ap·er·ture

Going to the Birds

2008-10-19T13:24:00.006-06:00

Its that time of year again. Bird Season - well we're actually a month in but I figure that its about time to post to Roy's Wall of Fame.
We've been chasing quail, huns, grouse, and chukkar in the foothills and mountains since mid September ( 14 total days of hunting) with pretty fair success considering the toll the winter took on the bird numbers. Pheasant opened yesterdayand we filled our bag so we'll be spending a little more time chasing them now.

Today' Visitor

2008-03-21T10:59:00.007-06:00

So this morning I'm chugging along on my computer and mid conversation with a bank negotiator I look up and theres a fox sitting on the other side of our back fence. Roy was outside chewing on a bone and didn't notice him. This fox sat under the tree keeping an eye on Roy and on the squirrels in the tree along the irrigation ditch. Roy finally noticed him and I'm sure thought "hey someone to play with." He took off running when Roy went to greet him...

Two Dogs

2008-03-13T18:32:00.003-06:00

I've been puppy-sitting for a buddy of mine the last couple days. Roy has enjoyed the company. Its been a whirling blur of white and orange with brief powernaps. Its comical all the activity and then the crash, which you know is the calm before the storm. Good little dogs...

You just can't mess with good music

2008-03-08T07:43:00.001-07:00

I keep thinking I'll change the music on this blog but as soon as Johnny starts singing I cancel that thought...

Center for Great Plains Studies Featured Photographer

2008-03-03T22:29:00.002-07:00

Check out the following Link to see some of my work that is featured as I have been slected as the Photographer of the Month (March 2008) for the Center for Great Plains Studies. This work has been added to a repository of work that is focused on the Great Plains Region. http://www.emporia.edu/cgps/EmporiaStateUniversity-CenterforGreatPlainsStudiesbolesbio.htm

Roy - Limit in 20 minutes

2007-12-14T14:29:00.000-07:00

We limited in 20 minutes. The first one didn't hold but the second was in the middle of a field and Roy locked up and his head was on a slow swivel so I knew we were close but we didn't know exactly where it was I took a step or two back and it came up behind me. I picked it off but not a direct hit and Roy tracked him down and fetched him up. He's a good little dog...

Two Deer...

2007-12-10T17:01:00.000-07:00

First Limit Out of the Year

2007-11-24T20:02:00.001-07:00

Seems we came to the WMA on a day that pheasants were planted. For Thanksgiving weekend I thought there would be more folks out hunting but I decided that I should get Roy out anyway and there were alot of birds and not too many other people out. This is the first time I've limited with Roy, Problem was we got our second bird at the back of the WMA and we had to walk through the majority of it on the way back to the truck and we kept running into birds, Roy would point, and I couldn't do anything about - the last one held so long I could have punched it when it came up. Roy's really coming along, its really alot of fun to see him progress.

Roy's not quite the camera ham like he used to not to mention he was a little distracted, below is the progression to get him to the photo above - goofy beast.

I love Chuck

2007-11-21T18:08:00.000-07:00

I love Chuck - you should too -you can even catch up on the last 5 episodes online

http://www.nbc.com/Chuck/

2007-10-31T09:48:00.000-06:00

Skunked

2007-10-23T18:22:00.001-06:00

Hunting Saturday went well. Sunday and today we got skunked, Roy got skunked literally. I'm unsure if he ran into a skunk that sprayed him Sunday but today he found a dead one and rolled in it. We're on our 4th bath. We've tried a few different routes but I think we found one that works best.

Boohoo

Keep Your Chin Up Pal
Is it Over Yet?
This is the stuff that seems to work best - hopefully you never need to use it.

1st WMA Pheasant

2007-10-23T18:08:00.000-06:00

We hit Montour WMA for opening day of Pheasant Season. We ran into quite a few hens and Roy had his best point yet on a hen in the middle of a milo field, if only it had been a rooster he may have had everything click...We bagged a rooster a few minutes later and I had missed what was an easy shot shortly after. We ran into some quail and Roy did a great job locating it in some heavy cover; bad news is the bird had enough left in him to fly up into a tree and we couldn't get him down.

September Bird Photos

2007-09-30T21:54:00.000-06:00

A few of this years bird photos...I still have alot of work to do with Roy but the little dog has a great nose - not a lost downed bird yet - he's far better at finding and fetching the dead ones up than I am at hitting them...

1st Quail - Good Shot, Good Fetch

1st Chukar - he found this one about an hour after I shot it as we were heading down the other side of the canyon where it landed - chukar lock their wings and glide down the mountain - I swore I hit it but I was shooting 7 1/2's so it didn't dump over like it may have if I were shooting 5's or 6's - 7 1/2's area a little on the small sifde for a chukar at 30 yards.

Muzzleload Deer 2007

2007-09-12T18:37:00.001-06:00

*Due to a few comments I received last year regarding how savage I must be to shoot a deer and be holding its bloody head in a photo (by the way it has to come off in the butchering process) I have shown the black and white - less bloody photo first. For those of you squeamish you may want to avert your eyes from the color photo at the bottom of the post.

As I crack the first Sam Adams Oktoberfest Beer of the season and watch Roy in the backyard keeping an eye on Canadian Geese flying over (I am positive he's thinking boy they look like they must be a heck of a lot of fun to fetch) it’s fitting that I am writing about this years Muzzleloader Deer.

The hunt was not as long this year as last year, 1 day rather than more than a week – aided in part by a few different things…
1) A 30 minute conversation with a black powder fanatic at the local gun shop that I am pretty sure translated into a 10 years of knowledge,
2) Some time actually spent shooting that pretty little gun – thanks for taking me to the range when we visited Lucas – the bruises have finally disappeared,
3) A neat little thing called a fiber optic sight that my lovely wife gave to me for my birthday (ever tried to line up dark gray and black open sights on a grayish-brown object in a grayish-brown background at dusk? – it’s a lot easier to line up a red dot in the middle of two green ones and place them on the gray object let me tell you), and
4) A recoil pad that extends my guns stock about ¾” to make it a nice snug fit. I seem to have longer arms than most folks…

This year’s trip started with everyone’s alarms not going off at 5am but instead a bunch of hollering when it started getting light at 6:30 and we started waking up to the realization it wasn’t 5am . No big deal though-The first deer was on the ground before 8:30.

My father-in-law Jon and Tom a fellow we have hunted with the past few years headed for the top of the basin a little after 7. As we crested the top of the ridge I spotted some elk about 300 yards away moving up the hill and into the trees after eating all night and we watched them work their way toward the trees and higher ground before we headed on down toward a spring and draw that we see the animals move through during the year. As we came onto the point above the drainage we were going to push we decided that Jon and I would head down the drainage from the side and push the brush working our way up the drainage to the spring. About halfway to the bottom I spotted a deer at the mouth of a canyon a few hundred yards away, signaled to Jon and we headed in that direction. We worked our way toward the deer using the cover of some trees until we were close enough to get a shot off. Jon was in the right spot to take a shot, lifted his gun, pulled back the hammer and squeezed off a shot. The deer was hit and a second shot finished her off, a half hour into the day. Jon stayed with the deer and I headed up and down the canyon to see if a fawn was around and none were to be found. When I got back to Jon he said she looked dry and we got her behind a bush in some shade. Tom headed down the ridge on a 4 wheeler to haul her out as I was heading out to walk some canyons and ridges for the morning.

No Luck, walking except for running through some quail.

Jon and I headed out around six that night to see what we could come across with Sadie riding shotgun on Jon’s 4wheeler. She knew what we were up to; she was hunting from the back of the 4wheeler as we were riding along the side of the canyon. After an hour or so of riding, some purely recreational, we came around a bend at the end of a long run where the trail climbs to the ridge and on the top of the ridge I spotted a pair of big ears, maybe a few hundred yards from the spot I took last years deer. In what felt like one fluid motion I dismounted, pulled my gun from its case and knelt down with a steady rest – she was a little over a hundred yards. Jon was behind me encouraging me to get a steady rest and then spotted a closer deer 75 yards out, I shifted my focus, pulled the hammer back, lined the sight up green-red-green and pulled off the shot nice and easy.

