Gone Fishin!

When I was a teenager I swore up and down that I would never ever go shopping the day after Thanksgiving. I have kept that solemn vow until this year. My wife on the other hand has never met a sale she didn't like. She'll be shopping when Jesus returns I'm sure. Now she doesn't spend a lot of money she just enjoys the experience of shopping. I enjoy deer hunting. This year I volunteered to go "hunting" with her very early in the morning on "Black Friday" as they call it. She prepped me by announcing that we'd need to get up a 3:00 am! "Do what!??" Yep, 330 in the morning, 0-darkthrity, up before the chickens. I don't get up near that early to deer hunt and I like to be in the stand way before day break. Tammy has been wanting an upright mixer for about 10 years. I want her to get one, because unlike exercise equipment that doubles for a clothes hanger, this bad boy will get used. It'll get used for cakes and breads and pies and

The following article was written by my buddy Jeremy Harrill. He's a wildlife officer and founder of Heart of a Sportsman ministries. Enjoy! Stinky Boy and the Scent Rule I was sitting in my hunting blind when I heard what I thought was that familiar sound. The crunch of leaves and twigs under the hoof of a deer. I readied my bow and prepared myself to draw. I sat there for several minutes and finally decided that because it was still very early in the season my ears had not yet been fully calibrated to detect the sounds of woodland critters. The curiosity killed me, so I quietly leaned forward to take a peek out the side window of the blind. BUSTED!!! There she was, a big, fat doe peering into the blind where I sat. I don’t know who was more surprised, she or I. I could almost see my reflection in her big, brown glossy eyes. She nearly tripped over her own hooves as she ran away. The last thing I saw was her long white tail waving back and forth. As she faded into the f

The mythic hero is a character that humans have drawn inspiration, courage, determination and hope from for eons. The mythic hero in all great stories engages life in a cyclical process that reveals all those heroic qualities. We get our heroes in stories, our narratives. It is story that gives context to our lives. It is story in which we all live. Heroes all go through a process of transformation . They begin in an initiation stage where courage is revealed and they are challenged in some type of testing, usually in a training environment. They take this initiation out away in sometimes distant lands where their heroic qualities are not just trained up but put into practice. They face harsh difficulties, confronting death and tragedy. Finally the hero returns to his home or loved ones to retell the story of his triumph and his journey. It has been said we don't have heroes anymore. I disagree. I met one this week. I have recently transferred to Civil Affairs and this week I was