“Ocean’s Thirteen”, trade muskets, new thermometer, new solar vent(posted from home)
(this post covers 9-15 December, 2007)----------------------------------------------------
Saturday, 15 December-
This morning I decided to replace our aging and now-unreliable electronic outdoor thermometer with a more traditional non-powered one. I intended to buy a mercury-style thermometer but found a reasonably-priced dial model at our local hardware store. This one had a bracket I could mount on the outside window frame by reaching out from inside the house, then afterwards snap the dial into place (rather than have to use a ladder to the second-floor window from outside). That made for an easy install.
Later, I spent a couple of hours searching the internet for detailed disassembly instructions for the extractor on one of my guns. I’ve done enough reading to know the hold-down screw locks in the firing pin and the pin is under spring tension so I need to know how to take off the spring tension. But it looks like I’ll have to wait until next week to call the factory.
I also ordered a solar vent for the sailboat today. This type of vent uses solar power to run a fan to keep fresh air circulating through the boat all year round. My old one quit last Spring and that resulted in mold in the boat by Fall. I spent a few days cleaning that up with Clorox solution and want to avoid having to do that again. I’ve been looking for a good price on these vents ever since the cleanup but didn’t like the $160 price. Today they were on sale for $40 off… a no-brainer!
I then did my four-miler, this time listening to “This Week in Saskatchewan”—good stuff!
That evening we watched three more episodes of ‘Lost-3’.
----------------------------------------------------
Friday, 14 December-
This morning I decided to ride the Concours down to the indoor shooting range at Glen Rock. We still had some ice on the trees and vehicles from yesterday but the roads looked wet but okay and the sun was out and temps rising. I could see that my local last-to-melt spot (a section of pine-shaded I can see from my front window) looked okay and indeed it was fine when I rode through it. After gassing up, I rode up to the interstate and there, under the I-83 bridge at my exit, got a little wake-up call when I rode over a small patch of ice. That just set my front wheel a little sideways but that made me ultra-vigilant the rest of the trip. The ride was just a bit brisk but when I walked in to the range, the guy smilingly asked me why my face was red— “Did you leave the window open on way here?” (He had seen me ride in on the bike). Later I found he was also a biker so I picked on him a little, asking if he rode one of those “Hardly-Ablesons” I’ve heard of.
I spent a half-hour punching holes in paper, then headed home, stopping at the Tollgate Starbucks for a mocha-and-Times on the way and then visiting the Blockbuster to refresh our pile of DVDs..
That afternoon I did my four-miler, fast-walking it while listening to the “This Week in British Columbia” podcast and ‘Way Out West’ music. That evening we watched the first disk of “Lost- Season Three”.
----------------------------------------------------
Thursday, 13 December-
Today was an icy day— sleety and rainy with temps around freezing. The weather website said we were having ‘ice pellets’. Our trees and cars were iced up but I noticed the road didn’t look bad so I might still be able to get my walk in later. Through the morning I worked on my motorcycle insurance renewal and on a credit card legal settlement. On the former, my motorcycle insurance bill went up 9 per cent this year so I was checking very carefully to be sure I was getting the discounts I was due. That led to a long discussion with the insurance company about why one discount had been cut but the bottom line was the bill is correct— now I need to shop around to see if I can do better. For the second issue, we recently received a letter about a legal settlement with credit card companies regarding overcharges for foreign transactions. So today I was working through old records to determine whether to take the ‘easy settlement’ of $25 or take the time to document our foreign trips.
Late in the afternoon I did my four-miler, jogging 1-1/2 of it. That evening we watched “Survivor-China”.
----------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 12 December-
I spent an inordinately long time ordering a PC from Dell today. I had looked at one a week ago and decided to go ahead today only to find the web site had been changed, the price had gone up $100 and several key options had changed! Yikes! After a long search I found a way to configure one the way we wanted and, hallelujah!—the price was now DOWN $70 from last week’s price. Uber-cool!
