Great flea market

It was  a huge flea market/antique show. I enjoy looking at all the antiques. Unfortunately, I remember playing with a lot of the "antique" toys when I was a tot, so, I must therefore be an antique. Explains the creaks in the joints I suppose. Got out of there with just looking today. Had some items of interest, but nothing I couldn't live without. It was most enjoyable though. I cut the grass when I got home, so I got more than enough exercise for one day. Really don't want to have to go back to work tomorrow. Way too pleasant outside for that.

Cruz was in town for the latest anti Trump rhetoric. Trump is due to visit on Thursday. Kasich is suppose to pop through in May, not sure why he is still running about. Hopefully the demorats stay clear of town. Especially Killary. Bernie I can find some humor in, sort of. Hillary aggravates me on sight, just as Obama's presence does. Hillary should be doing time for multiple reasons, but, being a Clinton, it will just be noise on the news for a bit and go nowhere. This has to be the worst choices for president ever. Seems like we are on a downward spiral as I have felt the same way for the last few election cycles.

Destined to just stay home

Auction had nothing I was remotely interested in buying. Mostly cheap modern firearms. The silent auction had a lot of .303 brit ammo I would have bid on had there been any real reason to be there. I tried going to the antique and flea market at the 4H center. I always enjoy that. It was lined up out onto the highway going in when I went by in the morning and not moving very fast. I tried again a bit later, and it was the same. It was a combo of a lot of people, and the fact that almost everyone going in will wait forever to get up there and then dig for the money to enter. That and sit there conversing with the attendants taking the cash. I will try again tomorrow. I hate crowds and lines, so it wasn't worth it to wait. Was suppose to be sunny and in the seventies today. It was in the fifties, overcast and drizzly. Good day to stay indoors and just chill out for a bit. Supposedly suppose to be sunny and low eighties tomorrow. We will see. Should have been a weather man. I think I could guess blindly better than they can with their radar reports and equipment. It was nice relaxing with the dog for a bit. Had smoked pork butt for dinner. The local butcher shop had a heck of a sale on pork butts and ribs, all smoked and ready to go. A little bbq sauce and a bit of buffalo sauce for dipping made for a great easy dinner.

Combination of seniority and me getting lazy

Gun auction and an antique show this weekend. My name pops up on the weekend work list. I pull seniority for the third time in the eight years I have been down here. Now, I am off and the less senior guy, the FMLA abuser, gets to work instead. I am getting lazy. I use to work every hour I could get. I am starting to actually consider doing enjoyable things and turn down some of the overtime for the first time in my life. It feels weird, but great. Have lots left to do in the garage as well. I dug up all the stuff I need for the lower receiver I started on last year. I want to do some more on it this weekend. Going to do the magazine well. I got the mill leveled and tools organized.

I want to finish making a handle for my lathe as well. I have some sketches for what I want to do to the lathe for a CNC conversion.  Main challenge is I want to retain the ability to use it manually after conversion. I believe I came up with a perfect way of accomplishing that task. Have he motors, ballscrews and nuts, and I have made the controller for it. Just need to make some of the bracketry. So many different projects. 

I also dug the Mustang out. It has been sitting for a long time now.  I need to sit down and make up a list of what all I want to do and somewhat schedule what order to do them in. Right now, I just work on what I feel like doing, which is fine, but, I have so much started and nothing done. Think I am going to start by finishing the receiver as it is just about done. I need to get the lathe handle done and put back on so it is usable again. Also want to get the digitals mounted on the lathe. I am really looking forward to the weekend. Suppose to be dry and sunny. 

Need to go back to work to rest

Spent the whole day getting the garage in order. Managed to move the benches and add the platform for the mill. Getting the mill up there was fun. Kept rocking it up on to 2x4's and increasing one by one. Finally able to walk it back into place gently nudging it with a real long 2x4 using it as a lever. Lots and lots of fun. Where is the fork truck when you need one. Did some major clean out. Garbage cans are full, so, that will be all the garbage clearing until after garbage day. I can see most of the bench tops again. It was a perfect day out there, except for the miserable wasps that are constantly trying to build new nests. I guess they are filling in until the mosquitoes are ready to pester everyone. Back to work tomorrow. Next weekend is the big gun auction.

