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Current Events => The DUmpster => Topic started by: franksolich on October 16, 2011, 07:22:45 AM

Title: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: franksolich on October 16, 2011, 07:22:45 AM
hunters occupy franksolich’s place; describe fate of primitives.  Saturday morning when I got up, there were four motor vehicles parked out in the front yard.  It’s been hunting season for quite a while now in Nebraska, but the real hunting season doesn’t start until the last Saturday of October (pheasants) and mid-November (deer).

Probably out for small game—grouse, geese, duck, whatnot, I thought.

So I got dressed, and brewed coffee and started the hot chocolate.

About mid-morning, they showed up at the house.  There were six of them, one of them just a kid, and I knew one of them.  The others were strangers to me, but from this county (a fact one discerns from the license plates of motor vehicles).

I do not own this property, which is way out in the boondocks, the nearest neighbor being six miles away.  The owners, who are very ancient, dating from Calvin Coolidge, live in town and of course are known by nearly everybody in northeastern Nebraska; they are the ones who give permission for others to hunt here.

franksolich simply plays host, giving them a place to get dry and warm, and to have a hot drink or two, after the exertions of the hunt.  It’s not anything I particularly mind, and in fact I encourage it, as having company—especially armed company—around here is a good deterrent to stalking primitives.

The hunter whom I knew (it turned out the others knew me, but I didn’t know them) noticed a telephone recently installed in the dining room, commenting “It’s about time, it’s for your own safety.”  I wearily pointed out the telephone had been installed under duress, required by the owner, and I didn’t see what good it would do me.

“All I can do with it is pick it up, punch ‘911,’ saying something a couple or three times, and that’s it.  I have no idea if the party at the other end gets the message, or knows who I am.

“And besides, I’ve been out here for six years now, and nothing’s ever happened.”

The hunter whom I knew snorted in derision.  “There’s always strange people hanging around here, but you don’t see them because you don’t hear them.” 

After which he related to the others the old hippie who’d spent a few days in the front yard repairing his hippiemobile, and the convey of hippies who’d camped down by the river over the Labor Day holiday.

“The neighbor meets Mrs. Alfred Packer’s Wild Bill” and “Mrs. Alfred Packer does Labor Day” were not spun out of thin air, but rather based, loosely, upon real-life events around here.

“And we’ve all heard of some other, uh, rude awakenings you’ve had,” he added without details.

I pointed out these had been drunks and methamphetamine addicts, not primitives, and hence easier to handle, to get rid of.

Then I thought of a question that had been in the back of mind for some years now.  “You know, primitives are found just about anywhere, including in the reddest of red areas.  They’re rare, but one sees one once in a great while.  But after one sees one just one time, suddenly they’re no longer around.

“One doesn’t see them any more.  What happens to them?”

Now, I have lived in this area, on the eastern slope of the Sandhills of Nebraska, for only ten years now, while everybody else sitting at the dining room table were life-long residents around here, and so had seen more, knew more, than I do.

Reminiscences of primitives past bounced back-and-forth across the table; the sporadic wild-eyed Trotskyite, the long-haired flat-earther, the frothing Nixon-and-Agnew-hater, the unkempt pacifist, the promiscuous love-child, the wire-rimmed eyeglassesed revolutionary, the ranting conspiracy theorist, the sign-waving Fidelista, the sour dour Maoist, the raving cop-hater, the dopeheads, &c., &c., &c.

But each of them had been around for only a short time, and then evaporated as quickly as they’d come.

“Does one suppose they don’t like our weather?”

One of the other hunters reminded me that one of Nebraska’s three insane asylums is located in the big city forty miles away.  It’s been around for a very long time, and in fact at times its inmates have exceeded 10% of the population of the big city.  It used to be bigger than it is now, but it’s still pretty big.

For the outsider, it seems a rather pleasant place, dozens of brick buildings scattered over more than a square mile, with trees and lawns and gardens and low hills (but oddly, no fences).

I questioned that.  “It used to be that they took the generally insane, of any nature, but some years ago it was changed into a high-security place exclusively for sexual offenders,” I said.

Well, that’s where the primitives end up, I was told.

Oh.
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: Ballygrl on October 16, 2011, 07:47:43 AM
I'd totally be nervous out there in the woods unarmed and having meth addicts around.
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: BlueStateSaint on October 16, 2011, 08:37:17 AM
I'd totally be nervous out there in the woods unarmed and having meth addicts around.

