Westminster gets 2' of snow

Well.  Based on yesterday’s post, some of you may be saying “Be careful what you wish for”.  I say, “My wish came true!”  I woke to a foot of snow outside.  Another foot fell this morning.  So we've got two feet of the white stuff surrounding phattire headquarters today.  Unfortunately, the weather is quite warm and our precipitation has now changed to sleet and rain.  Pity.  As such, it’s a damned good thing Debbie and I put the shovels to work early this morning before this nasty stuff fell and made it a hell of a lot harder.  Our driveway is clear and lined with nice tall banks of snow.  I love how it looks.

As usual, when we get nasty snow and ice I like to take the Tacoma out and see how bad things are.  After shoveling, and a bagel & coffee, we hopped in the Taco and explored.  The roads in our neck of the woods (the boonies) were not plowed but the truck pushed right through it in 4WD.  I’m so glad I put mud tires on this truck.  At one point we were blasting through 3’ of drift snow, common on our roads that meander through open fields.  I’m glad to know that even in this snow; the truck will still get us where we need to go, if we need to go.  

Oh, I almost forgot; work was cancelled today.  “Snow day!”  So I got some more reading in.  I really love this Kenneth Roberts book:  Arundel.    Though, most schools have already closed, I’m sure I will be back to work tomorrow.  

More winter please

I have really been enjoying this winter.  I just don't mind the cold and really enjoy getting all the snow we've been getting.  It makes the woods a lot prettier and sure keeps me busy maintaining the wood stove.  I heat the entire house with the wood stove in the basement and, so far, have burned through five cords of wood. Yes, I am enjoying the winter weather.  Aside from the hunting, I also tend to tinker with my rifles, and read a lot more during the winter months.  Another part of the winter months that I enjoy is keeping the birds fed.  I've bought three or four 35lb sacks of  bird feed this winter, and enjoy watching the birds eat it.  Especially the Juncos which migrate down from Canada for the winter months.  Hell, I eat better too.  Debbie has made some really fantastic meals this season.  Her lasagna, chicken pot pies and corned beef are amazing.  I drink a the more heavily hopped and darker beers in the wintertime as well; your IPAs, porters and stouts.

Knife; handed down

I have always liked sheath knives. Well made sheath knives, with handles made of stacked leather, stag, or wood. I attribute this interest to the knives my father carried while raising me and teaching me the ways of the woods (hunting, fishing & camping). One of the knives he carried was quite large and was known by us kids as "the watermelon knife" because it was routinely used, on camping trips, to slice up juicy melon for the small army of children, that are my siblings; all nine of us.  The knife bore no markings from any manufacturers.   This is because it is truly a one-off piece, made by one of the workers at Savage Arms in Utica, NY during World War II.  During this time, workers made these knives from scrap materials in the plant and sent them to friends and relatives fighting the war overseas.  The blade is made from a scrap power hack-saw blade material.  The stacked bands in the handle are the same that were used in the .50 caliber machine gun handles that Savage Arms made at that time.  My father's uncle, Bill, worked for many years at Savage Arms and gave this knife to my father, some forty years ago.  Last weekend, my father handed it down to me.  I'm honored to have it.

Squirrel hunting - Patuxent River State Park

With only three more weekends left to hunt before the small game season ends on February 28th, I took a trip down to Patuxent River State Park to try and bag a couple more squirrels.  I've been switching scopes around from gun to gun and didn't have a scoped .22 that was zeroed, so I took my Marlin .17 caliber.  Some say that .17 caliber rifles are ideal for squirrel hunting.  But, I believe a rifle in .22 caliber is best fitted for hunting squirrels.  My experience has taught me that the .17 caliber round, even when firing the lighter 17 grain bullets, is a little too hot for these little guys.  Unless, of course, you hit them directly in the head.  I always aim for the head, but more often than not, my bullet lands in the shoulder or neck area.  As a result, the shoulder meat is usually wasted due to the destructive nature of the fast and small round.

Well, I was in the woods by 9:00am and except for woodpeckers and chickadees, I didn't see any activity. It as 27 degrees out and virtually no wind.  I did find the remains of a deer that the animals have picked clean.  I tried to determine if it had been shot, but there was no way of telling, that I could see.  I also found an old dump area, which held some neat old bottles and other interesting junk.  I found an old glass two-liter Pepsi bottle, with an aluminum cap which broke when I tried to free it from the frozen earth.  I had never seen one of them before.  Among the old garbage were various bottles, cans, childrens' toys and random household items.

