Aerie Report: Tuesday 7/7/09

Ix-nay on the avel-tray.

I'll not be heading to the Bolt Hole this week after all. While the work on the roofs still needs doing, the guy Mark took to look at the project pointed out even more that needed to be done and said he didn't have the time.

I may have to go north to cut grass early next week, but until then I'll be sticking around the Aerie.

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Terry and I were awakened by a T-storm this morning at 6 AM. It rumbled through for a little over an hour. We might have been able to stay in bed but Chester started howling for his (and the girls') breakfast.

Another T-storm moved through around noon.

The total rainfall from the two amounted to 0.3 inches.

I blame Terry. Last night she said we'd have to water the garden today. God must have been listening.

The temperature this morning was a cool 55 degrees and it never got above 72 this afternoon. A gorgeous day even with the rain.

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The rain caused us to postpone a visit to the Blueberry farm until Wednesday. If the bushes are producing like they were last summer, we should be able to fill up a couple of buckets (about 4 quarts each) in no time. This batch will be for cereal topping, muffins, coffee cake, pancakes, and the freezer.

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Logging continues in the Aerie woods. The crew was in and out over the weekend and again early Monday morning. They must be cutting and hauling by species so as to not have to sort at the staging site. My guess is that they are a little more than half way toward completion. Then it will be my turn. They are leaving the tops where they fall ad I'll have to go in to cut them up into fireplace sizes before hauling them out. And for that task, I'll have to get the ATV from the Bolt Hole down here--and for that I'll need a trailer. I could simply put the ATV into the bed of the Tundra, but the bed is a smidge too short which would leave part of the rear of the ATV on the tail gate, and the bed is a little to high to comfortably drive the ATV up and down a ramp.

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Started practicing with my bow (an old Jennings Lightening with 65# draw and about 50% let down). Damn thing must be a Democrat. I started out by putting all my shots to the left of where I was aiming. I've since adjusted my sight and am hitting pretty close to center at 20 yards.

I don't use a peep on the string so I've got to be precise as to the anchor point against my cheek. Bringing the fletching of the arrow to rest in the corner of my mouth and looking through my sight which is mounted on the bow just above my left hand, there are many things that could cause me to be off by a half foot or more over 20-30 yards. Tilt my head slightly, tilt the bow (although the sight has a level built in to prevent that), twitch my left hand upon release of the bow string, be off of my anchor point just a quarter of an inch up, down, left or right and the result is a blown shot. A peep on the string would allow me to have to visual points much like a rifle's iron sights. That's far more accurate way to shoot but it's not easy for me with my glasses.

I can do 28-35 shots before the muscles start telling me to quit. I'll just have to do it over and over every day until I can make 50 or more shots. I also want to move out to 30 yards and be able to put all my arrows into the kill zone on a regular basis.

I'm shooting a 125 grain field point to match the 125 grain Magnus Snuffer broadheads I've got. There's a noticeable drop of the arrow even at 20 yards which makes me want to try a couple of 100 grain field tips to see if the arrow would fly flatter. Even then, I might not make the switch. The Snuffer broadheads go for $33-35 per three and I would want at least six, preferable nine--like I already have in 125 grain. The switch could get expensive.

So could the switch to a more modern single cam bow with far more let down than the Jennings. I started bowhunting with the Jennings back in the '80s and it has been a good solid bow. Perhaps too solid. It's a heavy piece of equipment to hold out with one arm while that buck is looking right at you. Still, the price of a new bow....

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Still do NOT wish to talk about he Mets. Although, I will say, it's something of a relief not to have to wait until the last day of the season this year.