You don’t see much when you’re the one pulling the trigger with black powder until the smoke clears but I didn’t see anything taking off and I thought I saw something dump over. She did; one shot-one kill as they say and then a stout barrage of punches to the shoulder and Jon saying that was a hell of a shot.

As we headed up the hill to take a look Sadie was off to check things out too. We came up on the deer and she hadn't taken a step – shot in the neck. We stood there and looked at her and Sadie watched as we went to work gutting her. After we were finished we turned around to see the sunset over the mountains. Sunsets like these make you understand why the line “purple mountain majesties” was written. Over those purple mountains was a fiery orange to red to pink sky with a few cirrus clouds floating along surrounding a bank of clouds running diagonal like a wave through the center. We had the doe - another dry one cleaned out, strapped to the 4 wheeler and enjoyed the sunset and talked about how we should have had a video camera running and we could have been on a hunting show – everything was picture perfect. We headed down the trail, strung her up in the garage and called it a day and a good day at that…

Funny Stuff

2007-07-12T15:39:00.000-06:00

Kasey got a farside daily calendar this year - here are a few favorites

What The .....?

2007-07-12T14:34:00.000-06:00

Somethings wrong with this picture....

I saw this on the web today and was so...I don't really know the word, I mean what the crap?

2007-06-21T21:45:00.000-06:00

This has been a different day for me today - a little slower on the work side of things and getting ready for a buddies wedding this weekend. My day started pretty routinely and that all changed at about 9:55 this morning when Roy and I returned from our walk. I am lucky enough to have XM - every morning its the baseball talk shows and when Kasey remembers she changes the channel to the live Glenn Beck show when I'm out on the walk. I came back took Roy's backpack off, gave him breakfast, sat down to look through the emails, and caught the very end of the show where Glenn recaps things and he told a brief overview of an interview with a Navy SEAL and said that the transcript is online - so I pulled up his website and started reading.... I have included it below should the link become inactive . I spent a good deal of the afternoon calling and driving around to find a bookstore that had the book in stock – apparently there are a lot of XM listeners in Boise and there had been a “run” on the stores for the book as one clerk told me. I made sure I caught the replay of the interview this afternoon while I was trying to find a copy of the book. The decisions Marcus and his team were forced to deal with because of rules of engagement in combination with the US/media response if they had killed the herders and that it played a role in a decision that got 3 of our soldiers killed made my blood boil and then the hurt and honesty and honor in his voice choked me up pretty good. There is more that happened today that all seems to be in one way shape or form related to this story and I’m going to post below on that too but read this…and thank God for Heroes like Marcus and his SEAL team, it’s men like these that give their all for the freedoms we enjoy and the freedoms that allow the bulk of the media and politicians to drag them through the mud and make rules on how war is supposed to look - when did it not become about winning?

Interview with Marcus Luttrell, author of Lone Survivor

JUNE 21, 2007

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

Well, I'm about to introduce you to a guy who has a new book out, it's called Lone Survivor. He was a Navy SEAL. He has a story that he's going to tell you here in the next few minutes that should shock, horrify, and quite honestly just -- it should anger you. I have a very good friend who is in the middle of reading Lone Survivor, he called me up last night it was about 11 o'clock. And I've never heard him like this. He was angry. And he said, "Glenn, I can't believe these weasels in Washington." I'm going to let Marcus Luttrell tell you the story. He's on with us now. Marcus, how are you, sir?

LUTTRELL: Yes, sir, how are you?

GLENN: Very good. You -- take us back to Afghanistan. You are a Navy SEAL. How long have you been a Navy SEAL before 9/11?

LUTTRELL: Almost ten years, sir.

GLENN: Ten years. And so you go over to Afghanistan, and what is your mission?Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10by Marcus Luttrell

LUTTRELL: This particular mission we were a four man sniper watch team sitting on a capture kill task to locate, monitor the activity of a high-ranking Taliban official with known ties to Osama bin Laden. And we were also to pick up further on intelligence about him, coordinating and executing complex tasks against coalition forces in this particular area. It was a -- a remote area near the Paki border that didn't see much play from the US military, and that was our job, sir.

GLENN: Okay. And you go in, Marcus, and this is a very dangerous situation. How many -- how many are around you?

LUTTRELL: Intel were forwarded up to 200.

GLENN: So you're living in the midst of 200 Taliban that are looking to kill you, and there's only four of you, and you're pretty much alone?

LUTTRELL: Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

GLENN: Okay. What happens?

LUTTRELL: We were monitoring our target, didn't have a good visual on -- on -- on the initial site, so we relocated, got a better visual. Couple hours after that we -- came across a (unintelligible) compromise which means we were walked on by some civilians, some Afghani goat herders.

GLENN: Hang on. That means that they just happened upon you. They say you and you're like, oh, crap, now what do we do?

LUTTRELL: Yes, sir. They were out walking the herd. They had about 75 or a hundred goats, when I say they walked on us, I was underneath a tree that had been cut down was burned out I was hiding underneath that with my rifle watching the target and he walked over the tree I was on. So when I heard him above me, when I turned my -- just kind of turned a little bit to look, he looked right down at me, and that's when the compromise took place.GLENN: Okay. And this was a -- this is not a guy carrying a gun, this was not a member of the Taliban, or was it, or what did you think originally?

LUTTRELL: No, sir. He -- he had a -- an axe with him, a wood chopping axe. That's all he had with him. No firearm or anything like that. About three to five minutes later another man walked up the hill, one of my teammates, Matt Axelson, called over to me and said that there was two more coming up, another adult male and a -- about a 13 -- 13-year-old boy. So we took 'em off to the side, set him down on a tree, you know, started interrogating them, tried to give him some food, some water, they didn't want to have anything to do with that. They weren't answering any of our questions, either.

GLENN: You guys -- you speak the language?

LUTTRELL: Yes, sir. And we also have equipment that allows us to communicate with them.

GLENN: Okay.

LUTTRELL: My lieutenant, the officer in charge, he came down from his position and did the best he could also to interrogate them, and -- and they just weren't -- they weren't having it. So --

GLENN: And what were you trying to get -- what kind of information were you trying to get?

LUTTRELL: Basically we were telling them that we were Americans and that they were in danger and asking if they had any -- any -- or knew of anywhere about his of any Taliban sites or cache sites or just basically what their general business was up there, and they weren't answering anything.

GLENN: Now, did you get the feeling at the time it was because they were a part of the Taliban, or friendly, or they were just afraid of you, or why --

LUTTRELL: My -- my feeling after dealing with a lot -- most of -- every operation we had been on, just you can tell when someone doesn't really care for you. And when you look at someone's eyes, whether they -- you know, they like you or they don't. And on top of which they weren't answering any of our questions. And even though the dialect might be a little different in certain areas, still -- you could still understand what we were saying, they weren't having anything to do with us. They were talking among themselves, obviously. We couldn't under -- we couldn't pick it up totally. So the decision was they weren't brandishing firearms, they were, you know, no immediate threat to us except for the fact that if we turned them loose, that, you know, they could obviously go get reinforcements to come back on top of us. We talked about, you know, tying them up and leaving them there, but again that would be just like killing them as well. They had all the goats with them and stuff like that. It's just -- that would have brought more people into our position, and like I said, our job, we were set in for 72 hours to overwatch this target, and with a compromise like that, we were just in a difficult situation. Also dealing with the terrain, there wasn't too many places that we could relocate and evaluate our target so the decision was made to turn 'em loose.

