Falling behind with my favorite summer activities

I went to a college prep high school, so there was a heavy emphasis on academics. I took a lot of math, physics, and chemistry classes. The school employed two physics instructors; one taught the “advanced” classes and the other taught the regular classes. Several of my friends were in the regular class and loved to tease the instructor about “switches and wires” and “smoke and mirrors” when he demonstrated some law of physics and they didn’t grasp the physical laws governing the process.

My computer falls into the “switches and wires or smoke and mirrors” category. As I mentioned last week, I could only achieve about half the download speed I was supposed to be getting. Later that evening, without doing anything and having refused the three-figure cost of a total system overhaul the “techies” were proposing to correct the problem, the computer suddenly started running just as it was supposed to.

I had the full upgraded download speed and all systems were “go.” The only thing that might have happened was shutting the computer off and turning it back on later. That might have rebooted something. Otherwise, the computer must have developed a mind of its own and finally decided to cooperate. I’m too old to worry why it started working. I’m just happy it did!

I haven’t even wetted a line this year!

With the king salmon situation the way it is, including recent additional restrictions on the Little Susitna in hopes of meeting minimum escapement numbers, I don’t feel comfortable fishing for kings right now. I’m hoping things will be better when the silvers start returning to our Valley rivers. I’ve been pursuing the other Valley summer recreation – shooting.

Actually, I’ve been pursuing being a range safety officer – I have yet to fire a shot myself this year! I figure I’d get my “working time” in and then concentrate on shooting. I’ve got guns to sight in and practice with for my upcoming caribou hunt (now that the state isn’t going to shut down without issuing my permit) and the state territorial blackpowder shoot is coming up in a couple of weeks and I need to finish developing some loads for a couple of blackpowder guns too.

On one of my RSO days at the Upper Susitna Shooters Association range near Talkeetna, a Precision Shooting class was being held. The class lasted three days and the participants were taught about “doping” the wind, proper shooting techniques, and many other “tricks of the trade.” I was only able to listen in on a small part of the class because of RSO duties, but what I did hear sounded interesting.

I don’t remember the lead instructor’s name, but I was told he had been a military sniper, so he obviously had been trained in the art of extreme distance shooting and was very qualified to pass along that knowledge to his students. This class was the “basic” course and, as I understand things, an “advanced” class will be taught toward the end of July. I heard that a requirement to sign up for the advanced class was having completed the basic course.

I had a good friend taking this course and he was very enthusiastic about what he was learning. He got the long-distance shooting bug and wanted to learn to place shots precisely on USSA’s 1000-yard range. He had bought a rifle designed for long-range shooting, along with a quality scope, and was really enjoying the class.

When we both get some time to discuss things, he’s looking for some advice on reloading gear to get set up to reload for his 6.5 Creedmore rifle. We are also planning some waterfowl hunting for this fall (hopefully including some goose hunting), and, since we both have 10-gauge shotguns and I have a reloading set up for that gauge, we are also planning on doing some shotshell reloading as well (as soon as I get some empty hulls).

I’m still hoping to get out and do some lake fishing, but it’s hard to get motivated with the cool and damp summer we’ve been having. I guess I’m getting old since sitting in a float tube in a drizzling rain to fish for some 8-inch stocked trout doesn’t seem as appealing as it did 10 years ago. Maybe I should take the riverboat out on one of the larger lakes and chase some pike. At least the riverboat has a cabin and a fully functional heater!