Bighanded

snow flurries this morning... sunday forecast in the low 60s and up to 70 monday....have had my boat in the shop for a new motor (stern drive) and he's bout ready to test ride with me..so I'm grateful for a warm day...welcome to the carolinas..white stuff falling in the morning..short shirtsleeves for the drive home...and kicking up a wake by the weekend.

purty bag...and for a fair price.. I swear, once the brand went viral with all the yuppies...the prices on anything with that logo just soared...it's definitely a value at the $100...way over priced at current retail...but good score on your part....there's a nasty old Igloo red n white cooler around my garage..sucker has more scars on it than I have on me..and that's sayin something...new stuff with long trusted names lke Coleman etc...being made now overseas...not seeing the quality or durability...old stuff seems to be hanging in there with me...and given my high mileage body.. I expect all my old gear will hold up as long as I have left.

"filled the pool in"...brother..that's soooo what I wanted to do last year with mine...badly needed liner replacement and pump work, so I had shut it down the year before..it had become a frog pond basically....anyway...a year later...money I don't want to think about...some hard fought landscaping, etc...it is back up and looks great...I had never wanted a pool..the wife did...and the house we bought came with one..so there it was...but guess who gets to be the pool boy all the time, and sees the $ in chemicals etc...yep...woulda been sweet to hear the backup tone of a dump truck pulling up with a load of dirt.(grin)

OMG!! there's that old bar stool....we literally had a set of those back in the 60s.. I had forgotten about those til I saw it in your pic...

Wait....how'd I get pulled into this?...oh yeah.. "zombies!!!" (grin)

I wasn't gonna be the first to say it...but....yep.

wow...amazing the number of laws... round our place, yeah, the biggest law breakers are the guys that think it's ok to ride on other people's land...I think it's $400 or $450 now if you can catch em and ask em nice to wait til the deputy arrives...which ain't gonna happen..trail cam pics/videos definitely help with after the fact prosecutions. 98% of my 4wheeler riding is on my own property, occassionally going with family to an ATV park...so obey their rules..pretty much just helmit. on occassion we have neighbors that take to our small neighborhood street..but that's them going from driveway down to visit neighbors..not tearing back n forth...snow/ice, as rare as that is here, becomes a big neighborhood party, so folks driving to visit can include the quads. I have a couple pictures of me with older grandkids on the Fourtrax, but that's sitting there, when we ride them, their grandma makes em wear the helmit..and trust me, her 'fine" is much more punitive than the cops would be. (grin)

we get those dang spiders in my warehouse...they hang on the side of the big bass amp speaker cabs and drum cases...they'll literally just sit there until you tap em..then they are so big that you can hear their legs tapping on the concrete floor as they skurry off...we have to really be careful not to just grab a rig without checking first...and they'll also park over the big sliding doors that we open to load the trucks...so you have to be careful not to frighten them as you open the door lest they fall down on you...but they never are aggressive..they don't raise up and challenge etc...but yeah, dang they get big.... I always tell my crew to "never shoot em, you'll just ! em off" grin

niiiiice! with a pond in my back yard, the fishing season never really ends..and then I was also down at my 2nd home on the coast 2 weekends ago..salt water...mostly whiting/croackers, but some small shark and ray action too...

I'm workin on my abs... i know they are here somewhere (grin)...seriously..all my projects are up and running and actually just enjoying riding/using them. but spring will be here in a couple short months and between the pool and the boat, well, let's just say i need a little less ballast in my bow.

ok....you boys give me encouragement....63 here, and no...not planning to park my hondas for a long long time yet...my oldest bike is the same age as my oldest son who just turned 40 this past year...and I still ride that 79 CT90 all the time as well. it'll be in the high 40s today..and there are several piles of brush I cut recently that are going to the burn pile...which means a 1993 Fourtrax 300 will have a 5x10 trailer hanging off the back hitch as my faithful partner workhorse today...when we are done hauling, I'll unbridle that old stallion and we'll go churn up those flooded muddy trails way out back...too much rain...but not too much ridin fun!

yep..long as we are in "normal" life mode...then the jet boil is great for including in our trip planning..knowing in advance we are going to put in a couple full days out in the middle of nowhere, to have all we need in a small pack...it's great..and the freezedried stuff is so light..heaviest thing is the water...so I'm happy with it... with all the rest of our rig based around propane...that's my main source...our travel trailer of course has 2 large bottles on board and I have a Big Buddy heater that always makes the trip..lotta times in the Fall, that heater on low is enough to keep the camper cozy , the campers main heater tends to wake me up at night when it cranks up, so unless it's really gotten cold, we just run the buddy, and the small grills for outdoor steaks use lil green bottles refillable if needed temporarily, and of course hot water showers, and stove cooking...I tend to keep a spare tank of diesel in the bed for the truck and a spare can of gas for whichever honda bike gets to ride along and that gas usually also goes into the genny (honda eu2000)..so i'm already worrying about 3 fuel systems...it's just that super portable pack that you find the jet boil shines.

