Dividend Season

   If I wasn't entirely prepared for daylight savings time, my REI dividend completely made up for it! It's time to get ready for camping and backpacking season. I really need to get back outside. I need to remember that my job is just a means to an end and what that end can be. I think it's time to plan an outing...

   Speaking of which, cousin-in-law and I have plans to take our boys to the gun range tomorrow. I'll be able to test some reloading experiments, spend some time with my son outside of the routine, and blow off some steam.

   It's going to be a good day. 

Kids Play With Gun

   This was in the local news today.

"EDMONDS, Wash. -- Four young children literally dodged a bullet after they repeatedly tried to fire what they thought was a cap gun.

But it turned out, it was a .22 caliber Derringer handgun. And not only was it a real gun, but it was cocked, and loaded with live ammunition."

   The article goes on to say...

"No one knows that better than Kara Green. Her 7-year--old found the gun under hedges on Saturday in their Edmonds neighborhood. Her son and his 12-year-old brother and two other neighbor boys played with it for two hours at a neighbor's house."

   First off, let me say how thankful I am that this story did not end in tragedy. I cannot express how elated I am that these four boys are all okay.

   That said, here is a real life example of one issue I have with the gun control crowd. Not liking something or even getting it banned does not make it go away. Do you teach your kids about illegal drugs? Why? They're illegal so we don't have to worry about them, right? Nope. Turns out that a lot of things we've declared illegal are still around. But I digress...

   Today in America, guns are legal. We even have an old amendment in the Bill of Rights about it. So, whether we like it or not, shouldn't we be aware enough to be informed on the subject? I am astonished that among four boys (presumably) between the ages of 7 and 12, not one of them knew what to do upon finding a gun and, more than that, assumed it was a toy and played with it for two hours.

   The primary rules of firearms vary, but they are essentially the same (I like Coopers):

1. Always assume the gun is loaded
2. Never point the gun at anything you do not want to destroy
3. Do not put your finger on the trigger unto you have your target and are ready to fire
4. Be sure of your target and what is beyond it

   Before my son was let loose to play unsupervised he understood these rules as well as mom and dad's rule: if you find a gun you leave it alone and tell an adult immediately. (What if it's a toy? Let the adult make sure. Of course he asked that question.)

   Now, if this story gets any traction it will be spun into rhetoric about banning small guns because they look too much like toys and/or banning toy guns because it's all just too confusing.

   Why are we so afraid to admit that it can be a dangerous world and we need to be aware?

   If we banned guns the day after that Derringer had been dropped in a hedge and successfully collected all firearms from their owners and had them destroyed, those boys still would have found that gun. Is it likely that there might be one or two other guns unaccounted for out there? (Before you get too worked up about this idea, please review the statistics.)

   Perhaps it might be better if we acknowledge that there are things in this world of which we need to be aware and educate ourselves and children accordingly? 

   I am suddenly reminded of the film, The Time Machine.

   I fear there is a cultural ideal that we can live in an Eloi Utopia.

Hunting Is A Form Of Gambling

I don’t hunt for “sport”. I was first drawn to hunting because I enjoyed the communion with nature, finding it’s secrets, and sitting still and quiet in it’s glory. I had been hunting for some time before I actually experienced the rush of stalk and ambush. In the end, though, hunting for me has always been about putting food on the table (or the freezer, mostly). It is part of stocking the pantry and feeding the family.

For me today, hunting legally for food is not so far removed from gambling for income. When I lived in North Carolina I believe a big game tag with taxes and fees cost about $46. That $46 bought a large ticket with a line for one to four of each big game species available for hunting that year and a hunter possessing such a license could hunt any animal with any weapon provided it was within the season’s parameters. One could hunt with a bow, rifle, shotgun, or muzzleloader a variety of game such as white tail deer, turkey, bear, boar, fox, coyote,… probably twenty animals in all with a single tag for under $50.

I now live in the great state of Washington. I love it here. If I could be in Oregon I might be happier, but the Pacific Northwest is my home. Despite all of the great things the Northwest has to offer, hunting in Washington is expensive. A tag to hunt just one deer and one elk (and buy the vehicle permit to park in a hunting area) is between $80-$90 in Washington State. In addition, you have to choose which season you wish to hunt (bow, rifle, or muzzleloader) and you may only hunt that season, regardless of your success. What that means is, if you buy a rifle hunting license for deer and bring home nothing by season’s end, you do not even have the privilege of giving the state more money to hunt the late bow season in hopes of breaking even on the deal. It’s no wonder poaching is such a problem in Washington.

Hunting is not easy. Every now and then an easy shot may present itself and we are thankful when that happens, but even then there is a lot of work to get the animal from hoof to plate (this is true in hunting just as it is from CAFO to Wal-Mart). Most times, though, a single animal successfully hunted, killed, and butchered is the result of countless hours of finding where they are, finding a place to sit and/or stalk, waiting them out, learning to call, learning to shoot, butchering, not to mention all the tools required. I’m not here to argue the virtues of hunting, though…

What I’m trying to get at is the fact that I can pay $80+ and – assuming I already have everything else I need to hunt – MAYBE put one lean, nature-fed animal in the freezer, two if I am very lucky and have a lot of free time on my hands. Or I could pay a little more than twice that and put less meat in my freezer from a decent, but less natural source. It’s a real crapshoot we’ve created.

