Doc

I always wanted to build something like that, but we don't really have a whole lot of open land around here anymore. The older I get, the more I would appreciate some of the creature-comforts that such a rig could provide ..... lol.

You done good Water Rat. You got a hell of a laugh out of me. That was good!

The older you get, the faster time seems to go by. Retirement has really cranked up the pace of time for me. I don't like it. But I guess it is true that time flies when your having fun. What really makes you realize how fast time has burned by you is when those grandkids graduate, get married and start having kids of their own. I look at my kids, and they are starting to look old .... lol.

Hey! .... There goes one now.

I have hunting grounds that I have used for decades. In fact, I began running around our hills when I was 11 yrs old (that's 61 years). I'm not likely to find too many surprises, but annual conditions of food and various kinds of interferences do occasionally pop up. So one or two trips up the hill in a September time frame gets me updated to any important deer hunting changes. As far as cameras are concerned, I use them just to spy on the local critters and perhaps a chance at getting pictures of sasquatch or any resident cougars that happen by .... lol. No seriously, I do always hope to get something unusual like bear pictures or something like that. Many of my cameras are not even set up to take deer pictures. A good picture of a beaver or muskrat or coyote, and my day is made. If a deer goes by ..... great, but that really is not the mission of my game cameras.

Is that 97% a real documented, credible stat? ....Source?

It's not just tomatoes. Every year we get some rogue potato plants all over the garden. We do some pretty thorough harvesting, but you can't get them all, and the tiller turns them into seed potatoes. Seeds from un-harvested squash will germinate even in years when the stuff you plant won't. We had a mystery cucumber plant last year, and we didn't even plant any.

I have no idea whether this global climate change or whatever is legit. I am not trained in that area of expertise just like no one else here likely is. All I know is that if you offer enough grant money, you will have no problem finding all kinds of scientists that will prove whatever agenda item that you have. Sometimes I think the more outrageous the findings that these researchers can concoct, the higher their grant money grows with the next year's funded study. It seems that no matter what the findings from the "experts", you will have another group of equally credible and qualified "experts" on the other side of the aisle with exactly opposing "guaranteed" findings. So are manmade climate changes a reality? Who the heck knows? Take your pick of what "experts" you have a need or desire to believe.

As dry as it is, and with everyone seeming to have access to all kinds of fireworks, it makes you wonder why there are not more fires started with these things.

This kind of thing is getting to be pretty commonplace. Yesterday I had a guy stopped at a stop sign as he was supposed to be doing. I saw him looking right at me and then just before I got to him, he pulled out like he was looking right through me. I had to jam on the brakes and get way over on the shoulder to miss him. Things got a little hairy there for a moment. What the heck is wrong with people these days? I have had all kinds of these crazy things going on. I do think that half the reason that I did manage to miss him is that I have come to expect that kind of stupidity and was not completely surprised.

Nope! I drove for 20 miles with the wipers on and a fairly good rain ...... until I got within 3 miles of home. And then it got down to a very light sprinkle. Within a mile of home it was barely damp, and bone dry under the trees. By the time I got home, no rain at all. The dirt is absolutely dry. I have enough water drawn for one more garden watering from what's left of the pond (almost dry, and I can't get enough in a pail to draw any more). No real rain predicted for several days. There's a good chance we will lose the best looking garden that we've had in years. By the way, the sun is shining right now. We're on a well, so drawing water for plants is not an option.

So has anyone who has eaten lead-shot wild game noticed any staggering and slurred speech and a propensity to say "duh" a whole lot, or criminal behavior beyond traffic infractions. Maybe there is documentation somewhere that hunters have all become drooling, stumbling, idiots who keep banging off of trees, I don't know. Frankly, I have eaten my share or critters killed with lead bullets, and have not noticed any of those symptoms. But then maybe I am so far gone that I am incapable of recognizing the symptoms. I do remember a few occasions in my younger years when some of that happened, but I usually blamed that on what I had been drinking that night. Who knows maybe that was really the lead kicking in. Seriously, I can understand those worrying about the effects on birds wanting to scare hunters into believing that using lead bullets is a health hazard and will turn them into a stumbling idiot, but don't get too upset if people have a hard time believing it. After all we do have a lot of living, breathing, well adjusted, physically functional, well educated, properly acting hunters around that do actually eat everything they shoot (lead bullets or not).

I love these research wars. We all know exactly which studies are correct .... right? Generally speaking, when people try to bury me in B.S., I usually attempt to rely on logic and experience for clues as to which one might be right. For example, when is the last time I've read the cause of anyone's death listed as being lead poisoning from consuming lead-shot game meat? ....... Never. When did I ever read about hunters dropping over from ingesting lead bullet fragments? ...... Never. We have been consuming game shot with lead for centuries, and I have never heard of an epidemic being declared because of lead poisoning from hunting sources. Problems for certain birds? ..... Likely because there is credible physical evidence. But let's not go off the deep end now by trying to convince hunters that if they don't switch to non-lead bullets, they are all doomed. History (and lots of it) says that notion is not credible. Don't cheapen the legitimate argument by trying to expand it into the ridiculous.

