Man Cave Update

With everything that has been going on, not to mention my innate tendency toward procrastination, the Man Cave has been neglected. It became kind of a dumping ground for all my stuff. You know, an "I'll sort this out later" kinda thing. Well at long last I've finally managed to wade through 30 years of collected crap and the detritus of a life spent in a uniform and I've got it pretty well in hand. Just some minor clean up to do and I'll sort that out later. Wait, where have I heard that before? No matter. On with the pics because I know you're just dying to see it!

The Cave is in our smallish basement. I love it because it stays nice and cool in summer though it does get a bit chilly come winter time. To enter you go down these stairs. I decided to set the tone early and put up some posters on the walls and ceiling going down. Hey Dirtcrashr, those look familiar?

Wait, is that the lovely Lu I spot?  It is! Accompanied and guarded by the ever present Young Black Dog. Chewing on something. Again. I do not want to know.

At the bottom of the stairs are some patches, a copper poster and a map of the Monterey Bay. I used to collect patches but turned most of them over to Sarge because he has a much larger and nicer collection.

The back wall. If you look over to the right you'll see part of the wooden shelves that used to go all across the wall. I took most of it out to fit my safes in and added those steel shelves. They're from Costco and at 60 bucks for a 4x6 shelf they're a steal. I love them and use 'em everywhere. There's about 10,000 rounds of ammo just on that one shelf and room for a lot more. Sometime in the not too distant future I'll tear out the wooden shelf remnant and add in a final steel one. Some time.

On the far wall is a poster of the old Ft. Ord reservation along with another poster and the Corkboard Of Honor. There's something special going up there later.Just to the left is an old, green wooden Army file cabinet I rescued from the trash heap when Ft. Ord was mothballed and trashed and some range bags I'm going to review.

A close up of the Corkboard Of Honor. That print is from Kratmann and Ringo's book Yellow Eyes. The original cover art work was atrocious so a bunch of us got together and paid the artist to come up with this. As a reward we got signed prints limited to those of us who contributed.

I decided against an I Love Me wall, there's just too much for that (he said in completely false modesty) so I put the major stuff up on a shelf. See, it even says ILOVEME right there. Aren't I clever? Don't you just want to punch me right in the snotlocker for being such a douche?

The main area. That table was also rescued from the Ft. Ord trash pile. It used to be on the left, facing 90 degrees from where it is now. This ended up working better and allowed me to put in another shelf on the right. The press is bolted in place and all the makings are on still another set of shelves above the work station. Now I just need to sit down and do some, you know, actual work. Brigid, I took your advice and moved the brass cleaner out. It's in my shop at the moment but I'm building a small covered table outside to run it in. I have enough mental issues from being old, I don't need to add lead poisoning to the mix.

The Army flag hanging in a place of prominence. Too bad It's hung facing the wrong way. Sigh. I just noticed that. Add it to the list.

Hats, we got 'em! If you spend a career in uniform you'll wear a lot of hats. Here are a few of mine. That helmet was the one I was wearing when I totaled a brand new PD BMW and very nearly ended my career just a bit prematurely and messily.The back side of it is cracked and ground down where I hit the pavement and went sliding at 50 mph plus. I keep it to remind me that life is fleeting and it can end suddenly and unexpectedly at any time.

This is what bitchin' Motor Boots look like. After I blew out my Achilles (are we sensing a theme here?) I couldn't put them on any more so I had to have the local boot repair shop install those zippers. Worked pretty well.

I've been on a simplification mission lately. I started after I realized that I could no longer close and lock either of my gun safes. They were filled with guns I really no longer shot and some I absolutely hated. Which ones? Ok, don't yell at me but I sold an AK, an SMLE and a Jungle Carbine (with 1600 rounds of ammo), an 870 of which I have two and really didn't need three, a Romanian bolt .22 I still don't know why I bought, a Glock 26, a Glock 19 and a Sig P230. There's few more to go yet (including at least one AR, one Remington 700 and a Savage 12FV) but at least I can now close my safes. The DO will be taking her Mini 30, Model 66 and 870 when she makes her final trek to her new home in Florida in May.

Of course that will actually leave me with some room and some expendable cash from those sales. I wonder what to do? Well Lu is even now in talks with Michael at Michael's Custom Holsters for a rig for her Airweight. There's definitely an Airweight in my immediate future. Instinct and I have been discussing and planning some grips for my Redhawk. I want to add a lathe and mill to my shop. The house needs a roof reconstruction, wiring, plumbing and an additional bathroom.

Man, I need to get to work!

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