A night off, and a sleep in, kinda.

The weather stepped in last night and gave me the evening off. Got the word as my San Saba classes were ending. The classes on the base were being canceled due to the threat of ice on the roads.



We had about three days in the 80s last week, but then the norther blew in, and with it some slight precipitation. So by Tuesday night it was droppin' down into the 20s and I was building a nice blaze in the fire place.

That gave Denise and I the chance to enjoy a real night at home together during the week, which is usually a treat of the weekend. I got home first, a few hours before she did, so I got the fire goin' and started dinner.



She picked up some pork chops the other night, but we weren't expecting to be able to cook them for a few more days. I busted out the skillet, tossed in some butter, pepper, and some sweet white whine, covered it and set the burner on medium.

We also did some green beans for her. OK, I had some too.



Turned out really good. I thought maybe I'd cooked them a little long, but Denise said they were delish. Who can argue?



Denise also whipped up some good, buttery cheese sauce and I boiled some Rotini noodles to throw into it.



Mmmmm, good. Toss on some fresh pepper and it was good to go. Have some in the fridge for left-overs too. I doubt it survives the night.



Good lookin' eh? You should have tasted it. That's some left-over Chinese stir fry there, heated up in it's sauce and poured over the finished chops. I know, I shouldn't post this stuff. It's just wrong.



That wasn't the half of it though. Denise introduced me to something called a Kahlua and Cream the other day. Last night was my first attempt to make them. You see the ingredients here.



And this is the end result. Tastes like a ice cream float, but with a kick. Wonderful. And yep, somehow in all this orgy of gastronomic goodness, I lost my shirt. You know, that'll happen.

It turned out the ice was mostly west of here, so the morning classes today were only delayed. I had to go down to Florence for about 40 minutes, and then did my drive to Saba. The sun is out, and everything here is back to normal.

Hope the weather is treatin' you nice. Cheers!

Holy shit, it actually snowed!

Well, we got a dusting of light snow over night. It came down after we hit the sack at midnight or 1 AM, but it sure was purdy when I opened the garage door this mornin'.



I scraped what little ice had accumulated off Denise's windows and got the car started and warmed up for her while I put the garbage can out on the street to get picked up. Friday ritual that.

I took this shot of the sunrise as I jetted off to the stop-n-rob to get my regular breakfast of corn dogs and Dew. The sun had come out and warmed the temps up to about 45 degrees, melting all the snow away, by the time I drove home from Florence at 10 AM. It was nice while it lasted.

I got a report and a picture from Dave Thursday concerning my new M-1 carbine. He found a picture on the CMPs web site that he says is the spitting image of my gun. Check it out.



Dave's been putterin' around with it, cleanin' much of the cosmoline off of it, but he says it still needs a LOT of work. Dave said I'd probably need to just hit it with a wire brush or somethin'. If anyone has any ideas about gettin' that shit off, I'd appreciate it.

It's apparently got a pretty new, lighter colored wooden stock with a darker hand guard, just as you see above. He says the metal and wood are in great shape, and he's identified the origins of many of the component parts.

He says the barrel and action are Winchester, the operating slide was made by IBM, and the Trigger housing is made by National Cash Register. Based on the serial number he thinks it was manufactured in late 1943. The mix match of parts comes from the soldiers mixing up the interchangeable parts when they disassembled and cleaned the guns in the field.

In the war, no one took the care to keep the original parts together in each gun, so virtually all the guns you'd get today are in this sort of condition. Another story tells me that the parts got mixed up in the armories after the war when the guns were taken apart, refurbished, and then set aside in storage so they could be distributed to our various allies or clients during the years from then to now.

This particular rifle is one of a large batch that was just returned to us from Italy. If the Italians has taken it out of the cosmoline and used it they would have stamped it with the letters F.A.T. (no clue what that stands for - an acronym signifying their ownership and certification of the rifle). How funny would it be if ol' Fat got himself a carbine with "FAT" stamped on the butt? This one apparently has no such stamp. Dave thinks that means it was given to the Italians many years ago and has been sitting in their armory since then, untouched.

I told him I didn't really mind some wear and tear on the stock, and don't really care about the mix match of parts. To me, it speaks of the history of the gun. The cool thing about havin' it is thinkin' about where the gun has been and who may have used it in one conflict or another. If only it could talk, what a story it would tell.

I told him so long as it shoots nice I don't really care what it looks like. Then he said "Oh, it shoots great. I put three rounds through it this mornin'." I looked up at him and said "YOU BASTARD!", and we both laughed our asses off.

He told me he was thinkin' "Do I wanna wait till Sunday to see how this thing shoots? Naaaa!" He didn't even wait and let me pull the trigger first on my own gun! Well hell, let that be his reward for being such a great friend and getting me such cool toys through his connections with the CMP.

As I told you before, Mom and Denise are going to get their palms read today at about 3 PM. The whole thing cracks me up. She'll pay so much for a palm reading, and then the cost goes up. A little more for a crystal ball, and then a chunk more for the tarot cards. I feel like tellin' her if she has a huge desire to throw her money away, throw it at me. What a bunch of ridiculous bullshit!

Anyway, while they get their rocks off with the hokus pokus, I'll be across town gettin' my tires balanced and rotated. It's way overdue. Then, weather permitting, while the ladies go out to eat somewhere else, Dad and I will hit golf balls and eat Chinese food.

Maybe then Denise and I will hook back up and see a flick. We'd both still like to see the new Rambo movie, which I think is still playin' at the local multiplex. Someone out at work told Denise it was great. He'd seen it twice. I tell ya, I LOVED the first Rambo, and the third when he's in Afghanistan, but I'm not sire if I want to see Stallone stumbling around in that stringy hair again. He should have gone in the direction of Kurtz in Apocalypse Now. Bald, with some cool hill tribe tattoos or somethin'. Now THAT would have been cool.

Well, you guys stay warm and have a great weekend. We'll chat again soon. Cheers.