Deer Viewing, Princeton, BC

Deer Viewing is a more political correct way of describing what I and Gilbert do on weekends.  Hunting seems so violent and definitive.  Like Global Warming or Global Cooling, there’s a right or wrong about that thing. Instead “Climate Change” captures the positive and no one is ever wrong.   With the climate , well ‘it’s changing’.   I was in Princeton as a sort of  ‘monitor’.  I did have rifles with me but that was only in case the climate attacked me and I had to fend off UN activists reports.  As it was I didn’t have news for 48 hours.  Much to my surprise, despite the ‘dire warnings’ of the fear mongering United Nations I survived the weekend.  At high altitude I got cell reception and in town so I was able to take urgent phone calls but I didn't listen to the news.
Gilbert and I left Vancouver in a flurry of activity, beating the worst of the rush hour traffic.  I listened to Rankin’s, Saints of the Shadow Bible all audio books and thoroughly enjoyed it.  In Abbotsford I got Gilbert three new squeaky yellow tennis balls.  He enjoyed them immensely.  I threw a lot of ball all weekend.  I also got him Blue dried food and Blue wet food containers he loved.
We stayed at Canada’s Best Value Inn.  The Asian night attendant was dressed in hospital gown and had a melee of hack saws and pliers for emergency surgery. It was halloween.
“I saw the three stooges do this skit, “ the delightful lady said.  The room was about $90 with $15 for Gilbert.  There was a microwave, and refrigerator, desk and chairs, a couple of large comfortable double beds.
I’ve stayed at Canada’s Best Value Inn before and love it’s central location. The rooms are clean. The courtyard parking makes it’s safe from crime.  There was a hot tub down the hall. I didn’t use it this time. I watched movies on cable tv.  
The next morning I drove out to the south in pretty thick fog.   I’d seen a bull moose in the spring so thought this was a good place to start.  Spike Fork Moose and 4 point mule deer were the animals most favoured for ‘viewing’.  All others were ‘illegal’.  I never saw any moose.  I did meet a young fellow who'd not only 'viewed' a four point buck but had it in the back of his truck.
First morning I stopped at A&W, which opens  at 6 am.  Gilbert loves their sausage paddy.  Laura broke these up for him when he was a puppy.  He got used to the attention and continues to expect it.  I break the paddy up. He still hoovers it.  I enjoy the sausage and egger and hash browns.    I also like the A&W coffee. I have a new stainless steel thermos by Thermos from Canadian Tire, rated for 24 hours. It sure kept my coffee hot all day, better than any thermos I've ever had before.  
We parked the Ford truck and I unloaded the Yamaha Kodiac 450 ATV.  We’d hardly gone 10 minutes when I came upon a three point buck and  a spike.  They were just crossing the road and stopped to look at me.  Not for long.  They headed on up the hill immediately.  A doe followed behind passing by me 20 feet away.  Gilbert was so excited but stayed on the ATV as trained.  I’d naturally got off and grabbed my Winchester 70.    The fog limited visibility to a couple of hundred yards. Still with my scope, I watched the deer climb the hill between the pines.
It was a great day for ATV’ing.  A bit chilly though. The fog left everything damp. I came across a permanent hut.  It was nice to get out of the wind and have a cup of coffee there. I’d had to put a hoodie on Gilbert because he was wet and shaking as we drove along the logging trails.  He didn’t like the hoodie but it kept him warm on the ATV.  He stopped shaking. I took it off when we walked.  
It was mainly the cold that got me heading back in the early afternoon. I’d watched a doe while I ate a sandwich and drank more coffee.  Gilbert enjoyed his Blue Divine Delights. They’re a better quality Little Cesar. Of course he also had to have some of my roast beef sandwich.
Back at the truck I was glad to load the ATV as quickly as possible then get in the warm cabin.  Back in town I stopped at Princeton Outdoor Supply. I’ve been coming there for a couple of decades.  I'm always impressed with the selection of stock.   I bought my 3 piece cammo suit here a decade back and it’s still the best I’ve ever come across.  Today I'd lost the key to the trigger lock for my Ruger 22 so he drilled it out and sold me combination trigger lock to replace it.  I’d broken off the battery case on my Bushnell Fusion Binocular Rangefinder.  I guess it banged hard against something. I love those binoculars and love the range finder for training me better in estimating distance.   I got them a few years back in 100 Mile House when they first came out. I've loved them ever since and hope Bushnell will be able to repair them. I think it's just a matter of gluing.
Thanks to Princeton Outdoor Supply I got a set of Vortex Waterproof 10x50 binoculars.  The owner of the store said to me, "Use them to look at that herd of deer up on that distant hill and you'll appreciate how good these Vortex are." Looking with the 10x42 Vortex he pointed to the deer which just lept out at me when I looked with the 10x50.
I’d just taken pictures of deer on the way into town on private property as well as some right in the town. Now I was looking at a herd up on a hill. No shortage of deer around Princeton.  The binocular’s were the ‘brightest’ I’ve used too.   Vortex is a fabulous American company.  The binoculars were so compact too, and under $300.  I'll use them for hunting until the Bushnell's are repaired then these will become my yachting binoculars.  They're really that good.
Back at the Hotel I meant to just have an hour nap before the evening hunt but woke at 6 pm.  Instead of gearing up I walked next door to Pasha’s Pizza and Indian Food.  A half hour later Gilbert and I were enjoying the All Meat Pizza and  excellent tandoori chicken.    Gilbert slept while I watched Criminal Minds and read Tom Clancy with Mark Greany’s  Command Authority.  I loved the before bed long hot shower
At 5:30 am I packed the guns and ammo back in the truck. I packed up everything not needing to come back.  Once again we stopped at A&W then headed west to Whipsaw. It’s in the direction of home and I have shot deer there before. It was the first place I hunted in BC too, back in 1986.  I had a VW Rabbit and couldn’t get up Whipsaw because of the ice and snow. I only had my Browning 30:06 back then.
Mostly I remember Whipsaw for the time I had parked my Astro Van, a decade or so back up, on Cross.  I had hiked an hour or two back in the woods from there  when the sleet began.  I headed back to the van as fast as I could but not fast enough. The roads were ice. I had chains but they did little to slow me down. I ski’d the whole way down Cross and Whipsaw Lamont picking up speed and sure I’d go over the side  into the steep ravines as I took corners almost on 2 wheels.  It was beyond black diamond skiing   I  prayed the whole way down.
Today it was just slick with mud.  Ploughs and other big machinery was out working on the roads.   I was driving my Ford F350 4x4 diesel with an ATV in the back for weight.  It certainly was a far different ride. I'm still very thankful.
 I only viewed deer. I even got pictures.   I didn’t even see any grouse.  Gilbert was happy to have the ball thrown.  At noon I drove out stopping before the highway to put trigger locks on the guns return  them to their cases.
Good thing I did. The police and conservation were waiting on the highway checking all hunters.  I passed,showing my hunting license,  driver’s license and  all the rifles  properly stowed with trigger locks.  Gilbert was very popular with the officer.
Now I’m back in the city.
I uploaded a picture to Facebook of me wearing my Go Pro camera which I used while ATV’ing. I said it was really a device to communicate with passing spaceships and also found lost metal in the air.  When I get time I'll render the film and upload it to you tube.  It really was a great weekend.
  

