“Dad, why do dogs and cats get black eye boogers and we get tan ones?”
This is what Daughter asked me this morning as I wiped the black eye boogers out of the eyes of one of the cats.
So of course, I Googled it. Apparently dog and cat tears contain a pigment called porphyrin, which makes them dark.
I was digging around my office and found a Boy Scout Songbook.
Publishing date is 1963. I remember finding this book as a kid… must have been my Dad’s, but the publishing date was after my Dad was 18 so… not sure how it would have fit into his Scouting involvement (Dad is an Eagle Scout). Nevertheless, I always dug the book and could never part with it. It has a lot of good songs, and harkens back to a day when men were men not hampered and pussified by the political correctness of today.
Under the chapter “Closing Songs”, the first song listed is “Scout Vesper”. Sure it’s a Scout song, but I think it’s message is good for anyone to reflect upon.
Scout Vesper
Tune: “Tannenbaum”. Key: G. Time: 3/4
Softly falls the light of day,
While our campfire fades away;
Silently each Scout should ask
“Have I done my daily task?
Have I kept my honor bright?
Can I guiltless sleep tonight?
Have I done and have I dared
Everything to be prepared?”
This time of year is full of commercial transactions, which inevitably means a high chance for customer service fail.
Most things went smoothly for me this year, and a couple really good ones I wanted to point out.
First was amazon.com. One package was to be delivered some days ago. It went by FedEx SmartPost. The tracking said it should have been here by now, but wasn’t. USPS tracking only said “we’ve received shipment information”. I called Amazon’s customer service because the items were gifts for the kids and I wanted them to be here in time. A very friendly and helpful gentleman named Pat handled my call. He listened to everything, looked things up, and when the tracking numbers all were a bust he said he’d call me back. When he did he said he tracked as much as he could to try to find things but no luck and no one has any idea where the package is. So since it was vital for Christmas, he sent out another shipment UPS 2nd Day Air. I thought that was cool. I didn’t have to ask, there was no prompting, he realized the greater problem: making kids happy on Christmas morning, and worked to solve it. That’s a big win, and one reason why so far I continue to enjoy shopping with Amazon.
Second is Bonny Doon Vineyard. I ordered some wine to be shipped as a gift. Due to the fact it’s wine it really should be shipped quickly, at least 2-day air. Well, one of the shipments is going to a location not too far from the Vineyard, so within a few hours of placing my order I was contacted by someone at the vineyard saying they could change my order to standard Ground shipping, it’d still be there in time, and cost me less. Hey that’s cool! Looking out for your customers like that is really nice.
We’re all quick to point out when things suck. We should also be so quick to point out when things do right and well.
Spent the day at the in-laws. Annual Christmas gathering. Good people. Good food. Good time.
Took Sasha up with us. That was… mixed. New place, new people, new dogs… she was very stressed and defensive at first. She mellowed out some as the day went on, but overall she didn’t do as well as I hoped (but kinda what I expected *sigh*). She needs this, and I think with more exposure to the people, the place, the dogs, she’ll get better; she’s better today than she was 2 months ago. But still, in this regard it was a stressful day for us and everyone. *sigh* Wife found a Kuvasz-specific trainer somewhere in the area (to our luck). I don’t think we’ll go back to Triple Crown, not anything against them, just I think if this lady can truly give deeper insight into this breed, that may help.
Found out my brother-in-law is home. He’s a Commander in the US Navy, this last tour had him as the Air Boss on the USS Peleliu. They just docked today in San Diego. Joyous because he’s home safe. Joyous because he gets to spend Christmas with his family. Joyous because he’s soon to retire… and then we can go hunting together!
Got myself a bio. Gosh… it makes me look official and qualified. 😉
Got me a good Wife. I spent the drive home just rambling on to her about what was on my mind, be it the tedium of my plans for reloading .308 Winchester… or my continued indecision about my martial arts direction… or just that we need to go out on more dates. YES WIFE! I KNOW YOU READ THIS! I CAN’T WAIT FOR OUR NEXT DATE!! 🙂
Truly, life is good. It’s not perfect, but it’s good.
Good night.
After taking Sasha for a walk, I pull out the garden hose to clean off the front step and flower bed. All the duck poop….
