As fall arrives that means two things in this household, deer hunting and cutting firewood to heat the house for the winter.

If you want to know just how old you are getting, try riding a big Stihl chainsaw for 8 hours, fell a few oak trees, cut it up into 20-24″ chunck, split it up (gave up on the axe and moved to a log splitter), stack it in the truck haul it home and unload and restack it for the winter. It doesn’t seem that long ago I was able to get up at the crack of dawn and work until sundown for 2-3 days straight without any ill effects…. Tonight I have been trying to find a muscle or joint in my body that is not screaming in pain… haven’t yet found one.

Really just scratched the surface for what we’ll need to get through the winter, guessing at best 3-4 cords are done, still need at least another 10-12 to make it through March. We like it nice and toasty (90ish) through the winter so the woodstove gets a good workout that’s for sure. She’s treated us very well for the last five years, though now due to be retired and replaced for the house anyhows. I’ll move it out to the garage and set it up there so I can have some real heat when I need to work out there. I just can’t see paying the gas company nearly $2 a gallon, thats over $800 to fill the tank of LP gas, that just doesn’t produce the heat we have grown accustomed to. I’d rather drop that chunk of change on a really nice woodstove.

Am I just that old and out of shape or is the workload just too much for this beat up ol’ body. I lean towards thinking it’s related to the 15 years of abuse I put it through while in the Army, though still able to outdo just about 18 year old ‘kids’ that were 1/2 my age with ease. Now I just don’t think so.

If it wasn’t for my 14yo daughter helping me I’d likely still be out there trying to get it done. Think it’s time I allow her a weekend ‘day’ date, under close supervision and keep him gainfully employed the entire time…. under penalty of the business end a chain saw or axe should there be any thoughts of anything but cutting and hauling firewood Kniving, but it’d work.

Fingers are now exhausted too, so I’ll call it a night.

Yesterday afternoon around 2pm I called in an order to Dr’s Foster & Smith for some ‘bloomers’ for our female Springer Spaniel. She just had a litter of pups a few months ago and is again coming into heat, so she’s getting some fancy britches to wear for a couple of weeks to ensure she’s not bred again! Yeah yeah yeah who cares, the cool thing is the order arrived at 11am this morning! For some reason they shipped FedEx Overnight (with saturday delivery), but charged me for standard ground (5-7 day) delivery. Gotta love that place, they have everything for all of our critters! Even slipped in a couple of new pumps for our saltwater reef tanks with the order. They are only a couple hundred miles from us and we have to pay sales tax on everything since they are in state, with shipping like this why bother driving?

Of the last 5 orders from them in the past 8 months or so 4 of them have been shipped overnight without my request or paying for it, but never a saturday delivery More phone/mail/net order companies should take note of this and follow suit.

Figured we’d try to have some fun this weekend, so Friday before heading home I picked up 3 of these really cheap radio controlled airplanes, for $25 each plane (including the transmitters) I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. But what the hell, the planes fly on rechargeable battery packs (4-AAA). After several serious crashes, the wings are made of foam, so you can imagine the delicate work of taping them back together after each flight/crash. I finally got it sorted out. The dang thing actually flies, and flies quite well. I was really amazed. About 500 meters before the radio starts loosing the plane. It was actually great fun, a few very successfully flights, the last ending up in a pine tree about 60′ off the ground. Took a while of working a fishing pole and weight to get her down. Now I see why they sell sets of extra wings for them I’ll get some more tomorrow.

I’d been looking at the *real* RC planes for years and years now, and never wanted to throw that much cash at one, maybe next year. After tangling everything up in the bean field i see the need for some sort of runway.

A poem written by my 14 year old daughter.
One Stand

So as we saw the case come to a close we are all happy to shout with glee,
because now I’m home……….where I’m suppose to be!!!!!

Everytime I read this it raises a lot of mixed emotions, but think it’s very much worthy of sharing. She has it posted on her blog, but hasn’t had the time lately to keep it updated, I’d guess once school starts again time will settle down and she may get around to some more serious writing.

