This is definitely a weird time to be alive. I speak with many people each day and the common denominator seems to be fear and uncertainty. Encompassing the Left, Right and Center. I avoid “echo chambers” at all costs and believe that healthy, rational and logical debate is a means forward. I refuse to be afraid and I refuse to accept things at face value. That being said, I would like to share 10 quotes that I have been pondering over and over as of late…
I generally abhor politics. I blame politicians for most of the ills of the world. I am not a blank check or perpetual ATM where you can spend our money at will, but that’s how it seems these days. It is NOT about facts, it is about CONTROL. I remain steadfast in using logic, deductive reasoning, rational thought and scientific facts that have been thoroughly reviewed and tested and sourced. I question everything. And I refuse to be afraid.
I hope you find these quotes interesting or thought provoking. Continue to be a decent human being and stay safe out there…
Fall is my favorite time of year and with a morning temperature of 27F and frost on the ground, I decided to hunt for rabbit. The wife opted to tag along to get some photos. So after hunting through an area I agreed to let her take pics. It felt weird to be honest…I just wanted to hunt, instead it felt like a fashion shoot or something. But seeing as how we are both learning photography and experimenting with light and composition I figured why not.
a Rabbit hangout
We saw plenty of Dove and Grey Squirrels but not a single Cottontail. Oh well, I still enjoy getting out on cool fall mornings.
I have a slant towards the nostalgic so I rarely wear camo clothing while hunting. I much prefer wool and cotton duck/canvas. At least for small game or upland species. I remember hearing about my Grandfather hunting rabbits with his single shot 16ga and his Beagles. I still have his J.C. Higgins shotgun! Some things don’t need to change I suppose.
Some people aren’t keen on hunting and I get it. But I much prefer wild game to anything that can be purchased in a store. Also, you will never see me do fist-pumps and jump up and down smiling after a kill. I much prefer to honor the quarry and give thanks to the Creator. Hunting and taking a life is a solemn and humble occasion. I take only what I need and nothing more…
The wife and I got up early this morning and took a stroll around our property. We had storms last night and as usual, we like to check the place over to make sure there weren’t any trees that had blown over onto our fencing.
It was a crisp 42F and damp, but the sun was up and it felt really nice outside. I took the camera along to take a few pics since the seasons are changing and fall colors are starting to appear.
I still have much to learn about photography but it has been fun learning so far. And it was nice to sit in the sun and contemplate the seasons and the correlation to the human life span. Until next time…
I’d like to offer my heart-felt “Thank You” to ALL who served…past and present. Coming from a long line of veterans and patriots…I can appreciate the sacrifices, sense of duty and honor that goes with taking the Oath. Cheers!
3 years ago I decided to upgrade my wet weather footwear from cheap rubber boots to more expensive Muck boots. I paid $40.00 for my first pair at Academy Sports.
$40.00 rubber boots
I needed a boot that was easy to put on and take off since we’re constantly doing various chores around the property. These worked well and have actually held up really well…they are 10 years old.
We started wearing them while fishing and noticed that we needed more aggressive tread and a better heel. We opted to try the Muck boot brand since our local Ag and Feed Store carried them. Fast forward 3 years after purchasing these and now the soles are coming apart. To say I was disappointed is an understatement.
To me this is unacceptable and I will definitely not be buying these again. Our friends have been telling us about Le Chameau boots and I have decided to try those. So far they are EXTREMELY comfortable and are a joy to walk in.
Le Chameau Chaseur Neo Side Zips
I opted for the Chaseur model with neoprene lining and side zips. Time will tell how well they perform and last, but I plan on giving them a good workout in the future.
My apologies for not writing anything to the blog lately. Things have been really hectic the past few weeks. My mother-in-law is in hospital so we have been taking care of 2 households for the past 2 weeks. I am still trying to get some chores done before winter sets in as well. In fact, I was chopping wood early this morning to get our firewood supply built up.
My son and his girlfriend are coming down for a visit this coming weekend and we also have a very good source saying that our daughter will be getting married soon. So we will definitely have our hands full of things to do.
But have no fear, I have plenty of blog ideas written down and you will be seeing some of those coming along in the near future. I don’t like being this busy…especially when it forces me to miss both opening day of deer archery season and deer muzzleloader season. We rely on the meat for the winter. Sure I could go to the store to purchase beef or whatever, but we prefer wild meat, which for us is a healthier choice. But that’s a topic for another time.
Anyway, that’s just a quick update to let you all know that we are still here and will have new content coming out.
I have spent a lot of time in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota with friends and family. I have made over 25 trips to this area and will continue to do so for as long as I am able.
I am reaching out to as many people as I can to inform them of a proposed potential environmental disaster. There are two companies actively attempting to start mining for copper sulfide. PolyMet is a Swiss company owned by Glencore and Twin Metals which is a Chilean conglomerate owned by Autofagasta. These proposed mines can heavily pollute the watersheds surrounding the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.
Looking at the history of copper mining- all of them have caused heavy pollution and contamination of soils and groundwater, as well as watersheds and wildlife. Not to mention the sheer amount of damage in the mining process alone.
I am asking any and all readers, if they see fit to do so, to sign the petition to stop the mines and save the Boundary Waters. There is an organization that is actively resisting and fighting the proposals at a grassroots level as well as in the courts.
Please go to the Friends of the BWCA website and sign the petition. Their website is http://www.friends-bwca.org
I appreciate any all who step up and try to make a difference. My sincerest thanks, VeloxSeeker.
