Halloween

We celebrated Halloween last night, first at a family party for the kids.

That's our newest family member, Lucas. All the kids took part, we did all the traditional Halloween stuff, to include bobbing for apples.

Afterwards, Milady and I went to a gala event, the annual, much ballyhooed party hosted by the esteemed physicians at the Rayburn clinic. Doc Rayburn is Milady's boss. A true gentleman, a gracious host and a renowned surgeon. Milady dressed as the legendary Witch, Marie Laveau.

This morning we went to church, came home and cooked lunch for everyone in the assembled clan. We're having Mulligan Stew.

Sunday Morning Dawg

The dog and I go outside regularly, about half the time we go through the door, we go into the front yard. The dog, being an inquisitive fellow, is intrigued by the smells and sounds of the front yard.

He loves sniffing tires. When he's sniffing tires, he doesn't have time to look at the camera.

live FromThe Stand

Live from my deer stand! Who'd a thunk it? Damned feeder didn't go off this mornin and I'll check that later, but it is a beautiful morning to be in the woods.

Long Day

I'm going to put my boots on in another half-hour and head to the school where I'm looking at a fifteen hour day. A day of fun and frolic, with a Homecoming parade and the big football game filled with pageantry and gala. It's going to be quite an event and my earnest hope is that it goes well and that everyone gets home safely tonight.

It's going to be fun for the kids, but it's going to be one long drudge for the adults. Y'all have fun today.

The only thing that will maintain my sanity today is knowing that deer season starts tomorrow. I've got all my gear in one pile and as soon as I get home tonight I'll swap the duty gear pile for the deer-hunting pile and fall into bed.

Homecoming Week

It's Homecoming Week at the high school and to say that the kids are a little bit crazy is understatement. Every day is another theme and the costumes are getting more and more interesting. Tomorrow, for some God-awful reason, they scheduled school pictures. Like this week hasn't been weird enough. Then tomorrow night we have a bonfire scheduled, then on Friday, the Homecoming Parade and the Football Game.

The bonfire tomorrow night has me cringing in my boots. The Weather Service is calling for rain and that would be wonderful. Lightning, sideways rain should put a damper on that nonsense.

As for the big game, I'm praying for rain there too. A gentle, tropical rain with no lightning. Lightning would cancel the game and they'd reschedule on Saturday. No, just a steady, half-inch per hour downpour would be wonderful. The crowd would stay home and it would be easy to clear the parking lot after the game.

They've got a dance scheduled for Saturday night and I frankly don't give a crap. I've got two deputies paid to work the dance. I hope that they have a safe, enjoyable detail. Of course, if they have to use pepper-spray on the assemblage and call for all available units, that would be okay with me too.

Regardless, I'm getting up Saturday morning and going hunting even if it hair-lips the Pope and every cow in Texas.

Last year, I begged the Principal not to schedule anything on the last weekend of October. I also talked to the Athletic Director and asked that they keep this weekend free. To no avail. Some folks think that there are more important things than the opening weekend of the deer season. Folks like that shouldn't be trusted with our children's education.

This Year's Rifle

I've been trying to decide on which rifle I'll use for the opener of the deer season this year, and I believe that I've made up my mind.

The rifle for the early season this year is the Remington 700 ADL I bought this past January. It was built in 1983 and it's chambered in .308. This is the rifle that I used to experiment with Alliant's new powder, Power Pro 2000 MR. The ammo is my handload with the new Alliant Powder and the Hornady 150 grain SST bullet. That new powder drives that bullet to 2947 fps and the group size from the bags runs about 5/8 inch. Off my palm, it opens up to 9/10ths of an inch, which ain't bad for the deer woods. The rifle wears a Leupold VX1 scope.

Here, my Grandson Ethan models the rifle so that I can get a picture. He's left handed and knows that this rifle isn't slated for him. He'd rather shoot the Ugly Rifle. I've told him that he's in line for a left-handed rifle. I think that he's old enough to handle his own centerfire and we'll start looking for one soon.

I've fired that rifle enough this summer that I'm very comfortable with it. Just last Sunday I fired a nice under-an-inch group off my palms, no bags, just my elbows resting on a table. That settles it for me. It'll be the Remington until I make meat. Then we'll try with another rifle.

