Crystal River and Completed Arrows

I finally finished constructing the arrows that I'm planning to use for the Traditional Bowhunters shoot and other 3-D shoots on Sorondil-Telcontar (my Chek-Mate recurve). The points were rather fun to put on, aside from my fear of setting the place on fire because of residual methyl-ethyl-ketone fumes. It took a fair amount of effort to make sure they didn't come off while they were cooling down and I got a small cutting board dedicated for the very purpose of making sure the points stayed on until the bond between the point and shaft was set. All in all, I think these arrows should fly fairly nicely -- I spin-tested them again after adding the points and they were still spinning nicely, indicating good balance and straightness. The real test, of course, will be when I shoot them in the morning at the range.



This was a golden-hooded night heron that I got to approach when I was hiking out at Crystal River and ran into a group from the Audoubon society that was doing diversity and abundance censuses in the area. The camera really didn't do this bird justice because when the light strikes the head feathers at the right angle, it looks iridescent gold, even in the immature ones.



At the Withalacoochee River, I had an up-close and personal encounter with a pelican with the help of a family that was out fishing. I've never seen a pelican that close before and I was tempted to approach it, but with my luck, I'd probably get attacked or worse. The family actually offered it a fish they had caught and it was pretty aggressive about taking the fish, so I decided to play it safe, although pelicans don't have any obviously dangerous attacks like parrots. Of all birds, I have to honestly admit that I'm most afraid of getting into a fight with a parrot because for their size, they can do some serious damage with their beaks. I know someone who lost a finger to a cockatoo once and I know another person who had to go to the ER to get their nose fixed after a cockatiel (a fairly small, docile member of the parrot family) took a good bite out of it.

All in all, it was worth the trip out to Ingliss/Yankeetown/Crystal River to do a bit of exploring! Next time, I'm going to be better prepared with more food and water so I can take some of the more exciting hikes.

Nearly Forgot...

I also have a revised version of "Whispers From Afar" posted. More on the Dunheasa series once I'm done building this set of arrows and actually have something to post!

Fletching...

Fletching is probably the most time-consuming step, but it's also my favorite in an oddly relaxing sort of way. Just to give an idea of the time it takes to do a decent job of fletching, it usually takes about 5-7 minutes for the glue to dry enough for me to not be afraid to move to the next feather -- with 3 feathers on each arrow for 24 arrows, this process does take a while! Also, I have to take frequent stops to remove any accumulated glue residues from my Bitzenburger clamp to make sure I'm not going to glue a feather to the clamp or leave a bunch of glue blobs on my arrow. This time around, I decided to go with a black/white color scheme and I also used the reflective adhesive cap wraps to accent my arrows. Besides making it almost impossible to lose my arrows under just about any lighting condition, it also makes gluing the feathers on a lot easier. I've had problems in the past with chemical incompatibilities between the glue and the surface and the easiest solution has been to use these nice cap wraps. Right now, I'm more concerned about being able to retrieve my arrows and identifying them than producing works of art, although I have to admit, for my first time going all-out with paint, stain and sealant, it looks pretty good. I'm also hoping they'll also fly really well!

I still have to add the points onto the arrows but that's going to have to wait until the morning when all of the methyl-ethyl-ketone fumes have gone away so I don't blow myself up in a spectacular fireball. Wooden arrows are so much more rewarding than carbons in terms of construction... although the carbons provide much more instant gratification!

Perspective at the 80 Yard Marker...

The bottom picture is what I see at the 80 yard marker without my the magnifier on my scope. The top picture is a bit closer to what I see with the scope -- my camera can go up to a 2.5x zoom, my scope is a 5x zoom. Keeping my aim steady (in my eyes) is pretty darned challenging when I'm trying to aim at something that looks like the size of an aspirin!

Wooden Arrows

As of Wednesday night, I started building wooden arrows for the first time in several times after realizing that wooden arrows for my traditional bows are a lot more fulfilling, even if the carbon arrows are a lot more consistent and easier to build. On Wednesday and early Thursday (no pictures, sorry), I straightened out the shafts, which is a very involved process that's more than worth the effort. Once I straightened the arrows, I decided to stain the arrows grey to give them a bit more character. Methyl ethyl ketone is a stinky solvent!!! The stain didn't get in uniformly, but it did get in well enough to give them a shadowy grey cast. Once I stained them (3 times by wiping the stain in with some rags) and letting them dry overnight, I decided to trim the arrows from 32" to 29" to get the spine to match my bow and points. Once I trimmed the arrows, I tapered the nock end so I could get some measurements for cresting (painting). Again, methyl ethyl ketone stinks!!! Oh, every time I reach a stinky step, I either went outside to do it (staining) or thanks to the rain, I opened up my windows (cresting).

