A few odds and ends.

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With all that has been going on and a repurposing of what efforts I have available, some writing has been sidelined, as have some things on my lists. While I am continuing to hold off medium term and long term plans, I have been doing a few things of personal interest. One of those is reloading bullets.

I must admit, I came into the reloading hobby by way of political and social concern as much as an interest in shooting. I also came into it quite blindly. I have almost no mechanical interface experience, as exhibited in the construction of the bench upon which I have installed the loading press. And, it is obvious. While I am working to make my loads accurate in all ways, I am finding that absolute accuracy is not always feasible. While I can get the powder to perfectly put out 3.9 grains every time over dozens of tests, I cannot get the overall length of the finished bullet to within a few hundredths regularly. The variances can be as high as 5, 7, or more hundredths of an inch. This is, I think, unacceptable. I also have not figured out the primer issue, usually needing to be gone during prime calling times or being too tired to function when I have had them available. The good thing is perhaps when I call, with some experience and problems, the techs will be able to handle both situations rather than having to call back if I had the length problem later.

While in Ogden, last time, I considered buying a manual, stand alone, primer. The cheapest among them was $24, and change. My friend suggested he would sell me his, he no longer uses it. How much? He suggested $10. Then I remembered, I still have a check from him for something, a $14 dollar check. I am terrible about cashing such instruments. He keeps his checkbook, so by giving him the check back, he can see an actual increase in his balance. So it was. I learned how to prime with it, after a bit more of a tussle with new notions. The case I was trying to prime would not take the primer. And, being somewhat twitchy with primers, I was cautious. Setting it all aside, to think somewhere in the back of my mind, I did other things for a day. Coming back to priming, I decided to review the whole operation and find what was wrong. Ah! The cases I had thought all used small primers... were actually mixed! Same brand, same caliber, different primers! No wonder the small would not fit the large primer hole in the case. A bit more work separating them, another go at it, and... primed cases, both large and small. Finally, I put out some bullets. But then I ran into the overall length issue. Bah! But this frustration I enjoy. I am hoping to call Dillon tomorrow, if I wake up early. Being a weekend I might not get through... assuming I wake up.

Oh, women have been on my mind lately as well. I see so many middle aged single women at the few places I go, I am realizing just how dire things are for them. They, generally, have no clue as to why men are abandoning them in droves. Dally, sure. Flirt, of course. Anything more? Not on our lives. Especially obvious career women. Until they become frustrated enough to realize what they are losing, why, and then begin being a part of the solution instead of tools of the problem, they will never win us back. If they go slutty, the lowest among us will feed on them like krill, leaving them as waste for the next lower level of consumers. If they go prude or cold, they will simply be ignored until they become slutty or die.

The chance, with a modern education, to see the problem, by them, is quite small. If one is trained to believe there are no forests, it is difficult to see one past the trees. They have been taught, and often believe intellectually, what is contrary to what they want. And they, like men, natively just want what they want but have nothing to offer in exchange for it. Love? Sex? No, men can get these things outside of marriage and easily. Children? Same thing, and worse. If a man has a child with a woman, she has say as to what involvement he has in their lives. And women are notoriously fickle.

Women will have to change, then force through that change by voting for politicians who are pro-family. Even this is slim, politicians being what they are. As I have always said, the only way a woman can beat me, conquer me, is to surrender whole and complete. Any other game will see her as either an object of desire or, as now, an unclean animal. Not fully her fault, except in her acceptance and advance of feminism through her lifestyle as a career woman, a thing most women simply advantage themselves through without fully understanding. If women want men, husbands, families, they will have to burden themselves with losing their "rights" and forcing political changes either by voting or abdicating their vote until it disappears. As for me, I will not hold my breath on that... when I can catch it that is.

Welp, on to other things.