Jambalaya

It's been a while since I cooked a jambalaya and I got hungry for it this afternoon. I hied myself to the store and picked up a rotisserie chicken and a pound of sausage, a bag of rice and an onion.

Upon my return home I chopped the onion then started it saute-ing in a little vegetable oil, chopped the sausage and added it to the onion and let that cook together while I de-boned the chicken. Yeah, I cheated with an already-cooked chicken, but I've make lots of jambalaya from scratch. From scratch, I mean that I wrung the chicken's neck, plucked and cleaned him before he was in the pot.

Once that chicken was peeled from the bone, I added him to the pot with the onions and sausage, gave it a stir, then added three cups of rice and three cups of water. Lowered my heat to a simmer, covered it and let it simmer for 12 minutes, until the rice was done.

Jambalaya is a Cajun food, made from whatever happened to walk, crawl, or fly past. I've made jambalaya from duck, from rabbit, from squirrel, from shrimp, If you like, you can add raw oysters when you add the water and let the simmering water cook them in the rice. Like most folk foods, it's got its roots in whatever was available in the area to feed a hungry family. It's quick to make, it's flexible enough to lend itself to expanding in case the kinfolks show up at mealtime, and it's filling.

You can make a red jambalaya by adding tomato products, you can make a brown jambalaya by adding a roux or a gravy mix, or you can make a white jambalaya like I made tonight.

I decided at 5:00 I wanted a jambalaya, went to the store, came back and cooked it, served Milady and washed dishes. I was done by 6:15. Jambalaya isn't something you slave over. It's quick, easy, tasty and something different on a Sunday evening.

Bon Apetit!

Sunday Morning Dawg

Cool temps this week and the dog has been enjoying his outside time. He's staying outside more without becoming overheated in his overcoat.

We'll have to see about getting him a haircut soon.

Nine Rounds

Tomorrow is the opener of the Louisiana Primitive Weapons season. We get a week to hunt deer before the regular gun season rolls through and in my area, it starts tomorrow. At daylight, I'll be in my stand.

I started muzzleloading in 1980, when Louisiana had a muzzleloader season. I shot a Thompson/Center Renegade rifle. I came to prefer a .54 caliber patched ball and got very, very good with that rifle. Confident enough in it that for several years I carried nothing else. I could hit with that rifle and it was all I needed for the terrain I was hunting, which was mainly swamp bottom tangles that ran near small hills that were hillside tangles. A long shot was mainly 75 yards and you never had the chance for a second shot. In those woods, a single shot muzzleloader worked just fine. I killed several deer with that rifle, then got out of the habit.

Several years ago, Louisiana liberalized their muzzleloader season to the point where a muzzleloader isn't even necessary. They publish a list of rifles that the hunter can use, but most of us use the Handi-Rifle, in either .45-70, .444, or .38-55.

I'll have the Handi rifle with me in the stand tomorrow, although I haven't sunk so low as to put a scope on it. Mine wears a Williams peep sight and I'll shoot that setup until my eyes get to the point where a scope is necessary.

I use a butt-cuff on my hunting rifles and they generally hold nine rounds of ammo. That nine rounds is my standard hunting load and I'll often go through a whole season without shooting those nine rounds. I just loaded the rounds into the butt-cuff on the Handi-rifle and those big slugs make the rifle decidedly butt-heavy.

I may have to re-think this practice for this rifle.

Qaddifi Captured

The big story today is that Libyan strongman Moammar Qaddifi was captured today outside his birthplace. He soon succumbed to his wounds, the most notable one being a shot to the temple.

The rebel forces say that he was killed in a crossfire between loyalists and rebels. Footage from the scene shows him in the back of a pickup truck then being pulled out to take a rebel ass-whipping. According to reports,

Moammar Gadhafi was killed in the crossfire of a battle between his supporters and fighters loyal to the opposition that topped the dictator’s regime, Libya’s interim prime minister told NPR this afternoon.

“Nobody can tell if the [fatal] shot was from the rebel fighters or from his own security guard,” Interim Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril told All Things Considered host Robert Siegel…

Really, guys? You had him in custody and his own people offed him? That's their story and they're sticking to it.

