|
Post by Russ Koon on Sept 6, 2020 12:22:39 GMT -5
I have a nephew who underwent gastric bypass surgery and can't eat his squirrel meat anymore unless it's ground. He has become very fond of squirrel pizza. The pic's wouldn't have any noticeable differences from a regular pizza made with any other ground meat, but his now are often either ground squirrel or ground venison.
One of my favorite ways to enjoy them are baked in the oven with a can of french onion and one of mushroom soup. Simple and easy, not as quick as fried or as slow as the slow cooker, but has some of the benefits of both. Even the tough old grays become very edible when baked in a covered dish at 350. Been a few years since I baked one that way, and I'll have to check my notes to recall the temp and time I decided on as best.
My kid brother used to have his first mother-in-law's recipe for squirrel and dumplings that everyone in the Ellettsville area seemed to love. Had it once and it was delicious, but I think the original recipe is probably lost forever now.
|
|
|
Post by Russ Koon on Sept 6, 2020 12:20:23 GMT -5
I have a nephew who underwent gastric bypass surgery and can't eat his squirrel meat anymore unless it's ground. He has become very fond of squirrel pizza. The pic's wouldn't have any noticeable differences from a regular pizza made with any other ground meat, but his now are often either ground squirrel or ground venison.
One of my favorite ways to enjoy them are baked in the oven with a can of french onion and one of mushroom soup. Simple and easy, not as quick as fried or as slow as the slow cooker, but has some of the benefits of both. Even the tough old grays become very edible when baked in a covered dish at 350. Been a few years since I baked one that way, and I'll have to check my notes to recall the temp and time I decided on as best.
My kid brother used to have his first mother-in-law's recipe for squirrel and dumplings that everyone in the Ellettsville area seemed to love. Had it once and it was delicious, but I think the original recipe is probably lost forever now.
|
|
|
Post by Russ Koon on Sept 6, 2020 10:58:50 GMT -5
First pic had me thinking of our "Indiana " the paw-paw. The size description hinted that it would be something a bit larger, though. The second pic indicates definitely a different species, with that much orange in the color of the pulp. Still similar in pit size relative to overall size. I was much more familiar with paw-paws than with Mexican mangoes, but I've become pretty fond of mangoes in recent years, too, and that interior color looks right, so I'd go with that call as a best guess. But now that you've got my mind on paw-paws, I better check my favorite trees, they should be ripening about now.
|
|
|
Post by Russ Koon on Sept 2, 2020 21:42:04 GMT -5
My personal favorite was Eisenhower. Eight straight years of peace and prosperity, with the Interstate system creation as a bonus to our infrastructure, and America seemed to be a better place for his leadership.
|
|
|
Post by Russ Koon on Aug 28, 2020 11:27:15 GMT -5
I'll second the motion to get a rangefinder ASAP. Even if you don't plan to use it to actually find the distance to game while hunting, it will be the best tool to use in developing your ability to accurately range things by eye. You will be able to practice anywhere and almost anytime, across various topography and past various intervening obstacles that will otherwise affect your attempts to effectively rangefind by eye alone.
Not at all necessary to get the latest and greatest. I bought the one I'm using now at a local pawn shop for $25, and it's been completely reliable and accurate.
Developing your ability to range things by eye will take many, many more hours without the rangefinder to verify your initial estimate, especially when there is a bit of a rise in the ground between you and your intended target, or when ranging across a pond. Some of us have been shooting 3D tournaments for most of our lives and even with all that practice, the rangefinder still is a quick and handy way to sharpen our "eye" as season approaches each summer.
Also, the best way to use one when hunting is to use it when you have settled in to your stand, blind, or the stump you want to sit on, and range a few reference points nearby....that white oak that's dropping acorns may be 28 yards away, so the deer that comes along the trail to feed near it will be around 25, for instance. Just a couple reference points in either direction from your location will be a great help in the excitement of the moment when one does come into view.
|
|
|
Post by Russ Koon on Aug 22, 2020 14:39:43 GMT -5
July 21, 2005, @ 1:10 pm. Thanks again, Woody. Been a real pleasure and a very helpful experience these last 15 years and 31 days 8^)
|
|
|
Post by Russ Koon on Aug 21, 2020 11:36:38 GMT -5
I disagree on some points of theology and the definitions of personal freedoms, but I agree completely on the upcoming election.
I'm a Libertarian, but when it comes time to voting in a national election, the need to preserve the republic and what's left of the rule of law is THE paramount consideration. Not the personality of Donald Trump, or his tweets, just the governing philosophy of the opposing party.
