Who let the dang dog in the house again?

She looks right at home don't she. That's because she gets in the house a lot more than she should. (I'm alergic) It is a shame that you don't get enough years with a dog as good as her.

The trouble with libertarianism

I have heard it argued, I forget by who (maybe Vox, maybe Nate), that freedom means each person should be able to own whatever weapon they wish or can afford. This is true. If you are not permitted to own a nuke your freedom has been restricted. The obvious problem with this is the events of Omaha. If that pathetic loser had been permitted to own a nuke, his decision to go out in style could have been much more devastating.

There is the problem. On one side, you have tyrannical forms of government, that allow no liberty, and on the other, you have libertarianism, which has no restraints. The problem is with abuse. On one side, you have abuses of the government, because it has too much power, and on the other you have abuses of freedom, the reason we need government in the first place. Men are sinful creatures, give them too much power, or too much freedom, and they will abuse it.

The trick is to find the correct balance. I say lean towards freedom. But you can't go too far. You can't give someone the power to wipe out huge blocks of the population. Mutually Assured Destruction doesn't work on the individual level. Self destruction is too often becoming the goal.

MIL

Mother in law's heart started working, so they decided she didn't need the permanent pacemaker. So they sent her home. She was home four days, then she started having chest pains. We had spent the day at their house watching the Vikings beat the Bears, so we were surprised to get the phone call telling us she was in the emergency room.

So my mother in law had a second heart attack. They flew her in a plane to the heart hospital 100 miles away. Did some more rooting around, put some stents in. She came home today. Apparently the vessels used to do the bypass filled with clots. She is OK, but scared to come home, she feels safer in the hospital. She has a problem with her blood, either it clots too little or too much. Hopefully the doctors get to the bottom of it.

I have to go eat some heart healthy food with my dad at McDonald's, then I am going bowling. See ya.

Not out of the woods yet

It seems that complications arose for my Mother in law today, out of the blue. She has a temporary pacemaker, that is all that is keeping her alive. Her bypass surgery screwed up the electrical function of her heart. She will have surgery on Monday to have a permanent pacemaker put in.

She also has a partially collapsed lung, her kidneys quit for a while, and is in danger of blood clots and pneumonia from the inactivity.

Prayers would be appreciated.

A short list

Been kinda busy lately, and nothing to blog about anyway. Here is why:

1. My Mother in Law had a heart attack, and triple bypass surgery in the last two weeks. She is now recovering and things are looking good. She is 100 miles from home in the heart hospital and I have been there providing moral support to Mrs. Girraffe. I have a bit of catching up to do. Looks like she will make a full recovery with no damage to her heart. I didn't know she even had one.

2. Hunting season has opened, I will be spending much time chasing various critters till Christmas at least.

I saw a curious thing today. Today I noticed a rack of jackets with the brand name "Free Country". I had to look. As you should have guessed, the tag said "Made in China". Unbelievable.

I should be bringing in my trail cameras again soon.

Trailcam 3.0

I don't have any deer pictures of huge deer from my camera to share, but if I did this is what they would look like. These pictures where taken less than ten miles from my house:









My cousin will be hunting this deer. There is also at least one other large deer there, but this is the most impressive. A deer this large is pretty rare here.

Trailcam 2.0

I got a bunch more trail cam pics. Here is another buck.


I got a closer picture of him later on the other camera.




My cousin has gotten a couple of bruisers on his camera. This is probably 6 miles away from where these pictures are taken. If I can get a copy of those pics, I'll put them up.

My next strategy will be to get some feed to put out. It is time to spray the food plot and replant it. The feed should attract more deer than I have been seeing and hold them until the food plot gets going.

Regret

Or, a story of my formerly being a band geek.

A long time ago, way back in high school, I did something kinda mean. It wasn't meant to be mean, it just turned out that way. Our high school band, as I reckon many are, had too many of the more popular instruments, and not very many of the less popular ones. I played the trombone, which is nowhere near as cool as you might be thinking. If you were thinking that.

We had too many flutes, and too many clarinets. As a result, some of the lesser talents were strongly encouraged to switch to other less popular instruments. One poor girl had to take up the french horn. She was the only french horn player we had. For some reason, the band director chose an arrangement where the french horn played a prominent part. He seemed to do that occasionally, that is, feature an instrument that we as a band were not strong in talent or numbers. Kinda weird.

Anyway, we had a very good band, despite having lopsided instrument ratios. So, when the french horn player was featured in a very good band playing an important part, a part she was just not able to handle, I was a little upset. During a concert, as she stumbled through her part, I whispered to the guy next to me, "Man she sucks!"

I must have been too loud; she heard me. The sequence of events that followed stands out in my mind.

The horn made a sound not unlike it would make if she had tried to swallow it, and was choking on it. (It was a pretty funny sound). I remember the band director looking up at her trying to see what was going on. She recovered after a few seconds, and played the rest of the part in humiliation. The guy next to me was snickering, trying not to be seen by the band director, with a look on his face that said, "that was really funny, but you are a jerk man."

She quit the band after that year, probably in part due to my careless cruelty. I had made up my mind that I should apologize to her. I never got the opportunity, and if I had, I doubt I would have had the guts to do it, to tell the truth.

It is not that big a deal in the scheme of life, she may not even remember it now. It is not like it is some obsession of mine, every once in a great while I think about it. I've never told anyone about it. Just one of those times were I was less of a person than I would like to have been.

I don't even remember her name.

Trailcam pix

Best buck so far, nothing great. He's got a little time to grow yet. Forgot to set the date on the camera.



Some babies with their mama, munchin' in the remnants of an old food plot I planted. Awwww cute.

Humbug?

In clicking around the 'nieghborhood today, I see several posts pooh poohing the holiday dedicated to celebrating our nation's declaration of independence. I can only assume that all the whining must be due to the fact that they don't live in South Dakota.

I, on the other hand, spent my holiday the way it should be spent, eating at a picnic and playing football in the lake. You haven't celebrated the 4th unless you have acquired a good sunburn. Afterward, we watched the fireworks display of the local municipality.

Speaking of acquisitions, a rather old dilemma has been resolved. I am much pleased.

I admit it

I guessed a few times.

You know the Bible 100%!

Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic!

Ultimate Bible Quiz
Create MySpace Quizzes

Via El Borak

Hangtime

Car meets deer.

My brother sent me this:

Pablo type musings.

Seems I need to pay more attention to my haloscan account. I have been getting commenters and missing them. Sorry. I am not used to having readers.

It is hard to find a good deal on used cars. Found two nearly identical cars, one with a local dealer, and one about a hundred miles away. The one a hundred miles away was half the price. Mrs. Giraffe went into aggressive car buying mode so we went to the local dealer. I think her intent was to take the printouts and demand that they give us the local car for the same price. Found out today that the other car has a slapping piston and needs a new engine. The dealer wasn't playing ball anyway. So now they have all our information. They sat us down and pulled out a little pink card. Wrote all of our info down. While we were sitting there I looked around at all the other salesmen. They all had a stack of pink cards and a phone to their ear. There will be phone calls.

Didn't get elk tags. Sent back in for leftover cow tags. Since I got all the deer tags last year, I won't have preference points for this year. I will be lucky to get any rifle tags to have a chance at a buck.

Need to get my trailcam up. The whitetails are growing new antlers and I think it would be nice to get some pics of them. They corn is growing fast and when it gets much taller the deer will go into the cornfields and won't be seen much till harvest. I will post some pics if I get any.

We didn't get the flash flooding here that they forecasted. Some other areas did. It is starting to shape up as a very wet year.

An 8 billion dollar oil refinery is considering locating in our state. It doesn't matter to me if they build it here or somewhere else, just so they build it. A pipeline coming down from Canada will supply the crude.

Friday

I have to get Res's beau off of the top of the page, so time for some random musin's.

Nate bashed Augustine on his blog. I would guess rightfully so. I got off into the deep woods on that discussion talking about good and evil. I claim no infallibility on this, but I suggested that evil doesn't really exist as a thing on its own. To use a word picture, darkness doesn't exist, it is merely the absence of light. Darkness is not a different kind of energy, it is the lack of light energy. Evil is the absence of good. Scripture says God is light.

If evil exists, then it was created by God. To use another word picture, if good is a green light, and evil is a red light, then whoever is responsible for shining the red light is responsible for evil. Thus we come to free will. Some say that we have no free will, and everything is directed by God. He is shining the red light. If this is the case then Augustine would have been right. Nate is wrong then in this case because nobody can accuse God of being evil, because whatever He does is good. This is because He defines good. I believe we have free will, so God is not responsible for the bad things we do, we are.

