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that's why i drink a bottle o' nestle's quick ever morning before i go huntin'. it has whey before they decheese it and it has chocolate which is a natural big game attractant and it has been proven to be lucky to drink it. and like smokin' used to do, it makes ya look cool. all them proteins and healthy stuff is great, if you ain't old and beat up. it's bad for my generation our bodies ain't used to healthy stuff. mashed taters, gravy, biscuits, lotsa fried meat, bacon, bread and butter, burros, tacos, hershey bars, cokes, vienna sausages, sardines, head cheese, baloney, porky beans, stuff like that is what keeps old guys tickin. that healthy stuff is unhealthy if ya ain't used to it. but i do think ya all oughta buy enough of it that amanda has a hard time keepin' it on the shelf. even is she won't stock it with bacon in it. Lark.

lightning starts most of em by far. but the fact that prescribed burns, smokes, camp fires, arsonists, lightning, spontaneous combustion, etc starts a lotta fires doesn't make up for the fact that fireworks in Az is a real stupid thing. even if it is legal. a house got set on fire in glendale the other day by legal fireworks set off by guys with a permit to do it. i've set offa buncha firecrackers in my day. i love em. but there ain't no way in heck i'd light one right now, not even in my yard. i don't understand how it can be legal to sell em and own em and but not be legal to set em off? and i really don't understand how anybody can think they're a good thing in this state, especially when we're up against what we are in years like this. i know a buncha ranchers in colorado that won't let ya on their place with a gasoline engine pickup because of the fires caused by the cat convertors. lotsa fires are started by other stuff too, but that is one thing that is completely preventable. just like setting off fireworks. if ya don't do it, it takes away one of the variables. i dare anyone to go to greer or alpine and set off some roman candles right now. even if it is legal. or go to luna new mex, where they are completely legal, and do it. i dare ya. Lark.

when i read about it that's what i thought too. there were folks staying in it too, as i recall. no concern for life that's for sure. that whole thing smells pretty bad to me. just torching a landmark like that is pretty sick, but if you look at the possibilities, it could have been a real tragedy. Lark.

do you guys know what whey is? we used to call it pigmilk. when you make cheese, it is an almost clear liquid that is leftover. like little miss muffet eating curds and whey. it ain't like it's some magic deal. i used to know a guy everbody used to call pigmilk. folks would feed whey to the pigs. anyway, thought you'd like to know. Lark.

i was makin' a joke, Bill. i think that whole deal is real ironic. if they'da known the forest was gonna burn they coulda waited till now to torch it and nobody woulda been the wiseer. i read all about it while i was in nova scotia. glad you're home. Lark.

check this out. it's already started. even if it were legal, it is @$%#&^%**( STUPID!!!! http://www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/2011/06/21/20110621pinnacle-peak-brush-fire-fireworks-abrk.html like John Wayne said, life is hard, it's a lot harder if you're stupid. there are a lotta people that make life harder. Lark.

real good question. there are some stupid sumbiches in the state capital. from what i get, it's ok to sell em and buy em but ya can't light em. zat true? just as well make it ok to sell and buy heroin, as long as you don't use it. Lark.

ok, how 'bout biscuits and gravy? or pickled pigs feet? Lark.

the gov't oughta go by home depot every morning and load up all the mohows they can find and put em to work putting the fires out and when they are done put em to work building the fence on the border and when it's done pitch em all over it and tell em to go home. Lark.

i've never had much trouble shooting all the varmints i want in the day time. true, they run around a little more at night. i just don't know why a guy would want to? i'd be afraid o' shooting somethind i didn't want to shoot and it also looks to me like it would be hard to tell where you're bullet is going if you miss. and i tend to like to be in bed at night. i know guys who hunt at night and they never had any more success than a good hand does in the daylight. it doesn't really matter to me i guess, but i just don't see much need in it. it will piss off the treehuggers too. so i guess maybe it might be ok. anything that pisses them guys off is ok. Lark.

revolvers are always loud. you get a lot of blast between the cylinder and barrel. about the only pistol i can tolerate without hearing protection is a .22 auto and i have model 59 smith in 9mm that i can shoot well without ear plugs. in a semi auto, the sound is mostly all going away from you. revolvers, even really well made expensive ones, have noise going everywhere. i always put some ear plugs with the string on em around my neck and try to remember to use them. do the same when hunting with a braked rifle too. Lark.

