Interesting Weekend
Posted Tue May 26, 2009 in
Ruminations
I love this image, it captures the “pissed-off-cat-look” perfectly. No small animal I know of can give you that “I’ll kill you!” look like a house cat. Sometimes I should look like that, even if I really have nothing to complain about. I could certainly take lessons from this guy on how to get my game face on. He’s got it down.
I was planning on writing up a drive report for the tip to Lubbock and back. But, I just don’t seem to have a lot of spare words these days. I think there are things I want to say, but building up a sufficient head of intellectual steam is challenging. I just can’t seem to get it done. Oh well…
The weekend was really pretty good. I needed some time to take my focus off work for a few days. We spent Saturday driving around Reno (mostly) looking for a few shirts for me and for 9mm pistol ammunition. I want to add a few hundred rounds to my stock so I don’t use up my reserve for practice. I found a hundred rounds at the local Walmart, but no one else had anything but defensive ammunition, which is much too expensive to use for practice.
I decided I need to go ahead and make the investment in a reloading rig. I don’t know if I’ll be able to buy materials or not. I hear that primers are in short supply and that powder is nearly as bad. I have a lot of once-fired cases that will serve me a long time. I save all of my brass and scrounge up other’s leavings as well. If it’s brass in 9mm, .45 ACP, .223/5.56 NATO, or .308/7.62 NATO, I’ll scrounge it. Yep, I’m a certified brass-whore.
As a result, I have quite a few casings stowed in boxes in my garage. I’m willing to replace the barrels in my Glocks so I can shoot lead bullets if I need to. I’ve even cast my own bullets before. It isn’t that hard to do. I used to scrounge used wheel-weights for lead, melt them down, clean up the dross, and cast bullets. A little tin from an old toothpaste tube (like one could find that now!) worked wonders on the hot metal. It was pretty easy and really cool.
Next weekend we’ll clean out the garage, make some decisions about what things we’ll go through now, stow a bunch for next winter (when we’ll go through more), and move them to the storage unit. It’s time to clear the garage sufficiently to have room to work and park Wife’s car (and my bike).
I also bought materials to rebuild my target stands. The old design was two vertical 1×2 furring strips with the backing board stapled to the risers. The backing board frequently separated from the risers and it wasn’t a good structural design. So, I used 1×2 furring strips to build two uprights (six feet tall) with two 1×2 horizontal braces, all tied together with brass frame braces. Young Son and I cut the pieces and assembled them Sunday. I attached the cardboard backing sheets yesterday with a staple gun. I didn’t get any range time, but the stands are ready and we now have three target stands plus one that will serve as a Bianchi barrier for training.
I also bought a Weber charcoal grill Sunday. Young Son and I assembled it as well. I want to grill sometimes and really don’t like to cook with gas. Charcoal brings a much better flavor to the food. My plan was to cook Monday (which I did). I haven’t cooked with charcoal in decades, so I have to retrain. But, we had fun assembling the unit. I used the experience as a training tool for Young Son. He learned to read the directions, work out the assembly routine, how to some power tools, how to make a square cut with a hand saw, and a lot of other things. It was a good bit of time spent together. I know I relished those times with my dad so long ago. I want to leave him a few good memories to cherish once I’m gone.
Monday was a cooking day. I woke early, as usual, and spent some time playing WoW, working the auction house like I do and doing a bit of questing. I finished the target stands and cleaned up my mess. Wife and I drove over to Walmart, checked for a new shipment of ammunition, and bought food. When we returned home, I fired up the grill. I got the steaks done, but needed more fire for the burgers and dogs. So, I gathered up the spent briquettes and piled on some new ones, then waited for them to season.
The burgers and dogs turned out great. The dogs were a bit split and burnt on the ends, the way Daughter and I used to fight over. She’s like me and she likes her hot dogs a little crispy on the ends. There’s something about the texture and taste that makes grilled dogs special.
We watched Dark Knight while eating. I think Heath Ledger’s Joker is the best of them. He captured the essence of the amorality of the Joker so well. “I just do things” is the quote that sticks with me.
I find it a deeply emotional movie and Batman is one of my favorite comic book heroes. He’s not a super hero; he’s a man with a mission.
With that, I’ll close. Like I said — it was an interesting weekend.
You’ll find that charcoal brand/style/composition makes a significant difference, and will develop preferences. I much prefer lump charcoal to briquettes. but it’s harder to work with. If you can find it, Royal Oak is by far the best briquette charcoal. The easy-light charcoals don’t work very well for me. If you’re going to use Kingsford, get the mesquite variety.
A few substantial chunks of mesquite on any kind of charcoal helps a bunch. Soak it for an hour or so in a bucket of water to slow down the burn time and add more smoke. I’ve never owned a gas grill- I use either charcoal or pure mesquite; but then, I have that luxury. Good luck!
— Dazed n Confused 27 May 2009, 03:11 #I’ll have to find a source for mesquite or other hardwood that adds good smoke. I’ll also have to search for Royal Oak to see if it’s carried around here.
I never used the pre-saturated charcoals. I was never convinced that the volatiles would burn off before I was ready to cook. You should have seen Wife watching me (like a hawk) when I started the fire. You would have been amused.
— ruminator 27 May 2009, 06:03 #Wives do that. Mine knows my incendiary tendencies all too well. They have our best interests at heart, but they simply don’t understand the irresistable impulse.
You should be able to buy small bags of mesquite chunks in the same department where you get charcoal. If not, I’ll ship you some.
— Dazed n Confused 27 May 2009, 18:09 #I’ll check out Home Depot and Walmart for mesquite. If they don’t have it, I’ll see what other stores sell grill supplies locally. There has to be some here someplace.
The directions for the grill suggest that about 40 briquettes are appropriate for the model we have. I knew Wife wanted to count them. I could see her trying to estimate how many I placed on the rack. So, I stirred them a bit to randomize the sequence.
That got me a look…
— ruminator 27 May 2009, 19:52 #“About 40” +- 1/3 of a log cycle?
— Dazed n Confused 28 May 2009, 02:55 #LOL!
— ruminator 28 May 2009, 05:37 #