That afternoon I did my four-mile route in the rain, jogging a mile and a half of it.
----------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 11 December-
Fun, fun, fun. This morning I had a long consult for a routine colonoscopy next month (a follow-on to my recent physical). Afterwards I stopped at the local Starbucks for ‘lunch’ then spent a great hour in the nearby Borders scanning the book and magazine shelves for something to help me improve my target-shooting technique. I couldn’t find anything for that but did enjoy looking through books about historical arms. Last summer I was fascinated to handle and learn about trade muskets at Grand Portage, MN and at Fort William, Thunder Bay, ON. I remember thinking, “Wow—someday I’d like to own one of these”. These muskets were used as trade goods by the North West Company and Hudson’s Bay Company (and others) in the fur trade of the 1700’s and early 1800’s. They are smaller, lighter, and simpler than the Pennsylvania Rifle we are familiar with here in good ol’ PA. These muskets are, after all, a smooth-bore, cheaply-produced, flint-lock, black-powder, muzzle-loader intended for ‘give-away’, i.e., trade. But to me they’re elegant—perfect everyday tools of the technology of their time. At Grand Portage, we participated in a shooting demonstration and I stuck around afterwards to ask lots of questions and get some more time handling the (empty) musket.
Back home, I did my 4 miler and that evening we watched “Ocean’s Thirteen”. Sorry, too slick and too many inside jokes for me. Get over yourselves, guys.
----------------------------------------------------
Monday, 10 December-
I spent most of today on the web, mostly on news sites and reading several shooting forums. I was very interested to read about reaction to the Colorado church shootings, particularly reaction to the news that a female concealed-carry permit holder had stopped the killer. Late in the day I went for my four-miler.
That evening we watched a ‘Big Love’ episode.
----------------------------------------------------
Sunday, 9 December-
Today I spent most of the day updating the blog, then went for my walk and jog along the creek.
That evening we watched two episodes of ‘Big Love’.
===== end of post =====
(this post covers 9-15 December, 2007)----------------------------------------------------
Saturday, 15 December-
This morning I decided to replace our aging and now-unreliable electronic outdoor thermometer with a more traditional non-powered one. I intended to buy a mercury-style thermometer but found a reasonably-priced dial model at our local hardware store. This one had a bracket I could mount on the outside window frame by reaching out from inside the house, then afterwards snap the dial into place (rather than have to use a ladder to the second-floor window from outside). That made for an easy install.
Later, I spent a couple of hours searching the internet for detailed disassembly instructions for the extractor on one of my guns. I’ve done enough reading to know the hold-down screw locks in the firing pin and the pin is under spring tension so I need to know how to take off the spring tension. But it looks like I’ll have to wait until next week to call the factory.
I also ordered a solar vent for the sailboat today. This type of vent uses solar power to run a fan to keep fresh air circulating through the boat all year round. My old one quit last Spring and that resulted in mold in the boat by Fall. I spent a few days cleaning that up with Clorox solution and want to avoid having to do that again. I’ve been looking for a good price on these vents ever since the cleanup but didn’t like the $160 price. Today they were on sale for $40 off… a no-brainer!
I then did my four-miler, this time listening to “This Week in Saskatchewan”—good stuff!
That evening we watched three more episodes of ‘Lost-3’.
----------------------------------------------------
Friday, 14 December-
This morning I decided to ride the Concours down to the indoor shooting range at Glen Rock. We still had some ice on the trees and vehicles from yesterday but the roads looked wet but okay and the sun was out and temps rising. I could see that my local last-to-melt spot (a section of pine-shaded I can see from my front window) looked okay and indeed it was fine when I rode through it. After gassing up, I rode up to the interstate and there, under the I-83 bridge at my exit, got a little wake-up call when I rode over a small patch of ice. That just set my front wheel a little sideways but that made me ultra-vigilant the rest of the trip. The ride was just a bit brisk but when I walked in to the range, the guy smilingly asked me why my face was red— “Did you leave the window open on way here?” (He had seen me ride in on the bike). Later I found he was also a biker so I picked on him a little, asking if he rode one of those “Hardly-Ablesons” I’ve heard of.
