Outdoor Writer

Okay, this is downright weird. Don't be suspicious; nothing is going to jump out or scream at you. Just follow the instructions and be sure to wait the entire 30 seconds. 1.- Open the Strobe link 2.- Then "click me to get trippy” and leave your hand resting on the mouse 3.- Look at the center of the screen and count to 30, and then ... 4.- Look at your hand holding the mouse, without moving it away from the mouse … NOT BEFORE! What you will experience is called "cenesthetic hallucination"

Aaaha, chiggers, eh? I received several very itchy bites just above my socks and chalked them up to mosquitoes, even though I didn't see any. I bet they were chiggers, though.

Super news, Bill. Glad all is well. luvcoues, There was a write-up in the Republic the other day about the X-Diamond. It made it through unscathed, according to Wink. She's a neat lady, BTW.

Wow, what a super day! Thanks again to Lance and Carrie -- and everyone else who pitched in -- for a super time in the cool pines from Ellen and me. The weather was fantasic, the food was tasty (especially the smoked buffalo) and the people and dogs were great fun. Hershey told me he would like to thank everyone as well for making him a welcome addition to the annual gathering. He said he really enjoyed meeting so many new friends, both the two and four-legged kind. He would have posted here sooner, but he was really, really exhausted from all of the playtime. He slept all the way home, and after he ate his dinner, he crashed on his dogie bed for the night. Anyway, he sends a big wuff-wuff to everyone. Oh, and now he insists that I buy him a tennis ball. I have a couple pix and will post when I get a few spare minutes.

Ellen and I -- and Hershey -- will be leaving about 7ish Sat. a.m. So we should be there about 9:30 or so. I'm bringing a couple hunks of mule deer summer sausage to snack on.

Went to the AZ taxidermy show earlier today and finally got to see my bobcat and rattlesnake diorama. It was done by Chris Krueger -- Krueger Creations, and it won a first-place blue ribbon in the Masters Division. The voting for the People's Choice award is going on until 4 p.m., but I imagine he's got a good shot at that, too, since I saw several folks voting for it. We kind of modeled it off this at the 1:22 mark near the very end. I took a couple quick pix (below) but didn't use the flash since the mount was sitting close to the wall; it would have caused a great big black shadow. There was already a shadow from the room lights. So without the flash, the pix aren't tack sharp. Chris will be taking other photos, though, against the nice black backdrop he uses. I'll add them when he does. I also got to meet Dale. He also did well with the awards, and his boy won a 1st place in the youth division for his squirrel rug!! Congrats.

Chris did a super job on it. Here's a list of what the mount won: *State Champion Life Size (Best of Catagory) *Master's Division - First Place *Artisan's Award - most artistic piece *McKenzie's Best Lifesize *People's Choice Award And...a few pix Chris and Mary took today from different angles: These are the parts that went into the mount before the alterations. The bobcat form is one of Chris' original sculptures sold through Research, which he dramatically changed for my mount. The steel rod, which Chris cut and welded to shape, goes from the base through the snake and into the bobcat's mouth. The 'cat will slide off the snake, and the snake is also removable from the base.

This is mount of two Texas whitetails Chris recently finished for me. It's resting on the table until I can get to building the pedestal base. He is now working on two Coues bucks that will be in a similar pose/setting.

