Lessons from Dobby

I saw this on Facebook, saved a copy, printed it, and stuck it on our refrigerator.   As I was getting my yogurt one morning a thought struck me; Dobby is an excellent example of Christianity.  Dobby is from the Harry Potter series and I'm probably the last person in the world to watch the movies.  I resisted them for a long time but my daughter brought them home one day, it was cold and snowing, and so we loaded 'em up in the DVD player and commenced to watching.

Some people like to watch "Christian" movies like "Fireproof", "Facing the Giants", "Letters to God", and etc, and I enjoy those, too. but I have more fun watching non-Christian movies and pulling themes out of them to show the universalism of the Gospel message.  Many "Christian" movies are so often like fairy tales- everyone's happy, trouble comes along, they pray, everything is better again.  Life isn't like that (nor is the Bible or the gospel message).  Instead, we're not happy, troubles get worse, we pray, things get worse, we pray some more... and then something odd happens... we learn to be joyful w/in our troubles.  We transcend our troubles.  A bunch of verses immediately spring to mind that address this paradox:

Job 5:6-7 NKJV  For affliction does not come from the dust, Nor does trouble spring from the ground;  (7)  Yet man is born to trouble, As the sparks fly upward.

Zec 13:9 NKJV  I will bring the one-third through the fire, Will refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them. I will say, 'This is My people'; And each one will say, 'The LORD is my God.' "

1Pe 1:6-7 NKJV  In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,  (7)  that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,

So, back to Dobby.... why do I think Dobby is a nice illustration of a Christian?  Granted, this is not a perfect illustration, but it seems to me to have its points.  Dobby, when we first meet him, is a slave and furthermore he is a slave to a harsh taskmaster- the nefarious Lucius Malfoy.  I can't ignore the root of Mr. Malfoy's name: "Lucius"- as it's the same as "Lucifer". So, Dobby is basically a slave to the devil.  He's dressed in filthy rags to remind him of his state.  The only way he can be freed is if his master gives him an article of clothing.  Lucius Malfoy isn't about to do that, of course.  Harry Potter ends up tricking Lucius by hiding a piece of Harry's clothing (a sock) in a book; he hands the book to Lucius who then hands it to Dobby.  Dobby opens the book, finds the sock (never said it had to be the slave master's piece of clothing, right?) and becomes a free elf. After realizing that Harry has tricked him- although Harry played according to the rules!- Lucius is furious.  He doesn't care one whit for Dobby; he's just mad that he's lost a slave.  Harry, on the other hand, does care for Dobby, as Jesus Christ cares for His sheep.   Likewise, we're dressed in filthy rags (Isa 64:6) and are cleaned up by the gift of God in Jesus Christ (Romans 6:23).

Our analogy gets a little weak here because Harry only gave his sock whereas Jesus Christ gave his life and took our sins upon Himself, but what happens next is what struck me about this analogy in the first place.  Dobby is now FREE.  He's a FREE elf.   Just like this:

Joh 8:36 NKJV  Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

Dobby's response to this freedom is to respond with gratitude and voluntarily attach himself to Harry Potter.  And this is where so many people misunderstand Christianity.  Upon being freed from the slavery of sin by Christ, I don't have to do anything.  That's religion.  I've been freed by grace (an unmerited favor) thru faith (in the fact that Jesus can do this), and I'm free from my former bonds.  At this point, I could voluntarily return to my old master, but who would?!  Well, some do!  Some go back to their harsh taskmaster.  Others, seeing a better way in front of them, go with the Good Taskmaster, the one who cares for his followers.  In the Harry books/movies, that's Harry.  In the Christian life, that's Jesus.   Dobby's love of Harry is so great that he eventually gives his own life to save Harry's.  Later on, Harry gives his life to save everyone from the evil Voldemort, but we don't know that just yet and- like I said earlier, this isn't a perfect analogy, nor would I want it to be; it's more fun to put the pieces together in a different order with the same result.

