Kids

I’ve wasted how much of my life?!?

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

I just learned the Ian Knot.

How much of my life have I wasted tying shoes the “standard” way?

If you don’t know what the Ian Knot is, watch:

Youngest is still struggling with shoelace tying. Understandable because he rarely wears shoes with laces, so far too often when he wears those shoes we don’t have the time to teach him properly. Couple that with the fact that knots are useful, and I’ve been on a kick to get the kiddos to learn a bunch of basic knots (Oldest fights it and refuses to learn… then every time I see him struggling to tie something up, I remind him how much easier things would be if he’d listen to his old man once in a while and learn proper knots). All the basic ones they teach in Boy Scouts: square knot, two half-hitches, taught-line hitch, bowline, sheet bend, clove hitch, etc..

Might as well start with shoelaces.

And yes, while the rest of the household knows how to tie laces the old fashioned way, we’re all going to learn the Ian knot. Well, we’ve mostly got it… doesn’t take long. But mastering it so we can tie it super fast will just take practice.

So what are some other useful knots?

Figure 8 knot is simple, and good to know about as a stopper.

Lark’s Head is another simple one, useful too.

I read about the Trucker’s Knot and think that would be useful to learn. I don’t know it myself.

Of course there’s the basic overhand knot, but you tend to learn that one as you do other knots.

It’s good to learn about the granny knot… just so you can recognize it, since you’ll probably tie it a bunch while learning the square knot.

What are some other essential knots to know?

A little grease under the fingernails

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

I’ve had the new (to me) truck a week and a half now, and the maintenance work has already begun.

The goal? To replace everything that I can replace. Fix all that I can fix. Update all I can update. Within reason.

It’s a used vehicle. I don’t know how well it was maintained, the condition of the fluids, and so on. I can tell some, but not all. I want to put as much as I can into a known good state. Besides, with 95K miles already on it, if these things haven’t been done they sure need to be done if I want to keep this truck going for another 100-200K miles.

Now first, I must give some credit where it’s due. I owe much to foo.c for getting me going. I didn’t grow up under the hood of a car. Sure, since I turned 16 and got my drivers license I tinkered on what little non-intimidating things I could, and I paid attention to regular maintenance, but I paid someone else to do the work. Anything that required working on the engine I did not do, save replacing an alternator on an old minivan many years ago. Then some many years ago, foo.c showed me how to change my own oil. My reaction — “that’s it?”  I was surprised at how easy it was, and a little ashamed I hadn’t tried it sooner. Since then I’ve only paid for an oil change once, because that one time I didn’t have the time, wasn’t going to have the time, and the change was overdue.

Then I got my motorcycle some years ago, and tinkered heavily on that doing all the regular maintenance plus various modifications including exhaust, intake/carb mods, and even changing the cams. I was well over being afraid or intimidated of such things; in fact, I really liked it.

I’ve done my best to tackle jobs on the family cars, but I just can’t do it all. On the minivan, there’s not much I can do due to how they designed and assembled everything. Something that should be simple, like changing the alternator, is nothing I can tackle on my own due to the horrible location of the thing and the level of pain and tools/equipment involved to get to it. *sigh*  But I’ll do what I can.

Then I got the truck. I admit tho that the notion of maintaining the truck did intimidate me a bit, and once again foo.c helped me get a handle on things. I realize tho that it’s like most source of intimidation, it came from being unaware and ignorant of what’s involved — I just didn’t have any info to go on, what’s involved, how to do the work, etc.. After reviewing things he told me, the Chilton manual, and YouTube videos (gee but the Internet is great), most everything seems like a piece of cake. I’m just going to slowly whittle away at the to-do list trying to tackle one job per day/weekend (whenever I have time).

So far:

  • new wiper blades
  • new battery – existing battery was failing load test during the pre-purchase inspection, so this was bought shortly after I pulled off the dealer’s lot.
  • oil change – used Valvoline DuraBlend, and a Mobil 1 M-206 filter (foo.c tipped me off that while the M-107 is the proper filter, the M-206 fits and is just slightly longer to give more filter media).
  • new air filter — paper, I’ll change it every year.
  • new belts (serpentine and a/c)

From what I can tell so far, I do think the truck was maintained by the prior owners. One funny example? When I took off the front skid plate to replace the a/c belt, there was a crumpled up piece of paper in there. It was a receipt from an oil change at a shop. Not sure how it got there, but there it was… a little bit of confirmed history for the truck. 🙂

That said, it was interesting the serpentine belt looked fairly new, but the a/c belt was old and cracked. I’m not sure why they replaced the one belt and not the other since you have to remove the serpentine to get to the a/c belt anyways. The serpentine didn’t really need changing, but I figured there was no harm in changing it while I was at it.

Next up is stuff like changing the front and rear differential oil and the transfer case oil. Doesn’t look hard, just a matter of doing the work. I’ll be most curious to see the condition of those oils, to see if they were ever changed. Spark plugs will be done, but looking at the engine and placement of the plugs I don’t wanna… tho foo.c tells me only a couple are a bitch to deal with. I’ll probably get foo.c to help me with the brakes… they don’t need it, but I figure why not, replace that fluid and put new pads on everything.

I do think I will pay someone for a couple of things. Transmission fluid and filter I may get someone else to do, or foo.c to help me. I’ll also probably have the coolant drain/flush done by someone else because I just don’t have the ability to safely handle that much fluid.

