Scooter has her own Eyes and Ears now

After fortifying ourselves with a suitably surgary and greasy breakfast at the local pancake house,
Belle and I took the 6 year old granddaughter to the range yesterday to shoot the .22 LR saddle gun.
Notice the stylish pink over ear hearing protection.

The guys to our left and right were shooting some pretty big boomsticks and the noise bothered Scooter. So, she only shot 6 or 7 rounds. She missed most, but got two in the red at 25 yards.
Not bad for a 6 year old shooting at an actual target for the first time.

I did Scooter the courtesy of a pic before I obscured her shooty goodness.
To introduce Scooter to the concept of iron sights, I drew a picture, primary school size, of the front sight on piece of paper, and the rear sight on another. I cut the notch out of the rear site picture and overlaid the two images while I described to her how to line up on the target.  Maybe it helped. I don't really know. It turned out to be a really short range day.

Shooting IDPA

Last night, I went to my favorite indoor gun range to watch the IDPA (International Defensive Pistol Association) range club shoot, as I am interested in taking it up myself.

I only wanted to observe my first night out as I wanted to be sure that I understood what was going on, that I wouldn't feel intimidated and that I wouldn't make a fool of myself.

I cannot tell you how nice everyone was and how unassuming and engaging.  Everyone kept asking me to shoot but of course I didn't, I was just there to watch.  Even the Expert Shooters were incredibly nice, helpful and encouraging.

Next week though.....   I am shooting.

What I liked about it was the way that it's geared toward the average, every day CHL holder.  You aren't allowed to use 'competition only' equipment.  You are required to use your every day equipment and carry in the manner in which you normally do.

The drills are various possible scenarios and the course is timed, though unless you plan on actually competing in a match against other clubs, there's no need to worry about the time.

The trick, I'm told is to just take it slow at first because the slower you go, the faster you will eventually become.

There was one other lady shooting IDPA last night, but she was in a different squad than the one than I was observing.  I was the only female in the room, and the guys didn't patronize me or treat me like the 'little lady'.  Every one of them wanted to know what I carry, how I carry and why the hell didn't I want to shoot!

Next Thursday night will be fun, I can't wait!

Caution.... The Wildcat You're Looking At WILL Bite!

Well, wish me luck folks.  Last night I ran out of cigarettes and didn't buy any more.  I've put them down (again) with the help of Chantix.

The great thing about Chantix is that now I will get to have all sorts of funny and crazy dreams.  Very vivid, so much so, that last time I took it, I woke up the hubby in the middle of the night.  Apparently I was throwing my arms up in the air shouting 'woah...   woah...WOAH'.

No, I wasn't trying to make a horse stop, I was on a rollercoaster in my dream....:)

So, really I guess it's the hubby that needs the wish of luck since he gets to put up with my occasional crankiness while I work through a bit of nicotine withdrawl.

If I have any particularly funny dreams to blog about, I most certainly will.  It might prove to be quite entertaining.

In the mean time, if I seem snarkier than my usual sweet self for the next few months, just ride it out, I will return to normal soon....  ;-)

Better to put up with sometimes erractic moods, then end up with cancer or some other lung trouble from cigs.

My new best friend?  Tootsie Roll Pops............    just call me Kojak.....  with hair.

Really TAMU?

My Alma mater, Texas A&M penalizes, rather severely I might add, a student because he went to Vegas and got drunk. His picture wound up in an AP news story, on the "hangover bus" [my term], a mobile EMT unit that treats tourists suffering from excessive alcohol consumption.
I graduated from A&M 30 years ago. Holey crap...Class of '82, Whoop! and all that bullshit. I was one of the 95% of students classified as two percenters.
I digress.
So Apparently over the last 30 years, the administration of A&M was completely unaware of the Dixie Chicken.  On any given week night, it was a block party, mardi gras and carnivaaaal all rolled into one, that spilled out into the street. Across the street from the main campus.
Around my junior year, Playboy magazine rated most of the major universities in this great country on their beer drinking ability. (I only read it for the articles)
Playboy magazine excluded Texas A&M from the rankings giving the school professional status. I am not making this up.
There were 50,000 students on the main campus my last year there. Multiply that by 30. A large majority  of the students were doing and have done over the past 30 years exactly what Justin Newman did, across the street, within walking distance of the dorm. Justin traveled half way across the country to sew some wild oats, far, far away from campus and he gets singled out and hosed.
Jack asses. Holier than thou Hypocrites.
A&M sends me email all the time looking for money. I just delete them.
I can't believe what they have done to this kid over this. I may respond to the next email with a few terse words.  Probably won't get any email from them for a while after that.
Jackwagons.

Reagan vs. Obama - Eco 101

Also informative, but a bit more light hearted than the previous post.
H/T to BJF

"If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane"
-Jimmy Buffet

Raise taxes by 50% or shut down the federal government

From the BJF mailbag:
I vote for shutting down the federal government, after all, they got us into this mess.
Not the  most scintillating narration, but informative. The executive summary: We're boned.

Once a Month

So says Kevin. Until the election. I'm joining him.

If I wanted America to Fail:

A little culture............

As some of you know out there, a couple of months ago hubby took me to see La Traviata at the opera.  I love this song and this woman singer, Anna Netrebko is outstanding.

It still gives me chills........