Many people think that they don't need Christ; they can "improve" themselves and make themselves a "better person".  Well, maybe they can, but the problem is that they're still slaves, just like Dobby, except that now they're new and improved slaves.  It takes someone else to come along and ransom them, or for the slave-master to set them free.  Believe me, your slave-master doesn't want to set you free any more than Lucius was ever gonna set Dobby free.  Paul's all over the "slaves of sin" theme in Romans:

Rom 6:17-18 NKJV  But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.  (18)  And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

So, along comes Harry Potter and pays the price (with his sock!) of setting Dobby free.  Again, this is where the analogy is a little weak because Jesus paid much, much more than that.  But the principle holds; we must be ransomed and set free. 

Mat 20:28 NKJV  just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

 1Ti 2:5-6 NKJV  For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,  (6)  who gave Himself a ransom for all...

A key point here is that Christians are followers of Christ because they want to be, not because they have to be.  Following Christ is not something one does to earn their freedom but something they do in gratitude.  If you don't want to be grateful, then that's between you and Him.  I suppose, having been freed, if you want to go back to your sin master, you can.  Certainly, it seems like many (maybe most?) Christians stop in to visit their old master once in awhile to see how he's doing.  Dobby never did, that's for sure.  He knew who Lucius was and ended up fighting against him for Harry several times.  That should be Christians, too.  We should fight against sin and help others do the same.  Dobby wants nothing more than to please Harry and that should be Christians, too.  We do things, not because we have to, but because we know that it pleases Jesus.  Of course we're never perfect in these things and of course we make mistakes but that's part of the learning process.  The main thing is that we do what we do out of gratitude and out of a willingly obedient heart, not out of a slave's heart.

Psa 51:16-17 NKJV  For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering.  (17)  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.

More Archery

Last week, we journeyed to Farmington NM for the State Indoor archery shoot. This is the first time I've done this since 1990 and I worked pretty hard this spring to get back into shooting shape and improve. I tried different rests, stabilizers, and releases and last week got a whole new bow to try (Hoyt Contender). It was a little bit of a risk shooting such a new bow, but I took an immediate liking to the Contender and ended up shooting it this past weekend, along with a new stabilizer (a 10" B-Stinger) that came in on Tues.

It was an 8 hr drive to Farmington. Going there, we took the "mountain" way thru Eagle Nest, Taos, Chama, Tierra Amarilla, Dulce.  We've never gone that way and so it was part of the adventure, too. The drive was real scenic and seeing all the snow in the high country was great.  On the return trip, we boogied back down Hwy 550 (70 mph), and then up I-25. That was faster and much straighter, but only about 1/2 h shorter when all was said and done and much less scenic.  I can see where the mountain road could be rough if you got caught behind a motor-home or other slow vehicle, though, and it was definitely harder on the back-seat passengers.

We arrived at the shoot around 6 pm, did some practice, and got ready for Saturday.  The distance was 20 yards and scoring is 60 shots, 5 points max, X counted for tie-breakers;  perfect score is 300/60x. You can shoot 5 individual spots or a single center bull. The problem with 5-spot is that only 4 and 5 count. Shoot what would be a 3 on the single bull and you get a zero. Problem with the single bull is that if you shoot good groups, you can hit an arrow and knock it out plus you'll almost certainly damage some arrows. I shot 5 spot and on the 1st day, sadly, tossed one into the 3 zone for a big fat "zero". First day, I scored 290/33x. Next day, I tossed one into the 3 zone during practice, got that out of my system, and shot a 296/37x.  I had one exciting moment the 2nd day where I shot my arrows, stepped off the line, and then decided to check my target with my binoculars.  I don't always do this because my feeling is that the shot's gone, so what's the use?  But I checked and, try as I might, I couldn't find an arrow in the center spot.  Looking into my quiver I found an "extra" arrow and that's when I realized that I'd only shot 4 arrows and not 5.  So, I hustled up to the line again, calmed down, and shot an X.  Whew!!!!

