Ammo Day Payoff

100 rounds of PCI 6.5x50 144 grain FMJ is currently residing in my gun safe.

The Day After

I was up early today after all the napping yesterday.

Believe it or not, I'm cooking a turkey.

Son-In-Law and Middle Daughter went and got all the fixin's for a turkey with stuffing but we ended up going out for Thanksgiving dinner/supper.  That means we don't have leftovers, and Son-In-Law was bemoaning the fact that we wouldn't have turkey for sandwiches and such.

Since the bird has been in the fridge and not the freezer he is all thawed out. That means he has to be cooked before he goes bad, he can't be re-frozen and saved for Christmas. I'm not doing anything today, I have a whole slew of shows on the DVR that I haven't watched, so Mr. Tom will bake merrily away while I catch up on zombies and Sanctuaries, with a helping of Hell On Wheels thrown in for good measure.

So, I have pies on the table and a turkey in the oven, and it feels somehow like I've lost a day...

Happy Thanksgiving

Remember those who serve.

Between

Have they flown to some new Weyr
Where cruel Threads some others fear?
Are they worlds away from here?
Why, oh, why, the empty Weyr?

Anne Inez McCaffrey, 1 April 1926 – 21 November 2011

Sad

When I looked at this the first thing I noticed is that she had her finger on the trigger.

Seriously. That really was the first thing I noticed.

Sigh. They say the mind is the second thing to go...damned if I can remember what was first...

Super Committee FAIL

This is my shocked face.

Meatballs!

Today is spaghetti and meatballs day at the Refuge, just because it hasn't been for a while. This is actually surprising given my affection for the Holy Noodle.

That's a joke, son. Lighten up.

My cooking is more about the combining of pre-prepared ingredients, most of them bought that way rather than prepared from raw ingredients, than it is about scratch-building. None of my recipes start out with "Slaughter the cow..."

My mother now, she was an old Nebraska farm girl and she makes everything from scratch. Heck, she even makes the scratch! That's just the way it was when she was growing up. We live in the time of convenience. But I digress.

My meatballs start out with ground Italian sausage, in the heat range most desired by those who will consume said meatballs. My own preference is hot, but I am regularly over-ruled. Barbarians, they are. Anyway, I combine the Italian sausage with an equal measure of ground meat, usually beef but occasionally pork, and once upon a time venison...mmmm, venison...

Sorry. Where was I? Oh yes, meatballs.

At any rate, combine the Italian sausage and hamburger, stir in eggs (one per pound) and enough bread crumbs (I use Italian) to stiffen the mixture back up. Roll into 1" to 1 1/2" balls between the palms of your hands and chuck them into a pot of boiling water (yes, I boil my meatballs, and I have occasionally been known to bake ribs when it's too damn cold to stand in front of the grille for an hour) for ten minutes or so, then transfer them to the pot of sauce you have bubbling on the side-burner for about an hour longer. Serve over freshly boiled noodles, and there you have it.

Today's ensemble was accompanied by steaks on the grille, because I had them thawed and didn't cook them yesterday like I was going to.

National Ammo Day

Saturday is National Ammo Day.

Graf's has 6.5x50 Japanese for $21.99/box of 20 (PCI).

I'm out of 6.5x50.

Looks like I'll be ordering some on Saturday. I'll shell out for 100 rounds, it's about all I can afford this close to Christmas. If it isn't enough to make Sarah Brady cry I hope it's at least enough to make her rub her eyes a time or two.

I really have to find someone to reload this for me. A quick round of calculations shows that I can get everything I need to reload the brass (if I have it) for about 35 cents a round as opposed to the buck ten a round to buy it new, 87 cents if I have to pony up for the brass, using each case four times averages out to about 47 cents per round.

Of course the "someone to reload this for me" will tell me that I should get a reloading rig of my own. If I had known this hobby was going to get so expensive I would have stuck to model trains.

PSA

The other day at work my workmate was telling me about his brother in law who is anal retentive about everything except, apparently, Rule 2.

Today at Gun Nuts Media I ran across this little gem.

Practice Makes Perfect

Let's talk about practice.

I've been dry-firing for a while now and I can see that I am a whole lot quicker at coming up on target, and the sights stay nice and steady when I squeeze the trigger. Whether or not that translates to holes in the middle of the black at 25 yds remains to be seen.

But this is not about that.

For those of you that shoot in competition this may be something that you normally do, but what about those of us who don't shoot competition and just carry to be more prepared for that which may come?

How often do you practice your draw? Magazine changes/speed loads? If you normally carry concealed, do you tuck or not? How does that affect your accessibility to your weapon? If you carry openly in a SERPA how often do you practice unlocking that latch? Can you do it consistently without putting your digits into the trigger guard?

Can you put your paw all the way around the grip of your piece when it is in your carry holster? If it is an IWB rig can you get your fingers around the grip? How often do you practice draw from concealed? How often does your shirt get in the way? Do you practice for that?