Now back to our regularly scheduled program.

OY what an effing day

Left early this morning for a bidness meeting in Austin.  Two routes from Cypress. 290 is the more direct but I hate that [expletive deleted] 'ing road. It's a bit out of my way, but I prefer heading south to I-10 and going up 71.  I cannot even explain to myself why I decided this morning to take 290. Best I can tell is, I got into the Scion Rollerskate this morning, placed all my crap in the appropriate crap holders and compartments and my Monkeybrain said, g'head take 290, it's more direct and..it will be..ok. (i'm pretty sure)
Twelve miles west of Hempstead, at O'dark thirty in the morning, traffic comes to a standstill. Full stop. No inching forward.  Short of a cow whispering the low down to you, there is no traffic map or traffic report out here. The gps on my phone frequently tells me it is checking for traffic. I can't help it, but I respond in one of two ways:  There is no "traffic", I'm 10 over the speed limit. (that's my story and I'm sticking to it.)  Or, yes there's traffic, speedometer shows zero mph.
The truckers started pulling off onto the right shoulder and taking a farm road. I know shinola about the farm roads out here and which dead end they might take me to.
There were two saving graces this morning. First, I'd like to extend a thanks to the lady in the SUV that was talking, texting, looking at a map on her smart phone, or whatever she was doing. After a few folks U turned about 5 car lengths opened up in front of her which enabled me to jump into the left lane and make a U turn at a crossover. When the other unfortunate travelers behind her saw this, horns began blaring.
HEY!  He got away!
The second saving grace is that the Scion Rollerskate has a 6 speed auto transmission.
I leave early enough to give myself an hour's grace time, to recover from a flat tire or such. Most often I end up sitting in the client's reception area for a bit, while the receptionist attempts to get the company guest wifi password for me.
I burned every bit of that hour's grace time, but made it to the meeting with 5 minutes to spare. Good thing. I run the meeting. Things might have devolved into talking about the Secret Service scandal, or god forbid, sports.
The path I took resembled a grand prix race track. I won't say exactly how fast I drove at times to make up lost time. After all,  Belle reads this blog from time to time.
Fortunately, John Law was nowhere to be seen.

I never did find out what had happened, but I was close enough to see a lot of flashing lights and witness a sheriff's deputy drive up the wrong side of a divided highway with oncoming traffic. Whatever it was, it was bad.


Hero of the day: (identity redacted)

Tracked down another DAB blogger at Bob's place

Scribbler, or as I've been referring to him, "Zuit Suit David"
Reading his profile I see he's a student,  a T-sip...well...we won't hold that against him.
Welcome to the blogroll Zuit

Update: Another:  DAB participant Pat, aka Bikerscum.  The blog handle is a misnomer in my estimation.

Tracking down DAB bloggers

I thought I'd found a blogger I missed blogrolling, in the comments at The Redneck Engineer's place.
Cormac
So I hit his blog handle link and get this:

A man of few words. Which brought to mind a few lyrics from Tod Snyder's "Seattle Grunge Rock Blues".

"now to fit in on the seattle scene
you've gotta do somethin' they ain't never seen
so thinkin' up a gimmick one day
we decided to be the only band that wouldn't play a note
under any circumstances
silence
music's original alternative
root's grunge"

snip

"the kids went wild, the kids went nuts
rolling stone gave us a five-star review said we played with guts
we're scorin' chicks, takin' drugs
then we got asked to play mtv unplugged
you should have seen it
we went right out there and refused to do acoustical versions of the
electrical songs we had refused to record in the first place
then we smashed our shit"

snip

Kitchen Patrol and Motor Pool

The first oil change on the Scion Rollerskate got done this evening. It was supposed to happen last Friday before the drive to Dallas, but got rained out. Then it was supposed to happen Sunday afternoon after we drove back...but...I had a blogpost to make.
I have to drive to Austin in the morning, so I left 30 minutes early to get a jump on traffic and leave enough daylight to do some driveway crawling.  What is it with new cars these days? Plastic panels covering everything on the bottom side.  The oil filter on the rollerskate is underneath, passenger side of the oil pan. Between me and filter is a plastic panel. Plastic panel has two 10mm bolts and a half dozen plastic wedge anchors holding it in place.  There was a sort of wide "tab" on the plastic panel that covered access to the filter. I'm laying under the car, waiting for the engine to cool thinking, "well, I might as well start removing this fricking thing while it's cooling.  Before the second bolt was removed, Brain says, "ahem..I'm not doing this every time I have to change the oil."  "you know, you're right", says I.
The "wide tab" had a molded crease in it, which now that I think about it, might have been there to enable folding it down to access the oil filter.  My utility knife said, "I'd just remove that thing entirely, and the molded crease makes for a really good blade guide".
And so it begins, the shade tree modifications.
My phone rang as I was walking away from my desk at work. Thank God, I went back and answered.
Belle:; "You're going by the store right?"
kx59: " I hadn't planned on it, no"
Belle: "We talked about this yesterday"
kx59: "oh...yeah"
So, we are having a pre-seasoned pork loin, lemon and garlic ( with a little Tony C's sprinkled on top)
and an almond rice pilaf side dish.
I think this might be the first time I have a post that goes in both the "getting greasy" and " foodage" categories.
I did wash my hands, btw.

