MMmm Desert!

Maybe not.

Is that a hedgehog sleeping in there?

Hmm, sell before date is...OMG way too long ago.
Fortunately the trash can has already been deployed to the curb...

I'll just march this little science experiment right out there.

.

Yeah I know...right?

I bet you are hungry.
(talking to the cat while she does her sexy kitty feed me roll on the kitchen floor)
I fed you your horrendously expensive canned cat food when I got home just like every other day.
I even gave you a tiny bit of milk on a saucer.
In short order, you horked it all up over there by the front door.
Don't look at me like I don't know what I'm talking about. I got to clean it up because Belle's gag reflex tends to exacerbate things.

The kitchen is closed.

Overheard On the Couch

Sometimes I can be a little 'gruff' in my tone of voice when speaking to my other half.  Poor guy, he will say something and catch me in the middle of watching TV or surfing the web or chatting..  and I will turn around give him my reply in full snark tone.

This happened last night and this is what took place:

Kx59:  Asks question....
Southern Belle:  Snarky reply...
Kx:  "Well goddamn, Taz!"
SB:  "Taz?"
Kx "blahblahblahblah ppppbbbllllttt" (Taz imitation, a very good one at that)
SB:  (laughing)
Kx:  "I'm just going to call you Taz, that's what you sound like."
SB:  "Fine, just for that I'm going to go get a tatoo of Taz on my shoulder"
Kx:  "Knock yourself out"


I see a Taz on my shoulder in the very very near future....   bwahahahah

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.

Christmas morning.....

Well it's Christmas day and the house is clean and ready for the influx of family that's coming over for a home cooked meal.

We had no presents this morning as my better half didn't want anything and I couldn't think of anything to buy him other than a new truck and I thought better of it since after the initial shock I would get a firm, "What the hell are you thinking, woman!"

I refuse to buy a gun for him because I don't know what he wants and a gun is a very personal thing although he does want a Bushmaster ACR.

As for my Christmas gift? Well, it's waiting to be shipped. My CHL is in the 'manufacturing' stage, soon to be mailed and my Dragon Leatherworks holster is in the making and will ship January 19th.

I did get a gift card to Academy and so I will take that and buy myself a better range bag. The one I have is just a duffle bag that I got for free at an Astros game a few years back. It's not very sturdy so I need something a little better.

Life is good. Hubby is cooking the meal so I won't have to worry about all that, I can just enjoy my day and have a few adult beverages.

I want everyone to have a very Merry Christmas filled with many blessings.

Awfully quiet

I've been awfully quiet this week between vacation and now the new job.

Everything is going well at the new job, and I'm happy to say that I think that I'm gong to like it.

I'll catch up at some point this weekend, right now, the bed is screaming my name so I think that I'm going to turn in for the night.

I've been thinking........

Thinking, wow there's a novel idea.  Seriously though, my car is in the shop on a recall item.

I bought the car last year and it's a 2007 and it's in the shop on a recall issue.  Also, recently my daughter, who also bought a used car was in the shop on a recall item for her car.

So here's my issue.  Why is it that a dealership who is selling their own brand (in both cases, these cars were brought from a Chevy dealer and both cars are Chevys) of used car that they aren't fixing recalled items on preowned vehicles before they are sold again?

In my daughter's case, it was a fuel leak in the fuel pump issue.  A fire waiting to happen.

I'm not real big on the nanny state regulating business, however, in this particular case, I'm wondering why it's not a law that when a manufacturer puts out a product that is faulty and has a recall on it, and when that product walks back through a dealer's door that they aren't required, by law, to make it right before reselling it?

I think that this would not be a bad law.  When you buy a product, especially one that is so important to your livelihood, I think that there's a reasonable expectation that the product you buy will be safe to drive.

What a hard life, eh?

I took this photos last night and this morning.

Miss Kitty has it rough.  She sleeps in a recliner on a handmade blanket.  When she's not snuggled on the recliner, she's laying across my legs, making my feet go to sleep in the process.  She's a heavy cat but oh so beautiful.  No wonder Romeo is so in love with her.

Life is tough when you're a pampered pet.  I think in my next life, I want to come back as a cat.

Hey Belle, What's for Dinner??

Only this:

My better half's favorite.  Of course I don't make it very often, but right now, he's in chicky-bird paradise.

The ultimate comfort food.

The first time I fried up a yardbird for the hubby, I ate one piece, he ate the rest of the whole chicken.  He loved it.

Leaving the light on for friends

For more than a decade, we have had little friends living behind our house number sign.  They're little geckos and I have basically adopted them.

One year, there was one gecko that I spotted in the flower pot, his back was broken and a spider was on top of him trying to make a meal out of him.  I did away with the spider, then set a large stick in the pot so that the gecko could make his way out.

His back legs were paralyzed but he made it out of there.  He lost his tail so I called him Stubby.  Stubby healed up just fine and eventually got the use of his back legs again.  He also, of course, grew another tail and lived on to make many babies, some that survived, some that didn't but nonetheless, Stubby's family is alive and thriving to this day.  If you sit very quietly, sometimes you can hear them make their cute little noises.

I was beginning to worry about my little buddies because I haven't seen them appear, until last night, that is.   If you click to enlarge the photo, you can see him behind the top portion of the sign peeking out.  I don't think he cared for the flash of my camera, but oh well.

 You see, I always leave the porch light on every night for them.  It's not because they're afraid of the dark, but because the light attracts bugs and my friends eat bugs.

It's now June Bug season and my friends will come out in droves to grab up those tasty morsels.  It's funny to watch them .  They sit very still until an unsuspecting bug lands close by and then they attack, so fiercely and swiftly you would think that they were at the top of the food chain.

So what about Stubby?  I'm not really sure.  His new tail came in and it was a smooth color, not spotted like the rest of him but I think that Stubby has probably died by now, though I do look for him.

At any rate, I love the summer season because I can smile at my little friends and from what I understand, they're also good luck, and well, I could always use a little good luck.

So now, for the rest of the summer, the porch light will stay on all night long and my visitors will be quite content and happy with plenty to eat.  Life is good if you're a gecko at the Belle's house.

I think I found my soul mate.........

Well, other than KX59.  He's the true deal.

Seriously though, I went to the range today and fired a Smith & Wesson M&P and a Springfield XDM.  

I really liked both guns, but the Springfield felt really good in my hands, a very comfortable gun to shoot.

I need all you gunnies out there to let me know your opinion on the reliability of those two guns.  Both were nice to shoot and I did enjoy the Glock 19 from Monday night.

What I didn't like about the Glock was the way the grip felt in my hands.  It was boxy and bulky and more difficult to control, though not uncontrollable.  I have heard a lot of good things about the Glock as far as reliability is concerned though.

The Smith & Wesson M&P felt really nice and was easy to control.  I shot well with it which is important and I was totally comfortable at the range today.

The Springfield, however, was love at first shot.  I know you all can relate to what I mean.  Sometimes you pick up a weapon (this goes for darts as well) and you shoot it and it just feels right.  This is how I felt with the Springfield.  I'll be doing a little research on the gun but I really would like some opinions on the reliability of it.

Meanwhile, I'm still trying to convince the hubster to come with me tomorrow to take Natasha out for a run at the range.  I really don't want to fire her alone for the first time.  Maybe y'all can help me out and tell him that a good husband takes a couple hours out of his day to take his wife to the range.  (Maybe he'll buy that, yeah that's the ticket).