The best I've ever done previous to this was 288 and my goal for the shoot was 295. I beat that once, so I'm happy enough. I don't know yet where I ended placing. Hoping for top 5, but there we some good shooters and that dropped arrow hurt me. But, it was fun, I learned some things, and I was pleased enough with my performance. Here's my actual target from Sunday...

296 w 33 x

All but one of my 4's is in the inner 4 ring which tells me that with a little more tightening down, I can get them in the 5. (One of those 4's is from the 2 practice ends....). I did throw one high and made it in by 2/3 of an arrow. That's gotta stop.

From practice- this is what 5 arrows in the X looks like

Oh yeah... I'm shooting "Bowhunter Freestyle" class which is a short stabilizer, pins (not a scope), and a release. The hardest part is placing the pin accurately on the target which is a whole lot smaller at 20 yards than it is "in your face" as in the above picture. The light is always bad indoors and if you use a light (which I did), then the pins get a little fuzzy (.ie "larger") and you have really pay attention to where the pin is on the target face.

Next up in the State Tournament is an "Animal" Round in Sandia on a range I've never shot.  Should be fun.  I'll likely be using the Maxxis 35 there as it's shorter, lighter, and faster- all useful traits outdoors.  Gotta practice!

Hoyt Vectrix, Maxxis 35, Contender

In other news, we've gotten some nice snow lately.  Two of the storms were also accompanied by high winds (40-50 mph) and when that happens, it blows thru the windows into the house.  For the first time, it also blew under the north wall of my shop and caused a leak in there that forced me to clean off my work-bench and run 3 fans non-stop for several days to dry everything up.  But, we got it under control.

Snow in the house

Happy Anniversary, Blog!

I was looking over my blog yesterday and realized that its 2nd anniversary is here.  I started the blog to chronicle the trip to Washington DC that my son, David, and I took.  He had been talking a lot about Washington DC and how much he'd like to go there, but with his anemia, I was scared to fly.  Then my mother said "Have you considered the train?"  I looked into it and, before long, David and I were on Amtrak on our way to DC.  The blog chronicled the trip and I kept it up when we got back.

In recognition of 2 years of writing this think, I spent some time reading back over the whole thing and I was struck by just how MUCH has happened in 2 short years:

Year One:

I had water problems in the house.

David and I went to DC.

We both got sick upon return- I was down for over a week

Our water froze and then the pressure switch stuck, blowing valves.

I did an emergency extension of our septic tank...

...During which our backhoe broke down (and is still broke).

Derek requested and received baptism. [a GOOD thing!]

David started on blood transfusions.  Lasted 3 weeks at first.

We entered what would prove to be a severe drought.

I took a wild peregrine and prairie falcon to use for falconry.

David's transfusions increased to every other week.

Moved into a new guitar shop.

My grandmother died.

The ranch got hit with a lawsuit.

The peregrine died from an eagle attack.

David's transfusions increased to every week.

We struggled financially due to reduced income from drought and increased expenses from lawsuit.

David started on steroids.

More drought.

More expensive legal wrangling.

David died.

A critical well went down.

That was all in the first 15 months.  After that, things seemed to turn and this past year has brought:

Year Two

Drought continues thru summer- worst since the '30's but we still shipped some nice cattle.

Saved the well thanks to "well fishing" and improved the well while fixing it.

Daughter off to college and doing good.

Lawsuit settled.

Drought still in effect but we got some much-welcomed snow.

I know life's supposed to be exciting, but, believe me, "cruise control" for the next 2 years would be just fine with me.  :)  However, I don't think that will happen.  There will be challenges and adventures and we'll face them just like we've faced these.

