Busy Saturday

Then again, around here, when is Saturday NOT busy? It's our one real day to run around and get things done, so we have Sunday to bum around and rest up for the week. Of course, homesteading, you never really get a day "off" to do absolutely nothing at all, because there's always something to do. Around here, there's always scrap metal to clean up, trash to shovel into the burn barrel and light off, trees to cut for firewood, and the inevitable housework and my slowly burgeoning attempts to make money online so I can make a living that way instead of half-killing myself at the plant. Side note - good news about that is that I finally got my transfer to tender line, starting next week, so I won't aggravate my growing tenonitis from boob line any more. This means work will be REALLY boring, but at least I can still hold a job for a good while longer this way.

As to busy ... boy, was today busy. As it is the end of the month, it was time for our regular trip up to Branson for all the stuff we can't get down here. We did everything other than groceries up there. We hit up Dixie Outfitters first to get Quentin's Dixie horn that he wants to put in the truck to replace the manufacturer's horn. He is such a "Dukes of Hazzard" fan. Half his shirts are General Lee or Dukes shirts. His nickname is Dixie, which is also a nod to his southern heritage, as his one grandfather was from Atlanta.

Then it was lunch at Steak and Shake. We'd originally intended to go to Joe's Crab Shack, but on the way up, realized we weren't in the mood for such a rich lunch and opted for something we like instead. The shoestring fries at SaS are good, and I had mine with bacon and cheese on top. Then it was off to Bass Pro at Branson Landing, to get something we've worked on getting for quite a while. We picked up a nice .22 Mossberg short barrel rifle. I say short barrel because it's not a youth model, but it the barrel is only about 19" long. I can handle it easily. I couldn't hit anything worth spit with the air rifle, but this thing, well ... once we got home and got things done to where we could get off a few practice shots, I shook up a can of Sprite, we stuck it on top of the woodpile, and I got to squeeze the trigger. BAM! that can got blown darn near in half. There's only a small sliver of can holding the top and bottom together. One can, one shot. Found some other things to shoot for target practice, and it turns out that I'm pretty darn deadly with a real gun. I hit everything, first try. And the sound is not too bad, plus there's no recoil, so if something happens while hubby is eventually up north for his grandmother's funeral and has to be gone overnight, he now has a lot less worries about my safety. And it was actually pretty fun. It's been 30 years since I've shot a real gun for any reason, and I really enjoyed it.

After Bass Pro, it was up towards the Branson Wal-Mart even though we didn't go in, because Michael's crafts is up there along with Best Buy, and I needed to stop at both. Michael's was because I needed one more skein of a single color of thread for that embroidered lap quilt top I'm working on, and to see if they had a small lighted magnifier that wasn't overly expensive to help me with my needlework in the evenings after work, when it's naturally pitch-black. The overhead light isn't quite bright enough to do a good job. I got my thread, but no luck on the light. All they have any more is the expensive Ott lights, and I though I want one, not right now at that price. The Books A Million was a bust for the light as well. Best Buy did, however, have what I wanted, in the way of an external DVD drive. I don't need one in the computer, because I rarely use the thing, but a portable is important. I have stuff on DVD that I need to get copied on to this laptop, and there's always watching movies on here as well, or listening to music, or burning the music to the laptop. Or backing up stuff. It's one of those situations where it will get used maybe twice a month, and otherwise sit in the box, but when you need it, it's nice to have.

Then we got laundry done and went all the way to Harrison for groceries, because his few photos from his trip up to see his grandmother last weekend were finally in. He pulled a few of them to get bigger prints on the one hour machine, as he wants to frame and hang them. The regular prints came with a photo CD, so once I get the portable drive set up later tonight or tomorrow, I'll grab a few of them, edit them and post them so folks can see the hubster, his Grammy, and his brother. Oh yeah, and then I can get busy with my Mother Earth News DVDs I got several months ago that have everything archived on disc. Heehee. I'm going to have fun. I'm also going to need a lot more notebooks, sheet protectors, paper and ink cartridges, I think!

Then it was home, get it all indoors and put away, set up the gun, and that was when I shot up the soda can. A good end to a busy but fun day. Of course, now I'm all tuckered out and am going to spend a few hours relaxing. WHEW!

KINDLE FREEBIES OF INTEREST