My favorite present is one of these—
50-200 Praying Mantises will emerge from this case sometime in March or maybe April. It's probably wierd, but I've always liked them and they eat other bugs like flies and spiders.
They also look cool in a creepy alien sort of way. Very entertaining to watch, especially at dinnertime.
Nice haul rebelgtp!
i got a bunch of polo/golf shirts since the ones i've been wearing have been wearing are getting a bit tired.
my dads family did a gift exchange from which i ended up with a starbucks gift card.
other than that i got cash, or what my grandfather calls "the universal gift card"
im planning on self-christmasing a few things like a decent scope for my AR and a spotting scope so i can start trying some 200+ yard shooting
already ordered a GM 20" barrel, hogue overmolded stock, and volksquarten target hammer (it on sale at midway)
More info on the developing Praying Mantis army, please, Tom. That's cool as hell.
Like, how long will they stick around for once they hatch? Or is the idea that they breed, and become permanent residents in the garden?
^^^It's like a scene from Starship Troopers.
from g/f: a new long-reach, low profile floor jack that should work better under her classic cars. While purchased to lift the very low Spitfire, I've already used it with her 1800ES and can confirm its awesomeness. 
http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/nsearch.aspx?page=1&keywords=long%20reach%20jack&refine=y&Manufacturer=Omega
For myself, I bought a new Dell laptop.
townsend7 wrote: I got nothing. Not one single gift from anyone. And I don't feel too bad about it.
damn, I've had yrs where I was bad, but never that bad
The preying Mantis eggpod is cool! That is one gift I wouldn't have even thought of asking for. 
Luke wrote: More info on the developing Praying Mantis army, please, Tom. That's cool as hell. Like, how long will they stick around for once they hatch? Or is the idea that they breed, and become permanent residents in the garden?
My windows 7 logon screen for the last 6 months
I didn't need or want anything major. I just got the usual boxers/socks/long johns and I bought myself some boots and a nice Timex Ironman watch.
A little diazanon will fix those bugs. One man's Christmas present is another man's pest, I guess. I will be more than happy to send you all the walking sticks around here.
Strizzo, check out Champion's Choice http://www.champchoice.com/cat-Scopes_and_Binoculars-222.aspx for your spotting scope. I dinked around with cheap spotting scopes for years and I found that trying to see a 1/4" hole at 200 or 300 yards with a cheap scope is impossible. I broke down and bought a quality scope from Champion's Choice, who have forgotten more about competitive HP rifle shooting than I will EVER know. I bought their top of the line in-house (private label, "Champion's Choice") spotting scope about 10 years ago, a 60mm (don't see it listed anymore) and it is incredible. It was about five bills then, with a zipper cover and a short stand. I called them up and asked them about it and they said the only thing better was about a $2K Swarovski.
Couple of zombie books- most notablly The Walking Dead and Tom Sawyer and the Undead (Tom Sawyer's always been one of my favorite books, and the addition of zombies was great) pile of video games, and the announcement that I am to be a father. I'm still trying to find the gift receipt on the last one so I can return it.
I got one pair of socks. Really nice socks.
The wife and I are trying to get our debt down so it was a sparse Christmas for the two of us but she did get me a season pass to Mid Ohio again, 
.
Besides it is more fun to watch the kids open their stuff.
309 piece Craftsman tool set
Strizzo wrote: Nice haul rebelgtp! already ordered a GM 20" barrel, hogue overmolded stock, and volksquarten target hammer (it on sale at midway)
Well my plans changed, both my trigger and my stock went out of stock just after ordering, so that is 2 orders that went down the tubes. I ended up ordering the green Hogue overmolded stock along with the Volksquarten hammer and trigger, 200 rds of SSS ammo and a boresighter from midway as well. Thankfully my Mueller scope is still on the way as far as I know. Hopefully next week I will be putting everything together and taking it out that weekend.
The girl friends step dad got one for Christmas as well and wants to take them out groundhog hunting this spring. He was going to leave his stock but seeing what I'm doing with mine he wants to build his up as well.
Luke wrote: More info on the developing Praying Mantis army, please, Tom. That's cool as hell. Like, how long will they stick around for once they hatch? Or is the idea that they breed, and become permanent residents in the garden?
Easy.
