Fisher House

Reports of Pop's demise are somewhat exaggerated.

He is not well, he has suffered a stroke, but he has pulled back from death's door. Where it goes from here is anyone's guess.

So while he is in the hospital we are staying at the Fisher House right across the parking lot.

 This is a really nice place.

The story behind Fisher House is in 1990 Pauline Trost, wife of then CNO Admiral Carlisle Trost, approached Zachary Fisher with an idea to establish places for the families of veterans to stay while their vet was being treated on an inpatient basis at VA hospitals.

Zachary Fisher was a construction magnate who had a strong affinity for the military, even though he was medically disqualified from service himself. Most notably Zachary Fisher was instrumental in establishing the Intrepid Museum Foundation which resulted in the saving of that ship from the scrappers to be turned into a museum.

Being the patriot that he was, he and his wife Elizabeth wasted no time in founding the Fisher House Program, opening the first two Fisher Houses at Naval Medical Facility Bethesda and Walter Reed Army Medical Center. At present there are 64 Fisher Houses at various locations, the newest one in Gainsville FL.

I will certainly be remembering their generosity.

Dying Of The Light

I got the call a little over an hour ago, Eldest Daughter is on her way to Gainsville. Pop (Laura's Dad) is in the hospital and not expected to last the night.

Pray not for recovery, but for an easy passage. Pop is a heartbroken and weary man, he has buried his wife and his only child and he deserves peace. He will not rage against the dying of the light. He will ask it why took so long.

Goodbye Pop. Say hello to my favorite mother-in-law.

And tell Laura I love her.

La Belleza Pelirroja

Happy Autumn!

The Saga Continues

So in our last installment I mentioned the transmission whine. A look on the forums suggested that, given the symptoms, the problem was most likely the center drive bearings.

Center drive is AWD speak for transfer case. The center drive is basically a limited slip differential with a viscous coupler that is driven on one side by the transmission and on the other side it drives the rear wheels. Under normal operations everything turns at the same speed, but in corners it allows the wheels to turn different speeds.

Like when you are pulling into a parking spot, for instance.

Fortunately you can dig into the center drive without pulling the transmission, it's about a two to three hour process to do so but it's not difficult. So I broke out the took set and pulled the tailshaft cover off of the transmission to check the bearings and sure enough I found two of them to be bad.

But wait, there's more.

Not only were two of the bearings bad, the center differential has come apart as well...which means it has gone bad, too, which is why I was getting the clunk in the front end during the tight turns. With the center diff locked up as it was the car is basically a 4WD instead of AWD, which is why on dry pavement the front tires would slip and cause the clunking noise.

Not struts.
Not driveshafts.
Not wheel bearings.
Oh no, that would be too easy and cheap.

Yeah...that's a $500+ part...but fortunately I found it for $411 shipped.

Looks like it will go back together next week then.

I did dodge one bullet, though, in that I didn't drive the truck too long after the clunking had stopped (the clunking stopped when the center differential viscous clutch came apart. At that point the center differential was no longer locked up and the rear wheels were no longer being driven at full power). It seems that generally when the snap ring comes off the center diff (which is what happened) it usually gets sucked into the gears. Because I didn't drive the truck very far in that condition, the gears were spared.

If they hadn't been, this might be a shorter story.

One Damn Thing After Another

Eldest Son has been driving the Baja for a little over a month now, he took it to Florida and then he's been driving it back and forth to work since he moved back in. This weekend he got himself a little Honda to drive so I get my scoobytruck back. This is good because winter is coming and the Mustang is more of a fair weather friend.

Last weekend he changed out the front struts in the latest attempt to eliminate the front end clunk that first we thought were drive axles and then we thought were wheel bearings.  I took it down to get the alignment done and noticed that it has developed a gear whine in the final drive. I put that in the "deal with it later" category and took it on in to the alignment shop.

When it came down from the rack the machine showed everything (except the right rear where there is no adjustment) is straight, but it pulled to the right. I checked the tire pressure and the right tire was low. So, I fired up the air compressor and topped off the tire pressures all the way around and took it down the road to check it out.

Nope, still pulls to the right darn it, so at the end of the road I crank the wheels hard left to turn around...and all of a sudden now it pulls to the left.

?

When I got to the next intersection I cranked the wheels hard right and brought it about, and then it pulled to the right again but not as hard. Back to the turnaround, hard to the left, and the pull is completely gone now.

Back to the house, up on the jackstands, and check every bolt. Everything is nice and tight, the clunk is gone and the truck tracks straight and true with no pull. All's well that ends well, I guess everything just needed to be settled into place or something.

And now for that gear whine. Eldest Son didn't notice it at all, which suggests that it came about slowly as he drove it for the past month...slowly enough that he didn't identify it as something new. Since I hadn't driven it in over a month I noticed it right away.

The forums (not only is there a forum for the Baja, but there is a book of faces for it, too. Scary right?) suggest the whine may be coming from either the center drive (where the front axles connect) or transfer case bearings. There are detailed instructions on how to change out these four bearings. It looks like a PITA and I really don't want to do it, but it needs to be done.

Fortunately the forums also say it's not something that has to be done immediately, so I can hold off a while doing it until I can build up the car fixing fund again. It will have to be built up quite a bit because the Mustang is going to need another set of $1200 tires soon. I've gotten about 35K out of this set and I hope to get another couple of months out of them at least. Either way the Continentals have outlasted both sets of Pirellis so I'm happy with them and will certainly replace them with another set.

Several sayings about things with wheels come to mind...none of which are polite enough to share.

Additions

Not a Brick in the Wall, added to the Morons of the HQ Kind Blogroll.

For better or for worse...

A Day In Review

Pig for breakfast, pig for lunch and pig for dinner.

