11/13/2022 - BLOG COMMENTS are again allowed and are moderated to exclude only the bots, advertisements, racial / ethnic pejoratives, and embedded links. I'll attempt to honor Chicago's historical "Bughouse Square" concept of free-speech and open debate --- spanning the curve from the far-left to the far-right. /JZ
Blogging to you from the Northeastern Badlands of The County of Lake, in the state currently known as Fatmanistan, DEEP DEEP DEEP DEEP DEEP inside the heartland of the Banana Republic formerly known as the USA, WELCOME TO THE NEXT CHAPTER! WARNING! ALL FORMS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ARE ADDICTIVE; EXCESSIVE USE MAY LEAD TO MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS, REDUCED JOB PRODUCTIVITY, INSOMNIA, SOCIAL ALIENATION, GENITAL ULCERS, BLINDNESS, POLITICAL EROTICISM, AND / OR DEVIANT FUNAMBULISM. NOTICE: NO GUNS OR AMMUNITION ARE FOR SALE VIA THIS BLOG. (No, I will not trade my Colt Python for some lubricious adventures with your trophy wife and a future first-round draft pick.) CAVEAT: This blog is not suitable for viewing while at work, while inside a public library, while inside any public or private school, or while inside any public or private restroom. Do not view this blog while driving a motor vehicle or while piloting an aircraft. Viewing this blog may be illegal inside the EU, NYC, Chicago, Seattle, and other parts of the Third World. THIS BLOG CONTAINS (albeit often very childish) ADULT-CONTENT. DISCLAIMER: This blog is a hobby, it is not a livelihood. Even though much of what I blog about relates to firearms collecting and recreational shooting, I am not an expert (by any measure) on any facet of guns, shooting, hunting, or personal defense. Entries at this blog are akin to good old-fashioned campfire chats or post hunt bourbon-fueled barroom-bluster; I offer no opinion on what you should or should not purchase, or what you should be using or doing. What does or does not work for me could be rugged-country-miles away from your tastes and your needs. All products, places, and miscellany that I review for this blog are purchased / rented / leased at retail price by me. I do not accept payment, gifts, discounts, freebies, products on loan, distilled spirits, recreational pharmaceuticals, plea-bargains, probation, parole, Papal Blessings, Presidential Pardons, or sexual favors for doing any review or blog post. TRACKING COOKIES: Google et al stick tracking cookies on everybody. If you are online, you are being spied on via one method or another, for one reason or another; 'nuff said. You may be able to minimize your online DNA residue by using Tor and Duck Duck Go. Vive la liberté! Vive all y'all! Ante omnia armari. To each of you, thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Bought a new Made in USA axe


I swear that it is really a pain to find something made in the USA nowadays.  I wander stores looking for a specific item and often go home empty handed because most everything is foreign made and not very good quality.  Today I did manage to find a True Temper brand 3.5 lb. single bit axe with a “Proudly Made in the USA” sticker on it (check the labels; I cannot say for certain that all of their products are made in the USA).  It should last me the rest of my days although that is what I thought about my last axe until a neighbor borrowed it and managed to “use” it beyond ready repair.  I decided it best to just go buy myself a new one and donate that one to him.


Friday, September 21, 2012

So here we are on the last full day of summer


Another long, strange, bittersweet trip is ending.  

This is a traditional time of reflection for me.  Therefore, I’ll be out on the patio from now until the companionship of a warming-fire burns to embers, which should be well after midnight.  Afterwards, I will have the resolve to fight the seasonal melancholy that gnaws at me from early September until the first promises of spring. 


Thursday, September 20, 2012

Something every survivalist should ponder



The 1957 study makes no mention of bourbon, so to play it safe post-apocalypse, you all may want to deliver samples of your hard liquor to me for testing. 


Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Monday, September 17, 2012

You will not need a driver’s license by 2040


Let the good times roll!  If I live until then, I’ll be 88-years-old and I expect to be partying down with a harem of 75-year-old hotties.  I sure do not want to waste time by driving myself anywhere. 


Warp Drive more possible than ever thought.


Bench studies are underway.  Concept design does not look much like a DeLorean.


Sunday, September 16, 2012

It is again Cub Scout Popcorn time!




I believe it was three years ago when I first saw a Cub Scout trundling a cart of assorted popcorn goodies around our neighborhood.  If my memory serves me, I was good for a purchase of somewhere around $60.  If a scout came to my door last year, I missed him, but I found a Scout and his family hawking their wares outside of a Sam’s Club; I was good for somewhere around $36 then.  Today a Cub Scout and his Mom were canvasing the neighborhood and I enthusiastically hit them up for another $ 36 replenishment of my larder.  It is good quality food and it is for a great cause.

Yeah, I am a sentimental old fuddy duddy.  When I see a Scout, I see the past, the present, and the future of the true America.  Nobody can ever take that away from me.


Illinois was number one in the USA for August 2012




Thursday, September 13, 2012

More than two decades of decline


NOW I am talking about the economy.  U.S. incomes fall to 1989 levels. 

How many homeowners have had their property taxes drop to 1989 levels? How many people have had the price of health insurance drop to 1989 levels?  Anyone?  Hello? 


Tuesday, September 11, 2012

The sun has gone down over 4,000 times since September 11, 2001


Those who saw their last sunrise that morning are not forgotten.  That act of war is not forgiven. 

Three years ago, I wrote this.  Indeed, time has healed nothing. 


Monday, September 10, 2012

An afternoon with friends in high places



Life has been on the morbid side of serious around here for much of this year.  I was beginning to suffer a bit of frustration and melancholy when Steve from Minnesota jumped into his Cessna Cardinal, picked up Dave at Clow airport in Bolingbrook, and flew into Waukegan to give me a lake shore flight-seeing tour to Chicago and back.  I have to tell you that no doctor could have prescribed anything more cathartic.  Thank you my friends.  It was a blast!  (A special tip of the hat to Landmark Aviation.)







Thursday, September 6, 2012

Democrats BOO God


Before today, I would have imagined that even the most godless of people would think that to be very bad karma.



Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Most politicians have this feature


A newly discovered fish from Vietnam has penis on its head.


Four years of abstinence



What good is a blog if you cannot use it to mark silly anniversaries?

It has been four years since I smoked a cigar or tasted bourbon.  It has been two years since I had a beer.  Morality has nothing to do with it; my body and soul just needed a break of indeterminate length from certain indulgences. Someday, I shall return.


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Be they Republican, Democrat, third party, fourth party or beyond, make each candidate earn it. Vote NO MORE GUN LAWS!

'We the Politicians of the United States, in Order to avoid a more perfect Union, manipulate Justice, destroy domestic Tranquillity, provide for the common offense, promote general Warfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty for ourselves and our Progeny, do blaspheme and eviscerate this Constitution of the United States of America." ("Zack," circa 1966 -1970)
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