Doing Things...

...all sorts of things.  Word of warning, I am going to be talking about quite a bit of stuff here, none of which is terribly organized, though I hope it all comes together in the end, and I hope there's enough random interesting stuff to keep you entertained as I wander, if not aimlessly, at least, slightly crookedly, down the paths of my recent experiences.

Yesterday I was at work and my mother called up, saying that her cousin and cousin's husband from Idaho (who are in the area for Thanksgiving) were coming up to town for the day, and "Do you want to have lunch with us?" Being that my boss was ok with me skipping out for the afternoon, and not being one to turn down a meal when offered, and being that said meal was to take place at my favorite microbrewpub, and being that said cousin and her husband are really cool folks, I happily accepted.

After lunch we split up, my mother and her cousin hitting the second hand stores, and me and mother's cousin's husband (hereby referred to as "Mr. R") hit the town. He had never spent much time in Happy Valley, so I decided to start off by showing him the recently revamped downtown. A hopping place, especially considering it was a Tuesday Afternoon (crap, now that song is going to be stuck in my head--curse you Moody Blues!) I admit, the main reason I like downtown is not because of the art on the corner, the nice landscaping, or the myriad of bike shops: I like it because of the homebrew store and Gelato Junction. It turns out, that's a big reason why Mr. R liked it too.

Soon enough the time on my parking meter ran out, and it was time to move on. But that isn't where this blog post ends.

Now, for a little background on Mr. R: he is a long time competition shooter, reloader, firearms instructor, a nearly professional guitarist, and super nice guy, as well as being a former Marine and Army Sargent, starting out in Vietnam and ending only recently with Iraq Try #2. Very interesting man, with a wide and varied body of experience, and very generous of his time, materials, and advice. Oh, and he has a very impressive beard, reaching nearly down to his belly button. It is funny to watch other people interact with him, as you can always see them start out thinking "What kind of crazy bum is this?" before they figure him out. I count myself very lucky to know him, and even luckier to be marginally related to him so I don't feel bad cornering him to talk.

Now back to my rambling.

Last weekend my mother and I went down to visit my Grandma and Grandpa (and pick out a cat). We've been going down there pretty often, every other weekend or so, as my Grandma is in the nursing home these days. While there, I like to go out to the back 40 and do a little plinking. This time I had that CCI CB .22 LR ammo that I bought for National Ammo Day, and I had my 10/22 to see if I could fulfill Butch's request for a function test, and since Mr. R was in the neighborhood (they were staying with my Uncle the mechanic, who lives practically next door to my grandparents--are you following all of this? Don't worry, I'm sure I'll stop soon), I asked him if he wanted to come back with me. Asking me if I wanted any instruction on shooting (what an offer! A few hours with someone who could be charging $100/hour, offering to teach me 1-on-1!) I readily agreed, and figuratively killed two birds with one stone by trying out the CB ammo at the same time.  By the end of the afternoon I had a nice 1" group at 25 yds, which made me happy.

Oh, and Butch, to answer your question, the CB ammo is quite amazing.  It doesn't have enough oomph to cycle my 10/22, relegating it effectively to bolt action territory (shoot, cycle action, repeat), but it is very accurate, and by golly it is quiet.  You hear a **pop!** when you pull the trigger and a **thwack!** as the bullet hits the target--no hearing protection needed (though I should add that I have a polymer buffer, which probably helps the noise as well).  Sounds quieter than someone hammering nails.   Enough power to go through a half inch piece of plywood at 25 yards, so fine for hunting wabbits, I'd say. Even Mr. R (who owns a brace of NAA Mini Revolvers for dispatching snakes, varmints, and deep concealment) was impressed, and put it on his shopping list.  In a lever action or revolver, I wouldn't even have the minimal complaint of the non-cycling semi-auto.

Now, back to yesterday.  So then, since we were done downtowning, we started to head for home, and happened to run into the local "real gun store" (as in, not a big box multi-use sporting good store, not a hardware store with a couple of shotguns, and not a pawnshop) and decided to stop in since we were there.  Luckily we did, for Mr. R found a shotgun he's been looking for for his wife (who remember, is my mom's cousin), a 12 gauge 8-rd magazine Maverick 88.  She is a big 12 gauge fan, but the only shotguns she has are really nice ones that don't get taken with them when they travel.  Oh, and don't tell anyone I said this, as the shotgun is going to be a surprise Christmas present.  As we were doing all this I learned today that you can legally buy long guns if you are out of state, in general, as long as the store policy says so, and in some areas you can buy handguns as well.  While we waited for the paperwork to go through, Mr. R had me check out the Ruger Single Six that was under the glass.  Very nice gun, and now I have yet ANOTHER gun to put on my ever growing list of things I want.  He also told me that his preferred .308 semi-auto is also the M1A. Don't get me wrong, I think it is a fine rifle, but it just don't click with me, and if I am going to spend over a thousand dollars on something, then by Grabthar's hammer it had better click!

But I digress. As we were shooting the breeze with the gun shop guys, the conversation turned to Mr. R's military days, and being a patriotic American small business, when we finally walked out of the shop it was with the shotgun, a free box of 12 gauge ammo and a free hat with the company's logo on it. I'd like to see an anti-gun shop do anything like that!

Whew, huh? I think I've spit out everything I've had bottled up inside, now. I'll see Mr. R again on Thanksgiving, though I'm not sure if we'll get in any more gun time. I know sometimes after the festivities there is a big trap shoot, but at last count there were 43 people planning on attending our big shindig, so we may be preoccupied with getting in all the awesome food--I know there will be turkey, ham, and probably prime rib, and the one guy who is a Louisiana transplant is bringing his famous stuffing, and my mother is making two different kinds of pumpkin pie... if you don't leave on a stretcher in a food-gorged coma, then it's your own dagblummed fault.

And, now... wait for it...

Fin