The Next Chapter

Boycott Apple?

2012-01-30T04:30:00.000-06:00

Overseas workers are being exploited, but why target Apple as the sole corporation involved?

It is easy to get caught up in the passion of this issue andI am always willing to vote with my wallet, but after some study and thought, Iam of the opinion that Apple is striving to become part of the solution.

Time will tell.

$3.4 Billion owed to IRS by delinquent federal workers and retirees

2012-01-29T11:49:00.001-06:00

Click AP story HERE.

To solve this problem, Congress will likely pass another law…exempting them from accountability.

Government has long been out of control. It is again election year. Please VOTE.

Study concludes that all you smart peoples are more better than us dumb folks

2012-01-26T19:42:00.002-06:00

Yep, this here study cain’t be wrong ‘cause, heck, I foundit on the scientific part of the Internet. That there is proof in and of itself, for certain!

Now, I don’t want you to think for one-down-home-second thatI am proud to be locked solidly on the left-hand side of the IQ bell curve, butthere is just no denying it. My sainted Maand Pa used to shake their heads sorrowfully and mutter “there’s sumpin’ wrongwit dat boy” each time the schoolteachers would show them where I sat on thecurve as opposed to where my classmates were perched. I took several tests during my adulthood andfound that there was little change in the score from my early days. One testing firm even sent me a letter ofconsolation, fully refunded my fees, and offered a list of low-skill vocations thatI could pursue. By golly, I did findemployment in many of those recommended fields. However, no matter where I worked, everyone was always much smarter thanI was.

Peculiar as it may seem, during my long life I have nevermet any man or woman who ever claimed to have an average IQ. Everyone except me has tested near or abovethe genius level. Never in all thedecades of my adult life have I won an intellectual argument; during an encounterwith any of you well-lettered folks, a simple switch from your sophisms to yourIQ score instantly vanquishes me. Therejust ain’t no denying that those smartness-score-numbers tell the whole truthand, nope, it don’t bother me none. Faceit, without me being all dummied up, you smart folks would have nobody to feelsuperior to. Besides, I find my two digit IQ score easy to keep track off. All you brainy folks with the three digit IQscan’t seem to keep them straight; on one online forum I documented aparticipant bragging his score up in multi-point-increments over severaldifferent threads, from a low of 147 all the way up through 265 (which hedefended as a typo). Then there was thetime when an out-of-work school administrator, bored by the tedium of standingin the checkout line at Sam’s Club, hooked me into a political debate. After offering two different IQ scores duringthe argument, in a fit of frustration he whipped out a card from his wallet “verifying”his membership in an exclusive club of super smart people called “Mensatruaters”or some such. Goodness sakes alive, therejust ain’t no sense in me arguing with that kind of authentication. All Icould offer was my voter’s registration card, to which he snorted, “Dumb peopleshould not be allowed to vote!” In spite of my humiliation, it was an honor forme to brush up against such greatness. The last I saw of him, he was wanderingaround the parking lot trying to remember where he had parked.

As far as being racist, I freely admit to my not trustinganyone outside of the human race. Those littlegreen Martians have such big heads that you just gotta know that all they everthink about is sticking their probes inside of our earth women! Stop them Martians before it is too late orthey will pollute our gene pool so badly that all of our children will be bornlooking like Newt Gingrich. Mark mywords!

Overall, I suppose what puzzles me the most is why thingsnever seem to get any better with all you smart folks running things. When y’all come up with an answer that canmake some sense to someone of such a simple mind, you can find me here,snoozing on the shady side of the tree of knowledge, patiently waiting forwhatever comes my way, whether it be horny little green Martian women,sagacity, or the delivery of a twelve-pack of cold beer.

USA DOJ proves SOPA - PIPA not needed

2012-01-21T21:49:00.000-06:00

Advocates say SOPA – PIPA laws are needed to combatpiracy. Many of us suspect that the lawsalready on the books provide all the tools necessary. No sooner than the legislative progress onSOPA – PIPA is gummed up in response to Internet activism against SOPA – PIPA,the USA DOJ underscores our suspicions by raiding Megaupload.

When existing laws are not enforced, Congress solves nothing by writing new laws.

The 1/18/2012 SOPA-PIPA BLACKOUT PROTEST is now over

2012-01-19T00:01:00.000-06:00

This obscure little eclectic blog site has been locked down forthe 24-hours between midnights. Perhapsit was silly of me to think my participation would have an impact, but it takesmany to generate the roar of a hundred thousand hands clapping. While the monster-sized sites carried the weight of this protest, we fleas at least added to the itch.

So, was it all for naught? CLICK HERE to read the New York Times view on the protest.

Congressional Annual Merit Pay Increases

2012-01-17T13:46:00.002-06:00

Would it not be ever so sweet for TAXPAYERS to have thepower to VOTE pay raises for Congress? No COLA for Congress, no voting themselves pay raises, the TAXPAYERS getto decide if they have earned their keep. HEH! It sounds like fun.

When ELECTION TIME rolls around, NOBODY is forced to voteand we seem to get the same old sad lot of career politicians in office. TAX TIME is another story; participation forthe majority of U.S. citizens is not optional and the folks who don’t file theirreturns face criminal charges. Since weALL are familiar with federal tax forms, it would not be much of a burden tohave just one more page, or maybe even just another block on an existing page,for us to mark our vote for binding Congressional pay increases. By golly, I bet that people of the U.S.A.would start looking forward to tax time and that the IRS would have noticeablyfewer missing returns to chase down.

Goring the Sacred Cow of pork spending on General Aviation Airports

2012-01-15T20:17:00.001-06:00

This USA TODAY article paints a picture that partisans mayfind arguable. However, Federal Fundingof General Aviation is one of many areas that our government needs to take anHONEST look in the mirror and consider making some major changes.

When talking about the Federal Budget, most of thediscussion swings to the select few super-mega-buck items while the other hundreds(if not thousands) of lessor cost special-interest expenditures are blown-offwith remarks like “cutting them only saves $Millions or $Billions, we need tofind ways to save $TRILLIONS!” Well, Ifeel obligated to argue that if we obsessively start cutting a slice of baconhere and there, sooner or later we have gone whole-hog and cut away all of thepork.

“GRANT” and all of its synonyms should be removed from thelexicon of our legislative budget process and replaced with the term “fullysecuritized, non-forgivable, federal LOAN.”

Which sucks worse, SOPA or PIPA?

2012-01-14T21:43:00.000-06:00

My eyes bleed from reading so much on SOPA and PIPA. Given that one is a House bill and the otheris a Senate bill, it may even be possible to rephrase, “Which party sucks more, Republicans or Democrats?” Tobe more polite, let us simply ask which political party favors biggergovernment and special interests? It ishard for me to come up with an answer other than “Both major political parties, equally.” I have heard arguments both ways, but remain unconvinced that oneparty is more righteous than the other.

Are there are enough laws on the books to do most of whatthe advocates want from SOPA and PIPA? Possibly, but my humble impression is that the existing laws do notoffer raw expediency; Napster was not resolved overnight. It is (again) my ever humble opinion that issuesNOT COVERED BY EXISTING LAWS should be the ONLY things being considered ineither bill.

The sitting POTUS is missing a cherry-pie election-yearopportunity on this debacle by not forcefully waving his veto pen at both majorpolitical parties.

TIMELY UPDATE: VIA INSTAPUNDIT WE LEARN THAT SOPA HAS BEEN SHELVED

CDC bumps murder off list of top killers

2012-01-12T19:05:00.006-06:00

Click HERE to read Reuters.

Always skeptical of any fully automatic conclusion, I findthe possibility of a “more guns less crime” connection quite interesting.

Drug testing public aid recipients

2012-01-10T18:18:00.002-06:00

I have no problem with that sleepy old idea, except to saythat it is wasted on the pale end of the spectrum. There is a possibility that a modified conceptwould have a grander fiscal effect, all the while providing us with unceasingsocial-media entertainment. I speak of drug-testingthose who feed at the higher end of the public money trough, beginning with thePresident and then on down through the vast herd of federal, state, and localpoliticians. Some taxpayers may prefer once-a-weekrandom urine samples of the high-and-mighty, verified by publicly availablevideo, but since we are all used to politicians pissing on us, most would finda poetic attraction to witnessing blood being drawn from the parasites.

Count on my support if the idea is reconciled to includewhat I have outlined above. If for nothing more, do it for all theunderemployed phlebotomists and their children.

Be wary of those who want you to “do it for the children.”

2012-01-09T23:57:00.002-06:00

That ancient appeal outlived all generations of childrenthat it failed. The principal and accrued interest on those broken promises hasyet to be tallied, let alone paid.

New Illinois Law requires photo ID and signature to buy drain cleaner

2012-01-05T21:24:00.001-06:00

No, I am not kidding. The law went into effect January 1st. This is a PRIME example of government gone insane.

Illinois has over 11-million people. TWO–people in Chicago were attacked withdrain cleaner and grievously injured, so our WORLD FAMOUS Illinois Lawmakersdecided to protect the other millions of Illinois citizens and go thegun-control route with Drano, Liquid Plumber, and other such householdproducts. This is a perfect example oflawmakers living by the creed, “we have to do SOMETHING even if it is WRONG!”

Please save us from Illinois lawmakers; QUIT VOTING FOR THESEINCUMBENT IDIOTS, beginning with State Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock). “Do it for the children!”

Oklahoma Mom shotguns home invader

2012-01-04T17:24:00.005-06:00

Two guys are trying to break into her locked home while sheis inside with her baby. She is on thephone with a 911 dispatcher for 21-minutes while waiting for the police toarrive. CNN has the story HERE.

Wisconsin government overwhelmed by concealed carry applications

2012-01-02T20:17:00.001-06:00

Multiple news sources are carrying the story. The New Year brings new laws, and there are somany folks wanting to be well heeled that the Wisconsin DOJ will not be able tofill the applications in the timeframe required by law.

