Arizona, 2013

cosmic · February 25, 2013, 08:04 PM

Here in southern ontario we are expecting 10 inches tomorrow and 8 more the next day.
looks like I'm fixing snow plows for a little longer.
damn ground hogs.

The only good news is lot gas $$ being stashed away for summer, and God knows we can never have enough with the milage we get. lol

ClydesdaleKevin · February 26, 2013, 11:17 AM

AJI has two used Ruger Mark .22s for pretty cheap...I'm thinking about it! What is disturbing is that its getting hard to find bulk ammo in any caliber right now! It seems that Americans are stocking up! The local Sportsman's Warehouse's shelves are EMPTY, Cabela's is putting limits on how much they sell at a time (and their shelves are pretty empty as well), and if you go to Brownells or Sportsmans Guide online, even non combat ammo like .38 Special and .357 in bulk are backordered for months! I'm going to run down to the gun shop before getting to work today to buy some ammo before even AJI runs out...geesh!

Then its back to camp to cut cut cut, and drill drill drill!

Kev

ClydesdaleKevin · February 26, 2013, 11:10 PM

Went to AJI Sports today on my way to dropping of the laundry and dry cleaning...even with a washer/dryer, you still have to bring the comforters in, and the kilt is dry clean only.

Looked at the Ruger 22s, and Jeff told me not to bother. .22 ammo is scarce, and even Jeff can't get it! Everyone is stocking up, and the cost is outrageous when you can find it!

He did sell me an awesome hardly used Colt Agent .38 though, for a song! I pick it up next week. Vintage 1970s...early 70s, like 71. Barely fired, with holster wear, but no bore wear at all. SWEET! Its tiny and light, but six shots. Pretty neat, and an awesome price!

He sold me 100 rounds of preowned ammo for the .38 for a low price, then I bought 3 boxes of 50 rounds of .357s...next week I'll buy even more. I hate to be the jumping on the bandwagon guy, but I'm starting to stockpile. At least while the prices are reasonable.

Got back to camp and cut out all the parts for tomorrows run, and drilled them all while I was at it.

Lots more to do tomorrow!

Kev

ClydesdaleKevin · February 27, 2013, 10:00 PM

Here is a picture of my new toy I pick up next week...its pretty neat, and obviously only fired a few times! Holster wear, but the bore looks brand new.

Got LOTS done today on the catapults. The Bandits and Twisters are completely finished and stained, the Trappie mousetrap catapults are ready to stain tomorrow, and the desktop torsions are almost done and will be ready to stain in short order. Still have to build rat trap catapults, trebuchets, ballistas, and mangonels, but with 2 days to do it, it will get done quick! Might even be able to hit the range on Friday! One can hope!

Kev

ClydesdaleKevin · February 28, 2013, 09:31 PM

Holy crap we got a lot done today! The torsion desktop catapults are done and stained, the mousetrap desktops that Patti finished yesterday are stained, and the 3 Mangonel and 2 Rat Trap catapults are done and stained...all before 5 pm! And not only that, butt tons of prep work was done for next week, all the parts for 4 trebuchets and 3 ballistas are completely prepped for assembly tomorrow, and we can pound out the rest in a couple of hours tomorrow. SWEET!

The gun range just might be possible after all! At the very least I have to pick up the laundry and my kilt from the dry cleaners.

We'll see how it all goes tomorrow. So far so good! We rocked it out this week!

Kev

ClydesdaleKevin · March 02, 2013, 10:48 AM

The booth is PACKED full of catapults, loaded up with marshmallow ammo, and the weather is supposed to be Arizona perfect this weekend...in the 80s!!! Its going to be an awesome weekend!!!

Kev

DonD · March 02, 2013, 03:09 PM

'Tis beautiful here, enjoy make lots of money!

ClydesdaleKevin · March 03, 2013, 12:26 AM

Awesome day today! And if past history is any indication, we'll have at least as good a day tomorrow! Its nice doing faires that AREN"T in the Bible Belt...Sundays are as good as Saturdays!

At this rate, we'll be all back in the black again tomorrow, I'll be able to pick up my "new" little Colt snubby, go to the gun range on Monday and try a handful of rounds through it, try some rounds through the "new" Ruger Security Six I bought a while ago, shoot more rounds out of my already tweaked and perfected favorite Security Six to keep in practice, and have a great time!

Going to be a lot of work again this week, but my crew this year is awesome and we'll get it all done in short order!

Kev

ClydesdaleKevin · March 04, 2013, 12:16 AM

Today was as good as yesterday...awesome weekend overall! New toy tomorrow, a trip to the gun range while its cool in the morning, and then a materials run. Tuesday its cutting and drilling, then a whole lot of catapults the rest of the week! Busy busy busy!!!

