Flaming the Bear

What's the Point

2008-07-03T21:37:00.001-06:00

2 years ago I started another blog on a hosted site. Now I can post here but I can't seem to visit from home. Wierd.

Oooops!

2006-02-23T23:03:00.000-07:00

You're looking at a photo's from the Syncrude site in northern Alberta. Seems the crane may have been over loaded! No one died, but a pretty scary sight when you think about it.

Notes from the Technology Underground: Example of what not to do

2006-02-23T22:56:00.000-07:00

Notes from the Technology Underground: Example of what not to do

Uh yeah, looks like fun, my ears are ringing just thinking about it! The last time someone tried this around here they blew the door's off an apartment building in town! I don't know if the victim's were all that fazed though, they kept on playing cards! That 5 draw poker's a serious game! Ha Ha

Ready or Not!

2006-02-21T20:34:00.000-07:00

I’ve finally done it. I put out my home brew digital trail camera today. I chose my current hot spot that eat’s 35mm film like it’s free beer at a frat party. Lot’s of times, I would check the camera, refill the film; swap the batteries and when I checked the cam on my way to the 1 hour lab there the camera would’ve auto rewound. Cool, except lot’s of times when I checked the date on the film it would only have been 48 hours since I had visited the camera last. In other words the camera sat idle for 3 to 5 days with out any ammo to take pic’s with. I’ve set this cam up with a 64 meg card, not a monster BUT it’s got 2x the capacity of a 24 exposure roll on max pixels.

Camera Build

2006-02-21T20:33:00.000-07:00

My camera build has been moving along. Pretty soon I’ll have a nice 2 mp digi-cam in the field. I know I’m not on the latest & greatest but when I’m done I’m going to have 2 digital trail / game cameras that will have cost me about $250 canuck bucks total. I think the cheapest I can get any digital trail/gamer camera right now is about $250-300 for a 1 mega-pixel. So although it’s not the latest and greatest, it’s certainly not the worst out there. The first and probably the second camera are going to both use the Bryan Gennings chip and home made boards. I’m using Carlon-Lamson 6×6x4 electrical boxes for the case. They’re a little awkward to use since they don’t have a door. But once I modify them by putting in studs & wingnuts on for the cover they’re not to bad. Not super accessible but not totally impossible to use either. The Carlon box is also a lot cheaper than the Pelican case’s quite a few people have been using. One friend is using the Lock ‘n Lock sandwhich boxes too and they work out pretty cheap. The only thing wrong with the lock ‘n locks is the quality of adhesion, I haven’t found something that to them all that great yet. On the Carlon boxes I can and do use 2 different things for glue up. JB weld & automotive molding tape, both adhere well and I’m hoping the automotive tape will hold up the cold, especially since it sticks like crazy. Once I get the first box done I’ll post a pic of it on here so everyone can see what I’m talking about.

A nice muley buck

2006-02-12T19:40:00.000-07:00

While this isn't a monster yet, it will be soon. This deer has nice width and is showing some potential mass for mass. His only flaw is that he's short 1 point of the left side. He's a 2x3.

Doe & small buck

2006-02-12T19:37:00.000-07:00

Photos here, there everywhere! I like the doe pic, she's midstride, if you look closely there's another set of eyes coming in the background on the right.

Deer Pictures to share

2006-02-12T19:35:00.000-07:00

Garth Turner may quit the Tories

2006-02-12T09:59:00.000-07:00

Garth Turner has announced that he may quit the Conservative caucus and sit as independant over the David Emerson affair. I wonder if he plans on quiting his seat too, after all one of the arguments being used is that the people that elected Emerson wanted a Liberal not a Conservative. Well that's fine BUT the people that elected Turner wanted a Conservative NOT and an independant, talk about a double standard!

Funny of the day

2006-02-12T09:56:00.000-07:00

Husband - “I just lost an argument with my own argument”

Lady - “Huh, is that man sense?”

Wife - “Nope, it makes perfect sense to me!”

What's the Point?

