No time like the present

I'm tired.

So much has happened.

I forgot about this blog.  My first post since 2014!  So much has happened in that amount of time.

Well, well, well.  Can I or can I not run a whelk stall?  We shall find out.  Also, hi!  It's been a long time.

Building my first Twitter application

...while listening to NPR streaming to my AirPlay speakers with the HAM radio tuned to 146.520 in the background. Yes, I'm a geek. Was there ever any question?

I'm not a hunter

That said, I do support the so-called "right" of people to hunt. I prefer if someone goes out of their way to kill an animal there be a use for the decedent. Even if you shoot, say, deer for sport perhaps the meat could be harvested for, say, a local food bank? I know that's not easy, even food banks and soup kitchens, ones operated under by license, have strict rules and laws regarding the source of the product they are giving away in most cases.

Hunting just isn't for me. Granted I do enjoy a good hunting story, particularly that of Colonel John Henry Patterson, the man who killed two maneless male lions in Tsavo, Kenya because the lions were making mincemeat out of his railroad bridge building crew. Patterson later wrote a book called, aptly, The Man-Eaters of Tsavo and a "based somewhat on a true story" movie was produced in the 90's called The Ghost and the Darkness. Enough about the history. Besides tracking and killing the two male tigers who were eating his crew Patterson's account of his time in Kenya also included many stories about hunting in general. In fact he killed, and this is from memory so don't quote me, a species of antelope unknown to science that was named for him as the discoverer. The most entertaining story of hunting was a failed hunt and I believe it involved either a water buffalo or rhino, whatever it was it was something big. Patterson shot the beast with a fairly low powered rifle and the bullet failed to penetrate the skin of the beast. What it did succeed in doing was piss the giant off in a big way and it charged Patterson who took defense by lying down in the tall grass. After the beast had passed Patterson, in his own words, decided to shoot again "against his better judgement". This turned the pissed-off-o-meter of the animal to eleven, so to speak, but Patterson survived the encounter.

What's the point of all this? Well a lady from Massachusetts on a gator hunt in South Carolina shot and stunned a 1,025 pound american alligator this week which she then killed with a knife between the skull and spinal column. But why? Is she going to eat a 1,025 pound gator? I don't think so.

I'll say this: I'm deathly afraid of alligators. Crocodiles too. I don't like them and we have alligators in North Carolina. In fact I've seen a few, very far out East in the state, mostly along Highway 64 close to Manns Harbor just past the accurately named Alligator River. An alligator is one animal I'd kill without second thought if I believed my pets or myself to be in danger but I don't think I'd want to go kill a 100+ year old alligator "just for the hell of it".

Still, somehow, I support the ability for someone to choose to do so. It's just not for me nor for is freezing my ass off turkey or deer hunting in the fall or winter months. If you want to, more power to you, I guess.

Today's post is a song

..and not one I wrote, sorry to say.

Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above,
Don't fence me in.
Let me ride through the wide open country that I love,
Don't fence me in.
Let me be by myself in the evenin' breeze,
And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees,
Send me off forever but I ask you please,
Don't fence me in.

Just turn me loose, let me straddle my old saddle
Underneath the western skies.
On my Cayuse, let me wander over yonder
Till I see the mountains rise.

I want to ride to the ridge where the west commences
And gaze at the moon till I lose my senses
And I can't look at hovels and I can't stand fences
Don't fence me in.

Stuck in the mud

I need to be doing more with my life but I just can't seem to get around to doing just that. I love photography but I rarely take photos. I love to travel but I rarely go anywhere. I love to write but can't seem to push a noun and a verb together when I have the time. The solution seems to be grab the camera, go somewhere and write some kind of photo/travel journal or book but it's more difficult than you might imagine, at least it is for me.

Perhaps I'm depressed. My most favorite place in the world (within a reasonable distance mind you) is the North Carolina Outer Banks, in particular the unincorporated town of Rodanthe. Rodanthe, and the Outer Banks in a larger sense, is the location where I've taken what I believe to be my best photographs. The photo I've linked above is one I took last year in the town of Rodanthe, for the record. Trouble is Rodanthe is becoming the vacation spot for my ex-wife and her new boyfriend and this area of the Outer Banks is small, far too tiny to not expect chance encounters to occur. It's not that I don't think we can happily all co-exist i town, that's not what I'm implying at all but I do think having me so close would cause some discomfort for them and I'm all about living and let live.

So what to do? I think it's time for me to find a new place to hang out on the weekends. The NC Outer Banks is four hours (plus another 30 minutes most trips) to the East. If I take out a map and draw a four hour driving circle over Durham, NC I bet I could locate a few interesting places to visit and photograph. The only question is what to drive. Sure, my Chevrolet Valdez will get me there, no question about that but hotels each and every weekend are going to get expensive. One possible solution is to purchase another RV for travel. Being single, and likely to remain so for the foreseeable future and perhaps forever, I don't require a large RV and deals on fully converted RV vans can be found if you're willing to look hard enough.

I've found two vans with potential, one here in the greater Raleigh area and another down in Florida. I'm leaning towards the Florida van but, quite frankly, I'm worried about the mold that could have potentially accumulated in a RV van that lives outside in the Orlando, FL area. This is a real concern and potentially costly to fix if the elements have managed to get a foothold inside. But that's neither her nor there as it's a bridge I must cross later.

I'll keep everyone posted.