GLENN: Okay, so --

LUTTRELL: I mean we couldn't -- we couldn't --

GLENN: How far --

LUTTRELL: Because of the ROEs, rules of engagement, we have to -- placed upon us and stuff like that, you know, if we would have executed them, you know, we'd have wound up in prison. And it wasn't -- I'd rather -- you know, we'd rather take our -- the decision was to take our chances with -- in a gunfight than take our chances in the court system.

GLENN: And the reason why -- I mean the Taliban, they are actually now carrying mule packhorses and mules loaded with explosives, but our guys cannot stop them or can't shoot them because if they're not carrying a weapon, you can't shoot them, right?

LUTTRELL: Well, you can't even shoot them -- rules of engagement for conventional forces you're not even allowed to shoot 'em if they have a weapon on them. They have to be actively engaging you.

GLENN: Okay. So you guys talked about it and you decided we gotta let 'em go. And was it mainly because of the rules of engagement?

LUTTRELL: Yes, sir.

GLENN: Okay.

LUTTRELL: And, you know, exactly. They -- like I said, they weren't carrying any firearms, and we couldn't keep 'em, you know?

GLENN: Right. And so you guys knew you'd go to prison, why? Because the bodies would be found and then --

LUTTRELL: Eventually the bodies would be found and their IO campaign is a lot better than ours. They support --

GLENN: The IO campaign, what is --

LUTTRELL: Their media campaign.

GLENN: Okay.

LUTTRELL: You know, so eventually it would have been traced back to us. Some -- you'd think it would be impossible but I've seen it happen.

GLENN: So, in other words, what you're saying is they would find the bodies, then they would contact the media, al-Jazeera, al-Jazeera would run how you executed a 13-year-old boy and two -- two other guys, and then it would be tracked back to you, and you would be tried in the media, you'd end up in prison?

LUTTRELL: Yes, sir. That was -- that was the thing about it.

GLENN: Was this just a -- was this just a conversation you guys had? You actually took a vote, right?

LUTTRELL: We got together -- I mean that's one of the unique things about the SEAL team, obviously the officer is overall command and control, I was the team leader and we had Danny and Matt, we were in a unique situation, we got together, and obviously two heads are better than one, three are better than two, so we talked about it and came to the decision that, you know, we aren't murderers, anything about the SEAL team that we don't know about we're not a defensive force, we're an offensive force. When we go in to -- you take the bad guys out to take the fighter -- or to, you know -- to engage, but in this certain situation, it was just unique, that's all I could say. You know, I racked my brain a hundred million times, you know, if we made the right call or not, but we made the call --

GLENN: Okay.

LUTTRELL: -- depending on the rules that we implemented on them.

GLENN: Okay. So now you let them go. How far away are you from your Taliban target?

LUTTRELL: Maybe a little under a click.

GLENN: I don't --

LUTTRELL: Maybe under a mile. A mile.

GLENN: Okay. So you're -- you're a mile away from your target, you let them go. What do you tell them when they let you go, and what is their expression on your face when you say, see you guys later?

LUTTRELL: We turned 'em loose, and they -- they took out. They -- I mean they didn't stick around. And those -- you know, they ask any people, they can move through those mountains quick. It took them about five minutes to walk up a cliff that it took our team to walk up, it took us about 30 to 45 minutes. You know. Because once we turned them loose after about ten minutes I sit there and watched them walk away, and they never looked back. The kid did a couple times and then they were gone. They just disappeared, and then we relocated.GLENN: Okay. Then what happened?

LUTTRELL: About 45 minutes later, about a hundred-plus Taliban militia showed up over the top of our ridge. And my ROT, Michael Murphy, was the first one to -- to spot the -- the combatants. I was on the initial -- we were set up like a triangle on the side of this cliff, so much so we had to dig out the ground below us. We were just basically standing up leaning backwards against a cliff. That's how steep it was, kind of give you an idea. And we actually had an advantage on our target. I had just passed the -- the monitoring equipment down to Matt and pulled my hat down over my eyes. And then I get a whisper from Mikey to -- when I pull my hat up, I look down and, you know, his eyes were as big as sand dollars and he was just like, you know, it's time to get it on. So I rolled over and the first person I saw was a -- was a guy with two RPGs on his back and an AK, and there was a huge pine -- or a huge tree about 20 meters in front of me, and that's what I focused my rifle on, my radical, you know, my snipe -- my scope, and I see a head pop out and the muzzle of an AK. I turned around and looked at Mikey and I was like, it's time to get it on. And then all of the you can just see them flooding the top part of the -- the ridge, and then they were coming down our side.Turned back around, the guy had moved back around the tree. You could hear them yelling. We didn't have an idea of how many there were but just looking at what we were dealing with on top of the ridge was -- was -- I mean it was a multitude of them, sir. Took the first shot at the guy behind the tree. I dumped him, and then that's what, you know, they opened up on us. We were in a -- a tree bed, which provided some cover. Axelson, Matt flanked to the left, Danny was on the radio calling in for reinforcements and also covering our right side and then Mikey, our OIC, he was hanging out in between everybody running back -- because you couldn't hear anything, there was so much gunfire, trying to figure out what was going on, getting information from Mikey. He was like locating up -- talking up my position, telling me to, you know, basically to get it on, because we were getting overrun. And then Axe was flanked out so far that he was covering our left side that Mikey had a long stretch to get -- to get to. Once we started getting overrun, I mean every time we'd -- we'd take somebody down, sir, somebody would fill their position. And they had every one of our -- you know, every angle covered that it was -- it was impossible to take everybody out.

GLENN: All right. We're going to -- I'm going to stop you here for just a second because I have to take a break.

LUTTRELL: Yes, sir. Sorry.GLENN: No, please. We're talking to Marcus Luttrell. He is telling us a story about four SEALs, four Navy SEALs that were in Afghanistan that because of the rules of engagement, let some goat herders that stumbled across them, let them go. I'll tell you now we're at the part of the story where there's over a hundred Taliban now surrounding them. We'll tell you what happened, how many did they kill, and what happens to the four Navy SEALs. And most importantly, they did take a vote on, should we let these goat herders alone? They looked at it and said, my gosh, we'll go to prison if we don't. How did they vote? How did Marcus vote? And who's alive? We'll continue the story here in just a second.

GLENN: Marcus has a new book out. I gave you the name even though it spoils the -- part of the ending of the story. The book is called Lone Survivor, between 150 and 200 Taliban against four Navy SEALs. He hasn't even really gotten to the story yet, and when you see how our hands are tied, you'll understand why the ratings for the president and Congress are as low as they are and why people say, but they misunderstand, why they say, this is all about the war. It is about the war, but it's about the fact -- the reason why we're -- we're looking at these politicians in such contempt and disgust right now is because they are tying our military's hands. And unless you're going to unleash these guys and give 'em a fighting chance, it is immoral to fight a war like this. So let's go back to Marcus. Okay, so the Taliban, they have you surrounded. They -- every time you shoot one, another one takes his place. Then what happens?

LUTTRELL: Excuse me, sir. We lapped it up there for a good while. Like I said we were in some -- a good grove of trees that was providing ample cover and concealment from -- from all the different angles, but eventually they had maneuvered around to where they could -- where they can get in on top of us. I remember gunfire -- strafing underneath my rifle and also came in a tree that had -- had my left shoulder held up against. I looked back at Mikey. I was like what's the call, sir, and he was just like, you know, initial, he was just -- something like that, an ambush like that, you're supposed to rush an ambush. However, two -- two things played into that. One is the fact that it was so seep that we couldn't climb up -- we couldn't rush the ambush and fire at the same time, which was good because we didn't know how many people we were up against. If we'd have come over that ridge --

GLENN: And saw 200.

LUTTRELL: It would have been tough. It would have been a tough fight. But --

GLENN: At what point did you think we're all dead.

LUTTRELL: No, sir.

GLENN: Okay.