My cynical nature wonders how many non-voters andvoting-anti-gunners are in this queue of applicants. Anyhow, I would like to remind our neighborsto the north that Illinois Law is still rabidly anti-concealed-carry and if youget caught carrying on this side of the line you face a Class-4 felony; just somethingto consider before taking the family to Six Flags or Gurnee Mills.

The 2011 holiday chores are almost done

2012-01-02T18:25:00.005-06:00

It is 2012 so there is no time left to dawdle. I took down all of the outdoor Christmasdecorations yesterday; a cold snap was predicted and I wanted to get it alldown before the weather turned vicious and froze everything in place. Further, a city ordinance says thedecorations have to be down within 30-days of the holiday, so I only had untilaround January 25th.

Everything inside the house was taken down today and putinside the storage boxes. All thatremains is to take the tree and boxes into the basement, and then I can markthis season off my list.

An announcement from Matt over at Del Fatti Leather

2011-12-30T21:15:00.001-06:00

"In an effort to shorten the build and delivery times, wewill only be accepting new orders for holsters made for the following handguns: 1911 pattern pistols, Browning High Powers, HK P7 series pistols, Seecamppistols, Rohrbaugh R9 pistols, and some selected revolvers. In addition,we will limit the number of orders we accept in one opening so we can completethem within 6 months."

"Effective 12/30/11 - We are accepting new orders."

Planning out the New Year 2012

2011-12-30T19:17:00.000-06:00

Just finished our 2012 family budget; I’ve been doing mybudgets for home and work on spreadsheets since the days of VisiCalc. It is getting tighter for us to make endsmeet, but if we can quit adopting sick cats and helping out destitute friendsand relatives, each who say that they “keep track of my finances in my head,” weshould be okay at least for another year. The taxes and health insurance costs are murderous, but I assume those problems are nationally pervasive. It isfunny that the government programs to help the needy are not available to help theneedy that I know. Quite frankly I amgrowing weary of people practicing foolhardy financial hygiene for their entirelives then loudly adorning themselves in the robes of victimhood when theirworld falls apart. Please BUDGET,people. Quit spending money you don’thave on things you really do not need. In my blue, gray, and white-collar lifetime I was amazed to meet so manypeople who felt qualified to manage multi-million dollar corporate budgets whenthey lived one paycheck away from bankruptcy. Money in your personal bank account is power and freedom. Debt indentures you to a life of sycophancyand servitude, which is exactly where the banks and politicians (andoccasionally, your spouse or significant other) want you to be.

As far as our other contingencies, today I exercised the engineson the portable generator, both snow blowers, and (optimistically) the ridinglawn mower. I have cut down on theemergency supply of food and household paper products so I can reorganize the basement,but I expect to be done with that project and fully restocked before the end of the Mayan calendar when the gods shower cataclysmic horror down on our poordefenseless little noggins.

Restaurant Seatology

2011-12-29T21:08:00.002-06:00

Have you been downsized, outsourced, or just plainshit-canned from your job? Considerreturning to school to get a degree in the growing field of restaurantseatology. Restaurant seatologiststs arethose well-coiffed mysterious looking folks wearing wireless-radio headsets andtoting clipboards who stare you down when you enter most foodestablishments. They all sport a rehearsedceramic smile that would make a Doberman submissively incontinent.

“Welcome to Olive Lobster restaurant. How many in your party?” (You answer, “Two please, and we would prefera booth by the window.” The greeting-seatologist’srazor sharp smile turns to a full snarl.)

“Ahem, WELL, we will SEE what we can do.” (At this point,the greeting-seatologist mumbles something into her microphone to theseating-seatologist about some lowlife troublemaker wanting a booth. They exchange words for a few moments, glancedown at their clipboards, and then several waitresses are called into theconference. After many tense moments, adecision is finally reached.)

“Sir, there will be a twenty-minute wait for a booth. “(Atthis point, you ask why there will be a wait, pointing out that the restaurantis nearly empty and that there are clean booths right by the window.)

“SIR, that section is closed.” (For the entertainment of the othercustomers, you ask in your loudest, most incredulous tone of voice, “Why is itclosed? Is there a problem with theHealth Department?”)

“NO! SIR, thewaitress for that area has gone home and we have nobody assigned to it!” (Youin turn point out that a waitress is serving a party seated across the aislefrom the row of empty booths, a mere five steps away.)

“SIR, we have a system whereby all of the work is dividedequally between all the staff for better customer service. You can either take a table now (with theunpadded chairs, paralyzing backache guaranteed) or we will have a boothavailable for you in about twenty minutes.” (You now ask to speak to themanager, or you sulk back outside and go to another restaurant, or you tuckyour tail between your legs and go sit where you are told.)

By gosh and by golly, those restaurant seatologists enviablyhave authority second only to U.S. Government Federal Agents. You will sit wherever they damn well tell youto sit or you can go hungry.

While it is not for me to tell nationally famous restaurantslike Olive Lobster or Red Garden how to treat their paying customers, it is my ever-humbleopinion that folks tend to frequent establishments that treat customers to somegood service. While I am glad thatthese big chains offer a respectable vocation for willing American workers,fewer autocratic greeters and seaters on the payrolls sure would make me ahappier patron.

News to help you snooze

2011-12-27T17:42:00.000-06:00

It was time for me to get a haircut today; it was 13-weekssince the last one. I wish I could saythat I look human again, but I don’t.

Stretching our cash and carry budget to the limits, wepicked out a new all-leather sofa and loveseat for the living room, paid forthem, and had them delivered today. Thecats did not want to let go of the 13-year-old raggedy furniture but it wasnice for us to see it hauled away. Wehad to settle for furniture made in China; we could not find anything we wantedthat was USA made and NOT priced far beyond our means. We did, however, buy from a local independentrather than from a high volume national chain.

The many expert predictions of “THE WORST CHICAGO WINTEREVER!” so far have been unfulfilled. The benchmark winter of 1978-1979 began around Thanksgiving, so we have someserious catching up to do before the experts can thump their chests in victory. 2011 was the greenest Chicagoland Christmas Ican remember.

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2011

2011-12-25T00:30:00.000-06:00

Coyote is 17 years old but still believes in Santa. As for me...

Seasons Greetings from the Feline Opium Den

2011-12-22T10:48:00.000-06:00

Despite being neutered, Freak continues to urine-spray mark“his territory.” On December 16 we begantesting Feliway on our cats. Overall,the product does seem to mellow out all the cats, but today Freak is back to spraying. We clean up and deodorize his “marks” asfast as we can to discourage his compulsion … he unquestionably has been achallenge.

Anyway, I am sure that Coyote (aka Her Royal Highness),Stick (aka Snake), and Freak (aka Mr. Pee-Pee) want to wish you all a MERRYCHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Are you taking the kids to visit Santa?

2011-12-17T10:32:00.000-06:00

Click here for advice from the North Pole, via Texas.

“Last, please understand sometimes visiting Santa takes a little longer. There was the little boy who wanted his father to come home from prison. There was the little girl who wanted her late grandmother back. Both of these were young enough to think I could actually help. You don’t shove a candy cane in their hand and kick them off the stage after that. Santa also needed a moment; folks shouldn’t see him cry either.”

A .45ACP lever action rifle would be fantastic

2011-12-16T22:25:00.001-06:00

I never understood why Winchester never did one. Leave it to Ed Harris to show us the way.

Blogging to you live from high atop a new 13-inch MacBook Pro

2011-12-14T22:05:00.001-06:00

My strategic budget plan needed alterationshortly after my previous blog post.

The final error message from my old Toshiba was“YOUR MOTHERBOARD IS SMOLDERING. FORYOUR SAFETY AND COMFORT, PLEASE REMOVE THE COMPUTER FROM YOUR LAP AND DO NOTINHALE UNTIL THE ROOM IS ONCE AGAIN SMOKE FREE.”

The new MacBook is paid for, but now it will bea bit before I save enough for new furniture that I promised. My cash and carry lifestyle is a bit inconvenientat times, but it keeps the wolves from my door.

This is my first Apple purchase. In fact, the last Apple computer I did any workwith was an Apple IIe. When I mentionedthat to the store sales geek his response was "whazzat?"

It has been a long strange trip down thesilicon road for me. The first computerI bought was a Sinclair ZX81, which was just before the Timex Sinclair. Then Commodore, then on to a string of MS-DOSboxes (anyone remember the 8086 processor?). The many MS-Windows I had for personal and professional use were goodenough and got the job done but the time is right for a change. I’ve decided to move on to the world of theApple… just don’t expect to find me lounging around Starbucks.

I have had this Toshiba laptop since June 1, 2006.

2011-12-10T22:45:00.001-06:00

It has been a good enough workhorse but hardware and software wise it has been a challenge to keep it running for the 5.5 years that I have had it. I keep putting off getting a new one but methinks I have pushed my luck long enough. After the first of the year, I need to buy a new sofa and love seat for the living room BEFORE I can get a new laptop (if the unforeseen does not challenge my sacred budget).

I am not married to Toshiba hardware and MS software even though I have had decent luck with both. I can find only one USA made laptop and I am not sure my patriotism will overcome my fears that the outfit may no measure up; I expect no less than 3-years of service from my computers and my current laptop is not the first one I have used for over 5-years.

Just as cell phones and personal computers did, I believe electric cars can evolve into a marketable product line.

2011-12-09T14:11:00.001-06:00

First off, the range between recharges needs to extend well over 300-miles. Next, the recharge time needs to drop from hours to minutes. Third, recharge sites need to be as ubiquitous as gasoline filling stations. Fourth, the unsubsidized purchase price needs to be competitive with conventional cars. Fifth, battery life and electrical components should be fully guaranteed for five-years. Finally, they should be as stylish, as roomy, as comfortable, and as fast as conventional cars.