Now, if evil is simply the absence of good, then you can't blame God when evil happens (not that you can blame Him anyway). Yet another analogy: A fire that kills a dozen people is evil, in that it is not good. But the firemen are not evil, if they were not called to put it out. A passerby is not evil if he doesn't put it out, as he has no responsibility to do so. In order for God to be guilty of evil in this case, He must be shown to have a responsiblity to stop evil. Does He? I don't think He does, as He is sovereign we have no right to require it from Him. Heaven let your light shine down!


Then there is Difster. Difster doesn't think that a miracle is a violation of physics. He says instead it is an event we can't explain. When Jesus walked on the water, he wasn't violating any laws of physics. Well, why not? Why can't the One who created the forces of nature manipulate them as He pleases?

Take your average dead person. I have never seen one come back to life. It just doesn't happen. Jesus brought a Lazarus back to life after he was dead 4 days. Now, If Jesus didn't manipulate the laws of physics, then Lazarus came back to life spontaneously. You can't give Jesus any credit for this miracle if He took no active role in it.

Take another example. If someone fires a armor piercing bullet at me, and I see it come to a stop in front of me, and then accelerate away from me, this would be a miracle wouldn't it? The bullet cannot violate the laws of physics. An object in motion stays in motion unless acted on by an outside force. So that bullet should have hit me. But then we find out that Difster has placed a very powerful Wile Coyote magnet along the bullets path. The magnet applies a force to the steel core of the bullet and stops it, and then pulls it back away. So the bullet was obeying the laws of physics all along. And it wasn't a miracle. That is the important part. If a miracle is only something that can't be explained, as soon as you explain it, it is no longer a miracle.

A miracle by definition is a supernatural event, an event that cannot be explained. If you explain it, it is not a miracle.



So, now just how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?

A BAAAADD Girl.

For Res, 'cause he's from Wyoming, and Heidi, 'cause she likes shoes.

And everyone else 'cause its funny.

A brave young man

Every so often, we have a Sunday at church where the pastor doesn't preach. Instead it is a time for an 'open mike', where members of the church get up and tell about what God is doing in their life. I usually don't like this service as it is very emotionally charged with crying women and sometimes crying men. Emotions suck. This time I felt different. There was one woman who stood up to tell about her brain scans, the doctors told her that stroke damage was visible. After the church had prayed for her for a short time she got a second scan that showed her brain was clear.

One young man and his young girlfriend had quite an effect. He stood up in front of the church and said that he had a confession and a prayer request. That was something I hadn't seen before. He said that some months ago they had made a bad decision and now they were going to have a baby. He asked for forgiveness, and for people to pray for them. I think that was a very brave thing to do. I can't imagine the shame they felt. I don't know what motivated them to stand up in front of several hundred and admit what they had done. Even though everyone was going to find out anyway. I'm afraid I would not have done the same thing if I were in his shoes. I might have just avoided the church altogether. It is a lot easier to stand up and tell about a way that God has blessed you, instead of telling about how you've disappointed him. At any rate, it struck me that I was in no position to look down on him, and that many times I've done things that disappointed God. I suppose I'll still have to give an accounting for those things, but I thank God for his mercy and grace.

I hope that God will take the consequences of this young couples sin and transform it into a blessing for their new family. I don't know her name, but if you want to, say a prayer for Ricky.

Farah

A Joseph Farah on wingnut daily put in his latest article."

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. Great nations rise and fall. The people go from bondage to spiritual truth, to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back again to bondage."

The education of Pale Horse

Equus Pallidus asked my why a compound bow of a given draw weight shoots a faster arrow than a traditional bow of the same weight. The pulleys provide mechanical advantage making it easier to pull, but you should be losing energy due to friction, he says. And there is where you went wrong, EP.

A compound does lose energy due to friction in the wheels. But, the cables and pulleys on a compound bow aren't there to provide mechanical advantage. The pulleys are actually eccentric wheels. Picture a wheelbarrow with an oval shaped wheel. The resistance is hard, easy, hard, easy, hard, easy, when you push it. It is the same with a compound bow. The draw starts easy, hits a peak draw weight and then begins the let-off. Let off is a measure of the percentage of the draw weight at full draw compared to the peak weight. I have a 70 pound bow with 65% letoff. At full draw I only hold back 35% of the peak, or about 25 lbs. Equus Pallidus thinks that this is the great attraction to compound bows. You can hold the bow back for a longer time, due to the let off. It is a nice feature, but the main attraction is greater arrow speed.

The key to the greater speed of the compound is the draw force curve. Area under the curve is the energy stored by the bow. A compound is less efficient than a traditional bow. It just stores more energy, providing more energy to accelerate the arrow to a higher speed. A traditional bow typically uses wood arrows. I was told never to shoot wood arrows in a compound bow because it would blow them apart with the acceleration.

So what do you say EP?

The gun law that we need.

John T. Casteen of Slate, proposed a gun law that will supposedly "make a difference" I am doubtful. He proposes that background checks should be done for gun sales between individuals.

The law we need doesn't address a narrow class of guns, and it relies on the principles of a law we already have: the Brady Law. Brady mandates a federal background check before the sale of a gun by any seller who holds a federal firearms license. It applies to Internet gun deals, gun-shop purchases, and sales by FFL sellers at gun shows. It does not apply, however, to the estimated 40 percent of gun transfers that take place between individuals: non-FFL sellers at those same gun shows, and person-to-person sales made through personal contacts or Internet and print classified ads. That's a far larger volume of guns and gun sales than HR 1022 would affect. As our law stands now, anyone may sell a gun to anyone else; the FFL is required only of those who do so as a commercial venture. Sellers without an FFL may not buy and sell new guns for retail, but may trade in used guns—without background checks—to their heart's content. The bill we need would address that large loophole by requiring that every transfer of ownership be preceded by a Brady background check.

Would this have prevented the VTU shootings? No, he bought the gun legally, presumably passed the background check.

Would this have prevented the Columbine shootings? No, they obtained those guns illegally.

Criminals, by definition, don't follow the law. The Brady law is at best just a nuisance for law abiding citizens. At worst, the records are being illegally kept for a future confiscation effort.

I was happy to see the results of this poll.

The art and science of bowling

This post is for Astrosmith, a fellow scientist.

He has been struggling with bowling, a not uncommon malady. First of all, I claim no expertise for myself, I am a mediocre bowler at best. I just thought I could help him some.

The method I use was taught to me by my father in law, and also from a videotape he owns. The tape is very old, from the 80's. My father in law says the guy that made it is one of the best bowlers that ever lived. He died of a heart attack.

To start, you go to the fowl line and face away from the alley. Take four normals steps to find your starting point. This should allow you to finish right at the foul line and give a little room so you don't foul.

The grip: the video says to hold the ball with your thumb in the 3 o'clock position and your pointing finger at 6 o'clock. This is counterintuitive, but it works. Myself, I don't turn the ball that far, my thumb is at about 1 o'clock. I think the most important thing is to just be consistent till you figure what works for you. You hold the ball in front of you in your right hand with the left supporting it. Your right arm should in the the plane of your target.

Your feet should be about shoulder width apart, toes pointing down the lane. Your right foot should be back a little, your toes about in the middle of your left foot. This forces you to step with your right foot first. The first step, with your right foot, is a small step, just a few inches or a foot. As you step push the ball forward. It is important to keep that first step small. The next step is with your left, it should be a normal step, and as you take it, you let the ball drop into the backswing. The footwork is: a small step with the right, left, right, left. Four steps. On the first step the ball goes forward, on the second it is dropping, about at the bottom of the swing. On the third step, the ball is all the way back. Your forward motion helps the ball swing higher on the back. On the fourth step, you plant your left foot. It can slide a little if you have that much speed. I say go easy at first, the speed will come. Also on the fourth step, let your right foot trail a little, even behind your left foot. This lefts the bowling ball clear your hip and leg.

The whole time you are moving forward, your eyes focus on your target, not the pins. On the fourth step, the ball is now coming forward. You release the ball, the thumb comes out first. Your fingers are on the bottom. Lift the ball with your fingers, and follow through. Your arm swings up through the plane of your target, and you end up just like you are reaching to shake someone's hand. Keep your wrist stiff through the whole swing, if you let the ball move your wrist, it takes all the hook out of the ball. (I shoot some spares by letting my wrist move so the ball hooks less.) You also need to keep balance during the release, and keep your shoulders square with the lane. If you turn them, the ball turns with them. You don't want to be hunched over so that you fall forward. I sometimes concentrate on standing up slightly, and pushing my hips forward at the release.

