Big Hole

So the living is kind of turning into a "four-season porch."

Need... More... Coffee.......

Coming off two nights of 11pm-7am shifts, and (fingers crossed) the window guys get to the house around the same time I do.  Regardless of noise, I doubt I could sleep with a couple strange guys wandering around the house, so I'll just be powering through the day.  Awesome sauce.

Also of note, it's currently 37F outside... happy May!

In cool gun related news, there's a company making steel mag catches for M&P pistols.  The OEM part can be kind of slick and blends almost too well with the frame of the gun.  I stippled mine when I did the rest of the frame, but I am liking the idea of their offering the more I think about it. The serrations look nice and sharp, giving you a good grip in the right direction, while providing a good contrast to the rest of the frame texture.  Might be a worthwhile upgrade for $27.  Offered in both standard and extended versions.

Thanks FedEx!

It's cool, drive all over my yard.

 

I tossed the GoPro in the window for a bit (something is stealing seed out of the birdfeeder, I'm curious) and when I came back in from the garage there were some tire tracks all over the wet sand from the well.  Jerk.

Chaos in the land

Or in the G&C House.  Window guy is coming tomorrow to install new windows through the entire house, including knocking out a giant hole in the living room to place an 11' bay window (it's for the cats, I swear.)  Downside is they only do installs on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, which happen to be when I have overnight shifts... oops.

In not so great news, made an appointment to take the truck in, the spot where the drive-shaft and the rear differential meet up decided it wanted to take a break from its duties of keeping all the fluid inside the rear diff.. yay.  The shop I like is also apparently the shop everybody likes, so it'll be a week before they can get it in to look at. In the meantime we'll just keep the fluid topped off and keep trips short.

On a more positive note, more seriously looking at getting a dog.  Seems there's a Swedish Vallhund at the local humane society, and who doesn't like little Viking dogs?

ETA: Too rainy and gross out. Windows will have to wait a couple days...

Positive Thoughts Are Appreciated

Manda (Household 6) has been having a rough couple of months, mostly just some bad luck and horrible timing of things, but yesterday morning her grandmother passed away.  We'll be heading up north for the services this weekend.

Blogging may continue to be a little light in the meantime, but good vibes directed towards her would be great.

Almost Summer?

Broke 70 today, so we threw on some sandals, lit some charcoal, and tossed the ball around this afternoon.

One of my local favorite seasonals is also out again, just another sign that summer is just around the corner.

How...?

How do people without trucks own houses?

1,876lbs of pavers and a little spruce tree.  Didn't even feel it driving home, not bad for an F150.

Browncoat Kilts!

What an inopportune time to have far too low of a bank account.

AltKilt is holding a sale on their "Browncoat Uniform Kilt", which is a pretty shiny look methinks.  Good chance to get a higher end modern kilt if you've been wanting one.

Operator Jenga

Equipment Operators that is.

Time Off

Of course winter returns when I finally have some. So hot coffee and light reading before game store geekery this afternoon.

Brr.

To go with the snow yesterday...

I try not to complain about weather too much, and snow in April is not that abnormal for Wisconsin, but single digit temps this late are.

I'm Certifiable!

At least in the state of Wisconsin.

Friday we had our final day of class, and officially graduated from the state Basic Law Enforcement Academy program.  So... I now have some free time again, and will be transitioning to a "real" cop job.  Hooray me!

Go Home Winter

You're drunk. It's the middle of April...

That was a first.

Never had an Army range shut down due to lightning striking the 150m target and shorting out the entire computer system before. Pretty crazy.

Apparently one of the medics got the strike on video, gonna try to track it down.

ETA: Still from said vid. Neat.

Rainbow!

Apparently the sun was in just the right spot to give my GoPro a "unicorn filter."




Oh well.  Anywho, target was a chunk of drywall at 50 yards, so I'm not going to complain too much about a couple misses in there.  Do need to get my hands on a sight pusher one of these days though, was shooting just a touch left.

All in all, it was a good way to burn off the afternoon.

Crazy for the day-

Meteorite nearly strikes a skydiver.

Weekend Update!

Not much to say, working my butt off with school and work.  I did clean out the truck the other day and found nine bucks!