History and God and Stuff

Modern Times - Paul Johnson 

Intellectuals - Paul Johnson

Brief History of the World - H.G. Wells

Winston Churchill - history of the world or Winston Churchill Biography

Re War

WWI - remember Kaiser - killed - series of alliances - but old ideas and new weapons - machine guns and horses - europe has war every 50 years, - all countries trade in military stuff - american made best, followed by european - followed by russian and chinese - different wars are sales bazaars.  The triangle of trade of british empire was (slaves, guns, rum).  Today it’s (sex slaves, pharmaceuticals and drugs and guns).  Nothing changes that much.  We benefit by being friends of the winner, like the neighbour of Egypt once they acquiesced same as rome

WWI ended with Britain and allies winning against Germany and allies

Made Germany pay big time.  Major depression in germany .  English history usually blames french who really are devious fuck up (see quebec and troudeau double dealing) During Depression Rothchilds built castles and mansions and flaunted jewish wealth as did others - Hitler rose and took over country with perverts and thugs.  Neo pagan. Anti semitism easy because Jews looked different. Like Indian chiefs in Canada all being millionaires ruining the image of poor nice Indian. Rothschilds did same for masss of jews.  Rich give the poor a bad name in any group.  

(However given my bias to the Celts , my heritage , they do no wrong - this is tribalism - cannibals are tribal - my tribe is better than your tribe.  We’ve devolved into tribalism in Canada - to understand this read Jared Diamond - Traditional Society - see anthropology)

Pagan is the pre christian religions like Druids and such.  Good stuff.  Wickens and such build on pagans - pagans usually polytheist - every tree a god - the tree huggers are usually neo pagan

WWII was won by Stalin in East wasting men against german tanks and in the west the Americans waited till the Brits were exhausted and Pearl Harbour forced them to enter war - because they entered so late they could steal glory.  see Hollywood.

Post WWII - silly United Nations but really good american ‘lend lease’ and rebuilding of the world for profit.  

Meanwhile the Canadian Liberal Prime Minister during the war was running off with whores , holding seances to get advice from his mother and believed his dog could channel his dead mother.  The liberals don’t like people to read history.

