here at Rabbit Run.
It's the dog days of August, you know? And chores are keeping me pretty busy.
Brag dropped off his set of collars the other day, so I plan to start running the "girls" (and Sammie) again. We only have six weeks until the Alabama Rabbit season starts.

Here are a few recent pictures

Remember Alvin and the chipmunks from last May?


Well, they're all grown up now

on the "girls" the other day.
No, not the electric one. As a matter of fact, it wasn't even a pine limb, it was a china berry limb. The dogtra pine limbs are having some problems.

But before I get into that, I have to apologize for not posting for the last few weeks.
Health matters, fencing and other chores here at the Rabbit Run estate along with a general malaise have kept me from regular (heck, any) posting. I hope to get back in the swing of things soon.
Remember that the offer for others to Post on The Rabbit Journal is still open.

I was stringing barbed wire up the hillside from the bottom where the pasture rabbit usually hangs out. The girls (and Sammie) were circling the pond when they opened up hot.
Two things caused some worry. I didn't hear Katie and the race was a long straight one that only a big buck rabbit (or a deer) would make before circling back

The deer hopped the fence at the far end of the pasture and paused to look back. I started off at a trot. I wanted to be there when the "girls" got there. I made it with enough time to break off a chinaberry limb and clean all the leaves off it while listening to Penny, Lucy and Sally. Sally has a very high pitched, almost bird like call.
When they crossed the line, I lit into them. Anybody watching would have thought I was a madman, swatting first one, then chasing the others to swing madly at the cowering dogs. Dr. Bubba, my cardiologist would have been proud of that workout.
I heard something and looked to see Katie cross the fence. I never heard her running. Was she following along or running silent?
Sammie came from the opposite direction. Did he get left or just wouldn't run the trash?
Sissy didn't come out. My cell phone, which GF makes me carry with me always since the heart doctor had told me that the damage might have been caused by a mild heart attack. I suppose the definition of mild is "is it your heart or is it mine?" started ringing. I answered it and heard Ms. Jones asking me if I was missing a beagle? She had one that was down at her barn playing with her granddaughter.
Sigh!

Until I get collars, the girls (and Sammie) are pen bound

djmed, so it looks like The Rabbit Journal won't be watching a gator hunt

how much I hate oatmeal?
I did?
Several times?

Well, this post has nothing much to with my opinions about oatmeal, but it is related in a manner.
I've been tied up lately with some health matters.

Dr Bubba, my Auburn Cardiovascular heart doctor, (yes, it tickles me to no end to have a heart doctor in Alabama with the nickname of "Bubba". Be even funnier if you knew a bit more) told me that I had been doing so good that if I passed my stress test and nuc pics that I could stop the plavix and see him every twelve months instead of every six. Sounded good to me.

Everybody asked me how I did on the tests and I told them that I thought everything went well, but that's what I thought three years ago when they found the blockage.
The cell rang a few days later and I told the lady on the other end to hold on a second while I caught my breath. I was pounding fence posts into the ground with Plunker when she called.
"Well, stop it" she told me, I have the results back from your medical tests and they show that you have some heart damage.

That got my attention and tied up the next few weeks. Dr. Bubba was on vacation so a sub would have to cath me.
The final results?

No blockages, the stent was open and there was some minor grease buildup in the 30-40% range. The heart was functioning good. There was some old, very minor damage,if there can be such a thing when talking about Your own heart. Trouble was, when the stent was put in, Dr. Bubba said that there was no heart damage.
I asked the doctor if the Lyme was the cause. He said he would hesitate to make guess but he would think that it was more likely that I had had a very minor heart attack, but I could go back to my normal activities. I suppose that will make Plunker happy since I can help pound those dang fence posts into the ground

logo, there bb.



Now, I've got to teach ya'll how to post the pics yourself....after resizing of course

hitting a rabbit, sitting or running, with a long barrel much less a pistol

Back at the grind from a week of "vacation".
I went to the western North Carolina and worked with my dad for four days. Made a little money and had a good time assisting my father. He is an electrician and does some construction, but mostly service calls. I helped him wire a log house. Big fun. I only got shocked once and I did not blow anything up.

The weather up there was splendid. Thursday had a record low of 50. The mountains are absolutely beautiful in the summer.

I did meet some friends at the Ocoee River last Saturday before reporting for duty. We did the middle section of the river with an outfit called Cherokee Rafting- - reasonable prices and friendly guides. I am planning to do the full day trip later this summer.



Ahhh. The single life. Meanwhile, rimfire goes back to the kitchen countertops that GF wanted

but.....
Still Alabama gets my boxers in a wad with it‘s county by county “may“ issue of “limited” or “unlimited“ permits.
This is part one.
Gun registration by implication.

I know. I know.
Some of you have asked that I just shut up about it. And ,I know your basic line of reasoning. In most cases, usually your own, you just go down to the Sheriff’s office, fill out a short questionnaire, pay twenty bucks or so and wait till they do a simple background check.
Nothing to it. It’s a snap compared to other states with mandated classes, testing, and other requirements before the State will issue.

I don’t see why we can’t keep what we like about our system, add the pistol permit to the driver’s license like the vessel and motorcycle, and have a “shall” issue system.

What got me started on this subject was that I recently moved from Russell County to Lee County. That means that I had to get a new pistol permit since in Alabama, you have to have one from the county in which you reside.
I noted the experience in “ Does redneckin take a bow?” where I asked if Sheriff Jay Jones was trying to have it both ways registering guns by implication that it is required.

