The Hunting Times

Sandy and I heard a news report from the UK that 80% of the people surveyed were bored for 2 hours per day.  Not sure the population that they surveyed, but we looked at each other and said that we can't remember being bored.  And work goes so fast we are not bored there either.  Wow.  Who are these people? So we spent the weekend cleaning up the wood from the four trees we had dropped.  We hauled 5 wagon loads of wood and two trips of brush.  It was H-O-T.  But we did it without any complaints and we sure were not bored! Two pictures of the wood we stacked behind the barn. East side of barn facing South Now facing North If you find yourself getting bored, by all means give us a call.  We have plenty for everyone to do here on the Ranch!

So a local group of hornets decided to build a nest directly between the power line poles on the N side of the house (see earlier post).  I left them alone and they left us alone for most of the Summer.  I mowed by them without incident. In fact, I also mowed by the other two nests (one in lane and one at Nick's) without issue as well. But now it's time to clean up the trees we had felled due to the emerald ash borer.  It was too close to the nest and some of us were going to lose.  Unfortunately for the hornets, it was them. I took some pictures of the inside of the nest.  Well laid out.  Nature is awesome.  Hopefully some of the little guys went to the other nests and did not perish. At least the meter reader can check our electric meter now. The now open nest built directly below our electric meter. The remnants on the ground.

Posting a Shout Out to Mulberry Telecommunications (full disclosure of bias - I am on their board of trustees).  But they have a Honeywell security system that, for the money, is tough to beat. We have had our system installed now for about three months.  It includes door sensors (we installed 4), glass break sensors (we installed a ton), motion sensors (installed 1), smoke detectors (installed 4), and video cameras (we picked 0).  The installation fee is minimal and can be completed in just a few short hours.  Go check out the product on their website:   https://www.mintel.net/home-security Have we had any issues with the system?  None.  We have accidentally set it off four times of our own doing (me one, cats one, and wife two).  But those were all relatively early and getting use to the system.  It obviously works really well. So why did I pass on the cameras?  Because I wanted a wireless system that uses my network instead of running wires all over creation.  Thus, I ordered

You always trust the Fat Guy when it comes to eating a great meal. I cut some jalapenos in half, cleaned them, stuffed them with cream cheese, and then wrapped them in duck bacon.  These I threw on the grill with ribeye steaks. I will make somebody a good wife one day.

Dove season opened up here in Indiana on Saturday, 01 SEP.  RePhil, Krueger, Davey, and I went to Tippecanoe County to try and rustle some up. We did, but not very many.  Seems they all wanted to be in the cattle feed lots and we did not have permission to hunt there.  We bagged about 7 that morning.  But hey, we had fun. RePhil.  Opening morning for doves. Then on Sunday, we held the annual hunt fest at the Ranch.  Again, not many doves.  I think the 8 of us ended up with 6 doves.  Really, we are not that bad of shots - there are just no doves here yet. We had a great breakfast of venison biscuits and gravy.  Since the birds were slow, we pulled out the trap and shot some rounds off.  It sounded like we were slaying the birds.  We were, they were just the clay type. Sykes out in the NE corner in the early morning. Alex, Zach, Nick, and Tony (goofballs). That's better - at least more suitable for publishing.

As part of the Central Indiana Chapter's annual fundraiser, they host an event at the Indiana Gun Club.  Teams of 5 shooters tackle 8 stations of various clays being thrown - at you, away from you, across you, bouncing off the ground, etc. It is difficult, humbling, a great time, and a good money maker for PF. This year, Alex joined me to shoot the event and we went as members of the Safety Management Group team (aka our sponsor). The round consisted of 100 birds, plus ten bonus birds (mulligans) you could buy.  We bought.  So our totals are out of a possible 110. Here are our score cards... The winner's card (Station 6 ate my lunch) Alex's score card.  Not bad for his first time ever shooting Sporting Clays. If you are not a current member of Pheasants Forever, why not? Register here for a chapter near you, or join us at the Clinton County Chapter, just send me your information and I will get you signed up.  Current dues are $35 per year. https://

Dave P. came over for a couple of visits to the US.  So of course we had to get some gun play in.  Pictures from two different rounds of visits along with a target.  Check out how accurate the FN is.  Each group is 3 rounds from 60 yards.  Why 60?  Crops are in not allowing us to shoot any farther right now. Also, Grandma wanted a lesson in gun handling so she could defend herself and her precious grandbabies.  So I took her out and let her shoot every pistol and revolver caliber I own.  Her favorite?  The Colt .45 1911.  Nice! Dave shooting the AR15 and 6.5 Creedmoor. The 6.5 just got a new scope.  The AR just got a new barrel. Had to shoot them in.  Man Law! Dave shooting in the FN Police Special .308. Super Nice! Grandma practicing her marksmanship. Currently using the Sig P226 in 9mm. A 10# note for size comparison (just smaller than a $1 bill). DP = Dave; NS = Nick; CS = Craig As you can see, Dave got better with practice. Nick only

Hornets decided to build a nest between our two power lines coming into the house.  Kinda nice as we have not had our meter read in 3 months!  Just kidding.  We are on the payment plan so it does not matter. Anyway, I have been mowing around them for about two months now.  But the colony grew so large that they had to move.  Temporarily, the moved to the curve of the lane.  Don't go mowing around them.  They are mean! Then, a new nest showed up at Nick's.  Poor Zach found out the hard way.  Took one for the team to locate the nest. Gotta get them sprayed as we need to go clean up some more wood.

Ordered a kit (the expensive kind) to build a two-story playset for the grandkids.  Had them just send the lumber and bits to save money.  Made Grandma Sandy help me layout, mark, and cut the pieces.  Then she helped me assemble - all except for the second story.  Had to call in the taller Nick to help me set the swings.  Grandma was just too short. We spent an entire week-end measuring and cutting.  We then spent a couple of days each week putting together the roof, tower, and swings.  I spent two hours working on the curly-Q slide and then it took Sandy, Alex, and I another 2 hours to install.  That sumbitch had about 2,000 nuts and bolts in it.  Guess it works. End result?  About three weeks later and everyone is getting some use.  The grandkids seem to love it - except when the spiders build webs in it.  Yucky.  Papaw has to take those down. Will enjoying the swing. Grandma and Mallory enjoying the swing. See the lawnmower in the background?  Yep, been doin' a l

Well at least one of y'all out there in the world wide web reads my blog.  Got some feedback that I have not been keeping it updated...and that's true.  It has been a very busy Summer.  So let's catch up. We lost some trees to the emerald ash borer.  So I hired a service to drop them for me as they had to come down in pieces being so close to the house.  Now I have four trees on the ground that I have to clean up (cut, split, haul, stack, etc.).  It has been slow going as there are many other projects.  Read on... Me and Davey Jones taking a break, drinking Alaskan beer, and chopping wood I planted sweet corn three times, 2 weeks apart, 2 rows each time, 100 yards long.  Did I learn?  Sure.  Change the gears to plant farther apart.  Start on the inside and work out.  We don't need that much sweet corn.  We ended up picking over 300 DOZEN ears of corn.  All our friends, neighbors, co-workers, and family enjoyed it.  It was excellent corn! I planted three p