I wanted to use the 3x prism on the 17HMR little badger but with the limited eye relief it wasn't really usable. You could strain and push your head forward but the LOP was just too long. For it to work I would have to get more of an AR length setup, and that would require cutting the stock down. Rather than damage the OEM stock, I ordered parts from the web site and made my own. They only had the lower piece in stock, but I figured since I'm making it custom anyway it wouldn't matter as long as the threaded bits were the same (and they are). A little design, a little bending and cutting and poof, we now have a shortened badger stock! 3x is usable, and the OAL is still 27" so I'm not breaking any rules.

I'm still amazed it worked as well as it did. I need to paint the stock bars to cover over the silver marker and actually glue that butt plate on, but it's a little cold still for painting.

Actually got out and played a Pathfinder 2e game at the local game store. It was brutal in that everyone was masked, so I couldn't really hear. Even with my hearing aids in, it was a struggle. I'll go again though, eventually we'll lose the masks and then I'll only suffer some.

Some of the meds Decker is on, this is supposed to do something with his joints to see if it can make the swelling go down and reduce pain so he can actually sit down and get back up.

The mother-in-law told us about these 'no bake' oatmeal cookies so I tried them. My first thought was that they were sorta gross... but when they fully cooled down and the oats softened a little they weren't bad. The next day, when fresh from the fridge they were amazing with coffee. That's how we ended up eating all of them. They suck for dessert, but they're awesome for 'breakfast' with coffee.

I checked on how the winch mount fits up under the truck and to get it in there at all it will require the removal of this plastic cover. It's already cracked at two of the attachment points with no obvious damage elsewhere where it might have hit something and I don't see how it can so I'm assuming it's just the age of the plastic.

With that cover gone, plenty of room. Without that cover, water will get splashed up onto the engine... maybe? Will the winch deflect that? Hmm....

The various meds Decker was given didn't work, and he was put down on Saturday. Quite tragic. I left the rifle class early to get home to meet the vet so the woman wasn't alone, and to help carry the... well... corpse out to the van the pet crematorium sent.

Just noticed those two screen grabs are almost exactly 1 hour apart.

The woman wanted a little garden box like thing for the goat burial spot, so I went to Home Depot and for only $37 got 3 damn pieces of lumber. $37!

I also went by and picked up Decker's ashes. The pet place was un-staffed at the moment, you text them that you're there and they unlock the door remotely and tell you where the ashes are. Guess not a lot of people stealing pet ashes.

Today we buried Decker in the new box right outside the paddock where he always used to stand and watch the house for signs the woman was coming out. Under his favorite tree. The other two actually seemed to be watching what we were doing, like they knew. Odd. The box is large enough to hold all 3 so... they know.

Sean talked me out of this the other day, but I found a buyer for Vareck's 92FS Centurion and Don's SKS which freed up some room in my head for another new thing. I had the brace, the angled grip, the sling and the dot but had to get the grip and the QD points since I didn't have any in the stash. Well not exactly true, I had a magpul grip but it has a little beaver tail on the back of it which is fine on an actual AR but on this shortened receiver that beaver tail stuck out way past the end and interfered with the QD point on the castle nut plate. Had to go get a new grip that didn't fit like that, and the only options were either junk or really nice. So, I got a BCM. Also picked up a trigger guard plate to replace the crap OEM one.

It came with a KAC brace, which I might put back on. It's a custom tube so I have to swap tubes back but while the KAC isn't as adjustable nor as wide, it's much more solid feeling. It's only a 9mm, how much recoil could it have even being a direct blow back?

Used Sean's 100ff coupon and went to Harbor Freight today and got that 12k winch I was looking at. It should be good enough for my purposes. Sean was available today to install so I hauled it over there and we cut the bumper and drilled the holes and got it physically mounted. I still need to wire it, but that I can do on my own. Don't have to drill or lift 100 pounds of stuff into place to mount that control box and run wire.

With the edges of the hole cleaned up and filed, and standing 10' away it looks pretty good. Just don't look too close...

Quail eggs ordered for the season. The place that had Quail Con doesn't have bobwhites so I went with a place in Georgia. We'll see how it works out. I don't like that most places ship with USPS and they hold the eggs in the post office instead of actually delivering. No idea where they would end up with our goofy postal loop problem, don't want my eggs circulating extra days in unknown conditions getting ruined. Ponied up for UPS from the place that offers it.

The woman wanted giant lemon sugar cookies, so I made giant lemon sugar cookies. That's actually the name on the recipe.

Quail eggs showed up today, they're in the incubator now. In 21-ish days we'll have some chicks. E I E I O.

Lots of people are spending $150+ to get a fancy AR pistol bag, some of which charge more to look 'non tactical'. I guess these guys think they'll just be carrying this crap around with them in town? Whatever. I wanted one to haul it from the house to the range, and tennis racket bags are a popular cheap option. I paid $25 off amazon for this one, and it fits the pistol just fine, and looks non-tactical.

Gun club work day today and we finally, after only 2 years (or 3?) finished fixing the roof. This was the other pillar someone had run into long ago and we got the materials to fix it but never did. I should have taken some in progress photos but with all of the 'help' waiting to jump in it was easier to just keep working. Considering what we had to work with it turned out pretty good. Lots of dry rot and such we had to cut out and work around but I think it's going to last as well as the rest of the roof at this point.

I took the white board off the wall in the laundry room where the previous owners had stuck it (and damaged the paint in the process of course) and now I have a little white board to keep my week organized. I'm marking off as I do my exercises and such, I'm literally giving myself 'gold stars' when I do things. They're just Xs and Os and such but still, it's the same principal. If only the other kids could see how well I'm doing.

Also at the work day we used Sean's winch to haul that huge tractor tire out of the creek. The massive rains earlier in the season washed it down there and this was a good excuse to do more 'work' that didn't involve shoveling gravel.