And I start to think….
Austin likes being a “weird” city. Why aren’t they allowing us to be weird? Why can’t I keep a weird pet like a duck?
Austin is all about “going green” and being natural. All this duck poop makes for fantastic fertilizer… my flower bed is quite happy. But if FWS CFR 21.54 is allowed to stand, no such benefit. Wouldn’t the city want to encourage this?
They’re doing this round-up intentionally during the week, during the day. They specifically scheduled it so it wouldn’t happen during the school Winter break because they did not want children to see it. Why not? If this is such a good thing to do, let the kids see it. Have the guts to stand up and explain it to a 6-year-old with tears in her eyes. I mean, I do understand the legit need for this, but if it’s such a legitimate need, why not explain it to the children? Why not allow them to understand? My children got to see the last round-up, and I certainly have explained it to them. They understand, and I think they’re better off in general for knowing. What are you afraid of?
Maybe that just means your chosen technique is a poor one. You know, egg collection has the same effect but is far less traumatizing to the ducks and to the children. Heck, I betcha the kids would love to get in there and help out. Use it as a teaching moment, to help them understand the greater impacts. Don’t just choose a poor violent method and play dumb when the children ask where all the ducks went.
What’s going to happen to the rounded-up ducks? Destruction most likely. But gosh… duck meat may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but with the homeless and hungry in this city, I betcha they’d be happy for a warm meal. Or if you don’t want to go that route, I’m sure there are lots of yuppies in this town that would pay through the nose for fresh duck meat for their dogs. The “prescription” pet foods tend to be made of duck or venison or rabbit and cost a small fortune for a 1 lbs. bag. But of course, massive regulation prevents using some natural, available, and abundant resources to feed the hungry… or make a profit.
I wouldn’t have such a problem with all of this if it made sense. If there was valid research, sound logic. But on all levels, from the HOA to the city to the Feds… there’s so much here that just makes no damn sense.
“Honey… I want to let you know something.”
Oh crap. What did I do this time….
“I’ve been seeing this gray pickup truck driving very slowly through the neighborhood…”
Ah phew… not me. 🙂 We certainly keep our eyes open for things. Seeing vehicles driving slowly, the driver or passengers looking around at things in the neighborhood always perks our interest, but being Christmastime you can’t help but be extra cautious. “OK, just keep your eyes open in case it comes back.”
A little while later, Sasha goes off. She’s a Kuvasz, it’s in her DNA to be a guard dog. And guarding she was.
“Honey… there was this man standing at the edge of our property, out in the road. He was feeding bread to the ducks, but then Sasha went off, he looked up and saw her and took off… he got into that same gray truck and drove off.”
You see, those neighborhood muscovy ducks love to come to our yard. We care for them. Oh sure, I’m tired of all the duck poop, I’m tired of my flowerbeds getting trampled and the plants nibbled down to stumps. But ducks just don’t understand landscaping and property rights like we do. Besides, after all these years we’ve become rather attached to them. Muscovy ducks have a depth of personality. When you get to observe them and interact with them as much as we have over the years, you come to learn a lot about them. Sure, when they first arrived at the neighborhood pond some years ago we had no idea what the heck this odd duck with the red face was… and they perched too. But once we came to know what they were and how they were, gosh… we became rather fond of them.
It’s all Sneeze’s fault. Continue reading
Vanity Fair has an article about “Russ Crane”, a sniper in the Texas Army National Guard. (h/t TFB)
It’s an interesting read into the life and mind of a military sniper.
An excerpt:
He told me he believes that the overwhelming majority of people in the world are good, but that they are as vulnerable as sheep to the wolves who prey upon them. His role, he said, is that of a sheepdog with the training and temperament to intervene. We were sitting at his kitchen table. There was a plaque on the wall reading, the future is as bright as the promises of god. Crane said, “There is good and evil in the world. It gets so you yearn for a righteous fight. Personally I believe there are bad people, and God put people here to shoot those people, to let other people live peaceful lives. David was a shepherd boy who became king. The Philistines had their giant, Goliath. The Lord said to David, ‘I’m on your side. Go out and fight.’ David did. And you know, David killed Goliath as dead as Elvis Presley. He was a shepherd, a king, a follower of the Lord. But first and foremost he was a warrior. God understands that we have to have soldiers. Soldiers are part of God’s plan.”
