12/14/09

I did not accomplish squat this weekend. Oh sure, I went and wrote Ray a luke-warm check for the money I owe him (it’ll be good tomorrow when I get paid), but other than that, nothing. Well, I did get approval from mom to put in a bid on the Triumph TR-3 engine in KC, MO. I bid $690.00 so that the max we’ll pay is $1,000.00 after shipping. I was winning with a $399.00 bid at that point. Saturday morning I slept in. I finally got up around 0800 h (hey, I’m old, that IS sleeping in) and hung out helping mom do some Christmas decorating, sort of. Pat called at some point to see if I was going to the shop. I wasn't planning to but said I could meet him if need be. I told him I was headed to the Motorsport Ranch after lunch to talk to Ray and he asked if he could tag along. I agreed to call him when I was done with lunch. Mom and I went to Cracker Barrel in separate cars so we could go about our individual duties (tee hee, I said doodies) afterwards. I called Pat as I was leaving and left him a message. We passed each other on Dirks Road. I called him again and was informed he was headed to Tractor Supply. I met him there. We rolled to the Ranch in his Jeep since he had a trailer hooked to it and Lil' Wiggly was much less likely to be stolen from the TS parking lot. At the Ranch we hung out with Ray for a while then headed north again. I went for a hoon then went home. I don't remember doing anything else the rest of the evening so I must not have. I know I checked in on the engine auction at some point, still winning with a $399.00 bid. Oh wait, mom and Aunt Margaret went to some three church choir thing and I met them at Applebee’s for dinner. Sunday I got up and checked the auction, still winning with a $399.00 bid. Mom suggested that she would call as she was leaving the church and I could meet her at Don Pablo’s for lunch. I agreed to that. I grabbed the Space Gun and an extra 100 rounds of ball ammo and put them in Fifi. Back inside, I waited for her call. When she finally did call, I headed to Don Pablo’s. From there I headed to The Shooster’s Club to waste some ammo. There was a detour on 28^th street which sent me in a roundabout way over by John's house, sort of. I swung by in case he was out working on the 510. He wasn't. I went shooting. I shot five of the magazines in the Space Gun then another four in Pixie. I looked at the other 100 rounds I had but decided I'd shot enough for now. My target looked like I took nine shots with a shotgun at various locations around the paper. There were nine little circles of seventeen holes spread out about the size of a clenched fist. Yeah, there were a few fliers, I'll admit that, but for the most part, he’s dead. One thing I did notice was that with Pixie, left handed, one hand, I was more accurate than right handed, one hand. I might have even been a wee bit better than right handed, two hand! Once I was done there, I went to the shop to clean the guns. When I was done with that, I decided to go ahead and play with the harnesses in Shichi. I mounted the lap belts on the driver’s side and began messing with the shoulders. When I had them to a length I liked, I wrapped the excess through the buckle thingy and back through the mount. I bolted them up and had a seat. I hunkered down on the belts and noticed that they pull at a funny angle on my shoulders. It isn't unpleasant to the point of discomfort, but I was only sitting still. We’ll see how it is on the road, soon I hope. I cleaned myself up and went home. Fifi was low on gas and I contemplated just letting it fly but then remembered we’d promised my cousin he could use it. I stopped and filled up. I calculated the mileage and, well, shut up. Your face gets twenty miles per gallon. I still say that on the road at a “constant” speed, 20 mpg isn't out of the question. At the house, I moved Lil' Wiggly to the back patio and took off in Ms. Clio to get gas. I made the mistake of going to the Exxon at Granbury Road and Hulen and using their car wash. First off, it didn't even spray the top of the car. Not a drop. Then it didn't rinse off the soap. I was pissed. I went in and got a refund. I then remembered I'd left my reading glasses hanging on the mirror of Shichi. I could have gone to my Mobil at Dirks/Alta Mesa and Granbury Road! After picking up the glasses, I did stop in and bought another car wash though to undo the damage the other wash did. I hope. I then went home and remembered mom and my sister were going to some Singing Crucifixion, or Singing Christmas Tree, or something like that. I guess the tree makes more sense, this time of year. I took the time to reload the nine magazines for the Space Gun and Pixie with the 150 rounds of hollow point ammo I'd bought last week. Yes, I did hold back three rounds of ball ammo to make sure all magazines were fully loaded and ready for the Zombie Apocalypse. I'll probably shoot that magazine next time I take one or the other to the range, to see how that Cripple Creek Ammo, or whatever brand it is, shoots. Kevin called at some point to ask what I wanted for Lil' Wiggly. I thought about it and said, “I don't really want to sell so the price is going to be a little high.” I did manage to hold off on making a knee-jerk reaction and popping off with a figure. I said I'd have an answer for him today. I texted John to see how he felt about it and we agreed that if I could get $2,000.00 for it, it would be a fair price. I made a list of all the stuff I'd done to it since getting it back from Jesse, who is the prospective buyer again, and sent Kevin an e-mail saying my price is $2,500.00, negotiable. I'll take $2,000.00 for it, but the other is for some haggle room. What I need to do is keep looking at that list and remember how much I like driving the car and forget that selling it could pay for both engines I need to buy this week. If I start thinking along the lines of the engines, I'll convince myself to take less for the car. I really like that car. Well, we’ll see, I guess. OK, for a guy with nothing to say today, I seem to have filled an entire page, and then some. I guess I'm done.