To the MLC and others.

[pennstater]

So, with all that going on nowadays, what's everyone doing? I think I've loaded every empty rifle and pistol case I have. I don' mind hanging around the house, but, crap, it's starting to get old. Anyway, what's up?

[Horsewright]

Been pretty busy in the shop. Lots of knives and leatherwork. Also got a young filly that needs working but we've had some pretty bad weather the last few weeks, have only had a chance to get a couple rides in. Here the wife was working with her a little:



Just practicing our social distancing. Ground squirrels might of thought I was too close though. Some certainly did:



Did have one evening where it was clear so was able to do dinner outside. It was still cold though:



The Mojave that a way!!!

[200Apples]

Thanks for the photos as always, HW. That's a nice area for plinkin', too!

Hey, Tom! If you're superbored! I can always drop off a bunch of .38 and .357 components for you. I can buy you dinner several times after that when we get back to gathering in the desert. Hee! I don't have time to get to them just yet. I still haven't addressed all the .44! I want to load. At least I'll have time for the forseeable future.

Thinking of retiring from my line of work (what work?) this Sept. 1... which would give me enough income to cover the basics. I'd want to work part time for more toys, though.

The wife lost her job, but may be hired back once kids are let back to school campuses. Meanwhile, I've had a lot of online work to do to get our ducks in a row so to speak. Now, I'm tackling my office papers and filing them.

I won't run out of stuff to do for MONTHS yet!

But I certainly do want to go shootin' when the weather stabilizes.

[splithoof]

I've been doing whatever my orthopedic issues allow; some days that means not much, some days I can get out a bit to run errands, and if I'm really up to it, a range trip (if I have help moving gear, etc.). I go day-to-day with it all. Been able to do some reloading as well.

[pennstater]

Yeah Chris, keeping busy doing things is key. With my wife working from home, I seem to busier than normal! Hmm. Can' t mo the lawns, too wet. Maybe I could get of HW's horses to lend a hand! Or buy goat. Think I'll fiddle around in the shop some more.

[golfish]

Been getting reloading stuff for 308

I started playing golf (again) in Feb, got 3 rounds in and they closed all the courses..

Looks like Rick (Phillip's) is going to open for one day next Saturday. Get you some.

[golfish]

. With my wife working from home, I seem to busier than normal! Hmm. .

lol, she's keeping an eye on you Tom

[DueceMcGurk]

Staying in. This virus has me convinced.
Loaded every 45 ACP and 45 Colt brass I have cleaned. Actually bought some additional Starline 45 Colt new brass from ACME.
Broke out the old 38 Super dies. So will return to shooting one of my favorite "obsolete" calibers when the virus lifts.
Local indoor gun range is full every time I pass by. Can't think of a better way to violate the "social distancing". Will resist the temptation.
HW is having no trouble with "sd" out there on the ranch. Great pics as usual.
Be safe, gunners.

[RayPDA]

[Horsewright]

Thanks guys @200Apples, @DueceMcGurk and @RayPDA. So an interesting development Wednesday afternoon. We were just finishing feeding the horses and got a call from a friend whose wife is the head ER nurse at our local hospital. Now Tehachapi is unique in probably all of Calif, in that our hospital is surrounded on three sides by cattle ranches. The Loop to the west and north and us to the north and east. They told us that there were some dogs out chasing some of the cattle out on the flats in view of the hospital. We were told a large white dog like a Pyrenees and a smaller black dog. Biting and jumping on the cattle.

Now we take this with a grain of salt as we've had reports of the world ending from that and other quarters before but we're gonna go check er out. Certainly feral dogs can/could be a problem, as are coyotes of course. So here's the lever part. Trot up to the house from the barn and grab the Browning 1895 in .30-06 and the Uberti 1873 in .357 and start up the truck. Between the two we ought to be able to take care of the situation be it near or far.

