Elk Hunting... Day 2

Day Two (Sunday, 11/12/08)

This was Bill’s last day of hunting, so we decided to split up, and take two different courses up the same ridge that we had hunted the day before. Bill took his quad, and rode up the back-side of the ridge, while Broc and I went up the ridge in the same place we had seen them the day before. When we drove to our starting point, he other hunters were there, and were slightly pissed off that we would invade their territory again, but we weren’t too fond of them, so we didn’t care all that much…
Broc and I stalked up the hill where we had seen the elk the day before, and found them in essentially the same place. I saw a really nice sized bull about 200-250 yards up the hill, standing broadside to me, but we was walking. I decided to take the shot without trying to find a rest, so I wasn’t very stable, and missed him. He ran in one direction about 5 steps, then turned around and bolted into the thickest brush… I really need to practice shooting, especially with no rest, so I can actually hit the stupid thing next time.
Broc and I continued up the hill to where I thought there was a road… We never found the road, but instead found some of the steepest terrain around, which we decided to cross. We were in the middle of this adventure when we “jumped” several more elk out of the thick brush around us. As we were stalking them, Broc shot at a cow elk about 200 yards away. I watched the cow flinch as he shot, so we thought he hit her, but weren’t sure. We crossed some pretty rugged terrain to get to where she was, and Broc found a small amount of blood. We worked so hard to find the blood “trail”, but she wasn’t bleeding much at all. We found her blood trail, and followed her over three hours total, but never found her. The blood trail seemed to grow smaller, and since she had been moving for 3 hours without slowing down, we figured she must not be mortally wounded, and we gave up. It’s a really crappy feeling knowing that you’ve wounded an animal, but can’t find it… It really makes you feel upset, and you vow to take “better” shots next time. Really, there’s only so much you can do in a situation like that…
In the meantime, Bill had shot, and killed, a cow on his side of the ridge, so we hiked over to him. He had already gutted the elk, so we helped him load it onto his quad, and then I hiked back to the cabin alongside him to help him in some of the steeper areas, while Broc went back to his truck where we had started hunting that morning.
We had hiked easily over 7 miles that day over some really steep terrain, so when Bill left, Broc and I decided that we would not go back out hunting that night, but we would rest and go out the next morning.
We were sitting in the cabin eating our cups of soup, when, at about 6:55, I looked out the window and saw a lone cow elk standing only about 60 yards away eating some grass. I said, “Dude, elk!”, to which Broc replied, “Shut up!”, to which I replied, “Seriously, there’s an elk right there!”, to which he replied by jumping up and grabbing his gun, since he was closer to the gun rack. He quietly slipped out the door, and started to creep closer, where he could get a shot… I stood inside watching the whole thing with anxiety, because Broc was taking longer to shoot than I would have… The cow got spooked and bounded up the brushy hill, but was still in sight. I grabbed my gun, and headed out the door, but by the time I got out there, she was clear out of sight, and it was starting to get a little dark to shoot. We missed out gift-wrapped chance at an easy elk. She was seriously right on the side of the road when I first saw her. She would have been so easy to clean and load into the truck!!! Day two was full of excitement… and disappointment (other than Bill’s elk).

Elk Hunting... Day 3

Day Three (Monday, 11/13/08)
Broc and I slept in a little, because our plan was to go up where Bill had shot his elk the day before, and wait for them to cross the ridge. It was obvious from the trails there that they crossed regularly. Bill had seen his elk around 8:00 am, well after sun rise, so we planned to be there just before sun rise, and wait.
We hiked up the steep hill, and got to the top of the ridge just in time to see about 10 elk crossing where Bill had harvested his the day before. Alas, we were just about 10 minutes to late. We spooked them, and most ran off. One bull waited behind some trees for about 10 minutes, but we waited too. Finally, he bolted from the trees, and through the clearing, but not long enough for us to get a shot off… We decided to sit and watch, in case another group tried to cross, but all we saw was a coyote, using the same trail as the elk, but headed the opposite direction. We hiked around, dejectedly all morning, without seeing another elk.
That afternoon, we went back to the pond, and sat to watch the hillside and the pond. We had thoroughly disturbed the elk in the last couple of days, and they decided they didn’t need to drink from that pond today, so we never saw a thing…

