More TV than Movies

Rogue  season 1

Staring Thandie Newton, this Movie Channel original held its own. It took most of the first episode to wrap my head around the sultry Dame Vaco as a "gritty undercover cop", really wanted to see her smoldering eye liner...  ...that said, characters are set up quickly, and the story draws you in to care about what will happen next. 

One or two strong supporting roles, at least as many really flimsy ones too. Kavan Smith plays the non dimensional pointless husband of Newton's Grace Travis. Wow, not only is he as convincing as a bag of crap, he manages to draw out the worst acting/over acting from everyone around him. 

Conversely, anyone playing a character with the last name Laszlo does a pretty convincing job of it. Not afraid to whack an important player just to twist the plot, Rogue is worth a look. The fix is in place for season 2, should be great. 

Rome  season 2

Free to take even more liberties now the play "Caesar" is over, season two carries us toward a series wrap up that doesn't disappoint. Characters from season one are slightly more flawed, believable, and endearing. 

SoA  season 6

Man, please.  Can we possibly cram more montage scenes into so few shows?  Did you just get tired of writing the monotonous dialog and decide to go without?  Go make a friggin rock opra - like Cop Rock maybe. 

If anyone knows where I can find a by-episode or by-character body count for SOA, I'd love to see it. I'm sorry, I know there are people who live outside the law - but leaving a trail of corpses this wide is going to get on someone's radar. 

The best thing about season 6?  They finally killed off the most (one of the most) annoying cast members. Halalooya.

Dead Set

You'll be surprised to learn that I have a ridiculously extensive collection of zombie movies and TV shows. Zombie movies were the only thing that ever gave me bad dreams as a kid - well, the only form of entertainment to do so anyway. So there is a tendency to gut one out now and then just to see if I can handle it. 

They say that zombie movies reflect the "political mood of the nation", I think the allure is much simpler. In many movies you see extraordinary people in extraordinary situations (action heros, super cops, the unselfish unrequited love, etc...). In zombie flicks you see basically ordinary people (with defined roles and no back story needed) in horrific situations. It's easy to think "I would do this", and "I'd find one of those", and put yourself into the picture. There are always characters who do stupid stuff (and get eaten) so you can think "that was stupid, I wouldn't have done that".

So the premise of Dead Set is that a typical inexplicable zombie outbreak engulfs the UK - while the cast of the Big Brother reality show goes on unknowingly. So they make the basis of the survivors cadre. 

This is 5 shows about 23 min each, and plays like a made for TV movie. No huge surprises, though it ends predictably it also ends very abruptly. 

Enemies Closer

After "6 Bullets" I thought "I must have judged JCVD unfairly, maybe his movies are worth while". 10 minutes into "Enemies Closer" and I was sure my original hypothesis was correct. This guy is the ultimate magnet for craptastic writing and mediocre acting. 

BINGE WATCH!!   Seasons 1, 2, and 3 of Entourage

Too much time at the lake house. 

Dinner Time

Pork loin, deer loin, peas with bacon fat, and diced potatoes, carrots, and celery with butter and season salt in the foil pouch.

We hiked a couple miles around the property today and need the calories!

A few turkeys in the snow

have had as many as 18 at once, but can't find that video at the moment...

They are hilarious to watch.

Water Works

Back at the cabin, and the water works. Reassembled the filter, pumped about 100 gallons over to the main tank, and it looks like we're good to go.

Genny fired too. Looks like it was just cold enough long enough to freeze the propane line feeding the genny.  Still runs like crap, but at least we have it if we need it.

Things will be in motion tomorrow, and should be getting the new roof on during the following two or three days.

Getting back

Ran up to the cabin Thursday for a 24 hour hunting expedition. Didn't want to deal with water and power, broken this and fixing that.

It was sunny and chilly when I arrived, temp on the left is the INSIDE temp. Fired up the pellet stove and propane heater, bundled up and headed to the blind. Sat out there for 4+ hours waiting on turkey. No go.

Went inside to warm up and eat some hot food. Back out around 6:30 in hopes of getting a deer. Had about a half moon on snow covered ground. Should be good enough to see.