This is what I learned watching that video, my average went up from the 150's to the 170's. I generally shoot in the 180' to 190's, but my average stays lower because of all those bad games in the beginning of the year. My biggest weakness is shooting spares. I usually get more strikes than spares.

To aim the ball, you pick an arrow on the lane (or a board between arrows) to shoot at and a dot by your feet (or a board between dots). This is the line you are shooting. If you ball hooks too much to the left, you move your feet left, but aim at the same spot. The boards are one inch I think. According to the video: If you move your feet one board, it results in about four boards down at the pins.

According to the USBC magazine, the optimum angle to hit the pocket is 6 degrees. If your ball has too much hook, you shoot a line in the middle of the lane from the left side of the alley. If your ball hooks gently, shoot a line over the right side of the lane from the middle or right side of the alley.

That is about all I know about bowling. I hope this helps you.

Equus Pallidus wanted a post on compound bows. I will get to that eventually.

Snow day

Yesterday we had a snow day. A blizzard rolled through Thursday and Friday. We still had to go to town, as Mrs. Giraffe's employer did not see fit to close for the day till we were already halfway there. Yes, they are idiots. The kind of employer that wants total loyalty from employees, yet treats them like dirt. They do pay very well for SD. That is why she continues to work there, for now. So we had coffee with her dad, rented a few movies and went back home before the blizzard got too bad.

She got the crazy idea that she wanted to go out and play in the snow. I think it comes from spending too much time indoors. Addles the brain or something. I had spent a couple hours in the last few days trying to keep the driveway open and I had enough of the white crap, so I didn't think the idea sounded too great. But she talked me into it.

We got then got a Really Crazy Idea. We put on our bathing suits and put a beach towel down in the snow and took pictures. It was pretty funny. She enjoyed it till somebody drove by. They didn't appear to see us, focusing on the road. After she took pictures of me, I grabbed her and tried to throw her into a snowbank. I didn't get her into the snow like I wanted too, but she started hollering at me, so I let up.

I don't think I will post the pictures. I am not tremendously photogenic, and while Mrs. Giraffe looks quite fetching in a bikini, she's pretty shy. I doubt very much she would let me near that camera.

Flogging the deceased equines

I have read so much about this in the last few months. It's atheism vs. theism (namely Christianity) and the argument is morality. The atheists can't seem to get it through their heads that they have no basis for morality.

First we should talk definitions. When I speak of morality I mean: The quality of being in accord with standards of right or good conduct. It is important to realize that morality is behaving in the way that you ought to behave. Morality is not defined as that which is legal. I am certain Hitler made it legal to kill Jews, he could never make it moral. Morality is objective. Meaning independent of point of view. If it is wrong for me to murder someone it is wrong for everyone. {Atheists like to say that their morals are superior to Christian's morals and later say that there is no objective morality. Of course your morals are superior, but so are mine!}

It seems clear from this that morality cannot be determined by people. People disagree. Liberals say abortion is moral, conservatives say it is not. One is right, or neither is.

Morality then can't be determined by majority rule. (although, wouldn't it be nice to actually vote on abortion?) Think two cannibals and a missionary deciding on whats for lunch. Is it moral to eat the missionary because the two cannibals outvote him? Does it really change this if the whole world gets to vote?

Then the atheist runs into more trouble: You need an objective standard. This standard must be unchanging. Murder can't be immoral today and moral tomorrow. Roe vs. Wade didn't make it moral to kill the unborn. For Christians, God is the objective standard. Atheists have no objective standard.

If a cat kills a mouse, is it murder? Most say no. (The rest are idiots.) If a cat kills another cat, is it murder? Is there a standard of behavior for animals? No, there is not. Other than the law of the jungle. Kill or be killed, eat or be eaten. It is survival of the fittest. The atheist says we are just another species of animal. If a chimpanzee can kill an eat another chimpanzee, why can't a human?

{It is at about this point that an atheist will jump in and say "wow, look at how immoral the Christians really are!" We are looking at your worldview, dummy}

The logical implication of the belief that humans evolved, and that God doesn't exist, is that we are also under the law of the jungle. What about the laws of men? Remember, legality does not equal morality. The theory of evolution claims that we are the result of a blind process, that has no goals. The universe doesn't care if humans exists. Our emotions and social structure are the products of eons of evolution. We are simply self replicating meat machines whose only 'purpose' is to replicate the selfish gene. Evolutionary success is determined by survival of the species, generally accomplished by producing the most offspring. (It must kill the atheists to realize that by this measure they are less 'fit'.) Mother earth is not crying over the extinction of the dodo. She won't cry over the extinction of all life.

Once you realize this, what room is there for morality? You are trying to tell my that your close relative is the monkey down at the zoo that throws his poop at you, yet you have a great set of morals for me to follow. Why should I? What is the reason that I ought to behave as you say? There is none.

So it boils down to, I can now do whatever I want to you. Might makes right. Animals steal from each other all the time. And kill each other, etc. The Christian says people are special. We are made in the image of God and we are above the animals. The atheist says we are animals.

You an' me baby ain't nothin' but mammals
so lets do it like they do on the discovery channel

I guess I am just a little more fit than you.

You can argue that your rights are being violated, but rights are made of the same stuff morals are. We can amend the Constitution. (the 28th amendment: all atheists shall be ground up for fertilizer)

Atheists cling parasitically to society's moral values, keeping only the ones they like. But, if you can throw out some, you can throw out all of them. The result is Nihilism.

This is one reason that our society will fail if things continue as the are. As atheism becomes more prevalent, morals will slowly erode. First kill the unborn, then the old and infirm, then the stupid. I am not saying it will become right, just that it will happen. Woe unto those that fall into the arbitrarily chosen class of people to be exterminated! People will slowly come to the realization that once they give up the 'imaginary friend' they can do whatever they want.

Now an atheist does have one valid argument: He can say that since your god doesn't really exist, you don't really have any morals either. You just think you do.

That is really the best they can do.

I'm Back

Score, Coyotes 3, Giraffe 0.

The coyotes were not too plentiful this year. Had fun anyway.

So I am catching up on blogs. Erik posted at Nate's

I've been waiting for this post to ask this question.

Looking into long range target shooting. What would be a good rifle? Models, not just rounds. I am assuming y'all are gonna say the .308

I missed the discussion, but I will post here anyway.

Define Long Range. Some use a .308 for 1000 yard shooting. A .300 mag would do better for that far. I assume you are a beginner. If that is the case, I don't think I would jump right in and start shooting a big magnum. They kick. A lot. Unless you have a muzzle brake. Then they are extremely loud. Both recoil and blast contribute to flinching, which will ruin your shooting. For a beginner, a .308 is just fine. Or a .30-06. Most shooters won't get good enough to use the extra performance that a magnum brings. Either cartridge will be easier on the shoulder, and both will work at to 1000 yards. The .270 was mentioned. It is a fine hunting cartridge, but it isn't the best choice for long range shooting. There are very few match grade bullets made in that caliber. I suggest finding somone who will let you shoot a rifle before you buy it. If you find the recoil to be harsh, a .260 remington would be an excellent choice. Ammo will cost more for this unless you reload. There are many match bullets for this caliber. The 1000 yard becnhrest crowd is into the .260 (6.5mm) caliber. They generally use the 6.5-284, a wildcat round. That means you can't buy factory ammo for it. Another choice is the .223 remington. As a military round, ammo is cheap and plentiful. It is not a long range round, though, just a good choice to introduce one to rifle shooting. You can get a dedicated long range rifle later if you want. I figure you can't have too many guns.

As for models, don't let Nate fool you. The Remington 700 is a fine choice. As is a savage. The savage will be cheaper. Both have excellent accuracy. I should note, that firearms are individuals, and there is no guarantee that a particular brand or model will always be accurate. Even two guns that come off the same manufacturing equiment can be different. The Remington 700 and the Savage models are known for accuracy. In a particular shooting organization I belong to, the Remington 700 and Savage models win nearly everything in the stock rifle class. No other brand or madels have much of a presence. If you get a remington 700 that doesn't shoot well, a gunsmith can usually correct it easily. Stay away from the Remington 710. They are a Bic throwaway.

Tikka is also a good rifle. It has a very slick bolt, and Tikkas are also known for accuracy. I have nothing against Winchester or Browning, but no experience with them either. I am intrigued by the new Icon made by Thompson Center. This is their first bolt action gun, and they consulted with a lot of gun people on the design.