We head out to the ranch and go through the gate. We can see a big group of cattle bout a mile and a half away, as the crow flies, congregated together near the mouth of "The Bowl." Now it's been raining, sleeting and snowing and snowing, sleeting and raining all day so in that kind of weather not unusual to see a big group together and very near the shelter from the wind and weather that The Bowl and its adjacent canyons and trees can provide. So we head over but our route is more circuitous being in the truck and not horseback. We get over there and the cattle don't seem distressed. We're able to drive through them in several directions and don't see any injuries. Lots of slicks (new calves that haven't been branded or tagged yet) and thats always a good thing on a cow calf outfit. But generally everything seems to be ok. There's two bulls in this group and one is a behemoth we call Scotty. When he walks up the alley to be processed and you are standing on the catwalk looking down on his neck its like looking down on the hood of a pick up. The whole alley creaks and groans when Scotty walks through. I've also seen Scotty go off on something in a sage bush one time. Don't know if it was a snake or a coy dog or what but that bush got massacred and then he came back and flattened it again and then one more time again. Got a call, Cal Tech was thinking we were the epicenter! Ya know ya can almost reach out and scratch Scotty but DO NOT PISS him off! Also nearby the old retired horses that live out here at horsey Cancun were grazing and they didn't seem disturbed either. They've stomped mountain lions before and they do take care of the cattle.

Sonny says "I got this, till ya get back momma, go get a drink."



Had an ancient horse pass away and I watched the horses chase the ravens away from his body for quite a while.

So point is things looked fine, cattle weren't bothered. Horses were grazing with them, all looked good. Was locking the gate on our way out and I hear a shout and see a guy waving over at the hospital. So we drive on over and here's one of the nurses in the parking lot. We roll down the window and he's wearing a mask and keeps his distance from the truck. He tells us the whole deal that he'd seen and that security had actually taped it all. Asked us if we wanted to come in and see the tape. Ah no! There's cooties in there! He laughed and said they would keep the tape till this was all over or then he said he would forward it to our friend's wife and she could forward it to us. We thanked him for keeping an eye on the place and asked him to keep on keeping on. We got home and sure as heck there was the tape on the wife's phone. Yep ya could see a big white fluffy dog chasing em around and a little black dog heeling them. Jay, the nurse had said the dogs had chased the cattle down into a draw and gone down and the cattle came back up out of the draw and dogs didn't. This was right after the two bulls and the horses had joined the group with some other cows. Squished puppies? Quien Sabe? Still raining.

[splithoof]

Horse, I know exactly what a problem that stray domestic dogs can pose to a herd. When I tended cows in Calabasas in the early-mid 1980's (it's all either houses or parks now), the owner had a problem with an encroaching neighborhood in which one particular German shepherd dog was let out in the early morning hours to roam. One morning I was checking the float on a water ring, and I saw the dog chase a small group of Angus down into a canyon; a few minutes later, the problem was solved using my R700 and one loud noise. No more issues at that parcel after that.

[200Apples]

HW

Now we take this with a grain of salt as we've had reports of the world ending from that and other quarters before but we're gonna go check er out. Certainly feral dogs can/could be a problem, as are coyotes of course. So here's the lever part. Trot up to the house from the barn and grab the Browning 1895 in .30-06 and the Uberti 1873 in .357 and start up the truck. Between the two we ought to be able to take care of the situation be it near or far.

Amen to that.

"There ain't no problem a man cain't fix with [seven hundred dollars] and a thirty aught-six." ...to paraphrase a line from a humorous bit of poetry composed by Jeff Cooper and one of his daughters Lindy perhaps 35 years ago.

Now, if we were to momentarily ignore that great and wonderful -06 chambering, I don't know why it is that I sometimes seem to need to be reminded of how great a light, handy .357 carbine is. I have two, a 18.5" Marlin 1894 and a 16.5" Rossi (ne Winchester) '92 and when I take them shooting I am always (always, as in "every time") astonished at their power and efficiency for ranges up to 100 yards or so.

That said, the MLC is somewhat bored and may be suffering the beginnings of cabin fever... Time for a late breakfast.

[splithoof]

That said, the MLC is somewhat bored and may be suffering the beginnings of cabin fever... Time for a late breakfast.

Field trip day about to start here....did you get the pic I sent of the 1911?

[200Apples]

I don't know how I missed it! from two days ago... my bad.

Just now looked at it. Amazing! a 1943 Remington Rand 1911A1 with very, very little use and no holster wear. We're going to need MOAR PICS. May I post the one medium-sized image here?

Thank you for that.

[Spyder]

Prepped all my 6.5, 45-70, 458 winmag, 45 colt, 30-30 and 243 brass. Can't find 405 grain 458 bullets for reasonable prices though. Grumblegrumble...
I'm still working full time fortunately, though it sounds like that is going to slow down.
Waiting for rain free days to organize all my outside storage! And getting DTs from lack of loud noises.