Short Weekend

Not really short, I guess, since it had the requisite number of days, but like always they seemed to fly right by and be over before they had any right to be.

It started on Thursday, as mine usually do (I work Sunday nights, my weekends run from Thursday to Saturday on my long weeks and Wednesday to Saturday on my short ones...and before you think I'm a lucky spud for having four day weekends, 1. yes I am and 2. I work 12 hour days), with a message on my dashboard saying it was oil change time soon. That came as a bit of a surprise since the sticker on my windshield clearly stated I had another hundred miles or so, but since I had a long-distance weekend planned I thought it would be a good idea to go ahead and change it.

Anyway, I went to see if I could score some more .22 ammo, and failed miserably, then went home to catch about 4 hours of sleep before having to get up to go to the dentist. The crown prep went well, no root canal needed, and now I have a huge hunk of white plastic covering the tooth stump until the crown gets made and sent to the dentist, about 2 weeks from now. This one is going to be porcelain instead of white gold like the other one, but since it's so far back I really don't think it will matter much. Thursday ended with me getting everything ready for that long-distance weekend.

Friday I got the oil, went to the feed store and got my registration renewed (gotta love rural North Carolina), and picked up the other things on my shopping list for the house and such. I got home and discovered my car sits too low to be able to put it up on the ramps, so I had to jack it up to put the ramps underneath it. Fortunately Son In Law has a lo-profile jack.

Drain the oil pan, remove the three bolts over the front cover, spin off the oil filter and discover that Ford has cleverly placed the front radiator support brace perfectly to intercept the hot oil stream from the filter. Clean everything up, new filter, reinstall the cover and the drain bolt and jack the car back up to remove the ramps. Eight (yes, eight) quarts of 5W20 dyno-synthetic blend (the Coyote's oil fill spout requires the use of a funnel, for what it's worth, and I need to get one with a bigger spout) and that job is done for another 7500-10,000 miles (whenever the dashboard readout tells me it's time again). It was the first time I had ever changed the oil on that car, having bought the extended service warranty, and I think it went pretty well.

Friday evening found me in Alexandria, Occupied Territories Virginia for a get-together with like-minded morons. No pics by agreement, but it was fun to get together and put some faces to some names. Saturday morning found me on the road home, and Saturday afternoon I was back at home base.

The car's odometer reads a bit over 59,800 miles now, less than 200 miles from the 60,000 end-of-warranty period. Time to contact my crack parts dealer for that tune, by the time it gets here the warranty will be out and the tune can go right in.

Back to work Sunday night. Gotta pay for that tune somehow (not to mention the dentist).

She Don't Like, She Don't Like, She Don't Like...

Reloads.

My Glock, that is.

I attempted to put a few rounds through it at the Blogshoot but the darn thing wouldn't go back into battery, I had to smack the back of the slide every time. The round would eject, and then the next one wouldn't go into battery until I smacked the back of the slide again. The factory loads worked great.

Today I broke it down and tried fitting the rounds into the barrel. Both the earlier reloads and the latest ones with the moly bullets did this:

 but the factory loads were flush.

The reloads would seat all the way if I pushed them in, but then I had to pry them back out. The only thing I can think of is either the dies aren't set right or my Glock is being a picky bitch. Of course, there's nothing to say it can't be both.

I'm going to let Range Partner try the reloads, and maybe I'll invest in a Wolf barrel to see if that cures the pickiness, but until then I guess I'll stick with factory loads. I hope that it's something I'm doing wrong and can correct, with the present state of ammo factory loads are a pain to find.

In other news, my broken tooth is scheduled for a crowning. It's right across from the last one, so now I'll be balanced, at least in the bottom row of teeth department.

I also have a pair of foglamps coming in for the Scoobytruck, when I got it they were fine but within a couple of weeks they had been BB-gunned by a person or persons unknown (I have a feeling one or both of my boys were in the mix somewhere despite their denials). The left one came apart when I took it off the ramps after changing the oil on Wednesday, so it's time for new ones.

And last but not least, AGirl is hanging up her blogging spurs for a bit. I hope she can pop in once in a while now and again.

The remnants of TS Andrea are sliding through the Refuge for the next couple of hours and we expect to see scattered thunderstorms into next week.

That's it for now. I'll be ensconced in skating hell tonight for a few hours while Boy completely ignores me and chats up the girls, maybe I can get some homework done.

And maybe not.

UPDATE: A little adjustment on the seating die and all is, once more, good to go.

Halfway Ouchie

My upper jaw has now been disassembled and abraided. The toll so far is one tooth which will be replaced by an implant when 1) the bottom jaw has been similarly abused and 2) the funds become available. So far I've put more than 3K into the upper jaw with a similar amount to go for the bottom, and that doesn't take into account the cost of the implant.

Brush your teeth and see your dentist regularly kids, this becomes very important later on.

The Baja Has Landed

Today I caught a ride to the dealer and purchased the Baja. (This guy would probably have something rude to say. Actually, he's already pretty much said it.)

It has been christened Banana Boat by Youngest Son due to it's yellow color.

Tomorrow I will arrange for TDP to get towed back to the house. I will also get plugs, wires, oil, and a full round of filters for the Baja and re-base it's maintenance cycle. The engine is incredibly clean and the car runs well, but there is a bit of a sputter in the lower RPM ranges. No telling how long the plugs and wires have been on it.

UPDATE: It cost me a C note to get TDP back to the house, this was after the tow insurance paid off what they cover.

I also need to find a dentist tomorrow because I broke a corner of a molar off today.

So, busy day today and a busy day tomorrow. Friday I go order the Mustang.