What's Worse In The News ?

What's Worse?
 A Pew Forum Study last year found that Christians are being persecuted - by their government or by independent groups- in 131 countries of the 193 countries in the world.
 What's Worse?
 Germany is sending its poor senior citizens who can't afford private nursing homes to public nursing homes as far away as Thailand and the Phillipines to take advantage of lower costs. Can you imagine being shipped to the Phillipines, thousands of miles away from your family and friends and then having to live in a foreign culture with a foreign language you don't know? So cold. So cruel. So Germanic.
  What's Worse?
  An agency of the corrupt and hostile to the USA United Nations has just passed a treaty giving governments ( as if they had to ask ) new powers to close access to the Internet to their own people. Russia and China were behind passing the treaty, and the vote caught the U.S. government officials by surprise. After Benghazi, a lot of that seems to be going around our pampered, lazy government officials when it comes to people outside of America, but it's a totally different story when it comes to whomping down on Americans. Why then  it's three felonies a day prosecuted even if you know the people are innocent. Countries like Russia and China now have the U.N.'s blessing to survey Internet traffice and persecute nonconformity.
 I've had my fill. Hope you have too.  Peter Nickerson

Is Verizon Trying to Steal Bigfooter's $400 Chapter 3

 I then said to Angie, "I have been advised (by my brother, Big Dog) to ask for a tracking number."
  "We don't provide that here, sir," Angie responded, "You'll have to call the finance department to get that."
  She gave me the number, but before I hanged up, I asked for the store's mailing address so I could send a confirmatory letter to her manager. After getting that, I called the Verizon finance department, getting Phyllis
I asked her for a tracking number for my $400 check, and Phyllis immediately got strident askeying,"Who told you that? We don't provide tracking numbers, and whoever told you so should know better. Who told you that?" I told her, remarking that she seemed to be a straight- shooter, and asking that she call me back. She assured me that she would, and we said good-bye. I never heard from straight-shooter Phyllis. I need to get the confirmatory letter out and see if that gets me my check sooner than 30 days. Peter Nickerson 352-359-0850.

Is Verizon Trying To Steal Bigfooter's $400 ? Chapter 2

  After I made the last post, I called the Verizon store manager, Chris Pagano. He had left a message saying he got to his stoe at 7 a.m. and had began working on getting my money back. Now he had a few things to tell me. I was told that Chris was out of the office, but a woman who identified herself as the assistant manager asked me if she could help me. I told her Chris and I were working on trying to get my $400 back from Verizon, that I was blogging about it, and would like Chris to read my blog. These are not exact quotes but close: The woman responded, "I have never heard of such a thing. This isn't a threat is it? If it is, it's out of my hands." I thought that it could be said that I had threatened Verizon with taking them to court, but I wasn't  going to say that to this woman who sounded very tense. I said noting beyond reiterating that I would like Chris to read my blog, thanked her, and hanged up.
  Friday I had to babysit the dogs out at Seal's and on the over one hour run into Gainesville for a doctor's appointment, I called and asked for Chris. Again, I was told he was out of the office but expected to be back in about an hour. I pondered that thinking about how long my doctor's appointment might last and decided to call back and see if Mike could tell me anything. I was told he wasn't available either and would call me "if he can." A salesman will call me "if he can?" That was a new one! I eventually got to the doctor's office, waited for about an hour so decided to call Chris Pagano back. Mike hadn't called me back. A man told me that Chris wasn't there, but he had left a message with his assistant manager Angela that she could tell me I would get my $400 back in seven to ten days. I responded, " I would like to hear that from Angela. Can she talk to me?"
  "Of course," he replied.
  Soon a woman's voice said, "Hello, this is Angie."
  Wanting to be sure we were on the right page, I asked, "Are you Angela?"
  "Excuse me?"
  "Are you Angela?"
  "Sir, that is private information I don't feel comfortable sharing with you."
  Your name is private information now? How convenient. Make up a name, have a complaint, call Verizon, they ask who waited on you, you tell them the made-up name, and they say, "We don't have a person by that name working here, sir." What a scam if this Verizon policy. They can deny anything.
  "Are you the assistant manager then?"
  "Yes."
  I identified myself and reiterated that I wanted my $400 back.
  "Yes, sir. You will get a check in a month."
  " A month? I was just told I would have the check in seven to ten days."
  " I was adding weekends and holidays to the seven to ten days."
  My old brain tried to visualize how there could be enough weekends and holidays in seven to ten working days to make a month. It was too much for it to handle, and I was unable to respond to what is now clearly an inanity.
  Let me make an observation here. In my wxperiences of blowing the whistle, I've learned that people don't take the honorable route and say, "You're right. Let's work together to set this straight. Instead, they come after you, hitting you with false charges. Again in my experience, these false charges are patently stupid and contrived, but you get overwhelmed by the viciousness and mendacity of the attack. I know I may be on dangerous ground with a billion-dollar corporation and its sales people. Salesmen are hardly celebrated for their honor. However, I cannot just walk away from my $400 because I'm afraid. I need to win this fight for my own peace of mind and self-esteem. I've lost too many. I've also discovered in the past year that while I am fighting, I am consumed with the struggle and don't have the painful, endless ruminations about battles I've lost especially the ones I've hardly shown up for. Peter

