The Hunting Times

So we had a good deer season.  We froze the meat and then, as usual, took it down to Rob's to grind.  The plan was to leave Mulberry at 6:15 am.  The issue?  I set my alarm to 5:15 am AND I turned it on - I set it for Mon-Fri ONLY.  It did exactly as I told it, and did not go off.  My bride asks me, "What time are you picking up Alex?"  I sleepily replied 6:15.  She says, "Well, it's 6:15!"  Damn. I had a text from Alex.  It read - It's looking awful dark over there at your place.  True dat. We made it to Rob's at 0800.  One man down.  Nick was still working on school work and did not go. Rob had breakfast ready for us - sausage patties, biscuits & gravy, hash browns, and home-made tomato juice.  It was awesome as always.  We started grinding about 0900. We made 6 batches of ground deer - the first 5 were 25# each, the last was approximately 40# because we threw in everything we had.  The first 5 were also seasoned with Pepper Stick.  The

It was a dark and cold Saturday night, when the control module for our blower fan on our HVAC unit decided to fry itself.  No help could be had until Monday. Come Monday, the tech said he could have the parts by Thursday, maybe Friday, or he could install a whole new unit by Tuesday.  Thinking we should not throw good money after bad, and realizing that we would replace the unit before we retired anyway, we opted to go with a whole new system.  We searched for other dealers and opted to go with T.L. Myers Heating & Cooling out of Frankfort. We installed a HEIL heat pump, blower, humidifier, and annual filter - for right at $10k. We did have to wait until Thursday for the new unit to arrive.  4-ton, 2-stage heat pump with electric back-up.  Maybe the first tech thought that if the replacement price was high enough he could sell a new unit?  He did drop his price down by $6k from the initial quote, but we ended up going elsewhere. Those were some cold days.  The house never g

Our old shooting bench owes us nothing.  It has served us well for probably ten years.  It is time for a new one though.  I searched the internet for ideas.  Then I questioned all of the shooters who are most likely to use it for input.  We / I settled on a design after two rounds of input. Here is the original design we agreed to build.  This is all I had to buy the lumber and build the bench - plus what was in my head. As I built the bench, I made adjustments I thought appropriate.  I also found a boat seat at Cabela's on the clearance rack.  I bought it, an adjustable stand, and a 360 degree swivel.  Total seat cost $100. Here is how I built the final table: Some thoughts on the measurements. The 2' 7.5" from the seat to the front of the table is too long.  31.5" will hold the longest gun.  All we need is for the bipods and the rifle butt to be on the table.  This could probably be shortened to 26" very easily. The 15" for the elbow res