Update - late March

I am very excited for the upcoming turkey season because I have access to some private land this year. I hope to fill my four turkey bag this year to help fill my freezer. since I only put 3 deer in it this winter my meat reserves are low.  That means I need to catch more fish, kill more small game, and waste some turkeys to make up for the dreadful deer season. I will be hunting with my Savage/Stephens 12 gauge pump (old school), and despite the fact it is a modified choke and more suited to wing shooting it actually preforms nicely and I have up most confidence in it. I may play with some video of The "Hieskell Boys"  ( the group I grew up with and still hunt with) Turkey hunting to share with you all.  It is wet here so I still can't plow the garden, hope everyone out their is fairing well,  I plan on posting on a T.V. show I can actually watch called the wild within this weekend. Hope you can check it out Your Pal The Envirocapitalist.

It is always in a creek

I was slaving in front of my computer entering data on my whereabouts and activities of the prior day (the government tracks everything). When I got an email from the EPA about a possible straight pipe (think raw sewage) running into a creek in my area. "Why is it always a creek" I lamented while I loaded the truck and started the 45 minute drive out to the area. As soon as I turned into the Trailer Park which was the suspected violator I was taken back by the combination of the size of the development and just how rough it was. It still amazes me as to the staggering number of people willing to live in filth. There is a difference between poor and dirty and this place was dirty.  I put on my nifty reflective vest that identifies me as a government agent, pulled on my Muck boots and headed for the creek.  It was edged by a thick mesh of briers, weeds, and small trees which made my approach difficult to say the least. I could already smell the sweet odor of sewage before I could see the water and I heard running water, but not like a babbling brook.......more like  a bath tub faucet running full bore.  I was stunned to see the 4 inch black pipe sticking out of the creek bank, not because I haven't seen this before since I do several times a year, but because sewer water was pouring out of it at alarming pace. I would guess about 15 gallons per minute which is the largest point source flow I have ever seen. My stomach turned a little when I imagined the kids from this hell hole of a trailer park down here swimming and fishing in this creek.  I straightened myself and headed back to the truck. It would take me another hour to enter the findings of the investigation into our customer service tracking system, a field activity report, my Daily activity report, and fill out the notice of violation letter that would be sent to the violator making him aware of the problem, (as if he didn't know) and giving him a deadline to fix it.  I am frustrated by the bureaucracy I am in at times. But it is times like this I see a need for a mediator. It is just a matter of figuring out how government can fill this role best. Your pal the Envirocapitalist.

The Canoe

I make friends at work, But I don't usually go afield with them. I don't know why, I just have limited time and a group of good friends whom I would prefer to spend time in the bush with anyway. With that said one day I made and exception and took up a very excited co-worker on an offer to try out the new canoe his father had gotten him. We took it to to Melton Hill Lake.  I thought this was smart since I didn't know what kind of canoe it was and the calm placid waters of the lake would be ideal for any canoe even with my co-worker (who was a novice) at the helm.  We met at about nine in the morning in the parking lot and I notice the canoe looked like the nice shiny wooden ones you see hanging from a ceiling or on its end with books in it.  Sure enough we drug it out of the back of his truck and it was a decorative canoe and not a canoeing canoe. I didn't know what to say........... sometimes this guy is a know it all and I didn't want to start a fuss, so against my better judgement I let him launch it with catastrophic results. As I stood there in awe while my wet co-worker slung a six hundred dollar decorative canoe around the parking lot, stopping, cussing and yelling I couldn't help but thinking maybe I should have warned him. After a few uncomfortable moments we parted company, I am sure he swore off canoes and I know I swore off adventures with hot headed tenderfoots. your pal the Envirocapitalist.