Is Verizon Trying To Steal Bigfooter's $400 Deposit?

  About two weeks ago, I went to my local Verizon agent in Alachua, Florida to break my phone out from Bulletproof's ownership. I wanted to be on my own as the combination of other phones and their charges commingled with mine were hard to understand. However, the small town Verizon agent said that over the weekend a new policy had been instiuted to have only city offices handle what I wanted to do as a deposit was going to be necessary, and Horizon wanted to manage its money more carefully. That explanation would become rich in irony very quickly. I was given two locations in Gainesville, Florida, and I left for one of them immediately.
  Upon arriving at the brand-new office near the Oaks Mall in Gainesville, I was struck by something that seemed off-key: There was no place for anyone to sit in the large room but an upholstered bench. It was as if you were at a cocktail party. Later my suspicion grew that chairs were not provided so the customer would not sit and ask too many questions, but drag his weary feet out of the office to the relative comfort of his car. It was not a customer-friendly store, especially for senior citizens. My salesman was Mike Freeney, a burly black man with a very quiet, gentle manner. He ascertained that I would have to make a $400 deposit, the maximum. I was prepared for this because I had learned this from my Verizon agent in small town Alachua several days before. It was no surprise that my credit rating sucked. My monthle income is only $905 from Social Security. I live close to the bone: no heat or airconditioning, no television, no internet.
I have medical bills I haven't paid for, hence the low credit score. I used my debit card to pay the $400 deposit. Mike took my card and called the numbers in and gave me a receipt, but for some reason the amount did not show on the Verizon screen. Where was it then? First Mike said it would only take a few minutes for it to appear so I shuffled over to the bench to rest my aching feet. About an hour passed, and still my $400 did not appear.
Finally, he suggested I go home, and give it two or three days to show up. I did that, but it didn't show up. Calls to him and his supervisor revealed that for some reason Verizon was going to refund my money. That was not what I wanted. I wanted it to be my deposit so I could own my phone instead of Bulletproof owning it.Mike  agreed that I hadn't come into his store to make a deposit and have it refunded. He said he would try to change that. I also called 1-800-249 -2462 customer service number later. The agent heard my story and handed me over to another agent who said that Verizon had decided to refund my deposit and I would get a check "in four or five days." By now this was becoming so queer (not in the gay sense) that I decided getting my $400 back was a good idea. But I reminded the agent too that I hadn't walked into their store simply to give them $400 and get $400 back. She agreed and said she start the process over again and get it right. I wasn't about to give them $400 when they still had my first $400. I thanked her and said I'd wait till I got my money back and walk back into the store and start the whole process over. That was last Thursday or Friday. Last night I checked my mailbox at 9:30 and found a letter from Verizon. It looked a little slim to be a check so I opened it apprehensively. It was a letter with a letterhead saying "Verizon." It informed me that since I had such a low credit score -it listed the score- I would have to make a $400 deposit to open an account! As soon as I got inside the house, I phone Mike's manager, the manager of the store, Chris Pagado. I was furious. I said something to the effect that I was tired of getting nothing but "shit." He asked me not to swear at him. I said I was not swearing at him: I had said I was tired of the "crap," not that he was "crap." He said he would get back to me the next day, and I countered by saying I expected him to.
  Today I called the number at the bottom of the Verizon letter I got last night. The agent who answered was curt and authoritative sounding . He said his company was a credit restoration company and not part of Verizon. I noted that the letterhead of his company read "Verizon." By way of explanation, he just repeated himself.I think the real explanation is that Verizon sold his company my name as a referral so the company could disguise itself as Verizon to give it credibility and engage me in a credit building adventure - for a good fee, of course. I feel betrayed by Verizon. They had no business giving my name and credit score to another company. I think my civil rights have been compromised and that this may be actionable. As poor as I am, about the only thing I have is my dignity, and that has been lessened by Verizon. I feel like a piece of meat that Verizon can take $400 away from and then refer me to other companies for a profit to see if those companies can make a profit out of me too. Verizon knows they are treating me badly but their only response has to been to treat me worse. Today I called the 1-80249-2462 customer service  number of theirs that I gave before. I had to give my phone number and the repeated response was the robot saying they could not "locate" my "message." I was given another number to call which turned out to be the payments number. There the robot simply asked how much money was I paying.  As the song says: "Kick you when you're down; kick you all around."

