Friday, November 23, 2012

Black Friday Shopping

I see from the reports that black Friday shopping is as chaotic as ever.  Y'all have fun with that.  For myself, more of my shopping is online and the big ticket items are bought.  One thing I give away is cash, and that always fits, the color is right, and it's easy to store.

I did make it down to the Ace Hardware this morning.  I needed some little one-pound propane bottles and I knew they'd have them in stock.  Some of the grandkids and I are going hunting tomorrow morning and I needed that propane to run the deer stand heaters.

Speaking of deer stand heaters, I'm fond of the Mr. Heater Buddy heaters.  When you're in a box blind like I am, it's nice to take the chill off of the air.  I know that there are purists who don't think that using a wooden box blind is really hunting, and that's okay. I'm realistic enough to understand ambuscade and that's really how most whitetail deer are killed these days. I still like a stalk hunt, and I'm really fond of being in the squirrel woods with a .22 rifle and easing through the oaks.  However, when you've got fidgety grandkids with you, it sure is nice to be in a box blind where the movement of the kids doesn't spook game.  When the kids are warm, they're not as apt to be whining, making noise, snuffling, or otherwise being loud.

3 comments:

Old NFO said...

What is it we used to say? If you're not cheatin, you're not tryin... And warmth IS good for old bones (and really young ones too) !

Rivrdog said...

I have the Big Buddy, the Buddy, and a smaller Buddy. During the winter, I carry the Survival Cat in the car. It runs 30-hours plus on a bottle.

The Big Buddy will heat my Coleman Sequoia tent camper to shirtsleeve temps at 25 and snowing outside. The Coleman is 22 feet long when extended.

The Buddy would drive me out of my 28-foot cabin cruiser, keeping all the ice off, in a bad ice storm I weathered in '04.

Yep, the Buddies get the job done.

Gerry N. said...

First, the shopping. I use Amazon for most of mine, through a link on a favored blog. The blogger gets paid a stipend for every purchase while it costs me nothing, I think that's called a win-win. I get some really good prices too, and that is good.

As for hunting from a blind, almost all hunting in WA State is on public land and a blind would disappear in a matter of hours. On the other hand some hunting occurs, as does mine, on private property because I had the temerity to ask the owner for permission. His flabber was totally gasted to the point he put my permission in perpetuity in his will. His kids still call me up to make sure I'm coming. I love those people.

He didn't want permanent blinds set up but we collaborated on platforms with ladders that can be set on blocks fastend fifteen feet up on three old maples along a ling disused logging railroad bed that runs through his wood lot. Setting up a platform and ladder takes half an hour each. When he was still alive he had his kids set 'em up two weeks before hunting season, they still do. I've taken a nice Coast Blacktail doe three years running from one or another of the platforms, and two years while walking out to it. I was out of luck a couple of years due to illness or knee replacement surgery. I've been skunked several seasons.