oldfatslow

Tu tene eum procul; Ego curram ob auxilium!

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Off Season Doings

Early Teal is a month away and we've actually
done some stuff this off season to prepare.
Granted, we still haven't made a layout boat,
but we did burlap/paint Craig's Herters bwt
decoys and paint the Dawn Treader.

Here are some scenes from the decoys
(it only took us a year to take this project
from start to finish):

We had to clean and organize the
shed first.

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Then we got the decoys ready.

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I wasn't burlapping the coots, but they
really needed some work too.

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We put up a rack to hold our work.

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Then we got to cutting patterns for
both the top and bottom of the
decoys out of burlap.

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We smeared adhesive all over the burlap
and the dekes and smoothed it
down. Took two coats.

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Once the work is done, management
shows up.

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But we were done and headed in.

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And there they sat for eight months
until we made time to paint them.
The style is a little more ideal
than real, but I bet we kill ducks.

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At least the coots turned out awesome.

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And, some from the Dawn Treader:

We cleaned and sanded the boat and
sprayed green zinc chromate on the
bare patches.

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Cut a new floor for the boat too.

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Then we put a base coat of Parkers duck boat
paint on.

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Finally, we got happy with the spray cans
of Parkers camo paint (with a can of
Krylon camo green thrown in).

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The handle blends in so well to
the deck and sides that I've already
tripped over it a couple times.  This
thing will disappear in the saw grass.

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Look for the DT (Dawn Treader) initials on
the stern.

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I'm ready to go hunting.

ofs


Tuesday, August 02, 2011

TV Stardom

We made the big time - national TV.

http://tlc.discovery.com/videos/surprise-homecoming-the-first-christmas-apart.html

The producers and team from Surprise Homecoming
did an excellent job.  Our family thanks them.

ofs