It’s early June and the bugs are really coming out to play in earnest.  My Bug-A-Salt is primed and ready, but more than that is my bee catcher.  I have four of these out and filled with the bee juice that attracts yellow jackets and you should have yours out as well.

I don’t like yellow jackets and this fall, when we are deer hunting you will know all too well just how annoying they can be.  They buzz into your ears and mouth and nostrils and worst of all, they get in your bowl of posole and if you don’t wait for them to drown, you might just get stung!

Right now is the time to be catching yellow jackets, because the little ones have not hatched yet and you will be catching the queens and each queen produces a nest, so in essence you are catching nests of yellow jackets right now!  Get to it!

The very best yellow jacket trap I have found to date is the yellow ones that take a small vial of attractant.  The attractant costs quite a bit considering what you are getting, but I have done some research and I believe the guys that sell it have done their homework and it’s worth the money.

Oh, and don’t be duped by the 3 in 1 catch all type of traps that are made by the same company that makes the yellow ones.  Even though the 3 in 1’s are yellow too, they DON’T WORK.  I bought some a few years back thinking how cool it would be to catch yellow jackets, hornets, flies and everything else annoying and they flat out did not work.  I even took a month and did a daily study with the yellow traps along side the 3 in 1’s and all the 3 in 1’s caught in one months time was a box elder bug and a couple of moths.  I wrote the company with my results and trusted them to do the right thing and take them off the market..instead they flooded the market with the ones they had made and have been soaking people ever since.

So, back to my story here:  That vial of attractant is a mixture that emits an odor or sexual something that gets the yellow jackets all excited to get closer to and that is why they get into the traps.  Once they are inside they can’t find the hole that they crawled up through in order to get out and they buzz around inside the trap until they dehydrate and die.  Dead yellow jackets are the best!

This trap has been out for 3 weeks and I emptied it once.  You can see a line of dead bees in the bottom and some live ones buzzing around inside.  Look closely at the size of them badboys (badgirls)….

Each queen can produce up 4,000 or more little ones…so you do the math!  Get out and put your traps out and maybe we can collectively make a dent in their population!

Bears Butt

June 3, 2013

There is a masterpiece of workmanship in Salt Lake City, Utah called the Temple.  It’s located right in the heart of downtown and can be seen for miles around.  To think of all the hard work that went into building that structure back in the late 1800’s  is mind boggling.  Huge blocks of quarts rock were quarried, chiseled and crafted into the shapes they needed and then carefully fit into place.

How those men were able to do that heavy work without today’s modern machinery amazes me to no end.  The quality of the outcome is nothing short of a miracle.

When you look closely at the Temple you can see all sorts of ornate things carved in the rock walls, each having a special meaning and all leading back to a strong belief in God and all He created.

http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/saltlake/

Rich symbolism adorns the exterior of the Salt Lake Temple, depicting mankind’s journey from mortality into the eternal realms. Perhaps Elder J. Golden Kimball expressed it best when he stated: “When I think about that building, every stone in it is a sermon to me.”¹ Following is a summary of some of the major symbolism of the Salt Lake Temple:

Angel Moroni.  The angel Moroni depicts both a messenger of the restoration of the gospel and a herald of the Second Coming: “for the Son of Man shall come, and he shall send his angels before him with the great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together the remainder of his elect from the four winds” (JS-M 1:37).

Towers.  The three towers on the east side represent the First Presidency of the Church and the Melchizedek Priesthood; the twelve pinnacles rising from the towers represent the Twelve Apostles. The three towers on the west side represent the Presiding Bishopric and the Aaronic Priesthood; the twelve pinnacles rising from the towers represent the High Council.

Battlements.  The castle-like battlements that surround the temple symbolize a separation from the world as well as a protection of the holy ordinances practiced within its walls.

Earthstones.  The earthstones, located at the base of each buttress, represent the earth—the “footstool of God.” Although the earth is currently a telestial kingdom, it will transition to a terrestrial kingdom at the coming of the Millennium; and at the end of one thousand years, it is destined to become a celestial kingdom.