Last week we powered through Firearms (the instructors said we probably did around 600 rounds each, not bad for 35 students on 4 lanes...)  The M&P performed excellently, and one of the instructors tried to buy it off me.  I was pretty stoked on Monday after I shot a clean qualification, and then I topped it with 100% on the written test the next day (go figure, I know gun stuff!)  Of course it's always fun to spend a week shooting somebody else's ammo.  On a positive note, the Wisconsin state standards are actually fairly decent for a basic duty pistol course.  My only complaint is the malfunction drills (not a fan of "phase 1/2", I'd rather do a 10-degree tilt and ID my problem before making it worse. That's just me though.)

Thankfully, next week is 'Spring Break' (yeah... spring... sure......) so I will actually have a few days off before actually getting overtime later on in the week.  Then three weeks of class left! (Well, two weeks of classes, and a week of scenarios and final evaluation stuffs.)  Hopefully that means more regular posting here!

Oops

300BLK in a 5.56 barrel...

(from the facebooks)

Up Nort'

Been one of those weeks, did a 10k XC ski race last weekend across Lake Superior (just a little bit).  Did better than I expected for my second outing of the season...

Promptly got dumped on Monday, tossing 6 inches on top of stuff. It got warm the next couple of days and the "winter" storm rained on us last night. It turned into snow in the middle of the night. I guess that's a good thing, only an inch left in the yard stick so it can't snow much more, right?

Good Read

Blue Collar OODA Loop.

Grip Therapy M&P Edition Part II

Finally got psyched up enough to stipple the ol' M&P9.  I had dropped a pre-stippled grip on it a while ago, but still felt it needed some more purchase.  After lots of time spent looking at other ones online, and figuring out what I liked as far as looks, I busted out the wood burner (I picked up a sweet adjustable one with lots of interchangeable tips, all sorts of sweetness.)

MHI challenge coins also showed up today, so photo prop!

I also did two index pads on the frame at the front of the trigger guard.  I've had a chunk of grip tape on the reaction side for years, and went with a more permanent solution.

While I was at it, I also slightly undercut the trigger guard and smoothed that spot out, something I've been meaning to do for a while.  I choke up on the gun pretty high, and have worn a raw spot on my middle finger right at the knuckle after some longer range days, so this should be a nice change.

Next on the list is a new rear sight, just gotta decide if I want to stick with the tritium vials or not.

School's Cancelled

At some point I need to get the snowblower going and knock down the drifts in the driveway.

DAAT Recovery

Three days of getting beat up and lots of physical stuff. Thankfully O'so has a Special Release night going. Faster Than Dawn Brett dark ale. Tonight only. Yum.

And the ridiculous...

And of course, it's detachable (spikes optional).

SHOT '14

Just a couple things that really caught my eye looking through the coverage this year.

I was right about the R-51 and AAC-

Sexy and it knows it.

And Crye (of all new people) are taking a swing at breaking the shotgun mold.

Double-action revolver style from what I understand, with a 6 round magazine.  Coolness.

Turtle Skin Tactical Gloves: Withstand 28ga Needle

I can easily see how this could be a good thing for LEOs and Corrections personnel.

Over the Mantle

Finally hung up my first "rifle" in a place of honor.

My Grandfather made it out of an old broomstick and some scrap lumber, with the finish carving on the stock done by hand (yup, spoiled from the start with a custom stock!)  All three of us brothers had one, with our first initial carved into the butt. Mom found it a couple weeks ago doing some cleaning, and thought (quite rightly) that I'd like to take it home.

Light (but possibly interesting) Blogging Warning

Today I started the Wisconsin Basic Law Enforcement Academy, which is a 40 hour a week/13 week long course at the local tech school.  Long, tiring days, but lots of info and hopefully shifting jobs at work (for much higher pay and more sponsored training opportunities.)

So yeah, light talk here, and I'm gonna be a cop in a few months if everything goes right.

MagPod Entering Production

Happy New Year everyone. Sorry for the long absence, but we are happy to confirm that MagPod is in production as we speak (ETA around March), and we have been issued our first US Patent. Additional patent(s) pending.

It's taken a while, but it's OneUp's style to ensure a product won't hit the market until it's good and ready.  It has certainly come a long way from the prototype I got to beat up a couple years ago.

Seems Humid...

For this time of year.

Not quite the -75° windchill predicted, but it's still early.