My prairie falcon loves me:

Winter’s Come and Gone

Well, not quite, but it’s a cool song and it’ll soon be true.  Here’s my friends Kenny and Amanda Smith doing the song:

We still have some (probably) cold weather ahead but on the whole, it’s been a very mild winter.  We’ve had just a few small snowfalls and we definitely need some more moisture to get started growing grass in ’13.  The forecast isn’t calling for rain but I’ve seen it rain here and not there, so I’m hopeful that we’ll get something.  Just in case, though, we’re reducing our cattle load to 60% of normal operating capacity.  Now, that sounds easy on paper, but that means a 40% reduction in income, too.   I should be able to make that up by working on guitars, but we’re anticipating a lean summer.  But, I’m confident that we’ll be okay.

Christmas came and went and went enjoyed spending it in Santa Fe at my mother’s house.  I’ve otherwise mostly just been working on guitars, working on sermons, and doing what I normally do this time of the year.  One new thing is that I’m going to make an effort to shoot in the State Championship archery rounds, and to prepare for that I’ve been tuning bows and practicing.

We got a new-to-us Harris' hawk right after the NAFA meet back in Thanksgiving and we've been working with him.  He's doing okay but we just don't have any game.  Maybe next year.

I had a nice surprise the other day. I was wanting a drum track to practice electric guitar with and I thought "Garageband!" So, I fired it up on David's former iPad and guess what I found on there? A recording of us jamming. Before he got his little drum set, he played our Ashbory Bass. If you've never seen one of these, they have a very short scale and literally rubber bands for strings. They are super-easy to play.  David started fooling around with it and I could see he had a good sense of rhythm, so I said “Why don’t I show you a chord progression?”  I showed him a simple I-IV-V in G and it didn’t take him long to get it down.  I remember the day he set his iPad down in front of the amp and recorded himself and then played it back thru the amp (using some connectors I'd put together) and then recorded me playing along with him. We did that _once_ and that was the recording I found today.  I edited a rough start out (I was trying to figure out if he had the right number of beats) and added a few more photos of him and threw this little video together.

I also found on Garageband  a recording of him singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" along with a Garageband keyboard which he presumably played.  What a couple of special finds, huh?

We’re continuing to work through David’s passing.  The hardest part is going to the cemetery.   They called and said that David’s headstone had come in and so we drove out to see it.  It was a little crooked so I reached out to straighten it up.  I was able to touch his casket at the burial but something about touching the headstone just wiped me out.  We came home and I slept for 4 hours.  We’ve been back twice to put plastic flowers back in place and both times I’ve come down with gout which, in me, seems to be stress-related.  However, I continue to be given little “comfort circumstances” and am gaining peace.  Here’s an interesting story...  I’ve been using E-Sword software for years but have never used the reference library downloads.  Well, I moved to a new computer (originally supposed to be Georgia’s but ended up being mine) and in the process of updating everything I re-installed E-Sword and while doing that, I looked over the reference library downloads and found this book:

Have Heart

So, I downloaded and read it.  I was an amazing read.  It’s a story of a pastor whose 18-year old was killed in a car wreck and the things they went thru while dealing with it.  I’ve read quite a few books on death, but this one really hit home. I recommend it highly. 

Well, let’s wrap this up.

Mom and Derek at the gravesite

 

A Fender Esquire that I put together

Looking Back, Flying Forward

We have just returned from the annual North American Falconers Association (NAFA) Meet, held this year in Kearney, NE.  This is where a bunch of falconers get together, fly their hawks, visit, eat, buy/sell stuff, and so on.  It's fun and I've been to about a dozen meets over the years, although we had a gap in attendance between 2000 and 2010.  David was born in 2001, Derek in 2003 and we were just too busy raising kids to do much falconry.  In fact, although I had a few birds during this time, I'd pretty well dropped out of falconry and was probably going to quit altogether.  In 2010, though, I took Derek to the meet in Dodge City KS (just 4 h down the road) and he got really interested.  That's when I decided to try for a wild peregrine falcon, rebuild my hawk house, and all the stuff you can read about earlier in this blog.  

