Life on the ol' farm

Hello interwebbers. Time for a serious update from phattire headquarters. I'm speaking to both of you, who follow this sad little blog. I am renting an excellent old farm house in Manchester, Maryland. The house was built in 1900 and is rife with character and the general old-timiness that  I love so much. It's lonely, but it's perfect for me. It's nestled right in the middle of a cluster of horse farms and the views out my windows are amazing. I don't think I'll ever get tired of walking out through the fields around my property. I have plenty of garage space for my bikes, it's got a great basement with a workshop, a timeless attic for my backpacking gear, hardwood floors, a great wood stove in the living room and here's the cherry on top: It's got a wood shed in the back, so my firewood will stay nice and dry as I burn through it this winter. It's been ages since I've posted, but I was up for the sunrise this morning and walked the frosty fields with my new camera, and just wanted to get some images up on the ol' bloggidy blog here. The rest of the day, holds a few projects for me. I've got the first batch of this year's pineapple-orange marmalade simmering away; so I've got to jar that. I'm also planning on filling a growler with some local IPA from Johannson's in town, so that I don't get thirsty watching a little football this afternoon. Perhaps a quick burn on the cross bike before I head into town... Be well friends.

Updates, get your updates.

Hello world wide web. I haven't not contributed to you since March 15th; let's fix that. Sounds like a general update is in order.

Work:

Work has been rough. The new position, which is not so new anymore, has certainly brought a lot of challenge and stolen more time from me that I imagined.  At least I'm down to working 11 hour days as often. It's getting easier, but there's just so much more responsibility in this role than I had imagined, and I'm not so great at delegating, so I end up working myself to death. I'm learning though. Overall, still happy I took on the challenge. I'm the Director of Quality, for a major player in the rail industry. I'll take a pat on the back for that. Oh, and the travel has been awesome. I love to travel, but I'll write more about that below.

Home life:

Home life is good. Debbie is happy. The two bunnies seem happy; I haven't heard them complain. We got new couches which are pretty awesome. The old couch was a monster that just gobbled you up and forced you to slouch down until your chin touched your chest. I do not miss it. Plus, new couch has foot rests that pop out... and drink holders. Win. Landscape wise, I've been enjoying mowing. It's just satisfying. We've had a couple fires in the backyard this summer which were fun. Not so many rabbits in the yard this summer, but I have seen a lot of coyote poop and my neighbor caught a glimpse of some coyotes early one morning. This would explain the pieces of rabbit and bird we've been finding.

Travel:

Work has taken me to some pretty awesome places: Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, France and Spain. Oddly enough, I do not mind sitting on the plane for 10+ hours. It's worth it to get to experience the sights, sounds, food & culture. The Bavarian Alps are beautiful. The Czech Republic strange and has a phony/corrupt feel to it. Paris is amazing, as always and Madrid has the feel of NYC, but with an old world feel. I love how much history this European places have. Our country is so new, by comparison. Still I love living in the US; it's the by far the best! On Tuesday I'm headed back to Munich for a week and a half. Looking forward to it!

Camping/Backpacking:

Debbie and I went camping with her Brother and his family last month at Laurel Hill State Park, and it was awesome. We even cooked crawfish that we ordered from Louisiana. They were delicious. Of course we ate steaks as well. Plenty of relaxing, hammock time, kids getting dirty chasing crawfish (little ones, too small to eat) and swimming.  Debbie's two brothers and I had another super rainy backpacking trip at Ohiopyle State Park as well. Total sog fest. But a blast nonetheless. The weekend I get back from Munich, I'll be driving up to the Adirondacks to spend a week soaking in the lakes, and hiking some of the High Peaks. Gothics is at the top of my list!

Catching up

Rather than try to catch up on all that's happened in the last month, I'm simply going to dump some images from my phone, onto the ol' bloggy blog here.  I can't believe I blogged only one time during the month of May.  But, life has been busy.  Busy with camping, home improvement, business travle, trips to the rifle range, mountain biking, and enjoying my new truck. 

 

Camping with some of the fellas from work. I took my hammock for a three night stint in the middle of PA. We cooked some amazing meals over the fire place, and on the flat "cooking rocks" in it's perimeter wall. It was epic.

While camping we skewered six chickens with birch limbs. We stuffed a half a stick of butter and a handfull of onion chunks inside each bird and let them cook for a few hours. The onions came out tasting like root beer (from the birch limbs). It was amazing.

Ribs! Yes, we also cooked ribs. We used a screwgun to screw them to the birch limbs, then wrapped them in place with lengths of safetywire. This kept them from spinning off the limbs when we turned them. Man Cooking.

