Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Merry Christmas all

Finally feeling much better. Throat no longer feels like it is full of razor blades. Throat's still a bit tender, but much,  much better. Been resting a lot, which helped. Hope to actually be able to get out and enjoy some of vacation after Christmas. Still haven't got my magazine for the pistol I got at the auction. Ordered one through TripleK. Last time I use TripleK, period. I ordered  a magazine, it showing in stock on web page. After a week of waiting, I get an e-mail, not a package, an e-mail, stating it would be back ordered for upwards of four months and they will let me know when it will ship. I ordered one from e-bay which will be here early next week at the latest. First, and last dealings with TripleK. Got a kick out of their web page as well. Warns not to "bother" them with e-mails pertaining to orders as they will get to them when they get to them. They can kiss my a$$, I will never "bother" them again. Way too many suppliers who want my money, I needn't bother anyone.

Been relaxing and watching lots of Doctor who, as they are having a marathon. Haven't watched it in many years. I remember watching it as a kid, with my brother many years back, when it was on PBS. Effects were a bit more primitive in those days. Tom Baker with K9 remain my favorite doctor characters. The newer doctor is pretty entertaining. Saw a newer episode with K9 in it. He looked a bit worse for wear, but aren't we all. Like to see what the modern Daleks look like.

Hope everyone has a great Christmas and a happy new year. I am going to nap a bit more. Spike doesn't seem to mind, as long as I wake enough to feed him and let him out (and the occasional cookie doesn't hurt either).

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Vacation at last

Vacation has finally arrived. Didn't manage to get out of work without catching whatever nasty bug that has been going around. Feels like razor blades at the back of the throat. Me and the dog are just relaxing. Try drowning it in Nyquil and getting a bit of rest. I had been one of the few who avoided it. Just in time for the holidays. Hopefully it is short lived. Bah humbug.

Monday, December 15, 2014

Need a vote

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/poll-support-connecticut-gun-law-state/

It's looking great so far. Over 95% are against the universal background checks. Still doesn't hurt to add to the number.

Friday, December 12, 2014

Yeah, bonus day today

Bonus day falls between paydays, so, you get paid three weeks in a row. Awesome. I get the weekend off which is another plus. Have to head to the club and pay my dues for 2015 tomorrow. Shoot my new guns while there. Have to drop Spike off at the vets for his semiannual tuneup. One more long week to work and 2014, at least the work portion, is over. The 4H gunshow is this weekend and the armory next weekend. It's going to feel great to just sleep in a bit. The getting up at 4AM is getting old.

Sunday, December 7, 2014

54

YES, it is now 54 seats held by the Republicans, or, more importantly, NOT by the demorats. Life is a tad better. Now if we can just flush the white house, all will be on an uphill swing, or at the least, a slower downhill spiral.

Nice relaxing day. Slept in, made breakfast and started laundry. Plan on just resting up a bit today. I believe the coming week will be just eight hour days, so should be a bit relaxing. I need it after the hectic pace we have been holding at work. Want to head over to the range after work tomorrow for some fun. Pick up some ammo for the new plinker on the way. Need to order a magazine (or a clip as the liberals refer to them as) for the other one. Found some on e-bay. Do a bit of snooping on the net and see if I can find a better price.

Saturday, December 6, 2014

Oh well

The broomhandle headed north of two grand, so, it didn't come home with me, dang it. I did pick up a couple plinkers and another enfield though. Picked up a .22 Stoeger luger. Needs a magazine, but it was under two hundred, so I can afford a magazine. Got a FN1922 plinker as well. Came with a holster with the Nazi markings on it. The enfield was just too nice to leave on the shelf. Silent auction was horrid. I really don't understand why on earth they put air rifles and bb guns in the auction. I wish they would have had all the real guns first with the junk at the end for those interested in toys. They splattered them here and there so you couldn't even go out for a snack break.

Still two weeks until vacation. Don't know if I can wait that long. Works been beyond busy with no end in sight. Lots of work, which is good. I was suppose to work today, but with a gun auction going on and me being the senior worker, one of the other guys filled in for me today. Next two weekends are local gun shows.

Monday, December 1, 2014

Obama needs some help.

Apparently, he can't find police cameras for under $5260.00 each. I am pretty sure you can pick up a very decent Go cam at best buy for a couple hundred a piece. They come ready to mount to a harness.  Probably get a pretty good discount on 50,000 of them. Didn't realize Fergy had that many police officers, but, whatever. I am sure dumbass isn't earmarking any of this money to help replace items damaged by the nimrods rioting and burning their own town. Should just put up a containment fence to keep all the scum inside. Let them wallow in the waste they made. Now that he fixed immigration, he is going to dedicate the remainder of his presidency fixing racism. What a guy.
http://news.yahoo.com/obama-requests-263-million-federal-response-ferguson-mo-181653591.html

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Stupid Phone

Probably more like stupid me. I can't seem to get the pictures I took at yesterdays military show to download on my computer. Have to try again later when I don't feel like whipping it against a wall. It was a really nice show. They actually had a lot of military guns at this one. usually it is more flags (original bring backs, not repos), medals, uniforms, books and just about anything you can think of. I came out of it with a stack of sixties and seventies era American Rifleman magazines. A stack of them for five bucks.  Figured it would be pretty cool to see the old articles and the surplus guns going for a few bucks.

 Did notice names change, but the evil villain (gun control ) goes on through the ages. There are articles about the Dodd committee, and Ed Kennedy with his anti gun rhetoric. One article is about congress killing the ammo registration that was put into effect by Dodd. I was in first grade when most of that went down, so I am totally oblivious to the politics of the day. I don't have the issues with the 1968 gun control act being put through. It is interesting reading the early liberals attempts at banning guns and ammo. The ammo registration has Edward Kennedy arguing that they should have included .22 ammo in the registration act. Seeing as how his son Robert was killed by a .22, I suppose I could see how he would view such a thing. Would make one heck of a stack of paperwork though. Could you imagine every single box of .22 ammo having to be logged in a book somewhere.

I found a few items I wanted, just couldn't get the prices where I wanted them. I would have liked a  early ammo can (.303 brit) but the guy wouldn't budge on price. Next show is in April. I don't think I have hit that one before. Probably lines up with the spring machine gun shoot. Next weekend is the gun auction.

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Monday

Monday, I, and a great many people will be heading back to work after the holiday . Not the Fergy protesters. When you live on the government dime, you can afford to go on a seven day march. A big pile of teddy bears commemorates the brute who pummeled a police officer after assaulting a store clerk and making off with some cigars. The story which just won't die.

Friday, November 28, 2014

Insanity

Went in and got my blood draw done for insurance through work. I was lucky enough to get a nurse who was skilled and nailed the vein on the first try and filled the viles in seconds. That is the way I like it. Almost tipped her on the way out. Last years draw, I felt like a pincushion. And when she did find a vein, it took a while to fill it, and she had to restab me for the second one.

On the way home, I passed menards. Not on purpose, just the way I went home. It was totally insane. The HUGE parking lot was full, the grass areas around the parking lot were full. The road way heading in was lined with parked cars on both sides. There is absolutely nothing they could possibly have that would make me even give a thought to pulling into a mess like that. What is wrong with these lunatics. I would rather pay full price for the product, or buy it online at my leisure.

I remember giving my mom a hard time every thanksgiving. My mother, my aunt, and Og's mom would all get together and go up to the mall of America on black Friday. They would get a hotel and make a weekend of it. They said it was fun. I do believe I would rather have a root canal myself, but, they always enjoyed it. Unfortunately, my mother passed away at Thanksgiving several years back. Not sure if my aunt and Og's mom still make the trip up to the mall or not. The little family I have left I usually just get gift cards for. It's easier than trying to figure out what they may want. Most of us older people have come to an agreement to just wish each other a Merry Christmas instead of handing each other  a gift card. The little ones are all grown, so Christmas isn't quite as much fun as it was watching all the little children excitedly ripping open their packages. The kids are getting to be the age where they will be having children, so it won't be too long and little ones will rule the day again.

I hit the military show, sort of. Being off yesterday, I was thinking it was Saturday, which the show opens at 8. Being Friday, it opens at noon. I was three hours early. Figure I will hit it tomorrow. I am thawing the turkey and will be cooking it soon. Have a nice relaxing day, eat too much, and then nap a bit. Tomorrow, the military show.

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Have a Happy Thanksgiving

The dog and I are eating breakfast and watching the parade. A day of relaxation. Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving.