Falcons in the weathering area

A red-naped shaheen

Derek loved this little merlin

Dead 'possum.  Derek had never seen one.
All above photos by Derek

I missed 2011 (more on that below), but we made plans early to attend this year’s meet in Kearney NE.  The last time the meet was there, I lived in Boise ID and drove solo in an old beat-up blue Toyota 4WD pickup that burned a quart of oil every tank of gas.  On the trip home, I was approaching Casper WY when I realized I was the only person on the completely frozen-over Interstate.  A gust of wind suddenly spun the truck around and and I did 2 complete 360’s before coming to rest backward in the median.  After putting the truck in 4WD, I made it to Casper where I planned to spend the night, which just happened to be Thanksgiving Day.  I hadn’t eaten since breakfast and driving past a 7-11, I figured I’d check in to the Super 8 and then come back and get a burrito or something.  When I came back, though, the 7-11 was closed!  Back in the room, I pooled all my change and came up with just enough $$$ to get a “Grandma’s”  cookie and a Coke for supper.

The next morning, the wind was blowing so hard that the flags were like painted boards stuck to the flagpoles.  I got some real food and headed home, taking the scenic route across Wyoming to Jackson Hole and then into Idaho.  It was so cold in the old truck that I drove wearing a full-length winter coat I’d bought at Cabela’s for Georgia, a hat, gloves, and my winter boots.  I’d stop to take a nap and wake up freezing an hour later.  I finally made it back about 4 am.  When I woke up around 9-10, I noticed a big indoor car sale advertisement.  Long story, short, I ended up trading off The Blue Peril for a much newer and nicer Isuzu Trooper II.  I later had some driving adventures in that rig, too, but we’ll save the telling of such for another time.

Going to this year's NAFA (falconry) meet reminded me of last year's meet.  The plan was for Georgia, Derek, and Brianna to go down south to Pinon NM, and me and David to go north to Vernal UT for what would've been his first falconry meet.  Unfortunately, he wasn't responding well to transfusions and the last place I needed to be was 600 mi from home, so I cancelled and he and I stayed home.  We went to town on a Wed to get his blood checked.  It turned out to be one of the lowest results we'd gotten to date.  With the Thanksgiving holiday looming, and a weekend after that, both of which would've required an ER visit rather than his normal doctors, we all made the decision to push for ABQ on Monday.  Georgia arrived home on Sunday, took one look at David, and immediately re-packed and took off for ABQ.  I didn't see them again for 10 days and when they returned, David was on the steroids that gave him an unexpected and unexplained boost.  He didn't get another transfusion until the week before he died in May. 

The period between early December, when they returned from this long hospital stay, and his death in May was the only really hopeful period we ever had.  David responded to the steroids with never-before-seen energy, strong appetite, and good mood.  His blood levels stayed up for several weeks before slowly dropping and we were all hopeful that this course would buy us some time to find a definitive diagnosis and a cure.  In spite of the steroid’s boost- and we could see him getting puffed up and bloated, not a healthy look at all- I still had a strong sense that his time was going to be short and I tried hard to make the most of it.  I wish my feeling would have been wrong, but it wasn't.   I remember telling Georgia sometime in April that, whatever happened, I was just thankful that we'd gotten to see David strong and happy.

This time, last year: David with his new Ruger .22 and 1st prairie dog

This time, last year: At Ronald McDonald House during The Long Stay

  

It's a hard thing to say, but David's death freed us to do all the things we suppressed when he was with us.  Since his passing, we've gone to Bandelier Nat'l Monument where we climbed the tall ladders, gone elk hunting in the mountains, gone to the falconry meet where we beat the bush for hours, gone swimming in the hotel pool, and so forth... all things I couldn't or wouldn't do with David.  He would've tried and he would've given it all he had, but these things would have exhausted him or exposed him to too many germs and, for his sake, I would not have suggested them.  So, I dunno… doing these things is a mixed blessing.  We’re glad to be doing them again, but the reason we are is because David’s no longer with us and doing them reminds us of that fact. 