New rotors on the Mustang to get rid of the shake n' brake, and new pads because new rotors. Next payday I'll get the back rotors and the proper caliper compressor and do the back brakes.

Eldest Son got a car today, a 2000 Honda Accord, nice little car. The first place he took it, literally straight from the license plate office, was to work. Gotta make those payments, you know.

That means he will stop driving the Subaru, so I'll be getting it lined back up (we changed the front struts last weekend) and then I'll start driving it to work again. You know, to keep the miles off of the Mustang. Because that's worked so well for me so far.

And that was it.

You can live your life in fear or you can live your life in defiance. Make your choice.

Hey, Range Partner!

This Jones fellow, he sounds like a sensible sort of person.

This Womack guy sounds like he might have a clue or two as well.

How do I get them to move up here closer to the Refuge?

If we had folks like that here in Franklin County maybe that new range would have opened up here instead of over in Nash County.

And if flies carried .45's...

Brought To You

by the War on Certain Drugs and exacerbated by the anti-Patriot Act: wholesale violation of your fourth amendment rights!

Libertarians have long gotten to be the butt of jokes because they argue against the drug war, and I have often said they are approaching it from the wrong angle. The problem isn't so much that you have the right to put various toxic substances into your body - you do -  the problem is the extremes to which authoritarian totalitarians are willing to go to in order to prevent you from doing so.

And once you get the nod for extremism against one thing that makes you feel ooky the door is wide open to do the same thing to other things you find ooky...like that pesky second amendment thing, or the belief that you actually have the right to keep some of your own money.

Note to Deputy Ron Hain of Kane County IL, your advocacy of “turning our police forces into present-day Robin Hoods” is fallacious at it's core.

Robin Hood, so the story goes, fought illegal seizure of the populace's money and goods by a government out of control. Today's police forces are being turned into a very stark example of that out of control government.

In other words, they are turning into the Sheriff of Nottingham.

But hey, if you aren't doing anything wrong...

September

and my first day off of the month, my joy knows no bounds.

So first, some admin stuff, which starts out with a story. Today walking out of the building when I got off work I spied a co-worker who I had not seen for a while. I mentioned this and he said he had been out just a few days shy of six months.

With prostate cancer.

I mentioned that September is prostate cancer awareness month, and if I wasn't at work that I would be wearing a kilt to commemorate it. He laughed at that and said he had no need to wear a kilt now.

This story fortunately has a happy ending, they caught it in time and he is going to be fine, but there were some ominous shadows in the story...starting with the one where he had to go to two different urologists and insist on having his prostate checked the old fashioned way before they finally caught it.

The first urologist didn't  have the slightest clue what the problem was and the second diagnosed an enlarged prostate and wanted to just cut it up a bit, which very likely would have ended up in the cancer spreading instead of being caught. If you didn't get slightly bug-eyed at that you aren't paying attention.

Statistically speaking prostate cancer is as easy to treat, and as survivable, as breast cancer. The problem is catching it in time, and since most men are a little leery of the finger they may not be so eager to get checked. Not to worry though, it's not all bad. The recommended check used to be annually and digitally (and no, this doesn't mean by using a camera or a computer), now it is every two years by blood test. If you are over 50, or if you are in an increased risk group, it's worth the effort.




One in seven. Get checked. The kilt is on and the hot button is on the sidebar.

Me and Sis, breast cancer survivor

In commemoration of Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, and in view of the Kilted to Kick Cancer campaign, this month's redhead shares the stage with three other kilted lassies. Sorry for the poor picture, it's the best one I had to pick from. I really should have gotten a better one of her, but they all had to go back to work.

And last but not least, twenty eight years ago tomorrow I got a telegram. I was on the ship and a long way from home, and even though the news was expected it still came as a shock to this 20 year old sailor boy. It was that day that I realized that I would have to kill every male child on the planet.

Happy Birthday Youngest Daughter!

And with that, it's off to bed.

Learn Something New

From WOTC, the Dunning-Kruger Effect.

Remind you of anybody?

Stones or Stupid

The definition of which I leave up to you, the reader. It's either one or the other.

Yep

By way of Guffaw I found this article which I was reading to Eldest Son.

When I got to the end of the fourth paragraph, where it says "When they got here and found work, in the main, they taught their kids to be thankful for America and they raised their kids to be good citizens. That’s not what we are dealing with today" Eldest Son, who is not noted for his tact or political correctness, said "No, they're coming here now to suck the welfare donkey's d**k."

The statement was simultaneously crudely vulgar and yet completely correct.

If there weren't already lots of good reasons for me going to Hell, laughing at that would probably do it.

Quick!

Before gfa gets here!

*whew* that was close...

48

Yay me.

So I got myself this. You should get one, too.

ADD: Oh, and look...Feral Irishman got me something, too! (deliciously NSFW)

So Long Jim

James Garner has passed at the age of 86.

I remember him from The Rockford Files, but I think my favorite of his movies was Space Cowboys.

Vampire Books

The Tome of Bill.

Man, that's some funny stuff.

Hey! There's A Bandwagon!

I have a range session next weekend, so I'm going out to shoot at least two of the 5 most dangerous guns in America, maybe more if things work out well.

First up, since it will be the inaugural run of the Sig, I'm going to shoot the first most dangerous gun in America, the pistol. I will go so far as to bring my Glocks to play, so two of the three of the pistols I shoot will be Glocks. This will pretty well coincide with the articles statement that "65 percent of the market share of handguns for United States law enforcement agencies" is filled by Glock, even though neither one of mine to the best of my knowledge was ever used by any law enforcement agency...but the Sig was.

If Range Partner brings his Alaskan I might even shoot the second most dangerous gun in America, the revolver. I'm only going to shoot it once, though, because a .454 Casull in that short frame really hurts to shoot. That's why he says he carries it, he only wants to have to shoot it once. After all, if I'm going to shoot a dangerous gun it might as well be a really dangerous gun.

