Making a note in my phrase book...

I am going to change the expression I use for describing bemused, uncomprehending wonderment from "like monkeys staring at a monolith" to "like Cletii staring at a clearing barrel."

"I hate to interrupt your smoke break there, Jasper, but I need to use that there sand barrel in yore sittin' bench so's I can gas up my heater."

Fortunately it was too cold at this show to need to shoo any loiterers off the clearing barrels, at least on Saturday.

Perishable Skill.

So Roomie and I drove out to MCF&G to try out our spiffy new range memberships yesterday. The mercury was in the low 60s, the sun was shining, and other than the ground still being waterlogged, it was a perfect day for shooting.

I have a confession to make.

What with Eagle Creek, our local public range, not having opened yet this year, yesterday was the first time I did any live fire since Christmas.

Now, I'm a thoroughly mediocre shot under the best of circumstances. My best run on the FAST drill in Todd G's class last October was 10 seconds clean. When Caleb ran me through the IDPA Classifier with my 9mm Para, I scored "Marksman" which is the next step above "Helen Keller".

Yesterday, however, I was sucking pond water. After years of shooting pretty much every week, the effects of just a four month hiatus (and one that included a reasonable amount of dry-fire, at that) were depressing.

Due to muddy conditions in the pistol bay, we set up our firing line about ten yards back from the targets. I was using one of my "reduced scale" zombie targets, so the cumulative effect was like shooting at a normal silhouette at 20-25 yards.

Warming up with the Ruger 22/45, everything seemed okay. I have six magazines, and I'll generally shoot two each with both hands, strong hand, and weak hand. I ran through that twice and scoped the target. Hmm... A little looser than I like, and there were actually two rounds that missed the zombie...

After two more cycles with the Ruger, I started loading 9mm mags for the Para LTC9 as well. By this time I noticed that my front sight was starting to wobble all over the place: Holding a couple pound weight out at arms' length and squeezing the bejeezus out of it is actually an exercise that one doesn't normally get in the course of routine daily activities, and whatever muscle groups I have that were responsible for doing that had gone slack, slack, slack.

After just 75 rounds or so with the 9mm, I was useless. I was literally having a hard time hitting the zombie's noggin. I'd concentrate on pressing the trigger straight back and my grip would grow slack; I'd concentrate on squeezing the gun 20% tighter, and I'd find myself looking over the sights (which were wobbling worse than ever.) I was done. Rather than continue to reinforce bad habits, I ran another set of mags through the Ruger .22 and called it a day.

On a side note, while I was there I finally got to test-fire my M&P 15-22. I only put two mags through it, but it ran without a hitch. I need to get it down there and sight in the FACOG properly off the bench.

After that humiliating performance, Bobbi and I picked up the bay, leaving it cleaner than when we started (and shame on the slob who left that bowling pin there!) and headed home.

Good thing I got that range membership, 'cause it looks like I need to use it.

(UPDATE: Roomie has pictures from the trip.)
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Slow start, but a start nonetheless...

It's been one of those days where I'm having great difficulty convincing myself to change from fluffy house socks to actual socks and shoes.

There is a new cat in the house, and this morning's lesson for the little tyke was that just because you can reach the plate of aged smoked Gouda and Italian dry salami in mommy's lap doesn't necessarily mean it's a good idea to try it.

I'm about to muster up the energy to take out the trash and run an errand or two, as well as do some writing. I wish I'd learned better organizational habits in my younger days, but I'm afraid I've never really developed them; everything's pretty much done on the wing in my life.

This is why I find people like TJIC so interesting; the dude's a fiend for organization and, as a result, the sheer amount of stuff he gets accomplished is amazing to someone like me, who spends an inordinate amount of time simply woolgathering.

Yesterday he wrote out a little Organizing For Dummies post with some pointers I may try appropriating. I'm not foolish enough to think that the SS Slacker is going to reverse course, or anything, but maybe I can steer into more productive waters.

Note To Self:

When you make a nighttime visit to the loo, do not stick your head in the office to "just see what's on the internet for a minute", because next thing you know, it's 5AM and the alarm's going off in an hour...

Note To Self:

Do not weasel out of writing for The Arms Room today.

Things I want...

I need to pick up a 6.8 SPC barrel and bolt from Bison Armory.

Thanks to that MGI upper, that's all I need to swap calibers on the gun. Frank has spoken well of the performance of the 6.8 on critters, and I've still got a 6.8 mag and a few hundred rounds of ammo lying around here someplace; that should take care of any rationalizing I need to do for the purchase.

Notes to Self:

Note to self #1: For an awesome snack, clean and gut a couple of jalapeno peppers, stuff the halves with heaping spoonfuls of feta cheese, toss in the oven at 350ish for twenty minutes or so, and enjoy the yumminess.

Note to self #2: After enjoying feta-stuffed jalapenos, wash hands really, really thoroughly before rubbing itch in corner of eye. Especially while driving.

You know it's dry in here when...

...you lean your carbine against the filing cabinet at VFTP Command Central and a staccato daisy chain of little blue sparks crackles between the drawer and the flash suppressor.

Note To Self: We'll not be doing any RAM upgrades today.

Things to do today:

1) Mail a musket.
2) Restock the supply of Gnaw Bone. (Don't believe the idjits at ratebeer.com; I heart Gnaw Bone.) Preferably do this via bike to test out my awesome new luggage rack.
3) Write. A post about my fun weekend for here, and Mac stuff for LowEndMac.
4) Keep reading Hannibal.

Hm. I should probably squeeze some food-type substance in there someplace... Oh! The deli at Marsh is now selling little packs of sliced hard salami and provolone, all in the same zippy pouch! Add some bread and you're rollin' for lunch. Yum!

Note To Self:

Get paint markers and mark 6.8 AR mags so that they can be told apart from 5.56 mags at a glance. You know, like you promised yourself you'd do about a year ago...