By: David Elzey,
on 9/12/2014
by Chris Haughton Candlewick 2014 Four black-ops solders take on an impossible night mission with little hope of success. Just kidding! In the depths of a purple-blue night four night stalkers our out with their nets in hopes of coming across something to catch. Actually only three of the stalkers have nets, the smallest seems to be tagging along. When they come across a bird the Little One
By: Claudette Young,
on 2/20/2012
Growing up in the Midwest during the 50’s and 60’s took less effort than it does today, or that’s how it seems from my perspective.
I wouldn’t be a teen today for any amount of money. My friends and I had greater freedoms then; greater responsibilities as well, I suppose, especially those of us who lived in the country. I can only speak from that perspective since I didn’t have the “townie” frame of reference.
We country kids grew up with a different sense of the world. Take hunting and fishing, for example. Most of our dads did both. Sometimes Moms helped out in that hunter-gatherer pursuit. I know mine did.
When I was in elementary school, it seemed that Dad went fishing every weekend. There are family photos that show some of his catches; catfish, bass, crappie, and others. Much of the time his preference was catfish. He and a few of his friends would spend the weekends at the river or large creeks in the county and they’d fish. We had a freezer full of fish at all times.
Perhaps this explains why the smell of catfish makes me wretch; over-exposure at an early age.
Hunting worked much the same way. Dad took me squirrel hunting when I was about six. He gave up that idea because I couldn’t see well enough to avoid pit-falls, small twigs in my path, and other noise-makers. I also could never see the prey in the trees. My participation, therefore, was pointless. I would never be Diana on the hunt.
Bless his heart; he just couldn’t give up hope for me. When I was about eight, he stood me outside, facing the door to the shed, on which was tacked a homemade target. In his hands was a .22 caliber short-stock rifle. Thus began my instruction in the use of firearms. I practiced until he was satisfied that I could consistently hit the target and then the bulls-eye. As soon as I accomplished that, I didn’t have to do it anymore.
Of course, he wasn’t serious about me using a rifle to go hunting. I don’t have a memory of his taking me rabbit hunting, for instance. I would succeed with that only when the prey stood still, giving me a clear field for a heart shot. I doubt that would have ever happened.
At age thirteen, I received my introduction to archery. By my own reckoning, I did well enough. I don’t remember losing too many arrows. My brother took his training with me. He’d completed and passed his other trials with flying colors and went on to hunt very successfully with his own bow and arrows. I never hunted that kind of prey.
During those early years Dad taught me all sorts of skills, most of which I can’t remember now unless conditions are absolutely perfect. He delivered regular dissertations on local flora identification with explanations of purpose, leaves, bark (if any), resident fauna, and other lessons.
Along the way, brother and I learned how the climate affected our small part o
By: Jennifer Wylie,
on 2/3/2012
In which I try, very hard, to stay off my soapbox. First off, I’ll tell you how I ended up with my Border Collie. I grew up with Setters and had always intended on getting one myself one day. They are a great breed, fun, smart enough, high energy and beautiful. I fell in love with Border Collies several years ago when my dog’s full brother came to live with me for a few months. His person is a good friend of mine, and she was going to be overseas on an internship for months so I agreed to keep him. What a life changing experience. He was amazing. Smart, easily trained (he was four or five at the time I believe), loving, a great companion. Naturally when I was finally ready for my own dog I decided I wanted a BC too.
Kira, my BC, is a year and eight months old, and she is the delight of my life, but she’s a ton of work. I did a lot of research because I knew Border Collies were a whole different style of dog than the Setters I had grown up with. Honestly, even my experience with Liam (my friend’s dog), and my research, didn’t truly prepare me for life with a female BC puppy. Let me tell you, the guys are much more mellow (read as less intense, not hyper) than the girls in this breed. And OMG are they smart. (This is the beauty and the curse of the breed.)
This is what my typical day is like. During my workweek (I work four, ten-hour days, and I work nights) I get up, let Kira out, do some writing work, play with my dog for as long as I can, get ready and go to work. In the summer I also come home and play fetch with her with her glow in the dark Chuck-It ball. Best Invention Ever!
During the weekend I get up, go to the barn for a few hours with my dog, do writing work, broken up with fetch and other training, play with my dog of various sorts, more writing work, more playing with my dog, etc. On Sundays when weather permits we have flyball practice, on Mondays we have herding lessons. Sometimes we have clinics and trials and tournaments to go to. Is this starting to sound like having a kid? Yep… from what I can tell from parents, this is exactly like having a kid except that I am legally allowed to leave her for long periods of time. You’ll also notice I don’t mention hang out time with friends here… Pretty much, if it doesn’t involve my dog, I’m not likely to do it. I make exceptions, but she needs a lot of exercise to stay sane during the workweek when I am gone.
