Bright Idea Outdoors Weblog

Help Give Leesburg Area Kids A Chance to Play Baseball This Spring

Central Loudoun Little League urgently needs funds to help ensure we can go forward with plans for the 2013 spring season.  Your donation helps make it possible for more than 1,00o children in the Leesburg area to play the great American game of baseball on fields in their home town.

Please consider making a donation, and if you'd be interested in supporting the league as a business sponsor there are some great PR benefits for you company as well.  Those are outlined in the CLLL 2013 sponsorship package linked here: Download 2013 CLLL Sponsorship info levels and form (1).

And if you have questions, please feel free to contact me directly by emailing mattcoughlin2003@yahoo.com.  As you might have guessed, I'm working as CLLL fundraising director this year, and I hope we can count on your support!

Winter of Loss

For the third time in as many months, we're mourning the loss of a beloved family member.  Maxine "Grandmother" Wilkins passed away over the weekend at the age of 87 in Little Rock Arkansas.

Maxine was a lively and fun person, but there are two things I'll always remember best about her.  One was how much fun she had at our wedding and how much she liked my good friend JD, who escorted her down the aisle.

The other thing happened during the other of her two visits to Northern Virginia.  I'd shot an 8-point buck and brought it home to show everyone.  The kids came rushing out to see it, and Maxine was right behind them.

"Oh, it's a small deer," she said.

The truth is the buck wasn't all that big, but it was the first one I'd shot that year.  In spite of her comment, I was thrilled that Maxine was interested in seeing my deer.  She helped me eat it not long after that too!

Goodbye Maxine.

Product Review: Dorcy Twin Globe LED Lantern

The folks over at Dorcy, which deals in LED Flashlights, were kind enough recently to send me their LED Twin Globe lantern to review.  I'd been planning to test the lantern out in the "field" but have been too busy to get very far outdoors after dark.  So rather than keep the good people at Dorcy waiting any longer, the boys and I tested the lantern at home last night.

We started in the pitch black of my garage, where the lantern lit the room nicely.  It worked well in the back yard too.  We turned it on and off several times and tried all the settings.

Like my single globe Coleman LED lantern, the Dorcy Twin Globe runs on four D cell batteries.  It's lighter than the other lantern as well and more versatile with the ability to use one or two globes or the amber bulb setting.  The Dorcy does not, however,  cast quite as bright a light as the Coleman, even using both globes.  At $50 retail, the Dorcy is not cheap but is quite competitive with other lanterns in its class.

My favorite feature of the Dorcy Twin Globe is the amber bulb.  It could be used as as a safety beacon, and I also might use it to mark the location of a field-dressed deer in the dark woods while I hike back to camp to get a four-wheeler or truck.  I could do this on a rainy day since the Dorcy Lantern is waterproof.  It also floats; I performed the water-related parts of the test in the sink!

The plastic handle and light weight make the LED Twin Globe easy to carry, but it doesn't hang on a hook in camp quite as easily as lanterns with strap handles.  

All-in-all a very nice product.  Be sure and click the link in the first paragraph to check out the LED Twin Globe and all the other flashlight products Dorcy has to offer.

Remarks from My Uncle Jim's Memorial Service 01/12/2013

Opening Remarks

Like many people in this room, I have fond childhood memories of my Uncle Jim. Swimming and fishing in the lake at his house; fireworks when it got dark; and fishing for blues in the Chesapeake Bay. Jim was a larger than life figure, a man who did a job most of us can only read about in books.

And that continued later when Jim told me stories and showed me pictures of the places around the world where he’d gone SCUBA diving.  

But by the time I really started to get to know Jim, his work life was behind him and his diving days were either over or almost over. It was in the late 1990’s when he asked me to go offshore fishing with him. I stayed at Jean and Jim’s condo in the Outer Banks, and it was only then that I began to learn a little about their lives, where they were from and how they’d gotten to where they were. I learned that they’d lived on the same plantation as children, and Jim told me that he had an accounting degree. Jim also asked me if I’d like to go deer hunting with him.  By that time Jim was in his 70’s, but he seemed so at home with people, no matter what their age.

