Author: bhayes952

June 25, 2025 – Who Doesn’t Like Orcas?

June 25, 2025 /

I have recently been taking a required leadership course. As these things do, a seemingly random collection of individuals are put into a small group. With these situations, it is common to have an icebreaker question that everybody would answer. In my last session, the question was ‘if you were a tour guide for visitors, what would you show them about your home territory’?

That is easy, I am already doing that. I would take them to the beach. They live 5 miles from the Mediterranean. The Oregon coast is nothing like that. While you are at the beach, besides getting wind whipped flying kites, beach combing or chartering a fishing boat, whale watching is a low barrier of entry for guests.

That was the Seattle area. We have our own whale watching culture in Oregon. We did also have a trip booked to see gray whales. If you have never seen whales or been to the ocean, I highly recommend doing it. I suppose it is our version of a safari.

I have done it a number of times. Don’t get me wrong, I was looking forward to the trip. But, I happen to know that it is not quite the serendipitous discovery to see whales. Operators report in to each other and keep track of what is out there. They pretty much know where they are before they leave the dock. I suppose that I would hate to go on a four hour boat ride and not see anything. But, it does make me feel like the boat operators kind of phone in the trip.

In today’s day and age, many of these trips are prepaid or purchased online. It is customary for a fishing guide or whale boat captain to ask for tips at the end. If you bought the trip online, many of them have a tip line included which is what we typically do. But that also leads to the malaise of the trip. I definitely do not mind tipping, but on this trip I heard the hand speak two times in the whole four hours. The point is, if you want to leave a tip, make sure to have cash on hand as you leave the boat.

If you are in Seattle, there are numerous outfits to do something like this. We of course chose to do things the hard way. We drove from south of Seattle to Anacortes. We took the ferry to Orcas Island where we met up with the tour. The whole point of that was to make sure we were providing an extensive tour of the Seattle area, including the ferry experience and the San Juan Islands. But it definitely took a toll. It was an eight hour round trip.

The last Orca trip we took was about six years ago. What I heard then was that the Orca population was in serious jeopardy following the decline in salmon population. I suppose that remains to be seen if salmon will be saved. On this trip, we were told that they were eating harbor seals. In the picture above, there was a harbor seal in the vicinity that probably didn’t make it. There was some serious circling of the five whales. I cannot confirm that they were successful, it just felt like the odds were on the whales.

It was a blue bird day in Seattle as you can see from the picture. Much of the year, this is an iffy proposition. Tours operate rain or shine. Pacific Northwesterners like to say that if you don’t do things in the rain, then you might not do them at all. I would highly recommend appropriate rain gear if you are going to go in those conditions. For all of our posturing, it is a miserable experience to be wet for hours in the rain. Likewise, it would be no fun to be in the cabin during the whole trip.

One other thing to watch for is sea sickness. If you get motion sickness in the car, you will more than likely get sea sickness. Unfortunately, my wife gets sick almost every time. It seems to disproportionately strike kids and females. She takes Dramamine with little success. If there is any silver lining, days of small craft warnings will keep the boats in the harbor. They are not going to go out in rough seas but almost anyone will get sick if it gets rough enough.

End Your Programming Routine: I highly recommend taking out of towners on a whale watching tour, especially if it is a beautiful day. We have taken exchange students from Spain, Taiwan and Japan. The sea life is different from Asia and the Mediterranean. Because the operators follow the whales all day everyday, it is almost a guarantee you will see something.

June 24, 2025 – Would You Believe That I Was In the ‘No Kings’ Protest?

June 24, 2025 /

I almost cannot believe it either. It is probably the last place that I ever wanted to be. I won’t lie that it was kind of interesting. Trust me, it was a necessary evil for what we were doing that day and at least everything turned out alright.

We drove up to Seattle to meet our Spanish family. They flew into Sea-Tac. As a result, we spent a couple of beautiful days in the surrounding area. Seattle is a great hidden treasure if you have not been there. It is a lot like Portland and San Francisco but kind of a better version of both (politics and nonsense aside).

