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.