Friday, August 31, 2007

Banner Year for Dove and Teal


TPWD says we'll have lots of dove and teal this year. Teal up 50%. Short season and hot as hell, but teal hunting sure is fun. Dove are plentiful but likely to be scattered because of abundant food and water. Bag limit is 15 in the north zone (north of I20/I30) and 12 in the central zone (from I20/I30 south to I10). Never understood the rationale behind that.

Debt Collection Suits on Rise

Good article in the FWST about the rise in lawsuits filed by debt collectors, a concern I expressed a few blog entries ago. Key points to remember: Don't ignore debt collection efforts (especially letters and anything nailed to your door while you're at work) and be ready to challenge the debt collector's documentation of the debt. Often these groups buy debts from the original creditors and the paperwork necessary to establish the debt (the original credit card agreement and so forth) doesn't make it from the creditor to the collector. In the three or four such cases I've handled for friends, I have yet to see one that had the evidence necessary to prevail at trial. But the debtor has to stand up and challenge the suit, or else face a default judgment (in which case the collector can get a judgment against the creditor despite not having all the necessary paperwork to back up the debt).

On a similar note, write your elected officials (state and federal) about the abuses heaped upon average consumers by the banking and lending institutions. Grandma's utility bills go up and she falls a couple of months behind on paying off that new dishwasher from Sears, and suddenly she finds herself a defendant in a collection suit. That ain't right.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Getting Ready for Bird Season

I need one of these...think of all the birds I could shoot at and miss.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

I Don't Watch Oprah, I Swear

While backpacking in Colorado recently with two buddies, one of them went on and on about how much he enjoys the Oprah show and some regular guest named "Dr. Oz." Thinking to myself how glad I was that I was not sharing a tent with this fellow, I promptly forgot about his comments until I read this article on CNN/Oprah.com. Says we men can drink all the coffee and red wine we want and it'll make us healthy...or that is what I gathered from skimming it. Sadly, chicken-fried steak and beer did not make the short list of healthy foods. But among the good news, coffee is good for bowel movements. Who knew? Anyway, perhaps the Oprah show deserves a look.

Dove Season Opens Saturday

It's just around the corner, my friends: September 1st, that time of year near and dear to all Texans, either because football season starts or - more importantly - bird season starts. Love it, love it, love it. If you're headed out this weekend, best wishes and be safe. Watch the heat, the snakes, and the idiots. Here's a link to some good dove recipes. Also, make sure you put the plug back in the gun from last quail season, get that license ahead of time (available on-line and over the phone), and be kind to Game Wardens. Those guys are pros and deserve our respect and appreciation.

This...is not my plane

Just trying to figure out how to upload photos. But this is a pretty cool old picture of a Piper Cub.

Long Time, No Blog

Geez, time flies. Summer has come and gone, kids are back in school, dove season starts Saturday and I haven't blogged in ages. This is due to any number of reasons, the primary ones being laziness and poor typing skills. Ah, well. In any event, I wanted to link up two sites. The first one is a great resource for trial lawyers and the second is one of the funniest blogs I've ever seen. Witty, entertaining, informative, inspirational. Big thumbs up to Barry. My only regret is that he doesn't like my Longhorns. But hey, my wife went to Baylor, so I can appreciate where he's coming from.