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Bear Sighting after .308 Call

Was listening to WLW AM700 early this AM.. the hosts were talking about Bears. Bears who respond to gun shots - not running away, but they've learned, 'hear a gun shot, there's fresh meat waiting, just go get it!'

Whoa....! Wasn't expecting that! I thought a gun shot scared them away!? Wha...??? How did they learn the sound of a gun shot meant fresh food is being served? Maybe it's the same with garbage dumps, they smelled something edible, and checked it out. That would explain our Bee Hives being wrecked years ago.

Leaving Chatham around dusk, headed west on Hwy57 towards Martinsville, VA., visibility into the setting sun isn't the best. Even so as the work truck lumbered over the dual sets of rail road tracks, towards a wooded section ... something dark was moving towards the road ahead. Having exceeded my lifetime limit of Road Kill Deer, naturally, I slowed down... Out of the woods, like a line of ducks, Mama ... a small size cub, and another, and a third - 3 little guys, doing more playing than following momma Bear.

Friend of mine from our days of teaching Hunter Safety, was determined to 'get his first bear' in Wisconsin. Being an Army Ranger - but not a football player, automatically ruled out 'throwing spears', but not handguns... He'd carefully recorded bear activity on his 'trail cam' - yep, there they were, and bragged, 'here's proof, Bears do in fact, crap in the woods... but more discretely than to flaunt it on camera. There was bear 'scat' here and there, and the trail cam caught the bears walking back and forth one night, eating blackberries or something like them, in stunning & fuzzy black and white.

To increase the chances of getting a Bear, not much of a hunt, he managed to secure a pickup truck load of Hostess Twinkies... those little yellow things that defy aging & taste like Honey. Every couple of weeks, he'd add to this pile of Twinkies, at first unwrapping them, then giving up that idea, and just unboxing - until that got old, shoveling them boxed out of his truck. Upon hearing this, I was just about ready to 'autograph' his copy of 'The Fair Hunt' book, "Steve, you LIAR!!!" After a couple of months, the cardboard boxes and plastic wrappers had to have killed off any remaining grass & shrubbery in the area. He was ready to retrieve a nice well-fed bear with his Chrome Plated .357 Police Special.

Upon arriving at the site, about the time the trail came had been recording lots of bears feasting on lots of Twinkies... like hippies around a campfire, munchies from smoking too much weed. Then falling down, rolling around from the sugar coma - Steve saw nothing... not a bear, nothing. He wasn't alone, his hunting buddy was in for the hunt too, both wanting to fill their first bear tag, which was looking like a bust... until he heard a 'rustle' from above. There's one small bear, little larger than a cub, had climbed a sapling - staring at his feeding crew. Of course, not being a 'sniper ranger', proceeded to empty his hand gun, and the bear collapsed, nearly landing on him & friend. He had his bear! Not a big one, but a little bit of bear meat, is usually more than you'll ever want anyways!

Over the next week, we'd hear tales of this Army Ranger, carefully & quietly stalking an unsuspecting Grizzly, who was stalking some Damsel in distress, challenging the Bear.... Who, sensing his presence, suddenly turned to recognize the Army Ranger... narrowing his eyes as to say, 'You wanna a piece of this, pal..?' - The Ranger quickly pulled his sidearm at the last second - as the Bear lunged towards him, and downed the raging, growling, snapping, drooling beast, a single, expertly placed shot, only a real Army Ranger could - yes!... between the eyes. the bear collapsing inches from his toes. Not bending down, he lifted the Bear's head with his boot, 'Meh, is that all you got?' and strode over to the fainted woman, white with fear, to live happily ever after... Stories are just that - stories... we got the truth from his hunting buddy - still, it was kinda funny listening to the BS.

For the inaugural cookout, Steve invited the rest of the Hunter Safety Instructors over for Grilled Bear, promising a big thick, juicy, steak each - it would be a first for all of us ... literally a first, a memorable. We'd read, bears before hibernating, would over-eat and put on a good layer of fat to sort of 'live on' through the cold & windy Wisconsin nights & sub-zero days... without much thought of what that actually meant. As Steve pulled the 'bear steaks' from the garage fridge, commenting his wife strenuously objected to having 'anything he hunted in the house fridge - you hunt it & one or the other is staying in the garage, the animal - or you, the grill was hot.

