Updates: This 'n' That

Gasoline has been holding steady for the last couple of weeks at $4.10 to $4.12 per gallon, around Anchorage. The prognosticators are predicting $5 gas by Memorial Day. Yay.

In last evening's post, I wasn't lamenting the scarcity of .45ACP ammo as much as I was its increased price. Said caliber was $22/box of 50 a month ago, and is now $30 for the same box.

One of the guns-and-ammo clerks I spoke with suggested that perhaps Alaskan secession is in the wind, and we simply hadn't gotten the memo yet. That seems increasingly unlikely, given the inability of our State's legislators to agree on a budget. Yes, that "special" session is still underway.

It's sprinkling here today, which will help hold the ever-present dust down. The snow is 99.8% gone from around town, although some of the larger piles have remnants in shady spots.

At Christmas time, the girls gave me Crimson Trace grips for my 1911. I've been struggling to get the red dot to stay in place; I would set it, it looked good ... and the next time I used it, it was several inches off-center and a couple inches low. This happened repeatedly. Then I had a thought: after Saturday's trip to the range, with the sight picture still fresh in my mind, I adjusted the laser spot again, and waited to see how far it would drift. Then I did it again, but stopped shy of "point of aim" by the approximate distance that it was drifting. Voila! it now appears directly in line with the front blade at 24 feet (the distance across from living room from the bedroom door). Problem solved.

We have over 16 hours of daylight now. Despite this morning's overcast, it was light enough to navigate the living room without turning on a light at 5:10 a.m.

I've mentioned that my wife and I have been walking three times per week. I was embarrassed to realize, at the end of December, that my weight had ballooned (word chosen deliberately, there, as that's what I resembled) to 274.3.  This morning, the scale read 258.2. It's a start.