Saturday, March 25, 2006

Springtime And Gunfire. Plus Treachery And Politics, Too!

I've been almost manic since yesterday afternoon.

Yesterday, a brilliant clear Friday, I did not head up the road to Salt Lake nor did I drive up Parley's Canyon to the job. I did not set up my GPS set with the rising sun. I didn't call my queue of contractors (which caused them all to call me before eight a.m.). There was no rush to record newly-constructed sewer or water connections. No staking hundreds of feet of line for blasting or for construction. I did not visit Lot 7 in Pod X2 to replace the stakes that the excavator had blown out while the form crew stood waiting. I did not wade through crotch deep snow setting rebar with caps on rear property corners. I did not drive my F-150 over house-high piles of freshly shattered rock in the wake of a D9N Caterpillar bulldozer in order to get from one end of the project to the other.

I stayed home. The contractor came and measured my windows for vinyl replacements. We cleaned the living room and kitchen. My garage - MY garage - is navigable without guides and bearers! So is the driveway where I park my work rig; an hour with shovel, broom and hose to remove the dried mud shed there over the past winter. The infinitely better half and I signed powers of attorney to serve as guardian for a friend's daughter to attend high school down here with our girls instead of the blackboard jungle she dropped out of in Salt Lake. We ordered a new dresser for our guest room for her use; it should be at the warehouse to pick up as soon as I finish this post.

I visited my local gun store during a break in the action. They've finally got a selection of Kar-98 German Mausers in stock, almost all of them WW2 production. I pointed out to the proprietor that some of them were cartouched for Kriegsmarine (Navy) contracts and should be worth a little more than the others to collectors, even if the Nazi Waffenbrink markings had all been stamped out. I wouldn't have a Swastika stamped weapon in my home, anyway, but some people like that sort of thing. That got me a twenty buck discount should I wish to buy one of the others.

A passing knowledge of history can be profitable in ways other than making good political choices.

Closed the day by meeting with my surveying partner up at Doug's Shooting Sports indoor range in West Valley. Some days you shoot smooth, accurate, and safe. Others you manage not to hurt yourself or anybody else. I did o.k. keeping most of the rounds on paper but never really got comfortable. I'm almost a year into my latest glasses and my right eye is the one changing with age. Grrrrr... so I coached the kid on the line next to me on rifle. He was there with his dad to practice for his Shooter's Safety range test (probably up at Lee Kay right now, matter of fact) and was fighting his rifle more than shooting it.

He went from shotgun pattern down to a consistent three - inch group over the course of the next half hour or so. If given the choice between a bad rest and no rest, shoot offhand, and aim with your feet whenever possible. His dad asked who I worked for (I was wearing a polo with our company logo on the sleeve) and it turns out dad is an engineer and works closely with one of the owners of my company! Small world, and it never hurts to give a good impression.

On the treachery side , we have the perfidious Russians aiding Saddam Hussein during OIF. I guess Pootey Poot isn't all that much of a friend after all. Hell, he'll probably get his own log-in at The Huffington Post.

And for politics I have a two o'clock Town Hall with Senator Hatch down in Provo.

Y'all have a fine one.

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