Author Archives: Jeff Nichols

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About Jeff Nichols

I am an avid outdoorsman, writer and photographer. As a Veteran I served as a Journalist in the U.S. Navy, active, reserve, contractor and government service working in the Public Affairs community. I have been published in many trade magazines, as well as the Western Shooting Journal and Alabama Outdoors Online.

Santa and Ospreys are Coming to Town

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Now is the time to prepare for the arrival of the Osprey for the spring nesting season.

Every year, Ospreys begin their trek back to the areas that they nest after spending the winter in warmer climates. Many of the raptors fly thousands of miles each year just to lay eggs and raise their young. Unfortunately, not all survive their nesting season due to where they build their nests.

Utility poles are the perfect nesting areas, due to no leaves, limbs or other obstacles that restrict their vision to hunt and watch out for predators. The bad news for the birds are, that they know nothing about electricity and the dangers that await them.

Every year, Osprey nests start fires killing their young, destroying utility poles, shutting down power for customers costing thousands of dollars. Some nest on traffic cameras in Maryland, or on the steel of a bridge that is being constructed, shutting down the work for more than two months.

In South Carolina last year, an Osprey wanted to build a nest on top of a utility pole along side of Hwy 41. Several attempts to deter them by using traffic cones and eventually the Ospreys lost the nest.

One way to prepare for the nest building season, which begins in March and runs through April in most areas, is to install the “OFF”-Sprey Raptor Deterrent .

The “OFF”-Sprey Raptor Deterrent is a very simple device that blocks the access to the utility poles (Ospreys are very claustrophobic) not allowing them to drop limbs and other nest making material on top of the poles. You can see how it works in this video. The video shows the basic model, however there are other models to fit any situation you might encounter and can be customized to fit your specific needs.

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Plays on YouTube

Installing the “OFF”-Sprey Raptor Deterrent is about as simple as it gets. Once you purchase the device you can request a link to an install video where you can see  it takes about 10 minutes to do a full install. The video shows the typical wood pole installation, but can be also installed on concrete or steel poles with available banding.

The main thing to remember when installing the “OFF”-Sprey is that you must get the height from the pole to the arms of the device at the correct distance. If you don’t get the right distance, you must make adjustments for it to work correctly. Also, be mindful when installing that the wood on the utility pole is not punky or rotted. You may have to use straps instead of screws to attach the device.

Below is a graphic showing the process for planning where you will need to install your device.off-sprey-process

The best way to prevent injury and death to Ospreys, and loss of power and money to utilities is to plan early and be as tenacious as the birds themselves.

For more information or to order the “OFF”-Sprey Raptor Deterrent please contact Power Supply Company LLC at (423)624-7330

Website: www.offsprey.com

Email: off-sprey@hotmail.com .

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“As Seen on TV” Has Some Good Products!

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A week ago I decided to buy a vegetable slicer, and well, lets just say two unfortunate accidents caused me to look at some other products to make my food preparations a little bit easier.

So I bought an “Eggtastic”  and a “Prepsolutions Onion Chopper” since I saw the Eggtastic on TV and thought it was genius and I came across the Onion chopper while visiting the pharmacy due to my slicer accident.

So, tonight I decided I wanted to make breakfast burritos.

To start out, you need whatever vegetables you want to add, four eggs, cheese and hot picante sauce.

I chose tomatoes, mushrooms, onions and hot yellow peppers.

Ingredients

Here are all the ingredients to make a delicious breakfast burrito.


I began by chopping up the veggies and placing them in baggies.

 

 

 

Then I took 4 eggs and put them in the Eggtastic.

I then placed the veggies in with the eggs and stirred them up.

Put the Eggtastic in the microwave for two minutes, then taking it out, stirring the eggs again and putting it back in the microwave for another two minutes. I then removed them from the microwave and stirred them one last time, and cooked for one more minute.

I then laid out the large floured tortillas.

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image4Adding the cooked eggs from the Eggtastic along with cheese and picante sauce and folded the tortillas into a burrito.

*Remember, the Eggtastic is very hot coming out of the microwave, so use oven mitts to handle it.

 

 

 

I then put them back into the microwave for another minute 30 seconds.

