Storm update

Well... Friday Toad's Dad and I hauled off the trailer of brush and unloaded it. Then Heidi came back with the kids, and we cleaned up the back yard the rest of the way. (well save the tree that needs professional help) It was then dropped in front of the second brush pile. Saturday we loaded that up, and Monday night Tony helped me haul it off and unload it. So Woo! that's all gone.

There was a moment of panic this morning when the city/county came by and started picking up storm debris of the curb. I was afraid I was going to have to pay extra to have my tree hauled away. Turns out Nope... they're coming back, just maybe not any time soon. Oh well. At least they're coming back.

Saturday I'll be having the tree removed. They want to work on it when they're less tired as it is apparently quite dangerous the way it's tipped but not fallen. That's why I was sad about the city/county coming by and hauling stuff off this morning.

Also taking a bunch of new people trap shooting this weekend. I just have to figure out when to schedule it. We were all thinking Saturday morning but that's when they're coming to get the tree.

Big Storm

Well last night there was a big storm. We were without power for about 16 hours. That's not so bad I have friends still without power. One of those friends, Heidi, came over and helped me move two trees. well really it was parts of three, but it totaled to about two trees. Toad's dad also showed up with a trailer and a chain saw. This allowed us to get the bulk of the stuff out of the back yard. Now we're down to just one big tree leaning in the screen porch. I'm still waiting to hear from the insurance people about it.

For pictures: http://www.gophergrenadier.org/storm I like 17-19 a lot and some in the high 20s and low 30s.

Trap shooting

Today Erik and I went trap shooting again. This time we took betsy. Well really she brought her self, but we wooed her into coming. I loaned her the cursed 20ga without telling her it was cursed. She did amazingly well, and the shotgun doesn't appear to be cursed for her. She hit 8/25 her first round and 7/25 her second. If you've never tried trap shooting and you want to, and you know me, call. I'll take you. It's fun.

Erik shot a great first round, then we made him shoot the second round left handed, and he still beat us both. I was shooting my Mossberg 500. Have I told you all I bought a 12ga? I bought a 12ga Mossberg 500 bantam. I like it a lot, and it doesn't hate me the way the 20ga does. I haven't been hitting real well with it. First time I took it out I hit 3/25 and 5/25 (then I noticed I had the full choke tube in). Second time it was out 6/25 and 6/25, and I've been working on not getting bonked in the nose by my thumb. I have a very rifle shooter like stance, and it puts my nose too close to my thumb. This time, I got my stance straightened out, hit 6/25 the first round and 9/25 the second. Not great scores, but I know why I hit the ones I hit, and I know why I missed the ones I missed. Which is a massive improvement.

I am still looking past the edges of my glasses. Not quite sure how to fix it but it does make the clay mighty fuzzy and hard to hit. I've also ordered the stock drop spacers for the 12ga, because with them in it should be nearly exactly the same fit as the Browning BT-99Micro that guy loaned me a while ago, and it should get my head where it belongs without getting me bonked in the nose every time I fire. Cause really getting bonked in the nose every shot leads to flinching in even the most stalwart of shooters.

9: 3/25
10: 5/26
11: 6/25
12: 6/25
13: 6/25
14: 9/25

back from AI

Well I'm back from AnimeIowa. And what am I doing with my evening? Hunting up space maps for the hotel we were just in, and the hotel we're moving to, and comparing room sizes and playing with space allocaiton. I think I must be obsessive.

Back in August I posted this about Ed and his leak. And our solution. Well for a month we've tried the fleece band. It has issues. It gets wet, it's not too absorbent, he gets fussy once it's wet and tries to get it off. Basically wet fleece is bad. So... On to prototype two.

This new model is made from a cotton dish towel that one of the dogs destroyed. Well they chewed some good food bit out of the corner anyhow. So.. Since it was headed for the rag bag anyhow... I cut it in half lengthwise. Took the smaller half (the one with the end chewed out) and cut off all the straggly ends and the finished edges, and folded it up into a pad several layers thick and about 3.5" wide by 6" long. I then sewed this into an outer band with a length sufficient to go around the dog. Once again closed with velcro.

So this model has more layers in the necessary area, and is stiffer, so he'll have a harder time escaping it. The old one he would some times worm out of, but more often he'd just push it back far enough that it wasn't covering the leaky bit.

Action shots to follow, once I get my camera back. It went on vacation to Russia without me.