The wife and I decided to take a walk this morning along the Arkansas River Trail. I took the Canon T7 along just to play with and get some field experience taking pictures. We saw 3 Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) which was neat.
Bald Eagle
I definitely need to get a telephoto lens and a macro lens for this camera. As we looked out into the river bed, what we saw disgusted us. Discarded tires littered the bed.
Discarded Tires! Oklahoma is one of those states that has trash laying everywhere. It’s sad.Discarded Fishing Line! This pile was too big and heavy to drag out. Frustrating!
Enough with the depressing stuff! I did try to photograph some of the local flowers. You can still find natural beauty if you look.
I am always dragging stuff home much to the wifes dismay. One of these days our house will be full of specimens. We have shelves full of jars, rocks, bones etc.
Yesterday while we were driving along the route we chose, I noticed several Osage Orange/Bois d’Arc trees bearing fruit and commented to the wife that I would like to gather some to plant on our property. As luck would have it…we found some!
Bois d”Arc/Osange Orange (Maclura pomifera) fruit.Also known as Hedge Apples, Horse Apples, Brain Fruit etc.
We will process these at the beginning of next year and plant them in the spring. We ended the outing by picking up 2 bags of trash and depositing them in the park dumpster. It’s always good for us to get out and stretch our legs and minds and this was no exception. Thank you for reading and have a great day!
Some of you may know that my wife drives a Subaru Forester, the green one we drive on most of our excursions. Hers has Method MR502 Rally rims with Falken Wildpeak A/T Trail tires which make it more suitable for driving to the places we like to go. I also drive a Subaru Forester that is silver. We’ve been saving up for months to add those same rims and tires to my vehicle. So after having them put on last week, we decided to take mine on an outing for its first trip.
We set a leisurely schedule without any firm itinerary. It’s been a rough week for both us and we wanted to relax. We had never been on most of these roads and it was fun to see “new” areas.
North End of Skiatook LakeAs the day progressed and the heat increased, so to did the wind.In Kansas driving on Bronco Road.Interesting scenery…at least we thought so
As we were driving down Bronco Road heading East to Caney, Kansas…I noticed a huge patch of Equisetum. I was pretty excited, but I’m a nerd.
Equisetum arvense…the “living fossil!”A huge patch of it!
Equisetum is the only living genus of the Equisetaceae family. A vascular plant that reproduces via spores. This particular species has been around since the Jurassic Era! Now you know…
We had a great time together and returned home at a decent hour so we could still get all of the chores done despite the temps being back into the mid-90F’s.
I’m still working my way through the camera manual and trying to learn all of the features this camera has. I hope to share some more photos in the near future so stay tuned for more. Thanks for reading.
Full admission on my part-I am not a photographer! But I have been tempted for a couple of years to move up to a full fledged DSLR camera. GoPro’s have their niche as do cell phones…but I wanted to take it to the next level.
I opted for this camera since I am a beginner and this camera is marketed as such. After several decades of taking mediocre pictures I was about to give up on the subject entirely, but decided to dip a toe into the camera pool. The Canon T7 isn’t a high-end camera but it gets good reviews so I bought it this morning.
I have NOT read the manual yet, but will soon. I did however watch a few YouTube videos to get a basic understanding of how to operate it. I opted not to use the Auto features and went straight to manual operation. I have much to learn grasshopper!
Anyway, I grabbed the camera, inserted the battery and an SD card and went looking for things to photograph…enjoy the gallery
We were spending the day with our Grandson and decided to take him with us to the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, as it is known locally.
The Preserve itself consists of 39,650 acres on which 2500 Bison are free to roam. At one time, the Tallgrass Prairie spanned 14 states from Texas to Minnesota, but now has been reduced to approximately 4% of its original size. To date, this is the largest intact section left.
These Bison are carefully managed as is the prairie itself. Prescribed burns occur periodically throughout the year since wildfires are a natural part of the prairie environment.
Just driving through the area takes you back in time. There are sections where no powerlines or fences can be seen. It gives one a small sense of what this area used to look like.
Technology meets History. Down in the draw is a small group of Bison and way off in the distance on the skyline are windmills. This area was burned not too long ago as the remnants are still visible in the foreground as is the new growth.
The previous blog post was a video we took that shows the best part of the trip. Below will be the still photos to show some of the other things we encountered.
The PrairieWide Open SpacesSmall group of Bison
This time of year, the bulls are usually solitary or in bachelor groups. All of the really big bulls that we saw were alone and way off in the distance.
2 Bulls that were just inside the boundary.Our Grandson really enjoyed the trip.Always hand a child a pair of binoculars…it pays dividends and adds to a great learning experience.
Our primary objective was to visit the main ranch complex and tour the Visitors Center but it has been closed since 30 March 2020 due to COVID.
Right side of the bunkhouse.Left side of the bunkhouse.
Throughout the course of the 15 mile trip to the Visitor Center, we gave a history lesson of both the American bison (Bison bison) and the Tallgrass Prairie to our Grandson. We stopped often and let him use his binoculars to see the Bison that were in the distance. Eventually we found 2 groups converging at a road junction that were close enough to give him a really good look at them.
Most of the young females had calves with them which was great to see.
We had a great trip and plan on including our Grandson more often. It was good to share our passion for nature with him and he was able to see us pick up trash from along the road which allowed for us to explain our ethics and stewardship of the land. He got a kick out of us telling him that “we don’t own the land, we are only borrowing it from future generations.” And as such…we don’t want him to inherit a landscape full of trash. We strive to leave it cleaner than when we found it.
I hope you enjoyed the photos. Have a great weekend.
Velox Seeker 