Removed them and they were ready to eat. I have to say it was delicious!

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Enjoy…..

There I was (37 years ago)…

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37 years ago I experienced one of my greatest hunts in my life and I was only 14 years old!

We were off school for Veteran’s Day, and at that time in my life (most of my life), in the fall, when school was not in session I was in the woods.

While walking up my favorite tree stand before daylight, I saw four does bedded down about 50 yards from the stand. They jumped and started running. after watching them run off I proceeded to climb up into the stand and get settled in. Hanging my Bear Whitetail Hunter bow in the tree, I sat back against the tree and waited. It was a cold morning, and a heavy frost had set in the night before. As I sat there, I was getting pretty chilled, that is until the sun started coming out and shined right on me. The warmth felt really good and I closed my eyes for a minute. When I opened them back up (it was around 9 a.m.) and something shining in the sunlight caught my eye off to the left.

If you look long and hard enough, you might get to see a large buck like this 10 point.

 

I looked down and it was a very nice buck, walking steadily with his nose to the ground. He was heading right down to where the does were earlier that morning. When he got about 35 yards away, he stopped. I drew back and let an arrow fly. Dang thing hit the tree right in front of him. He bolted and my heart sank. Now it should be noted that at that particular time, I was shooting instinctive, which means, I was not using a sight or a release.

After the miss, I stood there more mad than anything as he stood about 100 yards away looking around, then to my amazement he decided to put his nose on the ground and walk right back up to the same exact spot! Wrong move for him! I drew back, let the arrow fly and hit him!

Now I was not cold anymore. I waited for a little bit, then got out of the tree. I walked over to the last place I saw him and found some blood. Then a little bit further, and found a lot of blood. So I decided to get some help tracking. We tracked that deer, with a blood trail that was not hard to follow at all, for about 300 to 400 yards. Then out of nowhere, the spigot ran dry.

Deer are more active during the fall and have lost the velvet from their anlters and prepare for the breeding season.

Most of the time, when a deer stops bleeding, it means that he is probably down, maybe jumped off the trail, or in a pile of brush. We did a circle around the area to see if we could find the deer. No luck. I had to go to school the next day and I had someone else look for it. As luck would have it, someone did find it, said a truck had hit it, although, sure didn’t look like it, since it had only one hole in the lungs from an arrow. I was asked what the antlers looked like, and explained that on the right side there was a fork in one of the tines. That proved that this was the buck that I had shot and it was a nice 14 point, but never got to put my hands on him!

Even though I did not get to bring that nice buck home with me, it was still a great hunt!

If only we had iPhones and digital cameras then…

Still, to this day, I will never forget that hunt!

Stand Up for Something or Someone Everyday

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Today I shared a photo from Cowboy Ethics FaceBook page that struck a cord with me and I wrote something that is true to what I believe.

“I may not have the opportunity to do this everyday, but when I do, I make it count! One thing in my life I regret is not actually going with my heart, instead I went with the money and spent the rest of my life working to get back to my heart!”

What I said had a couple meanings, one was that I often try to stand up and help out those less fortunate whenever I see someone in need. Last year I was in the checkout line at the Wal-Mart  store that I shop at and an elderly African American woman was in front of me and had a few items in her cart for Thanksgiving dinner. Now I could not tell if she was fixing dinner for herself or if she had someone visiting that she was going to cook for, but she was checking the prices for each item she put on the belt. She got down to three items that she said she could not afford and so I told the checker to ring it up and I would pay for it. She pleaded with me and said, “No, it is ok, I really don’t need those.” But I replied to her that if she had it in her cart, that she evidently had a use for them. Well, she was beside herself thanking me and I gave her a big hug and told her that I hoped she had a very happy Thanksgiving and we went on our way. I have not seen her since, but I can tell you, it made me feel very good to be able to help someone out who had lived a long life and didn’t need to walk away from a checkout without things she needed.

Now, let me be clear, I am not looking for people to say how good a person I am, or how it was so nice I did that because, in my mind, this is something all of us should do every time we see someone who might not have enough money to enjoy a holiday, or even eat something that they want to eat on a daily bases. We all should strive to help out someone in need without anyone asking us to help. It is how I was brought up and it is how I live my life.

