Day started out fairly uneventful. Ran to town to get some roofing nails with Axel saw Dave and Bee outside the hardware store and we visited for a while. They have been down here for about 3 weeks now and love it. Just had their well put in 270 feet is the depth. Anyway they will do fine if they don't kill each other in their 10 x 12 cabin!
Got back did some roofing work and put down the cheap carpet I picked up yesterday in Colorado Springs. It is that indoor outdoor stuff and I put it on the decks. The dogs love it and it absorbs heat. I have to run a line of staples around the outside to keep the wind from taking it.
Ran down to the Hermits place early afternoon to pick up my two 104 gallon collapsible rain barrels that UPS had just delivered. He actually has one of those fancy government registered addresses where things can be delivered. Plan on putting the barrels on either end of the cabin to catch the gutter run off. That is a dedicated 208 gallons of water for the chickens and garden. If they work out I may grab a couple more cause I think they would make great heat sinks this winter. Now we just need rain. Last May was cold and rainy the entire month but this year nada. Not that I am complaining but I need the water.
Chickens are laying again. I have no chicks...that damn rooster may be firing blanks. I think their estrogen had to level back out from brooding before they would start laying. Fixed a couple for breakfast and honestly didn't enjoy them. Way to many eggs this winter and I think I am sick of them. Plenty of people to give them too.
Ruby had her first visit from Aunt Rose last week and I can tell you that it was one of the most horrible experiences of my life. Had to cover everything in plastic. I am not mentally equipped to deal with this type of problem. I feel bad yelling at her "Dammit Ruby stop dripping on the good couch" she just looks at me like I am stupid. I thought about a diaper but couldn't bring myself to get close to the thing.
She is going in to the vet next Tuesday, I am putting a stop to this nonsense. I was actually going to have her spayed last fall but the vet was called out on an emergency and I never rescheduled. I may be traumatized for life over this. At least she didn't start this when we were cabin bound for 3 months.
So I was out walking the dogs and kept hearing this cannon going off. Now this was not a regular rifle or shotgun it was a huge deep boom like I have never heard before. I went to investigate. Ended up over at the Hermits. He was standing in his driveway looking through these binoculars at the mesa Ken, a new neighbor in the valley, was laying on the ground with this huge gun pointed at the mesa. Of course I wandered up.
Ken just got out of the Marines where he was a competitive sharp shooter and now is building a place over on the mesa above the lake. He was sighting this gun on a rock some 1700 yards away at the top of the mesa. It is a big gun I can't remember what exactly but 50 caliber like. It was one of those big guns with legs. When he shot the it you could see the concussion wave shoot out in a circular pattern from the gun.
Ken asked me if I wanted to shoot the thing, he said it was easy to shoot and didn't have much of a kick. I laid down behind the beast and sighted a rock on the side of the mesa near the top. Now I am not accustom to shooting from this position or firing a cannon so when I pulled the trigger I dropped my head slightly and that with the kick smacked the scope back into my forehead. Let me tell you that my idea of a kick and a Marine sharpshooters idea of a kick are not the same.
Now I have this half moon imprint on the fat chunk between my eyebrows...well worth it...but I think I missed the mesa.
After much thought I have decided that the best way to defend yourself against a sharpshooter is to sneak up on them while they are sighting their gun and club them with your 22.
It was a fun day.