It wasn’t until more than a year later that I did finally go hunting with Jim, and it was then that I realized what is still probably the most remarkable thing about this remarkable man. We were riding down a dirt road in King William County, neither of us saying anything. Yet the silence was not awkward. It occurred to me then that here was a man I could sit with in total silence and not feel uncomfortable.

Well, years went by and deer hunting became a very important part of my life. That was thanks in large part to Jim but also to some other people here in this room today. I had the chance to hunt with Jim many more times, and we continued our offshore fishing trips for several more years. One of the best was when Jim and his friend Al came to stay with Kim and myself, this time in a beach condo we had rented for the week in Kill Devil Hills.Jim told us a few stories from his law enforcement days, and again, I noticed just how comfortable it was to be around him.

But the most meaningful trip I ever took with Jim was less than a month ago. We went to King William County, to the Holly Grove Hunt Club that was such an important part of Jim’s life. Both of us knew that Jim had reached the end of the trail; that this would be his last hunt.

And I resolved this time, that no matter how comfortable it might be, I would not let Jim sit in silence. So I started asking him questions, and he told me stories about his life. About chasing crooks through the subway and about people he’d put in prison sending him Christmas cards.

On the way back to Richmond, I asked Jim what sports he’d liked as a youngster, and he told me that he hadn’t had much chance to play sports because he’d attended five different high schools. He told me his dad tried to enlist during the second world war but was too old so instead did his part working in several different defense plants, including one that would come to be known as the Manhattan Project.

Jim said he’d wanted to go to the Naval Academy but instead accepted an appointment to the Merchant Marine Cadet Corps. That enabled him to leave high school two months early, and he received his diploma upon completion of his initial training.

I also asked Jim how long he’d been hunting at Holly Grove, and he said for 25 years. Now, I’m not too good at math, and it took me a minute, but I figured out that 25 years ago Jim was 60. I remembered then too, being at Holly Grove once when my now-12-year-old son Jake was a baby.

“Just think,” Jim said. “A few years from now, Jake will be able to come down here and hunt with us.”

At the time, I said to myself ‘that would be nice, but is Jim really going to be hunting still by the time Jake’s old enough?’

Well, guess what? In the fall of 2011 Jake, Nick and I all had the privilege of hunting with Jim at Holly Grove.

So I guess the most important lesson I take from Jim Aardweg’s life, and especially from the time I spent with him in its final days, is that it’s never too late to start something new, and you’re never too old to do the things you love to do to the best of your ability.

God has not invited us to watch the game. He’s invited us to play the game; and my Uncle Jim played it with reckless abandon.

Prayer

Now, I’d be a liar if I told you I knew anything about Jim’s religious beliefs or his relationship with God. But I do know that before we ate at Holly Grove, Jim held my hand and we prayed together. So I’d like to offer a prayer now.

Heavenly Father, you are resplendent with light, more magnificent than a mountain rich with game.

Thank you Father for giving us this day and this opportunity to be together.

To mourn our loss and to honor this great man you blessed our lives with for so many years.

Be in our hearts Father as we go on without him, help us to do our best, to live our lives without fear.

Let us be without fear of trying new things and without fear of death.

But most of all Father, let us not fear silence. For in silence, we can hear so much.

Like a leaf falling to the forest floor.

In Jesus’ name we pray.

Amen

With that I’ll open the floor to whomever would like to speak. Please feel free to say what’s in your heart but don’t feel obligated, because if there’s one thing I learned from Jim, it’s that you don’t have to talk to be heard.

Closing Remarks

Thank you all for coming today, and thank you for sharing your memories with all of us. I would ask now for a moment of silence. Take this time to reflect on Jim Aardweg’s life and on how we might honor him even after we leave here today.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank you again for bringing us all here together today, and we ask again that you be in our hearts as we walk through those doors.

We ask also Lord that you lift up my Aunt Jean.

Fill her heart with joy as she looks back at the life she lived with Jim and fill her mind and body with strength as she goes on without him.

And every morning when she wakes up, Lord, remind her of the promise that each new day holds.

In Jesus’ name we pray.

Amen

Goodbye Uncle Jim

We lost my Uncle Jim Aardweg on Monday.  He was 85 and lived an extremely full life, but it's still never easy to say goodbye.

