Harry on the Farm (UPDATED)

Today is Columbus Day. I can't believe we celebrate some Spanish dude's misadventures but I'll gladly take the day off. The family got together with Brad, Stefanie, and Amelia and headed off to Larriland Farm. Harry saw a goat...



but I think he suspected it wasn't exactly a wild animal when he saw the purple collar.



The pumpkin patch was fun, though again it appears these "farms" are a little suspect. Sure there were pumpkin vines, with big pumpkin leaves, and yellow pumpkin flowers but... shouldn't the pumpkins be attached to the vines? Precut pumpkins. At least it wasn't a bunch of pies out in the field.























Being a dad is rough work, especially when Al Gore is probably somewhere shaking his head and shedding that one fake Indian tear over the ridiculously high temperatures. "When will we ever learn to live like cavemen again, cavemen WITHOUT fire?"
























Not soon enough Al, not soon enough.

EDIT: It's the Indian that is fake. For all I know the Italian-American gentleman was truly upset about littering.

UPDATE 2: The tear was fake too. I guess that's why they call them actors.

UPDATE 3: The most recent Nobel Peace Prize winner - "The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity. It is also our greatest opportunity to lift global consciousness to a higher level." Can you even say that without a glycerin tear running down your cheek? I tried, but couldn't make it past the first comma.

I would also like to thank Al for raising the bar for the rest of us that use Powerpoint at work. Now, if I don't receive a Nobel Prize for my slides, I'm a failure.

Harry's First Rifle

So I was in NJ for Jeff's Wedding last weekend. (You will hear nothing of this momentous event now as I have no pictures.) Anyway, as seems to be the case recently, a trip to NJ meant coming home with another gun. This time it's Great Grandfather's .22 rifle.



The rifle is a .22 caliber single shot. As Uncle Rich placed it in my hands, he said to me, "This gun has killed hundreds of groundhogs." With reverent awe I took the old rifle and threw it in the trunk.

The only marking on it is "TRU-TEST" stamped in the barrel. No serial numbers, no manufacturer's marks. (Also, no filed off spots where a serial number would have been.) This is another case of retailers putting their own name on a gun made by someone else. It looks like it is either a Marlin 101 or Springfield 120.



Simplicity seems to have been the design driver for this firearm. The bolt/firing pin assembly can be removed by holding the trigger and pulling back.



The barrel is secured to the stock via a single bolt. Undo the bolt and the stock comes right off. The bolt threads into the barrel but there are also threads in the stock. These threads keep the bolt from falling out when the barrel is removed. Quite ingenious.





The plan is to refinish the stock and generally clean up the barrel. I don't think I need to do much to the barrel otherwise. This will make a good first gun for Harry (or Eleanor) since it is single shot and you have to set the trigger before you can fire. Harry obviously thinks he's ready now but I think he has to be at least as tall as any gun he's going to shoot.

I caught him practicing his "what are you looking at" look. He also seems to have eschewed shirts sometime recently.

























UPDATE: Amy just commented that the above photo is going to be Harry's teenager look. "Stop joking, Dad. Life is dark."