What If

My "adopted sister" who is a black woman 15 years older than I am lost her grandson a little more than a year ago. He answered a knock at the door and was gunned down. I don't know the details to that case, and I don't know if they ever caught the gunman.

Last week another one of her young relatives was shot eight times in an armed robbery. He saw the robbers face, you see, and the robber didn't want him to be able to identify him to the police. This young man is alive today only by the grace of God and the miracle of modern medicine.

You have heard it all before; give them what they want, it's not worth your life, better that you be beaten, robbed and raped than lose your life, it's only possessions and what possession could possibly be worth your life (an assessment that I am in vehement disagreement with, BTW). But what if what they want IS your life? What then?

I carry because I set the amount of my own worth, and the worth of those I love, and I set that value far above that price which most criminals would be willing to pay. It is up to me to enforce that price.

So what is your life worth?

Think about it.

Stop n' Go

While on the Blue Ridge last week the front brakes on the 'stang started scraping. By the time we got through NoVa and back home they were scraping badly and the left rotor was showing signs of metal on metal contact.

Yesterday afternoon I put brand-new brake pads and rotors on the front. The left outside pad was down to metal but the rest of them looked practically new (they are only a bit over a year old). I checked the sliders and they moved easily.

I put on the new anti-rattle clips, cleaned and greased the sliders and put everything back together, I'll keep a close eye on it and see what happens. If all else fails I'll replace the left hose and caliper but I'm hoping the fresh grease and new clips will fix the issue.

And of course, since I couldn't drive the car all week the sun came back out to play but today and tomorrow it is supposed to rain again.

I'm In

Erin has an interesting invitation.

I have two or three carry holsters, depending on what I'm doing or where I'm going (today I'll be open carrying to a luncheon but later I'll be concealing). Here's my open carry rig.

What do you say? Show them off!

Here's Something

I don't have the time nor the place (I really need to look into joining a range, too bad there isn't one close by) to do this, but one of you might.

Basically you take a new shooter to the range and then you get free ammo. Details are here.

One of these days I really need to get out to the range, but the short-term prospects for doing so aren't looking too good.

What I Did This Weekend

The Blue Ridge Parkway was wet, foggy and cold. It rained the whole time and all of the Parkway north of Floyd VA was closed due to high winds and water.

I had a great weekend.

And Now, Without Further Ado

October's ROTM is brought to you by quartets.

I hope the extra content makes up for the wait.