I believe in the

USA

free market and I believe in the American People, and I believe that technological evolution results in lifestyle revolutions. No government agency mandated iPods, iPhones, or iPads. As this electric car business evolves, I can imagine some big-name big-box retailer offering low-cost recharge sites for shoppers followed by a big-name hotel/motel chain offering low-cost recharge sites for travelers. If the automakers can capture the imagination of the American people as they did in the 1950s and 1960s, seeing the

USA

in your E-Chevrolet can become an adventure. Every Mom and Pop business along the Old Route 66 can offer curbside recharge sites where the old curbside gasoline pumps used to be.

The Smart Cars are coming

2011-12-08T20:20:00.001-06:00

… because drivers continue to do stupid things and the noble ideal of mass transportation has been nothing but an expensive government pork filled failure.

Hell, I look forward to letting my driver’s license expire and then drinking myself silly while watching TV or surfing the webz as my Apple iCar drives me around the country. I hope they hurry all of this technology up; I am getting somewhat old.

Corzine uses the “I’m just The Village Idiot” defense

2011-12-08T14:04:00.001-06:00

MF Global's Corzine - I did not intend to break rules (Reuters)

If his defense sounds vaguely like the songs sung by Rod Blagojevich and George Ryan, remember that Jon Corzine was once Governor of New Jersey.

Are bloggers protected journalists?

2011-12-07T21:07:00.001-06:00

A federal judge in Oregon says no.

The wide wild world of guns meme

2011-12-05T23:09:00.001-06:00

How many different countries are represented in your gun locker? Glenn B came up with the idea; you can find the guidelines over at his site.

Off the top of my noggin, I can only come up with ~~eight~~ nine countries hanging on my gun racks.

USA

is first, with most everything I own. The balance follows.

Argentina

military surplus 1911A1

Austria made Glock 17

Belgium made Baby Browning and Browning .22 take down rifle

Brazil made Rossi 20-gauge coach gun

France made Walther PPK (yeah, I know is says Germany but we all know otherwise)

Germany police surplus H&K PSP and the Mauser C96

Italy

made Beretta Minx

Yugoslavia made Mauser M-48B (I have yet to blog about mine so the link goes to Carteach0’s most excellent coverage)

Dog shoots hunter…

2011-12-01T17:59:00.001-06:00

… in the ass with birdshot from a 12 gauge shotgun. IIRC, there seems to be at least one story like this every year. Via Reuters, we learn that this hunter will be fine. Others have not fared as well…

The Blue Suede Seecamp

2011-12-01T11:27:00.001-06:00

Elvis Presley had a taste for guns customized loudly and proudly. An Elvis fan recently had this tribute Seecamp done to the tune of Blue Suede Shoes, complete with a blue suede holster.

The first step in dealing with Winter Depression and the Holiday Season Blues

2011-11-30T19:47:00.001-06:00

Next, keep repeating “Bah HUMBUG!” and “think SPRING!”

Lockable pistol case for PSA or Browning Baby

2011-11-22T20:24:00.001-06:00

Gift idea From Lenn Kristal, President

Precision Small Arms, Inc.

P.O. Box 931

Aspen, Colorado USA 81612

Telephone: (970) 390 5520

Fax: (970) 797 1630
Email: sales@precisionsmallarms.com

Machined from aerospace aluminum, our two-tier, lockable pistol case has a fixed lower plate with cutouts for 12 bullets, 2 magazines and a barrel cleaning brush. The upper tier securely cradles your PSA-25, Baby Browning, Fraser, Bauer, or PSP pistol. Limited quantities. Made expressly for us by Mauro and his team at Technoframes in Bergamo, Italy.

Our Holiday Price: $135.00

S & H: FREE!

EnGarde introduces ballistic blanket

2011-11-21T21:54:00.001-06:00

(Zack note: The following is a product announcement from EnGarde. As gunnie bloggers, we often consider many ways to put holes into the bad guys but rarely do we consider ways to prevent folks from putting holes into us.)

The EnGarde body armor Ballistic Bomb Blanket is one of the most versatile and useful pieces of ballistic protective equipment we offer. Our bomb blankets provide personnel and property with Level IIIA protection from small explosive devices and grenade fragments in a convenient, lightweight package that can be deployed quickly and easily in a variety of threat situations.

Designed for use by either unskilled personnel or EOD/IOD technicians, ballistic bomb blankets can be used in an almost infinite number of ways to protect personnel and property. Our bomb blanket has a variety of heavy duty web straps and connectors that can be used to hang the blanket over windows and interior spaces or secure it around suspected explosive devices or equipment you want to protect from shrapnel.

Bomb blankets are one of the most cost effective and easy ways to provide extra protection to crew areas of a ship or industrial facility by quickly deploying the blankets to create "safe areas" for personnel. It's also possible to use the blankets to temporarily reinforce areas of a ship, such as the bridge and wheelhouse, which frequently contain a lot of glass and are particularly susceptible to high speed fragments.

Our lightweight, highly portable ballistic bomb blankets are specifically designed to be quickly and easily secured over windows, doors, and walls. They can quickly be deployed in almost any high risk situation including executive security, perimeter defense, and other personnel and equipment security needs.

Our bomb blankets are constructed from multiple layers of the latest Dyneema SB-71 fiber. The layers of Dyneema SB-71 are then carefully sealed into a 100 percent waterproof PVC cover. The PVC cover is then put into an heavy duty outside shell made of Nomex III Steel fabric, composed of 99 percent Nomex III and 1 percent steel. The outer shell of EnGarde's ballistic blankets is resistant to fire, abrasion, and chemicals. Our blankets are made with 12 straps with loopholes making it easy to attach the bomb blanket in a variety of scenarios. Compare that with our low-quality competitors that provide only corner straps.

This product has helped our customers secure ships, cars, trucks, planes, helicopters and industrial facilities. Due to the light weight and versatile construction, our bomb blankets are ready to be deployed any time the situation warrants, whether it be securing the bridge of a freighter traveling off the coast of Somalia or for adding a extra layer of protection to personnel quarters.

Specifications
Ballistic material: Dyneema SB-71
Protection Level: NIJ Level IIIA / V50 17 grain steel fragment @ 542 m/s
Size: 63" x 63" / 160 cm x 160 cm
Weight: Approximately 25 lbs / 11 kg
Inside cover: sealed waterproof PVC
Outside cover: NOMEX III Steel fabric
Color: Black

I will bet that your significant other would just love to give you a good belt sometime during the Holidays.

2011-11-20T12:42:00.001-06:00

Bear Creek Holsters can help.

SnubTraining.com now has a Facebook page

2011-11-19T15:52:00.001-06:00

Dear Fellow Snub Shooters:

I hope this note finds you well.

Should interest permit I will be posting twice a month snub training tips on our Facebook page.

If you would like to receive them, you are invited to go to our Facebook site and "Like" the page.

The page link is located at:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/SnubTrainingcom/251627074869178

Alternatively, you can request that our tips be send via e-mail if you are not currently on Facebook.

I hope you will enjoy the items and will feel free to comment on them as well.

Yours,

Michael de Bethencourt
http://www.snubtraining.com/
info@SnubTraining.com
978-667-5591

It is time for this old Luddite to jump headlong into old technology

2011-11-17T22:30:00.001-06:00

Yep, tomorrow I be getting me one of them highfaluting garage door opener thingies. Out of the 86 houses built in this subdivision, only one buyer (that be me) was too cheap to include it into the construction price of the home. Here it is 13-years later, and I am going high tech… Lordy, may wonders never cease. After all the years of inflation, a new unit installed is costing me only around 1/3 of what the developer wanted.

Price was not the only reason I delayed getting a garage door opener. For many years, burglars easily cloned the remote openers; now it is not so easy. Some of the safety features were unreliable and easily bypassed, sometimes resulting in property damage or injury. Sometimes the homeowners would drive away without watching their door fully close, only to have a safety switch reverse it to the full open position where it remained until they returned home. Many folks in this neighborhood quit carrying keys to their house, leaving the connecting door to the garage unlocked, relying solely on the security of the garage door. Other than the fact that these homes were easy picking for the local scoundrels, the homeowners were locked out of their houses during power failures. Yeah, over the years a few moseyed over to ask “that survivor guy” if he could help them break into their own homes. Almost universally, these folks left their second story windows unlocked, so my extension ladder provided the means. They will wish they had not gotten into the habit of leaving the upper story windows unlocked once the area burglars wise up.

Soon, I will be in this brave new high tech world of push-button garage doors. The kid who grew- up next-door watching me manually opening my garage door all those years said the neighborhood would just not be the same.

Dad was right. All in Congress are corrupt.

2011-11-13T18:47:00.001-06:00

On the anniversary of the death of a loved one, it is hard not to think of them. I just listened to a Sixty Minutes installment that reaffirms Dad’s contention that the halls of congress should be converted to a high security federal prison.

Dad, it has been five years since you died and during that time our government never once failed to live down to your expectations. Rest in peace; you were right.

C.E. “Ed” Harris series of articles begins at The Revolver Liberation Alliance

2011-11-11T12:35:00.001-06:00

CLICK HERE NOW for the first of this series! My goodness, you will not want to miss this stuff. I have long been in awe of Ed Harris. He is the real-deal when it comes to guns and ammo knowledge. If there ever is to be a Hall of Fame for gun writers (if there is one, I cannot find it), it will have to include Ed Harris somewhere near the top. Aside from his NRA magazine articles, Ed was a pioneer in writing expert online guns and ammo prose dating back to the computer Bulletin Board System (BBS) days.

Support Veteran Owned Businesses

2011-11-11T11:47:00.001-06:00

Click HERE to visit the Veteran Owned Businesses Directory Blog. Launched on Veterans Day 2008, VeteranOwnedBusiness.com is the leading free, comprehensive, user-friendly directory of businesses owned by military veterans, active duty military, reservists and service disabled veterans of the United States Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy, Coast Guard, and National Guard. Americans in the United States and abroad have an easy way to proudly search for products and services that are unique in the fact that they are all made by, sold by or serviced by United States military veterans!

