jdmidwest

I have not even had the heart to get up and go since Thanksgiving weekend.

Ness, you need to get a better browser and install an Ad Blocker. I don't see any adds. But my message bar in Firefox in the lower left shows that Google Analytics is watching our every move.

Back in the day, it was called commodities. Surplus food was given to the poor to supplement their food. Cheese, bread, rice, beans, oatmeal, etc. I think it was all packaged in white boxes and subsidized by the USDA. American farmers have always produced way more than Americans can consume. Some gets exported, some surplus was purchased by the government and used for the poor. Along came the food stamp, and now a government credit card. The later lets them use them on whatever "food stuff" they like. Soda, chips, seeds, ice, even bottle water. Giving them a choice has led them to what they have today. I have been thru some tough times myself. I have been unemployed and on my own. I ate alot of deer, squirrel, fish that I caught or killed myself. Then with what money I had for the food budget, I bought can veggies, soups, hamburger, lesser cuts of meat, rice, beans, potatoes and cooked my meals instead of buying prepared products. I never had to use any government assistance, When I was growing up, most were ashamed to take it. Now, it seems to be a way of life now for many, a right granted to them by someone.

I like working with the red cedar and sassafras. They make my buggers smell good with the after scent in nose from the sawdust. The Eastern Red Cedar is not really a soft wood like the western stuff. It is pretty hard and tight. I have made tying benches, gun racks, lawn furniture out of it. I checked Grandpa's old barn today and found stacks of boards stripped and air dried from back in the 70's in the loft. Cherry, Walnut, and white oak boards of different widths and thickness. Still in good shape from some old growth bottomland trees he had cut. It has been kept dry and has good air circulation. Looking forward to making stuff from some of that.

If you get out of the city and find a nice sawmill that does something other than pallets, you may find some nice cherry, walnut, sassafras, hickory, cedar, or oak. That dump truck load of cedar we just bought was scrap he sold for building fence. Stripped out, we have a stack that is 8' wide by 3' tall, mostly 2" rough cut boards 12 to 16 foot long for about the cost of 2 12" western cedar at Maynards. I don't know where you would find the maple, its pretty small around here.

The only reason that are obese is that they get free reins to choose what they buy with the food stamps. If the government controlled the products they purchase with our tax payer dollars, maybe there may not be a problem. Not to mention the all essential exercise factor that most do not get, since they get rewards for not working. HO HO's and Cheesy Poofs are more expensive per serving than rice and chicken, but as you state, they tend to buy them anyway.

Eric, I thought you went fishing from time to time also? Nice work. Where are you finding the wood?

We picked up a truck load of rough Cedar the other day to build some fence. Boards 2' thick and up to 16' long with rough edges straight from the local mill. A few were nice enough that I could pick out a few boards for hives. We have some Catalpa, Red Cedar, and Oak to be milled from the last windstorm that I plan on using in the future. But it needs to be sawed and dried. The same mill is going to contact me if any Cypress comes in. Last weekend, between deer hunting, we planed and sawed a few up. Today I finished out the project with my first cedar brood box and hive stand. I ended up cracking the boxes a little by not drilling the screw holes out big enough, but I don't think the girls will mind. It will just give them something more to do. I built a couple of 5 frame nuc box a few weeks ago out of pine to catch a swarm or start a new hive with a split also. And a hive stand out of western cedar to go with my existing hive. I am still getting the hang of my new table saws. The craftsman needs adjusted, the blade is not square with the fence, so I have to dress everything up on my portable table saw. And the red cedar is more brittle than the other wood I have been working with. I am going to look at some old cherry and walnut that my Grandad cut back in the 70's and stored in a barn. Hopefully the termites have not gotten it. Dad and I have been having a good time making stuff in our down time during the winter the past few years. We have our equipment scattered all over the farm in various buildings. One houses the planer, table saws and dry lumber. The heated one has the nailer.s and other stuff for finish work, we have a nice wood stove to keep warm with. I never took any shop classes in school, so this has been a great learning experience for me.

And they have a free Obama cell phone!

I think we are the only country in the world where people living in poverty have an obesity problem as their main health care issue.