I'll probably bring at least one of the long guns out of the safe, so I'm certain that I'll put a few rounds through the third most dangerous gun in America, the rifle. The only question is, which one? I haven't brought the Nazi killer out to play lately, so maybe there's a fireball in my future. That should amp the danger meter up some.

Next, perhaps I'll drag the EBS out for some fun and games so that I can shoot the fourth most dangerous gun in America, the shotgun. It's been a while since I've put anything through it, so maybe it's due. Also I need some more/better pictures of it in its current configuration, so it has to come out of the safe anyway. Since it was built with the specific purpose of scaring the gun grabbers it definitely belongs on the dangerous list.

Unfortunately neither one of us has a derringer, so I won't be shooting the fifth most dangerous gun in America.

And now I'm going to get something to try to wash away the memory of reading that article. The things I do for cheap hits...

Windoze

I did get that motherboard installed in the dearly departed Acer, but the electron gods spit in my eye (at least I hope it was just spit) and when I tried to fire it up nothing at all worked. So I boxed it all up, bought a new laptop and forgot about it. The only thing I really missed about the old Acer was the built-in camera that could be turned to face away and the non-Windoze 8 OS.

Eldest Boy was looking for a laptop so I handed him the box full of Acer parts and told him have at it, he was going to take it to a computer guru he knows to see if life could be breathed into the old girl. As it works the computer guru was indeed able to resurrect the Acer and now it soldiers on...with Windoze 8, even though my brand new copy of Windoze 7 was in the box.

So I told Eldest Boy if Computer Guru wasn't going to put 7 on the Acer I wanted the disk back, after all I paid good money for it. He brought it back and now it sits on my desk as I contemplate. I'd have to pull the hard drive out and plug it into my adapter on the desktop to wipe it, but I'm seriously considering putting 7 on the laptop. If it annoys me any more I just might do it.

Justice

I do not think this word means what you think it means.

Family court is like one of those daytime hatefest shows (Springer, Povich, etc). If you are male you don't want to be anywhere near it.

I'm seriously glad I'm out of the kid raising business. If I were in my 20's right now and faced with the possibility of raising teenage girls I'd castrate myself and join the monastery.

I can't count the number of times one of our sailors would find out he was getting divorced (not always due to his own actions, but to be fair not always not either) and then get hit with a child endangerment charge as well just as an added "f**k you" to keep him away from his kids. Most of them had the "wink wink nudge nudge" implication that if he didn't contest the divorce/custody hearing that charge would quietly go away.

One of them told me once upon a time that when he heard all the things he was supposed to have done he cursed himself for a perverted sonofabitch, so he knew he didn't have a chance but to let her have everything she wanted - and he had all boy children. Talk about rape-rape, he really got his ass handed to him in divorce court.

And it happened all the time.

Makes me wonder how we are even able to propagate the species.

As an aside, I'll spare you the rant on "blaming the victim" here.

On The Reading List

So I bought this for myself on the 4th of July to have and to hold on the Kindle list.

At the same time I got this one.

The first thing I'm going to do is be blasphemous and say I overpaid for both of them. Principles of Personal Defense is exceedingly good in its explanation of the mindset one should adopt regardless of weapon choice but at 80 pages isn't worth the ten bucks it sells for. To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth is chock full of good bits but tends to ramble a bit towards the end of each section as the subject gives way to short personal stories.

With that said, they are good books and should be read by all who have a passing regard for firearms and 2A matters.

I also come away with the impression that the good LCOL was exceedingly fond of the M1911 and God's Own Caliber and h8ses the 9mm like mayonnaise on hamburgers.

Her Friends

must really be smokin'.

Seriously, they must be so blazing hot they melt camera lenses, which would explain why we have never seen pictures of them.

I guess we'll just have to make do with second best then.

Why Why Why

As is my wont, now that I actually own a Sig P220 I'm doing a bit of research on it. So why would I do my research afterwards instead of before? That's one of life's little mysteries, isn't it. At any rate, I've lost track of the number of "ur gun sux get m&p with apex trigger" comments.

My question has to do with the latter part of that comment...the part about "with apex trigger".

I don't own an M&P, and in fact I haven't ever shot one, but from everything I've heard they are good guns. I just don't see the point of buying one that I have to modify right out of the box to make it acceptable. What's so great about a gun you have to immediately modify in order to make it worth a damn?

The same question applies to Ruger 10/22 fans, by the way.

Happy Day

Payday, and now that the bills are all settled and the dust has cleared I'm broke again.

For various definitions of broke, I guess...I'm doing pretty well, all things considered; the cars all have gas, my pantry is well stocked, my utilities are still on and the bank isn't throwing me out of my house. I just don't have as much free cash as I'd like to have.

It's all my own damn fault, though.

The book came in Tuesday and I haven't had a chance to read any of it since I've been working. I plan on rectifying that situation this weekend. The Sig was acquired a couple of hours ago on the side of the road in a deal which I'm sure would have appeared very suspicious if the seller had not been in a blue and white Charger. I only say this to make the anti-gunners cringe.

I admit I really didn't need the Sig, but it was literally an offer that I could not refuse. It was a duty weapon for a local PD; when they traded weapons out one of the neighboring city policemen bought it, about the same time his baby girl was born, and then realized he could only afford one. He sold it to me, with the three magazines, at his cost, which was a very attractive price to say the least. Let's just say I paid more for each of the Glocks than I did for the Sig and leave it at that.

