When a 3 year old decides he needs adventure, well, I say let him have at it. So, the other night we had the pleasure of his company, along with all his other cousins (6 total kids ranging in age from 3 to 10). He was the only one not allowed to spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa’s, but he didn’t have to leave until late. So, grandpa watched him play outside by himself.
First, he was allowed to swim in the plastic pool and run through the sprinkler if he wanted. He didn’t have his swim suit, so grandpa rigged him up with a pair of his undershorts and wrapped a rubber band around the back side to help hold them up. He had a blast in the water all by himself.
Next he wanted to dry off and put his clothes on and be with the other kids. That got boring for him and so outside to be with grandpa once again. Grandpa will let him do anything that does not seem too dangerous and stays close enough to “save” him should the near accident become apparent. Grandpa does not consider a fall from two feet to be a serious event. And so, inside the portable dog kennel he went.
And after all that work, he needed to show grandpa just how clever he was, “Look at me grandpa”!
Well, that much entertainment deserved a treat and so he was allowed to sit up on his high adventure seat and have a well deserved ice cream cone. Thanks Grandma! And so ended the perfect day for him. Swimming, ice cream and adventure all over at grandma and grandpa’s.
It’s hay season here in Northern Utah. Meadow hay that is. Once cutting, one crop and this year it is all sold in the field. We just have to get it into bales. Rain is nice, but not right now and not for the next week or so.
The .12 inches of rain we had two days ago has cost us two days of drying time and that will be tough to make up for. The forecast for the next week is calling for highs in the 90’s which will be perfect for curing the downed hay.
Keep the clouds and wind away and life will be good on the farm.
An email received this morning showed us several collective nouns that certain species of animals are call, such as a gaggle of geese or a murder of crows. That got me thinking and wondering if anyone had ever compiled a list of all of these sort of things. Sure enough, here you have the site:
I just saw a picture that my nephew Jay posted on Facebook and he made the comment “Don’t run with that pencil, or stick in your hand. But I will hand you a 12 inch spike with a welding tip on the end and say HAVE FUN”!
The picture he posted was of 3 little children, the oldest being maybe eight, each with a “sparkler” spritzing away.
Over my many years I have seen so many children, and adults, burned by those nasty little wire creations and for the life of me I can not understand why they are not banned from production.
As children we would light them and throw them up in the air and then run over to where they lay and pick them back up and toss them again. How many times did I pick one up by the blackened hot end because it was dark outside and all I could see was the sparkling spitting part on the wire? Once! And then I quite playing with those stupid things forever.
How many lighted and sparkling little devils landed on unsuspecting people and burned them? LOTS! I even saw a fist fight between two fathers because of that very thing.
Sitting at the park waiting for the fireworks display the evening of the 4th of July. Observing all the people and everyone having a really good time. Lots and lots of parents lighting up sparklers and handing them to the children. The children chasing each other with those hot babies and when they did touch the other kid, OUCH ! a burn was had! And bad burns at that. And then there are the ones not wearing their shoes, because it was such nice cool grass they were playing on. One step on a recently extinguished sparkler and there is a nasty burned foot.
When it came to clean up time the lawn was loaded with those little #20 wires all over the place.
Yes, I would certainly like to see them banned. But until parents decide for themselves what is good for their children we will continue to see them sold in supermarkets, novelty stores and those wonderful parking lot tents. OOOOO, here is one that is 4 feet long! That is the one I want.
So much for my rant. I’ll get off my soap box now.
Utah is beginning a program in which they will pay hunters and trappers $50 for each coyote that is killed in the state. They have produced a map of the target areas and have recommended the dates of removal to be the months of December through June. These dates are when the coyote is most likely to be the most detrimental to the deer herds.
Their long range plan is to track the harvest of coyotes by areas and then see how the impact of harvest has impacted the deer herds in areas of high coyote kills. They will then contract out coyote harvest through private business’ designed to capture and kill coyotes in areas where high populations of coyotes are effecting the deer in those areas. This program is the beginning of a bigger picture and will a great source of data.
$50 is much more than what a pelt is worth today in the fur market, but that fur price would be in addition to the $50 if you want to skin and process the hide. Hides would probably net you around $10 if properly put up.
So, with this program, you have to complete an on line training and pass it with 100%. It is only about 10 questions long and is very easy to pass. Once passed you can download your certificate of passing the course and print out a form that needs to accompany the coyote carcass or ear to eat scalp and lower jaw. You have to provide the date of the kill, the GPS coordinate of that kill or the UTM coordinates of the kill site and of course your name, address and certificate number.
Go to this site and take the course to prepare to gather up you many bucks. Payments begin Sept. 1, 2012.
You will have to all figure this one out: Today is National Visitation of the Virgin Mary Day.
My take: It was the first time someone made up a Bloody Mary drink and didn’t have any vodka to put into it. They made the pitcher up anyway and everyone at the party had a wonderful time.
The central part of America is covered with grasses that sometimes grow to two feet tall. In the early days of the white man they were covered with buffalo and other prairie animals. Much of this area is now considered the American wheat belt. But, back then and even before the white man came onto the scene, the Native Americans that lived there had to be very careful with fire. We all know what a wild fire can do when burning in tall dry grass. Fires tend to create their own winds and those winds whip and throw ashes and burning debris for miles.
Alright, think of your self as a Native American way back when. You have a buffalo down that you and your buddies just killed. You all have worked up a tremendous appetite and would like some buffalo strips cooked up just right. Since you guys have been so busy with the killing job, your mother or wife or girlfriend have been watching and know that once the animal is down it will be their job to get it all cut up and some of it served to their strong, brave men.
But, a fire built out on the ground, even if it is surrounded by a ring of rocks will only catch the dry grass on fire and burn for days and days. Scattering the large herds of buffalo that you so much depend on for your own survival.
So, how do you build a fire in order to cook some meat and keep the flames from catching the grass on fire.
You dig a hole in the ground that’s what you do. A small hole say 8 inches across at the most, smaller is a bit better say 5 inches across. The depth? Probably from your finger tips to your elbow would do.
Now let’s think about this for a minute. In order to burn properly, a fire needs oxygen right. How on earth will the fire in this hole get oxygen? It will just sit down in their and smolder and smoke and do us no good.
Ok, let’s dig another hole next to the one we just dug and connect the two with a “tunnel” hole near the bottom of each hole. Get to work. Dig, dig, dig. Now for the tunnel hole, be careful not to cave in the tunnel.
In practice you will get to know just how far apart these two parallel holes should be. Now you can start a fire in one of the holes and the oxygen will be drawn in and under your fire from the other hole and through the tunnel. This fire will burn very efficiently and with little or no smoke. All of the fire building material you toss in on the fire will burn up leaving just fine dusty ashes.
This small opening fire will allow even short sticked hot dog cookers to be used without burning up your expensive gloves and so, you can now trust Edjukateer to once again employee his unique abilities to gather a few hot dog sticks.
Another plus for this sort of fire is your ability to fill the holes up after you are done cooking your meal and you will know the likelihood of the fire rekindling itself after you leave the area is pretty close to nill. And after you have filled in the holes and kicked around any loose dirt on the surface, you can rake the area with a fallen branch or sage and completely cover any tracks of you being there.
Trust me on this one, you will play heck getting to use this technique on a late muzz mule deer hunt in the Crawfords, but it get your noggin thinking about how you might be able to build one using other materials to acquire the same end result.
It’s called a “Dakota Hole Fire” and here is a video to show you how it all works.
Actually, I think I prefer the hot dog sticks I already have so Edjukateer, never mind.
Utah Fishing Reports