Today we had our first snow of the 2011 - 2012 season

2011-11-10T17:48:00.001-06:00

It is all gone now, but for a short while today we bore witness to the strange sight of snow hanging from my still flowering petunias and marigolds. There were several periods of wind driven snow and sleet throughout the day. In a way, it was fun. I spent some time outside and did some pre-season readiness-work on the snowblowers.

We have yet to have a hard freeze in these parts; the very few frost mornings that we had so far were mild enough for many of my annuals to survive. Tonight the air temperature will drop to 26F and finish the job of killing off all that remains of what was once a beautiful springtime.

Boomer retirements

2011-11-09T06:00:00.000-06:00

Getting old is certainly not for sissies. Via Reuters, there is a storm-a-brewing for Baby Boomer retirements. While it may be easy to respond that older folks can just keep on working, senescence offers an obstacle course of cancers, heart disease, and a host of other maladies that can slam the brakes on even the most determined geezers.

The Great Recession has been most depressing

2011-11-08T14:24:00.000-06:00

It has been a difficult year for me to find the motivation to blog. Family, friends, and neighbors are just barely scraping by. My wife and I have helped until it hurts, but we cannot sacrificially put ourselves into poverty in order to help everyone else; what we have must last us until the end of our days. It is hard to say “NO!” to those in need but we will be lucky if changes in the laws, price inflation, and higher taxes do not prematurely eat away our financial means. The political ideal of “redistribution of wealth” has become the reality of “redistribution of poverty.” The promises our politicians made to us were broken. Our federal, state, and local governments failed us. Lesson learned, “NEVER trust the government to fix anything, especially with YOUR money.”

The neighbor behind me lost his house to foreclosure a year or so back. My eastside next-door neighbor lost his house to foreclosure this July past. Just last night my westside next-door neighbor sauntered over to tell me that he was filing for bankruptcy in an attempt to keep his house. He is still current on his mortgage payments, but only due to his sacrificing payments to other bills. He is an honorable guy who is at the end of his financial rope. The property taxes have doubled since he bought the house around six years ago, which is now worth only forty percent of what he paid for it. Even though he has family health insurance, his daughter’s winning battle with leukemia had substantial out of pocket fees and co pays. He earns good money but the needs of his family of five added up to more than his means and I am here to tell you that they are for the most part a frugal bunch. His truck is sixteen years old and his family van is nine years old. In any case, his lawyer is working to either consolidate his credit card and medical debts into a low interest repayment plan or outright make them go away. I hope it all works out for him.

On top of the aforementioned folks, we have several vacant homes going to seed in our small neighborhood and yet another neighboring house is in the foreclosure process. Ironically, another neighbor is hoping to sell his house so he can get the hell out of the

USA

and move his family back to his native country. So goes the American Dream.

I took a case of canned food from my survival rack over to a recent well-publicized food drive held by my granddaughter’s soccer league. WOW! It was surprising how little food other folks were willing to part with. From probably over a hundred parents and grandparents attending the matches, my wife saw one box of corn flakes and two bags of potato chips in the donation pavilion. Are we all becoming too cynical? Are we all getting to a point of “every man for himself?” Are we all so financially tapped-out that we just cannot spare a brother a dime? It is so very troubling. Then again, there has been an overabundance of food drives in this area so maybe everyone has donated elsewhere.

My ever-faithful LW Seecamp .380

2011-11-04T21:17:00.000-05:00

This little firearm is with me the most. I suppose it is high time that I take it to the range, blow out the carry ammo, and then clean it up and reload for another period of sweat and toil around the house and yard. It is the perfect piece for me to carry when hot, heavy, chores make carrying a more formidable firearm an impediment.

This old Halloween Cowboy is all hat and no cattle…

2011-10-31T14:59:00.004-05:00

…but he did scrape together enough candy to negotiate a peace treaty with the invading hordes of monsters, zombies, vampires, ghosts, and goblins threatening to occupy his front lawn.

Happy Halloween, pardners!

Americans willing to admit to gun ownership soars to an 18-year high

2011-10-27T00:07:00.000-05:00

It is once again becoming fashionable to be armed; CLICK HERE for the details.

American Made Work Boots

2011-10-26T22:47:00.004-05:00

Competition with the big box stores continues to take its toll. Our local shoe stores no longer carry my favorite Carolina brand goods. Few if anything in stock is American made. My preferred everyday footwear since 1970 has been steel toe engineer boots and I’ll be darned if I am going to wear something foreign made. CLICK HERE if you want to walk another mile in our shoes.

Road trip preparedness; FOOD

2011-10-21T10:22:00.000-05:00

So far, the longest I have ever been stranded in traffic was seven hours. Other travelers have run into situations much worse and spent a couple of days or more waiting for relief. Traffic accidents, floods, blizzards, tornadoes, and earthquakes can flat out stop your world miles from home or help.

During emergencies, food provides comfort as well as sustenance. Aside from the disaster-gear that never leaves our vehicle, for long road trips we carry enough food to last two people at least three days. None of our provisions, other than the water, qualifies as health food but it is nutritious enough to keep us going.

This here humble little blog site has been black listed

2011-10-20T22:46:00.003-05:00

Thank you very much! It is an honor to be part of the brotherhood.

CLICK HERE for The Gun Blog Black List.

A few things still made in the USA

2011-10-20T11:16:00.003-05:00

CLICK HERE for some hope.

Dear Occupy Wall Street, here is a clue

2011-10-19T22:49:00.000-05:00

We have been through tough times before and we will go though them again. I am among the 99% you claim to represent, but you do not speak for me. Many of your demands are naively unrealistic. I am not in support of “living wage” legislation. If you want to make a living wage, go qualify yourself for a job that pays a living wage and then earn it. If you cannot earn a living wage with your current job, do what I had to do for a period of my life and work two or three jobs at a time. The only time in my life that I had a job with only a forty-hour workweek was when I worked another job as well.

Further, just who in hell is supposed to pay for your “free college?” Dreams and delusions are free, everything else costs money. Choose colleges that you (or your parents) can afford and educate yourself in a field that pays. Don’t expect government to tax your way to “free college” unless you want more jobs to go overseas. A large part of the fiscal problems the state of Illinois has is the ungodly sums of money GRANTED for education.

Here are a few more life tips for you to consider.

1) VOTE

2) If you do vote, try reading up on whom you are voting for and quit blindly voting for familiar names and celebrities.

3) Vote with your wallet. Quit feeding the banks by running up ATM and credit card fees and penalties (I don’t have an ATM card and my credit cards never carry a balance and they PAY ME at the end of each year). Try living a debt free life within your means. Try living without cable TV; I have for the past 20-years. Try buying American made goods instead of foreign made. I have been driving for well over forty-years and never once did I purchase a foreign made car. If you cannot buy something American made, try buying only stuff you need instead of every cool gadget that you want; that pricey neat-o-baby iPad is not assembled here on our soil. Perhaps you would support an iTax?

4) Quit feeling sorry for yourselves. Life is not fair and anyone promising to make life fair for you is, at best, psychotic (or a politician).

Now, before you all go medieval on me in the comments section, please note that I can document working over twenty jobs spanning over four decades, covering everything from castrating sheep to managing a multi-million-dollar facility, and never receiving a dime of unemployment. Even when there were seemingly no jobs available, I always managed to find something that nobody else wanted to do.

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Back from sunny Florida

2011-10-17T23:18:00.001-05:00

It was a beautiful two-day drive down, a short five-days there and two days on the return trip. I love Florida, but not enough to move there… at least not yet.

Weight loss journal 10/4/2011

2011-10-06T00:32:00.000-05:00

On March 1 of last year, I weighed 210 lbs. and managed to drop to 195 lbs. by July.

I last blogged about my corpulence on May 2 of this year when I clocked in at 200 lbs. which was a 5 lbs. gain over the winter.

My sustained weight for the past couple of months has been 190 lbs., which is a 10 lbs. loss since May but only 5 lbs. less than last year. Although progress has been painfully slow, it is a total of 20 lbs. less than when I started so I guess I should be happy. My blood pressure is near normal without medication and my energy level is back up to where it has not been for many years.

I doubt that I will reach this year’s goal of 185 lbs. since I tend to eat more in fall and winter and I don’t have yard work to keep me active for hours each day. Replacing yard work with exercise and daily walks is boring me to tears, but I’ll do my best to stick to it.

Our first autumn 2011 frost predicted for tonight

2011-10-01T11:27:00.001-05:00

It is time to let go of summer here in northeastern Illinois. I won’t be covering the garden annuals or moving flowerpots into shelter. Flowers in October just don’t bring me comfort; they look and feel artificial. It is time to let them go nature’s way and for me to settle into dreams of another spring. Once the frost burns away all life, I will clear the remains and prep the beds for next year. It is time to let go.

The 2011 National Preparedness Month winds to an end

2011-09-28T18:11:00.000-05:00

This year had plenty of newsworthy calamities to remind us how important it is to be prepared. It was no surprise when these calamities overwhelmed government resources.

Your level of preparedness is entirely up to you. There are many f-words in preparedness and some folks feel uncomfortable when it comes to firearms. Nobody is forcing anyone to stow weapons so acute blammophobia should not keep you from being prepared in other respects. If you start with focus, foresight, and flexibility, chances are good that your food, fuel, and finances will take care of your family and friends when fate tries to f--- you up.

Blog knife meme

2011-09-21T02:20:00.001-05:00

The knife in my pocket is a

USA

made Schrade Old Timer… because I am an old timer. It has been my pocketknife for somewhere over 30-years. Today if you see one for sale in a store, it is from

China

, which is where the jobs went.

There are still plenty of good pocket folders made in the

USA

. We need the jobs. Buy American!

