SOG Tactical Tomahawk F01T

"Based on the Vietnam Tomahawk, the Tactical Tomahawk is an extreme evolution of the original which was considered one of the more unusual weapons of its day. Today there is a real need for a versatile tool for breaching operations, excavation, obstacle removal, extraction, and other utility applications. The 420 stainless steel head with Hardcased coating is mounted to the fiberglass reinforced nylon handle with heavy-duty bolts and a steel ferrule for stability. Side hammer checkering insures precise placement when pounding. Carried in a nylon sheath this is a universal tool for modern man."- SOG
http://sogknives.com/store/F01T_tomahawk.html


My new toy.

U.P. Pro Staff: Bow Hunting with the U.P. Pro Staff Fall 2010

U.P. Pro Staff: Bow Hunting with the U.P. Pro Staff Fall 2010

Bird Hunting Movie

Bird Hunting

Andy

JD and Jeb

Andy and his two birds

The two pals
Zach & Andy

The Princess
Bethany

Perch

http://upprostaff.blogspot.com/

My New Profile Image

"Monster" Fish

                                                                                                                                   

Some Nice Fish

      We went fishing Sunday and Monday afternoon in the drizzle and caught some beauties. Here are the pics.

30 1/2"

28"

20 1/2"

4lbs. 11oz.

31"

Tom "Stonewall" Jackson

     A biography of an American hero entitled Stonewall Jackson: Loved in the South, Admired in the North was written by Charles Ludwig. This paperback book was first published in 1989 by Mott Media and contains 176 pages. This biography takes place in the 1800’s in the southern states of the U.S.
    
     Tom “Stonewall” Jackson was orphaned at an early age because his parents died. He moved in with one of his uncles and went to school for a while. He had a very difficult time learning. As Tom grew older he wanted to enter West Point. He eventually was admitted and did very well. When Tom got out of college he was ordered into the War of Mexico. While there, he proved himself courageous and was promoted to brevet major. After the War with Mexico was over, the major did not have anything to do. Tom started to read the Bible and remembered that his mother had told him to live for the Lord. When he returned to Virginia, he joined a church and became a devout Christian.
    
     After a few years at home, things were getting worse in the states. The arguments were getting hotter and more unfriendly until the southern and northern states broke out into war. Tom was not for fighting, but he said he would fight to defend his homeland. On Sunday morning, July 21, 1861, the Federal army initiated the attack. South Carolina troops under General B. E. Bee had fought the federal troops all morning. When the Confederate lines broke, General Bee told his men, “Look yonder! There are Jackson and his brigade standing like a stone wall. Let us determine to die here, and we will conquer. Rally behind them!” That is where Tom got his name “Stonewall”.
    
     The author did great work in describing Stonewall Jackson’s life in a true and exciting way. I find that reading biographies such as are in the Sower Series excites me to live in a Christ-honoring way. I would recommend the Sower Series biographies to anyone for wholesome and encouraging reading.

Ducks

      Ducks are a type of waterfowl classified in the following order; Family Anatidae and Order Anseriformes. The characteristics of ducks vary by the breed. They all have webbed feet which are placed towards the rear of the animal which makes them excellent swimmers. They have a layer of very soft and warm feathers often called down. The outer layer of feathers is not soft but is generally shiny and some of them are colored prettily. The males are called drakes and are easily identifiable by one or two feathers in front of the being curled up. The females are called ducks of hens and are not as brilliantly colored as the males. The ducks of hens also do not have the curled feathers by the tail.

     One of the chief ways ducks eat is by dabbling in the bottom of a shallow part of a lake, pond, or river. They eat minnows, worms, and any thing else that is edible.

     Ducks migrate to the south in the fall and go north in the spring. An interesting fact about ducks is that they never forget where they were born. They also generally go to the same places every year when they migrate.

     The female will make a nest and lay up to a dozen eggs in it. She also layers the inside of the nest with down from her chest which makes the nest extra soft and the temperature more stable. It takes about twenty-one days for the eggs to hatch. When they hatch the ducklings do not have any feathers. They are all covered with soft down. As soon as they are able to waddle they start to swim.