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

And all the haters out there...

that keep finding fault with Obama for the high unemployment rate, he finally did something about it.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/11/26/businesses-to-receive-incentive-to-hire-illegal-immigrants-report-says/

It even has something for the illegals. Look, they can come out of the shadows and go to work, displacing some pesky American citizens. We will have to drop the guard a bit more at the border so some fresh illegals can come in and take over at the farms to replace those coming out of the shadows. They can snag the next amnesty in another twenty years. I like how insecure Obama is. He has to take to the road and try to find someone who will tell him he did good. He even had hecklers in Chicago, lib city USA. Even the illegals are unhappy with him, because he didn't go far enough. Two more long years to go.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Hopefully, one more day.

The weekend list is out, and, so far, I am not on it. YES. Hopefully a nice four day weekend. Now, if I can only get through that one day. Ten and twelve hour days don't bother me too bad. Getting up at four in the morning does though. Not a morning person. Third shift guy should be back from vacation next week, so, hopefully I will be staying over two hours instead of coming in early. Only one week left in the year where I might not work overtime. Someone in our group is on vacation the rest of the time. Me, the last two weeks of the year : )

They have a small, but pretty cool, military show at the armory this weekend. They have one twice a year. They usually have a deuce and a half or two, along with a jeep with mounted machine gun displayed. It is like a gun show, military show and museum rolled into one. A few regulars I deal with out there. Probably acquire some more garand food while there, usually in bandoliers. Have my doctor appointment  Friday morning, so I will hit it on my way back home. Next weekend is the gun auction. I am really hoping on coming home with a broomhandle complete with original wood stock and accessories. There are a couple lugers that are looking for a home for the holiday season as well. Fine way to spend a weekend. Silent auctions are always fun too. For some silly reason, they have some BB guns and air rifles mixed in with the real guns. Fortunately, the ones I want are up before they get into the toys. Hope to have pictures afterwards.

Monday, November 24, 2014

He was found innocent as well...

I guess the real question is what is the difference, race set aside, between the Brown case and the Dillon Taylor case. With the Dillon case, no riots, no race baiting, no Al Sharpton, no Obama, no Jesse Jackson , no federal involvement. The officer in that case was called "not white", not black as he happened to be. The press down played it. The officer was quickly and quietly excused for the shooting of an unarmed white male. No big deal, no press to speak of. No feds, and no ongoing federal investigation. I don't mean to sound like the Dillon character was a saint, or innocent for that matter. I do have a problem with the double standard. I most definitely have a problem with it being OK, because only a white person was killed. Hell, it didn't even get a whole lot of attention. Neither case should be national news. NEITHER case.

Decision reached, and, he is innocent

He was found innocent. No racial profiling involved. Wonder when the riots start. Oops, sorry, that is the verdict for the honky that was shot by the black cop.
 Oops, sorry.http://www.paulduane.net/2014/10/attorneys-for-dillon-taylor-family-give-an-update/

Much like sporting events, I really don't think the decision is going to make a difference. One way, there is a riot for the wrong verdict. The decision swings the rioters way, they will pillage in celebration. The blood will flow either way, and the media and race baiters will be there bathing in the blood.

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Rain galore, but no snow fortunately.

Dog didn't really appreciate the wetness. I swear he thinks I can turn it off, Turns around and stares at me and then back out at the yard. Didn't hit the club. I figure if there are people wanting to shoot targets in this weather, they can go hang the targets.
 I made a nice meat loaf for dinner along with some oven baked homemade mac and cheese. Not as good as my mom use to make, but still pretty good. Enough for a few more meals during the week. Not really ready to go in for another fun filled work week, but at least, hopefully, it will only be three days. Could easily turn into working all seven, but hopefully not. Four day weekend sounds awesome.
Probably go shooting on thanksgiving. I have to go in for a blood draw for insurance on Friday, so I figure I will eat light and do my dinner Friday night. It's one of those twelve hour fasting deals, but I don't know if a heavy meal the day before effects it or not. Every year the results come back a little worse than the year before. Tried doing away with soda and cutting down on fatty foods for one year. The following years results were slightly worse than before, so, I figure may as well eat and enjoy life since it doesn't appear diet really has that big of a bearing on the results. I still get a partial discount for doing the blood draw though.

Saturday, November 22, 2014

This is more like it

It's back in the sixties, and sunny (today anyway). Suppose to rain more tomorrow. Just a sprinkle this morning. Got out and enjoyed the weather. Work is extremely busy. I lucked out and am one of only a few that isn't working all seven days at ten hours per. I run the CNC grinders, and, this time around, it is the manual grinding side that got slammed. Hope my luck holds for next weekend. A four day weekend sounds great. I make it through Thanksgiving, I only have three weeks left to work this year.
Managed to get all my chores done yesterday and really early this morning. This evening was reorganizing the gun safes. Put hangers on the door of the safe inside the house, and some hangers on the shelf for more. All handguns now reside indoors, and organized. Want to do a full inventory with pictures for insurance reasons. Didn't realize I had acquired so many, Pelosi and Bloomy would wet themselves. Two more weeks and there is a gun auction, so, may be expanding a bit more. They have a few broomhandles and some lugers that look pretty interesting. One of the broomies has the wood stock with it. No machine guns yet, but there is still time. Tomorrow, may hit the club and help with the shoot. May be a bit wet out, but I shouldn't melt.

Sunday, November 16, 2014

When No really means Yes

http://news.yahoo.com/oregon-immigration-vote-warning-obama-132923803.html

Two thirds of the people voted no for giving illegals drivers licenses, but, to the liberal mind, there simply wasn't enough money spent on the campaign, so, the general public didn't know enough to vote yes. Kinda like Obama figuring the two thirds who stayed home on election day would have all voted democrat, therefore, democrats really won. Totally delusional. Be nice if they would put a poll question on all the ballots on immigration. Simple question. Should all illegals be expelled, period. No money to be spent on either view. See how the whole public votes, not just the select areas the proimmigration groups decide to poll.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

53

53, so far, hopefully, 54 soon : )

Alaska is red, and hopefully, Louisiana will be following suit soon. Apparently, Obama is still in denial.The 2/3 of voters who stayed home were apparently democrats in Obama's rather warped mind. Hopefully, in 2016 all democrats will stay home. Be nice if the republicans could actually find a candidate by then.

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

52

Fifty two seats so far, the republicans now own the senate, and retain the house with a little additional padding. Life is almost tolerable. Can't wait to see Obama's spin on the Republican win. I would imagine him, and the liberal media, will somehow "forget" the "everyone of my policies is on the ballot" speech. No surprise with Illinois staying blue. Of course, the  voting machines with "calibration problems" (no fraud there) probably helped a wee bit. Funny how none of the machines accidentally changed votes from democrat to republican, isn't it? Maybe it's just my cynical imagination. Hopefully the number goes up a bit over night.

Impressive

I hit the polls straight from work, and, they were very busy. Awesome. Usually there is a really light turn out on non presidential elections. Throw in the fact that Donnelly isn't up for getting thrown out on his ear until 2018, and Coats isn't up until 2016, and, I am really pleasantly surprised by the turnout. Good to see people getting out to vote. Hopefully not for the blue.

Now to sit back and hope for the senate to turn red, and the house to hopefully pick up a few seats. Two years left for them to find someone to give Hillary a run for the money. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening. So, hopefully we can get and keep both houses.

Monday, November 3, 2014

One more day, I hope....

Tomorrow is the big day, I hope. Hopefully the republicans can take the senate. Obama's crew are already coming up with their reasons. Most of the seats up on the block are in red states don't you know, according to the white house cronies. It has nothing to do with Obama and his party's total ineptitude. Not that the republicans are a lot better, just a bit. Be nice to see some bills actually going through, and Obama being the sole obstructionist. The republicans still won't hold the amount of seats as to pass bills over his veto, but it will definitely show the dems for what they are, I hope anyway. One more day. Be interesting to watch. Hopefully I have a picture of Reid to put next to my picture of Feinstein when she lost her speaker role and pulled down her sign. I can almost see Obama moping now. Again, I sincerely hope.

Friday, October 31, 2014

Silly Marine

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/10/31/marine-dad-upset-with-assignment-on-islam-banned-from-daughters-high-school/

Does he not understand that all white, Christians are evil, and it is only Christianity that is to be left out of public schools. I wonder if they had hacksawing off heads as one of the alternative answers to the test question. It is a New England school, so that does explain some of the twisted logic used to brainwash kids into being more understanding of Islam, and other non-christian religions. Times are changing, and not for the better.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Well, that's a pleasant surprise.