I also carry one of those multi-fangled-tool gadgets, but that is on my belt and the meme did specify “in your pocket.”

Three years of abstinence

2011-09-19T21:49:00.001-05:00

Traditionally I blog on September 5 to note another year has passed since I walked away from my old friend, demon tobacco. This year that date came and went without a thought. During my walk this evening, I decided to jog for a while and noticed that I did not become winded; running felt natural. It was enjoyable. That event reminded me how long it has been since I had a smoke.

Should fate bless me with another 21 years on this earth, my association with cigars will resume and I plan to continue that friendship until the end of my days. Until then I need to make the most out of what is left of this ambulatory old carcass of mine.

I totaled the amount of federal, state, and local taxes I paid so far in my lifetime.

2011-09-19T00:21:00.000-05:00

I did it on a whim and doing so gave me an arrogant sense of entitlement. Now I want the government to mow my lawn, paint my house, and kiss my ass.

Politicians really do suck. They are not public servants; they are self-serving parasites. Republicans want to do nothing when they should do something, and Democrats want to do something when they should do nothing.

A high school student recently bragged to me that he would be earning a million dollars a year by the time he retired. I smiled at him and said that by the time the government inflates this debt away, a million dollars a year would be the minimum wage.

Condoleezza wherefore art thou?

2011-09-14T20:06:00.002-05:00

The Republican Debates are quite entertaining, but I thought the idea was to field candidates who are both electable and possess enough talent to run the country if elected. So far, I am not seeing or hearing anything that gives my wallet any hope.

Win cool prizes at the Carteach0 fundraiser benefitting the Wounded Warrior Project!

2011-09-13T20:16:00.001-05:00

Click here to mosey on over there for a look-see.

Blogging Federal Lawman battling cancer

2011-09-09T00:19:00.004-05:00

Glenn B was planning to retire soon but unexpectedly found himself in the fight of his life. Hang some prayers in the air for him.

September 2011 National Preparedness Month

2011-09-01T22:57:00.005-05:00

WHAT IS NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH?

National Preparedness Month (NPM) is held each September to encourage Americans to take steps to prepare for emergencies in their homes, businesses, and communities.

Groups can register to become an NPM Coalition Member by visiting ready.gov and clicking on the NPM banner.

The Ready Campaign promotes individual emergency preparedness. Ready is a national public service advertising (PSA) campaign, to educate and empower Americans to prepare for and respond to emergencies, including natural disasters and potential terrorist attacks.

The Campaign’s Web sites (ready.gov and listo.gov) and toll-free numbers (1-800-BE-READY, TTY 1-800-462-7585, and 1-888-SE-LISTO) provide Americans with free emergency preparedness information.

Yard and garden journal entry 8/17/2011

2011-08-17T23:17:00.000-05:00

This is our last daylily of 2011. It has been a good gardening season and a lot of fun, but the fact remains that summer is ending. On our property, our growing season officially ends when the clusters of Rudbeckia wilt away in September. By then, the petunias and impatiens are looking tired and out of season and it is time to clean up the flowerbeds in preparation for next spring.

Hard Times Investing Update 8/8/2011

2011-08-08T13:04:00.003-05:00

Back in February of this year, I went 100% OUT of the stock market (other than a couple of small-change speculative items). Paraphrasing what I said at the time in an email to a trusted friend, “I’ve been too lucky for too long.” My market-exit-point was near but not at the market high for the year; for me (and most others), hitting exact market tops and bottoms is impossible. The best we can hope for is to come close to the mark. My wife quit her job in February so our household income went down and our expenses went up (for example, our health insurance is now $14,412 annually) so my tolerance for risk suffered a hit. The markets historically have been subject to manipulation, mostly illegal unless done by the government. IMHO, the Fed’s Quantitative Easing and the program trading by the Quants at the major trading outfits make the market a “less level” trading field than ever before. While no market event surprises me, things akin to the Flash Crash are most unnerving. On July 25, 2011, unbelievably huge trading volume for the DOW and the S&P-500 should have been headline news but was not. Marketed as prime rib the equities markets smell like rotting flesh.

Via merit, manipulation, or Federal Reserve Masturbation, there is always a chance that the markets will rally from here and sustain unheard of record levels, which would cause me some remorse for staying out of the game. However it all plays out, I have to do what I believe is best for my family and me. I trust my market-models, and the S&P-500 around the 1285 level for this year is my comfort zone. The current selloff is not worrying me, my model said that the S&P-500 was overpriced and a range between 1158 and 1415 would be “normal” for this year. Should the S&P-500 drop to around the 1029 level I would consider putting some money back into equities but I doubt that I will ever again risk (for me) great sums; I am just getting too old and time favors the young.

When do I believe the S&P-500 will return to the pre-crash levels of the upper 1500s? My non-scientific, computerized, wild ass guess, investment projection model says somewhere around the 1587 level will be my S&P-500 comfort zone for the year 2014. However, the ever-ominous dark cloud of fate warns that the markets don’t give a damn about what my model says. OBLIGATORY DISCLAIMER: Nothing in this blog entry is financial advice, or advice on investing.

Dear Commonwealth Edison, your power-outage reporting system sucks.

2011-08-03T02:22:00.000-05:00

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Storms with heavy rain and damaging winds rolled though again early yesterday evening, knocking out my power, but sparing most of my neighbors. Our little neighborhood has several electrical feeds and I’ll be darned if I will ever understand the engineering logic they used during design and construction. When outages are isolated, there is always a chance that the repair crews may not get the word from someone else, so I decided to make a phone call. Actually, I had to make SEVERAL phone calls because our utility company’s touch-tone reporting system FAILED. With a current bill in my hand, so I had ready access to my account number AND which of my telephone numbers they have on file for use in indentifying my address, their system kept reporting that my location could not identified. I tried again…, again…, and again. Finally, I got through to a real person and reported it the old-fashioned way… with my booming voice. Five hours later, they restored power.

The sump pumps kept our basement dry thanks again to my noisy little generator, which performed in the face of waves of driving rain. A prudent high priority project would be for me to replace both aging sump pumps BEFORE they fail, along with installing a sizable battery backup system. If Edison had not restored power when they did, I would have had no choice but to run the generator all night long, keeping many of my neighbors awake. The fridge and freezer will keep food cold and safe for hours without power, but after a soaking rain, it is essential that the sump pumps keep running. Running a generator, especially at night, requires that you guard it against theft. I was contemplating spending all night in my GMC van parked next to the generator when Edison finally restored power. Having enough AGM batteries and inverters to power essentials for six hours would be a good contingency, but at the moment I don’t have the money needed to put it all together.

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Meet the Freak

2011-07-30T23:09:00.001-05:00

AKA, Freakenstein, Freak is a rescued critter. We did not want another cat; my budget sure did not need another cat. Aside from our expenditures for cat food and litter going up by a third, the veterinarian costs for the tests, shots, and neutering will have cost me a bit over $500 for this rescue.

Freak is recovering nicely; this photo is one taken after only a week and a half in our “cat recovery room” where we keep him isolated from our two other cats. During the eviction, Freak was found inside of a cage in the endless clutter of our eastside next-door neighbor’s house. The poor guy is an 8-year-old unneutered male who was suffering from malnutrition, dehydration, and social isolation. With his skin and bones frame covered with filth and the edges of his ears brittle as burnt potato chips, he appeared to be some sort of psychotic Zombie Cat, hence his new name. He was in such poor condition that my wife figured that most of the overcrowded local shelters would euthanize him at a glance. My guess is that Freak was given food and water whenever the owners thought to do so, which was probably not very often. His nose was raw from poking it into the cage door and from scrounging for that last hint of food and water; it is now healing nicely. Freak screams like a demon when we bring him food and he eats insatiably. Freak will eat himself to death if we let him; we feed him twice as much as we do a normal cat and he screams for more. A couple of times we overfed him and he puked it all back up. For now, he is on a fixed eating-schedule when he gets a good portion of food but never as much as he desires. After we cleaned him up and fed him for just over a couple of weeks, we took him to the veterinarian for an evaluation, likely the first in his lifetime. The vet says that the trauma of chronic starvation created an eating disorder from which Freak may never recover. Freak’s liver enzymes were a little unbalanced due to malnutrition but should be back to normal soon; his other organs checked out okay. The tests for contagious (and fatal) feline viruses all were negative and Freak had no fleas, which was strange considering his previous owner’s house was infested with mice. If his previous owner had just let Freak roam inside the house, the cat may have been nutritionally self-sufficient by keeping the rodents under control.

Since he has had proper nutrition for a while now, Freak has rediscovered that he is a male cat and wants to get laid so badly that he is getting a cranky. Last week we got his shots completed; on Thursday of this next week, Freak will go in for a surgical attitude adjustment that will put an end to his lust for sex. It will be a long road for physical and social recovery for this cat. His only interaction with other cats was when he was a kitten and his lifetime of dealings with humans have not been fulfilling. We will give Freak every chance that we can to adjust to life here. If he cannot adjust to us and the other cats, we will have no choice but to put him in local shelter. Wish us all luck.

Apocalyptic Adventures Part 1

2011-07-23T01:57:00.001-05:00

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We had one hell of a storm a couple of weeks back. We were among the lucky folks who had only 26-hours without power; some folks did not get electricity restored for several days. My daughter, who lives in a nearby town, was without power for over 48-hours. She used blue-ice packs from our freezer to keep her food safe on the first day. At the end of the second day, she brought all of her perishables over to our fridge and freezer. As fate would have it, as soon as she packed everything into our house, she received a phone call from my ex that power was back on at their house.

My little generator got quite a workout. Our contingency plans worked very well; we had plenty of fuel, food, water (the public water supply went offline for a while), glow sticks, portable lights, and batteries. The generator powered our refrigerator, a few essential lights, a TV, the sump pump, the coffee pot, and our microwave oven AND had enough power to spare for use by my Westside next-door neighbor. I was prepared for other neighbors to tap into the generator but only the one asked; my policy is to grant all reasonable requests for assistance but neighbors do need to have enough extension cord to reach from their house to mine.

