Take Down Bow

I've been working on a take-down bow recently. It is out of a piece of Osage Orange stave that I have had in my stockpile for about 14 years. So it should be aged about right to make a very effecient bow. I added some recurve to each limb. You can see one of the limbs in my form waiting to cool down. I usually heat the area to be bent with a heat gun (paint stripper).
This bow is left handed. I shoot both left and right handed but prefer left. I have a pair of rattle snake skins which I will apply to the face of the bow sometime this week. I'll post the finished bow once it is done. X.

Agent Orange: A Country Without a Conscience

I was going to post this on my other blog 'Darkside of the Moon', but deciced it should go here. During the Vietnam War the United States sprayed over 80 million gallons of chemicals in that country to kill anything that grew from the ground. The concentrations they used were 13 times what our own USDA recommends. This figure was only recently revealed. They had been lieing about the concentrations for years, imagine that!
Above you see some of the planes spraying this liquid death. I saw this first hand, up close and personal. They didn't bother at times to make sure there were no troops in the jungles below them. Our unit had this stuff sprayed directly on us. Little did we know then what this would mean, although many became sick shortly after.I would venture to say that the number of american soldiers who have died from this is many times over the 50,000 some thousand who were killed in combat. Sadly the body count goes up every hour of every day. The death and destruction to the country of South Vietnam and it's people goes on daily as well. Many children in Vietnam were born with deformities.
The country that did this is the same country that decried Saddam Hessein for his use of chemical warfare. What hypochrosy.
I have battled with cancer and diabetes which was caused by Agent Orange. Many of the soldiers I served with are either dead or are suffering the ravages caused by Agent Orange. Over 50 of the soldiers in my company from Vietnam have died since returning home, as a result of what Agent Orange did to them.
Occasionally there will be a mention of Agent Orange in the media. However, not enough to suit me. Americans will wave the flag patrioticly when it suits them or there egos. But those same patriots stand quietly by as many a brave soldier dies a slow death in the heartland. I see my anger is starting to rise to the surface. It has been there for years and I know i must let go of it.
Those of us who served in Nam, and our plight have been shoved aside as collateral damage by a government that has no 'Soul'. Steven Xavier White

I love old barns

Speed Bump

I had some blockage in my right carotid artery. Had surgery wendsday and spent the night in hospital. Got home last night. Am doing good, just can't drive for a few days or do any lifting. Should soon be back up to snuff. X.

More Birds

Party at the Picnic table

I know we've all been having a mild winter thus far. And I've enjoyed every minute of it.
Mother Nature decided it was time to remind everyone just who was in charge though. It was in the single digits last night after a winter storm passed thru and gave us several inches of snow.
After filling up the bird feeders I decided to dump some seed on our picnic table in the back yard. The birds decided to have a party there. X.

The Bearcreek 'Bears'

I live in a small town about 45 miles west of Hannibal Missouri. You are probably familiar with it as it is the home town of Mark Twain. We go there occassionaly to shop. Just about 3 miles west of Hannibal on highway 36 Bearcreek crosses under the 4lanes of traffic. Near the creek 4 bears stand at the edge of a fence. The owner always has them attired to represent the given holiday or yearly event.
I never can remember to take my camera on this trip, but today I remembered. As luck would have it, today they were standing there au natural. No costumes. That doesn't happen very often. Possibly the high winds of late caused this. So it looks like I will need to try and catch them in one of the many outfits they wear.
The owner of the property and the bears was a former logger. One of the men who worked for him was gifted with the handling of a chainsaw. X.