Not the ash covered, glowing coals hit, but a radiant orange flame gently rising above the grate, little white sparklers occasionally warning - 'this might be too hot for Bear meat!' With a loud sizzle, each of the 4 steaks took their place on the grill, and a few snap, crackle pops, flames erupted between the steaks, to be quickly doused by a slug of Beer. The thing about buring bear fat, it's kinda like burning axle grease, dark smoke, and stinky. This 'flame on' - 'beer off' battle went on for 15 minutes, until he had determined, 'we've had enough' or the 'meat had to be done by now.' We'd sent enough black smoke-signals to our neighbors, to the Catholics - 'No Pope yet' or the Indians - a dire warning, 'Brave in training', stay away!

As we cut into our now reduced in size by at least half... I think we realized, half of what started on the grill, was indeed FAT, what remained was very well charred to a crisp, at least a quarter of an inch into it... which was hopeful thinking, only one of the four wasn't a hockey puck. Undaunted, we would each shared a bite from the one remaining bear steak which wasn't quite done, nor completely done. The microwave and a little 'spousal discussion about stinking up the whole house' later, ended with, 'get the brats or burgers out of the freezer'.

I've stomached a few interesting concoctions at the county fair... 'fried pickles' for instance, and suppose deep fried Twinkies is probably one of them ... but extra crunch & greasy Bear Meat that tastes like Twinkies? Every bit of it, required a napkin - as you bit, honey flavored, Twinkies grease would squirt out of the corners of your mouth - napkin ready to keep it from running down your shirt... and onto Steve's pristine garage floor. After choking down the equivalent of a 2" cube, his wife emerged with hamburgers - which brought sanity back into the conversation. We'd joked about the meat being soaked in engine oil - well, it sure burned like it was!

You know what it's like to bite into something with cold grease, and it just sort of coats your mouth, tongue, lips, and just won't go away? A few beers - nope, still there. Couple of ears of corn - dang! This is like something you'd use to waterproof your hiking boots! Alas ... even the hamburgers weren't able to clean it out. A paper towel ... actually got most of it, later that night, multi-tooth brushings, got the rest. Never did acquire a taste for Bear Meat, and kinda lost my taste for Twinkies, all in one evening.

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What one shot fired can do 😥😥😥

SEYFERTH PARK MUSKEGON MI

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Nugent Sand Company began mining dunes off Lake Michigan shore in 1912. Property sold to Muskegon County 2017. See what they left after 100 yrs of mining!
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And now... for some WNBA highlights!

( they lost $40m last year - the money came from the men's side... oops! )

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Good afternoon brothers and sisters hope everyone has a great blessed day God Bless u all🙏✝️🙏✝️🇺🇸🎆🇺🇸❣️🇺🇸🤍🇺🇸💙🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸
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NAH, STAYING INSIDE

What brings the real feel to 100, humidity you can cut with a knife 😯

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2 hours ago
I believe UKRAINE has learned a lesson. Show weakness , and invade. It works almost everywhere , almost all the time. Right Hunter?
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July 29, 2025
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How to create an article
Everyone with Admin access can do this

OK, so far, nobody has really used the power of LOCALS to Create news, Articles, Stories, whatever.  Everyone has been 'stuck' in CHAT mode, or Chit-Chat mode.  It's simple and powerful for publishing.  I can even have Videos & Pictures (or MEMEs) in the body of the Article.  Just creating a POST or REPLY to a POST, that's not an option.  All the non-admin users (look on Bongino for an example), get minimal rights (Regular Post & Reply) by comparison.  IMO, the system is for writing Articles, allowing subscribers to comment - really not intended for the way we've been using it. 

This screen shot, inserted into the article is not allowed in a Regular Post, but is part of the Article function.  

Wonder who let the poor guy know & if they fished a couple of those letters out of the dog crap, just to figure out who it was....?
I wanna know, who fished the letters out of that dog crap to figure out who was dropping them into the Dioggie Toilet!

Everyone knows how to do this part.  The schedule function is also easy, sometimes you've gotta click on the Calendar several times to get the date set.

Click on the Post Settings, some of you are already doing that part. 

Pick the day and date, then Schedule (red button)

That's easy.

The 1 individual who has the Admin Creator access, has a whole bunch of extra stuff they can do, even more once the subscribers hits 50.  One of those things is Podcasting for more than 30min, I believe it's 2 hours.  The next level is something like 3 hours of Podcasting.  Admin Creator also sets 'fees' for subscribers, Titles, has Edit, and all kinds of statistics avaliable - I don't want to do any of that stuff, I only wanted to write.

Have fun!