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The other part of what I wrote, ”  One thing in my life I regret is not actually going with my heart, instead I went with the money and spent the rest of my life working to get back to my heart!,” was because I was one of the people who left my home to travel and work and look for the big deal in life that would make me rich.

Did I find it? Well, I am living, I have a roof over my head, food on my table, but am I happy where I am? No! While many have moved on from our childhood homes, I have pined for the day that I can return, with all I have learned and experienced, to help out the folks where I grew up. Now I am not saying that I want to “Bring sunlight to the wilderness” as some have stated. They are only in it because they want more money, prestige and power. What I would love to do, is be closer to family, lifelong friends and be able to help out a community that raised me. I don’t want to bring huge manufacturing back, I don’t want to bring back ideas from another part of the country. What I would love to do is bring back a simple life and possibly help some folks along the way.

I have thought of many ideas, talked to some folks and have even put some ideas out there that if they work, could help out. Right now, of course I am still planning, and trying to think of ways I can help, because without that little area in West Virginia, I would not be the man I am today and if I can help give back just a little bit of what I was given when I was growing up, it would only amount to a small fraction. Thank you Sistersville, for helping to make me who I am.

I guess what I am saying is, most of us leave with our eyes on making it big, on making money, owning land and that is fine, but I think that if we thought just for a minute as to where we grew up and some of the struggles people face, giving back is not such a bad idea. As a matter of fact, giving back every day to those less fortunate does more than any of us could imagine.

I always think of one person that I grew up with who did more for others than anyone I know. Kevin Ritchey, was that man. We grew up together, played sports together and when we graduated high school, Kevin decided that he wanted to help others. He joined the volunteer fire department and was also a member of the EMT. Once he had a few years in, he decided to move to another community where he worked as an EMT and one icy night while on a call, he gave the ultimate sacrifice when he died trying to help others. Kevin will always be a hero to me, always be someone I would strive to be like. He has been missed, but what he did for others will live on.

Remember your heart, where you came from and where you go. There are always people in your past that got you to where you are.

So, I guess in all of this, my one thing that I wanted to say is, “Stand Up for Something or Someone Everyday!”

Progress is not always good

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What would you do if the internet went down, Facebook, online games, cell phones or email is no more? Would you be able to function?

We are in a time where the world is living on technology. Every part of our lives is controlled by smart phones, computers, machines and the internet. While I myself am able to communicate worldwide in a matter of seconds, there is a downside to all of the progress we have made in the past 30 to 40 years.

There are several ways that progress and technology has changed our lives for the worse, we have gotten lazy. Machines make jobs easier, more efficient and profitable, by being able to control functions from a computer, or a key board or other remote way, we have forgotten how to work hard. It has caused us to instead getting up, walking down the hall to speak with someone face to face, we call them on the phone, send an email or text them.

This hurts us in many ways. First, we get used to this and sit at a desk all day (I am as guilty as anyone) and get no exercise. We wonder how we get out of shape. We miss out on the face-to-face interaction and being personable with others.

It also costs jobs. For example, if every time you sent an email you instead took the time to hand write a letter, put it in an envelope, buy a stamp, and go to the post office and mail it, the problems with the post office would not be as bad. As a matter of fact, I believe that if people would take the time and write a real letter and send it out once a week, the U.S. Postal Service would do much better.

We hear all this talk about child obesity rates, but a lot of kids these days sit in front of a computer screen, or on their smart phones and play games instead of  going out to ride bikes, play in the dirt and do things kids do. When I was a kid, during the daylight hours I was no where to be found, well, within shouting distance most times. But I was out running around with my friends, whether digging something up, finding critters, fishing or whatever. Now kids don’t leave the house.

All of this technology makes us very impatient too. When we can send an email across the world and get a reply within seconds, it causes the expectation of how long it should take to get an answer. We then demand that everyone reply back to us immediately and if they don’t, something must be wrong!

Dating has taken a whole new turn as well. Not only does progress make it easy to speak with good looking people (so we think) we no longer take the time to get to know someone in person. But that is not really the worst part. With the websites like Ashley Madison and other sites making cheating on your husbands or wives, or boy friends and girl friends easy and anonymous, the morality of the country is going straight to hell! Yes I know, people cheated on their spouses a long time before the internet came along, but not as much as it is happening now.

