I Got Stoned

There’s always something going on around our place lately, and yesterday I got stoned. A big dump truck showed up in the early afternoon to drop off 26 tons of large gravel. A lot of it will be used by the crew from ProScape who are installing our French drains, and I will use the rest on our driveway and to build up some other low spots. I’m sure before all is said and done, I’ll get another load. This makes me very happy I bought my Kubota BX2680 tractor with the bucket loader, because that would require a lot of shoveling and pushing wheelbarrows around.

About the time the driver finished delivering the load of rock, our daughter Tiffany called from Arizona. She and her husband Kenny are flying to Florida today for a wedding in the Tampa area, and we were almost wishing we were still there because it would be great to see them. But they have to be back home on Sunday, so there’s no time for them to come up here. We’re looking forward to having them come out and visit once things settle down a bit. We also want to have Terry’s parents come out. Since they are both in their 90s we weren’t sure if they would be up to a flight like that, but her mother assured us that they are.

Tiffany has seen a lot of pictures of the property obviously, but while I was talking to her I decided to get on the Kawasaki Mule and drive around the perimeter road while Facetiming her. She really liked that and said it gave her a much better perspective on what we have going on here.

One of the projects on my To Do List is to build a high backstop for the shooting range. Even though there is nothing but forest behind us, I always want to know my bullets aren’t going to be flying around injuring, or worse yet, killing somebody.

I’ve been working on the design in my head for quite a while, as well as looking at different things online. This is similar to what I have in mind, a back wall of railroad ties, and then walls projecting outward from the sides to catch any ricochets or errant shots. But I plan to make it higher, probably six feet, and I will pile dirt up in front and behind it as an extra barrier. Most of the shooting will be done with handguns, so there won’t be many long distance shots.

After Terry finished editing and proofreading six more chapters of my new Tinder Street book, I sent them off to Judy and Roberta to do their thing. I’m really having fun with this story, and it’s already taking some turns I didn’t see coming. Since I never outline a book ahead of time, I just sit down and start writing whatever the characters in my head tell me to, this is the best part of the experience for me. More than once a book has ended up completely different than the way I thought it would be when I wrote the first chapter. That always amazes me.

We have several cold nights ahead of us, and the days aren’t going to be much warmer, except for Thursday, when we might get up to 70 degrees. It’s just as well that I have a book to keep me busy since it’s too cold to go out and play with my toys and start any of my projects right now.

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us. When Ray Herron sent me this picture, I immediately thought of several people I would be more than happy to lend a quarter to. Some of them I would even go half a buck. It would be worth it!

Thought For The Day – I know the voices in my head aren’t real, but boy, do they come up with some great stories!