Post DAB Thoughts

You know,  Borepatch ginned up the impetus for the Dallas Area Blogshoot. One last hurrah with his Texas Brethren before he heads back to Georgia for the last time.
I don't think he realizes it, but he gave all of us, the participants, a going away gift.

The First Annual DAB -Dallas Area Blogshoot

First thing:  The first draft of this post was ridiculously long. I attempted to capture every experience from the event.  Way too long. The first draft looked like a manuscript for a book.
Second thing: There were so many participants, I did not meet everyone there, so please leave a high five in the comments.
Third thing: If I missed blogrolling you, please give a heads up in the comments.
I mean really, let's get to the fun stuff.  The pics.  And, grab any you like from the post
The Sooper Secret Shooting Spot. (yes, this is actually Texas. Not every part of the state looks like a John Wayne movie.)

Arrival and deployment:

The Scion rollerskate made it down the dirt road hill from hell - only scraped the front air dam once. (well, ok, twice, on the way out too.)

There were guns:  (So many to shoot, so little time)
That's Pat's spread to the left, sharing Bob's table I believe.  Pat came for some recoil therapy - two weeks away from graduating from graduate school. I didn't ask, but I suspect it wasn't a degree in dead languages or women's studies.  I regret not shooting more of his pistols. I did shoot the .22LR with the supressor that made less noise than me spitting though. I'm trying to find the words to describe that...heh!, ...K, that'll do.

Lots and lots of guns.

There were two stars of the show: The first deployed was Redneck Engineer's custom built .50 cal. That's the Engineer in the foreground and "Zuit Suit David" in the background.  The .50 cal. EBR off to the right, of course.

I had a choice to make. Shoot pics or shoot guns, so I didn't catch them all. There were at least three more benches like this.

"Zuit Suit David" has a frame not unlike an AR, nest ce pas? (I miss being that young..and thin)
Make no mistake, the Zuit can Shoot.

Onward:
KerriBlue (aka Mrs. Borepatch) and Borepatch do...something, while Southern Belle eagerly top loads her beloved Tokarev.

Borepatch community organizes filling out absentee ballots with dead people's names name tags, while Belle reloads.

"Nick the Bloggless", the Mighty Kevin and Borepatch converse about the meaning of life guns.

.50 cal. misfire. Hard army surp primer, as I was told.  mmmm wait, he's holding it and I'm standing here taking a pic...?

Zuit shoots the .50 cal.  I never did shoot that beast, but every time it went off it made me effing smile. I mean, just feeling the shockwave from the muzzle blast felt like FREEDOM.

The .50 experienced a technical failure, well two actually.  Go figure, The Redneck Engineer replaced the  broken bolt handle with a bolt he scrounged out of the bed of his pickup. How he managed to fix a sheared off allen head screw in the field, I have no idea, but he got it back up and running.
The Engineer  is on the job:

The Meadow and the Unicorn of hope and change.
Rabbit ques up his Sig P229 .357, Nick does egregious damage to the unicorn,  Zuit looks on. (is it my turn yet?)

That was a later pic. The unicorn of hope and change had no hope, but it definitely changed as the day progressed.  The pic below is roughly from mid-event. Pink fluffy target at roughly 50 yards.
A big thank you to Borepatch for wrestling the unicorn from his canine's massive jaws to provide the target. (although, Bart jumped better)

That is not the lesser leopard spotted unicorn, in spite of what the animal channel might have you believe.  The gray spots are in fact entry wounds. The exits come later. (you really should click to embiggen on this one)

I took a few cracks at the unicorn with the Tokarev, but it just wasn't doing it for me. So I got my 20 ga. loaded with slugs. I got a few hits:
1/2" entry "wound" (more later)

Belle shoots Nick's AR, Nick peeks in from the left of the frame:

Belle was really bummed when the .50 cal went down.  Later after the Redneck Engineer did his field magic, Belle gets some preparatory instruction on shooting the bad boy. ( he'd be the guy to have in your fox hole, just say'in)

Belle prepares to pull the trigger. I missed the "want one" grin afterwards.

Borepatch off-hands Rabbit's FAL, He's good with his Enfield, but I think he might have found his shooty sole mate. That was a pretty tight group at 200 yards with iron sights. Tango down.

The other star of the day. It's not every day you get to see a hand cranked machine gun. I'll need someone to comment on specifics as I didn't get them, but...Hell Yeah!

A little camera alchemy. Nostalgic, I am.

That is not a googlesnitched pic. I took that myself.

The Grand Finale. The Bayonet charge on the unicorn enemy held position. In slow motion. (we're getting older after all, and there's grass, and uneven ground, and we're running with sharp pointy things. Mom always said, "don't run with scissors in your hand!")
Inspite of all that, the enemy was vanquished.

Position Acquired!

On a more personal note:
The first rifle I shot was Kevin's M1 Garand. I'd never shot one before. It was beautiful. Kevin handed it to me, and I held it in my hands and just admired it. Kevin asked me if I'd ever shot one before, "no", says I. Kevin loaded it for me and gave a few brief instructions. Then, I shot it. I held a piece of American History in my hands.

As the day wore down and we were getting our adolescent jollies abusing the hope 'n change unicorn, at the final firing squad, this caught my eye and I caught it with my camera:

I am not a Marine, but what the hell. Semper Fi Americans!