In retrospect, this time a year ago, we started moving down “the final stretch” of David’s life and I’m sure I will be thinking about this over the next several months.  David passed many milestones in these few short months- participating in 4H, shooting his first rocket, learning to shoot his Ruger .22, shooting his bow in competition, reading and writing extremely well, and so on.   As we pass those milestones a year later, I’m sure they will bring back those memories.  I also feel that when we reach the 1 year anniversary of his passing, that it will bring closure of a new kind.  From that day onward, we will be moving forward in a time in which 365 days previously David wasn’t with us.   Until then, every annual event we do reminds us of what we were doing last year, with him.  So it was with this year’s NAFA meet.

For now, though, we are, once again,  "waiting on winter."

Psalms 30:5 NKJV  …. Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.

Dad and Derek discuss birds at Bosque del Apache

Derek exploring at Bandelier Nat'l Monument

 

 

Looking down the ladder at Bandelier

Shades of Jacob's ladder

I Bow Down

There's something I haven't talked about much on my blog here and that's my archery habit.  I've been shooting bows since I was 13 or so and here at 50 am still shooting.  There were a few years in Idaho where I didn't shoot much, but I still had my bow.   In spite of all this time, I'm not that good of a shot.  I'm a pretty good finger-shooter, but about 6 years ago I switched to a release.  I shoot better with a release, but I'm not good enough to win my class in competition (which, okay, is the toughest class aside from the Pro class).  This year, I decided to work a little harder on my archery and consequently, I've been playing with different bows, different arrows, different rests, different releases, learning how to tune my bows and so forth.  I've learned a lot and I think my shooting has improved.

Hoyt Vectrix, Hoyt Maxxis 35, Bowtech Allegiance

Let's talk about my bows.  For the past 4 years, I've been shooting a Hoyt Vectrix.  I actually have 2 of these, both from 2007.  One is a 50-60 lb and the other is a 60-70 lb.  I set the first one up for target and 3D shooting and the other for hunting with broadheads.  They are 33" axle-to-axle.  I like the Vectrix a lot and shoot pretty well with them.  I originally started with a 26" draw but after posting some pictures on the ArcheryTalk forum, it was decided that I was shooting with too short of a draw.  So, I hunted down some cams, installed them, and went up to a 27" draw.  That did indeed make a big difference in my shooting as I was able to hold much steadier on target.

First, here I am with the 26" draw:

And now, with a 27" draw:

2007 Hoyt Vectrix

You can see that my bow hand is much straighter in the bottom photo. 

I've shot Hoyt since about 1989 and mid-summer I decided to play around with a different  brand.  I investigated and decided to try a Martin.  A new Onza III Pro came up on Ebay and I won it for a great price.  Unfortunately, Martin's specs are incorrect and what was advertised as a 26"-31" adjustable draw was actually 27.5"-31".  I tried, but it was just too long.  However, this showed me that a longer axle-to-axle (ATA) bow might be steadier.

When I switched to a release in '06, one of the first bows I tried was a '05 Bowtech Allegiance.  That was my first foray into a modern bow and I was amazed at it.  I stuck with Hoyt, though, and ended up getting a used '03 Ultratec  that I shot for a year before  picking up a used '05 Vtec to go along with it and use for hunting.  Here's a picture of me and David shooting back then:

Shooting in '06- Hoyt Vtec

After I re-sold the inaccurately labeled Martin, I was surfing around when I ran across an '07 Bowtech Allegiance at less money that I'd just re-sold the Martin for.  I was curious to see if my earlier impressions were correct and so I bought it.  Setup was a snap and,  unlike the Martin, I was able to easily set it to my 27" draw length.

