The MEU I was deployed in made a training call/port visit in SW Australia in 1986. We heloed into Lancelin National Park for a week of live fire and maneuver with the RAA, then spent a week split between the city of Perth and the much smaller Freemantle.
We had arrived off Freemantle after getting everybody back on board from Lancellin. There is a passage through the reefs that allows large ships safe anchorage in all but the worst of weathers. I was on the USS Tarawa, an LHA, at the time. The morning we were supposed to begin liberty in Freemantle, I woke up before dawn and stepped outside to enjoy a smoke on the catwalk that ran the length of the ship, beneath the flight deck.
It was cloudless, with absolutely no wind. The sky was such a pure, dark gray blue that it was impossible to see the horizon. I could look down in the rapidly growing light (in the South Pacific, sunrise is like a leisurely flash bulb) and actually see details on the bottom some hundred feet below.
It was dead quiet but for the hum of ship’s alt power;.I think we only had half our steam up, and that only for emergencies. I could hear the creak of the anchor chain riding through its port fifty feet forward.
I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life, nor as peaceful. Not until the hundreds of dolphins all rose up, all around the ship, softly blew, and then rolled back beneath the water.
Haven’t seen anything to top that yet.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
Friday!
I've been on unpaid leave for a month. Spring is undeniably here. My hypothyroid meds seem to be working as far as the mental issues go... but geeze I'm huge.
My youngest daughter is off to Denver for a WinterGuard competition. there is a darnfine chance her team will place well or win their class.
My wife is wasting, I tell you wasting away before our very eyes... using Weight Watchers! I am very proud of her.
Oldest daughter is working hard to cover past shortcomings so that she can graduate with her class, and I am proud of her, as well, for all the hours and brainsweat she's put in these last months.
This last little bit of time has been spent remodeling our living room. The carpet went in just yesterday. We have installed a floor joist section to bring the entire room to a single level, patched a ton of age cracks and wear blemishes on the existing drywall, and installed a new front entry and storm door. The horizontal shades are on the way, and painting should be complete by the end of the weekend - complete enough to get the (refinished) oak furniture back in place.
I am a lucky man. I hope that your week wraps up on a high note, and your weekend is filled with friends, joy, and love.
My youngest daughter is off to Denver for a WinterGuard competition. there is a darnfine chance her team will place well or win their class.
My wife is wasting, I tell you wasting away before our very eyes... using Weight Watchers! I am very proud of her.
Oldest daughter is working hard to cover past shortcomings so that she can graduate with her class, and I am proud of her, as well, for all the hours and brainsweat she's put in these last months.
This last little bit of time has been spent remodeling our living room. The carpet went in just yesterday. We have installed a floor joist section to bring the entire room to a single level, patched a ton of age cracks and wear blemishes on the existing drywall, and installed a new front entry and storm door. The horizontal shades are on the way, and painting should be complete by the end of the weekend - complete enough to get the (refinished) oak furniture back in place.
I am a lucky man. I hope that your week wraps up on a high note, and your weekend is filled with friends, joy, and love.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Wishes
The following is a comment I put up on this post on Protein Wisdom:
I’d like to claim my ancestors fought to overturn slavery, but as near as the family memory can tell, my great-great-great grandparents on my father’s side were slaughtering settlers in the northern great plains while the Federals were distracted by General Bragg. They later took an extended vacation in Canada, crossing the border there about forty eight hours ahead of General Crook’s flying columns.
… and my European ancestors didn’t arrive until at least the 1870’s.
So, tell me, where’s my stain, Senator?
I love America. It’s my home, and it doesn’t matter what color I am or who my grandparents were - the sky is the limit. And as near as I can tell, Senator Obama is just another hack politician willing to shaft as many well- meaning but ill informed people as he has to to get the power he wants. His speech was designed to cast anyone who questions his candidacy as a racist and as an opportunity for the MSM to surrender to his narrative.
Oh, and to maybe kill Andrew Sullivan via a masturbation- induced seizure. There’s a mean streak in the Senator, make no mistake.
The founders would be pretty sad at what we’ve been reduced to putting up for candidates. Jefferson and Adams would both claim vindication for their views on the pitfalls inherent in representative government.
****
I still believe Obama will get the nod. With this speech, he's got the media cowed to an extreme that has to have the Clintons foaming at the mouth. Teh Uniter is just about nigh on untouchable now.
The next step is to formally coopt the Jackson and Sharpton factions and put the word out who the new boss is.
It's sad to watch so many well-meaning people set them selves up for such disappointment. We've already had a Carter and were smart enough to dodge McGovern. Obama brings the worst of Leftist cant and identity politics to this race, and has now compounded the potential for social upheaval by equating valid disagreement on policy differences with racism.
I’d like to claim my ancestors fought to overturn slavery, but as near as the family memory can tell, my great-great-great grandparents on my father’s side were slaughtering settlers in the northern great plains while the Federals were distracted by General Bragg. They later took an extended vacation in Canada, crossing the border there about forty eight hours ahead of General Crook’s flying columns.
… and my European ancestors didn’t arrive until at least the 1870’s.
So, tell me, where’s my stain, Senator?
I love America. It’s my home, and it doesn’t matter what color I am or who my grandparents were - the sky is the limit. And as near as I can tell, Senator Obama is just another hack politician willing to shaft as many well- meaning but ill informed people as he has to to get the power he wants. His speech was designed to cast anyone who questions his candidacy as a racist and as an opportunity for the MSM to surrender to his narrative.
Oh, and to maybe kill Andrew Sullivan via a masturbation- induced seizure. There’s a mean streak in the Senator, make no mistake.
The founders would be pretty sad at what we’ve been reduced to putting up for candidates. Jefferson and Adams would both claim vindication for their views on the pitfalls inherent in representative government.
****
I still believe Obama will get the nod. With this speech, he's got the media cowed to an extreme that has to have the Clintons foaming at the mouth. Teh Uniter is just about nigh on untouchable now.
The next step is to formally coopt the Jackson and Sharpton factions and put the word out who the new boss is.
It's sad to watch so many well-meaning people set them selves up for such disappointment. We've already had a Carter and were smart enough to dodge McGovern. Obama brings the worst of Leftist cant and identity politics to this race, and has now compounded the potential for social upheaval by equating valid disagreement on policy differences with racism.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Black Liberation Theology
The most important blog post you will read this year is right here:
"Accordingly, I have endeavored to research these theologies. I do not pretend to be an expert in theology. Nor do I pretend to be an expert in hermeneutics, a field that turns out to be directly relevant to these issues. Our esteemed host, Jeff Goldstein, is far more knowledgable in that field. However, I think I can say that I now know more about them — and Obama’s attitude toward them — than any number of Obama critics or defenders in the establishment media. What follows is some of what I have learned to date about liberation theology (about which I already had some knowledge), Black Liberation Theology, Obama’s church and Obama’s attitude toward his church and its theology."
The post is by Karl, a guest poster at Jeff Goldstein's Protein Wisdom. His essay is a comprehensive and scholarly examination of the antecedents to, and current iteration of, the Black Liberation Theology, as well as commentary on Senator Obama's speech from earlier today.
Read the whole thing.
UPDATE: I get a bit exercised here, and here.
"Accordingly, I have endeavored to research these theologies. I do not pretend to be an expert in theology. Nor do I pretend to be an expert in hermeneutics, a field that turns out to be directly relevant to these issues. Our esteemed host, Jeff Goldstein, is far more knowledgable in that field. However, I think I can say that I now know more about them — and Obama’s attitude toward them — than any number of Obama critics or defenders in the establishment media. What follows is some of what I have learned to date about liberation theology (about which I already had some knowledge), Black Liberation Theology, Obama’s church and Obama’s attitude toward his church and its theology."
The post is by Karl, a guest poster at Jeff Goldstein's Protein Wisdom. His essay is a comprehensive and scholarly examination of the antecedents to, and current iteration of, the Black Liberation Theology, as well as commentary on Senator Obama's speech from earlier today.
Read the whole thing.
UPDATE: I get a bit exercised here, and here.
The Speech
This is a hip-shoot, first impression post. There may be more later but most likely I'll weigh in on Protein Wisdom when Dan or Karl get around to posting on Obama's speech.
***
More Justice?
The default position of liberation theology is that there is NO justice.
The Candidate has just announced strong disagreement with Mr. Wright's political views; it is hard to credit this statement in light of the fact that Mr. Obama has repeatedly invoked Mr. Wright's guidance as a cornerstone of his beliefs in the past,
"the past" being up until a week ago when MSM noticed teh Hate.
Strong philosophical disagreement is not what you look for in paid campaign staff.
Not buying what I'm hearing. It's not aimed at me, it's aimed at the Democrat base.
He can't even see he's already got the primary situation locked up and is insulting the intelligence of the national electorate on a wager they will forget by November.
Explain to me again why this man is thought to be the "all that" of the future of politics?
UPDATE:
I found this by Victor Davis Hanson. Mr. Hanson sees serious problems with Senator Obama's spirituality/philosophy and relationship with the truth, as well.
***
More Justice?
The default position of liberation theology is that there is NO justice.
The Candidate has just announced strong disagreement with Mr. Wright's political views; it is hard to credit this statement in light of the fact that Mr. Obama has repeatedly invoked Mr. Wright's guidance as a cornerstone of his beliefs in the past,
"the past" being up until a week ago when MSM noticed teh Hate.
Strong philosophical disagreement is not what you look for in paid campaign staff.
Not buying what I'm hearing. It's not aimed at me, it's aimed at the Democrat base.
He can't even see he's already got the primary situation locked up and is insulting the intelligence of the national electorate on a wager they will forget by November.
Explain to me again why this man is thought to be the "all that" of the future of politics?
UPDATE:
I found this by Victor Davis Hanson. Mr. Hanson sees serious problems with Senator Obama's spirituality/philosophy and relationship with the truth, as well.
Monday, March 17, 2008
And Then There Was One
Sen. Hillary Clinton (Surrender, NY), speaking in a campaign appearance, formally checked out of the running for nomination as the Democratic candidate for president in 2008:
"She accused McCain of joining President George W. Bush in pushing a "stay the course" policy that would keep U.S. troops in Iraq for 100 years.
"They both want to keep us tied to another country's civil war, a war we cannot win," she said. "That in a nutshell is the Bush/McCain Iraq policy. Don't learn from your mistakes, repeat them."
She then trots out a hack promise to begin withdrawing sixty days after her coronation... swearing in. A serious contender wouldn't make a promise like that.
Not that "promise" really means anything here. Consider the source and all that.
Madame Senator has decided that losing the 2008 presidential election due to a vacuum where the Black Democrat vote used to be isn't worth it - especially if she's the reason they stay home. That would end her access to power quite abruptly.
There's still going to be some squeeze left in her Senate gig, especially during a McCain administration. She doesn't have to preside over a war her party is morally and spiritually incapable of winning, and she gives the Democrat party the crucial out they are so desperately seeking: they can point at Obama's blowout defeat and say "See, he had his chance!".
Now I can get back to watching my stock portfolio collapse. But at least the carpet, paint, and shades will all be in our living room by the end of the week!
"She accused McCain of joining President George W. Bush in pushing a "stay the course" policy that would keep U.S. troops in Iraq for 100 years.
"They both want to keep us tied to another country's civil war, a war we cannot win," she said. "That in a nutshell is the Bush/McCain Iraq policy. Don't learn from your mistakes, repeat them."
She then trots out a hack promise to begin withdrawing sixty days after her coronation... swearing in. A serious contender wouldn't make a promise like that.
Not that "promise" really means anything here. Consider the source and all that.
Madame Senator has decided that losing the 2008 presidential election due to a vacuum where the Black Democrat vote used to be isn't worth it - especially if she's the reason they stay home. That would end her access to power quite abruptly.
There's still going to be some squeeze left in her Senate gig, especially during a McCain administration. She doesn't have to preside over a war her party is morally and spiritually incapable of winning, and she gives the Democrat party the crucial out they are so desperately seeking: they can point at Obama's blowout defeat and say "See, he had his chance!".
Now I can get back to watching my stock portfolio collapse. But at least the carpet, paint, and shades will all be in our living room by the end of the week!
Friday, March 14, 2008
On The Occassion of Mr. Obama's Big Move
The following was submitted as a comment on this post over at Protein Wisdom:
Tonight is Obama's Sixty Minutes Moment.
Remember 1991, Bill and Hill sitting down to chat with CBS... to clear up those allegations of infidelity with Gennifer Flowers?
If you had ever bought a used car or aluminum siding in your entire life, once you had seen that interview you knew three things about the Clintons:
1. Neither of them, given a choice, will tell the truth on the first go around.
2. Bill Clinton was an awesome liar.
3. Hillary Clinton wasn't so much a wife as she was an associate in the firm of Clinton & Clinton.
They went on to serve two terms in the White House, you know. And Hillary got REelected to the Senate in New York, a state she'd never held residence in.
Tonight we've got Obama publishing to HuffPo and KoS about his minister... who, truth be told, could probably become a paid contributor to either of those venues and die a rich man. Obama is defining the moment, and neatly writing out the mere possibility that his church of twenty years could have had anything to do with his most deeply held principles and convictions. And mainstream media, anxious to avoid that nasty "racist" label, is letting the nutroots blogs carry the narrative forward.
The Chi Trib has published Obama's most damning confessional on a Friday evening, behind the cover of the Wright flap. The interview, which was granted at Obama's request, puts the two ugliest objective threats to his candidacy into play at the time of his choosing for both the primary (which he has all but nailed down) and almost nine months before the general election.
I'd be willing to bet that somewhere on his bookshelf or computer, he's got the entire suite of Bill's & Hill's damage control filmography in one neatly organized package.
In a country that wants so much to believe in a leader, the worst hacks have figured out that lying well, even brilliantly, is one proven path to success.
If Obama pulls this twofer off this weekend, forever forward his supporters accept he's an unreconstructed campus communist steeped in grievance cult bigotry, and further a bought and paid for Chi town hack who owes his office not to the good people of Illinois but instead to the backrooms of the Cook county Democrat machine. They will have his measure... but they will follow because he says now what they want to believe.
Hillary! will recognize the coup for what it is, and will bow out in time to finish out her string as a senior senator; think of a Ted Kennedy with bigger ankles and a more grating voice.
Big weekend coming up here. Come Monday we might not have an economy, but we may well know who is the Democrat nominee for president.
*UPDATED* fixed the first link.
Tonight is Obama's Sixty Minutes Moment.
Remember 1991, Bill and Hill sitting down to chat with CBS... to clear up those allegations of infidelity with Gennifer Flowers?
If you had ever bought a used car or aluminum siding in your entire life, once you had seen that interview you knew three things about the Clintons:
1. Neither of them, given a choice, will tell the truth on the first go around.
2. Bill Clinton was an awesome liar.
3. Hillary Clinton wasn't so much a wife as she was an associate in the firm of Clinton & Clinton.
They went on to serve two terms in the White House, you know. And Hillary got REelected to the Senate in New York, a state she'd never held residence in.
Tonight we've got Obama publishing to HuffPo and KoS about his minister... who, truth be told, could probably become a paid contributor to either of those venues and die a rich man. Obama is defining the moment, and neatly writing out the mere possibility that his church of twenty years could have had anything to do with his most deeply held principles and convictions. And mainstream media, anxious to avoid that nasty "racist" label, is letting the nutroots blogs carry the narrative forward.
The Chi Trib has published Obama's most damning confessional on a Friday evening, behind the cover of the Wright flap. The interview, which was granted at Obama's request, puts the two ugliest objective threats to his candidacy into play at the time of his choosing for both the primary (which he has all but nailed down) and almost nine months before the general election.
I'd be willing to bet that somewhere on his bookshelf or computer, he's got the entire suite of Bill's & Hill's damage control filmography in one neatly organized package.
In a country that wants so much to believe in a leader, the worst hacks have figured out that lying well, even brilliantly, is one proven path to success.
