Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Hey THANKS!!

I want to thank everyone very much for all the fine comments on how we looked all spiffed up for our Church dinner.  I appreciate it very much. That kind of helps one keep the ole' dobber up.  I find that one of the things about old age is, it is real easy to slip into a depressive state. More and more I find myself doing that and I sure don’t like it. I have found a few ways to combat it but it gets to be a full time job fighting it.

I was never troubled with depression before in my life. However, the last few years it seems to be happening more and more. I really think one thing that adds to depression is an inactive mind. That is the main reason I try to keep as busy as possible. Things like this Blog, my guns, shooting, cleaning guns, collecting guns and loading bullets are a few of the successful ways I fight and combat it. Depression is a terrible thing and not something a lot of people will talk much about.  If you have never had to deal with it, consider yourself lucky. But don’t count your blessings too soon, because it may still be in the future. I never dreamed that “I” would have to deal with it.  It is terrible!!

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Yesterday was Ms. Pat's Ladies shooting class at the Wickenburg Gun Club and was it ever a beautiful day....76 degrees I don’t know how much longer this kind of weather can last but it sure is enjoyable and appreciated by us all.  Above is a picture of the instructors, Jerry and Caryl, starting off the training as usual with a SAFETY meeting. You can’t get too much SAFETY training when it comes to firearms. Jerry and Caryl are wonderful instructors and it is so kind of them to continually volunteer their time to this program.

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Jerry is a very experienced shooter and has been involved in shooting for over 50 years. He has been on hunting expeditions all over the world and has trophy heads of all kinds of different animals he has taken from different countries.  He came to Arizona from Montana and they have a little ranch with a couple of horses just west of Congress. It was Jerry that suggested that I get into reloading and he has been a great source of information and a lot of help setting up my reloading press. He even came over to my shop and checked to see if I had my Dillon RL550B reloading press set up properly and loaded my FIRST bullet.  I am extremely indebted to him…..

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I go out with Ms. Pat to her gun class every Tuesday afternoon.  I can go to one of the other bays and shoot if I want or need to but most of the time I just help set up and take down the targets for the gals. This helps Jerry and Caryl some and I enjoy it and the exercise is good for me.  Plus, if I stayed home, I would probably just get (you guessed it).....”depressed”. This is better, I enjoy it.

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This is my reloading press that I mentioned. I spend a lot of time behind it pulling on that handle. Each time I pull that handle down, I crank out a new bullet.  You can see the empty brass casings just to the right of the handle. Those will all soon be bullets to take to the range and shoot.

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These are the bullets that I use. They are lead. The one on the left is what I am using exclusively now. It is Moly coated lead and very slick.  One of the guys that shoots at the club is a distributor for Bear Creak Moly coated bullets and supplies many of us with hundreds of these. He brings them right to the Range and saves us a lot of postage… because they are HEAVY!! 

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That bullet on the left is one of my finished products. The one on the right is a factory load. We buy the factory loads and shoot them and then reload the brass casings ourselves over and over many times. This saves a bundle of bucks.. The factory bullet costs approximately 0.50 each and the reload costs about 0.18. Quite a savings as you can see. Since I have started reloading less than a year ago, I have reloaded nearly 10,000 bullets. Yes, 10 THOUSAND!! A lot of bullets I know…seems unreal doesn’t it? But it does add up..

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!!

I am happy to welcome two more followers:
Eddie
Rodney
Very glad to have you folks with us and hope to hear some comments from you. That brings the count up to 245!!

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For all you RVers out there enjoying life on “batteries”, here is a chart that I always used to watch my power consumption. I taped it right along side my battery monitor. Remember, in order to maintain your batteries and make them last as long as possible, you should not take them down below 50% before they are recharged.  Happy boondocking!!


Thanks to you all for stopping by as we continue to praise our Father in Heaven for the many, many blessings He bestows upon us.

Mike

PS:  Here's a picture that I took off of Facebook of Rollie and Gina with their new twin granddaughters.  It's a little "fuzzy" but it's all I have for now.  Aren't they beautiful little girls?  Congratulations, Rollie and Gina. 



This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

5 comments:

squawmama said...

Sorry to hear abut your depression BUT it does sound like you are trying to combat it... The twins are adorable ~ what a gift they are. We have twin grandsons and they keep us very busy when we are with them.

CANUSA said...

Mike, you know that over the years you have made many good friends that are just a phone call away.
You seem to be surrounded by twins lately...

Al Bossence said...

I know about that depression stuff alright. Like you, these last few years have been difficult at times. Seems to come more often now & has a bad habit of staying longer. Depression has a tendency to show up when the mind is idle. Fortunately, we fellers have some hobbies to ward off the blues from time to time. Your guns & shooting keep you busy & give you something to focus on. Travel & house projects are good for occupying the mind as well. But, the bid D is still always there, just lurking around the corner waiting for the mind to become idle again. And your right, depression is something a lot of folks don't like to talk about, despite having the same problem themselves. I've touched on it in a few of my posts from time to time but I can tell it's not something most RV'ers want to read about. Most folks seem to prefer reading happy happy bouncy bouncy..........Now, get out there in that workshop Mike & get some more of those artillery shells loaded up. Oh, & be thankful Pat isn't into machine guns or you would be working double overtime out there...........:)) We'll make an orange run in the next couple days...10-4.

Paul and Marti Dahl said...

10K bullets? You sure are trying to wear out the barrels on your firearms! Makes you wonder what is going to wear out first, the gun barrels or your arm from cranking down the reloader? ;c)

Nan said...

I identify with you. the big D is a pain and you are right, a person needs to stay busy.