Happenings At The Hacienda

First up, lighting changes in the basement.

Our basement is 26' x 34' with the stairs coming down in the center towards the front of the house under the staircase to the second floor, which acts as a divider between my workshop and my wife's dog grooming area. The simple incandescent bulbs put in when the house was built were replaced by 4' fluorescent fixtures long ago. 

(5) 48" x 2 lamps in workshop

(1) 48" 4 bulb over workbench

(7) 48" x 2 lamps in grooming area

All of the workshop lights were transplanted from our old house and are at least 25 years old. The ones in the grooming area are a few years newer than the house and are GARBAGE made in CHY-NA. The ballasts were terrible and devoured bulbs, while the older fixtures still have their first replacement bulbs in them and work fine. Half of the bulbs were out again, so I went to Lowe's to get another case. Instead I came across this and decided the extra expense would be worth a try. With the improvements in technology and the prices coming way down for LED lighting, I have converted much of my house already, this just made sense.

I had looked into replacing the entire fixtures to LED before but the cost was prohibitive at almost $30 a piece. This case of 20 LED replacement bulbs listed for $105.98 but with my military discount I got out the door with tax for $101.44. These bulbs require a wiring modification to each fixture, which while supposedly a DIY project, if you don't have the electrical/electronics background I have, I recommend hiring a professional. 

The first three diagrams are examples of existing ballast wiring. The last diagram is what the installer needs to accomplish. The ballast is cut out and removed, the bulb connectors at one end are all connected to the neutral (white), an inline fuse holder with a 1 Amp fuse is spliced onto the hot lead (black), and the other end of the fuse holder tied to the bulb connectors at the other end of the fixture. You are applying 120VAC to the new LED bulbs that contain all the electronics necessary to operate the LEDS. I finished up Friday afternoon the 13th because I had to wait for the inline fuse holders to come from eBay. You are also supposed to affix a new label (included) that warns users not to install standard T8 or T12 fluorescent bulbs because there is no ballast. I put one on each fixture I converted. Below is what her grooming area looks like now.

The LED bulbs are rated for 50,000 hours, and warranted for 5 years running 6 hours per day for 7 days a week. They will last us a lifetime, and the power consumption went from 560 watts using all 40 W fluorescent bulbs in seven fixtures, to 196 watts. I'll take it! The good fluorescent bulbs will be kept as future replacements for the workshop, and I have enough LED bulbs to do three more fixtures if a ballast craps out. As you can see, even though the LED's are rated 1500 lumens as opposed to the 40 W fluorescent bulbs at 2100 lumens, it is light daylight in there. And I chose the standard "cool white" look with light temperature of 4000K, so it is not at all harsh.

Next, time to put away Christmas

This was our 39th Christmas as a married couple, and the 39th live tree we had in our living room. Expensive this year at $85 to "cut your own" but what a fabulous tree. As usual my wife decorated it to rival any NYC department store window tree.

Because our trees always look great and are lush and green well past Christmas it got taken down on Friday the 13th. She removed all the lights and decorations, and it took a team effort to pull it out of the stand and out the front door. The amount of needles that fell on the floor were minor and easily cleaned up. In years past it went to the fire pit for the first bonfire of spring, but the last couple of years it has gone next door to the horse farm and the goat herd. Man do they love it!

Finally, some gun stuff

I decided since cold weather is here to stay, I would be carrying my Ruger SR9c in my kydex OWB holster under a flannel shirt or jacket more regularly. I decided to go full grip like before the boating accident when I lost the 17 round magazines to the bottom of Lake Mashapaug. I have a 10 round SR9 magazine with the grip extender that looks like a 17. Normally I was carrying with the compact mag and fingertip extension. My spare mags in the kydex carrier will remain the compact 10 rounders with the fingertip extension. I like the full grip for draw purposes.

Ruger SR9c with 10 round mag and fingertip extender. You can also use a flush floorplate for deeper concealment

The back-strap is interchangeable, and for the compact mags I like the bump out to fit my palm better. Because I was going to the extended mag I wanted the flat back-strap. Now... where did I put that other piece???

For an hour and a half I went through all my gun stuff. I tore my safes apart. I went through my container of spare parts and found ALL my spare parts. I went through my plastic tub of holsters... NADA. I went through another plastic tub of spare accessories...nope. Up to the attic to go through even more obscure stuff, ARRRGGGHHH!! Down to the basement and tore apart the gun bench and armorers tool box...ZIP. I gave up, it was lost and I had no idea where it went. I turned to eBay and a seller appeared to have what I wanted. I sent him a message asking if it was indeed the flat back-strap and if it was I would buy it immediately. He replied right away. The back-strap is REVERSIBLE. What a fucking idiot I am. It had been so long since I flipped it I forgot it was reversible and thought there was a separate back-strap insert.

In the words of Homer Simpson.... "DOH!"

I had the damn thing on my hip the whole time. I sent the eBay seller a reply thanking him and telling him how big an idiot I am. As you can see above, push the pin all the way though, slide off the back-strap, flip it over and replace the pin. Success!

Using the kydex holster I have turns the gun in towards my body, so the extended grip does not print though my shirt. Being chubby instead of cut helps hide my firearm too.

Because I went through so much of my stuff, I came up with a couple of items to give away. I'm sure I can get rid of more, but it will have to be a more thoughtful process.

A DeSantis E1 IWB holster that fits small compact semi autos like a Glock 26 or my SR9c. The holster is like new because I tried it and hated it. Having a pebble in my shoe on purpose is what I think of IWB appendix carry.

A Bianchi double stack dual mag carrier. Supposed to fit my Glock 21 .45ACP mags, but the flaps barely close and the velcro barely mates up. Would probably work fine on other magazine brands.

The cable lock that came with my S&W 45 Shield. I have plenty of gun locks, I certainly don't need another.

I've offered this stuff to a couple of people but no takers yet. It will most likely end up on the "give-a-way" table at my sportsman's club.