The best part? Daughter is helping me with everything. For whatever reason she’s taken an interest in learning about it all, how everything works, how to do all of this work. Certainly some things I have to do because she’s just not strong enough, but I’m letting her do all that she can and teaching her what I can. We’re learning together on this and having a lot of fun. I don’t know how long it will last, but I’ll take what I can. 🙂

 

Every Day Carry for kids

/ hsoi / 31 Comments

My kids are all old enough to start carrying some things on their person on a regular basis.

I searched around for topics of “every day carry” (EDC) for kids. There’s not a lot out there. So time to brainstorm.

Updated: I’ve received a lot of traffic due to Unc posting this (thanx!). Due to the feedback received, I wanted to update this post from the feedback. Updates will be marked accordingly.

Some criteria.

It can’t be much. Kids forget things. Kids lose things. Plus, kids are small(er). Thus, they cannot haul around as much weight, nor do they have enough pocket real estate. It needs to fit into pockets, because the boys don’t like wearing belts and the girl’s fashion sense either leads to no belts or non-functional-but-decorative belts. Yes yes, change clothing to suit the lifestyle, but let’s first get them more into the lifestyle.

Small. Light. Essential. Quality stuff, but not too expensive to replace because again, kids will forget/lose things. We must accept they are working to build good habits, and in doing so will fail at times. I don’t want the failure to be too costly to recover from.

And note, this is purely stuff to carry on-person. If we started talking about backpacks (e.g. for school), you can start to carry a lot more such as a small first aid kit, a little food, a water purifier, maybe a space blanket. I’m not going there, tho perhaps Daughter could with her purse. Nor is this about full on “bug-out” types of gear. I’m trying to keep this limited to on-person carry: pockets, and perhaps belt. Every day stuff, every day needs. Focused scope.

So with that in mind, here’s what I can think of:

  • Keychain/ring.
    • I’d say to keep this simple, just a split-ring with keys on it. Less space wasted that way, especially if functional stuff gets hung off it. Of course, things like the housekey go on it.
  • Small flashlight.
  • Small knife or multitool.
    • I’d say a multitool, Leatherman. Micra as a baseline. But I’d entertain a Squirt PS4 or one of the Style (Style, Style CS, Style PS) models if that better suited a particular child.
      • Updated: I settled on the Micra. After reviewing all styles with the Kiddos, we all agreed that the Micra would fit their “every day” needs best. YMMV.
    • I don’t really want a pure knife, because it’s not as versatile as having a multitool. And while some of the kiddos have traditional swiss-army-style pocket knives, I don’t like those since the blades typically don’t lock.
    • Note: my kids are homeschooled and so the (home)school policy is you will be proficient with tools, including knives, and yes the School Board and Principal expect you to have on on your person at all times. 🙂 If your child attends school where knives aren’t permitted, well… I found this thing, the “Quirky Switch” that allows you to make a “custom multitool”, however, reviews aren’t that great (no personal experience). I see Leatherman made a “no knife” Fuse (made. Retired on their website, but apparently you can buy it online tho I reckon on a dwindling basis). But I bet no matter what, “zero tolerance” policies will probably get any sort of useful tool taken away by school admins. YMMV.
  • Little bit of cash, like a $20.
    • This is not money to spend, it’s money in case of emergency.
  • Cloth handkerchief.
    • Youngest is prone to nosebleeds during the dry winter, so this grew out of a need for him to have a means to contend with it. But I could see all manner of usefulness for all the children to carry one.
  • Mobile phone.
    • My kids don’t have mobile phones because of lack of need. But certainly this is a useful tool to have. I could consider getting them something like a small GoPhone or other pre-paid phone to get them used to carrying a phone AND to self-impose a limit on what they can do with it. Emergencies-only.
    • Updated: There’s always the argument to have an old, unused, no-plan, but charged phone, since 911 is required to work from any mobile phone. There’s truth in that and it’s better than nothing (tho many old phones are kinda bulky). But consider that all calls a child may need to make may not be to solely 911.
  • Updated: lighter or other fire starter.
    • This was suggested by numerous people, and of course, the ability to carry a fire-starter varies from person to person. If your kids go to public schools, I’m sure there will be zero tolerance for such items. If my kids do this, I’m not sure what would be best tho: lighter, matches, magnesium fire starter? Have to think about this one in terms of what’s right for OUR needs.
  • Updated: timepiece.
    • Wrist watch. Keychain watch/clock. It could even be the mobile phone. Whatever works for you, but some way to tell time.
  • Updated: Paracord bracelet.
    • And knowledge of knots and lashings.
    • This is certainly a useful idea. The difficulty may be in getting the kids to wear it. Either boys may not want a bracelet, or the girl will want something more fashionable. 🙂
  • Updated: compass
    • Knowledge of how you find your way, if you get lost, is certainly useful. Use a compass. Read a map.
    • A counter to this may be modern smartphones, with their GPS functionality.
  • Updated identification
    • Some means for the child to identify themselves and things about themselves, such as perhaps medical conditions.
    • Could also be a means for someone to contact YOU about the child. When my kids were younger, we’d go to SeaWorld and I’d slip my business card into their sock/shoe so if we did get separated they would know to give that card to an adult so I could be contacted.
  • Updated: a weapon?
    • Stun gun? Pepper Spray? Other things? This is an area I’m not going to touch, not in this context. There are too many legal issues, public school issues, and kid-specific issues here that I’m just not going to go there. I’m not saying kids should be defenseless and at the mercy of criminals and predators, but this is one area you’ll have to investigate on your own.