Can you imagine an attack by those little packages of energy. I would think they could turn you into little ribbons of meat in nothing flat. I always worry about rabies getting into the coyote population too. Just another thing to let your mind dwell on while you are walking to your bow stand in the pitch dark with nothing but a quiver full of arrows and a bow (which are useless in the dark) ...... lol.

6/25/16 Tomatoes are looking good with some blossoms already Potato plants are up to 20" tall Broccoli plants are just starting to form heads. Peppers are budding up to blossom Spinach is harvested and eaten Squash & cucumber plants are up and looking good. Head lettuce is struggling but alive. Leaf lettuce is about ready to use. Carrots & parsnips are up and looking good Real late on planting peas ... That was an after-thought. Not up yet.

This year is probably one of the best for gardens that we have had in a long time. BUT!.... beware of the stinking drought that is underway. For those of us that do not have water sources near the garden, things may go bad in a hurry. Right now I am carrying water from the little pond behind the barn. But the water level there is going down real fast and it may be dry before too long.

Actually, infra-red studies would make some sense in areas where there are anomalies that need closer study for verification. Also, occasional spot checks via localized aerial surveys could be useful for verification of their regular statistical estimation methods. Nobody could question the application of statistics, if there was periodic spot verification done periodically. It could serve as a guard against statistical creep, or just plain erroneous application of the statistical processes.

You people are being distracted by "old business". The crossbow proponents already have crammed themselves into the bow season ...... They saw a season that was created for bows and wanted to grab a piece of that and did. But what is slipping around the corner without a whole lot of notice is the fact that now the DEC is championing several versions of also cramming firearms into bow seasons. We knew that would happen right? The precedent has been set now and on goes the evolution of bow season into an "any weapon season". Already they are warning us of wanting muzzleloaders shoved into bow season in specific WMUs. Each precedent begets the next. Way back when compounds were shoved into bow seasons, some of the old-timers that warned that the compound was just the beginning, were also shouted down, and over-run. Amazingly, they were exactly right and the compound became the precedent for crossbows. And amazingly every one today tries to convince themselves and others that crossbows for some reason are the end of the evolution of bow season. Well, the DEC is wasting no time capitalizing on this "creeping incrementalism". The opportunities and precedents for firearms encroachments are already being used. But the crossbow enthusiasts are so focused on their part of the evolution that they can't be bothered with the next phases. Ha.... perhaps the crossbow proponents are even heavily in favor of the introduction of firearms. Why wouldn't they?

Ben Franklin had it right, and in these days of terrorist activities and the temptation to scrap the Constitution as we run around in circles, panicked, and desperate for governmental protections, we would do well not to forget his words: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

I still don't see where you are making the connection between packing for self defense and illegal poaching activity. Why are you trying to do that? Of course you can come on here and malign anyone you want, but when it is done for no reason, I think you can expect a little bit of flack for it.

I take precautions when heading out into tick infested areas to try to avoid encounters with Lyme disease bearing ticks. That's got nothing to do with any kind of "muscles". It just seems to make sense. If people want to use the same notion of preventative defense by being armed against any potential danger, I have no problem with that. And I don't call that kind of thinking "looking for trouble". Why would you assume that?

Well unfortunately, they are not using any financial incentives anywhere in NYS one way or another. I am convinced that if you want people to harvest does, you do not do it by starting to charge them for the opportunity. Even in the areas that are not in the super high deer density WMUs, they are still issuing permits in most areas And I am assuming that the intent is to have hunters use them to help manage the population. The idea even in these less populated areas still is to have tags in hunters pockets allowing doe harvest opportunities rather than sitting in a database as an unissued opportunity.

One thing is for sure. It is far better to carry a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not be carrying. I believe that was the whole point of Eddie's post. It never occurred to me to take it any other way nor is there really any reason to.

I have the perfect setup if I could just find a few minutes to spare. The barn is up on an elevated pad right next to the garden (20 feet away) and is maybe 5' higher that the garden. I need to hook up a rain barrel to the barn gutters and set up a gravity feed system to the garden. Ha-ha.... just another addition to a long, long, long list of "things to do when I get time".

I just checked Stark Brothers Nurseries. They have 4 varieties and they are all out of stock. I've got a spot where they might make a pretty good addition to my fruit trees some day. It's funny you never see them in grocery stores or fruit stands. At least, I haven't.