Back to work after vacation to full chaos and a heavy work load. Been working ten hour days all week, which isn't bad. Was suppose to work Saturday, and, they scratched my name off of the list. A two day weekend. I can go either way, work or not,but I do like my two day weekends. Rather work ten or twelve hour days all week and have the weekend off, so all is well. Gun show at the 4H center next county over as well. Get to hand out candy to the young little monsters tomorrow. Hard to believe another year is just about done. Have an open house at a house for sale really close to the club I belong to. Be nice to live a couple minutes (walking distance, literally) from the club, and still only a ten minute ride to work. Has a pond in the back yard, and the pond is at the corner of some woods. Nice. Not really looking to move, but, if this one is not a pit, I may be looking into one more move. More property, and I really like the location.

Monday, October 27, 2014

How convenient

Second state, so far....

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/10/27/calibration-issue-pops-up-on-maryland-voting-machines/

First Illinois ( no shocker at all there), now Maryland. Of course, since the Demorats gain and it only effects everyone else, calibration issue instead of fraud is the wording picked by our liberal media groups. I do believe if they simply passed a law stating that any and all "calibration errors" would result in mandatory long term jail time for everyone involved starting at the company that installed the machine, this "error" may stop and the demorats may no longer receive a couple hundred percent of the vote in some areas. But, good luck getting anyone to really try to fix a broken system.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Thank you Hillary, I knew you could do it :)

Remember Obama's "you didn't build it quote? Well, Hillary gave us hers, and hopefully, she can be beat down with it.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/10/26/hillary-clinton-corporations-and-businesses-dont-create-jobs/?intcmp=latestnews&intcmp=latestnews

Thanks Hillary. Keep those quotes coming please.

Great mini trip

Headed back up north to my cousin's youngest daughter's wedding. Still can't believe the little ones are grown ups now. Got up there Friday, early in the day and stayed at my brother's new house. Makes the back hurt just looking at all the work he accomplished since my last visit. Back yard is bush hogged down and actually looks like a well maintained lawn. Hard to believe how fast the grass filled in. Most of the dead bushes have been uprooted and disposed of. He even bought a brand spanking new tractor, and I got to drive it. Way cool. Has a bucket on the front, a mower underneath, and a snow thrower on order. Now if he can just put the cappuccino machine in (already comes with beer cup holders. The pole barn is huge. The toys one can put in that. It's nice to sit and watch nature walk by the front window. He has a beautiful view of a small lake out the back porch. You can enjoy watching the ducks and geese come in, without having the mess in your own yard. Quite a nice set up.

Pretty cool and multifunctional piece of equipment. Makes me want to go buy a bigger piece of property so I can go dig some holes:) Glad to see he got something dependable to do the chores. We are getting too long in the tooth to be out there digging and ripping by hand anymore. Besides, where is the fun in that.

Got to catch up with Og and his wife as well. It's always a blast to visit with them. We all went out to a Mongolian restaurant. It was awesome. You pick out from a wide assortment of various meats and veggies and sauces, take what you want, place by the chefs and they fry it up for you while you watch. If it had hooves, a beak, or swam, it was probably available on the buffet. Great eggrolls and deserts. I ate until I hurt, then nibbled a bit more. Didn't get to see the Oglet this time around as she is away at school, and doing quite well from what I heard. It's always a pleasure to visit with the Og clan.

Wish I could have stayed for breakfast on Sunday morning, but, the dog sitter has early pick up hours on Sundays and I like having him around. Didn't want to have to leave him there until Monday evening. He came back a bit on the dirty side, so he had a good time. Have to give him a bath after he recovers a bit. After getting home, he generally naps for the better part of a day recovering. They have their own private runs in their kennel. She also sets up pools for them to play in in the warm weather. Dog toys abound. Gives him a chance to play with other dogs for a while. He is generally pretty wore out when he gets home.

Went to the wedding, which was very nice. The Father who performed the ceremony was very entertaining. I enjoyed the whole wedding. Afterwards, we headed over to my Aunt's house to visit until the reception. My Uncle from out of town was visiting so I got to see them for a while. They both suffered the loss of their dogs over the last couple years, and now both have new pups they are contending with. My Uncle got another Lab which we haven't got to meet yet. My Aunt, who usually gets Brittany Spaniels, got a Boston Terrier, which is more of a Boston Terror. Silly thing reminded me of the Tasmanian Devil cartoon. Moved from chewing on one thing, on to another. It tried shaving my brother's beard with his teeth and proceeded to drool on his shoes. Cute little thing, but I don't know how my Aunt is going to keep up with the little cyclone. The reception was great. Got to catch up with most of what is left of the family. Food was great. Got to visit some with my cousins, which I normally only see when I go up at Christmas time.

Headed out for home right from the reception. Rather peaceful traveling at night. No traffic. Usually have speed traps set up along the way, so I held the cruise about eight miles over the whole way home. Made it within twenty miles of home and someone passed me like I was standing still ( I was doing seventy). Unfortunately for him, officer friendly happened to be traveling the opposite way. Startled me as the cop did a sharp U turn and wound up alongside me, lit the tires and chased the nut job down. Unmarked car, so I didn't know what was happening until the officer finally put his lights on. Got home about 1:30 this morning. Got a call from a friend telling me about a fleamarket today, so I hit that after picking Spike up and dropping him at home. Picked up a dozen files for two bucks. They are in great shape and made in the US as opposed to cheap imports. A little rust coloring, but nothing a wire brush won't clean up.

Sunday, October 19, 2014

I am so loving it

http://news.yahoo.com/obama-makes-rare-campaign-trail-appearance-people-leave-215726732.html

Just awesome. Freakin awesome. I hope he continues to fly all over the country "helping" his brethren. He can skip Illinois. Illinois has about as much chance going red as a cow does of flying. However, I sincerely hope Obama goes over and gives Quinn some "help". Who knows, that cow may just fly after all.
.

Nice show

Biggest Indy1500 I have seen in a really long time. Had some really cool firearms. I refrained from buying any guns this time around, but not for a lack of availability. They Had a table full of double rifles with pictures of the African hunts they were on. I saw three Krags, two at really reasonable prices. PMC Bronze 223 (which I shoot quite regularly) was as low as $8 for a box of 20. All in all, a great show.
I did pick up some tools. One of the hallways leading to a side room had a machinist that was clearing out some of his old tools at really reasonable prices. Picked up a Starett one inch mic for ten bucks. A few Jacobs mini chucks for the mill for five bucks a pop. A boring/threading bar for the lathe for ten bucks, and, a full fractional American made set of drills for twenty bucks. The drills were used, but all were sharpened properly. Guns are great, but so are tools.
The 80% AR lowers are getting quite ridiculous on price. They want $80 for an 80% you finish lower. One table had a drill fixture for making them, for $100. Kinda defeats the purpose. May as well buy a finished one and be done with it at those prices.
I am on vacation now and going to get back on the one I started a few months back. I have the little CNC mill set back up in my office, and the cutter I need for milling the threads. Be something new to try. I have some scrap pieces of aluminum to practice on before cutting the lower. Picked up a billet of aluminum to try and cut a lower out of. Found a program on the web. I want to pick up a block of machineable wax to practice on before doing the billet.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Gun show tomorrow

Today was just sheer relaxation. The dog and I enjoyed some eggs and bacon to get the day off to a good start. After that, not too much. It felt good just to relax, sip coffee, and watch some recorded shows. Tomorrow will be the Indy gun show. Haven't been to one in several months. Not really after anything in particular, just a fun show to look around.

Friday, October 17, 2014

Nine days of relaxation,yes

Work is done, grass is cut, and I am ready to enjoy some R&R. Want to hit the Indy 1500 this weekend. Just not sure which day yet. The Louisville one is going on as well, but I believe I will hit the Indy one this time around. The Louisville one is just a regular gun show, and not the military one that is really cool to go to. Weather is looking cool, but sunny for the foreseeable future, so it looks like I may have picked a good week.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Wow

I would have bet a lot that this would never happen in time.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/10/14/appeals-court-reinstates-texas-voter-id-law/?intcmp=latestnews

The court actually acted extremely promptly to kill the last minute effort by the liberals to allow people without ID's to vote, illegal immigrants and such, and allows for the state of Texas to require ID to vote. I really find it quite laughable that the liberals think the headache involved with getting a birth certificate (it costs $3) puts it as a burden on minorities. Texas GIVES free Id's for voting at no cost to low income people, paid for by taxpayers. You do need to show a birth certificate to obtain one, which makes it harder for the poor illegals to support the democrats, since they don't have one.

