Doing great Andre'. Took her to the Dr Wednesday and she got a clean bill of health at least until next years check up. Had my diabetic check up last week and everything looks OK so at 76 I'm trying to stay active while I can. Treadmill..light weights to work out on and watching my diet seems to be helping. Hope you and the family are OK also!!

 

We are all doing well Don! Glad to hear all is well with you guys!

 

I say break it in the way you are going to run it!

 

Howdy Guys,

I'm with Bart, let the oil warm up and let it rip!

 

Thanks Andre, I will tell him! He also mentioned he will be able to climb higher than me now.... but the old man know when to turn out if he is not going to make it and the little bugger does not!!
Me thinks I will be sitting on my butt watching the boy dig

Tim and Bart, done and done LOL

Have a good weekend everyone!

 

Howdy all. Well, if Phil thinks Spring is coming early he should be here and looking up. Started snowing earlier this morning and has been continuing ever since. Weather forecast had called for rain with some snow mix here with the snow fall level 3000 feet higher than we are. It's fine powder and we were 4° colder than the ski resort 500 feet higher (lodge) than we are, but it has been showing a slight warming trend and the ski resort temp has dropped so we are matching now.

Yep, and it is getting more so. Got an outline of legislative bills being submitted for the "short session" that started yesterday, *&%#$@***) &@$%^, AND that's as close as my blood pressure and rules will let me go on that.......

The restocking fee may have to do with the "Special Order" status. Some of the paperwork I have does say "...all returned Special Order Merchandise is subject to a 15% restocking fee...."

HD in Bend had one small Troy Built blower in stock. And the Customer Service desk didn't seem to know about that one. When we asked, they said the only ones they might possibly have left were out front, but we could order one online or they could order it for us. The only things out front were chippers and log splitters. We looked on the way in to the store from the parking lot. We found the one blower they had by accident when walking through the Garden Section. I didn't drive the extra few miles to Redmond to look as they only had 4 listed on the web site and didn't have the model(s) I was interested in. The one I ordered is apparently not normally stocked, at least in Bend, so I guess that makes it a Special order? The invoice they sent me says it's a "Special Services Customer Invoice.".
The Bend people told me that they had a big run on snowblowers a couple of weeks ago and the new stock is 'back ordered' and not here yet. They told me they didn't normally stock the model I wanted and didn't know where I could look at it up close and hands on. At the same time, the web site listed 23 of the machines I ordered available for shipment. Apparently, they aren't shipping one of those as the Invoice says, "Vendor Direct".
Lowe's, almost right next door, less than a block away, had around 30 Craftsman, Ryobi, Ariens and a couple of other brands in stock and on display. Apparently, they didn't have the same run that Home Depot did?

The Invoice lists the Order as "Vendor Direct" from Modesto Ca., but when I looked it up, that address is a private residence in a residential neighborhood. I'd be a little worried about that if I had not ordered it from the store itself.
However, they must be shipping it via an Electric (EV) truck that has to recharge for 24 hours every 50 miles. Modesto is only 465 miles via I-5 to Highway 97 to here. 14 days for 465 miles? If I had any desire to "cross the border" I could be there in 7 - 8 hours. I was notified via email that my order was shipped on the 30th and the email confirmed it won't arrive until the13th, delivered to our address. They told me when I ordered it on the 29th that the estimated delivery was on the 13th, but didn't say where it was coming from. I just assumed they had a regional warehouse somewhere. What's interesting is that If I had had it delivered to the store in Bend, it wouldn't be there until the 15th-18th. Now, if they are coming up the "Oregon-California" highway (97) they have to drive right by my driveway on the way to Bend. Bend is only 50 miles, but that 50 miles adds 2 to 5 days?

Where we are here is considered on the edge of the "Oregon Frontier". Maybe if I were to be sitting out at the Highway at the end of our Lane, I could see the Covered Frieght Wagon and team of horses arriving or going by!

 

Snowing heavily now. Someone screwed up the forecast that they have been publishing for the last 3 or four days. Weather and County Emergency management has been making my cell phone go nuts for the last 30 minutes. Weather alerts and "Hazardous Winter Weather" alerts have now been issued for heavy snow and 35 mph winds. Gee.....just 6 hours ago it was rain with some snow mixed in!


At least I got the wood box fille with pellets for the pellet stove.



I wouldn't get caught dead holding one of those Nutria around here or down in the valley. I used to trap and shoot those by the dozen down on the old farm and ranch when I was growing up. A Muzzleloading club nearby would by the hides from me for $10 to $20 a piece to make there regalia out of. When they weren't buying, I'd get $2 a head bounty from the fruit, filbert and Christmas Tree farmers as long as they came from on or adjacent to their farms. The evergreens were pretty safe but trees they also raised for paper pulp or nursery stock were another favorite bark. The nutria girdled the trees killing the tree. They, along with muskrats were very bad on weakening pond dikes and embankments by digging holes throughout the structures. Steel traps with a piece of apple on a stick very effective and the bait was cheap.

