Shopping tip and hunting notes

Well, it is holiday season. Don't be like Larson. Make a note of where you park your vehicle and IF you are parked in the G spot, move your vehicle to another sector if you ever want to find it again.

Trust me. Nobody likes to have to ask their wife for help finding the minivan.

Hunting

I sat on the stand for a couple of hours last night. I pushed out two deer as I was walking in. Such is life.

I saw a red squirrel, a tufted titmouse, two cardinals and a chipping sparrow (not to be confused with driving or putting sparrows).

The temps were in the low forties and it was windy. I saw where I need to do some cutting in the chestnut "plantation". The Black Locust and cherry are over-topping them.

At this point I am hunting more to get out of the house than to fill the freezer.

I consider it a successful evening.

Convince me that "Jobs Added" is a meaningful metric

According to FRED, about 60% of Americans admit to being gainfully employed.

For all practical purposes, that is 200 million people.

Traditionally, 4% unemployment was considered "full employment" as some number of workers will be between jobs (moving to a more highly paid job, typically) or coming off of maternity leave or whatever. 4% of 200M is 8 million workers.

This is where things get murky. There are 10 million more jobs being offered than people looking for jobs. There are also about 200k (or maybe 300k)  people coming across the border looking for work.

So if "payrolls" increase by 200k then the economy is standing still.

If payrolls increased by 300k then it mean the 200k who slipped across the border got jobs AND 100k tapped out and either took a second job or decided to get off the couch and go to work. Retirees having to go back to work because their pensions no longer cover basic living expenses is hardly a rousing commendation of how the economy is being managed.

Did the economy actually "expand"? There are still 10 million more job openings than people looking for work.

The number of "jobs created" tells me nothing when there is no additional context.

Another issue lurking in the woodpile are the jobs that will evaporate when people actually start looking for work. It is conceivable that a company like Starbucks is advertising for 20 positions knowing they will be lucky to get 5 people who work out. So how many jobs would you post if you needed 5 employees? Five jobs or twenty jobs?

So, the Fed is driving interest rates partially based on the metric "number of jobs added to payroll". The metric is folded, spindled, mutilated, pounded with a meat tenderizer and sweenieized against the 200 day moving average. It is as synthetic as a slice of generic, American Process Cheese.

Reality check

One day I was shooting the fertilizer with David. David was one of the "Utility" guys in the Body Shop and moved around as unexpected absences happened.

Hunting was David's passion.

He told me about going to Ontario with his family to hunt moose. They got out of their vehicles and were moving their cased firearms to the hotel room. They had an equal number of .300 Winchester Magnums and 30-06s and a single .308 Winchester in the armory.

As the hunting party mingled with the townfolk to get intelligence about the best place to find moose they encountered several of the local Cree (Indian tribe). To a man, the Cree used battered relics with iron sights that were chambered in 30-30 to harvest their moose.

The Great White Hunters from Michigan learned that moose are not hard to kill. Get close. Shoot them in the rib-cage behind the shoulder. Let them run into the deepest water nearby. Let them die. Send the young kid in with a long rope to tie to the antlers. Have a come-along handy to pull them out.

Moose are not hard to kill but can be the fair devil to extricate from where they choose to die.

What about whitetail deer?

So if a 30-30 Winchester carbine flinging a 170 grain, round-nosed bullet with an impact velocity of 1800 feet-per-second is adequate for moose, what is a defensible "floor" for a deer cartridge?

This question has been responsible for the consumption of large amounts of beer because there is no single answer. Your initial assumptions dictate where you are likely to end up.

For instance, if you hunt in the cholla and thorn-scrub of Texas then you want bang-flops which means central nervous system hits which means very accurate, flat-shooting rounds.

If where you are hunting is not heavily hunted and you will not lose your game to other people tagging it, and if the cover is favorable to tracking, then bullets that pass through the game and leave an exit-hole are desirable.

