[wookness]

Thanks, Blackwolf & Hawk! I can get Vernor's Ginger ale on and off here @ the Kroger's© I shop, tho it's been only over the past several years that they have carried it. And it does have a distinct taste when compared to others. I'll have to try the next ham slow cooked using some or may make the glaze and then use it on a smoked ham, for something a bit different.

Nasty weather continues. Texas DPS [Dept. of Public Safety] reported there were 55 separate accidents in Midland between midnight and noon today! Just crazy, the numbers of accidents all over the state w/this storm. Tomorrow's weather will be worse.

We had a London Broil that had been marinating for a day in the fridge that got seared and then slowly simmered until tender and smothered in a brown sauce w/'shrooms and served over a bed of rice for dinner. Wasn't quite 'cut it w/a fork' tender, but very close. It ate well enough. Have read, napped, gathered more tax docs, and watched birds plus a coupla movies w/the bride and stayed inside all day.

Remains unpleasant and dangerous outside. Even a concrete step or flagstone can be lethal when it's iced up. Have to be extra careful in the present conditions.

We may be trying a new to us recipe for tomorrow's main course. I've a couple that have been wishing to try and all is at hand, so... have to stay busy doin' something inside in this kinda weather or go crazy!

Bird wise, we had the entire front loaded with Robins Sunday when we got home from the club. I'd guesstimate there were well over a hunnert, perhaps two and they were not much bothered by my walking out to look at them, many staying where they were, and I was but six feet from several. They left about twenty minutes later. Two pair of Cardinals are working the feeders in back, along w/some Carolina black-capped chickadees and the mockingbirds are hanging around, sometimes getting a bite off the peanut suet blocks. White-winged and white-tipped dove are in and out, but not staying long.

May fix a midnight martini and read some more or cash it in for a while, tho I'm not really tired. I'll get it figured out.

 

[wookness]

It's 26° @ 9 A, RH 88%, wind N 12 G 20 under light drizzle fog & freezing mist w/a coating of ice & pellets about ¼" thick on everything making movement like walking on stuff that's STOS and very precarious. Chill factor is 15 w/a dank Texas bone-chilling cold bite that'll penetrate yer outers & inners w/the ease of a neutrino and make ya shiver.

Traffic reports indicate a perfect mess awaits anyone fool enough to get out amongst 'em.

Lone fox squirrel is on one of the tile-topped concrete tables snarfing up old black oil sun flowers seed I'd put out there for whomever, along with some scratch. Feeders are presently loaded with fresh black oil sunflower seeds only. It's very dark this morning. Ominous.

Will see what kind of porridge or grub can be rustled up for breakfast in a few but more coffee is the more important thing just now.

Glad we won't be getting any of that double digit minus stuff that some of you get to deal with! Want no part of that! Nope. Used to have to go up to Racine, WI about this time of year on bidness and near froze my latissimus off, every time. Makes me shiver, just thinking about it. I'll go and refill my coffee mug now, thank you.

 

[wookness]

TD's sentiments mimic mine, Al, but he is much more eloquent than I.

We now have an inch of crusty frozen snow cone ice on top of glare ice. Just saw a family of two dogs, two kids and the 'rents coming back up the side street where they'd been sledding. Dogs off their leads led, then came mom w/a sketch pad under one arm and pastels or charcoals in the other [I think]and then Dad and son who were pulling the young daughter sitting on the sled holding a rope w/a fav. stud on each end. Fun, seeing that. We're a hunnert feet above the creek and the twisty little off the beaten path road down tuit is a fun spot in these conditions, for those that know ofvit.

We had a Western Flyer sled as a kids. Daughter used it some on that bit of downhill after I bought this place. Think it went w/her to WI went she moved up there. It didn't make it back. Good memories, kids being kids... and that sled.

I think most just use plastic tubs these days. We'd use cardboard on grassy slopes and levy embankments to good advantage in the spring and early summer.

