Springtime in Alabama

While the calendar may still read decidedly winter, the weather here didn’t get the message. As it nears 6 p.m., we are at just under 70*F. I spent some time this afternoon walking our “back 40″ (back pasture), trying to decide where to place our game camera. We purchased it at Christmas as a gift to the family. Thus far, we’ve seen a little buck, a doe or two, several raccoons, and a cat that is not ours.

It was a beautiful afternoon for a walk. I enjoyed the peace and fresh air immensely. There are a lot of tracks around, some of them from a good size buck. With the rain we’ve had over the last couple of weeks, there is a noticeable trail paralleling our creek. Hopefully soon, I’ll have some pictures to post.

A walk around the rest of the yard shows that everything else thinks it’s Spring as well. The paperwhites bloomed last week. The daffodils are blooming. The Saucer magnolia is bursting with flower buds, as is the forsythia. I didn’t think to take a good look at the redbuds. They are usually the first to show color each year.

Deer Hunting

Most of the time sitting in a deer stand doesn’t feel like hunting. It could better be described as waiting. The wait is often quite enjoyable. It’s sunny and cool and the landscape serene. Yesterday I saw the most beautiful doe I’ve ever seen. She was grey, white, and black. Unfortunately, I have one camera that might have been able to get a blurry picture of her at the 250 yards or more she was from me (and I was looking into the sun). I say unfortunately for two reasons. First, it was at the house and second, because it is an older EOS Rebel and is not digital. It makes a very distinct noise when it winds the film. I haven’t upgraded because while I used it a bit, I have found most any cheap digital I’ve had takes very good pictures. The range of them is just limited.

Yesterday, I thought my wait for the right buck was going to pay off. A bit before sundown, out walks a Nice buck. Several does were already on the field. He walked out, walked up a tree line and slipped through it to another field. Ugh!! I estimated the distance to be 250 to 300 yards to the tree line the buck had slipped through. I called DH on the radio to ask as he was familiar with hunting this field. He didn’t answer and he didn’t answer. In the mean time, something spooked the buck and a few of the does on that side of the field. I watched sadly as he sailed over the fence towards the swamped he’d come from.

Several of the other does were slowly making their way down the field towards me. It was getting close to dark but I waited patiently hoping the buck would come back through the fence to flirt with this group of does. Unfortunately, he didn’t and just before dark something spooked the does and they went running with white tails marking their way.

Even if the buck had stayed on my side of the tree line, I didn’t have the gun with me that could have made the shot. I had with me a friend’s .243. I normally hunt with an old .300 Savage. My oldest daughter had it in a stand on another field. Poor thing saw nothing, not even a doe. In a way, I’m glad I had the smaller gun. If I’d had mine, I might have attempted the shot. I say attempted because I had greatly underestimated the distance. The bottom where the buck hopped the fence and up the tree line is over 400 yards from the stand I was in. I would have needed DH’s .7mm Mag and still probably would not have been successful. I have fired it successfully four or five times from a bench at 300 yards. But a 10-inch plate at 300 yards is very different than a buck at 420 yards with adrenaline pumping.

Now, had I been in the stand on the field the buck slipped into, I probably could have made the shot. That stand is closer to the tree line. So today, I am questioning myself. Do I invest in and pratice with a bigger gun (most stands we hunt can have very long shots)? Do I satisfy myself with knowing the limitations of my gun and learning to judge distance better? I am definitely going to be doing some investigation on ammunition and ballistics.

And since I’ve got your mouth watering with all this talk of dead deer —

Venison Roast, Slow-cooked

1 venison roast of choice
1 jar pepperocini peppers

Pour jar of peppers, juice and all in the bottom of a slow cooker. Pat roast dry, cover in olive oil. Set roast on peppers in slow cooker. Set slow cooker to low for 4 to 6 hours. Serve with rice or other favorite side.

Hunting, guns, and time for hobbies

Deer season ends here soon. Our oldest is the only one of us that has killed a deer this year. She killed a nice buck earlier in the season. Due to the angle of the shot, she also got to learn how to gut a deer that had been “gut shot” (shot through the intestines). She was successful at it and handled the smell as well as can be expected.

Both girls successfully completed their hunter education course last night. As expected, they both had high scores. Now they can get their own licenses to hunt on their own. Until now, they’ve had to sit in a stand with an adult licensed hunter. Since they can now hunt on their own, we may need to look into additional rifles suitable for deer.

Between deer season, family obligations, and work obligations, we haven’t had much of a chance to shoot recreationally. I haven’t had a chance to knit, read, bake, you name it. My desire to simplify life does seem to be gaining much ground.