Of course you never know who you are talking to, as illustrated in The Internet Conversation!

Because of progress, you and your family is less safe, hackers steal identities easier, newspapers post ridiculous maps to show who owns guns, protests online run rampant and people are constantly attacking others anonymously with no fear of repercussion!

Because of progress, we have less attention paid to infrastructure, roads, bridges, skilled labor. People think the next best way to become rich fast (remember the patience) is to become a computer guru. Building games, websites, morally imperfect sites are all ways that some have made billions, yet they all take away from real life. We push our kids to go to college and learn all about these new technologies and forget about the basics that are needed.

People are so addicted to technology that you would be hard pressed to find a teenager working in a grocery store who can manually count out change. Unless we start remembering the basics, the progress is going to tear us down.

Imagine this, if all the sudden the technology failed (computers and internet goes down) for a year, what would you do? Could you survive? Is your life saved on a chip?

 

The GOP and The 2016 Election

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Note: Please participate in the poll at the bottom of this page.

One debate down and several more to go.

I was excited for the presidential season to start. It is almost like the playoffs heading toward the November 2016 election (Superbowl) to me. But now that the first debate is in the bag, here is what I have to say.

I see a lot of people complaining about Fox News and in particular Megyn Kelly’s exchange with Donald Trump. This is completely mislabeled and in no way constructive for the GOP. Did Megyn asked Trump some tough questions? Yes! Were they more pointed than questions to other candidates? Maybe!  But here is the thing. If you expected the moderators to throw softballs out to the “front runner” or any of the candidates, then you came to the wrong debate. We need a president that is not going to complain about tough questions, and deflect. We have that in office now! If a candidate can’t shrug it off, they do not deserve to be in the office.

In my opinion, Fox News did Trump a favor by brining up those issues in the first debate and it was up to Trump to put them to bed right then and there, without being petty about it. If he had just answered the question and moved on, this would not be a story and when he went in front of the liberal moderators, they would not have any ammo to use against him. Now, after his complete meltdown and counter-attack, this issue will be in the forefront of every debate he participates in. He has brought it on himself. He could have learned from it and it would have helped him, and as you can see, it has not.

Do not misunderstand me, I do like his way of not being politically correct. I do like he says what he is feeling and he is paying his own way. But being tough and talking tough only works when you are actually tough and can take a shot and not let it bother you. Our current president and Trump are similar in the respect that they can’t take criticism and move on. It cancels out the non-political correctness that we all love.

Who benefits from this? The democrats do! You see many on the left cheering on Trump for attacking Megyn and Fox News because they know that if they can make it an issue, then they win. Mr. Trump needs to take note of this and if he truly cares about keeping democrats out of the office, he should step back, take a breath and learn how to debate like a statesman and not like a four year old.

Half way through the debate things settled down, I believe Trump had seen the other candidates and how they reacted to questions and challenges and he started doing better, that is until the next day when the democrats and other news networks began talking about it and he went into terminator mode!

As it stands, I do not and will not support Mr. Trump. I don’t think he has the right demeanor to be in the highest office in the world!

Now for the good news from the debates. Carly Fiorina, Marco Rubio, Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal, and John Kasich. I believe in all of the debate they did the best. They told their stories to us, they introduced us to who they were. They made some very powerful statements and was to the point. Runner up was Chris Christie, who when challenged, (I feared he was going to be a Trump Jr.) He raised his voice a little, but handled it in a way that I could see him as president.

Do not misunderstand me, it is early in the season and we all know what we are up against, a ultra-liberal Clinton (who I do not think is going to make it to the end due to her “personal shortcomings), a socialist Sanders and those other two people. We won’t even get to know them until October (maybe) when they do their first debate. Makes me wonder if Clinton will dodge that one too! We have to defeat them, but to do that, we have to make the right choice for us.

One way to learn more about where you stand and who agrees with you on the issues is to go to  I Side With website that allows you to answer questions and matches you up with the candidates that answers closest to you. You will learn who agrees with you on the 2nd Amendment, who agrees with you on the Health Care Law or on a strong defense.

