We rented an unfurnished house until we can rebuild a new home on our property. The process is going very slowly as we wait for the FEMA people to clear our lot of all the burned debris and damaged concrete. After that I am told it is a several months long process to deal with the city's building permit system, so we probably won't have a new home for well over a year. All this turmoil is keeping us both unhappy, nervous, and anxious to the point where neither of us is sleeping well. Each day brings more challenges, and we just want our old lives back.
We have spent thousands of dollars on furniture, bedding, kitchenwares, a vacuum cleaner, a wheelbarrow, a chainsaw, a weedeater, toolbox and tools, and all the stuff it takes just for daily living, not to mention a good bit spent to get me back into reloading, hunting, and shooting. There is a small shed in the back yard of this house, and that is where I am setting up to reload. My outfit so far is a very far cry from the extensive amount of reloading equipment and supplies I once had, but hey, it is a start! Here is a picture of my new downsized Harbor Freight reloading bench:
I set up a second bench to be used for priming and powder measuring, as well as bullet casting and sizing:
This is a picture of my modest supply of powder and bullets (all of which was donated to me by friends and fellow shooters) as well as some of the bullet moulds I bought on sale from Midway:
I bought hundreds of dollars worth of new Starline and Winchester brass, and I was gifted quite a bit of range brass for my pistols. I have some Bear Creek cast lead bullets on order that will get me by until I can get enough moulds to cast my own. It seems that the UPS or Fed Ex trucks stop by just about daily bringing more necessary stuff, so we really are slowly getting on with life. I found an old aluminum jon boat with an outboard motor and trailer for sale on Craigslist and bought it so I can go duck hunting. Season starts this month so hopefully I will get a chance to go.
Now I'll post some pictures of some of my lost treasure. Here is a pair of very expensive Montana Vintage Arms vernier tang sights and a Leatherman Wave multi-tool that was brand new:
Here is what's left of about fifty sets of reloading dies:
Here is a large pile of ruined bullet moulds; I never did find all of them in the debris:
Here is a North American Arms .22 Magnum Mini-Revolver that I overlooked that was on top of my gun safe:
And finally, the long guns that I lost:
Thankfully we were able to safely escape and I did manage to save the vast majority of my gun collection. With all the help I'm getting, much of it from the good folks on this forum, I will eventually get back into the swing of things and get my life back to normal. I hope you all know just how much I appreciate all that you have done for us.
Shasta
