Doc

Basically, this is what the NRA-ILA has to say on the subject: "Anti-gun treaty proponents continue to mislead the public, claiming the treaty would have no impact on American gun owners. That's a bald-faced lie. For example, the most recent draft treaty includes export/import controls that would require officials in an importing country to collect information on the 'end user' of a firearm, keep the information for 20 years, and provide the information to the country from which the gun was exported. In other words, if you bought a Beretta shotgun, you would be an 'end user' and the U.S. government would have to keep a record of you and notify the Italian government about your purchase. That is gun registration. If the U.S. refuses to implement this data collection on law-abiding American gun owners, other nations might be required to ban the export of firearms to the U.S." Basically, it is a restriction on the free and uninhibited commercial flow of firearms which constitutes the availability of gun control on US citizens from entities outside our borders. That does in effect neuter the 2nd Amendment, taking the issue out of U.S. control and putting it in the hands of foreign entities.

The world can be a cruel place ..... lol.

Well then, there you go ..... problem solved no need to change anything.

Some more random photos: Found this old cemetery when I was hiking around the valley. This is only a part of a rather large abandoned cemetery. I sent a bunch of these pictures to the town webmaster and explained that the cemetery contained the remains of the town founders. It wasn't long after the pictures were posted that that there was a restoration. For those of you that think your contributions and lives will be forever remembered ...... not really .... lol- I never pass up a falls without a picture or two- Taughannock Falls in the Town of Ulysses. Had to look up how to spell it, and I don't have a clue how to pronounce it-

I have no problem with trying to get rid of New York's contribution to this list (Schumer & Gillibrand). I don't really hold out too much hope though.

I understand the purpose of this law. I know they have all kinds of problems controlling urban and suburban deer populations. The damned deer are just too adaptable. I'll tell you what would be a good compromise. For get the 150' change. How about you can hunt with a bow as close to occupied buildings as you want as long as you have obtained written permission. That way you could sit on some patio furniture on somebody's deck if that's what turns you on, but it would only be in cases where the people affected were in agreement. But keep the 500' rule in effect where permission is not granted.

As far as my current job of enjoying retirement, this cold weather really sucks. Too bad I'm not into ice fishing. I don't understand how those guys that have to repair damaged electrical, phone and cable lines can stand it. I mean the uglier the weather, the more likely they will be required to be out in it. But then those guys that are laying down asphalt in the dead of summer don't have it all so nice either.

I don't know .... For some reason, I just can't imagine sitting or sneaking around 50 yards from somebody's house. It seems so weird to be thinking I am actually hunting. It would feel more like some kind of voyeuristic infringement on people's privacy. I don't really want to hear their personal arguments, or listen to their blaring TV sets, or sit there with the family dog barking at me, or sit there on display while they stare out their windows at me .... lol. Hell, I moved out into the country to get away from people. I'm not really in any hurry to use my hunting time cozying back up to them. I guess also, I have always viewed my hunting as having some sort of connection to nature, and a feeling of getting away from people. To purposely move my hunting into places where I am on top of people and their families and their activities just seems to be contrary to trying to increase the quality of the hunt. The fact is that 500' is a bit close for me. I guess that's just my own personal hang-ups, but I sure won't be taking advantage of any relaxation of the current distance laws. I just hope that this idea of moving in on the neighbors doesn't cause more confrontations and turn some of the non-hunters into anti-hunters.

As time goes on, I am getting more and more happy about our decision to go with electric baseboard heat. The decision was made to save constant expensive driveway repairs from heavy fuel trucks going up and down our 1000' driveway which was built over a swamp base. But now as I compare heating bills with other people I am finding that it has turned out to be a financial benefit also.

However, between the leftist legislators, and the Supreme Court, they have found ways around that amendment and other ways to effectively neuter the protections of the 2nd Amendment. We have a shining example of that right here in our own state that is called The Safe Act.