If Obama pulls this twofer off this weekend, forever forward his supporters accept he's an unreconstructed campus communist steeped in grievance cult bigotry, and further a bought and paid for Chi town hack who owes his office not to the good people of Illinois but instead to the backrooms of the Cook county Democrat machine. They will have his measure... but they will follow because he says now what they want to believe.
Hillary! will recognize the coup for what it is, and will bow out in time to finish out her string as a senior senator; think of a Ted Kennedy with bigger ankles and a more grating voice.
Big weekend coming up here. Come Monday we might not have an economy, but we may well know who is the Democrat nominee for president.
*UPDATED* fixed the first link.
Candy Time In The Caves
Buying votes before the collapse, using borrowed money.
Bailouts for greedy lenders and mortgagees who knew better.
The barn is on fire, the horses gone, so smother it with Federal money.
And finally, an indisputable victory for al Qaeda.
We wasted our fucking time here in Utah, paying our debts, supporting our troops, hoping for some sort of leadership to carry us forward against Islamic terror.
I wonder what our cash and investments will be worth a week from now?
Bailouts for greedy lenders and mortgagees who knew better.
The barn is on fire, the horses gone, so smother it with Federal money.
And finally, an indisputable victory for al Qaeda.
We wasted our fucking time here in Utah, paying our debts, supporting our troops, hoping for some sort of leadership to carry us forward against Islamic terror.
I wonder what our cash and investments will be worth a week from now?
Just So You Know
I'm listening to Rush Limbaugh as I enjoy my morning coffee break. He's just finished playing three excerpts from Rev. Wright's sermons.
Funny thing; back in my youth I spent years of Sundays in Southern Baptist congregations, those cesspits of hate (/sarcasm), and I never heard a pastor say "Goddamn" or "nigger" from the pulpit, much less say both words repeatedly. Nor did I get political analysis and explicit direction on who to vote for regarding contemporary presidential elections.
I never listened to a sermon by a pastor who hated America.
I've seen hucksters like Mr. (not near Reverend) Wright, though. Some wore sheets, some had different messages. They were all small and bitter men.
Barrack Hussein Obama is less Hope and Change than he is Subterfuge and Hate.
Paint Obama white, make him a man of the right, and he wouldn't even have been allowed on the stage at a Chamber of Commerce debate.
It is my earnest hope that Hillary! and Obama make the most of the next six weeks to chew on each other. It will be an education that not even the MSM will be able to ignore or rationalize.
Pretty sad stuff.
Funny thing; back in my youth I spent years of Sundays in Southern Baptist congregations, those cesspits of hate (/sarcasm), and I never heard a pastor say "Goddamn" or "nigger" from the pulpit, much less say both words repeatedly. Nor did I get political analysis and explicit direction on who to vote for regarding contemporary presidential elections.
I never listened to a sermon by a pastor who hated America.
I've seen hucksters like Mr. (not near Reverend) Wright, though. Some wore sheets, some had different messages. They were all small and bitter men.
Barrack Hussein Obama is less Hope and Change than he is Subterfuge and Hate.
Paint Obama white, make him a man of the right, and he wouldn't even have been allowed on the stage at a Chamber of Commerce debate.
It is my earnest hope that Hillary! and Obama make the most of the next six weeks to chew on each other. It will be an education that not even the MSM will be able to ignore or rationalize.
Pretty sad stuff.
Some Are More Equal Than Others
``White-collar practice in New York is substantially dominated by former prosecutors for good reason,'' said Daniel Richman, an ex-prosecutor in the same office and now a Columbia Law School professor. ``So much of white-collar lawyering is understanding where the government is coming from and explaining to them that what your client did may have been illegal but nonetheless ought not to be pursued by the government.''
You ever wonder why there is no perception of majesty in the law?
Well, there you go.
You ever wonder why there is no perception of majesty in the law?
Well, there you go.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Health In A Hand Basket
Why am I so tired??? The only thing worse than the tired is the hurt, which feels like my entire body was at the end of a monumental towel snap.
Mrs. TmjUtah says I can't get mono from having my butt pinched. I can't lay this at her feet. It can't be high priced call girls. Not only am I hopelessly romantic, and cheap, I am not the governor of an east coast liberal bastion state.
Seriously, though: one of my good friends and two of my daughter's beaus are out front skinning the new floor in the living room because I cannot pick up a hammer.
Doc says the thyroid issues are "under control"... this as I contemplate going up a trouser size.
You know, they only grow so much cotton in Mississippi in any given year. Adding fuel surcharges to extra size premiums, it looks like I'll be paying a hundred bucks a pair of jeans or dungarees for factory store extras if this keeps up.
It could be worse. I could be Eliot Spitzer. Amen.
Mrs. TmjUtah says I can't get mono from having my butt pinched. I can't lay this at her feet. It can't be high priced call girls. Not only am I hopelessly romantic, and cheap, I am not the governor of an east coast liberal bastion state.
Seriously, though: one of my good friends and two of my daughter's beaus are out front skinning the new floor in the living room because I cannot pick up a hammer.
Doc says the thyroid issues are "under control"... this as I contemplate going up a trouser size.
You know, they only grow so much cotton in Mississippi in any given year. Adding fuel surcharges to extra size premiums, it looks like I'll be paying a hundred bucks a pair of jeans or dungarees for factory store extras if this keeps up.
It could be worse. I could be Eliot Spitzer. Amen.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Makes Sense To Me
Pursuant to this:
"Governor Spitzer, who made his career by specializing in not just the prosecution, but the ruin, of other men, is himself almost certainly ruined," the paper said.
Commenter "Paul", weighing in on Gerard Van der Luen's post on Mr. Spitzer's situation, struck hard and true:
"Why shouldn't Democrat women be doormants? Blacks are for the Democrat party. Jews love the the Arafat loving Democrat party. Industrial Union workers love the industry hateing Democrat party. It is a party of,and for (sic) losers."
What of the millions of voters flushed down drains at clinics these last thirty odd years, too? They are losers - undeniably victims of the the "meMeME" meme and generation(s) so ennobled by the Left. They never even got a chance to be Democrat. Philosophies built around human sacrifice don't leave much in the way of lasting legacies. Especially ones that don't even pretend obeisance to any deity beyond self.
I wonder what form Mr. Spitzer will use to make himself the victim here? The act has become compulsory for public figures who cross beyond the pale.
Nihilism. It's the other politics, I guess.
"Governor Spitzer, who made his career by specializing in not just the prosecution, but the ruin, of other men, is himself almost certainly ruined," the paper said.
Commenter "Paul", weighing in on Gerard Van der Luen's post on Mr. Spitzer's situation, struck hard and true:
"Why shouldn't Democrat women be doormants? Blacks are for the Democrat party. Jews love the the Arafat loving Democrat party. Industrial Union workers love the industry hateing Democrat party. It is a party of,and for (sic) losers."
What of the millions of voters flushed down drains at clinics these last thirty odd years, too? They are losers - undeniably victims of the the "meMeME" meme and generation(s) so ennobled by the Left. They never even got a chance to be Democrat. Philosophies built around human sacrifice don't leave much in the way of lasting legacies. Especially ones that don't even pretend obeisance to any deity beyond self.
I wonder what form Mr. Spitzer will use to make himself the victim here? The act has become compulsory for public figures who cross beyond the pale.
Nihilism. It's the other politics, I guess.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Ain't NO Sheriff In That Town
I am laying in a shipping container of pop corn kernels and ordering a pony tanker trailer full of evil hydrogenated palm oil in which to pop said corn. I will take any advice offered on which digital TV recorder is best to buy because I intend to capture the moments on live TV (sure to occur
with increasing frequency as the months and months pass between now and November) when Obamajama or Hillary! get real, tough questions that are simply impossible to answer in a coherent manner for both the moonbat Left and normal Americans.
Neither Dem can afford to lose any delegates from here on out. The fringe base rules the primaries and will decide who wins… in the white hot glare of media just waiting for the next gaffe.
Rove, you … what Dan said!
with increasing frequency as the months and months pass between now and November) when Obamajama or Hillary! get real, tough questions that are simply impossible to answer in a coherent manner for both the moonbat Left and normal Americans.
Neither Dem can afford to lose any delegates from here on out. The fringe base rules the primaries and will decide who wins… in the white hot glare of media just waiting for the next gaffe.
Rove, you … what Dan said!
Friday, February 29, 2008
Rack Report
At Gunnies in Orem, a 1943 Izhevsk production M91/30 retired sniper (follow the link and scroll down to the "Ex sniper" section).
Metal fit and finish is very good, with a very good trigger that takes up short and breaks clean around four pounds. Bore is brighter than I am used to seeing with clean rifling and no discernible pitting. Counterbore shows faint traces of the original chamfer after rearsenal recrowning; there is no deep counterbore as I found on my last purchase. The screw/pin holes for the PU mount on the left side of the receiver are filled cleanly. They are invisible from outside and the bluing job on the receiver is excellent.
There is a struck-through seven digit number on the left side of the barrel ring. The alpha /numeric serial stamped on the receiver matches the bolt and butt plate, while the bottom metal matches but shows a lined - out number as well.
Wood is typical post-war Mosin, with more dings than I usually see BUT with a bunch of cartouches that I haven't seen before, either.
Sweet for $84.99, including a bayonet, two-pocket ammo pouch, cleaning tools, combo tool, and solvent/oil bottle.
Metal fit and finish is very good, with a very good trigger that takes up short and breaks clean around four pounds. Bore is brighter than I am used to seeing with clean rifling and no discernible pitting. Counterbore shows faint traces of the original chamfer after rearsenal recrowning; there is no deep counterbore as I found on my last purchase. The screw/pin holes for the PU mount on the left side of the receiver are filled cleanly. They are invisible from outside and the bluing job on the receiver is excellent.
There is a struck-through seven digit number on the left side of the barrel ring. The alpha /numeric serial stamped on the receiver matches the bolt and butt plate, while the bottom metal matches but shows a lined - out number as well.
Wood is typical post-war Mosin, with more dings than I usually see BUT with a bunch of cartouches that I haven't seen before, either.
Sweet for $84.99, including a bayonet, two-pocket ammo pouch, cleaning tools, combo tool, and solvent/oil bottle.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Giant Passing
"I am, I fully grant, a phenomenon, but not because of any speed in composition," he wrote in The New York Times Book Review in 1986. "I asked myself the other day, `Who else, on so many issues, has been so right so much of the time?' I couldn't think of anyone."
William F. Buckley Jr. 1925 - 2008.
I am riven.
William F. Buckley Jr. 1925 - 2008.
I am riven.
Reformation? Maybe The Pile Won't Be So High.
Important news on important work going on in Turkey, where Islamic clergy/scholars are examining the Hadith of Islam.
The Hadith is a collection of thousands of sayings reputed to come from the Prophet Muhammad.
***
"You can find messages which say 'that is what the Prophet ordered us to do'. But you can show historically how they came into being, as influences from other cultures, that were then projected onto Islamic tradition."
The argument is that Islamic tradition has been gradually hijacked by various - often conservative - cultures, seeking to use the religion for various forms of social control.
This work is being conducted by direction of the Turkish government, which has wisely decided that contemporary Islamism, if allowed to fester, won't leave the followers of the prophet much of a future.
(via Protein Wisdom)
The Hadith is a collection of thousands of sayings reputed to come from the Prophet Muhammad.
***
"You can find messages which say 'that is what the Prophet ordered us to do'. But you can show historically how they came into being, as influences from other cultures, that were then projected onto Islamic tradition."
The argument is that Islamic tradition has been gradually hijacked by various - often conservative - cultures, seeking to use the religion for various forms of social control.
This work is being conducted by direction of the Turkish government, which has wisely decided that contemporary Islamism, if allowed to fester, won't leave the followers of the prophet much of a future.
(via Protein Wisdom)
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Comment on Althouse
I put the following comment up on Professor Althouse's blog:
I had a kind of waking dream where Hillary! heaves her cankles up on a raised dais in front of a huge, darkened arena and begins to speak to the nervous, standing room only crowd:
"I have heard it said that many of you have felt, at times, that I or the DNC don't really think your issues are important beyond what we have to say to benefit from your votes. Nothing could be further from the truth! In spite of scurrilous claims on talk radio, and in spite of the fact that it fell to Republican administrations to appoint African-Americans to prominent cabinet positions, or that the Democrat party of New York purportedly coerced an eminently qualified African-American to not run for the Senate seat I now hold,
(She raises her voice to the verge of her well known screech because a growing, enthusiastic roar from the next hall over makes it increasingly diffucult for her to be heard)
it is VITAL that you understand that YOUR interests are at stake as you go to vote for ME in your capacity as super delegates!...."
A voice from the hall interrupts:
"Madam senator? The Democrat super delegates and black folks are next door. We are the conservative minority of the Republican party. John McCain was supposed to be here to explain why we are supposed to vote for him, but we just found out he's next door promising open-ended welfare benefits, restrictions on talk radio, and socialized health care."
It's a funny old world, aint' it?
(updated for comedic impact and minor grammatical tweaking)
I had a kind of waking dream where Hillary! heaves her cankles up on a raised dais in front of a huge, darkened arena and begins to speak to the nervous, standing room only crowd:
"I have heard it said that many of you have felt, at times, that I or the DNC don't really think your issues are important beyond what we have to say to benefit from your votes. Nothing could be further from the truth! In spite of scurrilous claims on talk radio, and in spite of the fact that it fell to Republican administrations to appoint African-Americans to prominent cabinet positions, or that the Democrat party of New York purportedly coerced an eminently qualified African-American to not run for the Senate seat I now hold,
(She raises her voice to the verge of her well known screech because a growing, enthusiastic roar from the next hall over makes it increasingly diffucult for her to be heard)
it is VITAL that you understand that YOUR interests are at stake as you go to vote for ME in your capacity as super delegates!...."
A voice from the hall interrupts:
"Madam senator? The Democrat super delegates and black folks are next door. We are the conservative minority of the Republican party. John McCain was supposed to be here to explain why we are supposed to vote for him, but we just found out he's next door promising open-ended welfare benefits, restrictions on talk radio, and socialized health care."
It's a funny old world, aint' it?
(updated for comedic impact and minor grammatical tweaking)
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
A Message From The Fringe
Posted as a comment to this post over at neo-neocon:
The Dems don’t have a problem recognizing their enemy. They are called “Republicans”. Granted, the caricature of racist, homophobic, jeebus screechers is not quite accurate, but it’s worked to galvanize the Best and Brightest toward larger turnouts than the hapless Republicans.
Let them have their presidency. Let them have the power they crave. Give them everything the nutroots crave.
Give them the house. And the senate.
And by all means, they can nominate a couple of judges. Who was that attorney convicted a few years back for passing communications for the blind sheik? That one! She’s the face and heart of the progressive movement. Give them control over the last non-electoral, half-assed obstacle to totalitarianism that exists.
Give them power.
I’ve gotten three phone calls this evening. One from a national polling outfit, asking if they could get my opinion on the primary races; I shut them off with “I will not cast a vote for John McCain.” The second was the Utah County Republicans asking if I was intending to caucus this year, and if I had any interest in being a delegate again. I told them that as a newly registered Independent I wasn’t eligible. The third was from the Leavitt campaign. I declined the invitation to a barbeque, on the same principle.
In a representative republic that wasn’t populated by zero attention span historical illiterates who can’t balance a checkbook or compute compound interest, the vast bulk of our elected federal government would be building desks down in Georgia someplace.
Muslims would be pretty scarce in the civilized world, too, but that subject will be coming up time after time in the next few years, so it can wait.
Michael, Senator McCain will lose to either Dem candidate, and it won’t even be close. There’s no reason for it to be close; the Dems are on fire to surrender to their new overlords and the Republicans aren’t going to make much of an effort to vote for their own liberal Democrat.
