Valascus

There is a trojan horse type virus embedded somewhere on that website. My anti-virus picked it up too. Does it everytime I go to that site. http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2008-052714-3021-99

Now I gotta try to break 7.

I did get the boat. It needs a bit of work, but nothing too serious. New decking and carpet, maybe some paint and other minor cosmetic things. All things boat have been put on hold until things at work settle down. Company I work for got bought out and we are in the midst of a massive computer and operations conversion. No one is really sure how any of this affexts us yet, so gotta be careful with the money. I probably won't be able to fish either tourney. Work has me tied up for the weekend of the 15th and my daughters birthday is the 29th. Next time I see ya, I'll have to show you the picture of the 6lbs 1 oz. fish I caught out of the "smaller fish" farm pond.

I'll be finally hitting the water sometime this weekend. Probably just start out slow at the public pond in the area to knock the rust off, then scoot off to some nice farmponds I found in Jonesburg with some 7 lbs+ feesh.

That's really a strange set of pictures actually. If I am not mistaken, mountain lions are solitary creatures. The only "pride" they travel in is a mother and her cubs. So, either those pics are of a mother and her cubs, which is still exciting to see in Wisconsin, or it is pics of a pride of mountain lions. The second would be very interesting indeed since none of the experts believe these animals travel in prides. Very cool.

Oddly enough, in my neck of the woods, gas has jumped $0.22 this past week. I know prices are still droping, so I couldn't quite figure that one out. Regular Unleaded is going for $1.69. Did I miss something? :-?

My boss loves the stuff. And to make matters worse he knows that 90% of the staff hates it with a passion. So knowing this he makes us all utterly miserable from right after Thanksgiving through the New Year. In September there was a radio station here that announced it was going to be changing format starting January 1st. So instead of retaining it's normal music format and disc jockeys until then, they axed all the jockeys and started playing Christmas music in September.

Here's one for you Cart. Line didn't break on this sucker! ;D Went 6lbs 1oz. Caught it first week of September on a 10" black/blue Powerworm. Broke my 5lb goal and went ahead and broke 6lbs just for good measure.

Why? Why? You may say below that there is no difference between an automatic or semi-automatic weapon, but I respectfully disagree. I am no gun expert by any means, but if they was no difference between the two, then why is there so much more training required to properly fire or own an automatic weapon? How much of the general population can properly, safely, and accurately fire an automatic weapon? How many hours of range time do military personnel have to practice firing automatic weapons? When it comes down to it, the general population, for the most part, is far too untrained and unprepared for automatic weapons. Those who care to go through all proper licensing, hours upon hours of autmatic weapons training, automatic weapons safety courses, and automatic weapon maintenence should be allowed to own one.

I respectfully disagree. Please expand. I'm curious of why. I am not trying to step on anyones toes here. Just a respectful reply. I think I see where he is coming from GMAN. I am all for the 2nd amendment. However, did the article say anything about whether this gentleman was licensed to even have the Uzi? Or if the "instructor" was licensed to have, fire, and "give lessons" on how to use the Uzi? Control of hunting rifles, carrying pieces, home protection, antique collectibles, etc., etc., I believe is unnecessary. I understand there are already very, very tight regulations on automatic weapons. It appears to me that they may need to be a bit tighter. The article says it all. Full investigations are being conducted to check whether all parties involved had the proper licensing. I may be wrong, but that COULD be where Matt is coming from.

Darn, you caught me. How did you guess I was wasting mine and everyone else's time by creating an elaborate story regarding some cats? :

Tried cayenne pepper with mixed results. Kept some away and not others. Not sure why. Bad thing about cayenne is you have to apply it daily. In the morning when the dew settles ,or if it rains, it dilutes the effects. If we didn't re-apply the cats would just come back. It worked pretty well for the most part when the pepper was fresh though. On another note, I am on the cities schedule of minutes at the next city council meeting to speak on this particular subject. I have a whooping three minutes to state my case. : But, I guess that's another issue altogether.

