‘Cache’, ‘The Proposition’, new pistol (posted from home)
(this post covers 15-17 October)

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Tuesday, 17 October-

This morning I called up Kel-tec and asked for any recommendations about first firing my new pistol. I’ve been reading quite a bit on the Kel-tec Owner’s Group websites (KTOG.org and KTRange.com) but wanted to see what Kel-tec had to say. It’s pretty simple— they recommended disassembling and putting a light coat of oil throughout using the sample MMC oil bottle that came with it before firing it (probably because they don’t know how long it has been on a shelf somewhere). I didn’t have any problems with the disassembly or re-assembly and was glad to get a look at the internals for familiarization.
Later in the morning on this rainy day Labashi and I drove to Smokey Bones for lunch. I had first gone to a Smokey Bones in Montgomery, AL while on business travel and loved their baby back ribs. Down there the ribs come out looking like they are covered in tar—but they are fantastic. We were excited when a Smokey Bones opened up in York but on our first visit the ribs were only ‘okay’. Today was our second visit and that hasn’t changed—the ribs and salad were both only ‘okay’ and service wasn’t very good. I think we’ll stick with the Texas Roadhouse across town for ribs from now on.
After lunch we hit the Gander Mountain and a local gun shop as I looked for a specific brand of gun grease recommended by several guys on KTRange but without success. We also stopped at Wal-mart where Labashi found a perfect-fit tray for our new Coleman Extreme cooler. A small, very-shallow tray came with the cooler but our recent traveling experiences tell us we need a bigger one and this one will do it. I was also looking for something for organizing supplies for the pistol and found a nice little six-pack soft cooler for $4 which does the job very nicely.
Our other job for the day was to gather prices for the groceries we lost when the fridge failed so I can submit a claim on our home insurance policy. That evening I gathered all the receipts and price info and sent an email in to the insurance company.
That evening we happened to catch a Frontline special on the air disaster at Tenerife in 1977 and follow-on discussion about the differences in airline safety since—a very well-done documentary.


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Monday, 16 October-

This morning I rode up to the periodontist to have him check out progress on the bone graft and dental implant. He whacked the implant several times with a metal tool and that didn’t cause any pain so that’s a good sign. I go back in two weeks for another look. If there’s a problem where the graft didn’t ‘take’ the periodontist says “it will tell us”, meaning I will develop pain at the site sometime in the next two weeks. There’s no additional charge if the graft has to be re-done but I wouldn’t be looking forward to starting the process all over again.
Upon my return home we spent a few hours wiring and assembling Labashi’s second light fixture in the bathroom, this a hanging fixture with really nice shades and bulbs which match the ceiling fixture we installed a few days ago. Again Labashi has done a great job of designing a new custom light from inexpensive parts and a bit of paint.
That afternoon I drove the Miata down to Gander Mountain and bought the P3AT pistol and supplies. On the way home I stopped at our local Giant and on the way out of the parking lot I managed to bottom out the Miata on a speed-bump. This is a higher-than-normal and oddly-placed speed bump that you cross at an angle when exiting from the north. I didn’t think much of it at the time but as I put on the car-cover I noticed I have a new problem—a small plastic body-panel under the right tail-light is now cracked. I remember it seemed a bit indented when I waxed the car the other day so I’m not sure the speed-bump incident had anything to do with it. In any case, I now have something else to fix.
That evening we watched “The Proposition”, an Australian western. It’s a two-thumbs-up movie which is being compared to Sergio Leone’s ‘spaghetti westerns’ of the Sixties (“A Fistful of Dollars”, “For a Few Dollars More”, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”, etc). We liked it and its violence wasn’t so graphic as might be expected. Look for the scene of four camels pulling a stagecoach…

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Sunday, 15 October-

Today was a blog-and-jog day. I blogged for a few hours then rode the Concours over to Pinchot Park for a little jog. I’ve not been jogging for quite a while but thought I’d see how it goes on the east-parking-lot-to-dam-and-back jog. The weather had turned somewhat cooler this weekend and today was airy and a little too cool for short sleeves but I soon warmed up. The jog went well and I timed it at 52:24, certainly not quick but ok. Afterwards I went for a little ride on the bike. I first zipped up to the Starbucks at Camp Hill and read the Sunday paper. On the way back toward home I decided to take the back way to York to the Gander Mountain store, a nice ride down the newly-redone blacktop on Lewisberry road. At Gander Mountain I checked out the inventory of hunting bows and tried one for size but it’s just too expensive. I wouldn’t mind having one to play with but I’m also not going to spend $300 on one. Back in the Seventies I hunted for a few years with a longbow (back in the days when Fred Bear bows were popular) and I’ve long thought I’d like to try a compound bow. I also checked out the gun inventory and was surprised to see they carry the Kel-tec P3AT pistol I’ve been interested in and it’s a bit cheaper than I expected. I’ve been looking for them on the web for the last few days and basically it comes down to paying about the same for one whether you buy one locally and pay tax or go the mail order route and pay shipping and transfer-fee charges by your local firearms dealer. Hmmmm.
That evening we watched a French movie, Cache’ with Daniel Auteuil (one of my favorite French character-actors) and Juliette Binoche (remember her in ‘Chocolat’, ‘Red’ and ‘Blue’?). This one is an interesting one but can be quite frustrating. If you are looking for a nicely-wrapped-up story with a beginning, middle, and end, this isn’t one of them! I’d call this an experimental film where the director specifically does not want you to know what’s going on--- though you don’t know that till the end. It’s said to be a film which you will think about for days afterwards. I don’t know about that but despite the frustration you feel when the credits first roll, I’m glad this movie was made. And of course Daniel and Juliette are worth watching anytime.