Monday, December 21, 2009

Bugs.

Bleah.
Viruses are nasty critters, with consequences no less.

After four hours in the RAW weather leading up to First Flight I thought that I had a small cold. NOT SO. I had/have a BIG cold that has transmogrified itself into a sinus infection. YUCK. This has NOT been my year for staying well, I have used up about 3 years worth of nasty-sickness time in one shuffle of 3 serious illnesses. Stress must have something to do with weakened immune systems.

This to shall pass, though being restricted to my bed bores me to tears and even sick I see all the stuff I think I should be doing. the 9.3x57 loading program languishes as does the 300 Win Mag load development and the 30-06 load development. Since I managed to get through the season with out seeing the critters that were legal THEN AND THERE... AND were in range there is an emptiness in my freezer and a hollow in my soul. Illness stole elk season as well, hence my well-and-truly-sick-and-tired-of-being-sick rant.

Not near enough time in the woods, too much at work and not enough to quell the need in my soul for peace and greenery. A few ducks so far, but not the elk roasts or venison chops nor the sausage I so crave.

Think I need to re-think some priorities. Maybe now with things finally underway in a noticeable manner, work will ease its insatiable demands just a touch. Give us veterans of the salt mines a minute to breath before being flung back into the pit.

A lootery (lottery) would be really nice to win just about now. Of course one has to play to win. Aahhh you say..that is a key component. What would i do? Sleep until I was done sleeping, get up and start a pot of coffee and take a LONG, hot shower, then consider all the "stuff" that fills my waking dreams, pick one and start on it. Pretty simple really. A few things in the Buy-It-Now column just to set the stage. Nothing much more beyond living life.

Time for more coffee today.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Not any warmer...

Its the end of a chilly week, work has been mayhem all week, big announcements, lots of busy-ness and long hours. After sleeping until the body announced "enough sleeping" instead of the alarm, I scooted around for the day. Went out and about, stopped to help a friend with frozen pipes meeting with limited success, hit work and discovered that after all the hoo-rah and shouting...I didnt need to be there after all. So I fought my way through the shopping madness traffic and tried hit the woods for a while.

Tomorrow I will be up when i awaken and try this again...no other chores tomorrow. Just me and the trees...and HOPEFULLY an unwary blacktail buck.

Looked out a few minutes ago..no snow SO far.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Brisk they say...BRISK.

Its been chilly at the rancho the last few days...temperature telling thingy has been solidly stuck in the 20s and 30s with the windshield solidly iced up at 0450 when I slide out the door for work.

If not for Work (more of same) being its own reward, I MIGHT be out in the woods. On the other hand I have that thing called a JOB that far too many do NOT have these days....so I won't gripe too hard about 12+ hour days this week. Even though its making hunting impossible. Hopefully the weekend will allow me to get into the woods with the muzzle loader again.

Last weekend was a few LONG hikes in the woods with a funny walking stick. Covered about 5 miles of DNR roads on foot...sat a lot of COLD places while being heckled by squirrels. Waded creeks where there USED to be roads, found places that used to be roads that had been obliterated. Like the one I planned to take back OUT. Lots of hopping over creeks at the bottom of deep man-made gullies, scrambling up the MUDDY sides to do it again 10 yards later....all the way back to the gate where I left the truck.

Oh well. Still better than working.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Evening's sights

After spending the afternoon doing stuff and things, visiting with a friend and partaking of a slice of fresh pumpkin pie...I headed out of most of "civilization" and into the woods. I took off into the back of a section I have the forester's permission to hunt. It backs onto a small cornfield on one edge and some 3rd forest reprod on the other... with one state park closing the back and a highway on the other edge. For all that its almost medieval once inside, ~50 year old forest that has been maintained, thinned and pruned, almost like a European one in some ways. I walked in a ways on the road, the plot is about 2.5 miles deep and a mile wide from the state highway, after parking out of sight of the highway. There was a small opening on the side near the cornfield with signs of a great deal of traffic into and out of the small bit of standing corn where it was too muddy to harvest. Finding a comfortable tree that was still within muzzleloader range of the trail and the standing corn I sat down for a wait until evening.

Not to be, the first deer appeared about 5 minutes AFTER shooting light, I had set tight through the end of light after hearing something moving in the woods off to the left of the opening. A doe and a yearling entered the gap first followed by a 3x3 buck and another doe, nice to watch even if I couldnt shoot. After watching them into REAL darkness, I roused myself, switched on the headlamp and headed back to the truck.

Even though I didnt fire a shot, it was nice to rest in the peace and quiet of the woods. It is something that recharges me and is calming.

Home again to make some breakfast for dinner, sausage, eggs and toast.
A good end to a great evening.

Daylight

Its a cold, wet, raw morning with the coffee brewing. Both cats wanted OUT into the heavy leaden grey sogginess that has been the woods of late. The rivers are up and have swept out the bits from the corners...the rest of the rotting salmon carcasses, odd trees, stumps and the dietrus of humanity's use (OK, Abuse) of the world. This too shall all wash out to the bay, to be deposited on the shores.

Tasks for the day: Find where the deer are hiding, get the space around the stove cleared so I can burn a fire, list the "stuff" to sell on Evilbay - cleaning out the closets and my life, find some food that does not involve turkey, start loading for the 1937 Husqvarna sporting rifle in 9.3X57 and see if the gear from yesterday is DRY yet.

Checked the work cell phone...no Hair-on-Fire-Screaming-Emergency-of-the-Day (tm) to deal with, so for now the time is mine.

More later...