If I happened to catch a kitten or one of the younger cats, that might be possible. Some of the older ones I have seen are kind of sickly looking and there are three in particular that are pretty aggressive. To make matters worse, the aggressive ones aren't really that afraid of humans. Usually if I start to chase one off they will run, but those three start hissing, making all kinds of racket, and will stand their ground. My next door neighbor is a cat guy, so I may be able to see if he would adopt any younger animals. I get the feeling that a lot of the older cats are just too sick or aggressive for adoption. It's funny that you mention the mice. Almost a third of Overland used to have a massive rat problem about a year ago. Was on the news and everything. I never saw one around here, but the residents who saw them on a regular basis said it was way more than just a few rats. The city tried their best to ramp up means to eradicate the rats, but over the course of about 2 months the problem seemed to fix itself. I think I know why.

I couldn't get a hold of Overland's "animal control" agent...again. However, I did talk to someone at STLCo Animal Control and the answer I got this time was far different that what I got last time. When I asked about the waiting list for the animals to be picked up, the officer told me that only applied if the person requesting pick up of the animal wanted a "guarantee" of no-kill or adoption of said animal. The last person I spoke with said nothing about a no waiting list option. She informed me the waiting list was designed to ensure that room and provisions were the animal within their facilities. I told her I wasn't concerned with that at all. I just want the cats away from and off my property. She said that's not a problem and that if I do capture any of the cats to call and an officer will be dispatched immediately. She was even so informative as to provide me with an after hours number to call if I have a cat that needs to be picked up. So I just bought a Havahart 32" x 11" x 12" trap and a buncha cans of cheap tuna. Hopefully over the next couple weeks I can make a dent in this problem.

I have been researching both municipal and county laws regarding the issue. Apparently I cannot even discharge a pellet gun within Overland's city limits. So the shooting of anykind idea is out. I also imagine the paintball idea may be similar, and even if it isn't, if someone saw me shoot a cat with a paintball gun, I am sure they would call the police for animal cruelty. So, again, shooting is out. I also have looked up scheduling for Overland's city council meeting, which I will attend as soon as there is another meeting. The woman that babysits my daughter will also be attending as well as a few of the people who signed her petition. Hopefully this can spur some sort of action to be taken. Muddy, I have done quite a few web searches over the last few months regarding the matter. I posted this thread hoping that someone may have an idea that I have not come across on your run of the mill web search. But, pertaining to some of the information in your search link: I keep my property as clean as possible and have made sure there are no spaces the animals can use for shelter. Unfortunately, one of my neighbors is not quite so neat and I am certain his backyard is a great place for at least a few of them to hide. I could use some of the sprays that are listed, however, almost biweekly reapplication is required in most cases. A single bottle of the stuff costs at least $20.00 in my neck of the woods at my local hardware store. That's going get pricey awfully fast and is not even completely guaranteed to work. Fluke, I am not certain if anyone in the vicinity is feeding the cats. If they were, I am not even sure they would admit it for fear of recourse from the city code enforcer since he left all of those notices on everyone's doors. One thing about this area is there are many people around here with bird feeders. Easy predation of the birds may be keeping them in the area. I will try to convince my wife and neighbors to try an experiment and remove the feeders for a short period to see if it helps alleviate the problem. I think the safest, most practical, and cheapest course of action for me to take will involve trapping the animals myself with the cooperation of the local animal control department. I will call them this afternoon to see if there is anyway something similar to what Grimlin described can be set up. I will also try to call Overland's animal control/rabies/code enforcer to bother him again about setting up additional traps. If I don't get anywhere with either of these phone calls, I will just have to call as many animal shelters, vets offices, etc., as I can to see if they are taking the cats. If they aren't, I am not really sure what I am going to do with the animals. Some of them I have seen are kind of sickly looking while others are a bit on the aggressive side. So I am not to sure if an animal rescue agency of some sort would take the animals, but I suppose that will be another avenue to look into.