That’s what I came up with.

Of course I know, this is gear discussion. They need to know how to use the gear. How to handle emergency situations. All those good things. Fret not, that’s all here. I am purely interested right now in a “gear for kids” discussion.

What would you add? Remove? Change?

Updated: As you can see, a lot of useful stuff was added.

Realize, this is not a definitive list nor Bible on what to do. You have to do what is right for you and your situation. As well, all of these things? That’s a lot. Can your 8 year old really haul around all those things? Can they remember them all? Not lose them all? Maybe, maybe not; every child is different. You have to pick and choose what’s right for YOU and YOUR child and YOUR situation. This list is mainly here to have some information and discussion on the matter.

Clearing the backlog

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

I’ve had a bunch of links backing up in my queue, things I wanted to post about. Just going to clear them all in one fell swoop. It’s a smorgasbord.

“What’s Behind The Shocking Collapse in Violent Crime” (h/t LowTechCombat)

A look at the most recent FBI crime statistics, and how violent crime is actually dropping in the US — despite what the media portrays. One possible reason they overlook is the growth of firearm ownership and concealed carry by law-abiding citizens.

TxDPS – Winter Storm Preparedness (h/t TxDPS)

A few simple checklists of things to help you prepare for winter storms. Be it supplies worth having in your car, to dealing with the aftermath of a storm, to helping the elderly.

“13 things a man should keep in his car” (h/t ArtOfManliness)

Going with the above winter storm lists, here’s 13 more things that are just good to have in your car all year round. I’ll take odds with #3 – MagLite was a great old standby but flashlight technology has evolved. Look at SureFire or Streamlight (or even Fenix); for a car flashlight I would want it to run on CR123A’s, because those batteries can sit around for years and still maintain power. I’d also look for a model that can either be somehow attached to say a hat brim so you can work hands free (need both hands to change a tire) and/or that can be rested on the ground and used like a lantern/candle to again shine light hands-free.

Read the comments for more suggestions. Certainly a lot of what you keep in your car will depends upon your needs, your particular car, where you are in the world, and how and where you’ll be traveling.

“Top 10 Secret Features in Mac OS X Lion” (h/t maczter)

I still haven’t upgraded all my machines to Lion, at this point mostly from inertia. But I have upgraded one primary dev machine and am growing to like it. Still, it has some quirks and issues, and this is a nice list of things to help make it a bit more manageable.

“Laws over BB gun use could affect your child’s Christmas”  (h/t NRANews)

While BB guns technically aren’t guns, they certainly can do some damage. You should still treat them like firearms, using them responsibly, adhering to all proper gun safety rules, and using them as a great way to introduce kids to firearms in a safe and responsible manner. The respect and responsibility starts here.

 

Happier ears

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

Remember how Daughter got a drum set?

It’s a good entry-level set, Pearl Forum. But like anything entry-level, shortcuts are made to enable it to be affordable. Crappy heads, crappy cymbals. But in a way, having the crap allows you to appreciate the good stuff.

We put an Evans head on the snare. An Evans Genera HD Dry Batter Coated Snare Head, to be specific. Nice improvement in the snare’s sound.

But more important? Daughter’s been saving her money, made Christmas present requests of gift cards, and this morning we counted it all up. She finally had enough to allow her to get a cymbal upgrade! She picked up a cymbal pack: Sabian B8 Performance Pack. It comes with a set of 14″ hi-hats, 16″ thin crash, 20″ ride, and a bonus 18″ thin crash. She also picked up 2 boom stands.

We set it all up and boy, what a difference. Yes, these are Sabian’s entry-level cymbals, but they’re a huge upgrade from the Pearl cymbals she had (merely a 14″ hi hat and a 18″ crash/ride). They sound pretty decent, tho with all the cymbal options now, she’s having a hard time adjusting to them. 🙂  Just having to learn the new layout for her set, tweaking placement, angles, and other things.

Next up… a new hi-hat stand, and new top-heads for all her toms (maybe the bottom heads too, depending upon money). I reckon once that’s done, it’s going to sound pretty darn good.

She also got a stick bag and a music stand. She hung the bag off her floor tom. She put the music stand off to the side of the hi-hat. She’s feeling more like a real drummer now. Me? I’m just happy she’s enjoying music, enjoying playing, enjoying the challenge, and yes… even the fact she’s saving her money, setting goals, working towards them, and then feeling the satisfaction of accomplishment. All good stuff.

Now, just need to get her to practice more regularly. I figure with the new cymbals, she’ll be happier to play. 🙂

Making Memories

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

After Daughter snagged her first deer, my father-in-law (FIL) checked with the property owner of his deer lease to see if he could bring his grandkids out to do a youth hunt (spike and doe). Lease owner said yes. FIL told me. We worked out a date, and it was set and ready.

This was going to just be Oldest and Daughter; Youngest has finally expressed interest in hunting. We thought about taking him along, maybe he could sit in a stand with his “Pa-pa” and Brother and just watch and learn, but alas the stands are small and it’s hard enough to fit 2 people in. Youngest was cool with it tho as it gave him some “spoil me” time with Mom. 🙂

Packed up the gear and the kids and away we went. Met my FIL up there. Got to the property, took care of a few chores, then got dressed in warmer clothing to go sit in the stands. My FIL took Oldest, I sat with Daughter. I took my Wilson Combat AR-patterned rifle in 6.8 SPC with the Leupold VX-R 3-9×50, Wilson Combat’s 6.8 ammo using a 95 grain Barnes TTSX bullet. Oldest wanted to use the Savage .308 bolt-action, but I managed to talk him into shooting Pa-pa’s trusty .25-06 deer rifle. My FIL has hunted all his life and shot just about everything out there, and he considers .25-06 to be about the best thing for hunting out here given how flat it shoots. I trust his word, he’s far more experienced than I. Due to this, I thought it’d be good for Oldest to expand his horizons and try something else just to see how it compares, especially something that Dad doesn’t have. But there’s more to this angle of the story later….

