SpecialKaye

As always Tom, good post.

BINGO...when I have to shoot towards the one pasture, I only use the air rifle and I've managed some pretty incredible shots. It also works for the overrunning of the doves/pigeons....they're as bad as the squirrels, they just don't get in the house. If you've got them in the attic, you really need to get up in the attic and check it out...seal up where they're coming in, for sure. I had raccoons come in a few years ago, also. When I use the 22, mostly I use the shorts and they're pretty quiet..I've also used some of the CB's but they are only good for short shots...and they are no louder than the air rifle. You can get some of the traps, catch em and take em off base to use for target practice. When they tear up the bird feeders, they're fair game for practice.

how can they afford to jump if they can't afford to buy beer? i think every dz has at least a few of them...i tend to buy mine and keep it in my cooler...for one it keeps me from drinking too much and two, it keeps me from supplying the bums.

Yeah, well you and I both know there's plenty of riggers that pack rigs with a pen, not sweat...and use being "busy" as an excuse to "leave the rig and pick it up later". I always encourage my customers to sit back and watch their rigs be packed, that way they know the rig has been packed and maybe learned something...I also have them pull the handles because it may be the only time they pull the handles, but they are aware of pulling them.

I don't know what you're doing to keep someone's gear from them for a day or two...I do a full inspection and repack in a matter of 3 hours and that's going slow. I charge extra for a rush, but certainly can and will accomodate someone wanting their gear packed right away. I packed someone's reserve on a Sunday when they just showed up a couple weeks ago....he sat there and watched me pack his reserve, which he had never been able to do before because of riggers that wanted the gear dropped off and come back later...I suspect the gear wasn't getting repacked, just signed off.

Yeah, Titusville is another that if you don't make the landing area, you're pretty f*cked...streets, backyards, powerlines everywhere...and trees! I'm sure there's plenty of other DZ's across the country with the same problem.

If I can get to someone's place that has anything besides our horrible dialup...we live in the boondocks outside Tampa and Verizon doesn't offer us anything but dialup...it sucks and trying to download anything takes forever. They are great, and they are sweet. The little man is getting ready to go on his first real vacation and not taking to the harness and leash very well...he's like a bucking bronc when you put the harness on him right now. And he's usually so docile. He turns around and looks at me like he absolutely hates me when I'm trying to get him used to it. Big girl was the same way BD 2005, but then when we got her out of the house and she was on the leash, I think she realized it was for her own good. Little man has just been spoiled rotten for the past year and wants to do what he wants to do.

sweeeeeet! Yeah, my little furry humans would be distraught without each other.

Lectra Clean makes them shrivel up and die quickly...we've got them all over in FL...you just pay attention and look for the things that can hurt/kill/or make you sick....I killed a pygmy rattlesnake and a coral snake yesterday...the hawk loves me!

Wow, and I thought my Guardian Angel was working overtime the day I crashed on a skydive a few years back. Glad you made it out alive...with no bedbug bites, too?

Kris, I'm with you on the Cafe Du Monde, however, living in the Tampa cuban area of the world, I'm a fan of Bustello and Pilon out of the espresso machine on my counter. Lately I've been trying to lay off the coffee because I was way addicted to that much caffiene, did the detox and I'm trying to not get that hooked back again...I love my coffee, so this is really hard. The 4 day headache sucked!

see Mama loves her baby...how sweet. My bunnies play soccer during the middle of the night with little jingle balls (cat toys) and if you catch them playing like that in the middle of the night, the little man looks at you like "I didnt' do it"....then they want a treat before you go back to bed. Pets give us so much joy...I love my babies. Kaye

Okay, so I've had pets before that seemed to get along, but my bunnies are special. We've had the big girl (she's black with a white nose and weighs around 10-11 pounds) for the past two years. She just showed up from the neighbors and decided that the grass was greener on the other side of the fence and it really was. She lives in the house with cool tile floor, eats whatever she wants, lays around on the furniture...she's a hoot. So, last fall I was taking care of my dad who was dying, missing the big girl and decided to get a bunny since I wasn't sure how long I would be away from "home" taking care of him. The little man is a Netherland Dwarf that looks like Thumper from Bambi and he wasn't that old when I brought him back to FL. I was really scared introducing the two because I had tried to introduce other bunnies to the girl and she wanted no part of any companion. Now, almost a year later, they are absolutely inseparable. If he's laying by himself, she finds him and lays with him and vice versa. And we're talking spooning...it's adorable. I've pretty much lost custody of my baby boy to the big girl...I know if I move out, I can't take him away from her...he'd be heartbroken. Anyone else have a similar story?

Has your gear been opened up and inspected in the past 2 years? If the cypres has been packed for the past two years, you could have gear that's worthless if the batteries leaked. You could have had mice eat your reserve or main. So much could have happened in a two year period and unless a rigger has inspected the gear, there's no way to know for sure. Blue skies, Kaye

what kind of info on the cypres? DOM, test & cal, batteries. Without the cypres, I would put around $2500 on it, based on pristine condition. $3000 with the cypres...which would be fair to you and the new buyer...which would be the third owner. The way to value the cypres is take the 12 years on it, divide the 12 by what you paid for it and decrease the value by that. So if it's 4 years old, needs the test, cal & batteries and you paid 1200 for it...I would offer you $650 for the cypres. You're not going to get what you put into it, so long as you realize that, you'll be better able to value it.