What did you do today

[Capebuild]

So while taking a break I decided to check out how my Bluebirds in the garden nest box are doing. I'd say OK!

Looks awesome, Tim!
Really cool!!

John

[tony.latham]

Well... today, I'm shipping this little beast off to my editor. It's a crazy (but true) story.





Tony

[featherliteCT1]

Well... today, I'm shipping this little beast off to my editor. It's a crazy (but true) story.

Tony

A man of many talents!

[bdosborn]

Well... today, I'm shipping this little beast off to my editor. It's a crazy (but true) story.

Right on!
Bruce

[Tom&Shelly]

Well... today, I'm shipping this little beast off to my editor. It's a crazy (but true) story.

Can't wait to read it Tony!

Tom

[MickinOz]

Went to the monthly 200 yard bunny shoot out at the range.
This is an informal "competition" run by the big bore rifle club.
They print up some half size bunnies on A4 paper, they have people down at the butts marking the targets and relaying the scores, but no one is really competing except against themselves.
It's open to non members who pay the $10 range fee, and its a great way to practice, with plenty willing to help tune your rifle and coach you on technique.
I take notice of where I land in the rankings because some of the guys are dedicated target shooters who compete at state and national level, with serious rifles and hand loads.
Its almost always windy here, so how the serious guys perform is my indicator of the difficulty of the conditions.
So if I only score, say, 15 bunnies with a hunting rifle and store bought ammo, that may be poor or good depending.
If the club champion scored 16, then I did good. If he shot a perfect 20, I didn't do so good.
Which is a long winded way of saying that the best shooter on the day nailed 19 bunnies with a serious rifle and hand loaded Lapua brass, and I came in equal second with 17 bunnies with my hunting rifle and Remington Freedom Bucket bulk buy ammo, so I was satisfied I'm continuing to improve myself.

Saturday morning at the range..JPG (229.31 KiB) Viewed 817 times

200 yards used to seem a long way.JPG (116.27 KiB) Viewed 817 times

[twisted lines]

Looks like fun Mick:
Need to take the wife; so she can put another whopping on me

[MickinOz]

Looks like fun Mick:
Need to take the wife; so she can put another whopping on me

I really enjoy it. there were 12 shooters this month, but really only 6 serious.
The others are out there challenging themselves using their 0.22 rimfires, or trying out stuff they just bought, or using other guns completely inappropriate for the distance.
We had zero wind for the first time since I've been doing it, which threw everyone off their rhythm.
They are all so used to compensating for 10 or 15 knots of erratic sidewinds, no one knew where their scopes were set, etc. Funny as.
The local dealer used the day as an opportunity to dial in a 0.308 for a customer, the he rolled out his "pig gun" for the second round.
0.45 cal long Colt rounds in a 5 shot revolving rifle with about a 16 or 18 inch barrel and open sights. Great at 40 yards in the scrub on pigs and goats, simply would not make the distance down the range.
One of the serious club guys brought out his 0.458 x 2" American rifle.
What a beast. He offered me a shot. Did not have to ask twice.

[Tom&Shelly]

Spent the day cutting, splitting, and stacking firewood. Probably have almost enough now, if we have a mild Winter. People seem concerned about global climate change, but I'm okay with it, if it means New Mexico gets cooler Summers and warmer Winters! Oh, and Shelly reminds me: Rain lots of rain under cloudy skies above! Of course, moisture is a relative term. Unlike back East, it's dry enough here that wood can sit on the ground for years without rotting. I was cutting up trunks of trees I'd cut down several years ago.

Got a piece of alligator juniper mixed in with the pinion



Vivid red/violet when it's first opened. Quickly darkens and eventually turns brown. when cut across the grain it sometimes has a pretty rose shape. I've tried varnishing right away to preserve the color, but the varnish darkens it. Someday I want to experiment with other clear coats to see what works well.

Tom

[pchast]

That picture looks a lot like Eastern Red Cedar.

[Tom&Shelly]

That picture looks a lot like Eastern Red Cedar.

I think they look similar. We have several species of juniper here in the East Mountains, and no cedar.

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

Today I used soapy water to check our propane line, in prep for Summer camping. In fact, found a small leak in the connection between the rubber hose to our Cook Partner stove and the NPT adapter to our quick connect/disconnect.

Also found the left tire is at 36.5 psi, while the right one had gone down to about 32 psi. Need to keep an eye on that one!

So, I took some dope and filled the right tire with propane, er...no I doped the propane connection and filled the tire with air.

I should be he-man enough to check our bearings, but instead decided to pay our regular mechanic for that service. I've been so busy calling the list of Thailand phone numbers so graciously supplied to me by some good people on this forum who no doubt know all about teardrops, that I just don't have time to do all the necessary regular maintenance. Talk about dopes!

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

The view from our porch late this afternoon



That's the "10K Fire", named after a nearby hiking trail, that started around 1:40 this afternoon up in the Sandia Mountains. 0% contained, about an acre at the time I took the picture. Bernalillo County, Albuquerque City, and US Forest Service fire fighters are working on it.

Tom

[tony.latham]

That's the "10K Fire"...

Yowsers! I hope they have the resources to stomp on it.

Tony

[noseoil]

This is the 24 hour rainfall here in northern New Mexico. It's typically a dry climate, but this spring seems to be the exception to the rule. This is the 24 hour total in the new rain gauge form Sunday afternoon toe Monday afternoon.