 

[wookness]

700X is too fast a powder for a 20 ga. application! I'd be very cautious and certain the pressure is safe, and lab tested for the components being used. I know there are some recipes that I've seen folks' reference from back around the first powder shortage era, but they were said to be absolutely not forgiving. I never went there as I never ran out of a suitable powder for the application. If you are not positive, send them out and get them tested! There isn't an alternative w/shotshells, to insure they are within SAMMI maximum limits. Someone needs to test that exact load. I just Czech'd Hodgon's data online & they show NO applications for that powder in a 20 ga.! OTOH, 800X works fine and I've loaded a fair amount of it in 20 ga. target loads. My old standard is Unique when it can be found and now 20/28 that is also hard to come by, these days. 800X is my 3rd choice but plenty of good data is available and I've no issues using it. Just saying.

 

[wookness]

700X is one of my all-time fav. 12 ga target load powders and I've loaded and shot multiple 12# kegs of it when it was sold in that size. That and AA452 were my original 'go to' 12 ga. powders. I still load it and stocked up some when supplies of Promo started to get skinny.

I used AA473 in the 20 ga almost exclusively after it was introduced and as long as it was available and then switched back to Unique for target loads, since I was already using it in the 28 and it had been my original 20 ga powder of choice.

 

[wookness]

Good to know. CPU or LPU? Just curious. And 700X should be 700X, as it's a 'canister' powder, so technically, old or new should have a similar burning rate. I'll not question a printed & presumably tested recipe. I know there were some for it in a 20 ga. at one time. Just never used one myself. One thing I wouldn't do is increase it any further. I never had any 20 ga Lage Uniwads; still have a few original 12's and never have had any issues using them.

Also found it interesting that it didn't cycle the Breda for you, but have never owned one of them. Time/pressure curves can affect how some semi-auto guns run. I spent a lot of time and effort some years back getting a Std. weight [12 ga frame] 20 ga. 1100 to run reliably on ¾ oz loads and it took a LOT of tweaking and adjustment to get there, mechanically and load wise. Had a friend at the time who was going south, health wise, and couldn't handle a regular 7/8 oz 20 ga. load even in a std. weight 1100. Time, I got it figured out, he wasn't able to shoot at all, but I learned some things getting there.

Really dislike that some powders are discontinued. One of the very best, IMHO, was Dupont PB. Can be used to create safe low-pressure loads for Damascus bbl.'d and very old guns in sound shape. Alas, it's history, but I would lurve to find some more. I got in under the wire on the 800X thru no fault of my own, so happy enough about that. I use it on a single stage MEC w/a red plastic powder baffle and one of their newer 'floppy' manifolds and have zero issues w/its metering. Think the complaints w/that mostly came from those using it on progressive loaders, MEC or otherwise.

Have had to switch to other powders on more than one occasion in order to keep shooting. Component supplies and prices presently stink. Don't know if or when that will improve but pray that it does.

 

[wookness]

I'd timed out for dinner & a movie [The Poison Rose] w/the bride. Great cinematography, good plot, big cast and a financial bust at the box office, but I enjoyed it anyway. Screen play's script was a bit too far between the dots in places. Could have been a great movie w/better character development and background but was played comic book contrite. Bride's beef stew is always great, and tonight was no exception and there's a pot of chicken soup on another burner a making for tomorrow's consumption that will also turn out great, when she is ready to serve it. She wouldn't give up her control in the kitchen for me to experiment in the present hibernating conditions we're confronted with. I made the coffee for the day, my usual role.

Bride & Jack are already down for the count. I'll go and fix a libation of some sort shortly and give turning in early a thot but will most likely end up staying up and reading a while.

Your description of 700X's metering properties made me laugh out loud, TD. Never quite thot ofvit, in that particular way. I've never minded hanging with flakes... of the powder sort and never had issues w/literally many thousands of shotshells loaded w/700X on MEC 650's and Grabbers or 28's loaded w/Unique on a Pacific 366. And on 600 Jr's or VersaMEC's find it a no brainer getting consistent charges w/any flake powders, inclusive of 800X. Can't really argue about how well and easily [much better] ball powders meter either. And leakage w/some, like WW296/H110 is more about the individual setup than anything else, at least that's been my experience. Brass washer under the powder bottle between rubber washer and charge bar's top needs to be oriented correctly, rubber and brass washers reasonably fresh and charge bar manifold tweaked, if necessary, so the underside of the manifold's top is parallel to the charge bar's top. Early MEC manifolds just had bottle caps soldered to them for both powder and shot bottles and not all were in best adjustment. Newer manifolds have substantial fittings for the bottles to screw into and are in good adjustment and welded to the manifold. Huge improvement, that. And for the .410's I use that particular ball powder in, I get the best results using a single stage loader. Never much cared for loading .410's on a progressive; for me, it quickly becomes too tedious and easy for something to go wrong. Pineapple farming gives me plenty of time for one at a time reloading, these days. And I have always enjoyed reloading as a form of focused relaxation.

