We're having a great time at Blogorado - so much so that I haven't had time or inclination to blog! We're a smaller group this year, because a number of our regulars live in states that would force them to quarantine themselves (thanks to COVID-19 regulations) when they got back, and that would disrupt their jobs and their income; so, sadly, they can only be with us in spirit this year. That's OK. We've kept their places warm for next year.
We've done very little shooting thus far. For most of us, 2020 has been a very bad year, and we badly need to sit back, relax and cheer ourselves up in the company of our "tribe", as we refer to ourselves. So far, that's meant a lot of good food, and much sitting around and chatting, catching up with each other's news. Many of us will head for our impromptu shooting range on Saturday morning, to make up for lost rounds. (Some have already been shooting at a local prairie dog colony near our hosts' farmhouse, to the detriment of the rodent population.)
A commenter noted earlier, "Just to be clear - you're meeting at a secret location with other bloggers but you don't necessarily want your readers to know where it is. That about right?" Yes, but not exactly. From its beginning back in 2009, Blogorado has been an invitation-only event. We started as a small group of bloggers who all knew each other, either in meatspace and/or cyberspace, and the parents of the lady who had the idea for Blogorado agreed that a group like that were welcome to use their farm for the gathering. However, a number of our readers wanted to come as well, without being invited - and that was a no-no for the Farm Family, partly for reasons of privacy, partly because of legal liability issues. If you have a lot of people firing thousands of rounds over a weekend in close proximity to each other, accidents can happen. The FarmFam trust those of us whom they know are well-trained and experienced with firearms not to make such mistakes, but they can't be sure that others are as safe. Therefore, at the request of our hosts, we don't reveal the exact location of Blogorado, to avoid such complications.
Another complication this year has been the extreme drought that's ravaging the southern Plains states. The ground is tinder-dry, and fire is an extreme hazard - so much so that FarmFam have a pickup on standby at our shooting range, with a large tank of water in the back, just in case a ricochet might start a grass fire. (That's happened twice at previous Blogorado gatherings, so we're well aware of the danger.) In current conditions, a grass fire could get out of hand in no time at all, so the water will help put it out before things get difficult. Local firefighters have no sympathy at all for idiots who start fires, accidentally or otherwise! The air is already laden with smoke and particulates from the big wildfires ranging in and west of the Rocky Mountains - you can't see blue sky at all, only a dingy gray-white haze overhead. It makes breathing difficult sometimes. Given that very visible warning, we're all being extremely careful.
In a short while, we'll gather for breakfast at our usual hangout, the Obligatory Cow Reference (a restaurant dubbed that by one of our number some years ago, because of its name); then it's off to the shooting range to burn up large quantities of ammunition (without, of course, doing the same to the range itself!). I probably won't put up another blog post today, but I'll see about tomorrow. Miss D. and I will be heading for Amarillo on Sunday, to meet up with friend, fellow blogger and fellow author Alma Boykin for a long-overdue rendezvous. We should be back home on Monday, and regular blogging will resume (God willing) on Tuesday.
Take care, y'all, and say a prayer for us for traveling mercies. Thanks.
Peter
5 comments:
Keeping an invitation gathering private is only sensible. Good on you.
About prairie dogs, I reload with a few friends one of whom takes occasional trips to South Dakota for a dog shoot. Uses a heavy barrel AR in .223 Wylde out to 400 yards, and a bolt action 6mm Creedmoor for measured shots out to 800 yards.
Mentioned this to a few friends and one of them got all shirty about killing harmless animals for sport instead of food. I had to explain that the ranchers welcome my friend with open arms. Were he and a few others not to come and thin down the population the ranchers would be forced to resort to poisons to prevent the critters from tearing up the range with leg breaking burrows, threatening their livestock.
And those poisons represent a threat to predators and raptors such as hawks and eagles. Instead those animals and birds eat well off the prairie dogs shot.
As for our arrangement, Friend and I work up loads together, he provides components, and I provide the equipment. He gets to shoot and every so often he drops off a grocery bag full of processed game meat for my freezer. You see he doesn't just shoot prairie dogs, he also does a big game hunt every so often. I've come to appreciate how much tastier ground Bison and Elk are than store bought hamburger.
Hey Peter;
Like Uncle Lar said "it is smart to keep it Invite only, you invite who you know. It is prudent that way. As far as the ethics of popping prairie dogs, they are like coathangers, they multiply rapidly and are hazard to livestock and horses, especially legs, so y'all are doing a "public service." Have fun and hanging with friends in "meatspace" is a good thing, for you know our time here is finite and it is to be treasured.
We all need our tribes, in these troubled times... enjoy the fellowship, and safe journeys!
Ah, my people.
"Hey! There's a bunch of 9mm at (Farm Supply Store) for (reasonable price)!"
"Yay!"
"Oooh!"
"Oh, I gotta get that... wait, I don't own anything in 9mm."
"Trade goods!"
"Yeah!"
Moo.
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