How'd it go today?

[candoarms]

I promised that I would try to do a better job of taking pictures of my work. Thanks to my kind wife, Joyce, for taking these photos today.

Strong wind storm last night. Green Ash tree at the funeral home in Cando, ND snapped in two and fell onto the garage. I was called in to remedy the situation. I hope the pictures explain the process well enough, but if anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask.

Joel

 

[MasterBlaster]

Those are always fun!

Did you cut that rope making the underbed?

 

[candoarms]

No ropes cut. I have a good grandson who keeps an eye on things like that for me. Thanks for your help today, Kaden Campbell.

 

[pantheraba]

A lot of tree there...good work. Looks like you felled it all POW'd together.

 

[candoarms]

Gary,

You are correct. It was too dangerous to attempt to cut the top free. I just folded it in two and strapped the whole thing together, then felled it as I would any ordinary tree. I placed my T-Rex rigging sling at the top, then put a running bowline on the broken stem to support it. Once the top was cut loose from the top of the building, it was allowed to swing down to the ground. A bit more trimming and I was then able to strap the the two halves together, folding the tree in half and strapping the two halves together as one.

Joel

 

[FireFighterZero]

My buddy came out today, and we finally got around to shooting some clays.

I had my trusty Benelli 12 M2 and my Mossberg 500 .410.

He brought out his Benelli Ultra light and a CZ over under ultra light. We went through 130 clays and only missed a handful.

Wife wanted to try out his shotguns so she can decide what to buy. She does not like a pump, and thought she would want an O/U.

I told her that an auto is the best for recoil, but would not hear any of that nonsense. She was a killer with his Benelli, but the O/U kicked too hard. I have to admit that it did kick, it is only about 5.5 pounds. Ideal for walking all day, but not so good for clays.

She decided on the Benelli, hit 95% with that gun. It fit her better than my Benelli.

Only bad thing is that it costs 1499!

Good family fun, shooting clays.

We goof around some and then get serious, usually end up seeing who can break the clay first. Its good practice, gets you in the habit of pointing rather than aiming. You will break a clay twice as fast and more often when trying to bust it before the other guy.

My friend challenged me to the first match, on one condition. He got to use my shotgun, and I had to pick a different one. I took the .410. He still had to work hard!

 

[treebilly]

Sounds like you had a blast Jim. I was a teen the last time I shot clays. What size clays were they. We would end the day shooting at the tiny ones. 90's I think

 

[FireFighterZero]

I'll be dipped. I did not know that they came in different sizes.

They were just the standard White Flyer size. Thats a good idea, up the difficulty a bit.

The only thing I dont like about it is that I want a couple more shot guns now. Okay, maybe like an even dozen.

I was supprised how well I did with my .410. I see Remington makes an auto loader in .410. Tempting!

 

[pantheraba]

Good stuff...we used to take the Scouts shooting once a year...clay pigeons were part of the mix of shooting we did. I have a Trius Foot trap from the 70's, mounted to a tire/wheel I found in a ditch back then. I was a moderately good shot...sounds like you have the "dead-eye" like my cousin did.

 

[woodworkingboy]

I guess for various reasons, lots of guys start to shake a bit when they get older. I guess that would affect shooting accuracy. Could bum you out.

 

[treebilly]

I never see them anywhere. I don't know if the guy would special order them or what. Heck it's been over twenty years. They might not make them any more.

If you buy another 410 you better get your wife that benelli she wants too

 

[Peter]

I want a new O/U, last time I went clay shooting I tried my friends new gun, and my accuracy improved instantly.

I think my old side by side is a little short in the stock for me.

 

[FireFighterZero]

There are some good guns coming out of Turkey these days. Pretty affordable too.

Not as nice as the Brownings or the Benelli's but half the money anyway. Shotgunning with a gun that does not fit is like golfing with clubs that dont fit. Doable, just not as much fun.


Anyway, I worry that I may have visited too many conservative websites lately. The Air Force is practicing dog fighting right over my house. Better not wake the baby up!