LUTTRELL: I didn't. We were doing good. We just --

GLENN: Hello? Hello? We lost him. Somehow or another his phone dropped out. Can you -- Dan, can you call him real quick, get him back on? Get him on the phone again real quick.What's amazing about this story, and you're going to hear, he called for a helicopter, they called for backup. It came. Wait until you hear what happened there. You are going to see in the next few times who our enemy really is, and how much they hate and us what lengths they will do, what lengths they will go through, they will jump any hoop to kill us. It is the story, the goat herders, well, let's just let 'em go, we're your friends, your American. They don't want any part of it. And then you will see in a minute how they manipulate the media and how our troops are literally on the ropes all the time.I -- you know, I really honestly hope that there are people in Washington that are listening right now. I mean listening, not hearing. They -- they say they're on these listening tours. No, they're not. They're to hearing tours. They need to listen to people like this. Marcus?

LUTTRELL: I'm sorry, sir.

GLENN: That's okay. All right, so you can't rush, you've got more people coming. What happens?

LUTTRELL: I look back at -- at Mikey, and I was -- I don't know if you're in this part, but I'm getting shot up pretty good up here, so he said fall back to my position. So when I stood up, I fell completely, you know, I started tumbling, pinballing in between those trees, and so did he. And this was for about 50 meters, if I remember correctly.

GLENN: Now, this is going down a very steep -- I'm guessing rough terrain hill?

LUTTRELL: Yes, sir. In the grove it was -- we were -- we were lucky, it was mostly dirt and trees, so bouncing out of trees wasn't bad but I guess the best way to describe it would be a double black diamond for people who ski.

GLENN: Yeah.

LUTTRELL: So once we came out of the tree line, it kind of lipped, it had a lip, and we took off. And then what we thought was -- was grass and dirt turned out to be boulders and trees that had been shot down and the grass just growing up in between. So Mike and I tumbled down that for -- for another 50 to 70 yards, and finally came into two huge trees that had been cut down that were laying over the top of each other, and we took cover behind that. They came out of the tree line, I mentioned they opened up on us with the RPGs and the mortars.

GLENN: Okay, there's only two of you now. There's just the two of you down there. Where are the other two?

LUTTRELL: Axelson was still off on our left flank, keeping us safe over there. And then Danny was still up in the tree line on the radio calling in for the QRF.

GLENN: What is the QRF.

LUTTRELL: Quick reactionary force, as a backup.

GLENN: All right. How far away --LUTTRELL: -- body that we were going to -- was to come in and take down the target once we visualize our objective.

GLENN: How far away, how many minutes away were they supposed to be?

LUTTRELL: They were about 20 to 30 minutes, sir.

GLENN: And did he give you any indication that he had reached them and that they were on their way?

LUTTRELL: Excuse me. Once -- once Mikey and I had picked up in the trees, Axelson had come tumbling down his side off to the left flank, just like we were down the middle. It was kind of surreal to see just exactly how it was, how hard we fell.

GLENN: Okay, hang on just -- I've gotta take break here. Helicopter is on the way. More on this amazing story, true to life, next.

GLENN: We are spending a few minutes with Marcus Luttrell today. He is -- he's a former Navy SEAL. He was on a -- he was on a mission to target and monitor a -- a high-ranking Taliban official. They were undercover. They were hidden. They were stumbled upon by a couple of goat herders and a 13-year-old boy, Afghanis. They decided to take a vote, do we kill them, or do we let them go? He said that they could feel it, they could see it in their eyes they had contempt for the Americans. And they took a vote. And they decided -- and it was a close vote. They decided that they couldn't kill 'em because if they did kill them, they were so good, the Taliban was so good at manipulating our media that it would turn into a firestorm and then it would be a political witch hunt, and these four SEALs would go to prison, and they said they'd rather -- they'd rather die trying to fight these guys than go to prison. So they let the goat herders go. The goat herders then leave. Forty-five minutes later, there's about 200 Taliban that are surrounding our four Navy SEALs. They are holding strong. All four of them are still alive at this point. And they are now down kind of in a bottom of a ravine and a giant cliff next at them, and the Taliban is everywhere. They have called for reinforcements, and the helicopter is on the way. It's about supposedly 20 to 30 minutes away. Welcome Marcus Luttrell again to the program. Okay, so Marcus, you're down at the hill, the helicopter is on the way. What happens next?

LUTTRELL: No, sir. Actually what happened was, when Danny -- he had been shot a couple times while he was trying to make radio communications with our QRF, so they didn't -- once he came tumbling down, he was the last man to come down the mountain, he tumbled right into me, actually, and asked him, did you get the call off and he was no, so we didn't have any reinforcements at that time. So --

GLENN: You still had -- you still had the radio?

LUTTRELL: No, sir. No, sir, we didn't. Basically we just kind of set up shop behind these two trees -- or that had fallen down and were firing back up at the enemy. We tried to maneuver to get to the high ground a couple of times to get advantage, but they just stacked up and pushed us back down. And the only way we could go then was about a 40-foot drop-off. So one by one we just kind of dumped off, which was probably the toughest part because it -- we hit a grove of bushes and fell an extra ten feet and then they came in over the top of us and Danny got hit a couple more times right then. We got -- we maneuvered our way out of the -- out of the little ravine there and back up into the -- onto the -- into the middle of the draw to continue the fight. We were bounding back and forth, they were still unloading on us with RPGs and -- and mortars. We had separated to either side of each -- each cliff there, and what was so hard about it was that like a guy would walk about ten feet and then you'd -- he'd just disappear, you know, off a boulder or behind a ridge, so we didn't really have line of sight with each other the whole time, which is -- is not really the way we do business.But we did the best we could. And one by one, you know, everyone just kept getting shot. There was -- there was one particular time when Danny and I were together, he had taken about four or five rounds into the body, one through his lung, one had blown his thumb off. That's the reason he can't -- he had to give up the radio, because it was shot out of his hand. He and I were standing there, I was trying to maneuver back, and then a Taliban militia came over a rock, a ledge, he had us dead to rights. And then Axelson took him out about 20 yards over my left shoulder. We started maneuvering back, and then one by one, Danny was the -- was the first guy we lost. Just -- I'm sorry, sir.

GLENN: That's all right.

LUTTRELL: We -- you know, we kept moving the best we could. We just -- inevitably we were running low on ammo. They had come underneath us from the village that we were monitoring so they had us in a 360 degree pen, so no matter where we hide or any kind of location we'd set up in to take the enemy on, it was just -- they had a clear shot on us. Matt and I had positioned ourself on the left ridge. He had taken a round to the head and walked down towards me, and then I looked up and that's when I saw our OIC walk out into the middle of the draw there onto a rock, the highest point he could get to, break out our phone, and make communications back to our base for the QRF. He took at least one round that I know of to the back, if not two, it kind of dumped him over, he continued with the phone call, hung up the phone, grabbed his rifle, and went back to fighting. And then he flanked left behind some rocks. I couldn't see him anymore. Matt had worked his way past me, and we were -- we were -- all three of us were on the left side. Mikey was engaging the enemy as hard as he could, and then he just -- he was just overrun. Because once you fell down past a certain point, there was no way we could get back up to reinforce each other. You understand what I'm saying?

GLENN: Yes.

LUTTRELL: It was just -- it was too steep. And that's -- you know, I lost Mikey, and it was just Matt and I. We had worked our way down underneath a little embankment, and there was another log that was kind of giving us multiple cover. Matt had broken out his med kit and tried to bandage up where he had been hit in the head, and I just remember he and I were sitting underneath there. He didn't even have it over the wound actually. He was kind of -- he was still coherent, he was still talking to me, but, you know, we knew -- we knew that was pretty much it. We were -- we were done for, we were outta ammo by then. And that's the only problem was we were such a small unit that we weren't set up to take on a -- that's not our job to take on a force like that. We're to go in and out and then that's it.

GLENN: What was your -- what was your conversation like? The two of you.