You want a metric you can follow? You might watch the stock market. Smart money is already moving for cover at a pretty brisk pace.
Myself, I’m going to watch military retention, by quarter. You want to know where the SMART and EXPOSED people think things are headed? Watch those numbers.
I’d shed a tear if I had any left. All power is ultimately responsibility. We do not have, in either party, viable leadership that will acknowledge that reality. It’s all a game to them.
Have a fine one, and we’ll see how that “fringe” stuff works out in November.
The Dems don’t have a problem recognizing their enemy. They are called “Republicans”. Granted, the caricature of racist, homophobic, jeebus screechers is not quite accurate, but it’s worked to galvanize the Best and Brightest toward larger turnouts than the hapless Republicans.
Let them have their presidency. Let them have the power they crave. Give them everything the nutroots crave.
Give them the house. And the senate.
And by all means, they can nominate a couple of judges. Who was that attorney convicted a few years back for passing communications for the blind sheik? That one! She’s the face and heart of the progressive movement. Give them control over the last non-electoral, half-assed obstacle to totalitarianism that exists.
Give them power.
I’ve gotten three phone calls this evening. One from a national polling outfit, asking if they could get my opinion on the primary races; I shut them off with “I will not cast a vote for John McCain.” The second was the Utah County Republicans asking if I was intending to caucus this year, and if I had any interest in being a delegate again. I told them that as a newly registered Independent I wasn’t eligible. The third was from the Leavitt campaign. I declined the invitation to a barbeque, on the same principle.
In a representative republic that wasn’t populated by zero attention span historical illiterates who can’t balance a checkbook or compute compound interest, the vast bulk of our elected federal government would be building desks down in Georgia someplace.
Muslims would be pretty scarce in the civilized world, too, but that subject will be coming up time after time in the next few years, so it can wait.
Michael, Senator McCain will lose to either Dem candidate, and it won’t even be close. There’s no reason for it to be close; the Dems are on fire to surrender to their new overlords and the Republicans aren’t going to make much of an effort to vote for their own liberal Democrat.
You want a metric you can follow? You might watch the stock market. Smart money is already moving for cover at a pretty brisk pace.
Myself, I’m going to watch military retention, by quarter. You want to know where the SMART and EXPOSED people think things are headed? Watch those numbers.
I’d shed a tear if I had any left. All power is ultimately responsibility. We do not have, in either party, viable leadership that will acknowledge that reality. It’s all a game to them.
Have a fine one, and we’ll see how that “fringe” stuff works out in November.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
It DOES Mean Something
The following was originally posted as a comment at Protein Wisdom. This comment, along with the original post put up by Mr.Dan Collins and updated by Mr. Jeff Goldstein is my answer to Mr. Totten:
I’ve been trying to articulate my rejection of McCain across several different forums… but I can’t do better than what the two of you (Collins and Goldstein - ed.) have done with this post.
In the blur of the last few days I saw a commenter elsewhere say “you vote the lesser of two evils long enough, one day you end up knowing you are voting for evil” or something very similar….
Back when I was in the service one of the institutional things you heard a lot was a variation on “It ain’t nuthin’… ain’t nuthin’ but a thang”…don’t mean nuthin’”.
You score orders to the school you’ve been trying to get in to for literally your entire enlistment… and they get canked because you need to go to the desert and shoot at sand dunes. Again.
The battery works three six-day weeks getting everything ready for the Inspector General’s inspection. You lay everything out, every man falls in, perfectly uniformed, every piece of equipment the unit owns is parked, laid out with all it’s gear… and the IG team is two hours late, time enough for the southern California June rainstorm to turn the whole thing into a “count noses and call it good” farce.
Your best friend, who left the Corps but came back in after exchanging letters with you, gets his ass buried in a building in Beirut. And your government runs away.
I voted for George W. Bush, twice. At first I believed that at his worst he would bring ethics and some sort of adult normalcy back to at least a small part of the freak show the last eight years had reduced Washington to. I was impressed with his tactical political skills; anyone who could defeat the Clinton’s heir and their media was defacto nobody’s fool. The opening stages of our response to 9/11 were heartening, as well. The second term was an easy call to make, given the other option.
I believe that the pursuit of the ideals of American representative democracy is the first best hope for the survival of mankind. Our system, when it is faithfully adhered to by all citizen parties, replaces the impulse to kill for personal gain with the higher faith that compromise and cooperation are more profitable for everyone in the long run.
We are a sad and vicious crew. We still don’t think much past our next meal - not much past the next piece of ass for males between the ages of fifteen and twenty five - or whatever the next distraction is. We thirst for entertainment today; yesterday, we thirsted for a better life and worked hard to get it.
Looking at the crew before us - Obama, Clinton, McCain… I am reminded of the era of Praetorian Emperors of Rome. They, too, were chosen by the insulated elite of their time. The Guard was not so much military as it was the remaining functional, effective power in the empire.
The Praetorians selected their caesers based on the ineterests of the Praetorians. But the press releases always emphasized “for the good of Rome”.
I’m done with the Republicans. I could have voted for Romney based on his demonstrated high ethics and superb business accomplishments. I also believe he would be at least as effective as Bush has been in fighting the war we are able to fight in this atmosphere of lotus eaters and hacks. The continued successful prosecution of the war, especially under ANY Republican administration, will demand an executive impervious to childish and bad-faithed nay saying by political opponents and one iron-willed in carrying the fight to the enemy where ever and when ever he is found.
The GWOT is going to end one of three ways:
1. The West surrenders incrementally over the course of the next three generations, and the world returns to a kind of Ottoman Empire blur until the oil runs out.
2. Europe wakes up and world war four shifts into high gear. Trains are involved.
3. The United States continues democratization as long as we can afford to, and the budding democratic republics in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the moderate emirates, generate a sect of Islam that serves as that religion’s Reformation.
There’s fourth option, but I am not going to go there. If we go to a hot war with China, option four becomes a sideshow to the real fight.
And ladies and gentlemen, make no mistake about it: it will be financial/civic collapse that destroys this country before any bearded child killer plops a Koran on the desk in the oval office. And McCain, Obama, and Clinton, and the majority of the parasites infesting that swamp near Baltimore are contributors, not remedies, to the coming collapse.
John McCain isn’t going to meet in the middle with any Democrats. He’s going to slip them the club handshake and get busy getting on with the business of managing the peasants so that they can’t hurt themselves or, more importantly, incumbent office holders. That means nurturing victim classes, legislating curbs on that pesky political speech stuff, erasing those meaningless lines on the map and those pages in the dusty old history books that used to tell us who we were. The pages that used to tell us how we got here, and what the road looked like.
That’s all done with. We get what’s good for us - as decided by those oh so more qualified to dole it out.
That’s John McCain’s way, and if you can find the difference between Mr. Changeyman and Ms. Rodham -Borgia, you go right ahead and do so. The differences will be tactics; the end strategy, and results, will be the same.
I’m not voting for a Republican candidate whose entire resume is a democratic platform primer.
I cast my vote for Gov. Romney in Utah’s primary today.
I do not expect to cast a vote for the office of president in November, and am prepared to not have a candidate for the foreseeable future.
This refusal to choose where there is no choice is not a futile gesture. It does mean something. At the very least, my hand is not pulling the rope tied to the noose around my neck.
I’ve been trying to articulate my rejection of McCain across several different forums… but I can’t do better than what the two of you (Collins and Goldstein - ed.) have done with this post.
In the blur of the last few days I saw a commenter elsewhere say “you vote the lesser of two evils long enough, one day you end up knowing you are voting for evil” or something very similar….
Back when I was in the service one of the institutional things you heard a lot was a variation on “It ain’t nuthin’… ain’t nuthin’ but a thang”…don’t mean nuthin’”.
You score orders to the school you’ve been trying to get in to for literally your entire enlistment… and they get canked because you need to go to the desert and shoot at sand dunes. Again.
The battery works three six-day weeks getting everything ready for the Inspector General’s inspection. You lay everything out, every man falls in, perfectly uniformed, every piece of equipment the unit owns is parked, laid out with all it’s gear… and the IG team is two hours late, time enough for the southern California June rainstorm to turn the whole thing into a “count noses and call it good” farce.
Your best friend, who left the Corps but came back in after exchanging letters with you, gets his ass buried in a building in Beirut. And your government runs away.
I voted for George W. Bush, twice. At first I believed that at his worst he would bring ethics and some sort of adult normalcy back to at least a small part of the freak show the last eight years had reduced Washington to. I was impressed with his tactical political skills; anyone who could defeat the Clinton’s heir and their media was defacto nobody’s fool. The opening stages of our response to 9/11 were heartening, as well. The second term was an easy call to make, given the other option.
I believe that the pursuit of the ideals of American representative democracy is the first best hope for the survival of mankind. Our system, when it is faithfully adhered to by all citizen parties, replaces the impulse to kill for personal gain with the higher faith that compromise and cooperation are more profitable for everyone in the long run.
We are a sad and vicious crew. We still don’t think much past our next meal - not much past the next piece of ass for males between the ages of fifteen and twenty five - or whatever the next distraction is. We thirst for entertainment today; yesterday, we thirsted for a better life and worked hard to get it.
Looking at the crew before us - Obama, Clinton, McCain… I am reminded of the era of Praetorian Emperors of Rome. They, too, were chosen by the insulated elite of their time. The Guard was not so much military as it was the remaining functional, effective power in the empire.
The Praetorians selected their caesers based on the ineterests of the Praetorians. But the press releases always emphasized “for the good of Rome”.
I’m done with the Republicans. I could have voted for Romney based on his demonstrated high ethics and superb business accomplishments. I also believe he would be at least as effective as Bush has been in fighting the war we are able to fight in this atmosphere of lotus eaters and hacks. The continued successful prosecution of the war, especially under ANY Republican administration, will demand an executive impervious to childish and bad-faithed nay saying by political opponents and one iron-willed in carrying the fight to the enemy where ever and when ever he is found.
The GWOT is going to end one of three ways:
1. The West surrenders incrementally over the course of the next three generations, and the world returns to a kind of Ottoman Empire blur until the oil runs out.
2. Europe wakes up and world war four shifts into high gear. Trains are involved.
3. The United States continues democratization as long as we can afford to, and the budding democratic republics in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the moderate emirates, generate a sect of Islam that serves as that religion’s Reformation.
There’s fourth option, but I am not going to go there. If we go to a hot war with China, option four becomes a sideshow to the real fight.
And ladies and gentlemen, make no mistake about it: it will be financial/civic collapse that destroys this country before any bearded child killer plops a Koran on the desk in the oval office. And McCain, Obama, and Clinton, and the majority of the parasites infesting that swamp near Baltimore are contributors, not remedies, to the coming collapse.
John McCain isn’t going to meet in the middle with any Democrats. He’s going to slip them the club handshake and get busy getting on with the business of managing the peasants so that they can’t hurt themselves or, more importantly, incumbent office holders. That means nurturing victim classes, legislating curbs on that pesky political speech stuff, erasing those meaningless lines on the map and those pages in the dusty old history books that used to tell us who we were. The pages that used to tell us how we got here, and what the road looked like.
That’s all done with. We get what’s good for us - as decided by those oh so more qualified to dole it out.
That’s John McCain’s way, and if you can find the difference between Mr. Changeyman and Ms. Rodham -Borgia, you go right ahead and do so. The differences will be tactics; the end strategy, and results, will be the same.
I’m not voting for a Republican candidate whose entire resume is a democratic platform primer.
I cast my vote for Gov. Romney in Utah’s primary today.
I do not expect to cast a vote for the office of president in November, and am prepared to not have a candidate for the foreseeable future.
This refusal to choose where there is no choice is not a futile gesture. It does mean something. At the very least, my hand is not pulling the rope tied to the noose around my neck.
Incoming
A few days back I followed an Instapundit link to a post by Mr.Bill Quick where he laid out his case for not voting for John McCain should he end up the Republican candidate. I contributed a comment that laid out very bluntly my own decision to neither support nor cast a vote for McCain should he be the nominee. neo-neocon weighed in with her opinion that the conservatives were jumping the shark. Mr. Gerard Vanderluen cranked out an essay (under the subhead "Useful Idiots") here , where I had yet another opportunity to disagree with someone I admire and am proud to have on my modest blogroll, as well. In the meantime, neo wrote another post wherein Mr. Michael J. Totten, in the comments, called me out based on a discussion we had on his forum during the last presidential election.
Work and responsibilities prevent an immediate response. I need to research and see how much crow, if any, I need to order, and then attempt to come up with an essay worth anyone's time to read.
Have a fine one, all. I hope to have something by this evening but it may be late.
Oh, and if you are in a state conducting its primary today, get out there and VOTE! I already did.
Work and responsibilities prevent an immediate response. I need to research and see how much crow, if any, I need to order, and then attempt to come up with an essay worth anyone's time to read.
Have a fine one, all. I hope to have something by this evening but it may be late.
Oh, and if you are in a state conducting its primary today, get out there and VOTE! I already did.
Monday, February 04, 2008
Saturday, February 02, 2008
On the Rack
At Gunnies in Orem, a Mosin-Nagant Model 91/30 retired PU sniper. Tula, 1943. Clear markings on receiver including prominent "C h" stamp. Matching numbers, bottom metal has matching number stamped next to lined - out original number.
Overall condition is fair. Typical wartime stock. Metal to wood fit is fair. PU mount holes in receiver have been filled with studs and welded. Crappy bluing job here - metal shows discoloration from heat. Bore is dark with well defined lands and grooves. Trigger and sear show very little wear, no hammering. The muzzle was recrowned during the rearsenal process, but some evidence of a sniper counterbore still shows.
At $84.00 it is probably worth a look. Comes with all the typical CAI goodies - sling, bayonet, oiler/solvent can, cleaning kit, one double ammo pouch, and combo tool.
Overall condition is fair. Typical wartime stock. Metal to wood fit is fair. PU mount holes in receiver have been filled with studs and welded. Crappy bluing job here - metal shows discoloration from heat. Bore is dark with well defined lands and grooves. Trigger and sear show very little wear, no hammering. The muzzle was recrowned during the rearsenal process, but some evidence of a sniper counterbore still shows.
At $84.00 it is probably worth a look. Comes with all the typical CAI goodies - sling, bayonet, oiler/solvent can, cleaning kit, one double ammo pouch, and combo tool.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Local Rack Report (UPDATED)
(Corrections to date and price added)
On the used rack at Gunnies, 400 S. State street in Orem:
M91/30 Mosin-Nagant rifle. Hex receiver, Izhevsk manufacture, dated 1928. It looks like it was originally a Dragoon model - the receiver is date stamped 1928 (Correct date 1925). Markings are grossly similar to this picture. Rifle is rearsenaled. There are no noticeable overstamps. The rearsenal mark is the bisected diamond stamp, and it was applied clear of the original markings. All visible numbers match. I get on okay with the staff here, but didn't want to push it by asking permission to take a look at the tang stamp. Metal fit and finish is good +, with minimum black paint touchup.
(If anyone knows which country used which rearsenal stamp, I'd like to hear it. I've been all over the Mosin boards and sites and just haven't seen any information on that subject.)
Overall appearance is good +. Wood-to-metal fit is remarkably good. It is the best I have seen (and I'm a ROOKIE) on a Soviet example and almost as good as the better Finns I have handled. The wood itself has the traditional gad-fugly arsenal shellac covering some nondescript cartouches. There are no discernible repairs and only a couple of very minor dings. The muzzle crown could have been executed better. Bore is clean and dark with strong rifling. I have come to regard this as common with the current wave of Mosins moving through here.
This is a sweet rifle. It would make a fine addition to somebody's collection, especially if they just wanted one Mosin.