We already had our tickets booked for the next day so this was the day that to go to the waterfront, Pikes Market, the Space Needle and all of the typical Seattle things to do. Unfortunately, it was also the day for the No Kings march. Doubly unfortunate was that some of that was happening right where we wanted to be.

Our first stop was what was called the Smith Tower. We had a reservation for 12pm. As we got out of the car and around the homeless passed out on the sidewalk, I also saw people carrying signs. As a result, I knew that we were going to be close. I would describe the individuals as old hippies. I am guessing that they drove in from the suburbs in their Prius, parked somewhere sensible and then walked to the assembly point.

As we were waiting for our time to go up in the tower, I observed two classes of people carrying signs. They old hippies and the yuppies. These were the rubes that this kind of event appealed to. It also told me that it was likely that this march was going to be relatively calm. I will talk about the after party later.

After the Smith tower, we walked down to the piers. That was fortunately in the opposite direction of where we saw the protestors going. My kids had 3pm tickets to the Space Needle. So after lunch, we started walking to Centennial Park. It turns out, so were the protesters. It appeared that the march ended at the park so I do not believe that it would have been possible to avoid in any capacity. We tried to skirt the march for many blocks. Ultimately, we all kind of looked at each other and I said ‘well, we are going to have to go through it or not go’. That is exactly what we did.

I didn’t want to call too much attention to myself and so I just snapped a quick picture. What you couldn’t see was that in the middle of the street but it was a young woman with a bull horn. She was yelling out chants that all the drones were repeating. She was clearly the plant in my section of the crowd because you could hear others up and down the line.

There were a lot of people on the sidewalks, probably in similar situations such as ours. Eating lunch and then a protest came by. People were on their balconies watching. It all seemed fairly benign minus the non-family friendly signs and shirts. We walked a couple of blocks until we could peel off for a straight shot to the park which was just packed with finished protesters.

The kids went off to the Space Needle and us adults went to the Chihuly Art Museum. We did our thing and nothing that I could see happened as a result of the march. As we were walking back to the pier we started running across people with shields, gas masks and full kit. Fortunately, 70,000 protesters where nothing happened.

The one thing that I cannot figure out is one of the chants started with “Down with Trump and Democrats too…” It was the only mention of political parties that I heard in the ten minutes we were in the march. I don’t know if it was actually a red herring or the fact that just like Oregon, Washington is overrun with Democrats. There cannot be any other party at fault.

End Your Programming Routine: When we drove home, there was some medical tests that needed to be done. The hardcore protesters were camped out in Portland still, days later. As luck would have it, the hospital area is ground zero for tear gas and rubber bullets because there is an ICE facility three blocks down. I guess this was something that I didn’t have to deal with last year and I sure hope that this is not a sign of things to come.

June 20, 2025 – In the Gravest Extreme: The Role of the Firearm in Personal Protection, Chapters 17 and Conclusion

June 20, 2025 /

We have come to the end of this highly regarded book. Today I am am talking about what happens after a self-defense shooting, my opinion of the book and then what is next on AltF4.co. Let’s go.

Ayoob’s advice on what to do after a shooting is in alignment with what I have heard in today’s environment. Be the first to call the police if you can. Disarm before the police show up. Give a brief, non-confrontational statement and no more. It should contain certain phrases such as “I was afraid for my life. I shot this man and I will be happy to cooperate when I receive counsel with a lawyer”. That is it.

Before the ‘Summer of Love 2020’, there was the George Zimmerman shooting of George Floyd (2012). I happen to believe that Zimmerman was trying to do the right thing but going about things very ignorantly and stupidly. I am not sure that Floyd was up to no good, but Zimmerman was playing citizen cop, poorly.

There was plenty of digital evidence that something occurred and Florida is a castle doctrine state. The fact that Zimmerman was somewhat of a nuisance 911 caller and on the phone when he pursued and ultimately shot Floyd did not play well in his favor. Fortunately for Zimmerman, he was initially not charged with negligent manslaughter.