The storm damage was not isolated; the entire county was down and very few electrical grids survived the fury of the storm; officials declared a state of emergency which meant we were on our own. Downed trees and power lines closed many roads; traffic lights were out and slow moving cars jammed every open road. Very few stores or banks were open; the few gasoline stations with electricity had lines of cars waiting in the roadway. This was not a good day to be without supplies or contingency plans.

I told my brother-in-law that if he did not have back luck he would have no luck in his life at all. This good old boy needed some help to keep from losing his house, so the morning of the storm we were to take care of business. He had a simple agenda laid out; we would get together and I would get a certified check from my credit union and he would get a certified check from his bank and we then go to the post office and overnight-mail the funds to his debt collector, beating the drop-deadline. HEH! By midday, my brother-in-law was in a near panic. Ultimately, it took us six-hours and three quarters of a tank of gasoline before I found a branch of my credit union open and we found a branch of his bank open. To complicate matters further, all of the post offices were closed because of the power outage. We finally found a FedEx store on a grid and, thanks to $30 in my wallet, got the money shipped out just in time. I mentioned to my brother-in-law that waiting to the final possible moment to save his house was ill advised; obviously, what could go wrong did go wrong and we just barely pulled his ass out of the fire.

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2011 Zachary Family Reunion, Anderson, Indiana

2011-07-17T21:13:00.002-05:00

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Every year on the third Saturday in July is our Zachary Family Reunion. I’d have to say that it was a good turnout this year and we all had a great time. We had not been to one for a couple of years or more; the last time we were there at best eighteen adults attended; this year there were no less than double that number. Next year I’ll post a notice here at least a month ahead of time or as soon as I receive confirmation of the location (it changes occasionally). If you are kin, please pass the word and try to attend.

From where we live, it is a four-hour drive barring rest stops and traffic delays; usually it takes us a bit over five-hours. Due to a long, busy week helping family, friends, and neighbors through storm damage, power outages, evictions, and sundry other catastrophes, we got a late start Friday evening and did not arrive in at our hotel in Anderson until 3:30 A.M. Saturday. We were back at home on Sunday about 1:30 P.M. I am at least a full week behind on reading my favorite blog sites and hope to find the time this week to catch up.

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Final Notice of Eviction

2011-07-11T02:06:00.001-05:00

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Friday morning I noticed the Lake County Sheriff squad parked in my eastside next-door neighbor’s driveway. Posted on the door was the notice of eviction; my neighbor has to be out by this Wednesday. To say that my neighbor is at the end of his rope is charitable; the man is devastated. The co-pay portion of the medical bills from his sick wife has left him hopelessly in debt and, now, homeless. He is looking for some place to go but with his credit in shambles, he is swimming against the tide. How does a 67-year-old man start his life over? His combined pension and social security income was no match for the surprises that dusted his retirement years. His wife is still sick, his daughter and granddaughter still need help, and his own health is deteriorating from the burdens he carries.

This will be a busy week for me. I need to help this neighbor move before Wednesday morning, but come morning light today I have to be at the bank in order to try to keep my brother in-law from also losing his house. (NOTE: the monetary loan is minimal and secured by me taking some of his guns and other items as collateral; I do not co-sign for anyone).

In any case, the cold cruel word still sucks. Of the three houses that border my property, two will be vacant from foreclosures (the house behind me has been vacant for a year now). Of the three financial tragedies that have been inside my personal space this past twelve months, one victim was white, one was black, and the other was Asian. Banks are NOT your friends; they are indiscriminate, unforgiving businesses that thrive on the penalties you pay for making mistakes and suffering misfortune. Anyone believing that a government programs exists to provide salvation is a delusional fool. Folks, when it comes to survival, whether it is physical or financial, you are on your own. Prepare for the worst because it can happen to you… and few souls, if any, will so much as care.

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Yard and garden journal update 7/7/2011

2011-07-07T00:21:00.001-05:00

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I’m still here. About 12-hours of my day are now spent outside. Some days are 4-hours of work and 8-hours of leisure and others reverse to 8-hours of toil and 4-hours of laziness. All of my usual plantings are done for this year; the impatiens bed on the west side of the house was finished last week, which is about a month behind my usual schedule. July and August will be mostly mowing, watering, and weeding while September and October will include painting the trim and more brickwork. My goal is someday to have oversize brick-walkways alongside the flowerbeds that surround the house, all leading to the backyard patio. The 6’ x 22’ brick pad across the front of the house serves several purposes. Foremost, it corrects some uneven terrain across the front of the house that made ladder work very challenging. Esthetically it provides a place to store the garden hose and provides a decent base for arranging flowerpots. Since the raised brick-bed is on a base of grade-8 gravel, the original drainage profile is intact. It will take me another 2 – 3 years to finish the brickwork around the house. The front pad is good enough for now and my efforts will move to fabricating a step to a slightly lower level walkway for the east side of house along a garden that is mostly Shasta daisies and Rudbeckia.

The two photos below were taken a month apart, one on June 5 and the other on July 5, and show how the irises go from colorful blooms to weedy looking beds of stems and standards. If it were not for the annuals being in full bloom, the iris beds would probably earn me a complaint from the homeowners association.

It sure would be nice if we quit calling each other stupid.

2011-06-22T17:12:00.000-05:00

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Politics is an amazing poison, it causes madness; even people who have never voted will call someone else a fool for their party affiliation. Republicans are fools; Democrats are fools; Libertarians and fools, etc. Since I have an IQ somewhere on the left side of the bell curve, it hurts me dearly when smart people act dumb. Whether they come from rough or refined backgrounds, folks should not try to win friends and influence people with ad hominem attacks and embellished facts. Try showing respect.

Now, to the guys who occasionally parade around the intersection of Routes 137 and 21 in Libertyville, Illinois, over the past 2.5 years, waving the pictures of Obama sporting a Hitler moustache or wearing a turban, I have but one question; is that the best you can do? Yeah, I am the geezer driving the green GMC van who offered you a $10 donation if you could show me a voter’s registration card. It was a safe bet for me to make; I didn’t have $10 in my wallet any more than you had a voter’s card in yours.

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Blogger comment problems

2011-06-18T00:29:00.002-05:00

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At least one person cannot get the comments at this blog site to work at all. Most other folks can post comments, but they must manually enter their ID because the automatic ID function has quit working, including for me. Other bloggers (Ruth and El Fisho come to mind) also reported losing their IDs for commenting at their own sites. I noticed some other Blogger sites that I frequent do NOT have the ID problem; those sites all use popup windows for entering comments. Therefore, I decided to do likewise; maybe it will cure all of the comment problems here.

This following worked (on the ID problem) for me; maybe it will work at your site too.

From the Blogger dashboard, click “settings.”
From the “settings” page, click “comments.”
Scroll down the page to “Comment form placement” and switch from “embedded below post” to either “full page” or “popup window."
Click “save settings,” then go to your blog page, and see if your ID appears in a test comment.

Good luck!

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No more Java for me, thank you, I have had enough.

2011-06-17T00:03:00.003-05:00

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(CLICK HERE for Borepatch's thoughts on Java)

I have disabled Java on my browser and I will disable it on my wife’s system when I get the chance. Each of us experienced a Trojan attack, FakeSysdef, on separate days, which MS Security Essentials failed to prevent. I am sure mine came in via Java during a website visit. While we both were hit with the same Trojan, the variation I had was very aggressive and it took me all day on Wednesday for me to fix my system.

MS Security Essentials did catch a Trojan downloader, Java/OpenConnection.NC, for me the other day, and was able to remove FakeSysdef from each of our drives although it did not prevent the attacks. Overall, Security Essentials has been a good workhorse.

In case you were wondering, both of our computers are automatically updated once a week.

EDIT: The reason I suspect Java is because the Java icon appeared on my browser during my visit to a website just before all heck broke lose.
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A warm welcome to GibsonGunleather.com

2011-06-10T23:27:00.002-05:00

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I would like to welcome another artisan to this blog’s sidebar list of (currently) 140 gunleather websites. Bruce Gibson makes some mighty fine custom gunleather for open and concealed carry, and presently is making a run of superbly crafted belts.

CLICK HERE for GibsonGunleather.com website

CLICK HERE for the GibsonGunleather.com blog

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Yard and garden journal entry 6/6/2011

2011-06-06T22:15:00.000-05:00

I believe the irises have peaked and this is as good as they will look for this year. In a week or so, the blooms will be sparse. For some reason, we are the only folks that grow irises in this area. They are not popular in these parts and I don’t know why; they are hearty and reliable perennials. The two clusters in the photos grew from single plantings set a dozen years ago.

If you want to achieve an average looking lawn, the best advice I can give you is…

2011-06-04T23:35:00.000-05:00

NEVER do what my neighbor did and use Roundup to kill broadleaf weeds on your lawn! He thought the stuff I routinely use on my lawn was not working fast enough after I treated his lawn (at my expense), so he took over a gallon and a half of Roundup and nuked his once salvageable turf into oblivion. The sad part is that the kill zone spreads each time it rains and it is moseying over the property line onto my lawn and getting dangerously close to some of my arborvitaes.

Roundup is good for its intended purpose, which is to kill weeds and grass in areas where you want nothing to grow. Read the instructions. Never use Roundup on anything you are not intending to destroy.

Browning Hi-Power guru Stephen A. Camp has passed away.

2011-05-31T22:46:00.000-05:00

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The sad news came from here.

Gosh, this is a shocker. I loved reading Stephen’s work.

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Yard and garden journal entry 5/23/2011

2011-05-23T23:01:00.001-05:00

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Today we had the first iris bloom of the season. For the life of me, I cannot remember how long our irises bloom so I want to make a note this year. If I recall correctly, they will bloom for maybe three weeks max. (NOTE added 6/10/2011: The irises are now pretty much gone for this season.)

