Bad Shape & Geting Old

Yesterday I bought about 1200 pounds of decorative concrete blocks to build a small retaining wall.  The truck has a cap over the bed so unloading was done in 2 steps, on my knees to the back of the bed, then from there to the ground. 

Today I dug the dirt from behind the failing landscape timber wall and got some of the wood out of the way.  I'll be back at it in a day or two.

My knee hurts.  My lower back hurts.  My "good" hip hurts.

Damn.  Looks like I'll be getting another hip replacement in the next year or two.

Silent Weaponry

A co-worker loaned me a book titled Behold a Pale Horse.  I'm just getting into it, but I can tell you it's a bit scary.  So far it's all about manipulation of the masses using computer modeling.  Supposedly this not fiction, but exposure of classified information.

Time is Money

Picked up part of a movie on the TV called In Time, I think.  Instead of money, time of living is used as currency.  You get paid in life time, and pay bills in life time.  If your time drops to zero, you drop dead.  So the rich live as long as they have time, and the very poor don't live as long.  The very rich might live forever.

If we applied that to today, I'd certainly limit top level bureaucrats and politicians to no more than say 3 months of time at a time.  Just maybe they'd serve the people more diligently.

Gives the question, "got a minute", a whole new meaning.

New Furniture

Bought a set of these for my Kimber Ultra Carry.  They look good and the surface has grip without being abrasive.  Quality is excellent.

The Boss Said

If guns kill people, how does anybody get out of a gun show alive?

A Short Get Away

This last week the Boss and I got away for some "just us" time. Well, just us included the 2 dogs.  We rented a small cabin without phone service or internet, and we were in a dead zone as far as our cell phones are concerned.  I had mine turned off regardless. The cabin did have TV and DVD player, but any news program was strictly prohibited by consensus.

The first evening, sitting on the wooden porch with a cup of coffee, I could actually feel the stress of everyday life melt away.  Man was that ever great.  We wanted to stay, but leaving her elderly father alone any longer didn't seem like a good idea.

Has it really been 43 years ago that we got married?

Range Time

For the first time in months I managed to get to the range.  Half sized silhouette targets set at 25 and 50 yards for my enjoyment.  Right hand, left hand and 2 hands at 25 and then only 2 hands at 50 with my 1911, Hi-Power and 44 special.  The short range stuff wasn't that bad at all, but I was inconsistent (sucked) at 50.  Then I tried some 454 rounds at 100 yards.  Yep, more sucky.  Shooting is definitely a perishable skill, that I have once again proven that true.

I was decent at 200 with the SKS as long as I kept the sling snugged.  I had my AR with me but not the ammo.  Bummer.

Then a pleasant surprise.  I met an ex-coworker with a Garand chambered in 308.  I never fired a Garand before, and was impressed with it's soft recoil and heft.  Humping with one of those things must have been a nightmare.

I've been rolling my own ammo since the early 1980s.  In all that time, and thousands of rounds, I've only had one squib load and that was near the beginning.  Today I had my second, and in the Hi-Power.  There was enough energy to lodge the bullet barely into the rifling and cycle the action.  The next round would not chamber.  If the next would have chambered, a less experienced shooter might have been in trouble.  In my case I noticed the issue immediately, so no damage done to the gun or to me.

I tried some experimental 44 special rounds loaded with IMR 4227.  Not good at all.  Some cases had unburned powder left inside, and the volume was erratic.  I could probably try reducing the charge and going to a hotter primer, but that will be risky with a small framed revolver.  Besides, there are many other options.