A Cummins in a Suburban

I love my truck. It has the 5.9 liter Cummins diesel motor in it. My favorite vehicle I’ve ever owned was a 1990 Suburban. Diesel Power magazine is running a series combining my favorites:

http://www.dieselpowermag.com/tech/chevy/1201dp_swapping_a_cummins_into_a_1973_to_1991_chevy_suburban/index.html

Unfortunately, I no longer own my Suburban and it was only a 1/2 ton. Me thinks my Christmas money may be spent on a 3/4 ton Chevy!

Life on a farm?

I spent a while on the phone this morning with my grandmother. Granny turned 90 last month. She’s from the Northeast US and decidedly not from a rural Southern . . . farm. I can’t really describe our little piece of paradise as a farm. Chickens and a mediocre garden don’t a farm make. But, it’s as close to a farm as most in my family have been.

Anyway, as anyone with pets or small livestock knows, they are hilarious and provide hours of entertainment. The interaction between the guinea pig, cats, dogs, and chickens is comical and, amazingly, very friendly. One of our plump little cats spends many hours a day half-heartedly chasing the chickens. The chickens are bigger than she is. If the dogs aren’t careful, the chickens will steal their food while they look around munching each bite. We still have a couple of hens laying eggs outside the house. One is laying them under the house. She made such a pretty little nest lined with beautiful gold feathers, under the hen house. We have a couple of cats that don’t quite understand that the dogs aren’t really found of being rubbed against, especially while they eat. We have one that will do figure eights around our oldest male’s legs while he eats. The dog is standing on tiptoes giving me “help me” looks after the first figure eight.

Anyway, I’m telling my grandmother many of these and more stories this morning. She loved it and decided I should write a book. It was nice to hear her laughing and happy. Unfortunately, she’s cooped up a lot by herself as many of her friends are gone now.

Making it during lean times

Back a few months ago, my work was cut some, as was my pay. We are making it, but barely. My food storage has helped a lot. Most of the items I’ve been replacing but at a slow rate. Some stuff, however, I have not been replacing due to the price. There are certain items I buy in large quantities and my income has not allowed me to replace certain items those because of the price of the quantity. So, now I’m faced with being completely out of some items but still not having the money to replace in full. I am researching replacing those items in smaller quantities. However, due to the rate of inflation of food in the last six months, I’m not sure of our ability to replace them at all.

I’ve contemplated going without them completely. It was certainly in the back of my head that in a total SHTF scenario, we’d be without most stuff eventually. In that period before our preparations ran out, we transition ourselves to a different way of life. I’m not ready to make that transition yet. But, as the economy worsens and my ill feelings about the political scene increase, it is certainly in the front of my mind.

Quick trip, home again, home again

I’m back home and left wondering how’d I grow up to be this normal. I’m not saying I’m normal but . . . .

traveling

A long time ago, I was born in Texas. I’m back today to say good bye to a loved one and to catch up with some I haven’t seen in a while.

The trip over was a hilarious 9 hours with my sister. We live 3 hours apart and between children, work, and hobbies, we don’t spend the time together we should. We decided it was probably good that we didn’t speak much during our teen years. We’d have probably gotten in a lot of trouble. She has a complete lack on control over her mouth which sends me into fits of laughing. I then lose the ability to edit my thoughts as they become words as well.

Thank you!

Thank you to all the veterans that make our freedom possible.

Frustration

I know I’ve posted before about how much I love my truck. I drive daily a old Dodge D350 Dually with the Cummins motor. I had a Lincoln Town Car I had inherited. It required premium fuel so I sold it since the truck got better fuel mileage and at the time diesel was the same or often less than premium.

However, times they are a changing. I am watching daily as the cost of gasoline drops and drops. A gallon of regular unleaded can be had around here for as little as $3.159. Unfortunately, diesel has not dropped. In fact, since gasoline started dropping a couple of weeks ago, diesel has increased in price by $.10 a gallon. The cheapest I am able to find diesel is $3.799. There are stations at $3.999. These stations are often truck stops.

That’s the second part of my frustration. Why is the truck stop charging $.20 more a gallon for diesel than the station across the street? I’d think that by selling so much diesel they’d be able to get a price cut and be able to offer it for less per gallon. Are they gouging the businesses? The big trucks can’t get into the smaller stations and the smaller stations don’t accept the fleet cards, usually. By laying it on the truckers, they are laying it on consumers as well. It gets passed on so that eventually, everything we buy costs more.