Today involves loading, unloading, and stacking hay.. then repeating a few times




My little cousin is over at my grandmother's house, I put a dead rat (lots of rats underneath the old hay, this one I shot with a sub sonic 22lr) on a log and let her shoot it with my 17 HMR



She said it did more damage then the 22lr's they use..

You almost make me glad the gophers and drought wiped out my hay!

My failing back aches, just looking at those bales and hay hook.

I'm recovering from a short hunt this weekend and eating the fruits of my labors.

Celebrating my sons 13th birthday. I'm now the parent of a teenager...

Dang!

That reminds me; I'm older this weekend.

That's a scary thought.. how long before he can beat you up?

And that makes me remember my cousin is going to be a teenager next year.. I remember when she was just born.. time flies.

Went rabbit hunting this morning (no luck) then changed a scope on a .30-06,will take it out tomorrow morning and sight it in. Other than that NOTHING!

Winnie,your 17hmr looks like the one I use for squirrels.

My Son is 14 and my Daughter is 13. Their birthdays are both in November,just 1 year 2 weeks apart.

What did you take rabbit hunting?

And I am glad I went with the Marlin over the Savage I was looking at.. I was thinking about doing a stock swap for a Boyds but might keep this one on.

7mm Mauser is what I took. This one.







Dang you GET OUT OF MY HEAD! I'm thinking about a Boyds laminated thumbhole stock for the Marlin.

Cleaning and installing a scope on a ( new to me but produced in '76) Remington 700 Custom in 25/06.Then tomorrow afternoon, the wife wants to go practice with her handgun since she got her CCW a while back.

But which color?



ROYAL JACARANDA

You should do it first so I can see if I want to or not..

Boy had some mouth surgery so we're keeping the weekend low key.

Hit the usual gun shops and then today we went downtown for an art fair.

Saw the Alpena leave port:




Ran into some friends with their bird, Scully at the fair. Runt and Scully got along just fine.

Oh gosh,you should do it first Winnie. Have 3 rifles being worked on and a Interarms Mark X action waiting in the wings to be barreled,stocked and scoped. It's going to be another .22-6mm,BUT LIGHTER,the one I have is 10+ lbs.

Trying out the clubs new smoker. Did some pork butts and jalapeno poppers today, chicken tomorrow.

Moving from Yakima to Spokane Valley, Wa. Will be at it next weekend as well.

I am doing nothing other than spending time with my wife and kids, 2.5, 1.5 and 1.5, I spent 6 days away from home last week, and 5 the week before. So we are just doing family time, exactly what I needed.

Finished getting ready for school to start, and now its off to have a Blanton's night cap with a best pard...

The 13 year old may have to wait until I'm in my 60's.

The other one has freakish strength and will probably be able to whoop me by the time he's 5 yrs old....

My boys are 12 yrs and 2 weeks apart in age.

Can anyone say, "Free babysitter!!!!"

Here's to many more such weekends man!

Nice to have you back HAJ.

Went out Land Cruiser shopping and dropped by the ARB store. Drool.

At a Saving Abell concert as I type this ........headed out to an adult entertainment establishment afterwards

me? messing around the house.....wife took off for the cabin a while ago though so she can go tomorrow to check out the stands she is gonna use for archery season to help fill her elk tag.....

Bought 30 boxes of Laminate flooring.
Gonna be tearing up carpet and getting ready to start putting it down.

split wood today and sending my youngest back to college tomorrow.

Being a govt. paid baby sitter

ridin' motorcycles,....gettin' sunburned,...

I think you shoukd should make me a deal on that too heavy 22-6mm

Ummm let me think about it.....


















Thought about it.. NO!

Im just looking out for your health. At your age carrying around that heavy rifle could cause some serious fatigue And potential heat stroke/ dehydration. Not to mention the associated back problems and possible hip displasia.

What kind of friend would I be if I didn't offer some remedy to all those ailments

Thank you for your concern,but I'm not THAT old yet (47).

I climbed Mt. Elbert via the Northeast Ridge. I descended via the East Ridge. I then hiked a good 5 miles through the San Isabel National Forest to get back to the trailhead where my car was.