LUTTRELL: It was -- it was comical at first, you know, it was like -- I was like yeah, I think we're going to -- you know, we're going to freaking die here bro, and he was like yeah, looks like this is a good spot, you know, I mean -- I was evaluating his wounds, I was a medic, and he was just like, you know -- he -- he knew, you know, he was like, you know, stay alive, was like telling me life all over and keep going. And then a RPG -- about that time an RPG had come into our position and hit that tree and this other thing and flew -- it blew me out and back over this ridge. And I was knocked out then, sir. When I -- when I came to, I was upside down and paralyzed from the waist down. I couldn't even feel my legs. So I rolled over, my rifle was laying there next to me, I grabbed my rifle, I belly crawled about 20 to 30 meters into the side of the mountain and wedged myself in between these rocks, covered myself from the waist up with rocks. My legs were mangled into these trees. I took some mud and packed into the -- into the heavy bleeders that I had in my leg and tried to pull out some of the frag from the RPG, but just wasn't happening. I waited, heard the Taliban move down into the -- into the ravine, you know, I could tell they were getting close. They were doing a lot of recon by fire trying to flush me out. They knew how many of us there were, and they could only find three of us, so it was an avid hunt for me all day. I stayed blocked in that position for, I don't know, hours, six, seven hours, without moving. And then you could see our helicopters and stuff flying overhead, some A-10, but none of them were coming into our valley. They were going -- they'd fly in through -- in through our open airspace but then they'd go over to a different part of the -- the mountain, and I didn't understand why. I tried to turn on my beacon on my radio so they could get a fix on me, but it just wasn't happening. From all the dirt from the RPGs and just from the -- the constant fighting, you know, my tongue had a -- I had been so dehydrated my tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth and my mouth was -- I couldn't talk basically is what I was trying to say, so I baited there all day until initially I started getting the feeling back in my legs. In the failing sun I could see a glisten off a far canyon wall. I mean I could hear them running over the dirt rocks fair over my head from where they were running over the top, I could hear them yelling. And I looked into my reticle, and there was a guy standing there with a silver AK, right beside a rock. I took a shot, I dumped him, there were two more guys had run up obviously I was suppressed and in this canyon so they didn't have any idea where I was at, I was covered up pretty good. They hit behind the wrong side of the rock. So I dumped those two guys, and stood up and started walking towards -- I didn't have any maps or -- or compass or go to sleep or anything. My pants had been blown off. So I kind of just used the sun for a cardinal bearing and then started walking through the mountains trying to get out of there, to a military base to find some help. I walked all night. Actually up and down -- I crawled up and down that mountain like three or four -- three times, and I stepped off of it completely twice that I know of, I took about a 150-foot fall once, I could hear aircraft overhead, I was hit -- hit my beacon, everything I could do to signal this aircraft where I was at.

GLENN: Okay, Marcus I've gotta take a break. We're running so far behind. Let me just -- let me just stop you here for a second. The story, I mean we've just scratched the surface on this story. You are a remarkable human being. And I -- I mean this with every bit in me. Thank you for everything that you and the guys like you do. We have so much faith and so much confidence in you. You are truly, truly amazing.But there's more to the story, there's more to tell, and there's a real message that people in America need to hear. We'll be back in just a second.

GLENN: Marcus Luttrell. He is a Navy SEAL that was in Afghanistan, in harm's way, lost his team. He was alone. We're now at a point there -- I mean there's -- Marcus, there is just so much to your story. I have never -- I don't think I've ever done this in my career. I've been in radio for 30 years. But I can't -- I just can't end the story here, and I know you can't do anything next hour. Can I ask you to come back and instead of butchering and summarizing the story and the lessons that you've learned can I ask you to come back and spend another hour with me tomorrow at this same time?

LUTTRELL: Yes, sir. It would be my pleasure, sir.

GLENN: Because there's -- I mean this is a -- I mean I have friends who are reading your book -- I'm sorry to say I haven't read it yet. I have friends who are reading your book and they are on me like white on rice saying, Glenn, you've gotta read this book. This -- I can't -- I mean I had a guy call me last nine, 11 o'clock last night, said Glenn, I'm going to have another sleepless night. I cannot put this book down. And it's called Lone Survivor. But there's so much more to cover, including when you are with a tribe from Afghanistan, and you had -- you pulled the pin out of the grenade and you're thinking if these guys are bad guys I'm just going to let go and we're all going to die together. We'll tell that story tomorrow.Let me ask you two quick questions. You still a Navy -- I only have 30 seconds. I'm not even going to ask you that. Luttrell, I'll talk to you -- I'll talk to you tomorrow at the same time, all right?

LUTTRELL: Yes, sir.

GLENN: Thank you very much, sir.

LUTTRELL: Yes, sir.

GLENN: I'm sorry to do that to you, audience, I really thought we could get through it more, but I didn't -- I wanted him to tell the story the way he's telling the story. And there's so much more here. Listen, if you missed any of the story, free transcript will be available later today at GlennBeck.com. You'll be able to read the story. The audio will be up there for the insiders. Please pass this on to all of your friends. Show them the transcript, and tell them to do one of two things, either listen tomorrow, or go out and buy the book Lone Survivor. The message should be heard. So please pass this on to your friends. The transcript available in a few hours at GlennBeck.com.

END TRANSCRIPT

I'm going to knock somebody out...

2007-06-21T16:56:00.000-06:00

Tidbits that seem to all come together today in my news listening that lead me to the conclusion that if I ran my own poll questioning the people in charge as to their ability to find their asses with both hands and a road map the affirmative results would be under 25%...

Americans' Confidence in Congress at All-Time Low really? Makes me want to say something along the lines of "no crap, you don't say..." So if Television and Newspaper are trusted under 25% then why does anyone act like their the authority? The positive -Look at who we do trust though - listen/read the interview with the Navy SEAL above and that's why.

Journalists give to Democrats 9-to-1
This shouldn't be news to anyone...

Glenn's Interview with Anderson Cooper
hmmmmm.....I wonder why congress has such a low approval rating, better yet I wonder why Pelosi who was all about everyone in office being more transparent has changed her mind - it just doesn't seem convenient for here right now I guess...

I think my head is going to explode...

'Dorable

2007-06-16T08:18:00.000-06:00

Roy doesn't like wearing a hat unless its with his backpack - well actually its the only time we can keep a hat on him - because he so 'paralyzed' by having the backpack put on initially...

I believe he is sort of pouting like a little kid that doesn't want to wear that sweater he got for Christmas but gets over it when everyone heads outside to play in the snow...You cant tell me that's not stinking adorable.

El Finite-O

2007-05-18T21:44:00.000-06:00

It's done - I think...after fighting construction adhesived gutters off the fascia, a paint sprayer that worked for only15 minutes, and then going old school with a brush and roller and 2 weeks later here we are. Just finished the doors and a little touch up on the new trim today. I have quickly realized that I was definitely spoiled growing up in a brick house...a few below of old ones to see where we've come from.How we bought it...New Front Yard last year...

and now...

Kung Fu Roy

2007-05-18T21:26:00.000-06:00

A few weeks back Roy destroyed an end table that I've known since I can remember. Roy's bed sits next to my desk in our office and generally gets pushed into the end table that our fax machine sits on. Roy lays n his bed and watches us work - some days he just can't get comfortable on his bed and he kicks and squirms around on his bed until its just right. This was one of those days - not much kicking and squirming went on- just one kick and wham - busted the door in to two pieces. I think he was just as surprised as Kasey and I were. Its not a flimsy door too - some hollow type molding on the front backed with about an inch of pine or something. Roy was addressed as Kung Fu Master or Karate Chop Roy for the next week or so...

Painting the house

2007-05-02T09:13:00.000-06:00

Here's some photos of the house - started doing some painting to make sure we have colors we want to work with - compared to the current blue I don't think we can go too wrong...Yes that brick is painted funny story - long story but 2 days or paint removal yielded poor results, maybe I deserve it after vowing to never paint brick...The only option left was to repaint it.