Moonstones.  Located directly above the earthstones, the moon is depicted in its various phases around the temple. The changing moon can represent the stages of human progression from birth to resurrection or represent the patron’s journey from darkness to light.

Sunstones.  Located directly above the moonstones, the sunstones depict the sun—a symbol of the glory of the celestial kingdom.

Cloudstones.  High above the sunstones on the east center tower are two clouds with descending rays of light (originally planned to be one white and one black with descending trumpets.) The parallel of this symbolism is found in the Old Testament. Once temples were dedicated in ancient Israel, they were filled with the “cloud of the Lord.” At Mount Sinai, the children of Israel saw this cloud as both dark and bright accompanied by the blasting of a trumpet.

Starstones.  Six-pointed stars represent the actual stars in the heaven. Upside-down five-pointed stars represent morning stars, compared to the “sons of God” in the scriptures. The large upright five-pointed stars may represent the governing power of the priesthood while the small upright five-pointed stars may represent the saving power of the priesthood for those who attach themselves to it.

Big Dipper.  High on the west center tower is a depiction of the Big Dipper, a constellation used by travelers for thousands of years to find the North Star. It is an appropriate symbol for the temple where patrons come to get their bearings on the journey home.

Handclasp.  Each of the center towers features a pair of clasped right hands identified as the “right hands of fellowship” cited in Galatians 2:9. In Jeremiah 31:32, the Lord uses the handclasp to denote covenant making—an act at the very heart of temple worship.

All-Seeing Eye.  Located atop each of the center towers of the temple is the all-seeing eye of God, which represents God’s ability to see all things.²

1. J. Golden Kimball, “Elder Jonathan Golden Kimball,” Conference Report April 1915: 78–79.
2. Matthew B. Brown and Paul Thomas Smith, “The Salt Lake Temple,” Symbols in Stone: Symbolism on the Early Temples of the Restoration (American Fork, Utah: Covenant Communications, Inc., 1997) 117–156.

But, it is not perfect.  And was the imperfection intentionally built into the structure, or was it an error on someones part?  I would have to say it was intentional, much like our friends the Native Americans, who, when they created something with a meaning to it, they would always put into it a flaw of some kind to symbolize that only our Creator was perfect.

I have included a picture of the Temple and in this picture you should be able to see the imperfection.  I must say, it took me quite a while to finally see it and I was given a hint from the person who told me about it.  I never would have guessed there was any flaw of any kind in this Temple’s construction.

Don’t kick yourself too hard when you don’t find it right off and for sure don’t waste your entire day trying to find it, there are far more bigger and better things to do with your life than study this picture.  I thank my friend Cody Wright for pointing this out to me!

The picture is one I downloaded from the internet and is one of hundreds found there.  Thanks to whoever took the picture and allowed it to be placed on the internet for everyone to see.

Bears Butt

June 2, 2013

June 1…And summer begins.  June 1st has always marked the beginning of summer to me, I suppose it was because school was out for sure by this date and it was warm enough to sleep outside and go hiking and exploring in the mountains.  Is it the same for you?  Probably close.

I went in search of some interesting news that happened on June 1 from years ago and about all I found was war, murders, plane wrecks and assorted other ill stuff…sure there were some good things that happened as well, but they were overshadowed by the other things.

One thing that I read about was quite interesting to me and you might find it interesting as well.  In 1660 a woman was hanged for believing in God!

I thought America was brought to be, in part at least,  because people were tired of being pushed and forced to believe in God in only one or two ways and if they didn’t they got persecuted.

And so I was pretty much taken back to find out that in Massachusetts this woman named Mary Dyer was hanged for believing in the Quaker religion and way of life.  Apparently Massachusetts had passed a law forbidding Quakers from living in that state and those that were there were doing so underground.

There was such a movement in place that made the Quakers look like some sort of demons.  People made up all sorts of things about them and said them so often that others started to believe what they were being told.  In the 1630’s Mary Dyers bore a deformed stillborn child, she and her family held a private burial..a normal thing to do at the time.

