I know. It’s been waaaay to long.

However, we all haven’t been down to the farm since before the All-Star break. I haven’t been shooting since then either. Life has been on hold due to drought and heat and work.

The big highlight this summer was going up to Lake Nipissing to fish with the kids. We stayed a week at Panaoram Camp (www.panoramacamp.com) , and they were having the same kind of weather we’d been having at home. That took the edge off the fishing, but we still had good days and we still never came back in skunked. Most importantly, Angus and Moose got a good taste of pike fishing up in Northern Ontario. If you drive Route 17, that skirts the north side of the lake, and you pass a tract of undeveloped land, you can be certain there is nothing but more of the same until you hit the Arctic Circle.

KYHillChick told me back in May that God had been telling her to learn how to shoot milk jugs at 500 yards. I started out with her Mini-14, then a 223 bolt gun, then let her try the 30-30 Marlin and then let her take the Garand for a spin to see what her limits were for recoil, etc. I then took her out to BassPro on her birthday, and bought her a Savage 110 package in 30-06. On a Garand, the gas-operated action reduced the recoil significantly. However, on her bolt-gun, she was quite taken aback. That’s okay. These new plastic stocks have more room inside them than a purse. I loaded 5 lbs of lead in the stock and a bunch of 38 and 44 mag bullets in the forend brought the weight of the rifle up from 7.5 lbs to somewhere around 15. Zowie! what a change! It’s going to be a bench gun anyway, so who cares, right? The Girlfriend loves it. She’s also started reloading. You should have seen her face the first time she nailed a jug. I think the voice inside her head was pleased as well. I’ve swam with barracuda and shark. I’ve been in a cage with a lowland gorilla in heat. I’ve had close encounters with a wild she-moose and a wild she-bear. Folks, I’m here to tell you being next to a excited, well-armed wild hillbilly woman who listens to voices in her head– there’s just nothing else to compare.

Moose, when he was little, (well, let’s just say littler and leave it at that) always loved to play with molten metal. When he discovered soldering at age 7, you’d have thunk I’d showed him the path to Nirvana. When he was 8, I bought him a toy foundry that spit out little alloy trinkets. It was fun for a bit, but ultimately unsatisfying. Now that he’s 15, it’s time to revisit this obcession. I bought myself a Lee Production Pot and a couple of Lee REAL molds and now we’re ready to start turning lead into bullets. He’s helped me melt a few wheel weights and pour ingots. I had some time to work out the system. Moose and I will attempt to shoot deer this year with homemade bullets. More on this later.

When last I left the farm, the wheat had come up, but I was still a might worried about the rest of it. We’ll have food plots this year, but the condition of them are still up in the air. The acorns were pretty decent too– at least among the white oaks. My main concern is what will happen to the red-oaks next year due to the late freeze at the start of turkey season.

All in all, I’m feeling like a caged animal. The smog is killing my lungs, so I stay in. I’ve had folks calling me to see when we can all go camping. My response has been: “This weather is not just unpleasant, it’s downright dangerous.” Angus had to postpone his inaugural bagpipe competition until next year. He was sidelined from the parades too– his teacher didn’t want him keeling over in the heat. He still got it at horse-camp this year– the heat got him and he was sent home after hurling and nearly passing out. I’d love to go to the farm, but the thought of staying cooped up for 4 hours a day in the living room huddled next to the air conditioner doesn’t send me. We even gave up on going out on the boat– too daggone hot.

When I have to sit like this, eventually it becomes painful to write about outdoor activities. There’s only just so much reloading to do and only so many outdoor writers to read. There’s only so many outdoor shows to watch. I want to go out and kill something! If there wasn’t an alert about West Nile Virus in our neighborhood, I’d go out in the backyard and try my hand at the chipmunks!

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