Random Shit From The Past Few Days

Here is some stuff I thought you'd like to read about because I am oh so important and interesting. I actually started composing this Thursday evening but didn't get too far because I haven't had the keyboard time. Now this post spans several days.

Wednesday March 16th:  A mid-week day off for me but wifey had to work. I made myself a big breakfast (spam and cheese 3-egg omelette with an English muffin). When the early morning fog cleared and the sun came out temps went from the 30's to the 50's pretty quick. I took my Ridgeback boy for a nice 3 mile walk/hike. When I get up to the stop sign at the top of my road, there is no through traffic to the right. He comes off leash at that point. We then head up a colonial era dirt road that the town doesn't maintain in the winter and barely keeps it passable through the other three seasons. There are old stone foundations from homesteads from the colonial days if you know where to look.

The only remaining live utility is the CATV that feeds my road

 

While my walk was 3 miles, the dog did about 4 running on ahead, then running back to me, as well as all the exploring he did in the woods and fields. When we get back to the intersection at the top of my road he goes back on leash for the last 1/2 mile to home. When we got home he was pooped for the rest of the day. I got busy getting stuff together to go to the range.

As usual I had the range to myself since it was a weekday afternoon. An assortment of rifles , a couple of pistols, ammo, paper targets, and some 1 gallon water jugs. I also had some small bottles of sterile water from the ambulance that were expired and were going to be thrown away, but I grabbed them. A .22LR makes them explode pretty well. Punching holes in paper, popping water jugs, and whacking the fixed steel gongs at ranges from 50 to 200 yards. After that I moved to my handguns.

At my old club, drawing and shooting from a holster was forbidden. Not at my present club. I set up a full sized silhouette target at 7 yards and repeatedly drew and fired a doubletap to the chest, and one to the head. I did that several times, and then reloaded to a full compliment. I then did the "Hearts and Minds" shot again, and then did a mag dump on the steel plates at 25 yards behind the silhouette, dropped the empty, reloaded and banged all the plates again.  I did this evolution first with my Glock 21 then my S & W 45 Shield. When I was finished I packed up and headed for home to put everything away. Since the handguns both see carry duty, they were cleaned and put away. The rifles I will get to in the next several days.

Thursday March 17th: One of the big post Chi-Com Xi Flu Dem-panic and lockdown concerns is mental health, especially among children due to the isolation and face diaper wearing. We took in a juvenile on a law enforcement emergency committal. Related to Chi-Com Xi Flu or not, those calls always break my heart. My partner and I are both Dads, so we usually calm the situation by the time we get to the hospital. The patient was crying uncontrollably at the house, but calm and kind of smiling upon arrival. The very next day our department got another call for another juvenile psych, same age and sex but from a different address. Jeezus!

While waiting for a room assignment in the ER staging area, in came another town's ambulance with another psych case. This patient was in restraints and surrounded by two state troopers and four hospital security guards. I don't know what they did on scene to warrant the restraints, but the patient was calm and talking to someone on a cell phone while sitting on the stretcher. While I was standing near the nurses station, I noticed one of their computers was in screen saver mode. The hospital screen saver are like PSA's and reminders. One caught my eye, and I mad sure of what it said when it came around again

"Be sure to assess vaccine status, and vaccinate as indicated."

Yeah... fuck you! I had to go to that ER a year ago. I don't remember if they asked or not (the double doses of morphine makes my memory a little foggy), but I know for a fact I was not jabbed while there. I went alone and would not have been able to sign anything after the morphine, and no one was there to authorize anything on my behalf. The last couple of medical visits when asked about being jabbed, my answer has been "NO FREAKIN' WAY!" They just check the appropriate box on the paperwork and that's it.

I have noticed gas prices down some, but still over $4 per gallon. At the station I drive by the most in town, it is down to $4.39/gallon, down from the high about 2 weeks ago of $4.65/gallon. Since my commute is less than 4 miles round trip per day, my gas lasts a long time, and I only buy my gas out of town where it is even cheaper.