See Chamberlain and Churchill.  Liberals in England are ‘whigs’.  Conservatives are Tories. In US , conservatives are Republican and liberals are democrats.  Liberals tend towards government solutions and centralized government (troudeau wanted all power in Ottawa  - his son wants you to smoke dope) - and conservatives tend to decentralization and business solutions.  Leadership of liberals and tories are both rich and ridiculously powerful but the left always claims to represent the poor which they don’t.  They just treat them like gullible children.  Liberals did the same early with women but women got smart quick. Though Troudeau is running his campaign for girls and boys.  Worked for his father since we were baby boomers and stupid and lots of us.  

Secular Age is a good book

Aetheism is very recent - see Intellectuals - Neitze - main proponent - ‘god is dead’ .  Betrand Russell /CS Lewis debates about god existence best.

Modern day atheists have been able to criticize (they’re great critics and commonly addicts and drunks ) because there’s been no ‘atheist religion’ they say or outward manifestation of ‘atheism’  However communism is the political expression of Aetheism as the British Empire was the political expression of Protestant Christianity whereas Rome was the political expression of Paganist theism.  

I saw those guys were really scared about this direct attack because it really does take the wind out of their sales and all evidence to date - see Psychiatry and Spirituality is that spiritual people are healthy and happy.

they equate ‘tribalism’ and ‘nationalism’ with theism - all tribes and all nations had their gods - it’s like blaming ‘flags’ for the history of war and competition.  However Communists are atheists and the sole major political expression of atheism and they’ve killed 100 million people (roughly 1 million a year for last 100 years-- more efficient killing machines than any tribe before them - atheists are the great killers and add to that the number of millions aborted principally by atheists - so they like to talk about the crusades with the killing of a a few thousand hundreds of years ago to distract the silly from the actual killing of millions going on right now - see Killing Fields Cambodia, etc.

Those atheists are liars and fucked. 

Buddhists don’t have a ‘god’ perse anymore than modern ‘Christians’ have a god in the sky thing - thats why these aethesist guys are sleaze because they always argue today’s buddhist atheism versus 5 hundred years ago misrepresented theism - Merton, the catholic monk went off and lived and worked with the Buddhist - his take is the best but my favourite is Trungpa who wrote spiritual materialism. He said westerns couldn't understand buddhism with their 'pac man' mindsets.

God is here and now but we’re all made out of the imagination of God - we’re ‘god stuff”.  God loves Dwarkins even if he’s wrong.  The fact is God’s highly amused.  Actually God is mostly laughing.  Anxiety is a measure of one’s distance from God

Now consider that India and Asia and Africa and all sorts of countries don't get any coverage in CNN.  Canada doesn't get coverage outside of Canada.  Amazing lesson when I travelled Europe.  Nothing happens in Canada except Celine Dion, Mayor Ford and such.  So "history" isn't about anything except major wars and some famous people - so the history of the world 100 yeas ago was about rulers and winners.   I loved the monasteries in the hills.  Little farms out of the way.  There were a lot of soccer riots through history and people were always trying to get by without the marauders and pillagers.  Rape of boys and girls has gone on for ever.

Feminism is part of 'social communism' - verus 'women's liberation' and 'suffragettism' which were Christian movements and movements of the 'secular age'.  Communists are the great 'thief's of the world.  Greatest originality is democracy and in the names that reward the creator (patent law ) versus communism which takes the rewards of the scientists and gives them all to the politicians - a kind of gangsterism.

Corporations - are the new 'arch enemy' but corporations are the best latest way of distributing money for large projects - history of money is worth studying in this regard because it's always been 'herding cats'.

Science of Fear by Gardner is the best book because it exposes the media 'fear mongering' and the fact that we're doing really good with indoor plumbing , disease eradication, weather notices and good food.  We're all living better lives and the poor are 20% versus 80%.  But the communists and atheists would have you believe otherwise because when everyone is negative and smoking dope then they complain and there's a revolution - se Beatles ' we don't want a revolution' - just means devolution and new tyrant gets in- see all the coups of africa and middle east - corruption now issue - see bankers , politicians, and the truly amazing potential for abuse of everything that the truly wealthy children of the truly wealthy can get up to.  Most people lead lives of quiet deperation and don't do so much bad because of lack of opportunity.  When vices are widely available greater percentage indulge.  So what happens when 'money' doesn't limit your potential for 'evil' .  See Beiber.  Poor kid.  Hollywood treatment centres.  Mayor Ford. There but for the grace of God go I.  