C'mon folks. I am being serious here. I kinda feel like I am at a dead end with this situation and have been trying to remedy it for quite some time now. I am looking for some serious advice, not a bunch of immature or backhanded comments. To those of you who are being serious, thank you. I appreciate it. A buddy of mine suggested some sort of predatory animal scents. Not sure where I would come up with something like that though.

While I agree that is an excellent course of action, I do not have much faith in the measure working in the near future. Actions such as this are being undertaken. The woman that babysits my daughter was a former city council member and is still quite active in the city government, though she no longer holds any sort of official position. She has a petition in the works requesting the hiring of additional animal control officers that would work for Overland. I dont know how many signatures she has, but mine is on it. She is still privy to more information than your average citizen, including more detailed information regarding the cities budget and spending habits. Even she has quite a few doubts as to the effectiveness of a petition, but we are trying anyway. Also, I never suggested that I am going with the lethal options. I am well aware of the legal reprocussions of those actions. Right now I am simply looking for advice on way to handle the situation. I also asked if anyone knows of any nonlethal means of getting rid of the animals that I am unaware of. I would much rather employ a nonlethal means of ridding at least my yard of the animals.

I have tried the local Humane Societies, Animal Protection Associations, and ASPCA's. All have said they are currently not taking strays. And do me a favor and delete your first comment. I am trying to keep a civil thread here. I don't want it to turn political or argumentative in any way, shape or form. If the thread gets locked I am not going to get any helpful advice.

No can do on the .22 short idea. I live in a suburb. if I were in a more rural area, that's exactly what I would have done. But, in the St. Louis County discharging a firearm can get some real hefty charges pressed against you. Oh yeah...did I mention there is a St. Louis County police officer that lives across the street from me? ;D

I am going to slap a bit of a disclaimer up here. If you like cats and are easily offended, or just generally don't have anything constructive to add to the topic, don't read any further. I apologize for the length of the post, but bear with me if you will. Any advice is appreciated. For the last 4 months or so, the municipality I live in, Overland, MO, has been having an increasing problem with stray cats. The cats are causing some homeowners in the area property damage, deficating in peoples yards and flowerbeds, and, in isolated instances have caused injury to small pets and children. Just on the section of street I live on, I have counted up to 12 different animals meandering about. I have been experiencing issues with the cats deficating in my wife's flowerbeds and my yard. I could also end up experiencing issues with the cats causing harm to my 3 year old daughter, my wife, or my dog, either physically if one of them were to accidently surprise or corner one or healthwise if they were to accidentaly come in contact with a sick animals feces. A short time before this problem started to occur,the City of Overland's governing body, in their infinite wisdom, decided to disband their animal control department. The citizens have been told that all animal control issues should be forwarded to the Saint Louis County Animal Control Division. Numerous citizens have tried to contact STLCo Animal Control only to be told that there was a "waiting list" for the pick up of nuisance animals the could range from 1-3 days and that the animal had to be detained by the citizen making the complaint until an animal control officer could be dispatched. So, let me get this straight, I am to try to somehow detain a stray animal that could be sick, diseased, and/or highly aggressive? That was 2 months ago. Now when a citizen calls they are told that all local animal shelters are inundated with stray animals and that they are uncertain as to when the nuisance animal can be picked up. So, no help from our friends at STLCo Animal Control. About 6 weeks ago, I decided to do some more research concerning the cities plans, if any, to try and get a handle on this problem. I found that Overland has put one person in charge of their animal control problem. That's right, ONE. This one person is in charge of code enforcement, rabies enforcement, and animal control. I decided to contact this person and speak with him about the problem. He said that he would come out and place traps on my property and my neighbors property, providing that it was alright with my neighbor. However, even he could not say with any certainty whether or not he could do anything with animal in the event of it's capture, as many of the local animal shelters probably wouldn't take them since they were full. I told him I didn't care as long as the animals were removed from the area and were not coming back. About a week later I received a letter posted on my front door, as did many of my neighbors, with general information regarding leash and rabies laws and stating that he would be in the area setting traps. I kept that letter. That was about 5 weeks ago and I have not seen a single trap. I have made efforts to contact him again without avail. I have also left messages for him, but have yet to receive any return phone calls. I can't help but feel like the city government is simply giving me the run around, and really has no plan in place to combat this growing problem. I have also tried going through STLCo Animal Control only to get a lot more of the same answers I got before. I am now pretty much to the point were I am going to take matters into my own hands. If I can't get any help from the folks who are supposed to be doing their jobs, then I will do it for them. I have considered using mothballs. However, putting mothballs all over my front and back yard seems a bit impractical. I am also not sure if mothballs will do any damage to my wifes flowers. I have also been tld that a mixture of water and garlic deters cats, but again constantly having to spray the yard and flowers to keep the effect seems impractical. Not only that, the garlic could possibly attract other critters that roam the area such as opossums or raccoons. On the lethal side of things, I have considered using a pellet pistol to off the cats. The strongest one I have found that won't break the bank is the Crosman 1377 C. With ten pumps, it fires a pellet 600 feet per second. First of all, I don't know if 600fps is powerful enough to kill the animal in one shot. I want to make sure that if I do decide to kill the animals that I do it as humanely as possible. Second of all, I certainly don't need a cat screeching in agony drawning attention to me since I am not to sure on the legality issues involved in taking the lethal route of getting rid of these animals. So, does anyone have any other ideas, lethal or nonlethal, to get rid of these cats? Thanks for reading and for any input.