I'll probably be voting for a Libertarian in whatever state or local races where one is running, but definitely AGAINST the Democratic candidate in the race for President. Their only arguments among other Democrats is the speed they would like us to attain in the downhill slide into a completely Socialist government, and the total elimination of the Second Amendment.
Trump 2020 !
|
|
|
Post by Russ Koon on Aug 19, 2020 11:02:11 GMT -5
Found several yesterday while searching for a lost arrow on the hillside behind my target. Didn't have any way to carry them out with me at the time, but I'll be going back up there today or tomorrow with a bread sack and my hiking sticks. I've seen them before out at the consy club property, but have never gathered them.
|
|
|
Post by Russ Koon on Aug 17, 2020 18:13:37 GMT -5
Haven't looked that up yet, but I did notice that the Brown County property was described in the newspaper article as being 6 miles west of Nashville and in the photo caption as being 6 miles east, so we have our choice of two places to go see it.
I'm guessing that 6 miles west is probably correct, and I think that would likely describe part of Yellowwood State Forest that is also already part of that state forest. But I could be wrong. Have to check out the forest property boundaries on the GIS map later when I get time.
|
|
|
Post by Russ Koon on Aug 17, 2020 18:01:52 GMT -5
Definitely go for it!
Been saying for about forty years now that I sure wish I'd bought this or that piece of ground as I watched the prices consistently rise faster than the investments I was making.
They ain't makin' any more ground. It's only gonna go up.
|
|
|
Post by Russ Koon on Aug 16, 2020 19:16:48 GMT -5
That appears to be identical to the .22 I bought well used for ten bucks with my first hay money when I was 14! I just mentioned that gun in another thread a couple days ago. I didn't recall the model number on mine, but it was a hand-cocked single shot Stevens and appears to be the exact same model.
Mine was pretty good mechanically when I bought it, but I put a lot of ammo through that gun in the next few years and it had finally become so loose that it was spraying my face with powder residue at every shot when I finally managed to upgrade to a Savage .22 over .410 that I thought would be a versatile replacement.
|
|
|
Post by Russ Koon on Aug 16, 2020 12:23:08 GMT -5
Checked Bradis?
|
|
|
Post by Russ Koon on Aug 16, 2020 12:14:14 GMT -5
Hmmm...might be helpful at that. I remember being fooled a few times by a small sports car that had small diameter headlights that were positioned low on the vehicle's front end only about half as far apart horizontally as they would have been on a full-sized vehicle. At night, when it was the only approaching vehicle, that thing appeared for all the world like an approaching full-sized vehicle would have at twice the distance from our local road's entry point to the four lane highway. First time I got fooled by it I Had to hit the brakes pretty hard and abort my intended crossing of the crossover to make a left onto the northbound lanes.
Saw the car a few times after that so I think it was probably a local area driver, but never found out the exact make and model. I expect the owners of that particular model would have some interesting stories about the number of "distracted drivers" that had pulled out in front of them too closely at night.
The owners of small sports cars probably wouldn't be likely to mount a light bar facing backwards, but maybe couple of small inconspicuous ones on the backside of the front bumper would be good idea.
|
|
|
Post by Russ Koon on Aug 13, 2020 13:02:30 GMT -5
One of my mom's favorite jokes about Indiana..."South Bend's in the north, North Vernon's in the south, and French Lick ain't what you think it is either!"
|
|
|
Post by Russ Koon on Aug 12, 2020 11:20:38 GMT -5
Featherduster, I'm 75. We moved to the farm when I was 14, just in time to get introduced to throwing bales of hay onto a slowly moving wagon at our new neighbor's place. A cousin my age had spoken about the job and had done a little of it the previous summer in his neighborhood, and there wasn't much else to do for spending money six miles from the nearest paved road, so I jumped on the opportunity. And of course a new transplant into the rural life at age 14 needs a rifle, so my first payday had a place to go very quickly.
|
|
|
Post by Russ Koon on Aug 11, 2020 23:08:31 GMT -5
61 years ago, when I used my first haying payday for a used single shot Stevens .22, the country store close to our little farm sold .22 shorts for 59 cents a box, and the long rifles were about thirty cents more. I bought a lot of shorts.