Yup.  A Taurus Judge, or a Smith & Wesson Governor, would be on my "to get" list.
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: longview on October 16, 2011, 08:53:32 AM
I'd totally be nervous out there in the woods unarmed and having meth addicts around.

The best thing about the makers of meth, if they aren't using, is they don't want to see anyone or have anyone see them.  Kind of like a black bear.  So you might come across sign that they've been around but not actually the people.

The best thing about the active users is that they are so discombobulated they can't physically organize their bodies to fight.  And if they are between uses they are in town looking for more, not wandering around your ranch looking for trouble.  The worst they do is steal tools to hock for more meth money.  

I'm always armed when out working, but meth heads are the least of reasons why I carry.
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: DumbAss Tanker on October 16, 2011, 09:53:41 AM
I'm always armed when out working, but meth heads are the least of reasons why I carry.

Always a sound idea.  It's better to have a gun and not need it, than need a gun and not have it.
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: tanstaafl on October 16, 2011, 10:18:53 AM
Yup.  A Taurus Judge, or a Smith & Wesson Governor, would be on my "to get" list.
With Winchester PDX1 Defender rounds. 3  1/4" discs and 16 BBs. Off hand target shooting shows a 18" pattern at 15 feet with my 3 inch.
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: longview on October 16, 2011, 10:49:32 AM
Primitives are more of a problem.

They will show up in the most inconvenient places.  Pull their campers to right next to stock water, preventing livestock and wildlife from drinking.  Run their noisy generators.  Argue with you when you tell, and show, them they are on private land.  Race their toys around tearing up the ground and vegetation and claim they are enjoying nature.  Show up at the house and want to borrow tools because they didn't come prepared and something broke.  Something they don't know how to fix.  Complain about the lack of cell service and then complain if they can see any towers (non-cell) within their view.  Ask me if I give my cattle antibiotics and growth hormone and tell me how to run a "sustainable operation" because they read an article somewhere.  Tell me I shouldn't run cows because they are non-indigenous, and then tell me I should run the BLM scrub horses instead (which are completely non-native).  Tell me that if THEY lived here, they would do nothing but enjoy the views and start and artist and philosopher community.  Commit the faux paus of asking me how many cattle and acres I have (really?  and what is YOUR net worth?  or some years it would be "what is YOUR debt?"  lol).

Oy.  Such stupidity.
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: Chris_ on October 16, 2011, 10:53:24 AM
It sounds like you've encountered these people before.
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: diesel driver on October 16, 2011, 11:10:05 AM
Primitives are more of a problem.

They will show up in the most inconvenient places.  Pull their campers to right next to stock water, preventing livestock and wildlife from drinking.  Run their noisy generators.  Argue with you when you tell, and show, them they are on private land.  Race their toys around tearing up the ground and vegetation and claim they are enjoying nature.  Show up at the house and want to borrow tools because they didn't come prepared and something broke.  Something they don't know how to fix.  Complain about the lack of cell service and then complain if they can see any towers (non-cell) within their view.  Ask me if I give my cattle antibiotics and growth hormone and tell me how to run a "sustainable operation" because they read an article somewhere.  Tell me I shouldn't run cows because they are non-indigenous, and then tell me I should run the BLM scrub horses instead (which are completely non-native).  Tell me that if THEY lived here, they would do nothing but enjoy the views and start and artist and philosopher community.  Commit the faux paus of asking me how many cattle and acres I have (really?  and what is YOUR net worth?  or some years it would be "what is YOUR debt?"  lol).

Oy.  Such stupidity.
 

I scared a bunch of them off of our property several years ago.

I was working on our combine that day, we had the feeder housing off, and I had my hands threaded into the "guts" of the machine like a Chinese puzzle, up to my elbows. 

A carload of them drove up, I think they were selling something.  Tried to make small talk with me, with little success.

One asked me if I was overhauling it or doing major repairs to it.  I said,  "No, just routine maintenance."  (I was changing the rasp bars on the thrashing cylinder.)

They left about 30 seconds later.
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: longview on October 16, 2011, 11:49:20 AM
 

I scared a bunch of them off of our property several years ago.

