What Did You Do Today?

[Eric Krewson]

I cut some oaks that were over-hanging my yard and shading the grass too much. The longest trunk I picked up with my pallet forks is 15' long.

Ordinarily I would cut all this wood into firewood and give it away, my 76-year-old body is not in firewood cutting mode much any more

I will say my forks are too cheap and will come loose and shift if I stress them too much. I think I paid $90 for them.

[Eric Krewson]

El-cheapo

[JW_Halverson]

Spent a little time refining my travel route to the Tennessee Classic. First push on May 1 will have me rolling into Atchison KS late at night and I have a reservation at a hotel there for a couple hours of sleep.

I posted on a few bow group pages on FaceSpace that I have a co-pilot seat open in case someone wants to come along with me. Hoping I can find a taker to share driving.

[YosemiteBen]

Today my wife and I celebrate 30 years on paper together! 4 kids and nine grands. Very blessed to have her in my life. 76 degrees today!

[bjrogg]

Congratulations Ben. Hope you have many more

Bjrogg

[Pat B]

Congratulations, Ben. Quite an accomplishment. 

[Pappy]

Congrats, lots can't say that. Ya supposed to be in the 80's here today, then storms and cooler, never know in April/May in Tennessee.
 Pappy

[YosemiteBen]

Thanks all for the well wishes. There were a few times my wife was in some pretty serious circumstance, I wasn't sure we would get here. Was near 80 at home today with a scant threat of thunderstorms in the forecast.

[WhistlingBadger]

Congratulations to you and the Mrs, Ben.  Mrs. Badger and I are coming up on 20 years in a couple months, and we generally still like each other, so we're calling it a win.  Some of you guys make me feel like a youngster!

Yesterday was a pretty full day.  Started out with a walk up the hill with the Badgerling, looking over the big elk herd that's hanging out on the edge of town and scouting the foothills from a distance for promising bow-wood.  Got three out of the four garden beds cleaned out, weeded, dug, and ready for planting.  Dug a bunch of dandelion roots with the Badgerling and roasted them to try dandelion "coffee." 

After a nap, I finished up a herculean shop/garage organization/clean out, with better bow and accessory storage, and the tillering tree mounted to a stud right next to my work bench.  Then watched a little TV with Mrs. Badger and processed a few stalks of dogbane for future projects, and ended the day with a walk down to my buddy's place for a nice Scottish ale and some campfire time.  (My favorite hunting partner is also the master brewer at our local establishment.  How's that for a good situation?)

Today, we're going to visit our old "big church" for a special Bible study they're doing that sounds interesting, then meet with our normal "house church" for further spiritual goodies, then lunch with some friends.  Hoping to get a juniper kid's bow finished up or close to it today.  We have a house showing tomorrow so I'm sure Mrs. Badger will be calling out the troops to get things cleaned up nice, too.

Whew.  Looking forward to going back to work Monday so I can get a little rest!   

[Eric Krewson]

I got my garden in, this year I planted about half what I planted last year, last year I ran myself ragged trying to give my excess stuff away. I canned enough beans and made enough pickles last year to last me for several years so I didn't plant beans or cucumbers this year.

I have my ground really built up to the point I don't need to use fertilizer but I do add a litter for insurance. My neighbor's ground is poor and things grow poorly. He asked if he could plant tomatoes to can on the unused part of my garden. I told him to have at it knowing that I would end up taking care of his plants in the long run because he is out of town for weeks at a time. My neighbor planted 24 tomato plants that he grew from seed, his pants are only an inch tall but I suspect most of them will do OK.

The plastic is to keep the weeds at bay from all of the tons of manure applications over the years, the electric fence is a must because of the deer population.

[JW_Halverson]

Today I spent the morning on last minute errands in preparation for leaving for the Tennessee Classic. I got an oil change, topped up fluids, bought celery, apples, grapes, bell peppers, and some string cheese for snacking on the road. I was sorely tempted to go for the nastier sort of road snax, but my doctor's blood pressure scares me and I don't wanna show up for that appointment in July and have him loose his cool on me again.

I am bringing a stave with me. It was cut two years ago in Missouri by a guy that has recently moved to this area. He meant to learn to make bows but seems to have given up on the idea. He offered me a bunch of the staves in exchange for a bow, but I only took the two that were best suited to make decent bows. I hope to get a good run on that one stick while I am there. I hope to get under his skin this summer and get his butt in the shop and tools in his hands. I just know if he makes his own he will feel much better about it.

Fair chance of rain at the Classic, so I am looking to dig out a Goretex jacket to have on hand just in case. I have also doubled the amount of coffee grounds I am bringing in order to help folks keep their spirits up.

At this point, I have everything staged at the back door and the refrigerated goods in the fridge close at hand. All I need to do is wash out the cooler tonite. My dog has been casting nervous glances at me and I really do wish I could bring her along for ME. But she HATES travelling almost as much as she hates crowds of people. She's really an introvert and the Classic is about one of the worst situations I could throw at her, even if Pappy invited her.

I should be rolling into Twin Oaks late afternoon.

[mullet]

I changed out a bad tail light bulb and finished packing the truck, I'll leave around 5 AM and hope to be there about lunch time. Safe travels, JW.

[JW_Halverson]

I changed out a bad tail light bulb and finished packing the truck, I'll leave around 5 AM and hope to be there about lunch time. Safe travels, JW.

Man, it was really good to see you again and shoot the breeze.

I just got home at 5:45 pm today, left the Classic yesterday at noon. I kicked around the idea of doing everything all in one big 18 hour push, but ended up grabbing a motel room east of Kansas City. This is my first big road trip in this little KIA and I gotta say that I did better with gas mileage than I anticipated. I generally run around 25 mpg, but I averaged out the whole trip at 28.2 mpg.

When I hit South Dakota I picked up a 40 mph tailwind and my mileage skyrocketed to almost 36 mpg! Yippee! Yeah, until I got about 180 miles from home and it did a 180 degree turn to beat the living crap outa me. I dropped to 17 mpg for the better part of 100 miles. That little bitty Singer Sewing Machine 4 cylinder has just enough power to handle the load of one passenger and a half dozen staves. Add in a headwind and I dang near had to get out and help push!

[YosemiteBen]

Went to my BuckeyeGathering.net skills gathering. Ended up teaching knapping twelve hours over three days! Great stories and memories built there. Picked up a "reedley" hewing axe and a folding draw knife at an antique shop, not terribly priced. There is another drawknife I hope to pick up. Man, I have missed you all! Ben

[Eric Krewson]

I was invited to a gathering of likeminded folk today to shoot our rifles and talk about guy stuff. I was only going for an hour or so but met so many interesting guys that I stayed most of the day. I took some of my bows and found out that several of these guys were interested in building a bow, one lives 10 minutes from Twin Oaks, I gave them both a tillering gizmo.