Out for the first day of hooter hunting this year.  When I got to th parking spot, I could hear a few birds hooting on hillside across the creek.  I shouldered my pack with .22 over .20 ga broken down and in the pack, along with some granola bars, a water bottle, cell phone, vhf radio, spot, lighter and space blanket.  I soon realized I forgot the walking sticks I’d garage saled a few months ago.   Across the muskeg, then across the creek and back up the opposite hill side.  I was hoping there might be a bird in low land but no luck.  I headed for the nearest bird up the hillside.  I probably took about an hour to  1.5 hours to reach the first bird.  It looked like an easy set up.  Trees on a steep slope where I would be able to climb above the trees and see the bird.  Two hours later and I didn’t even know what tree the bird was in.  About 8 trees were jammed together, and the biggest tree I couldn’t see the upper reaches.  I’m guessing that was where the bird was.  At the time, I could hear one bird above this one, and one a little down hill and across a big snow chute.  So I climbed up to the upper bird. When I got up there I realized it might have been the highest up I’d ever been on this hill side.  As I honed in on the group of trees, I entered the group of trees.  The trees weren’t tall and it was very steep and I was thinking I might almost be nose to nose with the bird before I saw him.  I looked to my right, and there was the bird.  About 20 feet away.  Maybe 5 feet above eye level.  I was able to put a tree between me and the bird, and I sat down, put the gun together, and put in a .20 ga low brass skeet load.  When I was ready, I laid back and moved to the side of the tree between us and didn’t see the bird for a few seconds.  Then there he was.   A little higher up than I was looking.  He hadn’t budged.  I took him, and he cartwheeled down into a patch of snow.  I put my gear back in the pack, then followed the feathers and blood down to find the bird piled up under a log.  I moved further down hill to a little patch of snow, dressed the bird, filled the cavity with  snow, then put the bird in a shopping bag, and filled another shopping bag with snow and put the bird in that snow.   I could hear the bird I left hooting and was back down to the trees in about five minutes.  I laid down in places and stared up through the trees.  Then the bird stopped hooting. I never heard the bird across the chute hoot again after I’d gone uphill.  I hooted a few times and got the bird to hoot back a few times.   Then it just shut up.  All the birds did, it seemed.  I knew he was still up there somewhere and probably looked for another hour and called it quits.   Ooo.  My knees are stiff on the down hill climbs.  I’d popped a couple ibuprofen before the trek down and that helped.  I thought I might hear some other birds I could go for but did not.  I did hear one distant shot gun blast so someone else was on to some hooting birds further up the valley. A good way to start hooter season.   

I drove up to the highest point you can drive around Juneau after work this evening to listen.  Were they there yet?  I parked in my familiar spot.  Shut off the engine.  And got out of the truck and stood in front of it.  What was that? Yep.  That’s them.  Hooters.  None right close, but certainly they are hooting.  It turned on a switch.  Turned my mood instantly to reallyogood.  I would be back in the morning with my pack and shot gun ready for a full day of hiking.  Some people need to go to Mexico or Arizona or Florida for spring break.  Me.  I just need to go hooter hunting.  I am easy to please.

Got another load of firewood spruce branches and started bucking them up with an electric chain saw I’d garage saled but never used and it was just the ticket.  Then got the studded tires off the truck.  Can’t believe I lived 50 years without an electric impact wrench.  Now the 8 fine-threaded lugs per tire aren’t such a chore anymore.  Glad I got a few chores done, too.  Just got word from my hooter hunting friend Leon that the hooters are ahooting’.  That means all other chores like wood cutting are officially postponed till May 15 or the freezer is full, which ever comes first.

Went garage saling today.  Got a pair of Carharts overhauls that I wore the rest of the day for $1.  The neighbor down the road who I got the 2+ loads last on Friday emailed and said to come for another, which I did at mid-day.  I’ve been wanting to pickle some fiddle heads, so I got out all the fiddle heads and devils club buds to pickle, and a bag of blue huckleberries to make a pie for a brunch tomorrow.  I put the frozen berries in a pot on the woodstove to simmer and the fiddleheads in some water to thaw.  I added flour and sugar to the berries after they simmered, and poured into a shortbread crust, then put it outside in on the grill under the hood to cool.  After reading the recipe for the pickling, I ran to the store to get salt, mustard seed, and dill seed.  I filled the jars with fiddleheads, made the pickling liquid, added the mustard and dill seeds, a clove of garlic and a hot pepper to the fiddleheads, poured in the pickling liquid of vinegar, water, salt and pickling spices, and put on the lids and rings.  I thought the jars might be too full, but put it all in anyway.  About 2/3 of the jars sealed, but a third looked overfull and did not, so I took a little out of each of the jars and put into a fresh jar, and redid those in the boiling bath.   

