I have not flown for a couple of years.  The last time I flew before this SHOT Show was in 2019.  Going out and coming back this time was even less pleasant than in 2019.  Coming back was particularly aggravating.  Sure, I had to show a photo ID every time I walked a few feet while hanging on to my phone and iPad.  When I got to the metal detector, I explained that I had four plates in my neck.  Still, the metal detector found something and I had to be wanded down.  I set that wand off so I had to be patted down.  Still nothing, so I went to pick up my shoes, watch, backpack, coat and other items in the two trays I had crammed everything onto.  One tray went one way and the other tray had gone down another way.  The tray with my backpack had to be searched.  My backpack was full of such terrorist items as pens, paper and my meds.  I learned the hard way a few years ago, if you take meds, keep them with you.  Once, my luggage went to San Francisco but I went to Washington D. C.  Not good.  After my backpack was searched and I redressed myself, I was ready to go to the gate.  I admit I muttered to myself about why I had to put up with all this crap.  I had never done anything bad.  I have a FOID card and CCL and go through background checks every night and the TSA people don’t go through any.  All that gave away to dealing with driving on the Tristate Expressway, Interstates 88, 355 and 55.  When I got to the last 30 miles, the road is a nice blacktop two lane road occupied with about 10 vehicles and a couple of rabbits.  Wonderful.  When I got home, my blood pressure had dropped to normal levels.  Then I turned on the TV to see the latest news.  It was then I learned the TSA had ruled that illegal aliens can use their arrest warrants to board airplanes.  I wondered what illegal aliens use for a photo ID, their wanted poster?  I did not check my blood pressure before going to bed.

As promised, I am at the SHOT Show.  Attendance is down about 33% and the number of exhibitors is down 25%.  Many of those who are here have cut down on the number of personnel and their displays.  This does not mean that sales are necessarily down.  It was much easier to talk to factory people and they were able to take more time with each person.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) has issued a Scam Alert to those trying to purchase high demand shooting products online. There are bogus websites and offers out there for ammunition, propellants and other items.  I have received two calls from people who have been scammed so I know that this is happening.  If this happens to you, call the FBI or the ATF and report it.

The first week of the 2022 General Assembly has been canceled.  We will be starting on Tuesday, January 11^th in the House of Representatives.  The Senate is canceled next week.  Not surprising.  The January session will be Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday until the end of the month.  Those same days will carry over into the first week of February.  We will keep you informed.

Happy New Year.  The year 2021 was full of challenges.  We should take a moment to remember those we have lost, celebrate the new friends we have met and take stock of what we have learned.  

The New Year, 2022, will also be full of challenges, new friends and new opportunities to learn.  Let's all make the best of them. 

Reports on the Illinois deer harvest show a 12% drop in the number of deer taken so far.  There is an antlerless season in January but the major numbers are in and shouldn’t affect the totals too much.  So far in 2021, a total of 71,675 deer have been harvested.  In 2020, the total was 77,160.  In 82 of the 100 counties where deer are hunted, it shows a drop in numbers.  Randolph County led the way in number of deer taken with 2,162, and Adams County following with 2,042.  Pike County slipped to seventh this year.  A warm second season and a full moon aided in keeping the numbers down.

Christmas is on our doorstep and with memories of Christmases past.  To say that Christmas was a big deal at the Pearson house would be an understatement.  Both my mother and father were into Christmas as far as a person could get.  Decorating for Christmas was the highlight of the year.  On Thanksgiving weekend all the Christmas decorating and lights had to be done and ready to turn on the day after Thanksgiving.  If that didn’t happen, I’m sure something cataclysmic would have occurred.  Fortunately, it never happened.  On the nice days of November, my dad would be stringing lights on the peak of the house and on every gable.  Boxes of decorations were dragged out of closets, staged and ready to go.  We lived on a corner and the windows facing the street were outlined in lights and those that did not have lights had an electric candle in each window.  Then there was the Christmas tree.  That was always dad’s job.  It could not have any bare spots in it, if at all possible.  If it did, the tree was carefully positioned to hide that spot from anyone looking at it through the living room window.  The Christmas tree was the center of it all.  It filled the living room.  The furniture had to be moved around to accommodate the tree and still be able to watch television.  When we started to decorate the tree, it was a project, a labor of love but a project nevertheless.  The rules were roughly, put on all the lights that you possibly could, add ornaments on all possible branches and then tinsel.  The biggest job was the tinsel.  Each piece had to be placed on the tree one by one.  None of this throwing stuff, that was a sacrilege.  If you have ever seen the tree in the movie “The Bishop’s Wife”, you would see our tree.