I hope everyone had a good time celebrating what ever they believe in over this past holiday.
I loaded up my family intothe swagger wagon and made the 4 hour drive to Bemidji to spend it with my Parents and other family. We ate, played dominoes and talked about numerous topics and generally enjoyed each other's company.
It seems there is a growing movement of people against the holiday for various reasons, and that is their pergoative. My family will continue to celebrate with each other as we always have: eating a home cooked meal, gathering together and enjoying each other's company.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Another Rant!
Sorry all,
This isn't outdoors related but I need to vent so here it goes. We have been fortunate in that we have an in home day care friend who has watched all of our kids almost from the birth of our oldest who will be 9 next month. Her personal lifestyle and politics are different then ours but has never really been an issue until recently. I am not a very political person at all. I hate getting into disscussion about politics and will leave the room when folks start up. I am a Libertarian if anything. I have friends who are very left, like our day care lady and some who are just as right. I don't mind being with these folks for the most part. When they do get up on a soap box so to speak I politley listen, like at a party or get together, and then just mind my own business.
I picked the girls up after school the other day, a couple days after the election, and the girls seemed upset. I asked them what is up and what they told me really has my blood up. The ladies at daycare told them that Mitt Romney wanted to kill Big Bird. I verified with them to be sure of the words used and they said it was. These ladies are wiccan, polygamous, bi sexual, right wing peacenicks and yet the are sitting there telling my kids that the Republican Candidate wanted to KILL BIG BIRD if he was elected. Shame on them for saying this to kids who are impressionable and who take things to heart because they haven't the life experience yet to pick up exageration or sarcasm or what have you. Shame on them for trying to press on my kids their politics. I am still pretty mad about this.
We have been friends with these folks for years and years now and have always been able to take them with a grain of salt and the good they have done by being affordable daycare in an age where the cost is ridiculous. But this has hit me rather hard and I am at odds.
Do you think I am right with being this upset or should I just, "Lighten up, Francis"?
This isn't outdoors related but I need to vent so here it goes. We have been fortunate in that we have an in home day care friend who has watched all of our kids almost from the birth of our oldest who will be 9 next month. Her personal lifestyle and politics are different then ours but has never really been an issue until recently. I am not a very political person at all. I hate getting into disscussion about politics and will leave the room when folks start up. I am a Libertarian if anything. I have friends who are very left, like our day care lady and some who are just as right. I don't mind being with these folks for the most part. When they do get up on a soap box so to speak I politley listen, like at a party or get together, and then just mind my own business.
I picked the girls up after school the other day, a couple days after the election, and the girls seemed upset. I asked them what is up and what they told me really has my blood up. The ladies at daycare told them that Mitt Romney wanted to kill Big Bird. I verified with them to be sure of the words used and they said it was. These ladies are wiccan, polygamous, bi sexual, right wing peacenicks and yet the are sitting there telling my kids that the Republican Candidate wanted to KILL BIG BIRD if he was elected. Shame on them for saying this to kids who are impressionable and who take things to heart because they haven't the life experience yet to pick up exageration or sarcasm or what have you. Shame on them for trying to press on my kids their politics. I am still pretty mad about this.
We have been friends with these folks for years and years now and have always been able to take them with a grain of salt and the good they have done by being affordable daycare in an age where the cost is ridiculous. But this has hit me rather hard and I am at odds.
Do you think I am right with being this upset or should I just, "Lighten up, Francis"?
Monday, November 12, 2012
Television "experts"
I saw something today while channel surfing that has really bothered me. I don'tnormally get upset by this sort of thing but today it really bothered me. I was flipping channels and came to a program called "Gun Gear". They were in the middle of reviewing some Stag Arms AR 15s. Talking about their new relatively inexpensive gas piston models and what not. This was followed by a host of the show demonstrating how much cooler the gas piston model was compared to a traditional gas impingement model.
The test was straight forward, measure bolt temp on a cold weapon, fire a mag through quickly and then measure temp again. He picked up the first gun, locked and loaded and fired towards his target area. I don't know what he was shooting at but he seemed to be at a range so I assume some sort of target was there. It is what he did after he fired that caught my eye. After the last round was fired the hold open caught the bolt, the camera showed this and it was easy to see the chamber was clear. Then the host released the bolt forward with the mag still in inside and set the rifle down and picked up the other. As an NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer) in the Army for over 20 years, having been a range saftey and Range Safety Officer on countless rifle ranges wht he did not do stood out to me as if it had bells and whistles on it. It happened fast so I watched him shoot the second weapon and repeat what he did with the first rifle to be sure. I even waited and hoped the cameraman would close in on the weapons as he talked so I could be sure. I was kind of surprised by what I saw.