2007 Bowtech Allegiance

It's also fun to compare the 2007 Bowtech to the 2007 Hoyt Vectrix.  The Bowtech is considerably lighter, simpler, has a more solid "back wall", and draws easier.  At 60 lbs, the Vectrix is a pretty stiff pull while the Allegiance is a much easier pull.  And yet I have to use a stiffer arrow on the Allegiance because of its more aggressive cams.  The Allegiance has much more hand shock and jump while the Vectrix is very smooth and dead-in-the-hand.

So, after shooting the longer ATA Allegiance for a few months, I decided to see what a longer ATA Hoyt would be like, sort of trying to combine the best features of the Allegiance (longer ATA) and the Vectrix (smooth).  More reading and research and before long a 2010 Hoyt Maxxis 35 showed up at my door.  This is 4 generations down the line from the Vectrix and has a 35" ATA.  It didn't take long to get it setup and shooting pretty well, although I think I have a little more tuning to do with it to bring out its maximum potential.  But, my experiment was good and I got the steady hold of the Allegiance coupled with the smooth Hoyt feel.  As you can see from the below picture, the limbs on the Maxxis go "beyond parallel" which means that the energy upon release goes up and out, rather than forward.  The bow is absolutely dead-in-the-hand, even more so than the Vectrix.  It's a lighter bow than the Vectrix, too.

2010 Hoyt Maxxis 35

So, how do they shoot?   Today it was nice and calm, so I got all 3 bows out and shot 1 bunch of arrows at 55 yards.  I used the same release, even though I normally use a different release for the Allegiance (as part of the reason I keep it- I use it to experiment with stuff).  Here's what my groups looked like:

Hoyt Vectrix group @ 55 yds

Bowtech Allegiance group @ 55 yds

Hoyt Maxxis 35 group @ 55 yds

I think it's pretty clear that the Maxxis is shooting well for me.   The Allegiance is probably the worst of the bunch for me, but I haven't really played with the tuning much yet.  I'll likely do that soon, moving the current rest a little and then trying an entirely different style to see what happens.  I have shot better with the Vectrix but I've been shooting the Maxxis for 2 weeks and have gotten used to it.  As for the Maxxis, there's really only 1 flyer in that group and that's otherwise a pretty good group for 55 yards.  A tiny bit more tuning and I think I can bring that group into the bulls eye.

Those are my bows.  Derek has a bow, too, but he hasn't really gotten into shooting it much yet.  Archery takes a lot of focus and practice and he's not quite there.  David was just starting to really get into it and the week David died- the same day we got to see Natalie MacMaster, actually- David shot his first real 3D shoot with me.  He won a set of headphones at the shoot and he was so excited about that.  Later that week, we set up our targets down on the creek and did some practicing since David was now "experienced" at 3D and wanted to tell Derek how to do it.  At one point, he beat us all, and I took the moment to whip my phone out and take these shot.  These were taken 4 days before David died and you can bet that I'm glad I took the minute to take them:

Little 3D shooters

David had the high score!

After David's death, Derek and I talked about it and we decided to sell both bows (Derek having outgrown his!) and get a new Diamond Atomic.  I had seen the Atomic at the Santa Fe shoot but didn't think David was strong enough to pull it (cams being harder to pull than wheels) and thus hesitated getting one since I didn't want him to get frustrated.  Derek was ready for it, though, so we did as planned and sold both bows (to, appropriately enough, a 4H club- I think David would have approved).  I will get some pictures of Derek's bow up next time but he did shoot a 3D shoot with me a few weeks ago and did okay.  Again, I don't think he's quite ready for the mental discipline that it requires and I don't want to push him and discourage him, so we'll just go at his pace.

That's my archery habit!

Another Year Bites the Dust

Last time we talked, I was complaining about things breaking. They continued to break; I fixed the Kawasaki generator, it ran for awhile, then it broke again. Finally, I broke down, drove to town, and bought a 2^nd generator like my reliable (so far) Honda-engined “Master” brand. That was a good move and I made it thru the summer with 2 working generators, happily pumping water. A few other things broke along the way, but in the end, we got our cattle shipped and ended the summer.

