My Sky Color

A forty something Dad, Husband, Engineer guy living in Western Oregon. Reflections on all things in life. A few technical things and whatever else comes along.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Life, It's What We Do
I don't really have any good stories. Let's start with the goats. They have this strange thing with chewing the bark off the trees. It isn't a certain type of tree or season. I yell at them whenever I catch them at it. So last night I got the pellet gun out and smacked a couple of them with only 3 pumps at 40 yards. Goats are hard to train or rationalize with. This morning they were chewing on the trees. I'll have to consult the all knowing goattalk.com.
We have two boys, they are busy people. So guess what? Their parents are busy. The youngest son has decided his world revolves around kayaks. Don't ask me why. He is living and breathing kayaks. Does he have $400 for a kayak? No. Has he ever been in a kayak? No.
The last captivation was a .22 rifle. That one only lasted about a week. Does he even have a BB gun? No. Will his parents survive these obsessions? Probably not.
News flash! It takes money to live... in this world we live in. By the way, gas is expensive. That takes some budgetary adjustment. I for one think about it when I push the skinny pedal. I don't think that many other Americans think about it. We still have traffic jams...
People can say the meanest things to one another, without any facts to back it up. We're all guilty. DMP

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Bandits at 3 O'clock
Recently the cat food in the barn has been cleaned up each morning. This is not typical. So we figured we had some kind of extra consumers. On Tuesday, the 9th, I had to fix some fence and quickly grabbed some wire out of the barn. There was a big commotion over where the cats eat and figured one had fallen or something. A few minutes later my wife went to the barn looking for eggs, then came to talk to me at the fence mending site. She said she had seen a raccoon by the barn. With all of the farm fowl we have having critters with sharp teeth prowling about is not a good thing. Later after getting kids to bed and things cleaned up I went coon hunting. I called the neighbor to warn them on was on the hunt.
I shot one that night. The cat food was safe once more. A few nights later I heard this really loud screaming and screeching. I figured a dog was chasing the pigs. I ran out and checked on them. They were fine. I recollected that I had heard raccoons do this when fighting or playing. When talking to the neighbor she had heard the same thing and thought the same thing. She was hollering for her dogs when I was out checking on the pigs.
Last night while peacefully slumbering this same noise started up at about 3:09 AM. My wife awoke thinking her chickens were under attack. I awoke thinking the bacon was under attack. Quickly trying to get my brain and body functioning I threw on some shorts grabbed a flashlight and the handiest firearm. Running down to the pig pen they were sleeping and not to be bothered. At the same time my wife was checking the coop. I headed up the hill to behind the house. I noticed that the neighbor's goats had startled at something, so I headed up there. I located a raccoon up a fir tree. Keep in mind this is a little after 3 in the morning. Having never practiced shooting with a flashlight, I tried it and drew a bead on the masked maurader. Naw I won't shoot. But then again, this might be my only chance. So I try again to get a steady aim and keep the light on the intended. BOOM! A short barreled 44 mag at 3 AM is really quite loud! I think I missed.
My after action assessment is that I have now officially declared war on the raccoons. I need to change out my handy gun for something a little quieter and easier to hit things with when half asleep. How about a 12 gauge... DMP

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Back in the Saddle
Back from the big vacation and real life is hard to take. We wore out Disney Land, explored Cali Adventure and loved Sea World. If a person scrambles and watches the schedules you can do Sea World in a day. Disney Land can't be done in a day. Cali Adventure requires a really long day. Picking a time of the year that is not prime is essential to not spending all of your time waiting in lines. The weather wasn't hot so that was good. The sun we did see got everyones' sun tans/burns started.
The Disney fireworks is really something to behold. We watched them twice from two different vantage points, behind the castle in front of Small World and in fornt of the Castle. Flying Tinker Bell is pretty neat.
The ginger pills worked for me. I still can't go around and round. The lads decided rides with unexpected large drops are not fun. Mr. 10 years old liked some adventuresome rides, and Mr. 6 years adopted a policy of no roller coasters. The white water raft rides are lots of fun, if you like to get wet.
We had a great time and made life long memories. DMP

Monday, May 01, 2006

Never a Dull Moment
Where to start... Clancy and I have been shining the tracks on the track loader moving, cleaning, and piling. We cut the cable TV and high speed over a week ago and the cable Co just can't seem to fix it.
Got a free Jeep Cherokee. I have to figure out if it is a fixer or a seller. It is straight and good interior for the age and 200k miles.
Last night we had dinner in the tree house. You ever have dinner in your tree house? This is the stuff kids' memories are made of.
If you have read the Narnia books, the movie is great. For a movie of a book they stayed true to it pretty well. The boys loved it.
Did a tree job for the neighbor two doors down to the west. Nice to meet another great neighbor. Haven't done much tree climbing in awhile. It was good.
Off to see Mickey in two days. The boys don't know when it is happening. The surprise should be great! DMP