But, for political reasons (IMHO) Zimmerman was investigated for Civil Rights violations by the Department of Justice. Remember that this was the Obama era. From the time of the shooting in February 2012 until the case was ultimately dropped by the DOJ in April 2015, there was widespread speculation into Zimmerman’s character and intent. How is your nest egg? I will remind again that there are organizations like USCCA and Citizens Legal Defense Network.

This is a book that I was excited to read. I wanted to believe that being a highly respected work by a highly respected subject matter expert it would stand the test of time. Upon reading it, I realized that there has been too much legislative and technological water under the bridge to make this book relevant today. It would take a person already versed in this topic to be able to discriminate between the good and the not so good here.

What I think is good with it is that if you live in a ‘Constitutional Carry’ state, you need to know that there is a lot more to things then just strapping on your piece. Even if you just have a gun in the home, you need to know the parameters of when lethal force is legitimate. There are proper procedures to perform after a confrontation and you have to start somewhere.

I think Ayoob is in his mid to late seventies now. Ten years ago or so, I used to occasionally listen to him on his own podcast. I am a little surprised at some of the language used in the book that I am more than sure he would not endorse today. These would be the brandishing suggestions and the more tough guy bent that he set in some cases. I suspect that a lot of that was more a result of him being a New York City police officer. Lawmen will always be held to different (looser) standards than citizens not to mention qualified immunity (again).

It can’t be helped that so much time has passed as well as technology. Since I have been around so long, I have observed Ayoob’s recommendations evolve to slim automatics to 9mm to the current one and a half stack pistols like the Sig Sauer P365. Technology changes everything with tactics. It makes things like the suburbs possible to commute to a job daily. Now, with work from home ubiquitous an employee can literally live anywhere.

The book that I am starting next week is called Boundaries by Henry Cloud. This is a book that I have been wanting to read for twenty years. It is on the Dave Ramsey recommended list and it happens to be an area that I am weak in. There is no excuse to delay things that long as I always thought that it would be useful when my wife’s parents were alive. Better late than never.

I am not committed to how to break it up yet. It will likely be two chapters a week with the last week of reading is the last three chapters. To be prepared, read chapter one and two.

End Your Programming Routine: Ayoob has a newer book called Deadly Force which is definitely on my list. The description says that it is a follow-up to this book. I suspect that we will see all the newest and better, more relevant recommendations there. It is not my next book but I will probably read it this year. In the Gravest Extreme is out of print and rightly so. I think that it’s time has come and gone.

June 17, 2025 – Vacation Break

June 17, 2025 /

This is a short note to say that I will be off the next three days. The Friday entry is already made for chapter 17 and my conclusion of In the Gravest Extreme. It is just time to do what matters and that is spending time with my family.

The next book is Boundaries by Cloud and Townsend. I have already read a good portion of the first part. That would be six chapters. I anticipate that we will be back on schedule next week. But as always, that could change. There are some medical tests scheduled for next week.

The dirty little secret it is what has happened in preceding weeks that has caused this break. Often times, I try to cue up articles so that you wouldn’t even notice that I was gone but social obligations have had me so busy that I haven’t really had time to do the normal things that I do. So, we will break.

Until we meet again. Brandon

June 16, 2025 – A Light, Summer Platter

June 16, 2025 /

Alright, maybe the platter only has one kind of sandwich on it. Maybe it is an ‘S’-sandwich at that. But the idea was that I was going to have a smorgasbord of topics to cover. I guess you got ham and turkey. These are the sandwiches that are going to fill you up though. Let’s stop talking about sandwiches and give a listen.

June 13, 2025 – In the Gravest Extreme: The Role of the Firearm in Personal Protection, Chapters 15-16

June 13, 2025 /

Reading gunfighting tactics from a book is probably not the best idea. Don’t take my word for it, I am no consultant or trainer. I do believe that even with the best laid plans, practice is required. The problem is that most ranges do not allow holster draw. Mine specifically does but it does have to be with the intent of practicing techniques. I am not sure how you prove that but word to the wise.

The value of reading tactics comes after some training. This provides another perspective and the ability to analyze information. I do have to say that I learned something in this chapter that I never knew. Apparently, some revolvers have full length ejectors while others do not. Truthfully, I don’t know which ones I have or how to look for them, what models, etc.

