An Update AND a Rant, All In One!

These last few weeks have been crazy. Between getting Christmas shopping done, visiting relatives, visiting friends, and planning more visits with relatives, I haven't managed to get anything constructive done around the house that I was planning to do. Which really isn't a big price to pay at all for spending time with loved ones at Christmas.

What I have managed to do is to catch up on laundry, get my Para LTC (that was beginning to rust - more on that later) traded out for a Glock 20, get new tires on my truck (Along with a new tie rod end and a front end alignment), and get traps and poison set out for the uninvited guest I mentioned previously.

Now, what's the deal with Para-Ordnance? I've had two Para pistols, both of which have exhibited a disturbing tendency to rust. The first was a P12-45 that rusted underneath the Hogue grips that I installed. After oiling it to make sure that exact problem wouldn't happen. The LTC began rusting at the hammer, the guide rod plug, and the slide rails. The former two are blued parts, so I'm not really all that surprised given my track record with bluing. But come on! The freaking slide rails?

Now, I realize that Para uses some kind of polymer coating for the OD Green finish. But I also own several CZ firearms and I've never had issues with the pieces that receive the polycoat finish rusting. The safety, slide stop, and hammer, yes (blued parts, see above) but not the polycoated parts. So, I don't have anything against "painted-on" finishes, as some have dubbed them. I think I just have something against the particular finish Para uses. Or maybe used. Both of the pistols I had were older firearms. It's possible Para has switched to something different by now.

On to the new Glock. The 20 will be getting the same treatment as my model 21. I've ordered a 3.5# trigger bar to install, two extended slide stops (one for each pistol), and a set of XS 24/7 Big Dot sights. Those sights on my 21 have sold me on the concept of express sights on a pistol. They are accurate enough for social use and fast to boot. Right now, I'm thinking the 21 will be doing nightstand duty and the 20 will be my main carry piece. This is, of course, assuming that the 20 passes function testing with the new parts I've ordered.

Well, that about does it for me. I'm off to get my hair cut and deposit my paycheck that I thought was a direct deposit receipt when I received it last week.

Giving Up

I'm thinking I should just give up and have my addy redirect to Caleb's site. Seriously. How he manages to find all this cool stuff absolutely boggles the mind.

Well, I'll Be...

Seems my current home-town of Conway is also home to a world-known USPSA shooter, one Matt Mink. I'll be honest and say that I'm not familiar with the name. But one of the things that really surprises me is that he's a CZ shooter as well. Check out the video at the link and you might notice that he's using a CZ SP01. It also mentions that he competes locally at a Pulaski county range. I'm wondering if that might be something that the guys and I might want to check out one of these days...? Anyone?

Seems the video embed doesn't want to work for me, either.

H/T to Caleb.

Freaking Mice

So, a little over a month ago, I notice that there's some rattling noises coming from one of my kitchen cabinets. Kinda like plastic being rustled around. I go take a look in the cabinets and eventually find traces that a mouse has been eating my ramen noodles. The mouse itself is nowhere to be seen. I also noted a rather large hole at the ceiling where the power for my above-range microwave is piped in. So, I take some spray-in insulation and seal the hole. A few days later, no disturbance of the insulation. A few more and there's a dead mouse in the floor of my back bedroom. No idea what killed him but he's dead and that's better than alive. I figure "problem solved".

Fast forward to this evening. I again hear the rustling of plastic in the same cabinet. Thinking another mouse must have managed to chew through the insulation, I proceed with flashlight and framing hammer to check out the situation. Low and behold, there's Mr. Mousey munching away at my ramen. Again. The ballsy little critter takes a good look at my flashlight and apparently only then realizes that there is a 6'2", 335lb, ticked-off, hammer-wielding, human male glaring at him. He freaks out and makes a mad run for it, jumping down onto the counter top and then disappearing behind it.

And I was so looking forward to using that hammer.

Another investigation revealed that, directly under the cabinets where my violated packages of ramen were resting, there was another gaping hole at the base of the lower cabinets where the water pipes run to the kitchen sink from the hot water heater. I have now used most of the remaining spray-in insulation to plug this hole. However, one has to wonder if Mr. Mousey has entrance and egress through the underside of the cabinets where I was unable to reach with the foam. I guess only time will tell.

Until then, I've picked up all of the food and medication that I had laying out on the counter top and have placed them in a completely separate section of the kitchen cabinets that appears to be unaffected by the infestation at this time.

I'm also keeping my framing hammer handy.