So if you didn't do anything airgun related what did you do today?

[Blowpipe Sam]

Great post Pat. I love the call of the pied billed grebe.  They are mainly pond or lake dwellers and they are essentially flightless. They can generate just enough lift with their stubby little wings to achieve wing-in-ground-effect-flight. So they go sprinting across the water flapping their wings furiously, then planning off like a skipped stone for fifty yards.  More closely related to penguins than to other birds.

Sitting here tonight listening to the cry of the nocturnal goatsucker!

[Sqrl Klr]

Wonderful day right there Pat. It's enough to make you wish you were a bird so you could enjoy their thrills of flight. I always prefer the outdoors when the crowds are gone.

[airgunaut]

Great post Pat. I love the call of the pied billed grebe.  They are mainly pond or lake dwellers and they are essentially flightless. They can generate just enough lift with their stubby little wings to achieve wing-in-ground-effect-flight. So they go sprinting across the water flapping their wings furiously, then planning off like a skipped stone for fifty yards.  More closely related to penguins than to other birds.

Sitting here tonight listening to the cry of the nocturnal goatsucker!

Now that you mention it, I've never seen them flying for real. The few times I actually see them they're diving:  now you see me, now you don't. When I discovered that the source of the weird basso pumping* sound followed by the long higher-pitched shrieking was this TINY, stubby duck, it was only because I saw its bill opening and closing. Secretive! That they're related to penguins comes as a surprise.

What you call goatsuckers are one of my favorite fleet bugcatchers too. I love the weird buzzy sound they make when zooming around. They arrive later in the year than the swallows do.

*PUMPERS!

[airgunaut]

Gil, if I had a dollar for every time I wished I could fly like a bird...

We'll just have to settle for the free shows they provide. A safe source of clean water and some natural habitat is our only payment to them; no complaints from me!

[Rabbit\Squirrel Killer]

Great post Pat. I love the call of the pied billed grebe.  They are mainly pond or lake dwellers and they are essentially flightless. They can generate just enough lift with their stubby little wings to achieve wing-in-ground-effect-flight. So they go sprinting across the water flapping their wings furiously, then planning off like a skipped stone for fifty yards.  More closely related to penguins than to other birds.

Sitting here tonight listening to the cry of the nocturnal goatsucker!

 The only goatsuckers I have heard of is the famed "Chupacabra". 

[Blowpipe Sam]

The family Caprimulgidae (known as Goat Suckers) includes Night hawks and Night jars.  They are very musical at night.

[buellm2]

I really miss having barn swallows around.   I don't know what happened to them but I haven't seen one around my house in decades.  My brother and I had a lot of fun with them when we were kids.   Flinging things into the air and watching them swoop and swerve to check out or avoid whatever we threw.   They avoided rocks as easily as I avoid walking into a wall.   It's nice to have them around eating mosquitos.

[airgunaut]

Great post Pat. I love the call of the pied billed grebe.  They are mainly pond or lake dwellers and they are essentially flightless. They can generate just enough lift with their stubby little wings to achieve wing-in-ground-effect-flight. So they go sprinting across the water flapping their wings furiously, then planning off like a skipped stone for fifty yards.  More closely related to penguins than to other birds.

Sitting here tonight listening to the cry of the nocturnal goatsucker!

 The only goatsuckers I have heard of is the famed "Chupacabra". 

You just provided another name for what Madd Hatter calls the vampires. I almost suggested he call them leeches. Poor animal kingdom, subject to so many insults from humans.

[Sqrl Klr]

Dan that's what I thought of at first too. 

[Hoosier Daddy]

After spending the morning with Mom, I went to the cemetery and visited Grand-ma and Great-Grand-ma... then sat and cried with Dad.
How I miss that man.
Shame on me... they (I) had let his bronze get grown over.
I dug around it with my hands and next I am going to polish it up!

[Madd Hatter]

A few minutes ago the wife is yelling Robert, Robert snake!!! So I go rushing out there grabbing a hoe along the way and it's only a gopher snake. Scared the cr#4 out of the poor thing.😂🤣😂🤣.

I just went out and caught it and released it on the other side of the fence. After getting dirt thrown at a couple of times it finally got the message to go west young man go west!!

[brewbear]

Got up early, as usual, made it to Forest Lawn by 8:30 (gates open at 8:00) and put 2 dozen roses on mom's grave. On the way home stopped and got a dozen roses for MIL, got home and started cooking. Today's lunch was Coq-au-Vin pasta. I am still recovering so my strength is not what it used to be. I left the basque cheesecake to be baked later in the day, but it has to be refrigerated for at least 8 hours so we'll have it tomorrow.

[Sqrl Klr]

Had birds making a mess on my porch roof trim trying to build a nest with mud and debris from the creek so I went to home depot and bought some rounded trim to fit in the corner of the existing trim and got a guy in the back to cut it in smaller pieces so I could drive them home in my car instead of trying to drive with a 21ft long piece of trim. Installed them and no more room for birds to try and build a nest on the roof trim. Got the yard mowed afterward. Did some kitchen cleaning and laundry.

[buellm2]

My lawnmower blade was about 10 years old.   Put a new one on today.   Cuts great and is quieter.   Haven't hit any rocks with it,, yet.

[airgunaut]

Small medical procedure, no fun but I'm glad to have it over with. A fluid-filled bump just above my upper molars appeared in early winter and never disappeared despite waxing and waning numerous times. No pain. Last month the dentist referred me to an oral surgeon for biopsy and removal. I'm nervous what the biopsy will reveal.

Meanwhile, the instructions for at-home care are the usual mix of common sense and weirdness. Don't rinse or brush for at least 3 days, really? No exercise or heavy lifting for 4 days, ummmm, maybe.

So far, I haven't needed to take the alternating acetominophen-ibuprofen regime. The affected area only feels very mildly achy. I still wonder how to prevent it getting infected in light of the no-brush-rinse-floss admonitions.

I already violated the advice to eat cool, liquidy foods such as ice cream, yogurt, and soup (cool soup?). But no chips, crunchy fruit or veggies, no seedy things, no chewy items. For the very late lunch (they ran 90 minutes late), a ripe banana and an Amy's vegetarian lasagna chewed ever so carefully on only one side, after stopping to buy groceries.

No shooting today. Violently windy anyway. Maybe some indoor shooting tomorrow, if pumping and cocking are not considered exercise.

[avator]

Got us a Gator.   
New carb
New Battery
New tires
New drive belt.
Needs seat covers.

[Blowpipe Sam]

Score!  I’ve been driving Gator’s for years.  We have a gator, two Kawasaki mules, a diesel Kubota and a bobcat at the park. The park service has spoiled me on the Kubotas.  If I ever have to replace my old Snapper grounds cruiser I’m getting a Kubota.

[Sqrl Klr]

Bill congrats I didn't know they made 4 wheel gators as I thought they were all 6 wheels but I actually like the looks of that better.

Sam what do you like better about the kabotas than the gators? I need to get a utv just haven't had the time to do it.

[avator]

2 wheel drive with a diff lock. Manual dump bed.
2" ball on the back and I'll put a winch on the front.
I also got a 16" LED light bar and a BT speaker tube.
It has a bed liner in it too.
Probably take it out to the farm tomorrow for a maiden voyage on the dirt roads.

[Rabbit\Squirrel Killer]

Congratulations on the Gator Bill.