Welcome!

I hope you enjoy my blog, a collection of articles and thoughts regarding my interests. I'm a married father of two that loves to write about gliding, hunting, fishing, camping and any outdoor passion. Oh yah, I'm a quadriplegic. I hope this is informative to some, entertaining to others, and interesting to all. Let me know what you think. If you'd like an article for your publication, I've got words I haven't even used yet!

Friday 27 April 2012

Muskrat Calling


A week or so ago we had some warm weather days and decided to go camping. We camped near a local river and did some hiking ( or four-wheel-drive wheelchairing) and photography. It was great to get back to doing outdoors things after a long winter. We made it down to the river, and although fishing season is not open for a few weeks here we did get to observe the wildlife.

One of the things that is kind of fun to do when you are near most water with bulrushes, is to call for muskrats. Believe it or not, I read about how to call muskrats when I was in about grade 9, and I paid enough attention that class to remember how to do it. This is basically a piece of that goofy, useless knowledge that takes up the empty spaces in your head, of which I apparently have an ample supply of. To make the call, all you do is hold your lips tightly together and clench them with your teeth, and then suck air through the corner of your mouth. The high-pitched squeal is much like blowing on a piece of grass, and this is the sound that muskrats make. Using this technique you can call a muskrat that is several hundred yards away and it will come right up to you. I have been using this technique for years for entertainment, and unfortunately I used to use it when I hunted them for fur as a teenager with great success.

The following is a video that we took of me calling a muskrat while we were out camping the other day.

Thursday 5 April 2012

Barnett Ghost 400 Fired From a Wheelchair



So there I was, sitting (what else, I'm a quad ... remember?) in my computer room with papers piled to the ceiling, up to my seat-cushion in alligators with no drain plug in sight, the weather outside summer like ... yay. I look over to the bench to the left, and there is the lonely-neglected crossbow sitting there, minding its own business, just like it has done for the last three months. The only sign that it has received any attention at all is the missing paint on the floor where a wheelchair has repeatedly pulled up to the bench, paused, and pulled away again.

I say to myself, "Self, you moron, what the heck are you doing inside on a day like this when spring has just arrived? Get your butt outside!"

I check my horoscope, it says something like this, "You moron, what the heck are you doing inside on a day like this when spring has just arrived? Get your butt outside."

About this time I hear the 'bloooodley-doot' of a Facebook message, it reads "You got arrows for that crossbow? ''

 I immediately reply, "Got arrows, you got time?"

"See you at one," comes the reply.

You need to really appreciate it when you're day is saved like that. Dave arrived around one, we loaded the crossbow and accessories into the van and took off to see  how it would shoot.


What a great day! The alligators can wait!