We got a little bit of ‘outside time’ today, but not much. Periodic episodes of heavy rain and big thunder BOOMS.
Spent some time at the gunsmith bench installing a few mods on my recently procured CZ Scorpion Evo 3 S1 carbine. Today I added a Yeti Wurkz Switchback pistol grip and HSI trigger spring upgrade kit. Over the next two days, I’ll be adding Magpul MBUS front and rear flip up sights, Strike Industries LINK foregrip, and a F5 Manufacturing 50-round drum magazine. I haven’t found a sling option that I like yet, so I’m still farting around with different styles.
Ooooo … Clif High just popped up LIVE on YouTube, gotta go! Bye.
Mild weather once again today. Rain showers passing through, gusty winds. Pretty benign.
As stated in the video, I’ve never been an AR (rifle) fan. I generally prefer .308 (7.62) rifles over .223 (5.56). I’ve also held the opinion that rifle caliber pistols are borderline stupid. Pistol caliber carbine rifles — on the other hand — are fun, practical, and effective.
Now, that said, I bought a Springfield Armory SAINT 5.56mm pistol today. Zero’d it with a Holosun 503C red dot, then ran two magazines through it doing double-tap transition drills.
I’m not sure this thing should be legal for civilians to own, but they are, so I put one into inventory. I’m a staunch 2nd Amendment supporter, but I just don’t think this much firepower in such a small package is prudent for John Q. Public to own.
There should be some kind of PRACTICAL and REASONABLE tests that must be passed for a firearm to be made available for civilians to own — in my opinion, mind you. For example, I’m not sure 50 BMG rifles should be available at the corner gun store.
But … I digress. With only 120 rounds through the SAINT … I love it. Nice trigger, needs no mods. I might put a small weapon light and/or laser on it for close quarters work, but I don’t see the need for much else in terms of upgraded furniture or add ons. Playing with the idea of getting a suppressor for it … but that’s another thing I’ve resisted buying for YEARS. Fun, cool, but impractical.
And, by the way, my Moroccan Spicy Chickpea Stew came out AWESOME. I could sell this stuff. Probably my favorite Instant Pot recipe these days.
So, I guess Florence slowed, grew, jinked South, and sputtered along Westbound at 6 MPH. What I can tell you is this … in Efland NC (~ 183.65 miles from the NC coastline) we received 0.11 inches of rain (measured) and a maximum wind of 17.4 MPH (measured). Nothing to write home about (figuratively).
It was overcast, drizzly and gusty winds all day. In other words … boring. 😉
Took the opportunity to assemble and test the County Line 3-point hitch mounted post hole digger and 9″ auger. Works pretty well. I need to figure out why it got out of balance and shimmied so much when removing the bit from the hole under PTO power.
Counted between 10 and 12 new baby bunnies (kits) in the litter big mamma (aka ‘Smudge’) dropped yesterday. They all look good, viable and healthy.
No updates on the 20 duck eggs I stuck in the incubator the other day. In about a week, I’ll pull them out and ‘candle’ them to see how many of them are developing inside.
Took an afternoon nap, got up, went out, and damn near killed myself pulling down a ‘widow-maker’ tree that had succumbed to the gusty winds today. Caught the episode on video, for your viewing pleasure. Lesson Learned: NEVER spontaneously intervene in a widow-maker without planning and safety gear. Stupid mistake … dodged a bullet … wiser for the faux pax.
First few ‘bands’ of Hurricane Florence passed through. Not much rain, just fast moving, dark clouds and moderate, variable and gusting winds.
Watch the black duck segment closely. Watch how she keeps tilting her head up to watch the high speed clouds passing overhead. Interesting.
Used the Mavic Pro drone to monitor storm conditions from about 300 to 400 feet AGL (above ground level). Always impressed with not just the 4K video shot by the drone, but almost more so its onboard flight management computer. That damn thing will hold a perfect GPS-based position fix (aka ‘hover’), even in high, gusty winds. Truly amazing piece of consumer technology.
Had to arm wrestle (wing wrestle?) the young chickens into their coop tonight. The bone-heads wanted to stay out in the approaching storm. Young and dumb … just like human kids. 😉
Found mamma hen’s (not the best of names, but she answers to it!) pirate nest, which made my day. She’s the hen that hatched about 14 chicks in a compost pile earlier in the Spring. She’s a natural!
Got 550 gallons (2000 liters) of fresh drinking water stored in the two IBC totes.
After Hooey and I got all the animals bedded down for the night, we sat on the patio with a bottle of wine and watched the storm clouds race by … without dropping much rain.
Woke up to ominously dark skies, but no heavy rains or winds yet.