When my silver lady lab, Sasha, died a while back, my wife and I took her early death pretty hard. As a result, we had vehemently proclaimed, "no more dam_ed dogs." We fibbed. The tale behind the change of heart..... After Sasha died, the gal at the Arizona Labrador and Giant Breed Rescue {ALGBR} organization who had facilitated Sasha's adoption for us asked me if I would consider being a foster home. I told her we would eventually. So about two weeks ago she called and asked if I would foster a chocolate lab named Hershey until ALGBR found a permanent home for him. Obviously, before I agreed I asked lots of questions and as usual expressed my dislike for male dogs, even though I've had a couple before. Turns out Hershey was originally turned over to ALGBR for adoption about a year ago. He was five years old then. So he went into a foster home -- one with many younger kids and two other labs -- a yellow and a black. After a few weeks, the foster family decided to keep him, perhaps because Hershey completed the set, so to speak. Anyway, that relationship lasted until a couple weeks ago when Hershey grabbed a cookie out of the hand of the 9-yr. old son and accidentally grabbed a finger but didn't even break the skin. The boy is autistic, however. As a result, every time he saw the dog, the kid had screaming fits. Hershey was thus relegated to spending his hours in the laundry room whenever the boy was home. It wasn't the ideal life, especially for a dog like Hershey. Sooooo...the family rightly decided to return Hershey back to ALGBR for another adoption to someone who could provide a better home environment. Finally, after I spoke with Holley, the lady of the family, I was satisfied that Hershey would be fine among all my various taxidermy items -- skins, skulls, etc. laying about the house -- that he would have ready access to. I also don't allow dogs on the furniture; she assured me he doesn't chew things and doesn't "do" furniture or beds. His downside: he supposedly would eat anything he could find on the kitchen counters, floor or whatever, and he barked a lot, especially when he wanted to eat, play, heard noises outside, etc. They even used a bark collar on him. Still, I agreed to take him in until he was adopted. So on a Sunday a bit over a week ago, Holley brought him to my house. As I watched her walk Hershey up the driveway, I thought she had a black bear on the leash. He's big; she told me he weighed 108 lbs. So in they came and Hershey immediately came to me for a friendly greeting. At that point, Holley said he probably might need to go out. I removed his leash and had him follow me to the dogie door. He had never used one before. I held open the flap, he went out, did his business and came back in through the door. I never had to show him again. He then went over to Sasha's kennel and grabbed her Kong toy. He brought it to me and dropped it at my feet. He then walked off and sat down, waiting for me to toss it to him. He caught it in mid-air, just like Sasha always did. So he moved in and quickly adapted. That night, he met my wife at the door when she came home from work. She didn't know he would be there. I had told her we might be getting him, though. She didn't really have a problem with it but was surprised to see this monster waiting to greet her. To date, although we have been careful when defrosting steaks and stuff, he has not even looked at "bait" food on the counter. And I'd bet he hasn't barked more than four or five times since he's been here. He's highly obedient and knows sit, stay, down, heel and come. He'll walk without a leash and readily climbs into the back seat of my Durango to go for a ride. Within two days, I taught him to "kennel" when we eat dinner. He stays in it with the door open now until I finish eating, get him a treat or two and sit on the sofa in the family room. When I say "OK," he walks over, sits and gives me a paw to get the treats. Best of all, he even listens to Ellen. After three days here, I quickly assayed Hershey as the perfect gentleman. I had decided I wouldn't mind keeping him, even with my dislike for male pups. BUT...I wasn't too sure Ellen would agree to this part since she was reluctant to even do the foster home bit. Thus, I had to wait for the right time to even think about mentioning it. And now for the rest of the story.... Last Weds. night, I was sitting on the family room couch, and my wife was sitting in the recliner a few feet away. Hershey was sitting next to her on the floor with his head on the arm of the recliner. Ellen was petting him, and Hershey was eating it up. She looked at him and said, "Hershey, you're such a super boy." Suddenly my brain went "BINGO!" It was the opening I had waited for. I quickly jumped into it. "You know," I said, "even though I don't care for male dogs, we really ought to think about keeping him." At that point, I expected one of two replies. Either she might say, "No way. I said no more dogs," or "Well, let's think about it for a while." Instead, I got, "But he's so mellow and good." From the tone of that, I knew it was a done deal. The next day I called the gal at ALGBR and told her we wanted to keep Hershey. She was ecstatic because she had met him when he originally came to ALGBR and thought he was a great dog. So she set up an appointment to visit the organization's vet to make sure Hershey was in good shape. Other than a minor ear infection and his weight -- now at 114 lbs. -- every thing tested perfect. We are now in the process of an official adoption. Now we have to work on getting his weight down to the 87 lbs. he was a year ago. Meet Hershey.........

Good luck with your entries!

I'll be there about 10 a.m. Chris Krueger is entering a my bobcat/rattlesnake diorama in the competition, and I haven't even seen it yet!! BTW, I think the public viewing is open from 8 to 4, no??

Big Lake circa late 1960s: Me at the back and from left to right: Keith, Stacey and Scott. They are now 49, 48 and 46. Keith and I on the lake. Scott ready to catch a few trout from shore.