I said, “Do you mean that literally?”
He said, “I know that God has been with me actively in battle.”
“You’ve been fighting Muslims who believe the same thing.”
He said, “It’s a conundrum. But Jesus was resurrected after three days, and you can visit Muhammad’s grave.”
Sheep, sheepdog, and wolves. He’s not justifying the war as righteous, as a Christian vs. Muslim battle. Merely, seeking to find peace in his own mind for why he was put on this Earth to do what he does.
There’s a lot in this article. Crane’s own history and journey, discussions of how the military evolved, support, betrayal, and what life is really like… the indelible mark left upon your life. It’s a long article, but worth the read.
Never owned a Chia Pet.
These days they seem to get heavily advertised around Christmastime.
Commercial was on TV last night and I thought… why not? Buy one for each of the kiddos. It could be fun.
Of course I know the end result is the cats will eat the plants, then throw up green whatever on the floor soon afterwards… and not just because they were eating from the Obama Chia. 😉
Maybe I should get the kids a mood ring or a pet rock.
This is one of those times where the blog is more for me… where I want to write something to help me think through it, to help me remember what I’m thinking. But if someone wants to comment, great.
I’ve got some things rolling around in my head. Trying to think about what to do.
One gun thing that I’m not waffling about… I need to step back on my formal working and step up my informal working. That is, be it teaching classes or taking classes, I have to be selective and moderate here. I’ve been really diving into this because there’s so much I want to do, but it’s consuming too much time and I have to pull back. Because the flip side is, I have to get to the range more regularly. The trouble is going to the range is a massive time sink for me but you know… if the ONLY thing I can do is go to the local indoor range and do “abridged” work (e.g. can’t practice draw from concealment, but I can practice press-outs, I can practice 25 yard groups) well, so be it. Some live fire is better than none, and if my only recourse is the local indoor range well, so be it.
On the reloading front…. as you can see, I’m getting back on the ball with .38 Special. If I keep up with it, even if I slack off a day or two here and there, it should be done by the end of the month. So… rifle time. But, what? .223? 6.8? .308?
I recall when I did rifle last time (which was my first time ever with rifle reloading), I had a dog of a time and it just wasn’t happening. Why? Potentially numerous factors, but too difficult and costly (time and money) to nail down. But my thinking then was to just load cheap 55 grain .223 FMJ’s using well-establish recipes and see how that did. Work out any bugs in technique or gun issues or whatever, then go back to serious loads (e.g. hunting stuff). Since that time I’ve gotten into 6.8 SPC and really want to reload for that… but the main reason there? Because I want to use those Barnes 6.8 SPC 95 grain TTSX’s, which you can’t get in a factory load. The thing is tho, reloading 6.8 is just costly, period. Even trying to do “cheap plinking loads” isn’t cheap. And for whatever reason, a few days ago I got some itch to do .308.
Yes. My present leaning is to do .308 Win. Why? I’m not really sure, but I think it’s because .308 is such a great caliber and well.. it’d be cool to do something beefy. 🙂 It’s kinda hard to do .308 wrong… so many people just say “yeah… 45 grains of Varget or 4895 and you’re good to go”. I’ve got a bunch of 147 grain FMJBT’s from Dock, I’ve got powder, I’ve got primers, I’ve got cases, I’ve got dies and shell holders and everything you need. Why not? My thinking? The new range up north has really long yardage. I’ve been toying with the idea of an elk hunt with my Dad. If I want to do that? I probably should be able to ring the gong on demand out to 500 yards. So… working up a .308 plinking load would be in my best interest. And once I can ring the gong like that, then get some Barnes 168 grain TTSX (or maybe 180 grain, if my rifle can handle it) and make a hunting load.
So I don’t know. I may well change my mind again. But I picked up 1000 CCI #200 large rifle primers today, and my present leaning is .308 Win, just cuz. 🙂
I stopped Kuk Sool practice for 2 main reasons: tired of the political bullshit and greed, tired of the lame-ass training approach. The art is sound, and while it has things I don’t care about (e.g. sword), it’s rather solid in its foundations so long as it’s taught and trained in a practical way.