It's a P220 chambered in God's Own Caliber, no rails as you can see, so it's a base model not the P220R. It does, however, have the night sights installed so that's nice. The outside of the barrel shows some signs of wear but the rifling is nice and crisp, and the best thing about it is, since it's DA/SA, I can put a snap cap in it and dry-fire to my heart's content without having to stop and reset the trigger. I've slacked off on my dry-firing just because the Glock has to have its trigger reset between pulls and it broke my concentration to have to do that. Now that excuse is gone.

It's a bit bigger than the Glocks, but not really as much as I had feared. It's longer of course, but the biggest difference in the way it feels is in the shape of the grip. The Glocks seem to have a more pronounced bulge further up the grip at the back than the Sig does, the 36 has a bigger bulge than the 19. The grip really isn't that much longer than the G-19, and the G-36 is actually a bit longer with the extended magazine installed.

I can actually wrap my hands around the Sig better than I can either of the Glocks, and the Sig has an 8 round magazine instead of the 6+1 of the G-36, so now I can carry 25 rounds (3x8 plus one in the pipe) instead of 22 (3x7+1). I don't know if those extra 3 rounds will ever make a difference...I hope to never have to find out...but I guess it's better to have them than not.

One thing the Sig is not, is combat Tupperware. The frame is aluminum instead of polymer, I don't know how much difference that is going to make in recoil but I do know that the magazines are easier to eject from the Sig than they are for the G-36 (but about the same for the G-19). I still have to hold the muzzle with my left hand so I can turn my right hand enough to hit the magazine release, but I don't have to pull the heel of my hand away from the magazine to let it fall.

I had a tough time finding a holster locally for the Sig, it looks like I'll have to order online to get another one for it. For now I'm using a Bianchi Minimalist, I'd like to have more coverage on the trigger but that's about the only thing I could find right away to fit it. I'll probably opt for a custom holster for it, I hear tell of a few places where I might could have one made.

I do like the way this Sig fits my hand, and I can't wait to see how it shoots.

UPDATE: Bonus! The Sig fits the Galco Tuck n' Go that I have, but not the Stow n' Go. Kind of odd since both of them were purchased for the same gun (the Glock 36, although the G-19 fits both of them as well). It's a little tight but it works pretty well. That means now I have a holster I can remove when I need to, it covers the trigger better, and it rides a little lower as well which means it's more comfortable to carry. I haven't been using the Tuck n' Go lately so it looks like it belongs to the Sig now.

July ROTM

I have been working all week so I didn't get a chance to put this up earlier. It amused me this month while perusing the web for suitable images that so many of them looked familiar...because they were links to this site, particularly the ROTM posts. Ah, what price fame...

At any rate, and without further ado, I give you the Redhead of the Month for July, the lovely Kimber Lee:

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Reading From the Same Playbook

 Now the EPA has also lost emails due to hard drive crashes?



Someone please tell me what brand of hard drive the .gov is using...so I can put all the evidence on one.

Range Day AAR

I got the G-19 sighted in, barely. Of course I left the handy dandy Glock tool at home so I had to use a knife blade to adjust it. It will now shoot bullseye from a bench rest.

I, however, still suck at shooting it.

First things first, Youngest Son and I tried the Battleship targets at 50 yards with the Marlins first, but my old eyes wouldn't let me line up properly (I was using the 795 with iron sights, Youngest Boy was using the Model 60 with the scope) so we pulled them back to 25 yards. After going through a full box of .22LR (325 rounds) neither of us had won but I was closer.

Next I put a few rounds through the Arisaka and the Mossberg at 100 yards while Youngest Son peppered a zombie clown target with the Saiga. The Arisaka is still a handful, it groups in a 5" circle at 100 yards but I'm pretty certain that most of the problem is me since I'm not using a bipod with it.

The Mossberg shoots 1.5 MOA at 100 from the bipod and it likes 51 grains of IMR 4064 with its 165 grain Hornady SST's. I've heard that a Boyds wooden stock will bring the groups down to sub-MOA but 1.5 is still minute of Bambi so I'm satisfied with it.

After that Range Partner and I tried out the Battleship targets. RP won, finally, after we had gone through all the 9mm I brought (should have brought more since I was sighting the 9mm in, along with the tool...but I digress) and then switched to the G-36...and then went through all but 4 rounds of all the .45ACP that I brought.

It was pretty glaringly obvious that we both needed the practice, and I'm somewhat concerned that the G19 needed so much adjustment with its sights. Maybe a new barrel would set it right, irritating with a new gun but it puts holes where its pointed now so it's all good. Best of all was the stress reduction achieved through recoil therapy, I think that was probably needed more than the practice.

Mexican for lunch, inspection and tag renewal for the Pony and lawn mowing followed, and now I'm in skating ring hell as Boy shmoozes the chicks.

Eh. Life could be worse.

Sights, PT 2

Installing Glock sights on a Glock is simplicity itself. Drive the old ones off, drive the new ones on, no muss no fuss.

In fact, the hardest part to installing the sights was finding a brass punch. I never did find one, but the local craft store had brass shapes that were suitable for cutting up to use as punches.

The guns are cased and ready to be put in the car tomorrow, I'll be sighting in the G-19 and trying my reloads out in the Mossy 30-06. I'm also taking along some of the toys I haven't played with in a while.

A day at the range is always a good day.

Sights

I just ordered a set of adjustable rear sights for the Glock 19, I'm hoping that I can get the POA and POI to intersect. They should be here next week, I should be able to get them installed pretty quickly and then it's off to the range on Friday to dial them in.

AAR will occur...after.

This Just In

This sauce makes a pretty good marinade for deer meat.

Good Lord

Can somebody please explain to me what it was that Miss Nevada/Miss USA said that was so damn controversial? Sounds to me like she's got her gray matter in place and fully engaged.

Party Time!

The company I work for had a summer picnic on Friday, and the best part was I got paid to be there (I was on the medical response team, fortunately we had no customers).