It was a long wait. I have a great looking buck, maybe 8 points, coming in around 4 am. But I know realistically that I probably won't be able to get up to get after him. So set my sights on the two bigger does coming in a little after 10 pm.

You hear a lot of stuff in the blind, and everything seems amplified. You'll swear there is "big game" coming through the brush. Grunting, snorting, crashing along...  ...usually turns out to be a squirrel. More than once I've thought "oh my god, what the heck is that?" after hearing some god awful noise in the distance. After a couple more times I realize it's just my stomach.

But I checked the time around 9:15 and guessed it was getting to about 10. When I heard a little bleat there was no question.  "Oh, my does are here."  Quick glance out the blind while reaching for the shotgun, they were just walking in.

Now the blind is a bit awkward. The hole they provide to shoot out of is too high to use from a sitting position, and far too low to fire while standing. It's in the middle of the wall (left to right), so you have to move to one side to shoot in the opposite direction.

Add to that, I'm using my beloved Baikal 12 gauge - which I bought as a goose gun. That long barrel needs to be a foot out the window.

I swing around and get a clean bead on the bigger doe, slap the trigger from my hunched over bent leg position. I see her twist and lay on her side as I stumble backward and try not to fall on my ass.

She lifted her head once, and she was done.

I LIKE deer hunting with buckshot. No chasing down animals that can make 50+ yards after a heart shot from a rifle or a crossbow. Literally knock them down. With a good shot, they're not getting back up.

Was up til 2 am dressing her out.  She was somewhere over 150 pounds on the ground, I couldn't counterweight her with my own weight - maybe 170 bundled up. Used the tow strap and the truck to get her in the air.

Sherri is definitely a better butcher than I. I'm too worried about trimming every hint of silver skin and saving every morsel of meat. She gets in there and gets it done.

TV and Movies

Pawn   
     I tried to find more information on the background of this movie. The description said it was about the robbery of a pawn shop gone bad. But it had nothing to do with a pawn shop - it was about robbing a safe in the back of a diner.
     Michael Chiklis with a Manchester accent what's odd, but he pulled it off.   Strange movie, probably worth watching. 

Into the Blue   
     Ok, for guys reading this, I only need to say four words:  JESSICA ALBA UNDER WATER.  Every bit as glorious as you had hoped.     
      For everyone else, it's an interesting story line, sometimes falling into the Hollywood pitfalls you expect. But there are a few good twists, and Jessica Alba under water. 

Idiocracy
     Haven't watched this for years. I love the premise that stupid people breed too much, smart people not enough,  and we end up with a future where we can't solve the basic problems in life. Not too much of a stretch really.    It plays out well enough, the story struggles here or there,  but it gets the job done. 

Star Trek  The Beginning
     As much as I like Star Trek everything,  I always feel a bit cheated when movies (and the Enterprise series) play around with the time line. It makes me feel like I have to go back and watch everything else all over again to see how much it changed.    Just like sex and violence, I like to keep my Star Trek and time travel separate. 

-----------------     

     Along with original content coming out of the pay cable channels, many of the online streaming companies are putting out some interesting products. Netflix has "Orange is the New Black", Crackle has "Cleaners" and "The Unusuals", Hulu has "The Booth at the End" and others.  These are just samples, each has more than I can list here.
      Most of these have smaller budgets than their network brethren, far smaller budgets than the HBO and Cinemax behemoths - and it shows.   Some feel a bit like "place holders" to fill gaps in the actor's resumes - but that's ok too, because you get to see some medium-large names working on pet projects.     Look out for these "original content" productions. Might find a gem in the mix. A lot of these (like Crackle) are completely free. 

Gravity season 1   
       This is a Starz Channel production centered on Krysten Ritter. Other names listed for the show are "failure to fly" and "suicide for dummies,which are both more appropriate. Light fare that plods along ok, with a season opener and a season ending better than the season itself (just 10 episodes total).    
      Ritter, while good a what she does, seems terminally type cast as "the cute goth" practically reprising her role from Breaking Bad.  Remove heroine, add suicide, same girl. I think she could do more. 

