wooly

Happy B-day man! Have a good one!

Found one latched onto the inside of my thigh the other day while in the yard cutting some wood. Not sure how long it had been there, but at the end of the day it left a mark for a few hours when I pulled it out and was full of blood when I squashed him. I circled the bite with a sharpie and kept an eye on it for a few days and it has vanished since then. I've NEVER had any trouble with these things even when I used to roam around the woods shirtless in shorts. Just the past few years I've been picking more and more of them off myself with each passing summer. It's hard to take precautions against something you've never encountered before, but they seem to have reached a point here where I need to start making an effort to minimize contact with them by using some sort of repellents.

Best to play it safe Granny! Don't need to bust a hip or get caught too far away from the torlet at your age!

Was out at the lake this weekend at my older sisters boat and those things were everywhere around the grain tower at the marina. Pretty birds that seem like they would be a blast to wingshoot when they do their 90mph fly-bys!

Thanks guys! Actually, I really need to upgrade from this little electric chainsaw before I get into any more complicated designs. This thing is just too slow for some of the work and cuts that need to be done with this stuff. Always more tools that need to be bought to advance in any hobby and I'm having a blast with this one, so it's probably gonna be my new money pit,lol

I wrapped up the bear carving this morning before it got too hot and sticky. She was looking a little bored and lonely so I gave her a kid to keep her company until they get adopted. The little one was supposed to be a pumpkin when I made the first cuts before I changed my mind, so I have to shim and glue the cut on the right side of his face. I still need to tweek a few things on these guys to get them where I want 'em.

Oh no..., not AGAIN! Happy 65'th G/F!

Damn man, looks like it would have been a great trip even if you didn't catch a thing! Awesome shots! I've seen one whale in my life on my first honeymoon and I'll probably never see another again. (outside a large fish bowl) Unfortunately someone left that camera back in the car at the airport.

Saw a young chuck in a little woodland clearing yesterday and started firing away with the camera. He made his way past me at about 8ft so I followed him back to a den at the base of an uprooted tree where two of his siblings also poked their heads out of separate holes. He was very curious to the slap of the shutter, but he never seemed to pay any attention to me until I snapped a stick back at the den.

I saw the exact same scenario in an opening between two woodlots a few years ago as 2 yotes chased a bleating fawn with momma doe bringing up the rear. Eventually the yotes caught the little vermin and all momma doe would do is a few mock charges and then stand and watch as they dragged her kid back into the timber. The whole time I was inching closer with the camera and none of them payed any attention to me. I never got close enough to clear the tall grass for any decent shots of anything other than the doe watching, but I could see the yotes hauling off their catch! Honestly, it was probably one of the coolest wild encounters I've ever witnessed.

Cool finds guys! I've not had much luck finding interesting moths, but I've had some cool caterpillar finds. TF- I found one of those years ago and snapped a pic. I have it labeled as a "White-marked tussock moth". Not sure how accurate that ID is but I guess I'll go back and check it again now that the topic has come up. I've been known to mis-identify a few creatures from the past.

I definitely wouldn't hunt sloths, anteaters, kangaroos, or emperor penguins no matter how rich I was.

I thought I lost him last night, but like a good surgeon with a sharp scalpel, I brought him back to life! This guy's right around 4ft tall. I'm trying to make this one a little more life like than my first attempt. My anxiety skyrockets with every rev of the saw,lol

That guys got mad skills! I hate it when he takes a break. I'm planning on knocking out a few more of these easy carves before I increase the difficulty level any. I did haul a nice 4ft section of pine home this evening that will hopefully turn out as a nice standing bear in a few days.

This is a real simple chainsaw carve that is easy for anyone to pull off just by following along with the steps in these pics. This one took me between 1/2 hour - 45 minutes with my little electric saw, so give the Husky a yank and you can probably cut that down to 15-20 minutes. I'll be cookin' with gas soon! First cut a tic-tac-toe board in the top of your log. Next cut away all the squares on the outside of your board leaving only the center square which will be your punkins stem. Round the edges of the top of your log now as well by slicing them off at an angle. Next up I carve a little valley around the stem with the tip of the bar like you would see on an actual punkin. At this point you can also shape the stem to get rid of the sharp corners. Now decide the height of your punkin and make a cut all the way around the log an inch or two deep to mark the bottom. When this cut is complete, make another rounding cut from the punkin side towards the straight bottom cut all the way around following the same line towards the base. For the next step, start at the stem with the tip of your bar and run a few 1"- 1 1/2" deep cuts to the base line. On each side of these sections, round the edges with angled cuts towards the line coming off the stem. Now you can cut your punkin off whatever base is left over. At this point you can call your punkin done or continue on to sand and round things off as much as you desire. I don't get too crazy with the finish work, but I've found my little Chicago Multi-tool with a straight blade does a nice job of cutting off and blending the sharp corners. After that I hit the whole thing quick by hand with some 150 grit to get rid of any splinters and she's ready to be sealed or painted however you desire to finish it. I'm waiting for my boiled linseed oil to arrive to coat mine with. This will slow down the drying process which will help with cracking and checkering as the wood continues to dry. I haven't looked into the best painting options for this stuff yet, so your on your own if you wanna go blaze orange at this point or not,lol And a couple finished pics of my 30lb cherry punkin before moving on to the next project.

Happy B-day bud!

Who knows..... you may be the only one left by now. Give me a call if you need a hand draining the kegs!

Closest footage I've ever got of these wicked creatures! I was expecting the coyotes to be the first to show up, but these guys beat them there before the first sundown. I wish they would have at least gobbled,lol

I still need a little work on my grizzly bears, but I'm pretty happy with the owl. Gotta haul some more lumber home and I'll probably try an eagle next. The bear was cherry and the owl maple. Huge difference in working with each.

Happy B-day Moog! Happy B-day Fletch!

Looks like it has a penis dangling over the hole like a mistletoe. I ain't going near that tree!

How does that saying go....? Oh yeah...., F@*& cancer! Glad to hear some positive news for your pal!

I'm scheduled to see my primary tomorrow for my 6 month check-up. Been dodging this test for the past 2 years with her and every time I'm in there just keep giving her a new list of other bodily malfunctions we should focus on first...., BUTT.., she still brings it up every time I'm gonna see if she can hook me up with some new glasses tomorrow and maybe do something about this pine splinter under my finger nail! I may even roll around in a bed of poison ivy before I show up to distract her even more,lol

Thanx guys! That's only because I keep trying new things and always learning something new to use somewhere else down the road. I get really bored working on the same kind of thing all the time, and try to keep things fresh and exciting.... even if I suck at my next attempt at something new.

It started as a joke as I was helping sis with some tree removal this weekend. As I started to get the hang of things a little bit, I decided to keep going and gave that little electric saw a workout! In the end, sis decided she wanted to keep him, and my plan to throw him in the firepit and starting over was over ruled,lol! I'll definitely be messing around with more of this stuff in the future.