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.

Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania

I spent nearly the whole day, driving from Westminster, MD to my hometown of Sherrill, NY.  Unfortunately, this trip was not planned.  My good friend, Hoopsie's father passed away and my journey's purpose was to attend the wake.  Rest in peace Mr. Hoopes.  Nevertheless, I had the whole day to make the 6.5 hour drive so I took my time and pointed the Tacoma down some interesting little roads in southern Pennsylvania.  I discovered an eerie old town (city) called Mahanoy City.  It is an old coal mining town about 50 miles northwest of Reading.  It was settled in 1863 and prosperred as a coal town.  (More from wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahanoy_City,_Pennsylvania )  The town, today, looks quite dingy and depressed.  Row houses with awnings tightly line the streets.  I picked a diner called "That Place" on Centre Street for lunch.  Afterwards, I explored briefly and stopped to take some photos of an old trestle bridge.  I thought it was neat to see the old coal reference "The Road of Anthracite" painted on the bridge as well as "Pulling for Mahanoy City BPA".  I did some online research and could not find any meaning behind the "BPA"... anybody out there know?

1961 Boy Scout Handbook

I am an Eagle Scout. But, there was a time when I hated being in the Boy Scouts and just wanted out. I had a hard time getting along with some of the kids in the troop that acted insane and didn’t seem to want to learn anything (Not that I behaved like a saint myself, but I sure didn’t act out the way others did). Looking back, I realize that kids are just kids and they act out according to whatever situation they’re going through. Some of the kids in my troop didn’t have the most ideal home life; who knows. At any rate, I wanted to quit many times. This desire to abandon the troop grew stronger and stronger as I went through high school and became more interested in driving and girls than anything else. But, my father made me stick to it, and follow through. I earned my Eagle Scout rank the summer of my seventeenth birthday and have been glad I did ever since. To this day it is listed in the education section of my resume.

As an Eagle Scout, and as someone who enjoys all things “old timey”, I picked up an old Boy Scout Handbook, at a garage sale, several years ago. This Sixth Edition was printed in 1961. One of the things I like about it is the old ads in the back. I’ve scanned a few of the pages and posted them here in all their low-resolution glory for you to see. As usual, click on them to view them full size.

New Rifle: Winchester Model 63

I recently picked up a Winchester that I have wanted ever since I was a kid. The shape of the Winchester Model 63 has always appealed to me. It’s like a lever gun, without the lever, chambered in .22, as a semiautomatic. The receiver is solid and sleek. In fact, the whole gun is a hefty little piece that feels good in your hand as well as at the shoulder. I do not regularly visit pawn shops, but there is one close to home that advertises “GUNS” on its sign out front.  So, on a whim, I pulled in to have a look around. Needless to say, I was shocked when I saw this old 63 standing in the rack! It is not in the best shape; but not the worst shape either. I took these “before” pictures to compare to the pictures I will post when I finish cleaning it up. Based on the serial number, this rifle was made in 1938. That’s 76 years ago.

A little history on the Winchester Model 63:

Winchester’s first semiautomatic rifle was the Model 1903, which was made in (you guessed it); 1903. In the 1930s, Winchester renamed it the “Model 03”. These rifles fired a proprietary Winchester round; the .22 Winchester Automatic Cartridge. After a little redesigning in the 1930s, the rifle was renamed again; to the “Model 63” which fired the more commercially available and standard .22 Long Rifle cartridge. Winchester produced the 63s from 1936 until 1958, churning out roughly 175,000 rifles, the last 10,000 of which featured grooved receivers for the mounting of scopes.

One thing that I think is neat about the 63 is that it is a takedown rifle. By simply turning the takedown screw at the rear of the receiver, the internal mechanisms release and the gun simply parts in two pieces.

The 63 uses a tubular magazine in the butt stock, which holds ten cartridges. To load it, you simply give the tube a half-turn and pull the magazine aft until port in the side of the stock opens. You then load your cartridges in through a slot in the right side of the butt stock.