Oh! The hopenchange unicorn you ask?
Well, it had no hope and changed a lot over the course of the day.
This was after Nick the Blogless, Borepatch and I abused it with Nick's Evil Black 12 gage. (aka his bad idea gun)

Exit wound field

Yes, that is what unicorn blood looks like. It will not power your washing machine, or run your car.

SO.  When are we doing this again?!!!

You know you've had a great time when......

You're still sore the next day and grinning from ear to ear!

What a day I had yesterday.  Such wonderful people, such great fun and guns.... lots and lots of guns!

This time, I was determined to not shy away from shooting anything that wondered into my hands and and wow, am I glad for it!  I even took the opportunity to shoot the .50 Cal. that was there.  Oh I hope that thing makes another appearance at a future blog shoot!  I was still grinning from shooting that gun this morning!

Rabbit was kind enough to let me shoot his FAL and I have to say.....  I loved it!  That gun was so accurate, I was amazed.  That is a MUST have!

Another MUST have for me is the M1 Gerrand.  Oh god, that rifle literally sang to me and called my name when I shot it.  Thanks Kevin for letting me give it a try.

Bob S was kind enough to put his lovely Mosin Nagant in my hands and I really enjoyed shooting that one as well...    another MUST have.

Then Nick the blogless let me fire his AR15, first with .22 cal. then with what I think was .223, the interchangeable bolt is a must have feature when I finally talk KX into letting me buy an AR of my own.

And last, but certainly not least, I was reunited with Borepatch's Enfield which was as awesome as I remembered and yes an Enfield is also on the MUST have list.  The best thing that Borepatch brought with him this time was the lovely Mrs. Borepatch.  It was really great meeting her and I really like the fact that she enjoys a good margarita.

So, I'm sitting here looking at one nasty-assed bruise on my upper arm where yet again, I didn't have a gun (this time hubby's 12 guage, from which I was firing Sabot Slugs) seated properly.  I knew it was wrong at the time, but pulled the trigger anyway.     My bad.  It looks much worse than it feels though.

I was so overwhelmed with the generosity of everyone there.  I met some really great people and I really hope that we will all get together again.  I know that the next Dallas area event, hubby and I will surely make it.

Thank you so much US Citizen for hosting, it's a time that I will never forget.

kx59 is Tarred

You know, exhausted.  The Dallas Area Blogshoot was awesome today. I shot long guns today until my right shoulder just about fell off.
Look for pics and more detailed posts tomorrow.
A big thanks to USCitizen for hosting the shoot at the Sooper Secret Shooting Spot.

Just when I'd decided I wasn't going to get pissed off anymore

I thought I had maxed out, bounced off the bottom and found a state of Zen with regard to the state of planet earth. But THEN this effing happens.

I hope it happens the week that BAR is participating in the BAR Board of Directors First Annual Cruise  Meeting.

Fortunately for you tax paying scum, BAR is not a Federal Bureaucracy. Otherwise, my bar tab would be twice as high.

Well...I guess not

Left work early today to run some errands in preparation for the blog shoot tomorrow. One task was to do an oil change on the tC.
Weather report said rain, but no flooding...60% chance. Light showers they said.
So I was in the house doing a bit of blog surfing waiting for the tC engine to cool down to something below scalding oil temperature used for medievil seige defense when what did I hear?
Clank...Clank...Clank. As Forest Gump would describe it, "BIG Ole RAIN"  hitting the chimney cap. In short order the Oleander in the back yard started doing its hurricane dance. Then the crack sounds started coming at the windows. Hail? Really?  Not good, means serious updrafts, which means potential for tornadoes.
The first half of the street leading into our block flooded over the curbs. The only other times I've seen it do that was during Tropical Storm Allison and Hurricane Ike.
So, I guess the oil change waits until Sunday after the blog shoot.
This storm extends up through the Dallas area. I hope it didn't rain this bad up there. Looks like the last 1/4 mile into the shoot location is a dirt road.
I don't know how my little rollerskate of a car will handle that....yet.
Damn, and I just washed it last weekend too.
It's 4:10pm as I type. It will be interesting to see what time I'm actually able to post this.
The 'lectricity is out so I'm typing this blog post on a text editer on what's left of my laptop batt

Blogshoot!

Tomorrow is the Dallas Area Blogshoot.

Hubby and I are so looking forward to it.  The fun part is stopping by the local sporting goods store to buy the ammo for it.  I'm sure to get some funny looks from the amount of ammo I'm purchasing.

Last time I was asked if I was preparing for the Zombie Apocolypse.  heh.

Details for the shoot can be found over at Borepatch's place.

Hope to see lots of you there!

Another Lady Shooter........

Yes, there is yet another new lady shooter who has had her first taste of shooty goodness and has all the enthusiasm of a small child!

Oh wait.......  she IS a small child.  Scooter, our oldest granddaughter, received a .22 rifle for her birthday from her daddy and she loves to shoot it!  She's 6 years old and I'm so glad that she will grow up knowing how to shoot.

However, there is a little bad to go with this....  I don't think that he's concentrating too much on safety, so not this coming Saturday, but the following Saturday, Scooter will be coming to the range with Kx and I and we will start her out with some basic safety stuff and of course let her shoot hubby's Ithica .22.

