Jockey Calvin Borel decided to take a poke at another jockey after a race at this weekend’s Breeder’s Cup. 

Nothing like making friends and influencing people on national television.   All of a sudden I’m glad I didn’t apply to work security at the track this season.

If you’re not reading this through an RSS reader, you’ve probably noticed that I’ve moved some things around.  I changed the template and layout of the gadgets in the blog, as well as the color scheme.  I’ve added a link to Soldier’s Angels on the right side to go with the SAF link I talked about earlier.  I also added a Creative Commons statement at the bottom.  Anyone who wants to use my original content is free to do so, so long as they attribute it back to this blog.

Hope you all enjoy.  And before you ask, yes, my Saturday evenings are just that boring.

DaddyBear, singing along to the radio: I don’t know where I’m going, but I sure know where I’ve been. Hanging on the promises and the songs of yesterday, I’ve made up my mind.
Irish Woman: Are you trying to woo me?
DaddyBear: Yes, now go dance on the hood of the minivan.
Irish Woman: Snort!

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Girlie Bear and I got our packets from Hunt Control at Fort Knox last night. I was getting worried. This is the latest we’ve gotten our notification. We got drawn for the first weekend, the 20th and 21st of November.

I made the customary horse trade with her mother to get her that weekend, so we will both be able to go to the woods.

This weekend I’ll get all of the gear out and prepped. The clothing needs to be washed and descented. The blind needs to be set up and left in the yard to air out. My rifle is clean, but I’ll take her to the range and check the zero, then give her a good cleaning. I’ve been really impressed with the Thompson Center Omega and the cheap 3-9 Redhead shotgun scope I put on it. It holds zero very well, and hits well within minute of deer at 150 yards.

Don’t know if I’ll get MREs again this year or just make soup and sandwiches. I’ll figure that out based on the time I have in the next couple of weeks.

I love going to Knox, and last year was even better than normal because Girlie Bear was along for the hunt. If she continues to improve with her shooting, next year she’ll have her own rifle.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I have held new life in my arms and cried sweet tears of joy.
I have held new death in my arms and cried bitter tears of pain

I have watched the best of humanity reach out to help the afflicted
I have watched the worst of humanity snatch bread from a starving child

I have been the prodigal son
I have stayed to do the hard work

I have soared with the eagles
I have bedded down with the pigs

I have laughed with old friends
I have cried with strangers

I have nurtured
I have destroyed

I have loved, and been undeservedly loved
I have hated, and been deservedly hated

I have been a stranger
I have been an old friend

I have been a father
I have been a son

I have learned
I have taught

I have watched the sun rise over the desert
I have watched the sun set over snow fields

I have stared at the stars in the sky
I have wondered at the sand in the sea

I have danced in the rain
I have mourned in the sunshine

I have been blessed
I have forgotten to give thanks for my blessings

I have prayed for peace
I have prayed for victory
I have prayed for forgiveness

Last night, there were no tanks or armed soldiers roaming the streets of major American cities.

Foreign troops were not imported to ensure the safety of Americans as they lined up to vote.

While no election is 100% clean, when our politicians cheat, it’s done under the table.  They’re still afraid to do it where we can see.

When I woke up this morning, the incumbent losers of last night’s election weren’t assassinating the winners.

When I woke up this morning, the winners of last night’s election weren’t executing the incumbent winners.

As I look up and down my street, I see campaign signs for all of the candidates, regardless of party.  My neighbors didn’t come to blows or gunfights over them.

The supporters of the losing side in this election did not riot, bomb buildings, set city blocks afire, or lynch anyone.

The winners of the races, for the most part, gave gracious acceptance speeches that didn’t call for the ethnic/ideological cleansing of their opposition.

The losers of the races, for the most part, gave concession speeches that didn’t call for the destruction of the winners.

The United States and other western democracies, either republican or parliamentarian, have been holding orderly elections, with some very notable exceptions, for several centuries.  We do not immediately go to the cartridge box if we feel we’ve been given a fair shake at the soap and ballot box, but still lose.  While we sometimes denegrate those who oppose us politically, we never stop seeing them as human beings with the right to hold whatever opinions they want to and to take whatever legal political actions they care to in order to further their causes.

We’re not perfect and we’re not pretty, but we hold a bloodless revolution every couple of years.  In the United States, we’ve gone almost a generation without major bloodshed or violence surrounding the democratic process, and every year the gap between Jim Crow and how we do things widens.  We have and mostly impartially enforce laws that define who can and cannot vote, and provide for the protection of this most basic right in a democracy.

I want to remind all of my fellow citizens and my readers overseas that the tree of liberty was thoroughly watered with the blood of patriots last night, as it was in each preceeding election since Washington, Adams, and Jefferson created our system of government.  While no actual blood was shed at the polls, the right to peaceful elections has been paid for in blood on battlefields both foreign and domestic.  We should never forget that the exercise we just went through is the most beautiful thing that our country does on a regular basis.  We may be the world’s default aid giver, policeman, and guard dog, but we can do none of the good that comes from those things unless we continue to have elections such as what we had yesterday.

The attack ads, robo calls, junk mail, and wall to wall media sycophants are over.  The ballots have been cast.  The counting begins in an hour here in Kentucky, and soon there after in the rest of the country.

Thank the Lord for that.

Now for the additional phases:

1. The first contesting of vote counting will begin tomorrow.
2. The first lawsuits will be filed within 96 hours
3. The lame duck congress will go nuclear option and try to stuff as much of the crap they’ve been holding off on in hopes of re-election into the next two months.

Buckle up kids, this ain’t over yet.

Today is All Saints Day, and I thought I’d check in with the prayer of my name saint, Saint Francis of Assissi.  It’s been an important thought and prayer to me for a very long time.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

Via Joe Huffman, I’m adding a link to the Second Amendment Foundation to the sidebar at the right.  The 2AF has been and continues to be a great resource for gun owners in this country, and I want to show my support for them.  Go give them a read.

I refuse to comment on the accuracy of this cartoon as it pertains to me.