I Got My Baby Back

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It's back.

The Corvette is back. Almost a week in the shop to fix all the crap that was wrong with it. GM fixed the steering column lockup problem, which was an electronic defect covered by a recall that no one mailed me about. But then there was the problem of the leaking rear differential. Someone tell me why a car with less than 37,000 miles is having drivetrain problems like this. The mechanic at the dealership told me he had a Corvette in last week with the same problem. Corvettes have rear-mounted transmissions right next to the rear diff, so getting to the leaky seal in the differential, replacing it and putting it all back together racked up 10 hours worth of labor.

Add in replacing the PCV and fuel filter, patching a screw hole in the right rear tire and balancing all four tires and I was looking at about $1,300.

I will ease the pain of this financial setback by flooring it on my way home from work tonight.

Home, Home on the Range...

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Craig's M-14, which I shot on Sunday

I spent Sunday morning at the skeet range with Craig, Dennis and Rich. We brought two throwers with us, one to throw singles and doubles and the other to throw rabbits down low. I was doing pretty well, and we're thinking about putting together a hunting trip at some point, maybe up in Maine.

We also took some practice up at the rifle range with Mr. Larsen and his buddy Al. I shot my .22 pump action for a while at 100 yards. Then I shot Mr. Larsen's buffalo gun, a gift from Craig. You chamber single rounds with this gun and pull the rear trigger to set the front hair trigger, and then let go with it. The gun had so much kick that although I had it pulled tightly to my shoulder, the gun kicked back in my face and the sight hit me right between the eyes. (Ouch.)

A bit later, I shot about 30 rounds with Craig's M-14. The gun is really easy to shoot and is dead accurate. Someone had placed a plastic top to a spackle bucket out on a sand cliff at about 125 yards out. I shot the spackle top about 25 times, moving it up the cliff inch by inch with the impact of the shots. It's a terrific gun to shoot.