Just a short time before this birth, the Dyers and another family of Quakers were banished from the state forever and when the governor learned about the burial, he had the body exhumed.  A large crowd was gathered around as the governor spoke about what he was seeing:  My source “www.wikipedia.org”;

“it was of ordinary bigness; it had a face, but no head, and the ears stood upon the shoulders and were like an ape’s; it had no forehead, but over the eyes four horns, hard and sharp; two of them were above one inch long, the other two shorter; the eyes standing out, and the mouth also; the nose hooked upward; all over the breast and back full of sharp pricks and scales, like a thornback [i.e., a skate or ray], the navel and all the belly, with the distinction of the sex, were where the back should be, and the back and hips before, where the belly should have been; behind, between the shoulders, it had two mouths, and in each of them a piece of red flesh sticking out; it had arms and legs as other children; but, instead of toes, it had on each foot three claws, like a young fowl, with sharp talons.”

Now can you believe a man of such a high caliber saying these things to get people to believe the Quakers were such awful people such as not even human?

Of course because of the banishment from Massachusetts she and her family left, but her strong conviction just would not leave her and she created her own crusade to have the law banishing Quakers be removed from the books.  Against the law, she reentered the state and started her crusade and was immediately captured up and sentenced to die unless she repented…which she refused to do.

At the gallows, she was given one more chance to repent and when she refused they pulled the chair out from under her feet…that happened on June 1, 1660.

The one thing that made the Quakers different than the other religions in that area and time was that they believed that God could converse with individual people and His word did not have to be filtered down to them through another person like a clergy man.

How far have we come since then?  That was in the 1600’s.

—————-

So the beginning of summer also means weeds, harvesting and fishing!  I’m all for the last of that!  Today is a weed day for me.  It’s also a harvesting day…the strawberrys are coming on!  What about fishing?  I’m ready!

Bears Butt

June 1, 2013

I was just informed about a wonderful survival type web site that has a lot of merit!  It is not just a survival site, it is a site that carries what YOU NEED!  At home and in your vehicle.  Imagine you are in your vehicle, out hunting or going on a camping or hiking trip and you are far from any road that might have someone else traveling on.  Suddenly you have a flat tire and you discover far too late that your spare is also flat!  Now What?  It’s getting on to dark and you don’t have any of the things you will need to be stuck out there all night.  No sleeping bag…no extra water…no food…no matches…no toilet paper.  Your cell phone doesn’t work because you don’t have reception and now you are really in a quandary.  Way too far from the nearest road and now you have to try and improvise to help make it through the night.  AND you know you are going to be very hungry in the morning!

This site has just what you are going to need….the Wolvermouse 1 day pack!  It has everything to help make your overnight stay a good one and even put some good memories in the bank with your loved ones who are with you on this now “adventure”!

“Hey dad, remember when we had that flat tire up on Long Ridge that time and you pulled out the pack with all the food and stuff in it?  Remember?  That was a great night to be stuck out in the woods…I’ll never forget that, and we survived just fine with all that food and stuff.”

And the site sells other great stuff as well.  Things like way cool and functional tents that set up in seconds and even a stove to fit inside it for those really cold nights.  They sleep four people and more!  Store away so small they hardly take up any room in the truck and are just plain great.

Water and food storage packages for weeks of endless food at over 2,000 calories p/person per day!  Incredible!  And it’s NOT EXPENSIVE at all!  If you get caught in an emergency some day, don’t say I didn’t warn you and tell you about a great site that is selling some wonderful food stuff that will help you come through the crisis in flying colors!  Their motto is “Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda”…You shoulda contacted them and bought some supplies.  If you woulda contacted them you wouldn’t be in the mess you are in right now.  And you will be kicking yourself in the rear end because you coulda done just that!

This site is a work in progress, so save it in your bookmarks and check back often to see what new has been posted up.  Loads of interesting and very useful stuff is on there right now, but more is coming daily!

But don’t just look at it, order up some products to help you and your family through the next  emergency situation!  You will thank me later!

