What's happening now (and range report)

Today's highlights: bacon and eggs with homefries, Inappropriately Hot Foreign Wife and I turning off the cell phones while my kid was at school, range time with my new pistol, and now, beer, whisky and a cigar while watching the sun go down over my pond. Fish are jumping, (bluegill and some stunted largemouths), dragonflies buzzing by, and I'm out by my fountain on the patio, with beer and laptop.

 All and all, I'm starting to relax.


     Vacation started off pretty rough. My mom is ill, and was hospitalized, but has recovered enough to go home, although she'll require daily medical care from now on. She  has all her marbles and is modestly mobile, so I guess that's pretty good, considering the alternative.

 I'm settling in with the fam, to enjoy my 10 days of remaining time off, but my kid's going camping for a long weekend with his church group, so that leaves Inappropriately Hot Foreign Wife and I with an empty house for a few days. Thinking about going to the Keys for a few days. I dunno. Weather's gorgeous now- mid 80's in the day, 68-70 at night.


 So my most recent purchase for myself was a new pistol. I bought a Springfield XDS in 9mm. Today was my first chance for some range time, and I tried out a new range in my town.  Gator's Guns and Archery have thus far been friendly and helpful, and were more than willing to take my money when it comes to buying what I wanted... which was this:

This is a nice concealed carry piece, according to a few reviews- smaller, but with enough mass to keep discomfort from the recoil to a minimum.  Springfield gives you a mag extender that gives an extra inch of grip, which I found much more comfortable than the flush magazines like the one in the picture.  I shot some 124-gr FMJ, which gave out some more recoil than I'd expected from 9mm. After that I shot some 115-gr hollowpoint that had less punch, but twice got hung up on the lip of the ramp of the barrel when loading a fresh magazine. So, nope, won't buy any more of that.


 Anyhow, I had some shooty goodness, and have since retired to my patio to indulge some other sins.