Eventually, after much practice, I found the LR to have better accuracy, and by that August when season came in I was shooting the lrhp's most of the time, but would sometimes get a box of short hollow points when they were cutting on hickory, because I had a few spots where I could just lay pretty much under a hickory and wait for one to turn crossways on a limb, and the distance was usually under 30 feet. The quieter shorts didn't spook the other squirrels as much, and had plenty of power and accuracy at that range. The good old days.
|
|
|
Post by Russ Koon on Aug 10, 2020 11:36:10 GMT -5
Might want to start thinking about what to call the state where we now live, and it's capitol city.
I'm from South Bend, originally, and I suppose it should be safe since it's still located on the southernmost bend of the St. Joseph River. The river name and the county name may need to be altered, and the favorite college football team in my home area is already under fire to change from the "Fightin' Irish" that had us all celebrating any Irish ancestry we could claim or imagine when the Golden Domers regularly crushed most invaders on their turf every fall. A lot of us snickered about the number of Irish 280# linemen with names that ended in "-ski or -zak", but we didn't see it as being racist or in any way denigrating to either the Irish or the Polish.
"Aboriginala" doesn't exactly flow off the tongue, does it? "Indigenia"? That could work, and we could still keep the capital's nickname of Indy, and wouldn't have to settle the squabble between the half dozen or so tribes that inhabited various area in the state prior to it's renaming the first time.
|
|
|
Post by Russ Koon on Aug 9, 2020 11:30:00 GMT -5
I agree, stevein, and that's the reason I joined the Libertarian Party last year. I'll likely still vote for the most conservative candidate on the Republican slate in many races, especially any that appear to be close ones, but I want to make a statement with my support of another option and a party with a platform of advocating smaller and less intrusive government, lower taxes, and less foreign military involvement. I do have a few issues where I disagree with the stance of the party, but the bulk of their platform and their reason for existence has been consistently in the direction of reduced government and more personal freedom. And that includes the strongest statement of any party in support of the Second Amendment.
I can't help wondering when I see a post or hear a comment wishing for another option to the two major parties, whether the person expressing that wish has just not noticed that we've had that option in most of our elections for several decades, or if there's some other overriding objection that keeps them from supporting the Libertarian Party.
Choosing the Libertarian candidate in a general election doesn't preclude anyone from choosing a major party candidate in another race, and even joining the party doesn't limit your choices in any manner. It simply supports the existence of the third party option. Will we ever become a truly viable option in enough elections to have a stronger influence on national policy? I don't know, but it sure won't happen unless more people take the time and effort to show support.
I don't know if it's our only hope, but it sure looks like it may be our best bet for a peaceful reversal of the policies of our current statist governments offered by the Republicrats and the Demicans.
|
|
|
Post by Russ Koon on Aug 8, 2020 21:32:53 GMT -5
It's the curse of democracy. The warnings have been there since the Greeks instituted the original democracy. Our country began as a republic, with democratically elected officials as representatives of the people, but with many positions held by appointed people. As long as the public was not in direct control of more than one branch of the three, things progressed well enough, but as the country grew larger we slipped into increasing trends toward making things more democratic, from increasing the voting base to include all male citizens instead of just the ones over the age of 21 who held property, to finally include women and teens, and now even convicted felons in most states.Tests to establish that the prospective voter had at least some basic knowledge of how a government operated were eliminated as being racist (and they were used to screen out the black vote in some areas). It all seemed to be the right thing to do, and probably was in terms of inclusion. However, the more democratic we became, the more susceptible the government became to the inherent perils of a democracy that were foretold by many through history. Foremost among them was that when the public in a democracy discovered that they had the key to the treasury they would soon bankrupt the nation.
That's pretty much how we, and most every other country, got to the place where we are today.
As to how we get out of this place and back into a place where we pay for stuff when we get it, individually and as a nation, I don't know.The few places that seem to have come back to fiscal responsibility appear to share a very traumatic and terrible history of lost wars and being governed by then foreign powers that defeated them, but they also appear to trend towards repeating their earlier mistakes and again descending into mob rule over their treasuries.
Maybe we can borrow our way out of it. But I doubt it.
|
|
|
Post by Russ Koon on Jul 23, 2020 13:05:49 GMT -5
Waynes, Yeah, didn't take that one seriously, thus the smiley at the end of the sentence where I mentioned it.
I've never been tempted to check into that much automation of hunting, either, but there may have been a fleeting thought or two during a late season chilly rain and a four hour sit with no movement of anything furry except one gray squirrel that looked like he was about as miserable as this old bowhunter shivering on the ladder stand platform.
It must be fun, we keep doing it and we're sure not getting paid for it. 8^)
|
|