7/12/05

Well last week I took the XD to the range and fired a few rounds through it. I am very pleased with the gun. I was able to hit a 20 oz water bottle from about 40 yards without much problems. Went back to the range yesterday and shot about 100 rounds at some clay pigeons on the berm at 25 yards. I am taking the CCW source on the 24th and should not have any problems at all qualifying. I really like the XD-45 LE, but the .45 GAP ammo is kind of pricy. I will probably buy a smaller 9mm pistol to carry. I have not decided if I want another XD, a GLOCK, or somthing else all together.

The weekend back home was nice. Teran was a Daddy's girl this weekend. She had a slight fever and was a little cranky, but other than that we had a good time.

Saturday I changed the oil in the Miata, took the coolant from last week to the dump and bought dinner by 11:30. I headed over to a buddy of mine's (Clyde) house to deliver some Maurice's BBQ sauce to him. At his house we drank some good reposado and ate some peanut butter cookies that his wife made. Some combo, huh?

Saturday night I prepared dinner for some friends of mine (Chris and Michelle). They watch Teran for us quite often so we had them over for dinner. I made some filet mignon and asparagus. I have found an awesome method to prepare both the asparagus and the steak. I coat them with olive oil, kosher salt and fresh-a-pepper. The asparagus gets covered with foil and then they both go on the grill.

Sunday was spent relaxing and driving back to Columbia. I drove down Saluda Mountain, back up and then back down on my trip. That road (176) is a blast to drive and is not too far off of the beaten path. I left knoxville, got gas, stopped at a rest stop in NC to pick up a map for an RX-7 bud, drove Saluda Mountain, got gas again, and I was still in West Columbia before 8:00 (the whole way with the top down too). Thank god for that valentine one radar detector.

Next weekend I have an autocross. Hopefully the weather will be nice and I can bring out the RX-7 again. I haven't driven it since the 411 event back in June where I had FTD. Hopefully I can continue that streak.

Had a long and expensive weekend at home. The trip back Friday was a bit rough due to the holiday traffic so I had to detour through Maggie Valley and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. With the warmer weather, the Miata has had a rough time keeping cool.

Friday afternoon was interesting. Teran was thrilled to see me, but Roxy was more thrilled to show me her trophy. I'll let the pictures do all the talking.

Saturday morning I went to the gun show and picked up a Springfield Armory XD-45LE. I hope to head to the range with it sometime this week.










Sunday I decided to flush and refill the cooling system in the Miata and see if it would help it's cooling issues at all. I had a difficult time removing the stripped drain plug and an even harder time finding a replacement for it (which I didn't). I decided to go with about 25/75 coolant/distilled water ratio along with a bottle of Redline Water Wetter. The car seemed to run much cooler on the trip back down Monday night.

Monday, Katrinda and I decided to rundown to the Ford dealership to check out a diesel excursion they had. Unfortunately it sold before we got there. On the way home we decided to stop and get something to eat. Just by chance we passed by another dealership and I spotted another Excursion. We pulled in to check it out, and long story short, we traded in her Maxima on a 2000 2Wd diesel Excursion.

I took it down to the gas station and filled it up for her. The tank was about empty, so it was a very expensive fill up. Luckily this thing gets about 20 mpg, so this tank will last a while.