Emotional Reasoning

Emotional Reasoning is the reasoning of psychopaths and sociopaths.  Because “I feel” it is true, it is “true”.  Psychotics collectively respond to ‘emotional reasoning’.
“I knew she loved me so I forced to have sex with me so she would feel for me the way I felt for her."
“I heard the anguish in her story so she must be telling the truth”.
“No one would share such a heart wrenching story without it being true."
Emotional reasoning is the new “if it ‘feels’ right,” it is right.  In the age of rationalism people said “I think I should kill you so I’m right to kill you” . Today in the age of emotionalism people say, “I feel I should kill you so I’m right to kill you”.  The media sells by taking advantage of peoples emotions.  Every day there’s a dying child, a new war zone, the latest rape victim, another spotted owl going missing, the temperature going up or down, a volcano or an avalanche.  They sell ‘emotion’ the way Hitler and Stalin before them sold “ideas’.
But hey, who am I to question insanity, “If it feels good, do it”.  “You’ve got to be right because ‘it feels right’.
Personally I know why people have difficulty believing in evolution .  Evolution implies ‘forward motion’.  The media’s fear mongering and playing on emotions of citizens en mass for personal profit presents far more evidence of ‘devolution’.  Emotionalism is such evidence.  Cavemen and cave women and especially cannibals loved the logic of emotionalism.  Rationalism was a higher level of discussion.  Rationalists at least questioned whether eating your neighbour was ‘healthy’  but emotionalists merely depend on ‘group think’. The more mass appeal, the greater the sense of emotional rectitude.
Indeed, Hitler was likely the one to first develop emotionalism as the weapon.  The bully always uses 'emotional reasoning'.    

