Post Thanksgiving

So much for winter. Chinook winds starting about Wednesday. Most of the Anchorage bowl and the valley is snowless. We have very little. Odd. Icey. Odd for this time of year in Alaska.

I finally did my part of "the cause". I am pretty well covered for handguns but I had depleted the rifle ammo over the past months.

Just Four More Days

Just Because

Changes

The more things change, the more that they stay the same, goes the old adage. I have spent a good part of my professional career either making messes (or at lest wise planning to make a mess) or cleaning up other peoples past activities. I began my career looking for uranium and ultimately transitioned to cleaning up one of the end products of my earlier life. Which is not to say that any of the uranium that I found actually ended up in a nuclear device (bomb, in non-PC speak).

Currently and through several twists of fate, I am managing a construction project for which I only have the most rudimentary skills. I can manage people and tasks but this project is a mine field laden with all manner of hidden surprises. It is a complete re-model of a 1946, 88,000 sf- art-deco-fixer-upper. The downside is that there is NO contingency or risk money. The margins are fixed at 8% by contract. The interior demolition contractor is 3 months behind schedule due to "unforeseen" conditions like 27-in thick walls, excess asbestos, etc. etc. We are a month and 1/2 into the rebuilding developing work around solutions on a daily basis. I still don't have 100%, Issued For Construction drawings and likely won't until middle of this week.

Am I whining? I guess that I am. Frankly I think that I am in over my head. My manager is less than helpful. He wants my head (actually he would be happy if I moved on) because we aren't able to bill all of the money he has forecast for the month (ya gotta do the work to get paid). So now I am willing to make his life easier, or at least in his mind easier, by moving on. I am looking for work. Reluctantly. I don't want to quit because that is an admission of failure but on the other hand...

Grand Opening and Priorities

This morning the Sportsmen's Warehouse store in Wasilla, AK opened. It was the social event of the season. We arrived about 0815 and were forced to park in the overflow across the drive. It was a great event (such as these things can be. Not quite the start of the Iditarod but never the less a good time to see friends.

I did succumb to the temptation but it was for a good cause: Christmas for my son. I picked up a remarkable deal on a Remington 870. As much as I like the feel of wood, practically won out in the end. Black synthetic was a better choice. I jumped the gun, so to speak, on the buy ammo day when I picked up a case of Winchester shells. Hey, you can never have too much ammo, right?

A friend is luckily in the employ of Sportsmen's and casually mentioned a "deal" on a black rifle. Naturally this peaked my interest. They were offering a substantial discount on the S&W M&P P-15 ($850), which is a pretty darn good deal. But as they say on TV "Wait, there is more!" If I bought now, they would throw in a .40 M&P line pistol for only $99. Hmmmm. For less than a grand, I would walk out the door with 2 good weapons. Round up to an even grand and I would take away a nice handful of starter ammo. My wife, only partially understanding the conversation was encouraging me to buy an early birthday present (later I learned that she interpreted "black rifle" to mean "black powder"). Fortunately -or maybe unfortunately- the store was nearing closing time so I deferred the decision until Sunday morning.

Bright and early, Sunday, I rolled out of bed, started the water for coffee, and loaded the stove with wood and contemplated the morning. Alas, the glow of the extension-cord plug to my block heater reminded me that I had higher priorities: glow plugs. That and the fact that I am contemplating a less-than-voluntary job change. This is the burden that us responsible adults bear...

More Information

More information can be found at www.ammoday.com

Since were are on the subject

of firearms. You may recall, the one or two of you that read this blog, that I was pining away for a M1A. This past spring I became the proud owner of a M1A produced by Springfield Armory! The inner package came with a prominent label: Not Legal in California. That alone was almost worth the price. I added a couple of 20 round clips just to be sure that I fully piss-off a liberal or two.

One afternoon in June my wife called and requested that I pick up tortillas on the way home from work. On the appointed mission I passed through the sporting goods sections to check on the price of .308 ammo. It is a routine. I have a hungry mouth errr magazine to feed. There, in the glass case was a S&W 629 with a 4-in barrel. The price was about 2/3 of the best price that I had seen anywhere. What was I to do? I tried to flee but the temptation was too strong. I left the grocery with 5 boxes of .308, 2 of .44, and a new pistol. Walking through the parking lot I was contemplating a gun running strategy. Focused as I was on how I was going to introduce the family to the new arrival and explain why the college fund wasn't going to get its monthly contribution, I rationalized my purchase.

I forgot the tortillas and that was my real sin.

Buy Ammo Day

Two weeks and one day to National Buy Ammo Day (November 19th if you don't what to do the math). National Buy Ammo Day was started by Kim DuToit (www.theothersideofkim.com), or so I remember. The idea is to support the second amendment through purchase of ammunition. Run to you favorite gun store and buy 100 rounds of your favorite center fire or 500 rounds of rim fire.

As I am always looking for bargins, I am pretty well stocked on pistol ammo but will look to pick some more stuff for the long guns. The male offspring is shooting skeet at the local range on a weekly basis so every couple of weeks I look for bargin prices on scatter-gun ammo.

Remember, National Buy Ammo Day!

The Weekend in Review

Spent some of the weekend catching up on sleep. It was a very long week last week and the coming week doesn't promise to be any better. Son and heir (apparent) has been working on installing a new clutch on a very old snow machine. I'll give him credit for resourcefulness. He managed to get the old clutch off the machine using pieces of another Skandic clutch tool and the shaft of a conventional gear puller. The problem that we are now facing is the threads in the shafter are rolled inward so the bolt won't bite. Next week I'll need to chase the threads if I am able to determine the thread type. I know the diameter is 14 mm but the pitch is another story. The manual says 1mm but I am thinking 1.5 mm. We made a run to Sears to look for a thread gage and then to the local industrial hardware store (AIH). I am not sure where these companies get their help but...

The time change is messing with my biologic clock. The clock is ticking toward 2030 hours and it has been dark for about 3 hours now but my body is feeling like it is much later.

Ribs, mashed potatoes, green beans, and Alaskan Amber for dinner. Not a bad life. Loaded the stove with spruce and enjoyed some television with the family. My eldest daughter loves Extreme Home Makeover. Although some of the episodes are better tht others I found this one exceptionally annoying. The situation was a family near Cheyenne, WY and a house with a radon problem. Surprise. Most of the intermountain west has a problem with radon to varying degrees. It is a problem that is fairly easy to remedy. Ventilate. Sometimes trenching, vapor barrier, and perforated pipe. In true Hollywood style, the blew the existing house to pieces... dramatic but hardly necessary. Better that they remediated a dozen or so home rather than spend the money the way did, if they were really concerned about radon. It is all theater. designed to woo audiences and sell Sear, Ford, etc. etc.

WOW

I lost my blogger voice. It seems to have returned and I hope to get back to posting in the coming days. I am thinking I should probably hire a editor but on my budget I am stuck doing my own.

Say it again

Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist, Islamofacist,

There, I said it and I am proud! Go pound pig fat, Mohammad....