You have to understand that Mills County is overrun with deer. After we did our chores and before we went to the stands, FIL and Oldest ran back into town for some supplies. Daughter and I stayed at the property and the property-owner’s daughter took us around the area in their Polaris Ranger Crew (DAMN that thing is fun, I want one, Santa!). Showed us a lot of the area, which was really neat. We saw so many deer running around. Just a ton of deer. Unreal. So yeah, a little herd management is in order.

Since there were so many deer and since we were just going for does, there really wasn’t much need to be picky. Just look for older does, ones without yearlings, and then the biggest one of the lot. No need to sit for hours and agonize, y’know?

We didn’t need to sit long at all.

Started out with 4 does coming in to feed. We glassed them and figured out which one was the taker. Alas, Daughter could never get a clear shot. Either the doe was in a wrong position, or there was a tree in the way.

As we waited, more came in. And more. Probably had a dozen deer poking around (I was told this was an abnormally low count; more typical to have 30+, and sometimes upwards of 50-60 or more at a time… yeah, that ridiculous; I’m sure if we had waited longer we would have seen more). Of them all, only 1 buck. Small one, I believe just a 6 pointer (if I remember correctly). Too small and young to take, legally or management wise. There was one doe that was simply gorgeous; the coloring of her fur, this very light tan with the white under her, impossible to describe to do it justice, but she stood out beautifully. Daughter asked if she could take her, but no, one that good needs to be left around to breed.

But the waiting is always the hardest part, especially when you’re a child and the weight of that rifle starts to wear on you. But we kept waiting and waiting… and eventually Daughter had a clear shot on a big old doe.

She took it.

I could see immediately that it was hit, shoulder area. It ran no more than 50 yards before coming to rest.

Interestingly, while the other deer ran off, they didn’t run far. I thought it was odd they didn’t all hit the tree line and vanish.

We waited.

“Come on Dad! Let’s go see her!”

“No. Let’s wait. There’s 30 minutes of legal light left… let’s just wait. You never know.”

You see, the land owner was kind enough to allow me to also take a doe. So as soon as we confirmed Daughter’s doe was down, no reason to not switch off and let me try. The doe wasn’t going to go anywhere, and again, 30 minutes? No problem to wait, right?

And so I waited… Daughter grew impatient. I understand completely. But something told me to wait.

*BOOM* we hear in the distance.

(look at Daughter) “Hey… that must have been your brother.” We had been wondering how things were going for them. I guess that answered that question. Looking back, I realize the sound of his gunshot was a lot louder than I would have expected from a .25-06. I later found out why. You see, in my FIL’s rush to get out of the house he grabbed the .25-06 ammo, but not the .25-06 rifle. So when they got to the stand they realized they had a problem! FIL called back to the farm house and the property owner’s daughter let Oldest shoot her rifle — she doesn’t let anyone shoot her rifle (I later saw it, gorgeous wood work, fine piece). The rifle is chambered in .240 Weatherby Magnum. So uh… yeah… it’s got a lot more oomph. Oldest thought it was pretty cool, and I think it gave him some perspective.

Meanwhile, back in our stand….

Eventually I gave in. There was maybe 10 minutes of legal time left, so why not.

We packed our stuff up. Daughter climbed down the ladder. I started to climb down. Got one foot out the door when I looked up and out the window.

(to myself) “Oh shit! They’re coming back!”

(down the ladder) “Daughter, they’re coming back! Don’t move!!”

“OK, Dad!”

Sure enough, the ones that did hit the trees were coming back. I’m sure it was the same group, or at least, that one little buck was the same little buck.

I quickly grabbed the rifle and went to re-load it. This is one of the down-sides to an AR-patterned rifle for hunting: loading it will be LOUD. But I had no choice. I inserted the magazine, pulled back the charging handle and let it slam home. But thankfully no one noticed! No deer flinched, tho I winced in anticipation.

But the ugly part? I was in a horrible position. I didn’t want to move. I had one leg out the door, which then got wedged between the bottom of the door frame and the bottom of the door (my shin is still aching and bruised). I was basically kneeling, bad position, the rifle wasn’t well rested. I wanted to move, but was afraid of making too much noise (I’m big, the stand was very small, it was just difficult to move around without making noise). So I just did my best.

I glassed around, picked one that looked good. Slow smooth trigger press….

*click*

WTF?

Actually it was more like *CLICK*… it was a deafening silence.

First thought, dud? Do remedial action, and that told me the problem: I hadn’t seated the magazine all the way. Damnit. And I had previously told Daughter to always check the seating. *sigh*  Now I had to pull the charging handle again….. *cringe*…. and I did, it slammed home, and they heard it this time. Deer scattered, but not too far. Ugh.

My heart and head were racing. Time was ticking away. I really wanted to bag a deer as it would be sweet if all 3 of us got our deer in one evening.