Asking $128.00. (Correct price $149.00)
On the used rack at Gunnies, 400 S. State street in Orem:
M91/30 Mosin-Nagant rifle. Hex receiver, Izhevsk manufacture, dated 1928. It looks like it was originally a Dragoon model - the receiver is date stamped 1928 (Correct date 1925). Markings are grossly similar to this picture. Rifle is rearsenaled. There are no noticeable overstamps. The rearsenal mark is the bisected diamond stamp, and it was applied clear of the original markings. All visible numbers match. I get on okay with the staff here, but didn't want to push it by asking permission to take a look at the tang stamp. Metal fit and finish is good +, with minimum black paint touchup.
(If anyone knows which country used which rearsenal stamp, I'd like to hear it. I've been all over the Mosin boards and sites and just haven't seen any information on that subject.)
Overall appearance is good +. Wood-to-metal fit is remarkably good. It is the best I have seen (and I'm a ROOKIE) on a Soviet example and almost as good as the better Finns I have handled. The wood itself has the traditional gad-fugly arsenal shellac covering some nondescript cartouches. There are no discernible repairs and only a couple of very minor dings. The muzzle crown could have been executed better. Bore is clean and dark with strong rifling. I have come to regard this as common with the current wave of Mosins moving through here.
This is a sweet rifle. It would make a fine addition to somebody's collection, especially if they just wanted one Mosin.
Asking $128.00. (Correct price $149.00)
Monday, January 21, 2008
Unsolicited Advice
I put the following up on the Gun Thing Forum in response to the question "how do I improve my offhand shooting?":
1. Stand easy, weak side shoulder facing the target. A line drawn across your back should point at the target. This is your starting point. Later, as you find your own natural point of aim, you may modify this.
2. Feet slightly more than shoulder width apart. Some folks like their feet parallel. Others go toe in, or toe out. But the key is to not force a too wide stance. Back straight, and keep it as straight as you can when the rifle is in your shoulder. You will be moving; an exaggerated sway-back won't help. Offhand is the weakest position because it requires more balance vice bone-to - to bone support.
3. Take a breath. Let it out.
4. Inhale as you bring the rifle up. Keep the muzzle high, something like thirty or forty degrees above flat, and pointed a little right (right handed shooter) a bit from the target. Drop the butt down into your shoulder , into the the pocket formed by keeping your elbow and right arm as high from your body as possible; try for parallel to the deck but higher is better. You will "roll" the rifle into your shoulder and the at same time acquire your cheek weld.
5. Find your sights FIRST. Establish your natural cheek weld - the position of your cheek against the stock that puts your eye effortlessly behind your properly aligned sights. By standing 90 degrees to the direction of fire, you may rest your weak arm against your body as you rest the rifle across your palm. I said REST. Any pressure in your fingers, any torsion on your wrist - will only lessen your chance of a good shot. This will only be achieved with practice, which is a damn good reason for putting a fifty - foot air rifle bull on the wall of your basement or garage for practice. You will leave the mechanical safety engaged, by the way, until your sights are aligned with the target.
6. Concentrate on your front sight tip. Doing this will center it in the aperture of the rear sight ; if you are shooting buckhorn sights you will be less precise, elevation wise - especially if your eyes are getting old like mine.
7. You've got the rifle in your shoulder. The sights are aligned. You've inhaled just a little beyond the point of natural breathing. Stop breathing. Look over your front sight. Your rifle is pointed at a rough Natural Point of Aim (NPA). If you do nothing else now but concentrate on your sights and squeeze, you will hit what is on the tip of your front sight post.
8. Still holding your breath, it's time to move your NPA to as close as you can get to being on the bull. This is my favorite line in coaching offhand:
Aim with your feet.
You've achieved a natural, balanced posture by this point. All that remains is to make the most minor of corrections, closest to the ground, to put your aim on the frame. I generally have to move my trailing foot an inch forward or back to get on target, but if you find yourself uncomfortably off-line, go ahead and move both feet, making sure that your final position doesn't sacrifice your balanced, relaxed NPA stance. You will breathe normally during this exercise - but always stop halfway on the exhale when checking your NPA.
9. You are standing. You are unsupported. Your NPA is on the paper. Stop breathing, observe your front sight. Move your front arm in or out for elevation, move your feet for windage. The conventional wisdom here is to arrive at a situation where your sights track the width of the target in a "lazy eight" pattern. Imagine an eight drawn laying on its side, with the left and right extremities just touching the edges of the target (or even shorter, between the edge of the paper and the bullseye) , with the amplitude of the eight equal or less than the diameter of the bull, with the waist of the eight centered on the bull.
10. You feel like you've got a solid sight picture now (sight alignment = correct rear sight/front sight relation. Sight picture = sight alignment + target correctly on front post) and are ready to get down to business. Inhale. Hold half of it. Close your eyes. Hold it. Open your eyes. If you are off the target, aim with your feet.
11. Safety off. BREATHE IN. Sight picture good. Manageable racetrack. RELAX - breath halfway out and hold. Feel for wind on your cheek. AIM - frontsightontarget frontsightontarget frontsightontarget STOP frontsighton SQUEEZE slacknoslack frontsighton BOOM.
Recoil. Keep your cheek on the stock. Roll back into your NPA. Follow through - do not come off the target until you have a good sight picture. Safety ON. Rifle down to rest, and have a seat on your stool.
12. Mark your call (what you saw when the round left your rifle) in your range book. Look up to see white disk in front of bullseye, marking your "x". Repeat the process. Collect your trophy.
Disclaimer: I haven't shot a formal match since the nineties, and that was merely silhouette shooting with my old M1; it was the day that that barrel died, as a matter of fact. Today I do shoot offhand at milk jugs or steel plates with modest success at ranges between three and six hundred yards.
Don't spend a lot of time practicing offhand live. It becomes a race between getting frustrated and getting tired, and both states will end useful expenditure of ammo. Find out how many rounds you will be required to shoot in a match, then limit your live fire training to twice that amount per range visit. You get more value out of dry fire training for offhand than for any other position.
******
There. If you ever have to make THE SHOT, now you know how.
Snowy as all get out today. That means I get to stay home and clean house. Have a fine day!
1. Stand easy, weak side shoulder facing the target. A line drawn across your back should point at the target. This is your starting point. Later, as you find your own natural point of aim, you may modify this.
2. Feet slightly more than shoulder width apart. Some folks like their feet parallel. Others go toe in, or toe out. But the key is to not force a too wide stance. Back straight, and keep it as straight as you can when the rifle is in your shoulder. You will be moving; an exaggerated sway-back won't help. Offhand is the weakest position because it requires more balance vice bone-to - to bone support.
3. Take a breath. Let it out.
4. Inhale as you bring the rifle up. Keep the muzzle high, something like thirty or forty degrees above flat, and pointed a little right (right handed shooter) a bit from the target. Drop the butt down into your shoulder , into the the pocket formed by keeping your elbow and right arm as high from your body as possible; try for parallel to the deck but higher is better. You will "roll" the rifle into your shoulder and the at same time acquire your cheek weld.
5. Find your sights FIRST. Establish your natural cheek weld - the position of your cheek against the stock that puts your eye effortlessly behind your properly aligned sights. By standing 90 degrees to the direction of fire, you may rest your weak arm against your body as you rest the rifle across your palm. I said REST. Any pressure in your fingers, any torsion on your wrist - will only lessen your chance of a good shot. This will only be achieved with practice, which is a damn good reason for putting a fifty - foot air rifle bull on the wall of your basement or garage for practice. You will leave the mechanical safety engaged, by the way, until your sights are aligned with the target.
6. Concentrate on your front sight tip. Doing this will center it in the aperture of the rear sight ; if you are shooting buckhorn sights you will be less precise, elevation wise - especially if your eyes are getting old like mine.
7. You've got the rifle in your shoulder. The sights are aligned. You've inhaled just a little beyond the point of natural breathing. Stop breathing. Look over your front sight. Your rifle is pointed at a rough Natural Point of Aim (NPA). If you do nothing else now but concentrate on your sights and squeeze, you will hit what is on the tip of your front sight post.
8. Still holding your breath, it's time to move your NPA to as close as you can get to being on the bull. This is my favorite line in coaching offhand:
Aim with your feet.
You've achieved a natural, balanced posture by this point. All that remains is to make the most minor of corrections, closest to the ground, to put your aim on the frame. I generally have to move my trailing foot an inch forward or back to get on target, but if you find yourself uncomfortably off-line, go ahead and move both feet, making sure that your final position doesn't sacrifice your balanced, relaxed NPA stance. You will breathe normally during this exercise - but always stop halfway on the exhale when checking your NPA.
9. You are standing. You are unsupported. Your NPA is on the paper. Stop breathing, observe your front sight. Move your front arm in or out for elevation, move your feet for windage. The conventional wisdom here is to arrive at a situation where your sights track the width of the target in a "lazy eight" pattern. Imagine an eight drawn laying on its side, with the left and right extremities just touching the edges of the target (or even shorter, between the edge of the paper and the bullseye) , with the amplitude of the eight equal or less than the diameter of the bull, with the waist of the eight centered on the bull.
10. You feel like you've got a solid sight picture now (sight alignment = correct rear sight/front sight relation. Sight picture = sight alignment + target correctly on front post) and are ready to get down to business. Inhale. Hold half of it. Close your eyes. Hold it. Open your eyes. If you are off the target, aim with your feet.
11. Safety off. BREATHE IN. Sight picture good. Manageable racetrack. RELAX - breath halfway out and hold. Feel for wind on your cheek. AIM - frontsightontarget frontsightontarget frontsightontarget STOP frontsighton SQUEEZE slacknoslack frontsighton BOOM.
Recoil. Keep your cheek on the stock. Roll back into your NPA. Follow through - do not come off the target until you have a good sight picture. Safety ON. Rifle down to rest, and have a seat on your stool.
12. Mark your call (what you saw when the round left your rifle) in your range book. Look up to see white disk in front of bullseye, marking your "x". Repeat the process. Collect your trophy.
Disclaimer: I haven't shot a formal match since the nineties, and that was merely silhouette shooting with my old M1; it was the day that that barrel died, as a matter of fact. Today I do shoot offhand at milk jugs or steel plates with modest success at ranges between three and six hundred yards.
Don't spend a lot of time practicing offhand live. It becomes a race between getting frustrated and getting tired, and both states will end useful expenditure of ammo. Find out how many rounds you will be required to shoot in a match, then limit your live fire training to twice that amount per range visit. You get more value out of dry fire training for offhand than for any other position.
******
There. If you ever have to make THE SHOT, now you know how.
Snowy as all get out today. That means I get to stay home and clean house. Have a fine day!
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Range Report 19 January 2008
Yes, Virginia, it was a cold one. I arrived at Lee Kay around 0915 to find that there were already twenty or thirty cars in the lot. It turned out that Hunter Education students would be shooting their qualification exams all day long.
Last Tuesday I had commitments from four folks to show up and shoot. I couldn't confirm anyone last night and ended up shooting solo this morning. Mrs. Tmj Does Not Do Teh Cold and the goddesses have been spooling up for THE BIG DANCE all week. One of my coworkers called me at 1130 to let me know he'd slept through his alarm, but I was almost packed up by then. Coaching strangers is all well and good but once in a while it does no harm to confirm the friends' and neighbors' suspicions....
I ended up breaking in the two newest Mosins: Model 91/59 built on a 1937 Izhvesk and the 1943 retired Tula PU sniper.
Temperature at 0930 was 24f, light overcast, with light wind coming mostly from behind, or blowing west, since the firing line runs generally north - south. I decided to shoot for zero at 25 yards using a fore stock rest from a seated position. I had intended to move over to the hundred/two hundred yard ranges if things looked promising but I ended up coaching some kids practicing for their Hunter Safety shoot.
If you don't have a headspace gage or access to a smith who does, it is necessary to treat "new" milsurps gingerly. Since both these weapons are new (to me) I opened the ball for each by loading one round of my crappiest old combloc ammo (Russian/Barnul brass case light ball, 1951 production) then bracing the wrist of the stock between two sandbags. I then fired a blind round while crouched beneath the table. It's clunky and looks funny, but then again so does walking around with an improperly - fit bolt sticking out of your forehead. In the field I'd normally just lash the rifle to a spare tire and fire it with a string.
This is the final target for the 91/59:
I was mighty pleased with this one. The ammunition used here was Albanian light ball, and I've been happy with it in all my Russkis. The trigger has reasonable travel and breaks very clean and light for a Mosin.
The Tula retired PU doesn't have a great trigger, but then this is RUSSIAN rifle. GOOD is just fine:
I had a case failure the second round after the "sandbag proof" round. Nothing spectacular - just some gas venting back around the bolt. Most of the ammo I shoot in these is from the nineteen fifties so some slop is going to happen. I puttered around on one target to warm the barrel, then shot the final target (shown above) using eighties manufacture Czech light ball (silver tip). The wind had come up a bit but at twenty five yards it would really have to howl to make a huge difference. It was cold...
... but that's when Mosins are at their best. That's four groups of three on the target: The dime group was aimed at six o'clock on the orange dot with rear sight set for 500 yards. The quarter group was aimed at the same point with 100 yards set on the rear sight. The other two groups were shot offhand and kind of hung out a bit wider and more right.
I am saving pennies for a repro PU mount/scope combo. The PU is going into the gunsmith next week for a formal headspace check and I am getting the bolts turned down on both rifles. The 91/59 will move into my pickup as soon as the bolt is done.
Not a bad day. Got home just before noon, cleaned up and put away, and here I am. I hope yours was good, too.
Last Tuesday I had commitments from four folks to show up and shoot. I couldn't confirm anyone last night and ended up shooting solo this morning. Mrs. Tmj Does Not Do Teh Cold and the goddesses have been spooling up for THE BIG DANCE all week. One of my coworkers called me at 1130 to let me know he'd slept through his alarm, but I was almost packed up by then. Coaching strangers is all well and good but once in a while it does no harm to confirm the friends' and neighbors' suspicions....
I ended up breaking in the two newest Mosins: Model 91/59 built on a 1937 Izhvesk and the 1943 retired Tula PU sniper.
Temperature at 0930 was 24f, light overcast, with light wind coming mostly from behind, or blowing west, since the firing line runs generally north - south. I decided to shoot for zero at 25 yards using a fore stock rest from a seated position. I had intended to move over to the hundred/two hundred yard ranges if things looked promising but I ended up coaching some kids practicing for their Hunter Safety shoot.
If you don't have a headspace gage or access to a smith who does, it is necessary to treat "new" milsurps gingerly. Since both these weapons are new (to me) I opened the ball for each by loading one round of my crappiest old combloc ammo (Russian/Barnul brass case light ball, 1951 production) then bracing the wrist of the stock between two sandbags. I then fired a blind round while crouched beneath the table. It's clunky and looks funny, but then again so does walking around with an improperly - fit bolt sticking out of your forehead. In the field I'd normally just lash the rifle to a spare tire and fire it with a string.
This is the final target for the 91/59:
I was mighty pleased with this one. The ammunition used here was Albanian light ball, and I've been happy with it in all my Russkis. The trigger has reasonable travel and breaks very clean and light for a Mosin.
The Tula retired PU doesn't have a great trigger, but then this is RUSSIAN rifle. GOOD is just fine:
I had a case failure the second round after the "sandbag proof" round. Nothing spectacular - just some gas venting back around the bolt. Most of the ammo I shoot in these is from the nineteen fifties so some slop is going to happen. I puttered around on one target to warm the barrel, then shot the final target (shown above) using eighties manufacture Czech light ball (silver tip). The wind had come up a bit but at twenty five yards it would really have to howl to make a huge difference. It was cold...
... but that's when Mosins are at their best. That's four groups of three on the target: The dime group was aimed at six o'clock on the orange dot with rear sight set for 500 yards. The quarter group was aimed at the same point with 100 yards set on the rear sight. The other two groups were shot offhand and kind of hung out a bit wider and more right.
I am saving pennies for a repro PU mount/scope combo. The PU is going into the gunsmith next week for a formal headspace check and I am getting the bolts turned down on both rifles. The 91/59 will move into my pickup as soon as the bolt is done.