Ellen and I will probably do the same as last year -- just drive up for the day on Sat. to get out of the valley for a while. This time we'll have have a six-year-old choclate lab named Hershey with us. He's arriving at my house today as our foster "child" from the Arizona Labrador & Giant Breed Rescue organization, where we had adopted Sasha. We'll watch over and feed him until someone adopts him.

Yeah, I figured that. El kinda filled me in on all the wins and buys on the drive home. But trust me, if I had purchased a blitz ticket for the cash, I would have been sure to leave it with her, as I did with the other tickets. Of course, it wouldn't have mattered much since I never win anything. I've probably been to two dozen fund raising dinners over the past decades and have yet to win even a free taco at Taco Bell.

Hector, Yuppers, that's where I went. I have no idea what made me ill, but it had all the symptoms of food poisoning. All I had eaten all day was a bag of peanuts and a couple granola bars. I was already feeling bad before eating a roll, the salad and the prime rib, and the only thing I had to drink to that point was a Corona with a piece of lime. I was much better by time we left at 11 and had no ill effects Sun. a.m. Go figger. BUT...despite me being in abstencia, Ellen had a great time. So thanks to everyone at the table for wife-sitting. And no, I didn't purchase a blitz ticket. All we had were the general raffle ones -- about 35 of them.

Very nicely done and certainly unique.

I forgot in my message above to apologize to the folks at our table -- and any others that might have missed me -- for disappearing forever. It was a tough night, and I would like to thank everyone who showed concern, including a couple strangers who asked about my well-being outside the doors. That said, I enjoyed meeting all the new acquaintances at our table and visiting with some old friends, as well. And lastly, congrats to all the rats that won something; I no longer consider you friends.

Hector, I will NOT be paying Amanda for my banquet tickets since we didn't win any raffle items.

Super, Tam. The diference between an artist and an amateur is quite an eye opener, eh?

Amanda, Put Ellen and me down for two tickets. JUST BE SURE I GET THE WINNING RAFFLE TICKETS!!!

Hector, I also indulge of one about once every two weeks. It's become one of my favorite meals to treat myself to when I get the urge.

Costco has excellent racks, but they ain't cheap.

Expert Shooter

The above, which limits the TOTAL capacity to THREE shells applies only to federally regulated migratory avian critters. The following applies for all other wildlife in AZ: R12-4-303 Unlawful Devices, Methods, and Ammunition 3. Shotguns larger than 10 gauge or shotguns capable of holding more than five shells in the magazine, unless plugged with a one-piece filler that cannot be removed without disassembling the gun, and that limits the magazine capacity to five shells; 4. Semiautomatic centerfire rifles with a magazine capacity of more than five cartridges, unless the magazine is modified with a filler or stop that cannot be removed without disassembling the magazine;

PHOENIX - Green Valley Park in Payson, Arizona, will undergo an amazing transformation on Saturday, May 7, when its sprawling grassy expanses turn into a carnival full of wildlife and fun outdoor activities. The 17th annual Payson Wildlife Fair will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. that day, and organizers have been working hard to make it the best yet. Admission to the public is free. "This is a great way for the family to spend a Saturday," says Natalie Robb, Arizona Game and Fish Department wildlife manager in the Payson Sector. "Parents and kids can fish, play games and get a close-up look at lots of amazing animals, including all sorts of raptors. The wildlife featured is magnificent." In addition to birds of prey, other live animals on display will include rattlesnakes, Gila monsters, prairie dogs and an alligator. Fair visitors can also test their skills at one of the casting booths, pellet gun and archery ranges, and they can visit booths from a variety of conservation groups, including the Phoenix Herpetological Society, Arizona Trail Association, and Arizona Falconers Association, to name a few. Green Valley Lake will receive more than double its normal stocking of trout in preparation for this event. The park typically receives about 300 pounds of trout per stocking. For this event, 800 pounds of fish will be released into the lake prior to the fair. No fishing license is required for fair attendees, and equipment and bait can be borrowed from the free fishing booth at the fair. The Payson Wildlife Fair is a cooperative effort between the Arizona Game and Fish Department, USDA Forest Service, Mogollon Sporting Association, Payson Optimist Club, and Payson Parks and Recreation Department. Green Valley Park is located at 1000 W. Country Club Drive, Payson (take State Route 87 to Main Street and go about one mile west).