They used to use us as targets when we were doing a lot of dirt work in the mountains south of town. Used to see B-52's flying under the radar, you would swear you could see the pilot.

 

[squisher]

Cool. I worked in a place on North Vancouver island, Holberg(appropriate name, but beautiful area) that regularly had fly bys of military jets doing low flying maneuvers. I remember being told they'd busted out some windows before, but that never happened when I was there. Pretty unnerving though the few times they flew over fast and low, they can really sneak up on yah out of nowhere.

 

[Mick!]

Happens a lot here, the trick is not to look at the noise but ahead of it, they travel so fast.

 

[FireFighterZero]

The big four engine bombers were a bit slower Mick. They would hurt your ears they were so loud. I can only assume they were practicing flying under the radar to bomb Moscow.

The fighters used to "strafe" us and the bank away sharply releasing flares as they turned.

Never as fast as you describe though, that would be cool!

 

[squisher]

I never see fighter jets where I live now. I do get a ton of hobby pilots flying out over the fields around here. A few really good acrobatic flyers, but even though it's aways away from me after awhile I find the motor noise annoying, always on and off the throttle. I get quite a few para gliders, hang gliders, and all sorts of powered versions of both around sometimes.

There are a couple of big old stacks and a huge factory nearby on a 91 acre parcel that seem to be an attraction for them or something. The factory was a glass plant, bought out by a US company and immediately closed and all production moved to a plant in Mexico. Don't worry I still like y'all down there, but you guys are so good at outsourcing jobs you even outsource ours too. They bought it shut it down immediately and put it up for sale with a covenant it could never be a glass plant again. Been vacant for years now.

 

[FireFighterZero]

Bastards! I save glass bottles. Wife hates it, but I hate plastic.

Well, they did it, woke the baby up!

 

[squisher]

Blast a couple shotgun rounds at them! .......or not.

 

[Raj]

My favorite was calling in fast air. You see a speck fly by, a flash and smoke report on the ground, a sharp thump through the air, dull thump through the ground, seconds later sounds of an explosion, then the sound of an aircraft flying by.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Once, while underway, Enterprise put on an air show for a visiting dignitary. Among other things, an RA-5C made a low pass supersonic burst. You could see it way high on the right, it disappeared - then BOOM! The next you saw it was way high on the left. You couldn't even see it as it passed. A very cool thing to see, no doubt!

 

[candoarms]

I grew up just 12 miles from Minot Air Force Base. The B-52 was more common in the air over us, than geese. Years later I met a guy in St. Louis Missouri who served aboard B52s. When I told him that I grew up in Glenburn, ND, his face lit up. Quote...."Oh man......I practiced bombing runs on your town's grain elevator every single time we flew over." Well, yes.....that was obvious. Those things came in from the northwest as they made their practice bombing runs, then banked sharply away to the southwest. I sort of miss those big birds.

 

[pantheraba]

Sounds like DEW line stuff...good stories.

 

[cybergeek23851]

Shotgunning with a gun that does not fit is like golfing with clubs that dont fit. Doable, just not as much fun.

This was the reason I ended up going to a Mossberg 500 20ga youth model after getting rid of my Mossberg 535 Turkey gun. I needed something I could shoot lefty and the 535 was a right-handed thumb-hole stock. After the first round with it at the range, it was a night and day difference. I was consistent with my grouping at the very end of the range with slugs and buckshot with the smaller shotgun as it was a more natural fit for me.



I have to give a huge shout out to Brimmstone though. He was able to help me troubleshoot a problem on our bucket truck today that myself and our maintenance tech got tasked with repairing. It's not going to be a cheap fix, but it's easy and doable between us two, and we should have the parts in overnight from Altec in the morning. One of our drivers hit the boom on our bucket truck and ended up breaking the main drive gear inside of the gear box that rotates the boom assembly. :x: Thankfully the boom wasn't damaged, nor was anyone in it at the time. I'll post the pic from the phone here in one second.

 

[treebilly]

Definatly not a cheap fix.