Lifestyle Blogs (2,470)

At first, I was daunted at the thought of living on my own. For the previous sixty years of my life I had no need of the rocket science necessary to operate a washing machine, nor the skilful dexterity necessary to neatly fold a fitted bed sheet. When it came to it, I was relieved to find that what I required of myself wasn’t nearly as challenging as I had feared.

The trick is to not be a perfectionist. I learnt that lesson early on and have stuck to the principle rigorously. Another thing I’ve realised is that lots of chores I always assumed to be essential aren’t always even necessary, and can be dispensed with completely. Ironing is one such mystic art that I do not concern myself with; I find that wrinkled clothes not only match my complexion, they also suit my personality.

Regular cleaning is another concept I have debunked. Working out the frequency at which it should be performed confused me to begin with, but I have refined a strategy whereby I can tell when it needs doing by the prominence of the patterns my daily activities have left in the dust on my furniture. My rule is to do something about it within one month of it starting to bother me. My wall calendar enables me to keep track of how long I have exceeded my deadline by.

Cooking seems to be my biggest problem area. Co-ordinating varying cooking times so that everything crosses the finishing line simultaneously can only be coped with when the variants are no more than two in number. Having no one else here to vent my temper on means I need to avoid losing it, so I try to keep things as simple as possible. This makes maintaining an interesting diet difficult, but thanks to patient advice from a much appreciated source, I feel I am making steady progress. Seldom in my life have I felt more proud than when I achieved my first edible risotto.

All in all I don’t think I’m doing too badly. My daughter was amazed; she expected me to be living in squalor and popping out to McDonald’s every night. I think she’s impressed.

Texas -2017
The old man in Texas I talked to on the phone told me it was his grandfather's. Allegedly his grandfather, a town constable back then, had picked it up at the scene of a shooting back around the turn of the century. Back in those days that meant the grandfather now owned it.

There was some haggling over the price. A true negative was the seller had no idea what the caliber was and that all inscriptions that may answer that had worn off long, long ago. His father had told him he and the grandfather had fired off the last of the ammunition they had for the pistol back when the father was a boy. Then it was wrapped in a rag and pretty much forgotten about for the next 40 years.

We finally agreed upon a $200 price for what was essentially a paperweight or just a curio without ammunition and a little paperwork and a mailed money order later UPS delivered a package to my front door.

Oh, it was rough. The rag they wrapped it in had acted like a wick and held moisture against the iron frame.. Oil and fine steel wool. Almost every vestige or writing had literally pitted away. Still there was no denying what it was. A Colt 'Peace Maker' Model 1873 Single Action Army (SAA) revolver, 1st Generation. Hot damn.



What more could be learned about this 'paper weight'? Only vestiges of a serial number remained, but the number appears in 4 places and filling in the missing numbers of one location was thus easily done. A letter to Colt Firearms soliciting information regarding that serial number was soon sent. Later it was learned Colt had shipped the weapon off to a sporting goods store in Colorado in 1881. At that time the caliber was .44-40 and the barrel was 7 1/2" long.

I confirmed the barrel's ID was still 0.42". However, someone had installed a shorter 4 3/4" barrel. This was not uncommon in the bad old days of the Wild Wild West. I tried a .44-40 round, it didn't fit. Too wide. Someone had swapped out the cylinder for a different caliber. I tried a .44 Special (invented in 1904) but that was about 0.2" too long. Research determined the only cartridge in America in the 1880s that would fit was .44 S&W Russian a black powder cartridge. AKA 11.18X24R mm. A very popular cartridge in both the US and Europe and even Asia. From 1889 through 1905 Colt offered barrels, cylinders and complete firearms in this caliber. In 1905 such items were marked as .44 Special/.44 Russian and both cartridges would fit in the post 1905 cylinders. So mine is an early cylinder type.

Like automobiles and PCs, every few years gun makers and ammunition makers introduce a new model and cartridge, then discontinue support for older models. My problem was both S&W and Winchester, America's two top ammo makers, had not made .44 S&W ammunition since the 1960s.

So I visited a public firing range and from the floor there I collected a few dozen used .44 Special and .44 magnum cases. Bringing them home I shortened them and with some black powder and my bullet mould I made new .44 S&W Russian ammunition.



I am pleased to report the old pistol functions like new. The mechanism timing is perfect and with the new ammunition supply the gun speaks with a flash and a roar as it should.

.......................... So many times yes!!

The video speaks for itself with a educator that 'seems' to snapped.

Put yourself in a position of authority for a moment and take into consideration that this is one of Cape Town's top school for girls..
What would you have done?



In my opinion this is not about race, but more of who is responsible to teach discipline - Parents or Educators?
JMO.

..................... dont be their entertainment.

radio stories so interesting, I'm missing out on sleep. So, this debate over endless growth (Economic, population), in the face of limited space and resources. As usual, it's much more nuanced than either side admits. Thesis, antithesis, synthesis.....the ancient Greeks knew.

Inspired by Red's blog, I'm a few blocks from a music store. When they changed ownership lots of things ended up in their dumpster. Musical instrument cases of all sizes. Some were new in their original cartons or sealed in plastic. Boxes of 'off brand' guitar strings fed me and a friend for a long time. I found a microphone in a box of a different brand. I'm guessing someone traded it in and they tossed it out. I opened it and the only thing wrong was a loose wire that I reconnected and it worked great after that!

I've said this before... "One man's trash is another man's treasure"

In my neighborhood, appliances put to the front for garbage day rarely stay around more than an hour. I am irked that I put a cabinet with glass doors out expecting it to be recycled, only to find someone broke the glass making it useless. Bastards...

The bad part of dumpster diving is the opposite. We keep a 30 cubic yard dumpster in the back warehouse lot at work and often by Monday it's partly full with furniture and appliances people have tossed out over the weekend. I'd like to put a sign 'NO dumping' and setup a camera to record video and license plates to turn over to the police. I'm told we're paying $2,000 a month to have the dumpsters emptied every week. Maybe those who visit us in the night would like to contribute to that expense.

I am subscribed to a website called “indeed”, it’s a jobs website; I’m always on the lookout for employment closer to where I live. I get daily emails from them listing jobs that fit my criteria. In among today's vacancies was this specification:

“You must have first hand experience with 4 point webbing and be able to push and pull heavy wheelchairs and lift heavy meal boxes.”

I don’t remember listing any of this among my skill sets.

One of the drivers didn’t show up for work the other morning, it turned out his wife had died the day before; they say he found her when he got home from work. He was always having to take days of work to take her to the hospital or look after her on her bad days; I don’t know what was wrong with her. Whenever he talked about it I sensed it was wearing him down.

Last year he bought a new car with some of the money his wife had inherited, presumably from a parent. All the time I’ve known him he has driven an old beat up little car that was economical on fuel. He was economical with everything; the weekly shopping, holidays, everything. He just tried to live within his means, then, when they came into a bit of money, I think they just allowed themselves one or two overdue treats. Even then he didn’t go overboard; the car he bought was just a newer version of his small, cheap-to-run, old one.

Even though his wife wasn’t in good health, no one was expecting her to just drop dead. Still, their modest windfall must have made life a bit more cheerful for them before she went. He called in work today to see the manager, he doesn’t look very cheerful now.

................... live your life for yourself