6/21/13

Okay, so here’s the plan for tomorrow.  I'm going to head out in Fiona around 0730 h or so and go pick up Larry.  We will roll to John's house where we’ll transfer into Fifi and go to the gun show.  We’ll pay for both days and go get our Saiga 12s from the Russian.  We’ll probably also buy a box or two of “low brass” 12 gauge bird shot while there.  For those of you who don’t know what I mean by “low brass,” 12 gauge ammo comes in two… let’s call them “power levels” depending on how much gunpowder they hold.  “Low brass” shells have less powder and therefore a smaller brass cup thingy at the back.  “High brass” shells have more powder and a taller brass thingy.  Once you see one of each you’ll know what I mean.  Anyhoo, we want to make sure the guns will cycle any ammo we might have to settle for after SHTF days are upon us.  Sure I've got almost 500 rounds of buckshot and slugs, but that will only last so long before I'm hunting for more ammo in the post-apocalyptic, zombie infested, “Road Warrior” world of the future.  Man, was “The Road Warrior” one of the best films ever or what?  I friggin’ love that movie.  “Two days ago I saw a vehicle that would haul that tanker.  You want out of here… you talk to me.”  But I digress.  So, Larry and I will pick up our Saigas and possibly some bird shot at the gun show, then head for probably Elk Castle to try them out.  Once we've shot them a bit, we’ll head down the road to Northern Tool & Supply to pick up a set of 12” trailer wheels and tires for the Mini.  We’ll go to Beenbroke and ask at the office if we can swap tires on the car.  If they say “No,” we’ll grab the jack and a wrench, hook up the trailer to Fifi, pull the thing outside the gate of the complex, change the wheels, and drag it back to its parking spot.  Hmm, I wonder if it would behoove me to just pull in, grab the jack, hook up the trailer, go to my house where the majority of my tools (including the impact wrench) are, and change them there.  It would give mom a chance to see the car before it gets relegated to John's house for body work.  That sure would eat up a bunch of daylight though.  I'll disgust it with Larry while we’re rambling around I guess.  Anyhoo, once the Mini is on good tires and hopefully rolls, we’ll head back to John's and swap vehicles again.  I'll drop Larry at home and head for my place.  So, yeah… that’s kind of what I have in mind for tomorrow.  In other news, I ordered a Haynes Manual for the Mini and a book on hot rodding them written by one of the Gurus of that field, David Vizard.  The Haynes manual arrived yesterday so I'm hoping the Vizard book comes today.  I remember thumbing through a book by him back in the old AUTOCOMP days when Dr. Don was working on that Westfield Lotus Eleven kit.  I'm looking forward to seeing what he has to say about the Mini… not Dr. Don, David Vizard.  Although, I suppose Dr. Don might have some insight into stuff Mini related.  Anyhoo, I'm waiting for that to arrive.  I also ordered something for the Saiga 12 which I'd love to get today so I can try it out tomorrow.  What it is is a laser aiming device which sends out nine dots instead of the usual one.  There is a single dot in the center and eight in a circle around it.  The outer ring of dots expands 1” per yard of distance from the gun approximating the scatter of the shot.  It otter make for a pretty awesome home defense gun.  I think I'm going to start keeping one five round magazine loaded with ammo for quick deployment.  I just erased a bit about building an under-bed gun safe.  It bored me while writing it so I knew it would probably give y'all brain tumors if you tried to get through it.  Quick, name this movie: “It’s NOT a tumor!”  If you guessed “Kindergarten Cop” you are a winner!  By the way, I'm going to affect an Arnold Schwarzenegger accent and yell, “It’s NOT a Cooper!” any time someone calls my Mini a “Mini Cooper.”  So… look out for that in the future.  Okay, now that my train of thought is totally derailed, what can we talk about?  Nope, I got nothin’.  I guess we’ll call it a rant until Monday then.  Have a day.