Let us look back to the hey-day of market hunting and see what those guys used. After all, they shot-and-killed game on an industrial scale, filling up train-cars with animal carcasses. Individually, they killed hundreds of times more game than most modern hunters.

Blackpowder cartridges

Two cartridges stand out as "plenty-enough". Remember, lots of shooting meant buying and carrying lots of ammo. Enough was plenty.

44-40

Loaded with 40 grains of blackpowder, the 44-40's ballistics looked like a very anemic .44 Remington Magnum.

From a carbine, it launched a 200 grain, soft, lead bullet at about 1250 feet-per-second. That compares to the .44 Magnum launching a 240 grain bullet at 1800 fps. 20% heavier and 50% faster.

The .44-40 didn't have any problem killing deer even at 100 yards. The velocity and energy levels at 100 yards looked much like a 40 S&W handgun at the muzzle. 

The problem was that the trajectory limited the round to 125 yards unless you were gifted at estimating range.

32-40

Like the 44-40, the 32-40 was originally loaded with 40 grains of blackpowder.

It fired a 160 grain bullet of .323" vs the .44-40's 0.429" diameter and its starting velocity was a little bit higher at 1400 feet-per-second.

That compares to a 158 grain .357 Magnum fired out of a carbine's velocity of 1750fps.

Those differences added about 25 yards to the 32-40 range vs the 44-40.

In New England the 32-40 was considered adequate for MOOSE with the caveat that you picked your shots. Hitting the shoulder bone would likely "splash" the bullet and it would not penetrate to the heart-lungs.

Mimicking those old-time ballistics

If you are a retro-minimalist, you can mimic those market-hunter ballistics by loading cast bullets in a 30-30 Winchester. Gas-checked, 170 grain bullets cast from 50:50 lead:wheelweights with gas-checks will be a close match for the 32-40 terminal ballistics. According to Lyman's 49th Reloading Handbook 10.5 grains of Unique in a 30-30 will drive them at a velocity of about 1500 fps. If you want a little more horsepower then 18 grains of Alliant 2400 will deliver a muzzle velocity of about 1800 fps.

Neither of these loads produce much recoil.

Bonus image

Image too good to not post. Source

Impact velocities of the last four bullets shown on the right were about 1500fps for the first two, then 1400fps and 1300fps respectively as calculated by the Hornday Ballistic Calculator. This image suggests that straight, air-cooled wheelweights are too hard to get reliable, down-range mushrooming when launched at original 32-40 velocities.

Fake News Friday: Trump blamed for high price of pork

House Democrats blame Trump for the high price of pork in California citing the total lack of Halal Certified, pork slaughter facilities; obviously a legacy of MAGA and Trump's NAZI leanings.

Clayton and Krystal: Seeking wise-counsel

Clayton was impressed by how the pad had turned out.

Betty had rolled up one of the rugs to free up the floor-space. It was almost as if she had planned it.

He had taken particular care since this was his first “inside job”.

He had done work for little-old-ladies who were all smiles while he was working and had slaughtered him in the reviews. He didn’t want that happening.

He had marked out on the pad where he wanted the stove. He laid scrap pieces of one-by on the pad and scooted it along the boards until the lip of the stack lined up with the plumb-bob he had hanging from the elbow.

Then he laid in the stove-pipe to connect the stove to the rest of the stove-pipe.

The last thing he did was that he brought in a half-face cord of split ash-wood that he had loaded at the farm. The wood had been Aunt Alice’s idea. “She might want to run a fire in it just to see how it works.”

He trimmed away the poly-film that he had spread under the project. Then he swept and vacuumed. And then swept and vacuumed again.

Putting on his “humble” face, he approached Betty and said “I know money is tight for a lot of folks. I know it is for me and Krystal.”

Betty watched him with her undivided attention as he spoke.

“And I was wondering if you could cover the cost of materials?” Clayton asked. “I put them on my credit card. My time don’t cost me any money but the money to pay for the stuff from the store has to come from somewhere.”