News - What's Better?

1. Michigan has passed a bill giving the individual the choice of whether he wants to belong to a union or not. No longer will individuals be forced to join a union in Michigan or pay a yearly fine. This represents more freedom for the individual worker in Michigan. Yes, pay in right-to- work states is about ten percent less than union states, but employment in right-to-work states is ten percent higher. More jobs at less pay. Plus, employers prefer non-union states so more jobs will go there.
2. Susan Rice has withdrawn from being considered for the office of Secretary of State. Ms. Rice has shown marked ineptness in dealing with various African nations. She is also the spokeswoman for the administration involved in lying about who attacked the consulate in Benghazi, Libya and why. Why did Susan Rice, a mere ambassador to the corrupt and hostile United Nations make that announcement and not Hillary Clinton, the Secretary of State, when the State Department supervises our consulates and embassies? Because Hillary Clinton knew the administration was lying - it had seen the attack in real time, thanks to a drone- and she did not want to be tagged with lying when she hopes to be the next president of the United States. Lying does make a difference. Obama received less votes in every state but Hawaii and Mississippi this time, and in those two states, he had less than a one percent increase in votes. Why did the Obama administration lie about Benghazi? Because it was corrupt in three ways: First, it had not provided adequate protection to the consulate in the first place. The ambassador knew it and was writing about it in his diary.Secondly, when the consulate was under attack, the Obama administration did nothing except tell a general who wanted to send in Seals and other military personnel stat to stand down. Thirdly, Obama did not want his lie that terrorism is too weak now to worry about to fly into his face on the eve of the presidential elections. So the attackers were just demonstrators who got carried away, not terrorists. It was September 11, folks. What do you think they would be? How Obama insults your intelligence, Obama-lovers, and you don't even realize it. Now we have Hillary making Benghazi-like excuses for not testifying before Congress about the Benghazi massacre of our ambassador, a computer expert, and two heroic Seals (that's redundant because all Seals are heroic just to become Seals). For two days, the excuse is she's sick to her stomach and after that, lo and behold, we find out she's suffered a fall and has a concussion. The same pattern of loopy statements cost Susan Rice the Secretary of State position. Hillary had better be careful about playing loose with the public too, if she is doing that. On the other hand, she and I are the same age, and I just took a severe fall that bruised my ribs. And I work out a lot more than Hillary does. So she could have fallen. But just tell the truth the first time! To sum up, havilng Susan Rice out of the run for Secretary of State is better, much better, than having her in. Pete Nickerson