Most of the newer schools that have been built have used concrete block walls. They used the material for its strength, earthquake survivability, and fire prevention. Most handgun ammo will not penetrate the walls, it is designed to expand in tissue and slow down. Solid walls stop it. Rifle bullets are another matter. Handgun ammo has evolved alot in the past decade. I personally carry Hornady Critical Defense, the design is to penetrate clothing without jamming up the expansion mechanism. But when it hits something solid, it expands and loses energy fast. There are several others, all designed to expand and create wound channels, but prevent over penetration past intended targets. Some of the suggestions I heard today included Tasers. Seems like there is clothing designed to defeat Tasers, and the shooter may have been wearing it. So Tasers would not be an option. Looks like a firearm in the school may be necessary and MO is offering up a bill in the State Legislature to achieve just that,

It can't be fake. If it is on the net, it is real.

Can you shoot a Federal Bird if it tries to take your kid? Or do you have to pay a fine?

The Corps manages the water for commerce, and with the Mississippi the way it is now, barge traffic is suffering during a busy season. They have a hard time caring about anything else like fisherman's wants or needs. They activated the floodway in SE MO last spring to save the worthless town of Cairo from potential flooding. Ruined farmland and wildlife.

Just looked at the forecast coming up, Santa may be dropping your presents. Looks like sleet and snow here on Christmas day. Might have to deliver some steel pellets to the ducks on Christmas and make me happy.

The amount of children killed in school fires in the last 50 years as of May, 2010? Zero. Nada. Zippo. What??? How come??? Because they trained personnel in fire safety and prevention as well as the kids. They did drills on what to do in case of fire. They installed Sprinklers to put out the fires. Something simple as water to stop the threat. Who would have thunk? Forward to modern day. Nutballs seeking fame are attacking our kids in a gun free zone called a "school". What do we do??? Interesting article from May 2010 that has an excellent point driven home. If it had been driven home in CT, maybe 20 young souls would still be here today. http://www.policeone.com/active-shooter/articles/2058168-Lt-Col-Dave-Grossman-to-cops-The-enemy-is-denial/ Install a security protocol. Train personnel on what to do in case of attack. Drill with personnel and kids on what to do. Install an armed security person(s) to deal with the threat, just in case of fire. It would really be simple. All visitors enter thu the front that is locked down, along with the rest of the school. Simple pass thru a metal detector would kill the thought of bringing in weapons, but that is an added expense, and an additional thought. Armed security person confronts any incoming threat. Maybe an additional CCW scattered throughout the staff that is trained also as an extra deterrant or additional support to defeat the threat to any students.

What's left is winter hardy for the most part. We have had several frosts, but my stuff is still going uncovered. Of course, I am a few clicks south. The Alaska Snow Peas are growing along the fence I put up around the green beans. They are little over knee high. In spring, they grow taller. I like them in stir fry and salads, very sweet.

I picked a few strawberries last week. The dry weather made them go dormant, the rains brought them back out and they started blooming some. Bugs had eat on them. I still have lettuce, radishes, and mustard. Turnips did not do much. Snow peas are blooming but not setting pods. Dill finally came up in Oct and is about knee high now. The bees were still finding some orange pollen last week, somewhere.

Lots of snows moved thru Fri and Sat on the East side of the state. I did not get out but friends did not report any new ducks, just snows. I think I might have to agree with the MDC, ducks have peaked and passed here. http://extra.mdc.mo.gov/cgi-bin/mdcdevpub/apps/wtr_survey/main.cgi

That foam should keep it up for a while. Have you tried it without the hackle, just pulling over the foam?

Better save that, might come in handy launching boats off a high bridge..

It depends on what color the rod blank is. The original Rocky Mtn was a red/burgandy color 9' 6 wt. Then they discontinued the rod and used the Rocky Mtn to describe a series of rods wih the PM10 blank and utillity fittings like Wayne stated. In the 80's, Orvis used to name the rods they produced, the Rocky Mtn, Henry's Fork, Tightloop, Far and Fine, etc. Then in the 90's they started using the old names to describe series of rods. Since they own the rights to the names, they can use them in various ways.

Hard to say what will happen, but I am predicting that the next few years will be different. Streams need a good flushing out, they did not go into flood stage this season. It should have meant a good year for spring spawners, as most beds should have reared young. But, without the floods, the young were not displaced and scattered like normal. Most areas of rivers remained pools all season, so there was limited migration in the system. For turkeys, it was a banner year. No flooding in the bottomlands resulted in more turkey production. The nests did not get wiped out like normal. Downside, NOAA is predicting the pattern to continue next year also. 2 drought years.

You guys have lake front property and complain about how far you have to walk to get wet in the lake. I have to drive for at least an hour to the nearest Corps lake.

The weather is turning Sunday night. I thinks I may be sick on Mon or Tues.