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Rare Apple Hunter
Preserving 1200 old varieties from the Appalachia

Tom Brown, a 79-year-old from Clemmons, North Carolina, has spent over 20 years of his retirement tracking down rare, nearly extinct apple varieties that once flourished across Appalachia. Driven by his passion for rediscovering these heirlooms, Brown has revived more than 1,200 unique apple types with whimsical names like Brushy Mountain Limbertwig, Mule Face, and Tucker’s Everbearing.

His journey began in 1998 after encountering heritage apples at a farmers’ market, inspiring him to search for “lost” apples that hadn’t been tasted in over a century. Stretching across the Appalachian region—from southern New York to northern Alabama—Brown scours old maps, orchard catalogs, and historical records, often driving hours and knocking on doors to find forgotten orchards or lone trees tucked in remote areas.

When he finds a lost variety, Brown grafts clippings onto trees in his own orchard, where he cultivates and sells them for just $15 to encourage others to create “mini preservation orchards.” Despite the challenge of aging trees and a dwindling population of local knowledge keepers, Brown remains determined, calling the work both fun and fulfilling.

“It’s a thrill to rediscover them,” he says. “I’m happy as a lark.” Brown’s mission not only preserves these apples but also honors the heritage of the region, where generations of families once prided themselves on cultivating unique varieties in their backyards.

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Sunday and I'm missing one whole hour!
Daylight Saving, musta ripped me off again!

There's talk about finally stopping daylight saving time, which didn't save anything, just messed with well meaning people and enhanced the bottom line for anyone selling 9volt batteries for smoke detectors!  POTUS Trump, says it's, 50-50 on keeping or abandoing it.  Can't remember changing the time on a clock growing up, maybe my parents sat up half the night, careful to change the clock at 1 or 2 am... while we kids were sleeping.  All I had was a wind up alarm clock with 2 bells on top - and - a wall clock, a Kat Clock... a beige colored Kat clock, with the tail hanging down, swinging back and forth.  You can't imagine, a pre-teen kid, climbing up on a chair or chest, or brother, pulling that thing off the wall, changing the time, and then... struggling to get it back on the nail on the wall. 

Kat Clock

It didn't purr like a kitty, just made this gutteral sound, like a mouse or sparrow was being digested and burped up in 2 second intervals... we somehow managed to sleep, probably swearing to hunt sparrows for Black Fat instead of letting him chase mice.  Every power outage, we'd end up either climing up the wall to reset that Kat clock, or ... if the hour was right, unplug it and try to get it timed just right, one kid at the plug, the other downstairds, watching the house clock, "Ready?  5-4-3-2-1 - plug it in!!!"  It wasn't a precise operation, but, close enough.

The wind up clock pretty much stopped, slowed down, sped up - what a useless piece of metal for us.  This sort of Brass & Sea Green thing sat there, across the room, the only thing we could see at night, because of it's luminious dial.

Living in the country, that was the only thing that made any noise, tick-tock tick-tock when you went to bed, as the night wore on, and the 'bladder alarm clock, insisted, you gotta get up NOW', the sound changed.  There you are, stumbling down the hallway, bleary eyed, knocking into everything, stubbing toes @ 3am, to the bathroom.  Finding your way back, that old Oak Floor in the middle of the night, barefoot - it felt as cold as a cement floor.  Crawling back into bed, after sweeping the cat off your pillow... getting back to sleep, impossible with that wind up torture device!  The bedroom seemed lit-up by it's glowing dial, and it no longer ticked & tocked, but had morphed into a Vincent Price's, 'Pit & the Pendulum' horror movie!  Terrifying to a 10 year old with an active imagination!  You're laying on your side, one eye checking up for a razor sharp, swinging Pendulum!  The windup clock was a necessary evil in the farmhouse, power went off and nobody knew what time it was - the school bus was showing up at 7:15am ... 2 hours for chores, then breakfast, and there's the bus!  "Click-clang click-clang"... better take another look, did I wake up in a Vincent Price dungeon???   Just about the time you're falling asleep from exhaustion, the air is filled with this now ear-splitting ringing - "Heck no, you're now under a WW2 air raid, in a London Subway Tunnel, and your brother is gasping & moaning from a gut wound, "Turn that darn thing off!  Which one of you idiots wound it up again?  It's Sunday, and we've changed the clocks last night!"  mumble-mumble, covers rustling, little feet hustling across the floor to the dresser as it rang - silence.

