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.)

7 November, 2014 - Making a cart for propane bottles, more canning, and hunting blinds.

Short post this time.  It's not that there isn't anything happening.  It's just that most of what we are doing this week is the same stuff we did last week!  One of the projects I've had on my list was to make a cart for moving our 100 pound propane bottles.  We've thought about getting a bulk tank but we only use about 40 gallons of propane a year.  Even a small, 200 gallon tank would last us four to five years between fills.  Since I only have to change ours out every five to six months of use it just hasn't seemed practical to get a bulk tank.  We now have three empty tanks so after we fill them we'll still have enough propane on hand for at least 18 months.  (I just switched out a new bottle this week.)

In order to make a cart I cannibalized two other items.  The first was a hand truck that we'd picked up for free (because it had a bent handle).  We have a similar one that's in good shape so we still have one on hand for "flat" goods.  The other item scheduled for modification is the frame from a jogging stroller. 

I took the wheels and axles from the jogging stroller for the new bottle cart.  The axles fit perfectly through the guides used for the hand truck's axles.  At the left of the orange cart frame you can see another piece of thin-walled tubing.  I cut sections from it to lengthen the frame on the new cart.  I also cut the axle adjustment sleeve off of the stroller to use it on the new cart.

I then used the circular saw with a  metal cutting blade to cut the curved brace from the stroller, the straight brace on the back of the new cart frame and to grind off the tops of the bolts holding the bottom plate on the new cart.

The larger wheels made it necessary to extend the frame on the new cart so I cut sections off the thin walled tubing to extend the lower frame.  I then welded the base plate to the extensions and welded the extensions to the frame.  I could have drilled holes and bolted everything together but the welder was faster and cheaper.  I have no intention of taking it apart again anyway.

A side view of the finished cart.  I immediately put it to work.  I had to repair a tube in one of the tires but the other held air okay.  The large wheels roll easily over rough ground and the wider axles make it much more stable than my old method of using the other hand truck.  The handle is from my other hand truck.  I may make a handle for the cart or may just swap them as needed.  Painting will have to wait for warmer weather.

Rear view.  The curved bar from the stroller had just the right radius for the 100 pound propane bottles.  The axle adjustment sleeve is not welded to the frame of the cart.  It works well like it is.

Susan had two of her canners going yesterday while she canned 42 more jars of food.  Most of it was meat like crumbled sausage and ground beef, meatloaf, and hamburger and sausage patties so the canning times were long (90 minutes each).  She canned one load of pudding for later use.

And there they are!  All ready for storage in the pantry, root cellar, under the beds, in the spare rooms, in outbuildings, and wherever else we can find space!

I spent a few hours putting together a deer blind on the corner of our property.   We've had weeks of rain and cloudy skies and I wanted someplace I could go without having to get soaked walking through the woods or have my rifle drenched every time I go out. So I put up a blind complete with a metal roof.

This photo was taken from the most likely avenue of approach.  I wanted to see what a deer would see when coming up this trail. I used the camera's telephoto so the distance is somewhat compressed.  The range is about 50 yards.

The view from the front.  Odie was out with us that day.  (I wasn't hunting at the time.)

Scott is checking out the view from grandpa's "office."

The tarps are old "foxhole covers" I ordered years ago.  They were great for small jobs I wanted to cover for the night but they're so thin now that they won't stop water.  They still make fine "walls" for an impromptu blind.  Everything is literally put together with sticks and baling twine!  But it's dry inside and I have a padded swivel seat on a five-gallon bucket with a padded "hot seat" on top of it all.  It's comfy enough!

I always pack a firearm when out (with Scott or Susan especially!).  This is grizzly and wolf country but my biggest concern is mountain lions.  It seems that every year at least one is killed while stalking a child or woman.  We have a lot of lions in our "neighborhood."