Re: Getting through this moment

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92F here, which isn't terrible, but made range day marginally less comfortable. Life in a podunk college town goes slow through the summer, but the small private schools can't afford not to open. Means everyone will be coming back soon, and life will be hectic. The kids renting a house down the street have been throwing non-socially-distanced parties on and off through the summer. I'm worried, not gonna lie.

Shooting helps.

Ran all the way down into Columbus to hit up the store that supposedly had the best ammo stocks remaining. Lies. Still, I laid in .22LR months ago and I've been working on .45ACP stocks. Colt can't be had for love or money, and I kind of regret burning through a box on my last trip. I may need to start rolling my own sooner than I'd expected. Not that I have that kind of time. But there's a reason I went convertible, and the ACP cylinder isn't hanging up when I cock it nearly as badly as it used to - been breaking it in. Did some defensive training, alternating guns, before taking a hilariously terrible run at Postal Match #22 in .22LR, as the gods intended. The RO had another student in to work on defensive drills, and I got to listen in a bit.

Earlier in the spring, I was testing out my .22 options to see what I liked best. I'm deeply attached to Velocitors, not that you can find 'em at present. I ran through the rest of a box of CCI's '.22 AR' - copper-plated round nose subsonics - and had more FTFs than I've ever seen. Not sure what was up with that because the first 100 rounds went flawlessly, but I had half a dozen FTFs this time. I know rimfire has issues sometimes, but it was flawless the firs 100 rounds. This was the first time I had it happen repeatedly. Actually useful to get into the habit of clearing rounds instinctively. Buying more isn't an issue. It can't be had.

But today was a pretty good day for .45. I'm feeling a lot better about my trigger discipline. I'm no crack shot - more like crack pot - but I'm feeling more than adequate for defensive purposes. Heaven knows offense isn't in the cards. And damn it, I like the way .45 feels in my hand.

Re: Getting through this moment

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That's one of the things with me, too, the way a .45 auto feels in my hand. Easy to hold point shoot. Using the sights is best for me, as no-sight drills have me shooting low to where I thought it would be in comparison to my Vaquero, which shoots where I point with out sights. With the .45 auto in my late night snap capping, I make a point to remember how low it shoots, and to adjust accordingly. I miss the actual shooting. Gotta make that work some how soon.

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: Getting through this moment

655
Have been in need of a small table top charcoal grill as about burned out my last cheapy from Wally. Had been looking at Lodge L410 Sportsman Grill and Academy had a sale for $89. Bit more expensive than a hibachi, but well made and a bit more versatile. Did an excellent job on beef fajitas and ring sausage yesterday. Now if only I can find a couple of Lodge loaf bread pans, I'll be set.
"Being Republican is more than a difference of opinion - it's a character flaw." "COVID can fix STUPID!"
The greatest, most aggrieved mistake EVER made in USA was electing DJT as POTUS.

Re: Getting through this moment

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I snagged this interesting photo this morning. Guess. Maybe my new wallpaper.

Hint: it happens every year about this time, and the sky is orange from smoky sun.
P1010044_3.JPG

So that's one way I continue to cope: to look at the world through a view finder. I found a view.

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: Getting through this moment

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Really rich pics. Love the fungi.

I got distracted by real life today.

plumber2.JPG

This house was built in 1927, and it still has a place for the wood cookstove next to the chimney goes up through the house to the roof. For the wood smoke. Plumbing is of the same vintage--heck, I swear the cast-in label on one of my pipes is in cuneiform. True story, bro. So I had to drag out the Depression-Era tools for the Depression-Era, the DIY hosing out the internal plumbing down to the main drain with an actual hose. I have to torque off the main drain plug on a two inch pipe which requires the giant pipe cheater set up. Then I have to cram the garden hose down and through the clog before the gushing black water comes back at me in a bad way. This hose business resulted in the total stinking up of a pair of gloves not yet worn out. I will set them in our August sun to see if they can be salvaged.

Shot arrows yesterday and can feel it today. Feels good.

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: Getting through this moment

665
You know you're getting old when the ads on TV say "Are you waiting for someone you've never heard of to do something" and even when you see the person it's someone you wouldn't recognize if they showed up at your door.



And you are still clueless of who the person is or why they would be doing whatever they did in the ad.
To be vintage it must be older than me!
The next gun I buy will be the next to last gun I ever buy. PROMISE!
jim

Re: Getting through this moment

666
CD, I'm really getting worried about the parallels in lifestyle here. Guess what my morning consisted of?

I didn't break out the garden hose, but I had to dismount the sink from the wall to pull out the end of the snake that broke off inside the pipe. I don't know what the pre-sentient sludge was that I scraped out of the pipes, but I think I heard it complaining that Trump was too liberal.

I think the huge-ass wrench is under-appreciated as a tool of home defense. I've become a huge fan of cast aluminum.

Re: Getting through this moment

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Oh, a broken snake! I've done that, man.