The reason that I bring this up is that I was considering some classes for my wife. Nearly ever single self-defense pistol class requires a pistol (not a revolver). I don’t really have such a thing that I would consider appropriate. If it were me, I would just take what I have because that is what I might carry. The point is that I paid much more attention to the revolver information in this book whereas the vast majority of today’s concealed carrier would have a pistol.

Practice: no truer words were said. If you cannot hit anything at the range, how in the heck do you think you will defend your life properly? I have to admit that while I take a handgun nearly every range trip, I am a significantly better rifle shot. Not only are handguns harder to shoot accurately, but I practice rifle shooting most days with the air rifle. Most of my practice is offhand (no support) or left hand (weak hand) as well.

When it comes to things like shotguns and trap shooting, my kids can shoot my pants off. They shoot at least 75 targets for sixteen weeks a year whereas I might shoot 25 targets in one season (2X a year). They have significantly more experience than I ever have and it shows when we compete or shoot together. Those are two examples where practice is better than a loaded handgun in the sock drawer.

I do believe that you can read about safety from a book and it is effective. I am not going to extensively cover the rules of firearm safety. Some groups reference three rules while others say four. Neverthess, if you follow these you will always be safe.

  1. Treat every gun as it is loaded
  2. Keep your finger off of the trigger until ready to shoot.
  3. Verify your target and what is behind it.

Something that I think about is when others are around. I know that I am not going to do something stupid but what happens when there are other kids around? For that reason, when I am going to clean some firearms over the course of several days, I make sure that they are disassembled to the point of not being able to be used. I suppose kids smart enough could figure out how to put it back together but then they would have to know where the ammunition is, how to load it etc.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t leave stuff laying around routinely, even temporarily. But, I like to put stuff back in the safe clean. Often when I come back from the range I don’t have the time to clean up that day. I may have stuff on the bench for a few days while is am actively cleaning. Always make sure that I get my stuff put away expediently and be aware of what others may or may not know.

One last story. I know someone that was sleeping with a 9mm handgun under the pillow. One night while this person was sleeping they accidentally pulled the trigger. Fortunately, the only consequence was a hole in the wall. I have never gone out shooting (intentionally) with them but I highly suspect their judgement. Don’t do this.

End Your Programming Routine: We are approaching the end. Next week will be the last chapter and I will offer a conclusion as well. This will be unlike most books where the conclusion follows the last chapter. I felt this book was sufficiently short enough that it didn’t warrant another week. It is extremely unlikely that you would ever have to defend yourself, above everything else… be safe.

June 12, 2025 – Convalescence, For the Body and Soul

June 12, 2025 /

In the days before modern medicine, treatment used to involve avoidance and to a large degree living with chronic diseases. I trace my recent family roots to convalescence in fact. My great-great grandfather came to Salem, Oregon to live out his life in a Tuberculosis home. As fate would have it, it wasn’t very long and my great-great grandmother was a single mother of some young children.

You know that I am a sentimental sucker. Why else would I keep, let alone write about 30 year old boots and batteries? When I read a book or see a movie talking about sitting on the front porch every night, it sounds so appealing. And yet I have a hard time sitting still. It is not that I am not patient but that I am always worried about the efficiency of doing nothing.

One of the reasons I love audio is that I can be listening and doing something else at the same time. That makes it doubly difficult for me to just sit and listen to music or a ball game. And yet, radio is my favorite way of taking in sports. It reminds me of a life that I do not lead, a life of leisure and nothing better to do.

One of the things that I have been trying to do this year is go back to my roots and following OSU Beavers sports primarily football, basketball and baseball and largely on the radio. As luck would have it, the Beavers have a pretty good baseball team and were hosting a regional College World Series tournament. As luck (unlucky) would also have it, I got knocked down with some kind of sickness that had me in bed all weekend.

We have had significantly better than average spring weather this year. I decided that I would sit in the sun on the front porch with the radio on listening to the final game of the Corvallis regional. It was win or go home. I had listened to other games in the tournament, but this was the one. I was going to dedicate the time to a game, this is the one to pick.

