February 15-28, 2017 Life in the desert.

Another post .... I'm way behind (right, I'm doing a post on late Feb. on June 4!) so there won't be a lot of commentary on the photos ... sorry!

This is a public rifle range a few miles outside of Overton, NV.  Nothing fancy, just a place to shoot.  We took the four-wheelers and my "modern" inline muzzle loading rifle out for some fun and testing.

The target is out there about 100 yards.

I'm shooting some different loads (trying different bullet/sabot combinations and two kinds of propellant) to check for point of impact of the different combinations and accuracy.  I used to look through binoculars or a spotting scope but now I take a photo after every shot and keep a notebook for what combinations were used for that shot.  It works much better for me.  It helps to have a good telephoto lens (I do).  This one is about 50X.  That's three, three-shot "groups."  

Meanwhile Scott was busy gathering up stuff for his own projects.

This is a "robot" he put together out of range trash.  Kind of makes you think people should be more diligent about picking up after themselves.

We put quite a few miles on 4-wheelers.  I believe this (and the next two photos) was a run on up the canyon we were in while shooting.

This is on Morman Mesa outside of Overton.

Our favorite hot spring.

Scott entertaining himself by climbing on the tailgate of the trailer.

We just got this bike trailer.  I had assembled it and I'm now putting the hitch on my bike.

Scott is playing in the box!

Vehicles, vehicles, vehicles!  I spent most of my life working on cars professionally and I hate working on our own.  But sometimes it can't be avoided.  This is the transmission tag on our camper van.  The vacuum modulator was leaking and having the transmission tag information makes it much easier to get the right part for it.

Yuch!  The big motor home died upon reaching our camping area.  I thought it was the fuel pump so we had a friend tow it on over to our camp site.  Turned out it wasn't the fuel pump but a faulty gas gauge that was causing problems. (It was out of gas!)

We took the camper van up to a new area to scout out a new camping spot.  We needed to see if the road was good enough to get back there with our trailer hauling the 4-wheelers. (It was!)

This is another of our favorite spots.  It's called "Redstone" and while it was named after the sandstone rock formations there are a lot of other types of rocks there too.

Scott loves climbing around on the rocks and we're early enough in the season that the snakes are still hibernating.

It's a beautiful and fun place to play in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

Lake mead shoreline.  The water is up a few feet from last year.

More four-wheeling with a friend.

Everyone has had a lot of problems with mice this year.  We had one that actually chewed through the lid on the peanut butter jar.  We used the peanut butter for bait and caught him the next night.

Scott in church during the worship service.

This is something we don't get to see in Montana in February!  Kind of hard to plant a garden when the snow's four-feet deep.

Gotta love things you find on the internet!  An ad on how to block ads!

One of the things we like most in this area are the spectacular sunsets and sunrises!

November 2016 Hunting, Thanksgiving, car repairs and good times.

November was a busy month so boredom was not a problem.

We still use the wood stove to cook meals since we have it going most of the time during the winter months anyway.

Susan freeing some sticking keys on the piano.  She also tunes them up on occasions.

Wash day outside. In warm weather (60 and above) she just takes the washer out to the tank where we store the rain water and does the wash there.  It's also close to the clothesline which saves time and work.

I've had this ax handle around for a couple of years now and finally got around to hanging it.  This is a "boy's ax" with a 24 inch handle.  I'm on the short side and just like the shorter handle better when using an ax.  About the only time I need one is when trimming limbs off of trees I've cut down for firewood.  I paint the heads bright orange to make it harder to overlook them in the woods.  One can of orange paint saves replacing a lot of tools.

Susan is shelling dried peas from our garden.  This is a good job on a rainy day when you must work indoors.

This is our "neighborhood."

Sunrise on November 9, 2016.

Scott helping Grandma make cookies.

Susan raked the leaves from most of the yard and deposited them in the garden to compost over the winter.

I'm switching out tires on a Subaru that we'll give to one of our kids and their family.