Qaddafi suffered the fate every tyrant has suffered, from Caesar to Mussolini. There is a lesson there, but Moammar Qaddifi goes into the lists of tyrants executed at the end of the reign. I understand that his last words were "What did I ever do to you?"

Heh!

Why We Win

The imagination of the US soldier is unprecedented, unequalled, and undeniably the greatest asset of the commander. Our soldiers are why we win. (And sailors, and Marines and Wing Wipers).

It seems that this Iowa Guard unit deployed to the sandbox has come up with a new way to carry ammo.

They welded some ammo boxes together, mounted it on an ALICE frame, and now the machine gunner can carry 500 rounds of linked ammo on his back. Better yet, the whole Army wants them.

We’ve already gotten email traffic from (one of) our science advisers that everybody in theater wants one of these — and by in theater, he means his specific area of operation, Regional Command East in Afghanistan — because word has spread. That (Iowa National Guard) unit is not the only unit on that FOB. As they’re walking around the FOB with that piece of kit, very senior people are taking a look at it. They recognize it as a game-changer.

It is a game-changer. When I was deployed to Desert Storm, the active Army guys complained that the Reservists had learned quickly how to game the system and we got good support when they had to wait in line. That's not altogether true, but when the guy at the supply base is married to your sister and you know him as Bob, rather Master Sergeant Schmedlap, you get stuff that other units might not get. When the guy cutting the finance checks happens to be your first cousin, your pay never gets screwed-up. Guard and Reserve units ain't like the rest of the Army. We think differently.

We're a great asset and that's why we win. Congrats to the boys in the Iowa Guard. Good job, soldier.

Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh My!

SO, this bozo turns loose all his animals then commits suicide.

The animals? Lions and tigers and bears, along with at least one chimp and a giraffe.

The cops in Ohio are shooting lions in the woods. I would have loved to hear the dispatch call on that one.

Just Wow!

Drudge linked to two stories today about inner-city violence. The first, from Richmond, CA tells us that a brawl broke out when members of rival gangs showed up at the "Operation Peacemaker" offices. The administrator was pleased, though:

The ONS director said he sees the unarmed brawl as a sign of progress, since the young men involved all have a history of gun violence.

Well, that's something I guess. Brawling in public is certainly preferable to shooting each other in public.

Our second heart-warming story comes to us from Philadelphia, where we learn that some bozo was getting out of jail and his family wanted to have a welcome home party. Of course, a knife fight breaks out and five people were stabbed.

A welcome home party for a teen released from juvenile detention resulted in gunshots and stab wounds for five people at the party.

Heartwarming, I tell you. Those are just the kinds of folks that I want to invite to a party.

I am in awe of the culture that produces folks like this.

Inequality, Consumerism, Corporate Greed

If you've been following the OWS protests, then at some point you've asked yourself what these people want. While the message is a little muddled, it boils down basically to redistributionist philosophy; an end to inequality, consumerism, and corporate greed. Kind of a Robin Hood, steal from the rich,give to the poor, kind of policy. They're pissed at Wall Street. That's plain, and the message is just a bit muddled, but basically, they want stuff for free.

Well, it seems as if some low-level redistributionist is hard at work, Ripping them off. He's gotten cash, computers, foodstuffs, all the things that they want for free. And, they're pissed that someone would be taking their stuff. You'd think that they'd be celebrating the way he has embraced their philosophy. But not when it comes to their stuff. Their stuff is off-limits.

The irony is strong on this one.

Tuesday Ramblin'

We had a cold front move through today, it feels like autumn outside with temps in the 50s. I'll need a jacket for the morning, the predicted low is in the 40s. Yee-haw! This is my kind of weather.

I began my ramblin' when I stopped at the Pawn Shop to pay some money on a layaway. Than stopped at the sporting goods store and bought my hunting licenses. Basic Hunting, Big Game, and Primitive Weapons licenses set me back $40.00, but I'm legal to hunt this year. Then, stop by the pharmacy to pick up the drugs that keep me alive for another 30 days. Good stuff.

It's just a lazy Tuesday afternoon. I guess I better dig out my jacket. I'll need it by daylight.