No matter how this election turns out, my hope is that every American goes to that site and learns more about themselves and the candidates and makes an informed decision, not a decision on what you can get for free, or because you want the candidate to be the first. There is nothing worse than going to the polls ignorant.

I am interested in your thoughts and who out of the current candidates you feel should be president, so do the poll below.

Time to wake up GOP!

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Dear GOP:          flag5 (2)

I am writing in hopes that I can pass along some concerns that are troubling to me as an American first and a Republican second.

I have been a registered Republican since two days after my 18th birthday in 1982 and been living as a Republican my whole life. My main concern is how we are Republicans are being viewed in America. For some reason, we are considered the bad party because we want to rein in our government. We want a balanced budget, we want to protect our borders and we want every American to enjoy their rights unmolested! But somewhere along the line, democrats (liberals to be exact) have been able to present us as racist, backward, war-mongers who do not care. Now I for one, do not believe for a second that anyone I know, anyone I endorse is anything but a genuine honest American that wants everyone to live the American Dream. But I am getting tired of having to hold back because of fear of the political correct police that attack our every word!

Now I am not one to be easily offended, nor am I one to back down from a challenge, but there is a problem in our country, in the Republican Party when we allow the democrats to be offended at everything we hold dear. Our morals, our religion, our Constitutional Rights. We have to sit back and take the abuse that the way of life our country has enjoyed for the past 236 years is being attacked by the democrats, but heaven forbid we don’t agree with the democrats or something they do offends us. Oh No! Can’t have that!

A democratic senate sits on budgets and bills, while being threatened by a president causing a federal shutdown and we allow them to blame us for the shutdown and I can’t for the life of me understand why. Yes, it is a fact that they have the majority of the press, the unethical press, but we have the truth on our side. We have the facts of everything they do to divide the country, yet we don’t present it in a way that those Americans who need to hear it the most can understand it.

We get beat over the head with attacks that call us bigots because we believe a person’s religious rights are more important than a liberal’s right to make businesses into scapegoats because those business owners will not go against their religious beliefs.

We get beat over the head because we believe that there are too many welfare frauds that make a living off of hard working American’s tax dollars. We don’t believe people are entitled unless they put into the system themselves.

The democrats can say and do as they please, but if someone speaks against them we are labeled bigots, homophobes, racist and more. Yet we sit and take it.

We believe that every American should be able to work and take home as much money as they can without the IRS taking more and more to pay for those who think they are entitled. Now I am not heartless, and neither are any of our Republican friends, but the illusion that the democrats have cast in front of us reflects that. This is not only wrong, but unjust and can’t be allowed.

We believe that unborn babies have the right to life and that without protection, 57 million babies were aborted since 1973, but we are told it is none of our business. We need to show the world the truth, as brutal, ugly and sickening it is, everyone needs to see it. Even though the left does all they can to keep those images from being shown for fear more people will learn the truth and stand up to them.

We now have the majority in the Senate and the House and we should be taking the lead, whether it be better public relations, better speakers and for sure, better plans and bring America back to the greatness we once had before those who have been in charge has damaged us so badly.

At this time, we should be showing the country how to lead, how to make a difference and how to not back down from the unscrupulous democrats. I see how bad they are every day when I discuss issues and see how uninformed they are. We need to stand up and stop this global warming scam that will bilk trillions from us, when they have not had one prediction come true since they began trying to scare us in the 1970s. No, I am not saying we should not keep the world clean, but this scam is killing our jobs, and our bank accounts.

We are continually fighting to keep our 2nd Amendment Rights from being infringed. While I don’t think in our lifetime that we will ever lose that right, but everyday democrats are conspiring to infringe upon them. We need to be the strongest we can be to protect the rights that our military has fought more than 236 years for. Instead of placing blame on the person, they blame guns and it is time for us to stand up and set the record straight and show them the common sense proof!

It is time for us to take a unified stand against illegal aliens. Make the democrats understand that we are not against legal immigration, but we must protect our border. The president and his democrats look at them as votes and it goes against everything our country stands for and it is not fair to those who want to come here legally.