Click on this site link and it will take you right to their home page…”Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda”!  And now you Cana!

They have a “contact us” section on the site that you can ask them questions etc. and that is very useful, but at times you want an answer right away, so here is the cell phone to get hold of someone right now (not right now, here in a minute), I mean “right now”!!!!

1 (801) 710-6637

http://lonetreesurvival.com

Bears Butt

May 29, 2013

Well, well, well…I’ve never been much for sitting and watching the TV, but there is a show that comes on that is a real fun one to watch…Duck Dynasty…Sherry will record it on the DVR and then when we get around to it and don’t have anything else to do, we watch the shows back to back until we are caught up.

I still don’t have all the names of the characters memorized, but the show is a real hoot…those boys sure know how to have fun and the sayings they can come up with or the logic behind them are my kind of thing.  I guess across the nation there are thousands of people who can relate to one of them or another.

Well, thanks to “Camo Princess”, I’ve come to find out there is another show that is very much similar that just began to show.  You can find it on the Discovery Channel and it has to do with drilling for oil in your back yard.  Well, the show takes place in Kentucky and the only episode trailer I have watched has my interest peaked!  Here again some down home folks just trying to hit it big time without doing much work.

Backyard Oil is the name of the series and it sure looks like a fun one!

Bears Butt

May 29, 2013

I am making my plans for the week and the weather is always in the mix.  Locally it looks like we will have a very pleasant day today and then as we sleep a sneaky little storm is going to come in and begin raining on us.  That is to happen tomorrow morning, all day tomorrow and all day Wednesday…hmmm…my plans for outdoor activities is beginning to change rapidly because of this.

I want to get out turkey hunting at least one more time before the season ends on Friday…Tuesday is out…Wednesday is out…what about Thursday?  Maybe Friday?  Decisions will be made at a later time for that.

But, in looking at the weather I’m just glad I don’t live in the North East…3 feet of  SNOW in upstate New York!  I have friends that live in that area and I hope they are all well and warm!

Enjoy your Memorial Holiday folks!  Go visit a grave site and say a prayer or two.

Bears Butt

May 27, 2013

Since this is a long weekend for most people and a holiday at that, Memorial Day, I thought it appropriate to post up something that will most likely happen to a lot of people this weekend.

Those who go fishing will most likely snag up a time or two and if not, they are dang lucky.  Several years ago when the Willard Bay was way low, I went tripping around the shoreline looking for treasures and I found quite a few.

Things like broken fishing rods, lost items over the sides of boats (most were worthless), a headlamp that worked after I got the sand out of the inside of it and put in new batteries,  a portable 3 step boat ladder, two small 10 pound anchors…you get the idea…neat stuff.  But the most incredible thing I found I put on my garage wall for a day when I could do something else with it.

Well, yesterday I did something else with it.  First off I went to the local Deseret Industries thrift store and found a really cool letter and key holder, the kind that has a cork side piece for putting notes on.  I thought it would make a nice display case for my masterpiece.

Here it is!

So, you are probably unfamiliar with the cave at this time and won’t recognize what has been added.  This has been added:

I probably won’t use the letter holders or the key hooks and so it will be just another “picture” hanging on my otherwise bare walls.  It sure is nice to have a room where I can plant anything I want, anywhere on the wall, high, low or in between.

So, this is my best find to date and I doubt I’ll find anything better than this.

A nice tangle of crank baits, spoons, jigs, sinkers, line and hooks.  Class!

Bears Butt

May 24, 2013

Some of you laughed at the speech I gave yesterday about laughing in the face of pain!  The pain that comes from a long, steep hike in the mountains and climbing from an altitude of 5380 ft above sea level to 6552 ft above sea level.

I too thought that this morning I would be in some pain from that hike and expected my muscles to be sore and stiff.  However, when I awoke this morning I had no such pains.  NONE!

Perhaps the past three or four weeks of climbing up and down the mountains in pursuit of a turkey has paid off in bigger dividends than the actual shooting of a turkey.  And besides the chase, the physical endurance, past pains and general workout that the hunting has put me through has me feeling pretty good about my 63..almost 64 year old body.

