Appalachian Air Condition
It's been about as hot as it's been this week. Yesterday was about the hottest. Alot of us around here don't have air conditions, including myself. Honestly there is only a few uncomfortable day's a year and a shaded house with a couple of fans does a good job. That amazes people that doesn't live in the Mountains. Your'e probably sitting there amazed, unless your from the Pacific Northwest.
What That Paragraph Was Leading Up To
Wednesday I failed to open my Bedroom Window after I got home. Ususaly this year the fan blowing air in from the adjoinging Bath Room Window does OK. And, it's been raining so much that I've not had the habit. I had been ready to go to bed early, but, it was not working out. At 10:40 I lay in my bed thirsty. I'm the kind of fellar that if I get up in the night I don't turn any lights on if I can help it. I get a glass of water staring out one of the two windows that I have open, the Kitchen and the Den, they are least likley to get rain into them. As I turn and go back out through my Living Room I see out it's Window an Ol' Bear walking across the Yard. Bosco, the Anti Bear K-9, is in the house with me and doesn't "wind" the Bear. It's not moving too fast, but, It's heading dead straight to my neighbors Honey Bee's. I told Bosco there was a Bear in the yard(she looked excited), threw my britches on(yes, I said britches) and grabbed my .308 Winchester Model 70. As I was getting the rifle I bumped something on the safe and it fell. The Bear must have stopped to look because when I opened the door to run it off it hadn't travled as far as it should have. It took off running behind my truck and away from the house to the woods. I yelled at it and went out to watch it run up the bank and into the dark. After it was up on the bank it turned around and stared at me...they alway's do! Bosco the Brave meanwhile began to chase after the Bear(she was reluctant at first, she's afraid of my Gun's) This is where it is scary, their both as black as the night and the night is black. I try to call Bosco back. The Safety comes off and I start to shoulder the rifle as I yell out at the Bear again. Bosco is up on the bank and the Bear turns and runs off in the woods(who ran it off, me or her?). I hear a screen door slam shut and my neighbor is standing on his porch. We're within hollering distance and he's vowing to shoot "That Damn Bear" if he catches it in his Bee's. He keeps an electric fence around them any more. He goes to check it, darn if Lightening didn't take out again. It's only been three day's. I could hear(I almost typed "hear'd", a Hilly Billy word) the Bear breaking through the woods and was worried about Bosco. I kept a calling her, where was she? I went into the house and she was inside waiting for me to put the rifle away. I then remebered the most vulnerable window for a Bear to get into, the Den, was open and it could have smelled my trash and decided to come in. I promply closed it. It was a peacful night after that.
Conflict Reselution
Now my neighbor has taken "Passive" means to protect his Bee's by installing an electric fence, but, it's not fail safe. I happened to be up and see the Bear trapsing across the yard when Ol' Fickle Hound couldn't smell it and alarm me(Wich she will!). I didn't plan on shooting the Bear unless I had to. They're realy quite beautiful in my eye's...it was a beautiful Bear. He/she only wanted a meal. Now, if it had been season...abiding by Game Law's of course I would be showing you pictures of a Bear. I've used that rifle to run off(you don't scare off a Bear) Bear's in what could have been a messy situation before. The .308 Winchester is a highly effetcive round. I know of it killing Deer, Bear, Elk, Comunist, People fighting for Comunist,Gunmen for War Lords and People who kill in the name of their faith. It would have done the job if it had been needed. Yet, there are people who do not want me to have that rifle or any of my other fire arms and they are not from thre Middle East, they mostly live in California, New York and Massechusettes.
There is more that I would like to write about, but, that's about long enough.
Appalachian Intellectual, another cool dude that ain't afraid.