I've written a lot about Jim here over the years, and he played a huge role in my growth as an outdoorsman and as a person.  Jim was a beloved figure in my family and was a great man who dedicated much of his life to public service.  

Here is a link to his obituary in the Richmond Times Dispatch.

Taking a Turn

With light fading fast on the final day of hunting season, the one deer I'd seen all afternoon melted into the woods.  I glanced at my phone.  Ten minutes left of legal shooting.

I looked through the gloam at the fields before me, wondering if this would the last time I did.  The landowner had big plans for his property and said it would all look different by next fall.  I caught some movement out the corner of my left eye.  A doe, crossing the ridge, north to south.

She made her way toward the hedgerow on the property line, and another one materialized behind her.  I looked at this one through the scope at about 200 yards.

As they got closer, I twice raised my muzzleloading rifle, the deer, within 150 yards now but lots of branches between us.  Again, I looked at the time; four minutes left, and the second doe turned in my direction, moving faster now.

I trained the rifle on the spot where I wanted her to be, and a strange thought crossed my mind.  I thought about when my Aunt Jean told me the story of Uncle Jim taking her hunting.

She'd told me she looked at the deer just before Jim squeezed the trigger.

"Run beauty run," she'd silently implored.

But another ten steps and the deer I watched would be dead.  One minute left in the season.

Then the deer turned and went back to the northeast at a trot.  I watched it crest the ridge and disappear into the nighttime that had enveloped the fields.

I waited a few minutes, until the darkness was complete, and climbed down from my stand.  Slinging my rifle over my shoulder, I made my way up the familiar path along the hedgerow without a flashlight.

Even in my sadness at the end of deer season , I became aware that a little smile had spread across my face.  And I knew that even as that deer had turned away from me and toward another day of living, so too had I taken a turn.

 

Happy 2013

Well, we finally made it to 2013.  The last couple weeks of the year were action-packed: hunting with my Uncle Jim, a little bit of snow, a lot of unsuccessful goose-hunting with Jake and some good times with family and friends.  Oh yeah, and watching Washington beat Dallas to win the NFC East!

But now it's January and time to get back to the grindstone.  Work will get busy again soon, kids' sports will be ramping back up, and I've got at lot to do in my new capacity as fundraising director of Central Loudoun Little League.

Meanwhile, I started a new wildlife management project at a high profile Northern Virginia property on New Years Day.  Most of what I'm doing there has to be kept confidential per the client, but I'm really excited to have the opportunity.

Even as I've blogged less frequently over the last few years, the Bright Idea Blog continues to open doors for me.  Maybe one of them will lead to something good this year!

Hunting With Uncle Jim

What a great way to start the Christmas break from work: hunting in King William County with my Great Uncle Jim!

I picked Jim up in Richmond Friday morning, and we drove up to King William and met up with some other members of Jim's hunting club.  I shot a doe that afternoon, and we had some great meals and a great time hanging out with Jim's buddies.  

Jim stayed in the cabin when most of the rest of us headed for the woods.

"I don't want to kill a deer anymore," he told me.

Hearing that made me sad for a moment, but it was short-lived.  That's because even as he rested on the couch in the cabin, Jim was with me  in the woods Friday and Saturday.

He's always with me, every time a deer emerges, every time I hear a dog on the trail of a buck.  He's with me when I squeeze the trigger and every time I decide to let the deer walk.

And Jim is with me when I hear the sound a leaf makes, falling to the forest floor. . .

School Shooting: Hog Blog Says it All

I've been feeling guilty that I haven't written anything about what happened in Connecticut last week.  Come to think of it, I feel guilty even smiling or laughing at a joke.

But I read a blog post this morning that says so much, and captures what I think so many of us are feeling, that I must share it.  Please read Phillip's post, A Clouded Christmas.

Golf Course Monster

First of all, no, I didn't shoot this huge eight-point buck.

I was however, called to the scene after it was injured in a car crash and limped onto a local golf course in Fairfax County.  By the time I got there, police had been called in to put the animal down. 

The rut may be over, but deer crashes are still a major hazard on Northern Virginia roadways.  Please be careful when you're out on the road, especially at night, this holiday season.