When it comes to education, we are letting the democrats and the president decide that everyone needs to be great, everyone needs to be a scientists or an engineer. Why am I concerned about this? Because not everyone needs to be great, not everyone wants to be great. No one should be pushed into going to college if they don’t want to. No one should be pushed into a career they don’t want. What we do need, is to bring back more trade schools. More people who learn to build roads, build houses, wire houses and fix the things needs to be repaired! While college is great for those who want to go, too many are being pushed into going and dropping out with a huge debt, or finishing with an even bigger debt and no job to use what they have been taught. There is much we can do to help those people. But making them bankrupt is not one of them!

We need to quit worrying what the world thinks of us. We have spent practically our entire existence helping any country that needed help with either our military, our people, our money and most of the time all three. What do we get in return, we get a loud mouth from the UK who gets a visa, works in the U.S.A. badmouthing our laws and constitution, loses his job and moves back the UK to badmouth us at a distance. Takes real guts to do that. The bottom line is, he is nobody, never was and never will be and we need to quit worrying about what people like that, think of us. We did win Independence from them as I remember!

What I do see that is good, is that we have candidates that are willing to take on the IRS and taxes, if in fact they do what they promise. Work together to come up with a plan and just do it!

Right now our field of Republicans running for president is huge. We have young, old and we have diversity. We should be looking great and in my eyes we do. However, it seems like we are in quicksand. While it is ok to have different points of view on some things, when it comes to the 2nd Amendment, immigration, religious liberty, fiscal restraints, education, jobs and our defense we need to be of one voice. I don’t care if someone is a Libertarian, Tea Party, Conservative or RINO, we need to have one voice on these issues or we lose!

One thing that I strongly suggest, is that when we finally have a Republican candidate, no matter who it is, that they take on some of the ideas that those who ran against them were strong in. Such as the flat tax, or an immigration plan. It doesn’t make anyone any less strong by taking ideas that others have had and use them. Out of 14 candidates (just guessing) only one will be the Republican candidate and one person will be the Vice-Presidential candidate. The remaining 13 should form a think tank to help the candidate through the presidential election and beyond. We need a little bit of each of them in our candidate, one person in particular is very good with money and business, and would make a great Secretary of the Treasury or advisor. A few candidates would make great advisors on defense, a couple on immigration and so on. What I am saying is, our candidate should be a man or woman who is all the candidates wrapped into one. Yes he should have his own ideas, but smart enough to ask for advice from the whole field and beyond.

I have been thinking about this for a very long time, and I am the kind of man, the kind of American that doesn’t like to see those who represent him to just give in. This is what we have been doing. Even though we have won a few battles against the president and the democrats, the challenge is to break through their charade they have us cloaked in and prove to the people, all the people, all of America that we are right and we can get our country not only back on track, but leading the world again.

Every one of the Republican candidates, every member of the Republican congress needs to work hand in hand to achieve a victory and take back our country. I am truly scared to death of how our country will end up if Hillary Clinton, any democrat, socialist or progressive wins in 2016. I didn’t serve my country for 19 years and continue to work for our country for another 10 years to see it fall into the hands of those who would rather bow down to the world while our country crumbles away.

I would love for this to be read to all in the GOP. With that being said, I am not sure if this will be read, or even if it will make it to someone who gives a damn, I can only hope that it does and some take it to heart. I am only one voice, one vote, but I do know there are many that feel the same as I do. Stand up, Be Strong and Take Back our Country!

The Second Amendment and Common Sense: Please Use Both

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The Second Amendment has been around a long time, it was put into the Constitution to allow all Americans the right to keep and bear arms so that if the U.S. government became tyrannical, that the people could rise up against the government and take the country back. Many arguments are made that the Second Amendment was designed for weapons of that time and does not grow with technology. That argument just does not hold water. Our Constitution is a document that is like no other, it grants us the rights to live free and stay free despite what some who do not agree nor follow it to the letter believes. You have people from other countries telling us how we should interpret our own constitution and how we should ban, what they consider, “assault” weapons. These same people have no clue what an “assault” weapon is, as a matter of fact, they have no clue the difference in the terminology they use, nor how firearms actually work!