Do I think I want to tackle the Himalayas?  Not even close.  But I sure wouldn’t hesitate to take off on another 9 miler to the top of Grizzly Peak one of these days!  If you recall, I only made it to marker 6 with Mitch a couple of years ago.  I think now I could make it all the way to the top!  Maybe there are turkeys along that trail!?!

Bears Butt

May 23, 2013

Everyone has their expertise or at least the thing they like to do that makes them an expert or specialist at.  I even have something that makes me better or equal to someone else…I just don’t know what it is…but someday…..

So, Mitch Zundel owns the old Zundel rock house at 171 N. 100 W. in Willard.  The house was built and finished in the middle years of the 1880’s and in its day it was a very modern house with steam heat and modern (at the time) conveniences to make the occupants comfortable.

Over time it went the way of most homes and with disrepair it sort of had bad times and even more as more time went by.  It was still occupy able and my relatives lived there and then my folks and eventually me and my siblings.  In the 1960’s mom said to dad..”I’m tired of living in an antique!”…and so dad went to tearing and fixing it up to be more like a modern home inside and out.  On the outside he had some guys come in and make the front windows bigger to let in more light…mom liked to look outside and wanted the home to be brighter.  In so doing some of  the rock work above and to the sides of the existing windows had to be removed and yet the integrity of the structure needed to be supported.  That was done with a 4X4 inch angle iron beam above the windows and support posts put in to support the rock and brick above.  And then the entire house was covered with plaster and made to look like brick…another modern look at the time.  Mom was happy.

Today, it’s cool to have the old rock homes look like they did in the days they were built.  At least as much as people have the money to have that work done.  And so, Mitch has completely removed the brick looking plaster off the outside and has it back to the rock and brick that the home is built out of.  But he wants more of the 0ld look and so he needs the angle iron support replaced with wood beams.

He has chosen Cody Wright, a local artisan with expertise in old home construction and reparation.  Cody knows rock and masonry better than anyone I know.  A true expert when it comes to that sort of thing.  He is very good at everything he does and he is very meticulous about doing it.  He was a key person in the restoration of the old lime kiln up Ogden canyon and if you want to see some of his work, scoot up there and take a look.  Also, a lot of the old rock homes here in town have had his hand at fixing them up.  He even lives in the first one he restored here in town…2 nd South and 1 st West.

Cody cares and wants to make sure everything is right (Wright) before, during and after it is done.  On this job, he made sure the upper part of the structure was going to remain in tact and not fall as he did the work needed.  So, in this picture you can see the support structure he put together to insure the rock and brick above would not fall.

He has placed two 6X6 beams side by side above the window for support and is working on a third right now.  The third one will be exposed for everyone to see when it’s done.  That is the way they did it back in the day.

Talking with him about the cement and how things were done “back then”, he said they used mostly lime and sand to make the mortar that stuck the rocks and bricks in place, and so that is pretty much what he is using today.  I won’t tell you the rest of his secret, but I can tell you that if he doesn’t do it the way they did back then, that other issues come up and cause the deterioration of the softer bricks.  So, you “gotta go with the old way”.  And why not?  It worked then and still works today.

So, you can see one of the two beams that have been put into place side by side.  These rock walls are almost 20 inches thick.  Cody had to cut the rock on the far left to have the support needed at the end of the beams.  He did an excellent job at cutting that rock with only a drill and some punches.  And now for the final beam.

It looks good Cody…Nail it in!

He will now put in some of his crafty cement and begin rocking around the beam with large rocks and more cement.  When he is done it will look like the original work only with the bigger windows that mother insisted be put in.

So, if you need some work done on your old home or even your modern home, don’t hesitate to contact this guy…Cody Wright!  The Wright guy for the job!

Willard sure has a lot of talented people for being such a small town.  And as a plug for the towns 4th of July celebration, please come to the city office building and see the display about the different talents we do have in this city!