Indiana has had this requirement for many years. It is a good rule. Rather ridiculous to even think of not having someone prove who they are in order to vote. Heck, you have to show ID to buy beer. Do the liquor stores place a burden on the poor, seeing how apparently, they have no ID?

Monday, October 13, 2014

The new crowns are in

I am temporarily back to 32 teeth, until I get the wisdom teeth yanked. More fun for the fall.  Monday is at a merciful end. Tornado sirens going off all around. A little sideways rain and a cool looking black sky rolled through. Only four more days until the weekend. Hope to hit Indy up this weekend for the big gun show. Haven't been to the last few. They are always fun. Even if I don't pick up a new firearm, I usually find some decent machinist tools for sale at one of the booths. Good way to start vacation.

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Rain, rain and more freakin rain....

What a drizzly mess. Suppose to keep up through Wednesday. Don't believe I am going to bother with the machine gun shoot. It will be a muddy mess, especially the parking area.  Probably grab my raincoat and hit the club to help out with the spot shoot for a while. Next weekend is the gun show in Indy, so that should be doable. Indoors, so rain won't effect it. Been a while since I have been to one there. One more week until vacation.

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Well, money is fun too, I guess....

Weekend list is out, and I am on it, which means no Saturday machine gun shoot. Bwahhhhhh. Oh well, at least the money will be good. May go Sunday if the weather is good, but they are predicting rain, and a soggy machine gun shoot isn't quite as much fun. Although the gun show is under cover. Have to see how I feel Sunday. One guy is on vacation a couple days early next week which means I have to go in at 5AM on Monday and work ten hour days for the first few days. Have to go in after work Monday to get my permanent crowns installed for just that extra bit of fun. So, I may just have to wait for the spring machine gun shoot. May go to the club and help out with the spot shoot again. Got my hours in, but it's a good time and they need the help. A lot of the members buy out their hours at the end of the year instead of working them, which puts the work load on the other members of the club to keep things functioning. They tried raising the price of the hour buy out to help get volunteers, but changes are voted on and you can't get people to raise their own bill willingly, so, it remains low turnout.

Sunday, October 5, 2014

What a great day

Got all my work hours in and then some. Shoot went on a lot longer than most. Weather was perfect. Started in the fifties, went into the sixties and stayed there. I got to hand out shells today, so it kept me busy, but a lot less walking than my usual hanging targets involved. Won't work next weeks shoot, but probably the one after. They go on until the first week in December, so there are still quite a few to go. Had a little rain go through, but I was lucky enough to be under the roof area working. I am really looking forward to next weekend. I love machine gun shoots. If I am off Saturday, I will go to a local steam show as well.
yesterdays gun show was different. They have a new question and hand stamp they use. They check your state of residence and stamp you in or out of state. Apparently to help weed out the Illinoisans. Most vendors won't even fool with anyone from Illinois with their draconian gun laws. Back to work tomorrow. Only a couple weeks until vacation.

53 Degrees

Well, this week is going to feel more like a fall shoot. It's 53 degrees and on the verge of raining. They have free coffee and bean soup (and sometimes chili) so it will be a decent time They will have a few big wood burners going which adds to the enjoyment. The smell of gun powder and burning wood. It will be a lot colder at the next shoot I work after this one. Next week is the machine gun shoot, following week, the Indy 1500, so it will be a few weeks. This time of year, that makes a huge difference. May be some of that white fluffy stuff falling by then. Not ready for winter yet. Seems like the warm weather cycles through a bit faster every year.

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Nice relaxing day

Started off the day at the local gun show. Didn't buy anything as the big show is next weekend. After the show, I cleaned the truck and waxed it up. Getting chilly out and nice weather for that kind of thing is running low. Got home and visited the neighbor. He bought his first ever motorcycle. Picked up a Harley sportster to learn on. It is a nice size for learning. I keep toying with getting another motorcycle one day. May sign up for the classes in the spring to see if my back can endure riding anymore. Surely a cheaper way to find out than buying one. They supply bikes for the classes so I would only be out about seventy bucks.

Tomorrow, back to the club to work another spot shoot. This will complete my hours needed for the year. Probably work several more just to help out, and have a bit of fun. Won't be able to work the couple after this one though. The machine gun shoot takes priority over the club shoots. They are just too much fun.

Friday, October 3, 2014

Useless went home and all is well.

Obama got back in his gas guzzling 747 after talking to a couple hundred people, blocking traffic and causing great expense to locals for his security. On the plus side, I am off all weekend and the one of the local gun shows is going on. Almost missed it. Looked online to see when it was coming, and it is already here. Hit it up early and get some biscuits and gravy to start the day off right. One more week until the machine gun shoot. I have a bad feeling looking at the work load that I may have to work that Saturday. I hate going on Sunday as the shoot is winding down and the vendors have been picked over pretty well by then. Next weekend is also the fall thresherman park steam show/fleamarket. Lots to do.

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Well, nobody was using it anyway, right?

So we have trouble with ISIS. We have trouble with Ebola, now in the US thanks to not doing a better job securing travel from the infected areas, and the democrats refusing to secure our borders as it would interfere with the self importing of additional demorats. What is Obama doing about it? Numb nuts is coming to my town tomorrow. He is going to help all the local demorats out campaigning. Flying the taxpayer paid 747 with entourage all over the country campaigning. Anyone living in the western part of Indiana, or the eastern side of Illinois, knows route 41 is THE main thouroughfare through the state. Useless will be landing sometime tomorrow (as of yet, no definite time)  and traveling down 41, so, the non democrat populous (aka, the working class/taxpayers) will have to find a way around the main north south through way as it will be shut down for the security of our useless leader as he helps campaign (gag). He spent his unproductive career as senator out campaigning for president. He has spent the vast majority of his presidency out campaigning for both himself, and his co-conspirators. Schools will be letting out real early as to not strand kids with main road shut down. Useless's speech is to a closed audience of overpaid underworked union critters at a small steel mill. People who would blindly vote democrat anyway, being union workers and all. At least he is suppose to be flying back out tomorrow night. Hope they leave the radio off at work tomorrow. All they brayed about on it today was about Obama's big visit tomorrow. Pence is suppose to show up to greet useless. In this day and age, and with fuel being as high as it is, he should be able to do more of his pandering via internet, news media from white house lawn, and teleconferencing. Why he has to fly all over wasting tax payers money just boggles the mind. Only good part about it is, with his ultra low popularity, he may actually do more damage than good as he campaigns for his buddies. One can only hope.

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Ahh, the overtime returns

Ten hour day, day two. Weekend work wouldn't surprise me either. Rather work this one than the following one (machine gun shoot weekend), Nice to get some OT again. Tomorrow will be normal start up time, but Thursday, not so much. Have another dental appointment Thursday which means hauling myself to work at five AM so I can get my ten hours in before going to the dentist for scraping, poking and blood letting. Should be a down right fun day.
Did manage to get laundry and lawn work done after work today, so I may be able to hit the clubs monthly meeting tomorrow. It's that, or come home and cook up some pork tenderloin that I picked up today on the cheap. May hit the store on the way home and pick up a few more. I slice them up and freeze sections in meal plus size packets. May chop some up for pork tacos.

Monday, September 29, 2014

Why, why, why...........

Why on earth does Obama deem it necessary to pollute my neighborhood with his presence? Why? They just announced on the news he is suppose to be flying into the airport by me on Friday. There really aren't enough Demorats down here for him to waste the fuel, thank god. Why can't he go somewhere where he is more appreciated, like Illinois, or at least one of the blue areas of Indiana. Or he could fly out and try and help with Ebola outbreak. Pretty much anywhere but here would work. Next thing you know, Hillary will find her way here. Like cockroaches, once you allow one in, they are everywhere. And they don't make a spray for liberals, not that I have found yet anyway.

Sunday, September 28, 2014

What a work day

Hit the club to get in some work hours. It was absolutely gorgeous out today. I made out well. I put in four bucks on a half pot, and won fifty bucks. Bought a spot on a splatter board for two bucks, won ten. Bought in on another, won twenty. Not bad for a leisurely day. Got most of my work hours in as well.

