Since we last talked

Ok, this might not be the longest post I've ever done, but it's going to cover quite a bit of the time since I last posted up.

So, lets talk about:
1) bikes
2) football
3) hunting
4) my cat
5) my homebrew
6) my office and tool box
7) my ingrown toenail

1) bikes
The rebel is running like a champ, but I don't ride much right now, because well, it's gotten too cold since deer season started. It's still my main bike, and will remain that way for a while.

The viffer is having some issues. Parts and labor are the main problems. Parts are hard to come by unless I do labor to get the money for parts, and then do the labor to put those parts on. I did, however get the choke cable replaced today, which wasn't a big deal. Actually, it was nice to work on it (see office and tool box). I had everything I needed, and it was a pretty simple task. But, I think the starter clutch is kaput. I'll know more once I get a chance to inspect the starting system. I'm hoping it's the starter and it can be repaired. The starter clutch is harder to replace, and can't be repaired.

I'll get the viffer all running good, and then I'll learn to ride it pretty well, and then....and then...I want to make some good times flogging the crap out of it.

2) football
my brother is playing the football still, it's his last season, and any game now could be his last game. It's his senior year, and he's graduating in December (less than a month!). It's been quite a run, he's played a lot of ball, and he's had good and bad times. But, it will be the end of an era when it's all done. It's been something he's done since 5th grade, and now, his 5th year in college is going to be, most likely, his last game ever. He's got at most 2 games left this season. The semi-finals, and the national championship. If they lose, it will be sad, no doubt, but if they win, it will still be sad. The last time that he'll be a Saint, strapping on the helmet and preparing to go forth and play for and with these friends and brothers.

....kinda makes me wish I had stayed with football....just wasn't my thing....

3) hunting
I've been out for grouse a few times, and it's been fun, but once deer season opened, I've been hunting all the time since then. If you look, my last post was 8 days before deer season opened, and since then, there hasn't been anything posted.

I passed up a couple does because I was holding out for a buck. I spent a day out in Elk River, and didn't see very many deer. I see more deer in Troy and Deary than I saw in Elk River. Oh well, I learned, and didn't go back. I went through many stages of deer hunting, such as having fun, at peace, hating every second of it, and being depressed for being a crappy hunter. But, I was determined not to let a bad mood make me shoot a tiny, suit-case, deer again. I even was lined up, safety off, and ready to shoot this one doe, but realized that I just didn't want to gut and skin a deer that night.

Well, along the way, I carried my shotgun in my truck anyway, and ended up getting a pheasant and a Hungarian partridge. I've been keeping my pheasant tails, and I put them up on the wall, as a trophy. I'm up to 2. Actually I keep them for my friend who ties flies, but I like to look at them until I have a reason to get rid of them.

So, anyway, back to the main event, deer season. The middle of the season came and went, and I didn't even get a shot off at any deer. I shot at 2 bucks one day, but since I hadn't shot my rifle in months, I missed really bad.

I went to shoot my rifle, and setup a paper target on a post, and got back to see what was going on. I accidentally left my safety on, and pulled the trigger. I flinched BAD. So bad, in fact, that the scope was aimed about 2 feet high and a foot to the right, with no shot fired. This was bad. So, I sat solid, and put 3 shots dead center on the target. I realized that I couldn't possibly have hit anything the way I jerked, so I felt more sure that I had missed those deer I shot at.

I looked at the calendar, and realized that I had 2 weeks left in an almost 2 month season to get a deer. I was determined to shoot the next legal deer I saw, no matter how small it was.

I went out the weekend before Thanksgiving, and saw a couple that weren't shoot-able. One was because of distance, and the other was because I didn't see it long enough. This, of course, discouraged me even more.

When I found out that my parents were coming up here for Thanksgiving, and weren't coming up until Thanksgiving Day, and I had taken the day before Thanksgiving off to possibly travel, I realized it would be a good chance to go out for a morning hunt before I had to buckle down and help clean up for my parents coming. I took off just around dawn (I always get out late for hunting for some reason) and headed out to my favorite spot that isn't trafficked hardly at all by hunters. Well, I was about 2 miles away when I saw 2 deer on the road. Of course, because it wasn't night, they took off, but stopped just off the road. I saw that one was a doe, and the other....the other....had antlers that stuck out past his ears....

my mouth went dry and I started to salivate at the same time...

I slammed on the brakes, threw it into park, and inserted the clip into my rifle as I popped the door and did a quick check for fences between me and him, fences he could jump over, and the all important "NO HUNTING" signs.

There was no reason not to shoot at him. I jumped off the road and shot. He jumped and took off. I whistled, and he stopped (THIS REALLY WORKS). I jacked another shell in, and took more careful aim. I squeezed the trigger, and I didn't hear the shot, but I felt it rock my shoulder. I knew it went off, and I knew it placed right where I was aimed (next time, aim lower, and more forward).

He stumbled, and rocked sideways with the impact, then jumped off. Knowing this deer was hit, I jacked my third, and last shell in, knowing I HAD to make this last shot, as my other shells were still in the pickup, and if he took off, there was no way to keep up with him and I didn't know how long he'd be able to go. I watched as he took another couple steps, and fell down and started kicking. 5 seconds later, it was over.

I ran back to my pickup, parked it, grabbed my pistol, rope, knife, and the tag, and headed off to get my deer. The knife was to attach the tag and gut him out. The pistol was in case he saw me and wasn't quite dead. One .380 caliber bullet to the head would put him out of his misery quick. The rope was to drag him out. When I got there, he was plenty dead, and so I tagged him, gutted him, and drug him up to my pickup.

