Ax. Man. Rocks.

The boy and I went to Ax-Man to see what we needed today.  You don't go to Ax-Man to find something you're looking for but once in your life.  You go to Ax-man to find out what you need.

Sidetrack:  The only time Ax-Man was a destination to find something specific, I wanted a digital microscope, and just wasn't ready to pull the trigger.  So I thought maybe if I found a real microscope cheap, that would give me an idea if I really wanted one or not.  For some reason I thought "Oh Ax-Man will have one" and lo and behold they had this toy Tasco microscope.  Ok, to be honest in high school Ax Man supplied us with many a dumb terminal for (literally) hooking up the odd girlfriend with a way to get online for the old BBS community.  But that's a whole other story..

The only other time a surplus store came through predictably was one of my few times on leave from the Marines when all of the kids in my family were in town.  We all posed for a photo at Sears.  It's quite nice.  I had my brand new Dress Blues.  Except somehow I had forgotten the Eagle, Globe and Anchors for the collar.

Not a very good picture, and not the family portrait.

On the way to the studio my brother stopped at Crazy Louie's and of course, they had the emblems.  It doesn't seem so surprising that a military surplus store might have something in particular, but it actually was.  The emblems are very specific, and I don't even think I could have found them on the local reserve base.  Crazy Louie's also had an antique Bentley in the back room.

Anyway, the boy and I went to Ax Man.  It was, as usual, awesome.  We found so many things we didn't realize we needed so badly.  The dice we had been missing from a game?  Replaced.  The word ball we love so much at Mom's nursing home?  Got a "mammal facts" version.  Light up tire valve covers for my scooter? Totally $3.

Eli was drawn to the "paintball slingshot" and we picked up one of those.  Lots of rules attached to that one. But he was as happy as a 12 year old boy with a slingshot that shoots paint.  There was also an item that I saw that I immediately grabbed and said "OH.  This is going to happen." much to the boy's disbelief.

Blowdart gun!  No, wait, not "Blowdart gun!" -- It's actually a (deep breath...)


.40 caliber Terminator Blowgun with Aluminum Teflon Based Extrusion barrel with Anti-Inhale Safety Mouthpiece, Foam Hand Grip, 12 Sharp Wire Darts and 16 Dart Quiver!  (Made In The USA)  Less than $10!

After we got home and briefly glanced at the vaguely coherent safety instructions we took it out for a spin.  Lily loved measuring just how deep we could embed the darts in a tree trunk, and the neighbor kid just kept saying "I can't believe our neighbor has a blowgun!"

The best part was, of course, the addition of alcohol to the experiments with a new weapon.  And the McNeighbor was there with his Hamm's.  Don't worry, we had him set it down first.  But I thought the dart might puncture the can (maybe) and make some of that liquid from the land of sky blue water cascade.  A little bit.

So when I managed not only to hit the can in the first shot, but the dart stuck in it, we were all pretty thrilled. But when we realized the dart went in and out it was like winning the lottery.  Did I mention we paid less than $9 for the whole set?  Careful!  Jealousy is an ugly, ugly thing.

Now you know why this is such a cool picture

I am now looking for miniature paint balls to shoot from my blowgun.  I am also realizing that if your entry level blowfun, er, blowgun, isn't enough for you, there are upgrade options.  You can spend twenty's of dollars on a new blowgun!  The miniature blowgun paintballs are pretty cheap though.

And I, too, am as happy as a 12 year old with a slingshot that shoots paint.  Only mine can maim, too!