I got to see the caretakers ten year old daughter take everyone to school. Ten years old, and she won three of the big prizes at the spot shoot. She started with the hundred dollar prize. Her brothers 12 gage shot gun she was using was bigger than she was. I was highly impressed. She didn't flinch at all. Her footing was perfect, and she was downright obliterating the target. It was a blast just watching her. Some of the adults were getting a bit miffed. Got to see another little kid, probably about ten, win the other half pot for fifty bucks. It made his day.

All in all it was a perfect day. Figure I will work there next weekend as well, but the following weekend is machinegun shoot weekend. It will be awesome.

Friday, September 26, 2014

This weather can stay year around....

Been driving the Vette into work all week, and going out for a long cruise after work. I love this time of year. Take the top off and enjoy the breeze and the ride. Actually got the weekend off. Probably ride around and enjoy the weather for a change. most of the chores are caught up. Two weeks until the machine gun shoot, and counting down. Want to pick up a couple forgings, both upper and lower receivers. Be nice to find a 1911 forging as well. May check prices on an upper in 7.62x39. I can always score that ammo on the cheap, and have quite a bit as well.

Vette got washed and waxed Tuesday. Tomorrow will be the trucks turn. She's a bit on the filthy side. Figure get her cleaned up while the weather is sweet. Want to pull the radio on the Vette and run a cable from the rear input to the glove box for my I-pod. Need to put a relay on the truck radio to bypass the silly safety that keeps me from dialing phone from radio display without it being in park. It's nice to be able to dial while at a light. I am not stupid enough to try and dial and fumble about while cruising down the road. Wish they didn't have to child proof everything. Us big kiddies always find a work around, it's just a pain to have to do it.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

OMG

Monday is a day late this week. Yesterday was smooth as silk. Today, not so much. The manual OD grinder that had an oil leak last week ate the grinder head motor this week. Total pain to get out. Being a universal grinder, it is buried in the main column and all the wheel heads have to come off to get it out. Never seen one go before. They generally last forever. Still have to find the oil leak, but we can look for that while the motor is out getting reworked. Last of the dinosaurs. It's a manual Kellenberger universal grinder. The service guy was out to help me with one of the CNC's a few weeks ago and said they are discontinuing making the manual version as they are not selling. It's a shame as they are a far superior machine to most of the other manual universals on the market. Hopefully tomorrow is a smoother day.
Only a few weeks until vacation. Need to head up north for a wedding towards the end of vacation. Cousins youngest daughter getting married. Time flies. Doesn't seem like the kids should be that old already. Get to catch up with my brother and my son for a bit while in the neighborhood. Hopefully get to stop off and harass Og while in the area. Just need to survive a few more weeks.



Monday, September 22, 2014

Wow, a pleasant Monday

A work Monday that didn't totally suck. Now that is a rarity. Day flew by. Things went perfect, and, my buddy brought in a slab of smoked ribs I had purchased at a benefit that was over the weekend. Nice easy dinner for tonight. Weather couldn't be any nicer. Life is good. Make a stuffed baked potato and some baked beans on the side. Maybe a brew or two.

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Well, it's the day I do my bills

I pay my bills online on my laptop, and, apparently someone didn't think he got his ears scratched enough before hand. Or he thinks he is part parrot. He use to climb up there when he was  a little pup and nap. Hasn't done it in years, but apparently, I wasn't paying enough attention to him. It was a gorgeous day out today. Lots of relaxation and not much productivity. Didn't make the club this week. Felt too good just relaxing for a bit and not going anywhere. I did wander out and get the dog's treats. Apparently the grocery store eliminated the treats he likes so I had to hit the pet store and stock up. They had a decent sale on them where you buy two, you get one free, so he is set for some time to come.

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Smooth day

Love Saturdays. No bosses so you can actually concentrate on getting your work done without their "help".  Day went great, and got off  work to beautiful weather outside, except for the skeeters. Blood sucking vermin. Tomorrow starts the spot shoots at the club so I will be heading out there to get some work hours in. Hopefully get home in time to get some stuff done outside. Fun stuff as I already knocked out the lawn work. Want to wash the Vette off and take her out for a while. I would take it to the club except they have a long gravel drive.

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Finally a decent day

My jaw feels fine for the first time in a while. Wisdom tooth calmed down and all is well. Machines are all back up and functioning at work, and I can simply run them. Ahhh. Back to a somewhat normal state. Going on work weekend number two. Should make the next check a bit more palatable. Believe the spot shoots start this weekend, so, I believe I will swing by the club and get in some of my work hours. Usually have them in by the spring and putting in bonus hours now, but, I was extremely busy at work in the spring and didn't get to participate. Lawn work is all done, so hopefully get some garage time tomorrow. Last couple days have been spent napping after work. Feeling quite a bit better than I have in a while. Would like to finish some garage projects. Want to reorganize so I can get the Vette over more to the middle of the garage giving me some more room by the bench so I can work with the car in the garage. I would love to have a bigger garage, or better yet, a pole barn. Only a few more weeks until the fall machine gun shoot. This year has flown by.

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Back to the dentist, yippee

After an unbearable day at work, I was fortunate enough to get into the dentist right after work. The right side never did fully recover after the temporary crown. I figured it was just the gums were raw from all the digging and drilling. Went in and she ground the crown to get some high spots off and it felt better, but the whole side was still tender. She told me to give it a few days and see if it got better as it may be tender from the high spot hitting, which made sense. Now, after only a few hours, the crown area feels much better, allowing me to feel the real problem. The wisdom tooth on that side is very sore. With the crown hitting, the whole area was lit up, but now I can definitely tell where the problem lies. Head back tomorrow and see if I can get a referral on getting them pulled. Dentist recommended it while I was getting crown done. They won't do it there, but will refer me somewhere. The fun just never ends.

Did manage to complete repairs on the machine they crashed over the weekend. No water leak. New grinding wheel installed. I fixed the solenoid for the coolant shut off. Fixed the way guards and replaced the way covers. Back in business and no mess. May actually be able to go in tomorrow, stay clean, and simply run a couple machines.

Monday, September 15, 2014

beating things back into shape.............

Machine I put back together Saturday after back shift majorly crashed the heck out of it leaked coolant like a sieve. I pull rubber way guard and find the stainless steel accordion guard covering the ways was bent all to hell. Took a couple hours getting the tangled mess disassembled and another few hours to beat and bend it back into shape. What a mess. Should have a new wheel to put on it tomorrow so hopefully we will be back up and running again.

Perfect timing. Working on the machine, I usually replace all damaged bolts with fresh, especially when they are 5mm button head cap screws. Can't get to new ones. The geniuses that run the place decided to replace MSC with Grainger, and MSC was in removing their tool cabinets which hold ALL hardware. Bolts, nuts, threading inserts, cutting inserts, taps, dies, every single thing every person in the shop needs all day long. What a mess. Everything Grainger has, which is way less than MSC stocks, is much more expensive. Grainger doesn't offer the inventory control MSC provided for checking items out against a job number so as to charge customer for parts used. This move will definitely cripple the shop for the foreseeable future. We peons on the floor had zero warning it was happening so we couldn't even get what we knew we would need out of cabinets to get by while they transition. They might be able to run the place worse than they do, but it would definitely be a challenge. Oh well, Monday is over. Hopefully it isn't one of those weeks with five Mondays in them.

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Productive weekend

Finally forced myself to finish the fireplace project I started, shamefully several months ago. It shouldn't have taken that long. Only took about seven hours to complete. Should have done it months ago instead of leaving it looking half done. Great to have the living room looking presentable again, and the fireplace turned out very nice too. Waiting for everything to cure so I can take away some of the bracing, but that is just dry time.

I got my new C&R license Friday. Can't believe it's been three years since I got the first one. Renewing is a breeze as I only had to mail a copy of form to the sheriff's office instead of going in to get a signature like the first time you apply. Good for another three years now. Saw some delusional TV while working on the fireplace. Bill Maher came on, with Nancy Pelosi as his guest. WOW. Talk about a real life dumb and dumber. After watching the two babble about their twisted view of reality, I changed the channel. People actually liked those two, but, they were in DC.