(Here’s my soapbox. I’ll keep it short.) I mentioned above that their intelligence was the curse and beauty of the breed. The reason is this. People get Border Collies because they are cute, smart and great companions. What they often don’t realize is how smart BC’s are and that they were bred to work. It is so ingrained in them, that if they don’t have a job, they’ll make one up. A lot of times they become destructive in their quest for a job. The human doesn’t know what to do with the dog and then the dog ends up in a shelter… Border Collies should only be in active households. They need exercise, lots of it, every day, and a job to keep their minds active. However, you can teach your BC to clean up the kids toys, clean up the laundry, help dig flower beds, probably even dust, if you take the time to work with your dog. They are amazing and the possibilities are endless. There are other cautions with this breed, for example their herding instinct is so strong, that, while they are amazing with kids, sometimes they can try to herd them too. They know they need to keep the kids safe, but if the ki
By: Jennifer Wylie,
on 11/14/2011
I’d like to welcome as my guest author today Marie Dees! Read on about her fun ghost hunting adventure!
I went ghost hunting this weekend at Ashley’s of Rockledge, a Florida restaurant with a long history of being haunted. I car pooled with two young ladies who lived near me, one who had never been ghost hunting and one who is now the newest member of the team. Mostly because Mike didn’t see what we were getting up to on the investigation. (If you read this, don’t tell him.)
Ghost hunts are interesting things, and they all work a little differently. Mike, who leads the team, is as serious as the guys you see on Ghost Hunters on TV. (Serious like Jason Hawes from TAPS, not Zak from Ghost Adventurers.) This investigation ran very late because we had to wait for the restaurant to shut down. (Thanks to the folks at Ashley’s for giving us the run of the place.) But this meant by the time we got going it was late at night and perhaps that influenced the events and why my table was like the bad girls who sit in the back of the classroom and don’t pay attention to the teacher.
When we ghost hunt, the team brings tons of equipment. (Yes, like the stuff on Ghost Hunters.) But since we were in a restaurant, we had the equipment on Mike’s table while the rest of us sat at the other tables. Mike led the sessions and we all let him know when we were getting responses. This worked fine upstairs. Then we moved to the area that was booths.
So, the three of us found ourselves sitting in a booth where we couldn’t really see what was going on in the main part of the investigation. And we discovered there were four of us, because we seemed to have picked up a ghost who was more interested in hanging out with us than having a serious question and answer session with Mike.
See, ghosts can be like that. They may not be interested in the serious questions the investigator is asking like “can you tell us how you died?” Especially if three teams of investigators have been looking into the same area. The ghost might be floating around thinking “look, I told the last guy how I died. Do you have anything more interesting?”
For this ghost, what was more interesting was a flashlight a collection of crystals. The restaurant was dark and we spent about 20 minutes putting various shiny objects – from jewelry to a large quartz crystal – in front of the flashlight so the ghost would turn the light on and off. At one point, I picked out one of Cara’s crystals, trying to see in the dark if it was perhaps a piece of ametrine. Then I put it in front of the maglite flashlight and whispered a request for the ghost to turn the flashlight up as much as possible so I could see the crystal. The maglite came on and kept getting brighter until we could all see the crystal.
The interesting part was that by then, we’d all become so used to the ghost cooperating, it didn’t even surprise us. Instead we were all more worried that Mike would notice we weren’t paying attention to the main investigation and ask us to behave more appropriately. All of us, including the ghost. But sometimes girls, and apparently ghosts, just wanna have fun.
If you’re interested in the paranormal, check out my blog and my books over at http://Mariedees.com. My current ghost hunting research will soon figure into both the Cassadaga Mystery series and Lucifer’s Boys M/M erotica series.
By: Greg Leitich Smith,
on 6/18/2011
By: Rebecca,
on 9/30/2008
Coordinates: 63 0 N 11 0 E
Population: 4,611,000 (2006 est.)
Thanks to Sarah Palin’s Vice Presidential nomination, moose have been appearing in the US news quite a bit more than usual. In Scandinavia however—particularly Norway—the largest member of the deer family frequently makes headlines and generates an equally large amount of money for the Nordic country; one estimate puts the value of this year’s meat yield alone at $60 million. For a nation that imported over $5 billion in food last year, this is no small sum. The 5-week hunting season in Norway began last Thursday and will likely result in a lessening of the population by about 35,000 animals. Besides the monetary benefit to sportsmen (and women), this annual culling means safer highways and railroads for Norwegians, and, some would argue, a cleaner atmosphere for the rest of us.
Ben Keene is the editor of Oxford Atlas of the World. Check out some of his previous places of the week.
By: Michelle White Illustration,
on 3/4/2007
What a sweet tribute to your dad! I wish I could have studied with him too.
Ah, Ruth, I think you would have enjoyed it. If I could have retained all that he taught, and gain all that he still knows, I’d be a wealthy woman in knowledge.
Unfortunately, we have to age to appreciate all those long-ago lessons. Would that we had been as bright as we thought we were back then.
I’m glad you enjoyed the post.
Claudsy
Hi,
I’m finding you for the first time through IComLeavWe, and I have to say, what a wonderful first post to have read by you. You have captured your father’s essence in these words, even though I do not know him, I feel I do through the power of your writing.
Best wishes- I will return to read more of your writing,
Casey
Thank you, Casey. I see by your website that you deal with loss and the grieving process. Grief is a hard subject, but talking and writing about it is definitely a valuable tool.
I’m so glad that you enjoyed my post and that you’d like to return. Please do so. I like repeat visitors. Thank you again for stopping by and taking the time to comment. Dad is still teaching, though he never stood in front of a classroom.
Claudsy