I lifted his head up, set it in the pickup, tried to hold it there with my leg, and grab the front half, and the head fell. I was tired from dragging this deer's fat ass up the hill, through caterpiller-caused ruts, and over logs. Just then, the cavalry showed up. 2 guys pulled up in a silver Toyota. I gave them the puppy-dog face, and they got out and congratulated me on my deer and helped me load him up.

I took him to my boss's house and skinned him up and I'll bring him home to cut up and freeze tomorrow after work.

That's my deer hunting story!

I was going to go bird hunting today, but I ended up working on my bike today instead....oh well...it was fun! I'll get out next weekend after some pheasants, and maybe I'll find a place to let me hunt chukar.....gotta find a place to hunt chukar....

4) my cat
Elliot is an asshole, you all knew this. He's actually a great cat, and him and I seem to bond more all the time. He sits in my lap a lot of the time when I'm on the computer. He sleeps on my pillow, and he's really becoming a good cat now that he's getting to be almost an adult.

We've been letting him outside for periods of time, and he's figured out that if he scratches at the door, we'll hear him and let him back in.

Last night, he gave Jessica quite a good scare. It was cold, and he was outside for a long time. I was kinda worried, just because he'd been gone a long time, but Jessica was really worried about him. Well, he came back, predictably.

Anyway, he's an asshole, but I love him.

5) my homebrew
Ok, I've been working on this homebrew cider for a looong time. I started it before school started, which means that I started it in August. I was hoping to have it ready to drink in September. I let it ferment a couple of days, and when it slowed down a bit, I transferred it to a secondary fermentation bucket, hoping that it would take it off the dead yeast cells, reducing the yeast-y flavors and textures. Well, I've been meaning to bottle it for quite a while, but just haven't gotten around to it. I wasn't really worried about it, because (I told myself) that the longer it sat in the fermenter was like aging in the cask, only going to make it better.

Well, I bottled it finally. It was 12 22ounce bottles, and 5 or 6 16 ounce bottles. This was smaller than my usual batch, but I knew that when I only bought 3 gallons of cider to start with. My usual batch is over 5 gallons!

Well, part of bottling is checking final specific gravity. To do this, you take a little bit off and this creates a bit of "waste." Well, not wanting to waste it, and to check the quality...I tasted it. Before I tell you what it tasted like, I'll tell you this. When it started, it had the potential alcohol by volume of around 9%. When I checked the final potential alcohol by volume, it was an even 0. This means the yeast has eaten up all the sugars in the cider. I took this to be a bad sign. Plus, there was a slight vinegary smell when I first opened the bucket. I also took this to be a bad sign.

There was no reason for any worry. The smell must have been imaginary, because once I tasted it, it was sweet (not sure how) and not harsh at all. There was no vinegary smell. The strange thing was the lack of alcohol taste too. This was the smoothest drink I think I've ever had. The secondary fermentation took about 90% of the yeasty flavors out of the drink, and it was like drinking apple juice, but with a slight warming sensation. I use a 10mL graduated cylinder for my testing, and that 15mL (I had to dispose of some when I accidentally overfilled a couple bottles) gave me half a buzz. At around 9% alcohol by volume, it's twice as strong as a light beer.

I put some sugar in the mix before I bottled it. Hopefully there's enough yeast to eat those sugars up and carbonate the bottles up and make it sparkling cider, if not, no big loss, it will be like apple wine.

6) my office and tool box
I spent $75 and bought a Craftsman tool box on Black Friday. But, it's not just a tool box. It's a 3 drawer tool box, on top of a riser that creates storage below the riser, on top of a 2 drawer and 1 big doored storage area roller. It stands about 5 feet tall, and is perfect for working on everything. I put all my hand tools into it, and organized my whole office yesterday.

Today, when I went outside to work on my bike, I rolled my whole tool set outside, worked on my bike, put my tools back in, rolled the whole unit back inside, and washed my hands, and it was all put away! It was PERFECT.

7) my ingrown toenail
Ok, this spring I had an ingrown toenail cut out. There are 2 speeds to that surgery. The low speed is a numbing of the toe, a cutting of the toenail, and then a pulling of the toenail. This type of operation takes about 5 minutes, then they bandage you up, and send you along your way.

Well, the toenail grew back, and quickly got infected again. I went back to the doctor and they told me I needed the higher speed of the surgery. This is where they cut out the toenail, but go into your toe, and stop your toenail from growing back. They don't remove the whole toenail, just part of it, and the scrape away the "root" of the nail, so it won't grow back into your toe.

I'm not looking forward to the operation, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

I'm just looking forward to having my toes be normal again.

For a long time, I thought that by cleaning under my toenails, it was doing myself a service. The gunk under my toenails was causing stink, and it wasn't pleasant. So, I'd take it out, but I was aggressive when I did so. This caused the toenail to become detached from the part where it should be attached. This lets you cut it shorter, or lets it tear easier. Well, if you cut it too short, or it tears, then it causes pain when it grows back. I found that by cutting it back, I could make the pain go away. About a year ago, I found out that I was causing the pain by cutting out the nail, and that until my toenails all grew back out, correctly, and I cut them correctly (straight across), I would never be free of toe pain.

Well, all 3 grew in normally, except for the inside edge of my left "great" toe.

And that's why I have to go get my toe cut up on Dec 4th.


Lessons learned recently:
1) patience pays off, both deer hunting and cat ownership can be greatly rewarding
2) take care of your toes
3) things that become part of your life sometimes end...example, football
4) hard work pays off eventually, procrastination pays off now (and in the case of homebrew cider, it pays off later too!)
5) a clean office and organized tools make my office less stressful to look at, and it makes working on stuff nice and easy!
6) the longer I don't blog, the longer my posts become :)

Ok, I've been blogging for a lllllooooonnnnnggggg time now, and I think it's time that I quit and see how much I've actually written...

So, you guys have fun.