Not much fun today, but got a ton of stuff done that needed doing. Managed to get my lathe moved and elevated so it's at a more comfortable level to work at. Hope on finishing up the work bench after I get off tomorrow. I have the Kennedy box I picked up at the fleamarket on the bench and some of the tools put away. Going to bring the Gerstner box inside. I will use it in the office for the tooling for my little table top mill. Trying to reorganize the garage so I have room to work out there. Would love to put another garage in back yard. Saw a neighbor do it  a few blocks down. Doesn't look bad at all. If I do it, I figure I will get rid of the shed and have garage built deep enough to have a space for yard stuff at the back of it with a separate door to get yard gear out without moving a vehicle. If I do that, it will be a couple years down the road. That would make it where I could actually use half my attached garage for a work shop and actually have room. Want to reinforce the floor in corner of my bedroom as well so I can move my big gun safe in the house and give me a bit more room at wall of garage.

 Oh well, back to work tomorrow. Hope it is better than last week. Last week was extra special. Went in Saturday and spent most of the day putting a machine back together. One of the guys blew the wheel up in it. Twenty inch diameter three inch wide wheel. When you blow one of those up, you need a change of shorts, maybe pants too. Got it reassembled and the job set back up. Just glad I'm not the guy who has to explain blowing up a thousand dollar wheel. Main thing is nobody got hurt. I was amazed the Lexan window held the shrapnel inside the machine. With the machine show over with in Chicago, hopefully I can get hold of the service people on one of the other machines I am working on. Love to go to the machine show one of these years. When it is going on, it pretty much cripples getting hold of any service people in the industry.

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Time to print out and fill out the score cards again...

https://indianavoters.in.gov/PublicSite/Public/FT1/PublicOnBallotSearch.aspx

Yes, it is only midterm, but they all count. I really, really, really, yes and one more really wish Donnelly's ass was on this one. This is a nice site. You input your info and it tells you who is on your ballot and what questions will be asked, and it is printable so you can choose and take it along to the poll. Questions are easy. Retain judges? NO. I really wish Indiana could help win back the Senate, but, as said, Donnelly's useless Obama loving butt is not on the line on this one. Hopefully the Republicans can find someone who can control themselves to run against him. Still pissed off at Mourdock. He had it in the bag, then he opened his mouth. Oh well. At least we know he was against abortions. Thus, we got Donnelly. Yes, Donnelly. A couple more years of Donnelly. Oh well. Against abortions is perfectly fine. Say you are prolife and go on. Don't do a Mourdock and stick your foot in your mouth. We lost two senate seats over it. Say your prolife and let it be. No theatrics, no hysteria, no ridiculous elaborations, just move on.

Well, that was fun

I have a couple less holes in my head now. A few hours in the dentist chair getting drilled, gouged and jabbed. Plus side, the jaw is sore, but no longer throbbing. Got the temporary crowns in, a full checkup scheduled and an appointment for installing the permanent crowns. The kind of week I have had, I believe the dentist chair still beat working. Used half a personal day for it. Save the other one for a rough Friday that I really just need to get out of there early.
The ice is broke. They finally started up overtime again and I am one of the six lucky ones that get to work Saturday. Yes. The time off was nice, but, money is great too. We are backed up on work with them holding back on the OT, be a while before we can catch up.

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Two, not one, dang it...

Managed to break part of a tooth last week, and it is tender. Get in to the dentist and find out what I thought was a cavity on the other side is actually another tooth with a missing chunk, just doesn't hurt. Yeah. Get to spend Thursday getting two crowns. Will be nice to get rid of the throbbing on the one side though. Nice set up though. Being the procrastinator that I am, haven't hit the dentist in a few, or several, years. It's a whole lot nicer now with the digital instant x-ray deal they have. Shoots my tooth and shows it to me on the monitor mounted above my chair instantly. Get to go get a couple wisdom teeth yanked as well. In some ways, it still beats being at work:) Need to get back into a preventative mode. Just lost track of time since I moved years ago and never got around to getting a new dentist. One more day of a throbbing jaw.

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Now that was a steam show.

That was awesome. They have a steam powered machine shop on one half of the building, the other half, a wood shop. It is amazing watching how they did things way back then. Drive belts hanging from the ceilings. The old cutters back before the days of carbide and ceramic cutters. Saw a blacksmith, they had a smoke house going. They were threshing in a different section. It was the best steam show to date. Will definitely be putting it on the list of annual events to hit. Was debating going today. It was overcast really bad this morning and didn't improve all day. Hit a few rain drops going out, but continued anyway. Am glad I did. It stayed overcast, but it also stayed in the low 70's. Felt a few rain drops a few times during the day, but not enough to even call it rain. Stayed all day. It started raining when I was about fifteen minutes into the ride back home, so it was a perfect day.


                                                       An older lathe, one of three they had set up.


The power source
 
 
The wood shop side

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Elnora Steam show this weekend

Several of the guys at work told me about the Elnora steam show. This will be the first time I go to this one. Suppose to have a huge flea market. One of the guys said the place they have it at has a working machine shop there as well with the overhead drive and the not so OSHA friendly long leather drive belts coming down from the ceiling to drive the works. Only about an hour to the north of here, so it isn't too bad of a drive at all. Starts today, but I won't be able to go until Saturday. Nice part too is the vendors should still be there Sunday if it rains Saturday where I don't go. A lot of the flea markets I go to, quite a few of the vendors start packing up early on Sunday. One of the guys at work said at this one, vendors have to sign a contract stating they will stay for all four days and wont pack up until four PM on Sunday. Makes it nice for those that can't make it any other day than Sunday.

 Brought my little CNC mini-mill in from the garage. Bench is filled up out there and I needed some room. Want to make a small enclosure for it to contain the mess. Picked up a thread mill for it so I can use it for threading. Hope to get the homing switches wired up this weekend and practice on a scrap pieces of aluminum. Figure I can make a couple of castle nuts for the buffer tube. Once I get it running good, I will mill the threads in the AR lower. I wanted to do it in the lathe, but I didn't like the set up I had for it. Just not quite rigid enough. Hope to find some decent used angle plates and such at some of the flea markets I go to and start accumulating some decent fixturing to make set ups a bit easier. I am eyeing a few set ups to convert my mill drill machine into a CNC. Shouldn't be too hard. Found some decent ball screw and nut setups, which I can put on to get rid of most of the backlash right out of the gate. I would like to set it up where I can run it as a CNC, and, leave the handles on so I can also run it as a manual mill for quick jobs. Figure the ball screws and nuts will improve function right off the bat and I can start slowly accruing the parts for the conversion. I use an old computer with MACH3 to run the mini, so I can set up another old computer in the garage for the bigger mill. Want to play with the smaller of the two lathes I have and convert it to CNC with a few stepper motors. I can run it off of the same software and computer as I will be using for bigger mill. Take some time to get there, but no hurry. It is just fun to play with.

Machine gun shoot is next month. Hope to pick up a couple of upper blank AR forgings to play with. Would like to pick up some 1911 frame forgings if I can find any. Found some in a catalog, but not in person yet. If you can find them at a show, cuts the shipping out of the equation, and you can sometimes get a deal on buying a few. I still have one AR lower blank to do after i finish the one I am working on. Figure the second will go a lot smoother than the first as I will know what to do, and, what not to do as well. Would like to work at a program to try cutting one on the CNC. It will give me something to play with over winter. Want to use one lower for .22 so if ammo ever becomes available again, I can shoot cheap. The other, a 7.62x39 for shooting the cheap easy to get surplus ammo. Want to try making some scope rails as well. Should be really easy and I am already accruing small scraps that are big enough to make mounts out of. One more day to get through until the weekend. It is weird. I am so use to working massive amounts of overtime and they have us cut back to forty hour work weeks for a while. I haven't worked forty hour weeks in many,  many years. Machinists don't work forty as a rule, they live at work. I feel like I almost have a life or something.

Friday, August 22, 2014

Owwww

Which hurts worse, the feet or the sunburn? But it was worth it. It was like being in a freakin sauna out there. Hit the Follies at opening and stayed until close. Did go back to the truck to turn the AC on and cool off a few times. Not really a place to get out of the heat at the show. They shut the booths about four in the afternoon. I think they are open later on Saturday. Didn't take any pictures today. I hit the sale booths and the used parts area rather hard. Picked up some stuff for the mill and lathe for a great price. Found one guy who had threading inserts for $20 for a pack of ten. In other words, I got ten inserts for the price of one. Name brand too. He was selling a lot of tooling he picked up at auction, so it wasn't the cheap Chinese junk. Got a live center for the tailstock on the lathe as well as a silver deming drill set. A decent set of taps and dies. I also took back the steering column I bought last year and got the right one. I ordered the right one at the show last year, but they sent the wrong one. They were off by one letter on the part number which made a huge difference on the part. Once I showed them the mistake, they were very apologetic and remedied it quick. I now have a column and the fittings to put it together.