Operation Elder Son

A great story about exploding ammo planted by SOG troops during the Vietnam unpleasantness.

In reality, this actual incident was the calculated handiwork of one the Vietnam War's most secret and least understood covert operations: Project Eldest Son. So secret was this sabotage effort that few G.I.s in Southeast Asia ever heard of it or the organization behind it, the innocuously named Studies and Observations Group. As the Vietnam War's top-secret special ops task force, SOG's operators - Army Special Forces, Air Force Air Commandos and Navy SEALs - worked directly for the Joint Chiefs, executing highly classified, deniable missions in the enemy's backyard of Laos, Cambodia and North Vietnam.

By Major John Plaster.

The Haves and Have-Nots

There's been a lot of news lately from the Occupy Wall Street crowd, about the haves and the have-nots. You'd think that the pore folks in the US were doing... well... poorly, but that's not altogether the case. As it turns out, the pore folks in the United States would be considered rich folks in much of the world, those places that don't have the compassion that we have.

You don't believe me? Go read the New York Times and be educated. It's true! The liberal bastion that is the NYT gets it right once in a while, and what will blow your mind is the chart that accompanies the article.

You've got to read the article to get the full benefit from the chart, but basically, the pore folks in the USA have a better standard of living than even the very rich in a country like India.

Notice how the entire line for the United States resides in the top portion of the graph? That’s because the entire country is relatively rich. In fact, America’s bottom ventile is still richer than most of the world: That is, the typical person in the bottom 5 percent of the American income distribution is still richer than 68 percent of the world’s inhabitants.

Now check out the line for India. India’s poorest ventile corresponds with the 4th poorest percentile worldwide. And its richest? The 68th percentile. Yes, that’s right: America’s poorest are, as a group, about as rich as India’s richest.

The USA is a wonderful country, where even the poorest citizen is considerably better off than the rest of the world. When we start worrying about the pore and starvin' we should keep that in mind.

Sunday Shooting

Today after church, we went out to my private range to do a little tuneup with the rifles we'll use for hunting this year. I had three grandsons with me and a variety of firearms to determine who'd use what if the opportunity presented itself.

I verified the zero on the rifles I'm going to use, then sat the grandkids down at the bench and let them try. Everyone needed tutoring and we learned who shoots what rifle best. Grandson Ethan shoots the ugly rifle easily. We were shooting 8" paper plates and steel gongs. Ethan was able to tag the 9" gong at will. When he hunts with me, he'll shoot the ugly rifle.

Grandson Jeffrey showed an affinity for the .30-30, as did Grandson Quinton. Both of them were able to ring the gong with the .30-30 Handi. Jeffrey decided to try for the 6" gong and hit it easily at 100 yards.

Once the kids got finished with their tuneup, my soon-to-be daughter-in-law wanted to try a couple of rifles. She picked the Remington 700 in .308.

Although she could ring the gong with it, the length of pull was a little long. She tried the ugly rifle and professed a preference for that stock. She also shot the .45-70 Handi and surprised us by ringing the gong with that rifle as well.

Then, of course, my elder son had to try the .45-70.

He was able to ring the gong as well with that rifle. After he finished, we packed up an came home. It's not unpleasant to shoot with family on a Sunday afternoon

Sunday Morning Dawg

Sometimes, when the dog is playing with his ball, the darned thing rolls under the couch. What a disaster. The dog is beside himself trying to worry that ball from under the couch. His little legs are only four inches long and the ball is always six inches under the couch.



It's terrible, I tell you. At this point it's up to PawPaw to retrieve the ball.

Heading to the Lease

Grandson Zachary are heading to the lease for a last-minute tune-up before the hunting season. My brother-in-law wants a tree cut, so we've loaded the chainsaw. I want to put some eyehooks in my deer blind with a rope system to raise the windows. That's been loaded too. Zachary wants to check the game cameras and see if there are any tracks in the creek bed. We'll do that too.

This afternoon we have a family gathering in Jena, LA with some of Milady's kinfolks. In honor of that, I've got two boston butt roasts in the oven, they should be ready to transform into pulled pork by the time I get in from the woods.

The outside temperature is 50F under clear skies. It's going to be a great Saturday. You guys get away from the computer and get out to enjoy it.