A Great Day Off

A little unusual to have a Monday off, but okay, I'll take it. The wife had to work so no honey-do list since I was caught up on yard work. I was away from the blog, news, and Twitter all day and it was awesome. I did have one chore I wanted to do in the morning, and that was to return bottles and cans to get my deposit back. You see, the state of Kommiecticut has had a "bottle bill" in place since 1980 and expanded it a few times since. It was enacted to supposedly promote recycling but nothing could be further from the truth. Whenever you buy a beverage covered under the law, a $0.05 deposit is levied at the point of sale and then you make the return to get it back. The state loves that money, and are more than happy to have you just throw them all away. As much as I fucking hate this chore, I refuse to let the state have one penny more than I legally have to pay (which is why I shun the state lottery, also known as a "sucker's tax"). I probably had about $10 worth of bottles and cans in total. I loaded up the truck and made myself a bacon and cheese omelet for breakfast made with fresh eggs out of the coop from earlier in the morning. Slathered with Frank's Hot Sauce because like the commercial says, "I put that shit on EVERYTHING!"

I went to a grocery store that has deposit recycling machines. You put the bottles and cans in, get a receipt to take in the store and use for purchase or get cash. One of the machines was down, and the other two were in use. I went to the separate machine that takes only glass bottles and got rid of my 12 ounce long neck beer bottles. I then stepped back and waited for a can/plastic bottle machine to open up. Both machines were being operated by mentally handicapped girls and the man and woman that were their chaperones watched. The girls were super slow, but I didn't care since I wasn't in any hurry. One of the machines was now full so I picked up the phone to call for assistance. While the guy was working to clear the machine, I struck up a conversation with the female chaperone. I asked if they were from a group home, told her my wife's brother lives in one, and that this was the kind of household chore they would have to do. She said they were a transition training program from the local school system, and they use the recycling money for special lunches and field trips. Well that settled that! I offered them the large plastic bag of bottles and the receipt from my beer bottles. They were thrilled and so was I because it meant I wasn't going to be wasting my morning stuffing machines. They got the money and not the state. On my way out I had a quick conversation with the male chaperone. He thanked me as well and it turns out he was a like minded individual that felt the same way about the state.

When I got home, I took the opportunity to remove the old and put new line on my two fishing reels. I have this device that you mount the reel to like a fishing rod, and put the spool on it as well. If set up and used properly it puts the new line on the reel without getting twisted.

I use Sufix 832 low-vis green braided line on my reels and have the remains of a 600 yard spool of 20 pound test that takes up the same space as 6 pound monofilament. I have a light action set up on a 6 1/2' Whuppin' Stick rod with a Mitchell 308, and a medium action using a 6 1/2' Shakespeare Ranger rod with an Abu Garcia reel. I don't load too much line on the reel spools, maybe a couple hundred feet. I find that this device works much better when held vertically, not the way that is shown in the photo. As the line gets faded and used I'll shorten it up. More on my fishing exploits later.