Here's a little taste of what we saw:

 Acrobats

 and sand castles

 and FOOOD!!!

 and bouncy houses

 and pretty girls on stilts

 and water baloons

and henna tattoos

 and rock wall climbing

and lights.

All in all, it was a pretty good time.

Breakfast

Sausage gravy and biscuits, mmm...and so easy to make, too.

1 lb sausage
Flour
Milk
Salt and pepper

Notice there are no quantities listed for flour and milk. This is one of those things that you have to play by ear, so to speak. I use a 10" cast iron skillet to make this.

First, fry the sausage up, crumbling it as you cook it. When it is done clear through, stir in flour one heaping spoonful at a time (I use a serving spoon, just like my mother used to use) until the grease is all absorbed. Be careful not to put too much flour in, you want the mixture to be moist.

Stirring constantly, add milk until you get to the desired consistency. You will probably have to add more milk as the mixture cooks down because it will thicken as it heats. Cook until it is warmed clear through. Salt and pepper to taste (I also add a couple of turns of the Italian herb spice weasel).

Serve over freshly baked biscuits. (I cheat and use wompum biscuits...those are the kind where you peel the label and wompum on the counter...)

Today In History

1942: The US Navy's Battle of Midway winds down as surface fleet combatants move to disengage, the Japanese lost four carriers to the American's one. Yorktown was under tow on the 6th, expected to once again be salvaged, when she was discovered and attacked by a Japanese submarine; she was lost early the 7th.

As the Navy's battle wound down the Marine's battle was just beginning; Marine air elements began to engage the remnants of the Japanese fleet on the 6th. These battles were the first large-scale Allied victories against the Japanese juggernaut and although hard fighting was yet ahead they signaled the beginning of the end of Japanese dominance in the Pacific.

1944: D Day invasion of France at Normandy; the allies landed on Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword Beaches beginning at 6:30 AM, establishing beach-heads for continued operations and sustaining 4,414 casualties by the days end. This is the largest amphibious operation in history to date, and if God is merciful it will be the largest one ever.

Every day we lose more and more of these men, and the world is left poorer by their passing.

And finally, I would be remiss at this time if I did not acknowledge the last of the Navajo code-talkers, Chester Nez, who passed on the 4th at the age of 93. Well done Marine, Semper Fi.

Four

Yesterday. Doesn't seem like it was that long ago.

June

First month of summer, and a new ROTM.

For your consideration:

Analeigh Tipton.

Happy First Month of Summer!

Time

Twenty years ago today my first redhead was taken from this world by cervical cancer.*

I didn't deserve her for the short time I had her, and like a fool I walked away from her. This was long before her death, more than 10 years in fact. We were still in high school when I decided I didn't want to be "tied down" and I have since had plenty of time to regret that decision.

Today I remember her. Perhaps I will get the chance in the next life to admit to her what I never could in this one.

RIP Leonaye A. Bulger, 10 May 1966 - 31 May 1994

*I hate this disease. Damn I'm hard on my redheads, if the good Lord ever grants me another I will endeavor to take better care of her.

Aaaand...we're back

Home again, home again, after our little trip. Almost 3700 miles, average 24MPG with the top down on the highway in most cases, two graduations, a funeral (Brother In Law's father passed while we were there) and a wedding (Eldest Sister, much to my mother's consternation as she doesn't care much for her new son-in-law).

We got back home last night a little after 11 PM. Eldest Son took good care of the dog in my absence, but he was glad to see me anyway. It was really good to climb into my own bed last night as well.

Late this morning I rode my lawn mower around the Field of Dandelions (otherwise known as my yard) which I'm sure made my neighbors happy as it was rather...overgrown. This exercise revealed my need for a new lawn mower battery and sharpened blades as I had to use the battery charger to start the mower and the grass wasn't so much cut as it was beaten into submission.

Back to work tonight.

Apparently

some people consider this to be humorous.

I think they're just mocking me. Because they're jealous.

In the Oven

Strawberry cream pie for Niece and a plain cheesecake for another niece's boyfriend (it's his birthday).

For the strawberry cream pie, use the glazed apple pie recipe for the cream and then substitute the following for the apple filling:

2 lbs strawberries, hulled and quartered
1/2 cup sugar
2 T flour

First cut the strawberries up and combine with the sugar and flour, mix well. Now make your cream filling as directed and put it in the bottom of your prepared pie crust. Mix the strawberries up again very well, by now the flour and sugar have mixed with the strawberry juice to make a syrup and you want all of the strawberries to be well coated with it. Pour this in your crust over the cream, put your top crust on and bake as directed. Let it cool for an hour and a half, mix up the glaze, pour it on the top and then refrigerate for a couple of hours before cutting into pieces.

Niece has to go to work tonight and has threatened death and destruction on anyone who touches her pie before she gets home. I believe her, too.

Once Again

I like open carry. I'm an open carry advocate, although I'm not rabid about it. I belong to a group here in the greater Raleigh area that goes to different places for lunch while open carrying. Our goal is to show the normal folks that we are more like them than the nuts they see on the TV.

Chipolte restaurants recently became the latest battleground on the War on Guns, and as is typical once the jackasses got wind of it they thought it would be a good idea to bring their Evil Black Rifles in to, I don't know, "make a statement" or some such bullshit as that. (I have been informed that there was no organized response, it was a photo taken while having an after-event meal that the antis jumped on and another completely unrelated photo that they astroturfed on to increase the visibility.)

Chipolte has now "made a statement" and that statement is, don't take your guns to town.