I settled back down, the deer came back in. I tried to find a reasonable deer as quickly as I could. Found one, pressed off a shot… *BOOM* (good, it went boom not click).

And as soon as I saw the deer run, I doubt I had hit it. I watched as it made the treeline, no indication of faltering.

*sigh*

I did wonder if it could this be the rifle again having problems? Was it not the scope? I’m still wary with this setup, and I want to use it as much as possible to build back my confidence in the equipment platform. But in this case, I do figure it was my fault. I had a crappy shooting position and I was stubborn to not improve the position. Thinking back, I think I may have rested the barrel on the window ledge, not the rail tube. With the short length of the rifle, me being basically in the back of the stand, I recall when I first rested the rifle it “naturally” rested on the barrel, so I readjusted to rest the rail so the barrel floated. Well, when I had to reload I think in my haste I may have put it back down on the barrel, and that’s going to skew things. *sigh*  Stupid as well because I knew I’d have another chance in the morning, so why didn’t I just take the chance to get a better shot now? I was impatient, due to both excitement and being mad at myself for screwing up.

Oh well. I learned something, and will eventually stop kicking myself over it.

We went ahead and found Daughter’s doe. Notified my FIL. Eventually they came up on the Polaris with Oldest and his doe already in the back. We then headed to the barn, got the tractor (raise up the hay spear, hang the gambrel from it), and headed off to another part of the property to field dress the deer. I watched my FIL expertly clean the deer. I’ve cleaned things before, but still lack supreme confidence in my ability to dress things correctly and cleanly. So I took a lot of mental notes, knowing that when I got my deer I would clean her.

Deer cleaned. Hung up in the barn (it was going to be so cold that night). Off to bed we went, with 2 happy hunters… and a happy Grandfather.

The next morning I arose. I was going to get my deer.

Got suited up in my long-johns and gear, grabbed the 6.8, and my FIL drove me out to the stand. Opted to use the same stand as I did yesterday. Into the stand I went (solo) and FIL drove back to the house. Was out there about 6:40 AM, so I didn’t have to wait long for sunrise (legal shoot time started at 7:00).

Shortly after legal time, one small doe came out of the woods followed by a couple of others. The others ran up the hill out of sight, but the one came in to feed. I glassed her and knew she was too small and young to take, but I still studied her.

You see, everyone tells me I need to take neck shots. I see why they aren’t promoted to young hunters or inexperienced hunters, because a vitals shot is a more sure thing and a lot easier to hit. Neck shot, you have to get it just right. But if you do, you save a lot of meat and should get a “DRT” (Dead Right There) hit and not have to chase/track the deer, which is ideal. I’ve been studying the anatomy of things and I wanted to do my first neck shot on this deer. So while this little doe wasn’t going to be shot, I kept watching and studying her in my binoculars to be sure I felt comfortable with shot placement.

I kept seeing movement by the tree line. Other does were coming out, but none wanted to come in. No matter. More will come. Patience.

Eventually some did, but either not shootable or not in a shootable position. Then I see off to my right, some others come in. One stood out to me: a 4-point buck, limping pretty badly. His right hind leg was messed up somehow. His left side was facing me so I couldn’t tell exactly what was wrong, but it was a good limp. He was followed by a doe, which I figured was his girlfriend. The buck eventually laid down while the doe poked around at food. I glassed her. She looked good, a taker.

I waited for an opportunity. Yes, I was going to take the neck shot.

She gave it to me.

DRT.

Obviously I didn’t need to wait. Signaled to my FIL that she was DRT. Packed up the bag. Headed down the ladder.

Walked about 90 yards to see her…. and then I realized… her was a him.

Yes, I had shot a spike. The antlers were barely peeking out of the fur on top of his head, but they were there. Who would have known at 90 yards? Impossible to have known. Size and coloration and everything looked like an older doe. But… wasn’t.

FIL later told me he was standing out in another field watching and saw the limping buck and the one I shot trotting over my way. FIL said that he had turned around to walk back to the house and hadn’t gone 10 steps when he heard me shoot and knew it was time to get in the Polaris to come get me. 🙂

We loaded him up, got the tractor, and under the expert tutelage of my FIL I field dressed the deer. I do feel more confident and, provided time isn’t critical, will certainly continue to dress and quarter my own in the future. The kiddos? They’re not quite ready for it. 🙂  Managed to save the heart and liver for the dog (she loves deer liver). I also was able to see that my neck shot was a little low, base of the neck, but still did the job of DRT. I learned from the experience.

Kiddos were done. They were ready to head home. I figure long weekends in the field will come later. I haven’t found the right words for hunting, but I have them for fishing. See, there’s “fishing” and then there’s “catching”. You can fish all day and never catch a thing and it’s a good day fishing. As a kid, as a first time fisherman, you want to catch; you don’t want to sit there and wait for hours and hours and never catch any fish. But the more you fish, the more you’re happy to sit and wait, to fish, to work, and again if you go home empty-handed after sitting all day on the water, that’s alright. For me, I’m transitioning from catching to fishing… well, hunting. I still want to take things home, I still get excited, I still want to “catch”. But I’m growing more and more content to sit, to wait. To see. The kiddos? Well, this was Oldest’s first deer and second kill; it was Daughter’s first whitetail and second kill. So they’re still squarely in the “catching” camp. And once we caught, they wanted to get back to the warmth and comfort of home. It just means we have to go hunting more often, that’s all. 🙂

In the end tho, it was a great time. I’m so happy that my FIL got to spend time with his grandkids. I know he’s been looking forward to hunting with them for a long time, and finally he was able to. He told me Oldest was so thrilled, so excited, and listening to my FIL recount the moments tells me that he’s got some pretty happy memories made by this hunting trip. To me, that’s what it was all about.