Remaining steps:
-- Sealing the arrows with a polyurethane-like material (VERY stinky step that I have to do outside when it's dry)
-- Tapering the point end of the arrow
-- Final straightening
-- Glue nock (grey)
-- Add fletching (black and white color scheme this time)
-- Glue points (125 grain field points)
-- Go shooting!

80-70-60-50 Field Walkup

This has to have been one of my best rounds ever... Not a perfect 20 (got a 1X 19) but given the distance, I was extremely excited. My first shot was from 80 yards, which is a bit beyond my sight tape and then the rest of the shots were from 70, 60, and 50 yards respectively. The outlier was from the 50 yard line, where my arm was just getting a bit tired and I dropped my shot. The one in the perfect center was from 70 yards. I have to admit, having a pair of binoculars and taking the time to determine how much of a correction I have to apply to my sight at a given distance was more than worth the effort! I can't wait to get a sight tape that matches my draw weight and arrows so I don't have to spend as much time coming up with correction factors... and I can't wait to get my draw weight up to about 47-48 lbs so I can actually aim for the 80 yards without having to set the sight for 70 yards (to allow for fletching clearance) and hope that my estimates were correct.

Now all I have to keep doing is see if I can get more 19s and 20s by working on my form and aim, although having mostly 17s and 18s is a good start! My lowest score today: 15 at a field target where I had a lot of glare and unusually aggressive insects that weren't bothered by my insect repellent. Highest score today: 20 at a fairly up-close hunter-round target.

Accuracy and Precision Obsession

Just to give you an idea of the kind of precision and accuracy I'm trying for, the vane on the arrow is 1 3/4 inches long. I'm trying to get as many of my arrows within a circle with that diameter. The diameter of the X ring is about 7/8 inches. This target I was using is designated for 20-35 feet. I was shooting from 60 feet back. I'm still trying to see if I can use that center X ring as my standard -- I've seen people get all of their arrows in there from 30 yards and more, so what's holding me back from attempting to do this at 20 yards? An actual 5-spot target for the 300 has an X ring diameter of 1 5/8 inches and the whole 5 ring is 3 1/8 inches in diameter, by the way.

Shooting two 300 rounds earlier today was pretty mentally and physically trying, but it was worth trying to see how accurately and precisely I could place my shots... which in turn is a reflection of my form and to a lesser extent, my ability to actually aim. The Equalizer gets pretty darned heavy by the last round... and 120 arrows on the Equalizer at only 41 lbs under mock 300 conditions takes more out of me than about 250 shots on my traditional at about the same draw weight!

300

I survived my first 300 today. Basically the 300 is 12 rounds of 5 arrows each for a maximum of 300 points with the inner white ring as 5 points, first black ring as 4 points, and second black ring as 3 points, and of course, anything in that inner white circle is an X. I didn't do too well, but then again, considering I haven't shot compound for 2 weeks and I went in slightly tenderized from what might've been a bit too aggressive practice yesterday. Overall, my score was 261 with 17 X's, which makes for a decent baseline but one where I know I can do much better.

Why did I attempt the 300? It's another common style of archery competition and it's a good one for accuracy/precision drills, whether I do the single target or the five spot version. It's also great for building up stamina, which I'm still a bit short on with the compound. Sixty shots in bursts of five are very easy physically with my short recurve, but the real challenge is remaining mentally focused. With the compound, I also have the added physical challenge of actually holding the bow steady in my hand on top of focusing on those little dots. I personally like the single target myself because I'm still working on consistency, but my coach had me shoot the five spot to get me used to the more aggressive competition. He completely destroyed the centre on the single target... I aspire to do that too soon!

Raptors...

I got really fed up with being cooped up indoors so I finally took my chances (it was a warm day!) and went out to the range. It was either that or destroy another wall in my apartment or worse. I took Sorondil-Telcontar (the Chek-Mate Hunter I recurve) and Hawk-Wing (the Little Hawk longbow... finally "officially" gave it a name besides "Forgiveness") with me to see which one I want to use for this upcoming year for my competitions. My verdict: I think I prefer Sorondil-Telcontar because it's easier to transport and it's easier for me to aim but Hawk-Wing might be better for a really long tournament because it's a lot more forgiving, which is critical for when I'm tired.