So, there was a 40ish year old big bruiser of a sears 20 gallon air compressor here on Craigslist for $100.  The last 2 I got on CL didn’t last all that long, so I didn’t want to pay $100.  After it was still there a month later, I offered $50 and the seller was happy to get rid of it.  It came with his house and he already had others.  It looked in good shape and I was excited to try it out.  That was on Friday. So I get home and want to try my new used compressor.  When I tried to plug it in, I noticed it had a plug with one of the flat blades at 90 degrees to the other.  Oh well, I’ll have to change the plug end. On Saturday, Jeff and Teri picked me up  to garage sale.  At the first one was exactly the same big Sears air compressor, only with a plug with the flat blades parallel to each other.  That would plug right into any modern 110 V outlet.  And it was only $30 and in a little better shape than the one I had bought for $50.  There was a second smaller compressor there, too, for $40.  Next garage sale – of course, another air compressor! But I figured I already had mine.  I think we saw an air compressor at a third garage sale, too. I just thought mine had an old style plug, so I cut it off and put a standard 110 V plug I bought for $5.00 at the hardware store – with the flat blades parallel to each other.  I plugged it in, and the motor labored for a short time and slowly quit as if running out of gas.  I read some of the text on the motor cover, and it said one reason the motor wouldn’t run right was if the 220 V motor was only getting 110 V.  It was a 220 V motor!  I read through the manual, and sure enough, there were several models made.  Some 110 and some 220. So, I pull out my instant repair manual – You Tube – and look up how to put in a 220 circuit.   When I wired the garage, my good friend Leon advised me to run 2, 110 wires up to the garage so I could run 110 as normal but have the option to run 220 if I needed to.  That advice was about to pay off. Turns out, adding a 220V circuit is a piece of cake.  I bought a double 20 a breaker, a replacement end to change the compressor motor cord back to the one I’d cut,  off, and an outlet box and outlet.  I had a chunk of 2-12 conduit wiring from some flourescent lights in the garage, so that completed the parts list.  $35 dollars later, I’m back in business with a new 220 volt outlet and the air compressor charged right up. But then I heard a hiss after it reached pressure and shut off.  It was the drain valve.  Back to the internet,where I found they are easy to replace.  I ended up just putting on a 1/4 inch quick connect valve that I had laying around so no futher expense. So, paid about three times as much as I could have got it had I waited a day. But now I know how to wire a 220 V outlet from the fuse box, know what a 220 V cord end looks like, and how to change out the drain valve on a compressor.  I say money well spent.

It’s like May here these days.  Beautiful mostly dry weather with a  breeze to dry things even more.  The huckleberries are budding or even have that little hollow bell hanging off them now.  Samuel Conteh and I went to the cabin to check the crab pots.  We’d been getting a few tanner crab so I took 2 other pots to set, and of course this time all we got were little king crab which Samuel was sad to see tossed back into the sea.  People are now putting up little “street” signs on our island, and one has a “private” sign.  Very sad to see all this, but so it goes.   The canvas cover on the boat had been leaking so I put some of the  flexsteel paint I got at recycle on it.  Seems to be bonding will and I think it’s gonna seal it up nice. A friend had some old firewood logs that needed to go so I helped another friend fill his available space and got a load and a half to start refilling mine, too.  I got to try out my new used Stihl 034 saw.   Never used a 28 inch bar, and as soon as I was an inch or two down, it started to bind.  I had to put a wedge in to keep it from pinching.  We figured out part of it was a dull chain, and Matt’s sharpening helped alot.  I called my brother – a former logger- and asked him about  the pinching and he said it’s gonna happen like that if the diameter you are cutting is about as wide as your saw.  So, learned something new.  And a beautiful day to cut.  The kids of the man we are cutting for always seem to be outside playing and that’s so good to see.