PiecePractical

I mentioned in a previous post that I inherited my father's guns recently. This past weekend I finally brought my favorite home. Dad's 264 Win. Mag. Pretty much none of my IRL friends are into guns so I'm going to brag about it here. This thing was always a nail driver but when I was in highschool, dad finally wore the barrel out of it (or wrecked due to lack of cleaning). For his birthday that year Mom and I bought him a stainless barrel. His best friend at the time was a gunsmith who replaced the barrel and bedded the stock. After that, this thing was unbelievable. Honestly, I'm not a good enough shot to justify it but even still, I'll hang on to this one until I'm dead.

Does anyone else have any experience with a 264? The few gun enthusiasts I've talked to have all been surprised when I tell them about this one.

I know it's a long shot but, I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a range in southern MN or northern IA (or SW WI). I recently inherited all of my father's guns and unfortunately, that comes with losing (well, selling) the farm that I have always shot at. All the local ranges I know of are owned by people I really don't want to give money too.

A little over a year ago I posted about this Dutch oven that I almost saved from my dad's estate sale but he swiped it back from me after I cleaned it up (I was cleaning it for the sale, he didn't know I was thinking about keeping it).

Well, Dad passed away in April and I've been low-key looking for this thing for like a month and a half. Last weekend I finally found it. In the barn. Getting rusty. Again. I have to keep it now for two reasons. One, it has too much of a story to give up now and two, if I find out that anyone let this damn thing get rusty again, I'm going to lose my shit!

Picked up my first vintage iron from someone on FB today. Excited to get it cleaned up and see how it compares to my Lodge skillets.

My grandmother in-law passed away this week. As you might imagine, the old lodge she gave us when she moved to assisted living is getting a workout this weekend. This was the only thing I thought to take a picture of.

So my dad is having a retirement auction. Among the stuff we forgot my mother had owned we found her old campfire Dutch oven covered in surface rust. I scrubbed the rust off and put a quick coat of seasoning on it just so that it didn't sell as a lawn ornament. Obviously I started thinking that maybe I should keep it. Once it was on the stove cooling off, my dad took one look at it and said " That cleaned up pretty nice, I think maybe I'll keep that after all"

Didn't think to take a before picture but here's an after.

I've been trying to avoid buying more pans just because I like the designs but my wife and siblings peer pressured me into this one.

So I wasn't in the mood to post this at the time but when my mother passed away this summer, she had just washed a bunch of jars and a pail of cucumbers. Dad asked me to do something with the cucumbers so they didn't go to waste. I don't know for sure what she was planning but, pickles seemed like a safe guess so I pickled them. I didn't even want to look at them until this week when I finally labeled them and put them on the shelves with the rest of the canned goods. Frustratingly, they turned out really good but because I was in a bit of fog at the time, I don't even remember what recipes I used.

13 years ago when my wife and I were getting ready to move in together, my mother's barn cat had kittens and she tried to tame one for us. She only managed to keep one and wasn't sure if we'd want her because "she isn't very friendly" and "she's such an ugly kitten". As I try to remember the last time I read a book without this beautiful cat on my lap, it occurs that my mother may have never been more wrong in her entire life.

Got a new Lodge griddle a few weeks ago and I finally took it for a test drive this morning. I was worried about how it would work on a glass top but, so far so good!

The trivet and Guitar pan are mostly for my wife. I'm looking forward to trying out the griddle on my glass-top. Thinking I might try pancakes on it this weekend.

Wife was craving comfort food so I made us some goulash in the Lecruset last night.