I called up a friend of mine that I have known since the 4th grade and over 50 years that recently retired from state employment to see if he wanted to go to my club range as a guest after lunch. When we had our sniper contest a couple of weeks ago (which I won by the way) we never got around to shooting our handguns. I wanted to shoot my carry guns, just to make sure I was good to go since I carry all the time. He said he'd meet me at the range so I got started before he arrived. My carry/personal defense guns are a Ruger SR9c (9mm), a Ruger GP-161 (.357 Magnum), a Ruger LCP (.380 ACP), a S&W 45 Shield (.45 ACP), and a Glock 21 Gen3 (.45ACP) equipped with a Streamlight TLR-4 laser/light combo. As usual, I carry one gun locked and loaded for defense at the range that I don't shoot. For that outing, it was my Dan Wesson Model 15 with a 4" barrel carried in a surplus L.E. thumb-break holster with two speed loaders. Ammo was 125 gr Hornady Critical Defense .357 Magnum rounds. Targets were set up at the seven yard personal defensive range. For each gun I started with a simple bullseye target and fired a full magazine in a nice tight group. I then moved to the full-sized silhouette target for a Mozambique Drill from a holstered gun. I was quite satisfied with my speed and accuracy, having what I feel to be a good balance on draw, presentation, engagement, and firing. Afterwards and just for fun, I used each gun (except the LCP) on the 25 yard steel plates easily clanging the AR500 steel. I waited for some cloud cover to use my red laser on the Glock against the silhouette because the sun blots it out, but it works really well inside my house especially at night. Bullets struck right where the dot was. My buddy on the other hand.... he is a terrible shot. He throws full mags down range with poor grip, stance, and trigger pull. He won't listen to advice from me so I don't bother any more, letting him put all his rounds in a 12" group at seven yards. He then tried to hit the 25 yard steel and kept missing but insisted he heard the clang even though the suspended plates didn't move. I explained to him he was hitting the solid steel angled plate backstop. I then took his gun, a Walther PPQ in .40 S&W, and put a full mag down range, striking every single plate and swinging them hard. He mumbled something about needing more practice. He never seems to stay at the range very long and left before I did. I stuck around to clean up brass, tear our targets off the target backings, and put a fresh coat of white spray paint on the steel plates. When I got home, because I shot my carry guns I got busy field stripping and cleaning each and every one. I burned up the last of my .45ACP target ammo, so it's time to load some more as well as some 9mm, .357 Magnum, and .38 Special. I will be using this loading opportunity to introduce a fellow firefighter to the world of reloading.

I have been fishing at my club pond in the evenings when my wife is busy doing other things. The pond is stocked with trout, but I'd rather fish for bass any day. I do catch and release, and bass are a much more hardy species compared to fragile trout. All my hook barbs are crimped flat, so landing a fish is a little more challenging, but getting a fish unhooked is so much easier. The last couple of evenings, I have been joined by this handsome fella.

Great Blue Heron

 

There are lots of bites and action, but like I said, landing a fish is a challenge. Until last light the only thing I caught was a bluegill that put up a good fight on a light action rod. On a previous outing I had a fish on the line using a spotted red and yellow spoon, but less than 20 feet from shore it got away. Oh well. The heron stayed less than 10 feet away and would follow me back and forth from the edge of the water to the picnic table where my tackle box was. I was told he gets leftover bait and small bluegills from people fishing there. He is not shy at all, but he is also not aggressive. So last night before Mr. Heron arrived, I put on a floating Heddon Torpedo lure and sent it out. As soon as it hit the water... BAM! I got a strong hit and the fish was on. I reeled in a decent but under-sized (for keeping) Largemouth Bass. He was hooked perfectly in his upper lip and I landed him without my net. I got the hook out quickly, took a good look at him, and tossed him back into the water. Since I was by myself, I don't try to take pictures. It was soon after that the bird showed up. He landed at the other end of the pond and walked all the way over to where I was. They make a low "awk" sound over and over. I continued casting the same lure to see if my luck would continue. After casting for a while with no more bites, I decided I would call it quits around 8 o'clock figuring I had my success. Nope, on one of my final casts while slowly retrieving my lure I got a solid hit and a set hook. I reeled in a nice Smallmouth Bass which would have been a keeper. Mr. Heron was very interested in my catch, but I told him that was not going to happen. Again, landed without my net, easy hook removal, a quick inspection, and back to the pond. That was it, I packed it in for the evening. As I walked away to my truck, Mr. Heron moved down to the waters edge to start hunting. I guess he figured if he was gonna eat he would have to work for it.

I have been a member of my current sportsman's club since December 2020. I have spent more time using the club facilities, putting in work hours, and just hanging out than I did at my previous club in 20 years of membership. They are a great bunch of guys, and even the work parties and events that are hard work are fun and worthwhile.