I can’t say that I’ve ever seen one this shape and I’ve seen a few in my day AND I will reserve all the appropriate and inappropriate comments for later and leave them up to you.
Posted by Tom Remington
Some of you may have been wondering where I’ve been, some wondering why I bothered to come back, some wishing I wouldn’t and others without a clue.
I can’t believe tomorrow is August 1st. In about one week, I will be back in Florida – THAT’S THE SUNSHINE STATE! Sunshine? What is that. I laughed very loud about 10 years ago when a Florida “cracker” (native for those who don’t know) told me summers were awful in Florida because it rains all the time. After spending my first full summer in Florida, I went and asked this lady if this particular summer had been a dry one. She laughed and then looked at me like I was a real dummy!
I’ve learned also that when people say they hate Florida because of all the bugs, I know they have never spent time in Maine. Rain and bugs and winters that last 13 months a year. And why was it I headed for a better climate?
This summer at camp in Maine has been trying, to say the least. It has rained, rained and then rained some more. To be frank, I’m damned sick and tired of it. Among many things, my driveway into camp looks like the local “mud run”. What a mess.
Oh, yeah! Where was I, literally? I was in Bangor. My wife and I and granddaughter spent two nights and three days there camping out in a tent and visiting with Steven and his entourage of wonderful kids and family. What a great time and I helped him get his outside lamp post up……..it only took how many years?
Camping out was risky. The day we arrived it was raining but didn’t last too long until I started putting up the tent. Once I had the longest of tent poles assembled in my hands, the first of several close lightning bolts lit up the sky but I was determined to get the tent up before the rains got there. Relative success!
I expected to check out this morning and tear down the tent in the pouring rain (predicted) but we got spared. The rains held off until later in the day, although we had a few sprinkles during the wee hours of the morning. I drove home in the rain and while it was dumping on us, quite similar to one of those Florida downpours, I drove through a big puddle which promptly ripped off my serpentine belt (once known as a fan belt).
Now there’s a long story about this &^%#^ serpentine belt which so far this summer has cost me about $900.00. You might remember the time I had getting my car fixed shortly after I arrived? Well, on the way to Bangor, once again, I shredded part of my serpentine and cut and destroyed my AC belt. I limped on to Bangor and made arrangements to take it to my son’s mechanic the next day.
He replaced both belts and told me the last one wasn’t installed properly….yada, yada, yada!
Jokingly, as I was leaving my son’s, I said, “I’ll call you when I lose my belt again!”
So in the pouring rain in Wilton, Maine (two hours from Bangor and one hour from Bethel), I discover I’ve lost my belt. Believe it or not, I was beyond frustrated and angry. There was nothing I could say.
I looked things over and discovered I still had the belt and it was in one piece. I put on a jacket and a hat, dug out my tools and in about 20 minutes, I had the belt back on and headed home, not confident that I don’t have some other undiscovered problem that keeps shredding or tossing serpentine belts. Can you say, “LEMON”?
So, I’m back at camp and there is water stacked up everywhere. It’s a disgusting mess with mud and slime on everything.
Tomorrow, I will drive to Manchester, N.H. and spend the night at a hotel. I put my granddaughter on a plane early Sat. morning. I will then return to camp. (Three hours drive in one direction. Any bets as to whether my serpentine belt stays on?)
What’s the forecast? You got it! More rain! Usually, come this time of the summer, I have real mixed feelings about heading back to Florida but this time, I think it will be a good thing.
I’ll be working and posting – some tonight and some tomorrow and maybe even from a Manchester hotel. I did however, want to let all of you know, I’m alive and well and had a great time with family.
Tom Remington
You can make out two buildings on the far side of the bay down close to the water. They are part of one of the first places that gold was found in Alaska. They were named Hope And Sunrise . They are connected to the world now by a hot top highway.
Posted by Tom Remington
So what are you doing for the next decade or so? Pull up and chair and prepare for District of Columbia vs. Heller, Part II. Yes, Dick Heller, the man who successfully won a lawsuit that made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, challenging the Washington, D.C. gun ban.
That suit ruled that the ban and the requirement that guns that were allowed in one’s home had to be rendered inoperable, was unconstitutional. When Dick Heller went to register his handgun under the District’s “new” gun laws, he was denied because officials say his gun was illegal.