Elk Hunting... Day 4

Day Four (Tuesday, 11/14/08)
This was our last chance. Broc had to be to work on Wednesday, and we were both exhausted, so Tuesday morning was our last ditch effort. We hiked up to the place where Bill killed his elk again, this time arriving well before sun up. We sat in the spot, and never saw an elk the entire time. Our last effort was futile, so we headed back to the cabin and packed up. When we got home, we helped Bill butcher the back half of his elk, for which he shared some of the meat with us…
Even though I didn’t harvest an elk, the hunt was successful, in my eyes, because I had a ton of fun, and learned so much that will help me be more successful in future hunts. I learned that I need to practice shooting much more often to feel more comfortable with the shot when it really matters. I learned that I also need to practice climbing up steep hills before I go out to hunt elk… it nearly killed me! ;-) I learned that elk hunting is fun, whether you get an elk or not, if you’re with people who all get along with each other, and have good senses of humor. I learned better ways to stalk elk. I learned to never trust a hunting guide who you have not hired. I can’t list all the valuable things I learned, but I’ll just say it was an experience I won’t forget.

Random Musical

When Laurie and I were single and living in Mesa, AZ, we had friends who, every now and then, would put on what they called "random musical" in local malls. They would get together on a Saturday morning and work out some simple choreography, and a song... I think it was always the same song ("Sieze the Day", from Newsies) Anyway, then they would all go to a mall and go their separate ways. At a designated time, they would all be near the same area, and one of the "performers" would just start singing very dramatically... "Open the gates and sieze the day..." After a couple of lines, "random" people would join him until eventually there were a lot of people singing the song, and doing the choreography. When they were done singing, they would just stop and walk away as though nothing had happened, and they didn't know each other. Laurie and I wanted to do it, but were both busy when we got the chance...

Anyway, Laurie, Gracie and I were going through the McDonalds drive thru the other day, getting some McFlurries... The young man took my debit card, and processed the transaction. He then gave my card back to me, paused, then sang, "You've got the whole world, in your hands..." I couldn't figure out what he was talking about, and thought he was moronic, until Laurie realized that my debit card has an image of the earth on it... We drove away laughing hysterically! I've never been sung to in a McDonalds drive thru, or any other drive thru for that matter. What a great way to bring a smile to people's faces!

Grace... for real

Some know, some don't, that Laurie and I have been trying to add to our family for well over a year now. It's been Laurie, Gracie, and me for over 2.5 years now...
Some couples have a hard time "getting pregnant". We don't. Our problem would be "staying pregnant". Since May of 2007, Laurie has been pregnant several times... Each time, we get our hopes up, only to be completely disappointed and discouraged by another miscarriage. The most disappointing one happened last September - a full ten weeks into the pregnancy...
The doctor says there's really nothing he can do about it... It's a "chromosomal miscarriage" which he claims happens in about 1 out of 20 pregnancies (5%). Well, apparently our doctor never had a course in statistics, because it has happened to us in at least 4 out of 5 pregnancies (80%)... Those ratios don't add up to me, which tells me he should be doing more tests to find out what is wrong. If we followed typical statistics, our four miscarriages would have happened over a course of 80 pregnancies... I highly doubt it is what he considers a "chromosomal miscarriage". SO FRUSTRATING!!!!
We've talked to other people who have had multiple miscarriages, and most say the same thing... their doctors put them on "progesterone", which apparently helps the catchers mitt not to drop the ball...
Anyway, when you consider that we have such a hard time enlarging our family, Gracie's name really makes sense... It is, by the way, by the "grace of God" that we're able to have her in our family. So, count your blessings...

Dora the Explorer... Why!?