If money is tight, I recommend the Stevens 200. It is basically a Savage, without the better stock and trigger. If you can afford the savage, get it. The accu-triger is pretty good.

Don't forget to budget for a quality scope. I would plan on spending as much or more for the scope as on the rifle. Good scopes include the Leupold VX II or VX III, Nikon Monarch, and Monarch Gold, Bushnell Elite 3200 or 4200, Sightron S1 or S2, Weaver Grand Slam, or a Burris Signature Series. There are better scopes, but you start talking thousands instead of hundreds. A cheaper alternative might be A Leupold VX1 or a Nikon Buckmaster, or a Burris Fullfield 2. Avoid cheap scopes like Tasco, Barska, Simmons and BSA unless you can't afford a good scope right away.

More scope magnification is better, but you start losing field of view when you get too high. Mirage will also affect you more at higher power.

A heavy barreled rifle is generally more accurate, but it is also heavy. If you plan to carry the rifle much, in a hunting situation, then a heavy barrel may be a detriment. You carry a rifle a lot more than you shoot it when hunting. For shooting at a range, the heavy barrel might be preferred.

Se ya.

I am going on a little hunting trip. Hunting coyotes. And prairie dogs, if they poke their head up. Maybe a bobcat. Coyotes are quite the challenge. At least around here. Some places have more of them, and they are a lot less wary.

Why hunting coyotes? I guess because that is all there is to hunt this time of year. Sometimes I find that what my family considers a vacation is pretty different from what 'normal' people do. So I won't try to explain too much, as I doubt that I can. I doubt very much that we will see more than a few other people out there. That is part of the appeal.

We will be staying in a camper. So we are not really roughing it. No doubt we will watch a lot of movies and play a lot of pinochle. I plan to take a camera.

See you later.

Breaking news

Well that miserable rodent says to expect an early spring.

This morning on the television they said he has an accuracy of 39%. Not confidence inspiring, but way ahead of the average weatherman.

That darn Ole

Ole and Lena came into some money. Of course, they couldn't agree on how to spend it. Ole wanted a new pickup, and Lena wanted a new sports car. Finally, Lena put her foot down. "That car tops out at 240," she said. "If you can find something that will do better, get that, otherwise we are getting that car"

Ole went out and bought the pickup. Then he bought Lena a bathroom scale.

A new appliance that you will want

About ten days ago, we went to the allergist to confirm what I had suspected for some time. I am allergic to cats. I used to like cats, till Mrs. Giraffe brought two of the smelly things into my house. Now I pretty much hate them. So when I turned up allergic, Mrs. Giraffe thought I was going to make her get rid of them. I caved. Just like I did when she wanted to bring them in the house in the first place. What can I say? I have a soft spot for the Mrs. Not to mention that she told me that I go before the cats do. However, the cats and I get along like Sunni and Shia. I wish I had killed them as kittens. (That sounds so harsh when I say it.)

Now that I know that I am allergic, I have set some rules about where the damn things can and cannot be. They can not be in the bedroom. Another suggestion that we got from the allergy literature is to keep them clean. At first I thought that was silly, but now I think that is a really good idea. Especially when I came across this:

Cat lovers beware!

Everyone else, this is pretty funny if you're kinda sick like me.

Portland Ice Storm

Ice+Steep Slopes+Morons= fun for everyone!

I have never seen roads so slippery

Redneck Woodshop project

fine art:

So long '06

2006 is gone. The .30'06 cartridge turned 100 years old. Amazingly, it is still relevant to today's shooters. It was a huge leap over cartridges 10 to 20 years older. A lot of new cartridges have come, some haven't stayed. There are cartridges that surpass it in performance, but that comes with more blast and recoil. It is still the most popular rifle cartridge in the US.

2006 wasn't a bad year. Mrs. Giraffe and I got sort of disciplined with our money, retired a lot of debt. Should be completed out of debt except the mortgage in a month. We still have a ways to go with the discipline. We start Financial Peace University tonight through church. That should help.

Some things I've thought about in the last year:

1. The US may be the best place in the world to live, but this too shall pass. Democracy lasts till people realize they can vote themselves bread and circuses, then it collapses. Republicans no longer argue over whether a program should exist, just how big it should be. Both parties now try beat each other to the punch on providing the latest form of bloated big government programs. For the children. Cause bringing home the bacon gets you re-elected.

2. Stupid people get to vote. I've always known that, just didn't realize how many stupid people there are. People voting themselves into bondage.

3. Republicans aren't always your friend.

4. We are so complacent. Fatted calves for the slaughter. We are a nation of apathetic imbeciles. Our children are so far behind the children from other countries and we worry about bookbags being too heavy. A people needs a little adversity once in a while and we haven't had any. I mean the kind that requires a little personal sacrifice. Because it builds character. Problem is, our nation decided character doesn't matter. I'd hate to find out how metrosexuals fight if the red chinese come knocking.

5. We are becoming less and less a Christian nation. My own state voted down an abortion ban. Lately, the papers say it is not coming back. As we become less Christian, people will lose the Christian morality. Because there is no such thing as morality apart from religion.

6. Liberals may not propegate as much by sexual reproduction, as they abort a higher percentage of their young. Instead, they infect others minds. And they own the schools.

7. Losing weight isn't as easy as it might seem. It requires a change in lifestyle. That is hard. I'll give it a shot this year anyway. I'll start next week.

Maybe I'm just bummed today. I sound so pessimistic.

My new years resolutions

Or, things I would do if I had any will power.

1. Become a more valuable employee. Be more productive.

2. Lose 30 lbs. Get in shape. The wife might help on this one. She has a class reunion. She wants everyone to be jealous.

3. Be more frugal. Make a written budget every month and follow it. Save up 6 months worth of living expenses for an emergency fund. Finish paying off our debts.

4. Tithe. Can I pull this one off? ***

5. Be a better husband. My wife deserves it.

6. Clean the garage. Maybe even so you could actually park a car in there.

7. Pillar bed a one of my rifles. Mount a new barrel on my .30-06.

8. Get my house fixed up. (this summer). I'd like to do this without going back into debt, but I don't see how I can. I'll likely have to hire it done. I'm not a gifted handyman.

9. Stop drinking soft drinks. This will help with #2 and #3.

10. Read my Bible more.


*** A question: Does tithing mean only giving to the church, or would giving to a needy family count?

I want! I want!

What do I want for Christmas? I don't know. So many things I want, so little money for it. Christmas isn't about that anyway.

I have been looking at rifle scopes. I had the idea that I wanted a better scope for deer hunting. Trouble is, I don't need it. I have a decent one now on both deer rifles. I helped my uncle pick one out for his rifle last month. I am conviced I did pretty well.

This is what I picked for him: http://theopticzone.com/detail.aspx?ID=3974 That is the best price I have seen on it too. Nearly $100 cheaper than everywhere else.

I might get the same one for me. I decided this year that I wanted a better scope for hunting in the timber. My 4.5-14x40 doesn't have a wide enough field of view. I had a nice buck running through the trees, and I had a hard time finding him in the scope. I still got the deer, but I could have made a better shot. I figure I want one gun, my .30-06, set up for hunting in the woods. Most shots would be less than 200 yards. Now, I am not going to use open (iron) sights. I wanted to get one of these: I still might. I dunno. I read on a couple forums that the image is not flat. Maybe doesn't matter. I would like to look through one before I buy it. Nobody round here carries them. Another minus is the 1/2 MOA adjustment clicks. I'd prefer 1/4. I think it is more meant for muzzleloaders and shotguns. Anyway, it has pretty good optics with a wide field of view, and the ballistic plex reticle if I ever need it for a longer shot. I would use the rifle at home too, were shots can be 20 yards out to who knows. It is very light weight also. You end up carrying your rifle a lot more than you shoot it. This rifle currently has a Swift 3-9x40. Which is not as bright or as sharp as the Nikon. It was a good scope for the money, I and really can't complain about it.

The other scope that I want, is for my 'beanfield' rifle. This rifle would be used out in the wide open. Shots could be pretty far. I don't know how far, I'd have to see how well my rifle and I can shoot. As far as I can hit a paper plate every time I guess. For that, this is the scope I want. The optics are as good as scopes costing quite a bit more, the eye relief is constant, and generous, the exit pupil is large, at over 5mm. Field of view is actually wider than the 3-9x40 Light transmission is really good. If I could have only one rifle and scope, this is the one I would want. (Thank God you can have more than one!) It has side focus adjusment, another really cool feature. Only downside is I would need new rings for the 30mm tube. That is minor. And the cost, which is not minor. This rifle currently has a Weaver Grand Slam 4.5-14x40 on it. Which really is a pretty good scope. If I got a new scope, I have other rifles that have el cheapo's that I could replace with the Weaver. This is the rifle mentioned above. As to why I was using it in that situation in the first place, well, it is a long story.