     Ducks are also a favorite animal to have on a farm. The most ancient civilizations had ducks as pets. Most of them are very hardy and can provide eggs for the owners to eat.

Jason Lee

     Charles Ludwig wrote about Jason Lee’s interesting life in his biography entitled Jason Lee: Winner of the Northwest. Mountain men and Indians were some of Jason Lee’s neighbors. He was the first missionary in what is now known as Oregon.


     Although when Jason was young he didn’t want anything to do with Christian matters, that changed when he was twenty-three. There was a revival meeting going on in his town and his brother and sister were going to it. Jason went too and it was then that he became a Christian. He had a strong desire to be a missionary to the Indians in the Northwest.

     Jason went to a Methodist Academy when he was twenty-six and studied to be a circuit rider. He learned that it was a hard life but he was ready to do whatever God called him to do. In 1833 Jason received a letter from Bishop Hedding. It informed him that he was to be the first Methodist missionary assigned to the Northwest. A few days later he was ordained by Bishop Elijah Hedding. He was now Reverend Jason Lee.

     Now Jason started raising money to start the mission. This was an easy job because everybody wanted to help him. He also had to find a good guide. This was a problem; however, Jason was speaking with a man who was going to Oregon with a group of people. Jason met with him and decided to go with. They were going to board a steamer at Pittsburgh and follow the rivers to St. Louis. Then they would set out on mules or horses and be careful not to be ambushed by the Blackfoot. It would take about eight months to get there.

     Jason arrived in Oregon after many hardships. He built the mission on the Willamette in 1835. He started conducting services and a few Indians were coming. The mission grew quickly and in 1841 he moved the mission to Chemeketa. A famous mountain man named Joe Meek was converted at a revival meeting. Joe was known for his evil deeds. In 1844 Jason Lee was dismissed by his missionary board because some jealous people were spreading false rumors. A year later, Jason Lee died on March 2, 1845.

     About 50 years after he died people realized that he was the first missionary to the Indians in the Northwest. He had successfully built a mission and a school for the Indians and white people that lived around there. He had also taught the Indians how to work the ground and plant crops. In 1906 his remains were moved and reburied in Salem. In 1947 a statue of Jason Lee was placed in Washington’s Statuary Hall of Fame.

     This book was very interesting. It was easy to read because it was full of adventure. I enjoyed the stories about mountain men and Indians.

Daniel Webster

     A lawyer, senator, Secretary of State, and defender of the Union, Daniel Webster was all of these. Robert Allen expounds to us his life in the book entitled Daniel Webster: Defender of the Union.


     Daniel was sickly as a child and grew up on a farm with an older brother, younger sister, and parents. Daniel was very smart; at five he could read and had a grand memory. His parents owned an inn as well as a farm. Daniel would often read the Bible aloud on the inn porch for any that cared to listen. Many people loved to listen to Daniel read the Bible. He had read the small library that his town had over and over and knew most of the books by heart.

     When Daniel became of age, his father sent him to an academy. It was very hard for him the first few months because no one had taught him everything he needed to know. He studied hard and progressed well. There was one thing however, that he could not bring himself to do. That was to give a speech. He had always enjoyed speaking in front of people when he was younger, but he was afraid to speak in front of his class. He overcame this fear later on in his life. When he had done one year at the academy, that was all that his family could afford at the time, so he began to teach. After a while they had enough money to have him tutored for college.

     After he had been prepared well enough to go to college, he was sent to one. He excelled in oration. When he graduated he wanted to be a lawyer. He studied under a lawyer and then took the bar examination. He set up a law office and started practicing. He made good money doing it. He was elected to congress by his state and so went to serve them in Washington DC. When his term was done he was elected again. When this term was done he was elected to the senate. He defended the Union a few times. He was also nominated to be a candidate for the office of President of the USA. Later he was asked to be Secretary of State and he accepted. A while later he resigned from the senate and as Secretary of State. He lived from 1782-1852. During his life he saved the USA from war and ruin a few times. One such time was in 1833 when the southern states were ready to fight the other states because they did not want a certain tariff. Daniel made a few speeches on the subject and made peace.

     This book was very interesting. I would have never known how important Daniel Webster was without this book. We need more books like this one so that we can learn about other great men of the past.

