Raspberry Wine!

It's all bottled and ready to go. I used 5lbs of raspberries per gallon, with the berries provided by my folks from their farm in my Wisconsin hometown. After filling the 24 bottles, I had about 1/2 bottle left over, so I "sampled" the remainder tonight. Mmmm-good!

For my dear friend in Northern California...

Whom I understand is not in the best of health these days. Richard "Dirty Dick" Bancroft is a mentor to me, and taught me much in the way of blades and John Moses Browning, amongst other things. Many a night we would sit up and solve the world's problems, while he ground a knife blank from ATS-34 or 154-CM, or milled a flat top on a 1911's slide in preparation for a Bo-Mar cut. I am still in awe, and cherish my meager collection of his handiwork, be they blades:

Or things of the 1911 persuasion, like a 3.5" Caspian Officer's ACP w/Kart barrel, tapered cone lockup, and his own design Bancroft sights:

A 5" Norinco 1911A1 w/ Kart barrel, Bo-Mar sights, Videcki lockwork, etc:

If you happen upon a knife, 1911 variant, or S&W revolver with a D/D rollmark, you've got something that should be kept very close for you and your subsequent generations to cherish.

Muzzle Blasts, Pt. II

Kudos to all who guessed the make of the rifle from last week's episode of Name That Muzzle! I've got some sharp readers, it was indeed a SMLE, more precisely a NoIMkIII* produced at RSAF Enfield in 1917, with plenty of history I'm sure between then and when I acquired it in 1999. Here's the complete rifle image, taken on the first day the snow melted here in our part of Wisconsin:





Here's the next installment. This one might be a bit more difficult, but I'm sure someone will get it right. I've left considerably more than just the muzzle in the picture to help out:

Name that muzzle!

I've been thinking about a little game I can do on this blog, in which I take an image of a rifle's muzzle, and folks can hazard guesses as to the make of the entire rifle. Since I have oodles of rifles to do this with, it can become a regular feature. As I take them out of their respective safes to clean and oil them on a regular basis, I'll just take a snapshot and let fly. So, without further ado, here's Mystery Muzzle #1:


To assist and put today's Mystery Muzzle into further perspective:

The fog, it was thick!

Warmer temperatures are great for melting all the snow, but they also bring the clouds really close to the ground at times. Note the car headlights looming towards me as I try to silhouette the trees against the streetlight:


My "new" Nikon DSLR is teaching me how to take pictures. I've got a steep learning curve ahead of me...

My new garden tractor?

Spring is in the air, and I saw a really big Deere. (It was filling up at the local gas station...)

My wife says it's probably too big for our back yard, so I'll have to stick with the Bolens tractor for now. Bummer.

A gorgeous AR-15 variant!

I've had this pre-'94 Olympic Arms lower sitting in the safe for about 11 years, and wanted to build it up into something unique. Thanks to the folks at www.ar15woodstocks.com I now have an idea what it'll look like!