Photography Blog - Check It Out

2007-04-27T08:29:00.000-06:00

John Boles Photography

Roy's Birthday

2007-04-04T20:18:00.000-06:00

Roy turned one or I guess seven in dogs years today. We picked up a few toys from the petstore yesterday and the Dogpack we ordered him arrived in the mail this afternoon. Its kind of a dual purpose gift - to help him get a little more intense workout on the morning walk and so he can carry his food when we go backpacking which we hope now will happen more often now that he's a little older. I think that we're more excited about Roy's gift than he is - he wasn't quite sure how to respond to it...

Jets Make me a Bad Driver

2007-03-09T23:01:00.000-07:00

I can usually ignore distractions going on around me when I'm focused on a specific task. I was reminded this morning on the way home from the gym of one of the things that is darn near impossible for me to block out. Fighter jets and bombers...I remember specific instances of playing baseball in highschool near the airforce base in Wichita and having a pretty rough time paying attention when the B-1's would fly over in the midle of the game.

Anyways, I missed about 3 miles of a drive this morning because I heard then saw 4 F-15s flying over in formation toward the airport, then after flying a pass over the airfield one by one they peeled off and cirled around - like the ones in the photo. They came in for a second pass over the runway and they dissappeared below my view - I imagine they did a touch and go thing I see them do from the second floor of the gym - then they pulled their noses up at the end of the runway and shot into a vertical climb then leveled out thousands of feet up when they became dots way up in the sky...

I vaguely remember one of the stoplights not sure on the others that I drove through...I guess its my "cell phone distraction".

The Past Week

2007-03-04T14:21:00.000-07:00

Roy likes to plow snow too...

Roy's a little camera shy...

Learning how to feed Roy a snack...

Yours...

2007-01-28T16:55:00.000-07:00

A Full Nelson is what you get at our house if you talk during 24...(or scrubs)

The light in our office is really great in the morning - makes you feel like you're in a Wyeth painting.

New Paint

2007-01-28T16:36:00.000-07:00

I realize that I generally forget to take 'before' photos of our projects for comparison - I'll remember to do that when I take on the house painting and paint removal from the bricks on our house this spring/summer (not sure what would possess anyone to think that painting bricks is a good idea...). We decided to add a little color to the inside of our house so it wasn't so washed out. We're pretty happy with the results. We got the picture of the dog from a friend over Christmas - we just like it alot and and thought you might like it too.

The First WMA Pheasant

2006-12-10T22:31:00.000-07:00

We finally got our first pheasant on a WMA today. We've definately had our chances and Roy has been more than holding up his end of the partnership, I have not. Thought I would try wearing glasses today - I'll be wearing them more often I believe. Roy's generally a real camera mugger but as you can see he was a little more interested in the bird than looking at Kasey while she took photos.

Grill by Hulk

2006-11-25T16:10:00.000-07:00

My birthday present arrived a few days back. It came from China on the back of a mule - that actually swam across the Pacific (that’s what the guy in India said when we called to see where it was a few months back). But finally it has arrived and has begun its service - waffles only this far. Hulks a big guy and the waffles are too - one waffle's all a guy can eat.
Story goes that Hulk was offered a spokes role/name branding for a kitchen grill or one other kitchen type device a few years back when in the planning and development stages. He obviously chose whatever the other thing was because when most folks hear George Foreman they think of a little grill rather than the big smiling former heavy-weight champ. The Hulkster was offered this multirole grill a few years ago and is now available; Foreman’s people are following suit with a new and improved grill. All that to say it is definitely the novelty of the whole situation that made this such a fun gift and of course an opportunity to say something along the lines of “you better believe it brother” when the lid shuts and maybe an “ oh yeaahh” grunt upon opening the grill.

Fall Fun

2006-10-11T19:59:00.000-06:00

A few of my fall favorites and photos from this fall so far...
I guess Roy doesn't know it's rude to point.

Camera Mugger? nah...

Getting the brush after an afternoon looking for birds...

What a momma's boy - see that TV remote - it no longer exists - word is someone chewed it all up.

Roy's First Quail

2006-10-05T11:37:00.000-06:00

Roy fetched his first quail this morning when we opted for a little hunting rather than the regular morning walk.

An Interesting Progression of Photos

2006-10-03T17:22:00.000-06:00

Deer Drinking on the Deck

hee,hee,hee...

Muzzleloading Deer '06

2006-10-03T16:02:00.000-06:00

So after 6 different days of chasing deer I managed to get one. This is my first go around with muzzle loading and it has been a learning process. A little more to think about than cartridge in and pull the trigger; I watched 15 deer walk away one day because I had wet powder - guess that’s why they call it a primitive weapon. Most of the issues were caused by operator failure though...It is a really nice gun. I happened upon this deer about an hour before dark and took one shot down a draw that went low then chased her for about a half hour until I realized exactly where she was headed. I had chased this deer before and seen her wrap around a ridge so I got moving to cut them off at the saddle they cross. Rounding the final turn below the saddle I saw her poke her head over and froze in my tracks. She dipped her head back down her side of the ridge and I put a tree between her and me and stalked in. My limited experience told me that I needed a shot of 100 yards or less so I cut the distance as much as possible. Sure enough she walked through the saddle from her side of the ridge to mine, I froze one knee down and brought the gun up, she stopped and I fired. She shuddered then loped off to the side of the ridge she had come from and went down until she came to rest a few hundred yards below. After making one sweep of the side hill kicking up only a ruffed grouse, I hadn't located her yet and went back to the spot that I had landed the shot and followed the blood through the trees and brush until the trail stopped. By this time I had only fifteen minutes of daylight to get her up the hill. All throughout the haul up the side of the ridge I watched the sun disappear and the sky get darker thinking about the wolves that run in the area. We reached the road on the ridge and there was still work to be done as I needed to field dress her, this is the one time I needed a flashlight and didn't have one. Things went fine minus one hacked up tenderloin. She went in the canvas game bag that I strapped onto the front of the four-wheeler and we rode off back to the house in the dark.

T/C Hawken 50Cal

Roy's First Hunt

2006-09-02T13:56:00.000-06:00

I believe Roy thinks he went for the best walk ever yesterday. We spent about 4 hours chasing something (Ruffed Grouse) around a valley. We saw 8 or 9 and came home with 4. Roy didn't mind the sound of the gun, came back or turned to find us when he got out a little too far, and had a good fetch on the last bird. Today he seems top be a little on the tired side and has been crashed out since we got back from the morning walk. Hopefully as the season goes on, I'll be able to get some photos of him at work...

Roy 20 Weeks

2006-08-22T08:03:00.000-06:00

I think maybe Roy and I need to have a talk about smoking...

How to Negotiate with a Terrorist

2006-08-21T10:08:00.000-06:00

Nice little article that was passed along my way this morning...
http://hurricaneharry.blogspot.com/2006/08/how-to-negotiate-with-terrorists.html

Ann Coulter Makes Me Smile

2006-08-08T14:07:00.000-06:00

I watched this yesterday on CSPAN - I've enjoyed watching how popular media has tried to shoot her down and end up looking the fool (Not in this interview). Kind of refreshing to hear someone speak that isn't concerned with political correctness...Check it out at the following link its runs about 80 minutes. Watch

Coffee Break

2006-07-24T09:12:00.000-06:00

Taking a coffee break from training with a little Baseball This AM.

Roy 13 weeks

2006-07-15T08:11:00.000-06:00

The Roy Update

2006-06-28T07:50:00.000-06:00

11 Weeks

Roy Goes to Preschool

2006-06-17T16:08:00.000-06:00

I thought I'd share a few recent photos. Roy's learning sit, fetch, and come in school lately. He lifts his leg when he's not too tired and pointed his first robin a few days back - not even 10 weeks old yet.

