Great Power

Snarf. Oh man, xkcd is funny today:

Live 365

So I was listening to Live365 radio last night, specifically Filk.com's feed. I hear the beginning of a guitar intro and think, "sounds interesting, I ought to pay attention". Takes me a bit of time to realise that it's one of my songs from Space & Freedom.

Heh, how cool is that?

Color Blind

Great quote over on one of my forums:

It's not the color of his
SKIN
It's the color of his
POLITICS

Doves have to Eat as well

Now we home school, which means that everything is a learning experience. So I asked my middle daughter if looking at the seeds the doves were eating was educational or icky. She said it was educational, so I cut open the crop of each bird to see what they were eating.

4 birds had empty crops consistent with the 4 birds I shot early on.

Of the others, 2 had these little brown seeds
Pic is one seed pile per bird, after I had cleaned 5 birds.
Another 3 had these large mahogany colored seeds. The smaller darker red seeds are actually two piles.

The last one (not shown) had eaten a mix of the two.

Pic should be clickable.



As a scientist, I find this terribly interesting. As a Physicist, I have no clue what these seeds actually are.

Desert Thoughts

I don't do mornings well. Nonetheless I got up at 03:45 this morning for a rendezvous across town. The message on our local board was succinct. Meet at the Sportsmans Warehouse at 5 am, we leave by 5:30.

It is actually possible to drive all the way across the Phoenix metro area in less than an hour, and to do so while following the artificially low (ridiculously low) speed limit. At 4-am, Phoenix roads are a barren waste, bereft of cars or trucks.

We met in the parking lot. Tired before the day began. Metting friends you've never met before. We waited, then at 5:30 a mighty convoy of 7 pickups headed north.

Arizona. High desert. September. It looks like this:



A beautiful Arizona day. You can see the storm clouds coming in from the southeast. Just enough breeze to cool the sweat on your face. One could not ask for a nicer day for this:



Dove Season.


Because sometimes you just need to go out and get into nature.
Enjoy it. Revel in it.

Then kill it and bring it home for supper.

Several folks from our local shooting board decided to get together for a dove hunt. Most of us had never actually met before, but that's ok. Dove hunting has always been a social activity, so it was an excellent excuse to get together.

According to Arizona Game and Fish (yeah Game and Fish, not Fish and Game) on average 5 shells are expended for every dove collected. Considering how many shells we expended trying to take the ones we saw, we must have been making up the average for that old guy everyone talks about, but never actually knows, who can kill one bird with one shot every time.

Early in the hunt. The Mossberg Silver Reserve handles quickly, perfect for quail, or maybe chukar. Great for close in shots at dove, though another couple of inches would be better for the high fliers.



End of the day. 7 doves. Not too shabby. Two members of our party limited out.

Sky Water

We got over an inch of rain in around an hour tonight. Power went out for around 40 minutes, so I dragged out the guitar and we sang some songs, then told stories by candle light.

The awning over the hot tub took quite a bit more damage, but I can probably lash it together with some zip ties and a chunk of PVC pipe.

It's good to finally get some rain:

The rain won't fall and the land bakes dry,
The sun burns red in the dust-thick sky.
Before the life of the Earth can die...
---Go walking on Thunderbird Road.
(Leslie Fish)

Dove Season

1 September, and everywhere in the nation people are out killing small but highly maneuverable (and sometimes seemingly bulletproof) winged targets to partake of their juicy flesh.

Except me. Just to damn tired to get up before dawn and try to find a place to go hunting. Possibly next Saturday, as some of the AZ shooters are planning a group hunt.