New table saw

Finally assembled and ready to go. Sans all the pussified "safety devices", as it should be.

I'll be steppin' up my postin' soon, I promise. Ain't much free time goin' around here at the moment.

Do not fuck with the kitty...

A few different angles of what I believe is the same footage...

Further proof of my redneckery

Second to my new table saw, this was my most favorite acquisition since we bought the new place.

My lovely girl was kind enough to help me unload them, by hand, in the freezin' rain. Look at her go.

I can only imagine the trouble I'll get into with a full skid of 2x4's.

Rollin' Smoke

With the PA flintlock season closin' this past Saturday and a weekend of work loomin', last Wednesday and Thursday would be my last chance to try to get some more venison for the freezer. I'd carried the ol' beast a handful of times, but hadn't seen many deer and didn't have any decent shots at the few that I'd seen. I figgered it couldn't hurt to draw my ace in the hole, which panned out for me last year... Grandma's pasture.
I spent a few hours visitin' and playin' cards with Grandma on Wednesday, and as the shadows got longer, I headed out to sit at the base of one of the trees behind the barn. There was already over 30 deer in the neighbor's field a few hundred yards away, and I knew that none of them were likely to wander my direction. I was hopin' to catch one crossin' the pasture to join the herd. Sure enough, a pair of 'em dashed across, but the larger of the two never stopped long enough to give me a decent shot. The smaller one stopped, but with a half hour of daylight left and another afternoon to go after 'em, I decided to give her a pass. Nothin' else crossed the pasture until after dark, when I was back at the truck, but I was pretty excited to see almost 50 deer in one quick sit.

Thursday night found me on the opposite edge of the field, a setup that would have given me a much closer shot at the deer the night before. The weather was perfect, so I settled in for the remainin' hour of my season and enjoyed the sights.

As daylight waned, I began to wonder if they'd cross before dark. I'd seen one young doe crossin' the road a few minutes before, but she had yet to try to cross the field. I checked my phone and saw there was about three minutes left of legal shootin' light. I'd no sooner looked up from my phone when I saw the first brown shadow start across the field, followed by at least four more. Of course, they ran straight up the fenceline toward the barn and the trees I was sittin' at the night before. One finally stopped in one of my safe shootin' lanes. It was a poke, but I reckoned that it was either then or never. I settled the front iron on the deer's chest and touched it off. A flash, a slight delay, and then the smoke rolled as the gun bucked against my shoulder. The smoke finally cleared, and sure enough, I had one anchored. It quickly became apparent that the shot unfortunately wasn't righteous, so I reloaded, got close and finished the job.

I had hoped to get a mature doe, since the two I got in gun season were on the small side. Well, this ol' girl  exceeded my hopes... she was definitely one of the biggest damn deer I've taken in a few years. I'd give her a solid 140 pounds live weight, if not more. Should be more than enough to hold my freezer over until October.

My initial shot was back and high, which I wasn't too happy about. After pacin' off the distance of the shot at around 125 yards though, I reasoned that it was prolly a better shot than either of us deserved, given how much of a bitch those guns are to shoot in the first place. As my ol' man has said a few times, I'll take luck over skill any day.

As an added bonus, when I was skinnin' her, I found my roundball had stopped on the opposite side, just inside the skin. It's always neat to recover the bullet to add to the keepsake shelf.

I've hunted with the ol' rock slinger since my early teens, but as agravatin' as that beast is, I've really started to appreciate luggin' the thing around the last few years. Hopefully I can get around to gettin' a buck with it eventually...

Everyday Carry

One of my guilty pleasures on the interwebs these days is Everyday Carry. I call it a guilty pleasure for the simple reason that I'm sure it's mostly hipsters seekin' the approval of other hipsters. That said, I'm a curious, snoopy type, and I enjoy seein' the contents of other people's pockets. If nothin' else, at least once every visit I have the thought of "damn, ain't that a handy little tool!"

There's multiple sites dedicated to such madness, but I normally just peruse the above link. If I'm really bored, I'll head over to a similar site to see what they have to offer.

It's never a bad thing to have a few more ideas to add to the EDC arsenal, so check it out if that sorta thing's up your alley. Although I'm a bit of a minimalist with what I have attached to my carcass, maybe I'll share my EDC with y'all soon.

The Growler Diaries, vol. 7

I heard about this intriguin' brew a few months ago. Hell, just the name alone was gimmicky enough to make me want to try it... Spring House's The Martians Kidnap Santa! Eggnog Stout.

I wasn't real sure what to expect with this one. I've found over the years that Spring House's offerin's were usually hit or miss. I'd been waitin' impatiently to find it on tap locally, and one day I walked into the bar I moonlight at, and lo and behold, there it was. I sampled it that night, and decided it was worth fillin' the growler.

It's not the quite what I expected, but not bad. I thought it could use a little more eggnog flavor, and the aftertaste leaves a little be be desired, but the nose and taste are quite nice. A worthwhile growler fill, although I'm not sure I'd want to buy an entire case of it.

