Dave’s Ramblings

As fall arrives that means two things in this household, deer hunting and cutting firewood to heat the house for the winter.

If you want to know just how old you are getting, try riding a big Stihl chainsaw for 8 hours, fell a few oak trees, cut it up into 20-24″ chunck, split it up (gave up on the axe and moved to a log splitter), stack it in the truck haul it home and unload and restack it for the winter. It doesn’t seem that long ago I was able to get up at the crack of dawn and work until sundown for 2-3 days straight without any ill effects…. Tonight I have been trying to find a muscle or joint in my body that is not screaming in pain… haven’t yet found one.

Really just scratched the surface for what we’ll need to get through the winter, guessing at best 3-4 cords are done, still need at least another 10-12 to make it through March. We like it nice and toasty (90ish) through the winter so the woodstove gets a good workout that’s for sure. She’s treated us very well for the last five years, though now due to be retired and replaced for the house anyhows. I’ll move it out to the garage and set it up there so I can have some real heat when I need to work out there. I just can’t see paying the gas company nearly $2 a gallon, thats over $800 to fill the tank of LP gas, that just doesn’t produce the heat we have grown accustomed to. I’d rather drop that chunk of change on a really nice woodstove.

Am I just that old and out of shape or is the workload just too much for this beat up ol’ body. I lean towards thinking it’s related to the 15 years of abuse I put it through while in the Army, though still able to outdo just about 18 year old ‘kids’ that were 1/2 my age with ease. Now I just don’t think so.

If it wasn’t for my 14yo daughter helping me I’d likely still be out there trying to get it done. Think it’s time I allow her a weekend ‘day’ date, under close supervision and keep him gainfully employed the entire time…. under penalty of the business end a chain saw or axe should there be any thoughts of anything but cutting and hauling firewood Kniving, but it’d work.

Fingers are now exhausted too, so I’ll call it a night.

Yesterday afternoon around 2pm I called in an order to Dr’s Foster & Smith for some ‘bloomers’ for our female Springer Spaniel. She just had a litter of pups a few months ago and is again coming into heat, so she’s getting some fancy britches to wear for a couple of weeks to ensure she’s not bred again! Yeah yeah yeah who cares, the cool thing is the order arrived at 11am this morning! For some reason they shipped FedEx Overnight (with saturday delivery), but charged me for standard ground (5-7 day) delivery. Gotta love that place, they have everything for all of our critters! Even slipped in a couple of new pumps for our saltwater reef tanks with the order. They are only a couple hundred miles from us and we have to pay sales tax on everything since they are in state, with shipping like this why bother driving?

Of the last 5 orders from them in the past 8 months or so 4 of them have been shipped overnight without my request or paying for it, but never a saturday delivery More phone/mail/net order companies should take note of this and follow suit.

Figured we’d try to have some fun this weekend, so Friday before heading home I picked up 3 of these really cheap radio controlled airplanes, for $25 each plane (including the transmitters) I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. But what the hell, the planes fly on rechargeable battery packs (4-AAA). After several serious crashes, the wings are made of foam, so you can imagine the delicate work of taping them back together after each flight/crash. I finally got it sorted out. The dang thing actually flies, and flies quite well. I was really amazed. About 500 meters before the radio starts loosing the plane. It was actually great fun, a few very successfully flights, the last ending up in a pine tree about 60′ off the ground. Took a while of working a fishing pole and weight to get her down. Now I see why they sell sets of extra wings for them I’ll get some more tomorrow.

I’d been looking at the *real* RC planes for years and years now, and never wanted to throw that much cash at one, maybe next year. After tangling everything up in the bean field i see the need for some sort of runway.

A poem written by my 14 year old daughter.
One Stand

So as we saw the case come to a close we are all happy to shout with glee,
because now I’m home……….where I’m suppose to be!!!!!

Everytime I read this it raises a lot of mixed emotions, but think it’s very much worthy of sharing. She has it posted on her blog, but hasn’t had the time lately to keep it updated, I’d guess once school starts again time will settle down and she may get around to some more serious writing.

Only one puppy left who is looking for a place to call home near Wisconsin Dells, WI…. My bud “Bruiser”, his brother left Sunday evening, and now his personality is really shining through. I really need to break down the BIG kennel and switch it out for a small crate for him to sleep in now. Sure looked full with all the pups running around in there, now Bruiser looks lost in it by himself. He sure is learning how to use those big puppy dog eyes to get scooped up and hauled around the house, and onto the bed, just a big ol’ sweetheart is what he is.

For more details see the Briar Patch Puppies website.