"Nullum Gratuitum Prandium"

Fall means hunt'n so it's time, once again, for Steve Hiebert and I to head out into the wilds of Paul and Carols Craig property for an elk muzzleloader hunt. I might as well cut to the chase and admit that the hunting was a complete failure. After a full week of hunting I only saw one elk. It was a big cow elk(for which I had the proper license), it was about 5 meters away, and I could have shot it...several time in fact. More on that later.

Paul was the only person to actually see more than one animal and did actually take a shot but missed completely. Carol saw a piece of a back running through the brush at 100 meters and that about sums up the hunting experience. Not sure why they weren't in there this year. That issue was the topic of many discussions through out the week but, of course, it's all speculation. Animals choose where they are for their own reasons, and that's why they call it Hunting.

We did get a lot done helping Paul on home improvements. First up was the Brennan Diversion. Paul bought water rights on a small creek running adjacent to the property, and decided to pipe it over to the cabin. The exact reason for this is still up in the air, but for now he intends to fill an old beaver pond next to the house. Over labor day I helped clear some timber to make way for the pipeline, and this week we did the final tie-in to bring the water over the hill. Paul and Carol were pretty happy when we kicked on the pump for the first time and actually got water. Steve was instrumental in helping establish "flow" as well. My part was measuring water depth in the pond after a margarita or two.

We also tinkered with some other projects: cell phone antenna, satellite dish for Internet connection, solar battery charging, and house fly elimination.

Oh yeah... if you didn't figure out the riddle of the cow elk I saw but didn't shoot, don't feel bad. No one else did either. It was already dead! After watching bird activity in one particular spot on the property all week I finally investigated, and found the corpus. Cause of death unknown, and due to the state of decomposition, it will stay that way.

Rifle season is up next so more opportunities for that free lunch remain. If you like the t-shirt check out this website.

For Medicinal Purposes Only

I'm sure this post is bound to raise a suspicious eye brow or two, but I am convinced that I have stumbled onto a medical break-through. The background on this is that earlier this spring when we were getting our windows put in and the house stuccoed, I was doing quit a few repairs and house upgrades that required some hammering, and other hand tool use. The result of all this short term stress in my right arm was a "tennis elbow" condition due to inflammation of the tendons in the elbow. Basically a repetitive stress injury, and as many of you have probably experienced this you know that it can be quit painful and hard to resolve.

Now for the interesting part. It's been a hot summer and as I am partial to the occasional gin and tonic on these occasions I noticed something very interesting. After the equivalent of about two G&T's the pain in my elbow totally resolves. Now I know that the cynical readers among you are going to laugh this off and say it is the alcohol talking, but let's not be so hasty. I can't get the same effect on beer or any other libation of the alcoholic nature so my initial suspicion was the tonic, which contains quinine must have something to do with it. As we all know quinine was widely used to fight malaria in the old days and had to have some medicinal properties.

If your still skeptical check out the properties of quinine and then let's see who's laughing.

Jaimie's got Wheels

Well it was bound to happen sooner or later. After a concerted effort this summer, Jaimie finally accumulated enough hours to be able to take her driving test. There were surprisingly few close calls during the process (if we don't include her first two driving lessons which were conducted in highly remote, low obstacle areas). That horse will never be the same, but that's another story.

In order to accelerate her learning experience Jaimie helped pick out a 1995 Subaru Legacy wagon as her first car and is now driving it back and forth to high school, and work. Her main criteria was that it had to be an automatic (thanks Steve...you know who you are).

Oh, yeah. She has lowered her burden on society by getting a job and becoming a legitimate wage earner. You can now find her hostessing at Outback Steakhouse in Golden on weekends. If you go, be sure to tip heavily....it helps with the gasoline bill.