 

[wookness]

Been reading a while, had to stop from the small print; now sitting here nursing a midnight Polish potato wodka martini made w/Luksusowa and Martini & Rossi dry vermouth and thinking about DLong's mention of .22 Hornet brass being annealed and how not that long ago it was possible to load .22 Hornet ammunition w/cast bullets for less than what scalper price plinker-grade .22RF ammo was being sold for, until primers got scarce and stupid in price. It has nothing to do with the price of tea in China but much to say about casting your own bullets, if you happen to have the other stuff to support it... acquired at an earlier time.

I've never been able to shoot a 'bug hole' group at 100 yds. w/a .22 Hornet, in spite of having spent time w/Sisk making bullets pacific for the cartridge... but have managed to terminate a fair number of varmints w/it anyway. Only hornets I have left are a Model 54 Winchester and a Model 3 Ruger. Haven't shot anything w/either in a while. Shame on me!

How to say anything? Sometimes, I give it... a shot.

 

[wookness]

Ice up lock down continues here. Weasels say it will get worse today w/another 0.1 ~ 0.3 inch of additional ice. Was very gloomy at dawn; it's a brighter dark now, what with a bright white ice coating on everything. Another day of hunkering is in play. Just what it is. We should be fine.

Sorry to read of your back pain situation, Al. Hope that you can get some relief for it [an Rx??], quickly. And that any new guy you get proves to be a well-skilled wizard at his craft.

 

[wookness]

Fish on Friday or Taco Tuesday?
(I vote for tacos.)

Catch y'all later...

Might I suggest fish tacos? Twice a week.

 

[wookness]

One learns to never say never but so far, we're just fine. Recall those power line tree trimmers I mentioned the other day? Timing for all of that was near perfect as there were some limbs on down the line that would have been candidates for blowing fuses or perhaps causing a transformer issue. Basically, all of N TX is at a standstill, traffic wise. Quarter of a million folks w/o power, statewide, so they say. It isn't the power grid, that's been holding up just fine. Traffic accidents are off the charts. Over 140 separate accidents [41 w/rollovers] reported in Ft. Worth alone this morning. Was being said that some MedStar ambulances could not get up inclines in places, to reach accidents sites. It's been snowing some this afternoon here at the house, seeing a bit of now & again melt, off the roof adding to the growing length of icicles as it refreezes. Nothing overly exciting or new about this ice storm. They happen. People forget. Lots more people here now. And too, lots more elevated roads, overpasses and bridges. For many, it is their first lesson. Some sheeple would benefit from having an electric sign over the inside of their entrance doors that would flash 'STAY HOME!'. We're fast closing in on the time when Big Brother will just prevent their cars from starting... not that far on down the road, methinks. I'll throw some salt over my shoulder when I take the trash out and pray I'm wrong about that.

Happy hour has been moved up to 4 P! Won't B long, now.

 

[wookness]

HAPPY ANNAVERSARY, Mr. & Mrs. Long!
Great gesture on the part of the restaurant and says a lot about how much they value you as Patrons!
--
Most exciting thing 'round here was a fire truck went down the road after dark, lights on & flashing but no sirens wailing. No signs of a fire were visible. Hope it wasn't someone having a medical issue. Couldn't see nor tell where it may have stopped or if it even did. Might have been lost, in this 'hood. Otherwise, just freezing rain that's making more ice. It's for 'winter hardening' the plants and us old folks who wouldn't have made it this far, were we wusses, don'tcha know?