****************************************************************
Pour Six
Little Red Rooster Coffee Cream Stout
Starr Hill Brewery

Pour Five
Perpetual IPA
Troegs Brewing Company

Pour Four
Guinness Draught
Guinness & Co.

Pour Three
Troegs Nugget Nectar
Troegs Brewing Company

Pour Two
Zack Morgan's Pale Ale
Morgantown Brewing Company

Pour One
Troegs Mad Elf
Troegs Brewing Company

Barking Squirrel

One of my better Christmas gifts came via my cousin's fiance in the form of a sixer of Hop City's Barking Squirrel Lager, and a kickass bottle opener.

I won't go as far to say the Barking Squirrel is the best lager out there, but it's pretty damn good. Everythin' you like in a lager without any of the bad stuff that shows up in lesser brews. I definitely recommend it if you can get your hands on it.

The opener is a simple but neat affair, made out of a muley shed and a paint can opener. It's aesthetically pleasin' though, and now holds down the beer fridge in the basement.

I'd say Allie is marryin' a good man.

Mission accomplished

 
We came. We saw. We conquered. Joe ralphed on the bar, and in the bathroom, of the last bar we hit up on Friday night.

I'd say it was a successful night.

Cold as a witch's titty

It was a balmy -2 here in south-central PA when I got to work this mornin'. No big deal... the truck started with minimal proddin' and I made it in without a problem.

What's real cute is that the schools in the area are closed. Pisses my calloused, crusty self off to no end, even though I don't have any rugrats of my own.

And then people wonder why we have a generation of soft, undereducated kids who are afraid to take risks and shy away from any sort of discomfort. They sure as shit didn't cancel class for the cold when I was in school, and if, for some stupid reason, they had, we'd have been out playin' in it anyway. Our schools are doing nothin' but raisin' a generation of liberal pussies, which I suppose is what our gummint wants.

Oh well. I guess kids are enjoyin' the excuse to sit in front of their iPoods and get dumber.

Joe's 21st

At the time of this publication, we'll be out bringin' Joe into the world of adulthood by feedin' him Jagerbombs, Irish Car Bombs and (hehehe) Jersey Turnpikes, among other alcoholic atrocities.

Yes, we have a DD. No, we won't get him to the point of gettin' his stomach pumped. Yes, we will be havin' a damn good time.

My God have mercy on his liver.

Neat truck

I seen this on the way to deer camp a few weeks ago. To the best of my feeble memory, I've only seen three of these in my entire life. Pretty cool, although I sure as hell wouldn't want to pay to fill the thing up with fuel.

The sad time

After we buried Pappy the other week, we had to say goodbye to our fearless goose-fetchin' pup, Libby, just before Christmas. Dad walked out of the house one mornin', and she was layin' up under the tree, watchin' over the house like she always did. Reckon Pappy and Mr. Richie, our good friend who died in May, needed a good goose-fetchin' puppy of their own.

She was the runt of the litter, but what she lacked in size, she made up for in enthusiasm. When we'd come rollin' out the house with the guns, she'd attach herself to our legs until we finally gave her permission to get into the truck. If we didn't take her, boy, we'd get the guilt trip of our lives. Never seen a more despondent sight than her standin' in the driveway as we headed out without her.

We did take her more often than not, and she would earn her keep over and over again. I wish I had a dollar for every goose, duck and dove she fetched up for us. She wasn't too shabby as a pheasant flusher either, and she fetched up her share of them as well. Her only bad habit was breakin' on the gun, but after watchin' her shake and wimper with excitement as the birds were circlin' overhead, it was hard to be mad at her for that.

She went strong for quite a few years, but she started slowin' down a bit a few years ago. She didn't hunt much last year, and we hadn't taken her out at all this year (her decision.... we offered, but she didn't get in the truck). The picture below, from January of 2011, was probably one of her last hunts.

She'll be a tough one to replace, for sure.

Holy Hell, where did the rest of 2013 go?

I reckon I've kinda dropped off the face of the blogosphere here the last few weeks. Been busy with the holidays, of course, and all the family and eatin' goin' on. Work, of course, gets in the way of all my free time in between.

It's been a weird year... lots of highs and lows. The highs were good ones... A beautiful new neice, a new, good job and a new house top the list. I had lots of excitin' hunts, ate some fantastic food, drank some good new beers and spend a ton of quality time with family and friends partakin' in most of the aforementioned activities.

On the flip side, I went to more funerals this year than I have in the previous five, and they were all a bunch of Pappys. I lost both of my grandfathers, my girlfriend's maternal grandfather, a good family friend who was like a grandfather to me, and three close friends lost their grandfathers as well. I'm gettin' the shits of havin' to trim up my beard and look presentable, so hopefully there'll be a lot less sad times in the comin' year.

Either way, a new year always brings promise of better times, and as long as I'm along for the ride, I'll be happy.

May you, my two readers, also enjoy a prosperous and happy 2014!