Opened the pool today, or rather my pool guy did, Chris Winder.  Pretty happy with how clear the water is when the cover was removed, you could actually see all the way to the bottom of the pool.  Now to get the solar cover on it, its a bit chilly at 61f…

Not bad for opening day, a little cloudy with some debris but you can see the bottom

A little chilly at 61f

The robot is going to be busy for a while

Bought a number of metal targets for longer range practice.  Patrick and his friend helped me set them up.  The boys had a blast practicing the rest of the day.  Not many hits on the 500 yard targets though, but getting better.

Here we go!

From 200 yards, not bad boys

500yd targets, thats an ISIS head on the left

Been trying to get rid of this thing for a while now.  This one cost me $1,200 a few years back because the cut my electric line that runs the well pump.

Saw a large groundhog UP ON THE PORCH!  It ran round the porch and down under the steps.  I immediately got my tools, removed the steps  and alas, there was a huge hole going under the sidewalk cement.  Repeated the same drill as the last den, fill in all but one hole, in goes the flares, then fill in that hole.

Emily and Stuart went fishing in the big pond today and caught two decent size channel catfish that we stocked a few years ago.  They gutted them and ate them for dinner, Emily says they were delicious, flaky white meat.

Showed Patrick how to sight in a rifle today.  We did both my SCAR and Remington 700 308.  After they were zeroed at 200 yards I set him up for a long shot at 515 yards.  Incredibly he was putting shots on target!  Bullet drop at that range is about 56 inches for a 308, and there was a slight wind.  Here are some picts of the action.

Thats only about 3 inches from the aim point at 515 yards!

Had the barn painted today, looks great now, really made the roof look great.  Supposedly it should last 8-10 years before the rust starts to come back through, we shall see.

The guy who did the painting was incredibly nimble on the roof, no safety line, just walking up and down the roof like it was nothing, impressive.

I think its a black snake, didn’t get too close to see.

FINALLY finished trimming the leyland cypress hedge along the driveway.  They just were totally out of hand, 15-20ft high, completely blocking the expansive views of the property.  If they don’t end up filling out and being a nicely tamed hedge I’m going to end up ripping them completely out.

Beepa was a big help taking the tops off to the brush pile with the grapple on the tractor.

Out of the corner of my eye I caught a large groundhog scurrying down into this hole.  I immediately grabbed a shovel and 3 road flares.  There were FOUR entrances to the den, I filled in 3 and then lit the flares and threw them down the last large hole.  I filled in the hole and that was it…a long dirt nap.

The second picture is from 3 days later, none of the holes were dug out so I think I got them.

This guy showed up on the game camera.