Anyways. I want a bullet drop compensating reticle. All of these scopes have that. I don't know why I need this, the money would probably be better spent on a good laser rangefinder.
I want bright sharp optics that work well in low light. Both of the Nikons have that. I think the Burris is pretty good too. Nikon does make a 2-7 power, but it doesn't have the BDC and it costs more.

It is pretty sad to be dreaming and drooling about stuff like this that I don't really need.

Fart jokes.

Q: Why didn't the teacher pass gas in public?

A: Because she was a private tutor.



A real life fart joke:

Home

PSA: Due to the fact that the turkey hunting wasn't very good this year, there will be a slight delay in providing free turkeys to first commenters.


Otherwise, the black hills deer hunting was pretty good. We filled our tags early and spent a couple days coyote hunting, and still came home a couple days early. We were even fussy about our deer, passing up anything that didn't have at least 4 points and a few that did. No, I didn't take a camera with me. It never occured to me. I really feel that I have failed my readers. Both of you.

The hunting has gotten much better sincs they went to a limited draw, but we would rather go back to the unlimited licenses. It is more important to us to get a license every year than to try to shoot a trophy. I had a turkey license (my first for the hills), but I only saw 3 turkeys, and they were flying. We had 3 coyote sightings, which we considered to be too few, due to the fact that we were trying to call them in. We decided that the coyotes must have died off in that part of the hills, as there was scant evidence of their existance. Last September, while elk hunting, we were overrun with them.

This is the traditional vacation in my for my dad and my uncle. I have been going for the last 15 years or so. It is mostly a mens vacation, altough sometimes the women come. My mom has never gone, but my sister has gone a couple of tines What could be better than a week in a tent in the Black Hills in November? Where else can you spend a week on vacation for less than $150 per man?

The practical jokes weren't too good this year. I only sent a few pine cones home with the other hunters. The dead squirrel on the tow hook of the pickup was discovered too soon. My uncle did send a stick of firewood home with a friend. It is not known how long it will take him to find it though. My uncle is the main practical joker, putting firewood into vehicles, duffle bags, sleeping bags etc. And a rock against the side of the outhouse really wakes you up. The best I ever did was throwing a pack of firecrackers into the woodstove in the middle of the night.

I've been trying to catch up on what went on while I was gone. The wife took the opportunity to paint nearly the whole damn house. I actually had to help with most of it before I left. She painted the bathroom a deep red. It now resembles some sort of dungeon, as the new paint absorbs too much light, and you can't see too well with all the lights on. Now I have an excuse for missing! Really, I don't know what was wrong with white paint.

I purchased a trail camera. I set it up at home in the shelterbelt before I left. It took about a 8 pictures. Three of them were deer. Nothing was apparent in the other pictures. One picture was a small 4x4 buck. If anyone cares I'll put it up. If I get a pic of a big one I'll post it.

The hunting seasons are winding down and winter is coming.

A hunting we will go

Leaving tomorrow at 4 in the AM for the Black Hills. Gone till December.

You all have fun at work.

Bits n pieces

I've been busy, and been gone, so I haven't had time to comment on current events.

The abortion ban was defeated. I don't know why for sure. I'd guess it was due to not getting the message out. Part of the reason was, proponents claimed that there was an exception for rape or incest when the words "rape" and "incest" never even appeared in the law. So the argument over whether or not the provision was there distracted from the argument over if it SHOULD be there. I think a lot of people voted against the ban believing there should be exceptions for rape and incest. Nobody put out an ad trying to convince them otherwise.

Now the ban allows anyone to take the morning after pill before a pregnancy test can establish a pregnancy. This was the so called rape and incest provision. I think the abortionists scored some points pointing out that there was no real provision. (In my opinion, a rape or incest exception means that there is a specific exemption that applies to them and excludes them from the ban.)

The alternative would be that my so called conservative state is pro abortion and I don't really want to think about that.

The ban will be back in two years I'm sure. Whether or not it is in its present form or not I don't know. I don't know how a so called rape or incest provision would work. Can a woman who is 4 months pregnant decide she doesn't want the baby and cry rape? What is the standard of proof? Does the man she accuses get prosecuted? I would definitely support strong penalties for falsely accusing someone of rape to get an abortion.

So don't sell your stock in coat hanger factories just yet.

In other happenings, I went west river deer hunting. It was nice getting away. It was also very physically demanding. We hunt in the badlands. Very rough country. I like hunting out there, but the public land is very crowded. I guess we go more just to be in such a rough and beautiful country rather than to shoot a deer. There is no off road vehicle traffic allowed in this unit. So if you get a deer, you have to have a way to get it out. For us, this is a strong incentive to only shoot a deer if it has large antlers. Nobody wants the work of packing out a doe. Last year I shot two deer out there. One was a buck, and easy to get out. Only one mile to pack it out and all downhill. The other was a doe, and I dropped it as it ran across the dirt trail. We literally drove down and loaded it up. The intense hunting pressure makes it hard to find a buck big enough to shoot. They don't live long enough.

This year, only my brother got a deer. Which was good. He's not much of a hunter. He wasn't really into it when he was younger. He is not really an outdoorsman. He had never gotten a deer before. For perspective, I've shot somewhere around forty deer and he is older than I am. So he was getting pretty frustrated and wanted to give up hunting. I wanted him to get a deer before he quit completely. At least he got that monkey off his back. He was pretty happy. It was only a forkhorn, but he made one heck of a shot to get it.

My uncle and I shot the heck out of a poor coyote. Then we skinned it in the field and brought the hide back. Maybe I can get a few bucks for it.

We saw something that was pretty unbelievable. It snowed the day we went out. Then it got nice and the snow melted. The soil in the area is what they call gumbo. When it gets wet, it has the consistency of peanut butter. It sticks to your boots, and your feet get really heavy. It gets to be really hard to get around, and pretty unsafe. It is like trying to stand on a greased up pig.

The point of all this is, when the snow melted, the roads were slick. We had to leave the truck at the bottom of the hill and walk to camp. We and four other pickups couldn't make it up the hill. The next day, it dried out a little, and all the pickups had made it up the hill. But there was a new one, with Indiana license plates. The guys in it looked like a couple hippies. The pickup was a ford ranger, and it was a two wheel drive. This, to us, was the height of idiocy. To drive that thing down the hill was one of the dumber things I have even seen. But, it got more interesting. Of course they couldn't get up the hill. They had gone down to the creek and loaded the back end up with rocks till the springs were squashed flat. They got stuck at the base of the hill right in front of us. We figured they were screwed. We had to pull a 4 wheel out of the same spot that morning. Amazingly, the driver kept rocking till he got unstuck. He yelled to the passenger, who was talking to us, "Are you coming along or are you going to stand and talk to them?" I figured his chances would have been better with us. Then, my uncle let them try the hill in front of us. We could not believe they were even trying to get up, there was no way they would make it. Yet they kept trying, driving up 20 feet and then sliding back down. After 20 minutes, they made it up the steepest part. We all would have bet $1000 that they would not have made it. Their tracks were actually steaming. It took us three tries with a four wheel drive and brand new off road tires to make it up. Now they had made it through the worst part, but they still had a long way to go to get to the top. After we got up the worst part, we had to wait while they got up the next part. They kept getting stuck, and we kept thinking there is now way they would get out of this one, but by some miracle they kept getting out.

After a while, they made it up to where the traction was good for a little ways, and then got bad. The driver kept trying to start out in top gear, but he couldn't get the back wheels spinning. So he would rev the engine way up and let the clutch slip. After he tried this a couple times the truck quit moving forward and came down the hill in a cloud of white smoke. The clutch finally burned up. We could smell the clutch stinking when we first pulled up. They let us go past to the top of the hill. We didn't think it would be too long before they walked up looking for help.

We marveled quite a while at the sheer persistent stupidity of these guys. When we went down the next morning the truck wasn't there. Somehow they got up. They had to have about ruined that truck and must have nearly burned off the back tires. If you see a black ford ranger for sale on eBay from Indiana, pass on it.

My brother and I saw a bobcat. The second time I have seen a wild one.