I was working on our combine that day, we had the feeder housing off, and I had my hands threaded into the "guts" of the machine like a Chinese puzzle, up to my elbows. 

A carload of them drove up, I think they were selling something.  Tried to make small talk with me, with little success.

One asked me if I was overhauling it or doing major repairs to it.  I said,  "No, just routine maintenance."  (I was changing the rasp bars on the thrashing cylinder.)

They left about 30 seconds later.

They didn't ask you why you "rape the land?"  lol
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: franksolich on October 16, 2011, 01:51:37 PM
The best thing about the makers of meth, if they aren't using, is they don't want to see anyone or have anyone see them.  Kind of like a black bear.  So you might come across sign that they've been around but not actually the people.

Uh huh.

No expert on the matter (of which I'm not) has ever seen traces of such around here, but they are discovered once in a while near the southern end of the county.

Quote
The best thing about the active users is that they are so discombobulated they can't physically organize their bodies to fight.  And if they are between uses they are in town looking for more, not wandering around your ranch looking for trouble.  The worst they do is steal tools to hock for more meth money.

Uh huh.

And as I discovered myself some weeks ago, a 1-3/8" S/K adjustable wrench is a great deterrent.  

Quote
I'm always armed when out working, but meth heads are the least of reasons why I carry.

Our situations alas are however different; you can hear; I can't hear.

Despite what's said about the deaf using vision to "compensate" (quotation marks intentional, and sarcastic) for a lack of hearing, the opposite is true.  The senses augment and stimulate each other; when one is absent one of them, the others too are lessened.  I've always found that I'm seeing less than hearing people, and that's because I hear no sounds to stimulate the eyes.

I can't tell you how many times someone has been within four feet or so of me, and I never knew it.

It's a very good thing I wear brown pants most of the time.

The choice one has then--and there are no other choices between these two extremes for the deaf--is either to be paranoid, suspicious, fearful, of all things, or just to say, "Screw it, life is a lottery, a game of chance anyway," and to carry on as if no perils exist (although of course they do).

<<has always considered himself the biggest winner in life's lottery.
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: DumbAss Tanker on October 16, 2011, 03:04:32 PM
The choice one has then--and there are no other choices between these two extremes for the deaf--is either to be paranoid, suspicious, fearful, of all things, or just to say, "Screw it, life is a lottery, a game of chance anyway," and to carry on as if no perils exist (although of course they do).

<<has always considered himself the biggest winner in life's lottery.

We all play the cards we're dealt.  The people who complain about them instead of facing the challenge squarely aren't cut out for this board.  You seem to be doing passing well with your own hand.
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: franksolich on October 16, 2011, 05:47:24 PM
I'd totally be nervous out there in the woods unarmed and having meth addicts around.

Speaking of.....

About 5:30 p.m. central time, 4:30 p.m. mountain time, one of the cats alerted me to that there's some traffic down on the banks of the river, about a football field's length away from my back door.

(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y223/dummiedestroyer/elkhornspr.jpg)

They're not hunters, because of the time of the day and they aren't wearing hunting gear.

I watched them for a while, but they kept on walking south, so I quit worrying about it.

But I think tomorrow, Monday, I'll invest in a telescope to mount on the railing of the back porch.
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: BlueStateSaint on October 16, 2011, 06:15:57 PM
But I think tomorrow, Monday, I'll invest in a telescope to mount on the railing of the back porch.

Maybe you should think about a .30-06 or a .300 Winchester Magnum to mount that "telescope" to, Coach.  Then set up a position on the back porch.
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: diesel driver on October 16, 2011, 06:24:19 PM
They didn't ask you why you "rape the land?"  lol

No, but if they did, my answer would have either been "Why not?", or "Better me than you!"
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: franksolich on October 16, 2011, 08:35:27 PM
Maybe you should think about a .30-06 or a .300 Winchester Magnum to mount that "telescope" to, Coach.  Then set up a position on the back porch.

It was so much paranoia about nothing.

Around 7:00 p.m., when it was already pitch-black dark, one of them came to the house; they were innocuous harmless bird-watchers from the big city.

Until recently, I've never--not in six autumns here--been so worried about strangers hanging around here, their business (if not their mere being) unknown to me.  But now that everybody else (in real life) seems to be, I'm catching it too.  I swear, if I could hear "bumps" and "thuds" during the middle of the night, I'd be a nervous wreck.

