Been Busy

I (we) have been busy enough the last few days, that I didn't even think about a post here.  We have been hitting it pretty hard on getting items together for the show K has scheduled for the 8th of February.  She has been making new items of jewelry and all the other little details that go into a show and I have been pounding on leather.  Most of the leather is little items, it's something I can turn out rather quickly.  They specifically requested leather so I am compelled to produce.  

We also had the Grandkids over for the weekend.  It was the first time we had seen them since Christmas I believe.  That kept us very busy most of the weekend.  They brought some laser tag guns and we played that quite a bit.  They killed Poppy almost every time.  It didn't help that they ganged up on me.  I even resorted to things that they said were not according to the rules.  I still did terrible.  They had me breathing hard at times.  

Sunday morning we all loaded up in K's car and nada.  Dead battery.  So we didn't make church in the morning.  So I headed over to Costco and got a new battery and got that installed.  I was surprised that the battery was much cheaper at Costco than the last one I got.  By about half.  78$.  I had let the dealer install the last one when K was having the oil changed and they told me it was getting weak.  Lesson learned.  Now all I have to do is reset the electronic radio/clock in her car.  You have to punch in codes and a serial number from a card they give you when you bought it.  So we had to scramble to find this stupid card I had never seen before.  Not sure why they do this other than to get you to bring it to the dealer so they can sock you for more $$.  Jack wagons.  

Today will be more leather, mostly staining/dying and getting things finished up.  Most all the pounding is done unless I think of something else that I could get done in that short window.  But I don't want to make a bunch of stuff that doesn't sell since we have no real outlet anymore for our goods.  Catch 22.

Happy Trails

Wow

I only have this and it leaves me speechless

Battle of the Bulge Relic with photos

Leather Pics

OK here they are a couple days late.  Too many distractions I guess.  I will start on a few leather cuff/bracelets to bolster the stock for the 'ribs' show on February.

These are supposed to fit larger frame semi-autos, from 3.5" to 4.5" barrels.  Although they do fit my full size 1911 5" barrel.  Not sure how they fit the big fat glocks or those big ugly Springfield SD's, they might fit a little tight.

Click for a close up

With most of my holsters I will mold them slightly to the gun it is intended for, but I have to have the gun to do so.  Since these are going to a show where we have no idea what gun it will be purchased for I don't do any molding, but they still fit very well.

I really like this color fade on this one, started to do it similar to the other and stopped when I saw how it was turning out.

Basket Weave Pattern with a slight fade on color

Happy Trails

So Now We Wait

I mentioned in the last post that I wanted an explanation of a bill I received for my surgery.  After several phone calls and a long drive over to the doctor's home office to get their take on my concerns, I have to wait for the two entities to make sure there wasn't an error.  It appears to be possible, but there will probably be some explanation for it, and I most likely won't understand it.  But I had to give it a try before I hand them an additional 472$.  The doctor's office has given me some hope and will try to make sure the facility got the right codes input for the type surgery I had.  Should hear something in a couple days. I just need to get this resolved before 30 days, I don't trust them to not turn it over to bill collectors.

The holsters still sit.  I should be able to complete them today.  However, some sort of strange marks appeared on one of them, it really takes away from it.  Not sure it can even be sold now.  I will try one more thing and see if that covers the marks.  If that doesn't work I will have to discount it steeply.  Yup, most likely a loss unless I keep it for myself and I don't really need it.  But that does happen with leather sometimes.  It can look like a perfect cut of leather and then when you apply stain or dye some strange flaws can appear out of nowhere.  Whether it be light scratches or huge spots where it look like something spilled on it and the staind wouldn't take.  

Happy Trails

Errands

Today, Monday, I have a few errands to take care of in town.  Foremost on the list is to get an explanation of some billing I have received from the facility where my surgery was performed.  When I checked in the day of the surgery I was told what my share was and I paid it right then.  I now have received a bill from them that is a surprise.  I assume they are probably correct, that my insurance didn't pay as much as they had determined.  However, they knew what the charge was before they started and what percentage I had to pay of that.  So this bill comes as a bit of a surprise, but not totally.  I am not protesting the bill, I just need a full explanation, and see if someone may have messed up.  With all the bills that are still out, and we are expecting some very significant bills, I want to be sure I don't pay for someone's mistake.

While in town we have to make a stop at Verizon.  For some reason the wife's phone won't make or receive calls.  I have tried any number of fixes that I found on the interwebs, but none have worked.  Hopefully they can fix it, we certainly can't afford a new phone at this point.  I suspect that is what they will try to get us to do, buy a new phone.  Otherwise we will have to head to the Apple Store and see if they have a fix.  I hear nightmares about the Apple store and people waiting over 2 hours to get service.  I'm pretty patient, but not that patient.

