A day in the life...

Well since I'm not working right now, a lot of folks wonder what I do all day.

So here's what I did today.

--Slept in until 8 AM. This is because I stayed up so late last night, reading the biography of Eddie Rickenbacker again.

--Had breakfast. Oatmeal with apples and raisins and coffee while reading the news on-line--New York Post, Fox, Drudge, etc.

--Watched John Wayne and Stuart Whitman in The Comancheros. I've seen it a dozen times but still like it, especially the climactic running gunfight at the end. And honestly, has there ever been such a thing as a bad John Wayne movie?

--Went into town. Bought coffee and my newspaper at the 7-11, and then had lunch at a little Chinese place, Lin's Garden. Great egg rolls.

--Shooting range. It was raining like hell, there were severe thunderstorm warnings out, and an old guy in an ark asked me if I'd seen two cats. I referred him to Lin's Garden and commenced to shooting. I was testing new ammo loads out (I reload) and wanted to try some new .223 rounds as well and some .38 Special. I was also trying to get one of my AR-15 rifles to stop "doubling" (firing two shots with each pull of the trigger) and I thought that I'd corrected it in the workshop but alas, I was wrong. It's still doing it. And with the thunder and lightning and torrential downpour, I pretty much had the range to myself--just me and the live-in caretaker. He came out to see who was shooting in the rain and shook his head when he saw who. "I should have guessed it was you," he said. Hey. Train like you fight. I practice night shooting and shooting in the snow, and gun fights can happen in the rain too, so today was perfect for practicing that. (I just pretended that I'm being attacked by an army of New Orleans Katrina looters. "Hey! Drop that TV set and show me your hands!")
Also, I decided that my .223 load is practically perfect, and I now have a fairly hot .38 Special load that makes six-shot one-hole groups from 10 yards. Me likee.

--Left the range dripping wet but happy. Went home, stopping at the mailbox. Found a package from Lee Precision in my mailbox. Damn, that was fast. Lee makes reloading equipment that I sometimes use to manufacture my ammunition. Last Thursday, I called Lee up and told them that I was missing a small part for my Lee Auto Prime that I'd bought maybe 10 years ago. Now this is the best cartridge-priming tool in the world, and it only cost me like nine dollars retail a decade ago. And Lee's stellar customer service came through for me as they promptly mailed me the new part at no cost. It's companies like that that will have my business over the competition any day, Thanks, Lee Precision!

--Loaded up a few hundred rounds of my new .38 Special round. With the price of ammo going sky-high, it makes me feel good to turn my old fired brass into nice, shiny new ammunition.

--Off to run. I run most days now that I have time. I have to go into town to find a place to do it, but I have a nice spot for it, and at dusk, I ran a nice three miles. It may not sound all that impressive, but hey--I only got one leg here.

--Home again. Had dinner--chicken and a granola bar, and then took Lagniappe out for a walk. He likes late-night walks, but the lightning was coming in again so we cut it short.

Now I'm getting ready to call it a night. Going to put Lagniappe out for his last bit of dog business and probably play a bit of "midnight basketball" with him. This one of his late-night favorites. He brings me one of his flat basketballs and I whip them off into the woods for him to go find and bring back again. How he finds those out there in the dark with no lights is beyond me, but he's good at it and seems to enjoy it. I think I'll have another beer and read in bed some more. I'm thinking of starting up Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand again. It's not like I don't have the time.