Bears Butt

May 21, 2013

I had to look into why my outside flag light wasn’t pouring light onto my flag at night.  Lately the dusk to dawn trigger thingy has switched itself over to off and that might just be because of  “night walkers” being funny.  So I’m looking things over and I can’t see anything that would cause the light not to work dusk to dawn…except for the fact that the bulb could be burnt out (duh).

So I crank the cover lens off the thing and take a look at the bulb.  I have it in my hands and am looking at the bulb and the filament inside…it looks good.  I put it back into the socket and turn the switch on the timer dealie to “on”…the bulb came on!

So, now I have to cycle through all the other settings to get back to dusk to dawn…a really dumb old timer dealie.

I put the cover back on the light and walk away.  And then it hits me…I was not supposed to touch the bulb!  It shortens the life of the thing…dang!  How much longer will it last?  The package, when I bought it a few weeks ago, said it would last 2,000 hours…that’s 166 nights at 12 hours p/night…and I have only had it in there about a month.  Oh well.

That got me thinking about those type of bulbs.  They are on the headlights of cars to.  Halogen lights.  They say they burn brighter and last longer, but all of them warn you not to touch them with your fingers…I wonder why…and so, Bears Butt went to looking and here is what I found.

Incandescent bulbs, they type you have in your house that you screw into the bulb socket and these fancy little halogen guys both have “tungsten” filaments inside of them.  Tungsten is a pretty neat metal and can take a lot of heat.  Throw a bunch of 120 volt electricity at it and it will glow to beat the band and that is what causes the light bulb to put out light.  But it will actually burn itself up unless you remove the oxygen around it…that is why you have the glass encasement…the bulb…

In a house light bulb, when you turn on the light it glows like it is supposed to, but all the while inside the bulb, unknown to you, the Tungsten filament is slowly burning off and floating around inside the glass bulb in a vapor form and depositing itself on the inside of the glass, causing the glass (real glass) to have a dark spot on it.  Over time the filament gets thinner and thinner and then one day, when you flip on the light, if flashes and pooo00ffff, it goes out…the filament finally breaks.

Caution:  Don’t touch a lighted bulb…it will burn you!

In a Halogen bulb, the filament is also made of Tungsten, but inside the vacuum tube that surrounds the filament is pumped full of  Halogen gas.  When heated halogen gas is floating around getting all hot and all, and it grabs onto the tungsten particles that are also floating around inside the bulb and it deposits those particles back onto the tungsten filament…re-cycling if you will.  So, it lasts a lot longer than if there wasn’t any re-cycling, as in the case of the house hold bulbs.

Caution:  Don’t touch a lighted bulb…it will burn you!

Halogen bulbs last longer because they recycle the tungsten back onto the filament, but they deposit it at the coolest point of the filament…it’s still pretty dang hot at that spot, but it does it anyway right there.  In the meantime, somewhere on the filament it is still getting thinner and thinner and will eventually break just like the one in the house.  Dang it!  And they cost more too.

So, why shouldn’t  you touch a Quartz Halogen bulb with your bare hands (fingers)?  The oil and salts that are on your fingers will come off and stay on the outside of the bulb…These bulbs operate at a VERY HOT temperature…like 482 degrees Fahrenheit!!!!  That is hot buddy!  Well that heat transmits to the clear “quarts” outerpart of the bulb…and if your nasty old finger oil or salt is on the bulb it won’t allow proper bulb heat displacement and it will cause that portion of the bulb to get hotter or colder than the rest and it will disrupt the equilibrium of the whole process and the tungsten filament gasses will become disoriented (sort of)  and end up depositing themselves on the inside of the quarts glass and pretty soon…poooooffffff…the filament breaks and you have to go to town to buy another bulb.  And that will most likely be when you least can afford it and at a critical time, like the night of the 3rd of July, when you like to make sure your flag is lighted and in its best order.

Well, of course what you just read is my take on why you are not supposed to touch the bulb with you bare hands and I’m sure it is sort of close to the real why.

Bears Butt

May 21, 2013