BTW, no pics because my phone camera doesn’t have a flash, but FIL’s did. So he took all the pictures. But he’s still out hunting for a few days and the reception out there is pretty bad. When he gets back home he’ll send me the pics he took.

I learned a lot on this trip, be it to double-check the seating on your magazine, to just risk improving your shooting position, that I really want a Polaris Ranger, improvement in my cleaning/field dressing skills, or to strive for the neck shot (DRT is good). I learned. It was enjoyable to spend time with my father-in-law and to learn from him. I liked being out with my kiddos, but again, I think the best part of this was enabling Grandpa and Grandkids to make some memories together. I know the Kiddos were happy for it and are looking forward to more opportunities in the future, as is Grandpa.

Back from hunting

/ hsoi

Just returned from a successful whitetail deer hunt with my father-in-law. Took Oldest and Daughter. We each got a deer. I’ll regale you with tales from the hunt later. Must catch up on numerous things first.

Generational work ethic

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

Given the choice, however, I’d rather make history than simply take it in and post it to Instagram with a grainy old-fashion filter.

The Gen-Y losers in this country want to explore and revel in the greatest accomplishments of mankind’s glorious history — they just don’t want to try to participate in making history themselves.

Full article here. (h/t Dave Tate)

If you listened to Adam Carolla’s OWS rant, you’ll hear similar sentiments. Heck, an older friend of mine told me he’s interviewed for tech management jobs but they don’t want to hire him, not because he’s not capable, but because there’d be too wide a generation spread between him and the workers who all want their participation ribbons because they showed up and did the minimum requirements of their job.

That’s pretty messed up.

Is this the case across the board? No, of course there are exceptions, but they are just that: exceptions to the rule.

But here’s the kicker.

This sort of work ethic can still work out, if they can find a way to make it work. I tell my kids to leverage what you love to do and work to make a living off that. It doesn’t have to be “math and science” and that you must be a doctor, lawyer, or these days a mobile app developer. The world needs plumbers, the world needs musicians, the world needs artists, the world even needs someone to say “do you want fries with that”. Of course, I want my children to be successful, live a comfortable life, and would rather they own the empire than be a cog on the lowest rung. But I realize that well… yes, in a way the whole “Gen-Y/Millennial” mess was “our” own doing; reap what you sow, right?

I want to sow different seeds. Maybe I should say I want to sow “heirloom seeds” (hopefully that’s a good metaphor).

Youngest was watching me fix an ugly sink drain clog, pulling apart pipes and so on. He thought it was pretty cool, and I told him there’s no shame in it because people will always need plumbers and you can make a good living that way (and generally be in charge of your own life); it might be a dirty job, but Mike Rowe has demonstrated lots of jobs are dirty and we need every one of them. Many times when we have contractors working at the house, we’ll get to talking. They get all down on themselves for doing manual labor compared to me writing software, as if somehow my job and thus I am “higher” than them and their job. It always shocks me to hear this because I don’t consider myself anyone special, but I know this attitude comes from how our society has degraded manual labor. I always respond to them I can’t do what you do which is why I hired you — your job, my job, neither is more or less important, just different and both vital to making the world go ’round.

So if you love wood working, great. Now find a way to make money at it. Oldest loves to invent creations in the video game Spore, so I’m trying to get him to parlay that love of digital creation into something that could take him further… so I bought him a Wacom tablet and am having him learn how to use it and software like Painter, Photoshop, and so on. He’s actually getting pretty fluent with the tablet (I still feel awkward in using it) and doing some neat things in Painter. And yes, the world needs graphic designers, or storyboard artists, or comic book writers.

Frankly, I’d like to hope I’m not raising my kids to have the same sort of “win a participant trophy and feel good about it” attitude, because when I got one of those “participant” ribbons as a kid I knew what it meant — loser, thus I swore I’d not lose again. To me it was motivation to do better, today it’s validation that “I’m special and I’m someone.” Yesterday I told Oldest to move a large, heavy, and bulky mattress upstairs and he stared at me, then complained how it’d be awkward and worked to come up with every excuse not to do it. I gave him a “So what? Life’s full of awkward and hard to do things, but that doesn’t give you any reason or excuse to get out of doing them — they still need doing. You’ve got a brain to figure out how to do it, and muscles to enable you to do it… so get to it.” Sure he grumbled the whole time, but he did it… when he didn’t think he could. Hopefully there was small breakthrough.

If you want to work four hours a week and work on some cause-based project, go for it. Just realize that while you’re spending your 20s mooching off the little value left in mom and dad’s house, which is massively underwater, you’re going to be screwed in 20 years.

Your parents are going to be broke, 80 years old and burning off the last of their savings in a retirement home. You’re going to be fighting for work and taking care of them. You will be sitting with $100K in student loans for a graduate degree no one cares about and a resume that reads worse than a migrant worker’s while you read the “Four Hour Retirement” at the four-hour line at the unemployment office.