She's sleeping in, having been up with the owls, chatting with the girls... it's good to have a daughter or two home for a few days.  Gives her a good diversion from the Farm.  We call it PQFarm, because we hatch & raise Ducks.  Heritage breeds, keeping their lines alive, Silver Appleyard, Welsh Harlequin, Buff Opingtons.  Whenever we've gone to the hatcheries for day old chicks, they're bound to throw in a few of those, "Surprise!  We're Pekins!  Lousy egg layers, & we like to EAT a lot - forarging, what's that..?  Not for me!  Just feed me!  Aflack-aflack-aflack!"  One of two Drakes (males) is good, they're likely to do guard duty for the Ducks (hens) who are the egg layers we really wanted.  Big eggs, I mean twice the volume of a medium/large egg, a 2 Duck egg omlette is same as a 3 egg chicken omlette.  Pekins, when they do lay, are even bigger!

Yesterday, the farmer gave the girls the word, start laying ... or else!  2 eggs this morning!  Welsh harlequin size eggs.  It's cold enough, they're not fertile, so clean them up a bit, and into the fridge.  We'll wait till it warms up and everything is in full lay before we start setting eggs in the Incubators.  One of them we bought, it holds180 duck size eggs, the other I built, about 8x that size... but, we've never filled it that full.  Having the capacity is always good.  We've loaded up the small incubator many times, with a mix of Chicken, Turkey, Duck, Bob White Quail & Ring Neck Pheasants.  Those days are over, the kids were pretty involved with the bird operation & selling them at the farmer's market.  Farmer's markets were a 100% loss for me - I wanted to kids to learn how to SELL, it was for their education.  Sometimes, they came home smiling, sometimes a little bumed out, but it was always there to learn from, how to sell & barter.  They'd sell day olds, week olds and hardened off chicks - the latter didn't need any heat lamps... prices went up each week as our input costs rose.  Once the kids starting figuring out the initial pricing, adding in feed & heat lamp costs for older birds - I would just back away, and let them figure it out, occasionally getting a call, "What do you think about this price for ...".   They got better and better at Farmer's Markets, often selling everything they took.

The boys managed to turn the Turkey chicks into Pet's ... they'd follow them accross the yard, while free ranging, begging for easy treats!  One of the boys would be laughing, 20 or more Turkey chicks at his feet, pecking away at his shoes, or anything shiney, to the point of becoming annoying.  He'd sit on the glider of the Front Porch, half a dozen Turkey chicks surrounding him, asleep... "I can't move, dad! I'm covered in Raptors!"  What???  "Raptors have me pinned down!"  A peek out the window, 'Oh, his Turkeys are napping on his lap again.'  The next month, they'd all sell at the Farmer's Market, and there was little doubt, bringing joy to another buy.  "You guys like to hand-tame your birds, we really like that, about your family!" - so did we, a repeat customer.  I hope they managed to serve those birds up for Thanksgiving... Those broad-breasted birds could be well over 50-60 lbs if you'd let them go till Christmas!  36 lbs was our biggest we ever tried to squeeze into our oven, even 20 of us, couldn't finish that bugger off.

Thanks to the neighbor's dogs... we're down to 3 Pekins & 3 Welsh Harlequin Ducks (1 Drake & 2 Ducks, of each), unfortunately, they are near 4 years old, so..... we're going to try and get some new birds, just incase these guys are sterile.  And... I wanna get a tray or two of Bob White Quail eggs to set.  The Fillet Mignon of the Sky, like a Florida Pompono is to fish, Wagyu Beef to cows - so is Bob White Quail to birds.  Most of them will wind up as Owl & Hawk food as we release a bunch of them.  Quail are like little birdie buddies too!  One of the girls would hang around the incubator, opening the door, so they would see her face right after hatching, "Are you my mommie?" - and follow her around like baby kittens.  They'd grow up, loving people.  Hearing them calling in the morning & evenings, or suddenly flush in the tall grassy areas - man-o-man, that's real country living.  It's a reminder for me, God has/had a purpose in everything, even allergies.

The sun is high, warm sunny day.  Ducks are just peacefully floating around the front pond, frockling is over - I bet they'd like so fresh popped corn!  Ya know, as many days & hours spent sitting in a saddle, I can't ever remember dozing off.  At my height, 6'3", with that much weight leverage over a horse's center of balance, knowing shifting my weight around they'd stagger like a drunk - we could both fall over!  Often said to the Students in Riding lessons, "you gotta fall 1000 times before you're and expert" - I might have reached half of that if you rolled all those falls in, as a kid on a pony.  Time to go pop some corn...

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