Any weapon can be called an “assault” weapon if used in an assault, however, the proper use of “assault” weapon is being misused when the anti-gun groups refer to AR-15s as “assault” weapons. The AR-15 is nothing more than a dressed up semi-automatic rifle. It can only shoot one time per trigger pull. But because it “LOOKS” like a military style rifle, they consider it an “assault” weapon! The AR-15 shoots no different than the common deer rifle, you can use the same sights to aim with, you can put different grips on it, and use many different magazine sizes. But it still only shoots one time per trigger pull. A true “assault” rifle would be considered a fully automatic weapon, or a weapon with a select fire (can select between semi-auto, three round burst or fully automatic). Now that you know the difference, we can move on.

everytown-for-gun-safety-blooperFirst, here is a info-graphic from Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun group who do not know the difference between a rifle shell and a bullet when it is fired.

They thought (and I use the term “thought” loosely) that the entire shell is propelled out of the rifle barrel. This kind of ignorance is dangerous, and completely inexcusable for a group who says they know what they are talking about!

Of course, it only gets worse when you have a United States Congresswoman who was a sponsor of a bill to ban high capacity magazines. She states that if you ban the magazines from being produced, that once all of the magazines in existence are emptied, that they will not be able to use them again. What is truly amazing is that the ignorance of this woman stating this was elected! Here the actual clip of her making the argument in all her glory!

Now that we have the common sense of the anti-gun folks out there, lets move on to our own common sense!

Common Sense use of the Second Amendment:

We as patriots, defenders of our Constitution, we have to bring our level of common sense above all others. We have to be able to make our argument, stick to it and not resort to the tactics of those who oppose us. So far, 99.9% of us are doing a great job at that. We can sit down and discuss the issue and make our case in a rational manner all the while watching the anti-gun crowd throw out misinformation, downright lies and of course as their last line of defense start cursing and calling us names.

There are a few who think it is ok to grab their AR-15s and try to make our standing on the issue a spectacle! One thing that we as defenders of the Second Amendment should do, is respect those who we are trying to convince that we are right. I am not talking about the respecting the anti-gun groups because they have their minds made up and they will not change their minds until they are in a situation where they are alone, attacked and have no way to defend themselves. Unfortunately, at that time, it may be too late for them!

Every time I go to town, when I am not working, I am carrying my handgun. During the times when the weather is cooler, it is much easier to conceal my weapon (yes, I have a conceal carry permit), but during the hot summer days it is harder to conceal because of the heat. I will either open carry or wear a light jacket. One time I was shopping in Wal-Mart and had a jacket on a person noticed I was carrying when I reached up to get something, my jacket lifted enough to see my handgun and they commented to the person who was with them, “Look at that, I hate that they can do that in public.”  They didn’t realize I heard them and I kept shopping like nothing happened.

But to walk around with a rifle strap across your back is a bit different, although legal, it sends the wrong message. It is not like having a rifle in a rack in your truck. a scabbard on your horse or even a six-shooter strap to your leg.  Carrying the rifle in shopping is a misunderstanding by others waiting to happen and the only reason you would do that in the first place is to draw attention to yourself and ask to be confronted. Are you within your rights? Yes! Is it smart to do that? No! What it actually does is make people feel more uneasy and does not change the minds of those sitting on the fence on the subject.

So lets say that people get used to seeing you carry your AR-15 into a store, you do it three or four times a week, even have your buddy come in with you carrying as well. The store knows you, trusts you, and in turn anyone who comes in with you. But one day someone comes in that is not there to be friendly and people ignore it, thinking that it is someone just like you and people die. Whose fault is that? Of course it is not your fault, it is the individual who pulled the trigger, but in some ways, you made it normal to see someone carrying a rifle in the open and therefore made the store complacent!

Now a handgun is different, for legal conceal carry individual, the handgun is smaller than a rifle and less intrusive, which means you will not draw as much attention to you as the full size rifle does. Handgun conceal carry or open carry law abiding citizens will carry so that if the need arises, they are ready to take action knowing that bad things can happen very quickly and they might be the only person there to save lives until the police arrive.  Criminals, on the other hand, will almost always conceal it until they begin using it. They won’t wear it in on a holster, more like they will have it in their belt, or in their hoody pocket to pull it out when they think that the place (or person) they are about to assault is at it’s most vulnerable moment.

