Oh goody! another intertubes test to splain to me what I am

Found via that hippie moderate, Borepatch.
snick, snort, heh, bwahahahaha! Damn, almost said that with straight face.

According to this totally sciency test, I am:

Nope sport, I'm just from Texas.
(fucking youtube adds!)
Ray Wylie Hubbard sums it up succinctly.

Three is a pattern

Airplane crashes always seemed to come in threes.  Maybe it was just the way the media reported them back in the day, but within a week or two there'd be one, then another and then the third.

Three of my blog-buds have recently been through some rather serious physical trials and tribulations.

This stared with The Big Guy effing up his bike. Wait, that is slightly misstated. TBG had assistance from another retard driver.  Fortunately, Ogres are physically denser than dark matter with the exception of  the gonads, which when placed into contact with a gas tank at a high speed of deceleration tend to catch fire due to the high coefficient of friction. His bike suffered more damage than he did fortunately.

TRE aka The Redneck Engineer recently went under the knife and some star wars laser beam for a double cervical fusion.  He did not say how he came to need said bone fusing, but hopefully it was not because of riding some infernal two wheeled contraption. TRE reports he is recovering well.


And most recently, Borepatch laid down his ride and did some serious, serious hurt to himself.
Other drivers are very unpredictable, even at low speed and the ground is very hard.
If he is not home now, he will be shortly to continue the healing process.

You guys be more careful.* The blogosphere would not be the same without you.
You would be missed.
I would miss you.
I never had any clue about the personal connections I would make by writing on this blog, not one.
The intertubes are an amazing thing.

* I highly recommend 4 wheels and lots of sheet metal, or at least air bags.

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3 boxes of BS appears to be down

Error establishing a database connection

The aforementioned Chicken Fried Steak

Just to tease the Ogre  Big Guy.
It's not quite Goodson's Cafe chicken fried steak, but you can't get small venue Blues at Goodson's.
Ah well. Nick Moss, Tommy Castro and Barnstormer Ale compensated just fine.
Bonus round was Nick jamming with Tommy Castro at the end of his show. It was seamless. Man those guys are good.

I'd post up video of Nick and Tommy IF I could find one that freaking works.  Youtube has gotten to be no fun.

Seems I've heard something similar before...

The perils of motorcycling

Ah, yes, it was a personal story imparted by The Big Guy, regarding a mishap behind a pig truck.
There is no "better" between the two stories. Only which sucks less.


I think I'll file this one under "Things that go Splat".


via Instapundit

Valentine's Day in 3...2....1

Gotcher flowers ordered?
Gotcher box o' candy?
Gotcher worthless diamonds gift boxed?


Raising kids and putting two through college simultaneously, Belle and I have forgone Valentine's Day gifts for a long time.
We can see the light at the end of the tunnel, so I asked her what she wanted for Valentine's Day.

"A surround sound system for the TV...one that is bluetooth compatible so I can stream music through it from my smart phone while I'm doing housework".

Done and done.

Eat your heart out boys. She's spoken for.


And as a bonus I get to gift two people.   I bought it off Amazon via Blogbud Borepatch's shiny new Amazon Affiliates link so I think a few pennies went into his tip jar.

A not so Merry Christmas

Reaching out to the brethren on the Gun Blog Blacklist.

The holiday season for Grumpy Old Fart was not good.

From his comment at Kevin's blog, The Smallest Minority

"On December 1st, my mother's house burned to the ground, with all my worldly goods in it (I had been living there for the last several years taking care of her while she was fighting cancer). On December 8th, a week later almost to the minute, she passed away at the age of 82.
Thanks, I have been badly needing a moment of Zen."

This would be the time of year I used to contribute to Wounded Warriors or the 2nd Amendment foundation.  Wounded Warriors pissed me off with their anti gun owners statements in the press.  The 2nd Amendment Foundation's telemarketers piss me off every time they call telling me they'll give me till x day to donate.  So, they get bupkiss.

Instead, I kicked in a donation for GOF here.  My little bit bumped the total just over $1K.  I know the gun blogosphere community can make that total better. 

Go donate a few bucks.

Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. God Bless you and yours.

kx59

Milestone

I feel kind of like the three year old running behind his siblings, but the BAR blog recently rolled past 100,000 page views.  Compared to the BAR blogroll, this doesn't even show up on the radar scope.

I apologize to all those that have come here expecting to find actual content or cogent thoughts.

The lovely Belle started this blog. Somehow..."you should post something on my blog" I got roped into this.*

I request that our my readers leave comments demanding that that Belle re-engage in "her" blog.
We just had a "discussion" about whether I should take her pictures off the blog.

heh.




* I like blogging. The true bonus is that I've met quite a few folks IRL that I never would have otherwise, for which my life is richer.

I know, I'm a little slow at times.

Our most recent member, Joe Schmo from The Daily Smug has been added to the blog roll.
Joe posts actual content unlike the drivel and snark I post here.