I feel like it’s time to discuss population and balance…

New Year's Resolutions Revisited

   I recently reviewed my New Year's Resolutions for this year and was pleased to discover that I'm sticking to it better than I had expected.

   First was this blog, which, admittedly, I haven't kept up with lately as I should. I've been busy with other things, but I need to get better at posting even something short from time to time.

   On The Waterfront and second half of Lawrence of Arabia are the movies I need to watch to complete the AFI's top ten. I thought I still needed to see Vertigo, but it turns out I did watch that one last year. I haven't done anything about this one other than putting On The Waterfront in our Netfilx queue. I'll have to check Lawrence of Arabia out from the library. Those will be good ones for later in the year when the weather is yucky.

   The goal of “eating food, not too much, mostly plants” has been going better lately than it was at the beginning of the year. It's always easier when fresh produce abounds and, despite the weather being cool-ish for the season, the garden is doing very well! We added a second raised bed (another resolution) and have been doing better than last year with our planting-harvesting-replanting schedules, though I have not been as diligent with this as I wish I were. Still, progress is being made.

   I have reloading completely under control. There are a couple items I would like to get to make the job easier, less messy, etc., but right now I have everything I need to reload the two calibers I shoot with any regularity and have reloaded several hundred rounds.

   I have done three hike-in camping trips this year -- Olympic Hot Springs, Geyser Valley Complex, and Hoh Rain Forest. I have gotten a handle on the gear, what I do and don't need to pack, AND have made plans for a big trip. In a week I will venture out for a six-day excursion from the north end of the Olympic National Park to the south end. About 45 miles from Lake Mills to Lake Quinault (technically, from the Whisky Bend Trailhead to the North Fork Trailhead). I am excited!

   Airline tickets have been purchased for the wedding in October and money is being saved for the trip and to cover time off work.

   I found someone local who had two acres cleared in January and is letting people come harvest firewood pretty cheap. I have about two thirds of the wood we will need for this winter already.

   Between the hiking and woodcutting, I have definitely been getting more exercise this year. I have also been exercising more just to get in shape for the big walk next week.

   Cheese making and homemade pectin are two things I just have not gotten to yet. Filling a deer or elk tag is going to have to wait until the season starts this fall, but I have begun making plans.

   I'm still looking for ways to do more with my son. He and I did do the Geyser Valley Complex hike just the two of us, and the other two hikes were my wife, son and me. He is very much into Legos and what I really need to do is make time to actually build Lego stuff with him. That should be a goal.

   All in all, I have to say I'm pretty pleased with how this year has been going!

Where Have I Been?

I doubt if I’ll ever get a regular posting schedule going because my life just isn’t set-up that way. I started working at age fourteen, put myself through two years of college, and then worked in various jobs for over a decade before being able to support myself and my family through music and entertainment. I found the times I was happiest with my job was when my schedule was less structured. When I did break off from the day job routine I was working Monday through Friday for a corporation. It was a less-than-ideal environment for me. I was fortunate to work for a manager who understood me enough to work with my schedule as long as I put in a full eight hours and got the job done, but it was still soul-draining.

So now I am very happy to be able to make a living working only a few nights a week. We have had to make some concessions and live a simpler life, but that’s what this blog is about. One of the consequences, however, is that any kind of regular schedule tends to be short-lived.

That said, I haven’t been a complete slacker. I’ve been studying and practicing reloading. The weather cleared up and the sun actually came out last Saturday so my son and I spent the afternoon hiking around Banner Forest. A few days ago I took my son to the range to let him do some shooting and to try out my own hand-loaded rounds. It went very well and my son had a great time despite the cold weather. I cooked a roast and sliced it up and the wife and I have been having French dip sandwiches the past couple days. When it’s been rainy we’ve been occupying some downtime with Wii Fit Plus and the BBC series Planet Earth – an excellent series in case you have not seen it. I’ve also been online reading some forums and food safety websites, signing petitions and sending emails. As I type this I am brewing up a batch of beer and doing a bit of laundry.

One project around the house has been to try and get a handle on our humidity issues. Living in NW Washington State, across the sound from Seattle, we virtually live in a rainforest and everything seems to get damp this time of year (“this time of year”, meaning September through May). My wife and I both have allergies, though she has it much worse than I. I can usually get by with the woodstove and a fan to circulate the heat to the back rooms, but the humidity still stays relatively high inside the house and that creates an environment where allergens to which my wife is sensitive thrive. Basically, my wife is allergic to the Pacific Northwest. It doesn’t help matters that we hang dry almost all of our laundry and when it's wet outside, it has to be hung inside.

During our last visit to Portland my wife scored a really nice 75-pint-per-day dehumidifier that her cousin is not currently using. I was naïve to think we could run it for a day or so in each room and have our problem under control. We have been running it almost nonstop for two and a half weeks and emptying five to nine gallons from it daily. I was hoping that between that and our UV air cleaner the allergens could be kept at bay. My son and I are both fine, but my wife is still miserable. Fortunately there are over-the-counter meds she can take that relieve her symptoms, but neither that nor running a big dehumidifier twenty-four/seven is sustainable or cost effective. I am still weighing the clothes dryer against the dehumidifier and the dehumidifier is winning me over. Obviously I'm going to have to keep working on this one.

It’s almost mid-February, which means it’s time to get started on building the second raised garden bed and getting the gardens ready for spring. It will have to wait until after Valentine’s Day, but then I have no excuses for putting it off any longer. It won’t be long now before seeds go in the ground…