So, I'm thinking that at least once or twice a month, Nana (yours truly) will take her to the range to shoot, maybe she will get a .22 for Christmas to keep at Nana & Paw Paw's house......  ;-)

Winders 7 Hell

I am in Winders 7 hell.  Normally I boot into Linux Ubuntu. It's sweet. Orange background comes up, Ubuntu logo comes up. Five dots appear and light sequentially. By the third dot, the OS is up and running and the happy little notification immediately pops up to inform me that I am connected to the BAR network. A click on Chrome for linux and I am up and running blog reading and blogging.
Winders 7 on the other hand loads Seaport (appropriate in one sense, this OS has the 2 mile turning radius of a super tanker), Mom.exe (really? Mom?What's mom doing? making sure I don't get hairy palms?) 50 other processes that probably have no relationship to what I'd actually like to do with my 'puter,  my virus protection, which of course needs an update that takes 15 minutes, finishes the 27 Windows live updates that downloaded last night when I shut the computer down, loads the HP assistant which I cannot for the life of me find out how to make it effing go away and never load on boot again.  So I close it in the middle of the boot process which seems to add another 3 minutes.  While I was typing this, the HP assistant popped up again to gleefully inform me that it needed to download a major update. Every time I've clicked the OK button on this, the wheely icon appears, HP assistant thinks about it for 4 or 5 minutes and then informs me there is a problem. So I X out of it,  Winders 7 dutifully informs me there was a problem with one of my apps, and would I like to report it to Microsoft? Clicking the send button usually results in a pibkac response; problem is between keyboard and chair. Politely informing that it is my fault.
Twenty minutes later I am up and running in Winders 7, surfing the net at a blindingly slow speed.
I"ve run on so long, I've forgotten why I booted up into tise POS OS. Be back shortly, time to restart and boot into Ubuntu.

A darkness has spread it's pall across the blogosphere

A few of my favorite bloggers have gone dark.  Some of their blogs are still online, but they haven't posted in quite some time. Some have been removed entirely.  I was invited by the Lovely Belle to contribute to her blog.  I never had any delusions of creating the next Drudge Report. I consider myself the court jester of BAR.  I fire off a good post every now and then, but those are the anomalies. Being the dilettante blogger that I am, I've hit blogger burn out more times in my short blogging "career" than you can shake a stick at.
It is highly (highly)  unlikely that I'm going to make a blog post that is picked up by the major nooos networks, or even the big time Bloggers.  I'm not going to change the opinions of rabid liberals.
I'm not going the show anyone the error of their ways or their thinking.
What I have done via my blogging is to find a community. Like minded bloggers all over this great land.
I like reading your blogs about the minutia of life. I like reading your rants. Sometimes I agree, sometimes I don't.
 I have 4 kids, all grown now. My cars break down. I have guns. I don't have a tractor but wish I did. I would love to live on acreage in the country, but I don't.  Sometimes life is briefly really good, sometimes it really sucks. Money runs out and life really really sucks.
 I guess the point I'm getting to is that you never know the impact the "mundane" post you made yesterday might have on someone out there.  A long not thought of memory of your grandmother canning spiced peaches perhaps. You never know.

In Which a Proud HillBilly Debunks Global Warming

The fork has been stuck in the global worming hoax. It's so done you need a spoon to scoop it up.
It's gotten so debunked it's not even fun to post mocking diatribes about it anymore.
A Proud HillBilly taps the final brad into the coffin with a 7 pound sledge.

Design Flaw

It's called a laptop computer right? Which indicates to me that it is intended that you would place said computer on your lap.  So, which moron thought it would be a good idea to put the intake ventilation slots on the bottom of the computer? I mean, it's not like the vent holes might get covered or anything.
I've seen high end laptops at work overheat sitting on a desk. Processor says, "My. but it is wahm in heah" and the computer shuts down. Solution was to get an aftermarket vented pad so the 'puter could breath.
(I'm looking at you Sony and your...snort, snarfle..ptooey, vaio laptops)
I know shade tree mechanics that could do a much better job of designing the cooling system. Now that I think about it, they don't have this type of problem with their laptops...probably take a drill to the bottom side of the computer and put a lift kit on the back end to improve air flow.
Belle's wireless connection keeps dropping out on her laptop. It's not a Sony.  The nubs HP substituted for feet provide upwards of 1/16" of clearance off a flat surface.  The bottom side of her 'puter gets pretty warm.
So we've got the back edge propped up this evening doing some empirical testing to see if the wifi loss is heat related.  As for me, I've learned the precise position in which to place my laptop on my lap so that it vents properly. It's a yoga pose similar to standing on one foot, holding the phone over my head and squawking like a chicken, but it does the trick.
Personally I think this is part of the Uber Corporate Conspiracy known as planned obsolescence.
More heat means a shorter life for the ' puter which means you'll go buy a new one sooner.
They don't know me vewy well, do they? You'd be surprised what  you can do with a rubber band, a paper clip and some duct tape.
And, if Belle's wifi drop out problem doesn't abate, we'll just ventilate her computer  by other means.

Wait...a....minute. I've fallen into the trap haven't I?

