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A convergence of hobbies

I've managed to stick with my old school gear that still produces excellent results. Shooting a Nikon D200 as my primary digital body. 10.2mp. My cell phone has higher resolution! But, it's on its second shutter now, first one went out around 140K, second shutter has about 27K on it now. My primary film body is a Nikon F100 (35mm). My fun and special project are a Leica R4 (35mm) and a Yashica 124 TLR (220 film). I had a decent collection of rangefinders going until a burglary last year. May try to find a few to replace some of what was lost.

For a 14 year old digital camera, it's hard to tell. Some shots...

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I still have a D100 and about 6 lens LOL that 6MP was HUGE back then!!
 
My main hobbies not revolving around shooting, reloading or hunting are hunting for Indian Artifacts and Craft Beer. I have maybe 2 dozen good fields to hunt artifacts in. I have also gotten into Craft Beer and the Wife and I go to some local place about once a week. We also travel out of state a few times a year for "Beercations".

In the past I built things out of metal. Trailers, tractor implements, useful things for the shop or around the house. I am also a Private Pilot and once owned my own airplane.
 
My main hobbies not revolving around shooting, reloading or hunting are hunting for Indian Artifacts and Craft Beer. I have maybe 2 dozen good fields to hunt artifacts in. I have also gotten into Craft Beer and the Wife and I go to some local place about once a week. We also travel out of state a few times a year for "Beercations".

In the past I built things out of metal. Trailers, tractor implements, useful things for the shop or around the house. I am also a Private Pilot and once owned my own airplane.

I enjoy hunting for craft beers, too.

Another sort of pass time for me on occasion is metal detecting. Found some nice rings, pendants, lots of coins, and quite a few dog tags as well. The occasional wutzit and dickfer that you just never figure out, too.
 
Don't know if it qualifies as another hobby but my wife has me restoring her 44 year old childhood rocking horse. It was hers as a child then given to our daughter and now our 10 month old granddaughter is destined to be its next jockey. As I have been restoring this beast I refer to it as the "DONKEY" any time I run into an issue. This in turn brings me a stout verbal reprimand from said wife and daughter followed by a fulfilled giggle on my part. All in all I am having a pretty good time (and spending way too much time) tinkering with the DONKEY!
 
Not a hobby but these are a couple of toys I use to help in the yard. They are kinda fun though.

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And dressed for winter duty:

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2000 Ford F-350 XLT, 7.3 Power Stroke diesel, Crew Cab, automatic transmission, full length bed. 172" wheelbase, 150,000 miles.

This was my son's pickup that he used to trailer his drag car with.
He passed away some years ago. His wife keep it but never drove it. She offered it to me to return to service and then give to my grandson. She wants it to stay in the family.
How could I say "No"?

I usually spend a lot of time shooting, reloading, and watching UK basketball
 
Its a beautiful 70° fall Saturday here in Northern California. I've spent most of my day just putting around the house doing a few things to stay busy. As I sat down with my tablet to develop some photos I decided to break away from that and finally input some load data.

My girlfriend walks in and mentions that I literally have every hobby of mine in front of me, all at once!

This leads me to wondering, what non shooting/hunting hobbies do others have here?

Yes, I throw yoyos. I've been into photography for 25 years, thoroughly enjoy good beers as well. Only thing not in the photo was the record spinning on the turntable.

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I have noticed that my construction worker skills actually really help with my deer hunting success, to be able to stand motionless for hours at a time.!
 
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2000 Ford F-350 XLT, 7.3 Power Stroke diesel, Crew Cab, automatic transmission, full length bed. 172" wheelbase, 150,000 miles.

This was my son's pickup that he used to trailer his drag car with.
He passed away some years ago. His wife keep it but never drove it. She offered it to me to return to service and then give to my grandson. She wants it to stay in the family.
How could I say "No"?

I usually spend a lot of time shooting, reloading, and watching UK basketball

I have the same truck, same color too, only 1st quarter 2003, the last quarter they offered the 7.3. The only difference is mine is 4x4. Purchased it 5 years ago with 140K miles on it. Now have 185K. Most comfortable vehicle for long trips that we have.

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My other hobby makes me a lil moola..

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Nice scag you have there.
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I've got to where I hate it. 6 days a week minimum work. Between mowing, the textile mill and selling auto parts I don't have time for hobbies and can't really afford anything but some reloading supplies. Trying to build a house on top of that too. Wife was a stay at home mom for many years and our income was the mill and what ever else I done. Blessed we were able to do as well as we have. Dabbled in RC airplanes a little but rarely get them out anymore.
 
I'd say I have about "harp-a-duzun" (Maine-Speak for 6 :)) non-firearm related and/or off season hobbies. I'll just list the top three.

I've posted a few photos of my sled dogs in earlier posts, but mushing has been my Winter passion for 32 years. I can't wait for the snow to get here, and am always sorry to see it go. I usually get 2-300 miles on me and the team a season. And cruising down a (full) moonlit trail is the stuff of dreams. In this one we're taking a break.

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Then there's writing. For a guy who hated English (and spelling) all though high school and college, it was certainly a surprise to find out I could write. My first novel, a Science Fiction-Love story, More Than Human (by Christopher B. Mitchell) took a lot of years to finish and was published in Feb of this year. It is the first book in the Mirnervan Saga. A deluxe paperback is available on Amazon for $12.95. I tried to upload a photo of the cover, but the file is too large. It was made with Photoshop, so I have no idea how to reduce it's size. Sorry. The second book in the series: Mirnerva's Children should be available by the end of this month (hopefully!). Not to toot my own horn here, but both are excellent reads. Readers have told me they can't wait for "the movie(s)!"

Photography is another passion. In years past I've had my own photo businesses ("Prints Charming Photo," and "The Silver Image"), both of which specialized in (wet-chemistry) custom black and white photos. In later years I moved into Cibachrome, and then digital photography, but by then the business end of it was long gone. Anyway here's an early morning shot I took last month in Nobelboro (ME) on the way to a 300 yd IBS Score Match. Talk about being in the right place at the right time. And yes, that is frost on the grass!

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Chris Mitchell


I bought a Artics three wheeler dryland mushing rig for my "Alaskan Huskies". Ran into two problems down here in the south. It never stays cool enough and whitetail deer in the area. It was the ride of my life chasing that deer. Pine trees were just a blur. Just glad I had a quick disconnect link. The cart is for sale, excellent condition and used only once.
 

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