2006-02-11T15:59:00.000-07:00

Page 4 of the Edmonton Sun today (Feb 11/06) tells an incredible story where guy who just had his drivers license suspended for 3 piddly months for killing someone in a crosswalk. He then got into his car and drove away. This, according to the Sun is after he surrendered his license to the court! Unbelievable! What's the point of a justice system if the convicted just do what they were just banned from doing? Not only did the guy up and do it at the courthouse, he did it in front of the MSM & the victim's family. Either this guy is an idiot or already knows that the justice system is going to be completely toothless in it's response to his violation of the law. As far as I'm concerned the only good place for this guy is in jail! He's been tried, convicted & sentenced and he didn't make it a half an hour before he violated the terms of his conviction. Since he's unwilling to meet the terms set out by the court maybe he needs to supervised the entire time to ensure he's compliant with the courts wishes. And what better place for him to be supervised than in a max security prison!

Olympic Hockey

2006-02-10T12:07:00.000-07:00

Before anyone says it, I really don't think that the Canadian olympic hockey team is going to be much of a threat this year. If I were a betting man, I wouldn't waste a dime on the Canadian team, even if they're favoured. Not because of the alleged gambling controversy that brewing over Tochett but because the team is old. It lacks the youth needed to ignite the fire. Hockey is a team sport, fill a team with talented head line players and you've got another New York Rangers scenario. This is exactly the team that was put together this year, I'll be cheering on the Czech's & Russians once Canada is kaput. Heaven forbid the U.S. wins; the gloating would be unbearable.

Head Cheese Anyone?

2006-02-09T23:16:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, a looonnngg time ago (about 25 years ago) ...

My aunt Peggy's dad wanted to make head cheese but he didn't know how. So after a few phone calls to my aunt Claudette, he started with the job of creating this farmer's delicacy. Nervous about how it would turn out, he kept phoning aunt Claudette. After a while aunt Claudette got tired of all the phone calls so she went over to his house. Aunt Peggy's dad had the big ol canner pot boiling away on the stove when aunt C got there. So she went straight to the pot and lifted the lid, and there through the fog of the steam; were 2 eyes staring back at her! Hmmm head cheese!

The Grammy's

2006-02-09T08:06:00.000-07:00

Who won? Who lost? WHO CARES?

'nuff said!

Tit for tat?

2006-02-08T21:32:00.000-07:00

Vic Toews the new Justice minister is hinting that the gun registry is going to be scrapped and it may not be done through parliment. Apparently, the gist is that the Conservatives would use a little thing called an Order in Council and by pass debate. The Liberals and the NDP say that's not fair and the scrapping of the long gun registry should go through parliment - oh really? That's odd, why was it okay to use OIC's to modify the gun legislation before when it was just a money pit? Funny how they forget thier own treachery of the people through the use of the Undemocratic Order in Council when modifying the gun legislation. The Liberals put the OIC provision in and now the Conservatives are going to use it to streamline the gun registry in thier own unique way. In fact I dare say when they finish 'streamlining' the registry it'll be, well non-existant like it should've been in first place.

I'm left to wonder just exactly what was the purpose of the registry anyways? To keep us safe from guns? Nope, it's not done that, only 12-13% of the guns used in crime were registered. Was it to ensure that only the right people had guns, well then it was a giant failure from the get go, after 87-88% of all firearms murders were committed with guns of unknown origin and furthermore 50% of all murders were committed with handguns, a weapon that's been heavily restricted since 1936! So what was the real purpose of the long gun registry? I have two guess, the first is insidious - confiscation of all firearms in order to protect the government from it's people. And the other, a little more obvious and probable on at least a temporary scale - job welfare in depressed areas of the country. In a way this does make some sense - after all Miramichi is in job poor New Brunswick and they would be able to supply a form of employment to the people and buy votes with western money from the richer provinces at the same time! Only one problem, the Liberals needed to perpetuate the grand scheme and the $2 million baby turned into godzilla instead. Funny how people don't like paying for things that don't work!

So now the Conservatives are left with a somewhat tough situation, they're about to kill a whole bunch of jobs in New Brunswick in order to keep the MAJORITY of the country happy. But the Liberals & NDP are calling the use of the OIC written into the bill by the Liberals as undemocratic! Hmmmph - the damn bill was undemocratic to begin with, so quite frankly I don't know why they have a problem with it now!