Not a bad day. Got home just before noon, cleaned up and put away, and here I am. I hope yours was good, too.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Range Date
Heading out to Lee Kay tomorrow at 9 a.m. for a few hours of shooting.
I'll have two Mosin variants, a Bushmaster carbine, and some miscelleneous pistols to work on. I always bring extra ammo for guests.
Stop by and say hi if you are in the area. I'll be the stumpy individual with the four-wheeled shooting cart on the seventy yard range.
It's going to be true well digger weather. Perfect for shooting Mosins!
I'll have two Mosin variants, a Bushmaster carbine, and some miscelleneous pistols to work on. I always bring extra ammo for guests.
Stop by and say hi if you are in the area. I'll be the stumpy individual with the four-wheeled shooting cart on the seventy yard range.
It's going to be true well digger weather. Perfect for shooting Mosins!
Monday, January 14, 2008
Quickly, Now...
Christmas was in Maryland this year, at Mrs.Tmj's sister's new house. Sweetest line of the morning, upon my oldest goddess' entrance to the room wearing her new azure blue cowl neck sweater:
(from Uncle Lee)"Set phasers for stunning!"
Mrs. Tmj joined Weight Watchers at her work and has so far achieved ten percent of her weight loss goal as of this past Friday. That's a significant number all by itself but when measured by the fact she did it through both the Thanksgiving and Christmas feasting seasons it's downright amazing. When our extended family gets together, we cook like Al Capone sold hooch. She got a four-sensor scale for Christmas.
The goddesses are both as tall as I am now... depending on what shoes they happen to be wearing and whether or not I'm in boots. They got - well hell, they got everything they asked for EXCEPT a car. What part of "goddess" don't you understand?
I am in pain. The thyroid meds, however, so seem to have positively effected the mental aspect of the problem. I still feel half a step back and the pain sucks. And if I get any bigger I will have to buy my next belt buckle at the commercial plate window at the DMV.
Silly high point of the year so far:
Thursday last I found a true retired sniper Mosin-Nagant 91/30 on the rack at the Big5 right here in Orem. CH stamp on the receiver, all matching numbers*, two filled holes below the wood line on the left side of the receiver where the scope mount used to be bolted, and a dark but clean bore with a 30 degree counterbore at the muzzle. The stock has some intriguing cartouches buried under the gunky red arsenal shellac.
I am going to shoot it for groups at fifty and a hundred yards this weekend. If I can get under three inches at a hundred yards (using Czech light ball ammo of eighties manufacture)I will proceed to clean it up and hang a reproduction PU mount and scope on it.
Politics? Well, there are no fit candidates on the Left side. It is entertaining in a sick and twisted way to watch the Dems feeding on each other, though.
I could vote for Giuliani, Romney, or Thompson with a mostly clear conscience. Leaning toward Thompson but really don't have a dog in the race yet.
If John McCain or Huckabee should end up being the Republican candidate or even on the ticket I will not cast a vote for president in the 2008 general election. If it even looks like that situation may arise I will execute our plan to convert the bulk of our retirement from funds to commodities or physical assets.
Our country used to be stinking rich. Rich enough to afford excesses like campus communists, Democrat majorities in Washington, and creatures as simply bad as the Clintons or as feckless as the current Republicans. No more. Not nearly; what with Dubai bailing out CitiBank and our other leading financial institutions reaping the harvest of thirty years of unsolicited credit card debt and stupid mortgage loans, we are getting ready for some bumpy times.
Oh, and then there's the eighth century boys slavering over the possibilities presented by our candidate choices... feh.
I've never been more grateful to be living in Utah. There's no state in the Union better prepared to survive a shitstorm than here... even if our current political leadership is casting dangerously nanny-ish at the moment.
* There are three distinct sets of numbers on the receiver ring. The earliest markings are so faint as to be illegible but the size of the script resembles what I've seen on barrels from the 1920's. The second set of marks are the Tula numbers dated 1943. The last set is composed of two Cyrillic letters followed by three digits and is common (stamped, not electro penciled) to all the metal parts on the rifle.
(from Uncle Lee)"Set phasers for stunning!"
Mrs. Tmj joined Weight Watchers at her work and has so far achieved ten percent of her weight loss goal as of this past Friday. That's a significant number all by itself but when measured by the fact she did it through both the Thanksgiving and Christmas feasting seasons it's downright amazing. When our extended family gets together, we cook like Al Capone sold hooch. She got a four-sensor scale for Christmas.
The goddesses are both as tall as I am now... depending on what shoes they happen to be wearing and whether or not I'm in boots. They got - well hell, they got everything they asked for EXCEPT a car. What part of "goddess" don't you understand?
I am in pain. The thyroid meds, however, so seem to have positively effected the mental aspect of the problem. I still feel half a step back and the pain sucks. And if I get any bigger I will have to buy my next belt buckle at the commercial plate window at the DMV.
Silly high point of the year so far:
Thursday last I found a true retired sniper Mosin-Nagant 91/30 on the rack at the Big5 right here in Orem. CH stamp on the receiver, all matching numbers*, two filled holes below the wood line on the left side of the receiver where the scope mount used to be bolted, and a dark but clean bore with a 30 degree counterbore at the muzzle. The stock has some intriguing cartouches buried under the gunky red arsenal shellac.
I am going to shoot it for groups at fifty and a hundred yards this weekend. If I can get under three inches at a hundred yards (using Czech light ball ammo of eighties manufacture)I will proceed to clean it up and hang a reproduction PU mount and scope on it.
Politics? Well, there are no fit candidates on the Left side. It is entertaining in a sick and twisted way to watch the Dems feeding on each other, though.
I could vote for Giuliani, Romney, or Thompson with a mostly clear conscience. Leaning toward Thompson but really don't have a dog in the race yet.
If John McCain or Huckabee should end up being the Republican candidate or even on the ticket I will not cast a vote for president in the 2008 general election. If it even looks like that situation may arise I will execute our plan to convert the bulk of our retirement from funds to commodities or physical assets.
Our country used to be stinking rich. Rich enough to afford excesses like campus communists, Democrat majorities in Washington, and creatures as simply bad as the Clintons or as feckless as the current Republicans. No more. Not nearly; what with Dubai bailing out CitiBank and our other leading financial institutions reaping the harvest of thirty years of unsolicited credit card debt and stupid mortgage loans, we are getting ready for some bumpy times.
Oh, and then there's the eighth century boys slavering over the possibilities presented by our candidate choices... feh.
I've never been more grateful to be living in Utah. There's no state in the Union better prepared to survive a shitstorm than here... even if our current political leadership is casting dangerously nanny-ish at the moment.
* There are three distinct sets of numbers on the receiver ring. The earliest markings are so faint as to be illegible but the size of the script resembles what I've seen on barrels from the 1920's. The second set of marks are the Tula numbers dated 1943. The last set is composed of two Cyrillic letters followed by three digits and is common (stamped, not electro penciled) to all the metal parts on the rifle.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
OY!
In the face of a mountain of very necessary chores... I elect instead to head up to Lee Kay and break in the latest Mosin - a 91/59.
I can Christmas shop on the way back.
Here are two recent comments in other places: Belmont Club and Protein Wisdom.
I can Christmas shop on the way back.
Here are two recent comments in other places: Belmont Club and Protein Wisdom.
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Not Sure If I Agree
with this:
"To the perverse jihadis who constitute large numbers of Muslims, the existence of the female sex is threatening, hence women are treated as little more than cattle, with fewer rights than some lower animals. Why do Western feminists keep their mouths shut? Because many are themselves leftist utopian perverts, who also cannot tolerate the existence of two sexes and secretly long to submit to the appealing sadism of the jihadis."
But the article is interesting and worth a read.
(hat tip:Castle Arrgghhh!)
"To the perverse jihadis who constitute large numbers of Muslims, the existence of the female sex is threatening, hence women are treated as little more than cattle, with fewer rights than some lower animals. Why do Western feminists keep their mouths shut? Because many are themselves leftist utopian perverts, who also cannot tolerate the existence of two sexes and secretly long to submit to the appealing sadism of the jihadis."
But the article is interesting and worth a read.
(hat tip:Castle Arrgghhh!)
What It Comes Down To.
I've been kicking around ideas for an essay on what I am looking for from the next election cycle.
What are the issues that must be addressed, in my opinion, by the next gaggle of elected office holders?
Sovereignty.
Solvency.
Security.
Sovereignty covers but is not limited to our relationship with multinational organizations (for instance, the Hudson Mafia), our various trade agreements, and immigration.
I think that education belongs under "sovereignty", too, since we need to rectify the choice of covering U.S. History as an indictment rather than a celebration.
Solvency covers un- or underfunded benefits and mandates with Social Security at the top of the list. Attention to sane tax policy with explicit acknowledgement that Keynesian tax systems are well and truly dead, and ending estate taxes.
Security... well, crap, the best I can come up with off the cuff is that we should shoot Islamist terrorists in the head when we find them and that it wouldn't be a bad thing if elected democrats stopped aiding the enemy from the floors of the house and senate.
I realize this missive is short on nuance. But the three issues stand for what I'm concerned about.
What are the issues that must be addressed, in my opinion, by the next gaggle of elected office holders?
Sovereignty.
Solvency.
Security.
Sovereignty covers but is not limited to our relationship with multinational organizations (for instance, the Hudson Mafia), our various trade agreements, and immigration.
I think that education belongs under "sovereignty", too, since we need to rectify the choice of covering U.S. History as an indictment rather than a celebration.
Solvency covers un- or underfunded benefits and mandates with Social Security at the top of the list. Attention to sane tax policy with explicit acknowledgement that Keynesian tax systems are well and truly dead, and ending estate taxes.
Security... well, crap, the best I can come up with off the cuff is that we should shoot Islamist terrorists in the head when we find them and that it wouldn't be a bad thing if elected democrats stopped aiding the enemy from the floors of the house and senate.
I realize this missive is short on nuance. But the three issues stand for what I'm concerned about.
Friday, December 07, 2007
Gift Opportunity
If you lived in central Utah, you could head over to the American Fork Big 5 and check out the two nicest Mosin Nagant 91/30's I've ever seen. Perhaps you know somebody who is of good moral character; someone manly and disgustingly free of vice or human failings Why don't you get him hooked on old Russian rifles?
The world can always use another Cruffler!
About the rifles: The first is a pre-war assembled Tula with all matching numbers, a straight, very clean stock with pronounced figuring for birch. The cartouches indicate it may have finished service in Bulgaria. The crown appears to be original and not rearsenalled.
The bore is... perfect. Not "clean with service wear" but absolutely crisp, bright, and clean.
The second rifle has just as clean a bore and it, too, appears to have its original crown. It is a 1943 manufacture featuring the round, low wall receiver and was produced at Izhvesk. The serial is six numbers, vice the more usual two Cyrillic characters followed by four numbers. The wartime production stock has two repairs - one on the left side of the receiver with the second at the forward edge of the magazine well. IMO the first repair suggests that the stock, at least, was once a part of a sniper rig. The wood is clean and well figured, and remarkable free of dings. The stock repairs are so well executed as to almost disappear under the arsenal shellac treatment.
And here's the kicker: the second rifle's bolt and trigger are about what my Remington 700BDL was like before I slicked it up. If you have spent much time around Mosins, you would know that the bolts are kind of hit and miss at best.
Hmmmm. I already own four 91/30's. As I type this we are waiting for the rain to turn to snow. The met boys say six to eight inches by tomorrow and the streets of Utah County are filled with Christmas shopping zombies.
Oy. The OTL doesn't know rifle beyond "Bang OUCH"... but she knows art when she sees it.
Wish me luck.
The world can always use another Cruffler!
About the rifles: The first is a pre-war assembled Tula with all matching numbers, a straight, very clean stock with pronounced figuring for birch. The cartouches indicate it may have finished service in Bulgaria. The crown appears to be original and not rearsenalled.
The bore is... perfect. Not "clean with service wear" but absolutely crisp, bright, and clean.
The second rifle has just as clean a bore and it, too, appears to have its original crown. It is a 1943 manufacture featuring the round, low wall receiver and was produced at Izhvesk. The serial is six numbers, vice the more usual two Cyrillic characters followed by four numbers. The wartime production stock has two repairs - one on the left side of the receiver with the second at the forward edge of the magazine well. IMO the first repair suggests that the stock, at least, was once a part of a sniper rig. The wood is clean and well figured, and remarkable free of dings. The stock repairs are so well executed as to almost disappear under the arsenal shellac treatment.
And here's the kicker: the second rifle's bolt and trigger are about what my Remington 700BDL was like before I slicked it up. If you have spent much time around Mosins, you would know that the bolts are kind of hit and miss at best.
Hmmmm. I already own four 91/30's. As I type this we are waiting for the rain to turn to snow. The met boys say six to eight inches by tomorrow and the streets of Utah County are filled with Christmas shopping zombies.
Oy. The OTL doesn't know rifle beyond "Bang OUCH"... but she knows art when she sees it.
Wish me luck.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Not Quite, Pilgrim...
Geeze. Let us start at the beginning:
"Sen. Hillary Clinton has a trust problem. Polls in Iowa and New Hampshire show that voters give her very low marks for being trustworthy and honest. The media and her opponents have built and reinforced the charge."
I never supported the Hope grifters, but I didn't become an opponent until after they proved themselves inveterate liars. They aren't just liars, they are both pathological liars. Hillary "Everest" Clinton, I did not inhale, billing records, the Sixty Minutes CYA (that was the incident that cemented Bill's commitment to Hill's presidential ambitions, IMO), and the totality of the eight year long shameless manipulation of the Executive branch of government into a codependency enabling tool for two very, very flawed people and their posse...
"It's not that voters and her opponents think Clinton's experienced and competent, and they don't like or trust her. It's that they think she's experienced and competent and that's why they don't like or trust her."
The bar is pretty low here. Being her husband's pimp and the backdoor connection for political corruption in the Arkansas governor's office are about the only two things she's ever done that actually showed initiative or commitment on her part. She failed to socialize healthcare.
The Republicans pushed through welfare reform, and sizable chunks of the Contract with America.
"Is there evidence proving that Hillary Clinton can't be trusted? To quote one of the great presidential debate responses: "No."".
Huh?
You must read the entire article. Paragraph by paragraph it is a paean to Madam Hillary, Smartest Feminist To Ever Stride The Earth. I kept on looking for "It was my sophmore summer at a small midwestern college, and I had never been so lonely..."
"What's a woman running for president to do? Pull the gender card out of the deck and hold it up high. Most people are unaware of their bias or don't want to recognize or acknowledge it. "
Hillary, you go ahead and lay that one down. I've got bad news: Edwards already has you beat on that front.
The only woman you remind most men of is their first wife.
"Sen. Hillary Clinton has a trust problem. Polls in Iowa and New Hampshire show that voters give her very low marks for being trustworthy and honest. The media and her opponents have built and reinforced the charge."
I never supported the Hope grifters, but I didn't become an opponent until after they proved themselves inveterate liars. They aren't just liars, they are both pathological liars. Hillary "Everest" Clinton, I did not inhale, billing records, the Sixty Minutes CYA (that was the incident that cemented Bill's commitment to Hill's presidential ambitions, IMO), and the totality of the eight year long shameless manipulation of the Executive branch of government into a codependency enabling tool for two very, very flawed people and their posse...
"It's not that voters and her opponents think Clinton's experienced and competent, and they don't like or trust her. It's that they think she's experienced and competent and that's why they don't like or trust her."
The bar is pretty low here. Being her husband's pimp and the backdoor connection for political corruption in the Arkansas governor's office are about the only two things she's ever done that actually showed initiative or commitment on her part. She failed to socialize healthcare.
The Republicans pushed through welfare reform, and sizable chunks of the Contract with America.
"Is there evidence proving that Hillary Clinton can't be trusted? To quote one of the great presidential debate responses: "No."".