Friday Morning Early

I awoke early this morning. It’s Hallow’s Eve.  Samdain.  The world of the dead is closest to the world of the living.
I dreamed a great dream  I was in a multi storied house.  There were people congregating throughout.  I’d been camping on a beach. There was a woman with sunshine in her hair.  I’d smelt the scent of the sea. Then I was in this dance hall, a place I’ve been before in my dreams.  Sometimes I’ve been dancing.  It’s a dancer’s paradise.  Men and women dressed formally but casually enough for the exercise of dance.  I remember doing cha cha and jive and waltz.  Tonight there were black men and white and some women wore wear.  The hardwood floor was well polished.  Immaculate waiters served food to tables.  Some smoked I think. There was wine being served. I ordered coffee.  I didn’t dance, just looked around at this world of wonder and joy.  I was alone.
Waking at 5 am I first noticed my feet ached.  I have pain in a hip.  My back hurt climbing out of bed. I’d begun to worry about work, worry about patients, wonder how I was going to face the depressions again and again.  More and more I see people unhappy who don’t want to change anything but want this life they’re living to bring them joy when what they persist in is not joyful.  Some magic pill is supposed to save them in their isolation and self pity and self recrimination.  I encourage them.  I am positive. That only makes them angry. It’s as if I should agree with them that suicide is the solution.  And it kills me to rise to the challenge and convince them day after day to live another day.  I’ve walked thousands through these days. There’s no reason to go on.  Life sucks. Our loved ones fail us. There’s no truth in politics. The promises are all false. This world is a lie.  My life is a litany of failure.  And there I am again and again saying get out of bed, face the day, move on. Take this pill, take this therapy.  I know the government wants you dead.  I resist euthanasia.  My colleagues are giving out heroin.  The studies out of Wales tell us the threat to sobriety is in these people who have no faith in you.  I have faith but they say I’ve got compassion fatigue too.  We all do. Here in the front lines.  On beaches in Mexico and Hawaii it’s much easier to see the pleasure in life.  Lying in her arms I always felt life was worth living till she ran from life and kill our baby in fear and celebration.  Now it’s 5 am and the thoughts and past are on me.  Like twin vultures of fear and hate they sit at the top of the bed waiting to pluck out my eyes when I wake.
I looked up his name yesterday.  A patient asked for something from Winnipeg and I looked at my old university, searching a name for them.  And seeing all the other names. The road not taken.  I left the snow and cold and curse or blessing.  It’s easy on Halloween to think of witches I’ve known, beaten by broomsticks of despair.  “You’re supposed to make me happy. You make everyone else happy. Why don’t you make me happy.”  The screams like etchings on a bridge.  I found silence in a ship at sea. I think of sailing often too, wake from dreams of being in gales or just sailing in trade winds, the sweet loneliness and silence.  Then the cries of seagulls.
I’m all messed up overwhelmed by details and demands.  I balance precariously this sanity I cling to reaching deep down into the abyss to pull another out.  I’m afraid each year I’m older my grip is weaker and the tree on the ledge I cling to has roots but how much more can they take.
I’m a human busy.  There are men in accounting and women with white panties in offices that sit at computer and think of things they’d like everyone else to do and they demand it and bill more for themselves and self aggrandize.  My day is spilling over while they work 9-5 or more likely 10 to 2.  They decide what I must do and threaten me with all manner of threats.  If you don’t do this you won’t get paid, you won’t have a job, you will be blacklisted even more than we’ve blacklisted. The patient is anathema to them. They care not for anything but themselves and their kissing the ass of the next higher up and the new colour tv.
There is never enough money.  There is never enough air or life or love or sex.  There is never enough entertainment. Even sailing trips and hunting trips come to an end and then are contrasted by the sheer magnitude of stress and work and service.  How can I explain yet again that joy is not found in a pill, a bottle, or a ‘feeling’ but rather joy is that comparison.  I love my chair because last weekend I was hanging from a ledge.  I love my stomach today because sailing in a storm my gut was wrenching.  I compare the present with the negative not with some idealized television positive.  Hollywood is such farce.  Life is all about living. No platitudes. No adult children games.  Good work if you can get it.  Artists and all that.
It’s not about healing. It’s about doing protocols. It’s a vast call centre and the scripts are being written by boys in shorts and big girls in little girl panties.  Their parents had money.  They want more money.  They have this idea for mass production of protocols. These protocols are what save the world. And there are millions of courts that ask if the protocol was followed. Everyone is dead, mind you.  But was the protocol followed?
“It’s all about man and machine,” he told me today.  Someone sometime had called him schizophrenic.  But the man’s IQ was so much higher than my colleagues.  His ideas frighten people.  Indeed I have to agree. It really is about the woman and the machine. Man and machine was yesterday’s news. Now the woman is in love with the machine. Her vibrator, her protocols, her suction vacuum, her toaster oven, her iPhone.  It’s all about the woman and her machine. And that’s what men fought WWI and WWII , wars to end all wars.  But she refuses to accept that her lipstick was bought by a better machine gun .