I don’t want this for my children, and I know they’re going to grow up in a world surrounded by it. I worry for my kids and what they’re going to have to put up with and do because of what an entitlement-based-culture is going to force upon them. But on the same token, I understand wanting to work on some cause-based project and think there’s nothing wrong with it, so long as you can find the way to fund it, manage it, and well… I’m going to be kicking your butt out of the house when you’re in your early 20’s so you better find a way to make everything work.  And if you can succeed at it, awesome. It doesn’t even mean you have to be a millionaire. If you become a monk, give up all worldly effects, and have little more to deal with than eating, bathing, praying, and running the monastery’s bakery or brewery so the bills can be paid and it’s all self-supporting, that works too!  Because in the end, it doesn’t really matter what you work at, so long as you’ve got the ethic to work at it.

Her first

/ hsoi / 12 Comments

Daughter got her first deer. 🙂

Setup

I’m overbusy these days and I knew spending many mornings and evenings in a deer stand for whitetails was just not going to happen due to lack of time. Still, I wanted to get something. A little time in the field. A little meat in the freezer.

So I thought, how about some exotics (since they can be hunted all year round)? I’ve never had but have wanted to try the meat of axis, red, sika, and/or fallow deer. Everyone tells me they’re better than whitetail, with axis being the best. So for the past some months I’ve tried to make time to go out to DB Hunting Ranch to harvest an exotic but just wasn’t able to make it out… until now. DB works well because the prices are reasonable, it doesn’t have to be a huge time investment, and I have yet to leave the ranch empty handed. No, it’s not hunting in the truest sense, but it’s not like going to the grocery store either. You still have to work for the opportunity. Daughter knows too… she’s been out with me a few times before, so she has some perspective.

The original plan was to do a stalk hunt for a red deer hind (doe, female). Then since Daughter wanted to go with me, originally she was going to just be along for the ride, but since she’s been out with me before but had yet to bag anything well.. I asked if we could get her something. No problem. The plan was to sit in a stand for her, because for a first time that would work out a lot better (could sit, rest the rifle, easier to manage  the excitement and nerves, etc.). I was going to have her get some doe like a sika or a fallow or whatever trotted across. Then after a few hours in the stand, we’d stalk for a red deer hind.

But it didn’t work out that way. 🙂

What Happened

As soon as we got into the stand, critters came out. It was dark, 5:30 AM or so (sunrise at 7:00), but thanx to having my Sniper Hog Light on the gun we were able to watch things. Lots of deer, some rams too. But being so dark and with only red light, we couldn’t tell for sure what everything was. But we watched them and really enjoyed how much the new Leupold VX-R 3-9×50 scope worked (yes, my prior 6.8 rifle problems, I’m 99.99% convinced now it was due to a busted scope). That thing really is crisp and gathers light wonderfully.

6:30 and the sun was rising enough we could start to make things out without the light. Most of the deer had left, just a few rams and one sika doe. The rams were beautiful, but we had no interest because I’m to understand they don’t taste very good and we’re out for food. Daughter kept wanting a buck because there’s nothing to put on the wall with a doe. I was generally against it due to cost and that we’re here for meat… but, I also knew that for a first time, there’s nothing like a memento. So I did some math in my head and kinda figured that if an opportunity presented itself, I’d probably let her take it.

Well, that sika doe just kept hanging around… so I told Daughter to put the glass on it and get ready. We watched for maybe 10-15 minutes and couldn’t get a shot for some reason or other: ram walks in front, whitetail (too young to shoot) walks behind, doe walks behind a tree, you name it…. and just when the doe was close to a perfect shot, something would always happen to blow it. Oh, it was frustrating! I was afraid that she was going to run off or get run off by the rams, but while she’d trot away, she never left our field of view… just never gave us a shot.

But then….

Out walks a fallow buck.

Me: “If you can get a shot, you can take it.”

Daughter: *quiet squeal of joy*

But of course, the buck was completely obscured by other things, just like the sika doe had been.

After a couple of minutes of waiting… 2 more fallow bucks walk in from stage right, and the first buck walks over to meet them. They formed basically a “choo-choo train” line. I mean, 3 bucks in a row, all perfectly broadside. About 45 yards away.

Me: “Pick one. Go for it.”

Unfortunately, they kept walking towards stage right, and Daughter could only pivot so much more to her left. I made some kissing noises to try to get the bucks to stop. They did. GO GO GO!

The 6.8 roared.

I watched the middle buck rear up… I watched the whole thing, knew he was hit. He took off. I kept my eyes on him to see where he went, but he didn’t get far… ran into a large bush, kept running against it, relaxed, reared up, flipped onto his back (NO! I hoped no antler damage), then that was that. We waited for a bit tho… because oddly, after the gunfire many critters ran off but the other fallow bucks didn’t run very far at all; in fact, one of them was right next to his fallen friend and hung around him for maybe 10 minutes or so trying to figure out what was up with his buddy.

While he waited, that sika doe came back to the area.

“Daughter, hand me the rifle.”

I glassed her. She was perfectly broadside. I let it fly. Hey… opportunity was knocking, I answered the door. No, it wasn’t the red deer I wanted, but that’s fine… just leaves me something to try for on another day.

I wanted to wait a little bit longer, who knows what else might present itself… but Daughter was done. So we left the stand and went to see everything. Oh, little girl was happy. 🙂

We called the folks to come get us. Jake cleaned things up. And I’ll drop them off at the processor’s after a couple of days of soaking.

We’re going to get the antlers mounted, and since the coat was so pretty we’re going to get the hide soft-tanned so it could go on a bed or a couch or something. Might take up to 3 months before we see the hide (maybe a couple of weeks for the antlers), but didn’t cost much and should make a nice memento. And so, little girl… next time we’re getting does. 😉

The fun part? Youngest is now starting to show interest in shooting and hunting. He asked when he gets to go. Going to have to enlist the help of their grandfather and uncle to take these kids into the field more… I can’t do it all.