I spent a half-hour punching holes in paper, then headed home, stopping at the Tollgate Starbucks for a mocha-and-Times on the way and then visiting the Blockbuster to refresh our pile of DVDs..
That afternoon I did my four-miler, fast-walking it while listening to the “This Week in British Columbia” podcast and ‘Way Out West’ music. That evening we watched the first disk of “Lost- Season Three”.
----------------------------------------------------
Thursday, 13 December-
Today was an icy day— sleety and rainy with temps around freezing. The weather website said we were having ‘ice pellets’. Our trees and cars were iced up but I noticed the road didn’t look bad so I might still be able to get my walk in later. Through the morning I worked on my motorcycle insurance renewal and on a credit card legal settlement. On the former, my motorcycle insurance bill went up 9 per cent this year so I was checking very carefully to be sure I was getting the discounts I was due. That led to a long discussion with the insurance company about why one discount had been cut but the bottom line was the bill is correct— now I need to shop around to see if I can do better. For the second issue, we recently received a letter about a legal settlement with credit card companies regarding overcharges for foreign transactions. So today I was working through old records to determine whether to take the ‘easy settlement’ of $25 or take the time to document our foreign trips.
Late in the afternoon I did my four-miler, jogging 1-1/2 of it. That evening we watched “Survivor-China”.
----------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 12 December-
I spent an inordinately long time ordering a PC from Dell today. I had looked at one a week ago and decided to go ahead today only to find the web site had been changed, the price had gone up $100 and several key options had changed! Yikes! After a long search I found a way to configure one the way we wanted and, hallelujah!—the price was now DOWN $70 from last week’s price. Uber-cool!
That afternoon I did my four-mile route in the rain, jogging a mile and a half of it.
----------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 11 December-
Fun, fun, fun. This morning I had a long consult for a routine colonoscopy next month (a follow-on to my recent physical). Afterwards I stopped at the local Starbucks for ‘lunch’ then spent a great hour in the nearby Borders scanning the book and magazine shelves for something to help me improve my target-shooting technique. I couldn’t find anything for that but did enjoy looking through books about historical arms. Last summer I was fascinated to handle and learn about trade muskets at Grand Portage, MN and at Fort William, Thunder Bay, ON. I remember thinking, “Wow—someday I’d like to own one of these”. These muskets were used as trade goods by the North West Company and Hudson’s Bay Company (and others) in the fur trade of the 1700’s and early 1800’s. They are smaller, lighter, and simpler than the Pennsylvania Rifle we are familiar with here in good ol’ PA. These muskets are, after all, a smooth-bore, cheaply-produced, flint-lock, black-powder, muzzle-loader intended for ‘give-away’, i.e., trade. But to me they’re elegant—perfect everyday tools of the technology of their time. At Grand Portage, we participated in a shooting demonstration and I stuck around afterwards to ask lots of questions and get some more time handling the (empty) musket.
Back home, I did my 4 miler and that evening we watched “Ocean’s Thirteen”. Sorry, too slick and too many inside jokes for me. Get over yourselves, guys.
----------------------------------------------------
Monday, 10 December-
I spent most of today on the web, mostly on news sites and reading several shooting forums. I was very interested to read about reaction to the Colorado church shootings, particularly reaction to the news that a female concealed-carry permit holder had stopped the killer. Late in the day I went for my four-miler.
That evening we watched a ‘Big Love’ episode.
----------------------------------------------------
Sunday, 9 December-
Today I spent most of the day updating the blog, then went for my walk and jog along the creek.
That evening we watched two episodes of ‘Big Love’.
===== end of post =====
posted by Bezabor&Labashi | 23:59
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