Cosmoline
Member
The old saying is "A gun is a tool," and at the compound this winter I've been putting that to the test. Most of my ordinary tools are buried under about seven feet of snow, not to resurface for another two months. So in the mean time I've been relying more on my firearms for some rather unusual field work. A few examples:
At one point in late November a deep cold came down the Susitna valley and dropped the temp to 40 below zero. I was away, and my roommate was stranded there with a propane heater that stopped working at twenty below. To summon help, she was able to cap off a series of three shot groups. The neighbor came and she survived.
During a very wet blizzard one birch tree started bending further and further over. Before it could snap and fall on the boxes below (and possibly someone walking under it), I cleared the area and popped it low in the trunk with a low-recoil 12 ga. slug. The snow load instantly fell to the ground with a *thuwmp* and the tree sprung upright again.
I recently found that a small tree had snapped and fallen across the generator's little shed/box. The base of the tree was about seven feet away under a very deep berm of snow, and the snag was still pretty well attached and could not be removed. COuldn't get in with an axe without trying to walk through the berm and I had just my street shoes on. What to do? Pulled out my Walther PP and nailed the base of the snag with two Winchester silvertips. Snag broke loose, and I carried it off without leaving the trail.
Shortly after getting a fire started outside to clear up some garbage wood and snags, I noticed what appeared to be a small propane canister at the base of it. The thing had been tossed there, covered with snow, and only reappeared as the flames melted through the snow. Were they empties? No way to tell. If a full one went off with me standing there poking it, no more cosmo! So I got back to safe range and nailed it with my M-39 Mosin. No explosion
See--a gun is a tool
At one point in late November a deep cold came down the Susitna valley and dropped the temp to 40 below zero. I was away, and my roommate was stranded there with a propane heater that stopped working at twenty below. To summon help, she was able to cap off a series of three shot groups. The neighbor came and she survived.
During a very wet blizzard one birch tree started bending further and further over. Before it could snap and fall on the boxes below (and possibly someone walking under it), I cleared the area and popped it low in the trunk with a low-recoil 12 ga. slug. The snow load instantly fell to the ground with a *thuwmp* and the tree sprung upright again.
I recently found that a small tree had snapped and fallen across the generator's little shed/box. The base of the tree was about seven feet away under a very deep berm of snow, and the snag was still pretty well attached and could not be removed. COuldn't get in with an axe without trying to walk through the berm and I had just my street shoes on. What to do? Pulled out my Walther PP and nailed the base of the snag with two Winchester silvertips. Snag broke loose, and I carried it off without leaving the trail.
Shortly after getting a fire started outside to clear up some garbage wood and snags, I noticed what appeared to be a small propane canister at the base of it. The thing had been tossed there, covered with snow, and only reappeared as the flames melted through the snow. Were they empties? No way to tell. If a full one went off with me standing there poking it, no more cosmo! So I got back to safe range and nailed it with my M-39 Mosin. No explosion
See--a gun is a tool