Cattle-wise, it wasn't that bad. The cattle gained good weight and my numbers came out almost dead-on, meaning that I didn't have any unaccounted missing cattle. That's rare and great. I took a little video of the shipping process:

Moving Cattle the Slow Way

We also used a helicopter again, to gather the north side of the ranch. Here's some footage from 2006, to illustrate what it's like using a 'copter to gather cattle:

Moving Cattle the Fast Way

Ranch-wise, we shipped a little early because the grass is pretty much gone. This is the worst drought period since the 1930's and we're fighting hard to maintain as much cover and stability as possible. It is DRY out there. Last year, I was flying my falcons on ducks, this year there are no ponds.

Financially, it's been a tough year. For a single reason that I still can't talk about, we're spending a lot of money. As a result, the ranch couldn't pay my salary for 3 months. I was too busy with the ranch to get much guitar work done and a job opened up in the local school district, so Georgia went to work. This lead to me taking full-time care of our youngest son. It's hard to work on guitars when you're cooking, young son sitting, and home-schooling but with cattle finally gone, we're getting into the swing of it and with cattle gone, we got our final payments, which allowed the ranch to start paying my salary again, albeit at a lower rate. We're pulling thru but it's been a little shaky. On the upside, Derek and I are spending a lot more time together and I think he's matured a lot in the past few months. He always looked up to David and now he has to be his own man.

Otherwise, things are okay. I'd be lying if I said that David's death hasn't affected us. When we're busy, we don't think about it but it's the quiet times in the evening and morning that are the worst. “Ambushes” occur in conversations, things that spark memories, and so forth. This is common and it happens to everyone. The things that help me the most are to go back and re-read the things I wrote immediately after David's passing. That makes me re-focus on the amazing things that happened before/after his death and gives me assurance. I've also been doing a lot of reading about life after death, both from a Christian and non-Christian perspective. The Bible is the authority- sola Scriptura- but even though “Scripture Alone” is sufficient, it is not a “Scripture that is alone”; there are confirmations out there. So, when I read from scientists that life after death is a recognized phenomenon but they just can't explain certain parts of it, it's just fuel for the fire. Applying Scripture, I think I can explain the parts they don't want to touch, but, in any case, reading philosophy and scientists on the topic has gone a long ways in giving me comfort. Among the books I'm reading are:

Dinesh D'Souza

Chris Carter

As well as this article:

Scientist Rethinks Life After Death

What's striking about the last article is this paragraph:

Very early one morning four years ago, I awoke with an extremely intense headache. Within hours, my entire cortex—the part of the brain that controls thought and emotion and that in essence makes us human—had shut down. Doctors at Lynchburg General Hospital in Virginia, a hospital where I myself worked as a neurosurgeon, determined that I had somehow contracted a very rare bacterial meningitis that mostly attacks newborns. E. coli bacteria had penetrated my cerebrospinal fluid and were eating my brain.

This is very much like David's death and “meningitis” was an early diagnosis, changed to “a bacteria”, and finally to “I've never seen anything like this”. A friend sent me the above link and it not only struck me in its parallel to David's death, but it came at just the right time. Anyway... I've been doing a lot of reading and thinking.

As winter moves toward us once again, I'm getting back into the swing of working on guitars, reading, training my prairie falcon, and moving on into my typical winter stuff. I haven't' hardly touched a guitar since David's death. Instead, I've been playing mandolin and I've been playing Celtic stuff where improvisation is not encouraged. On guitar, I'm all about variations and improvisations, but my creative juices are at a low (witness my lack of writing here....) and playing Celtic stuff on mandolin is kind of therapeutic. 

I guess that's it for now.  Next time, I'll tell you about our new Subaru, trout fishing, and- hopefully- have another successful elk hunt to recount.