Monday, October 13, 2008

Weekend recap: miracle of blogs, cheap gas, hedge hogs


On Saturday:
I had to go to Warrenton to drop off my crap woot refurb Dyson vacuum to be fixed. It’s outrageous they couldn’t provide me with a closer repair facility, but it was a beautiful drive with the foliage just starting to turn. I also had a bit of business to do in nearby Bealeton. My friend has been jonesing for a hedgehog for months now and I happened to spot an ad for the perfect little hedgehogs in Bealeton. Since he’s out of the country I picked it up for him and am watching her until he gets back. What my friend doesn’t know is that the favor I’m calling in will be that he goes back to Warrenton to get my vacuum once it is fixed. Anyway, the hog’s name is Rhianna and she is cute as a button and friendly too even though she can feel like a cactus at times. While I was in Bealeton, I picked up some 87 octane for $2.99/gallon. When I got home we went to the race track and stimulated the economy for a spell.

On Sunday:
There is a happy ending attributable to this blog. My long lost buddy, Ingrid started lurking on it after seeing a link from the Baby Blog and we made plans to hang out. Yesterday, Brian, Leo, Karen, Ingrid and I all crammed into my car to head up in the mountains to hone our marksmanship. They have a park which is a gun range with landfill like aspects; in that you can bring pretty much anything you can carry and use it as a target. However it was drastically cleaned up from the last time I was there. They must go in with a bulldozer and haul off the trash periodically and reshape the burms. I wanted to practice my handgun shooting and we also brought along Brian’s m-4 and 22 rifle. Ingrid shot the rifle the whole time and she is one hell of a shot, hangover or not. She had this index card sized piece of paper with a 1 inch black dot on it and the thing looked like swiss cheese after her shooting at 25 yards without a scope. I think she could do well at 50 or 100 yards. She could be our designated sniper if people resort to raiding each other’s property.

On our way down the mountain I turned off my car and put in neutral to save gas. For blog action day on Wednesday I will write an article on my gas saving techniques. I have never experienced the kind of ridiculous economy I got going down that mountain. I wish I had measured it, but we must coasted for 10 minutes until I got to a stop sign. Next time we go up there I’ll be sure to check the mileage.

We went through about $50 of ammunition. Brian says when he bought it at Wal-Mart he noticed it was getting more expensive. If you are the type who fell for Y2K, ect.. you should probably start stocking up on ammo, water, and non perishable food. The cost of ammo should be something you consider when picking out a gun. My new gun costs $.20/round whereas the 22 only costs $.01/round. Brian’s M-4 I think costs about $.50/round and his friend shoots sniper rifles that costs $3/round so he started recycling the bullet casings and refilling them.

7 comments:

Lona said...

Well, I'm not the type who fell for Y2K. I'm also not stocking up on ammunition. A box of 28 ga will last me a lifetime. Particularly since I don't have anything to shoot it in.

Is it a REAL hedgehog ? Did it come from the UK? I didn't think they are native to US.

Lona said...

Whoops, login problem. That was Gordon above and Gordon here.

Gordon said...

Going downhill on mountains, it is sometimes false economy to put it in neutral or turn off the engine.

The reason, is that, depending on the degree of slope, you might need to use the brakes to control speed. It is pretty common for the brakes to overheat on a mountain. The cost of new brakes almost always exceeds the cost of gasoline saved.

It is a matter of judgment depending on the circumstances.

Lynnis said...

It is a real hedgehog, but not the UK variety, it is the African pygmy variety. I keep asking the mechanic to check my brakes and they keep coming back fine. 70k miles and I haven't done any maintenance on them yet. The mountain had a lot of small uphills combined with the greater downhill so I didn't have to brake much.

Gordon said...

I am really dismayed to see you stimulating the economy at the racetrack. Too, too much like Ed.

Brian said...

we stimulated the economy at the race track to the tune of $12, which is less than the $16 per person that bowling would have cost.

and my ammunition costs .23 per round.

Lona said...

What kind of gun do you think I should get?