Friday March 18th: Another day off, but an 08:15 AM appointment for my annual FD physical and my DOT medical card. I passed the interior firefighter physical for the last time, because next year I will be over 60. That department policy may change though, because we have hardly any active interior firefighters and to lose another will be tough. The other problem is that the medical facility is holding up my DOT medical card. Because I have hereditary hypertension that is controlled with medication, I have to get an annual DOT card, not the normal biannual. Apparently, for the last three years, my doctor has not sent in the paperwork that verifies my blood pressure is under control and I am compliant with my meds. They faxed one to the doctor's office while I was still there, and I got a copy to hand deliver on my way home. My current DOT card expired today, so I will be on them every day this week until I receive it.

I had done a couple of errands on the way home, but forgot one. My wife's RAV-4 needed a new headlight. I only use Sylvania Silverstar Ultra in all my vehicles and needed to run back out to get one. Hey... that's a small errand, perfect for taking my bike instead of my big honkin' pickup truck! What a beautiful afternoon for a ride, 75 and sunny. I topped off the tire pressure, hooked up my cell phone for music streaming, and headed out. First, I had to stop at the firehouse to torment my normal shift partner. I pulled into the parking lot, and started doing circles in front of the day room window, music and horn blaring. I saw the vertical blinds part, and saw his hand giving me the proper salute I expected. Now before you call me a dick, this is a constant back and forth between he and I. On nice days when he is off riding and I am at work, I get a constant stream of photo text messages of every stop he makes while out riding. So this was a little payback for him. I took a little longer route to the auto parts store and back, but it was a nice 30 mile loop.

Back from the ride. This was just before I put the cover back on. Not sure when the next one will be

BTW... that spot under my bike is an old stain from the rear end of the classic car I once had. This is a Honda... no fluids come out unless I let them out.

Saturday March 19th: While getting ready to go to the town dump, I heard shooting coming from up over the hill at my other neighbor's range, and behind Mrs. Bitchy McBitchy Bitchface's house. It was pretty loud, so she must have been going apeshit! I finished loading up my trash and decided I would head up his range access road in my truck to see what he was up to.

I have permission to be on his property. Some horse people have asked if they could ride up there but he has turned them down. He has it posted with no trespassing signs that say there is an active shooting range. I have shot with him before on his old range, but not on this new one. I hiked up there a week ago and was amazed. He has modeled his range after youtuber Hickok45, just not as many targets.

 

 

 

The far targets are across a gully, with the hill as a backstop

Homemade shooting benches

To the rear of the shooting area. The bottles are plastic and full of water for targets

I met him on the access road in his side-by-side. He was all done shooting and on his way back. We parked nose to nose, and I got out to chat with him. He was surprised I got up the road because it is a little steep and there was a soupy spot. I told him I have good all-terrain tires, just eased through it steadily, and then climbed the hills gently so I didn't rip up his road. He appreciated that and we bullshitted out there for a good 40 minutes. Afterwards, I got myself turned around and followed him out of the woods. I went to the dump and then came straight home.

When I got home, wifey informs me her brother and wife were coming over for dinner and to play marbles (the board game). She insists she told me, but she did not. I informed her we are out of beer, and that I need to make a beer and wine run to Yankee Spirits up in Sturbridge, MA. I race up there, get the beer and wine, and top off my truck with gas. I get back before they arrive. They show up about a half hour later and the few beers I threw in the freezer were nice and cold. We ordered pizza and had dinner. Then spent the next few hours playing marbles. We always play guys against girls, and it was the girl's night to win every freakin' game. They left around 11.

Today was puttering in the garage (I had to test fit a borrowed car top carrier and roof rack rails on the wife's RAV-4). She is going away on a dog event weekend in Maryland next month, so I didn't want to wait until last minute to find out there was a problem. It all fits fine. I then spent a couple of hours moving heavy wet leaves left over from the fall that I didn't get picked up before the snow fell. The last load on my 9' x 12'  tarp weighed about 300 pounds, and I had to drag it about 70' to the woods to dump it. The pile is considerably smaller, and now that the top layers are gone, it can dry out over the next couple of days. I'll pick away at it after work each night.