Pocket knife

I've mentioned many times that I nearly always have a knife with me. Often it's two knives - a standard folder and a multitool.

Up until I lost it, I had a SOG Twitch II and felt it to be just about perfect. Slim, assisted-opening, took and kept an edge, and felt good in the hand. After I lost it, I tried a CRKT Point Guard for a while, but that was chunkier than I cared for. I dug into my drawer o' knives and pulled out a CRKT Bandera.

The Bandera is a decent knife. Slender, nice blade profile, kept an edge... but. BIG negative: the back edge of the blade has a very sharp corner that sits forward if you use the pocket clip of the knife. I scraped my hand many many times reaching into the pocket for other stuff, and more than once actually cut myself enough to bleed.

I finally got tired of it.

I went to the local Dick's for a few other things and gritted my teeth to buy another Twitch II... but they were out of stock. Since I had an expiring coupon, I looked over the other options, and ended up getting a Kershaw/Ken Onion "Chive".

So far, I like it, with the minor complaint that it's a tad small for my hands. The blade is a great size, but the scales are shorter than I'd like. My opinion may change somewhat when I try to sharpen it - recurve blades are a pain in the ass to sharpen on anything but Croc sticks, and I'm a diamond-whetstone kinda guy.

Shoulder:Wheel

Well, vacation ended this morning (last night). Tossed the usual assortment of stuff in my bag and trundled back in to the office.

Truth be told, five weeks was a great break, but by the end of it I was beginning to get a little twitchy. I spent the first week or two turning my body back around to a daytime schedule, then we travelled for nearly two weeks, and I had intended to spend the last week or so finishing up projects around the house.

Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate. I don't handle hot weather well, and 90+ with accompanying humidity just kills me. I got a little bit done, but there's plenty remaining, and a fair bit is now time-sensitive as winter approaches. As if to reinforce the point, the sugar maple in our yard dropped its first few leaves this past week; a nice crimson counterpoint to the green grass they laid in.

Much as I enjoyed the respite from Other People's Problems, coming in to work tonight was also something of a relief. I enjoy what I do, and more than a month disconnected was a bit more than I was ready for. Next time ... four weeks, max. But it's over now...

Last fall, my parents gave us a gift certificate for a very nice local restaurant for our anniversary, and we decided to use it Friday night to celebrate the end of vacation, the end of summer, and just because. I called early in the afternoon and asked for a reservation at 8:00 or 8:30, and was told both were available. I opted for 8:00 and asked for a specific section; one that is graced with full-height windows overlooking a park and the lake.

We arrived a few minutes early and were directed to the bar; I ordered a Manhattan and MrsZ ordered a glass of red wine (Bresca?), which we took to the porch and rapidly gathering twilight. Our table was ready in short order, and eventually we got around to ordering our meal. This restaurant is the epitome of elegance in that regard: you are NEVER rushed. We browsed the menu, listened to the specials, nibbled on the sweet bread and butter, sipped our drinks, and when we closed our menus and looked up, the waitress appeared within moments to take our order.

A meal here is something of a prix fixe arrangement; each entree has a (different) price but all will include bread, appetizer, salad, entree, and dessert. I opted for the seafood bisque, garden salad, prime rib, and a blueberry crisp; MrsZ had a fondue, caesar salad, Frenched pork chop, and blackberry trifle.

We ate at our own pace, enjoyed our conversation, watched the dark outside (too dark to see the lake, sadly), and enjoyed coffee with our dessert. Two and a half hours after we got there, we strolled back out to the car, full, relaxed, and with a box of leftovers for an upcoming meal.

Now, I won't lie and tell you this meal was cheap. It wasn't, by any stretch of the imagination. The tab would have bought most of our groceries for a week, perhaps two.

However, what they offer is value. For the same amount of money, we could have gone to any chain restaurant two or three times, and had generic food with generic drinks. We could have sat in uncomfortable booths, stared at the TVs over the other's head, and tried to talk over the conversations and too-loud music around us.

For the money, I'd rather go out to one really nice meal every three months than a chain restaurant every month. It makes going out to eat a treat, instead of expensive calories because we didn't feel like cooking.

But now, it's shoulder to the wheel, to infinity and beyond!