We will then head to Home Depot, need some new bulbs for my fluorescent lights in the garage, and maybe to the grocer while we are in town.  I say in town, but it seems that the town has grown out to us.  We aren't so rural anymore, in fact not at all.  We are considering going over to the next town to do all our grocery shopping and errands. It's a little farther and doesn't have some things but if I can avoid that mess to our South I think it would be worth it.

My Uncle dropped off a Doe he shot for me.  We got that to the processor yesterday.  Trying a new place a little closer to home.  3-4 weeks processing time.  Considerably longer than the other place, they aren't as big an operation.  

Still need to finish up those holsters I have been working on.  It's just a matter of putting the final coat of finish on and then assembling.  We just got to busy for me to get it done over the weekend like I had planned.  Pics tomorrow, maybe.

Happy Trails

Still Slacking

I know, I've been slacking regarding posts here.  But when I don't really have anything to say it's probably best to keep my mouth shut.  Oh, I could comment plenty on our congresscritters and what they are up to.  But it would serve no purpose other than to get me riled up and I try to avoid getting that way these days.  It's better for my blood pressure.  While I am mentioning health, I was recently told I am still cancer free.  It's been 3 years since my prostate cancer surgery.  They say the longer you go your chances of it not returning are better.  Well duh.  It seems to have become something I pay little attention to these days and I get to where I don't even think about the possibility it may return.  But for my mind, that is a good thing.  It could drive someone crazy to worry about something like that, it would be use to get worked up over it and wreck your health with the stress that would be self induced.  Yes, I am more than thankful for this news and I don't take it lightly when I sit and think about it, but that is rare.  I give my thanks and move on.  Oh and if you have any questions about what to expect with prostate cancer surgery, I will be glad to share my experience with you.  Just let me know and we can email each other and keep it private.

The weather has put a damper on most any activity, which is pretty typical for me when it is cold.  However I did start work on a couple leather holsters for semi-auto pistols.  They are pretty generic and are not molded as I would if they were a custom order.  I'll post pics when they are finished which should be this weekend.  The wife has a show with a the local rodeo folks that will kick off the rodeo that starts here early next month.  They specifically asked her to bring some leather along with her jewelry.  So these holsters will go to bulk up her stock and hopefully she will sell a few items.  She has worked for this bunch before and it has been good, we are hoping it will be good again but you never know.  

Her 'work' at the resort is evidently over.  We never heard back from them and they did not contact her at all around Christmas as they usually did.  We knew it would probably be that way, but with her recent surgery blow out she would not have been able to anyway.  So we are trying to determine what next steps we will proceed with to get a little income flowing.  Doing weekend shows are very hard and also cost more than we want to outlay.  Plus it usually takes more than just one or two folks to man a booth an entire weekend and we can't afford to pay anyone for that help.  

We have options but we are trying to wait on that for another year and just get through this one with as little pain as possible.  It could be worse.

Happy Trails

Weather

The weather here is about to turn nasty.  Having more than one of these events per year is pretty rare here.  They are predicting freezing rain and ice over the next couple days.  That is a paralyzing situation to us in this part of the state.  We just don't get enough of that type weather to learn how to drive on it.  So the 'authorities' over react and close roadways, they don't want to be responsible for some jack wagon that won't stay home hurting himself or someone else when he loses control of his vehicle.  It is a catch 22 for those 'authorities.'  On one had if they don't do everything they can to keep people safe and someone gets hurt, they get raked over the coals.  It the weather doesn't get as bad as expected, the get raked over the coals for being overly cautious etc.  I know, I used to work there.  There is no way they can do everything right in these situations.  I am the guy that thinks everyone is responsible for themselves and someone else shouldn't have to worry about your safety.  But that's just me.  SMH.

I guess we are going to head over the my parents today.  After many requests by my mother, and us having to decline just as many times.  Hopefully all will go well and be pleasant.  I will be on my best behavior.  We will include a couple short errands also.  Not sure we will make a trip to the grocer to stock up for little things for the cold snap.  They get pretty crazy with other doing exactly that.  They tend to act like the world is coming to an end and it is very annoying to deal with their inconsiderate lack of patience.

I got my firearm shipped.  Not sure when I will hear back from them.  Just checked the tracking number and it hasn't left town yet.  I dropped it off Thursday morning.  Supposed to be 2 day shipping.  I don't know.

Happy Trails