It would serve our cause much better when the antis pick the next battleground (as they have picked Starbucks and now Chipoltes) and the business in question says they will follow state law, to just say "thank you," perhaps with a nice letter to Corporate, and let it go at that. Leave the EBRs at home, don't bother the individual storefronts with our "show of support" (the exception would be to have a quiet word of support for the manager of any store that is besieged with antis), and most of all...DO NOT ENGAGE ON A BATTLEFIELD OF THEIR CHOOSING (please do take the time to notice very carefully where that last link points. It was deliberately picked. Know your enemy).

 We may be winning the legislative war so far, but the activists will always win the PR battle if we choose to engage them on their own ground. Let the public see them acting like nuts, not us, is what I say. I'll carry the Glock in a holster on my hip in plain view, but I haven't ever run into a situation where I've said "Man, it sure would have been handy to have that Saiga with me." (Yes, yes, I know, a pistol is what you use to fight your way back to the rifle you shouldn't have left behind in the first place, but seriously folks, the biggest point of risk assessment is determining likelihood and in my mind the risk of alienating the public on an otherwise unremarkable day is far far greater than the risk that I will have to engage zombies at range on the same unremarkable day.)

Starbucks and Chipoltes, all they wanted to do was run restaurants, but we...yes WE...allowed ourselves to get carried away and now both of those places have decided they don't want our business. Boycott if you like but given the numbers I don't think there is much danger of them folding, and keep in mind our goal is not to alienate John and Jane Public, it's to show them we're not rabid foaming at the mouth lunatics. What do you think they think of us now?

Nice job jackasses. I guess it stops when every business in America posts signs to leave the guns outside.

Rest Day

Two graduations and two graduation receptions, followed by a night out with Brother.

I think I'm going to do nothing today. I expect it to take all day, so I'd better get started on it.

Note to my children: don't let your uncle get your cell phone if you have the Book of Faces app on it.

On The Side

My mother makes this and it's great, so I really have to try making this for myself.

1 can cream style corn
1 cup dry macaroni
1 stick margarine/butter
1 can whole kernel corn
1 cup cubed Velveeta cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients and pour into greased baking dish. Cover and bake for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring several times. Remove lid for the last 15 minutes to let brown.

This can also be cooked in a crock pot on low for 4-5 hours.

Touchdown

We arrived safe and sound in Iowa yesterday morning, tired but otherwise unharmed. It rained on us halfway through the night when we left Roanoke, we got a peek of moonlight halfway through Kentucky that was gone by Indiana, but when we got to St Louis the sun came out and shone all day. It didn't warm anything up (it never got above 55 degrees) but at least it was dry.

Today is only supposed to get in the 60's but starting tomorrow we will have a week of warm and sunny. The convertible was definitely a good choice this time around.

Doglet didn't get to come, Eldest Son is staying at the house with him.

And now I'm off. Things to see, people to annoy...you know how it is.

Catch Up

And once again I have folded, mutilated and spindled Blogging Rule Number One, which is post something every day. Not like I've ever been one to follow that rule anyway. What can I say, I'm a rebel.

So, lately I've been working on cars again. The Subaru developed a noise in hard turns, so I replaced the drive axles. While I was there I also put in a fresh set of ball joints. Unfortunately this has not solved the problem, and the real culprit - wheel bearings - has been getting more and more evident. They will be replaced soon, along with the front brake pads and rotors. I think I'll hire that job out to a shop that has an alignment rack.

The reason I haven't taken it in yet is I finally took the bumper cover off the Mustang and got the dog damage repaired, so I had to drive it to work all week. While I had the bumper cover off I pulled the windshield washer pump and discovered the filter clogged with what looked to be algae. I didn't know algae could grow in windshield washer fluid, but it's clean now and operating properly.

The bumper cover got put back on Friday, just in time for the sporadic rain to start Friday night and all through Saturday. It's supposed to be nice this week so I'll probably give in to the temptation and drive it this week. If not, there's always next week.

Youngest Sister's anniversary is next Saturday, Niece D is graduating on Sunday, and now Older Sister is getting married on the 23rd...and Niece M, Youngest Son and I will be there for all of it. We were going to head back home on the 23rd, which is a Friday, but now it looks like we'll be leaving that Saturday instead.

And that's what the next few weeks have in store for me.

Happy Mothers Day

to all the mothers who read my pathetic attempts at scribbling..and to at least one who doesn't.

Happy Mothers Day Mom. You're the best.

Oops!

It's May, and I have yet to post the ROTM!

So, without further ado, I give you...

Spring.

I don't have a name to go with the face, perhaps one of you do?

Nestlings

My sheds are empty and so is my driveway. My living room is clear of the moving boxes that have been piling up for the past month. The spare bedroom is now completely empty, ready to be cleaned and painted and the wood work finished and then closed off.

The coffee tables do not have computers on them and the diaper pail is gone from the living room. I'm not tripping over things and have clear paths everywhere. Toys and toyboxes do not litter my floors (not that they are clean, but at least they are now uncluttered).

The house is quiet.

This morning while Youngest Son and I were in Fort Mills SC for the Pro Dyno car show, Middle Daughter and her hubby and 3 year old baby boy climbed into their cars and the loaded moving truck and moved to Jacksonville FL.

Son In Law has been wanting to go back for quite some time now and the jobs for Middle Daughter in the profession for which she has trained are more plentiful there, so this should be a good opportunity for them. Plus, it gives me another place to stay when I come visit.

Of course this means that I will have to take my own trash to the curb on Sunday nights, there will not be the occasional prepared meal when I get up to go to work, and my poor dog will have to stay outside when I'm not home. He will get to come with me when I travel overnights though, so he will perhaps enjoy that. It will, however, limit my travels unless I can find pet friendly hotels.

I have one more at the house, he turns 18 in three more years and then I am done raising kids. I keep telling him I'm going to burn the house down and buy an RV, but I'll likely just sell the house and just get a smaller place within a days drive to the folks (west Tennessee perhaps). I'd really like to design and build my own house, but we will have to see how that works out. Whichever way it goes there will only be a single bedroom, that much is certain.