I also saw a very beautiful hawk at the range. I couldn't identify the species, but it was a fairly large one that kept eyeing me and keening at me. I suspect I was probably getting on its nerves by being in its territory, but I want to think that maybe it was trying to tell me something. Of all birds, the most beautiful in my book are the raptors -- hawks, eagles, and falcons. I did get a picture of it, but my camera isn't all that good for long distance and I didn't want to approach too closely knowing what an angry hawk can do to someone with their talons and beak... plus I didn't want to bother it more than I had to. The hawk kept eyeing me and I could just feel it just look straight through me -- not many animals will give me that experience of making me realize that there's more than what meets the human eye. I've seen my fair share of wildlife up close and personal, but this hawk really had me wondering if it knew secrets that were beyond human understanding and what it saw in me. Raptors may not necessarily be among the most intelligent of birds by human standards, but they do have that intense gaze that gives them a strange depth of character and a sense of being equals with humans.

Kick-Butt Meatloaf

Still sick, but getting ready to resume my natural functioning soon!

One thing I've been doing while being effectively cooped up indoors is cooking stuff that I normally wouldn't be inclined to cook because I'm too fidgety and have too many other things to do outside. My most recent conquest: meatloaf. Here's what I did to make myself some pretty decent meatloaf that'll probably last me about 3-4 days. It is a bit on the dry side, but the BBQ sauce, vegetables and mashed crackers do hold it together nicely.

Ingredients:
2 large chopped sweet yellow onions
3/4 lb chopped celery
1/2 lb chopped carrots
1/3 box of multi-grain crackers
2 lbs lean ground turkey
2/3 bottle Hickory smoke-flavored BBQ sauce
3 tablespoons of garlic paste
canola oil
black pepper (to taste)
cayenne pepper (to taste)
paprika (to taste)

Pre-heat oven to 350 F. Chop up onions and sautee them in canola oil until tender. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl until it's as homogeneous as ground meat and coarsely chopped veggies and cracker bits can be. Once it's homogeneous, put in a large baking pan (forgot the dimensions, think it's 13x9) and it's probably a good idea to lightly grease it to avoid having stuff stuck onto the pan. [Note: I basted the meatloaf before putting it into the oven, I recommend waiting until the last 15-20 minutes unless you like carbonized crusts on top]. Bake for about 1 hour 45 minutes, basting the top of the meatloaf with any remaining BBQ sauce or other tomato-based sauce.

Survived First Semester at UF

I just turned in my last final and I'm just waiting for my cough medicine to take effect before I attempt to finally catch up on sleep. I can't wait to let my body and mind fully recover so I can go back to functioning (read: shooting random dots, biking, and moving forward on my research again).

Telcontar FAQ 2/n

First note: I've got final projects and a pretty hefty cold bug that's slowing me down... so I haven't been able to do my natural activity of shooting at random things for a few days (ie, since Saturday afternoon)... and it's making me somewhat batty to say the least. Let's just say the TIN model of my brain is moving towards the need for finer resolution data points...

Here's a few more questions I've gotten (for some reason it's always either private e-mail or on the phone)

Q: What do the students' alternate names signify?
A: Ivan --> Orozslan (lion), Vincent --> Eol Tinuvion (Eol is the name of a dark elf in the Silmarillion, Tinuvion translates to "son of the twilight" or "male nightingale"), Tarathorn --> Imladrien (child of the valley).

Q: What language(s) were you tinkering with this time?
A: Mostly Tolkien's Elvish, but also some Hungarian, Scots & Irish Gaelic, and Finnish.

Q: Are there any maps of the Crossroads, Dunheasa, Mag-na-Oige, etc?
A: In my mind and in very rough sketches. I might post them eventually once I actually get them to a non-embarassing quality.

I'll answer more questions in the next installment once I get through this bug and finals.

Telcontar FAQ 1/n

I've been getting some questions about Telcontar Restored... here's some of the more common ones I've gotten so far... Oh and by the way, I've got the Dunheasa link on my webpage up.

Q: Are Kestrel and Soronthrel (or Captain Greywolf) the same person?
A: No. Kestrel is a whole different creature whose story I'm still working on even after nearly 6 years. She's also completely unrelated to Captain Greywolf. The common threads between Kestrel, Soronthrel and Captain Greywolf are that they're academics who got tangled up with Cylithera Eaglestrike and all handled the situation in different ways.

Q: Do the students (Vincent, Ivan, and Tarathorn) remember what happened to them at the Crossroads and beyond?
A: Yes and no. I'll let you ponder over that one before I write up the next part.

Q: Have you actually performed any of the songs that the Geeksters wrote?
A: Only one of their songs. I don't have the vocal range or the improvisational skills quite yet to fully flesh out their songs. I had a demo of one of them but I lost it.

There's a lot more questions but I'm exhausted and the cold medication is finally kicking in so I can actually sleep at last!