By: Bears Butt

Yesterday is behind us and as you know a very large portion of my day was involved with sweet breads.

So this morning what better for breakfast than scrambled eggs, sweet breads, toast and a glass of orange juice?

Trust me….It was delicious!

Today is National Ice Cream and Violins day….those two just don’t seem to go together in my mind.  I suppose across the nation there are coffee shops with hired violin players moving through the crowded tables of people eating ice cream and parks with stages of violin players and ice cream cone vendors everywhere.  But I don’t think I will find that anywhere I plan on going today, if I do, I will tell you all about it.

Bears Butt

Dec. 13, 2012

Written on December 13th, 2012 , Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

If you wanted or planned on doing something special this year and have not done it yet, you only have 18 more days to do it in!  Just a reminder, and that is counting today.

I got to thinking today as I was stripping good old sweet breads away from the membrane that holds it all together, “Is Bears Butt a writer”?  That was a tough question for me to answer.

I deduced that I am NOT a writer.  Writers sit down with pen in hand or typewriter or keyboard under their fingers (whatever) and write stories that go from one scene to another and eventually the story comes together like a Hallmark movie.  I ramble.  And as I think about telling a story or whatever around the camp fire I lose a lot of people who think to themselves (they are very polite) what is the point of what he is getting at?  Would he hurry!

I feel that most of my stories have to begin with a background of what the actual point is before I can finish it, or else the recipient (you) won’t know why I am even bringing up the point in the first place.

So, I’m not a writer…I’m a story teller…there is a BIG difference.

The best stories I can tell are stories where someone asks me to tell them a story about….whatever.

It takes me about a thousandth of a second and then the story begins.  The hardest stories are the ones I have to think up myself.  Like this one.

Today Dry Dog stopped by with a piece of metal I so dearly need…thanks Dry Dog…..and in our casual conversation he mentioned the rendezvous at which I won (and win I did) a very nice Sword.  Boy did that bring up some memories.  Some of you will recall that rendezvous.

When I received that sword my first thought was “what in the He?? am I going to do with this piece of cr.p”?  And then my thought went to the folks who were in charge of awarding the prizes for these very hard shoots they were pulling off…Please..No offense if you were the one in charge of the rifle range that day.  I know it was not your fault.  And so I am winner of this fine sword.  One that is very sharp, well adorned with gold and silver inlay and coveted by everyone who likes this sort of thing.

That sword has transpired into one of the most beautiful things in my collection of beautiful things and stands (or rather lays) right next to “Something” (my wonderful  horse….opps….Sir Butts wonderful steed).  The story started with that sword, how could I NOT like it?

From the moment I acquired such a wonderful piece of workmanship, I questioned why it was at a mountain man rendezvous in the first place.  I pondered hard why it was there.  But just like miracles everywhere it just was… and so be it…it was divine that I should receive it and be blessed by its very nature.  It caused quite a stir in my being.

After all day long thinking about how I had received such a fine gift…I trotted (literally) from my camp down the road to the council fire and made myself at home rounding that fire over and over again telling the fine folks sitting there just how fine a gift it was.  At this time I can not remember what exactly I said, but I am sure it was in fine taste and I hope the gifter has been back and will continue to come back to that rendezvous in the future.

I recall running like a deer, loping merrily as I went from my camp to the council fire and back without missing a beat and of course avoiding the “big boys” that wanted so much to make me “NOT A PART” of the council fire agenda.

My mind flashes to the sight of them standing up, first on my left and then suddenly on my right as I traipsed around the fire ex-pulsing my good wishes upon the club for such a fine gift.   And then my feet decided the thugs were close enough that I should depart hastily toward the safety of my own camp.  Without missing a beat, I remember traversing the distance in a matter of less than two minutes (1/4 of a mile I might add).

That my friends is my story about the sword and how I came to adore it so much.  I would not part with that sword for any amount of cash or trade items….it’s mine forever!

As some of you know Sir Butt likes that sword and yields it to the camp yearly.  Protecting good from evil in the camp and always welcoming friends.

Someday, I would like to be able to tell a story that didn’t have at least “some bit” of it not a real part of my life.  Do I live a life of weirdness that lends itself to making up stories of half truths?  HALF TRUTHS?  Who thought up that?  It is ALL TRUE!  Check out Trackers video of the council fire that night…decide for yourself if Bears Butt was a happy guy or not….I say he was!

ROOONNDEEEEVVVOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

I’ll drink to that!

Bears Butt

Dec. 13, 2012

 

Written on December 12th, 2012 , Just more stories
By: Bears Butt

Everybody seems to be talking about today being 121212 day and all the assorted things that are going on.  One thing that did perk my interest for a minute was an email with a printable coupon worth a dozen (12) Krispy Cream Donuts…but I don’t know where the nearest KCD is, so that one went away as quickly as it came.

And with all the 121212 stuff going on I decided to write about something else, even though the 121212 bandwagon would have been a pretty good ride.

So, let’s look at some other things that are going on today.  One thing I stumbled on was a group of young kids in Paraguay who live on or very near a landfill.  This landfill is huge and several “cities” surround it.  Nearly everyone living in these cities works at the landfill.  Most of them are ripping and tearing apart the garbage and try to find things they can sell…call them recyclers.  A very green thing these days.

You can imagine just what terrible conditions these poor people are living in and among.  As it turns out there is a ray of good hope for some of the younger people living there.  A very ambitious 3o something year old man decided he wanted to teach the kids who were willing to learn, how to play instruments.  The biggest problem was not in getting kids interested, but rather getting instruments for them to play.

Thus along comes a garbage truck and dumps its load…behold…in the trash is part of an old broken violin!  A miracle!  It is brought to him and he fixes it with assorted things he has laying all around him and suddenly he tunes it and it makes beautiful music once again!  This got him thinking and suddenly every student has an instrument to play.  Violins, Cellos, Bass’, Drums etc.  All made of trash and everyone tuned perfectly.

He decided he would make a movie to help these kids get out of the trash cities they were living in.  They have a Facebook page….”landfill harmonic”…go and look them up.  They call themselves the “Landfill Harmonic Orchestra” and you can see a trailer of the movie and see some of what they have to experience every day.   A happy-sad sort of story.  I wish them the best!

http://news.linktv.org/videos/harmonic-landfill-paraguay-kids-make-orchestra-out-of-trash

On a totally different note (so to speak) I found a story about a local, West Valley City Mayor, who got tired of hearing how his town was nothing but bad.  The news carried such awful stories about gangs, shootings, drugs and the normal news stuff we hear and read about every day.  He decided he wanted to paint a different picture of his lovely town and so he created himself a Facebook page, email address and got a job as a free lance reporter for a smaller town newspaper out in Magna…he called himself  “Richard Burwash”!  As my reading went on, he ended up getting reprimanded by his own city council, once they uncovered him.  I see nothing wrong with a man wanting to show his city in a different light than an ugly one.  I suppose he just went about it in a different, out of the box sort of way and people didn’t understand.  They though Richard was  really a  Dick.

Enjoy the rest of your 121212 and I hope if you have a KCD place close to where you live, that they send you an email with a printable coupon…if not…give me a comment and I’ll forward mine to you.

Bears Butt

December(12), Day 12, Year 2012!

Written on December 12th, 2012 , Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

Todays study is on eggs.  Like yesterday, I was making breakfast this morning and I had two cut up chorizo’s in the pan cooking.  My goal was to break 3 eggs in with them, scramble it up and top with cheddar cheese and then toss it in the oven to melt the cheese.  Make one piece of toast to share with Sherry and add a glass of milk or orange juice to the table fare and enjoy.

As I was breaking the eggs into the pan with the ready to eat chorizo pieces, I thought…Bears Butt, you sure are a trusting guy to just break those eggs into that pan.  What if they are not good eggs?  What if the inspection process let one get past and it is contaminated with….whatever?

That got me thinking about the inspection process and off I went looking for how it is done.  What I found is that most of the inspection work is done using computers and scanning equipment that lets very few ugly things get past.  A person will periodically pick up one of the passed eggs and check it to make sure, but actually that person really isn’t doing a heck of a lot.  So, rest assured the eggs you are going to break into your pan is over 99% sure to be a good one.

I also found out that chicken/egg farms with less than 3,000 laying hens do not get inspected as well as bigger farms….does that make you wonder where your eggs are coming from?

