A busy summer so far

We are now, unofficially, in the summer season in Alaska. The pace of life has definitely picked up, as it always does in the summer. We have moved to the hectic summer schedule of events from the slow passing of time common to the winter and early spring seasons.

We finally got the motorhome back from repairs a couple of weeks ago and I started checking to make sure all the appliances were working. Since I hadn’t had the unit dewinterized yet, I couldn’t check the water pump and water heater for function for lack of water in the system. Everything else seemed to work fine until I tried the furnace.

It won’t ignite. The blower runs fine but shuts off without ignition of the heating system. And, yes, I had propane on board with the valve open and had set the thermostat high enough that the furnace ignition should have been triggered. I’ve got a call in to the repair shop to do the dewinterization and furnace repair and am waiting for a return call. It’s been too chilly at night to overnight without a functioning furnace!

We finalized the sale of a piece of property last week and now I have the funds to replace the tires on the motorhome. I called to get pricing and was happy to learn the tires won’t cost as much as I was afraid they would. That should be done, hopefully, by the time this sees print. The other thing we had a glitch with on the motorhome was the ignition switch. It would sometimes lock up the key where I couldn’t take it out. I had a guy check it out and everything worked just fine, all the time, for him. Apparently, my problem was operator error.

Next, I called Greatland Welding to check on having the broken 8-foot CB antenna replaced on my riverboat and to see if Gary could do some fabrication of the door guides for the garage doors we’re installing on the replacement storage building. I also asked if he could fabricate a rod holder tube for me to use while surf fishing which would work on the rod holder unit they had built to fit my six-by-six UTV when on the beach. I’ve finally realized there isn’t anything Gary and the crew can’t fix or fabricate.

I’ve had the motorhome engine serviced for oil and filter. Next, I need to get the SUV in for service and then my pick-up. I should get the riverboat similarly serviced before I use it later in the summer for fishing and possibly a hunting trip or two. I’ve got the six-by-six ready to go, but need to get it serviced a little later in the year to be ready for the fall hunting season. Right now, it’s running fine if I finally get a chance to get down to the Kenai for some surf fishing.

I was hoping to get out to do some hooligan dip-netting over the Memorial Day weekend, but best laid plans of mice and…. I was set to go on Memorial Day, but being a fair-weather outdoorsman, when I woke up and saw it was raining, I just went back to sleep. I’ll eat hooligan occasionally, but my wife is the one who really enjoys a hooligan feast.

On the shooting front, I’ve been remiss on trying to get up to the Upper Susitna Shooters’ Association range at Mile 94 Parks Highway to begin the shooting season. I need to get going to practice with my muzzleloaders and blackpowder cartridge rifles in preparation for the Alaska Territorials being held near Talkeetna toward the end of June.

I’ve also been lax on my reloading projects. I need to finish reloading for my Bang ‘n Clang rifle, and reload for my, as yet unfired, 303 British single-shot rifle for moose hunting. I’ve also got a mid-size handgun in 380 caliber to use for personal defense and it needs to be shot enough to “break-in” the action and confirm reliable functioning.

I missed last summer’s shooting time because of work on my replacement storage building, so I’ve got a lot of shooting to get caught up on. I want to do some load development for a 444 Marlin handgun. I’ve got an M1 Garand I picked up a few years ago that I want to shoot just because.

That doesn’t include shooting some of the guns I haven’t fired of a while. Yes, a busy summer indeed!