First, the Laddie thing is moved up to today. These guys really are driving through. So stay tuned.
Yesterday while going to collect the game camera from its apparently completely sterile location, I learned another way the wash had screwed me when it flooded a few days ago.
That chest-high washout wasn’t there before. The flat space above it is a nice gentle tributary that just naturally flowed into the wash. But now that part of the wash is several feet lower – and aimed directly at the target stand area BTW – and I had to detour around the washout through rough ground for maybe five extra minutes to collect the camera. Sheesh.
I went to see if I could dig out the big rock that was uncovered where my driveway apron used to be…
…and right away the answer was “nope.”
It spreads out so far and is clearly so large that it probably has roots in a mythical underworld. And even if I could somehow dig it loose, I very very much doubt the Jeep could ever move it very far. So, no.
Last year, Neighbor D just plowed the existing bank down over it to make a new slope. But now all that dirt washed away, and no way there’s enough to cover the rock. I’ll either have to haul in enough dirt to re-bury it, or resign myself to moving the driveway apron. We’ll see.
The road to Landlady’s place is fixed, though.
That cut in the foreground of the detail pic used to be road, where the crossing used to be. The grader (somehow, without tipping over or high-centering itself) makes short work of it but he sometimes leaves the newly-graded crossing so soft I even get a little anxious in the Jeep sometimes.
For a brief time Saturday and several hours Sunday, Scott the Road Guy dragged in a bunch of sand, widened and graded and tamped the new roadbed, and it’ll be okay till next time. It’s still new sand and a bit soft: This time last year an inexperienced UPS driver managed to bury his truck to the frame there. Took quite an effort to get him out, but we managed it.
And I’m still playing with rifle optics.
I bought this cheap red dot last winter for the World’s Ugliest Carbine. Even after putting a wooden buttstock on the gun I decided I preferred that scout scope that a Generous Reader gave me some years ago. So recently I put the red dot on the AR I’ve been fostering this summer, and it wasn’t right at all. I had to smoosh my cheek way down on the stock to ever see the dot. So yesterday I finally got around to putting a riser on the optic, and that fixed my problem.
Of course then it was no longer zeroed. I got busy with something else and didn’t get to go shooting till almost six, and by then storm cells were wandering around the sky and banging angrily away. This time of day, this time of year, after a flash flood like we just had, with obvious rain in the high country to the east, only an idiot would go play in the wash. But I could sit on the bank and shoot into the wash, so I got the optic back within minute of rock and called it an evening. I’ll go into the boonies with a target maybe tomorrow – today’s going to be busy – and fine it in.
If you ever decide (and acquire the wherewithal) to replace the Jeep, I suggest a Russian SHERP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=254XVudQg0M
They’re really running with low tire pressure in that Sherp!
Here’s another video showing its capabilities:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNtZb4vWNLA
Sherp shows up around 7:30.
drill a hole in the rock and place a stick of dynamite in it. no more rock, and one hell of a big bang
+1 on a big bang to make the big rock into smaller rocks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PzEgA0ENiU
Off topic: I think I recognized your new porch as the background in Ian’s latest Q&A YouTube video.
Right. 😀 Can you imagine the TUAK fundraiser for tire replacement?
That’s not out of the question. I have lots of pistol powder at the moment, and could get model rocket motor igniters online. That would work a lot more safely than that time we blew a rock at Ian’s place several years ago, using a very short fuse because that was all I had.
Commander Zero: Hah! Friday evening I was surfing the comments on that video, a little bummed that nobody mentioned recognizing the porch. Ian had come up and needed to record the Q&A while he was there and was looking for a location. I offered the porch just to celebrate its having been more-or-less finished a couple of days earlier.
Man, these guys are motivated to pass off Laddie! You’ve gotta wonder why… 😉 😛
I’ll admit to flashes of the same question – until I saw the place he’s been disrupting for two months…
I’d have probably eased him out a good deal sooner.
I blasted the tops off a couple big rocks in my road. The hard part is drilling a hole; I was lucky enough to have a friend with big masonry drills (it’s all granite up here). Used about a shot glass full of black powder (I don’t think regular pistol propellants will work), stuck in a *long* fuse, & filled the rest of the hole with very fine sand, lightly tamping as filled. Light & RUN. Use good quality cannon fuse- nothing quite as nerve wracking as having it burn below grade and….nothing.
Looks like they may be a little overwhelmed by the opulence of the Lair and Landlady’s place.
“minute of rock”
Thinking the “big rock” could use some of that sort of persuasion.
In some variation…
I would have missed the setting of Ian’s Q&A I normally listen to them as a podcast.
What doubletrouble said. This is a job for black powder or actual explosive-explosives. Pistol powder burns at a pretty rapid rate, but not as, er, explosively as BP does.
If you do decide to drill and blast, make sure you put a large bag full of dirt on top to help focus the explosive down.
And, of course, if you do, would love to see video. Please?
If you do blast that rock, it might be entertaining to do so when Bully is in the area. Not close enough to injure, of course, but close enough to impress. Especially if you light the fuse, escape to a safe distance, and yell “BANG!!! as loud as you can just before it blows. If you’ve used enough powder, you probably won’t need to carry anything to defend yourself against him in the future. Heck, you won’t even need to shake your winky at him like you did last time!
}:-]