“That sounds fair to me” Betty said, agreeably. “What do I owe you?”

Clayton had been running a tally on the bigger parts in his head and was able to tabulate them on his fingers: “I bought 7 bags of concrete, one of mortar, dimension lumber….”

Betty went to her desk and pulled out a checkbook and started filling it out. “I am giving you an extra thirty dollars because you had to drive to Ionia and that is a bit of a haul.”

Tearing the check out of the book, she handed it to him.

“I also want to give you a couple of hogs for your time” Betty said.

That was the LAST thing Clayton expected. “Ummm. Are you OK if I call Ed and ask him if that is OK?”

“Sure. No problem” Betty said.

Clayton stepped out of the room but Betty could still hear his side of the conversation.

Ed did not pick up his phone. Probably because he was in the cab of the skid-steer.

Then Clayton called Alice. She did pick up.

“Hey Aunt Alice, Clayton here” Clayton said.

“Miss Betty wants to give me a couple of pigs and I thought I better check with you first.”

A pause…

“Because I didn’t see any place to raise them and it is your place. I am not going to be bringing in any pets without your permission” Clayton said.

In the other room Betty’s face broke into a smile. Swine aren’t pets.

Alice then asked “Did she offer you a ‘pig’ or a ‘hog’?”

“Same thing” Clayton said. He wasn’t born yesterday.

“Not quite” Alice said. “A pig weighs less than 180 pounds. Most of them are sold when they are thirty or forty pounds and take about 600 pounds of feed to get to slaughter weight.”

“On the other hand, a hog is over 180 pounds and most of them are sold at 240-to-260 pounds and a good butcher can turn at least half of that into meat.”

“You might want to check and see if she said ‘hogs’ or ‘pigs’. She won’t mind you asking” Alice said.

Clayton shuffled back, embarrassed. “Aunt Alice suggested I ask if you were offering me ‘pigs’ or ‘hogs’. We don’t have a place to put pigs.”

Betty smiled. She was expecting the question. “I was offering you a couple of hogs.”

Clayton’s relief was palpable. “In that case, Aunt Alice asked if we could pick them up at the end of the week when the weather is expected to be cooler.”

“No problem” Betty said. 

***

Clayton got home a little bit early and heard the skid-steer back in the swamp. He decided to check out how the operation was going.

He saw Ed and Bernie but no third guy. He assumed Carl was a wash-out.

Ed shut-down the skid-steer as soon as he saw Clayton coming up the two-track.

Bernie put down the cable and walked up to the two-track.

Ed looked embarrassed. “Me an Bernie had a little talk this morning” he said.

Bernie nodded as if to encourage Ed.

“Bernie suggested that the only way to make this operation sustainable was to divvy up the profits on shares” Ed said.

“Whaddya think of the land-owner getting half the logs, and all of the helpers getting a share of whatever is left with the skid-steer counting as two helpers?” Ed ventured.

Clayton worked the math in his head. “So I would be getting a quarter of the logs you guys pulled out today because I let you use the skid-steer?”

“Yep. An’ I get 62% 'cause I own the land and am workin' and Bernie gets what’s left” Ed said.

“Who pays for fuel and maintenance?” Clayton asked.

“We talked about that” Ed said. “We figured the land owner should pay for the fuel because they get the biggest share and that you would want to handle the maintenance because you might be fussy about the kind of motor oil and filters and such.”

“An’ if it is damaged because of carelessness...well, then we talk about it” Ed said.

Clayton rolled the idea around in his head. He didn’t see much of a downside.

“What about the slings and snatch-blocks? They won’t last forever” Clayton asked.

“I am not sure that will be much of a problem. The barns around here are full of them, if you know who to ask. Whaddya say I start askin’ and picking them up while they are cheap” Ed said.

Clayton stuck out his hand. “Deal!”

He also shook Bernie’s hand.

Next Installment

Whopper-Ploppers

 

12 minute runtime

I was shocked at the price of a genuine Whopper-Plopper with the larger sizes running about $20 a copy.

