Had an inch or so of snow this morning, temperature of 34*.  Swept the sidewalks for me and a couple of my neighbors. When the dog and I walked to the P.O. around noon the road was pretty slushy; I tried to stay where it was dry so his feet wouldn’t get cold. Spent the day putsing around the house. Went to the Wayne N.F.  and got a firewood permit for 2025.  I may actually get out and get enough for next Winter. Otherwise it’s been pretty quiet. We’re supposed to get more snow tonight & tomorrow. I need to get out to the shed and move stuff around so the snow blower and generator are readily available.

M/L deer season starts tomorrow & runs through the 7th.  I may get out and see what can be found….

It snowed yesterday and last night; more than we had all last year!

It’s been real cold here in NM. Not much Snow in the mts. If we don’t get a lot more it’ll be poor pickings for the game come spring…not good.

Scout aka Ray

Pretty much the same story over this way in Az.

Send rain.

Yeah, this rough, tough ex-Alaskan has become acclimatized to Ohio, and those temperatures don’t do it for me anymore!  Stay in except for getting firewood and filling the bird feeders….

~Kees~

We could use about six weeks of gentle winter rain over this way. It’s been waaaaay too dry this winter.

I saw on the news that PETA was whining about the mistreatment of that groundhog. Hard to believe how far removed from reality some people can get.

Getting frustrated! I want a small vise which I can clamp to the kitchen table top to hold my arrow shafts while I saw the notch for the nock. I found & ordered one on Amazon which looked like it would work. It arrived and was way too large and heavy so I sent it back. Then I found and ordered a smaller one which should fit the bill. It arrived this morning and did not weigh a ton. Took it out of the box and the handle for the table clamp portion was lying separate. I tried pushing it on as the splines on the screw portion look good, but the hole in the handle appears to be rounded out so it just spins on the shaft. I thought about using JB Weld to put it together but decided to return it for a replacement. So now I sit here waiting for another box from Amazon. They aren’t charging me anything for the return which is a plus, but it is still maddening.

Looking at it, it is a lot cruder than the one my dad had 65 years ago, which was made in the USA before our politicians killed our industry and sent manufacturing overseas!

Have you got a Harbor Freight somewhat sorta near you ???

I’m good (I think). Amazon is sending another out and the broken one was put in a UPS drop box, on Amazon’s dime. Harbor Freight is 50 miles away, and even with 24 mpg of the car I would burn $12 worth of gas for a round trip there.  I can always do what I have before and held the arrows in my bench vice, but that is in the garage which is unheated and uninsulated, not very comfortable at this time of year!  Thanks for the suggestions, though.

Don’t know if this will help or not ………….

At one time I had a pair of Vice-Grips that I removed the adjustment bolt and found a longer one . I forget the thread size. I drilled a hole in my bumper and installed the bolt vertically with a couple of lock nuts.  I could then screw the Vice-Grips onto the bolt and have a decent sort-a vice / sort-a third hand.  I have the same set-up on my all things fishing bench with a smaller pair of the long nose model for fly tying and such.  Neither are heavy duty but might be handy for working on arrows.

The vice I have on my archery bench started life as a suction cup base model. After a few years it didn’t suck so well and I just bolted it down. No idea where I got it from.

Here’s a thought that might work for cutting the nocks into wood shafts;

Get a 2×4 about 10 inches long and rip it into a couple of 1x4s.  Mark the centerline and use a wood gouge or a Dremel tool to make matching grooves the size of your arrow shaft in the wood pieces. Put the shaft in the grooves in the block and clamp that to your table with just enough for the nock sticking out, then cut away.

Here in Az. it was in the low 80s today and the Slaughter in the Water  has begun. Carp swimming upstream to spawn and schooling in the Gila at the Eden  diversion dam.  Nothing big; three to five pounders but hey, bowfishing in Feb !!!!!

Got the youngest boy home a week ago.  He got tired of living in a tent with no job in Florida.  First time we’ve seen him in 7 years.  He took on a growing spurt during that time, is 3″+ taller than he was at graduation in 2017.  Got his old cooking job back at a local diner where they are impressed with how he remembered all the ins and outs of the job.  I hope it all works out for him and he doesn’t start hanging out with his druggy friends again!  In the meantime he is living at home until he saves up enough to get a car and an apartment.  It has been a bit stressful for us, having gotten used to being by ourselves, but e en this shall pass.

Hope everyone here is well!

Here’s to hoping that everyone adjusts to the ‘new normal’.

Good luck & stay strong !!!!

Ok ………….. Another book well worth the read;

Best of Trail’s End by Jim Dougherty.

No secret that I’m a fan of Jim Dougherty. His Varmint Hunter’s Digest is required reading by anyone wanting to squeeze the rabbit for predators. I’ve always enjoyed his style of writing and he has the knowledge & experience to back it up.

The book’s worth the coin it costs ………………… or if you’re cheap have somebody get it for you for Father’s Day.

I finally got around to replacing the headlights on the 2006 Taurus, and what a difference it made!  The left light has always been funky, when I hit the high beams it would increase the light on the pavement right in front to the car.  I couldn’t get it to adjust so I took it to a body shop which also couldn’t get it to adjust.  Eventually (last week) I decided to quit monkeying around and ordered a new, made-in-China headlight assembly.  Installed the left one last night and the right one this a.m.  I did find out why it was acting weird on the left side; somehow the bulb assembly was in upside down.  That at least solved the mystery of having it shine down on the pavement in high beam mode.  I’m not sure how that happened as there are three locator pins, two close together and the other across from them so somebody had to really work to install the bulb and its holder 180* out.  Anyway, they work just like they’re supposed to now.  The two-pack of headlight assemblies was less than $100 so that didn’t hurt too badly.

Otherwise life just seems to putter along.  I have the veggie garden going, although my enthusiasm has decreased immensely.  We are having a hot summer with lots of rain which the trees like.  Everything is lush and green.  Got a couple of straw bales for my target and they are wider than the box I made so won’t fit in it and are just stacked in front of it for now.

Hope everyone is having a good summer.  Stay cool!

Kees; you might try going to Wally World and getting some of those tie down rachettes with the 15 or 20 foot straps. Tightens the bales up and puts enough squeeze to them that they might fit your box.  Plus, when the bales start to get a bit soft, a couple of cranks on the rachette  and you’re  stopping arrows again.  I strap my two center bales together then strap a top and bottom with the whole thing to a pallet.

And speaking of getting soft; got on my mountain bike today for a ride. Need to shape up a bit (a lot !!!) before hunting season.

And lastly; I’ve done the Hill Style Swing Draw for a long time. Very smooth and natural. Sadly, at some point instead of coming up and then back to anchor I slid into the habit of drawing as I was coming up putting a huge strain on the drawing shoulder. There’s some disagreement as to whether I have Bursitis or a strained intermediate  deltoid muscle in my bow arm.  Something to keep in mind; Check your form now & then for small details that may have changed without you noticing it.

Send rain !!!!