Our bridge.

Two great big electricity post pushed across by tractor and slid up opposite bank on sheets of corrugated iron. Planks sawn and nailed and handrail cleverly fixed by myself! So far it has resisted the force of the river in flood, which is considerable. Should have built it higher but too late now! In calmer times , a real Heron comes fishing here and stares at the whicker model , puzzled! The young weeping willow has struggled for a couple of years to get it's roots down to water, the ground being very stoney. One day it will get to river level and I expect it to really take off then.

Weihrauch HW 80.

First made as an improved HW 35 as it could be made to give more power for those with a FAC., in 1982.It has since become famous.
Heavy/ Yes, at 8.8 lbs. without scope or mounts but if it could be managd, the weight helped accuracy.Indeed , there are heavier airguns out there, the Diana 52 and AirKing for example. The 80 and the Dianas are lovely guns that will last forever and give up their 12 ft. lbs. lazily, without stress.
The Weihrauch is a simple design, a classic if ever there was one, making few concessions to modern fads, the K or Carbine barrel model being the only one I can think of, the standard model still retaining the wonderful open sights of old for those shooters with sound eyesight!
The design and quality of manufacture are, in my opinion, unbeaten anywhere,
even by Air Arms TX 200s. Bombproof.
A sensitive, gentle but firm hold whilst firing is all that is required for very satisfying accuracy, unbettered by the excellent HW 85s and 95s which are a pound lighter and rather less robustly built.
I have owned two HW 80s , both during my early and formative years of airgunning and I didn't fully appreciate them and they were sold, like all my subsequent guns in my silly search for something better!
I am now impatiently awaiting the delivery of an HW 80 in .25 calibre which
should be even "softer" to shoot and I look forward to killing a lot of rats etc. with it. I intend to keep this gun and care for it like a baby!

TX 200 HC

This is really just on here for practice! Taken about four years ago. How time flies!
The gun is an Air Arms TX 200 HC in .22and is a really good gun.
When I get my Weihrauch HW 80, I'm going to try to take a really good photo of it to put on this blog, although a picture cannot convey the feel of a good airgun or the way it feels when shot.
I would very much like to hear about anyones favourite air rifle ? Come on, don't be shy! Funny experiences whilst shooting?

My little house.

This is my home, the little one on the left! You can just see the homemade bridge that crosses the river and there is the table at which I sit and shoot my air rifle!

Mole.

There is a very troublesom mole in the garden, making a mess of molehills and now he's moved to around the sheds and has his way blocked by concrete slabs! I've just set a trap. The ground he's been travelling through is VERY stoney. Amasing animals. Got to go though.

Spring and early summer.

Looking out of the window I see the sun is out again ! The grass needs cutting, the leaves are mostly on the trees again, many flowers are in bloom. the mint bed is flourishing, the willows that I planted last year are growing well. The little bridge we put over the river has survived the winter floods. The new cooking apple tree has lots of tiny apples on it but will probably lose most.
The lambs in the field have grown very quickly and have stopped dashing about in their little gangs!
God!! that grass is long!!

Moles.

There seemed to be a plague of moles last year. Most fields were a mass of molehills which cause several problems.
An old man named Elfet who lived in what is left of Llanafan village which now has only about six houses, took me to one of his fields and showed me how to set a mole trap. This must be done properly or you are wasting your time as moles are clever little sods with a keen sense of smell, so no soapy smell on your hands and use weathered traps.
My own field looked like the third battle of Eypres when I set my first traps but it is fine now.
I caught nine moles and have just rid Elfet's field of his.

Gran and Granddad.

Nothing to do with airguns this time. I had two grandparents (my mums parents, ) who were a strong and good influence on me. Granddad always seemed old to me . He loved the countryside
and was really content to sit among the reeds on the river bank near his house with his fishing rod, pipe and his old felt trilby hat that I looked for when bringing him an apple and sandwich for his tea. I wrote this next bit some years ago but it remains true.

Dear Gran and Granddad. I was thinking today, how much I miss you both. You taught me so many things, mostly by example. Honesty, good manners and love.Love for people, love of the countryside and nature. You told me about forgiveness but I'm afraid I failed there.
I picked upan appreciation of lots of little things too that remain with me today.Pickled shallots!, black pudding, suet pudds, smoked haddock, strict meal times with white table cloths, carpet beaters and much more. Your world was small and well ordered. Mine was small too although it seemed large with so much to do and explore.

You wouldn't like the world as it is today. Your lives ended at the right time but I miss you
so much.

Fashions, fads and fantasies.

I've just been laughing at a piece by Pete Wadeson in a "Let's Go Hunting" article in which he lists all the equipment one needs for a successful outing. It starts with a first aid kit and carries on through camouflage clothing, hats . face veils , boots, special this and that! I laugh because I'd just read in a sort of diary I kept in 1980 that "I went out rabbiting with my springer airgun and my next door neighbour Jesse, and we came back with four rabbits for my dogs." The thing is, we wore whatever clothing we happened to put on that day, Jesse didn't have a gun and kept talking all the time and we just wandered around some fields not trying to hide with me just shooting,probably with open sights, when the opportunity presented itself !

Update

I've found that I cannot obtain a .25 barrel for my HW 95, after weeks of waiting! I have sold all my airguns and ordered a Weihrauch HW 80 in .25. I still have about four weeks to wait for it !
It's HELL I tell you !

Tomorrow, weather permitting, I've got to do a lot of strimming or else the grass is going to win, as it threatens to do every year.

PS. to Cadet Major.

I adn't had contact with my old school pal Tony for a long time but a couple of years ago I 'phoned him. He still lives in his parents old house with his wife. No children. I asked him if he still had the BSA and sure enough he had! Keeping it for sentimental reasons. He sounded a bit grumpy. Sad, really because we had so much fun as lads.

Cadet Major.

Just after the war (WW 2), when I was about ten years old, my pal, Tony who was the same age,
was given a BSA Cadet Major by his father. Every Sunday morning we would go into nearby Juniper Valley and hunt squirrels. The airgun couldn't have been very powerful, in fact , I'd like to know if anyone could tell me, but just the same, Tony managed to bag several squirrels although
each required several shots to finish it off !! The next airgun I saw belonged to the man next door. It was an early BSA underlever like the Lincoln Jefferies. I later, about thirty years later, owned a 1905 Lincoln Jefferies BSA which was a lovely gun.

My front garden.

Out river is usually, in summertime, little more than a brook but when we have several days of rain, this is what it looks like! The water rushes along on it's way to help flood Builth Wells ! A dog or indeed , a human would have little chance of survival after falling into the five foot maelstrom.

Front garden!