What became of Aretae?

I've not visited his blog in a while. I just noticed my blog roll shows his most recent post 2 months ago.
So I clicked it and got this:

I've not been invited to the party, so says the error message.

DAB III AAR

Pretty sparklies.  I almost don't want to shoot them.

Photo Credit - Duh*

First off, thanks to Bob for hosting this event at his private gun club.  Man that place is awesome.
We had a really great time at Dallas Area Blogshoot III.  Only three fifths of the BAR clan originally intending on going made it.  Belle and Bootsie both caught some type of crud and went down for the count.
So it was yours truly, Sonnage and Duh* representing BAR at the shoot.
While my childrens haven't become avid shooters, I'm pleased that when invited they are always game for a bit of shooty goodness.
We spent more time shooting pistols than anything else.

We brought a few hand toys with us.  The most "amusing" was the Taurus .44 mag revolver Sonnage brought with him.
It has a very light frame.  Shooting cowboy action loads out of it was not so bad.  The recoil from the  "real" loads was horrific.





On to the pics:
Duh tries out Belle's Glock 26                                     Sonnage shoots the XDm

Those two are so calm, cool and collected handling firearms, I had to ask if they were having a good time.  A positive response brought a smile to my face.

It wasn't all business at the range though.
Wait, what? What are you doing back there child?

 

Range rules prohibited The Redneck Engineer's .50 cal party favor, but Bob brought party balloons.

                 
     

Those buggers just won't sit still in the wind and let you shoot them.  We had a little game of "one shot"  to see who could pop the most balloons with a handgun.
Srsly? I missed? stoopid wind.

The Redneck Engineer brought a 9mm carbine with him.  I didn't mention this to him, but prior to the Great Ammo Shortage of '13 I'd periodically been shopping for a 9mm carbine.  This one had a red dot site on it too! I've never shot a red dot sight in real life. Man that was cool!  That's your's truly shooting at steel targets.
The sight was having some issues.  TRE said he thought the battery was about to crap out.  It was off by one full steel target to the left. So I just adjusted and aimed one steel target to the right. Plink. Plink. Plink.
The far right target was the more challenging to hit, as I had to eyeball the offset.









I learned that while my son had been taught to shoot a rifle by his Grandfather, my daughter had never shot a rifle  before.  Our gracious host acquiesced to my request to provide a bit of tutelage to Duh in the fundamentals of rifle shooting.


Ugh.  I was trying to get a good pic of Bob S. and Duh stepped right in the way.
Duh shoots one of Bob's .22 LR rifles.













Later, My son and I brought out the .22 LR Ithaca saddle gun to do some plinking at steel targets.
That little rifle is older than he is, by quite a bit. I think I bought that when I was 18 just because I thought it was cool.  I had no real idea at the age of 18 as to what I was going to do with it.
This might be the 4th or 5th time it's actually had rounds run through it.
Now I know.  It was so my future son and I could flatten lead on steel disks....some day.

Belle's Tokorev didn't make the trip.  Someone, ahem, didn't maintain her rifle properly after the last time it was shot.  In a word, RUST.  Rust in bad places. Shame. Shame. Shame.  If she doesn't do better, I'm taking possession of said rifle.
Having a plethora of 7.62 x 54R ammo, I brought that to cycle through Bob's Mosins.
I brought way more than I was willing to shoot.

Not shown in the photo are the bayonets on most of those Mosin Nagants.  I found those pointy sticky things to be a bit intimidating.  They were long enough to protrude through the back side of my rather portly figure.

I shot one of Bob's Mosins twice.  I have an exquisite sore spot lingering on my right shoulder as I type this post.
When you shoot a Mosin Nagant, you know you've shot a RIFLE.













In parting, I'll leave you with a video of my reaction to shooting "real" .44 mag loads out of a very light framed revolver.

*  When my grand daughter was learning to talk, she couldn't say "Amanda" and referred to my daughter as "duh".  That moniker stuck for quite a while, but has faded into disuse as the grand child grew and could handle three syllable words.  I'm still kind of fond of the nickname though. It is completely inaccurate nick however.  Duh is not duh.

The first half century

Happy Birthday Bob! The big five oh.

He was celebrating his birthday today at the blog shoot.  At least that was the rumor going 'round

I neither confirm nor deny that I've actually met Bob.

More on DAB III in a little while. I'm off loading pics right now.

Nothing good happens after midnight

That's what my elders always told me anyway.  Turns out they were right. So, you don't find me out that late much these days.

Between 7 and 9pm, that's the sweet spot.  In spite of the previous post, Dinner was actually at the Ragin Cajun.  The Big Guy is in town and needed to refuel the Cayenne pepper reactor that drives his gravitational personality.  Jay had two of his mates from work in tow. Really nice guys. They both like Shiner Bock. That makes them OK in my book, I don't care what anyone else says.

