Leo

Is that a new GT500? Haven't seen any Elite Bows around here. I'd like to lay my hands on one and try it though.

Yep, very fair. If you think about it too long, it will just be a missed opportunity.

It's a big one but the one in Cape Hatteras North Carolina is 57 ft taller

I just found this one that was invented at the University of Alabama. No batteries, no radioactive elements, completely biodegradable and good with butter!

My niece's teacher thought that this year every kid should make a "Flat" copy of themselves. The idea being they could mail "themselves" to friends, and get pictures of their flat surrogates in neat places. Maggie sent herself to us. Here's a picture of "Flat Maggie" and my wife Mary at the Hunting Island lighthouse about 18 miles from the house. You get a pretty good idea how big a lighthouse really is. Mary refused to go up top and show Maggie up there! LOL! We got lots of other cool pictures. Like Maggie at the shrimp boat. Maggie on the cannon. Maggie at the beach. Beaufort has been colonized since 1711 (before the U.S. was a country). Lots of history here. It was actually kind of fun. Hope the class enjoys the pictures as much as we did taking them.

Oops! Meant to put this in the Lounge.

My niece's teacher thought that this year every kid should make a "Flat" copy of themselves. The idea being they could mail "themselves" to friends, and get pictures of their flat surrogates in neat places. Maggie sent herself to us. Here's a picture of "Flat Maggie" and my wife Mary at the Hunting Island lighthouse about 18 miles from the house. You get a pretty good idea how big a lighthouse really is. Mary refused to go up top and show Maggie up there! LOL! We got lots of other cool pictures. Like Maggie at the shrimp boat. Maggie on the cannon. Maggie at the beach. Beaufort has been colonized since 1711 (before the U.S. was a country). Lots of history here. It was actually kind of fun. Hope the class enjoys the pictures as much as we did taking them.

So are mine. That's not all you need to worry about. Making sure they have power is good but not enough. Smoke detectors have a life span. This is independent of you believing they are working or not. Make sure you check the manufacturing date. I've been shopping for new units and have found out some are only guaranteed for 5 years.

Yikes! That's terrifying! Glad he's not hurt worse.

Maybe this will convince you to look at the E-Tec closer Steve.

Found out a little more today. Guess which model I have? Defective Smoke Alarms

Very nice! Don't see the leaves change color here. It's spectacular when it's on at other places. You captured it quite well.

IMHO, this is one of the best times of year to get shorebird pictures.

Steve, Most of the folks around here have found the achilles heal on the Four Stroke outboards to be the enormous difference in weight. If you're maxed out HP wise on a boat at 150HP with a two stroke engine you'll usually have to step down to a 130HP four stroke. The reason is the extra weight on your transome might be too much. At the 150 size the weight difference will be between 70 to 100lbs! That's not insignificant, it's a big deal. The boats I've been in with Ficht and Etec engines drink as little gas as the four stroke motors and have significantly better power for their rating. I'd take a closer look at the Etec if I were you

If you're trying to shoot does in an area, you will eventually kill some buttonheads. It's gonna happen. Don't sweat it.

Way to go Randy!

Actually I believe the term is "Dumassia"

I also added an answer. Whether you choose the old school method or not, I think it's important to use the heaviest for caliber bullets you can get your hands on for a break in. The heavier bullets are longer which means more straight surface in contact with your bore. That's a good thing

Let me add one more thing. Do the break in with the heaviest bullets for that caliber you can get. The heavier bullets are longer and that means more straight bearing surface available for polishing the bore. The longer/heavier bullets will not only do the job faster, they will also do it better.