Worked with Hooey a bit on her search/seek skills. Always fun to watch her ‘work’ a scent. That dog is a natural born (rodent) killer.
Ground a few more tree stumps down before breakfast.
I heard some reporting about possible water contamination risks associated with all the Hurricane Florence rain water flowing through things you wouldn’t want your drinking water to flow through (e.g. agricultural manure aggregation depots) … so I made a last minute decision to clean and fill two of my 1000 liter IBC totes with well water, as an addition strategic water reserve.
Reconfigured the tractor front and back to do a bit more water drainage excavation work around the property. This video got long enough by noon. 😉
Didn’t do all that much today in contrast to the last few days. Made my last (planned, voluntary) trip off prop today to run to Lowes and the local grocery store.
Contrary to a few early AM reports of chaos in the local stores (e.g. Walmart in Durham), I found both stores to be busy, but not chaotic. I heard the other day that Tractor Supply sold out of generators in all local stores about 3 days ago. I was VERY impressed to find that Lowes had just received two semi trucks full of generators. They have them piled to the ceiling in the store on pallets. I saw people buying 2 and 3 units at a time. But, it wasn’t frenzied.
At the grocery store (Food Lion), they had quite a bit of food on the selves, but not much in the way of fruit, veggies, water, drinks, milk, bread and other staples. The cashier said as soon as a new truck load arrives, they stock the shelves and … poof … it all sells out in a few hours. Again, mostly calm.
I heard a few elderly ladies commenting how they hadn’t seen this volume of stockpile buying in MANY years.
Did a few test runs with my new Caravaggi stump grinder implement for the BCS 853 walk-behind tractor. Eats stumps for lunch! That this is BAD ASS. When you watch the video, think about the movie Fargo. LOL!
Decided to move the badonkadonks back into the barn pasture to provide them with more shelter during the upcoming hurricane. Had to clean up the barn pasture, fix a section of fence that I crushed with a felled tree earlier in the summer, and move the winter hay bales into a different pasture.
After all that work making room for a 18-wheeler to deliver a shipment, the truck driver chickened out, so I had to meet him down on the paved road and tractor the pallet myself. Same driver that delivered a shipment about 9 months ago … and he pussed out then too. I should have known when he called me from an I-40 offramp about 10 miles away and said … “I need you to give me directions to your place.” I replied, “don’t you have a GPS?” No. “Do you have a map book?” No. “Think maybe you should have researched your route before you left the warehouse?” Lemme call my dispatcher, maybe he has a GPS.
Then I get a second call from him … “I’m looking at a dirt road.” Me: “Yup, I told your dispatcher I live on a rural farm, dirt roads, long gravel driveway, tight turn or two.” Him: uuuummmmm…
Whatever. No harm, no foul. Got the shipment (new Caravaggi stump grinder for the BCS 853 walk-behind tractor). Good sized thunderstorm moved in late in the PM. Got a few good shots with the Mavic Pro drone. Heavy late PM rain showers, but not Florence. Not yet. 😉
Woke up to overcast skies, ground fog and cool temps. HOT DAMN. Got the animals up, out and on their way, then fired up the tractor and got back to work plowing the field. First plow furrow, half-way down, I hit a 50-60 pound rock and sheared the plow blade off! AAAHHHGG!
Spent the next few hours running around getting parts and a few new tractor implements (e.g. 5 foot landscaping rake, post hole auger).
Took the opportunity to salvage about 10-12 telephone poles from the neighbor’s property, then got back to work plowing the field.
Got about half of the field plowed, one 18 inch wide furrow at a time. Exhausting work, even just riding on the tractor (for that many hours). If I didn’t have hemorrhoids before, I very well might now.
We mowed the ‘park’ next door, then I decided that with Hurricane Florence forecast to dump about 50″ of rain on us later in the week, it might be a good idea to plow the field under to allow it to absorb more water and shed less water into our neighborhood drainage ditches, which tend to flood my neighbor’s property.
Bought Hooey a whole roasted chicken for being such a good ‘helper’ while I was running the tractor. She’s good about chasing the chickens away from in front of the tractor, cuz those dummies are prone to letting the front wheels get about 3 inches away from them before flittering way. I guess you could say they like to ‘play chicken’ with the tractor.
The recently free-ranged rabbits seem to be doing pretty well. I found evidence of at least one of the getting culled from the colony by a predator (99% sure it was the coyote, as I found coyote scat in the field the next day that was full of white fur).
Bianca Houdini (nesting duck) hasn’t hatched any eggs yet. Any time now, assuming they are indeed viable.
Hooey and I spend a lot of time on the look out for that damn coyote. Used the DJI Mavic Pro (drone) to provide hi-def video surveillance from above. Saw the coyote a few times, but ‘no joy.’