Bigfoot Hunt #4 Continued

  I pulled off the road to take a call from my brother Big Dog. I learned that he had recently made a cup of coffee for the ride to a restaurant for breakfast. He was driving past a development on his left and woods on his right enjoying his cup of coffee when a four point buck ran out of a yard right into his truck. Big Dog said the buck hit his side mirror with his eyes only inches from his. He thought the deer was coming in through the side window. Howver he didn't, and Big Dog drove on looking for a place he could turn around in. From his rearview mirror could be seen the buck on his back with all four feet up in the air and Big Dog's mirror lying next to the deer. Big Dog was back in less than a minute but the buck and his mirror were gone. His friends joke that the deer took his mirror home and mounted it above his fireplace. Apparently, a good Samaritan from the development cleared the mirror off the road. Nature wars! As I was being told all this, an old man pulled up next to me. He had seen my magnetic sign on the back of the truck asking if anyone had seen a Bigfoot.The old man began telling me how he had a friend with feet thaaaat long, measuring with his hands. I was initially a little brusque with him. Couldn't he see I was on the phone? Then I realized he was even older than me, and I became more friendly. He made the joke I've heard ad nauseum, I obligily laughed, and he drove on. I continued my slow prowl through the woods, my truck in a quiet second gear. At a intersection, a gunshot boomed out, and I stopped, looking to see if anyone was running away. I saw nothing but next time will wait longer to see if the gunshot attracted a Bigfoot looking to steal whomever the hunter shot. An acquaintance in my Sunday school class told me that he had been seeing a bobcat by his deerstand for years. He enjoyed seeing the little cat and never shot at him. One day he shot a deer, who ran a ways, but audibly fell to the ground. The hunter got out of his tree and walked over to the deer to find his Bobcat friend standing on the dead deer as if to claim him. Of course, the little cat knew he couldn't defend his claim against a rifle so he skulked off.
  But nothing happened after the gunshot so I drove on. Soon a large squirrel bounded across the road, but it was too dim to see whether he was a fox squirrel.When I hit a paved road, I decided it was time to call it quits. I stopped at a tiny store nearby with no gas pumps and in talking to two men there, learned that "everyone"was getting his limits of speckled trout at night and that this run would last into January. There was immediate fishing fever, but I told myself I had to concentrate on finding Bigfoot. If you would be interested in coming with me on another hunt, please give me a call. We'll meet at a McDonald's or something and see if we could work together. I worry that you will get bored scanning the woods for hours but could use an extra pair of eyes. Pete Nickerson 352-359-0850

Bigfoot Hunt #4 Central Florida

  I reached the woods in Central Florida in the afternoon. As I listened to the radio on the drive in, the tragedy in Newtonville, Conneticutt grew from a mere report that several police cruisers were being seen at an elementary school to a massacre of twenty first-graders and seven women. I tried not to get bogged down with the agony around such an event, but instead concentrated on the task at hand. I was glad to find the dirt roads moist as that would hold tracks well. It had rained for several days, but there were still quite a bit of tire wear on the roads. I would find out later that the probable reason for that was a speckled trout run at a nearby lake that was connected to the St. Johns River. But the edges of the road were clean, and I looked there for tracks. I immediately began seeing deer tracks. Then I came upon a bear track with a much smaller companion track that I theorized was the cub bear. I got out and took pictures of the tracks.
Having drivern for about an hour without seeing another human being, I was happy to see a car approach me. I had driven by two houses deep in the woods, and this car must have been going to one of them. I was sure it was a local car because it was a rattletrap. The road has a distinct washboard pattern to it that would soon beat a car apart. I saw a marker for a historical site but couldn't walk to as I couldn't hoof the half mile to it due to a necrosis (dead area) in my knee. The primary vegetation of the woods seemed to sand pines, scrub oaks, and saw palmettoes. I kept an eye out for the threatened Florida Scrub Jay. I understand that they are even shier than the Blue Jay and are rarely seen except on wires. They also require scrub oak around eight feet tall as habitat. I drove in second gear, which is the most quiet gear and kept my head on a swivel, looking in all four directions, including behind me by the use of the rearview mirror. I came upon a lake and immediately saw an immature Bald Eagle flying over it. I drove out onto the dam where fishermen were pulling into and beginning to congregate. I asked an old woman if they caught any fish. She replied, "Yes, we caught speckled trout last night."There was quite a breeze coming off the lake and most everyone was bundled up in heavy, old, fishing clothes. The fishers were mainly serious, country people not fishing for sport but for food. And very good food at that! I spoke with a better dressed man wearing a U.S. Marine Corps (pronounced with a silent p, Commander-In-Chief Obama) and was informed that just minutes before he had passed about eight wild hogs on the other side of the dam. Thinking that I might get a picture of one and even that Bigfoot might be pushing them, I slowly, as was required, drove across the dam to the other side. The pigs were nowhere to be found. The area on this side of the dam was deemed a no hunting zone.This little area was a prime Bigfoot spot. Fish in the locks, hogs in the woods, and deer everywhere. There are numerous stories about Bigfoot being in the salmon runs right along with humans on the West Coast. Plus there are sightings of him crossing highways with a fish in one big hand.  To Be Continued, Pete Nickerson 352-359-0850 Anyone in the Alachua, Florida area interested in riding with me on Bigfoot hunts, please call me. I could use another pair of eye in the front seats.

