Monday, September 05, 2011

It's as if they know

The calendar says fall officially begins on Sept. 23.

Bunk.  Around here it started on Saturday morning.

Actually, Friday evening might have been the agreed-upon starting point.  That was the first high school varsity game of the season (a victory for our home team, by the way).  The air had that cool crisp quality that only comes with the transition from summer to winter.

Then Saturday arrived.  Yard work for me and the little one (she in the front yard, I in the back).  Toward the latter part of the afternoon I noticed a few leaves on the ground, shed by our remaining black walnut tree.

Almost as if they know.

Yesterday morning on the way to church I was listening to the college sports channel on Sirius.  At that hour the hosts were taking calls from people digesting the first games of the college season.  (How about that Baylor-TCU game, anyway?)  One of the callers stated:  "For most everybody Christmas happens on December 25th.  Not me.  The first Saturday in September is more enjoyable than any other time of year!"

Well said.  Gridiron contests combined with cooler temps (at least here, anyway) mixed in with increased kid's activities topped off with preparing for the fall hunting season makes me one satisfied guy right now.



Speaking of hunting/shooting, a couple of things to note.  For Labor Day my only scheduled Labor will be of the fun variety.  Turns out a friend bought himself a new gun cabinet recently and was wondering if I wanted his old one.  Sure!  How much do you want for it?  Nothing.  Hey, free is good!  So today I will venture up the road and haul that piece of furniture back to my burg.  Now I just need to find a friend to help me get the thing out of the truck and down the stairs.

Hope I don't break the glass in the process.

Soon little Geoana will have her own youth shotgun.  She's been saving for a while now and has accumulated a sizable amount.  I priced out the youth model Remington 870 (with a pink camo pattern on the stock) and she will have to save just a bit longer.  Also started scoping out the auction websites but most every youth model with pink camo is a new-in-box versus a used model and the prices aren't much less than at a retailer's.  Add to that shipping and the necessity of shipping the firearm to someone with an FFL license and I'm just as good off to head to Cabela's and fork over the cash.  Except we are making a concerted effort to be thrifty particularly in light of Geogal having resigned from her job recently to pursue a different career. 

Therefore I called a local gunsmith, one with whom I've worked before.  Asked what he charged for use of his FFL license should I find a good deal through gunbroker.com.  25 dollars.  Then the conversation takes its logical turn.  What are you looking for?  Explained.  How about I check with my wholesalers and see if I can get you a brand new one for probably less than you'd find online?  Well sure.

End of story, he found a Mossberg 500 youth model, pink camo pattern, for a very decent price.  (And little Geoana has fired this model before.  Last November we hit the gun range one final time before upland bird season and there was another family there, one of the gals let my kiddo fire her pink camo Mossberg 20 gauge.)  Deal should be done sometime this month.  Then I will take the little girl out to the gun range and have her break some blue rock.  After that, first weekend in November is pheasant hunting for youth only.  Will definitely get her out into the CRP and corn fields before the out-of-staters arrive for the start of regular pheasant season the following Saturday. 

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