Aside from the late season stragglers in the back yard, our tulips are done, leaving only the ugly stems and leaves which I am trying to hide with petunias and marigolds.

Today we sighted our first Junebug of the year, and I received my first mosquito bite of the season.

The photo below is from a couple of days ago and it shows our three flowering crab trees in rare form. Usually the blooms are sparse. Regardless, the flowers only last a couple of days before the petals drift to the ground. Yesterday’s wind and rain made short work of them.

Yard and garden journal entry 5/18/2011

2011-05-19T00:15:00.005-05:00

The ever-short tulip season is fast winding down. Those pink tulips clustered in the center of the photo are on the property line between my backyard and a neighbor’s backyard and are among the few tulips that survive in my yard from year to year (a good size rock keeps my neighbor’s mower from these). They traditionally are the last of my tulips to bloom and should drop their petals around June 1.

I will move my potted tulips into the garage just before winter in an attempt to keep them viable for next season; the tulips and daffodils in the pots that I left out all winter long failed.

NOTE: Top photo taken 5/18/2011, bottom photo taken 5/7/2011; the trees sure greened up in the short period of a couple of weeks.
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Is Jon Huntsman a 2012 GOP top contender?

2011-05-13T13:57:00.000-05:00

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He is worth a look, and may be the “best of breed,” especially considering the slurry of other GOP detritus oozing their way toward primary season.

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That sick sinking feeling…

2011-05-07T23:22:00.000-05:00

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It is a tough world. One of my next-door neighbors is losing his house. He does not know that I know and I don’t believe he has yet told his ailing wife.

We have been neighbors for about 11-years now, never close friends, just good neighbors. I remember when he first bought the house; he and his 6-year-old daughter were just beaming. He was newly retired back then, looking for a home in the suburban area of our city to raise his only child. I met his wife shortly thereafter. Now their daughter is gone, their youth is gone, their good health is gone, and apparently, all of their money is gone. Since I often loaned or gave them money during the lean times before the wife’s accident, I had long suspected they lived on the edge of solvency and likely would someday lose the house. The love of home ownership went out of him years ago; the house and yard are in very bad shape; some of the neighborhood snobs will be happy to see them go. Personally, I hate to see anyone lose a home. His wife will be devastated when she hears the news; I can expect her teary-eyed knock on my door any day now. I feel bad for her and bad for her husband. My guess is that the soaring property taxes, sending money to their wayward daughter, and paying the out-of-pocket portion of the wife’s medical bills must have been too dear of a burden for the husband’s pension to bear.

There have been some folks taking photos of the houses on our cul de sac, primarily the afore-mentioned neighbor’s house. Being the type of person who dislikes suspicious behavior, I decided to investigate. After doing some online searching, I found that my neighbor’s house was foreclosed on in January so I surmised that these photo-taking vultures represent real estate firms working for the mortgage company. I kind of resent that my neighbor has been perfectly happy to have me mow and fertilize his lawn all the while knowing that he has a pending eviction, but on the other hand, I know that his plate of hardships is overflowing and that my help at least made his life a little easier. Anyway, since the house is now REO, it is up to the mortgage company and their realty company to provide maintenance from here on out. I will still find it in my heart to help my neighbors move out when the time comes and maybe give them a few bucks to see them down the road.

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Yard and garden journal entry 5/5/2011

2011-05-05T23:41:00.001-05:00

Well, things did not turn out near as good as I had planned, but I guess I’m happy all the same. Despite the cool weather, the butterflies and bumblebees have been visiting what few flowers I have. The grass did not green up as well as it has in the past; maybe the new fangled phosphorous-free fertilizer isn’t up to the job. The tulips now are as good as they are going to be for this year; I lost almost every daffodil and tulip that had I planted in the fall. Most of what you see was planted on one of the rare warm days in January or February. The bulk of the tulips bloomed on May 1, although there are a few stragglers here and there that will provide some random color for a while yet; the forsythias are still in bloom thank goodness. I forget when my iris will bloom, maybe in late May or early June. Anyway, from here on out the bulk of daffodils and tulips will soon shed their petals leaving us to count on the beauty of the annuals, so I have been working hard to get them set; we had a frost the night before last and I had to cover them with plastic. I have gardens on the three other sides of the house that I have been prepping for planting. Today I bruised or broke a rib when I took a fall onto the garden edging. I’ve had broken ribs before and know that they hurt for a good long time and that there is little the doctors can do, so I may need to slow my pace a bit. By June 1, my flower planting will be done for the season; if I do a good job and Mother Nature is kind the place should not look too bad.

The two new steel chairs on the front stoop are from China; for the past three years I searched in vain at all of the local retailers for some made in the USA and the stores just don’t carry them. My neighbor’s brother-in-law is staying over there while recovering from cancer surgery so he and I give the new chairs quite a workout as we jawbone the problems of the world. My neighbor’s wife is still recovering from the second and third degree burns she suffered last September when she accidentally set herself ablaze. Since my neighbor is preoccupied with the family health matters, I have tried to help him with his lawn; I used my leftover weed killer and fertilizer on the worst areas of his lawn and then mow it for him. I had to help my daughter get through some rough areas on her lawn too, so between my yard and theirs I have kept busy.

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The weight of the world is sitting heavy on my midsection

2011-05-02T23:07:00.001-05:00

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The winter doldrums took a bit more than a slim toll on my diet; I’m back to weighing 200 lbs. The bright side is that I only gained 5 lbs. since last fall. The dark side is that it is going to be a tougher row to hoe for me to get down to this year’s goal of weighing 185 lbs. The local weather so far this year has been lousy, but good enough during the past couple of weeks for me to spend between 2 and 6 hours a day working outside. By the end of each day, I am usually as beaten up as a borrowed mule with little energy left for writing blog entries.

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Osama bin Laden is dead and the United States has his body

2011-05-01T22:11:00.004-05:00

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CBS News confirms the news. Official announcement from the White House is pending. Turn on your TV or radio.

EDIT: President Obama is currently speaking. Mass murderer Osama Bin Laden was killed today in Pakistan by U.S. Special Forces.

Thank you, USA troops! Way to go, CIA!

The USA did not martyr a holy warrior; they killed a rabid pig. Not since WWII ended the scourge of Hitler has there been such good news.

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CHICAGO FIREARMS PERMIT CLASS

2011-04-22T12:59:00.000-05:00

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Available at

G.A.T. Guns, Inc.
FIREARMS SUPERSTORE
14N915 State Route 25, Dundee, IL 60118
Phone: 847-428-4867

CLICK HERE for details.

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Northern Illinois Women's Introduction to Handguns

2011-04-21T21:43:00.000-05:00

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by Excel Training Group at

G.A.T. Guns, Inc.
FIREARMS SUPERSTORE
14N915 State Route 25, Dundee, IL 60118
Phone: 847-428-4867

CLICK HERE for details.

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An F4 tornado hits Lake Zurich Illinois April 21, 1967

2011-04-21T04:45:00.014-05:00

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Edit 4/26/2011: In 1967, Mindy’s family lived just up the street from us in the subdivision known as The Woodlands. Her brother Chris has his recollections of the tornado, along with an account written by his father in 1967, posted HERE. It is well worth your time to click on over there and give it a read. Note: The “Boy Scout Trail” Chris refers to was a path along a portion of the abandoned Palatine, Lake Zurich, and Wauconda Railroad. For a short time, the local Boy Scouts held campouts near the abandoned Lake Zurich station house, hence the name. The path was a shortcut from the Manor and the Woodlands subdivision to downtown Lake Zurich, which many of us used to circumvent the curfew and the requisite access-passes during the aftermath of the tornado. As kids, we experienced many good times along that trail; many of us used to hunt and camp in those woods and fish in the slough and Echo Lake. Alas, we were a brokenhearted group of kids when they extended Lions Drive the entire length of the trail and subdivided the area for houses.

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Edit 4/25/2011: The following photos of the 1967 Lake Zurich, Illinois tornado damage were generously contributed by Mindy Sherwood. Many thanks sharing, Mindy!

Depending on your browser, you may be able to click on the photos for a larger view.

The view in the above photo looks like it is facing west down Miller Road, as seen from standing approximately halfway between Vista Road and Crescent Road (shown just to the left). I believe the blob of debris on the right is the rubble from the corner of the gymnasium / lunchroom portion of the Seth Paine Elementary school. The storm tore a gap in the row of houses on the left, sparing a few here and there.

The view in the above photo looks like it is facing northwest from Miller Road as seen from standing approximately halfway between Vista Road and Crescent Road, looking toward the remains of the Seth Paine Elementary School. The school entrance would be at the far left of the photo, with the gymnasium / lunchroom portion not shown beyond that. What you see in the photo from left to right is the classroom portion of the school. If I remember correctly, the school was brand new in 1959 when I was in the second grade. It was a stout building, constructed from brick, block, and steel. Providentially, school was out for the day when the storm struck.

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ORIGINAL BLOG-ENTRY TEXT:

I was a high school student back then. A scant few minutes after 5 PM forty-four years ago today, the small town I grew up in was hit by one of the many tornadoes that raked northern Illinois that same day. This tornado was not the stereotypical funnel that we have all seen in many photos and videos… it was a low, surprisingly fast moving, non-uniform, swirling black cloud looking much like dense smoke. As it mowed through our subdivision, I witnessed it ripping the Eisenhower era houses to shreds. Our house was among those spared by the storm, which demolished 75 and extensively damaged another 200 or so. It also destroyed the Seth Paine Grade School that was down the street from our house. A couple of days later, with the entire area still without electricity, natural gas, or water, the temperature dropped below freezing and we had about 3-inches of snow. For a good while, we all lived a primitive existence.