That’s part of why I went to Kali, Silat, Muay Thai, JKD, boxing: practicalness. I wanted to focus (thus why I didn’t add BJJ to the mix), I wanted more practical, where people did spar and go to town. Where a takedown was performed and you went to the mat because you were put there, not because you said “ok, and now I cooperatively fall to the ground”. The only real reason I stopped this was a practical one: just couldn’t make classes.
So I’ve been out of the formal mix for some months and want to get back to it. I have been thinking about Aikido and even paid a brief visit to a local dojo. Been talking to an old friend about it, reading up. And while there’s something about Aikido that interests me, for some reason I just can’t pull the trigger on it. Yes the philosophical notions are interesting to me to explore, but they conflict with my own philosophy. Furthermore, let’s just be frank — I like hitting things. 🙂 There’s really no striking in Aikido (yes there is atemi, but certainly nothing like say Muay Thai). Plus you have to find the right school, because Aikido spans so much and risks being watered down and too new-agey-touchy-feely; old-school Aikido I could be cool with.
So I found this one school, “Martial Arts Center of Austin“. I know the location and well, while the website doesn’t strictly say, I know that was Brian Duffy‘s place. Brian Duffy’s a legit guy in the world of Ed Parker’s American Kenpo. I even recall my old Kuk Sool teacher, Dewain Perry, telling me how he and guys from Duffy’s school would get together and full-contact spar all the time, only having to stop because they were getting too hurt from going too rough (they liked to “go”). 🙂 Thing is, last few times I drove by that place I don’t think I saw Duffy’s name on it. And if you look at this MACA website, they are really devoid of any idea of who is running the place… no instructor names, no instructor bios. But I do see Kenpo on the schedule. The schedule tho… it’s got a ton of stuff, seems an eclectic place. Not 100% sure what to make of it. Then over here, this guy reviews all the Aikido-related places around Austin and spoke highly of MACA. I’m not sure what to make of the place
But the real kicker? Watching the videos of that school rekindled a desire for particular training. Yeah, I kinda like traditional arts, formal but not uptight. In the end, the body only moves in so many ways, and heck, if we want to talk about Aikijujitsu lineages then Kuk Sool eventually falls from that tree (look at the Hapkido bridge). So really, what’s the difference? I have had thoughts about rejoining Kuk Sool, because I didn’t get to leave it under the circumstances I wanted to. Especially now that Master Lee has broken off from WKSA gosh… he’s a great guy, worthy of respect because of who he is, not what he is. I know if I joined up that way, there’d be no real political b.s. to have to deal with. But what about training? As much as I love Master Les and know HE can be a pretty hardcore guy, the way he runs his school is very family oriented and NOT hardcore at all.
While out shopping I ran into an old training buddy, Ricky. We got our 1st degree black belts together, and were testing together for 2nd, so we were “classmates”. Of course, I left, but he stayed on because it’s been his dream to have his own school. Well, when Master Lee broke off, he did too, and started his own school. Running into him today was purely by chance, but it was really cool to see him and his wife and talk about things. He extended an open invitation for me to work out at his school any time and I may just take him up on it…. dust off the dobok and see how much I’ve forgotten. 😉 The cool thing? Talking to Ricky about how they train there. They are of similar philosophy to me, which is good. But also slightly different, for Ricky and the old school stable of friends well… they’re all at least 10 years younger and me and with slightly different motivations and goals than I have (e.g. I just can’t do the gymnastics they like doing). Will it mesh? Will it work? I’m not sure. Plus, could I have the long-term growth that I want? The freedom to explore and work “outside the box”? I’m not sure. But that this happened is good as it gives me more options.
So I don’t know. There’s a lot swirling around and perhaps there’s a reason I haven’t been able to pull the trigger on things. That I bumped into Ricky was odd, but perhaps part of the bigger picture. Don’t know, we’ll see.
But I think I might dust off my dobok and see how much I remember. 🙂
I have no words… just a lot of turbid emotions.
But it’s a sober reminder for you and the ones you love.
Go read. Then go tell those you love that you love them.
Stuff From Hsoi 