Bah humbug.
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: longview on October 16, 2011, 09:13:41 PM
  I swear, if I could hear "bumps" and "thuds" during the middle of the night, I'd be a nervous wreck.

Bah humbug.

:)   I had a friend who was deaf and took the offer of a hearing ear dog.  For four days.

She said she couldn't get any work done, couldn't take a bath in peace, and didn't sleep nearly as well because the darn dog was always alerting her to some knock, ring, or thud.  She marveled that hearies could get anything done with all the interruptions. 
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: franksolich on October 16, 2011, 09:22:58 PM
I had a friend who was deaf and took the offer of a hearing ear dog.  For four days.

She said she couldn't get any work done, couldn't take a bath in peace, and didn't sleep nearly as well because the darn dog was always alerting her to some knock, ring, or thud.  She marveled that hearies could get anything done with all the interruptions.

Now that I'm down to four cats, excellent watch-dogs all, I'm starting to give thought--probably about the time I'm down to two cats, because of old age--to getting a couple of dogs to "hear" for me.

But I'd train them myself, to differentiate between important sounds and unimportant sounds.

Any dog can be trained to do this; dogs are smart animals.  I figure when the time comes, I'll just go to the local veterinary and ask for a couple of mutts, mongrels, rejects, I don't care what kind or what mix, or whether they're old or young, male or female.  And then I'll train them myself.
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: longview on October 16, 2011, 09:58:06 PM
Now that I'm down to four cats, excellent watch-dogs all, I'm starting to give thought--probably about the time I'm down to two cats, because of old age--to getting a couple of dogs to "hear" for me.

But I'd train them myself, to differentiate between important sounds and unimportant sounds.

Any dog can be trained to do this; dogs are smart animals.  I figure when the time comes, I'll just go to the local veterinary and ask for a couple of mutts, mongrels, rejects, I don't care what kind or what mix, or whether they're old or young, male or female.  And then I'll train them myself.

I'd be interested in how it goes.  I'm sure you will have success.
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: Habsfan on October 16, 2011, 10:05:18 PM
I hope I'm not intruding in this thread Frank but I know a deaf lady who has an "alert cat" specially trained to go up to its owner when they hear any unusual sounds. Have you ever looked into this?
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: thundley4 on October 16, 2011, 10:14:26 PM
I hope I'm not intruding in this thread Frank but I know a deaf lady who has an "alert cat" specially trained to go up to its owner when they hear any unusual sounds. Have you ever looked into this?

Frank isn't a "cat person", all of his have adopted him, not the other way around.
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: franksolich on October 17, 2011, 07:39:41 AM
I hope I'm not intruding in this thread Frank but I know a deaf lady who has an "alert cat" specially trained to go up to its owner when they hear any unusual sounds. Have you ever looked into this?

That's what these cats do; they've always done it.

I trained them.

The problem is, cats, unlike dogs, don't always hang around--they tend to leave for days at a time.
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: franksolich on October 17, 2011, 08:12:43 AM
I'd totally be nervous out there in the woods unarmed and having meth addicts around.

The bug-eyed property caretaker was out here this morning, to pick something up from here that he needs to use on another property, and commented about my most-recent experience.

For the record, the caretaker, along with 99% of all who've been out here, has never seen franksolich in any condition excepting decent and civilized and utterly decorous.

He says it wasn't the adjustable wrench that scared the three of them away.....but then he wouldn't tell me what it was that did, saying he had to hurry and get to that other place.

<<mystified, but whatever.
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: GOBUCKS on October 17, 2011, 09:47:34 AM
Quote
an "alert cat" specially trained

Somehow, to me the idea of a specially-trained cat is hilarious.

Consider the countless thousands of cat ladies, for whom housecats are the most important thing on earth, and not one has ever been able to train a cat to do anything but eat. Cats are okay, if that's your thing, but I think you'd have more luck training dairy cattle, or guppies.
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: Rugnuts on October 17, 2011, 10:46:08 AM
He says it wasn't the adjustable wrench that scared the three of them away.....but then he wouldn't tell me what it was that did, saying he had to hurry and get to that other place.

<<mystified, but whatever.
now i want to know more.
i think is time to scatter these around the woods
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v230/sadiesinner/forums/aaef2c70.png)
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: franksolich on October 17, 2011, 06:13:12 PM
Somehow, to me the idea of a specially-trained cat is hilarious.

