Take IT BACK!!!!!

A long time member of the family has parted ways with us due to it's injured feelings at being replaced.  That's right, we replace those that we find have reached the extent of their usefulness around here. Allow me to elaborate, many years ago as a young man I discovered the new edition to the Toyota line up in the Tacoma and I determined that based on our families history with said auto maker (rewind a few more years to the indestructible little yota that Dad was notorious for going airborne in on the irrigation route) I would one day have one.  Well happily that day came just one month shy of 9 years ago and many times I swore that I would never sell said blessed rig.  Jump ahead 9 years and 4 kids without a good seat for even one of them it became obvious that the cost of retaining my sentimental connection to my truck had worn out it's welcome.

So like the bull calf in spring being separated from its family jewels with a rusty pocket knife I no longer am the truck owning transplant from rural America living in the big city.  In fact the Honda Fit that replaced it may be the furthest thing there is to a truck.  And so my heart echos Lucy's wails as I rolled into the driveway the other day with the Fit. "TAKE IT BACK. TAKE IT BACK!!!"

I lived a lot of life with this truck around!

Adding salt to the wound I was called away to a work meeting last night as the potential buyer came to look at it and in wise fashion take it home.  So it was that looking out the window this morning it didn't even seem real that it was gone.  Again my heart echoed the wise words of another of our children James announcing as they left with the truck "that rude guy cowboy took Dad's truck!" as I understand then the tears ensued.      

On the plus side the Fit meets my economical needs if not my emotional ones which despite it's decided lack of elevation does appeal to the practicality born of my rural upbringing.  In other words if I can't have a truck I might as well focus on pinching pennies.  two days after purchasing the Fit I took a nearly 2,000 mile trip to the northern tip of my working territory and saved roughly $150 in gas alone. Along the way I was pleased to see a vast array of wildlife including a fox, a family of racoons, a wolf (dead in the back of a truck), several pronghorns, hundreds of whitetail deer, a handful of mule deer and two herds of elk the last being an estimated 150 plus.  In addition to those delights I also saw for the first time wild big horn sheep, ironically that occurred minutes after I mentioned to Andrea that it would be cool to see some as I had never done so.  Of course when I saw them I had to pull over and take a picture.

No big rams but still incredible.

So despite the lack of elevation from the drivers seat it seem that being disguised in a tree hugging fuel sipping Fit throws the animals off and they don't know to hide from me.  I could be on to something here! I'm thinking bull elk, will it fit?
 

Nearly Snipin' Time

Slight Disclaimer; this was created in late September and in typical fashion I fell of the face of the writing/blogging planet for a time.  That being said please enjoy!  :)

This week started off with a bang!  I took the ole critter gitter to the range and checked her for reliability and what have ya.  The results are most agreeable.

I took two shots, the first at another target to make sure I was on then this one to confirm.  That's good enough for this fella!

Beyond that this week also resulted in the delivery of a pair of binoculars that have been anticipated for years as it is the first pair that I have ever owned that could be considered even decent.  I was delighted to find them at a heavily discounted price on the interwebs and with reviews touting that they rival the very popular Vortex Viper I took the plunge.  As their first real field test is rapidly approaching I may soon have more to say on the subject.  For now just feast you non magnified eyes on these beauts!

Note that I have taken the time to familiarize them with their prey!

Jump ahead to November 17th.  I do in fact have high praise for the new lenses!  With them I was able to spot a heard of high altitude Elkies across a vast mountain valley and the following morning an arduous hike let me to the doorstep of a nice heard of wapiti.  I watched the herd from a mere 30 yards retreat in to the distant aspens, while there was a beautiful mature 6 point bull, without the required spike to affix my tag too I simply sat and enjoyed the experience.  The down side to the whole adventure was that just prior to locating the heard I miscalculated my footing in a lava field and aggressively applied my substantial size into kneeing the point of a rather unforgiving bolder.  (In huntin' speak, I fell and smashed the dickens out of my right knee!)  The result was after a 3 plus mile hike back to the truck my bend-ability was severely hampered and as it was the predetermined day to embark for home, we packed it in and my snipin' ended with no more than a hole in a paper elk.

Forgive the quality as I was fully zoomed on the phone, but as the heard and I parted ways I snapped a shot at the bull.  He is slightly left of dead center and heading away.

So as you are certainly concerned about me (because if you aren't you have some splanin' to do as to why you are even reading this!) I am happy to report that 6 weeks later I am almost ready to say there was no lasting damage.  I'm still on the mend but feeling optimistic with nearly all articulation having returned and the pain receding, I'm planning on being 100% by next October so I can try again.