Error & Dr. Ketchum Thoughts

The proper spelling for "Old Four Legs" as J.L.B. Smith referred to her is coelacanth. Sorry. I didn't mean to imply that any criticism of Dr. Ketchum's finding that Bigfoot is an ape-human hybrid would be purely emotional. When she makes such a statement, she either needs to have her findings published quickly in a journal or she needs to release quickly the paper that shows how she arrived at her startling conclusion . The Bigfooters have been dragged through enough scams. If she's lying, she deserves your and my vitriol. There's got to be some honor somewhere on this earth! Nobody's perfect, but everybody can't be a psychopath. Two-Guns. 352-359-0850

National Forest Rude To Bigfooter

Today I called the Ocala National Forest Visitor's Center. It is a rainy, weekday, and I was sure the visitor's center was not bursting with tourists. I wanted a list of trees and shrubs in the forest so the next time I blog about hunting Bigfoot, I would be able to say something more intelligent than " I saw lots of trees and shrubs in Ocala Forest.Duh."In my first call, I found out there were books available. I called a second time because I wanted to know what side of the Oklawaha River the center was on since I have the fear of going over the bridge there. The third time I called to see about shipping books to me. I also immediately apologized for calling three times, saying that I could only think of one thing at a time. In the discussion about shipping books, the worker said something like this : "You've called here three times and keep talking about trees and shrubs.He said it in an accusing manner, and next time I will ask, "Do you have a problem with that?" Instead, I hoped his ill will would go away and finished the discussion about shipping books. He was negative about that being done. I thanked him for his time and said good-bye. He hanged up without a word. Very unprofessional.
  This rudeness was on the heels of reading in the Journal last night that the Forestry Service in California is trying to drive an oyster company out of business simply because it doesn't like the business. It even presented a "study" purporting to show that the oyster boats were stirring up the water so much it was damaging  marine life. Somehow the company was able to ascertain that this was libel: the study came from New Jersey and it was about the effects of jet skis. The bullying of the National Forest staff has become so egregious that California Senator Feinstein has been moved to chastized the staff in a letter.This is significant because Senator Feinstein is a lover of Big Government which rules by force and violence. She is usually no friend of the sanctity and freedom of the individual. In this case she sided with the latter, so the abuse by National Forest had to be great. I am also happy to see that the oyster company is trying to sue the National Forest staff. I hope the business can sue and wins. If you as a Bigfooter or simply as a citizen had trouble with the National Forest people, I'd like to hear from you. I am hearing that National Forest is very anti-human and doing everything it can to keep people out of areas it designates as pristine.
When Bigfoot is finally recognized by the flat-earthers, we do not want unreasonable restrictions put on human access to National Forests. Call me, Two-Guns  352-359-0850

