Tempering A Broken Heart

Last week I had the pleasure of hosting a very good friend of mine that was visiting from Canada. Unfortunately he was suffering from a broken heart and had recently tried to lose himself in a bottle. Luckily, he bought my logic that the Texas heat would kill him if he decided to stay in said bottle and sobered up for his ten day visit. I tried the usual lines, it wasn't meant to be, she was a skanky whore anyways, you know, the usual. It seemed to work for the most part, occasional bouts of anger and severe emotion plagued him. Luckily he held it together and I like to think that I sent him home in a better place (a little recoil therapy never hurt anyone).

But I digress, I also spent the time remembering what it was like to be in my early twenties and prone to heartbreak. Tempered thru the lens of time and quenched by a loving wife, I only have two heartbreaks of note. One that I deserved, and one that I never should have involved myself with in the first place. They both are wounds that can still be opened, perhaps by my own weakness, or by the simple power of old vivid emotions. Luckily, they are nothing like they used to be. Time may not heal all wounds, but the pain does fade into obscurity, leaving behind only the value of the lessons learned. Wether it be the knowledge that you should immediatly dump a woman that drunkenly propositions your best friend, right in front of you. Or the fact that relationships are a two way street and involve mutual likes and dislikes. The neccesity of being equally yoked in a relationship (granted thus generally doesnt come until a few years into marriage).

Finally, the fact of the matter is that there is an eternal companion out there for everyone. This quest is often fraught with peril, the twists and turns can be daunting. Not to mention having to deal with bandits and the occasional harpy. There may or may not be dragons, and nobody knows how long the quest will take, or how many miles you will have to travel, but I promise that there is a princess and a castle at the end.


Descahin, I love you like a brother. I know that it will get better and soon this will all fade into a funny story. You don't have to believe me, you just have to trust me.

Big Brown Truck

I have the coolest friends.....My thank you gift for hosting my Canadian friend.
5 pmags with 150 rounds and an extra case of 223!

I should have hit her...

Not hitting my wife led me to the Doctors office. Not hitting my wife put my right arm out of commission for several weeks. Not hitting my wife led to my worst doctor visit ever.

Maybe a little background is in order. Last week we were working in the laundry room. Of course, we had plenty of company, the dog and a small child were underfoot. I swung around unexpectedly and found my elbow about to contact my charming wife's head. A decision was made in a split second that would lead to my downfall. I chose to avoid hitting my wife and I hit the corner of the wall instead. Several days went by and all was well, no pain, no swelling, only a slight bit of discomfort.

Tuesday morning was when it all changed. I woke up to a swollen and inflamed elbow, it was warm to the touch and very tender. I immediately started heating it and starting taking Motrin to keep the swelling down. The week went by with only slight improvement. Friday came along, no swelling, but still tender and it felt that there was a bunch of fluid around the joint. I begrudgingly went to the clinic. After reviewing the dates nobody seemed very impressed with my delay, or my self diagnosis (which was correct by the way). Obviously, the first thing the Doctor ordered was x-rays. My first question was "Why?". I have decided that since I pay for it, I have the right to ask all the questions I want, and to deny tests if the Doctor cannot explain to me why they are neccesary. Little did I realize that this would change the tone for the rest of the visit. She was offended that I even questioned her judgement. She told me that she wanted to check for a break. I told her it wasn't broke. She said I couldn't possibly be smart enough to know that. Well, at least she insinuated it.

When in the room, her body language told me that she didn't want to be there. Her tone confirmed it. There she was, about my age, reasonably unattractive, hair pulled back in a simple pony tail. Her makeup was splotchily applied, foundation poorly covered by powder. I made no judgement, unfortunately,I was the only person in the room with such courtesy. She judged me based upon what I was wearing, my uniform for work. Black pleated pants, and a button down grey shirt, complete with name tags and an ISO 9000 cert patch. I also like to call it suburban camouflage. You don't know who I am, what I have done or even what I do. You are payed to provide a service to me. I expect courtesy to come along with the deal. I do not expect attitude because I dared question your judgement.

The xrays came back and confirmed all of our suspicions, the fluid in the joint was inflamed and causing the discomfort. She offered to drain it, but said that it would probably refill later. She also told me that the xrays showed no sign of gout or any other diseases.

So here is my point. I will not be accepting her services again. Why? Because I payed for a service and was not impressed. What was she looking for in the x-ray? Gout. I did not pay for xrays for her to mislead me so that she could check for gout. She didn't tell me that in the beginning, I would have said no and she wouldn't have gotten the up sale. Luckily, I pay for my own health care and nobody can tell me who I can see and who I can't. I will not be needing her services in the future. Thankfully I live in a Country where I am not told which doctor I have to see and when.

Next time, I'm just going to hit her.

Scouting Lake Meredith National Park

A few weekends ago, I decided it was time to go scout for some deer. Being new in town has some disadvantages, prime hunting land being one of those. Deciding that a family outing was called for, I killed two birds with one stone. Several friends of mine decided to join us, and we were off!

A short 45 minute drive led us to our destination, a campsite was located, strategically placed away from the other campers. I had my campsite up in about 15 minutes (the beauty of a camper), the tents took a while longer.




I was surprised at the wildlife in the park. Turkeys and deer seemed to be everywhere. My Saturday morning walk turned up about ten deer in the next draw over from camp. I truly wasn't expecting that many animals. The conservation program in the park seems to be exceptionally balanced. I'm definitely tipping my hat to whatever biologist is keeping that going. I even shot a doe that morning (calm down, with the camera).
The kids enjoyed the hiking and camping, we came home with an impressive amount of freshwater shells (I thought I left those at the ocean, oh well). I wanted to spend more time exploring the south end of the lake, unfortunatly we ran out of time. The weather had turned on Saturday night and gave us enough rain to make the tent campers uncomfortable.

Regardless of the weather, a good time was had by all. I got to spend some time out of doors, and Mrs. Sigboy was happy because we were all together, of course, I'm sure that taking the camper had alot to do with her happiness.

I believe that I found a decent spot to hunt this fall, further scouting is required. My only concern will be the number of hunters out there. I may have to death march my way in. My gut tells me that I wont find many hunters off the beaten path.

South Dakota Deer Hunt part 2

It's hunting not harvesting!

I must say that other than the full moon screwing with the deer movement, it was an excellent trip.

We stayed at the Prarie Creek lodge for $35 per night per night, per person. It was clean, had a full kitchen and laundry room. The added bonus was the hot tub. It was very nice after a 800 mile drive.

The weather was warm, that made for mud. Does anybody know the good things about mud? Yeah, I don't either.

The deer were moving about all night long. It made for hard hunting. I did however get a shot at filling my second tag. I had traded the high power rifle for my very first rifle. A Thompson Center Contender in 357 Maximum. As a brief aside, I have never killed anything bigger than a rabbit with this rifle. It has a maximum effective range of 150 yards. The key word is 'Stalk'. I saw plenty of deer between 163 and 242 yards. I did see a decent 3x3 at 140 yards. I attempted to get closer, but to no avail, we always saw each other at the same time and he disappeared into the trees. As the sky was turning red with the setting sun, I spotted a doe to the West. I fiqured the range to be just over 150 yards. I was standing. I leaned my off side against a fence post and rested the crosshairs high on her back> I squeezed the trigger and the rifle bucked against my shoulder. The rifle settled back down and int the sights I saw something almost shocking. The deer was just standing there. I reloaded and she was gone. It was not to be. I spent a half an hour looking for blood when I checked the range it was 113 yards. I shot over the top. That's why they call it hunting not harvesting.