Bride's chicken soup was excellent! And she went and got fancy in its delivery by placing a knot of al dente Pappardelle in the bottom of the bowl, rather than using the usual egg noodles she is partial to. Proved a nice and unexpected touch. There's more for tomorrow. Yum!

I've read until the small print was causing a squint. Werked in a coupla power naps. About to fix a midnight martini, or two. Jack has been out several times but he's not much of a fandog for the ice. Can't blame him, I've not even bothered to take the trash out today. Tomorrow afternoon, when we get some thaw workin', I'll do that and move the wheeled bin to the street for Friday's early pickup. It will be light, this week unless I can get more outside stuff done tomorrow afternoon and load it further. Don't know if the weather will be all that conducive tuit but I can stand the exercise if it allows. No reason to leave the premisis before Friday and won't. Perhaps not even then, but I might, just to get by the bank. It can keep until next week and make no difference. Weasels are saying 68 for Sunday! I can stand somma dat! We'll have breakfast at the club and I can slog about and fire at clays in the sunshine. I'm such a pushover for warm air and sunshine, it's almost an embarrassment. These old joints don't have Zerks, but I oft wish they did.

 

[wookness]

Ice storm continues w/light freezing rain, fog & mist @ 5 A. Has warmed to just below freezing, 97% RH, wind N 5. Looks plenty crusty out but haven't tested that. It'll keep. Conditions may not improve much today and might even get worse! Friday will see temps in the upper 40's under sunny skies. Woot! That doesn't mean the ice will totally disappear, but it will start to liquify. Will be fun to see if it is absorbed where it is or creates more runoff. I'm thinking it will mostly get absorbed and perhaps add a bit to the water table, but I could be wrong.

Have made a pot of Mexcian style coffee this morning w/cinnamon present. It's good!

Got sidetracked, reading what Wikipedia© had to say about 'cotto salami' after it dawned on me that I honestly didn't know for sure what the term meant. Wow! Quite an education about salami is to be had there, tho they make no mention of the many fantastic salami's to be had in the South American countries where its origins were predominantly Italian, Swiss & German and you can find wonderful varieties unique to Estancia's as well as regions. I always make/made it a point to try and taste as many varieties as possible when traveling out of the country. It's a world over wonderful snack food. You can't bring it back w/you. That has to do with US Customs rules & regulations.

So much for the morning's tangent. I was looking to see what, if any, deli meats we had left in the fridge. Looked like we'd gone and ate all ofvit. Plenty of cheese tho. Hey(!), when yer holed-up as we are it's really easy to become food-centric. May see if the bride has any interest in fixin some red beans and rice for dinner. We'll finish what's left of the chicken soup at lunch.

Staying alive. It's important.

 

[wookness]

Shivering some this morning, were ya, Rhody?

 

[wookness]

It's warmed to freezing and we are now at that crystalline stage where a ¼" twig has a dia. over ½" w/clear ice coating. Were the sun to come out, the scenery would be magnificent from the refractions bedazzling everything. Good possibility we'll see some of that during tomorrow's melt.

We just had the last two bowls of the bride's chicken soup for brunch. Can sense a grilled cheese mid-afternoon followed by a rather late dinner of some sort.

Looking forward to tomorrow's promised sunshine and ice melt kick off regardless of what that imposter Phil, the whatever iteration(?) groundhog did or didn't see. And selling folks the ID of six more weeks of winter is just depressing, whether it turns out to happen or not. I'd rather think of April's showers and flowers... and the renewal of things, like a good crappie bite and I'd like to spend a day or two dunkin' brush piles for 'em w/minners this spring on a coupla nearby lakes, when the bite starts. Meantime, there is a GS taking place at Will Rogers in Ft. Worth 2/11 & 12 and I may just drive over on Saturday and do a walk thru just because. It's always been my fav. show. Sunday, the 12th, will be doin' the Super Bowl at a friend's place. This Sunday will be at the club, blastinating. The kinda groundhogs we have around here are called developers. Ain't got much use for either of 'em. One's a varmint, t'other's... carpetbaggers & scallywags, for the most part. 😇😁

 

[wookness]

'Heikki Lunta Fest in Negaunee'

I had to look it up as well.