So, what I am asking, what I am saying is, do NOT make it any harder to protect our Second Amendment Rights by making a spectacle out of yourselves. Use common sense when you are carrying. Be respectful where you are. Don’t be an “in your face” activist, that is not what we are about!  It is one thing to go down to an organized protest, where the point is to show you are able to carry rifles, but to walk into a place, such as the largest airport in the country and try to make your case is just stupid!

I follow the law, the constitution, believe in the Second Amendment and love my guns! I believe every law abiding citizen has the right to keep and bear arms without question. How we use that right, and how we conduct ourselves either strengthens our cause and rights, or in the case of the show-boaters gives ammo to the anti-gun crowd (pun intended)!

Data Piracy: Are Auto-Run Videos on the Internet Stealing Your Data?

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Have you ever wondered about the auto-run for videos on FaceBook and just about every other website you ever visit? Even though you can turn off the function, but it takes a bit of digging to find the place to shut it off. It should be illegal for sites on the internet to have the auto-run function to begin with. It is not about capitalism, free trade or anything like that, it is about stealing from your data services, whether you are on you IPhone, IPad, or any mobile device. Once you pass over the video, it begins to play and of course that adds to the data that you use. You should have the choice as to whether to watch a video or an ad if you want to, not because companies make you!

Now some of us have unlimited data, but the auto-run also bogs down your internet connection. Not only is it used for everyday videos we watch, it is also on ads on the side. You go to a site and begin to read down a page and it loads slowly, then you begin to hear the ad play and you know you didn’t click on it. To me, that is data piracy! So, what can you do about it. With Dish Network internet, they have limits on how much data you can use, AT&T also has a limit (although with AT&T I was able to get unlimited years ago and I won’t change my plan) but as a friend told me the other day, his wife got her bill and showed an unusual amount of data used and he could not figure out how that happened, until I explained it to him. Now he is trying to look into the “data piracy” to see if that was the culprit, which I believe it is!

What I believe is, that there is a deal between the internet companies and data service providers to allow this to take place. Like AT&T, once you go over your limit, they automatically give you more data and then charge you an extra $10 on your next bill, and if you go over that amount, they do the same thing. So, is it a partnership between the two, or just coincidence? I don’t know, but I would imagine if there was an investigation that there would be some servers wiped clean again.

The companies will tell you there is a way to shut it off, but magically it always comes back on and you have to find the shut off again! That is not capitalism, that is not controlling what people sell, that is pure theft!

I am planning on doing something about this, but of course you know how things like this go, they say “We will look into it” and then nothing happens. Well, I don’t plan on being one of those people who says “what’s the use” and not do anything.

Answer the poll and then comment on this article and tell us your story on how your data is being stolen!

Protecting the Osprey: “OFF”-Sprey Raptor Deterrent Videos and Social Media

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By Jeff Nichols

Here is where you can find all of the individual places to get more information and watch videos explaining how to install the “OFF”-Sprey Raptor Deterrent and watch how it prevents a pair of Ospreys to build their nest on top of a utility pole. Make sure to watch both videos on this page.

Watch the “OFF”-Sprey Raptor Deterrent in Action

 

When a utility companies discovers a new nest, the linemen remove the nest, but as soon as they leave, the Ospreys return almost immediately and begin rebuilding. On many occasions the nests are only discovered after a nest catches on fire and causes a power outage and possibly injures or kills the birds. The quickest and safest method to prevent this is that when you notice an Osprey starting to build the nest is to remove the nest and immediately install the “OFF”-Sprey Raptor Deterrent. Ospreys are very claustrophobic when it comes to building nests and what the “OFF”-Sprey does is minimizes the space that the Osprey need to build the nest. After many attempts to build the nest and failing, the Ospreys will move on to an artificial platform or more ideally a natural nesting site.

For less than $200, the “OFF”-Sprey Raptor Deterrent can save thousands of dollars in power loss, damage to utility poles and other structures. From the time you open the box, it takes less than 15 minutes to construct and install the “OFF”-Sprey, saving not only money, but time.

 

Below you can find more information about the “OFF”-Sprey Raptor Deterrent by visiting FaceBook, Twitter and www.offsprey.com.

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To Order call Power Supply Company LLC at (423)624-7330

off-sprey@hotmail.com