Retirement

[Guest guest]

Howdy y'all,

On 20 September 2009 I advised all the news groups that I would be selling

AVNP .. http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/1Toiletries/message/46454

Effective at 0001 hours last night two events occurred .. Rahm Dead Fish

Emanuel officially departed from his position as Obama's Chief of Staff and

Butch Dead Eye Owen officially completed his obligation as a consultant to

Croskey .. the new owner of Appalachian Valley Natural Products and

Anatolian Treasures (AVNP). Emanuel's departure will be one of some

significance because his replacement will be a person who has a history of

not using 4 letter words in public .. one who is able to reach across the

political isle and is supposedly well thought of by members of both

political parties. If I had not sent this note, my departure would

otherwise have gone unnoticed because though I sold AVNP to on 1

October 2009 and agreed to stay around as a pro bono part time consultant

for one year .. picked up the ball the day after I sold the company ..

I've just been there as a back up while he divested himself of some other

business interests so he could give more time to AVNP. All of this has

been accomplished and he is firmly in the pilot's chair now so as of right

now .. I am retired for the third .. and last .. time. ;-)

After 55 years of working for a living I now look forward to doing just what

I want to do and need to do. I'll also say that in the past year I have

learned that there is not enough time to do all we want to do and need to do

... working for a living makes the situation more difficult and hanging

around on the I-Net makes it next to impossible. ;-)

Living near Kentucky Lake was always a dream of mine and now we am doing

it. I traded up on my bass boat a while back and just this week . .

though it was probably not really needed .. I had the carburetor overhauled

and put in a new water pump. I also added two new depth finders .. one on

the bow and one on the starboard side .. next to the driver. The Fall

fishing season is in full swing now .. most of the fair weather fisher folks

overlook this period but they shouldn't .. Large Mouth Bass and Crappie bite

like mad in the Fall. Kentucky Lake is BIG .. officially over 140 miles

long as the crow flies and has over 1,200 miles of shoreline .. if a boat

breaks down in some isolated creek it could be a while before you get outta

there. Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. ;-)

Living near my cousin who has a 2,000 + acre farm teaming with White Tail

Deer and Wild Turkey .. I am in Hawg Heaven come Muzzle Loader and Rifle

Season .. but both do not start until November. So .. this week I decided

to try something new .. I bought a Buck Buster 150 lb Crossbow ..

archery season here started 25 September. Cocking that rascal is not the

easiest thing I have done lately but its still a good thing because the

following day it lets you know which muscles you have been neglecting.

Yesterday afternoon I prepped a few of the stands we have in place and I'll

be up in one of those tree stands at Zero Light Thirty tomorrow morning.

Because a lot of his farm is wooded and also has a large swamp, the deer

population (according to the Tennessee Wildlife folks) is in the range of

roughly 250 or so .. or roughly one deer for every 8 acres .. far too many.

In time it could become unhealthy for the deer and its already costly for

the farmer. They recommended we harvest at least 50 deer last year but we

were able to take but 26. Driving down the road one might think shooting

deer is like shooting fish in a barrel .. they will just stand there and

look at you .. but like Wild Turkeys, they know they have nothing to fear

from cars unless they are stupid .. then they get run over and often the

driver gets a trip to the emergency room. But as soon as man steps into

their environment .. they become scarce .. odds are in their favor. I

added this statement in case it might be necessary to sooth the feelings of

some folks who think shooting Bambi is a terrible thing .. folks who would

rather get their meat from the grocery store. I can guarantee that Bambi

will be harvested with more TLC than was that meat that is in the grocery

store. And .. we eat all we harvest. ;-)

Back at the ranch .. I want to thank all the good folks on this news

group who have supported AVNP since we branched off from my original Turkish

company back around 1993 or so .. I appreciate you and I wish you well. To

those who have not yet purchased from AVNP .. you still have time to correct

that situation. ;-)

Croskey is a good person and an honest person. I am more than

convinced that he will make improvements to AVNP and there will be no

lowering of standards. In fact, even though AVNP now has customers in 50

U.S. states and 92 other countries .. I believe we will see AVNP grow even

larger. is even now moving into a larger facility.

I've been a member of this news groups for a long time and though soap

making is not my thing I did post from time to time when safe use of EO

worked itself into a thread. When it comes to knowledge of Essential Oils

(EO) I know that lots of folks out there know as much as I do regarding what

EO can and can not do .. and about safe use of EO .. and I know that soap

makers often use Fragrance Oils in lieu of Essential Oils so purity is not

a major issue in some cases .. though it should be. Why? Because .. why

should you pay the price of a pure EO and receive an adulterated or inferior

EO? I will leave y'all with a warning .. Caveat Emptor .. there are many

companies in the business who will tell folks what they want to hear rather

than what they should hear. Such folks need a good memory because they get

tripped up in their own Bovine Excrement. I have never been one of those

folks and is not one of those folks .. I would not have sold the

company to him if I did not know this to be a fact .. and I am certain that

he will gain every one's confidence in time.

I'm known to be long winded and opinionated when I do write .. especially

regarding practices that I know are unsafe .. and for this I do not

apologize. But I will spare you all any future essays because when I

retire that means I won't participate in those activities I was involved in

prior to retirement. Some folks try to hang on a tad .. but while

spending 30 years in uniform I learned that when I relinquished a command or

a staff position to another person .. it was my duty to get out of the area

and let them fend for themselves .. and do it their way .. and that is what

I will be doing in the future.

In any case, on all the news groups I never commented on soap making or

perfumery or purely Aromatherapy matters. I took two AT courses many years

back but I never claimed to be an AT Practitioner .. nor did I want to be

one. My area of interest in this industry was more narrow .. I was into

doing my best to ensure safe practice of AT and use of EO .. and ensuring

that our company offered the best proven quality oils we could find for a

fair and competitive price .. and I think I was successful at doing these

things.

Regardless of our occupation we must be concerned about the reputation we

leave behind .. for a fact one Aw Crap can wipe out ten Attaboys in most any

position we might find ourselves in. I believe that I will be remembered

as a Conservative dinosaur who did his best to do his best and told it like

he knew (or thought) it was .. and that is good enough for me. The motto I

chose for my Turkish company many years ago was also the motto of AVNP when

I passed it along to .. and its still posted on the front page of the

web site .. just above the company address .. " Practicing the Discipline of

Business Ethics " . I did my best to live up to that motto and I am certain

that will continue in the same manner.

Again, I want to thank all the many loyal customers and friends I have had

the pleasure of knowing over these many years .. they are the real reasons I

had the opportunity to build AVNP into a successful and credible company.

I appreciate you all and I wish you well.

Now I gotta get back to finishing Bill O'Reilly's " Pinheads and Patriots " so

I can get started on Bob Woodward's " Obama's Wars " . ;-)

Y'all have a good one .. and keep smiling. :-)

Butch .. http://www.AV-AT.com <http://www.av-at.com/>