The water pump began leaking on our way back from Nevada so I'm putting in a new one.  I hit a snag when I went to change the thermostat (the gasket was leaking).  The leak had corroded the thermostat housing bolts and they broke off when I tried to remove them.  That'll mean drilling out the broken bolts from the aluminum intake manifold.  I'm not looking forward to that.

I also got some time in cutting firewood and Susan spent some time canning venison before we headed south.  One afternoon cutting up some trees on the east end of the property I had a spike buck and a doe come over and begin eating the lichen off the tree I'd cut down (while I was cutting it up on the other end of the trunk). I walked over tot he pickup and got my rifle from the window and shot the buck.  The doe looked up at the shot then resumed eating.  The buck ran about 50 feet and piled up dead.  We had a lot of deer this year with quite a few "B" tags given out.

Right after that the neighbor stopped by to tell us there was a sow grizzly with cubs in the neighborhood.  Susan stood guard with the 12 gauge while I field dressed and loaded up the deer. 

Scott painting golf balls just for the fun of it.

Scott wanted to go hunting with me so I unloaded his BB gun and he joined me in the deer stand.  A doe and her fawn came in to browse while we were there and he kept aiming and "shooting" at her.  I didn't tell him the gun was empty so when the deer didn't fall over dead he finally said he needed a new gun because his was broken.  He likes to go out with me but quickly gets bored and/or cold.  I go a little early then just take him the 50 yards back the cabin then I finish the day in the deer stand by myself.

We had to go to Eureka so on the way we drove a short way up into the mountains to a deer camp one of our daughters was in.  Their family (in-laws) make it an annual event setting up tents and campers for a week long hunt.  They normally do pretty well up there.

I've been searching for bucks and one morning I get up to find a new rub about fifteen feet from the back door.

This rub was out in the woods on a neighbor's property.

Scott playing in the laundry basket.

We decided to drive our little car down south for a couple of weeks but it needed new tires.  We opted to put new studded snow tires on it for this trip because it would be winter up here when we came back.  Scott is playing in the tire display in the tire store.  I worked here many years ago as a mechanic.  I think the wheels were made with wooden spokes back then.

Scott and I playing the Jurassic park machine at Walmart. Susan took a video of it and posted it on Facebook.  Scott is all excited and bouncing around and yelling as he plays.  I'm sitting stationary with a focused look while we shoot the attacking dinos with machine guns that never run out of ammo and never get too hot.  We both survived with nary a scratch on either of us.  It was fun!

Next Scott went to the machine where he is Batman driving whatever vehicle that skill level has.

As when shooting dinosaurs he always gets into the game with his whole being!

We ordered him a new snow suit.  We bought the boots locally from the logging/saw shop.

A grouse made the mistake of landing within sight of the cabin while we were having our morning cocoa.  I grabbed the pellet rifle and we had him for supper that evening.

Susan isn't surprised anymore when I suddenly jump up from my recliner, throw on an orange vest, grab the rifle from the rack above the back door and head outside in my pj's and house slippers.  However the buck got away this time.  I think some tree thinning is in order for next summer!

Thanksgiving dinner!  Emily (our youngest daughter) is due to gives us another grandchild (#11) in February.

Scott and his uncle Tristan.

Tristan, Scott, and his little brother looking down from the balcony.

Scott and his uncle Tim.

After dinner it's time to check my eyelids for light leaks.

On the road south again!  We'd planned to spend more time in MT but changed our mind and decided a short jaunt south was in order so we packed up the Hyundai and drove down to NV for a couple of weeks.

Scott's 6th birthday was celebrated in the motor home at Lake Mead.

Story time at the Overton library.

Lego time at the Overton library.

I bought an out-of-state fishing and small game license this year in NV.  So far the fish are worth about $60.00 a pound!

A second striped bass from the lake.  A few days after this we were on the road back to MT for Christmas.  (I also caught a few more fish before we left.)