May go back out there Sunday as some people don't set up until the weekend. Tomorrow, I believe I am going to play in the garage. Have to start the day hitting the barber, but then, back home and get some stuff done in the garage.

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Work is done

It is time for the annual car show.  Finally saw some of the hotrods cruising about today. Usually see a whole bunch of them early in the week. Weather isn't so bad. A little warm and humid, but not as bad as they were predicting. Just hoping for no rain. Got all the chores done so I don't have to worry about getting behind. Should have some cool pics to post for tomorrow.

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Well,,,,after about a week

http://www.wnd.com/2014/08/support-grows-for-ferguson-officer/
After about a week of rioting about the poor choir boy who got shot by the white cop, facts start to trickle out, slowly. It appears the officers eye socket was fractured and he was beat damn near unconscious when he shot the poor black child. Those miniscule facts just don't fit into the liberal racially fueled press though. In other news, a black cop shot a crazy ass cracker. No rioting going on as of yet. But, then again, most of us crazy ass crackers have to go to work tomorrow thus getting in the way of protesting rioting and looting, dang it.

And in yet other left wing nut job unbiased news, it's history the way liberals see it.
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-republicans-throw-a-conniption-20140819-column.html#page=1

No bias here. Kinda curious if they edited out the holocaust as some of our friends overseas are in the process of doing. Apparently, the muslims are offended by the teachings of the holocaust as in their screwed up heads, it didn't happen. England is one of the countries that is currently trying to get it out of their history lessons so as not to offend I am sure it is in our new history scheme. Love the article. Can't say I am throwing a conniption fit, but I am severely nauseated at both the way the liberals are trying to literally rewrite history, and this article written by a liberal nut job.

Oh well, time to turn off the news, finish out the week a day early, and head out to the follies. Work tomorrow, take personal day Friday so I can get to the Frog Follies when they open Friday morning. Three fun filled days of hotrods, flea market, car parts, and just general fun.

Got home today and disassembled the top end of the lathe and cleaned, stoned and lubed the slide and compound. It was really stiff. It was filthy. She moves smooth now. Want to do a couple mods on it though. Found a nice website that has prints for putting a heavy duty quick change tool post on it. Want to make a bigger handle on it as well, with a bearing in it to make it a tad smoother. Also has a slick mod that will allow me to cut left hand threads with it. Should be a pretty nice weekend. If I am off next weekend, the Indy 1500 may be the destination.

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Well,,,,,

Buddy from work is getting ready to head up north to go bear hunting in a few weeks. Needed to sight in his new scope. Took him out to the club for a bit and got it all dialed in. While there, I tested the little ERMA .380 I picked up at the auction. Got a whopping four rounds out before it jammed, and jammed, and jammed. Have to take some of the other brand I have out and see if any of it feeds any better. Don't understand getting four good ones in a row, then nothing. Emptied mag, put different cartridges in a couple times. Removed one bullet at a time from mag to see if spring tension had any factor. Take it back this weekend with some Winchester white box and a few rounds out of my personal protection box just to try it. Presently using reloads from a very reliable supplier from northern Indiana. They feed fine in my Browning BDA. Wish I had taken a few other guns along to play with. Wasn't planning on having issues. Need to take the drill along next time. All the backer boards are shot out. Club keeps new boards stacked to the side, but without a way to unscrew old and screw in the new, not much good.
 Love my truck, but still have to work out my range supply storage. Use to keep range bag, tool box, rangefinder, safety gear and all in the cargo area of my SUV. May arrange an underseat compartment for the back seat of truck so I can leave gear there all the time. Weekend list at work is out. I am actually getting what I believe to be my forth weekend in a row off. Unreal. It is gorgeous out, and I am getting weekends off. I might actually get use to this. May even have to go out and get a life. Looks to be a shooting weekend this weekend. Cowboy town is calling.

Thursday, August 7, 2014

I can't believe they left out MLK

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/08/07/historic-fail-greatest-americans-missing-from-proposed-curriculum/
I believe they tried to change the rest, but the omission of Martin Luther King. Usually when liberals try to rewrite history, this type of mistake wouldn't happen. The rest, very believable. From the people who have already changed some text books to make the second amendment as meaning arming militia only. Upon being questioned about it, the response was it was a mistake when they shortened it. Like the second amendment was so long, it had to be shortened. Their latest attempt is  leaving out such things as the Holocaust, Ben Franklin and many other things from history teachings all together. Portraying  our countries heroes as bullies. Yes, I believe the liberals have won a lot of ground over the years, and now, if history doesn't back their beliefs, they just rewrite it. I sincerely hope the idea gets nixed. It is very important that history be taught, and taught properly so as to be less likely to repeat great mistakes of the past. The constant push by the liberals to brainwash the kids into thinking in the screwed up manner as they do is quite discouraging.

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

NOT one of modern builders better ideas.............

Up north, I had a house that was constructed in the 60's. It needed work, and I did a ton of it. Among the things done, electrical repair. I ran wiring for ceiling lights, which the house had none in any of the bedrooms. I installed ceiling fans. I put recessed lighting in the living room. All done with conduit. Lovely conduit. Have problems with a wire, pull a new one. Want a separate switch for the light and the fan, pull an additional wire through (although I pulled and tied off an extra wire on rooms I ran wires to for this purpose). I did a ton of work on the house, then, work shut my shop down and I relocated south. I am quite happy down here, but, after renovating house up north, I opted to buy a newer house so I would not have to have all the fun again.
Being newer construction, conduit was not used. There are funny reasons from construction outfits as to why. One outfit claimed wires get damaged from mold and condensation from the conduit :) Yeah, he really said that. Quite obviously, it is a lot cheaper to drill holes to route through studs and staple wire to the studs, then, drywall over. What really sucks, having to trouble shoot wires when you have a problem. Having to run a wire or add on. The mental midget that did the wiring here had a weak wrist. He just couldn't torque the screws at the outlets and switches enough where they don't arc and eventually not work. I have chased down a few circuits where limp wrist caused a circuit to open. To date I have replaced three switches and three receptacles in different areas of the house. I am revisiting one circuit.
Two years back, all my outdoor lighting died. I traced it back to a bad connection in a wall outlet, in the hallway of the house, where they tied in for power. The arcing was bad enough to melt part of the outlet and blacken the wire. I trimmed the wire up and replaced the damaged receptacle. I am now trying to trace a different part of the circuit. I have power to the outlet in the hall, but, no power at the lights which daisy chain off one another. Conduit, I could trace the route along the way. Modern stapled wire, beat head on wall and try and guess where the shit goes. I pulled two of the light fixtures, one outlet and a couple switches to try and trace the problem. Found one dead neutral wire on one of the two light switches which run the lights, which won't be bad to fix, but I would like to find other end of dead neutral so as to make sure that end, the end that would be connected to breaker box, doesn't short out. If I had had the house built, it would have been conduit throughout............

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Good food, good time

Hit the Friends of the NRA banquet last night. Didn't win anything, but it was a great time. As luck would have it, I sat down at an open table to eat dinner, and all the ladies that walk the items around the event sat down at the table. Met a bunch of people from my club as well as a few from work. They were packed. No open spots at the tables, which is good as they had to have raised a decent amount of money. The money raised goes to help youth shooting sports and many other endeavors. I go to this one, and the one our club holds every year.

Got up this morning and hit one of the local gun shows. Picked up a small Kennedy machinist box and a riser box for fifty bucks. The two drawer riser is in great shape, the box is a bit rough, but will do fine in the garage for holding some cutters, micrometers, indicators and such. Couldn't pass it by for the price. Had some biscuits and gravy while there as well. They have decent food there. Trying to get up the ambition to go play in the garage a bit, but it feels good just to sit down for a little while.

Thursday, July 31, 2014

I have lost hard drives over the years.

I won't but Western digital to this day as they were the worst. As in when a drive I bought new died, they sent me a new one as I had the warranty. The new drive died, and again, I got yet another under warranty. That one died shortly before the warranty ran out. That being said, I am very familiar with hard drive failures, how to replace them and what a pain it is to lose info. What I don't understand is how someone can lose a hard drive which loses certain chunks of e-mail, yet saves others. Very weird.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/07/30/emails-show-ex-irs-official-lerner-using-derogatory-terms-for-republicans/

Funny how the ones that would implicate her and the IRS conveniently disappeared. I can't really say too much about her remarks on the conservatives as I tend to berate the liberals in much the same way. Big differences are I use my computer, not a government agency's computer. I don't work for said agency. She abused her authority by singling out conservatives and got away with it. If I were to have e-mails similar to hers on my work account, I wouldn't be working anymore. Government officials should be held to a higher standard as what they do effects all tax paying citizens. Still say her and a whole slew of people covering for her should be in a cell somewhere.