New truck. Yes, I bought a new truck. It's a 2014 Chevy Silverado with a Rocky Ridge package installed. 20" rims, 35" Mickey Thompsons, a 6" ProComp suspension lift kit, custom grill and fender flares. It's got an 8 cylinder 355 horse power engine under the hood and it's a blast to drive. No, I'm not really concerned about my MPG. My work commute is only 7.5 miles.

The fat bike rules. I've gotten a few more good rides in on the Trek Farley. I plan on riding this bike all summer. I just don't see myself having as much fun riding, on my other bikes at this point in time. It's just too cool.

Debbie and I spent a weekend in Gettysburg at a sweet Bed & Breakfast (The Brafferton Inn) which I highly recommend to anyone looking for a great, historic, place to stay in Gettysburg.  We took a horseback tour of Cemetery Ridge and traversed a few battlefields.  Lots of fun and enlightening. 

Spring has sprung

The weather has been amazing lately.  The trees in our yard have finally blossomed, the tulips have burst out of the ground, and I'm seeing rabbits every morning and evening as they feast on the dandelions that make up the majority of our yard.  With the springtime beauty and wonderment comes the pollen and my sneezing & itchy eyes, but I'll take it.  I'm glad the warmer weather is here and I'm enjoying the metamorphosis unfolding before my eyes.  The other day I cam home from work and grabbed my camera to snap some pictures of how pretty things are looking.  I captured a chickadee (My favorite little bird) building a nest in the tree out front. In the side yard I stalked and captured shots of a young rabbit who looks like he had a tussle with a neighborhood cat.  Poor guy.  

Blasts of the past

I picked up a few new pieces of "iron" over the last several months and have been itching to get them to the rifle range.  Yesterday, a beautiful 65°F Saturday morning, I finally got the chance.  I loaded up the truck and popped over to the Hap Baker Rifle Range, here in Westminster.  I like this range a lot.  It's local, well run, has target posting ranges (in increments of 50 yards) all the way out to 200 yards, and its very cheap.  Its just $10 for an in-county resident like myself.  I took with me, my Remington Model 81 in .300 Savage (1945).  Also, my Winchester Model 63 in .22 (1939). And my Colt 1911 A1 in .45 (1943).  A sucker for the older guns, I sort of had myself an old-timey session down at the rifle range.  These three pieces were all made during the same era.

I started off with the Remington Model 81 first.  I really love the shape of this rifle.  It's Remington's first semiautomatic, big game rifle.  Chambered in .300 Savage it really packs a punch.  The internal magazine holds four rounds.  Although, it was made in November of 1945, I was lucky enough to find this rifle with 95% of the original bluing in tact, and not a flaw to speak of in the stock.  It's a tank of a gun; very heavy.  One of John Moses Browning's designs, it does not use gas to operate the action, instead, it uses a long spring, around the barrel, shrouded by an outer jacket.  The action is very similar to that of Browning's 1911.  The barrel actually moves for and aft with each shot.  I find it neat that it utilizes a very large safety on the right side of the receiver.  Keep in mind that Mikhail Kalashnikov's AK-47 (which uses a very similar safety lever) debuted in Europe, shortly after the Remington released their Model 8's & 81's...  

Curious to see how the Model 81 would handle, I loaded four rounds into the internal magazine, racked one into the chamber and lined up on my target 25 yards away.  Let me tell you, this gun packs a wallop!  I thought my featherweight Model 70 in .30-06 was damaging (to the shooter).  I'll be damned if this one isn't worse!  Granted; I was shooting in a T-shirt.  Again.  I sent the other three rounds, down range and ended up with a nice 1" group.  I'm happy with that.  No need to mess with the sights.  I then shot it at 50 yards and found myself shaking from the first four shots.  My shoulder was killing me.  I managed to hold a lousy 5" group.  This is good enough to put meat on the table, but otherwise could be a lot better.  I'll have to go back to the range with some shoulder padding and see how I do then!

Satisfied with how the old Remington semiautomatic performed (And not willing to subject my shoulder to it any more) I packed it away and brought the old Winchester .22 over to the bench.  This is a gun I've wanted since I was a little kid.  I just love the look of it's receiver, its feel in my hand, and the fact that it's Winchester's first semiautomatic .22 rifle.  I loaded ten rounds through the stock and set to work grouping shots at 25 yards.  Luckily, this rifle was shooting dead-nuts as far as left-to-right goes.  I say luckily, because my father replaced the front sight for me while I was last home.  Luckily, he tapped it into the grove in the barrel, centered enough that I didn't have to move it.  Elevation wise, it was a different storry.  At 25 yards, I was shooting an inch high of the bullseye.  I looked at the rear sight and saw that the elevator was moved all the way forward, yet still held the rear sight up and off of the barrel by about a 16th of an inch.  Just enough to cause my shots to land high.  With no way of lowering the rear sight, I just aimed an inch low and my bullets found their mark; no problem.