He never put either rifle on safe. As the camera was on facing the right side of the weapons where the selector lever is not visible I looked at the notch on the flat head of the lever and it was pointed straight up, on fire. These Stag arms rifles even had Fire and Safe stamped on the right side and it was crystal clear that both weapons were still on fire. He just continued to talk about the temperature diferences and some other features, even picked them up again so the camera could get better angles.
It really stood out as wrong to me. In our rifle training we emphasize and train constantly to put the weapon back on safe immediately after firing. We hammer it home at every qulification range where the saftey in the tower announces, "Cease fire, cease fire, place your weapon on safe, lock your bolt to the rear, back away from the weapon and stand by for a saftey to inspect you". When we do shoot house training and CQB firing we spend hours with unloaded weapons training in raising our weapon to a target, making certain it is what we want to shoot, switching the lever from safe to semi, firing, switching back to safe and lowering our weapons again. We drill this safety practice home to our troops. We chew each other out if we find weapons on semi when we are in the rear or just hanging around or whatever.
It really struck me as negligence. Now perhaps my view point is skewed but I don't think it is. This person is a host of a program on television that is all about firearms. As a host, he is going to be viewed as some kind of "expert" in the field. As a host on a televison show I think he has the duty to demonstrate safe handling procedures of firearms at all times. In this case I think this was an extreme lack of safety. In the Army and especiallyin the Infantry we always tell ourselves to train as we fight and I sincerely hope this host doesn't do this often. Even if the host and the one cameraman were the only people on a closed range with absolute certainty there was no one else around I would still be bothered by this.
When we are learning basic firearms safety either through the Military or hunter safety courses or conceal carry permt courses we are always taught to keep our weapon on safe until we are ready to fire. it is basic safety and to see it disregarded on a show by an "expert" really bothered me today.
Wow, my first real rant!
The test was straight forward, measure bolt temp on a cold weapon, fire a mag through quickly and then measure temp again. He picked up the first gun, locked and loaded and fired towards his target area. I don't know what he was shooting at but he seemed to be at a range so I assume some sort of target was there. It is what he did after he fired that caught my eye. After the last round was fired the hold open caught the bolt, the camera showed this and it was easy to see the chamber was clear. Then the host released the bolt forward with the mag still in inside and set the rifle down and picked up the other. As an NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer) in the Army for over 20 years, having been a range saftey and Range Safety Officer on countless rifle ranges wht he did not do stood out to me as if it had bells and whistles on it. It happened fast so I watched him shoot the second weapon and repeat what he did with the first rifle to be sure. I even waited and hoped the cameraman would close in on the weapons as he talked so I could be sure. I was kind of surprised by what I saw.
He never put either rifle on safe. As the camera was on facing the right side of the weapons where the selector lever is not visible I looked at the notch on the flat head of the lever and it was pointed straight up, on fire. These Stag arms rifles even had Fire and Safe stamped on the right side and it was crystal clear that both weapons were still on fire. He just continued to talk about the temperature diferences and some other features, even picked them up again so the camera could get better angles.
It really stood out as wrong to me. In our rifle training we emphasize and train constantly to put the weapon back on safe immediately after firing. We hammer it home at every qulification range where the saftey in the tower announces, "Cease fire, cease fire, place your weapon on safe, lock your bolt to the rear, back away from the weapon and stand by for a saftey to inspect you". When we do shoot house training and CQB firing we spend hours with unloaded weapons training in raising our weapon to a target, making certain it is what we want to shoot, switching the lever from safe to semi, firing, switching back to safe and lowering our weapons again. We drill this safety practice home to our troops. We chew each other out if we find weapons on semi when we are in the rear or just hanging around or whatever.
It really struck me as negligence. Now perhaps my view point is skewed but I don't think it is. This person is a host of a program on television that is all about firearms. As a host, he is going to be viewed as some kind of "expert" in the field. As a host on a televison show I think he has the duty to demonstrate safe handling procedures of firearms at all times. In this case I think this was an extreme lack of safety. In the Army and especiallyin the Infantry we always tell ourselves to train as we fight and I sincerely hope this host doesn't do this often. Even if the host and the one cameraman were the only people on a closed range with absolute certainty there was no one else around I would still be bothered by this.
When we are learning basic firearms safety either through the Military or hunter safety courses or conceal carry permt courses we are always taught to keep our weapon on safe until we are ready to fire. it is basic safety and to see it disregarded on a show by an "expert" really bothered me today.
Wow, my first real rant!
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Veteran's Day
To everyone, please take a moment today and remember the service and sacrifices of the men and women who serve and have served in the Armed Forces. To my brothers and sisters in arms, it is my HONOR to serve alongside you.