It will be a busy weekend.

Tomorrow is the Friends of the NRA banquet, which is always a blast. Then, I have a two day weekend. I figured out a cheap fixture to mount my AR lower to in order to turn the threads for the buffer tube. Picked up the material after work. Should be pretty solid, and self centering on the lathe. Should get that done this weekend along with a decent start on the magazine pocket. Only one more day to go.

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

NOT on the weekend list, again....cool

Last weekend, the gun auction. This weekend, the Friends of the NRA banquet. That is always a blast. Good food and a good time. Hope to get some stuff done in the garage as well. Need to put some speakers up, run some wiring, and maybe just have a bit of fun playing with some of the machines. Need to pick up a small chunk of bar stock to make a fixture for turning the threads on the lower. At a stand still on it until then as I need to tap holes in magazine area to mount it to the fixture. Once the buffer end is tapped, should be smooth sailing on through the rest.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Oh Bloomberg, you liberal twit

I watched his commercial, and, it blatantly screams FOR gun rights. The woman is with her child calling police, guy breaks in, takes kid, shoots mommy. I am sorry, but, it kinda hints that maybe if mommy had a gun, she could have aimed it at the entrance while dialing the police. You know, since criminals already have guns and don't care about the law anyhow.  Poor old Bloomberg will just never get it. He is right about one thing. We do need to contact our congress critters. Just not quite like Bloomy wants though. Thanks for the commercial Bloomberg.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2014/07/29/new-bloomberg-antigun-ad-inadvertantly-proves-why-women-need-a-gun-n1871484

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Steam show and fleamarket today

Gun auction went rather late yesterday, so I didn't get a chance to go to the steam show. Got up early and headed out. It was rather steamy out even early in the morning. They had the sawmill and blacksmith set up. We had an extremely bad storm last night, so, quite a few of the vendors had called it quits. The mill wasn't running yet when it started sprinkling. I hit most of what was left of the flea market. Between the heat, humidity and the dwindling vendors, I decided to head home. I did pick up a slab of ribs to go before leaving. You get anywhere near the BBQ area and it is hard to resist. Spent the rest of the day just relaxing.

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Way too much fun............

Today was auction day. It was a lot of fun. I should have done some research on the full auto section as the prices were extremely low by market value. The 50 went for 18,500. She is complete with all accessories, papers, crates and a box of ammo. They had a brand new spare barrel for sale on a different item number. The Sten went for $3900, the ruger for $8000.

I would have come home with more had the order of guns been different. A few of the guns toward the end of auction I wanted went way too high. Had I known, I would have bid on a few of the earlier guns. I did pick up one pistol I really like, and have eyeballed in the past. It looks like new, as in never fired. Has box and papers. Not a really high valued gun, nor necessarily popular, but I like it.

Chambered for .380, of which I have a lot. I have seen these every so often, but this one never hit the price they go for, or even half the price they generally go for. I picked this up and another enfield. It wasn't going for much, and it did have a pokey thing (the brits call it a bayonet, but it looks more like a pokey thing). Figured it doesn't eat anything and I picked it up for about half what they go for. I know I won one other gun, but somehow, when I went to pay, they didn't have a record of it. Maybe I will get a call when the figure it out. The gun went somewhere. My guess is they wrote the number down wrong and put it on some other bidder's winnings. It wasn't anything fancy either. Just a pistol that should have gone for more. This weekend was a bad time for them to schedule a gun auction, as far as a seller is concerned. It was great for the buyers. There was a fair, a steam show,  and a huge flea market. Flea market being the type guys like. Tools, tractors and such. There were people there, but not as many as usually come, which effected both price and popularity. Popularity being most of the military stuff didn't hit what  it usually does. Hunting rifles pretty much hit their usual target, until toward the end. A lot of people left and the last few guns went for a song.

I cleaned up in the silent auction. I almost felt guilty for the price I got the stuff for. There was so much reloading supplies that they couldn't get top dollar out of it. They actually threw a ton of brass in the regular auction to help get rid of some of it. I didn't buy any reloads. I don't know the guy who reloaded them and I am always leery of buying reloads from a stranger. Might be good, but no guarantee. I did want some lead bullets though. And there were rows of ammo cans full of them. I bid on four containers figuring I would be out bid on a couple of them and hoping I got one or two. Nope. I got them all. I am stocked for a really long time. They were $20-$25 bucks each. I bid 5 extra on the .45 as people were going after them more than the .38. 

Yes, twenty dollars, sized, lubed and ready to load, and in ammo cans. I should have bought them all. Talk about heavy.... I also picked up a big ammo can for a few bucks...

And some magazines for the carbine. Forteen all together. All major manufacturers included. Came out at about six bucks a magazine. I tried for a couple Dillon reloaders but got beat out. It was the largest silent auction they have ever had. The reload gear was one guy..... One of the guys I work with showed up at the auction. Last week, the auction house auctioned his aunt's house and furnishings. He said he talked to the auctioneers about the gun auction. They told him the one guy came in and borrowed their enclosed trailer to haul in his silent auction supplies. Said he filled it up twice. I believe it. You would have to see it to believe it. He had more reloading gear and ammo than most of the biggest gun stores I have seen.

Friday, July 25, 2014

It looks awesome

I headed down to the auction preview. It is huge......

I walk in the door and see the overflow of the silent auction part. I am in heaven. There are tons of reloading items. I shoot a lot of nonjacketed .38 and .45. There are rows of ammo cans full of bullets. all sized and lubed and ready for loading. They have a few dillons. I may pick one up if it goes cheap enough. Be nice to leave one dedicated to .38. There are cases of ammo, pallets of lead, pallets of bullets, and an unbelievable amount of brass. I was told a lot of the reloading stuff came from one man who recently passed away as well as a lot of the guns. WOW. The reloading stuff continues into the next room which is the main room housing the guns and auction. It follows the perimeter of the room. There is so much brass, they have lots being auctioned to reduce some of the bulk.

The browning .50 won't be there until the morning along with the other machine gun. I always like to see what they bring. The .50 is up to $8750 so far. There are some really cool guns as well. So far they have have a total of three hundred on the block. I will be spending the day watching and bidding:)

There is a Winchester and an Inland M1 carbine which would look nice in my safe.

A Garand tanker. The first one I have seen outside of pictures. The poor Krag next to it was butchered long ago.
Everyone needs at least one .50 cal. You just never know when the zombie apocalypse is going to hit.

There were some nice bullet boards there, but they are already pulling a couple grand a piece. They are cool, but not that cool. At least one of my buddies from work will be there. Sunday will be the Steam show and flea market. Next weekend is the friends of the NRA banquet. It is going to be a great couple of weeks.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Tough choices....

It is almost impossible for me to turn down overtime, almost. I always work as often as I can. So, it was hard, but, I asked the boss to schedule someone else for Saturday this week. This weekend is the huge gun auction, the steam show/ flea market in the next county, and, the fair in my county. Lots to do and I shouldn't be bored. Tomorrow is the preview where I can check out the guns they have to auction as well as what is in the silent auction. Will post some pics tomorrow. Probably going to try and get out tomorrow with only eight hours under my belt. Weekend is going to be awesome.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

And on a most positive note.....

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/07/19/guns-are-welcome-one-restaurant-bucks-a-trend-and-sees-dramatic-results/

Bloomberg, Pelosi and other whiners won't admit it, but, much like climate change, gun control is also a lot of built up nonsense. It may amaze them to find there hasn't been a shooting there yet, nor a robbery for that matter. Could it be that law abiding gun owners aren't the problem? hmmm. It was a refreshing article though.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Finishing the grip area

 
 
                        Started out on this end by drilling hole for the pivot pin spring and detent.

 
Next up, mill out the material to form tabs for pivot pin.
 
Next up, mill the last surface for the grip panel.
 
Drill hole for grip. I didn't have tap on hand, so I will tap it later.
 
 
Left side mock up
 
 
Right side mock up.
 
Need to finish buffer tube hole (bore and tap), and the buffer retainer hole. Then I can start milling out the magazine pocket and the trigger group area.