Huh?
You must read the entire article. Paragraph by paragraph it is a paean to Madam Hillary, Smartest Feminist To Ever Stride The Earth. I kept on looking for "It was my sophmore summer at a small midwestern college, and I had never been so lonely..."
"What's a woman running for president to do? Pull the gender card out of the deck and hold it up high. Most people are unaware of their bias or don't want to recognize or acknowledge it. "
Hillary, you go ahead and lay that one down. I've got bad news: Edwards already has you beat on that front.
The only woman you remind most men of is their first wife.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
I'm Not Cynical - It's Clinical!
Early last week I had blood drawn for a scad of "geeze, that bastards getting older" tests, as a part of a general physical exam.
The doc told me at the time that he strongly doubted any issues of clinical depression but he didn't want to venture any further opinion with some labs. Turns out he was right on the depression side, and his eyeball/handson diagnosis that he declined to share was pretty good, too.
I've got a thyroid issue. Probably hereditary, but easily identified and easily treated through a one - a - day medication.
I wasn't able to pick up the scrip but the OTL did. Whenever we start a new pharm we always get feedback from our pharmacist. When she asked about this stuff, that gentleman warned her to warn me that I should brace myself for change:
Within a week, my weight should stabilize and begin to decrease.
Within a week, my sleep patterns will begin to return to something more normal than they are now.
Within a week I should notice a decrease in lethargy and perhaps improvement in mental acuity.
Wow. Each of those boons would be cool by themselves. I am praying most for release from the lethargy, with winter coming on and all.
What a fine day this is. I hope that yours is going well, too.
The doc told me at the time that he strongly doubted any issues of clinical depression but he didn't want to venture any further opinion with some labs. Turns out he was right on the depression side, and his eyeball/handson diagnosis that he declined to share was pretty good, too.
I've got a thyroid issue. Probably hereditary, but easily identified and easily treated through a one - a - day medication.
I wasn't able to pick up the scrip but the OTL did. Whenever we start a new pharm we always get feedback from our pharmacist. When she asked about this stuff, that gentleman warned her to warn me that I should brace myself for change:
Within a week, my weight should stabilize and begin to decrease.
Within a week, my sleep patterns will begin to return to something more normal than they are now.
Within a week I should notice a decrease in lethargy and perhaps improvement in mental acuity.
Wow. Each of those boons would be cool by themselves. I am praying most for release from the lethargy, with winter coming on and all.
What a fine day this is. I hope that yours is going well, too.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Snapshot
I need to fill in a few blanks opened up by the " Lassitude" post.
I didn't do much of anything that I'd planned. I never in my life had such an incidence of depression as that what began on my first big day off last Friday morning and then intensified through the weekend. I would never, ever wish the state I descended to on anybody else, ever.
I managed to get out on Saturday with the my wife and oldest daughter to the Gem Show. I did go gold panning for a few hours on Sunday, with the results of just a few colors for about six or eight pans. Didn't work on the rifles at all. Didn't go shooting. Monday I barely managed to get out of bed, and was back in it before eight p.m.. I had to leave work early Tuesday and Wednesday. Saw my Orthodontist on Thursday and was diagnosed with a return of the upper jaw bone infection that the surgery of July was supposed to have addressed. Once I had a few days of the antibiotics behind me the lethargy and ill ease cleared up (mostly) and I am now pretty much back up to normal cruising speed. I went ahead and touched base with my GP on Monday and had some bloodwork done to backstop the Ortho's diagnosis. Little chance that my funk was clinical in any classical sense. Doc thinks it was probably the infection since the depression came on like gangbusters then went away just as quick once I started the antis. The blood work package is what any relatively healthy middle aged guy would get with a physical, plus a Lyme disease panel since I work in the mountains.
Silver linings:
The One True Love and I haven't smoked in over eleven weeks. If you know a smoker who is trying to quit, by all means tell him or her about Chantix. No adverse side affects here but for a few vivid dreams. Okay, and I've picked up a wee bit of weight (that I expected to and accepted in advance) that makes me a tidal hazard in this solar system.
I didn't do much of anything that I'd planned. I never in my life had such an incidence of depression as that what began on my first big day off last Friday morning and then intensified through the weekend. I would never, ever wish the state I descended to on anybody else, ever.
I managed to get out on Saturday with the my wife and oldest daughter to the Gem Show. I did go gold panning for a few hours on Sunday, with the results of just a few colors for about six or eight pans. Didn't work on the rifles at all. Didn't go shooting. Monday I barely managed to get out of bed, and was back in it before eight p.m.. I had to leave work early Tuesday and Wednesday. Saw my Orthodontist on Thursday and was diagnosed with a return of the upper jaw bone infection that the surgery of July was supposed to have addressed. Once I had a few days of the antibiotics behind me the lethargy and ill ease cleared up (mostly) and I am now pretty much back up to normal cruising speed. I went ahead and touched base with my GP on Monday and had some bloodwork done to backstop the Ortho's diagnosis. Little chance that my funk was clinical in any classical sense. Doc thinks it was probably the infection since the depression came on like gangbusters then went away just as quick once I started the antis. The blood work package is what any relatively healthy middle aged guy would get with a physical, plus a Lyme disease panel since I work in the mountains.
Silver linings:
The One True Love and I haven't smoked in over eleven weeks. If you know a smoker who is trying to quit, by all means tell him or her about Chantix. No adverse side affects here but for a few vivid dreams. Okay, and I've picked up a wee bit of weight (that I expected to and accepted in advance) that makes me a tidal hazard in this solar system.
Happy Birthday, Chesty, Wherever You Are
November 10, 1775. A bar in Boston. A recruiter.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
The United States Marine Corps has survived courts-martialed Commandants, misguided presidents, offended functionaries, and questionable priorities...
... and still, after 232 years, continues to triumph over any adversity and all enemies .
Happy Birthday, Gents, and have a pink gin on me.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
The United States Marine Corps has survived courts-martialed Commandants, misguided presidents, offended functionaries, and questionable priorities...
... and still, after 232 years, continues to triumph over any adversity and all enemies .
Happy Birthday, Gents, and have a pink gin on me.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Lassitude of Necessity
I am taking four consecutive days off from the Great Work. The paving is done for the year, the contractor is tying up loose ends and we have taken care of the client's marketing - related monumentation and story-poling.
This is not a planned event. Even though there is a cannon party scheduled for this weekend I have no clue as to how many of the Californios will be able to make it in light of the fires near the coast. It's too cold to go gold panning up above American Fork (see pages 20-22) and I just don't have it in me to spend the time around the house.
I need to get out. Do something a little different than I have been doing... for the last three years. Mom and the Goddesses all agree on this point. So...
There are some cool things happening around the central Utah area, though:
1. The Wasatch Gem Society rock show is going on up at the State Fair Park in Salt Lake.
2. UDOT is replacing the bridge spanning I-215 East at 4500 South using some truly bleeding edge technology .
3. And there's always Lee Kay, where I intend to spend a fair chunk of tomorrow beginning at nine a.m. sharp.
I might just stop by there this afternoon on my way to the gem show. There is no plan.
Since I don't update but once every other geologic epoch, any readers who stumble in here will most certainly see this post as history. However, anyone interested in rec shooting or even informal instruction in the central Utah area is welcome to contact me at tmjutah@hotmail.com.
I need to broaden my horizons beyond work and chores. I've been smoke free for almost two months. I go to bed before ten most nights. I've uninstalled all the computer games from my pc. The swamp cooler is winterized, I'm half way through refinishing the stock on my K31 and hope it works out even half as well as did my effort with Ludmilla, the now - blond Mosin.
One thing I'm NOT going to invest in politics, either as a participant or activist, for the foreseeable future. I hope that Chris Cannon fails of reelection, and that Hatch and Bennett apologize for there failures to perform and resign their offices... none of which will probably happen.
Don't even get me started on national politics. If the Democrats weren't so damned dangerous their mendacity, incompetence and lunacy could only manifest as a sitcom, maybe tucked in between Sci-Fi Channel's other sterling Friday night offerings.
Color me Romney for now, as far as choices between the Republicans go. But don't think I'm overjoyed about any of them.
Y'all have a great weekend. There may be pictures come Tuesday, after I get back.
This is not a planned event. Even though there is a cannon party scheduled for this weekend I have no clue as to how many of the Californios will be able to make it in light of the fires near the coast. It's too cold to go gold panning up above American Fork (see pages 20-22) and I just don't have it in me to spend the time around the house.
I need to get out. Do something a little different than I have been doing... for the last three years. Mom and the Goddesses all agree on this point. So...
There are some cool things happening around the central Utah area, though:
1. The Wasatch Gem Society rock show is going on up at the State Fair Park in Salt Lake.
2. UDOT is replacing the bridge spanning I-215 East at 4500 South using some truly bleeding edge technology .
3. And there's always Lee Kay, where I intend to spend a fair chunk of tomorrow beginning at nine a.m. sharp.
I might just stop by there this afternoon on my way to the gem show. There is no plan.
Since I don't update but once every other geologic epoch, any readers who stumble in here will most certainly see this post as history. However, anyone interested in rec shooting or even informal instruction in the central Utah area is welcome to contact me at tmjutah@hotmail.com.
I need to broaden my horizons beyond work and chores. I've been smoke free for almost two months. I go to bed before ten most nights. I've uninstalled all the computer games from my pc. The swamp cooler is winterized, I'm half way through refinishing the stock on my K31 and hope it works out even half as well as did my effort with Ludmilla, the now - blond Mosin.
One thing I'm NOT going to invest in politics, either as a participant or activist, for the foreseeable future. I hope that Chris Cannon fails of reelection, and that Hatch and Bennett apologize for there failures to perform and resign their offices... none of which will probably happen.
Don't even get me started on national politics. If the Democrats weren't so damned dangerous their mendacity, incompetence and lunacy could only manifest as a sitcom, maybe tucked in between Sci-Fi Channel's other sterling Friday night offerings.
Color me Romney for now, as far as choices between the Republicans go. But don't think I'm overjoyed about any of them.
Y'all have a great weekend. There may be pictures come Tuesday, after I get back.
Friday, October 19, 2007
What's The Word...?
"Never did we think that this letter would bring money of this nature. And, for the cause, Madam President, it is extremely good. Now, everyone knows that Rush Limbaugh and I don't agree on everything in life and maybe that is kind of an understatement. But without qualification, Mark May [sic] -- the owner of the network that has Rush Limbaugh -- and Rush Limbaugh should know that this letter that they're auctioning is going to be something that raises money for a worthwhile cause."
We've given the communists a majority. That they are breathtakingly incompetent on top of the whole anti-American EVERYTHING thing stings mightily; more embarrassing than terrifying, if you get my drift.
There are three deep cover ex-KGB guys hanging out in an assisted living clubhouse down in Florida watching CSpan, and they are just shaking their heads over their tea and vodka.
"We won! Twenty years late, but WE WON!"
We've given the communists a majority. That they are breathtakingly incompetent on top of the whole anti-American EVERYTHING thing stings mightily; more embarrassing than terrifying, if you get my drift.
There are three deep cover ex-KGB guys hanging out in an assisted living clubhouse down in Florida watching CSpan, and they are just shaking their heads over their tea and vodka.
"We won! Twenty years late, but WE WON!"
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Comment
The following was posted in response to NRSC Live Blog With John Ensign over at Captain's Quarters:
I haven't missed a presidential election since 1980 but I may well sit 2008 out. Reagan twice, Bush 1, Perot (MGFM), Dole, and Bush 2 twice.
Is it stupid to do so? Probably. Beyond stupid, how about unpatriotic? Un-American? Yep, probably. But maybe I want to feel like a congressman...
Both parties have abandoned their oaths to support and defend the constitution and the security of the country.
I heard Orrin Hatch defend SCHIP today.
Sometimes you just have to let the wheels come off. I don't think the Republicans have a clue what is about to happen to them. Or what harm is about to befall the citizens they swore to represent as a result of their cowardly, yet strangely cheerful abandonment of any pretense of principle or statesmanship.
And I've got more news for the Republicans:
When the next mass-casualty attack by al Q or whatever nutjob Islamist happens, it's going to happen because our border security SUCKS because both parties are afraid of offending potential pander targets OR fundraising sources, to include foreign governments.
But it was the Republican majorities and chief executive that had the conn on 9/11 and for six years after.
When our friends or families are killed, we won't be looking to burn the neighborhood Saudi-funded mosque.
Not first, anyway.
Democrats are expected to f*ck up national security, race relations, and the economy. It's a feature, not a bug. It's just that this time the bodies aren't going to be back in a Cambodian jungle and the only power that will have the economic clout to ease an economic crisis here is RED CHINA.(They've dumped maybe six or seven mill into the political mix - that we can sorta/kinda track - over the last two decades and now they OWN our debt AND the leading socialist candidate. Now THAT'S wise investing!).
Thus far the Reid and Pelosi Show has demonstrated a level of delusion normally seen only on a DU thread about the VP's links to Satan, or maybe in the words of RNC strategists who peddle tripe like what you cited in your post. The Dems didn't win anything. The Republicans gave it away.
The worst of it all: the Republicans show no sign that they are aware in the least - none, zero, zilch, nada - that they still have a few floors left before the sidewalk.
What a sad way to start a century. The last remaining hope for Western Civ melting down in a kindergarten squabble over who can be more socialist before the eighth century barbarians or the New Communist Empires strike.
Pathetic.
I haven't missed a presidential election since 1980 but I may well sit 2008 out. Reagan twice, Bush 1, Perot (MGFM), Dole, and Bush 2 twice.
Is it stupid to do so? Probably. Beyond stupid, how about unpatriotic? Un-American? Yep, probably. But maybe I want to feel like a congressman...
Both parties have abandoned their oaths to support and defend the constitution and the security of the country.
I heard Orrin Hatch defend SCHIP today.
Sometimes you just have to let the wheels come off. I don't think the Republicans have a clue what is about to happen to them. Or what harm is about to befall the citizens they swore to represent as a result of their cowardly, yet strangely cheerful abandonment of any pretense of principle or statesmanship.
And I've got more news for the Republicans:
When the next mass-casualty attack by al Q or whatever nutjob Islamist happens, it's going to happen because our border security SUCKS because both parties are afraid of offending potential pander targets OR fundraising sources, to include foreign governments.
But it was the Republican majorities and chief executive that had the conn on 9/11 and for six years after.
When our friends or families are killed, we won't be looking to burn the neighborhood Saudi-funded mosque.
Not first, anyway.
Democrats are expected to f*ck up national security, race relations, and the economy. It's a feature, not a bug. It's just that this time the bodies aren't going to be back in a Cambodian jungle and the only power that will have the economic clout to ease an economic crisis here is RED CHINA.(They've dumped maybe six or seven mill into the political mix - that we can sorta/kinda track - over the last two decades and now they OWN our debt AND the leading socialist candidate. Now THAT'S wise investing!).
Thus far the Reid and Pelosi Show has demonstrated a level of delusion normally seen only on a DU thread about the VP's links to Satan, or maybe in the words of RNC strategists who peddle tripe like what you cited in your post. The Dems didn't win anything. The Republicans gave it away.
The worst of it all: the Republicans show no sign that they are aware in the least - none, zero, zilch, nada - that they still have a few floors left before the sidewalk.
What a sad way to start a century. The last remaining hope for Western Civ melting down in a kindergarten squabble over who can be more socialist before the eighth century barbarians or the New Communist Empires strike.
Pathetic.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Briefly
I called the Provo office of Rep. Chris Cannon on Saturday morning intending to inform him (or his staff) that they wouldn't have to call me, send me post cards or emails, or go through any of that political courting bullshit since I will not be attending the June nominating convention.
The staffer I spoke to sounded harried. Good, I thought, maybe they are getting traffic even at the local level in the aftermath of the announcement of surrender on immigration.