M Gardner has made a seriously valid point. First and foremost, before you ever fire a single shot. You need to make sure that a brand new barrel is absolutely clean. You're gonna need a PILE of patches so make sure you have them. I'd soak a patch with brake cleaner and run it through the bore. Let that "eat" for about 5 minutes. Run a dry brass brush through the bore back and forth about 8 times. Wet another patch soaked with brake cleaner run it through the bore. Let that "eat" 5 minutes. Run dry patches through the bore in and out, one time only each, until they come out clean. The point is absolutely make sure you've gotten every piece of grit and oil out of the barrel. Running a bullet past grit and oil on a new barrel will cause a change in the bore you do not necessarily want. It breaks my heart when people say, "It's a new gun, it should be clean." After you've done that follow the directions on a bottle of this stuff here exactly as is written on the label. http://www.shooters-choice.com/mc7.html The Shooters Choice stuff is absolutely the best bore conditioner I've ever used. In my experience it really does improve the accuracy on guns. It is also the only bore cleaner I've ever used I didn't feel like I needed a "fouling" shot after using. If cleaning with this stuff moves POI, I've never been able to detect it. If you clean a gun with this stuff it's gonna hit right where you sighted it in at or you blew the shot. It's seriously good stuff. I highly recommend it for both "breaking in" and new barrel and regular cleaning. As far as the clean after every shot for the first 20 shots break in method. I'll admit I'm not a big fan of it. Yes it works. But if you're honest with yourself and really can shoot tight groups, then only clean after every "flyer" for the first 20 shots. If you really don't know if it was you or the gun that caused the flyer, then clean the bore. The Shooters Choice stuff really doesn't seem to affect group size. This makes it awesome for barrel break ins. Concentrate on tight groups. Flyer = Clean bore, Flyer = Clean bore... remember that. You should have the gun totally settled in after about 40 rounds. After that the flyers are probably just you or something else you've missed. Don't shoot Mono-Metal (ie. Barnes) or Moly-Coated bullets to break in a barrel. Both will foul the heck out of a new barrel in short order. Fouling the heck out of a new barrel is absolutely not what you want to do. Copper fouling takes a copper solvent to get rid of and Moly fouling takes acetone patches.

Had an interesting day here today. I was talking to my wife on the phone and heard a BANG! like a firecracker going off in the house. This was followed by several more bangs. Then the smoke detectors in the whole house went nuts! It scared my old dog Arthur (who is about 14 yrs old) so bad he crawled into a corner and peed. Got him outside and cleaned up. Right now he won't come back in the house he's so scared. I figured out which detector had a problem and couldn't get the battery out. I disconnected it and took it outside. It went bang a couple more times after being disconnected! I decided to leave it outside for a while. I was trying to figure out what caused the problem and discovered that most Smoke detectors have a radioactive element in them that makes them work. I don't think that's a really big deal except for one thing. That means they have a limited useful life. In the case of my detectors it's 10 years. Mine are dated Aug 1999. So it looks like I'm gonna have to replace ALL of them. I just had one that died a little early. Apparently 80% of the smoke detectors out there have limited lifespans. It's more than just batteries. Take one down and look at the back of it. It will tell you if it has a limited life. Because the element that's in them decays this isn't a warranty issue or maintenance issue. When the detector reaches that age it's done. If you get nothing else out of this post, get this. CHECK THE MANUFACTURING DATE ON YOUR SMOKE DETECTORS! Some folks are sensitive to the radiation from these things and some folks aren't. If you suspect you are then there are photoelectric models available. They are much more expensive but alternatives do exist.

My wifes father is just checking out of the hospital after a bought with pneumonia today. He's 82. She's going home to help out. Prayers sent. It's pretty scary I know.

I always say I'd rather be "good and lucky". If Buckee had blown that opportunity he wouldn't have felt very good or lucky

Falling from just 3ft up and landing the wrong way is enough to break bones. Say a prayer of thanks today because you're really blessed right now. Your jacket snagging on the way down probably slowed your fall considerably. Glad you're ok. Things could be much much worse.

That's a real dandy Vancouver Blacktail! I know they get bigger but that's a darn nice one. A seriously good deer. Congrats! Tim Horton Breakfast? Bet you got some coffee too. Not much more Canadian than that! I had a deer take 5 steps after I shot him with a Montec G5 and fall over just like that. If they are really sharp I don't think the animal feels them unless they lodge in solid bone.