Smartie's Bar & Grill #72

I only “hunt” in defense of my domesticated critters. But I like to photograph the harmless beasts I come across in my outdoorsman lifestyle.

This one was taken this fall on some land I lease out for hunting.

My friend/neighbor took this “pair” off my place a few years ago.

 

They would have to hit you with the ugly stick real hard.

 

Um ... is that a collection of Ma-Maw animals.Who may not
see their grandkiddie animal clan this Holiday.
Because of those like Elmer Fudd.

 

No fan of Frankie Boy one bit here.He was skinny heartthrob in the
40's.Then tried his hand at acting.Was good in - From Here to Eternity - { 1954 }
which had more to do with an outstanding cast.If not for Monty Clift, Burt Lancaster
and especially Ernest Borgnine,Frankie boys role would have been little more
than a pimple on a dried cactus.
His entire reason for acting was to prove how manly he was.
I just read a piece by the Producer of - The Panic in Needle Park - { 1971 }
without question one of Al Pacino's best roles.Many have never even heard of the
movie.Dominick Dunne { I like his writing style } who was featured for years
at Vanity Fair for his intense take on Real Crime.Dunne was Producer of 'Panic'.
Dunne recalled a time in the 60's when he was at a favorite restaurant of
his.He was dining with his wife,when out of the blue a waiter hit him in the head.
He shot a look around the restaurant and noticed Frankie Boy at a nearby
table with friends having a grand time laughing.Dunne asked the waiter
how much did Sinatra pay him to smack him in the head.The waiter said
50 bucks.Dunne swore to never again go back to that Restaurant.
That's the kinda tough guy Little Frankie Boy was.He relied on GoodFellas
type tough guys.I doubt he could whip a noodle w/o help.
Probably never missed a week w/o a haircut and manicure.
That's how tough ... Sinatra was.

 

Decided to splurge, a bit:


Feel free to drop by.

 

I only administer the death penalty to murders. And I do mercy killings. The rest I just observe and learn from.

 

The Japanese are into hard liquor.And when the Japanese like
something they go Hog Crazy overboard.
There was a Louisville Bourbon distiller { a weak brand }
that kept some of it's Lot of Bourbon in a special wharehouse
and kinda forgot about.Turned out it was sitting 30 years
in charred oak barrels.Now Bourbon that's even 10 years
old is hard to find and expensive.Van Winkle only offers
their bourbons {12 year and older } Once a year the past 5 years.
It is limited to like 3 bottles per customer and there's a huge
waiting line each year.Those Bottles end up going for hundreds
of dollars almost the next week.Average price for a Van Winkle
Lot B { 12 yr.old } is around $ 600- $ 750 per fifth.
Now when that Louisville 30 year bourbon was discovered and
the Louisville Courier Journal wrote about it ... the Japanese
went into action.They bought the entire lot.Wasn't a bottle to be
found after the Japanese honed-in on that 30 yr.old Bourbon.
The Japanese are like that with other stuff also.Like Rare
fresh seafood oddities.Dolphin fins.
Or Old high end Audio Speakers like { JBL and Altec Lansing }.
They HoGs they are.Plus who ever heard of Mixing hard liquor.
Hard Liquor is only as good as the style.Like Highland scotch.
Or Polish Vodka.I still have a bottle of * Zytnia Vodka I got at
Harrod's.It was a split { half fifth }.
You don't blend Cognac with Armanac.
Nor Canadian Whisky with Bourbon ... Period.

* because Poland is where Vodka was born.I drank what was
inside just to be clear.

 

I don't need the meat right now and I don't hunt for sport so the last time I shot anything was about a year and a half ago when I dispatched an unusually aggressive copperhead that tried to bite my wife.

However, I couldn't have hunted any deer on our land this Fall if I wanted to. Our property is usually crawling with whitetails, but I haven't seen any in our fields for months and the bucks didn't wreck any of my trees during the rut. It's weird because there's been plenty of wild turkey wandering around but no sign of Bambi and his friends...

 

Have you had chronic wasting disease? We lost probably 50-60% of whitetailes and 70% of muleys a few years ago. We are now getting back to “normal”. If this was your problem you should find carcasses and sick critter though, not “nothing”.