Yeah...so everything that was said above, don't do that. Not only is it stupid, it's also very illegal in most states. My suggestion is a managuense, also known as a Jaguar Cichlid. They start out pretty small, an inch or two, but can grow quite large. In a properly maintained aquarium they can get to be about 14"-17". Largest I have ever heard of is 22" long. They are gorgeous fish and are quite aggressive. Don't know that I would put much else in the tank with it, but that's up to you. Just be warned that as it get's larger it will likely show aggression towards any tankmates. I would suggest a tank at least 80 gallons. A larger one would be better than that. I would also recommend a heavy duty filtration undergravel cannister filtration system since these fish, like most cichlids, are quite messy.

Elephant...no. Mastodon, yes. At one time Mastodon heards were common in Missouri. Just look up Mastodon State Park in Imperial, MO. I would be willing to bet that is what you have there Dan. Excellent find! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastodon

Bingo... Cart7 is fine and dandy. He sends his regards to everyone here. :-X

I'll bet all of your fishing gear and taclke is made in the USA! : ;D I support U.S. owned companies when I can. You might not be able to find an American TV or a decent American made reel, but you can certainly find plenty of good, quality, American made (and owned) beers. A-B was a great employer for St. Louis, they paid well and were generous in the community. InBev has a reputation for cutting workers. (cue patriotic music here...) I, too, plan to search for a new American brew. It will be an exhaustive journey that may take months, or even years of painstaking research, but as God is my witness, I will once again find the perfect American Beer! USA! USA! USA! Ya ain't got to look far for the new American Brew. Schafly's makes some good brew and is based out of St. Louis.

Firestone ATX may be no more. Firestone may have corrected every deficiency they ever had. They may be the perfect company now turning out the perfect product. But "they dun me wrong." So it's OK that I hate them forever. I know it's OK. Ask Roadwarrior. ;D I can understand that. What they did to you was horrid customer service. After getting burned like you did, I wouldn't give the company that did it my business either. Fisher, it is probably better that you can't find any "Good-for-a-years" close to you anyway. We don't even carry the brand anymore, but when we did, we got a lot back with varying issues. Bubbling, bad treadwear, tread seperation, etc. You name it, a Goodyear tire probably came back with it. I still say the best bang for your buck, with all the qualities you have asked for is the Firestone Destination Le. FBL's suggestion of Brdigestone is not a bad one either. You would probably find what you are looking for in the Dueler line of tires. In my experience though, Duelers USUALLY cost more than Destinations. Hope you find what you are looking for. Good luck.