A long time ago I was at a USDA meeting with lots of cattlemen, farmers and assorted other people who grow or produce something we eat and one old boy about my age now came up and started to tell me a story.  He said something like this…

You know lad, I’m a pretty big producer of beef cattle around these parts right now, I need to tell you that.  But I wasn’t when I first started out.  I came here thinking I could invest in a few cattle and suddenly I would be a rich man and I could expand each year until I had enough money I could sell out and go off and do what I really wanted to do, like fishing.  My first exposure to the cattle industry went like this.  I went into the bank and told the banker man what I wanted to do.  I wanted to buy 300 head of beef cattle and raise them up and sell them to the people and make a ton of money.  Then I’d buy 310 for the next year and do the same thing.  Each year expanding until when I did sell them I’d have the money to sell the land and get out of here.

You know what the banker asked me? (My answer was no)  He asked me “how many chickens are you going to raise”?  Chickens!  What do chickens have to do with beef cattle I asked him.  He calmly asked me how on earth did I plan on feeding my cattle?  And then went on to tell me I knew nothing about raising cattle and why on earth would the bank want to fund a guy raising beef cattle when he didn’t know anything about them.

Well this set me back a bit, he said.  The banker told me to go do some study and maybe even visit some of the cattle guys in the area and then once I had it all figured out to come back and we would talk some more.  And that is what I did.

What I found out from my visits to some of the larger cattle operations around these parts was that every one of them were raising chickens at the same time as the cattle.  They were getting the eggs and selling them and making some pretty good money at that.  But it cost them in chicken feed to keep them going and so most of them were having another guy operating the chicken side of things and footing the bill for raising them, but in trade they would get the fertilizer for free.  The fertilizer from chickens is some of the hottest fertilizer around and so it goes a long ways when you spread it over the land to grow the feed needed for raising beef cattle.

You see, beef cattle have to eat too.  And so, in order to raise 300 beef cattle for one or two years, before selling them, you have to feed them good high quality hay.  Each one of the beef will eat 1/4 of a bale of hay each and every day.  How many bales is that?  A lot.  And so I would need enough land to grow my alfalfa in order to raise those cattle.  Around these parts we get two good cuttings of hay and one that is mostly filler, but that is how it goes.  He said, I soon learned that I would have to have almost 4,000 chickens in order to fertilize the amount of land I needed just to grow the hay for my 300 beef cattle.  And besides that I needed to buy 500 acres of good flat, irrigated land in order to raise my hay.  Of course 500 acres is more than I would need for 300 beef cattle, but I had to start thinking ahead as my cattle business is going to grow.  With that I would have to start thinking about expanding my chickens as well.  More and more things kept coming into the equation.  And he went on and on about all of that.

When I figured he had told me about everything he had to say I asked him about him selling out and going fishing.  He looked funny at me and said, I’m broke!  All my money is tied up in those beef cattle and chickens and more land and equipment to cut and bale the hay and feed all those animals!  Nobody around these parts could ever think about buying me out.  I’m here for the rest of my life….and he walked away.

That is a pretty long story to lead up to why I am writing this story.  What I found in my investigation is THE ANSWER to the age old question of “Which came first, the chicken or the egg”?

What is the history of the egg?
“Eggs existed long before chickens,” according to On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee. “The first eggs were released, fertilized, and hatched in the ocean. Around 250 million years ago, the earliest fully land-dwelling animals, the reptiles, developed a self-contained egg with a tough, leathery skin that prevented fatal water loss. The eggs of birds, animals that arose some 100 million years later, are a refined version of this reproductive adaptation to life on land. Eggs, then, are millions of years older than birds. Gallus domesticus, the chicken more or less as we know it, is only a scant 4 or 5 thousand years old.”

Take it for what it’s worth!

Bears Butt

Dec. 11, 2012

Written on December 11th, 2012 , Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

I believe that each and every one of us has had or will have some divine inspiration come along in our lives.  Something that just suddenly appears or a voice is heard or just a gut feeling about what is going to happen.

I’ve been reading a life sketch of a man who helped settle Utah way back in the mid 1800’s…George W. Hill…anyway he was a devout LDS guy who taught a lot of Native Americans about the LDS faith and baptized thousands of them into the religion.  But, he had a lot of visions in his life as well.  These are the types of things I’m talking about.

And so as we progress in our daily lives we often will see a vision or a little devil sitting on our shoulder will whisper something in our ear, or we will see something in the twirling dirt or waves and it will be a sign of some sort.  We will pay attention to it because it was meant for us to see and follow.  We may not know exactly what it all means at the time, but there will come a time when the bigger picture will present itself and suddenly it will all make sense.