It was in 1977 when I lived with a bunch of hippies one of whom remains my wife, and we had an issue in the kitchen. Back then, we never asked how a sweat sock became wedged in the J trap under the sink. We merely confronted the problem as if we had just gotten out of bed to confront the thing. Which we had, and it was three in the afternoon. So, sure, it was me who had to do it, as the rest of my buds were still considering how their hands could move all by themselves, even in the sunlight. So I schlepped out to the garage to get the snake I'd bought last time Logon's belt had somehow gotten down in the toilet--at the time he had a real vindictive girl friend who just could not stand oatmeal, but that's another tale.

So I got the snake and went to work. Hand cranked snakes are pretty straight forward to operate, so even as fuzzy as I was, I could work it. But I did not know until later why the snake caught on the sock and broke while I tried to torque it out. >clink< was the sound when the springy snake broke. So there's this broken snake down in the right hand sink, which bent underneath to the left sink wherein resided the garbage disposal. That wrench in the above pic? Had it in my trunk.

I had to take apart both sets of pipes from left and right sinks, take out the garbage disposal, and dismantle the connection between the J and the pipe in the wall to discover that Logon's girlfriend had tried to run the sock through the garbage disposal with his house key in the toe. Like I said, vindictive.

Snakes cost twenty bucks, worth every penny. I've had a dozen since then, and that one wrench--prolly cost twenty bucks.

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: Getting through this moment

669
My wife and I have been hunkering down since Feb. We have adjusted far better to it than I would have thought. There are things we miss, but I am not willing to risk my life to sit down in a cafe. In the last month or so, I have had a little depression creeping in, but I just need to get up off my butt and go do something. I live on 30 acres, so there is never a shortage of things to do, but it has been too damn hot to go outside and do anything. I am looking forward to the weather cooling off so my outdoor activities can increase.

So far, I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel. I have a feeling that the pandemic is going to explode when Thanksgiving comes and everyone starts traveling. Perhaps we will all get pardoned by Spring with a safe and effective vaccine or the development of an effective treatment.

Re: Getting through this moment

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Sometimes you gotta go, "Fuck the world. I'm'a gonna make a righteous cremini mushroom and rice dinner. Try'n stop me." So I did.

Basmati brown rice goes on with a whole, quartered pink onion in there. Old skillet: Butter. The yellow onions first to soft, then brown cremini shrooms in, covered, next, to release their liquid and shrink up a bit. (stirs 'em). Then uncover to simmer away the liquid. When gone add a generous >slugslug< cuppa white wine >slug<. Cook it away, then add a whole head of garlic cloves with the skins taken off and maybe bruised and molested somewhat and some more wine. Cook away the wine. Add an ox-choking handful of chopped basil from the garden and cook for two minutes. Drink the rest of the wine.

>inserted during the last simmer: if you simmer the wine shroom oin garlic thing covered, it takes a bit longer for the liquid to go, but more wine flavor stays behind<

Serve over that rice with grated Asiago cheese and Sierra Nevada Hop Bullet Double IPA.

Don't forget to cook away the wine, which is what you tell your socially-distanced guests.

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: Getting through this moment

672
Yeah!! Got email from Lodge that bread pans back in stock. Mine should be arriving Monday - two pieces with two freebie silicone handle covers. Looking forward to making sour dough loaves next week.

CDF - may have to give your cremini mushroom a whirl. Love fresh basil and my fresh made pesto is to die for. Another favorite side is a bunch of sliced mushrooms sauted in butter with lots of sliced or mashed garlic and sherry cooking wine. Great over a ribeye or just a side.

WOW!! We're actually getting some rain showers early PM today. Been a long while since any appreciable rain.
"Being Republican is more than a difference of opinion - it's a character flaw." "COVID can fix STUPID!"
The greatest, most aggrieved mistake EVER made in USA was electing DJT as POTUS.

Re: Getting through this moment

674
Someone (not me) burned the rice yesterday and I had to take over making sure it was done right tonight. My wife (she didn't burn the rice either) used it to make home-made chicken fried rice, which we haven't had, home-made or delivered in well over 6 months. What a treat! Meanwhile, I baked sourdough bread yesterday, and yeast bread today. Got this batch of yeast from Food Service Direct and it's far superior to Fleischman's which, while OK, just doesn't perform as FSD's.

Our harshest food critic is our teen, and he really liked it. He lost his sense of taste and smell 8 years ago following a virus that was either an adenovirus or a coronavirus, but it has never returned (My brother lost his in an accident in 1987--only taste returned--weird to have 2 in one family). So foods are all texture-based to him and if it's not right -- "It feels like mush!" he won't eat it. Despite not being able to taste, he eats like Black Hole and never puts on an ounce of fat and is otherwise super-healthy. Devours ice cream and cookies as well as good stuff.
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

Re: Getting through this moment

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I am very fortunate that my SO feels the same way about garlic, and especially fortunate that she feels the same way about hot peppers (Capsicum Chinense level). One of our new mutually-created recipes this year has been a "smashed" tiny-potato/fermented garlic/lemon habanero concoction.


CDFingers wrote: Thu Sep 03, 2020 9:37 pm
rockhound wrote: Thu Sep 03, 2020 9:15 pm Damn, that sounds good. Glad to see that someone else measures garlic by the head when cooking.
Garlic isn't an ingredient. It's a food group. (Apologies to Leo Rosten The Joys of Yiddish)

CDFingers

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