I am not a happy camper. The first ever bear hunt since we’ve lived here started on Monday. I am not in agreement with this at all, and probably feel as adamantly about this as I do about the abortion issue, only in reverse. I am pro-abortion and anti-bear hunt. I would gladly hold up signs and protest! Just tell me where and when.

I watched the nightly news in horror as some little boy about the age of seven or eight was filmed grinning ear to ear about how he shot this huge female bear. His father was equally thrilled. Great. Some other old bird of a man with a honker of a nose was quoted as “I see four of five of these suckers a day, so why not?” Hey, how about you? How would you like to be turned into a very ugly human rug or have that gross head of yours mounted on the wall of a bear’s den? Yeah, you go old man.

Most hunters were quoted as saying that the bears just came into view and they shot them. Dead. Cold. In the back. Hello. What kind of sport is that? You all make me sick. sick. sick.

I am disgusted with the state of New Jersey on this issue.

700 bear licenses were issued and sold out almost immediately. I don’t get it. Most of these hunters are out for trophies. Who eats bear meat? Why kill them? They have never harmed me or anything around me. They are docile creatures by nature.

Hunters, I hope it all comes back to you at some point.  I say have a season on you and see how well you fare. What goes ‘round, comes ‘round.

Addendum:
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD! Call the Governor of New Jersey and tell them you don’t agree with the hunt. Follow this link for more information on how you can help and the phone number to call. I called! Let’s overwhelm them with phone calls and hopefully this won’t happen again next year!

Where the piece fell out after the first firing and I just left it because it really looked like a shell to me.

You can see that the pieces I glued back in on what became the front of the bowl popped out slightly in the glazing firing. No matter, it just adds a more three-dimensional effect that I find not unpleasing. All in all I am extremely happy with how it came out. The little mistakes in firing actually made the piece more interesting.

The best compliment I could receive came from my husband. He said that if he saw it in a gallery or show he would be drawn to it and would probably buy it! Now, what better compliment could you ask for?

You can follow this link to see what it looked like before the final firing.

Sploppy. I like the sound of that word I just made up to describe how the ground felt yesterday when it was done raining on us. Maybe you know what I’m talking about here. You put your foot down on what you think is terra firma but it sinks into standing water first with a plopping kind of sound. Water splashes everywhere. Splop!

This was the scene around my house yesterday. It rained. It poured. The wind howled around the house and shook it. The trees waved their branches frantically to and fro trying to go with the gusts, and thankfully all my trees stayed standing although we have quite a few branches and a few largish limbs littering the ground. It was downright nasty out there!

On Rick’s way to work a tree branch fell right in front of the car out of nowhere and he had no choice but to drive right on over it. Better that than landing on top of the car! Another man and his wife were not so lucky yesterday here in our little town. A tree came down on their car as they were driving on a road I was just on the day before. He did not survive and his wife is in critical condition. The helicopter that was called in to airlift her to the hospital remained grounded due to the violent weather.

Trees are a funny thing here in the East. I don’t know if it’s because they have a shallow root system due to growing in solid rock or what, but they are forever tumbling over in wind and soaking rains. They are something to be looked out for. They have a life all their own! It’s creepy. I stay out of wooded areas when the wind blows.

Power lines were downed, trains weren’t running, the airport had four hour delays, and the list goes on and on. A day for staying at home for sure!

We had 2.33 inches of rain in about an eight hour period. My driveway was a river! The poor birds were grounded. When we had a lull in the deluge they would show up at the suet feeder with their feathers all sticking out and soaking wet looking completely miserable. I felt badly for them. If it had been snow it would surely have been a blizzard.

And speaking of snow, we’ve not had any yet. Over the weekend we saw a few flurries but that’s been it. Nothing in the forecast either. Yet. Johnny won’t have his snowblower gear on for another week or so and I’ll be happy if it holds off until then.

And Christmas. Yikes. No decorating happening around here yet. Maybe this weekend. Somehow it doesn’t seem like it’s time for all that yet. Why oh why can’t they insert another month in-between Thanksgiving and Christmas? Can we move Thanksgiving to October? Please?

I will leave you with a sneak peek at my completed pottery project, the hand-built bowl. I picked it up on Tuesday and it came out gorgeous if I do say so myself! Follow-up blog with more pics coming tomorrow!

Reading over this post before I hit the “submit” button I realized that I was all over the place. One of those posts where when I sat down I didn’t know what I was going to say so you got whatever came into my early morning brain!