Kev

Froggy1936 · March 04, 2013, 10:23 AM

Hey Kev are there many people at the range when you go ? And what seems ton be the popular firearm ? Cant you shoot almost anywhere out there ? Frank

ClydesdaleKevin · March 05, 2013, 09:18 PM

Yep...lots of places to shoot Frank...all kinds of public lands. But a shaded canopy with shooting benches and rests for 7 bucks for the day is where I opt to go...especially with how well the range marshals control the safety of the course. The give you the wood framed targets with cardboard backing to stick your own favorite target to, and the range is already set out by the yards. Its pretty awesome!

Most popular guns today seemed to be rifles, bigger bore, and a lot of semi autos. Me and a few old timers were slinging wheelguns...I guess that either makes me an old timer, or else the old timers are smarter than everyone else with a gun that won't fail in any condition...lol!

Not many .22s, since the ammo seems to have dried up completely!

Probably about 30+ people there when I got there at 10am.

Kev

ClydesdaleKevin · March 05, 2013, 09:33 PM

FINALLY made it to the gun range today! Shot about 200 rounds.

The new Ruger Security Six shoots true, although it needs some trigger work.

The new little Colt Agent .38? Holy crap what a nice little gun! At 10 yards, the groups...even fast groups, are around 5 inches. At 25 yards, you are still on target and in the kill zone.

By the way...Patti loved the little Agent, so its hers now...guess I gotta find a new snubby for myself!

Actually, when I first saw the Agent, I knew it had Patti's name all over it. Awesome little gun and perfect for her, which is the reason I bought it!

It was fun at the range, and the little Colt Agent is one damn fine little combat snubby revolver! Great accuracy for the barrel length, and the trigger draw is amazing. In single action, its a very light, almost hair trigger. In double action, its as smooth as my heavily worked on Ruger!

Anyhow, it was fun at the range. Took FOREVER back at camp to clean up the Colt Agent...taken care of but not shot in over a decade and put away wet, so it was a real cleaning job...plus I did some rebluing on it and aluminum black. New Security Six took even longer with the trigger job and sight change, and it was NEVER cleaned by the previous owner obviously. Lots of gum and goo, and now its as smooth as my carry Security Six. My carry piece took me 10 minutes to clean and put away.

Anyhow, part of the fun of shooting at the range is the zen of cleaning your weapons thoroughly when you get home. Took a LONG time today with the 2 used ones!

Gonna have to get up EARLY tomorrow to make up for time! I pretty much took a whole day off from work today that I shouldn't have!

Kev

ClydesdaleKevin · March 06, 2013, 11:21 PM

Right on schedule! Everything and more got done today...not a lot to do tomorrow. Could it BE I might have Friday off? Probably not. But it should be a LIGHT Friday.

I found a Ruger snubby locally on the cheap, a blued Service Six...as long as its a good weekend, I'll pick it up on Monday. Hope we have a good weekend!

Patti claimed the Colt Agent...she took one look at it and said "MINE"! So its hers now...damn nice little snubby. I bought it for her anyways. The weight, caliber, everything, it had Patti's name written all over it.

Tomorrow? MORE catapult building! Lots to do!

Kev

ClydesdaleKevin · March 07, 2013, 10:25 PM

Got ALL the catapults done and stained today...including the new Magnum Pistols...lol!

Gonna have to bring them off the stain rack soon...supposed to rain something good later tonight!

And all day tomorrow, which is why we pushed to finish everything today.

Tomorrow the boys are coming in for prep work for next week, unless the rain is really coming down.

Good lads this year! Very fast and dependable! Gotta love Kyle and Will!

Kev

DonD · March 08, 2013, 09:57 AM

Raining lightly up here Kev. Warm and no wind. T storms are "dew" today.

EDIT: No sooner did I hit send and BOOM! Thunder.....!!

ClydesdaleKevin · March 08, 2013, 10:27 AM

Pouring here in Gold Canyon, AZ. Gotta put on the rain gear...and put the pup's rain gear on them as well...and take them out. Good thing we finished up all the catapults yesterday! I took the catapults off the stain rack last night and put them in the Jeep just in time! Just as I closed the hatch on the Wranger it started raining HARD! Good timing! Gonna be a lazy day off today!

Kev

ClydesdaleKevin · March 08, 2013, 06:23 PM

Welp...Lost the awning!

An insane wind storm just passed through...unforecasted of course...and BAM, slammed the awning down, bent the center pole in half, and the whole thing was whipping around in the wind...good thing I had the ends staked down with 18 inch rebar stakes and ratchet straps, or who knows what it would have done to the RV!!!

So without a second though, out I went with my K-Bar, and cut the awning fabric loose for the roller tube, and then from the RV...and then unbolted the arms and center pole from the RV. The wind was so strong it blew over my heavy steel router table...turned it upside down! The workshop tent held on no problem...those Coleman Insta-Tents hold up well in the wind...although the plastic shelves inside fell over. Doesn't appear that much was damaged in the shop though.

While I was taking care of that, Patti and our neighbors took down another neighbor's car port right behind our RV, which was whipping all around...that would have been all we needed...the steel carport whipping up into the air, up on the RV, and breaking our solar panels! So Patti and the neighbors took it down before anything bad could happen.