On a quiet evening

It is always exasperating this time of year, with pheasants and ducks and geese and bowhunting for deer all competing for my free time. Saturday morning I went hunting geese. The geese didn't cooperate, we got skunked. As I always say when that happens, "I shoulda went bowhunting." It is a good problem to have, I realize. I really shouldn't complain.

I really get frazzled when we are hunting geese and I see a nice buck out snooping around for does. During October, the deer are concerned mainly with putting on weight for winter, and the bucks are getting ready for the rut (mating season for outdoor illiterates). The deer get their routines changed by the grain harvest, and they get disturbed some, by waterfowl hunters, and especially pheasant hunters. So they go pretty nocturnal during October. Especially the bigger bucks, who have to be pretty wary to survive long enough to get big. So during October, bowhunting is often unproductive. I went out a few times this year an only saw one deer.

Then the rut happens. Gradually the deer activity picks up during the daytime, the bucks rubbing their antlers on small trees and making scrapes on the ground. The big bucks start moving around, establishing dominance over the smaller ones, and looking for receptive does. In other words they get a little vulnerable. When the does start coming into heat it is an explosion of deer activity. The deer can be out moving around and any time of day. When this happens, I want to be in my tree stand.

It is during the transition, from low deer activity and few sightings to high activity that I have trouble deciding what to do. The transition coincides with the peak of the waterfowl migration. When I sit in the tree and see no deer I wish I had gone goose hunting, when I go goose hunting and can't get under the geese, I wish I was bowhunting. I wish I could go on vacation from the middle of October till Christmas.

I went bowhunting Saturday evening. Bowhunting is my favorite way to hunt deer. You are alone with your thoughts. Nature is happening around you. Pheasants cackle, ducks and geese and blackbirds fly by. Some neat things happen. One time I had a hawk land in the top of the tree I was in. One time I had a robin land on my arrow. I heard something kill a rabbit a few nights ago. And you sit their and listen. Your ears tell you what is going on. Well not really. They tell you something is going on, and exactly what is up to you imagination. You hear that rustling in the leaves, and of course your start imagining a huge buck coming down the trail. You look and listen, straining to hear over all the other sounds, the wind rustling the leaves, trees creaking, leaves falling, geese honking in the distance, bluejays and crows and blackbirds. Usually when you locate the source of the sound, it turns out to be a squirrel, or a rabbit. You can get to hate those dang things. But they are fun to watch sometimes too.

It was after sundown. Legal shooting hours go from 1/2 hour before sunup to 1/2 hour after sundown. I heard something to the north. This was after a couple squirrel false alarms, and what I believe was a pheasant sneaking through the grass. Whatever it was, the thing that I heard, it was taking its time. I heard some small twigs breaking. Crunches in the leaves. The minutes dragged on. It was coming closer, but far too slowly. I figured it had to be a deer. The deadline for shooting was close, if not past when I finally heard it coming crunch crunch crunch down the trail through the fallen leaves. It was getting dark. I finally saw some movement, there he was. It was a buck. I raised my binoculars, not needing the magnification, but the light gathering. He caught the movement of me bringing up the binoculars. He looked at me, I looked at him. He wasn't sure what he had seen, I was in full camo with a face mask. But he knew he had seen something. He did the trick deer usually do, put his head down, pretending to feed, but his eyes were on me. I tried to stay still, trying to get a feel for how big he was. After a bit, he seemed to lose interest in me and worked a scrape in front of me. I kept looking him over with the binocs. Is he big enough? I decided not, and the shot angle wasn't the best anyway. I could have shot at him while he worked the scrape. After a a few minutes, he took a couple more steps and then turned off the trail, away from the lanes I had cut through the branches to shoot through. I think in the back of his mind, he knew something was up there, and though he didn't know what, he didn't want to find out either. I had another brief shot opportunity as he worked his way out of the trees and into the corn field for the nights activities. I waited till he was far enough away that I wouldn't scare him and then walked home.

He was a medium sized four point (on each side), probably a 2 year old. In a couple years he could be something special. I don't think I will take a shot at him even if I get a better chance. But it certainly made it worth the trip out there. No griping about being out chasing geese.

I saw him again Sunday morning. He was out sparring with a smaller buck. This time they were about 300 yards away, and I was in a different spot due to the wind direction. I wanted to watch the fight, as I have never seen one. I got distracted though and missed it. A small doe had appeared out of nowhere behind me and was looking at me. I stood looking at her, hoping she wouldn't spook. She finally lost interest and went into the trees. When I turned back to the other two deer, the small buck was much closer, and the 4 point was moving along the slough, having chased him off. I looked at the smaller buck. He had at least 2 points on one side, and no antler on the other. Either he didn't grow any or they broke off in a fight. He caught my scent and took off. I had to leave to get to church.

The time change pretty much eliminates the evening hunts now, except on weekends. I can go out in the mornings before work, for a while. I might be a little late, but the boss doesn't care. Since I can't hunt in the evenings, I can make up the lost time then.

Sorry this got so long. I really enjoy bowhunting if you can't tell.

My first blog pic: My biggest buck. I may never top it.

Never mind, can't get the picture to post right now. Will try later.

Update 11-1

Here is the photo. It doesn't do the deer justice. I have been out bowhunting a couple more times. I saw three small bucks, including (I think) the one described above trying to molest a young fawn this morning.

Not looking good

From the Sioux Falls Argus liar:

A new poll finds most South Dakotans would vote against the state's
ban on almost all abortions. But, as a previous poll found, the ban would have
broader support if it allowed women to receive abortions for cases of rape
and incest.

The determining factor in my opinion is turnout. For us pro-lifers, we have been waiting for years to get the chance to vote on this. For some, abortion is the One Issue, it totally defines how they vote. The congressional race is a blowout, the governors race is a blowout, nobody cares too much about the other issues. Most of the other stuff is already decided. But the prolifers care very deeply about this, and will not be deterred from the polls. Even if we lose.

Pray for a blizzard on November 7.

I am doubtful, but I am going to vote no matter what.

The spotlight is on us

On November 7th, a very important issue will come before the people of my state.

Of course, I'm talking about Referred Law 6.

It is an issue that is getting the attention of the whole nation, with money coming in from the whole country on both sides.

I will be voting for it, but I'm not sure it will pass. I see a lot of signs in front yards supporting the ban. I have not seen a single sign against it (other than billboards). I think opponents are afraid to put up a sign. It says a lot about your position when you are ashamed to admit it. Apparently some of the pro life signs have been hit by vandals. I suspect if there were any pro ban signs they would get the same treatment, probably worse.

If the ban on abortion fails, it will be because it does not allow exceptions for rape and incest.
If you really think that there should be such exceptions, come back after reading this. I am not sure how it will shake out, the only polls show support for the ban is behind, but catching up.

Even if the ban is upheld, it is almost certain that we will relect Stephanie Herseth, a strong supporter of abortion. That confuses me; we're a State that is strongly pro life. Another thing that really makes me angry, is that the National Rifle Association has endorsed her. She is a Democrat and supposedly has said that she would support Nancy Pelosi for majority leader if the Democrats retake the house. Her very presence in the House adds to the possibility of the Democrats taking control. And the Republican candidate recieves the same A rating on gun control issues. Nice call NRA. Why endorse a candidate at all when both candidates support gun rights? And if you do, why support the one that gives more power the the gun grabbers in her party? I will not be renewing my membership. I will probably have to write them a letter explaining why.

I expect voter turnout will be high for the pro life side. I am sure the churches will have the congregations motivated. This will be the first time in 30 years that anyone in the US will have a chance to vote on abortion instead of having the court dictate to them. For the pro-life crowd, this is the Big Chance.

I am not sure what motivates the other side. The House race will probably be a blowout, so there is no desparation to make sure Herseth is re-elected.

If the ban is passed, I am afraid it will only be the beginning of the fight.

On gay old pedophillia

My political memory may be short, like the rest of my memory, but it seems to me that the Republicans reaction to a scandal is a bit different to the reaction of Democrats toward their scandals. The Republicans seem to disown offenders in their own party, while Democrats circle the wagons. At least that is how it seems to me. I think it is right for Foley to resign, even though apparently no actual crime was committed. Republicans have are not defeinding him. Somehow Clinton can perjure himself, and sell pardons and Democrats look the other way or defend him. Newt resigns after an affair, Clinton doesn't resign after several. An perjures himself and lies outright to the public. Doesn't seem like the Democrats apply the same standard to themselves that they do to the Republicans.

