wolc123

Good luck to all. I will be trying for my first spring tom in the morning. So far, I have only managed one fall hen in my turkey hunting career. I had a close call at home on a tom last spring, but he surprised me by coming in quiet to my calls and I wasn't ready for the shot. I have not seen any signs of turkeys around my place this spring. Fortunately, my folks have been seeing them over at thier place, about 20 minutes away, so that's where I will be in the morning. I just got to spray my bibs with Sawyers , load up the suv, and I will be ready for a 5 am departure. I am taking my popup blind, a hen decoy, my 870 and some 3" #5's, a chair, and a couple calls. They have been feeding in the clover every morning over there so my plan is to put up the blind and set the decoy 25 yards in front. I will only use a call if nothing shows up on schedule by the decoy.

30/30

That is pretty much what I always do. My tackle bag has around 10 plastic boxes inside, for most of the stuff, and 3 big pouches on the outside, in which I keep applicable soft-plastics in their original bags. While fishing, I usually have one of those plastic boxes out, along with a bag of soft plastic baits, if that's what I am using. I also have a separate box for spinnerbaits. All get removed from the boat, when not using, to avoid sun damage. Weather permitting, I hope to get out on Erie, for the first time this year, a week from Saturday. I think the water would be a bit too cold and stained this weekend, with all the rain we just got, plus my boat ain't quite ready to go yet.

I wonder if it will be mostly cupcakes (compound only bowhunters who oppose the crossbow) at the banquet. At least we know what they are having for dessert.

My wife and I got our 2nd dose of the Pfizer vaccine at Walgreens today. They must have be slow, because they moved out appointments up a week. So far so good, just as painless as the first shot was and no side effects whatsoever. I have had about enough of the masks. I have only ever pulled it up over my nose if someone specifically asks me to or if posted signs indicate that it must be worn over your nose and mouth. Fortunately, the signs at the only store I visit regularly say only: "no mask no entry". Now that I got the completed vaccine card, I guess I am free to fly to Europe, go on a cruise, or a hockey game if I want. Hopefully, it wont be too much longer until that card lets one do away with the mask entirely.

I stacked the unbroken blocks on pallets this afternoon. That looks like about half of them. Next up is throwing the broken ones into the big fire pit. I will have to wait until it dries up a little, because we got a pretty good rain shortly after I finished stacking. Some day I may use those blocks to make a retaining wall around a vegetable garden area on the south end of our house. Stuff don't grow very good there now, because the old barn roof blocks out too much sun. Hopefully, that will be gone by next season.

Making the 3/8 dovetail insert wasn't bad. I had to bump up the mounting screw to a 6-32 because that was the smallest tap I had. The original looked like a 5-40. I found the original dovetail insert with attached front blade (after I had already made a replacemet). It was in the back of my ML drawer. Now I can restore the old Traditions Fox-river 50 to original condition, if they ever ban fiber optics. You never know, they might also make us go back to ball and patch for a special primitive season. This short 1/48 twist barrel always shot them ok. I cant quite restore it to full original condition because I snapped the end off the trigger on or after my my second shot on Sunday. The remaining stub still works, but might cause issues, so I glued the busted piece back on with JB weld. I will add some more and reshape it with a file after it hardens. I am looking forward to hunting with "stubby" this fall. I got some fish to catch and a turkey or two to kill before that however.

They must have cornered the market. Walmart in Lockport only had one pack of zucchini seed on the rack yesterday, but that will be enough for me for the next 2 years.

I put down a little grass seed today in a bare spot next to my wood pile. It looks like we are supposed to get a fair amount of rain over the next few weeks so it should do ok. I cut my front acre of lawn 3 times prior to last weeks snow. That slowed it down a bit, but it looks like it will need another cut tomorrow. I only cut the rough acre behind that once so far, with a bush hog. In this photo, from my bedroom window range session today, you can still see the vertical lines on the rough section in back and the horizontal lines with dandelions on the frequently cut part in front:

I had my prescription glasses on. Probably should have had side protection for that job. They do have impact resistant plastic lenses at least. Lots of concrete chips was bouncing off of them but they dont look scratched up at all. I made the cut 1 foot deep, which was about all I had in me. My right elbow was a little sore when i finished yesterday, but feels fine today. Next, I will fill the hole with the busted silo blocks (it looks like about half of them broke), and fill it with dirt to about 10" from the top. There will be no campfires in it until the adjacent barn is down. Hopefully, I will get that done by the end of the summer. If I had to drop another one, I would probably hook a cable to the top and use a tractor to pull it over after pounding out a few less blocks from the bottom course. I could easily double the tractor's pull with a snatch block. It did fall in the direction that I wanted it to, but looking at the video in slow motion, several blocks ended up a bit too close for comfort right before it toppled over. The problem is, when you knock out all the blocks on the opposite side, those on your side take on much more compression load. When they pop, there is no avoiding some chunks flying your way. If it were not for the current crazy ammo situation, I would have taken out about the same number of blocks, but left a single one in the center on the side where I wanted it to fall. Then I would have shot that out (from a safe distance) with deer slugs.