Sure.  As is already well-known, I'm not a cat person, but rather a dog person.  But when I moved out there, there were all these feral cats, and one had to do something about them.  It took about six months, but I eventually caught all of them, had them shot and neutralized, and they proved duly grateful, especially for the three squares a day they got.

I suppose this is a case of taking what's available, and putting it to its best possible use.

They didn't prove lazy cats, either.  This being way out in the country, and the house unoccupied for so many years, at first it had the usual pests, such as field mice.  I haven't seen one, or traces of one, inside the house for years now.  And rabbits used to run rampant through the "gardens;" mo more, not for years.  And without knowing for sure, I suspect these now-domesticated cats have kept other feral cats at bay, as I don't see any of those around any more; haven't for years.

The way they were trained to notify me that something was wrong was by giving the cats the notion that franksolich is God; frankolich is the man who feeds them, who gives them a warm place to stay, who gets their broken parts fixed, who calms them when upset.  These cats are very conscious that all they have, comes from franksolich, and don't want anything bad to happen to him.

I don't like playing God, but these are just cats, after all.

What helped was that I'm very set in my habits; any divergence from those, and the cats know something's up.

But while they've been known--and observed--to mess with things bigger than them, really though, cats are no defense against intruders.  They can warn, but not fend off.  Dogs are better for that purpose.

Quote
Consider the countless thousands of cat ladies, for whom housecats are the most important thing on earth, and not one has ever been able to train a cat to do anything but eat.

Uh huh; I agree.

Eat, and then mess all over the place.

This is why people who live in apartments, or in congested urban areas, should be prohibited from owning cats.  It's not a good situation for cats.

And to own an animal involves a moral responsibility, the obligation to take good care of that animal, and to help that animal become the best possible animal it can become.  People who own animals just to own them are twisted, perverted people with some real personal problems.

Animals are not "friends;" animals are a responsibility, and decent and civilized people know that, and act on that.

If I lived anywhere else but here, I wouldn't bother with cats.  But this place is a paradise for them, being way out in the country, with plenty of room to romp and play both outdoors and indoors--provided by God so that these cats in particular can be the best possible cats cats can be.

Quote
Cats are okay, if that's your thing, but I think you'd have more luck training dairy cattle, or guppies.

I dunno about guppies, but better luck training cattle, yes, of course.  But it's not impossible to train cats (perhaps this applies only to once-feral cats, though), once the cats understand how much better life for them is, three squares a day, a warm place, as compared with the way they used to live.
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: I_B_Perky on October 17, 2011, 06:18:31 PM
The bug-eyed property caretaker was out here this morning, to pick something up from here that he needs to use on another property, and commented about my most-recent experience.

For the record, the caretaker, along with 99% of all who've been out here, has never seen franksolich in any condition excepting decent and civilized and utterly decorous.

He says it wasn't the adjustable wrench that scared the three of them away.....but then he wouldn't tell me what it was that did, saying he had to hurry and get to that other place.

<<mystified, but whatever.

Wasn't you in your undies or naked or something like that Frank? I have no personal experience but I imagine someone in the raw, welding a implement that applied with brute force can be a formidable weapon, might be a little unnerving to some perp that was not expecting it.

Any guy gonna come after you in the raw must be mad as hell... or crazy!   :-)
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: franksolich on October 17, 2011, 06:19:47 PM
now i want to know more.

http://www.conservativecave.com/index.php/topic,64987.0
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: I_B_Perky on October 17, 2011, 06:42:38 PM
http://www.conservativecave.com/index.php/topic,64987.0

Maybe they was scared of your "tool".

Sorry Frank! I couldn't resist.  :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: franksolich on October 17, 2011, 07:09:21 PM
Maybe they was scared of your "tool".

Sorry Frank! I couldn't resist.  :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:

Yeah, yeah, that old joke, but really there's nothing extraordinary about me, either physically or as a person.

Probably I could've shown up dressed as a clown, or attired as Richard III, and the effect would've been the same.