Of Opera's & Wrestling

2006-02-07T20:27:00.000-07:00

My wife was talking about how she would much prefer an opera to WWF. I on the other hand, would go to a WWF event before Opera. However, if I was given a choice - neither would be on the to do list. I would much prefer going fishing or something else a little less social. I spend a good portion of my day being social at work - I really prefer a bit of solitude at some point in the day. Like say when I get home from work and find some new ways to hide under a rock. My dad was much the same way, most of the time you'd need a tow truck to get him away from the house. When I was younger I couldn't understand this, but now I'm more and more the same way and now it makes sense to me. Something about relaxation & missing that when you're watching an opera or being tortured with even more ridiculous over acting courtesy of professional wrestlers!

Websites, homelife & switching sides

2006-02-07T20:02:00.000-07:00

It's been a long day. I've been fiddling with my website and this blog trying to get them to talk to each other without much luck. It's a bit frustating when things don't go the way you want but that's just life. I guess it was my turn to cook tonight too, so we had pizza - store bought crust & my choice of toppings. Brenda & the dogs seemed to like it since they all fought over a piece that hit the floor! (well that's a bit of an exageration!) I guess Bacon, pepperoni, mushroom & cheddar cheese has that effect on them.

On the political front everyone seems to be up in arms over David Emerson crossing the floor to the Conservatives. Liberals are especially angered by this but personally you can spin it all you want - the fact is when Scott Brison & Belinda Stronach crossed the floor the Liberals didn't seem to have any problem with the migration! Wierd how when things go around they come around! I'm guessing the Liberals are now feeling the same as Conservatives felt in the spring. Oh well boo hoo - it's called politics kids.

My New Website

2006-02-06T21:45:00.000-07:00

About a week before all hell broke loose I started the process of creating my new web site. I've had a presence on the web since 1996 when I got my Telus account. I've since fired Telus since they don't think we're worth the time as far as hi-speed internet goes. I'm sure one day they'll just drop out of the sky and announce ADSL - and all I have to say is - sucks to be you! They should've got off thier asses and did it 8 years ago when they prepped the town for it. Yep, we've been ADSL ready for 8 years and Telus sat on it!

Anyway, I've been chugging away on the site and slowly re-creating my personality on it. Being a perfectionist, I've tried several different templates with content management system I've chosen. (Mambo for now) Oddly after a bunch of messing around with about 5 different ones I settled with the default installation! I'm just going to create my colour set of buttons, logo & background and say a big thank you to the template creator! So if you really get bored - the sites located @ http://www.flamingbear.ca

As I go along I've started adding the stuff I want to present on the site. It's focus is going to be the outdoors stuff. Hunting, fishing & conservation are going to get the biggest plays. I might dabble in politics, but really there's enough of that going on right now already. There's really not much in the way of Canadian outdoor news aggregators out there and that's what I'm going to try to be. Hope you enjoy what you see there!

Favorite Pictures

2006-02-04T13:02:00.000-07:00

As a game camera enthusiast a lot of people I meet assume that my favorite photo's would be of big antlered deer. Well it may nice to get those photo's and they certainly are a treat, but it's really not that realistic to expect those type of photo's all of the time. My favorites are photo's that come out clear, no blur, no fog and lucky poses. Due to weather & animal movement these photo's are tough to get - everything is conspiring against you when you set up and the camera and leave. The fog, the cold, the flash, the auto-rewind all work against the trail camera in the quest for the perfect picture. Take for example the photo I've posted today - it's nearly perfect except that the darn date is right on the deer's nose!

The Prize

2006-02-03T18:45:00.000-07:00

As I've mentioned before I have 3 film game camera's out and this guy is the prize so far. It's a decent whitetail and I nearly missed seeing him on the film. This photo is from a double exposure! I'm using some cheap wally world film and the stuff is jamming in the camera sporadically. This makes for bad photo's and crabby cameras! I've seen this deer on the hoof before in person and it's part of the reason the camera is where it is. The post the camera is on is right in his escape/entry path to a canola field he's feeding in. This guy is definitely one of those '160' class deer. Ironically, I'll be hunting that field for mule deer next year and NOT concentrating on whitetails. Having this walk by will be a real bonus - I'll love watching him! To me the most impressive part is the brow tines (G1's) they're nearly the same height as the first points on the main beams (G2's). This particular camera is eating 24 packs of film in about 48 hours! I can't afford to run it any longer.