Dick Heller has once again sued the District of Columbia, according to the Washington Post.
Dick A. Heller, a 66-year-old security guard who lives on Capitol Hill, and two other plaintiffs allege in the lawsuit that the D.C. government violated the letter and the spirit of the landmark Supreme Court decision, issued June 26, that struck down the District’s decades-old handgun ban.
The suit urges U.S. District Judge Richard M. Urbina to toss most of the District’s new requirements, which include ballistics tests of registered handguns. It also asks him to eliminate restrictions on semiautomatic handguns and to order D.C. police to approve the handgun applications of the three plaintiffs.
Unexpected? Not at all. What is surprising to many is the District’s brazen attitude and obvious disregard for the law of the land.
Read more on the District of Columbia vs. Heller.
Tom Remington
Hmmmmm! Click on the photo to enlarge it so you can read what it says.
Hat tip to Gregg! Thanks!
Tom Remington
Posted by Tom Remington
Okay! I’ve avoided writing about this little six-legged deer found in Northern Georgia after it had been attacked by dogs but I guess I can’t avoid it any longer. Enough of you have asked for a picture, etc. so here is a video I found on YouTube.
BTW – Do you all remember the photo and short story I posted back in November of 2006 about the five-legged deer? I still have readers leaving comments on that story.
Tom Remington
Most of us have heard and followed to some degree the states that are wrangling over whether or not a person has a right to keep a weapon in their car while on someone else’s property – more specifically in the workplace. The debate is mostly about whether the owner of a business has a right to restrict what another person carries in their car while parking that car on his/her property.
CBS News ran a story yesterday about the battle in two states – Georgia and Florida. In that article, Larry Levine, an executive with Brandsmart that has stores in both Florida and Georgia, said he was worried about an angry employee being able to run to his car and get a gun and then go kill someone.
“Our company has the right to make the rules,” Levine said. “Same as in your house. You may tell people that come to visit you they are not allowed to bring a firearm in the house.”
There’s one huge problem with Levine’s assessment of who has what right and his comparison of apples and oranges. There is a marked difference between a homeowner allowing certain things INSIDE their house than what is left behind in the car. For me this is the real difference in this debate.
Do I no longer own my car and the personal property inside my car when I drive onto someone else’s property? If that is the case, what is to prevent the city or state or any other entity from stripping Americans of their right to keep a gun in their car while driving down the street?
But this debate overshadows the fact that we have a right to self-protection. If states want to limit that right, not allowing guns INSIDE the workplace, I just don’t see how they can limit one’s constitutional right to keep and bear arms while traveling in your car to and from work, which is exactly what such a law would do.
Tom Remington
Posted by Tom Remington
Scott Ellis, a contributing writer for U.S. Hunting Today and Skinny Moose Media, will be participating in the 2008 Florida National Wild Turkey Federation Turkey Calling Championships in Orlando, Florida next month. Scott is a 5-time winner of turkey calling events in Florida and will be joining others for this event.
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The Florida State Chapter & Bass Pro Shops is proud to announce: The 2008 Florida NWTF Turkey Calling Championship to be held at the Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World on International Drive in Orlando, Florida on the 16th of August, 2008.
Registration will be held from 10am to 11:30am with the contest starting at 1:00pm. Contest Scheduling will be posted at 12:00pm. There will be six (6) calling divisions in this years contest.
This will be a sanctioned contest and sanctioned rules will be enforced. You MUST be a current member of the NWTF and provide proof of membership.
Entry fees and prizes are listed below:
Southern Open – entry $50, 1st Place $1,000, 2nd Place $500, 3rd Place $250.
Florida Senior – entry $35, 1st Place $500, 2nd Place $250, 3rd Place $125.
Friction Open – entry $35, 1st Place $500, 2nd Place $250, 3rd Place $125.
Juniors – entry $10, Trophy for 1st, 2nd, 3rd Place & Merchandise.
Owl Hooting – entry $35, 1st Place $500, 2nd Place $250, 3rd Place $125.
Gobbling – entry $35, 1st Place $500, 2nd Place $250, 3rd Place $125.
For questions please contact:
Scott A. Ford Turf64@comcast.net
Tom Andrews jandrewsacres@aol.com
Tom Remington