I did feel guilty that I was just sitting there so I brought my laptop out thinking that I would write with the game on. But, as luck would have it, the laptop was causing electromagnetic interference with the AM signal reception. The signal was clear as day until I flipped the screen open. I repeated this test twenty times or so just to definitively prove the point.

I know, I will move the radio away and turn up the volume. But, I couldn’t find a way to use the computer and have the game on with clear reception, so I gave up. I had to make a choice, listen to the game or work on the computer. I went into the house and grabbed an old bag of sunflower seeds that were stale and enjoyed the Beavers cruise to victory and on to hosting a super regional.

That mid-seventies sun was a good contrast to laying in bed watching television. Both were comfortable but there was something about the fresh air that felt cleaner and invigorating. I hardly had had a cough while I was sitting there. As I was sitting there just being, I thought to myself that I do not know how to relax. To me, relaxing is for when all the work is done. But when is it ever done?

I don’t know what makes us tick. I know that my dad enjoyed sports even though he never really ever sat down to watch or listen. I am sure that is where my behavior came from. My kids could care less about sports even though my wife and I fans. It is more likely she will watch a game with me than they will. I just don’t make the time unless I can find something else to do at the same time.

Even reading is not the same. While reading I am interacting with a book or magazine while the world drives by. It is different than watching the constant stream of cars and wondering who is listening like me as I pump my fist for the double play or home run. Since I am never out there, I am just a crazy guy watching everyone go by.

End Your Programming Routine: I know that I have problems with resting. But, I really enjoyed sitting on the front porch going through a bag of sunflower seeds and cheering on my team. It makes me think that I need to do more of it be it a beer or iced tea. It made me forget that I was sick for a couple of hours and I feel a tiny bit better than I did before I went outside. I probably would have never done it had I not been sick.

June 11, 2025 – Man, I Love Old Stuff

June 11, 2025 /

Take a look at my almost thirty year old boots. Yeah, I know that I love to flaunt this kind of stuff. I originally bought a different brand of boots and the leather ripped on the first day of wearing them. So, I returned them and purchased these significantly more expensive pair of Danner boots to replace them.

They haven’t got a lot of wear, specifically lately. These are my hunting boots. It was about 2014 that I had worn them on my one and only elk hunting trip that I noticed the sole started to separate from a boot. I took them into a local boot repair and asked them to sew the sole back on which they did. The problem with that is that it cupped the boot tip up and the plastic toe protector would rub my big toe. So much so that it would become raw after a couple of days of wear and so they stayed on the shelf in favor of my low hikers the last couple of hunting seasons.

I thought that I would investigate the Danner recrafting services. Fortunately for me, I live close to the home of Danner and there is a factory store in Portland where they actually do the work. One Saturday I had to do some errands in Portland so I thought that I would inquire.

And inquire I did. The stern looking cobbler looked the boots over and said, I recommend a full rebuild. The plastic heel forms were no longer attached to the boot. He also said that there is no way of knowing whether the previous repair had punctured the Gore-Tex sock that make these boots waterproof. I don’t feel like they are compromised but the package offering below the full rebuild did not address the heel and so I conceded.

The cost to recraft these boots was $280. The step down was $240 so it didn’t make a lot of sense to scrimp. I suppose that if I didn’t need the heel structure repaired, I could have gotten away with just a new sole to remove the cupping. Otherwise, I would say the boots are in fantastic shape.

This was a hard pill to swallow. If it weren’t for the fact that now these boots cost $450 dollars to replace and it was extremely unlikely I would wear them again with my toe rubbing I would have said that the financial cost was not worth it. Based on replacement costs of most of their boots, I would say that there are very few models that are worth recrafting. In other words, I would have been money ahead to buy a new pair of boots, just not these.

My understanding of this process is that the boot is entirely reconstructed. The plastic bits at the toe and the heel are replaced with a new sock. There is a new tread put on and probably a new sole core, although I do not know. They do offer options of tread pattern that the boot originally was not sold with, a bit of customization. The brass lace rivets are replaced because over time the pressure of the laces cause sharp edges to form causing laces to break faster over time.

