Chuck
Thanks , will have to use it a few times to decide if I like this idea better than the tensioner , the tensioner was one of the ideas I really liked on the Expedition ,
I should be getting lots of chances to try it out this year , after my last trip to Longreach I've decided that I'm going to try and do things a little different this year , there hasn't been too many camping , paddling or fishing trips this last year , I've been too engrossed in projects around the house and also with building my brothers house to get in enough of the things that make it all worth while , it's my fault , my schedule is self imposed and in reality I can take time off for fishing and paddling any time I want , but when I start a project all I can think of is getting it done so I can see the finished result , but because I'm not as fit and agile as I used to be and also because my back is getting worse all the time , also my own fault according to my doctors , they reckon I don't take enough time for any thing to heal , I seem to be having way too much down time where all I can do is lay flat on my back and take pain killers and muscle relaxants and that just isn't productive in any way ,
I haven't picked up a paddle or shot my bow for about three months at doctors orders , he reckoned that three months was the minimum needed to let the damaged tendon in my shoulder , finger and wrist heal ,
When my wife isn't here I tend to start work at 6.00am and work through until 7.00pm only stopping for a half hour lunch break , this year I'm going to start work at 6.00 am but knock off at 1.00pm and do things like a little afternoon fishing , a little paddling or maybe making up some new lures or such or maybe just shoot my bows but what ever , hell or high water I'm going to put aside one full day a week just for fishing , I'm going to work smarter , use machinery where I can instead of just dead lifting as I do now .
It all sort of come to a head last week , went out to Longreach last week with my wife , Tuesday morning I went out mates property , had a yarn and a cup of tea and talked about wild pigs , rifles and such , I said I'd have a drive around some of the dams and check for pig sign , seeing as how it was a bit warm [ about 110*f ] we thought the pigs would be laid up in the shade close to water , just before I went to head off I asked the mate what he was going to do that day , he said that he was going to load up some bails of wool and take them into town , I asked if he had any one to help him and he said no , so I offered to help , probably not the best idea I had as I'd put my back out bad the week before and was only just back off the painkillers the day before , I felt my back slip as I climbed up into the cab of his truck to go around to the shearing shed , I felt it pop properly when I pulled the first bail out of the stack with my wool hook , I was able to finish loading all 27 bails but by the time I was finished I was hurting and was only able to check one dam for pig sign on the way out and even then was stiffening up and it was hard for me to get out and open the gates , got back to the motel and took 5 minutes to get out of the car , got into the shower and then on to the bed and that was pretty much where I stayed until Friday morning when we drove home , as I was laying there for those days I realized that I'd only had one day in the last 4 weeks where I could bend down to put my trousers and under pants on like a normal person and not use a long handled hook like I normally do , that was sort of a wake up call
David
His campsite was nice and dry and everything in it , including three visitors when that storm , rain and wind hit us. It was one nice sanctuary during the storm as the temperature dropped along with a lot of rain.