Entourage season 8   
     The series ends eith a weepy eyed everything happy flare. You'll be "happy for them" as the cast heads off to the next part of their lives. 

Nikita season 1   
     Seems everything cool I remember from 3 seasons of Nikita happened in season 1.  I wanted to run through the series again before starting in on season 4, but now am wondering if it's worth the bother. 

Firefly   
     I watch this series once or twice a year, capped off with Serenity the movie. 

Riding the storm out. (Or not... )

Friday night I was able to get someone out to fix the generator. I had been after the authorized service dealer for months, but to no avail. So Friday morning, the genny took three tries to fire, then blew the air cleaner off and backfired 20-odd times.

I wrote the service dealer a letter, thanking them for nothing - around noon. Shock of shocks, they called me back and wanted to get a tech out the same day.

Sure enough, about 8pm, plowing up my hill - a heavy Chevy 4x4 with chains. Tech didn't have the info needed to take care of everything I needed, but he got the genny running smooth. We let it charge the batteries and wrapped things up for the night.

Saturday morning however, no water, frozen pipes. And the genny cranks but won't fire. 

Heater in the shed (where the water lives) is broke - well, propane line to it is broke and frozen...  ...same result. 

Though a bit smokey and delicious smelling, I fired the little propane grill hoping to gen enough heat to thaw things out. It was 48 in the shed at one point. Don't know if thawing out the shed will unfreeze all that needs to be, but might help keep fittings from breaking - and 400 gallons of water from dumping out. 

I was able to run my Raider all the way down and then make the mad dash back up with a running start. A very MAD dash.  But no way could I let it be known that a Chevy truck made it up the hill, and the Raider couldn't.

Stuff never really did thaw in the shed. Never did get the genny to fire.

Oh, the biggest ray of sunshine Saturday? Yeah, the sun was actually shining. Very unexpected, but very welcome.  Dug,  brushed, and scraped as much of the snow and ice as I could off the solar panels. Lo and behold we're charging batteries. 

Siphoned water for flushing and drinking.
Scraped more ice off the panels, but looks like the sun is done for the day.

Sunday morning, no running water, still no genny.  Really wishing I had stuck to the plan of dumping the pellet stove and putting in a wood burner. The stove is useless without backup power.  We're pretty much dead in the water up here.

I removed and drained the water filter, and used a small torch to melt the ice in yhe shutoff valve. Closed the main to the house.

It took some fanagling but I started pumping the 400 gallons out to the transport tank - that should be a nice block of ice when I go back. Probably should have just dumped it on the ground, but thought of that too late. Pumping the water out was the only way to ensure the shed didn't get flooded when things think about thawing out.

We sprung a leak on the low end of the bedroom roof. The snow freezes solid on the eaves, then as the snow above it melts, water is trapped in an ice lake on the roof. An hour or so chopping ice with the ax seemed to remedy most of the problem. I'm sure it froze up again and started leaking as soon as we turned our backs.

Shoveled the snow out of the Nissan and loaded up to leave. Crossed my fingers that the carport roof wouldn't collapse under the weight of the snow (it looks iffy), and that no other catastrophes would hit while we're away. 

One final frustration - while running around messing with hoses and pumps - a dozen (MASSIVE) wild turkeys wandering around. Too far away to shoot.

Today is Wednesday, already bored to death at the lake house. Aching to get back in the blind. Will likely go up tomorrow just to hunt, stay over night, see what happens.

It's official, I'm old.

The local hardware store chased me out yesterday and handed me a couple of calendars on the way out. One was houses and stuff, the other is "building babes".

Unfortunately all these girls look like children to me!  I'm kinda creeped out with these girls that look so young showing all that cleavage and skin. I got BOOTS older than these kids!