Conservative Silence

2006-02-03T06:47:00.000-07:00

There's a number of blogs in Canada that purport conservative ideologies and I'm really beginning to wonder where their loyalties truly lie. Every time a Canadian says something or does something bad to the US they're all over the act for it's anti American sentiment. Yet it seems that every time that the US returns the favour, there's a code of silence. There's been several examples of this, the latest is the US military firing upon the Canadian embassy's vehicle in the green zone in Bagdad. Given there's 2 sides to this story that differ signifigantly which is fine - obviously you don't intentionally shoot @ friendlies BUT no comment what so ever from the 'conservative' Canadians? Very questionable indeed! It's as if they know that if they make a comment their friends in the US will resent it so they make no comment. I'm not going to spend 25 paragraphs defending my position, I'll let my AmerConservatives friends defend their view instead. In my opinion, if you really are a Canadian and someone does our country wrong, be it America or China or whoever, it deserves comment - not a gutless sweeping under the rug just so someone's feelings won't be hurt.

Back to the Grindstone

2006-02-01T22:29:00.000-07:00

After taking a week off for a marathon inappropriately called grieving I went back to work today. Since I live in a small community everyone thats been around for a while tends to know everyone else. I didn't really have any idea how deeply my dad had touched people in the community until the last few days. There's been many expressions of condolences and also those who knew not what to say that were clearly skirting the subject. I have to thank all of those people, even those who found it awkward to say anything - their discomfort in itself expresses a feeling of loss and an understandable lack of words that go with it.

Even though we knew the day would come that dad would pass, it was still a great shock to all of the family. However, if there was one thing that dad taught it was not to dwell on the past, you have to move forward and thier will be some tough days, but eventually the sun will shine again.

Dad I miss you already.

Long Days

2006-01-31T06:48:00.000-07:00

It's been a tough week that started last Tuesday. Everything came to a screaming halt with a dreaded phone call from mom @ 8:00 a.m. From mom's voice I knew things were going to change forever and they did. Dad passed away in the night and some of the longest toughest day's of my life were about to begin. It's been a marathon ever since the phone call and I think I got about 4 or 5 hours sleep in the first days leading up to the services on Friday and memorial service and internment on Saturday. The planning and the work have been unbelievable and somewhere during this we have to find time to mourn and move on. It's been tough - writing the words of remberance was very challenging and my greatest fear was that we would miss somebody and sure enough we did, my brother in law who's been an integral part of the family for so long I can't even remember what it was without him in the picture got missed. Over looked or whatever, I'm not sure how it was even possible, but it seemed like there were words for everyone - yet at that critical time, words for Brad were missed. It makes a person wonder if it's a wise thing to even mention peoples names when doing these sorts of things. Mention one, then mention all. Maybe it's better just to mention no one and slight everyone.

Here we go again

2006-01-23T08:13:00.000-07:00

There's another positive for BSE in Canada, just click on the link to the CTV article for more details. Why is it everytime there's a set back in the US, we're sure to follow with one of our own within a week or so. Wierd how that works out, but I suppose that's just Canadian luck. Anyway, I hope that the Canadian elections have a positive outcome and we have a leader with some tact and backbone, something Martin definitely lacks and I'm not so sure Layton's line of thought is all that stable either.

Camera battles

2006-01-22T10:15:00.000-07:00

I've spent yesterday and part of this morning rigging up a digi-cam that I mentioned earlier. It's been a lot more challenging than I expected. This is mostly due to the fact that I decided to use opto-couplers in place of reed relays to trigger the camera shutter and refresh. Theres' been a couple of challenges so far and I hope to get things resolved some time today. After fighting with it this morning I'm taking a breather so that I don't frustrated and start wrecking things. Did you know for instance, that transistors may not all be wired the same? These little do-dads have 3 pins, now you would assume that the pins would be arranged the same irregardless of who made them - NOT so. That's a real head banger! Hours of testing and checking coming down to the collector & emitter pins not being standardized! Anyway I've got the camera firing now, I just need to get the refresh circuit working and the count LED co-operating again and the rig will be ready to box.

A friend and I went out and checked the 2 camera's I do have out right now, 1 needed a full roll of film while the other had only taken 16 pic's BUT the batteries were deader than a door nail. I'm afraid the first camera will only have a full roll of bird pic's like the last time. I'm not sure if I'll make the drive to Stettler today or wait a week and pull the film on the other camera next week @ the same time. If I go today I'll try and post some pic's here later on.