This!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKg7B6PT9FY

Antlers wins so far, Winnie close second with the bale stacking.


Speaking of haying that has been the job last 4-5 days in a row.
Again early tomorrow, massive amounts of 'dryland' hay this year.

Boating today...

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My brother cut about 50 acres of second cutting, it'll be ready to bale tomorrow.


Spent most of the day moving a bagger with the old man, then took the wife up to the county fair (Susquehanna)to watch the derby.

Pretty country Ben.

Yep, I enjoy it everyday. Northeastern Pa isn't perfect but its got some of the best all around weather you can ask for.


Here's a few more from the last couple weeks.

I spent the day with my 1 1/2 and 3 1/2 year old kids. Made french toast with peaches, went to the beach, a local bakery, soccer practice, got one a haircut, slip n slide in the afternoon...

Tomorrow morning I'm going to play with my BRNO 602 375 H&H, then I have a dinner party in the evening.

Eric

Shooting a Creedmoor match. Day One was not that good. Going to have to do better tomorrow. Hot and humid - worse tomorrow.

worked till noon, bought my son an archery target, and a complete bow setup, with camo hunting suit,all for $70.
going to try it out in the am,before it gets to `100 degrees,then go look at an outboard.

We are just sitting in a 20ft camper in my parents driveway waiting to close on our house. Supposed to have been moving in by now but you know your typical bank paperwork snafu. Maybe next week.

Elk hunting.

cut and installed 3 20 ft. 2x6's for the upstairs deck railing cause some dumbazz dropped a tree on it a week or so ago. Said he did it so the tree wouldn't fall on the deck and damage it. (blushin)

cut stakes for the pockets on the snow machine trailer so I can haul some wood with it

aired up the trailer tires, greased the bearing buddy's on it and the boat trailer. Scooped up some wet cat litter outa the driveway from an oil spill.


dropped some more freakin cottonwood type trees (balsam poplars)

gonna try and haul some materials and a fridge to the cabin tomorrow if there's enough water in the river.

Repairing the fence that got wiped out in the flood and helping my neighbor tear out drywall that was damaged in the same flood

I am envious.

Was meant to go deer hunting but that might wait till the end of September when they climb down the mountains onto the ranches.

Did a little shooting this morning before it got so hot. Verified drops at 600 & 800 yards. Tonight I loaded a bunch of ammo for the 3-Gun match tomorrow morning.

Bob

Good deal. I chase elk just across the highway.

Helped my dad and uncle haul and stack square bales from a second cutting of hay on Friday after work. Riding a desk makes hauling hay much more difficult each year. Spent Saturday mowing the five acres of yard around the house and building a gate to install between cross fences in the back pasture to make crossing the fence to pick up dead dove easier. Today will be spent digging the post holes, setting the gate and mixing and pouring concrete. Working all week at the office and running a small hobby farm means no rest on weekends during the summer.

My other little cousin came over last night, so this morning I let them both shoot the Marlin.





The youngest was discouraged after she shot the first time and missed. I talked her into shooting another round she she hit it just right.

She asked when we can go shoot again.

Oh, both ear and eye protection were used. I only had little foam ear plugs so they used those.

We're on the freeway heading home now. Just finished a NRA pistol class with the wife at the gun range. She shot very well. Had fun meeting folks and making new friends.

God I love this country.

Was stuck in Chicago Friday night (I hate O'Hare airport), got into Kansas City early yesterday afternoon, met the wife and parents at Cabelas, drooled over everything I couldn't buy, ate some BBQ and headed to the parents place.

Driving the 180 miles dad commented on how much grass hay was being put up here the last week of August. Typically everything is burnt to a crisp. Grass hay is usually put up in early to mid July around here, but we got rain all summer long and the pastures are green.

Contractor buddy of mine says he doesn't know what to do, he has grass up to his cows bellies, pastures that he hasn't even had a cow on all summer, and doesn't need any more hay put up. I told him to buy more cows, he said his wife didn't like that idea.