Isaac Newton

     Isaac Newton was a humble mastermind whose work greatly helped scientific studies. John Hudson Tiner wrote a biography on his life entitled Isaac Newton: Inventor, Scientist, and Teacher.


     Isaac grew up on a farm in England with his mother and grandmother. As a child Isaac enjoyed making models of things around him. Unlike most models of his time his actually worked. He spent a lot of his time drifted away in deep thought. He studied the Bible very much. His stepfather was a minister. He was sent to an academy when he was old enough. Isaac was at the top of his class. His teachers could tell that he was a genius.

     When he had finished school at the academy he went to Cambridge University. Cambridge was composed of fifteen or so colleges. Isaac entered Trinity which was the Bible college. He enjoyed college. He studied many things. He was always inventing or making something new and useful. One such thing was a telescope. He made it all by himself. He had solved the problem with having colors impeding the view. He was also great at mathematics. He could solve almost anything. On a vacation home he solved the questions about gravity and laid down the laws pertaining thereto. He was also made a member of the Royal Society. The Royal Society was a group of the leading minds of the day. He met many of the great scientists of his time. One of his favorites was Robert Boyle. He spent a lot of time with him.

     Isaac taught at Trinity. He gave lectures twice week on math. Later in his life a man by the name of Edmund Halley came to visit him. He had studied the skies but could not solve the way to calculate when comets would reappear. To his surprise Newton had all the answers stowed away! Halley convinced Newton to put all of his discoveries into a book. This Isaac did. He called it Pricipia. He wrote it in Latin so that scholars would not have to wait for it to be translated to read it. It sold very well. He wanted a change in his life so he got a government position. He was the person that ran the mint. This was a hard job because England needed all new coins because the coins England had were not the proper weight because they were so old and used. It was also hard because there were a lot of counterfeit coin makers that had to be caught in order for the process of minting new coins and getting rid of the old ones to run smoothly. Newton got the job done however in record time. He died a few years later.

     Isaac was a true genius as we have seen through what he has done for the scientific world. An interesting fact about most of the great scientists is that they were faithful Christians. They pored over their Bibles and wrote commentaries on different books of the Bible. This is a great book. Sower Series has a large collection of biographies on important people with good character.

Robert Boyle

     A world famous scientist is always an interesting read. John Hudson Tiner tells us about Robert Boyle in his biography entitled Robert Boyle: Trailblazer of Science.


     Robert was a son of the great Earl of Cork. The Earl sent all of his boys to peasant homes until they were four. This way they learned to work and not to be lazy like most of noble children at that time were. On his fourth birthday a fancy coach came to pick him up and bring him to his father. He had never met his father before that he could remember. That night he went to bed on a covered bed with big cushions and soft blankets. It was a big change from a pile of straw for a bed and a small hut. Robert met his siblings but sadly his mother had died a year before. From an early age he enjoyed learning. His father therefore took extra care with his education.

     When Robert was eight years old his father sent him and his older brother Frank to Eton, which was a famous school in England. Robert spent all of his spare time reading books from the school library. The president of the school invited students to his house for dinner daily. Robert enjoyed this very much. The man had a laboratory in his house and was always conducting experiments. Unlike most people of his time he questioned the science books and instead of getting an answer from them he would experiment to get it. He was seeing that these ancient authorities were wrong about what they said often. He encouraged the students to question these authorities and do experiments to find answers.

     When Robert and Frank were done with their school at Eton, the Earl sent them on a tour of Europe. They traveled to every important place in Europe. Robert’s favorite place was Florence, Italy, the home of Galileo. Robert wanted to see him, but he died that winter. Robert decided that he would become a scientist. However, back home in Ireland the Irish people revolted against the English landowners leaving their father a poor man. Robert and Frank now had to find their way home on their own. They had no money. Frank went home by himself, but their tutor took Robert to his home. When Robert finally got home his father had died. He was now wandering around the streets of London penniless. He had a sister in London and she happened to find Robert. He found that his father had willed him an estate in England. He traveled to it and began to set up a laboratory.

