Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Around the Campfire => Topic started by: JW_Halverson on February 11, 2013, 10:37:05 pm
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I drove across the state to the South Dakota Math and Science Teacher's Conference on Thursday. Had a great time as a "vendor" offering our classroom presentations with the live birds. I brought the redtail hawk and the little kestrel since they both travel really well and enjoy crowds. Things broke up early Saturday due to an impending blizzard.
I got as far as Presho, SD when the hiway got slicker than snot on a glass doorknob. I knew for my safety and that of the birds in my care I had to find shelter and hunker down. I found a house that was unoccupied and I broke in. It was easy enough, I found a hidden key! I brought in the birds and set them up on perches out of sight of each other. No sense tempting the one to eat the other!
The house was unoccupied because the owner is farms there in the summer and spends his winters elsewhere. He comes back with his friends for pheasant season and deer huntingm, but other than that it is vacant. I turned on the lights and began looking for what I could pillage. Nothing but a bag of freezerburned smelt in the freezer and a vast array of condiments of amazing antiquity in the fridge. I turned my attention to the cupboards. No liquor. Things were looking bad.
The tv was broke, too. No hunting or fishing magazines and no girly magazines either. Things were getting desperate! There were no decks of cards either! Can this place actually serve as pheasant/deer camp?!?!?!
The cafe down the street was open for breakfast on Sunday morning and I had a hearty breakfast at Hutch's. (I recommend you get the Hutchburger next time you come thru this area) But they closed at 2:00 due to the blizzard and they don't open on Mondays.
I spent almost all of Sunday cleaning the kitchen. I also stripped the bedding and washed it. The carpets got vacuumed and all the bathtowels went thru the laundry as well. By the time I went to sleep that night I was pretty dang hungry. Not yet hungry enough to eat a hawk, though.
I awoke several times Sunday night and called the 511 hiway conditions number only to hear the interstate was still closed. Monday morning dawned with wind and snow still blowing around. My Jeep on the street had been blocked in when the town plows got out early and I had 3 ft of compressed snow to get thru if I was to ever escape.
At the 40 hour mark of my criminal occupation of someone else's house, I finally got word that the Interstate was open again. I packed up and beat a hasty retreat before the coppers could nab me. I made it home scot free. I survived the epic winter blow of 2013!
On the other hand, I gotta drive a 450 mile trip again next weekend with the birds for a program in Jamestown ND!
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Glad you and the birdies made it out ok. More glad I live below the snow line here in Ga. Can't do the cold or that white stuff unless it is Dixie cotton!
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JW - sounds like a interesting weekend. The snow was just north of me here in Central NE. We could have used the moisture, but not unhappy to miss out on the blizzard. Glad you made it home safe and sound.
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Did you leave a bill for services rendered? >:D
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Glad your ok JW. I would think anyone would not bat an eye for helping in that situation. Shelter is what ever shelter is available in survival situations
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Sounds like quite and adventure to me. ;) :)
Pappy
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I'm thinking I might salt the place with my old P.A. magazines. No. Forget that. I still go back and re-read articles. Hmmm, maybe get him a subscription to a hunting publication.
The homeowner had a good laugh about me being stuck there. I haven't told him about the maid services I performed. I'll let him find that for himself.
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Thats some funny stuff JW, my wife was also amused by your story mostly because you had broke in and cleaned. Glad to hear you survived the ordeal. :)
Greg
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Heck Sir,
If you are ever down Houston way feel free to "Break In" here at the house...
I can at least grantee you a Full Freezer and Complete Set of PA magazines.
We even have a few Bird's of Prey books dating back to the early 20th century. :)
-gus
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On the other hand, I gotta drive a 450 mile trip again next weekend with the birds for a program in Jamestown ND!
darn, i got excited when i saw Jamestown, then my hopes broken when i read ND...
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Hey Fishysmell401, I drove by that giant arrow in the ground on that trip and thought of you! Yoy crazy guys with the heavy warbows! Sheesh!
(http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo100/JW_Halverson/fishfinder/name139.jpg)
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Hard to believe all this talk about blizzards i only have to put a jacket on when i take the dogs out around 630 by the time i leave for work at 730 its already warm enough for a t-shirt
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Glad you made it back safe. I hated that drive across the state to the East.
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But John....that sounds like one of your normal weekends. If something really strange comes up THEN you
call it as such.
Well, as long as the birds made it.....
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Is that the movie poster for "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids 2" starring our very own JW?
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Heckuva story JDub! Thanks for sharing!!
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Yea Jw.I imagine you won't forget that trip for a while.Glad it all worked out.
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Had a similar experience many years ago.Got the pickup stuck in it and had to walk out of there to a house i knew was there.Let myself in and had the owners decide to drop by,for reasons i cant remember.I had fell asleep by the stove and Had to do some really fast explaining at gunpoint.We had a good laugh about it,for years afterward.
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The homeowner was over there this weekend and was seriously surprised to find the place all cleaned up!!! Maybe I have a lock on being invited over next fall for pheasant hunting. We'll see.
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Might aughta check the Police Blotter before you let the land owner know it was you that did the clean up...
:)
-gus