Only one puppy left who is looking for a place to call home near Wisconsin Dells, WI…. My bud “Bruiser”, his brother left Sunday evening, and now his personality is really shining through. I really need to break down the BIG kennel and switch it out for a small crate for him to sleep in now. Sure looked full with all the pups running around in there, now Bruiser looks lost in it by himself. He sure is learning how to use those big puppy dog eyes to get scooped up and hauled around the house, and onto the bed, just a big ol’ sweetheart is what he is.

For more details see the Briar Patch Puppies website.

Angel and Gab got some new pics today of the puppies still awaiting adoption…. Here they are today at 11 weeks.

Two more of the puppies left for their new home last night. Just two more to go and hopefully life will return to normal. Well as close to normal as possible, the pups are being missed already, but we know they are heading for great homes and families, fitting since they are all adorable.

Here are some older pics of the two liver and white males that are still looking for new families to join, we really need to get updated pictures sorted out to post…

Pup #3 aka Bruiser, the cool marking is only on one side of his nose, looks like he got whopped a good one.

Think Gab named this guy Bartholamu, don’t ask me why… or how to spell it…

For more info check out the Briar Patch Puppies website.

Angel found some well written info about these critters, We have 5 so they must fit us well… Why 5? Not sure, I think we’ve lost our minds somewhere along the path.

Is an English Springer right for you and your family?
Here’s an article I found that might help you to decide!
The English Springer Spaniel is a compact medium sized dog with long pendant ears. Lovable and fond of children, they are even tempered, gentle and sociable. These sweet tail-waggers are very cheerful and playful; always affectionate, good natured and sincere. An amiable breed, this dog just loves everyone! Being the extroverts that they are, they have a tendency to be destructive and to bark a lot if left alone too long. There are two types of Springers – field and bench. The field type are bred for hunting and field trial work. They tend to have more white coat than the bench type, much less hair, and are more active. The bench type are bred for conformation shows and have more liver or black than white, they have much more coat, but are usually calmer. The male Springer Spaniel stands about 19-21 inches while the female stands from 18-20 inches. In weight, the male is of course heavier at 45-55 pounds compared to the female which is only about 40-50 pounds.

Like the title says, that’s what the infamous last words ‘nah, I don’t need any lotion‘ results in. Angel, Gab and I spent the whole day out on the lake, 95 degrees and the sun was shining strong… What does every guy do when they hit the water…. of course toss the shirt. Now I’m paying for my foolishness, and likely will for a few days yet to come. My back now looks like a Maine lobster, fresh out of the pot. Naturally, my stupidity doesn’t draw me any sympathy, but did qualify for a bit of some product called “After sun”, don’t know if it will really help or not, sure felt nice and cool going on.

Whatever happened to the product called Solarcaine? We remember it as a heavily guarded secret potion that the adults kept stashed away from us as kids until we were screaming in pain from a good burn. That stuff was gold in a spray can. You’d think after almost 40 years a person would learn……NOT!

On the upside, with Angel driving the boat I actually skied for about 50 feet! Got the skis up on plane and actually travel over the water, a new personal best. I’ve managed to teach both of our sons and a nephew to water ski in very short order, but never really tried to do it myself until lately. The end result the few times I’d tried a couple years ago was either a lake water enema or having half a gallon of water shoved down my throat as my face was slammed into the water. I think if I hadn’t been so exhausted after screwing around all day I would have actually made it on the next run, but a horrific leg cramp left me floating in the water for a bit, that ended the fun for the day.

If I survive the extra toasty, next weekend I expect to be skating across the surface of the water.

How are you spending your long holiday weekend celebrating our nation’s Independence Day?

Today we spent the better part of the day scooting around the lake goofing off in our boat waiting for the fireworks display…. nothing quite like being out on the lake to watch the show instead of joining the mass crowds along the shorelines… Tomorrow will be more of the same, different lake but bringing out more toys, ski’s, tube, the inflatable jet ski thingy, and maybe the knee board that nobody’s been able to get up on for more than 3 seconds (what a waste of close to $200 that thing has been).

I’m off to nurse my toasted shoulders in preparation for some more sun

Anyone know of a good way to attach a good sized flag to a ski boat without having to drill and serious holes?

Happy 4th of July weekend folks!