Nope, Still not quite right

Still working on down sizing portions in the empty nester phase of life.  That's two zucchini, one butter squash, thinly sliced, and a handful of fresh green beans sauteing in olive oil, garlic and some crushed red pepper.
It's still too much.  This was topped with a lean garlic and basil meat sauce.
The Lovely Belle requested the left overs to take for lunch tomorrow, so I still count it as a win.
I'm still trying to shake a portioning mind set that comes from two generations back.

Rights

I'm sitting here listening to the radio and Lee Greenwood, Proud to be an American is playing.

Granted, this is a wonderful song and I agree with the meaning behind the song, but there is one bit of that song that just really irks me.  In fact, it irks me so bad that I feel like I could rip someone's face off.....

The line?

I won't forget the men who died, who GAVE that right to me.

That line would be better off saying, "I won't forget the men who died, who DEFEND that right for me."

As all my BAR readers well know, I absolutely love our military and I absolutely love that our founders fought to defend our liberty and created a nation based on life, liberty and the persuit of happiness.

The problem that I have is that our Founders did not 'grant us' or 'give us' our right to live as free individuals.  They merely established a government that is supposed to be limited and that is supposed to protect we the people's  God given right to live as free individuals.

The moment that you believe that any right can be given to you by man (or government) then it is no longer a right, but a privelege.

A right is something that exists regardless of whether or not it is acknowledged by another individual or a government or other entity.

So while Lee Greenwood's song is heartwarming in a feel good kind of way, I think that he uses a poor choice of wording in the chorus.

/end rant

Dallas Area Blogshoot

Alright folks, the moment that we've all been waiting for is arriving this Saturday at 10am.  Go to Borepatch's site for the full details.

If anyone in the Houston area would like to car-pool, leave a comment or send me an email (email address is in the side bar) and will see what we can do about getting you up there.

I know that I am extremely excited about this Texas size shoot and am looking forward to ogling all the fun guns that are sure to be showing up.

I'm bringing my Tokorev SVT-40 of course and plenty of ammo for her and I'm sure that hubby will bring his shot guns with rifled slugs.

Apparently, Borepatch is bringing a stuffed toy for us to shoot at.  Last time it was Bart Simpson and I had the pleasure of sending old Bart flying with the BP's Enfield.

I can't wait to meet everyone and I am going to try (if my hotspot will pick up a decent connection) to do a little live blogging while at the shoot but I'm not making any promises on that score as I may be a little busy turning money into noise.

See y'all there!

Empowering Oneself

Last night, I played in a dart tournament and a girl friend of mine had gone to the gun range with one of our dart buddies last weekend. She had never fired a pistol before until last week, but she really wanted to get back to the range. So last night, I offered to go with her today, which she happily took me up on that offer.

My friend, Pam is a widow. She's older than I am and her son is moving out of the house soon and so this will be the first time that she's ever lived alone.

Her husband had bought her a pistol years and years ago, which stayed in the drawer. It's a Davis Industries .380, I fired it, but didn't really like it.  It was very problematic for a number of reasons.

She shot it, and I was very proud of her. While she didn't hit the bullseye, she was on the target and if it were a person, they would not be standing, I assure you.

What I explained to her is that she is now empowering herself and taking responsibility for her own self defense. She is exercising her right to defend her own life. Her goal is to get proficient with (a new gun when she decides what she wants) and comfortable shooting, then she wants to get her CHL.

I'm taking her to my favorite indoor range in a couple of weeks and am going to get her to sign up with my handgun instructor, Tracy who is very skilled and she will teach my friend without the intimidation factor and I think that Pam will be comfortable with her.

I am so proud of my friend, who also happens to be my partner at the big regional dart tournament and we share the same first name, so our team name was Pam-squared. I made sure to tell her how happy and proud of her that I am and I'm confident that she will do just fine.

I also advised her to rent various guns and make a choice based on what feels right for her and advised her to not let some yahoo or anyone else for that matter tell her what gun would be a good gun for her. She is the only one that can decide that and it's imperative that she choose the right fit, since the gun is a tool that is an extension of your hand.

So here is a pic of her little .380

And this is the box that it came in...  I've never heard of this manufacturer, anyone know anything about them?

After she shot her pistol for a little while, I then, put my XDm in her hands, which she really liked.  I'm really honored to have been there with her today and I am so looking forward to shooting with her again.

It's been a very good day so far, but then any time that I spend with Alexa and a good friend, is always a good day.

This is very touching

On Wednesday, my better half, KX was in Austin for a business meeting.

When he was heading back home, he saw many, many police cars.....    people were pulled off on the side of the road and getting out of their cars.

It was a funeral procession for Austin police officer, Jaime Padron who was killed in the line of duty on Good Friday.

This is a video of his funeral procession.

You know, I tease about the city of Austin being the city where we Texans sequestor our moonbat liberals, but this video shows that in Texas, even our moonbats understand and respect our fallen heros.

Rest in Peace Officer Jaime Padron....  Godspeed.

I know that I say it often here at BAR, but somehow I don't think it's often enough. To all of you out there who read my little blog who are either military, law enforcement, EMS or fire fighters..... I cannot thank you enough for what you do for the rest of us. There are just not enough words to express how deep my gratitude is for you all.

Apparently, I'm Wicked Smaht? Who'd a thunk it?

Okay so my last post about my gun cleaning meditation on Easter Sunday scored like this
Good to know that I write with more complexity than most authors of fiction out there.