Between Belle and Jay it was hard to get a word in edgewise, but it's just as well. I spent too much time attempting to coordinate the swallowing of  beer while laughing.

While listening to some of the back story of Mr Frogs Wild Ride Jay's ride home from Texas to Florida after DAB II in a 900 mile blinding rainstorm that never made the front page of Listen to Uncle Jay,  I learned that Ogres on motorcycles actually cannot absorb all that much water. Who knew? Right?

Thanks Jay.  We had a great time. Always good to see you.

As for the post title. If you close down the bar, you always see all the other drunks on the road going home. At 9:30 pm the amateur drunks are out after the office "happy hour"  in really heavy traffic running at 70 mph.  I do believe I uttered the word "really?" ten times on the way home tonight.










Protip for young single men: If you like your women on the trashy side, like the song lyric goes, there is some pretty hot trailer trash that hangs out at the Cajun on Friday nights. In herds no less.  Take a wad of cash as bait. They're looking for sugar daddies.


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My! but things have gotten busy

Borepatch passed through town and emailed about a dinner meetup.  Being the lazy yahoo email reader that I am, I didn't see it till he was already headed out. His follow up email indicated he'd gotten tied up and probably wouldn't be able to make it, but I'm still annoyed with myself.
Turns out the Mighty Kevin. was in town as well and this would have been a blog meetup with two of my favorite bloggers.  A blogshoot reunion. Doubly annoyed with myself.
 It was not to be so.

Sigh.
All is not lost though.
The Big Guy will be in the BAR Extra-territorial jurisdiction soon and has an insatiable  need to cut his thumbs peeling mud bugs, extra ZING* included, double your order just pay extra shipping and handling.

Speaking of traveling bloggers, who all is headed to Houston for the NRA convention?



 * Cayenne pepper, the Coon-Ass answer to Merthiolate applied to a scratched ringworm. It's debatable whether it's hotter going in than coming out.

Who Says?

Blog shoots aren't festive and fun?

TRE with his .50 cal party favor* at DAB II

Video at Five, here.

* He does look pleased with himself, doesn't he? :-)

DAB III

It must mean it's getting close to time for

* Shade of blue photo and quote credit: TRE.
It was just too funny not to steal.

Mother Mother Ocean

A bit of music for our snow bound blog friends from more tropical environs.
This happens to be Belle's favorite Jimmy Buffet song.  I like it a lot too. It always makes me think of Uncle Jay, who is currently up to mischief down under.  Go, have a look. The pics will take the chill out of your bones.

Some Friendly Advice for USA Today Sports

It makes him Angry.

Uncle Jay writes in to say,

"Who you callin' a &$@%#ing oversized Woody Harrelson, punk?"

Which the USA Today writer did...

I was going to turn this into a Where's the Ogre Waldo post, but my brain says I should take my own advice.  For those that have personally been in the Mighty Jay's gravitational field, take note of the photo.

What color is a Zombie's blood?

Before:

After

Now that I look at the after pic, someone had a grudge. Notice the bottom center of the target?

I suspect the women shooters at the DAB.  Nice grouping though.

Can I get an "Ow"?

My last DAB v2.0 post

Maybe.
I might find another good pic yet.

First,  another thanks to Bob S. and TheRedneckEngineer for organizing and hosting the event.
Second, thanks to Borepatch for the community organizing legacy he left us before heading home to Georgia.
You never know what impact your blog might have, do you?
This post isn't about the cool guns I shot at DAB II. This is about the people I've met at blogshoots.

The BAR "Bloggers we've met" roll was created after the first Lockhart blogshoot, and has been growing steadily since then.

It's a good thing most of us blog*. Blogshoots are not the best venue to meet and greet. Or, carry on an in depth conversation for that matter. We're at the range, we have guns, boy do we have guns, and lot's of ammo and there's a target that needs some shootin' somewhere.

I bet I know more about how my blogbuds think than I know about many of the folks I work with.
I read your considered thoughts on nearly a daily basis. I read about your trials and tribulations, your successes, your happy moments with family, the stuff you build. (I bet if you gave TRE a box of paperclips, he would build a .22 LR zip gun out of it.)

TheRedneckEngineer and I exchanged a few emails post event.  I was not at the height of my game, to be sure the day of the shoot.  TRE expressed concern that I was pissed about something, which was not the case. The fact that he asked says a lot to me.
The Lovely, and Loves her High Caliber Rifles, Southern Belle is the gun nut in the family. Me? I really, really like to shoot, and I'm happy when I shoot well. For me, guns hold no more magic than my torque wrenches though. Did I mention that I like to shoot?

I'm all in for DAB v3.0.  I'll be up for the same reason I came this time. It was to see you guys, and meet some, new to me, bloggers. (and shoot a ridiculous amount of ammo in one day)


* Nick the Blogless gets a pass because he is such a nice and charming guy that has a really badass tactical shotgun.