Hola, mi nombre es Roy

2006-05-27T10:24:00.000-06:00

Kasey and I have a new addition to the family. Roy's interests are sleeping, tag removal from any object, eating, chasing bugs, rock tasting, making sounds like snoopy, leaping like a frog, listening to the early morning XM baseball shows, and snuggling.

...

2006-05-06T08:53:00.000-06:00

Kasey and I caught Sigur Ros at the Big Easy in Boise last night. This is a truly amazing show - if you like their albums their show will blow you away. As concerts go Sigur Ros is the most amazing show I've seen to date and has fallen into the category of a show that no matter the cost of admission - I'd be glad to pay it. For the record Lyle Lovett is the only other musician in this group. He's the most fun; Sigur Ros is the most amazing. Go see them if you have the chance, you won’t be disappointed.

Ben Stein on Oil, Whining, and being an American

2006-04-25T20:51:00.000-06:00

Paul W. Smith filled in for Rush today- interesting interview with Ben Stein. It's an audio soundbite about 20 minutes- not sure how long it will be available at the website-they usually don't stick around over a day or two.

Reading For Liberals

2006-04-22T21:06:00.000-06:00

My Mother-In-Law gave me this book a few weeks ago upon her return from the liberal inundated state of Minnesota. This book illustrates the absurdness of many liberal core postures. What a nightmare it is...

Jets are neat

2006-04-19T18:32:00.000-06:00

In a recent conversation cool stuff like jets and guns were mentioned. I have the pleasure of living in a city where some of our military’s A-10's are based out of so I get to see them fly over my house a few times a day, watch them from the second floor of the gym window (its right in the flight path) as I work out, pretty cool.
We also have this intersection by the airport right at the end of the runway - sort of like Wayne's World minus the Gremlin, cheesy hair and phrases. It’s a lot of fun to be waiting for the light to turn green and see the jets fly out. When W was in town last fall I happened to be sitting there when Air Force One took off - pretty cool. Yesterday I was approaching the intersection and an A-10 took off and I could see the second following down the runway and of course had to roll down the window to get the full effect of the jet taking off and some Radiohead cranked on the radio - just a cool experience I am glad to have the opportunity to experience...

Say What?

2006-04-10T17:14:00.000-06:00

I guess I started looking at blogs last fall - specifically friends from college and prior - and was a little confused by some of the comments that didn’t seem to completely mesh when compared to opinions/conversations back in the days spent in E-town. I began to wonder if/how much I really knew all the people from that stage of my life…Maybe they had changed – maybe I had changed. I imagine a little bit of both.

I know I have changed quite a bit in my political, social, and fiscal views since that time. After leaving the stage and influences of college life, after leaving a position with lesser personal responsibility of an employee to now being the employer I have been allowed a far more intensified weight of personal financial responsibility and a working knowledge and relationship with the system of capitalism at a point in life probably earlier than nearly all the folks I used to and/or still do hang out with in the 20 something crowd. The key word in the last sentence regarding knowledge of the system of capitalism is the word working. Sure 5 years ago in college I could tell you all about capitalism, socialism, mixed economic systems etc. and had a theoretical knowledge and even a knowledge that would occasionally dip below the surface to momentarily present a condition that would allow a brief working knowledge of free enterprise. This being one example of many experiences and gained real world working knowledge that places me on the conservative side of the line as that is the only reasonable place I can allow myself to stand having a clear conscience and an I.Q. of above 75.

Back to the question that spurred this post “are you forming an opinion of me based purely on my comments on this blog?” The answer is no but rather modifying as accurately as they (blogs/posts) can (?) how I understand yours and other’s opinions on various things.

I began my blog in response to blogs I am/was reading. To present discussions/commentaries on issues or aspects of issues not fully brought to light in the most accurate, informed, or in a manner that does not set well with me. I know that there are people reading the same blogs but not commenting on subjects and opinions that they may not have agreed with, that’s their right and mine is to comment as I see appropriate. I do like to post on some lighter subjects such as baseball and solid chocolate fish.

Regarding posting and commenting in response to comments on my blog and others, I do them in a spirit that is not malicious or with intention to make attacks on character but rather to give a little poke here or a poke there – to spur on a discussion that may open insight to the reality of what we have to work with here – its easy to be idealistic, its far more challenging to have a thought through and feasible response to handling a given situation. Some responses to my comments have attempted to construct a wall or line to allow for positions to be taken as republican and democrat. That’s not an issue I deal with but rather conservative and liberal. Are most republicans conservative? – I would imagine. Are most democrats liberal? – I would imagine. I’m more interested in the response to issues rather than suggesting alignment with a political party. There are some things I may agree with some democrats about and some things that I may disagree with some republicans about, I try to make my decisions based on the most factual condition of a situation not based on what party, person, or emotion endorses it.

Point being I post and comment to present a view in the circle of blogs I read that isn’t always represented and/or to promote struggling with positions that may not have been arrived at using a wide or deep enough scope of knowledge. I’m not suggesting I am a ‘know it all’ by any means rather possibly a unique perspective given the audience. We’re not all going to agree but then again 10 years ago I didn’t agree with a lot of things I agreed with five years ago and five years ago I didn’t agree with a lot of things I agree with now. The goal is constant improvement.

Decisions and positions

2006-04-06T08:41:00.000-06:00

This post is a continuation of a discussion on panoramae.blogspot.com....

I understand how one arrives at the position of #2 regarding the analogy of handguns:killing people as an intended use– let’s use an example.
Bono runs/does an anti-gun rant/video as part of "Bullet the Blue Sky."
Now I think that he and this message is a perfect reflection of the position of the anti-gun discussion. To understand his position we need to ask ourselves - Where did he grow up/live? A big city. - Under what conditions? IRA havoc...
Where did I grow up/live? Rural Kansas and now Idaho - Under what conditions? Definitely not dealing with terrorism first hand.

So what?
The fact is a gun has a different intended use and stigma dependent upon one's surroundings and conditions. To not agree would be blind to the reality of a given situation.

I understand that we probably agree on many aspects of gun control and probably many other subjects as well.

What concerns me is WHO is making these decisions and easily accepted arguments on issues like gun control.
An example specific to my area has been the situation of wolves as an endangered/protected species. Anyone who knows the dynamic of a wolf - its tendencies, and how overwhelmingly prevalent they are in the backcountry here - knows they are not and should not be an endangered/protected species - in this area. I'm not saying go kill them all - that would be pretty ignorant rather they should not be on the endangered/protected list - they aren’t anymore thanks to the management of them being handed over to state gov. as opposed to the previous federal management. Guess who has a hunting season on them this year? Yep you guessed - an animal that has been federally managed and has become a nuisance. One may say, “well they were here first” – the flaw of that statement is that it does not acknowledge the reality of the current situation which believe it or not we really have to work with.
But let’s look at who was making all of these decisions at the federal level of wolf management - people from Massachusetts, New York, LA, etc. How many of these people have first hand experience with Idaho? – How about the rural and backcountry areas?

The people making the calls or having these voices suggesting what our stance should be on issues and most often special interest issues are so disconnected from the specifics that generalizations are the mantras and sadly so easily accepted out of society’s lack of knowledge, a purely emotional response, and/or laziness.

Please understand that I am discussing an issue bigger than gun management, wolf management, etc – and is why I am discussing the smaller issues to get at a central issue – the acceptance of information, creation of a position, and its defense without using all the real information and personal research and study on the validity of the position.

One of my favorite Mountains

2006-03-28T10:08:00.000-07:00

the one on the right side W/ the cloud hanging - thats in one of my top 10 mts

A Day in the Life - March '01

2006-03-25T10:41:00.000-07:00

Missed February on a day in the life. Its hard to believe that its been 5 years since I took these photos at a Cardinals Spring Training game in Florida. I got to see Mark McGwire play w/ Bobby Bo. That security guy was for/watching McGwire when he left the stadium .

That time of year again...