Full weekend off, and what a weekend

After a horrid first week back to work, they gave me the weekend off. I made the weekend list for all of two hours before they marked me off. Wonderful. It is low 70's and sunny. Perfect. Went out for a cruise in the Vette. Came back and got the truck and headed over to harbor Freight. Picked up a heavy duty stand for my pedestal grinder, which I had had mounted on my bench. Hit up the grocery store. Back home, I played in the garage until dark. Continue tomorrow on garage. I built a platform to raise the mill up to bench height so I can put it in between the two benches I have so as to have everything against the same wall and out of the way. Should free up some floor space. I cleared up a whole bunch of room getting rid of garbage. The Mustang is clear of junk. Hope to start back up on renovations. Been sitting for some time now. Too many projects going on.

This weather sucks

Wet. cold and dreary. My joints are extremely sore. Not heading to the machine gun shoot. Don't think I can walk that much. Hopefully hit the fall shoot. Lower back and knees usually suck, this weather just makes them suck a bit more so than usual. Got some chores done, but no where near my goal. Definitely not up to moving rock. Did fill in some eroded spots in back yard and replanted grass. Reinforced with some canvas to try and prevent further erosion. Just total pain trying to dig or work on the ground. Did set up a treadmill and a bowflex in one of the spare bedrooms. Hope to build up the leg muscles to hopefully help the knee support. Getting old sucks. Bigtime.

May head out to the club for a bit tomorrow. Haven't been there in a while. New president of the club has pretty much destroyed it. A lot of the membership is quitting different activity groups. For the first time in fifteen years, they cancelled their spring spot shoots. The president changed the rules for the shoot, would not listen to the membership, and as a result, the whole spot shoot committee disbanded. We have a spring and a fall shoot that each last about three months each. It is a major source of income to offset club expenses. Not sure how the club will manage without the profit generated by the spring shoot. Might be the last year for the club. Want to check out another shooting club nearby. A buddy offered to get me on the waiting list. Not as fancy, but they allow full auto and large caliber, which is a plus. My buddy has a few machine guns. They have a pumpkin shoot in the fall. Kinda like R Lee Ermy with watermelons. Have to see if the club straightens out or not. I don't understand how they are changing a lot of the rules they are changing without a membership vote. I want to line up with a few of the long term members and see if we can do a recall on the board we have in now. Don't think it has been done before, but these guys are getting ridiculous. Club isn't too much fun anymore. They eliminated the dinners at our monthly meetings as a cost save. Eliminated the .22 shoots and substituted BB gun shoots. Sorry, none of the kids want to pay to shoot a BB at a target. Not to mention all the kids that have bought or received .22 crickets for using in the shoots as presents through the years. New board has pretty much sucked all the fun out of the club. Some long time members have outright quit already.

Some nice relaxation

Finally on vacation. Lots of relaxation, with a little work mixed in. Did some yard work, loaded up the garbage men with dead brush and junk, and, hit a gun show. The guys from Precision Ammo from up in Hobart Indiana started coming down here with supplies. They did so well, we are now a regular trip for them. I use to buy my bulk ammo from them when I lived up north. Found out about them via Og. What doesn't show up on their online price list is the odd ammo they make. Bought some ammo for the broomhandle from them at the last show. They have some odd military rounds that are usually hard to find. Naturally, they had the usual .45, 9mm and such as well. I got out of there cheap this time around. End of the week is the machine gun shoot. If the weather is decent and I feel up to it, I will be heading there and I am liable to spend my money out there better than at a local gun show.

Weather is a bit cool, but sunny and dry so far. Only hit the lower 60's today, briefly. Makes yardwork quite pleasant. Built a platform bird feeder yesterday. Birds are starting to use it now. My area doesn't get any squirrels, so I can get away with it. Going to try and get ambitious and get some rock spread while I am off. I did the back yard last year. This year, it is the front yards turn. Want to get the garage straightened out as well. Hope to finish up my AR lower while I am off. I have a lower parts kit. I would like to make programs to cut a full lower parts kit out of flat stock, just for the heck of it. Have some scrap pieces of 01 flat stock. Be cool to make an AR from complete scratch. Or as much as I can. I bought blank upper castings at the last machine gun shoot. Give one of them a go after I get the lower done.

Plan more on relaxing than working though. Sometimes, four weeks a year doesn't seem like enough vacation. If I live long enough to get nine more years in, I get five weeks a year. Of course, I will be about dead by then.  End of May, I become a Grandpa for the first time, so I will be making another trip up north to see the little rugrat. If he or she comes a couple weeks early, it may happen on my birthday :)