Number of characters (without spaces) :	2,645.00
Number of words :	657.00
Number of sentences :	25.00
Average number of characters per word :	4.03
Average number of syllables per word :	1.40
Average number of words per sentence:	26.28

Indication of the number of years of formal education that a person requires in order to easily understand the text on the first reading
Gunning Fog index :	13.80

Approximate representation of the U.S. grade level needed to comprehend the text :
Coleman Liau index :	6.77
Flesch Kincaid Grade level :	11.22
ARI (Automated Readability Index) :	10.67
SMOG :	11.83

Flesch Reading Ease :

61.44

Your Blog's Flesch Reading Ease Quotient.

My previous post rates 70.54 on the Flesch Reading Ease scale. Whoot!  Beat That! ( Go figure.)
9.51 years of formal education to easily read the post. ( I rock!?)
I think Borepatch found the blog meme of the week.
G'head pick your post and post up.

My stats on the "Irony" post (pure unadulterated drivel)

Number of characters (without spaces) : 221.00
Number of words : 54.00
Number of sentences : 5.00
Average number of characters per word : 4.09
Average number of syllables per word : 1.48
Average number of words per sentence: 10.80
Indication of the number of years of formal education that a person requires in order to easily understand the text on the first reading
Gunning Fog index : 9.51
Approximate representation of the U.S. grade level needed to comprehend the text :
Coleman Liau index : 5.53
Flesch Kincaid Grade level : 6.10
ARI (Automated Readability Index) : 3.25
SMOG : 9.48
Flesch Reading Ease : 70.54

Sad, no?
If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane.

Irony?

I drove roughly 360 miles round trip for work today. My usual commute round trip is 52 miles.
I got home earlier today than any typical day.
I think at the first opportune moment, We need to move to a better location relative to work.
I might have to indulge in an adult beverage.

Top Shot - Season 4, April 10th

Well, as much as I wanted to see her stay, Gaby was elimanted last night during the regular challenge.

The challenge was fantastic and we ladies were able to drool once more over George.

In practice, Gaby seemed to do really well but they practiced at a much shorter distance than the actual challenge so adjusing for wind and distance was tough for her and she was the slowest to hit the target which was set at 1500 yards.... wow!

So we saw William and Chris in the elimination round and what a close match it was!  "It's not my fault, William" lost out and so he also went home.

I do have to give kudos to Gaby though, she really did handle her weapon well, and she was the first lady shooter to have been sat out because she was perceived as a threat by the other team.. AND I believe that she is the first lady shooter to have made it to the Every Man For Himself phase of the contest.

I would still really like to see a Lady Top Shot season but I don't know, maybe there's not a market for it....  although it seems to me that a bunch of the guys that I know love chicks with guns.......  

Fuel pumps and O rings

Hmmm, let's see, who makes those? I might be investing in those companies soon.

EPA approves E15 gasoline.
Great article at American Thinker. Peter Wilson covers pretty much all the pros and cons (mostly cons) of E15.
I remember when E10 gas came in to being. It does bad things to rubber seals in the fuel system. Mechanics were making money hand over fist replacing fuel pumps and fuel system components. Eventually the auto manufacturers adjusted and the problems dissipated. So now that everything's better, let's ratchet things up a notch. That's sure to make things better squared, right?
One of my favorite passages from the article:

"The EPA is also preparing signage and information campaigns to warn owners of older vehicles about E15. On March 2, the EPA released an "E15 Misfueling Mitigation Plan" with directions for "Labeling," "Product Transfer Documentation (PTD)," an Educational Outreach Coalition (E15EOC), and instructions for a "survey plan," in which "samples will be calculated as follows":

I hope that's clear to everyone.
I can't imagine that local gas station owners are excited by the prospect of investing in renovating their pumps to accommodate a fuel that provides fewer miles per gallon and might cause engine damage."

Well I'm certainly not putting it in the '89 beater Astro Van, and frankly I'm not to excited about putting it in the '12 tC either.  If I had a flex-fuel vehicle I wouldn't worry, but the last time I had a mechanic replace a fuel pump it ran me $600.  I learned how to drop a fuel tank and replace the pump myself after that. Even if it takes me 8 hours to do it, I'm ahead of the game.

The fuel pumps at the gas station don't like it either. But, not to worry, the government is there to subsidize pump upgrades from Obama's Magic Stash Taxpayer's money.

.

My Solace

Yesterday, my better half, KX posted about my finding solace in cleaning my pistol and admittedly nothing could be more true for me, especially on a holiday and I find myself moving to that place of melancholy where past meets present and I fondly remember, but still grieve for, family members who are no longer with me or children who are grown  up and living their own lives as children are destined to do.

Yesterday, was of course one of those days where as I cleaned my house and folded laundry, I would recall Easters past.  Remembering so many Easters with my whole family over to watch me hunt eggs and have barbecue.  One year I even got a pet bunny for Easter.

 As always time marches on and eventually, my aunts and uncles started having kids and our family grew, but the gatherings were still always at my mom and dad's house, as that's how daddy wanted it.  He was the glue, so to speak that held my mother's side of the family together.  Once he passed, we still had grandma to keep it together, but when she passed, we all scattered to the wind.

It saddens me a great deal because while we have our dysfuntion like any other family, we were close.  I grew up having no doubt whatsoever that I was loved and cherished, although I didn't always appreciate it, but hey...   the teen years are so trying.