The gentleman on the other end of the line started to spiel about Rep. Cannon's history of "strong positions" on immigration... and I cut him off with a profanity.
Chris Cannon has been in Washington longer than the Republican's had majorities in both houses. The first words Chris Cannon ever said to me about illegal immigration were "We can't deport twelve million people".
Do we have permanent tax cuts? No.
Do we have social security reform? No.
Do we have a sane and workable energy policy? One that ensures the continued growth of our economy without a choke chain in the hands of terror - supporting nations?
Hell no.
After five years of the GWOT do we have border security better than, say, Mexico's southern border?
FUCK NO.
I tried to explain to the staffer that my number one gripe about illegal immigration has never been anything akin to racist in any way shape or form; I object to the overt acquiescence of our government in providing a safety valve/economic boon to the rulers of Mexico at the cost of creating a third-tier demographic of unrepresented persons who are liable to exploitation and who suffer injustice at every turn.
This crime of government is bought and paid for in the eyes of the left by another victim group to prey on, and on the part of the Republicans (who aren't right or left or conservative; just hack bastards any more)as markers in a fundraising game with businesses that want cheap labor.
But as I tried to gather my thoughts through the pain meds, it struck me that I was suddenly one with the peons.
I don't have anyone in Washington anymore, either... if I ever did at all. Certainly nobody there is interested in safeguarding our borders if it means pissing off ADM or La Raza.
I am too angry to put into words what these past few days have meant to me.
This bill must not pass. It must not.
This administration has been an unmitigated disaster; our government across the board is filled with timeservers and hacks, and only the congress has performed worse than the executive. We've ended up with some judges that don't appear on their face to be absolute failures... but time always fills.
The staffer I spoke to sounded harried. Good, I thought, maybe they are getting traffic even at the local level in the aftermath of the announcement of surrender on immigration.
The gentleman on the other end of the line started to spiel about Rep. Cannon's history of "strong positions" on immigration... and I cut him off with a profanity.
Chris Cannon has been in Washington longer than the Republican's had majorities in both houses. The first words Chris Cannon ever said to me about illegal immigration were "We can't deport twelve million people".
Do we have permanent tax cuts? No.
Do we have social security reform? No.
Do we have a sane and workable energy policy? One that ensures the continued growth of our economy without a choke chain in the hands of terror - supporting nations?
Hell no.
After five years of the GWOT do we have border security better than, say, Mexico's southern border?
FUCK NO.
I tried to explain to the staffer that my number one gripe about illegal immigration has never been anything akin to racist in any way shape or form; I object to the overt acquiescence of our government in providing a safety valve/economic boon to the rulers of Mexico at the cost of creating a third-tier demographic of unrepresented persons who are liable to exploitation and who suffer injustice at every turn.
This crime of government is bought and paid for in the eyes of the left by another victim group to prey on, and on the part of the Republicans (who aren't right or left or conservative; just hack bastards any more)as markers in a fundraising game with businesses that want cheap labor.
But as I tried to gather my thoughts through the pain meds, it struck me that I was suddenly one with the peons.
I don't have anyone in Washington anymore, either... if I ever did at all. Certainly nobody there is interested in safeguarding our borders if it means pissing off ADM or La Raza.
I am too angry to put into words what these past few days have meant to me.
This bill must not pass. It must not.
This administration has been an unmitigated disaster; our government across the board is filled with timeservers and hacks, and only the congress has performed worse than the executive. We've ended up with some judges that don't appear on their face to be absolute failures... but time always fills.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
No, It's NOT Safe To Swim In the Pool...
Not until they get the water in. Not for a while yet. But I've always been forward thinking and enthusiastic. And clumsy.
I was doing some check measurements to make sure my pool slide layout was going to work for the contractor...
***
I just deleted three rambling paragraphs explaining how I came to fall into the basin of the swimming pool and how my right thigh took a shot on the edge and my left shoulder broke my fall on the bottom, six feet later.
I think I'll leave out the ambulance ride. But the volunteers from the Kamas FD remembered me from February.
Nothing is broken. I'm to monitor my bathroom trips for blood in my byproducts and am off work until at least Monday. I feel like it's the morning after I've played a whole season of football in one day. LorTab is on the menu for the next few days.
Which is why I deleted the aforementioned paragraphs.
I know I screwed up. I know better than to dance on the edge and I'm too old to do the body bounce thing. I won't make the same mistake again.
Why can't Republican senators figure out the same thing?
I am going to speak with my precinct chair here in Orem 48. I am done with the Republican party.
I was doing some check measurements to make sure my pool slide layout was going to work for the contractor...
***
I just deleted three rambling paragraphs explaining how I came to fall into the basin of the swimming pool and how my right thigh took a shot on the edge and my left shoulder broke my fall on the bottom, six feet later.
I think I'll leave out the ambulance ride. But the volunteers from the Kamas FD remembered me from February.
Nothing is broken. I'm to monitor my bathroom trips for blood in my byproducts and am off work until at least Monday. I feel like it's the morning after I've played a whole season of football in one day. LorTab is on the menu for the next few days.
Which is why I deleted the aforementioned paragraphs.
I know I screwed up. I know better than to dance on the edge and I'm too old to do the body bounce thing. I won't make the same mistake again.
Why can't Republican senators figure out the same thing?
I am going to speak with my precinct chair here in Orem 48. I am done with the Republican party.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Upon Reflection
Here's some required reading:
"In short, progressives habitually turn an existential defect into a virtue, since politics is their religion, 24/7/365. To “remember” the sabbath would mean forgetting about the revolution, and that would be a political sin. They cannot separate church and state because the state is their church."
One of those "things" that people know about me - like I whistle "Girl From Epanema" under my breath when thinking through a problem, or merely waiting for the next thing to happen - is that I tend to spout "we live in wondrous times" whenever the mood strikes. Usually right after checking email on my laptop in the middle of a forest, or maybe flushing a toilet. Going to work and coming home from a job eighty miles a way, daily, is right up there, too.
Make time for your Sabbath. However you should choose. Just make the time.
(Via American Digest)
"In short, progressives habitually turn an existential defect into a virtue, since politics is their religion, 24/7/365. To “remember” the sabbath would mean forgetting about the revolution, and that would be a political sin. They cannot separate church and state because the state is their church."
One of those "things" that people know about me - like I whistle "Girl From Epanema" under my breath when thinking through a problem, or merely waiting for the next thing to happen - is that I tend to spout "we live in wondrous times" whenever the mood strikes. Usually right after checking email on my laptop in the middle of a forest, or maybe flushing a toilet. Going to work and coming home from a job eighty miles a way, daily, is right up there, too.
Make time for your Sabbath. However you should choose. Just make the time.
(Via American Digest)
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Another One For The Books
I am forty and six years old, plus a day or so.
Yesterday while I was shaving I noticed some dry brown patches up around my hairline.
My THICK, DARK, and FULL hairline, even though I keep it cut short.
I showed the wife and she kindly informed me about "liver spots" and such...
She's always there for me when I stumble or am unsure. A hayhook under the short ribs will get anybody up on their feet toot sweet.
Today the Team is heading up to Lee Kay to punch some paper.
I hope you have a fine day, too.
Monday update:
I won't be reaching for my SMLE if the midden hits the windmill. Horrible vertical string at one hundred yards and just couldn't get comfortable behind that stock at all. Yes, yes, vertical means breathing. The ammo was modern Serbian manufacture hunting rounds so I don't think it was velocity variance.
I just don't like that one as much as I had hoped.
I've developed a tremor originating in my left elbow. It only manifests when shooting offhand/weak hand with pistol. Which used to be my favorite cap to a range day.
BUT... Mrs. Tmj and the Goddesses shot until they were tired and we all had a fine time.
Yesterday while I was shaving I noticed some dry brown patches up around my hairline.
My THICK, DARK, and FULL hairline, even though I keep it cut short.
I showed the wife and she kindly informed me about "liver spots" and such...
She's always there for me when I stumble or am unsure. A hayhook under the short ribs will get anybody up on their feet toot sweet.
Today the Team is heading up to Lee Kay to punch some paper.
I hope you have a fine day, too.
Monday update:
I won't be reaching for my SMLE if the midden hits the windmill. Horrible vertical string at one hundred yards and just couldn't get comfortable behind that stock at all. Yes, yes, vertical means breathing. The ammo was modern Serbian manufacture hunting rounds so I don't think it was velocity variance.
I just don't like that one as much as I had hoped.
I've developed a tremor originating in my left elbow. It only manifests when shooting offhand/weak hand with pistol. Which used to be my favorite cap to a range day.
BUT... Mrs. Tmj and the Goddesses shot until they were tired and we all had a fine time.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Mr. Steyn
If only...
"I mean, Iran surprises us all the time. It seizes sailors, it takes out hit contracts on British subjects like Salman Rushdie, it blows up community centers in Argentina, it seizes the U.S. Embassy. Iran doesn’t threaten to do that, it just gets on with it and does it. And maybe there’s a case to be said for well, maybe we should just do something against Iran. Maybe we should just take out that refinery, and they can wake up to it, and see it smoking when it happens, and then they’ll realize we’re serious."
"I mean, Iran surprises us all the time. It seizes sailors, it takes out hit contracts on British subjects like Salman Rushdie, it blows up community centers in Argentina, it seizes the U.S. Embassy. Iran doesn’t threaten to do that, it just gets on with it and does it. And maybe there’s a case to be said for well, maybe we should just do something against Iran. Maybe we should just take out that refinery, and they can wake up to it, and see it smoking when it happens, and then they’ll realize we’re serious."
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Can You Hear It?
That rumbling in the distance...is it muffled laughter from deep within caves in Pakistan? More likely from the executive suite at what passes for a Hilton in Tehran, of course...
Nope.
We are having our last hurrah of winter but in my front yard the strawberries are surging up through the mulch and already showing blossoms.
Happy spring, everybody.
Nope.
We are having our last hurrah of winter but in my front yard the strawberries are surging up through the mulch and already showing blossoms.
Happy spring, everybody.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Whoa...
Over a month since last I put something in here. Where to start?
1. I've gone from two-plus packs of smokes to two or four cigarettes a day. And lots of chewing gum. Yes, I'll be Jabba the Hutt by summer but I'll be able to breathe.
2. The season is definitely changing. Up on the site the methane ice sheets are almost melted. We've hired two more crews which means I may finally be able to commute from Utah county to Summit County via Provo Canyon instead of having to go to West Valley City every morning.
3. In politics the Democrats are one vital step closer to realizing their most cherished dreams regarding the war for civilization. Getting what they want will kill their party, but hey, we all make choices. Nancy Pelosi has negatively exceeded even my ridiculously low expectations as speaker.
4. On the war front Iran has gone back to 1979 for another bucket of hostage stew. I don't think the Brits are going to do a thing. Maggie is dead and Tony's military probably couldn't beat Argentina this time around.
The enemy remains unnamed. We are still killing and being killed in a rehearsal for the real conflict.
Such is the way of the world.
1. I've gone from two-plus packs of smokes to two or four cigarettes a day. And lots of chewing gum. Yes, I'll be Jabba the Hutt by summer but I'll be able to breathe.
2. The season is definitely changing. Up on the site the methane ice sheets are almost melted. We've hired two more crews which means I may finally be able to commute from Utah county to Summit County via Provo Canyon instead of having to go to West Valley City every morning.
3. In politics the Democrats are one vital step closer to realizing their most cherished dreams regarding the war for civilization. Getting what they want will kill their party, but hey, we all make choices. Nancy Pelosi has negatively exceeded even my ridiculously low expectations as speaker.
4. On the war front Iran has gone back to 1979 for another bucket of hostage stew. I don't think the Brits are going to do a thing. Maggie is dead and Tony's military probably couldn't beat Argentina this time around.
The enemy remains unnamed. We are still killing and being killed in a rehearsal for the real conflict.
Such is the way of the world.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
A Letter To A Bank
To Whom It May Concern:
B of A's decision to exploit the illegal alien market is possible only because the amortized risk will redound to LEGAL American customers.
You may be pursuing a fair chance of profit; the legal risk is probably minimal. It's obvious the federal and state governments responsible for dealing with illegal immigration aren't doing their jobs and show no sign of doing so in any near future - so, why not you?
Maybe... because your actions will directly and negatively influence how many illegals come to this country? How many instant invisible serfs you will create? You pay welfare mothers to have kids... and they have more kids. You extend credit to business and business expands (hopefully). You extend credit to someone in this country illegally, and you make it easier for them to remain here. Illegally.
Illegal aliens figure in over half the felony crimes committed in California, your home state. Illegal aliens overwhelmingly use public hospital Emergency Rooms as their family practice/GP clinics, driving any chance of profit malpractice lawyers may have left right out the window.
But...you won't see those costs directly, right? Not until the wheels fall completely off and it's too expensive for anyone to do any business in your state... right?
You, gentlemen, are scoundrels and will never count myself, nor anyone I can educate as to your short-sighted avarice and cynicism but especially the undeniable downstream costs of your "pilot program" that will actually accrue to legal residents of this country.
I am interested to see what kind of second quarter you have. I have already instructed my FP to analyze my portfolio and shift funds that may be associated with your business.
A.R. Jones
Orem, Utah
B of A's decision to exploit the illegal alien market is possible only because the amortized risk will redound to LEGAL American customers.
You may be pursuing a fair chance of profit; the legal risk is probably minimal. It's obvious the federal and state governments responsible for dealing with illegal immigration aren't doing their jobs and show no sign of doing so in any near future - so, why not you?
Maybe... because your actions will directly and negatively influence how many illegals come to this country? How many instant invisible serfs you will create? You pay welfare mothers to have kids... and they have more kids. You extend credit to business and business expands (hopefully). You extend credit to someone in this country illegally, and you make it easier for them to remain here. Illegally.
Illegal aliens figure in over half the felony crimes committed in California, your home state. Illegal aliens overwhelmingly use public hospital Emergency Rooms as their family practice/GP clinics, driving any chance of profit malpractice lawyers may have left right out the window.
But...you won't see those costs directly, right? Not until the wheels fall completely off and it's too expensive for anyone to do any business in your state... right?
You, gentlemen, are scoundrels and will never count myself, nor anyone I can educate as to your short-sighted avarice and cynicism but especially the undeniable downstream costs of your "pilot program" that will actually accrue to legal residents of this country.
I am interested to see what kind of second quarter you have. I have already instructed my FP to analyze my portfolio and shift funds that may be associated with your business.
A.R. Jones
Orem, Utah
Monday, February 05, 2007
Place Holder Post
Well, I didn't deliver on the range report. Not even a picture.
Nor did I blog about the clearing and warming of the weather here, and more importantly, up at Devil's Island where I work.
I didn't even get a note in about yesterday's range visit and the, if I may say so myself, excellent results with all the different weapons: M44, M91/30 Moisins, and the freshly re-sprung (Wolff Service Pack) M1 Garand.
And another thing that didn't get talked about was the ambulance ride Last Monday. Or morphine, for that matter, either.
Things are o.k.; just another week in the life of a surveyor gone in the books.
Hope your life is less full than mine.
Nor did I blog about the clearing and warming of the weather here, and more importantly, up at Devil's Island where I work.
I didn't even get a note in about yesterday's range visit and the, if I may say so myself, excellent results with all the different weapons: M44, M91/30 Moisins, and the freshly re-sprung (Wolff Service Pack) M1 Garand.
And another thing that didn't get talked about was the ambulance ride Last Monday. Or morphine, for that matter, either.
Things are o.k.; just another week in the life of a surveyor gone in the books.
Hope your life is less full than mine.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Monday, January 29, 2007
Who?
 | I am:Hal Clement (Harry C. Stubbs)A quiet and underrated master of "hard science" fiction who, among other things, foresaw integrated circuits back in the 1940s. |
Never heard of him. And I thought I was into "hard science" fiction. More books to find...