My friend is a woman. She talks of walking with friends in the hills.  She has no silly city girl illusions about the source of her make up.  She has sons who served.  Her daughters serve.  She raised her children to be citizens and to participate. She loved her man long enough to matter. She didn’t demand that there be no other voices but hers in the home. She wasn’t a tyrant.  She knew the value of democracy of parenting and had no desire for tyranny.  She’s one of many women who amaze me.  I’m reminded so often of my mother and her business woman sister.  I loved them all.  The ex wives too.  And girl friends.
“You’re a sexist”, the young man said to me.He’s learning not to use his fists in anger but has picked up the most violent words of our times, ’sexist’, ‘racist’, ‘Christian’ .  In another country he’d have different slogans “capitalist” “westerner’.  Anger within seeks an outlet like volcanoes.  I stand near with God’s fire extinguisher. He’s pushed so many people away with his anger. Maybe I’m the latest sacrifice.    He’s spent most of his time mental masturbating and alone.   I think of the quarter century or more I shared my bed and life with women. So little of his life has been devoted to women and none to children. He’s served himself and only now is leaving to serve others.  But he’s such a fool, so vulnerable, thinking of women like porn stars and such, not knowing them for their ruthlessness and sacrificing himself for the liar who keeps teasing him and then calling the police to protect her.  He hates me now but finally he has locked her out. Finally he’s respected women enough to fear them.  Now there’s hope he’ll meet some real woman, a girl who knows her diabolical self, knows the power of her sex and will not abuse this.  He’s ready to meet a woman who will want to work together with him and not solely think of herself and how she can use him to further her goals for wealth for herself.  I’d been afraid he’d go to prison because he didn’t respect women.  I’m weary of name callers and ad hominems and the violence of those who don’t know ‘namaste’.  You are an idiot. Namaste.But then the students all want to be the teachers and the quickest way of the cannibals is to kill their leaders and eat their brains.  Why not?  Sure is easier than reading a million pages of books or listening to a million hours of lectures.  I work with street people and they call me anything they think will hurt because if they hurt me they think that bleeding I will be less a threat to them in my wholeness.  They destroy rather than create.  Their fear is such they are always looking for ‘precious’.  C.S. Lewis asked, ‘why are you looking for the architect in the wall’.  Such is the limits of materialism.  There’s never enough money.
We all have descended from cannibals.  We’re all survivors.  Our parents parents killed to be here.  We didn’t live by chanting om.  Now I chant om, but I know that there is creation and destruction and renewal.  Projection is that unconscious process where we deny our own violence and attribute it to the other.  Parents watch their children grow out of stages and then they see the same in nations and friends.  Just the other day the sweetest child in a moment of devilry poked a finger in my dog’s eye.  My dog was older and more mature and avoided the blow then moved away.  Humans can be so dangerous.  But the power today is in false accusation.  Lies are alive in this lying society.  The tyranny of communism was all about the lies.  The arrogance of judges is in their believing they can decipher truth without the basis of solid evidence. Even the Pope acknowledge science but it will be a long time before the Judges show humility.  That’s the irony today.  The elected are nothing before the appointed. And that’s how democracy dies.
If I go back to bed I might have another hour of sleep.  In Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron recommended daily creative writing, writing without the editor, just sharing whatever was on the mind. I called it ‘squeezing the puss out of the brain’.  In analysis it’s called free association.  Right now I’m troubled by these self selected ‘activists’ and their ‘group think’ cronies ,  Why can’t anybody see the merit in hewers of wood and carriers of water.  Instead we have these money grabbing resource sucking ideologues but such is a kind of capitalism.  Most of the non profits only profit those that make them.  They lack the true respectability of a real corporation that must show value beyond self aggrandizement.  But really, if I go back to sleep I might wake up more hopeful.  I could pry and meditate and read holy borks. That’s certainly a positive use of time and then one feels guided by the silence within.
Gratitudes lists are good. Thank you God for everything.  Really. Thank you for everything. Help me to appreciate more your wonder and all your myriad manifestations. Help me to love as you love.  Guide me today in all my activities. Overcome my world weariness.  Lessen my pain.  Sing to me Lord. Let me hear the sweetness of your voice in my inner ear.  Help me know your laughter in the essence of my being. Help me share your love. As St. Francis says, let me be your channel.  It’s Samhain and All Hallow’s Eve.  Let me reach out with my being to touch those departed, my father, mother, aunts and uncles, grandparents, friends and pets. Let me this day know the closeness of those once nearer in this space.  I love you all more with age. I love you all who are departed and thank you for all the love and lessons you shared.  I am remembering too the Halloweens and costumes and parties and fun and parents and schools and friends and silliness and laughter.  We had so much fun with the girls all those youthful decades and the dances and the music.  Thank you lord for all the hallows eves.  Thank you for this summer and the harvests and the harvests and the harvests.