Bigfoot Hunt #3 Continued

This hunt took place in Ocala National Forest, about 400,000 acres in Central Florida. At dusk I saw a huge black area in the brush on the other side of a low-lying area. I was still on the perimeter of the Navy bombing range. Aware that Bigfoot will sit down with his back to you, apparently hoping you will think you are just looking at a black stump, I stopped the truck and put my glasses on the spot. It was just a black area. Disappointed, I proceeded down the sandy fire trail and immediately came upon an area that was black from a fire probably from a bomb. The black area behind me must have been a finger of that fire. I eventually hit a paved road, and as most of the traffic was going to the right, I did too.
I drove for miles without seeing any road signs until I read that I was in Altoona which is on the way to Eustis. Having gone into Ocala National Forest on the west side, I was now out of it, having come out of the southern end of the forest. I pulled off the road and consulted my maps. I was apparently on Route 19 going south, the wrong way. I turned around and finally got back on Route 40 and worked my way home. I passed a gray fox, standing off the side of the road, intelligently waiting for me to pass before he crossed. He had a white throat and smart black eyes. I got leg cramps and had to stop and rub horse liniment onto my legs. The hunt lasted from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. To get into Ocala Forest, I had to cross a bridge over the Oklawaha River. I have a fear of heights and was very unhappy with the amount of fear I experienced going over the bridge especially in the daytime when I could see how high I was. If you have any Bigfoot sightings, please call me at 352-359-0850. Thanks, Two-Guns

Breaking News! Bigfoot Is A Human Hybrid !

 I need to interrupt my acount of Bigfoot Hunt #3 to recognize Dr. Melba Ketchum's finding as read at Huffington Post where the  force and violence of Big Government are respected rather than the sanctity and freedom of the individual. According to it, Dr. Ketchum has analyzed over 100 alleged Bigfoot samples over 5 years, and has found three nuclear genomes that suggest a male ape reproducing with a female homo sapiens about 15,000 years ago. One possibility is that Bigfoot is the nine-foot tall Gigantopithecus who supposedly went extinct 9,000 years ago. Dr. Ketchum says that specific tests have been run that rule out human contamination. As many of you probably know from reading the sightings, many hunters have not shot Bigfoot because there was a human quality about it. They were apparently right. This would also vindicate the many American Indian legends that say Bigfoot carried away Indian women and had children by them. There are also early Bigfoot investigators who stated that Indians had told them of personally knowing women carried away by Bigfoot and in some cases, returned to the Indian camps with children by Bigfoot. If Bigfoot also ate humans as the Indian legends claim, this new finding by Dr. Melba Ketchum means that they were engaged in cannibalism. Due to the emotionality and immaturity of the times plus science's great reluctance in accepting a new species or accepting the fact that a supposed extinct species is really still extant like the coleanacanth, a fish, I applaud Dr. Ketchum's honesty and courage in coming forward. Screw the noisy barbarians, Doctor! Maybe they'll grow up some day. Happy trails, Two-Guns

Turkey Scratchings At Jennings Forest

This fresh turkey scratching along with many more was right off one of the roads at Jennings State Forest just outside Jacksonville, Florida. Hunting is regulated in the forest, and as is obvious is very thin or turkeys wouldn't be scratching along one of the roads. All the Bigfoot reports I have seen have come from kids from neighboring homes and indicate herding efforts by Bigfoot. I hypothesize, based on my day at Jennings, that the sightings come from kids because there simply aren't that many adults in the forest.