jet boil...got into that thing back around 2011..and while i don't like that it needs a different fuel that i have to stock in addition to propane etc... it definitely gets the water hot fast... the wife and I do a number of gem and fossil digs each year and many of those are far from anywhere...in summer, a nice sandwhich from the cooler is great, but in colder season it's just nice to have a hot meal and we keep the Jet and several of the moutain house bags in a small backpack just for that stuff...and then that pack lives in the camper on all our trips so if the great apocalypse were to happen while we're out on the road, we have typically a week or so of regular food and then can fall back to the mountainhouse stuff.

hmmm...have to look closer at this one...but yeah, I'm not looking to go digital just to listen to more breakfast bisquit chatter...but yes, all of our LEO moved to digital years back and even then, apparently they'll initiate general traffic calls and then if it's a big deal, they switch to something else. I've kinda wanted to be able to listen in for years now...as the county folks are really slack about the reverse 911 and we've had several events out here where we had no clue were in flight and no communications from any emergency system available to us. couple examples: LEO helicopter below tree level, we thought they were about to do an emergency landing in the clearing on the far side of our pond..they were trying to flush out a couple bad guys who were fleeing from a B&E at a house on the other side of our creek..no warning to us to lock it down, etc. other time, we're home, middle of day...and suddenly 1, 2,....6 LEO cars are tearing down my driveway and out back of my house...this included county, city and a state trooper.. went out and flagged down the last unmarked as he was coming down...and asked if I should be locking my door..he puased and said..yeah..be a good idea....had 2 escaped convicts and they thought they were in my back yard (mind you my backyard is a dozen acres)..anyway... I tossed a 1911 on my hip open carry and after locking the wife safely in the house I walked out back to greet the small army ...they were cool with me as I behave myself and have many LEO in my family so know enough etiquette....we chatted for a while as we listened to their radios...they were trying to figure out the location description...as there are several ponds in our area...and mine is the one they can see from up on the road...but as I listened I told them exactly where the cons were..about 500yards west through the woods at the next pond over...and sure nuff, other LEO were on that side of the woods and ran em done within about 20 mins...the deputies were asking if I had any fish in my pond with grins on their faces.. I told em I was thinking of having an LEO appreciation BBQ come this spring...bring their fishing poles, etc. point to the story...it was over an hour later after bad guys were in custody that the reverse 911 came through our phone...!! so, yeah, I'd enjoy having a digital capability to track activity..like this morning... high school lockdown...kids were being held on their buses as there was a report of armed kid at the shool....kinda nice to know about that...if for nothing else to not take that route to work and be roadblocked by SWAT and the chaos of panic'd parent traffic.

whew...found my ol yaesu...had stuffed it in a bag with one of my set of GMRS radios and had forgotten that i did that...old brain cells. (lol) still had battery life on it...those batteries do a good job holding their charge...anyway..back on the charger now...

yep....nother weekend of soggy headed our way...the wife and I were on the golf cart night before last..just out in our woods, parked just after dark along the creek..it's running strong from all the rain..and the near full moon was shining down on it..beautiful to just sit out there away from everything there are a couple places on the trails that, while the pools of water are gone, the mud was still slick...so I just charged on into it, could feel the rear end sliding, but had enough momentum to churn on through..on the honda of course, no problem, but it was about at the limit of the cart's ability to navigate wet, slick, muddy. had hoped to get in some fishing this weekend down on the coast...but I'll have to wear a poncho..but hey..the fish are already wet (grin)

ah...now I can actually see it in the pic.... I know the brand catches a lot of crap out in radioland, but honestly mine has put up with a couple years now of being left in the car..100+ heat in summer, freezing nights in winter..usually it's stuffed in between my drivers seat and the center console connected to a cartop antenna...programming is a bit different and the dang antenna so I can't just swap hand whips etc between it and the Yaesu without having the extra adapter...that's a bit of a pain...so both radios have their own whips. I got the 8watter on a whim..but checking with the boys in the area...it seems to do fine, bit better when I upgraded the antenna...but I don't know that the extra wattage would really matter as much as the quality of antenna on any of these.

my wife...bless her sweetness...bought me a Kolpin a year or so back...she just got what the local shop had and I do appreciate it..but it's the big one, so dang long...yes it'll accept "other shaped rifles"...ie an AR, but unless it's hunting season and you wanna load up a big long gun, it's just overkill and too much for a shorty carbine or pump gun with collapsible...in fact on the occassion when I wanted to run out back and be better equiped, I just sling a mossberg over my back and go. I believe Kolpin makes a shorter case... I really need check and see as I know she often wonders why I don't have that thing on the bike. my 2wheeler has a nice soft scabbard strapped along side the front right fork..works great.

is that an old Yaesu FT I see in the pic?.. I can't even find mine at the moment... trying to figure out why it's not in my get home bag..I had to grab the Baofeng early in the week cause I wanted to be able to listen in on my locals if Iran continued to kick up sand..so once again, the cheap radio is seeing airtime.. man I gotta tear my car trunk apart and find my good radio!!