What That Paragraph Was Leading Up To
Wednesday I failed to open my Bedroom Window after I got home. Ususaly this year the fan blowing air in from the adjoinging Bath Room Window does OK. And, it's been raining so much that I've not had the habit. I had been ready to go to bed early, but, it was not working out. At 10:40 I lay in my bed thirsty. I'm the kind of fellar that if I get up in the night I don't turn any lights on if I can help it. I get a glass of water staring out one of the two windows that I have open, the Kitchen and the Den, they are least likley to get rain into them. As I turn and go back out through my Living Room I see out it's Window an Ol' Bear walking across the Yard. Bosco, the Anti Bear K-9, is in the house with me and doesn't "wind" the Bear. It's not moving too fast, but, It's heading dead straight to my neighbors Honey Bee's. I told Bosco there was a Bear in the yard(she looked excited), threw my britches on(yes, I said britches) and grabbed my .308 Winchester Model 70. As I was getting the rifle I bumped something on the safe and it fell. The Bear must have stopped to look because when I opened the door to run it off it hadn't travled as far as it should have. It took off running behind my truck and away from the house to the woods. I yelled at it and went out to watch it run up the bank and into the dark. After it was up on the bank it turned around and stared at me...they alway's do! Bosco the Brave meanwhile began to chase after the Bear(she was reluctant at first, she's afraid of my Gun's) This is where it is scary, their both as black as the night and the night is black. I try to call Bosco back. The Safety comes off and I start to shoulder the rifle as I yell out at the Bear again. Bosco is up on the bank and the Bear turns and runs off in the woods(who ran it off, me or her?). I hear a screen door slam shut and my neighbor is standing on his porch. We're within hollering distance and he's vowing to shoot "That Damn Bear" if he catches it in his Bee's. He keeps an electric fence around them any more. He goes to check it, darn if Lightening didn't take out again. It's only been three day's. I could hear(I almost typed "hear'd", a Hilly Billy word) the Bear breaking through the woods and was worried about Bosco. I kept a calling her, where was she? I went into the house and she was inside waiting for me to put the rifle away. I then remebered the most vulnerable window for a Bear to get into, the Den, was open and it could have smelled my trash and decided to come in. I promply closed it. It was a peacful night after that.
Conflict Reselution
Now my neighbor has taken "Passive" means to protect his Bee's by installing an electric fence, but, it's not fail safe. I happened to be up and see the Bear trapsing across the yard when Ol' Fickle Hound couldn't smell it and alarm me(Wich she will!). I didn't plan on shooting the Bear unless I had to. They're realy quite beautiful in my eye's...it was a beautiful Bear. He/she only wanted a meal. Now, if it had been season...abiding by Game Law's of course I would be showing you pictures of a Bear. I've used that rifle to run off(you don't scare off a Bear) Bear's in what could have been a messy situation before. The .308 Winchester is a highly effetcive round. I know of it killing Deer, Bear, Elk, Comunist, People fighting for Comunist,Gunmen for War Lords and People who kill in the name of their faith. It would have done the job if it had been needed. Yet, there are people who do not want me to have that rifle or any of my other fire arms and they are not from thre Middle East, they mostly live in California, New York and Massechusettes.
There is more that I would like to write about, but, that's about long enough.
Appalachian Intellectual, another cool dude that ain't afraid.
posted by Hill Billy Rave | Sunday, July 24, 2005
13 Comments:
A.I.,
I keep meaning to ask...who takes care of Bosco and your cat when you are away on drill weekends or when/if you ever get called up?
Last month when it was unseasonally hot (reached 98) I was complaining how hot my house was (in an email) to a deployed Soldier...(from where he was at..he didn't have too much sympathy for me.) but he said maybe its time to get some air-conditioning in this ole house of mine. I went on to tell him exactly how you explained it - AI...there's only a few days a year where it is really uncomfortable. A couple of fans...windows and a door open and it cools off. And only a complaint or two!! I of course (being in the city) with my family sleeping away...I do close the windows and doors when its time for me to hit the sack. I don't think bears would come calling at my house...more like very scary monsters that I don't want to find out about.
Nice post. Glad that puppy dog was waiting for you back in the house. Smart dog.
Getting ready for some more hot weather...
98 in Seattle?! Golly, am I glad I missed that. Of course when I was there it was very comfortable. No, Janie, I wouldn't complain about heat to someone in Iraq where it's 120 in the A.M. Though, from my personal experience it's better without the humidity.
Smitten Marianne, Bosco and the Cat(Pixie) will alway's have a home on the mountain. I was meaning to ask...who takes care of Smitten Marianne when Smart Marianne is gone?:)
Unfortunately, no one. The stories I could tell.... ;-)
By the way, you will get the occasional sighting of smart Marianne (let's see how good YOUR hunting instinct is to spot that - haha) but smitten Marianne will be around for awhile. Be gentle with her.