Yesterday I decided I'd trade up a bit to make things more interesting, and boy did it make things more interesting. I had been practicing with my OWB holster, but I usually carry in my Galco Tuck-N-Go IWB. Much to my dismay drawing from the IWB is a much different experience.

The main issue is that the gun rides inside the waistband, so to draw effectively I have to get my thumb in position between my ample self and the grip, squeeze the grip against my palm and lift the pistol up enough to wrap my fingers around the rest of the grip. This takes time, and was something I had not practiced for until then.

The second issue is the shirt. When I carry concealed I generally carry un-tucked. I found by happy coincidence that if I grabbed the bottom of the shirt and lifted just right my left hand was in exactly the right position for the grip.

The problem is that I had better have let the shirt go as soon as I got the fingers of my right hand around the grip, otherwise it was going to be right in the way.

Having a weapon is like having a fire extinguisher or an insurance policy. It's something you have and pray that you never need. But, you do check your extinguishers regularly, and you have thoroughly read your policy, right?

It's a funny thing, I got my CWP just so I wouldn't have to get permission to buy a pistol. I didn't realize it was going to be such an integrated part of my life. I guess this is how one gets to be an activist. (I blame James and Sean, and give thanks to both - James for getting me into serious shooting in the first place and Sean for upping the ante.)

Muchos grassy-ass to Tam for this link.

A Day At The Races

For Veterans Day I took the Firefly up to Virginia International Raceway to participate in their Holiday Laps.

The way it works is you donate $25 cash or a toy worth $25 and you get a session on the track consisting of 20-25 minutes of laps behind the pace car.

It's a fun way to stretch the car out without worrying about oncoming traffic or Johnny Law, and we had a ball.

More photos can be found here.

UPDATE: Edited to add the second session picture and the video.

Oohrah

Happy 236th.

Fun Facts

Less than 4% of the worlds population are natural redheads. Most of them are Irish or Scottish.

The gene for red hair is recessive, and must be present in both parents.

Redheads are harder to sedate, often requiring up to 20% more anesthesia.

Redheads do not go gray. Their hair turns ash blonde and then white, and does so later in life than brunettes or blondes who turn gray.

The color red enhances a viewer's metabolism and increases heart rate and respiration.

Two of Hollywood's most well known redheads are Lucille Ball and Christina Hendricks. Neither are natural redheads, Lucille Ball was a brunette and Christina Hendricks would be a blonde.

More women dye their hair red (30%) than blonde (27%) or brunette (26%).

Much like baconz, redheads make everything better.  Much like beer, redheads are proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. (I may have made these two up, but this does not negate their obvious truthiness.)

More redhead facts can be found here.

Didn't See That Coming...

Remember how the news was full of stories regarding Operation Fast N' Furious?

And remember how everyone was wondering what it was all about?

I know no one expected this!

Gotta go to work now.  At least that WAS expected.

HT: Ace of Spades HQ

On The Grill

Eldest Son brought a deer shoulder home a couple of weeks ago and it had been residing in the freezer until Wednesday.

Today I put it on the grille, rubbed with spices and wrapped in tinfoil, turning after 45 minutes at a time, for about four and a half hours.

Delicious.

I Blame Correia

I went to buy the new Grimnoir Chronicles book last night because for some unknown reason it didn't make it into my Amazon pre-order. I don't know how I missed it, but I did.

So, since I absolutely had to have this book, off I went.

Then I saw a Discworld book I didn't have...

and then there was this steampunk book that I had read reviews on...

(note: don't get that one until you get this one. I need to get it now.)

and then there was a Jules Verne book in the mark-down bin...

and then they had the new Goodkind book at 50% off...

and then my B&N membership was up for renewal...

so I'm out a bit over a hundred clams and I got absolutely nothing done after that.

It was awesome.

I Did Not Know This Man

but he was well regarded by those who's opinions I have learned to trust.

If indeed the true mark of a man is the number of lives he has managed to touch, then William the Coroner was indeed a man among men.

Rest well William. Fair winds and following seas.

Gun Control

I'd almost move to South Carolina just so that I could vote for this guy to be my Sheriff.

In a press conference where he was telling the story of a woman who was attacked by a sexual predator, Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright urged women to walk in groups and get concealed weapons permits.

Wright said in his view, gun control "is when you can get your barrel back on the target quick. That’s gun control."

He has a point...

HT: KC O'Day, Morning Rush, Rush Radio 106.1 FM

Burning Irony

Submitted without further comment:

"Nick Hommen, 29, a volunteer from Salem, Ore., who was handling donations, said some demonstrators were taking advantage of people’s generosity.
“We can’t afford to keep buying new tents. It’s ridiculous the sense of entitlement people feel,” Hommen said."

HT: Bob Owens