Today was mowing the grass, and going to go change fluids and filters on the truck.

Winnie,what scope is on the Marlin?

It's a Simmons 4-16x40 AO that someone on the Campfire gave me for the cost of shipping.

EH76

I must have missed the invite to shoot long range with you.

Invite is always there Winnie...you should know that by now...



if I am still above ground you need to come kill a pronghorn when you get settled...

If I find myself up north and around antelope season you have a deal, sir.

Finish packing for Alaska.
screened and bagged 15 bags of corn.
Filled 2 feeders.
Cleaned a protein feeder
(glad my cattle days are over too in this heat we are having lately... bucking hay would suck)
Shot a 4H sporting clays benefit, while trying to teach a young gal how to shoot a shotgun.
Charged feeder batteries.
Put out oats and iron claypea seeds by hand about another acre
Checked the game camera and downloaded and replaced card
Ran an EMS call for a fella that was on a 20 foot ladder painting when it snapped in half.
Blew a tire totally out on a stob in that guys pasture trying to get to his house.
Changed tire.
Found neighbor with air compressor, seems I had not checked the spare in some time
Went to best friends for BBQ
filled vehicle with fuel as it was low.
Tried to find a new tire. No luck. Small towns shut down on weekends.

This morning plowed in the acre of seed.
Went to a baby "showing" something my nephew married into a church... they screamed about Jesus for 2 hours. I had to plug my ears at times. Then ate with them. That was about 4 hours. And mostly shot to hell IMHO but I digress.
came back and put batteries back in feeders.
Worked on AK packing again.
Replaced rotted vac lines on moms truck
Cleaned her garbage out
And now about to take a briggs off a water pump on a nurse tank so when the new motor arrives it will be ready to put on again.
And measure the trailer so I can buy some pipe fittings to rig up for the fair parade for the fire department next week.

And managed to shoot my AR and a 243 to check the zero's right quick.
Only managed an hour or so nap this afternoon.

Ready to go back to work so I can get some rest again.

Will be a busy week though, have fire drill, fair washdowns, and have to wash and polish all fire trucks plus get the trailer ready on Wednesday evening for the parade Saturday.

The two on the left had never fired a gun before today.

It's a Simmons 4-16x40 AO that someone on the Campfire gave me for the cost of shipping.

Do you like it for the .17 HMR?

Cheesy, it's still halfway green here, been a really nice Summer so far.

This morning up in the hills a little ways.

The bottom pic is a BEAUTIFUL sight!

Perfect haying weather lately.

Dinked around and got about 230 ton baled up since Tuesday.

Things are drying out though, quality isn't getting any better so we are trying to get it done sooner than later.

That's good to hear SamO.

So, you had a nice restful weekend then?

Broke a red dot scope while zeroing the crossbow. Generally got ready for planting next weekend.

Sounds like you've been busy. We baled about 100 tons this week. We've got about 50 tons of second cutting and another 50 tons of bedding/mulch hay.

What size bales are those 5x5?

Ben, no breakdowns, knock on wood!


Bales are 5x6.


Weather cooperating for you guys?

Winnie, is this REALLY a hay hook with a soft wooden handle?

And how come you are wearing LEATHER gloves?

Haven't worn gloves since March....grin

We had a rough start at the beginning of July. There was some sort of rain 19 out of 21 days (enough to dick you over). But its been pretty good since.

30% chance tomorrow and about 30 ton left, hope we make it.

GOOD LUCK!

Because I have to protect my girl hands...

Get tired of getting hay digging into my hand and having to pull them out later.

HA!

I became a professional "hay bucker" at the stockyards in Oklahoma City in August of 1953. Just them old steel hooks and no gloves. And no leather apron so a pair of jeans would last about two days. I got plumb good at tossing bales that weighed somewhere between 60 and 80 pounds. I lasted about a month but then had money enough to hit the trail. We slept out on the roof so we could hear cows bellering all night and ate there so I actually didn't go anywhere to spend my hard earned cash. Hottest dang job I ever had!

Just can't get the "feel" of things while wearing gloves.