Click HERE and then click HERE to read some historic information in pdf files.

For many weeks now, I have tried to put my thoughts and recollections down about that day and the following recovery period but I keep freezing up when I sit down at the keyboard. I organize my thoughts each day but when I sit down to type, something akin to a melancholy sets in. Even after so many years, my memories are still vivid; perhaps I want the portraits in my mind to obey the inevitability of senescence and just fade away. For now, this entry will serve as a bookmark; I’ll fill in the blanks below when my moods allow.

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Yard and garden journal entry 4/18/2011

2011-04-18T23:22:00.001-05:00

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It has been cold and rainy lately. We had a covering of 2’’ of snow this morning; about half of it was gone by late afternoon. I usually apply my lawn weed-and-feed in mid-April (I only do one application per year), so I decided not to let the snow stop me today. In fact, the tracks left in the snow by my drop-spreader made keeping track of the job easier. I like putting the weed-and-feed out in the early spring when the weather is going to give it a good soaking; it dissolves and spreads evenly because my lawn is thick and prevents runoff. In a couple of weeks, I will look the lawn over and reapply to areas that I might have missed today. This is the first year that I have used the “phosphorus free” fertilizer; I am curious to see if the lawn greens as nicely as it has in the past. I don’t bag my clippings for disposal, I just let it mulch into the lawn…I doubt that the lack of phosphorus in the fertilizer will be a problem. Some of my neighbors use professionals to care for their lawns… and their lawns look bad for some reason…I am not sure that the annual core-aeration and dethatching is a good thing... and the four applications of that expensive liquid weed-and-feed every year does not seem to do as good a job as my one application of the dry stuff.

I moved the six flowerpots from the front of the house to the backyard patio in anticipation of the homeowner’s association getting cranky (the pots actually did not look good the way I had them set). My tulips (some in the pots, some in the gardens) seem to be growing okay but I doubt that I will have any serious blooms until May. My daffodils were a big bust this spring; only a few of the ones I planted last fall sprouted and the few blooms that I do have look pretty weak. I need to do some studying to find out what I did wrong. I was hoping for an explosion of daffodil blooms to complement the forsythias; maybe next year will be better.

Much work still to do on the flowerbeds…I hope we get a string of fair-weather days soon.

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Time and space may still be available for you to register for LuckyGunner.com’s Memorial Day Weekend Blogger Shoot.

2011-04-15T18:26:00.000-05:00

There is a big shootout set for Memorial Day Weekend in Knoxville, TN, from 8:30am on Saturday May 28th until 8:30pm on Sunday May 29th.

This huge, invitation-only event is for firearm industry bloggers, podcasters, and other (online) media folks (online magazines, press releases, radio shows, forums, informational websites, etc), sponsored by a very classy outfit, LuckyGunner.com. It features all sorts of Class III weapons, free ammo from Magtech and S&B, and hands-on training from RangeMaster. Space is limited. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.

Yard and garden journal entry 4/14/2011, the Forsythias are flowering.

2011-04-14T18:54:00.000-05:00

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It is nice finally to have some color in the yard.

The forsythia bush on the east side of the house is large and doing well. The two newest bushes in the front yard are stunted because they are competing for root space with a large tree. Some aggressive root feeding may help.

NOTE TO SELF: Although it already is a bit crowed, I believe the front yard could use two or three more forsythia bushes for a bigger splash of early spring color. Since the two newest bushes are growing slowly, it is advisable to plant stock that is more mature.

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Chorus frogs announce the official arrival of spring.

2011-04-13T20:09:00.000-05:00

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Last night was the first time that I heard them this year; no symphony ever sounded so sweet.

The calendar “first day of spring” means little to me. When I hear the chorus frogs, then I know the long cold winter is officially over.

When I was a youngster, Mom and Dad tolerated my bringing home buckets full of swamp water filled with tadpoles. I’d watch them go grow into adult frogs then I would set them free back into the swamp. My folks became less tolerant when I started bringing home buckets full of snakes…

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Back from a short trip

2011-04-12T22:16:00.002-05:00

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We were tired of waiting for summer to arrive in Chicagoland, so we decided to chase it down. We made the drive down to Florida in two days, spent six days touring and beachcombing, and made the drive back home in two days. When I leave town it is for a change of pace so I always leave the laptop (and internet) at home. We are now unpacked and settling back to the norm of home life, catching up on the backlog of U.S. Mail and email, paying bills, etc.

Some trip observations:

1) The high gasoline prices are not yet keeping people off the interstate highways; plenty of folks seem to be making and keeping vacation plans.

2) People were driving like high-octane maniacs and we saw the aftermath of many accidents, including this one involving a busload of kids.

3) Commercial truck traffic was not as heavy as it was on a similar trip last September.

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LeadChucker is selling Kydex magazine holders

2011-04-03T08:02:00.000-05:00

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They look good! (CLICK HERE)

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Stevens Model .22 .410 combo gun with Tenite forend and stock

2011-03-31T22:00:00.001-05:00

Look what followed me home from the gun store the other day, a Stevens Model .22 .410 with Tenite forend and stock. CLICK HERE to read the post by The Fishing Musician that inspired me to buy this old gun. In my book, the superposed .22 long rifle / .410 shotgun combo gun is one of America’s greatest utility firearms of all time. My Dad had one just like this one during his early days in Eastern Tennessee; it was his first gun. I am lucky enough to enjoy hunting as a sport; during his youth, my Dad hunted out of necessity. Small game hunting with guns like this was salvation for many folks during hard times; these guns provided meat for the dinner table. Ammo was an expensive commodity for poor country folks so the standing rule was “one shot, one meal.” Instead of expending a second round, Dad once climbed a tree to recover a wounded squirrel; it viciously locked its teeth into his thumb while he proceeded to choke it to death while balancing precariously on a tree branch high off the ground. Yeah, survival hunting is a much more serious affair than is hunting for sport.

When I saw this old gun on the store rack, a somewhat silly sentiment told me that I had to have it in order to complete a connection to my past. When I was young, I used to sneak Dad’s old combo gun out so I could go hunting in the local woods. I know that my older brother will also get a kick out of seeing this gun; he too speaks fondly of “Dad’s old .410.” I remember Dad’s gun being in very rugged shape; the sights were missing, as was the plug for the Tenite stock and there was absolutely no sign of bluing left on the scarred metal; it had seen some hard use on some rocky trails. Dad’s gun was gone long before Dad passed away. The memories of both are still strong. This gun one will act as a surrogate for me; it will be my foster “Dad’s gun.” Honor thy Father.

As you can see in the photo, the major “weak link” on the Stevens Model .22 .410 is the barrel selector (mine is missing the button and screw). One major problem is the screw coming loose and the selector button falling off while afield, lost forever in the leaves or tall grass. Further, the selector link itself is not durable and eventually it will break. If I were to use this gun as my sole survival tool, I would have a gunsmith convert it to the newer Savage design with the barrel selector on the hammer. Since this gun is nothing but a sentimental purchase that will only see rare nostalgic bunny, bird, and squirrel hunts, I will repair it with original parts. The selector link on mine looks intact; when the button and screw that I ordered from Numrich arrive, I will attempt to fix the gun myself. Failing that, the old gun will take a trip to a competent gunsmith.

The Savage Arms Company bought the Stevens Arms Company in 1920. All Stevens Model .22 .410s were manufactured between 1939 and 1950 and have no serial numbers, some with wood stocks and forends, some with Tenite. According to this site, the U.S. Army Air Force adopted the Tenite-stocked Stevens .22/.410 over-under combination gun as its first "survival gun" with an order for 15,000 of them. After 1950, Savage put its name on the gun and designated it as the Model 24. Sadly, Savage discontinued manufacturing; if you want one, you are at the mercy of the used gun racks and the availability of spare parts. CLICK HERE to visit the UK .410 site for more information on these great old guns.

It has been hard for me to get into my springtime groove

2011-03-27T18:38:00.005-05:00

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Other than when I was shoveling snow, so far this year I have only had a few days when I did my self-imposed daily minimum of two hours of outside work. The biggest reason for this is my overpowering congenital laziness, but wearing the hats of husband, father, and grandfather also have kept me busy.

For the most part, the months of November, December, January, February, March, and April are months without flowers in northern Illinois.; six very depressing, cold, dreary months. It is a wonder that anyone remains sane. I’d have to say that the perfect mix of seasons for me would be in eastern Tennessee. It would be poetic for me to finish my days in the area where my parents started theirs. It would be nice to get an extra month or two of growing season... and to get away from these gosh darned Illinois taxes.

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Yesterday was haircut day

2011-03-24T19:22:00.001-05:00

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I probably should check out my looks in the mirror more often. My last haircut was just under 6-months ago and I did not realize that I was fully into having the unfriendly appearance of a werewolf until last Saturday when my daughter, my granddaughter, and I went to the neighborhood park. As soon as we walked in, EVERY parent grabbed his or her kids and left in a hurry.

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Central United States Earthquake Consortium (CUSEC) Great Central USA ShakeOut April 28, 2011

2011-03-22T18:23:00.000-05:00

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Over one million people are expected to participate in the Great Central U.S. ShakeOut to be held at 10:15 a.m. on April 28, 2011 (April 19 in Indiana) — a regional earthquake drill where participants will simultaneously practice recommended actions.

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Organically flavored Marijuana

2011-03-22T01:52:00.000-05:00

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Some enterprising smugglers tried to fish bales of pot through the sewers from Mexico to Nogales, Arizona and accidentally plugged things up.

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Dōmo arigatō misutā Robotto

2011-03-17T20:27:00.000-05:00

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The unquestionable raw courage of the Japanese workers may not be enough. Unmanned vehicles and robots are being sought by the IAEA for use at the Fukushima nuclear power station. It will be most interesting to see what the minds of man will create for use in bringing the fuel in the nuclear reactors and storage pools under control… and for cleaning up the site.

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