Emmett Fox wrote for this day:
The Consecrated Life
Of what doest the consecrated life exist?  Your life is a consecrated one when you are ready at all times to do the will of God - when you are willing and anxious that God may be fully expressed through you, through your thoughts, words and deeds, during every hour of the day. You are not concerned with the questions of results.  Results belong to God.
“Here am I; send me” (Isaiah 6.8)

BC Hunting - 70 mile House

I got mixed up and thought spike fork moose was open at 100 mile House.  Bucks were open but at 70 mile house it was bucks and spike fork moose.
The fact is, I wanted to go to 100 miles house because I like the town.  I'd passed through it quite a few times and always liked the people I met there. There's a great hunting store there, Exeter Sporting Goods Ltd.  I last bought my Bushnell Fusion Rangefinder binoculars there.
My friend Laura had liked the boutiques and pharmacy when we'd stopped there together.
My friend Jackie had lived there and liked the Red Coach Inn.
I'd hunted there a couple of times years past and always liked that the A&W was open early so I could get a coffee, and sausage and egger for the ride out to the logging trails and woods.
It really is spectacular hunting terrain.  Very moosy too.  It's a good thing though I had the iHunter app on my iphone and we had coverage. When I looked at what was legal I was surprised to find we were 30 miles north of where spike fork moose were legal.  So we drove on the logging roads south, all the while watching for bucks.
We didn't see any moose even after we passed the magic line where they were legal to shoot.  I did see one buck. It was 240 yards away when I checked it later with my Bushnell range finder binocs.  There it was, standing in a clearing up on a hill. I stopped the truck and took the "Cannon", my new 300 WSM Winchester Coyote Light long range rifle.
My Ruger 30:06 was called the 'sexcalibre" because as my first stainless steel it looked like the 'Excalibur" when it came out of it's box.  My friend said it was 'sexy' so the name 'Sexcalibur" stuck. TheWinchester is heavier and made for business.  There's just something about a rifle that shoots a mile, twice the distance of my 30:06 and packs twice the whallop .    The "Cannon" got it's name the first time my friend heard me shoot it.
"That thing sounds like a cannon!" he said admiringly.  The recoil isn't that bad either. The Winchester 70 Coyote Light is also lightweight for the power it packs. Heavier and more weildy than my Ruger it's still not too much weight for an old guy like me to pack about over the woods and fields.
We did a bit of that this weekend. Parking the truck a couple of times and hiking about for miles, stalking about. We didn't sit still at dawn like we normally would because I didn't know the terrain.  Next time I hunt there I've got a couple of likely places I 'd be glad to wait in ambush.  Road hunting in the rain that day in my comfortable Ford F350 Harley Davidson Edition diesel 4x4 truck with air conditioning and heated seats was just fine by me.  I had the Kodiac 450 ATV in the back of the truck. With the rain turning to sleet then snow then back to rain I found myself thinking that the Kodiac by comparison only had heated handles.    The three of us just enjoyed driving about in the cowboy truck jawing and watching the incredible autumn terrain slip by.
The one big buck I saw looked every bit masculine but for the life of me I couldn't confirm horns. I was sure it was a really big spike but I was looking up and the head was in front of grey clouds.  I moved to adjust the Zeiss scope from 10 power to 25 and just as I saw what I thought was horn the deer spooked and I didn't get off a shot.
We saw 4 doe the next day but no moose and no deer that we could shoot.
Twice we came across ptarmigan that flew as a flock of 20 or 30 a half mile or so.  Tom followed them once with a very keen Gilbert but they just flew off again when he got a few hundred yards nearer. The same happened the next day with me and Gilbert.
"Do you think we should call in an emergency air strike by the world hunter associations? I asked Tom
"What?"
"Well, those are awfully smart birds. We certainly don't want wild chickens to get a smart gene that spreads. It's bad enough that the moose are outsmarting us but if word gets out that the chickens have more brain power than hunters it's not going to look good for the sport. I really think that a thousand hunters should be flown in to ensure that none of that flock's genes spread. They're just too damn smart."
Gilbert was disgusted with us for not shooting anything but cans. We did that in a gravel pit. Tom got bullseyes with his Mossberg Lever Action 30:30.  I shot up an A&W cup with the Cannon then wasted a few of those orange skeet disks with the Sexcalibur. All the while Gilbert waited in the truck.
It was a great weekend notwithstanding the obvious lack of killing and gutting and fresh meat for the winter. The country fresh air spiced by the north was better than any city air freshner. The beautiful colourful fall scenery was spectacular. Comraderie. Tom threw the ball for Gilbert in lieu of shooting the Ptarmigan.  Gilbert was happy with fetching the tennis ball.  The Red Coach Inn at 100 Mile House was a great motel with a great restaurant and really friendly staff.  Gilbert ran his little cockapoo legs off.  I got some exercise. Tom shot a few more bullseyes with his new Mossberg 30:30 Lever Action.
"I'm really liking this rifle, Bill.  It's what the Rifeman used." he said.
"I know," I answered thinking next thing he'll be getting it customized with an expanded lever on it. The Rifleman had done that to his rifle to improve for rapid firing.
On the way back we enjoyed listening to the Ian Rankin,  Saints of the Shadow Bible, audio book. The Scottish detectives Rebus and Clark were in the thick of murder and mystery made all that much better by the brogue accent of the reader.
 The sun came out as we passed through the Frazer Canyon.  I snapped pictures with my iphone.
When I dropped Tom off at the Chilliwack Airport his diesel VW car wouldn't turn over.  We hooked up the cables between our batteries but even with Tom loosening nuts to bleed it,  it still wouldn't turn over. It finally took me towing Tom around the parking lot.
This was Tom's bright idea.  After a couple of loops of the parking lot the car still hadn't started.  I stopped when he waved to me, remembering Tom's idiosyncratic hand signals are more confusing than a drunk  deaf mute signing.  What's funnier is that he thinks his gestures are some sort of universal Esperanto.  It turned out he wasn't signalling me to stop but rather to go faster.
Given the Chilliwack police department was right next store I was glad that I 'd stopped. With clear instructions and a glance in the direction of the police station I picked up the speed a notch.  This was the airport.  Who would notice if a VW  was suddenly flying like a kite.  Amazingly enough the car fired up.  I stopped and retrieved the tow rope, shook hands with Tom and headed into Vancouver.
By Sunday evening the guns and ammo were back in storage.  I left the ATV on the truck because I'm planning another weekend.
As much as I'd like getting dressed as a bearded lady in a gown and wig for Halloween,  going to the Rocky Horror Picture cult flick to chuck toilet paper and such,  I may just dress  again in cammo  hoping to surprise a deer or moose before the hunting season closes.  Samhain, here we come!

Red Coach Inn, 100 Mile House, BC

I told my friend Jackie that I planned to hunt in the 100 mile house area.  Jackie had lived there once.
"What hotel would you recommend?" I asked her.
"The Red Coach Inn is my favourite." she said.
"They've got a hot tub, nice pool, and I really like the restaurant.  The Super 8 is good but I prefer the Red Coach, probably because of the restaurant."
Well when Tom and I pulled into town after midnight. It had been a long haul from Vancouver after a long day of clinic.  I was really glad to see the after hours buzzer.  Surprisingly the night man was very pleasant.
I got a room with the truck near by out back, a two double beds.  Tom was impressed.
"It's really clean and tidy."
 Gilbert, the cockapoo was glad he was welcomed.  The rates were really reasonable.  In the morning at 7 am after too few hours of sleep we had the country breakfast in the restaurant.  Young and beautiful waitress far too bright for that early in the morning. After we loaded the truck with guns and ammo and headed off.  Eggs and sausage and ham and toast.
After a day of hunting we returned to the Inn at dark.  Another great restaurant meal.  I had steak and mashed.  Tom had something exotic. There really was a wide variety.   Tom had enjoyed the shower in the morning.  I enjoyed it in the evening. Gilbert exhausted fell right asleep after eating a Little Cesar.  He'd had to do guard duty on the room while we were at the restaurant, after a long day of hunting.  So he really was a tired pup.  Not too tired though to snack on a piece of steak I brought back for him. Then he was asleep. I think I read a page of Tom Clancy before I was out too.