My daughter loves Dora the Explorer. I'm not sure if she loves Dora more than "princesses", but its definitely close. I really am not sure if I'm okay with my daughter being so enamored by Dora the Explorer. Let me explain the numerous reasons why:

1) Do we really want to teach our children that they can go on adventures crossing alligator lakes, snake rivers, etc. without any adult supervision. Her only companionship is a monkey who wears boots, and a backpack and map that she talks to... that's not creepy at all.

2) With all of the social pressure on our children to fit in and wear the "right" clothes these days, do we really want our daughters idolizing someone who wears a pink shirt with orangish-red shorts, then accents with yellow frilly socks? It gets even worse when you consider that her shirt isn't long enough to cover her big-ole gut!

3) I know that the show is supposed to encourage learning dual languages and everything, but in reality, do we want our kids speaking in English with few Spanish words mixed in here and there? Its already hard enough to understand them sometimes... If my daughter wants to speak Spanish, I'm fine with that, but I hope that she'll speak it in complete sentences, as well as English.

4) Finally, I do not want my daughter idolizing/hanging out with someone who just happens to be carrying a backpack full of a flashlight, a shovel, a map, a water-skiing rope, and a bar of soap. I can think of no good reason why a child would need that combination of things in her backpack... it spells one thing... "T-R-O-U-B-L-E"!

Finally, you can see that if you step back and look at the concept of Dora the Explorer, its pretty unnerving to have your child watch and adore the show... So, parents, beware, and please be careful about what your children watch...

(wink, wink)

Punish Success?

So, I just read an article online the other day about a situation that really irritates me...
There's a 9-year old kid in New Haven Connecticut who can throw a 40 mph fastball!!
Good for him, huh? Wrong!!!!!
Everybody knows that if you can throw faster than other kids your age, you shouldn't be allowed to play baseball... (heavy sarcasm...)
The league told the boy's coach that he cannot pitch. If the boy pitches, the league will disband the entire team. The coach did not allow the kid to pitch the next game. However, he understood the injustice that was being done and defied the wishes of the league by allowing the kid to pitch in the next game (2nd game after ban). The team's opponent for that game saw that he was pitching, packed up their equipment, and left, forfeiting the game... The league's legal representative justified the actions of the league by saying, "There are a lot of beginners. This is not a high-powered league. This is a developmental league whose main purpose is to promote the sport."
3 obvious questions about this story....
1) What kind of mindset convinces someone that it is okay to punish one person for being better at something than his peers? (Answer to come later)
2) What kind of mindset convinces someone that it is justifiable to punish several kids for the actions of one kid? (I'm talking to you, school teachers! ;) ) (Answer to come later)
3) What kind of developmental league limits the available development of it's members?

My answers to the obvious questions.......
1)

• Who punishes investors for making intelligent and informed investment decisions? The liberals.
• Who punishes a corporation for putting together a successful (and legal) business strategy, resulting in great profits for the corporation's shareholders? The liberals...
• Who complains when a company can't compete with a better/bigger competitor? The liberals...

It is obvious to me that it is a completely liberal mindset that allows this sort of thing to happen to a kid who is "too good" at baseball. In their selfish and self-entitled minds, they can't handle the fact that people are better at things than other people, especially if they or their kids are not the "better than" person...

2) Sorry, school teachers... The idea that you should punish a group of people for the supposed transgressions of one person is a completely socialist ideal. I remember this happening in elementary school and being baffled by the idea that I should be punished for somebody else's actions simply because we happened to be in the same room... If you feel like being caught up in this sort of society, then by all means, join the socialists... You can find them here.

3) Finally, what is the baseball league trying to "develop" the players into? Wussies? Look, if you want every kid to get a trophy/award, and every kid to be a "winner", then T-ball is the limit... If you want to teach your kid that when he's not good enough all he has to do is complain or quit, and he'll be taken care of, then I've got a problem with that. That kid will end up having the same entitled attitude as you, at the expense of everybody who is trying to "develop" into something more... When your kid gets poor grades at school, it is you who complains until the teacher raises his grade just enough to get you off his back... That, again, is punishing those kids who actually earned better grades.

Am I way off base here? If I'm wrong, please, someone tell me... There's a guy at work who's better at typing than me, and I'm thinking of having him punished...