I am definitely ready to live by myself. I'm kind of funny this way, but I've always been OK by myself. I liked having someone to share my life with but I don't need it, and if there ever is another I want someone who needs me because she loves me and not the other way around. Maybe this makes me a horrible person but I am oh so ready to not be the answer to everyone else's problems.

I will miss having the kids close, but I will not miss them living with me.

A Tale of Two Companies

Bachmann and Model Power. Two companies offering products for model railroading.

One has consistently and steadily improved both its lineup and quality.

The other one is going out of business.

A little effort still apparently goes a long ways.

Customer Service

When I went looking for deer rifles the one I really really wanted was the Remington 700 CDL.

I didn't have the extra cash to spend on the Remington, and I really couldn't justify the cost for what amounts to a brush gun (I wanted the rifle for Bambi, and where I hunt is usually within shotgun range), so I ended up with the Mossberg.

It may not have the pinpoint accuracy of the 700, but it shoots minute-of-Bambi at 100 yards and the $600 difference in prices between the two will buy a lot of ammo*. Yet and still I lust after the blued steel and American walnut of the CDL.

However, given Linoge's recent experience with Remington's customer service, I think I'll be shopping the used gun market when it comes time to upgrade.

Note to Remington...the proper response would have been "We will immediately ship you a brand-new rifle to the FFL of your choice at our cost, please have him send us the old one (also at our cost) so we may analyze it and determine where our manufacturing and quality assurance processes failed."

*and a Boyds wooden stock to satisfy the "blued steel and American walnut" wantingness. I've heard that we did well this quarter...maybe there's another bonus on its way soon...

Family Ties

Laura was an only child who always wanted brothers and sisters, so she collected people. One of the people she collected was Youngest Son's teacher, Lenora. The two of them were thick as thieves, you could always find them with their heads together planning something (usually involving me as regarding my plans for the weekends).

One of the things they planned, unbeknownst to me, were her funeral arrangements. She rightly figured that I would be completely lost, so when that time came all the plans had been made and Lenora carried them out. All I had to do was keep breathing...which at times was harder than it sounds...and make it through to tomorrow.

This creates a bond, going far beyond friendship and into family territory, which is why I have a black woman 15 years my senior who I call Sis. We do for each other, as family does, and we hang together as family is supposed to, and many times I don't know how I would have managed things without her help (especially where Youngest Son is concerned).

Yesterday I got a chance to pay a little of that back.

A week ago Thursday I got a frantic text message at work saying Tyrant was dead and she was dropping Youngest Son off at the house. Very confusing, to say the least, so as soon as I could I called her back. "Tyrant" was an autocorrection of TyRahn, her grandson. He was 22. She was on her way to Goldsboro to get his mother (who understandably was a complete wreck) and then she was going to Winston-Salem where his dad's family lived.

Details are somewhat sketchy and the investigation is ongoing, but apparently he was at some girl's house, he managed to make her mad about something and she made a phone call. A little later on there was a knock at the door, she told him to answer it and when he did he got a chest full of lead for his troubles. Now she's gone on the lam, his best friend (who was there with him and caught a bullet as well) is in the hospital, and he's in the ground.

Throughout last week we traded phone calls and texts (funny little segue here, if not for Lenora adding her insistence to Laura's I would not even have a cell phone because I am a complete Luddite and also I don't like leashes) in which arrangements were made and plans were finalized, which is how I found myself at the funeral with a speaking part.

This did not sit well with his father's family (because my skin tone has a definite pallor), but fuck them, I was there for Sis the way she had been - and always has been - there for me. After all was said and done I made more friends with the rest of the family by taking her home instead of leaving her there to be the answer to all of their pathetic little problems.

Sis is now home and hopefully getting some rest. I told her if she answered the phone in the next 3 days I was coming over there to gather them all up and take them away, and if needs be I will break out the Saiga and patrol the perimeter to keep everyone away. Plenty of time to play Atlas later, I told her, and she's promised to relax for the next three days.

I give her 24 hours before she's out trying to save the world again.

Happy Urf Day!

Looks like I'll be driving the 'stang in to work tonight...

Have A Happy Easter!

Your Sith overlords command it...

Keep Alive Posting

Happy Easter everyone!

The first rule of blogging is to post every day, and this month I have shattered that rule into so many fragments that I will never find all of them. So, in an effort to at least partly make up for my long silence, I offer the following:

I finally got the chance to take the Mossberg out and sighted it in and even with me behind the trigger it will shoot Minute of Bambi groups at 100 yards, so I think I'm ready for North American Hoofed Rat season. It's not a precision shooter, but then again neither am I so it all works out.

The Mustang 50th Anniversary bash is happening in Charlotte, three hours from me, but I didn't go. I had to work the first two days of the festivities and I really didn't want to deal with the crowds and the traffic. I have friends in Charlotte who are reporting in regularly so I'm getting a good idea of everything going on. The new 2015 is reportedly even better in person than in pictures, so it might be a good thing I didn't go. I'm talking myself out of a 2015 base model GT coupe with Brembos, I don't really need it and I really don't want a car payment.

The Mustang I do have needs a windshield washer pump. I have it in hand, and one day when the weather clears up I'll pull the front bumper cover off and put it in. While I have it off I'll take it over to my body guy and see if he can't fix the dog damage on it. I didn't notice it at the time, but when the bumper cover hit the bumper it put a small split in a place where it can be seen.

It also split behind the front valence, but it can't be seen there so I haven't worried about it. I noticed the visible split when I was cleaning the car up for Lenoir. Since I have it off anyway this will be a good time to get it fixed in both places. If he can't get to it right away I'll have to put it back on with the split and get it done another day, it has to be done fairly quickly so it will be ready for a road trip next month.

