My Staycation

Tammy and I had planned to take off the first week in November.  Covid limited us to staying local.  Then Tammy's work rejected her vacation request because of staffing issues.  So that left me with a week of vacation to myself.

On Monday,  I took my Subaru in for its 60,000 mile checkup.  I organized all the closets, cabinets, and drawers in the house.  I brought all the summer outdoor items to the shed and brought the needed winter items into the garage.  I also replaced our oven's main control board that had broken the week before.  A good feeling to get stuff done around the house.  On Tuesday, I went to Hot Brass Shooting range in West Springfield, MA for some indoor pistol shooting.  My first time shooting indoors.  I liked the automatic target setting and retrieval.  I did learn that foam in-ear protection does not provide adequate protection when shooting indoors. Later that afternoon, I cleaned and oiled the pistols.  Wednesday, I went to Millstream Hunting Preserve in Lebanon, CT for private pheasant hunting.  The package I chose included a guide, the dogs, and six pheasants for a two hour period.  I scored three pheasants, hit one pheasant that escaped. and never had a shot at the other two.  Interestingly, enough, the injured pheasant and one of the escaped pheasants had returned to the pen by the time we arrived back from hunting in the fields.  Thursday, Tammy and I took a private clay pigeon shooting class at Blue Trail Ridge Gun range in Wallingford, CT.  It included the clay pigeons, the ammunition, and Tammy''s shotgun.  Overall, we did pretty well,  hitting more clay pigeons than we missed.  I shot all 75 of my shells,Tammy did around 60, making for some tender shoulder-area muscles over the next several days.  I also was able to do some rifle shooting at their outdoor range afterwards.  Once again, a first for me at a public shooting range, and once again proving that in-ear foam protection wasn't adequate.  When we arrived home, we finished prepping the pheasants for cooking and had them for Thursday's dinner.  Friday, I cleaned my rifles.  I then did some electrical work - a switch for the upstairs closet and lighting for the garage.  

So ends the last of my vacation time for this year.  Two more months and a new year with more vacation time will start.