So I finally got caught up on diaries, and figured it was time to write in my own. And had to sneak through the darkened living room and dining room (all are asleep except I and the masked heeler, who is here with me because of one single boomb-a-loom) to retrieve the camera and day planner, to see if I had anything there to mention.

Today was the big opening for deer seasons south of town. Cold, overcast and foggy. With a biting wind in the afternoon. Shoulda worn thermals.

They say there was snow on the hills just south of town. Winter storm advisories tonight, with at least six inches (yes, of snow) predicted in Central City. Boss came down to help with check station, but we weren't that busy, so he hurried home before the predicted 12-14" of snow hit their town.

Yeah, a foot of snow already.

Don't know what we'll get. Supposed to be less. If it's blizzarding tomorrow, probably stay home and do reports. But if there's snow on the ground and drivable roads, the hunters will have a great day, and I'll be on the highway again.

So, in the day's notes?

First and foremost. Got my first terrorist alert today.

Seriously. Dispatch called to relay a vehicle description from our local PD that they were on the watch for. Apparently some suspicious behavior by the refinery.

Wife and I thought of that last Thursday evening, when returning from a youth group meeting in Coal Town. She stopped on top of the railroad overpass so I could get a few shots of the rising half-moon, and then I shot a couple of the refinery.

She offered to stop closer for more shots of the flames shooting from the refinery stacks, but we were both paranoid that they would consider us a terrorist threat (Yeah, right. In this town.) and come chase us down.

Fortunately the vehicle description from dispatch was not our vehicle. But I still bet it was just some tourist taking pictures.

The only other notes were that Grouse's First Rule of Check Stations is still holding true. Every cup of coffee was interrupted and thermally delayed by people. Not necessarily hunters, just people immediately attracted to a fresh cup, like moths to flame.

Really. Pour a cup, and half the hunters out there will immediately line up for attention.

The other half of the hunters?

They're waiting for the coffee to be processed, and for you to have to pee. Then they show up in droves.

That's Grouse's Second Rule.

Which also held true today.

So. No pictures in today's entry. None I consider worthy of my limited Diaryland storage space. Did take a few, though.

First was a shot of Titty Knob, just across the highway from check station. Just a demo to the boss on how a digital zoom works.

There's a fence over the top of the Tit now, but it used to be just a bare knob, useful for weekend parties and afternoon delights.

I know, because I've sat here and watched.

Long ago, one of the wardens had to explain about the van that used to park there regularly. A rather vicious wife of a railroader, who would take her boyfriends up on top of the knob in her husband's van. So he could see them from the train as they passed, and know what she was doing for the eight hours he was away on the tracks.

Shots two and three are the head of a mule deer buck (dead, of course) jammed in between the truck bed and ever-present ATV in a red pickup. Note worthy because he was only two years old, yet had six points on one side, and seven on the other.

They produce good deer down south. Good habitat.

Shot four is the severed testicles of a mule deer buck.

Really.

Hunters are required to keep some proof that their deer was a buck attached to "an edible portion of the carcass." What is known as "evidence of sex" (and that is not the same as Bad's casualty list). That means either the head or the testicles must be attached.

This hunter had cut off both (or I guess that would be all three). And appeared eager to challenge the warden on the law, but none was available. All were responding to distant enforcement cases (as they had been all day). So I took the pic of the non-attached sex organs as possible evidence in court (That'd be fun. Haven't testified in court in years.)

County Court has said "edible portion" means enough meat to make a meal out of. Hunter contends the portion he left attached (about 3 ounces) would be a meal for his baby daughter. Not exactly what the judge meant. We'll see what a warden wants to do with him.

Shots five and six are nearly identical, and of a large, respectable buck mule deer tucked neatly between two tarps on a trailer, as if he were asleep instead of deceased. Taken by nonresidents who were quite surprised they had the nicest buck I'd seen all day.

The final shot of the day is an unimpressive sun peeking through the clouds, shortly before the colours of sunset would arrive. But with the heavy cloud cover, there was no sunset today. Things just got darker and darker.

Shutting down was a pain tonight. Got the first sign down easy, but then had packs of headlights coming over the hill, spaced close enough that I could not get to the other signs.

And if you don't get shut down by a half hour after dark, you'll be there until well after nine o'clock. Or midnight.

I know. Been there, done that.

Finally got a gap and threw the signs in the back, hiding behind my gravel piles to strap them down by flashlight as more traffic went by.

And had one truck stop anyway.

Man, have I got these folks trained.