What exactly remains of the old boot? I think just the leather which has been re-dyed. They include new laces and new insole platforms. With all that, they should look like new because they basically are. If it makes the bitter pill any easier to swallow, there is free shipping to and from, that saves time and mileage expense.

One other thing I was offered was 25% coupon at the factory store. I am definitely thinking about replacing my hikers, I don’t like them so that discount is probably worth $50 if I can find a pair of Danner hikers I like. That is still to be determined.

End Your Programming Routine: One of the reasons I justified this purchase originally was that they were an investment. That being said, how many people actually have their shoes repaired? I was going to give them an inaugural run on the sporting clays course but God thought I needed to stay in bed sick instead. So, I haven’t worn them yet. I may have to just wear them around town just to make sure that this fixed the problem. Let’s assume that is the case, I will report back otherwise.

June 10, 2025 – When It Is Too Good to Be True, It Is

June 10, 2025 /

Sometimes, people that pride themselves into not getting duped, do. That’s me. And, hindsight being 20/20, I should have known better. I am a little angry and I second guess the whole process even if it might be the overall right decision. Let’s get into it.

In 2015, we were going to paint the house. It was at this point that some rot was discovered and ultimately led to us putting Hardie-plank over the existing T-111. It was also at that time that the front window started leaking. It is hard for me to believe but it is true that adding something on the outside caused leaking on the inside.

Over the years I have tried various things. I caulked around the upper window once and that seemed to work for a year. We hired somebody that didn’t know what they were doing and caulked on the inside (that was never going to work and it wasn’t worth pursuing given they clearly didn’t know what they were doing). In 2023, I paid a contractor to completely tear off and re-flash the window. It still leaked.

We batted around the idea of changing that window into a bay window in 2018. It was something I thought about doing during my break from work in 2019-2020 but I ended up getting involved in completely remodeling the apartment instead. Finally, my wife decided that she wanted to replace the front windows.

Have you seen the TV commercials where you buy one and get the second one free? My wife called them. These are triple glazed, argon filled, UV coated and lifetime guaranteed. I knew that it was going to be expensive and any business that advertises on TV was going to be suspect. I knew there was a leak and so I gave an extensive line of questioning. The final answer I got was that they were going to own the leak. I am sold.

Most people, myself included would say that two windows for $10,000 was over priced. I wasn’t just getting new windows, I was solving a problem that I had already spent $7500 on. I was told that any rot repair would be done outside of the window contract but that there would be a per linear foot cost and would be performed as part of the installation process.

I should have known that this was too good to be true. As the installers were tearing out the window, they said that structural damage was beyond the scope of the contract. Any additional rot repair would have to be performed first. They could do the work but were not authorized to start at the point that the window is out of the house and it would be two weeks out.

The installer advised me to get some additional estimates, his was going to be Time and Materials one to three days. Do you have any idea what it would be like to get someone within two weeks time to do the work? The longer this process takes, the longer there will be a hole covered with OSB in my front room. I am not a fool, I knew that there was a risk to more damage, I was already planning on redoing the sheetrock on the south side of the wall anyway due to water damage (after the new window). We could have solved this problem in the ten weeks we were waiting for the window.

I think that it is worth re-iterating, I am not looking for something for nothing. I knew that additional rot damage would be on our dime. I am also not surprised that there was more damage. I guess what is disappointing is that when he said they were going to own the leak, I believe what he really meant was that they were going to make sure that their windows were not the source and take as little responsibility as possible. I don’t honestly believe that they are vested in solving the problem.

All of that linear foot nonsense was about the wood casing itself. Really? In my experience rot is rarely limited to superficial trim. And so I am beat. I got suckered into buying windows that are five times more expensive than the average window all because I believed what I wanted to believe.

End Your Programming Routine: My gut feeling with these outfits is always no and from now on it will be. About two weeks later my wife called in a shower outfit and got a quote for a $20,000 shower. I was smart and said no to that one. The product brands are good and nice and all but they way overcharge and under deliver. I guess you are never too old to learn another lesson. One I should have known before the salesman walked in the door.