town of Dittmer, MO to be mounted and we butchered the buck last night.

Kind of funny, with the obscenely cold temperatures, we had to wait two weeks before he thawed out enough so we could de-bone him. I've never had to wait that long before. Overall, it was a very good deer season. I shot at and missed a 10-pointer during rifle season behind my house and saw two 10-pointers and this 8-pointer during muzzleloader season. I don't think that I will be taking part in doe season other than just to scout up in the woods.

Deer season opens tomorrow morning and I'll be out in the woods with the rest of the Yahoos! The title of this post is the saying of a neihbor of mine. He doesn't care what he shoots, just as long as it moves. He'll also invite everybody and their brother to come out to his place and hunt. He lines them all around a 10 acre field and god help any deer that happens to walk into the field. It normally sounds like an arsenal going off when one does. And the funny part is they are all shooting at themselves. Unfortunately, Darwin's natural selection hasn't worked yet...but I'm waiting.

Well the election has come and gone. It appears now that the outcomes of most of the races here in Missouri have been decided. After looking at the results I have one general statement, "THERE IS LITTLE TO NO INTELLIGENCE TO BE FOUND IN THE STATE OF MISSOURI!!!" The issue that I am referring to is an increase in the minimum wage. Missourians actually passed it by a huge margin! Do these people not know that they were voting for a decrease in their own pay? I might be assuming to much, but I believe that the majority of Missourians make above the new minimum wage. By passing this proposition, you are in effect bringing your own wage closer to the minimum wage. In doing this you will decrease your own buying power, in essence decreasing the value of your paycheck. The only people it may help are the ones making minimum wage. But don't think that all of those folks will be able to work the same number of hours that they were under the old minimum wage. The management will not take a cut in their pay over this, instead they will cut the hours of the minimum wage employees. When this happens, these employees will have the same amount of money in their pocket as they did before the prop was passed.

However, one item that was not mentioned to you when you voted for this was the increase in inflation caused by the jump in minimum wage. Now instead of paying $4 for that fast food meal, you will instead be paying $6. Therefore the money in your pocket will not be worth as many happy meals as it was before you got the raise. The same will go for groceries. Again, don't think that management will absorb the extra costs, they will just pass it on to the consumer. Now instead of being able to afford eggs, milk, bread, and a steak every week, you will only be able to buy eggs, milk, and bread. Didn't think of that before you voted, didn't cha?

I know the big race in this election was the one for the US senate. I personally didn't like either of the major candidates, because I believe they are both lap dogs for their respective parties. I don't think that either of them could conjure up their own idea if their life depended on it. This was made very clear to me when both of their campaigns turned dirty(Needless to say, they have both run dirty campaigns in the past as well). I personally can't believe that they are the best candidates that our state has to offer. Work on it Missouri.

I was very pleased to see that the stem cell initiative did, in fact, pass. I had my doubts, afterall we are a neighboring state to Kansas. I guess the religious right isn't quite as strong in Missouri as I thought it was. Might I also add in here that religion is an ignorant person's excuse for what happens around them. I have been ignorant in the past and I will be ignorant in the future, and when those times come, I will resort to religion. In the case of the stem cells, though, it is only logical to take every advantage available to you for a long and healthy life. I feel that stem cell research will give us insights on multiple diseases that current research can't give us. So for this, congratulations Missouri.


One more thing, why did the tobacco tax not pass? Why am I paying for the health defects that are brought on by themselves? Why was this even put up for public voting? If you want to smoke, chew, or just absorb through a patch, that's fine. It's your decision and I respect that. However, why are my tax dollars going towards your health care? This tax was to set up a fund that will be available for you to use when you become ill from tobacco-causing diseases. It failed. Why? Yeah, I know that gas stations and convenience stores were against it, but that is because they were afraid of a drop in revenue. Understandable. Why didn't you pass it Missouri? Why?

These campaign ads have got to be some of the most offensive and hilarious ads I have heard in a long time. Around here, all I hear is that one candidate likes to beat the elderly. I wish they slung mud like Paul R. Nelson. Although I have to say his voice is incredible!

Looks like a rainout in the world series is not only hard on the fans and players, but is also hard on the managers. Just check out this quote from Jim Leyland last night.

"I smoked about a carton, probably the worst day of the year for my lungs"

Would you expect anything less from him?

no more meatloaf either!

I thought you were supposed to see a doctor if it lasted longer than three hours!!!

this time from Springfield. I kind of feel like a playboy in that I have been spending a lot of time recently traveling, drinking, partying, and fishing. I can't complain. On the way back home from St Louis this weekend, my wife and I realized that our leadership seminar on Wednesday was in Springfield and not at the lake like we had originally thought. Therefore, on Tuesday night we headed down to the home of Bass Pro. On the way down, we were able to arrange for a room at the Holiday Inn which is where the seminar was being held. The seminar was quite productive and beneficial. It was nice to hear different opinions on how to hire, train, motivate, review, and fire employees. We came away from that with some good new ideas. Since we were in the area and just "happened" to bring our flyrods, tackle, and waders along, we then headed south to Branson. We found a Fairfield Inn with vacancies and decided to stay there. Before it got dark, we took our rods and waded out into Lake Taneycomo. They were running water through the dam, so the level of water we were fishing in was quite high and the current was rapid. We weren't very successful so we packed up and headed back into Branson. My wife wanted to do some shopping to buy some gifts for her employees, so we stopped at a few outlet malls and meandered a bit. The next morning we again went back to Taneycomo, but this time asked an angler for help. He told us we didn't have the right flies and told us where to find them. We fished anyways but didn't catch anything. It's just fun walking through the water, kicking and stepping on the trout. You have 20-40 at your feet at all times! So on our way out, we stopped at the Archers and Anglers Flyshop and had them hook us up with the correct flies for our next time down. On the way back we shopped at a few malls and then ate lunch at Lamberts. You know, "Home of the Throwed Rolls"? Now that was a cool place to go! They really do throw the rolls at you. There are also waitresses walking around with fried okra, potatoes, beans, and molasses offering them to you besides what you received with your meal. If you are ever in the area of one of these restaurants, I'd suggest going. Besides, they're not expensive either. Well enough for now. I think this weekend I will have a trotline set up in my pond for catfish while I clear an area in the woods and hopefully begin erecting a shed for the horses.