When I wrote a series of posts last year, I noted that the Lee County Sheriff’s Office website regarding pistol permits had this line
“*4. Before the application can be processed, the make, model and serial number of the weapon must appear on the application or it will not be considered.* ”

I naturally threw a hissyfit. When I went to apply for my Lee County permit, I felt my blood pressure go up when I got to the part about “make, model and serial number”. I asked the lady at the window, if that meant all the pistols that I might eventually carry, or was I limited to one or….
She told me not to fill that part out, that it had been rescinded.
That’s nice, but if I or someone else don’t ask, wouldn’t you tend to think that it’s a requirement?

A week later, GF and I picked up our Lee County pistol permits and were given a sheet of paper that was titled “Rules and Regulations for Pistol Permits”.

Number 3 was a laugher and seems to confirm my thoughts that the sheriff is still trying to run a gun registration scheme. Either that or a desk jockey didn’t proof read. Bold added by redneckin to emphasis.

#3 Your permit is not limited to a specific handgun. If you wish to add another handgun to your permit, please contact us with the make, model, and serial number of the handgun. We will update the information the information on your permanent record when you come to renew your permit.”

Now if you hadn't asked the nice lady at the window, you wouldn't have known that you didn't need to register your gun(s) that you will be carrying and you would think that you needed to register any new guns that you plan to carry...if you didn't read the rules sheet carefully.

I still think that a state “shall” issue permit to carry concealed is the best way to ensure equal treatment under the law by removing the personal prejudices of the local sheriff from the office. You don’t have the county deciding if and the rules for getting a state drivers license, why should you with a state pistol permit. And it is a state permit that is valid in all of Alabama and reciprocity states.

Everybody says so.

Sigh!

I put the "Girls" (and Sammie) out in the "back yard" yesterday for a little exercise with the pasture rabbit. They trailed a long way, alternating their calls to each other as they respectively reacquired the track.
Just before, they put the bunny to flight, I heard "Aren't you just a cutiepie" from the direction of the neighbor's parents house.
I leaned against a pine and watched as the buck rabbit scooted under the barbed wire fence and down the draw leading to the pond. He was closely followed in order by Penny, Katie, Sally, with Lucy and Sissy running side by side.
Sally and Sissy weren't making a sound and both were running with their heads up.
There was no sign of Samuel P. Thumbsucker.

Huh? Huh? Are we there yet?
I gotta pee.
I smell a rabbit. You smell a rabbit? Lets run that one.
Are we there yet?
Sissy threw up on me….again
Let me ouuuuutttttttt

Suffice to say that Sammie doesn’t travel well at least in the same box as Sissy.

This continued on most of the way to Opelika. Haven, Brag, Dustin and I were meeting to go up to Plunker's place in Chambers County for a pre-season exercise.
Brag and I took all of the "Girls". And Sammie.
Haven brought only Elmer. Coco was in heat and Dixie was on the sold list.
Dustin, the former teat, brought Dustin's dog. And Tyler's stray.
Beagler 282 had been invited but had commitments for field trails.

To dry

Lucy picked up the rabbit near where we put out. It was a good though short run. The dogs had to much trouble staying on the dry scent on the dry brush. Today, Monday, would have been better after a good long soaking from the Sunday rainstorms.

Katie hit the next track. The dogs took off, but shortly Dustin's dogs, Elmer, and the pups came back. Lucy, Katie and Penny were gone a long while. Doubtful it was a deer. Katie won't run a deer. Lets put it this way, she hasn't ran a deer in years. Even Lucy and Penny have decided they are to much trouble.
Now a fox or a bobcat.........

We put the dogs up shortly after to wait for more favorable conditions.

I put together two CafePress stores that have

Rabbit Hunter stuff like mugs, and such. I ordered two items to check the quality of the print and they were good. There are shirts available, BUT, for those who use my site, we'll get a much better deal with better quality from djmed. If you can't wait, have at it.

The second store is more specific to the East Alabama Rabbit Hunters & Souse Eaters Social Club. I haven't ordered from it yet, so I can't attest to the quality of the print, but online samples looked good.

Cattle Ranch and Chicken Emporium is now open.

May I introduce

a Remington 550 / 512 .22 Inner Magazine Tube Assembly for GF's plinking gun from Numrich on Friday. It arrived today, Monday.
Fast service and what looks like a reasonable price.

I can't wait to try it er I mean for GF to try it out

I would like to open up The Rabbit Journal to other readers and commentators, who I've known through this site for a while. Ya'll must be awful tired of having to wade through my pitiful attempts
If you are involved with field trials and would like to post meetings, results, stories and pics
If you build a dog box, dog pen,......... and think that others might like to see it, the construction and plans
If you want to post on dog care
If you want to post on pre-season or season hunts
If you want to post on laws
If you want try your hand at using your dad's (wifes?) video camera, We can load them on youtube or other free sites and embed them on the Journal
if.....

Drop me a line.
I only require that

You DO NOT violate copy write laws. There is fair use of published material, but it is limited in words and scope.

No personal attacks. It's ok to disagree with others positions and ideas about how to go about things, but personal attacks are taboo

All pictures must be sized. I use a free program that can be downloaded and I get great results batch sizing pictures to post

You're posts must be coherent and use a spell check. Yes, I often intentionally and unintentionally misspell a word and many times use the wrong word. Sometime my syntax is wrong. But I do work at it using a spell check grammar check,... and other tools that are available on Microsoft Word processor or, what I often use, Open Office, since I feel that Bill Gates has enough money.
By the way, my website looks a little different in FireFox than it does in Internet Explorer. For instance, in some IE you can't see the changing picture collage in the left column immediately below the "Front Page" link. And FireFox has upgraded to a more secure, stable version

I'm not a prude, But (don't we love that word) keep it clean.

Thou shall not take the Lords name in vain

There might be other rules that come with others using the site
Remember this site is not a democracy, it is a benevolent dictatorship

heebie jeebies when I think of that timber rattler, I'll link to a couple of posts that I did on first aid kits.

Being prepared can save you a dog or a partner