The Rock Wall

Watch out if you come into the office. Gwen just passed her Tae Kwon Do test to advance from beginner’s white belt to yellow recommended. You know she probably has her sights set on Davis since he is a Tae Kwon Do black belt. But he is totally out of practice, I’d guess. Or maybe it’s like riding a bicycle – you never forget. He goes to the gym all the time. He’s out of my league. Of course, Gwen is, too.

-Kimball suggested I tell you the rain is over for awhile, but I don’t think it is according to the TV weather guessers. They did guess right on the floods, though. Wednesday is supposed to be a one-day event then dry for nine or 10 days. Suits me. I plan to take advantage of the good weather to try to fill my spring turkey tags. So far in the constant rain, the turkeys haven’t gobbled and I haven’t attempted to bother them. Davis says he likes to hunt in the rain. I don’t.

-I guess there is something to be said for engineering. All my life Little Clear Creek has overflowed the Cedar/St. Clair County Line east of the bridge. When the county replaced the old bridge and straightened the road recently, they also built up the road several feet east of the bridge. I feared that the increased height of the roadway would cause the creek to flood my basement. To date, I had only seen the creek come to the edge of my yard, several feet below the level of my basement.

Well, for some reason during all this flooding, Little Clear and its tributary that runs closer to our house did not even get out of their banks. Little Clear ran hard under the new bridge several times and two-thirds bank full.

But, I’ll still withhold judgment until we have a true toad strangler.

– I was sorry to get the police report about the young boy who lost a hand while experimenting with gunpowder. A lot of years ago at about that age that could have been me.

I had a hair-brained idea to drill a hole in a cap that I could screw onto a pipe and put cherry bomb in it to make a small cannon. Fortunately, I was never able to find a pipe and screw on cap for my project. Now I don’t think I could find a cherry bomb or an M-80, a more powerful firework with the fuse coming out the side.

In getting accustomed to it, I guess I came close with my smokeless powder muzzleloader when I accidentally loaded it twice. Anyway, that’s what I guess happened because it kicked like a mule when I shot it. Fortunately, the barrel is constructed to withstand three times the recommended force. I only guessed that I had loaded it twice because of the recoil. I did some calculations off of powder charts and figured it had the force of a .416 elephant gun. I’m pretty sure I haven’t see any. I now know how to judge from my ramrod how much powder and bullets are in the barrel. I’d say it’s pretty accurate. The bullet hole from .45 caliber 250-grain bullets holes touch at 100 yards. If you are a muzzleloader fan, give me a holler.

– I saw a heck of a baseball game between the Walnut Grove Tigers, ranked No. 3 in Class 1, and our El Dorado Springs Bulldogs. Until the final inning it was a pitchers duel between our Riley Boyd and three Walnut Grove pitchers. We managed to get a runner to second base twice and both times he got picked off by slick moves from the Tigers. Finally, Riley got tired and they got base runners, the first one on a wild throw from third base. The final was 1-0, not embarrassing but disappointing. KL