It looks like I'll be making another Midwest trip then, my niece is graduating high school (we hope) and her sister who is in college in Winchester VA is going to split the gas with me to go out and attend. Of course we are taking the convertible, so hopefully I'll be able to get that bumper cover fixed before then. I'll have to take my dog this trip because there won't be anyone at home to take care of him.

Middle Daughter, Son In Law and Youngest Grandson are moving back to Florida on the 3rd of next month, they are excited to be going. Son In Law's mother lives in Jacksonville (I call her Grandma In Law) so they will be staying with her until they get settled. They've been here for 3 years, so it might be a while before they get settled. GIL doesn't seem to mind, though.

Youngest Son's birthday is tomorrow, but we did all his birthday stuff yesterday. He got his sisters old Droid X, she got my old Droid Razr and I got a new HTC and then we went skating that night - or rather he went skating while I sat in the corner with the laptop. He's happy with his phone, and Dad pays the bill so it all works out. Unfortunately it wasn't a perfect day for him.

To mar his perfect day, tragedy has struck close to home. My youngest son's teacher, who I call Sis because she is close enough to be family, lost a grandson late last Thursday night. He was at some girls house, pissed her off, she called someone and when that someone knocked on the door told him to answer it. He did and got a chest-full of 9mm for his troubles. He was 22. Youngest Son was his little buddy, so he isn't taking it well. The funeral is next Thursday so I'm taking Youngest Son to it.

And that's the news from the Refuge.

Thought Of The Day

Sure, them furrin cars are pretty and all, but pound for pound us Yanks have, in my opinion, produced the best and most beautiful cars on the planet. For sheer sex appeal I'll put a Duesenberg Model J up against any Jaguar ever produced (even the ones made by Ford that don't sit underneath the oak trees looking pretty cause that's as far as they can drive without breaking down) and I'd rather own my Mustang than any BMW you could bring me.

Brony

Having never seen so much as a single episode of the show, I can't say I'm a fan. However, Erin Palette is, and when we went shooting last month she was wearing a shirt that had a Firebird logo, but instead of the bird there was a pony in the middle.

She oh-so casually mentioned that there was one for Mustangs as well, and if I had one would I wear it? I told her I didn't watch the show, but since I like MY little Pony I'd not only wear it, I'd have a picture taken and put it on the blog.

It's just a shame I didn't have it earlier yesterday, I would have worn it to Lenoir NC for the first cruise-in of the month.

The sign made its first public appearance, and it was well received, in fact the cruise-in staff has asked me to bring it back next time and let them put it at the end of the street that is designated Mustang Alley.

I started the day at the shooting range where I got the Mossberg sighted in for 100 yards yesterday morning and got the new magazines for the High Standard dialed in as well, so it was a good day all the way through.

Handy Man

And now I'm all ready for Lenoir on Saturday.

April Showers

Yesterday the weatherman said it was going to be warm and sunny today, but it is decidedly cool and overcast instead and these water drops falling down look suspiciously like the rain that wasn't supposed to be here until tomorrow.

Today the weatherman says we are going to get some rain showers and tomorrow is going to be the sunny and warm day. Saturday and Sunday are going to be cooler and partly to mostly sunny, which is fine because Saturday the new Mossberg 30-06 is supposed to get its inaugural run.

Today is also Middle Daughter and Son-In-Law's fourth anniversary.

And also, since it is a new month...

April's redhead, Lydia Hearst, is brought to you courtesy of Maxim Magazine.

All's Well

Eldest Son's birthday is today.

To celebrate, he came over and helped me finish the Subaru up and then I cooked burgers on the grill for him. I also let him take one of the TV's home that never gets watched, so it was a good day for both of us.

Mixed Bag

The plan today was to change the right side drive axle on the Subaru because it's making a bit of noise and then go enjoy this 80 degree day with the top down to celebrate my little Firefly's fourth birthday (she rolled off the line at the Flat Rock Assembly Plant on April 1, 2010; daughter thought the cake and ice cream was a bit much but she ate it anyway).

The reality was two bad axles and two bad ball joints.

I already had one drive axle, but of course I didn't have the ball joints or the other axle. Off to the parts store I went (at least I got to ride for a little while with the top down) to get another drive axle and the ball joints. They had the axle, but we had to order the ball joints.

Back to the house with the drive shaft and the disassembly began. The right ball joint separated from the control arm just fine, but it was rusted into the steering knuckle. Son In Law and I managed to get it out after much cursing, sweating, pounding, prying and PB'laster. We then got the drive shaft installed (sans ball joint, which will have to wait until Thursday cause I have stuff to do tomorrow) and went over to the left side.

We were running out of daylight and the ball joint had barely budged, so we called it a day and went inside. After a quick shower I tried out my bacon cheddar broccoli soup recipe.

It must have been good, because it's all gone now.

6 slices bacon
1/2 of a medium Vidalia (sweet) onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 tablespoons flour
2 cups half and half (or 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of heavy cream)
3 cups chicken stock
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 bay leaves
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped small
4 cups broccoli florets (about 1 head)
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste
Bread Bowls

In a cast iron skillet over medium heat fry the bacon crisp. Remove the bacon and add the onion and garlic. Cook until the onions are tender. Stir in the flour, one tablespoon at a time, until the bacon grease is absorbed. Continue cooking until the flour has browned slightly, then transfer everything to a stew pot. Crumble the bacon and add it as well.

Slowly add the half and half and chicken stock, stir until smooth. Add the nutmeg and bay leaves and cook on medium low until thickened.

Reduce heat. Add the carrot and broccoli and simmer until tender. Discard the bay leaves. Add the cheese and stir until melted. Season with salt and pepper and serve in bread bowls.