There is however the ability to exude an "aura," which is stronger in some people than in other people, and I've been told I do that very well, exuding something that displays my feelings, most strongly any feelings of contempt, and that it's unmistakable, even if the circumstances are cluttered with other details.
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: BlueStateSaint on October 18, 2011, 04:31:39 AM
But it's not impossible to train cats (perhaps this applies only to once-feral cats, though), once the cats understand how much better life for them is, three squares a day, a warm place, as compared with the way they used to live.

Oreo was abandoned, essentially.  My sister's family did try to provide for her inasmuch as their cat (still alive after 18 years!) would allow.  So, my sister found a warm, dry, safe place for her--our apartment.  Yes, Oreo still wants to go out and kill things from time to time, but she knows that she's better off--and she does respond to us and our abode.
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: Karin on October 18, 2011, 10:06:59 AM
It was the whole package, so to speak, Frank.  A naked person with a weapon signals that the jig may be up, time to buy the farm.  It was suggested that Lizzy Borden did her deed with the axe unclothed; that's why they couldn't find the incriminating copious blood spatter.
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: franksolich on October 18, 2011, 03:43:23 PM
It was the whole package, so to speak, Frank.

That could be it, the "whole setting."

In the middle of the night, out in the middle of nowhere.

A house that looks uninhabited.

Three guys who are drunk, stoned, or blotzed out of their minds.

And suddenly out of nowhere, a human being materializes.

It doesn't make any difference what he's wearing or not wearing, what he's carrying or not carrying.

I'd run away too.
Title: Re: hunters occupy franksolich's place; describe fate of primitives
Post by: franksolich on October 18, 2011, 07:10:38 PM
Always a sound idea.  It's better to have a gun and not need it, than need a gun and not have it.

I had a discussion about this with the property caretaker this afternoon, and he agrees it would be so much wasted time and trouble.

A firearm is handy for self-protection if one is aware there's something one needs protected against.

But if one isn't aware, it's just carrying a few extra pounds of cold metal around; a nuisance.

He reminded me of the first time he met me, many years ago.  As previously instructed, "the door's unlocked, go ahead and come on in, because I won't hear you knock anyway," he came on in.

The front door opens into the dining room, and then there's an alcove sort of thing, and then the living room.  The computer here sits on a very large table in the alcove, in between the two rooms, and when I'm at it, my back is to the front door.

When he came inside, I was sitting at the computer (i.e., my back to him), comparing cash-register journal tapes with financial data on a disc.  He first hollered, thinking that somehow I'd notice him. 

But I just continued sitting there, absorbed in what I was doing.  So then he moved towards the dining-room table in the dining room, thinking I'd catch him out of the corner of my eye.  No dice; I wasn't aware he was there.  So he shifted to the living room, thinking I'd catch him out of the corner of the other eye.  No dice.

He stood there watching me, wondering how to make me notice he was there.

Finally he garnered up the courage to tap me on the shoulder.

There's a lot of nonsense spewed about when one's missing one sense, the other senses "compensate" for the absence, such as the alleged "better eyes" of the deaf.  That's bullshit; the senses work in unison, complementing, contributing to each other, and if one is absent one of them, all the other senses are diminished to some extent.

(i.e., sound stimulates sight; one hears something and looks around.)

It's an unfortunate state of affairs, that all communication with me specifically has to be up close and in a touching matter, but as one can't do anything about it, well, one accepts, adapts, and moves on.

Even in impersonal world events--well, the way I learned about 9-11 shows this.  The neighbor, who knew of the attacks via radio and television, knew I can't do radio and won't bother with television--and one couldn't telephone me with the news--thought I should know of it, and drove over here to tell me.  It was fine early-autumn morning, and I was stacking firewood into the back of a pick-up truck, without a trouble in the world.

I hadn't had the internet connected yet; otherwise, I would've never had the slightest idea until the morning newspapers came out on 9-12.

I'm always behind the curve, but what can one do?

The most-talked about thing, locally, pertaining to my unawareness of what's going on, is from three summers ago, when during the middle of the night, the funnel of a tornado hit the ground half a mile north of this house.  (It however was a very tiny tornado.)  Knowing I would have no idea of any danger, the county attorney (in his role as county coroner) and two volunteer firemen braved the pounding rain and wind and hail to see if I was okay.

It had been a tiny tornado, but it had strewn trees and stuff all over, right on this property.

But here, I'd slept safely like an infant all through it.

If one's not aware, one can't react.

<<takes things as they come, but never before they come.