The way the story goes, there were a lot of nutria Farms in the Willamette Valley, and they were raising them for fur much like minks. Farmers were supplementing farm income from the furs. Some of the carcass's, long with mink carcass's were sold for crab bait. Mink carcass is still a popular crab bait as the seals and sea lions don't like it and leave the crab traps alone.

Stock Markets crashed, fur prices went into the toilets and the great depression was on. All the furriers just opened the cages and turned thousands and thousands of the South American Varmint loose. Unless the Green and Animals rights groups in Salem haven't somehow changed the designation, they are considered an Invasive species here. Shoot on sight and it is legal to hunt them at night with artificial lights.

 

Great reading guys,
Darren, good to see the sled is running again,, let r rip
Nice pix Jim

have a safe weekend truckers

 

Good morning and happy Saturday.

Sounds like those swamp rats would a lot of fun!

Left- .Remmy 700 in .204 Ruger cal. Right- Remmy 700 in .22-250 cal
Both have custom target triggers set at 6 oz (adjustable to 3.5 lb) by Jewell Triggers
Both great varmint guns!

 

Howdy all. Bright sunny day that started out at 16° this morning. Took a hike just before and after sunup cleaning camera lenses on trail and security cams. Furthest trail cam is about a 1/2 mile from the house. The solar battery on it had been showing a steady discharge recently. The suns path across the sky has changed enough that the solar panel is shaded by tree limbs for most of the day. The overcast and foul winter weather hasn't helped any either. The cord was long enough I could mo move the battery pack wit5h the solar panel to a snag about 3' from the camera tree. The battery pack was at 1 bar when I changed its location. Now, about 5 hours later it is maxed out at 4 bars. Success for now. We'll see how it does on an overcast day, of which we have plenty here during the winter. It's battery seems weaker that the others. The other two battery packs at other locations have been doing fine and they have been in place since last May.

Home Depot sent me a link to their Delivery Tracker Up until yesterday evening all it said was "shipped". Last night the chart was populated. I have no idea what that invoice and Vendor Order form for Modesto was all about other than maybe a "home office" and drop ship?
Tracking sheet is showing the machine left Perth Amboy, NJ at 1034 hrs on Jan. 30. It's been in Hillside, IL since 2232 last night.


Those look really nice Don. Any time you want to give those away (or include me in your will) just let me know!

Around here we have a "target" identification problem with the nutria, especially in low light. When you see them, either on land or in the water, you have to make certain that the rat tail is their. You can be in a big world of trouble if you get to the "Nutria" and discover it has a "flat" tail. Kind of rules out much longer range shooting at them. Quit trapping them years ago for the same reason. Too big a chance of getting a beaver. Beaver is never a good thing without a bunch of licenses and being within a very specific season window.


Savage 93R17 .17HMR.........There for a second I thought we might have twins!

This was the very first 100 yard "zero" target after I had bore sighted the 93R17.

Remington M721 .257 Roberts. It has been a great coyote and varmint rifle. Helped fill the freezer with venison on a few occasions and one black bear back in 1978.

 

Best I EVER did!! Was with the .204………10 rounds @ 100yds!

Hey man, the .257 is a great caliber. It kind of got unfairly forgotten when Winchester came out with the .243.

And we do almost hav e twins.


This one is a Mossberg (I forget the model number) in .17HMR with a Sweet 17 Scope

 

The Savage has the Sweet 17 multigrain / range parallax turrets along with the screw on weather sun hood.

I never went in on the .243. Had my .257, .308, .223 and even a .222 (.222 over 20 Gauge). My uncle got my aunt a .243 but I was never excited about it. My cousin isn’t impressed either. Says the only reason he hasn’t sold it is because it was his mother’s. Came close to getting one but it was illegal to use for elk so I passed.

 

There was easily 10" on the ground when I fired up the snow blower at 2 pm. It's been coming down since then but without much additional accumulation on the pavement. It was wet, heavy snow. Normally we wouldn't see snow like that until later in the year, like almost March. The temperature is around 33°F. It should drop down to about 24°F, so we'll see what the roads look like in the morning. The main streets are clear but very wet. There was so much snow that the plows didn't remove snow from the medians.

We needed a storm like this. Lots of moisture in it. We easily hit the top end of the boom forecast.

 

Get out there and build a snowman Jim, enjoy the snow bro

Really nice rifles Don and Jim

have a great day truckers

 

Howdy all. They say we have snow coming for the next 3 or 4 days and a 70% chance of it hitting…..2-1/2 hours ago. It’s 35 currently, clouds are not looking like snow clouds and no snow is falling. Just checked the camera at the ski resort, not snowing.
Guess that’s why we call them Weather Guessers.