2006-02-23T19:43:00.000-07:00

Ahh, its that time of the year again... After 4 months void of our national pastime (other than the afternoon fix via an XM baseball talk show "The Show"), the teams have/are reporting to spring training, the anticipation is building, and I feel about 17 all over again. One night last week I stared at the ceiling trying to convince my brain to get away from thinking about the game itself and the coming season, nights on the deck listening to a game or two on the radio, nights at the local short season minor league park (albeit its the Cubs system), who the best choice is for the 3rd round of the fantasy baseball draft, and on and on for hours just thinking not sleeping (after an 18 hour day of work at that).

Baseball has even found its way into work for me - I had the opportunity to sell a former property of major league slugger Harmon Killebrew - common folklore suggest he's the silhouette in the mlb logo. What a cool thing...

Every way I look at it I can only come to the conclusion that this game is THE game - the knowledge of the game, the mental game, the details, physical talent, and their culmination. To touch the tip of the iceberg on why this is the greatest game would take months of writing and even then might only be appreciated with some insight to and a heart response to the dynamic of the game.

Its an excitement welling up like that first spring day when the sun comes out and the temperature hits the 60's for the first time, you can smell spring in the air and you find yourself out in the yard making sure all your fishing equipment is ready to go at moments notice, a little Jimmy Buffet playing in the background, and a few tasty brews - and you smile knowing the winter was worth the wait.

They ain't so bad

2006-02-23T19:11:00.000-07:00

Just a few people I have a growing respect for the more I learn of
them.

#1 A-Rod - the media has hammered this guy accusing him of all types of things. Shame on me - I accepted these things. The more I hear him in interviews and learn of the great things he does on and off the field - the greater the respect I have for him. Seems like a guy that just wants to play ball and be a real person - gotta respect that.

#2 Lance - NewsMax reports he split with Ms. Crow in some part due to political differences, etc. (maybe an understanding of respect too?) I wonder if he has Lyle Lovett's lyric "that's right your not from Texas" banging around in his head.

Love is a Solid Chocolate Bass

2006-02-14T17:34:00.000-07:00

My wife gave me a solid chocolate bass when I came home from the gym this morning - tasty - not too fishy - tastes just like chocolate. Who would have thought?

Sushi and Reality TV - Brother

2006-02-02T21:27:00.000-07:00

My wife made me sushi tonight, mmm . She rocks. I enjoyed my evening of eating tasty Asian goodness and listening to Kasey sing along with the commercials during our evening of reality TV - Beauty and the Geek and Hogan Knows Best . This all seems very strange? strangely amusing.

Regarding Stupid

2006-01-29T21:31:00.000-07:00

As to not Hi-jack a friend's blog please use this post as a forum for any discussion regarding my following response, addressing the John Stuart Mill quote posted on http://philipmywaterbottle.blogspot.com . ( <-- click on link for post with quote)

Below, my response - in brackets - to the J.S.M. quote and its adoption by the "herd" (can you say moo?) as commented on the above linked blog.

["If you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain."
- This has been questionably attributed to Winston Churchill - opinion varies on its origin, but I am sure we are all familiar with it.

I understand many of you reading this will not really get it. Ten years from now, after you get out of the propaganda crammed into your brain via "scruel" * and then if you could pay your taxes in one lump sum just once - on your own then you will begin to grasp part of this concept. Some of you may never have the opportunity to do so - many will not expend the effort to do so. Please feel free to open this discussion on my blog http://lightpassingthrough.blogspot.com/ as I do not want to hi-jack Phil’s – unless he warrants it, try not to use any talking points - they show a lack of real knowledge of the issue.
* (google it connected to Rush Limbaugh for those of you in “Rio Linda”- please note I could insert a direct link but if you are too lazy to find it on your own that may be a confirmation of a lack of true concern regarding evaluation of information)]

Hi my name is Kanye West, I'm a MORON

2006-01-26T00:03:00.000-07:00

So the latest and far from greatest on a ... sub-human ... of pop culture. As we all know Kanye West called President Bush a racist a few months back while "trying" to help raise relief money for Hurricane Katrina. If unfamiliar with this event educate yourself and you will recognize this as just one of his many public displays of his lack of intelligence.

Now he has posed on the latest Rolling Stone as Christ. Hmmm.... wonder what he's trying to say. West insists he has a lot in common with Christ since he had to fight for recognition and suffer for all his success. Should we laugh? Maybe we should all help him cry because life is so tough for him?
C'mon now is there any doubt how much of a moron this guy is?

I tried - I mean I really tried to muster up some tears for him.... didn't happen. So the only thing this genius warrants is possibly to be mocked publicly. I suppose that’s what he means when he says he's a lot like Christ in that people mock him. The difference here as informed folks know is that Christ was mocked by fools - Kanye is mocked because he IS a fool.

Oh, wait, wait... its tears - tears because I'm laughing so hard, ha, ha, ha! - seriously - All I've got for this guy is a kick in the ass. See illustration...

Do, do, do, lookin' out my backdoor

2006-01-20T13:26:00.000-07:00

I spent 6 hours plowing snow at the family's place in the mts north of town Tuesday night. I drove in with about 14 inches on the ground - it came up to the bottom of the truck. We plow with a 4-wheeler w/ a blade on the front that we use. The only problem is 14 inches of snow weighs alot, so I spent a good deal of the evening and early morning pulling the 4-wheeler out of the snow when it got stuck. After doing this for a few hours I began to wish I had a CAT like when I worked at Camp Perkins after college. This made me dig through the photos trying to find a photo of the CAT and I ended up spending a few hours looking through photos - more photos of a "this day in history" of my life is coming soon... Also thought I would share my view from the porch when I woke up after the night of plowing.

24

2006-01-12T19:39:00.000-07:00

I'm not big on TV -But this Show really hooked me. Check it out-Sunday 8/7 central.

Does Bono Really Love America?

2006-01-08T22:19:00.000-07:00

So... It seems to be the time of the year that folks are reflecting on this past year. Music seems to be the theme in one of my circles of friends blogs.The past year has provided me with quite a few new opportunities/experiences. One of my goals this year was to checkout shows of my favorite Singers/bands - start working through the list. Lyle Lovett in June, Jack Johnson in August, and the final show of the American U2 tour in Portland right before Christmas. Lyle was great - best show I've seen to date. Jack was solid, the crowd was a little off, and U2- formally my #1 rock band of all time-sucked. U2 was a total let down, or I should correctly say Bono sucked. That's right; Bono, Nobel Prize nominee, human rights advocate, philanthropist supposed lover of America... About five songs into the set Bono walks to the front of the stage and is handed two Flags-one Irish and one American. Holding both he goes back to a center Speaker and drapes 1st the Irish flag over the amp. second the American flag. he lays the flag down upside down. I think - huh he says he loves America - must be a mistake. Nope, he walks to the mic, pauses, and returns to the flag, lifts it up for the crowd to see that it is upside down and places it once again upside down on the speaker... Following this Bono pulls a girl - maybe 10 or 12 years old on the stage and proceeds to lead her in an antiwar chant while discussing the Serbian conflict w/ rhetoric of today's liberal talking points addressing the war in Iraq. And of course, the overwhelmingly left crowd cheers... I ask myself what is more pathetic, the ignorance of the vast majority of the crowd that does not really know the historical references being used as an illustration - paired with the knee jerk response to a liberal talking point (evidenced by the response - the link from the Serb conflict was not accurate to the current Iraq war tie). Or is it more despicable that one as familiar with recent history would use an innacurate tactic exploiting a child, paired w/ a leftist talking point.
So my conclusion is this Bono is a whore. He sits the fence and/or gives the right responses to the given audience to gain their acceptance and money for his charities. At first glance his interests seem positive, but how many more inconsistencies are there. Some have suggested Bono the Antichrist-there are always these witchhunts and I don't care to be a part of that. I can say that I know what I saw and I saw Bono as an anti-American whore. As Bono says I wont spend any more of my "hard earned cash on a U2 show" again.