Found a funny pic of a past poster that had an arrow and said 'Ko-Tis-Vay'

 

[wookness]

And in other news regarding groundhogs, there is this:

Fred la Marmotte, Canada's Punxsatawney Phil, Drops Dead On Groundhog Day (decider.com)

 

[wookness]

Bride fixed Creole Jambalaya w/a packet of mix from Oak Grove Smokehouse in Prairieville, LA that Don turned us onto several years back. I turned around and ordered a case ofvit, after we'd consumed what he'd gifted us! We've shared some, ate some and ordered more. Shipping exceeded the cost of the product, last coupla times but it's great stuff. They tol' me it was handled by Walmarts in many places. Here isn't one of them. We use Cajun andouille that can be bought locally and throw some shrimp at it on occasion. Tonight, she didn't. We have some; frozen, of course.

And that brings to mind that buying frozen shrimp is the best way, since they all get flash frozen anyway to get to the market here or to the docks where they are harvested w/o spoilage and that is inclusive of all we see in the markets here in attractive displays. One has no means of determining how many times those shrimps have been refrozen or how long since they were thawed the last time, for display. Frozen shrimp have been handled way less and are generally less expensive by the pound. Just saying, 'cause it's worth doing so.

Prices on King and snow crab legs will near make ya faint at the moment w/seasons being closed &c. Yikes! Best seafood gumbo always had grouper in it, when it was readily commercially available. It isn't, anymore.

Someone told me that groundhogs are good to eat. I don't know but suspect a lot would depend on what they'd been eating and how quickly they were field dressed and cooled. Can't say that I ever developed much of a hurry to find out but can appreciate that they were one of the primary drivers for the development of varmint cartridges, back in the day. 220 Swifts and 22-250's rock, around my clock! Just P-dogs & pot-guts mostly; sometimes an unlucky rock chuck being welcomed to the Red Mist Society. Have never encountered a groundhog.

It's dark and dangerous out... whot w/glare & black ice about. And I'm thinking of Rudyard Kipling and his 'just so' stories that too many of today's youngsters are being deprived of. That's a shame but the odors wafting from the kitchen distracted me earlier, from that line of thot. Dinner ate good and so is the bourbon tonight. Willet

get warmer soon? Yes, and I'm much lookin' forward tuit! I can tell ya that.

 

[wookness]

From last night:

Eddie Cochran should have done a 'Wintertime Blues'.

It's a wonder how youse guys make it thru the long cold up that way. Can understand how spending a day worrying a small hole in the ice, in a shack or tent might beat unsolitary confinement in a larger space.

We just go to our corners for a while and move past it, since there is never enough ice here to consider doing otherwise. And anyway, wimmin will remain the world's greatest enigma for me, who remains for the most part clueless to their... dare I say, nature? Still, I'm attracted to one, in particular. Funny how that werks, but it does and tho rest stops are few and far between these days, still traveling down the same road.
--
This morning found it 29° w/RH 100% and crusty when I awoke a bit after 5A. Got Jack his breakfast, I ate a portion of the remaining jambalaya for my breakfast starter and went back to bed. Awoke the 2nd time to SUNSHINE(!) @ 9:30. Presently, its 33°, RH down to 89%, wind N 8 under fair skies and the melt has started, even tho it feels 16. Coffee is really good this morning too. Almost as good as seeing the sunshine for the first time in a week. It's very sparkly outside w/prismatic activities, everywhere!

 

[wookness]

Predictably, this morning has proven to be the worst for accidents for the entire ice storm's duration; those who were out of the gate too soon or threw caution to the wind:

160 crashes in 8 hours: Drivers hit Dallas roads after black ice re-freeze (msn.com)

When will they never learn? It'll be a long time coming.

Gosh, it's pretty out this morning! Lots of birds in the back, feeding their feathered hearts out as they flit about in the morning's warming rays. It's still winter, yano. And then there were multiple varmints forecasting yesterday that six more weeks will have to be endured. It happens, but Sunday is going to be glorious w/warm air [mid 60's] and sunshine. Temp is quickly moving toward the day's high of 45 that looks like it's 60 already out there but isn't. There will continue to be some refreezing taking place during the nights. That's hard for some folks to grasp.