     Robert spent most of his time in his laboratory. He wrote books on his discoveries that anyone could read. He became famous. Robert conducted experiments on air and wrote a book about them called New Experiments Touching on the Spring of the Air. This was also when he discovered what we know as Boyle’s Law, which tells us that volume and pressure of gas are inversely related. As Robert grew older he began to lose his eyesight and also suffered from a stroke. He still kept on working in his laboratory however. Robert Boyle lived from 1627-1691.

     Without Robert Boyle we wouldn’t have chemistry as we know it today. Robert Boyle set the example for scientists of his time by publishing what he knew right away so that scientists could build on each other’s work. If you want an interesting read, read this book.

Noah Webster Jr.

From a farm boy to a master of words, Noah Webster Jr. made his mark on American History. David Collins wrote about his life in his biography entitled Noah Webster: Master of Words.

Noah was born in 1759 on a farm where he grew up with his father, mother, and older siblings. The children went to the local school until they were old enough to work on the farm and were then given the choice to keep going to school or to work on the farm. Most of the children chose to work on the farm instead of keep on schooling. Noah was of a different sort than most. He loved words. He would read the paper that the family got faithfully. What he really did was study each word.

When Noah became of age to work on the farm he chose to keep schooling. He wanted to go to college. He was tutored by a preacher in town who knew Latin. Noah showed diligence and progress in his Latin studies. He traded his brother his share of hasty pudding for doing his chores so he could study. When it was time to go to college he was well prepared. He went to Yale in 1774 when he was sixteen-years-old. It cost thirty-five British pound notes to enroll. Noah studied well and progressed. His studies were Latin, Greek, mathematics, philosophy, and theology; they were seldom changed. The students were required to split their own wood, build their own fires, and carry their own water for washing and drinking.

Noah’s first year in college was interesting when the Revolutionary War began. In the chapel at Yale the students got word of what was happening with the war. The college students were exempt from military service, but that did not lessen their interest and enthusiasm about the war. When Noah visited home he told his parents about hearing the news of the war in the chapel each day. His mother thought that it was sacrilegious to use the chapel for such talks; however, his father thought that it was fine. That made Noah feel better to have his father on his side. The students at Yale organized their own military company and drilled and exercised with the New Haven militia. Noah played the flute for the militia when they drilled and marched.

During Noah’s second year at Yale geometry was added to his studies. His father was worried that Noah was not interested in agriculture. Noah wanted to study law. He graduated from Yale on July 24, 1776, as a senior. He graduated fully from Yale when he was twenty-years-old. To study law would require money. Noah had to make his own living. He had no useable skill to earn a living; so he decided to teach school. In 1779 Noah moved and taught at a different school than the year before that. He started writing essays about education for newspapers. He studied law using the library of a prominent attorney. Noah moved again and worked at a County Recorder of Deeds during the summer of 1780. He studied law at night and sometimes forgot to eat his meals.

In 1781 Noah took the bar examination to become a lawyer. He passed, which was no big surprise for him. He then tried to get a job, but now that the war was over there weren’t many to be had. Noah had no experience as a clerk or a lawyer so no-one hired him. He finally got a teaching appointment at a high school. He decided to write a speller. Since 1750 Thomas Dilworth had been the authority in the colonial classroom. Noah found little to no support from anyone about writing a speller. Sentence by sentence and page by page his speller grew. He had included charts and important dates of American history in it. In the first month of 1783 Noah finished his book. Now he was going to get it endorsed by notable politicians and educators. He wanted a copy write from the former and approval of his techniques from the later. He got both things. Most Americans loved his textbook. To write the book was a hard task but Noah had no idea how hard it would be to get it published.

Noah soon found that it would be very hard to get his book into the American classrooms. Two men eventually agreed to publish it. The book sold very well and the students liked it. Next Noah wanted to write a reader. It was another success, so Noah ended up writing everything you would need in a colonial classroom.

His most famous publication was his 1828 dictionary. He started when he was forty-seven years old and finished when he was sixty-seven years old. He had written two other dictionaries before this one besides many other publications. Noah Webster Jr. died when he was eighty-four years old on Sunday, May 28, 1843.

Well wouldn’t it be exciting to read about the life of a word master? I enjoyed it. This book is full of information and many WORDS.