What doesn't kill us

Isn't it supposed to make us stronger? Why didn't anyone ever say it won't really suck while it happens.

I weathered the storm at work, things have suddenly settled down. We hired someone so I will lose my 'acting' title for one thing but I'm sure I'll have more titles in no time at all. This alleviates about 50% of the additional duties I've been doing for 3+ months and brings my workload to a more manageable 150%...


Arthritis.
I would have never guessed that's whats been wrong with my body for a number of years. One of my kick boxing coaches suggested I go see a buddy of his for some dry needling to try and release muscle tension. Turns out I have adaptive muscle shortening, causing arthritis, and that's leading me to need a hip replacement down the road. At first he said within 5 years but after 3 weeks of my work ethic, stretching and working out with him, we've pushed it to probably 20 as long as I keep at it. The more stretching and strengthening I do, the more flexible I become and the more fluid gets around the femoral head and the better everything becomes. Magic.
Nobody at kick boxing ever expects me to kick them higher than their knee, they know me. I almost kicked my buddy in the face on Friday and we were both most pleased. I'm in more pain than ever but I know it's temporary as my body gets used to being able to move like it was designed.

I couldn't make it to the cabin this weekend, work got in the way. I did get some lovely pictures sent and was told the mountains are still covered in deep snow. It's going to be a great year for moisture and for making sure Rock doesn't get sucked downstream.

The little creek, not so little.

Rock's eventual swimming hole once we damnit up more

The yard is growing at an amazing rate and the new blade attachment for the weed eater did a great job on some more reclamation of the woods.

Green and those damn yellow things I cant stand

If we keep this up, it will be green in just a few weeks hopefully

I also got a fantastic text that I honestly would have never expected:

I have been afraid to ask how they turned out, I'm not the picky eater between the two of us. I've always heard: well if I have to I will, but until then...
Progress? Perhaps.

Since I was stuck in the area for work I decided to go shooting. It's been a while so I dragged one of my friends along. He recently became a civilian after 6 years active duty, and several deployments. I'm trying to help him adjust to the real world and we are doing a lot of stuff together.

Shot timer, how fun! From relaxed hands hanging down and start timer on random:
.83 seconds, draw and round on target center mass. My first one was 1.17 without being warmed up.
1.89 seconds, draw and 2 rounds on three different targets. My first one was around 2.10
The holster I was using is brand new so it took some getting used to, thankfully I've been playing with snap caps at home. My friends time was about double but he did an admirable job for his first outing.

We set up different drills and ran them a lot. Start here, run there and pick up rifle. Load rifle, rounds on target, run to next spot and mag change, rounds on target. Drop rifle, run to next spot and engage target with pistol.
We had a great time and didn't shoot very much ammo but felt we got some great training done. It's easy to shoot a paper target, even at distance, it's not so easy when you are loaded with gear and breathing heavy after sprinting to cover.

I got to try out some of my new gear and was impressed as always with the quality and design of everything Crye Precision has ever shipped me. I had to get a larger size plater carrier but it's identical to my previous model. While I've managed to lean way down and wear a medium shirt, I'm still very thick in the shoulders and couldn't get the large size carrier buckled. The XL works perfect.

I also headed to a gun show where I met a few people from the local 3 percenters group. Interesting. It's more of a social club from what I can tell with only a few really active people who are interested in doing anything. For those active people, it's all about guns, electing trump, and god. It's not about preparedness, it's not about having well rounded skills in many areas,  and t's certainly not about fitness (and I'm not comparing anyone to my fitness insanity). They invited me to do some stuff with them and I'll see how that goes. I'm already a little hesitant since they do the pledge of allegiance at each event so we will see how they react when I don't partake.

The garden is growing, cucumbers have popped up and the tomatoes needed to be caged. Can't wait to sink my teeth into some fresh produce without needing to visit the supermarket.