you have any dehydrated bacon or powdered pork rinds? Lark.

dang, that rhymes and everthing. good job. Lark.

great news that you are back in your home. you are very fortunate to still have it standing and the fire fighters deserve much more than pay. pretty cool they even took time to water your flowers. good guys. musta been a woman on the crew. again, very happy to hear you are home. Lark. p.s. how did the greer lodge fare?

as it is, and i've read it numerous times, (don't know if it applies in all cases) when one of these recognized treehugger groups brings suit over just about anything, any and all legal fees are covered by the feds. the gov't pays the treehugger lawyers to take them to court. even if they lose, the treehugger attornies get paid. after the rodeo chediski fire there were plans by the gov't to salvage the timber that was usable. the treehuggers took them to court, held it up in court for over a year until the wood turned "blue", dropped the suit and walked away and the gov't paid the attorny fees for the treehuggers. all this stuff over endangered species that they lose all the time, the gov't still pays the attornies. read up on it, it's the way it works. talk about a win/win/win/win situation for the lawyers. that in itself looks to me to be the biggets problem with all this stuff. i guarantee you the treehuggers have already filed suits over stuff in the aftermath of the wallow fire. no matter what it is. even if there are no plans to do anything, they will file suit, because their attornies still get paid. Lark.

the problem is that they do get it. and the gov't won't put up anymore than a token fight. and i think before this is over the spotted owl/wolf bs will have a lot to do with what happened. Lark.

that photo says more than all the others i've seen. really puts it in perspective. the major detrimental affect this fire will have is on the calf/fawn survival. right now is a very critical time, every year. elk, deer, pronghorn and turkey are all having babies right now. it will take a large toll on the young. this fire has really let a lot of things come to the surface that need addressed. piss poor management being number 1. the fire teams say that the few places that were thinned did quite well. too bad there were only a few places like that. everything needs to be looked at, starting with the really poor managers with agendas that are different than what the mountain really needs, the way that treehuggers are able to screw things up in court, and the way the gov't just puts up token fights. main thing that needs done is the rules need to be changed to where treehuggers have to pay their own lawyers instead of the gov't repaying them, even if they lose. that rule right there causes more problems than any other. show me a lawyer that ain't gonna take a case that he can't keep from making money on. this fire should open a lot of eyes and hopefully the first few hours and days of ingoring it until it became unstoppable, will be investigated fully and the findings will made public and if there is anyone negligent they will be dealt with severely. it took some dumbasses to start it, but it took some real sorry people to stop the guys from fighting it from the get go. Lark.

why do you want to hunt at night? Lark.

then things cost more than tires. think i'll take up road huntin' and just wear house shoes. Lark.

i just called and it said they were loading the info and results should be out in about 6 to 8 weeks. Lark.

uh oh, dogpatch best look out or get some flood insurance on all them camp trailers with additions built on to em. i heard the whole place burnt down and it did $400,000 in improvements. Lark.

some great country for sure Bill. remote and rough and lots of game for sure. Lark.

go with the honda. i bought dozens of em when i still had a job. they are an invertor tho, not a generator. generators always run at 3600 rpm to make 60 cycles. no matter how much load is on it. an inverter just has to run however fast it needs to, to make up the load. that is the main reason they are quieter. they are really well insulated too. you can also get them with electric start and you can get a remote start/stop fob too. real handy when you're nice and warm in bed and don't want to get up to start or stop the generator. the inverters weigh a lot less than a generator of comparable power too. the inverter just has a thick flywheel looking deal instead of a big generator. and the hondas are bulletproof. Lark.

been talking to the 4 drag via computer a bunch. the fire is still marching south, slow and steady. burned out chitty, squirrel and warren canyons pretty good. they have a fire team in there. so far saunder's cabin is ok. i guess it really scoured out the upper part of the rim and down into dry prong and the malay country quite a bit. bet it burned up a lotta antlers. as long as the wind stays out of the south it should keep it from blowing up, but it is a long way from being done on the south edge of the fire. they lit a lot of backfires which worked pretty well because of the way the wind generally blows there. Lark.

looks like escudilla. sure burned out bead springs. Lark.