Finally, it was time to fire the 1911 A1.  This is a pistol that my father recently gave to me.  Made by Colt in 1943 it is the same model that was used in WWI and WWII.  I find that fascinating.  To think, that a gun of this design was being used, in a time when people still rode horses, or drove Model T Fords!  Anyway, it's no wonder that Browning's design is still copied today.  It's a beautiful piece.  Only having 50 rounds of .45 ammo.  I shot only a few magazines through it.  I have to say, I'm awful with a pistol.  I need a lot more practice.  At 10 yards, I think I held a 6" group.  Good enough for self defense, but it definitely needs improvement!

Local trails

When I got out of work today, the weather was brisk but sunny.  I have been playing with the idea of exploring the farm land around my house for the last couple of years, but I never have because of the rednecks that live around me.  "Squeal like a pig boy!"  Yeah.  The land isn't marked with POSTED signs, but I'm still reluctant to venture into it.  It's funny though; when I was a kid I never had a problem trespassing on the local farmers' land.  Hell, my buddies and I used to penetrate deep into the Thurston's land and shoot birds with BB guns all day long (Yes, I'm evil I know).  But that's not to say we weren't ever marched off of their property at gun point.  An angry, tobacco-spitting, turkey hunter, in full camouflage, pointing a shotgun in your face is a hell of a site when you're 14 years old.  So, it was with my tail between my legs and my eyes open wide that I dipped into the woods after work today.  As I pedaled on, I laughed at how my life experience has helped to shrink those gigantic cajones I had as a child.  People are crazy.  I followed a faint trail from the road, down through the woods and out to an open hay field.

When the trail broke from the woods I was greeted with a wide expanse of hay fields.  I slowly prodded along the perimeter of the field looking into the woods for other trails.  I was hoping to find a well worn ATV trail; something I could turn into a nice little after-work ride.  I didn't see anything like that.  Instead, what I found were numerous tree stands and some prime rabbit hunting land.  Deer sign was everywhere.  I stopped often to look around and take some photos.  I'm still really really loving my fat bike, so I took a ridiculous number of photos of it.  I peeled apart a milkweed pod just to feel the soft seeds inside.  Did you know that milkweed's fibrous filament is used as a hypoallergenic filling for pillows?  Now you do.  

At one point I followed a game trail through a valley between two fields.  There were deer beds all over and several tree stands were perched in ideal spots for shooting down into the valley.  I'd never venture back here during deer season; I'll tell you that.  At one point the game trail passed over a log a few feet off the ground.  I took a really close look at the briers around this log.  Just as I suspected, the briers were covered in hair snagged from deer that pass over it.  "Awesome" I thought to myself.

When I popped back on to the road around my house, I was stoked to have ridden right from my house, through the woods and back home.  It's something I haven't done since I was a kid.  Something city life had taken from me.  Something I really want to have back. I'm going to have to find out who owns the land I was on today and knock on some doors.  It'd be awesome if I can get permission to ride back there whenever I want to.  Then I could fully enjoy myself.  

Ice storm

Maryland and the surrounding states got pummeled by a significant ice storm last night. I woke this morning to nearly 3/8" of ice on everything and several downed limbs. There was, of course, no electric power which I found mildly exciting. Mildly because I would not be showering this morning (we're on a well) but still excited because I got to use some "old timey" methods of getting comfortable. I made up a pot of coffee by heating the water on the wood stove and using my old reliable drip coffee maker. I haven't used this coffee maker since I lived in Manhattan; I missed it! I also fired up my little oil lamp and started a great new book my father leant to me last weekend. I started reading Kenneth Roberts' Arundel by the light of my lamp, sipping coffee while limbs cracked and fell to the ground; a sound similar to lightening cracking. All in all we lost a few limbs from our sycamore, peach and maple trees. The maple getting the worst of it; a 10" diameter branch cracked and hangs vertically. I used my camp saw to make quick work of the broken limbs on the other trees and will have to tackle the maple this weekend. Though destructive, the ice did make for an unexpected day off from work and some nice photos.  This blog is brought to you today by means of my iPad; operating in my mobile blogging configuration.

Santa cruises the neighborhood

Last night, around 7:00, I heard fire engine sirens.  Looking out the window, I saw a large engine, from the Hampstead Volunteer Fire Department, slowly making its way down the street, lights flashing, sirens blasting.  Perched in the bucket at the rear of the truck was old St.Nick, waving to everyone.  It was quite a nice surprise.  The fire department in my home town does the same thing and everyone enjoys it.  In the two years I've been living here in Westminster, I'd never seen it.  I grabbed my camera off the kitchen table and made my way out through the snowy driveway for a couple quick snapshots.  Trailing behind Santa was another smaller fire truck handing out smoke alarms.  Very cool!

Merry Christmas folks!