8/1/2011

Well, we didn't get a lot done Saturday. I'm not 100% sure why either. I don't think it was because John had his youngest son Lucas with him, but that might have been it. Like I said, I don't know. Oh well. What we did get done was install the electric fan and radiator into Lil' Wiggly and fill the engine with water and oil. Yeah, that’s it. I did take delivery of his B-210 though. I'm going to call it “Aunt Bea” because it is blue (like a blue-haired old lady) and has a “Granny Tranny.” Of course “Bea” is for the “B” in B-210, but I probably didn't need to spell that out. He showed me the tips and tricks to starting and driving it and when we’d done all we were going to do at the shop, followed me to Chili’s where we had lunch. I like it. Aunt Bea that is, Chili’s I can do without. But I guess I shouldn't bitch about the lunch locale since John bought. Mmm, Chili’s! OK, so after we ate I took off to the house. Mom came out onto the porch as I pulled up and asked about the car. I assured her I had NOT traded Fifi for it. She likes the look of the thing so I guess it’ll be OK to park it at the house. I wasted the rest of the day somehow. Sunday I went for a hoon in Aunt Bea. I took off to the shop first because I do not remember shutting off the fuel petcock when I showed John how easily Bobbi starts now. I had. I took the long way home from there and noticed that I could probably make it before mom called to see where I was and what we were doing for lunch. We went to Don Pablo’s. After that, I took a nap and then went out for another hoon. This time I did the big loop out I-20 to Markum Ranch road to Aledo/Iona road to 1187 to Old Annetta road to FM5 to Airport road to 171 to Bear Creek road to Muir road to FM5 to 1187 to Aledo/Iona to Markum Ranch to I-20 and home. It is a good hour or so loop and gets the cobwebs out of the head. It also sweats the ass off in 107 degree heat, but that’s just the price Juan has to pay. It’s not like The Seven is any less hot these days. In fact, Aunt Bea’s cockpit is considerably cooler than The Seven’s. I really need to finger out a way to get “cool” air into the foot wells of The Seven. I have an idea, but I can't find the part I want. OK, I just went to the Aircraft Spruce web site and actually found what I was looking for. Did I buy it? No, no I didn't. Why? I'm not really sure. Because I'm dumb I guess. I may go back and do it later. We'll see. OK, John assures me that the burn out and lack of interest in the whole car hobby I'm feeling right now happens every year about this time. I'm just going to have to concede that the heat really does make me less interested in the cars. I don't feel like it does on a conscious level, but apparently it does deep down in the recesses of my brain. I need to move the shop to a more convenient, and preferably air conditioned, location. Yeah, that line of thinking is a waste of time. I'm going to let it drop now. I guess I could talk guns again. I mentioned that I didn't talk Larry out of buying a Saiga 12 the other day, remember? Oh right, that was to be in Friday’s rant. Did it ever get posted? I can't find it when I go to the site. Well, whatever. To recap, Thursday evening after work, Larry and I went to Blood Bath & Beyond to look at stuff. To make a short story long, I didn't try real hard to talk him out of buying a Saiga 12. He is convinced that he needs to convert it back to the standard AK configuration while I don't really see the point. What do I mean by that? Well, in order to import them as “Sporting” guns and not restricted “Assault Weapons,” Izhmash has to build them without a pistol grip, amongst a few other things. In order to make a Kalashnikov platform work with a “Monte Carlo” stock, which is what Juan has to use if the pistol grip is deleted, the trigger has to me moved back a couple inches. The intervening levers and such usually don't bother me and therefore I don't see the need to move the trigger back up to the AK location right behind the magazine well. The gap doesn't bother me and I'm not buying the “better balance” argument either. So, whenever Larry starts talking about sending his gun off to be converted, I just roll my eyes. That is, until I a) learned how easy the conversion is, and 2) realized just how shitty the trigger on my Saiga 12 is. His trigger, even with the transfer bar and rear mount, is so much better than mine. I'm now thinking I want to convert mine. I think I might buy a couple Tromix Fire Control Units, trigger guard kits, pistol grips, and butt stocks so I can convert our two guns. It would be kind of nice to lose a couple inches of length in that long-assed thing. Of course, I did just buy a trunnion and pistol grip to eliminate the butt stock entirely from my shotgun. But that doesn't fix the shitty trigger. I don't know. I guess I need to cipher and figger on it some more. I guess, on that note, I'm going to call it a rant. Talk to y'all tomorrow.