Well, Its only been about 2 months since my last post and but ALOT has happened that has kept me away since, so this may be a little long winded.

I hung up the paint brush's and mudding knives in exchange for a job at one of the local hospitals. I've been doing the paint and drywall thing for the better part of 12 years and have since developed arthritis in both feet and a bad back. Fortunately my wife works in the staffing office and hooked me up with one of the managers there who offered me a job as a nursing assistant. Unfortunately, its a midnight position which has wreaked havoc with my social and personal life as I have never worked midnights. Then top it off with a 12.5 hr. shift, 7:00 pm to 7:30 am, its been brutal. Good news is tho that as of Aug 19 I'm back to a normal day shift, YAY! The other great thing is the benefits. For two of us, NO deductibles, only $15.00 copays, it comes out to $100.00 a month. Finally, some decent insurance. Needless to say the wife is very happy.

Any free time I have had has been spent up at my mother and stepdads place doing what ever I can to help out there ( a 500 mile round trip). My stepdad has been diagnosed with a low grade cancer which is in his lungs and his bladder(plus emphysema, chronic lung disease, and he suffered a heart attack back in Oct.). He had to have bladder surgery to remove a tumor which was causing him to bleed out through his bladder. He came through alright, but they can't put him under or do chemo because his lung capacity is down to like 25% and the whole heart condition. So, I've had to install hand rails everywhere, a shower stall that he can just step into as opposed to the bath tub which he can't climb out of, some roof repairs, and general yard stuff.

I've decided I don't care for plumbing....my folks live about three miles from the nearest neighbor, and about 40 min. from the nearest Lowes. I bought compression fittings for the new shower set up (had to replumb everything) and all but one leaked <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />. So back to Lowes where I had to buy more copper tubing, fittings and I just flared it all by hand. All but one held, and that was because I forgot to flare one end, hehe.

But it has not been all work and no play. In the meantime, I put together an AR-15 from the ground up. It has a Wilson 16 in. air guaged bull barrel 1:8 twist, .223 Wylde chamber mounted on a DPMS Hi-rise upper, and a Cavalry Arms composite lower. All the guts are DPMS. I topped it off with a BSA Sweet .223 3-12 scope. The scope has three seperate turrets calibrated for 50, 55, and 62 grain bullets. It can be adjusted in increments of 10 yards from 100 to 400 yards. The price was right and I liked the calibrated concept. Unfortunately I haven't had to time to shoot it yet or get some pics, BUT on Sat. my brother in laws and myself are heading out to the range to have some fun. I'll be sure to post a range report and some pics.

Well, thats all that has happened in the last two months in the life of Tom. I'm just glad things are settling down here and look forward to spending some more time with the Yard once again.