Yes it is pretty old news. It is a vote that took place in October of last year. http://blog.heritage.org/2013/10/15/senate-decisively-rejects-u-n-arms-trade-treaty-2/ However, it is a significant and telling vote that shows how a very large percentage of our senators dismiss the sanctity of the Constitution. By the way, Schumer and Gillibrand both voted to cede our 2nd Amendment rights to the UN. By the way, not one vote for this UN treaty was from a Republican. You all can make of that whatever you want.

House cat. It may not even be all that big judging my the surroundings.

I have gotten all of my trees from Miller nurseries near Canandaigua, and always had pretty good luck with them. However, they were bought out and I understand they are closed down now, so I am searching around now for a new supplier myself.

This is the typical exaggerated kinds of untrue statements that feed the campaigns of the antis and eventually win over some fence-sitters who really don't know any better.

No, pine has no real value for firewood. However with hardwoods, the firewood business is a very lucrative activity. We have a place down by us that creates actual mountains of split firewood and those mountains of firewood don't stay there very long before everything disappears and they start building new ones. We had a huge commercial logging operation on private land up on our hill for about two years. The follow-up firewood activity after the loggers left went on longer than the logging did and was in some ways a much bigger activity. I know they were not in there just to tidy up the woods.

Why on earth should we be constantly struggling against our own government to defend our right to self defense? It's ridiculous.

Actually, the tops could serve as another source of income. There are big firewood outfits that follow some of the logging crews around policing up the tops for sale as firewood.

Kind of like a big, yellow and black, rolling, can of Chicken McNuggets.

No, logging is always a good idea, and in some cases it is necessary if you want any wildlife there. I will admit that logging generally makes the place look kind of crappy. Also it can upset all the patterns that you may have spent decades learning. Also, it can make walking through such an area almost impossible because of the debris. But a mature canopy that keeps browse from regenerating, as well as new growth for cover, the woods will stagnate and be quite useless. Along with all that, lumber can supply a beneficial source of revenue for habitat improvement if they do indeed actually do that. Pardon me if I am a bit cynical and doubtful on that last point.

So these are sterile hybrids that are kind of a put and take variety .... right? I wonder why they are messing around with those rather than stocking fish that have some potential for self-regeneration? I would think that would make more sense.

No, I do not think that politics is a big motivation for most. Hell, most people don't even think about politics or can even be bothered with such things. I'm convinced it's job offers and job opportunities in other parts of the country along with the shrinking of those opportunities here in this state. Also, it's no big secret that a lot of retirees do head south. Also, there has been a highly publicized brain drain going on for decades where our children are getting educated here and then moving out to other states for the better jobs.

One of the problems is that gunners are assuming that they will be able to skate through the rest of their lives with the couple of guns that they have in their closet, without having to exert themselves even a little bit. The attitude is, I have mine and the hell with the next generation. How wrong they are with their little self-serving attitude. If we have learned nothing else from the safe act, we should have picked up on just how fast these guys can move when they want to and how one sneaky rushed through vote can change our rights forever.

That's interesting. I wonder where the profits from the log sales winds up for real. Anybody know? I'm sure it's not the case, but wouldn't it be great of it went back into the same parcel for habitat improvement. Actually if it is like some of the pine plantations that I have seen, it is probably a good idea to open it up and let the understory develop. There is nothing more sterile from a habitat standpoint than acres and acres of mature pine trees.

I don't doubt the article. I can't think of any reason that a moving company would want to dummy-up the stats. On the other hand, maybe some of my hunting spots could probably use a little population purging ..... lol.

This year, I had so many peaches that I had to strip a lot of them off early before they started to split the limbs off. And even after a severe thinning, we put up more fruit than we can eat in two years. And we live in a deep narrow valley known for early freezes. Now I don't expect that every year. Hell, we don't even get apples every year with that frost situation. But peaches are a commercial crop in NYS. Yes there are cold weather varieties and it pays to look for that feature regardless of what fruit you put in. I have not gotten involved with planting nut trees, but I had harvested and shelled a pile of wild hickory nuts and wild walnuts this year. I had cherry trees but the Japanese beetles killed them. They seemed to love those cherry leaves.