It goes way beyond the graphics and replays. Those don't bother me. It's the same stupid commercials over and over again. The idiot announcers and sideline reporters. The human interest stories that don't mean a fuck to me. Interviewing coaches during the fucking game. I don't care about all the superfluous bullshit they try to cram into a broadcast these days because most people have the attention span of a gnat.
So I smoke a bowl and listen to Craig.
I stream the Craig Way radio feed for games. I watch the condensed game on you tube at work.
I prefer just listening. I hate watching games live. The commercials, the announcers, and modern production styles drive me up the wall.
If you cut on state land you are supposed to have a permit. I've never done that, so I don't know how that works. We cut wood around the "neighborhood." We are technically cutting on private property, but no one is around or cares. Most of the property around here will never be developed. People bought 5 or 10 acres plots to have land in Alaska. Most have never been up here to even see it. We take problem trees, windfall trees, or standing dead. If that's not enough for the season, we know a guy out here who owns several hundred acres. He's given us permission to cut wood off of his property as long as it's for our private use. He doesn't want us to cut wood to sell to other folks.
That's money in the bank for us Northern dwellers.
Everything calms down in the winter. The animals are in calorie conservation mode. You still have to be wary of them, but a moose is not going to waste energy coming at you through the snow unless it feels it absolutely has to.
Here’s a video I took a few years ago that kinda shows what I’m talking about. I was splitting wood and heard it meandering through the snow towards me. This was a young cow that was checking me out. Very calm, she hung around for 10 or 15 minutes then moved on.
IMG_5127.mov
I do not. I love the winter. The tourists leave, the seasonal workers go away, the bugs are gone, my job slows way down. The deep cold fascinates me. It's so foreign and other worldly. The snow covered woods are beautiful. The Northern Lights are a common sight. I really enjoy getting out and exploring on a snow machine. It's a lot easier to get around when everything is frozen. Alaska is basically a swamp. The bears are asleep, so there is no worrying about critter safety and protocols. There are negatives, but the positives outweigh them in my eyes. It's a very peaceful, very simple life.
My wife says the cold and dark tickles my inner Darth Vader. She's probably right about that.
I really need to post a pic of the fabled shit stick. I'll take care of that soon.
It was weird for me too when we first moved up here. The old saying, "Keep the home fires burning" took on a completely different meaning to me...it became literal.
Nope. Just let it burn down to coals. Clean the ash out around the coals. I always leave enough coals to get the next fire started. I clean the fire box, the catalytic converter, and the stack in the summer time. We only burn properly seasoned wood, so we don't have much of a creosote problem. It really only needs cleaning once a year.
Underwood coated 220 grain hard cast flat nose
Started out with buffalo bore 220, but always had failure to feed at about round 14 or 15
Found the Underwood coated 220 grain and haven’t had a failure to feed since
The coating also eliminates lead fouling so Glock shooters can use the hard cast bullets with their original polygonal rifled barrels
Black bears are much smaller than brownies and grizzles in every way. Smaller boned, not as muscled, thinner hide. They also don’t have that “Fuck you!” attitude that grizzlies and browns have.
Lots of folks eat black bears. I’ve had it once and didn’t care for it. Browns and grizzlies are just trophy kills.