Bigfoot Hunt #3 Ocala National Forest

  This hunt actually took place between the last two Bigfoot searches, and it started off well. I saw a dead coyote on the side of the road. I went back and looked at him. He had a beautiful, full coat just like that of a cottontail rabbit. I didn't think to take a picture. It was a very unusual coat. Even a creature as intelligent as the wily coyote, probably the third most intelligent animal in the woods after humans and Bigfoot, can't always deal with a four lane highway. In a little while, I saw a bald eagle, white tail and head, gliding down to the road just ahead of me and over a little knoll. As I pondered whether I should put on the emergency signal, I came over the knoll and there was the eagle right on the side of the road eating a dead opossum. I had to slow down to give him room to take off. I continued south until I found Route 40 which goes out of Ocala City through the Ocala Forest. It was neat seeing icons for bear on traffic signs. I finally found a fire road and got off the paved road probably much to the relief of the convoy of cursing drivers behind me. I was only going forty to fifty miles an hour, both trying to save my engine and because I have driven slow for such a long time that I don't like higher speeds. I first went to Honeymoon Lake and then wandered about the southern part of the forest. I saw quite a few hunters, but no one had a deer. It was a blustery, cool, damp day. Too windy to hold a scent for the dogs. I enjoyed seeing the hunting dogs in their boxes on the trucks. One had his head outside the box and was baying as if he were on a hot trail. The sound was exhilarating as I was raised with a kennel of beagles and loved hearing them run, recognizing whom the voices belonged to. I wandered upon a Navy bombing site. The signs not only warned to watch out for falling bombs, unexploded bombs, but also invisible lasers. I couldn't wait to get away from the bombing site, but it continued to be on my left side for a long time. I had apparently got on the perimeter road. The numbers of the roads did not correspond with the numbers on my map so I stopped using the map. As I drove, I noticed something that looked like a small snake although it seemed too cold for snakes to be out.
I straddled him with my tires as I drove over him and then got out. He slithered off the road and into the weeds. He was grayish-brown, very slender, and did not seem to have rattles. I immediately put on my supposedly snake-proof gaiters, called Snake Guardz, in case I did any walking around. A snake bite is very painful even if it's not fatal, and it leaves an ugly area on your skin as the bite contains enzymes that immediately begin digesting your flesh, basically. I also saw panther tracks about four inches wide and bear tracks. The very scientific Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission has decided by default to use you and me in our vehicles to keep down the number of bears. Can't allow hunting them with clean kills. Oh, no! That would upsed the satanic, yet very pesky, greenies. Don't want them mad at the Wildlife Commission.
 Contrasting with the many new 4x4 pickup trucks driven by hunters in their spiffy camouflage, I saw a battered, old truck with a little old man peering over the steering wheel. He had wild, white hair and beard and no camouflage clothing. In the back of the old truck was a single dog, a rotund hound who looked like she was his regular dining partner at home.I couldn't help thinking "God bless them" as they drove by.
To Be Continued. Two-Guns

Bigfoot Hunt #2 Continued

ERRORS:  In the last posting, I said that Route 470 went through Green Swamp in South Florida. That should have been Route 471. Also I misspelled the reflective lining in a cat's eye. It should have been
"tapetum lucidum."
  It finally came to me that the large, tall, gray creature that crossed 471 in front of me could have been a Bigfoot so I called QuietVoice in south Florida. He belonged to the Bigfoot Field Research Organization (BFRO) but now has his own research team. QuietVoice said that the color was okay for a Bigfoot, but he seemed to say that the gait on all fours was not indicative of one, saying they had a distinctive walk. Unfortunately, I did not ask him to tell me more. He also seemed disappointed when I told him that that the body did not go up in the front. He brought up the possiblity of a hog since they come in all sorts of colors and color combinations. QuietVoice said that several members of his team were in that area last weekend. Once while two of them, a married couple, were walking down a road, the wife looked behind her (woman's intuition) and saw that there were two tan panthers in the middle of the road looking at them. As soon as the humans turned around, the panthers rocketed into the woods. QuietVoice said, "There are panthers in almost every county but no one ( in government or the sciences) will admit it." He also said that Green Swamp was a good place to look for Bigfoot and there have been sightings. I related how one hunter had told me there were thousands of hogs in there, and QuietVoice added, "There's also turkeys and deer."
So there's plenty of meat available for the carnivores and omnivores.
  I attend a Promise Keepers group and really appreciate the socializing and the food. One of the men told me over dinner that the Conservation Commission had released three panthers in the High Springs area. He said that he or someone else had found this out when they found the field biologist using a wand to try to pick up their radio collar signals. The biologist supposedly said that two panthers were remaining in the area but one was following the Santa Fe River out of the area.  Another gentleman at dinner said that he had seen a panther in his yard when he drove in one night on his motorcycle. The panther was tan. I talked with a clerk in Gainesville who said that when they moved into their home in rural Hawthorne, part of Alachua County, Florida, within a month they had seen deer, a bear and a black panther on their road. Early this summer I got a sighting of a Bigfoot in Hawthorne. The lady almost bumped into him behind her home. It appeared that he had been peeping at her while she was inside the house. Her husband admitted she walked around nude a lot. I wonder if Bigfoot would make room for me. All this is only about twenty miles from the University of Florida in Gainesville, possibly better known as Trophy Town. Happy Trails to you, Two-Gun s