This is a big deal when river fishing where the fish and the forage huge the structure. "Structure" is fancy talk for logs and snags and stumps and boulders and oil-drums and old tires. All the kind of things a big fish can wrap the line around and tangle up your price lure....or junk you will snag when you are casting your lure where the fish are.

20 minute runtime

Fortunately, there are cheap knock-offs.

Hat-tip to Lucas Machias for the videos.
 

Running notes

I ran 2 miles today. We will see how lamed up I am tomorrow.

Stretching

The rear calf is the muscle being stretched. Even thought the pain shows up in the bottom of the foot in front of the heel the root problem is tight calves.

Roger asked in comments about the stretch I was doing to address plantars fascitis.

I stretch my calves with the stretch shown above. I had been doing them 60 seconds but was informed that 30 seconds per calf is also effective.

One advantage of doing sixty-seconds is that after thirty-seconds I an focus on slowly pivoting my foot along the ball of my foot to increase the strain along the inside and outside of my calf.

Doing this four times a day has been helpful in the past.

Official ERJ Holiday Gift Buying Guide

I know that many of my readers are baffled by what to buy the women in their lives, especially when it comes to jewelry and other trinkets.

I am here to help.

Fishing Lures

It is hard to beat a matched set of Royal Coachmen, one for each ear. Trout and salmon flies are the definition of elegant and pair well with tiny, clingy black dresses! There are times when "less" really is "more".

Women with PSDS* are the easiest women to buy for.

*PSDS: Pierced Ears (with a Boston accent)

If a woman is costuming to attract a man (you, we hope) then fishing lures are the ticket. Successful fishing lures don't have to catch fish. Nope. They have to catch fishermen who have not maxed out their credit cards. Most fishermen are men, ergo, fishing lures are good ornamentation to attract men.

The Mepps #2 Aglia with the classic silver blade and the salmon-egg body caught countless fishermen

The considerate gift giver removes the two extra hooks and crushes the barb on the remaining one.

Another classic is the Hellin Flatfish. I recommend the smaller one and two treble-hook versions. If you are dating a child of 30 or younger, it is permissible (but still in bad taste) to spray paint them with fluorescent colors.

If your lady is artistic, then it is hard to go wrong with genuine, Rapala lures.

The red-and-white Eppinger Dardevle Spoon is a holiday classic due to its festive colors. Just be ready to deliver if she takes you up on your dare.

Nuance is important

In general, stick-baits are OK even if they are small.

Rubber worms are a very bad idea, even if they are 8" long and grape flavored.

Precious metals

I could belabor the point but everybody has their favorites and there are a finite number of pixels in the world.

Electronics

These innocent-looking, little rascals are called "diodes"

As you see, these already have ready-to-bend wires installed which makes it simple to fabricate hooks for PSDS.

It is impossible to overstate the importance of the following. If she will be wearing them when spending time with you, then it is important that the be worn with the stripe closest to her ears.

If she is going out drinking with her girlfriends Chlo, Flo and Cherise (who have 7 divorces between the three of them) then it is IMPERATIVE that at least one of the diodes be worn with the stripe down.

If she is politically a conservative, then get her "resistors".

If she can decode the bands on the side of the resistor, propose immediately

Is your lady maddeningly indecisive? Then SCRs might be appropriate

SCRs only allow current to pass in one direction and then only after "gated" by the control leg. The flow self-extinguishes when the current direction attempts to reverse.

Two cautions: Be sure to install this device so the current flows in the direction you desire and NEVER let go of the control leg.

Miscellaneous

Contrary to popular belief, suppressors are not designed to make muzzles quiet

Suppressors are FLASH suppressors. That is, they keep your beloved from making a scene in public.

Caution, if used excessively, they become crazy-hot!

Final thoughts

If you look through her jewelry box to see what colors she favors and you see one of these, RUN!

Change your phone number and never look back.

Remember, we are on your side and we are pullin' for ya.