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.