(via Flares Into Darkness)
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Sunday Sunday
I went to the Lee Kay range today and broke in Pytor Bangovich, my recently acquired Mosin Nagant M91/30. Money WELL spent! Even with the famous Mosin trigger, my groups were pleasantly tight at both twenty five and fifty yards. I highly recommend Albanian Light Ball (brass case) cartidges. They can be had here in Orem for less than fifty dollars for a spam can of four hundred forty rounds.
The holosight I purchased at last week's gunshow for my Bushmaster turned out to be not that great a deal at all. The LED isn't bright enough to be seen in full daylight; that's why it only cost seventy five bucks, where a real tactical sight usually costs upwards of three hundred. I was able to zero it at the max brightness setting but acquiring the red dot on any background other than dead black was impossible.
I might be able to use it to pop coyotes on cloudy days. Maybe not. I'm glad I figured this out at a range and not someplace where it mattered.
The pics of the Mosin groups will be up early next week.
If you are looking for scintillating (or at least lengthy) political discourse, you might try here. Watch out, though - some of those commenters do go on and on and on...
I hope you had a great weekend.
The holosight I purchased at last week's gunshow for my Bushmaster turned out to be not that great a deal at all. The LED isn't bright enough to be seen in full daylight; that's why it only cost seventy five bucks, where a real tactical sight usually costs upwards of three hundred. I was able to zero it at the max brightness setting but acquiring the red dot on any background other than dead black was impossible.
I might be able to use it to pop coyotes on cloudy days. Maybe not. I'm glad I figured this out at a range and not someplace where it mattered.
The pics of the Mosin groups will be up early next week.
If you are looking for scintillating (or at least lengthy) political discourse, you might try here. Watch out, though - some of those commenters do go on and on and on...
I hope you had a great weekend.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Paperwork
I signed this.
I am a delegate for my Republican precinct caucus here in Orem. I haven't sent a dime to the RNC since about six months before last election, including member dues.
I've explained (at length) why not in numerous letters and email messages to my state and the national Republican powers - that - be.
They will get my money for doing things that remotely support, oh, I don't know, the party platform or maybe get serious about Illegal immigration.
Social security reform would have been nice. Of course, it would have been a lot easier to sell back in the mists of time (say, two or three years back right after the Republicans gained seats in the midterms...). Have you taken a look at the markets lately? (that's a live link and will change with time - today's DOW is another record at 12621.77). Go here to look at employment numbers. WE ARE AT FULL EMPLOYMENT nationally, with some regional outliers in areas dependent on auto manufacturing or trapped at the top of housing/real estate bubbles. Amazing economy, isn't it? Just what did the nominally Republican majority government do to make these things happen?
It began to fight back in the Long War. It cut taxes in ways that most benefited those people who make jobs happen for other people. No sweeping government babysitting programs. No "investments" in nannystatism (well, o.k., there's TSA... and the Medicare Prescription benefit, even though the latter may actually be more efficient than first thought). But all that was before America decided that Republicans weren't governing as conservatives. That's Republicans from the President all the way down.
My last five trips to the Emergency room, either as a patient or taking somebody in, I waited behind illegal immigrants. Granted, once I admitted that my chest MIGHT hurt that one time I shot right into treatment. I don't expect to see more than pennies on any of my of Social Security dollars, if that - the math is patently unworkable that the system can be maintained as it is run now.
But boy you can buy a lot of votes selling bridges to old folks, if you are in to that kind of thing. Alaska isn't the only place they build bridges to nowhere.
The Republicans in particular and conservatives in general are in the grasp of a leadership crisis.
We need new blood to bring back the old ideals - Reagan's ideals - to the leading edge of American political thought.
The GOP got lazy and got righteously thumped. The stakes are too high to merely allow the Democrats the next two years to embarass themselves; the country cannot afford a seventies flashback. Not with a nuclear Iran and still with a chance to end Islamic fascism without having to irradiate a quarter of the world's surface.
GOP - if you want me on your donor rolls, get back to being Republican. If that is too much to ask, just don't bother calling.
(via Instapundit )
I am a delegate for my Republican precinct caucus here in Orem. I haven't sent a dime to the RNC since about six months before last election, including member dues.
I've explained (at length) why not in numerous letters and email messages to my state and the national Republican powers - that - be.
They will get my money for doing things that remotely support, oh, I don't know, the party platform or maybe get serious about Illegal immigration.
Social security reform would have been nice. Of course, it would have been a lot easier to sell back in the mists of time (say, two or three years back right after the Republicans gained seats in the midterms...). Have you taken a look at the markets lately? (that's a live link and will change with time - today's DOW is another record at 12621.77). Go here to look at employment numbers. WE ARE AT FULL EMPLOYMENT nationally, with some regional outliers in areas dependent on auto manufacturing or trapped at the top of housing/real estate bubbles. Amazing economy, isn't it? Just what did the nominally Republican majority government do to make these things happen?
It began to fight back in the Long War. It cut taxes in ways that most benefited those people who make jobs happen for other people. No sweeping government babysitting programs. No "investments" in nannystatism (well, o.k., there's TSA... and the Medicare Prescription benefit, even though the latter may actually be more efficient than first thought). But all that was before America decided that Republicans weren't governing as conservatives. That's Republicans from the President all the way down.
My last five trips to the Emergency room, either as a patient or taking somebody in, I waited behind illegal immigrants. Granted, once I admitted that my chest MIGHT hurt that one time I shot right into treatment. I don't expect to see more than pennies on any of my of Social Security dollars, if that - the math is patently unworkable that the system can be maintained as it is run now.
But boy you can buy a lot of votes selling bridges to old folks, if you are in to that kind of thing. Alaska isn't the only place they build bridges to nowhere.
The Republicans in particular and conservatives in general are in the grasp of a leadership crisis.
We need new blood to bring back the old ideals - Reagan's ideals - to the leading edge of American political thought.
The GOP got lazy and got righteously thumped. The stakes are too high to merely allow the Democrats the next two years to embarass themselves; the country cannot afford a seventies flashback. Not with a nuclear Iran and still with a chance to end Islamic fascism without having to irradiate a quarter of the world's surface.
GOP - if you want me on your donor rolls, get back to being Republican. If that is too much to ask, just don't bother calling.
(via Instapundit )
Sunday, January 14, 2007
My Office
Note the absence of secretaries. Or comfy chairs.
But I don't have a desk. And not many corner offices could compete with the view.
Tomorrow's high temperature: 12F.
The above picture was snapped this last Friday around four in the afternoon. The temp then was 10F. I had just stripped off the top two layers for the drive home.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Revelation.
(Disclaimer: I just spent yet another day working in blowing wet snow, dealing with uncharacteristically troublesome subcontractors, wrestling with vexing plan conflicts, and a total commute time of five hours plus the five actually billable to the job. Then there's the looming symptoms of this year's bought of bronchitis, too...)
February will mark the beginning of my third year up at Devil's Island, the large construction project that lives at the halfway point of my daily two hundred miles. My family life has taken a hit, but the money has helped offset some of that particular stress. Of all the life changes associated with my work up there the one that really ticks me off is the fact that lately I find I can't write a coherent thought to save my life. (SEE? What kind of sentence is THAT?)
I just spent a half hour Googling back through some of my past posts and comments. There are quite a few pieces that I can't believe I actually authored. I mean that they are actually enjoyable to read. They make sense.
I can't write like that any more.
Back during the period I was at home most of the time I let slide getting chores done because I was reading, posting, or commenting. There was also some writing of story ideas plus doing scads of research.
For the last year or so I haven't done much more than rear up from the virtual table in the back of the virtual bar to shout at the virtual TV. And I haven't even had a drink since 2000.
I never intended to pursue a lot of traffic with TRB (got that wish in spades - lol). My main reason for starting my own blog was to have the ability to expand on ideas I had encountered in other places. Yes, Virginia, I do like the sound of my own voice, but what I am trying to say is that back at the beginning of TRB I was finding my urge to argue was outstripping my ability to research. I ended up arguing the same points ad infinitum across multiple forums without the benefit of learning anything new. Or maybe I wanted to start debates instead of participating in them. Could be a little bit of both I guess.
Anyway, back to basics. Here's some "givens" that I operate on:
1. Without my family (the Mrs and the Goddesses. And the cats.) I am less than nothing.
2. I am personally committed to the pursuit of the ideals upon which the American style of representative democracy is based upon.
3. I base my opinions on a lifetime spent reading history, leavened with military service, and influenced by working in a trade that demands tangible results for capital expenditure.
4. I thought that the fall of the Wall ended the period of "Interesting Times" for my generation, until about half way through the Clinton years.
5. I believe that Lincoln was right when he declared that it would never be a foreign enemy that would threaten our liberty, but it would instead be the failure of our own citizenry to preserve it. I believe that Lincoln would instantly recognise our contemporary domestic political situation as evidence of his declaration.
*Sigh*
It sure would be nice to write something (again) based upon those givens that would be worth someone else's time to read...
In the coming year I will endeavor to rise to that goal.
Criminy. That is all.
February will mark the beginning of my third year up at Devil's Island, the large construction project that lives at the halfway point of my daily two hundred miles. My family life has taken a hit, but the money has helped offset some of that particular stress. Of all the life changes associated with my work up there the one that really ticks me off is the fact that lately I find I can't write a coherent thought to save my life. (SEE? What kind of sentence is THAT?)
I just spent a half hour Googling back through some of my past posts and comments. There are quite a few pieces that I can't believe I actually authored. I mean that they are actually enjoyable to read. They make sense.
I can't write like that any more.
Back during the period I was at home most of the time I let slide getting chores done because I was reading, posting, or commenting. There was also some writing of story ideas plus doing scads of research.
For the last year or so I haven't done much more than rear up from the virtual table in the back of the virtual bar to shout at the virtual TV. And I haven't even had a drink since 2000.
I never intended to pursue a lot of traffic with TRB (got that wish in spades - lol). My main reason for starting my own blog was to have the ability to expand on ideas I had encountered in other places. Yes, Virginia, I do like the sound of my own voice, but what I am trying to say is that back at the beginning of TRB I was finding my urge to argue was outstripping my ability to research. I ended up arguing the same points ad infinitum across multiple forums without the benefit of learning anything new. Or maybe I wanted to start debates instead of participating in them. Could be a little bit of both I guess.
Anyway, back to basics. Here's some "givens" that I operate on:
1. Without my family (the Mrs and the Goddesses. And the cats.) I am less than nothing.
2. I am personally committed to the pursuit of the ideals upon which the American style of representative democracy is based upon.
3. I base my opinions on a lifetime spent reading history, leavened with military service, and influenced by working in a trade that demands tangible results for capital expenditure.
4. I thought that the fall of the Wall ended the period of "Interesting Times" for my generation, until about half way through the Clinton years.
5. I believe that Lincoln was right when he declared that it would never be a foreign enemy that would threaten our liberty, but it would instead be the failure of our own citizenry to preserve it. I believe that Lincoln would instantly recognise our contemporary domestic political situation as evidence of his declaration.
*Sigh*
It sure would be nice to write something (again) based upon those givens that would be worth someone else's time to read...
In the coming year I will endeavor to rise to that goal.
Criminy. That is all.
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Jumble
Christmas in Ohio was wonderful. Mild weather, fantastic relatives, and at least two episodes of laugh - so - hard - we - got - out - the - chair - protectors.
Air travel out and back was seamless. American Airlines's flight attendants couldn't make it as comedians like most of Southwest's... but the legroom made up for the missing comedy.
I found Mrs. TmjUtah the Perfect Gift. Not diamonds, but Portuguese flannel jammies and a matching robe. In return, she put one right through the uprights: after a year of shaking her head at my growing addiction to military surplus rifles she dropped a Big 5 gift card in my stocking, which has already morphed into a M91/30 Mosin Nagant rifle. It has matching receiver, barrel, bottom metal, and buttplate numbers... and the reciever itself is a finely executed hexagonal version that was machined for the Tsar in 1896. At least that's what the stamp beneath the tang says.
Lessee...Saddam got the short sharp drop. Good.
Gerald Ford passed into history. I found it hard to watch the media coverage after the Woodward interview was made public; instantly the late president was suddenly up on a pedestal with FDR or Jesus. ( That would be the unitarian, non-religious iconoclastic Jesus, not to be confused with any Christianist historical figure of note.) All the time I was going through adolescence the media treated Ford like an idiot in need of training wheels. At the same time they failed to mention that we were reneging on our treaty commitments to those pesky South Vietnamese folks. Priorities.
Politics in general: I watched a few minutes of coverage on the Democrats' ascension to power. Ascension to power, not responsibility. Can't be having anything like that.
I can take a joke as well as the next guy... but Pelosi? Reid? It must be popcorn and champagne time in select caves in the Tribal Areas, and in the nicer salons in Tehran.
Well, we've got two years to figure out what to do. Maybe the Reps will clean a little house and get us some statesmen. At least the right still has a bench to go to. I figure Bush will just warm up the veto pen and sign a lot of hunting licenses.
As far as work goes during the Worst Economy Since Haliburton Killed The Last Dodo , I missed Friday due to something akin to the flu. Same place, same stuff, just a wee bit cool the next slice of forever. Still feel like crap but I'll be back out there Monday.
I hope you have a happy and prosperous 2007.
Air travel out and back was seamless. American Airlines's flight attendants couldn't make it as comedians like most of Southwest's... but the legroom made up for the missing comedy.
I found Mrs. TmjUtah the Perfect Gift. Not diamonds, but Portuguese flannel jammies and a matching robe. In return, she put one right through the uprights: after a year of shaking her head at my growing addiction to military surplus rifles she dropped a Big 5 gift card in my stocking, which has already morphed into a M91/30 Mosin Nagant rifle. It has matching receiver, barrel, bottom metal, and buttplate numbers... and the reciever itself is a finely executed hexagonal version that was machined for the Tsar in 1896. At least that's what the stamp beneath the tang says.
Lessee...Saddam got the short sharp drop. Good.
Gerald Ford passed into history. I found it hard to watch the media coverage after the Woodward interview was made public; instantly the late president was suddenly up on a pedestal with FDR or Jesus. ( That would be the unitarian, non-religious iconoclastic Jesus, not to be confused with any Christianist historical figure of note.) All the time I was going through adolescence the media treated Ford like an idiot in need of training wheels. At the same time they failed to mention that we were reneging on our treaty commitments to those pesky South Vietnamese folks. Priorities.
Politics in general: I watched a few minutes of coverage on the Democrats' ascension to power. Ascension to power, not responsibility. Can't be having anything like that.
I can take a joke as well as the next guy... but Pelosi? Reid? It must be popcorn and champagne time in select caves in the Tribal Areas, and in the nicer salons in Tehran.
Well, we've got two years to figure out what to do. Maybe the Reps will clean a little house and get us some statesmen. At least the right still has a bench to go to. I figure Bush will just warm up the veto pen and sign a lot of hunting licenses.
As far as work goes during the Worst Economy Since Haliburton Killed The Last Dodo , I missed Friday due to something akin to the flu. Same place, same stuff, just a wee bit cool the next slice of forever. Still feel like crap but I'll be back out there Monday.
I hope you have a happy and prosperous 2007.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Mount Up!
The Team rides!
Well, flies, actually. We leave tomorrow at Omigoodness thirty from Salt Lake International bound for Ohio and Mrs. Tmj's sister's house.
We'll be on the road until the thirtieth.
Here's wishing you and yours a joyous Christmas and happy, successful New Year.
And to all our servicemen and women, wherever you are, thank you and God bless you for the sacrifice you are making and the duty you are so admirably executing.
Well, flies, actually. We leave tomorrow at Omigoodness thirty from Salt Lake International bound for Ohio and Mrs. Tmj's sister's house.
We'll be on the road until the thirtieth.
Here's wishing you and yours a joyous Christmas and happy, successful New Year.
And to all our servicemen and women, wherever you are, thank you and God bless you for the sacrifice you are making and the duty you are so admirably executing.
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