Gun Geek Corner

Now for my fun. 🙂

The rifle is an AR-patterned rifle chambered in 6.8 SPC. The upper is from Wilson Combat (16″) and the lower is a Rock River Arms lower with their sweet 2-stage match trigger. The scope is a Leupold VX-R 3-9×50 on a Larue LT104 mount. The ammunition is Wilson Combat’s 6.8 SPC 95 grain Barnes TTSX.

This is not the first animal I’ve taken with this rifle, but it is with this particular setup.

I had my faith in the 6.8 shaken because numerous hunts and range times were showing odd behavior. Heck, the whole reason I took that water buffalo was because the 6.8 failed. But it turns out, it was the scope… or at least, I’m now 99.99% sure of it based on all that I’ve seen and experienced since then with that rifle and scope, including today’s performance. But after seeing today’s performance? Man… my opinion of a few things has really improved.

First, the scope is awesome. The picture is so crisp, so clear. The light gathering ability is wicked awesome. That night “ccoker”, of TacticalGunReview, and I did a bunch of scope comparisons? It was amazing how well the Leupold stood up against scopes that cost 3-4x as much. I will say, I’m still not sure I like the “Ballistic Fire-Dot” reticle in this context… but I think I need to have it out a few more times before I really pass judgment. I did find my eyes liked the dot being 1 setting above the lowest setting, else the dot was too bright and got in the way (in the early morning light). But all in all, I’m very happy with this scope.

Second, the 6.8 performance was awesome. The rifle worked well, did it’s job. Worked well for daughter, in terms of feel, trigger, etc.. A little heavy, but that’s part of why I wanted to use a stand, so she could have a rest.

But where things really impressed me? The ammo.

I’m a huge fan of Barnes bullets. The TSX’s are awesome and perform so well. But ever since they introduced the 95 grain TTSX’s specifically for the 6.8 well… I read a lot about the performance, and have been itching to try it for myself. The trouble has been that this bullet was only available as a component, so you had to handload. Well, I’ve not had time to get back to the reloading bench to work up a load. I was hoping a factory would produce something. Finally, Wilson Combat came out with a load that measured up to the performance handloaders were seeing. I bought a few boxes. Zeroed things in. And finally got to try.

They knocked the stuffing — literally — out of these 2 deer.

This is the left side, entrance. Daughter shot him in the shoulder. Massive trauma.

And here’s the right side, the exit wound.

Of course, skin peeled back. The actual external holes were small, which is typical of the Barnes (T)TSX bullets. But internally, massive damage. The vital organs? there wasn’t much left on the fallow. On the sika? as soon as the chest was cut open so much poured out… things were truly liquified. Yes I know, a little gross to some, but such is reality.

Comparing this to what the 85 grain TSX does? There’s no comparison… the level of damage done by the TTSX is astounding. Compared to what I’ve seen a .308 Barnes 168 grain TSX do? It’s well… different, but seems almost the same. That’s one thing about these bullets: smaller ones do a lot more damage than lead (core) bullets of the same weight/size/shape. I am just floored at how well this bullet from Barnes and ammo from Wilson performed.

Unless context dictates I need another gun (e.g. nilgai hunting? moose hunting? elk at 500+ yards?), this is my rifle, this is my ammo.

Fin

So, a great morning.

Time with my Daughter.

Got to get away from the computer for a while.

Got some meat in the freezer, and it’s things we’ve never tried before but are looking forward to.

Got to finally get this configuration of rifle/scope/ammo out into the field, and the results were great.

I wondered about the perception of a young girl shooting animals and what some people might think, especially after she puts antlers and hides on her bedroom wall. What are her friends going to think? Well… I’ll tell you what I see.

I see a girl who knows how to take care of herself.

I see a girl who knows how to provide for herself, and her family.

I see a girl who’s not afraid to get a little dirty, and even do things that some may find distasteful… because sometimes life is like that.

I see a girl that knows where her food comes from, and understands other realities about life.

But most of all? I see that boys better watch out… because it’s not just her Dad they have to worry about. 😉

Dear parents at the next table…

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

Dear Parents at the Next Table at Freebirds last night:

This is a restaurant, not track and field. Your child needs to sit in their chair, not run laps around the place. And no, telling your child “You have to ask the Manager if you can run around” is not an acceptable way to quell their running about.

When the child refuses to ask the Manager and instead asks if they can go outside with younger sibling in tow to continue running about… please don’t be surprised if I question your judgment in not just letting your sub-6-year-old children out of your sight, but also in letting the children play in the parking lot.

I will say I was happy to see Dad finally get up to go mind the children, but it took the “older” child coming back into the restaurant and hollering that his sibling went into a store down the strip. I know a way to have prevented this, but if I told you you’d just think I was being an asshole questioning your parenting skills. Well yes… yes I am.

Note as well, this dining establishment does not have busboys; you are expected to clean up after yourself. Yes, that means when your infant makes an unholy mess on the floor, YOU need to clean it up. I expect a 6-9 month old baby to make a mess when they eat because that’s what they do and cannot be expected to know better. But you appear to be a 20-somthing “adult” and I expect you to know better. Apparently I expect too much.

And then you wonder why people don’t like (your) children. Really, it has little to do with the children… it has everything to do with their parents.