1) Order egg case from Amazon.
2) Stick the egg case in a tree or bush. (You can put it in a paper bag if you want to see them; the whole hatching process takes like an hour so it's easy to miss.) Mine will live on the patio covered with mosquito net for the first few weeks, then all but a few will be allowed to leave at their own discretion.
3) When they get two weeks of warm-ish weather (exact numbers depend on the breed I guess) they will emerge from the egg case. Here in Florida it may happen soon.
4) Watch them eat flies, spiders, and aphids. If you're so inclined, keep them in a terrarium and they will eat one another until only a few remain. They are their own favorite meal.
I'm hoping to get a few of them that stick around and breed. My apartment sits alongside a water retention pond with a ton of bugs and mosquitos, so hopefully some will stay there. I'll definitely have a couple that I will attempt to breed, but from what I've read it's a pretty hit-or-miss affair, typically resulting in a dead male.
In reply to rebelgtp: so to kill time while i was was waiting on my barrel, i tore the gun down to get the barrel off. it was a bear, i ended up putting it in the bench vise and tapping the barrel out with a screwdriver handle and hammer, then when that was too deep for the handle, i pulled on the barrel and twisted with a 19mm open end on the v-block notch. hope yours comes out easier. i'm thinking of heating up the receiver a bit to help things along before i try installing the GM barrel. we'll see i guess. also stopped by academy today and picked up a BSA catseye 4-16 x 44 for the AR. hopefully tomorrow or thursday i'll have some time to get to the range.
after getting the barrel, it went on a bit easier than the stock one came off. pic of it done up:
In reply to Strizzo:
Nice yeah I should work on breaking my stock barrel free from the receiver this week. My barrel actually just got here today but I'm now waiting for the stock, trigger, hammer and scope. I just received confirmation my Mueller APT 4.5-14x40 30mm Tactical scope was shipped today along with a free sunshade and the flip covers for it
EDIT: I got the barrel off and the new bull barrel on in roughly half an hour or so. It is now resting in the factory stock so the action doesn't get dirty until my new parts get here.
At a delayed christmas party I got a hand knit afghan (by my aunt), and a bottle of Crown!
Im a happy guy!
In reply to rebelgtp:
took the gun with new stock and GM barrel to the range today, and i'm really happy with it. we got a ton of rain yesterday and the range was full up today, ppl had to wade through ankle deep water just to post their targets on the 100yd range. the 50 yard range was a little less waterlogged, but i still ended up with wet socks.
there was about a 15-20 mph wind blowing from generally behind the firing line going down range blowing hard enough to shake my POA and frustrate the hell out of me. even still, i was able to put 8 or 9 rounds out of 10 completely on a shoot'n see pastie from 50 yards out.
the range's "rimfire ranch" simulated prarie dog village was out of commision due to the rain, but hopefully it'll be dried out by the weekend.
My son got me a new riding jacket. He chose this one because Military bases require reflective gear, this one folds away into the jacket if you choose not to use it.
Oh yeah, sox & underwear. 
In reply to Strizzo:
Sadly I am still waiting on my stock, trigger, scope, ammo and hammer. Granted its like 5 degrees, 10 inches of snow and ice and heavy winds up at the range right now. Heck its just about that here.
Our roads have been getting closed due to weather a bunch.
In reply to rebelgtp:
i think it got down to like 29 or 30 the other night. and i probably sniped your stock, as my black hogue overmolded shipped the next day. also got a VQ target hammer than makes a big difference in the trigger weight. its a lot more like my ruger M77 MKII trigger than something lifted off a cheap pellet gun
Tom Heath wrote: My favorite present is one of these—
Very cool! I got my sister one of those for her birthday one year... then got a phone call saying "We've got babies!!!"
You're gonna have to monitor them if you want them to stick around and breed - the female tends to eat the male, generally starting with his head during the mating act
Thats a pretty cool jacket
Just used some pocket cash + a return for this:
In reply to Strizzo:
Nah originally I had ordered a Boyds Tacticool, now they aren't even producing the one I wanted (OD green) anymore. I may still get a tan at some point though. The hogue will hold me for awhile.
Now I am planning on building 2 M4 clones off the Plum Crazy composite lowers. One for me and one for the gf, she wants her own carbine.
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