Love/Hate of the seasons

Ugh. I tell ya what, I love the changing of the seasons and how landscapes totally change. I see that and I'm sure the Big Bang is total hooey. But where the hate part comes in is with these wild fluctuations in the weather, specifically humidity levels or temperature. When the weather changes, it's awful hard on the old man.

I'm feeling like crap this morning because my sinuses are a mess, and that's because overnights have been cold and dry. The high today should be around 85. It's been really dry (relatively) in the south lately, so the humidity is going shoot back up, and I'll be able to feel that in my knees. It ain't all that fun.

It's one of those situations that just is, I guess. There's only two seasons in California: warm and beautiful and the few days of rain and jacket weather. Here in KY we have a hot, humid summer followed by a short fall and a humid, cold winter with ice and snow. Spring is my favorite time, but it's short, too. The season changes tend to be abrupt, and it just beats me up.

I'll put up with it because I'm not giving up my guns.

Weather, and a lot of it!

I've been pretty lucky this year so far. While I knew we'd be getting rain this weekend, I didn't really expect to get two + solid days of rain. The time between showers has been short, and even when we've gotten short periods where it wasn't coming down, it seemed that it didn't take long to get dumped on all over again.

Here where I live outside Fort Campbell, we've gotten lots of rain and a handful of tornado warnings, but the tornadoes stayed away. That's the power of prayer, I'm sure. However, down in TN near Nashville, there were a few that came in fast and did considerable damage. There are, IIRC, at least six dead from this storm, although coverage hasn't been good enough to tell whether it was due to flooding or tornadic activity. What I do know is that those folks have been hit HARD by water. Roadways washed away, rivers and streams overflowing their banks and having fish swimming in the roadways. It normally takes a third world country to see devastation on this level.

I've been praying a lot. I have two friends that have roof damage from the previous storms that are dealing with a ton of rain now. So far it hasn't been me. Thank you, God.

I took the trash out a little while ago, went to start up the steps, and found out that the steps are really wet and slick. Ended up bouncing foot and knee off step and plowing up quite a bit of mud while I was at it. Abrasions from the edge of the steps is not pleasant to the ankles. I don't recommend it.

Magick

There is something magical about waking up and rolling out of bed at the butt crack of 10:15. That was pretty much just what I needed and now I feel energized to loaf on the couch all day long, and well into the night.

Since my street didn't get plowed, I'm planning to stay home all weekend. I have a few things to do, like put away clean clothes, clean up the Fortress, wash a small pile of dishes, make pancakes for brunch...or straight up lunch, now that I check the time(actually, I'm gonna move that to the #1 position as soon as I'm done with this), and I plan to initial and number the rest of my magazines that haven't already been. Being prepared for is a good thing, I think. I'll be bored if the power goes out, but I'm still prepared for that.

One last note about snow: we got a pretty good blanketing last night; the ground was fully covered. I went to bed a little later last night than I intended to, and before I did I took a look outside. Normally, there isn't a whole lot of ambient light in this neighborhood. I have a dim street light across the street, and there are a few more around, but for the most part we don't have a lot of light here. With the snow, it looked like the sun was coming up. The white stuff is more reflective than I think most people that don't live in it would realize. Now we've got four or five inches of reflection going on. lol! I'm gonna head out to the mailbox and grab the next Battlestar Gallactica disc, and be as snug as a bug in...man, that's a dumb phrase.

This just in: 25 degrees and slight wind= cold!

I wonder sometimes if my love of shooting is foolish. I had a hundred rounds of 9mm, so I went out to meet the boys at the range. Matt and Casey had been there for a while already when I got there, and Bo was smart enough to show up a little later, when the temperature was peaking...such as it was. We found individually, and agreed collectively, that 25 degrees can justifiably be called "cold".

I took along the previously posted about Safariland 6004-DFA, which is going to be dual purpose for me. It's going to be my "its too cold to use a hip holster" rig, and also my "training rig", which means that it'll be the rig I use for Pat Rogers' Carbine Operator's Course in April. That's gonna be a great class, since I know a bunch of the people that'll be attending, but that's kind of a subject for another time.

What I found about the DFA: That's a cool rig. When I got it, Mike (our Safariland rep) told me that once it was in place on the belt, it's impossible to move, and that I should mark the belt when the loop goes. I haven't done the marking yet, but he wasn't kidding about it staying put. And, with the MLS modular adapter parts, it's going to be a really nice rig to swap guns around on.

Since this was the first time I used it at the range, I left it where I had assembled it, which is in the middle of the adjustment range. That, for my height-some would call it "excessive"-proved to be a good adjustment. It's still high on my hip, but easy to draw from.

That is, except for one small issue: the G17/light holster I have is the only one I own with the snatch guard, and I keep running into that thing. I'm fairly sure what's going to end up happening is that I'm going to take it off; it's just Allen-screwed on there. Since grab attempts are going to be exceptionally rare when using that rig, I'm not gonna sweat it, and I'll just run it nekkid like my MnP ALS holster.

Bottom line, here's what we learned today: the DFA is a really smart addition to the Safariland line, and it's highly recommended if you have need of a drop leg style holster. And, by unanimous decision, shooting in the cold isn't as much fun as it could be. Lastly, it was also unanimous that 25 degrees with wind, even just a little wind, is COLD.

rainy rain

Man, have we gotten some rain over the past couple of days! The weather here in the KY has been energetic, to say the least. Its been generally hot and humid for the past couple weeks, but in the past two days, we've really gotten some good quality storms. I mean rain with enough wind to go with it to blow the rain in sideways. I wish I'd gotten photos of it.
Now, I'm a semi-believer in O'Brien's Law (O'Brien's Law is, "Murphy is an optimist"), which would generally state that if there is to be rain, then your weekend will be ruined by it. According to the Weather Channel, though, this weekend will be clear, with rain coming again on about Tuesday of next week. I have to admit to being stunned that my weekend didn't get hosed.
So what am I going to do? I don't really know; I don't have any plans for the weekend at all! Figures, doesn't it? I'll probably go visit some friends in Nashville. All I know is, I have to do something to get out and about. Well see what happens after the weekend, but I have to attempt to do something so I have a subject to post after this one. Obviously, a lot is riding on this clear weekend!