Last Saturday I went to the property and continued enlarging the clearing I wrote about a week ago. My estimate of 2 or so work days did not factor in the warm temperature. It's one thing to clear brush for six hours in 45 degree temperature and another in 70+. I just don't have the energy once it gets warm. My new estimate is that it'll take 4 more work days.
Despite the "heat," I did clear enough brush to produce a well compacted brush pile six feet high, 10 feet wide, and nearly 20 feet long. I have a better idea of the size and terrain of the clearing. It's a little steeper than I thought: I'd call it a moderate pitch. The clearing will be vaguely rectangular and a little smaller than a city lot. The slope is towards the west, but the rectangle angles south southwest.
I left the property early so I could stop by the mill for bags of rice, beans, etc. The mill is on the completely opposite side of town and is a bit of a pain in the ass to get to, but I wanted to continue stockpiling before prices go up again. This was my third visit in the last 4 months and, for the first time, the shelves were fully stocked. Well, except for green lentils. They had red lentils which I know nothing about. I picked up a hundred pounds of rice and various beans. Comparing the prices against what I paid in March, I see that they're up about 25%. That's not too bad considering the situation. I also bought a 25lb bag of Muesli which will be my breakfast for the next year. I usually go through cycles and eat the same breakfast over and over until I'm tired of it. For the last year I was eating pancakes and scrambled eggs.
On Sunday, I went to the range after a long absence. Two old guys arrived at the same time as I and were shooting their AR-15s quite steadily. Being frugal, the number of centerfire rounds I fire is always in the forefront of my mind. For each .223 round, I tally another 25 cent expenditure and for .308 I figure 50 cents. I was shooting 22 long rifle, so I went through a couple hundred rounds without a care in the world. Another guy pulled out what looked like a scout version of an M1A and shot about 20 or so rounds. The barrel looked a little shorter than the barrel on my M1A. I stopped to watch to see how much recoil he was experiencing: it was pretty significant. I have only put a dozen rounds through my M1A and was surprised at the recoil and how long it took to get the rifle back on target. I won't fire it again until I'm a better shot and am more used to the noise and recoil of a centerfire. No sense in wasting bullets.
At the range, as usual, I was the only guy not shooting from a benchrest. I really see no point in shooting from the bench; it doesn't develop any skills. I was shooting prone and, after not having been in that position for a while, it was pretty uncomfortable. Toward the end of the session I was feeling a bit better. Despite being uncomfortable, my shooting wasn't horrific; at 50 yards, I was usually in the black. I'm confident I could hit, at 50 yards, an overweight, standing, stationary man facing me. I peeked at the targets used by the old guys. One, even with a benchrest, wasn't much better than me; the other one was decent but no tack driver. I used to read a couple militia-wannabe type forums. They admonish their readers to improve their riflery skills so that when the UN or somebody attacks the US of A we'll be ready to defend the Constitution. I can't even imagine what type of resistance a bunch of arthritic old men with only paper target training could put up against young, combat trained soldiers armed with automatic rifles. That being said, though, I still want an AR-15 and a Glock 17. The only thing keeping me from these acquisitions is my frugality, but one day I'll weaken.
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