ROFL!! yep..dicey birds, but still he's so blessed to have one and be able to enjoy that view!!

hit enter too quick..sorry..point was...yeah, it wasn't until after the ammo panic and the industry started to recover, that i started seeing those buckets of bullets piled up on the endcaps at the big box stores...not sure if quality began to suffer, or maybe just quality control, cause you can read reviews and one guy will say it's great, the next will say he had 40 duds in his bucket.,,end of the day...we're takin range plinkin grade ammo here...so if you hear a click and no bang...rack it and try try again (grin)

nice view....drone or man'd wings?

nice to see those pics... i remember those boxes.. in fact, buried very very deep in the green can forest I know there are a number of old old winchester and rem boxes back when I think they were 525 rds? in a box..price stickers on those are $11.97 and that old stuff runs just fine. I think we got to that "post Sandy Hook" moment when guys were lined up on the sidewalk at 6am waiting for the Academy Sports door to open in hopes that they might have some 22 to sell on any particular day..it was crazy the ammo limitations etc for a while there. I still had plenty on hand, I simply hybernated some of my range time and some of my more advance classes that would typically consume 500 rds of 9 or 45 on a given saturday..never mind the rounds I'd eat in preperation for those courses so I didn't embarrass myself in front of the serious shooters. (grin).

sorry to raise any alarm...I'm definitely NOT a pro..and yes Rem makes some good stuff.. in fact i have some of their better 22 as well as 9mm, etc that run fine in my rugers and in the shorty carry pistols....there was some of the super cheap bucket deals that a number of folks on gun forums were noting that were causing reliability problems...now...was that 1 in 10 or 1 in 3?...too long back for me to remember all the conversations. I just learned that if I wanted my Ruger Mark pistols and my Ruger 10/22s to run near 100%...and that I have best luck with the CCI stingers and the better Federal stuff...and it's always interesting to see the delta between brands.. i can sight in at 50yds on CCI and then load up a mag of Federal and have a totally different POI.. Groupings might not be that different, but where the rounds land certainly are. as for velocity...doesn't always tell the story of accuracy but yes, it can make a difference in tighter tolerance firearms...example...45acp Winchester Wally world white box through my Kimber ultra...and my Springfield ultra...turns both thiese pistols into jammomattics...great if you want to run FTF drills on the range..(grin)...but load up even Blazer brass, Federal's cheaper Independance etc...and the pistols both run 100%..so regardless of what it says on the box...my personal real life experience is to stay away from the whitebox wally world...which of course they aren't selling any more since they don't want to promote evil...oops...headed down the wrong rabbit hole..sorry. original point..if your ruger is struggling, run down to the local gun store and buy one of those nice plastic sticks of CCI stingers..100rds later, if the rifle is eating good...there's your answer. agree with Wilson... have a couple 10//22s..various age..including a newer takedown model...all of em eat everything...exception on subsonic stuff and rat shot..just not enough inertia from load nor charge to consistently cycle a semi. my takedown does have a nice custom trigger upgrade, the others are all stock...other than the overkill of those hicap magazines...that would be my first guess before you chase issues in the gun itself...if the rifle runs fine with the original 10rd mags...that's the simple test. I do run 15 and 25rd BX Ruger mags with very very rare feed issues..but the nature of the feed on the 10/22 just doesn't lend itself well to hicaps. I have the 15 and 25s for range plinkin fun..but if I were being chased by zombies.. i don't know that I'd wanna trust reliability..and i wouldn't ever be surprised if the gun failed to feed in the heat of the moment. that said.. was actually out back 2 weekends ago on a whim I grabbed my takedown on the way out the door..in that bag with it I had 4 of the BX25s and (3) of the BX15s...ate through all of those 100% reliability....and I'll admit the rifle was dirty from a prior range session, so without any fresh oil, nor cleaning.. I basically gave the rifle every excuse to fail..but it ran 100%.. the ammo was a mix of CCI and Federal.. I don't go with the cheap buckets of remington etc...but clean ammo with decent peppy charge should make any 10/22 happy.

agree with Wilson... have a couple 10//22s..various age..including a newer takedown model...all of em eat everything...exception on subsonic stuff and rat shot..just not enough inertia from load nor charge to consistently cycle a semi. my takedown does have a nice custom trigger upgrade, the others are all stock...other than the overkill of those hicap magazines...that would be my first guess before you chase issues in the gun itself...if the rifle runs fine with the original 10rd mags...that's the simple test. I do run 15 and 25rd BX Ruger mags with very very rare feed issues..but the nature of the feed on the 10/22 just doesn't lend itself well to hicaps. I have the 15 and 25s for range plinkin fun..but if I were being chased by zombies.. i don't know that I'd wanna trust reliability..and i wouldn't ever be surprised if the gun failed to feed in the heat of the moment. that said.. was actually out back 2 weekends ago on a whim I grabbed my takedown on the way out the door..in that bag with it I had 4 of the BX25s and (3) of the BX15s...ate through all of those 100% reliability....and I'll admit the rifle was dirty from a prior range session, so without any fresh oil, nor cleaning.. I basically gave the rifle every excuse to fail..but it ran 100%.. the ammo was a mix of CCI and Federal.. I don't go with the cheap buckets of remington etc...but clean ammo with decent peppy charge should make any 10/22 happy.