You'd be hard pressed to find a better bolt action than the Remington Model 70. In fact, I believe it was the off the shelf rifle for snipers in Vietnam and became the basis and model for the mil spec sniper rifle(s) that followed.
I'm glad to see you're using a manly round like the 7.62 NATO out there AI. None of that pop-gun stuff for the real shooter, right? :-)
Me? I'm an old .303 British aficianado, but I think mainly I like that round because one of the favorite rifles in my collection is an Enfield No. 4 Mk II (manf'd 1949) that I truly love and can shoot well enough to usually hit what I aim at. Those peep sights help a pair of old eyes like mine. :-)
Actualy AGT, it's not a Remington. The MOdel 70 is a Winchester. Mine is a Post 1964(everyone laments the pre 64) Feather Weight with a wood Lamenated Stock. I should post a picture of it. It did serve as the original Sniper Rifle in Vietnam. I think(?) Korea as well. Today their sold on the Remington 700.
I think the 303 is a great round, I would love to have one. My Daddy had one when he was a boy. I've never had the chance to play with one though. I know the old finish was a Black Oxide and baked on Black Paint. It worked. What does your's have?
Marianne... As if I'm going to punch the key board harder when I reply to you.
Shows you how much I know about American rifles. :-) I've got a boatload of Mausers, Enfields, Mosin-Nagants, SKSs, a Hakim, a CETME, several Schmidt-Rubins, but only one American rifle and that's a Marlin 336CS in thirty-thirty and the only reason I've got it is the fellow put one box thru it and offered it to me for $75. How could I refuse!?
I've got all this info stashed in my gun stuff, but off the top of the head the original Enfield finish was a black phosphate or oxide finish. Usually if they've the baked on black paint, they've gone thru the Ishapore arsenal in India, although that is not always the case.
I've two with the original black phosphate/oxide finish, and two with the black paint. All good shooters, but the Mark 2 that I mentioned just seems to shoot better than the others. Plus, like I said, that peep sight just works better for me. I have some very nice Mausers (Czechs, Turks, Germans, Yugos, and Chileans), but I can't hit crap with those Mauser open sights.
BTW, that picture of mine is an Enfield "charger" with 5 rds of .303 being loaded into a No. 4 rifle. The .303 is a rimmed cartridge, so you have to stagger them in the clip to get them to feed right. The Mosin-Nagant also uses a rimmed cartridge (the 7.62 x 54R), but those rifles use an "interupter" in the magazine so you don't have to be so careful loading them.
I just reread all that, AI, and thought that could look like I was bragging or sumthing and I'm not. I'm not some high-brow, big money, la-ti-da big collector. I've been collecting military rifles since the late 70s and it's thru saving spare change and swapping and trading that I've managed to build a decent collection. There was no bragging intended there.
Good point. Would you mind if I 'borrowed' your picture that you have up of your foot and the bear claw print? I'm doing a tribute blog entry to you. :-) If so, don't fear. I will definitely send you the link to read it when I'm done.
I din't take any of that as bragging. Heck, it educated me some. I had a Spanish .308 Mauser that I Deer Hunted with when I first came off active Duty in 89. That reminds me of a story or two. I also had a 7mm Mauser with it. Killed a Copper Head with it...yeah, I know.
Marrianne...I brag on that Bear Print all of the time...I don't reckon that it would hurt.
Thank you, A.I.
Right, when the Spanish went to the 7.62 Nato rd, they converted a lot of their Mauser carbines to that round to familiarize the troops with it. They used the CETME (the pic on my blog) as their Main Battle Rifle thru the 60s-90s.
I like the 7mm, both of my Chilean Mausers are in that round and my wife especially likes it as it's a powerful round, flat trajectory, will knock down just about any game in North America (other than Kodiak), and doesn't have a lot of kick.
It was the Spaniards with their 7mm Mausers that almost put a serious whupping on T. Roosevelt and the Rough Riders there in Cuba. In fact, it was that experience that caused the Americans to look for something better than their Krags (45-70 Gov't round) and they developed the 30-06 and Springfield '03. Mauser sued the US over patent infringement on the '03, won the case, I believe, and the US Govt gave him $$$ settlement.
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