You have to hand it to the Dems though. Aside from the obvious timing before the elections, nobody seems to be asking who is behind outing Foley. And as Steve at Hog on Ice points out, it really seems to be a hachet job. They have come a long way from the screw ups with Dan Rather and the National Guard story. That story was probably true too. It is unfortunate, that the Democrats do not have the honor to resign when their skeletons are dragged out of the closet.

You know you're a gun nut when....

You buy reloading dies for a gun you don't even own!!!!


At least I got a good deal.

(44 mag carbide RCBS $28)

Say What?

Say What part one: Quote of the day

Joe Carter: "Anyone who thinks the Democratic Party is good for the poor or minorities or thinks that Republicans are for small government hasn't been paying attention."

Say What part the second:

I didn't see this coming.

Friday

I am going golfing this weekend. One last hurrah with a college buddy before I put away the clubs for the year. It is now huntin' season, with seasons for various species now open or opening soon. As usual, I am not prepared, not having enough shotgun shells loading, nor deer loads perfected, nor bow sighted in and practiced, etc. But if the lawn will stop forcing me to mow thrice weekly and I get my potatoes dug, I still have some time to get ready.

My suspicions were confirmed. My wife stayed down there all day and half the night, to get Ty's autograph. She did finally get it, at least that is what she claims it is. I could not discern anything in the scribbling on the paper that she showed me. So she stood around all day, and came home footsore, hungry, and thirsty, just to see Ty. Luckily, he wasn't too friendly, or this might have ended up like a country song. He came down the line, signing stuff, not saying anything, and when he saw my wife, he said "hey how ya doing?" or something like that. That's right, the only one he spoke to was my wife. I knew that I should be worried. Fortunately, she was too starstruck and weak in the knees to jump the barricade. So she came home, we met for supper at Applebees. Marital bliss resumes. I think I may have to ban that show on the premises though.

Today I will be passing by the Cabelas store, so I am pondering a shopping list. If I don't go in with a list, I might go nuts and could come out with maxed out credit cards. Self control is tough in such a place.

Everyone say a prayer for Jeff. I wish him a speedy recovery.

Extreme Home Makeover, Giraffe Edition

A big deal in my area now is the house for Extreme Makeover Home Edition. They are building it about 30 miles from my house. I went down there on Sunday with Mrs. Giraffe. We parked in a wheatfield 2 miles from the house, waited in line for 45 minutes to get on a bus, got to the site and them stood around watching them paint and put up stone on the front. This was Sunday, they started with a hole in the ground on Friday afternoon. The foundation was laid, the house was framed, roofed sided, sheetrocked, and they were painting it in 3 days. There were swarms of people around in blue t-shirts. Each crew has a specific task, when done, they get out of the way for the next crew. We couldn't see much, and the only cast member we saw was Eduardo (I think, I don't watch the show). After standing around gawking at nothing for an hour, we were lucky to only wait 15 minutes for the bus back to the car. I kept telling her we should leave, but she wanted to see Ty. Of course we didn't, he wasn't even there. About the same time we were there, my niece ran into him and some other cast members at a gas station in Brookings.

I thought it was a waste of time, but apparently Mrs. Giraffe didn't, because she went back early this morning. She called to tell me she she was the third car there. Today is the reveal date, and they are only letting in 1000 people. It is now 2:30 in the afternoon, and I haven't heard from my wife yet. She has been there since 7:00 A.M. The family was supposed to arrive at 2:00. So, if I blog even less than normal, it is because my wife ran away with Ty Pennington and I have gone hunting him.

Via email

I used to have a Labrador retriever & I was buying a large bag of Purina at Wal-Mart and was in line to check out. A woman behind me asked if I had a dog(?). On impulse, I told her that no, I was starting The Purina Diet again, although I probably shouldn't because I'd ended up in the hospital last time but that I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IVs in both arms. I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is to load your pants pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry & that the food is nutritionally complete so I was going to try it again.
I have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was by now enthralled with my story, particularly a tall, black guy who was behind her.Horrified, she asked if I'd been poisoned. I told her no, I'd been sitting in the street licking my balls and a car hit me.

I thought the black guy was going to have to stagger out the door.

What a week

It has been a very long week. We have finally been getting some rain. Too late for the corn crop but it will help the soybeans. Much better off than some in that department. West of here they are baling up the corn because they aren't going to get a harvest. I haven't mowed my lawn for a month. I have to do that soon. The weeds are growing, but not the grass. That makes it look really ugly. Starting to get tomatoes and cucumbers out of the garden. Will have a good potato crop, because I watered them. Bad year for a garden. Nothing came up. A lot of people had that problem this year.

Loaded up some .223 shells and shot a few groups with my AR. Wow. One group measured 0.33 inches. At 100 yards with 5 shots. The higher loadings were around an inch, but showed pressure signs. I will take the accuracy over the speed in this case. I loaded some more to see if I can repeat it, but I haven't had time or good conditions to shoot. If I can repeat it, it will be about the easiest load development I have ever done. I will post a photo if it works out. Load was 26.0 grns Varget, 55 grn. Nosler Ballistic Tip, CCI primer, Federal case. I could post links to Hodgdon and Nosler etc., but if you don't already know you probably don't care. Varget is a pain to get in a .22 case, but I don't shoot that many rounds. It will be my coyote load.

I got licenses for Black Hills deer, 3 fall turkey licenses, a two tag West River deer license. I will also get an archery deer license and probably at least one East river tag and a blackpowder tag. Potentially 7 deer if I get all of them, which I won't. It ends up being far more deer meat than I can eat, but I don't hunt only for the meat. That reminds me, I have to get dog food. My mutt has been dining on the deer sausage that I made for the last couple days because I'm out of food for her.


It is shaping up to be a huge year for pheasants. We had a 40 year high in population last year, and as far as I know, there will be even more this year. I have not seen any projections for this year yet. The Canada geese had a good hatch this year, the first around here in about 3 years. A lot of them have left, taking the young up into North Dakota. I don't know why they do that, but there is always a noticeable decline in goose numbers right before the season opens. They have tracked geese that nest here and go all the way into Canada after the young can fly.

This is shaping up to be the best year for hunting that I have had in a long time. My brother has left for college, so I might not hunt as much as I had when he was here.

We froze a whole bunch of sweet corn. It turned out OK, but I want to do better. I think if I drained the juice out of it, and put butter in it and a little salt, it will be excellent.

I have about a 30 pound watermelon in the fridge at home. I think it is time to see if it is any good.

on men

I have been trying to get this one posted for a while. I couldn't get it right.

Res's post gets me thinking again about something that I have pondered before.

Some misconceptions about men: Women seem to think that sex is only a physical thing for men, they just want to get laid. When a married man complains about not getting enough, he is just whining, it doesn't really mean anything to him. He's not fussy about who he does it with, any warm body will do. If you withhold it, he can take it.

But that is not the way it really is.

Women are supposed to be the ones who tie emotional needs to sex. A woman need to feel loved to have sex. What they don't realize is, a man needs to have sex to feel loved.

I think there are two reasons for sex from a man's point of view. The first is primarily physical. It is the release, relieves stress, endorphins, etc. I think women see this part clearly. They may see it as him using her just to get his rocks off. And she is somewhat justified in believing this, as some men are doing just that. For a happily married man, it is more focused. He may still 'just want to get laid' once in a while, but he only wants to do this with his wife. Obviously there are different seasons in a mans life, the physical need will diminish. (he will only want it once a day)


The second part for men is the emotional. They may not be too aware of it themselves. It is the glue in a relationship for men. After a fight and make up, she may want to cuddle, he wants sex. For him, it is how he knows they're OK. Women need to be told that you love them, men need to be shown. This may be the reason that a man doesn't respect a woman after a one night stand. She gave him something so valuable for nothing. Or why a man who doesn't get laid much might fall in love with her. Because she gave him something so valuable.

Of course, a man can have casual sex and not think much of it. He is just taking care of the physical. That probably explains most unfaithfulness too. Such acts are immoral and he should be treated accordingly. I am talking about marriage, and what a man needs out of it.

If a man loves a woman, he needs to be loved back, and the way he is wired to feel that is through sex. It is important to understand that it is not just blowing off steam, it does matter to him who he does it with, and it is necessary for a healthy marriage. And if you withhold it, you are being unfaithful, because he can't take it. He will get frustrated, be short with you, and since everyone knows how well men express their feelings, he most likely won't be able to tell you why. This won't put you in the mood, and things just get worse and worse. Res posted on the what. I am trying to convey the why: Sex for men is not just what they desire, it is a need.