Monday, November 5, 2012
My first hunt
Hey all,
I made it back from my first ever deer hunt. While I didn't manage to get a deer for the freezer I did enjoy my time in the stand, and I will be back again as soon as possible.
I did get close to getting one on opening morning but it just didn't happen. The stand my Uncle put me in was a proven one. It sits in a saddle between two hills on the east and west. On the North side was a dried up swamp and on the south side was a lake. It was pretty much the only path deer could take to get past the lake and swamp and my Uncle has taken quite a few deer in this stand in the past.
We got up at 5 am got dressed and made our way out to the stands. I was up and sitting by 6:15 just waiting. It was a little cold, but that is to be expected in November in Minnesota. We had heard there was a chance for flurries of snow and were hoping it would be true. A little of the white stuff really helps visibility. The woods we were in was pretty brushy, lots of little popples all over the place.
Sitting and watching the sun rise and the day shift of nature get up and going was awesome. There were a pair of swans on the lake that started trumpeting with the first rays of the sun. Crows caw-cawing, squirrels scampering. At about 7:30, just about the legal shooting time, I heard something big walking in the woods on the backside of the westerly hill, the bigger of the two hills. It was taking its time just casually making its way around looking for a place to bed or maybe some last minute browse to fill up on before sleep. It came around the hill to the low ground near the lake and then started heading right towards my stand. I had the wind in my favor, blowing towards me from the direction of the animal. The blood started to realy pump as I slowly raised the 7mm and sighted throught he scope towards the sound, my thumb on the safety waiting for a good look at a deer before engaging. The sound kept getting louder and louder, coming right at me. I was really excited! I was going to have a deer in the 1st minutes of the opening morning! Meat for the family and some bragging rights too!
But the deer never came the sound just started to slowy ebb off iback in the opposite direction and it never showed itself to me. Other hunters all around me near and far were firing now, nothing close but still I hoped something would maybe flush my way, but nothing did.
I stayed up in that stand until after 10 a.m. waiting and was back in it by 3 that afternoon and 6 again Sunday morning. Still no luck.
I didn't get my deer this year but I am keeping up a long tradition of deer hunting and will pass it on to my own children if that is what they wish. I am proud and thankful to live in a state like Minnesota with such a rich outdoor sports heritage. I am also proud to carry that tradition and heritage on.
I made it back from my first ever deer hunt. While I didn't manage to get a deer for the freezer I did enjoy my time in the stand, and I will be back again as soon as possible.
I did get close to getting one on opening morning but it just didn't happen. The stand my Uncle put me in was a proven one. It sits in a saddle between two hills on the east and west. On the North side was a dried up swamp and on the south side was a lake. It was pretty much the only path deer could take to get past the lake and swamp and my Uncle has taken quite a few deer in this stand in the past.
We got up at 5 am got dressed and made our way out to the stands. I was up and sitting by 6:15 just waiting. It was a little cold, but that is to be expected in November in Minnesota. We had heard there was a chance for flurries of snow and were hoping it would be true. A little of the white stuff really helps visibility. The woods we were in was pretty brushy, lots of little popples all over the place.
Sitting and watching the sun rise and the day shift of nature get up and going was awesome. There were a pair of swans on the lake that started trumpeting with the first rays of the sun. Crows caw-cawing, squirrels scampering. At about 7:30, just about the legal shooting time, I heard something big walking in the woods on the backside of the westerly hill, the bigger of the two hills. It was taking its time just casually making its way around looking for a place to bed or maybe some last minute browse to fill up on before sleep. It came around the hill to the low ground near the lake and then started heading right towards my stand. I had the wind in my favor, blowing towards me from the direction of the animal. The blood started to realy pump as I slowly raised the 7mm and sighted throught he scope towards the sound, my thumb on the safety waiting for a good look at a deer before engaging. The sound kept getting louder and louder, coming right at me. I was really excited! I was going to have a deer in the 1st minutes of the opening morning! Meat for the family and some bragging rights too!
But the deer never came the sound just started to slowy ebb off iback in the opposite direction and it never showed itself to me. Other hunters all around me near and far were firing now, nothing close but still I hoped something would maybe flush my way, but nothing did.
I stayed up in that stand until after 10 a.m. waiting and was back in it by 3 that afternoon and 6 again Sunday morning. Still no luck.
I didn't get my deer this year but I am keeping up a long tradition of deer hunting and will pass it on to my own children if that is what they wish. I am proud and thankful to live in a state like Minnesota with such a rich outdoor sports heritage. I am also proud to carry that tradition and heritage on.
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