I just finished sighting in my 50 cal sidelock with the new fiber optic sights. I drove up to Runnings in Lockport this morning, mostly to renew my fishing license, but their DEC computer was down. I went back to the gun counter and asked if they had any powder. Unbelievably, the guy said he had a one pound can of 777 in the safe for $ 27. I had to make another stop, a mile farther North at Walmart for the fishing licence, but hopefully I now have everything I need to keep our family fed for another year. Walmart also had zucchini and summer squash seeds. The sighting in went ok: First, I adjusted the rear sight to the center of the adjustment range. Then I removed the nipple to make sure it was clear, and blew into the touch hole to make sure air expelled from the muzzle. I wasn't sure how good I had cleaned it 20 years ago. It must have been alright because nothing was plugged. Next, I poured in 25 grains of fresh 777, then dropped in a 5 year old 50 grain 777 pellet. I wiped a green plastic sleeve with bore butter, and pushed down and seated a 240 gr XTP bullet. I put a 20 year old #11 cap on the nipple and sent the first shot. It struck 5 inches to the right of the bull. Prior to my second shot, I adjusted the rear sight to the left, half way as far as it would go. The bore butter allows a few shots between cleanings, so I reloaded and sent shot #2. That one struck an inch to the right and 2 inches high. Since new neighbors are moving in next door today, and my wife said that our 3 house cats were going nuts at the reports, I decided that was good enough for today's bedroom window range session. The fields are too wet now to go way out back. Maybe I will shoot it again around labor day, but I am satisfied with its performance right now. I will give it a good cleaning and it should be good to go for early ML week up in the Adirondacks this year.

This ain't the first time I heard you mention "soon coming". The fact of the matter, as it is written, is that no one knows the time or the place.

I never said that I wasn't a wuss Bill. Besides biting insects, I am also scared of heights. "Uncomfortable" might be a better choice of words in both cases. The good news is, no matter how scared or uncomfortable you are about anything, there is still hope for you.

In my book, all those who fear anything besides God, are wusses. I could care less what anyone else thinks of that. He has the final say over all things. I am glad to hear that you have not ruled out taking the shot. This really isn't a political thing, since the vaccines were developed under Trump (who took the shots himself even though he had Covid)and are being pushed by Biden (who also took them).

Good luck getting wusses and athiests to listen to scientific reason. Most of them still believe that something can be made from nothing and that new life begins at birth. Thier beliefs are focused on "science be damned"

My wife made hoagies, with the last of last season's back-strap. She cooked it just the way I like it- rare, and they were awesome.

Good luck finding zucchini seed. The place I usually get it from didn't have any again this year (I had enough last year for a few plants but now I am out). They were very well stocked this morning with sweetcorn, turnip, and radish seed ar least, so I am all set on that now, as well as fertilizer. It will be a while before my ground is dry enough to plow. Fortunately, I have lots of other projects to keep me occupied while waiting for it. Hopefully, I can get my old sidelock ML dialed in tomorrow with it's new fiber optic sights. It will be interesting to see if it will fire with some leftover 20 year old pyrodex that I found in a can down in the basement.

I considered borrowing one from my brother or renting one. It is chipping out a bit easier now that I am thru the harder outer layer. I ran into a 1/2" steel re-rod, about 8" down, so now I got to unplug my radio and go get my electric cut-off wheel. At least I get a little break every time I drop the chisel in the drink. The water isn't that deep so finding it hasn't been a problem so far.

It is a good day for working on my 12 foot diameter concrete fire-pit: cool, dry, and a steady breeze. That, and the old umbrella makes it pretty comfortable pounding out a drainage cut in the back with a hammer and chisel. Dropping the silo with a sledge was easy compared to this.

You sure that's what you meant to type ? Where did you ever hear of me supporting abortion ? I am simply estatic that Trump got to seat 3 anti-abortion Supreme court justices. Would you be willing to accept a ban on abortion in exchange for a guarantee of your 2nd amendment rights ? If so, It is pretty clear what party should get your vote next time.

No side effects whatsoever from Phizer shot #1 for me. I am looking forward to #2 in a couple weeks. Heck, I would let that pretty nurse give me a shot twice a day, if there was even a slight chance that it might help someone. I think you folks who are scared to get the shot are wusses.

Hopefully, the sighting in will go smoother with this $ 26 set of true glow sights than the mixed pair of trueglow-T/C that I put on my Marlin 30/30 a couple years ago. That took 3 trips back to the range and I had to shim the front up nearly 1/2".

Why is no one looking out for the vegetables ? Why should they be stricken down in their prime, for human consumption, almost always before they have had a chance to reproduce ?

Kizzy ("stay put" in Mandinka)

I got the fiber-optics mounted on my carbine sidelock tonight. What should have been a 10 minute job took me a little over an hour because I had to make a 3/8 dovetail insert to hold the rear sight. I lost the original. Hopefully, I will get it out on the range this weekend.