Doc

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.

They don't yet admit that their real goal is the elimination of all firearms ..... period. However, if Cuomo and his gun-banning buddys in the legislature get re-elected, be looking for the gloves to come off as they will see that as a mandate to bring on the real gun-control that they really want. There will be no more need for any pretenses at all. It will be a frontal assault. Joining the gun advocacy organizations is a no-brainer. We get nowhere without organization and leadership and support. But that is just the first step. There is no doubt that we have to begin (right now) registering gun owners and shoving them along toward the polls in November. That's where the whole issue in NYS will be won or lost.

I have 3 apple trees, and 5 peach trees. I'll be putting in 3 pear trees in the spring (all good hearty trees for NYS). Apricots and cherries are popular also. We put in what we thought would be just right for the two of us and got buried in fruit this year to the point where we were giving the stuff away. As far as the critters are concerned, they are welcome to the drops, and anything they can reach from outside the welded wire fencing that I have around each tree (a strong recommendation by the way). These trees are primarily for human use only.

Well, that's what I was kind of wondering about. Generally when a road is opened up, it starts other people assuming that it is a safe road to drive on. Kind of like suckering them in .... lol. Also, I know that road crews get a bit protective of others doing their jobs. I don't know, it just seemed like something that should not be done without some prior permissions or inquiries.

I have a 1000' driveway that I plow with my ATV. I've been doing that for about 30 years, and have only had to call in a pick-up with a plow only a couple of times. There was another time when I had a pay-loader handle it. I can't remember what year, but it was a March, three foot dump of some very heavy, wet, gloppy snow that even trucks couldn't handle. It's a gravel driveway, and the gravel has never been an issue. I will say that it plows a lot nicer and easier with a hardened snow base underneath. I was just wondering if there is any legal situations or requirements involved with plowing a town road. Any liability issues with plowing a road that has been officially closed?

Yup, but put a bow or a gun in his hands, and the situation takes on a whole different public relations significance for the sport of hunting. Without that hunting connection, it most likely is just another visit from your friendly neighborhood voyeur-style pervert.

I wonder what kind of new environmental, endangered species regulations that could be implemented in NYS if they could convince everyone that there was a breeding population of mountain lions resident here. And I suppose put another way, I wonder how many business regulations NYS industry could avoid if such a situation could be kept buried. Seems like there just might be some political and financial parts to this issue.

I normally do well with cold, but these recent days really are off the charts in terms of ridiculous ....lol. And we still have a bunch of them coming as I understand it.

Go south???? poisonous bugs and snakes oh my! I think not. You know as much as I hate and whine about the snow and cold, there are places that have even worse snow and cold. Those that don't have hurricanes as a regular weather feature or tornados, or earthquakes. Oh yes and then there is the oppressive heat and humidity that has you locked up in the air-conditioned house. When you consider the impacts of some of those weather events, I think I'll take some snow and cold. How about good old Alaska. There really isn't a more beautiful place in the world ...... in the summer, and during the daylight hours. But they also have unending nights, and some real snow that can lock you in for months (talk about cabin fever) and then there's the summer bugs that will literally drive you insane. A lot of places look great until you scrape the commercial tourist advertising off of them. Look, I'm too old to try and get used to the stress of potential impending doom of life threatening weather events. And I know I will never get used to poisonous snakes and bugs. Maybe people who have been raised around such things can kind of shrug their shoulders and live with it all, but I really don't need such things in my life.....lol. Water moccasins, copperheads, rattlers, coral snakes, brown recluse spiders, black widows .... for crying out loud .... who the hell needs that?

I have some very heavy-duty snowmobile mittens that I will be using next time I have to plow (using ATV). Mittens are not useful in a lot of activities, but should be ok with handlebar implements. I would look at anyplace that sells snowmobiles or snowmobile equipment. Also, I have to believe that skiers should have some very good cold-weather hand protection. So if you check out a ski-shop, you should be able to find something that will do the job. Expect to pay some big bucks.

Nature's interesting patterns: