The word is out

Well, RBL-16's have begun to hit the streets and the proud owners have been posting pics..
Meanwhile, here I sit with bated breath...

This just whet's my appetite..

Astro news

I received this e-m,ail this AM from the folks at The Field Trial Pointer message board on Yahoo...
Please make your voice heard... This is a safety issue for dogs instead of merely a rules issue..





Input for both groups' decision makers may be provided by letters, emails, and phone calls. The Field Trial Pointers Message Board is also providing
a mechanism for input. This, almost 1,400 membership group, has the potential for much wider spread grass roots input from field trialers.
At 9 pm last night a poll was posted to provide members an opportunity for feedback that is much faster and easier than the forementioned ways of providing feedback.

Trustees for AAFTCA as well as staff of the The American Field belong to
the message board so both organizations can have access to the results of the poll. Hopefully, if there is a high voter turnout, both groups will listen.

Members of the Yahoo group bearing the same name were transferred by me when the group was moved last year, but some have yet to visit the new board site. Some who joined after the transfer also have not logged in. If you have forgotten your user name and/or your password and are unable to log in please email me at gno52@windstream.net and I will send them to you. Please let me know the email addy you used when you joined so I can id you.

PLEASE VOTE.

Frank Thompson

Victory

I love the smell of pigeon shit and old checkcords in the morning....
It smells like.......... Victory!

Enjoy your Monday...

Anticipation..

Just like the great old Carly Simon tune..
My Downrange DR-16 wads, 5K worth, showed up on the doorstep night before last. These are in anticipation of the arrival of the 16 ga. RBL, and failing that in a timely manner, will see duty in the B. Rizzini Aurum Teutonic.
These wads are pretty pricey as wads go. Thirty one dollars per thousand, or about 50% more than any other commonly produced wad.
Some of the design elements are also a bit puzzling. The wad petals measure.031, or about twice the thickness of all other wads I have around here. The gas seal is also quite thick. There is a noticable flare for a seal, but again, different than production wads I'm used to..
In any case, the wad is very high and will save the step of dropping a filler into the shotcup, even for a 3/4 ounce load. Something less than 3/4 ounce may even be possible, but that venture is for some future experimentation...

Will report back after I've pushed some of these wads through the gun at clay targets...

Enjoy the weekend, and some warm weather.

Help put Bearcat in the HOF

This is crossposted from A Piece of the Purest Challenge. They can fill everyone in much better than I on Bearcat's credentials, but please help in the effort to put this most deserving dog into the Hall of Fame..

Read about Bearcat here....

Reloading supplies on Supermarket shelves

As reloading costs rise, and the price of lead shot in particular, the trend toward lighter loads in all gauges is getting some traction.
I've been a proponent of the trend for a long time, prompted by my inherent cheap... let's call it frugality. I've been shooting the mighty 1 oz. 12 ga. load since the early 1980's when they first came to light for Trapshooters in search of less recoil for longer and longer events.
After the shoulder fracture and dislocation two years ago, I was inspired to also seek out reduced loadings for the 20 ga. birdgun I had been shooting. I was punching out foam discs with an arch punch to add to the bottom of the shotcup for a low velocity 3/4 ounce load.. That became pretty tedious, and I'd often put off reloading the days shells until the very morning I needed them.
Now, using cereal fillers to take up space for reduced shot charges is not a new idea, and I cannot lay claim to developing it. But, I've found that one Cheerio in the 20 ga. shotcup provides a perfect crimp!
It's got an added benefit of providing a snack close at hand if I get hungry while reloading..
Add to that a little treat for the birds that inhabit the range grounds and we have a winner.
So, choose the flavor that you and the birds enjoy most, the lead shot doesn't care which.. And, next time the wife does a week's food shopping, don't forget to tell her to look in the "reloading" aisle and stock up on supplies...

Bigfoot in the North Country??

I'm of the opinion that there is much more in this world than we know, so I usually keep a fairly open mind... Or, maybe it's just the kid in me that still likes to be scared out of his wits on a dark, gloomy night...

Read about it here....

Extreme Makeover... Canine Edition

Well, it's that time once again to trim the excess hair from black dogs that suffer in the sun. The weather has been warming up, and Gordon's seek shade at the first hint of warm weather.
Further, many Gordons develop a "top knot" that often makes them appear more like a cockatiel than a gundog, so for their own self esteem, I give them a more sleek appearance for summer activities.
As an added benefit, the hair clippings provide the birds with much material to build super-strong nests..

Today's mantra

Life is like a dog sled team. If you ain't the lead dog, the scenery never changes.

Lewis Grizzard

Ain't it the truth....

Enjoy the weekend!

Yesteryear right around the corner

This gas station has been down the road as long as I can remember.. And with good reason, as it predates me!
It was a working gas station years ago, but appeared a bit more modern. It has not been a working business for some time, but in recent years has been restored to it's former glory by the local historical society.
I love stuff like this, and wish it were much more prevalent..

Enjoy!

A bit of good news

I'm pleased to report that my Holly went to the Vet yesterday to have the staples closing her incision removed. She has finished her antibiotic regimen, and is released as a patient with a clean bill of health. She has once again lost her appetite, and found that of a horse. She's back to her old habit of cleaning her dish without coming up for air, and snapping at treats; a habit that always annoyed me, but I'm grateful to see return.
She has no restrictions, and we're free to do anything we'd like together. Our thanks go out to Dr. Jay Wen, Dr. Dominic Gucciardo and the entire staff (including my wife Terry) at Hampton Veterinary Hospital, in Speonk, N.Y. for the highly competent and professional care they provide all their patients.

As an aside, here's a little poem I received in a recent birthday card from close friends. I thought all might enjoy it..

When we start to count flowers,
we cease to count weeds;
When we start to count blessings,
we cease to count needs.
When we start to count laughter,
we cease to count tears;
When we count happy memories,
we cease to count years.

Enjoy the day!

A Tale of Two Shotguns

And this tale, decidedly not by Dickens, but a little story of how two fine shotguns for a specialized purpose can fall out of favor, and into disuse.. And how Yin and Yang applies to all.. about how one man's meat can be another man's poison...

The first... A Beretta ASE 90.
A friend used a Beretta 682 for many years for virtually all his shooting. Trap, Skeep, Sporting, not to mention walk-up birds and tower shoots. The gun served him well, and had many thousand rounds through it, but the 68X series are nice guns, but in my opinion, are compromised by a questionable lock-up.
My friend is a self made man, in commercial real estate. While I wouldn't call him rich, he's well off and wants for nothing, but to his credit, he does not spend his money wastefully, at least not until he consumes too much alcohol.. but that is a story for another day.
So, the time came when he wanted a gun more durable, and a bit more fitting to his station in life. I recommended the ASE 90, a shotgun that I had always admired for it's strength, beauty and utility. He bought one. A beautiful piece with two drop-out trigger groups. A 28 inch gun, when all the rage in Sporting was 30 inch tubes and heading for 32".
At the guns unveiling at the club, everyone gathered around for oooh's and aaah's.. all except for another of our group that holds alot of sway with our new owner.. He immediately proclaimed the gun would be sold off within the month!
His words were somewhat prophetic, as I knew they would be after putting such a hex on a brand new gun.
My friend shot his new gun.. not well. He being left handed, needed some cast-on, and the gun was sent to a prominent NY gunsmith for bending. Upon it's return, it was still not producing the scores it's owner would have liked, but there was a big difference in between the hands feel between the ASE and the 682, so my advice was give it some time..
The gun got sporadic use, never really given the chance to see what it could actually do, and after about a year, went down the road to another buddy... A right handed shooter who proceeded to shoot it with a stock bent for a leftie... The gun moved to another home. Another right hander who doesn't shoot it, and may not even be aware that it is cast for a southpaw!
So, it's a closet queen, resigned to a life of darkness in a gun cae.. and all because of some bad breaks, and owners that wouldn't give it a chance.

The second.. A Perazzi MX-3 set.

The original MX-3 I might add. The gun without the side lugs of today's MX-3 Special.. The gun without the trademark bank vault lock-up (to borrow a term from our friends at Cold Duck)
A little background.. This gun, a 12 and 20 gauge set with, again, two trigger groups because the MX-3's were set to fire the top barrel first for cost concessions, was owned by the same gentleman as Tale #1, and also was unused for similar reasons... He just didn't like it and felt he couldn't shoot it.
I had always lusted after a Perazzi Comp 1 (Competezion #1) Light Game gun from the Ithaca era, but they're about as rare as hen's teeth, and due to much "fudging" with Perazzi's, one is never really sure he has found an original "Light Game" or a modified Comp 1.
So, I lusted after this set for many years, but the owner any I could never arrive and a price... mainly because he paid too much for it at the outset, and it was never worth it. I took the set for a period of months to get the feel of it. Even with light 20 ga. loads, the gun would "pop open." The old MX-3's were noted for their weakness, but with light twenty gauge loads, it would be a nice little upland gun. But, tthe owner had better have comparably kight 12 gauge loads also!
So, this gun languishes in ambiguity. Unused, and probably will remain so. The "red headed stepchild" of a proud name. A gun that may never find it's "niche"..

Sad in a way, that some otherwise good guns, like people, just never make the cut...

Help the bats!

I never considered myself a bat lover, but I've never had anything against them either.. Just another one of God's creatures just tryin' to get along!
Well, New Yorks bats, and the bats of numerous other locales also, are in trouble due to an ailment called "White Nose syndrome". It affects cave dwelling bats, and it is taking a toll on the population in New York.
Research is being started to try to get a handle on the problem, and hopefully find a solution..
Here is some information for anyone that has the time and inclination to help out, and while you're reading, look over the rest of this nature blog called The Adirondack Naturalist..
There's some great reading, informative topics, and the writer has a great little dog that accompanies her in her travels, and that's always a great thing to see...

Legend of the Dreamcatcher

Native Americans of the Great Plains believe that the air is filled with both good and bad dreams. Historically, dreamcatchers were hung in the tipi or lodge and on a baby's cradle board.
According to legend, the good dreams pass through the center hole to the sleeping person. The bad dreams are trapped in the web, where they perish in the light of dawn..

Throughout history, nearly every person and culture has placed importance on the meanings of dreams - archetypical messages from 'the other side' - given by various sources - that must interpreted by their symbology and content. Today, dreams are still a powerful force in many people's lives, particularly because of the meanings that can be found in them. Whether dreams are good or bad, they can inspire, confuse, or upset the dreamer.

In the Ojibway tribe, night visions, or dreams, were so important that children were not given a name until after a person designated as the "namer" of that child had a dream as to what he/she should be called. The namer might give the child a charm woven to look like a spider's web in order to protect the baby's dreams.




Read more about the dreamcatcher here...

Eating dog.. Distasteful in more ways than one!

I understand that there are cultural differences at play here, but I believe that the vast majority of folks in the U.S. would consider the preparation and consumption of Fido abhorrent! I among them.
But, in Asia and during certain periods of the year, the practice is not at all uncommon, as much as we'd like to distance ourselves from these facts.
But, now another danger rears it's ugly head, and one that Westerners might consider completely appropriate for the offense. Consuming a rabid animal and falling victim to the disease as the result.

Some in this country might consider it poetic justice... Read all about it here at Science Daily..

Something new

I recently got a note from a reader of the Bombshell, and his name is Kris Anderson. He has started a new business called Knives Infinity, and he's selling all the good stuff that we outdoor types need and want.
This comes at a great time for me, because I've been looking for a new Estwing axe, and Kris has it and at a price more than fair. I've also been considering a small knife to keep on my person for cutting sticks, burrs and all those other good things from the dogs.
So, peruse Kris' site, that I've also listed in the sidebar under "Upland Equipment", and see if you can find something useful..
And, be sure to mention that you "saw it on the Bombshell"...

Best of luck in your new venture, Kris!

Just when you thought it was safe...

to go back in the water...

Here's yet another dilemma to blame on global warming, but this one definitely has a positive spin to it! Could it be the disappearance of the ozone? Or maybe the Mediterranean diet... Either way, the resaults look great to me..

Thanks to Maggies Farm for the inspiration..

Old time Adirondackers

I don't know how many folks subscribe to "The Conservationist," the publication of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, but the price of admission is well worth the expense, as there are always articles that are not only educational, but entertaining as well.
The latest issue features a profile of an Adirondack native that has made a lifetime of difference for all those who love these ancient mountains. And that man is Clarence Petty.
Click the picture to enlarge, and click the link to read how this 103 year old giant of a man made a huge difference for a worthy cause in his lifetime!

Thanks to the NYS DEC and The Conservationist..

RBL, RBL, Wherefore art thou, RBL?

I'm starting to lose it waiting for delivery!

The closer it gets, the more antsy I get!

I don't know if I can hold on much longer.... HELP!

Comin' back

It feels like it's been forever, but the M*A*S*H unit that was our bedroom is once again returning to normal.
The IV pole and infusion pump are gone along with the catheter, and Holly is on oral meds to treat the e-coli bacteria that invaded her body. She's still a bit sore from the large incision, and sleeping more than normal, but she's been through a lot this past week, and we're just babying her with lot's of TLC..

We're seeing the light at the end of what has seemed to be a very long, and dark tunnel.

I'd like to thank everyone for all the support we've received through this trying time....