So, the way to a man's heart is not through his stomach. He will love it if you cook him his favorite meal, give him a nice gift, or tell him you love him. But the effectiveness of those things are seriously reduced if he has SRS.

If you haven't seen this.....

Warning, the following image may cause wildly varying reactions in its viewers, including but not limited to: vomiting, nausea, cold sweats, night sweats, insomnia, hysteria, hysterical laughing, erectile dysfunction, fear of museaums, fear of lizards, fear of Democrats, voting Republican, genital warts, genital herpes, loss of bladder control, loss of bowel control, stupefaction, and blindness.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

for the intrepid

If you maintain an erection that lasts for more than four hours after clicking the link, leave this blog and never return.

So while shopping around this weekend I saw the following chambered in .44 mag:

1. Taurus Tracker $400 new
2. Ruger Blackhawk $295 used
3. Ruger Redhawk stainless $600 new

That Blackhawk is tempting because of the price. I am not sure I would be satisfied with it, because of the way it loads. Seems like a PITA to load and unload, and slow too. You would never need more than 6 shots while hunting, and if you did, you already screwed up. In that case you would most likley be tracking, and have time to reload.

I am not sure I want to spend that much money to get the Redhawk, for sure not right now. The Taurus tracker seems a good compromise, but the differences in construction are apparent. The Rugers are definately more solidly built.

Right now I am going to wait. I will be in a bigger town in a few weeks, and will have to do some more shopping where there are more stores, better selection, and more competitive pricing.

Unless I can't help myself and just go buy that Blackhawk.

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Well they were here for a little while. And now they are not. Haloscan says "can't find server" partway through on the auto install, and I can't get the manual to work.

I'll keep messin' with it.

What should Giraffe Shoot?

Well I got an itch. A couple weeks ago my brother bought a .357 magnum. Now, I have always been more into long guns than handguns, and more into auto's than revolvers, so I don't have a revolver. But now I think I have to get one. Because I shot my brother's and I got the itch. I might not actually buy one for a while, but I am going to put it on my list.

The criteria are:

• I want to be able to hunt with it. State law says you have to have a minimum of 500 ft/lbs energy at the muzzle. (I assume this means with factory ammo.)
• It would be nice if I could shoot a lower power shell with it, like shooting .38 special in a 357 mag. Or the .44 special in a 44 magnum.
• I want to be able to buy brass and bullets cheap. I will be reloading.
• I don't want something that will break my wrist or something that requires a muzzle brake. So that rules out the .460 and .500 S&W magnums.
• I don't want to spend a huge amount of money, I may buy used. My brothers was used and went for $340.
• I prefer the option of mounting a scope. I might not, but I want the option.

I don't know a lot about wheel guns. I think I want single action. My brothers works on single action or double action. I mean he can cock the hammer, or pulling the trigger rotates the cylinder and pulls back the hammer. This would be preferable. Also, I want the cylinder that tilts out of the frame, rather than the type where you eject the shells one by one. Unless there is some big advantage to that I am unaware of. I could buy a .44 mag right now for $300 where the cylinder is fixed and you have to kick out the shells one by one.

For chamberings, I am thinking 357 magnum, .41 magnum or 44 magnum, leaning more towards the 357 or 44 for cheaper ammo. I would prefer a longer barrel, maybe 6-8 inches. This is not going to be a concealed carry or self defense gun. There isn't much need of that here.

So, what do you think. Recommend any models?

Update:

Comments deleted when haloscan was added:

The order might be wrong and there are some goofy characters. (from my email)

Res ses:

Buddy,You want to go 44 mag. double action.If you’re going to do this do it right. The 44 is a good gun on deer. I got a nice 5 pt with mine. It’s a good back up gun to a rifle. It serves well for home defense. It sucks for CCW. I can shoot mine at 100 yards with good accuracy making it decent on deer/antelope/elk/moose/bear/lion/goat/big-horn. There are 3 realistic choices for a hunting gun, regardless of brand they should be a six inch barrel. Shorter barrels aren’t as accurate at 100 yrds and longer barrels are to bulky to use quickly.Rugar: hands down the toughest/strongest/most durable American made revolver from a major manufacture. Like a craftsman tool, if it breaks (not likely) they fix it. The redhawk will serve you well, the super redhawk is designed to take a scope. I’ll get my 2 cents in here on scopes for pistols, if you need one you shouldn’t be shooting a pistol. Leave it off, its bulky and screws with your ability to handle the gun, if you need it and it breaks in the field you will be use to depending on it instead of iron sight shooting.Smith and Wesson model 629. For most this is the definition of what a 44 mag should be. I’ve got one. I shoot it. I like it and it can be loaded down to accommodate my wife shooting it.Dan Wesson. Its lighter than a smith and its real classy. They are a good shooter. If I had a chance and extra $ I’d get one myself.Reloading for the 44 is a snap. You can buy several boxes of ammo and reuse the brass. I load mine down to 730 fps with 185 grainers for the wife to shoot and it kicks less than my 45 acp. I can load it way up to nearly 1500 fps with 250 grain partition gold that I use when I’m in grizzly country. A 240 grain semi jacketed hollow point will take a whitetail at 150 yards no problem, at 30 yards the exit wound through the rib cage is a mere 2in with no meat loss, I know I’ve done it. My brother uses his 44mag in a marlin carbine to shoot deer every year, even with the slight gain in fps with the longer gun he still doesn’t waste meat.I bought my 629 12 years or more ago used, I’ve shot it a lot and its still a great gun. Any one of the three brands is worth having. I don’t know about Taurus as I’ve never owned one. If its gonna be a used gun, I’d stick to the 3 I’ve mentioned, excepting I’d buy a Freedom Arms revolver in a hart beat, but that would mean it would be single action.Res

Equus Pallidus ses:

Tyhe ruger blackhawk is a damn good choice, it is all of the above in your post. It is a single action 44mag which can be loaded with 44sp bullets. The acurracy of them are uncanny. My brother own one and I own the redhawk which is the double action version.His blackhawck just handles better and is well balanced for a 44mag.I even got the load for ya.24.5 g winter 24.0 g summer of win 296240 grain jacketed hollow point, I prefer the XTP's

and

Get the carbide reloading dies, you'll thank me later

(I knew that already)

and

That 240g XTP was a hornady if I didn't make myself clear.

( I knew that too)

Res ses:

The partition gold is a better bullet to put behind 24 grains of 296. No they're not cheap but when you care enough to use the best they are worth it. You'll be pushing nearly 1500 fps with a 250 grain chunk of hurt.

Res

weekend

Headed for the land of 10,000 lakes for the weekend. Going to Valley Fair on Saturday, and then to a Twins Game on Sunday. The Twins look like they may start a losing streak. Must have heard we were coming. It's always fun to watch your team lose. The last time I saw the Twins play they lost. Of course, that had to be more than 15 years ago.

This is the wife's idea of a vacation. I have to do things with her once in a while so that I can go hunting with my vacation time. The Twins game is just so I have a reason to go. I am not all that excited about Valley Fair. Never been there. Maybe it will be fun, but I will have to pretend to be bored so she doesn't try to make me waste more vacation time on it.

rambling

Book review:

I ran out of material to read so I re-read couple of books. Rise to Rebellion and The Glorious Cause. I like all the books by this author. They are historical novels, and the author tries to be accurate in respect to history. One thing that strikes me, is how close the American Revolution was. We really should have lost. We had such a small army. It seems strange that with such a large population we lacked for volunteers. It seems the hand of God was in it. The British had us over a barrel several times, but Washington always made his escape. If we hadn't had help from foreign officers and the French, we likely would not have succeeded. Not surprisingly, men didn't want to leave their farms and families to fight a war against their own country.

Our successes were mainly due to finding vulnerabilities and striking them, rather than direct confrontation. Another thing that is striking, is the poor performance of the militia. They ran, time and time again. They dropped loaded weapons without firing a shot. As I read, I wanted yell "fight for your freedom you cowards!" The militias were good for general harassment of the British, but in a larger engagement, they were more likely to turn and run. This was used as a strategy in the battle of Cowpens. The movie The Patriot portrays this battle.

As Res pointed out, some of the abuses we suffer under our own government are worse than the ones they fought against. But, few would be willing to take up arms today to fight. I guess the big difference is our chains are gradually being put on. Also, most people are apathetic to the situation. We have a more direct involvement with our government, so some still feel we can solve our problems politically. And now, as in those times, the more idiotic segments of our population want more government intrusion. Too bad we can't tar and feather them.