Dirty hands, sore muscles, and new creations

Over the last several weeks I've been acquiring desired items by trading things I needed to get rid of and building in the backyard. As full on Summer time approaches quickly it's better to do this type of stuff before it gets god awful hot at 100 degrees with 90% humidity in the gumbo swamp mud of South East Texas. 

I've had good luck in the sound department lately. You guys know I'm a vinyl freak and I've come across an old Magnavox console that still works and needs a little love to revive it back to its former glory. The little smoking hot barefoot gardening squaw will work her refinishing skills and make her sparkle. She's jam up when it comes to breathing life back into old things. It's one of the many gifts that she has in her arsenal. 

I also managed to acquire a maybe used 3 times Outdoor Gourmet gas/charcoal/smoke cooker from a my neighbor for $40. These retail around $280 at Academy. He's been an excellent neighbor and I really hate to see him go, but he had no room for it to make the move with him. It's good to have friends like that. He also told me to haul off a good amount of pavers from his backyard that he parked his boat and cargo trailer on as well. I'd say I made out good on that deal. I've always had a minimalist attitude when it came to outdoor entertainment just getting by with a smoker, good music, lawn chairs, cold beer, and a shady spot. The game has changed and we decided to upgrade a bit to allow us to enjoy The Backyard a bit more for years to come.

I know, it looked like a minimalist attitude was in charge here previously. Low budget but functional, and not as awesome as it could be. We decided it was time to upgrade and get our feet out of the mud. I've had a rather large assortment of red and white paver bricks stashed up as well for just an occasion like this.

The squaw and I got to work and spent about 7 hours laying in the bricks and pavers. She's the strongest support beam I've got and she doesn't bend for shit. She's not a bad brick layer either. I have found a new line of respect for Masons and concrete workers. Bricks are brutal objects that make you feel every muscle in your body. The sweat pouring out of us was well earned and worth it.

We still need to pour sand in the cracks to settle every thing and put the form boards back on to tighten up the bricks before we seal it. That will come this weekend.

It's the little things in life sometimes... I know it's not massive and extravagant, but it's mine, I love it, and so does the little smoking hot barefoot gardening squaw. 

I recently finished another rifle that I'd been working on as well. It's always something being built or worked on around our spot. It never stops, just like our minds that race along daily onto other things that we can get our hands on to play with or fix up. You might ask yourself why in the world would anyone spend money to build an AR that shoots 7.62x39 when you can just buy an AK or an SKS that does the same thing. Well, this one is mine and the squaw runs the .223/5.56. I like my SKS, don't get me wrong, it does a fine job. But, I can't attach all of the do-dads I like to run on my AR rigs the same as an SKS. I night hunt Hogs and Yotes from time to time and the Tapco stock my SKS sits in doesn't have a place to pic-rail a green night light. And we all know that a scope on an SKS is just plain silly. It wasn't made for that application, but a flat top AR is. I don't have as much in this build as you'd expect me to either. I've found reputable made parts for decent prices over the years, stashed them up, and finally put it together for cheaper than it'd cost me to buy a basic milled AK for $800. Here's how she came out. She's nothing to mess around with when it comes to impaling pork in the gumbo mud either. She's a certified pig flipper. Spartan Helm FTW.

My next build will be in the .277 Wolverine package. SPR's are fun builds. The .277 Wolverine is fairly new, but it is taking off in hunter circles as the latest and greatest deer round from the AR platform. 

Keep yourselves busy and never stop creating and building things! Idle hands will get you in trouble. Make the most of your short time here on this spinning marble of madness.