Friday, November 14, 2008

Hunting Report from the Bolt Hole
same old, same old

My rifle and I went for another walk today. It's been a nice quiet partner. hasn't said much since I fired a few practice rounds a few weeks ago. But it could sure do with a little weight loss. My left arm and hand get numb from lugging that .270 around in the crook of my arm. I'd sling it over my shoulder but that would be inviting a herd of bucks to come running by.

Actually, I went out and walked only a short distance onto a flat area where I could see pretty well and put out some scent bombs (Doe in Rut; Tink's #69). Then I sat and waited. And waited some more. But nothing was answering the call. So after several hours of sitting on the ground during which I ate my picnic lunch, watched a few birds (nuthatches, blue jay, raven, chickadee, hairy and downy woodpeckers), one chipmunk and one shrew as they raced along a few logs, and day dreamed, I packed it in and headed back to the cabin.

Once there, I checked the weather. It got up to 60 degrees today despite a pretty heavy cloud cover. The winds blew out of the south and are carrying more rain this way. (Yesterday we had a real gully washer that encouraged me to stay indoors and read. Now I'm out of library books so tomorrow it will be rummaging through the boxes that are still here and crossword puzzles until it's time for college football.) And if it rains tomorrow morning, I'm sleeping in. But once the front passes through, it won't be so hot or rainy any more. No sirree! It will be cold and snowy instead. Come Monday, the high temperatures will be in the low 30s upper 20s and the Lake Effect snow making machine will be all cranked up and ready for duty. Bands of snow will be stretching out from Lake Ontario to points south and east but exactly where and how far is the 64 million dollar question. The Utica TV weatherman says it will be here to stay, too. So it looks like winter is coming to the North Lands. The only thing that can turn off the snow machine is if the lake freezes over and that hasn't happened in a long time.

I ran down to the store fro some supplies a few days ago and saw that gas prices had dropped to $2.57 a gallon so I filled the Tundra's tank. I should have waited. I had to go back down today to get some items I forgot and saw gas was down to $2.37. That's about 50 cents less than gas was in PA a year ago when I bought the Tundra and would be the cheapest gas the truck has ever been fed...if I needed it.


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