Thankfully all we have is rattlers. I don’t think I’d like watching for copperheads, too.

 

Wow - that's awful. We've had some cases of CWD in Virginia, primarily in the northernmost county adjacent to West Virginia but fortunately we haven't seen anything remotely as bad as you have. I think we had a little over 25 cases reported last year but none of them were close to our area and I haven't seen or heard anything that would indicate it has spread here.

We do have to keep a tight eye out for them, particularly in the woods, but they're fairly predictable in their habitat and behavior so if you do your part you're a lot less likely to run across them. Another good thing we've had going for us lately is that we adopted a couple kittens three years ago that have grown into great hunters and they've wiped out the field mouse population around our house. Now that the mice are gone I haven't seen any copperheads coming out of the woods to hunt for them so things are a little safer now. It's funny, when I adopted the cats I never expected that one day they would help solve our viper problem but it figures that if you wipe out their source of food they'll be forced to look elsewhere.

 

Ouch! I just purchased 10 krugerrands for my woman for Christmas. She loves coins but holly smokes, really?

 

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Some may be wondering how on earth could a distiller
kinda forget about some of it's old stored barrels.Well in the case of
Heavenhill it might have to do with accounting for nearly a Million
barrels in 49 different warehouses.Mostly in one county { Nelson }
but are scattered throughout.Some levels of a warehouse are used for
specific type aging as far as where the sun strikes.
William Heavenhill has a 134 proof bourbon that runs $ 250 at the
distillery.
I have an old Pappy Van Winkle bottle as well a Booker's bottle.
Pappy was famous for it's wheaty flavor.Bourbons are more grain-oriented
than Scotch.Or sometimes sour mash.Bourbons must have at least 51 % grain
or corn.Bourbons need not be only distilled in Kentucky.
.That has been rebunked to mean ONLY in the
U.S.A. Bourbon must also be aged at least 2 years and in charred oak barrels.
The myth also included using only Limestone water { which is plentiful in Ky.}

 

I understand that nobody likes dull, boring conferences, but how could anyone think that this was a good idea?

https://thecisforcrank.com/2019/12/...ed-after-racy-drag-show-at-annual-conference/

 

Besides being a good investment, she has good taste too.

 

That's 'cause they are all down at my house. (picture taken a couple of months ago)

Two weekends ago, a guest of a homeowner out on the county road apparently bow shot one of our stags (yes, we are possessive) but didn't kill him. So, he decides it's a good idea to go trooping through everybody's land to find it, after receiving permission from ONE homeowner to walk THEIR land. I guess the signs and barb wire fences weren't a strong enough hint. So we delivered the message personally, if politely.

The stag left a light blood trail on what leaves remained on our trees in the woods, and he showed up a few days later, limping. Now, he's right as rain, but doesn't seem to wander far.

 

I'll gladly see your 10 Krugerrands and raise a Kookaburra.
That's an Australian Kilo of 999 pure Silver.
I forgot what I paid for the Kookaburra.
I got it along with Gold at Goldline.

 

Must be - they wandered off somewhere.

Ironically, this summer was the first time I encountered a trophy buck on our property. One time I got up in the middle of the night for some reason and went outside and heard a stampede of hooves taking off and when I finally got a flashlight on them I lit up a big buck who was standing his ground between me and the rest of the retreating deer. We stood there and looked at each other for a couple of seconds and then he gave me a snort and ran off. I've seen plenty of young bucks before and I've heard some big boys out in the woods but this was the first time I caught one out in the open.

Lucky boy. Sounds like that hunter is about as bad a shot as I am. My father was a helluva marksman but unfortunately his son didn't inherit his natural ability with a rifle.

 

Sounds like the cats are a valuable asset. No mice and no copperheads is a win/win for sure!

 

No kidding. Whoever said cats are worthless never dealt with our mouse and snake issues. Those two have really earned their keep.

 

Thief bait.

 

She has collected coins since she was old enough to. Either working or owning her own store, she would mine the cash registers for coins she thought were collectible. She can hear a silver quarter hit the till from 25 feet away.

 

I've been watching this guy lately.

It looks tedious, but is weirdly entertaining.

 

Yay! Back to work and feeling much better. 4 new doctors to help me stay that way! (Fingers crossed)

Drinks are on Falena!