Dr. Shaohua Lu - Addiction and Consultation Liason Psychiatry

It was a rainy dark night at the end of a long day of clinic.  While the Seasons is a very fine restaurant,   on such a night I'd gladly have been home.   Dr. Shaohua Lu, however. was the night's dinner speaker. His topic was Pain and Addiction, A Psychiatric Perspective.
Dr. Lu is extremely well educated in the field but more importantly he is one of the leading clinicians in hospital based psychiatry for the addicted and medically ill.  His contribution to psychiatry at Vancouver General Hospital is immense.  Personally I've always admired his knowledge and clinical acumen in the treatment of difficult and complex cases.
I've had the pleasure of treating people in the community who were seen by him in the hospital.  There had been no platitudes or stupidities, no missed diagnosis, or whacky medication regimens.  He'd given patients the straight goods and they'd returned to the community well aware of the seriousness of their illness and exactly what they needed to do to address it.
When the College of Physicians and Surgeons employed lesser qualified physicians in the field of addictions it was always a pleasure to listen to the greater experience, training and wisdom of Dr. Lu. Never a policeman, in the field of addiction where sometimes punitive controllers loved to act out their unresolved traumas of  potty training, Dr. Lu by contrast, was always a physician first, and always a gentleman.  He based his work on the latest in research and taught the basic foundations of medicine and psychiatry.
It was a packed room he spoke to that night. Two of my most seasoned addiction medicine colleagues had been at another talk sitting next to him.  Later they'd say they'd got more clinical 'pearls' from him than from the speaker. The people in this room were impressive.  Dr. Paul Sobey, a leader in the Canadian Society of Addiction Medicine, sat near Dr. Malomed from the excellent BC College of Physicians and Surgeons Methadone Committee.  Dr. Horvath and Dr. Tsung, well weathered clinicians from the DTES Docside Clinic. Dr. Durnin. with her vast clinical experience, from her practice at Pender and also in Surrey. Dr. Klajic, humorous and wise, spoke with the very bright Dr. Cohen who sat near a couple of the top East Indian clinicians whose long names I shamefully forget.  I actually asked one fellow twice and really should have written it down. There were several others too, a great turn out.  Mostly the over 40's crowd.  There might well have been another 60 year old but I fear my beard was whitest. The experience,  knowledge and collective wisdom was palpable.  The questions asked of Dr. Lu came from that depth of experience.
Dr. Lu spoke to the overlapping areas of Pain and Psychiatry, the appropriate use of antidepressant, anti anxiety, anti inflammatory medications and finally opiates. There's been much talk of abuse of prescription opiate medication.  Dr. Lu cited the appropriate use of opiates but distinguished his work with cancer patients and palliative care versus his work with 'chronic pain'.  There's clearly a different approach to dosage when a person's life expectancy is months not years.  Further he emphasized proper medical work up for pain and the importance of recognising co morbidity with psychiatric disorder.
"No chronic pain patient is without psychological consequences."
Nadine Sparks, the Senior Sales Representative for Eli Lilly Canada Inc had organized this meeting for the benefit of pain and addiction clinicians who were commonly prescribing a variety of medications to address the patients issues with complex pain.  Cymbalta, (duloxetine) is the new antidepressant the FDA has approved for pain treatment especially fibromyalgia.  No other antidepressant medication has received such approval to date though commonly the tricyclic antidepressant, elavil (amitriptylline) has been a mainstay of pain treatment.  My patients swear by Cymbalta,this breakthrough medication.
Dr. Lu never spoke to any drug or company by name, having no conflict of interest and clearly basing his discussion of the research data to date.  He discussed buprenorphine as well in the chronic pain patient and addressed the importance of exercise in the treatment of chronic pain.
Discussing the controversial topic of 'medical marijuana' in the treatment of chronic pain he cited the research that showed that the cannabinoids that help with pain are not the same that get people high. Essentially he said, "If a person is 'feeling' high on the marijuana the dosage is too high or its not the right cannabinoid medication."
He was especially helpful in his discussion of the early onset of hyperalgesia.  Most people think of opioid induced hyperalgesia as happening at high dosage whereas Dr. Lu cited low dose induction. He maintained that it was wise clinical course to be aware of this phenomena with all opioid usage but especially when the response is not what is anticipated.
It was a truly delightful presentation and I was thankful even driving home late in the rain that I'd made it out for the evening.  Yes the Season's was a very nice restaurant.  And yes, Nadine Sparks is extremely enthusiastic and convincing.  It was great too to see fellow front line workers, the clinicians who work with the patients who suffer from these ofttimes difficult but equally challenging illness.