Field trip!

Since the butcher shop I was dropping my doe off at was down near Yakima, we decided to make a family day out of it, and hit the Yakima Valley History Museum while were in the area.  A good time was had by all, and with a whole family price of only $12, it was a good use of two hours. 

I think it is safe to say that everyone's favorite exhibit was the working 1950's style soda fountain that serves as the museum's snack shop.

What?!?!?  You don't consider that an exhibit?  Living history, man...living history. 

Well fine...there were other neat things...a penny-farthing that Roberta might appreciate, although I think the seat on hers is in better shape.

 

 

A very classy hearse.

 

 

 

And my favorite room...the Cabinets of Curiosity...where they basically have cabinets full of collections that they haven't had the time to further characterize.  It includes things like this fine his and hers chairs that I can't WAIT to find a spot for in my living room.

 

 



 

 

I think the pink might clash though...bummer.  

 

 

 

 

 



 



A tale of good news, and bad news.

Yesterday was full of goods, and bads. 

The Bad:  We are still on our shift were we go in at 6, and get off at 2:30.

The Good: Getting off at 2:30 means I still have time to run off and do some hunting in the afternoon. 

The Good: The tornado warnings posted for Umatilla County, Oregon, right across the Columbia from where I was hunting, turned out to be a false alarm.

The Bad: The severe thunder storm warning for Umatilla County(and south-east Washington) turned out to be correct. 

The Good: When it's 80 degrees, 45 minutes of rain isn't that bad.  It's actually kind of refreshing, if you don't mind sitting in mud.

The Bad: Lightening doesn't care what temperature it is. There was a 20-minute period when the lightening was ALL around me, and I was feeling very foolish sitting out in a field of sage brush.  I was soooo worried that I set my rifle down and decided to crawl 20 feet or so away from the 3-foot long, .50 caliber lightening rod I was holding.  Not sure 20 feet would have made a difference, but...felt a little better.

The Good: Sitting in the rain and lightening for 45 minutes was worth it...as the rain tapered off, a nice little doe came out of the tree line, and had NO idea I was sitting behind a clump of sagebrush.  She was so unaware of my presence that when my first rain soaked percussion cap failed to ignite my powder charge, I was able to get a 2nd one out and still fair shot off at her.

The Good: Dropped her right where she stood.

The Bad: Yeah, dropped her right where she stood because my shot hit her high, breaking her spine.  I guess this goes back to my post a few weeks ago about 'satisfactory accuracy' in hunting situations.  Perhaps if I was a little less satisfied with 4-inch groups, I would have hit her in the heart/lung area instead of wiping out her whole left back strap. 

The Bad: She wasn't my first choice.  I had seen several very husky does in this area that I wasn't able to get shots at, but if I had passed on this shot, I was going to be holding out hope on getting another shot Friday...and man, I would have regretted passing on this if things hadn't worked out Friday.

The Good: It's over for now.  Got her out in one piece, got her skinned out, and she is in a game bag waiting to be dropped off at the butchers.  She might be small, but some is better than none.  And two is better than one.  Having filled this special tag, I now get to go out at the end of September and try to shoot another one. 

The really good: I get to sleep in.  Since Sunday, for hunting or starting work at 6, I haven't been in bed past 3:50...6 o'clock is going to feel good tomorrow.

A teaser!

This is what folks in the news industry call a 'teaser'.  More details to follow after I get some sleep.

I hope he burns.

I'm not the most religious guy, as far as following any particular book or dogma.  Ideas of the traditional Heaven and Hell are beyond me...mine is not to reason why.  However...there are times I hope that all those folks are right, and that there is a pit of fire waiting for the truly evil ones out there.  That way folks like Ariel Castro, who 'apparently' committed suicide yesterday, won't be able to escape the punishment they deserve. 

As a taxpayer and a proponent of justice, I happy that this piece of trash did himself in, saving the taxpayers the expense of keeping him fed and warm in prison the rest of his life(well, I guess we did have to keep him fed and warm the rest of his life...that just turned out to be shorter than we thought it would).  I simply wish it had been part of his initial sentence. 

Although, this might be the best case...we don't have the expense of a capital punishment type trial and appeal process, and we are now rid of the guy. 

Back to school.

Like kids across the nation, my kids started up school again last week.  One of the nice things about home schooling is that my wife can kind of ease into things.  Last week she started them on Math and English, this week she added in the science stuff, and next week she will add in the co-ops and workshops.  This helps keep the kids mellow, and it also helps my wife work out the kinks in the schedule a bit at a time. 

One of the only negatives of homeschooling is that it cuts down on the days dad takes off to just 'do nothing'.  My wife says it really cramps her style to have me sitting in the living room in my skivvies watching ESPN all morning.

Focusing on the positive though, we get to do nice back to school pictures instead of having a bunch of kids waiting in line to have their pictures taken in front of a fake pull down backdrop.

 

 

I'll be honest with you though...all false parental modesty aside, I don't think it's just the natural lighting and backdrop that make this picture amazing.

 

Speaking of which, better go clean the shotgun...again.  

Paging Doctor Brown!

After having spent the last two 90+ degree days crawling through sage brush and Russian olive trees, seeing several deer, I now wish I could get my hands on Doc Brown's DeLorean.  I could have shot just as many deer sitting on the couch at home with my wife in my air-conditioned living room as I did this weekend. 

I intend to take Tuesday off from hunting(I get to sleep in so I can go to work!) before heading out to hunt after work Wednesday and Thursday, and then I might even take Friday off if needed.  The weather is supposed to turn later in the week, with possible thunderstorms overnight Wednesday, and day time highs dropping 10-14 degrees.   

Just doesn't feel right

Heading out the door in a few minutes go hunting...but with a day time high expected to by around 93 this afternoon, it sure doesn't feel like hunting weather.

Usually, I would go into some long winder speech about how 'just getting into the woods' is 90% of the fun...but I'm not sure about that this time.  This is a trip out on a conservation tag to put a doe in the freezer...and if I am back home by lunch time, I won't feel like I missed some mystical opportunity.

I'll save those kind of speeches for elk season, when all the elk magically turn into crows so they can hide in plain sight.