Today a little something happened in my life that just made me take a picture of it.  As strange as it might seem to you, the moment I saw it I had to capture it on my camera.  As Sherry was getting ready to go to work, I was busy making us a little breakfast.  We don’t usually eat a whole lot as we have learned as we get older, we just don’t need a whole lot to eat at any one time.  And so it was with breakfast this morning.  Some warmed up cheese potatoes, a small venison steak for her, a couple slices of bacon for me and one egg apiece.  A nice little breakfast.

I had everything ready except the eggs and so I wait until she says she is ready and then I cook them.  This is where it happened!  I broke the eggs into the cast iron pan and suddenly right there before my eyes was a sign!  I spun around and grabbed the camera from the bag on the counter.  The camera is always right there for those instant “gotta take a picture” moments.  I didn’t even have to look at it to find the snap that allowed the camera case to open…out came the camera, on it went and as I turned toward the pan, the camera came to my eye and snap!  I had it…the sign was permanently captured on my Fuji disc.  I was so happy.

I finished making the breakfast and served it up.  Sherry asked, why did you take a picture of the eggs?  I had to show her and so I got the camera and turned it on so she could see the sign I had taken.  She smiled and went back to eating without saying a word.

And so to you my dear readers of this insanity, here is the picture I took:

I hope you are smiling right now!  Have a wonderful day!

Bears Butt

Dec. 10, 2012

Written on December 10th, 2012 , Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

Beins as Christmas is just around the corner and we only have 2 more Saturdays till the big day it means that our shoppin days are numbered and gettin less and less as we waste our time looking at this stupid computer, but what the heck, I guess you aint wasting it all because of the site you are on.

It just wouldn’t be right if I didn’t share the real life story of my friend Soda Grizz on here with you.

A bit of a background about old Soda Grizz…see he is a might nice guy from a small town up in Idaho called Soda Springs.  If you ever go through Soda Springs be sure and stop by the natural soda springs that bubbles up out of the ground.  Take a empty milk jug with you too and make sure you dip it in the spring and fill the jug up.  When you get to where you are really going (cuz most folks don’t consider they are anywhere just being in Soda Springs), make up some cool aid using that soda water….your life will not be the same after that.

Soda Grizz is known all through the town of Soda Springs Idaho.  Everyone in town knows who he is, what he is doing, where he is right now and when the last time was that he was visiting the jail.  He is a nice guy, probably the nicest guy you will ever want to meet.  They occasionally make him sleep in the jail to show the real criminals in there how to be a nice guy…he is a mentor you know.

Well, I always have looked up to him and I listen intently to everything he has to tell me and this story is not any different.  I think you could learn the thing or two from this one as well.

Walmart.

Walmart employees are no different than employees at any other store around.  They have families, friends and likes and dislikes just like everybody else.  Well, the management of Walmart likes to make sure they get all the hours they can out of their employees and especially on Christmas Eve.  They make sure the little ones at home will have just enough visiting with their parents on Christmas Eve so they can live to tell about how mommy and daddy always was home on Christmas Eve…and not a minute more.

So, here it is Christmas Eve in Soda Springs Idaho.  Ol Soda Grizz had spent all his time working in the mines and didn’t have any time for shopping.  Now he finds himself faced with Christmas Eve and not one present has been bought.  He has his list that he had been making up all year long, he just hadn’t had the time to go shopping.  Every time he was ready to go, the local sheriff called on him to mentor some of the folks staying in his sleep over place.  Sometimes life deals you lemons you know.

So, Ol Grizz decides he HAS to go shopping and he is running clear out of time.  He goes to Walmart with his list.

Now picture the scene in the store.  The aisles are pretty much empty of customers, as it is late in the store.  The workers are getting excited to think their shift is almost done and they can go home and enjoy Christmas Eve with family and friends.  And suddenly the door swings open and in walks Soda Grizz with a long list in his hand.

He approaches the first clerk he sees and asks if she knows were he can find…and he reads the first thing on his list…she directs him to the place most likely to find that item.  He goes there in his slow gaited way and picks it up.  All the employees eyes are on him as now he is THE ONLY patron in the store.

He slowly approaches another employee and asks about the second thing on his list…she kindly walks him to the place to find that item.  Soon Soda Grizz has every employee in the store helping him find things.  The list is torn in several pieces with employees running helter skelter through the store picking up the items on their portion of the list.

