Day 2201

 I woke up about 8, played games for a short while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  John and Melissa have made it to Dallas.  That means we need to get things ready for them.

The first activity was cleaning off the kitchen table, the guest bedroom, and the kitchen counter.  Some stuff go put away and some stuff got thrown away.  When that was done I took out the resulting garbage and went to the garage.

I was determined to finish the rifle.  I cleaned off the receiver and the barrel.  I used Flitz to finish it.  That made the cosmetics as good as I could make them.  Then I started to clean the magazine.  When I took off the magazine cap the screw holding it on went flying.  I found it almost immediately, EXCEPT I DIDN'T RECOGNIZE IT.  It's not a regular screw.  It's more a pin than a screw.

I spent a lot of time on my hands and knees looking for the screw.  I put what I'd found in the gunsmith box for later examination.  Eventually I decided to continue cleaning the magazine.  The follower was rusted in.  I damaged it a little getting it out.  I don't think it will compromise function.  It took a lot of time to remove the rust form the follower and the inside of the magazine.

With the magazine finished I cleaned the barrel.  It was really easy.  I put the rifle in the safe along with the spring and follower.  By then it was after 1 and I went in for lunch VERY disgusted.

I logged on to Numrich to look for a new screw.  It took some searching, but I discovered that the mystery part I'd found was the screw.  Oh well.  After lunch I went back out, assembled the magazine, and put the rifle away again.  I now considered the work on it complete.  It's ugly, but it should shoot safely.

I went inside and wrapped presents - the motorcycle lift and two books from an estate sale.  Wrapping a 50 lb lift in an almost destroyed box isn't easy.  After that I called it quits for the day.

I watched videos until dinner.  Ellen fixed steak on the Traeger.  It was  good.  It should be, it cost $10 pound.  One of the videos I watched showed that diesel in Hurricane is $4/gal.  FUCK BIDEN.

After dinner I wanted to watch TV, but it wouldn't turn on again.  I might replace it when John gets here.  I ended up surfing and playing games.