The vigil

No groundhog is safe.

Body Count '13 - #13 & #14

Caught a couple youngn's playin' around on my favorite field after milkin' the cows the other mornin'. Took me a few warm-up shots, but I finally got dialed in.

The Dirty 30

I stumbled upon this list of fun Dirty 30 facts, courtesy of Jaclyn. P.S. My dear, you're actin' like me and slackin' on your postin'.

1. You get carded, and your first instinct is, “AWESOME.”

 I don't get carded. Maybe it's the omnipresent beard.

2. Instead of drunken party photos, your Facebook friends are all about the baby pics.

3. …and marathon times.

 I try to cut down on my FB time because of this nonsense.

4. You get super excited when you go to a concert and there are SEATS.

5. You start a story with “when I was in college” and realize that was 10 years ago.

6. When you watch teen movies/TV shows, you find yourself siding more with the parents than the kids.

7. You’ve gone to a bar and left because it was too loud.

I rarely go to the bar unless I'm workin'.

8. You have 10,000 business cards from old jobs that you have no idea what to do with.

Yup.

9. You’ve become a sunscreen nazi.

Nope. I look forward to my spring beater burn.

10. You find cool celebs who are in their early thirties and think, There’s still hope.

11. You’re getting increasingly scared to check your credit score.

My credit score's just fine, thankyouverymuch.

12. You’re seriously thinking about getting a dog. No, having a baby. No, definitely getting a dog.

In my family, they show up about the same time. Every kid needs a good dog.

13. You’d rather pay a little more for a “nice, clean” hotel room than cram into a hostel with 12 of your friends.

14. Everything cool is being marketed to people younger than you now.

15. You’ve definitely lost the enzyme that lets you digest Taco Bell.
16. There’s an increasing number of musical artists you haven’t even heard of.

17. Every night you’re like:

18. You’ve experienced the dreaded TWO-DAY hangover.
19. You realize your parents were your age (or younger!) when they had you, and you start cutting them some major slack.

My folks had two of us knocked out well before my age. My second uncle by marriage, who's one of the owners of the farm I work at, reminds me regularly that he had a pair of kids by his 23rd birthday.

20. Running hurts your knees. The elliptical hurts your knees. Everything hurts.

Too many years of contact sports. This ain't a new thing that came with 30.

21. Teen slang makes you viscerally angry.

Sweet Jesus. CenTexTim knows what I'm talkin' about. Hearin' these little bastards talk makes me want to stab kittens. Text messagin' has ruined the English language.

22. You start buying shoes based on “comfort.”

23. An 11-year-old has to show you how to do something on your smartphone.

Not quite. I one of them thar high-tech rednecks.

24. Weekend nights: Instead of having two drinks at four different bars, you have two drinks at one bar then go home.

Brings to mind that Toby Keith song. I ain't as good as I once was...

25. You voluntarily buy the “fiber” cereal.
26. You get really excited about lame stuff, like low interest rates.

27. You wonder, seriously, how you ever pulled an all-nighter.

Still do this regularly, unfortunately.

28. You’ve uttered the phrase, “I’m too old for music festivals.”
29. You’ve graduated from Ikea to West Elm.

30. You have been to a party where at least two of your friends brought their babies.

 Funny how that works.

4 Things I'm More Terrified of than Global Warming

I frequent Facebook far too much, and most of it is nonsensical bullshit babble.

Every once in a while, I get lucky and stumble upon somethin' like this here article from The Pessimist, courtesy of a marine friend of mine who is currently stationed in Germany.

To wit, two of many fantastic quotes:

One of the first things they teach you in the CPA program at Liberty University is a little something I like to call “Math”. If you went to a public school in the last twenty years, you’ve probably never heard the term before, since you were too busy being told how important it is to love yourself, regardless of your lack of achievement.

 Sad, yet pretty damn true.

One of the secondary arguments made by those who worship trees as much as they do government handouts, and hate common sense as much as they do capitalism, is that the world is going to run out of oil anyway, and that we should use what little time we have left to transition to cleaner fuels like wind and sunshine. Hell, why not just throw in rainbows and morning dew as well! Kitten power and dreams, as well!

Take a few minutes and read the rest of the article. It's full of gems.

The gloriousness of facial follicles.

As per Dictionary.com;

fact

1. something that actually exists; reality; truth.

2. something known to exist or to have happened.

3. a truth known by actual experience or observation; something known to be true.

4. something said to be true or supposed to have happened.

5. Law. . Often, facts. an actual or alleged event or circumstance, as distinguished from its legal effect or consequence.

A farmer's truth

Yup.

Independence Day

Happy birthday, 'Murica. Here's hopin' you can make it a few more before the Teleprompter-Reader-In-Chief gits ya too far gone.

Got my duck back

You might remember a damn fine duck hunt from last fall with my good buddy Tater.

Well, sure 'nuff, that ol' drake green-winged teal found his way to the taxidermist that very afternoon. I'd heard rumbin's of a fella named Randy Kuntz who wasn't too far a poke from me, that did excellent work at a more than reasonable price.

I asked him to attempt somethin' he'd never tried before, and he did a right admirable job. I certainly won't shy away from takin' anythin' to him in the future.

My girl, in lieu of her normal case of beer, got me a treasure for my birthday this year; a signed Gerald Putt print. Specifically, the 2000-2001 Pennsylvania Duck Stamp. I've be seein' Putt's work all my life, and he's done countless Pennsylvania Game News covers. I've been priviledged enough to watch him paint in person at his booth at the Pennsylvania Farm Show. For us artsy-fartsy hunter types, he's purty much a legend.

My diabolical plan is to complete a display with the mount and the print incorporated with each other. Should make a damn fine addition to the man cave when I git 'er done.