Of course, as soon as we were done, the wind died down...now its only raining and breezy.

So if we decide to save the awning, it will need new awning fabric, a center rafter tube replaced, and one of the knuckles broke off at the roller tube. Roller tube itself is okay, and the rest of the arms seem okay...of course, the roller tube has a broken torsion spring already, so we might just scrap the whole thing.

Probably scrap it and wait until New York and get another awning...this time an A&E...I had this cheap and crappy Carefree awning set up the same way I set up my A&E awnings in the past, and they saw way higher winds than what just killed our awning. It was probably about a 60mph gust. Even the old crusty A&E awning that was on the 77 Itasca held up just fine in 70 mile an hour sustained winds! Ah well...

Hopefully the weather will be nice tomorrow!

Kev

DonD · March 08, 2013, 08:54 PM

Glad no one was injured. I Sturgus SD a guy was killed when the canopy he was trying to hold down took him for a ride into a building.

ClydesdaleKevin · March 08, 2013, 10:01 PM

Yep...no one got hurt, thankfully! Even with me up on the roof in my PJs and duck shoes with a razor sharp K-Bar...thought the wind was gonna blow me off the roof a couple of times! Had to stay real low...like a ninja...lmao!

So its decided though...we are going to scrap the inferior Carefree awning, and wait until we get to New York and get an A&E electric awning with a wind sensor. I'll probably list it locally on Craigslist for like a hundred bucks, since the roller tube isn't bent, and most of the hardware is still good...lots of RVers around here...if it doesn't sell by the end of the show, into the dumpster it goes!

Anyhow, weather will be cool tomorrow, but it shouldn't be rainy, and then Sunday is going to rock!

And then on Monday I pick up MY new toy...since Patti claimed the Colt Agent.

Its a near perfect Ruger Police Service Six snubby, .357 Magnum blued finish in really nice condition, barely fired. Comes with a Hogue rubber grip, the original grip (which is what I'm going to put back on it since its going to be a deep cover piece, nice and small and concealable), a holster, and 150 rounds of ammo...on the cheap!

Here is the picture of it the seller sent me:

SWEET!

All that is left to add to my collection...although I'm sure there will be more, is a 6 inch barrel Security Six, so I can scope it...lol!

Kev

Wantawinnie · March 09, 2013, 12:43 AM

Sorry about the awning.

Any chance you have some type of comprehensive insurance coverage for that? Reason I ask is my old Winnie has a newer awning and I found an estimate in the rigs paperwork that was sent to an insurance company listing it as storm damage. My dad lost the awning on a 5th wheel about 10 years ago and insurance replaced that as well.

ClydesdaleKevin · March 09, 2013, 08:51 AM

As of right now, we only have comprehensive on the Jeep, and state minimum on the RV, except uninsured motorist. We were planning on adding full coverage at the end of the show this year before hitting the road again...just didn't get it in time...them's the breaks!

Should be a decent day at faire today, although its starting out cold. Looks like the rain played itself out though. Sunday the weather is supposed to be perfect and in the 70s, so we should be SUPER busy on Sunday.

Kev

ClydesdaleKevin · March 10, 2013, 12:04 AM

Decent day at faire today! Way busier than I expected, although not nearly as good as a normal Arizona faire day. Still, not bad!

And tomorrow should ROCK! Especially with Patti back in the booth!

We expect a VERY busy day tomorrow...perfect weather, around 70 degrees...and all the folks who believed the idiot weather forecasters will come out in droves tomorrow! Awesome!

Kev

ClydesdaleKevin · March 11, 2013, 12:24 AM

Decent sales day on the lower side of the scale. Lots of folks, but mostly they bought the cheaper catapults. Ah well. Gotta make a lot of little catapults this week, but very few of the more expensive ones. So on the bright side, its a light work week!

Gonna get materials tomorrow and pick up the Ruger, and then maybe the range if Patti is up to in on Tuesday...poor baby twisted her ankle yesterday coming out of the RV!

Light workweek as stated...2 days tops, so we'll have Friday off as well.

Time to feed the pups, take them out, and hit the hay! Gotta rake the marshmallows in the morning, then get on with the day.

Kev

ClydesdaleKevin · March 11, 2013, 09:57 PM

Got the marshmallows all raked up bright and early, then got all the materials, and met the nice old gentleman with the snubby at the Cabelas parking lot in Glendale, AZ. Very nice shape, with a holster, 200 rounds of ammo, and 2 grips...definitely a good deal!

Stopped by Wallyworld on the way home and bought season 3 of Justified, so Patti and I are having a movie night tonight...and a date day tomorrow! Gonna relax...maybe do some gunsmithing...and then take Patti out for dinner and a movie! Gonna watch Oz, and take her to any restaurant she wants to go to.

Poor baby has been cooped up so long, and now she has a sprained ankle. Gonna give her a fun day tomorrow!

Kev

HandyDan · March 16, 2013, 07:07 AM

I'm having Kevin withdrawal. He hasn't posted anything in six days. i??
I hope he didn't shoot his eye out.