As the day went on yesterday, I became more and more down so I decided that I needed to shift my focus on something that I love and enjoy so out came the gun cleaning kit along with the Hoppes #9 and Hoppes Gun Oil.

As I stripped Alexa (my pistol) down, I held each part of her in my hands and I would speak aloud to her, telling her how happy I have been with her performance.  How she is the perfect extension of my own hands, and when I fire her, she is an extention of me and yes, I did actually tell her what a good girl she is.

I know that some of you out there will think that I'm off my rocker, talking to inanimate objects, but really it's more for my benefit, than a belief that the gun will somehow respond to me or appreciate the fact that I'm cooing over her.

As I opened up the Hoppes #9, the scent of it was an instant calming and soothing trigger for me.  I associate that smell with helping dad clean the guns, or when dad taught me how to clean my rifle when I was a little girl.

I started by cleaning the slide using a q-tip soaked in Hoppes and making sure that I got every nook and cranny.  As I cleaned I found solace in an almost hypnotic way, my entire focus on just my gun and me.  The rest of the world just kind of drifted off as my fingers skillfully guided the q-tips, brushes and cleaning cloth over every bit of my weapon.

Once I finished, I placed oil on the slide and reassembled her, doing several dry runs to make sure the oil was neither too much, or too little.  As usual, my lovely Alexa slid beautifully and the trigger pulled perfectly.

I'm not sure if I explained to you guys why I named my pistol Alexa, but I chose Alexa because it means "protector of man".  I know that I have chosen my weapon wisely and I know that she will never let me down as long as I continue lovingly take care of her.

So having completed my task and as I returned Alexa to her holster, I felt a wave of calm rush over me and just as suddenly as it came on, my melancholy mood faded away.  It was a nice a Easter really, productive and quite beautiful.

Oh Alexa you are such a Good Girl!

I came downstairs for a break from a bit of spring cleaning.  Belle was in her last phase of "cleaning"
Overheard on the couch:
Southern Belle talking to herself: "How do you relieve Stress?....I Clean My Gun!"  (whose name is Alexa, btw)
The smell of gun oil is like incense to her.  The Zen of sidearm maintenance.
When Belle is happy, I'm happy.

Mutual Ignorance

Hollywood thrives on it.
If you and your conversational acquaintance know little about a subject you can have a conversation that will perpetuate itself until your beer money runs out. It is a well known fact that the moment someone who knows even the most minute information about the subject at hand, it shuts the conversation down.
Facts? (quizzical dog look)
Well, I heard...but then it could be...you know that's a really good point.  Where's the beertender?
This is not a concept I came up with.  Patrick McManus is the genius that enlightened me to this concept.
What? You've not read Patrick's books? ( if you ever hunted, fished or camped as a kid, read his stuff. It will make you laugh until your sides hurt)
I've actually used this concept in my work-a-day life.  Once you've groked it, you'll be surprised how often you observe people slipping into the Mutual Ignorance vortex. "Well if the specs say this then it could the that, BUT!, if the specs say that then it could be  THIS!"  (this is a one sentence distillation of a twenty minute conversation amongst myself and two other construction management "professionals"  that made me go, "wait...what?"
 Well, says I, "how about we go read the specs and see what they say?" End of conversation. (this is also known as mental masturbation, but that's a whole 'nuther blog post)
Where was I? Oh yes.
I was watching a Jon Claude Van Damme movie.    Yeah, I could totally do that!  Come head on into a guy with a glock, twist his wrist and kill him with his own gun! That's me man!  I rock!
 Suspension of Belief, is the concept I think. Or is it Disbelief? I'm so confused. I've been watching TV?

The Police shot the..er..EFF out of a car door, behind which the bad guy was driving the car.  And, the bad guy drove away and escaped.
Except, it broke the conversation I was having with the movie. Because I know a bit about that.   End of conversation.
The Buick O' Truth.

Oh, the box 'o truth part of the site is highly instructional as well.
It boils down to: You can shoot the bad guy through the wall in your house. Of course, physics being what it is, he can shoot you through the wall as well.  And, you should be mindful of where your neighbors are in relation to your target.  Good fences and carefully selected sight lines make good for good neighbors.

Top Shot - Season 4 April 3rd

Well tonight was a pretty good show.  The red team with their teamwork won the challenge and Gaby was perceived as a threat by the blue team and had to sit out.  This was a Top Shot first.  A woman has never been sat out before.  Heck, I don't think that a lady shooter has made it this far on Top Shot.

Little did the blue team know, Gaby in this even, had a hard time shooting the revolver double action,, she could only do single action which might have slowed the team down.  The revolvers that they used were really nice, one was a Webley and the other escapes my memory at the moment.

The teams had moving targets of jars hanging in wood frames.  The team that busted all their jars first won.  The blue team could not function as a team.  The red team did.

So now, they are in the green shirt phase, which is every man for himself.  I'm hoping that Gaby can hang in there for a little while longer or better yet, win.  She has a great attitude and she's a good shot.

Next week, they are going for a long target and I think that they may be bringing back George.  Remember George?  Total hottie who was a total asshole from Season 2.....    or so we thought.  He was an asshole up until he threw the competition so that Chris could win it, though George has never confirmed for certain that's what he did.