Deal Alert

While in Seattle, MrsZ and I wandered through Federal Army-Navy, a rather large MilSurp store with the usual assortment of stuff. I noticed they had SureFire lights on sale. I managed to pass them up, but have since found out they are also offering the same prices on their web site.

Looks like it's "until they're gone" pricing; they had a G2L up for $51 that has since disappeared, but there are some good deals to be had yet.

Side note: I'd have jumped on either the G3L or one of the E2 models if I hadn't just dropped a fair bit on a new-to-me piece ... pics pending next week.

Blogroll Update

A sad farewell to Cowtown Cop, whose blog had been un-updated for several months and has since been removed from the webs. He wrote a good tale.

Welcome to the 'roll:
New Jovian Thunderbolt
Old NFO

Two is one...

Well, you know how that little tidbit ends.

Had a "first" in guns for me the other morning, and just now figured out what happened.

I got up at oh-dark-early Saturday morning to try filling a nuisance tag with a friend. (Nuisance tags are officially "deer depredation permits" and allow the taking of adult anterless deer outside the regular hunting season.) I hadn't gotten all my hunting kit together the night before, having been out celebrating a night off with a friend who has a six-month-old.

My hunting kit, like many hunters, ends up sort of scattered and jumbled as the various game seasons progress. By the end of winter, there is usually a large pile of RealTree/MossyOak/jungle camo "stuff" stashed into my closet.

The alarm buzzed, I slammed it off, grumbled and rolled my way to vertical. I fumbled on my undershorts and camo pants, grabbed a t-shirt from the pile, unburied my camo jacket, and stumbled my way downstairs to the safe. I pulled out my .270, a magazine for it, and a sling. After getting the sling attached, I stuffed the rifle in a zippered case and dug out four rounds for the magazine, then slipped that in a pocket.

Next, sidearm. I reached for the 21-4 out of habit, and started digging through the pile of leather on the top shelf for its holster ... Found one for the 9mm ... one for the 242 ... retention holster for the 1911 ... yaqui slide for the 1911 ... but no holster for the N-frames. Chances are its still sitting in the pile of hunting stuff, cast off at the end of regular season as muzzleloading season started.

I muttered and decided to take the 1911. Slipped on the retention holster, grabbed a magazine of ball ammo, and slid it into the pistol... Or tried to, anyway. About halfway up it hit some firm resistance. I nudged the mag catch and it went in the rest of the way, albeit a little stiff. Worked the slide and popped the catch to drop the magazine - except it wouldn't drop.

After pulling the magazine out with my fingers, I grabbed the next full magazine of ball off the shelf and slapped that in. Same issue - first half is fine, and as soon as it hits the mag catch, it got real sticky. I decided to take a chance and go with it as-is; it's a backup gun when I'm hunting and the slide felt fine. I didn't have to use it, although I did reach for it when I saw a doe standing in the brush 15 yards distant - she ran before I had it out.

This afternoon, I finally got around to checking the pistol. I presumed some gunk or corrosion had found their way into the mag well and was slowing things down. I field-stripped the piece, and looked down the well from both sides. A bit of powder residue, but it looked clean overall.

I grabbed the mag I'd been using and tried it... sticky insertion and wouldn't drop free. Grabbed the second one, and had the same result. A third magazine, however, inserted cleanly and dropped free easily. Hmmm...

I emptied the cartridges from the first two magazines and looked closely... sure enough, the feed lips had been bent out just enough to widen the magazine at the top. In fact, the follower was just barely being retained by the lips. Looking at the third magazine - the follower was clearly in further.

Now, these were cheap magazines, I won't deny that. My sort-of-local Surplus shop had a bin full of contract overrun GI magazines, new-in-the-wrapper, at 3/$25. They are 7-rounders, and stamped "COLT 45 AUTO" on the (welded-in-place) floorplate. They've functioned 100% until now. In truth, of all the magazines I checked tonight, only these two had issues - and they are NOT the only milsurps I have. All purchased at the same time. All have been kept fully loaded. It IS possible these two have seen more rounds cycled than some; most of the others are loaded with JHPs and don't get unloaded at the range.

In any case ... the failure point was certainly not what I was expecting, and a few new 1911 mags are now on my shopping list ... and yes, I'll probably be coughing up for 8-round stainless from a known maker. When I have a moment I'll run the calipers across them to see how far out of spec they are.