The to do list I've been working for the last month

To do

HUNT!
- make stand on top of shed
- sight in PSL with NVS

Find coon daggers - DONE
Find turkey call

DO:
Raider oil change - DONE
Kohler oil change
Paint propane tank - DONE
Clean up barrels and wood in yard - DONE
Fix bathroom ceiling - half DONE
Change door handle
Fix doggie door in battery box - DONE
Close small holes in shed - DONE
       (need screws from fence) - DONE
Calk S skirting

Deal With antifreeze barrel and
Clean out carport - DONE

- <<<<  can antifreeze be used for radiant heat in the shed?  Like a solar water heater??  ???!!  >>>>

Get 2x4s and fix trailer frame and tongue

Assemble chainsaw - DONE
- remove trees
- make smaller pieces
- FIRE

Get
- MORE MINUTES - DONE
- CORN - DONE
- Calk and calking gun for skirting - DONE
    and for holes in steel
- 2 new barrels - DONE

- get/paint/REPLACE SCREEN DOOR

Get rid of
- fridge - DONE
- diesel generator - DONE
- Hot water heater - KEEP
      <<<<  use with solar
       water heater to heat shed?  >>>>

Dismantle more fence - DONE for me!
- Thanks Mike!
17 good and 12 bad
Need at least 20 more

Clean up N side - DONE
- wood and barrels - DONE
- battery box - DONE
- rotten leaves etc - DONE

Skirt N side

WATER/FLUSH SYSTEM ON NORTH SIDE

Roof and potable water system for
   Western portion of cabin

Rig system to drop and secure solar panels

Google's Auto Awesome

I had ignored the auto backup for images when I connected the blog via Google+.  While trying to figure out how to turn off all the stupid email notifications, I stumbled across Auto Awesome.

It will take backed up pics with matching backgrounds and put them together in succession, and connect overlapping pictures into panoramas (amongst other things).  ...without being asked to do so!

Pretty cool.

Ridin' the Storm Out

Winter storm warning in effect, tonight's low is about the warmest we'll see for the next week or so.

We have guests coming in Friday, and I think we've convinced Sherri to ride out the storm here. Making a "challenge" of it.

Today we topped off the 400 gallon water tank. The hope is that we'll have enough warm mass to keep that end of the shed from freezing up.

Wood pellets and propane are ready to go. I finally got around to making space in the area between the two sheds to park the truck. That should help keep the ice off a little bit.

Will keep you posted on how well we handle the weather. The PPO lived up here full time, so I'm sure we'll be fine.

Back in Sherriland

Sherri caught her first fish ever. Unfortunately, she didn't pull in her jug line for 10 days...

I trapped my first coon.  If you happen to stumble upon this trap in your travels, possibly with a dried up coon skeleton attached, please mail it back to me.

Don't use your pocket knife when cutting up rat poison, use your dirtiest putty knife. You're less likely to use that for opening a banana or eating an apple.

Denim. Nature's way of ensuring wildlife sees you before you see them.

440 pounds of HEAT.

Just sick...

Whenever I'm in a blind or a stand I always think "what if I was here an hour earlier?" or "Yeah it's ocean dark out here, but if I just stick it out another half hour..."

Well, that one really hit home tonight. More than three hours in the blind, plenty warm enough, but but had to pee so bad I couldn't think straight. Finally decided to pack it in.

There is no quiet way out of the blind. Big plastic zippers holding taught fabric, "zzzrrrrrrowwwwwwzzzzzz" I step out, pull the guns through. "zzzrrrrrrowwwwwwzzzzzz" close it back up, head toward the house.   Hear a noise and freeze.

Just in time to hear clomping hooves and see just a white tail bounding away in the dark. 10 minutes longer in the blind, and I'd be slicing up venison right now.

So listening to coyotes all around respond to a locator howl, sitting on the front porch grilling store bought chicken.

Tastes like defeat. 

New blind is set

I picked up a couple of ground blinds on black Friday specials. One is a small 1-man pop-up, I haven't broken that one out yet. The other is a behemoth branded by Brotherhood. Big enough to stand up in, heck, big enough to live in.

I did my best to camo the blind in - by cutting some LFTs and piling them around the base. I tried to toss some on top too, but will have to tie them together to keep them up there.