Meanwhile Grizz is talking and telling jokes to the lady that is running the cash register.  The other employees are bringing the items to that line and the lady is ringing them up one by one.  Grizz is a very happy shopper at this late hour on Christmas Eve and gladly pays for the items as the other employees bring them.

Now you should be able to see just what a gentleman old Soda Grizz is.  He is smiling at each of the employees and thanking them one by one.  I’ll bet there has not been one other Walmart in the world that has had a single customer say thank you and  Merry Christmas to every employee working on Christmas Eve, than the one in Soda Springs Idaho.

A real heart warming story don’t you think?

Bears Butt

Dec. 9, 2012

Written on December 9th, 2012 , Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

There is always a lot of talk about long range shooting and of course I am one who likes to think I can “make that shot”.  A whole bunch of ethics is involved when taking those long range shots at game animals and I hope you don’t think I would like to wound an animal by taking that out of range shot.  But, in shooting paper, balloons, metal targets and the like, those long range shots are really fun.

There are long range shooting companies around the Northern Utah area.  One has a shooting golf course set up and you have 18 different targets to shoot at and they vary in distances.  One is out to 1,000 yards.

Another guy has a two day course he teaches that he guarantees you will group shots out to 1,000 yards by the end of the second and final day of the course, or your money back.

There is a shooting club that shoots mostly the old Quigley blackpowder cartridges and they too shoot out near the 1,000 yard mark.  There must be something magical about 1,000 yards.  And when you think about it that is 3,000 feet….with 5,280 feet in one mile…that equates to almost 6/10ths of a mile….for sure well over 1/2 a mile away…dang that is a long ways.

I could hit a target out that far with my 54 cal. rifle…….if the target was big enough.

So, with todays military fighting in very strange lands it has become a necessity to take down the king pins by shooting them at distances where they don’t have a clue that they are being aimed at.  We have seen the videos on the web of our guys shooting the “bad guys” out to 1,200 yards and more.  I’m glad these sharpshooters are on our side.  There is nothing new about the long range shooters as it was and has been done in nearly every war known to man.  Even if the weapon was a bow.  How about David and Goliath?  I’m sure David would have considered his rock throwing ability with his leather thong a long distance shot at Goliath’s head.

So, now someone has invented an aiming device that is sure to take the world by storm.   A scope mounted on your rifle that takes all the guess work out of your shot.  You first acquire the target and push a button…it marks your target and then you squeeze the trigger….the next time the reticle inside the scope crosses the mark you placed on the target, the gun fires and the projectile hits right where you marked it.  And they claim it is accurate to 1,200 yards!  Amazing.

I had a discussion with Wapiti last week.  He related a “gang banger” story about two rival gangs in one of our big cities shooting nearly 1,000 rounds (there is that 1,000 number again) at each others gang members and not one person was hit during the ma-lay.  Hard to believe isn’t it?  Later he was talking to a local police officer about it and the suggestion was brought up to teach those two gangs of people some “aiming techniques”…take a few of them out and maybe there wouldn’t be such a gang problem…..just a thought.

So perhaps this invention will do just that…just another thought.

After you view this video you too might come to the same conclusion as I have, is this a good thing?

It is in the right hands.

Bears Butt

Dec. 9, 2012

Written on December 9th, 2012 , Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

I knew they made them, but never thought about using them:

http://www.yourepeat.com/watch/?v=wht6OMKBdc4

Enjoy!

Bears Butt

Dec. 8, 2012

Written on December 8th, 2012 , Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

I just checked on my site status and there are only 8 states in the USA that have not had at least one person visit this site!  I think that is wonderful!

Come on the rest of the USA get with the Bears Butt Program!!!  😉

Bears Butt

Dec. 8, 2012

Current Utah weather, colder, 35 degrees, 1:10 p.m., snow level dropping down the mountain towards the valley floor.

Written on December 8th, 2012 , Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

Today is National Take it in the Ear day and for the life of me I can not figure it out.  So, watch this and maybe you will be able to tell me what the day is supposed to be.

Thanks!

Bears Butt

Dec. 8, 2012

Written on December 8th, 2012 , Uncategorized

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BearsButt.com | Stories, Ramblings & Random Stuff From an Old Mountain Man

Just some of my old stories, new stories, and in general what is going on in my life.