A Brief History of TIme

In the early days, it was easy.  God gave us daylight and darkness, but after that, pretty much left us to our own devices.  That became a problem, because men, left to their own devices, will screw it up every time.  Time, yeah, time.  We want to measure it.  So, we broke the day into 24 pieces, called then hours, and the hours into 60 pieces, called them minutes, and expected things to happen.

Things did happen, but then we invented sundials, and later, clocks, and expected everyone to get on the same technology.  Technology, yeah.  But, what time is it?  Everyone in a certain town would agree, when the sun was at it's highest, we called Noon.  But, 20 miles west, the sun got to its highest point some minutes later, and they called that noon.  Across the continent, every little town had its own time standard.  I remember a steam whistle in most towns that would sound at various time, most regularly, at 8:00, noon, and 5:00.  Everyone would regulate their individual clocks based on that whistle, an inefficient manner at best.

But, come the trains, which must run on time, and how will that happen if we can't even decide what time it is?  So, we invent something called Standard Time, which we didn't get to till the 1800s, specifically so that the trains could run on schedule.  Now, we're divided geographically into Standard Time Zones,

Our lives are adjusted to the merciless tick, tick, tick of the clock, but nowadays clocks don't tick. No, today, our time is regulated by the oscillation of cesium, a radioactive  atom, and we call the timepiece, the Atomic Clock.  This clock is run at the US Naval Observatory in Washington DC and sets the standard for time all over the US.

Then, we come to another construct called Daylight Saving Time, which was originally intended to help farmers,  It will affect most of us tomorrow morning at 2:00 a.m.  By most of us, I mean that if you live in Arizona, you're immune from this virus which hasn't infected your state. The rest of us, however, suffer through it twice a year, artificially measuring what God intended should be measured by the rising and setting of the sun.





I, for one, wish that legislatures should stop toying with what God hath wroght, and tell me, once and for all how to set my watch (which I still wear).  This changing time twice a year is silly and wasteful.

Herrett Stocks

A post by my boy, and I'm reminded of some of the old gunstock makers from my youth.  EC Bishop, Reinhart Fajen, Herrett stocks.

When Dad needed a gunstock for his shotgun, he ordered a blank from Fajen.  Lots of hours spent with a rasp, sandpaper and little files, getting the stock like he wanted it. Time was of no matter, as long as the stock was ready for the opening day, and he started the project in June, well before the season began.  What mattered was the finished project, the pride of workmanship and the proper fitting of wood to metal, and the gun to his eye.

A couple of years ago, I picked up a revolver and it had an old set of Herrett grips. Nicely done, checkered, really nice stocks from a bygone age, and I admired them, but they simply didn't fit my hand, so they went into the spares locker for a future project.  On Thursday my son was over and asked about them, for the Model 36 I gifted him.  We dug them out.

He thought he'd try them for a while and see how he liked them, revolver grips being very personal items.  What doesn't work for me might work for him.  So, he installed the grips and I told him about Bishop, and Fajen, and Herrett, old names in stock-making that had long gone the way of other names from my youth.

Googling around this morning, I am surprised to learn that Herrett is still in business, still making stocks in Idaho.  I had consigned him to the fond memories of youth, and he's still whittling stocks for handguns.  So, I stand corrected.  Lots of pretty stocks.

I may have to order a set for my Mark II.  A set of nice, checkered rosewood grips would look good in that little pstol.

Lucky Gunner Tests

I wasn't aware until recently, but Locky Gunner has been testing handgun ammo, specifically defensive handgun ammo.  I don't know how I missed it, but the page is here.  They started with .380, 9mm, .40SW and .45 ACP.  I'll be interested to see when they look at .38 Special and .357 mgnum.

They've got to start somewhere I suppose, and those are very popular calibers.  I enjoyed reading the methodology of the testing, so that they could compare apples and apples.  It's a very interesting read, and of course, the results are illuminating as well.

Kudos to Lucky Gunner for putting out good research.

Heritage Arms .22LR

If you're like me, playing with a .22 is just a lot of fun, and I've had several in that caliber over the years, whether rifle or handgun.  The .22 LR is probably the most sought-out, purchased, and fired caliber in the US.  No one's battery is complete without a .22, and I own several.

But, I didn't have a single-action revolver.  Until yesterday.  My son brought me a combined birthday /Christmas present, a new-in-the-box Heritage Arms .22 Long Rifle, single-action revolver.

It's a dandy little revolver, much smaller than my .45 revolvers, suitably scaled for the cartridge.  It has one interesting feature that I've never seen on a single action revolver, a thumb safety.

There's a little lever on the left recoil shield that actuates a hammer block.  Up for safe, down for fire.  With the safety on, it's almost not noticeable, but when you thumb the lever down, the little red dot tells you that the handgun is ready to fire.

Otherwise, it uperates like a Colt-pattern revolver, with four clicks and the gun must be in half-cock to rotate the cylinder.  It is totally familiar to anyone who uses a Colt-pattern revolver.  As for myself, I'll probably continue to use the old Load one, Skip one, Load four routine and not worry about the safety, but it's okay that it is there.

It's a pleasing addition to the battery, and I'm sure that one day net week, I'll get by the range to try it out.

Thanks, son.  I'm sure it will be used.

Motorola Droid Maxx

In August, three months ago, Milady and I decided to get new smartphones.  We went with the Motorola Droid Maxx, which advertised great battery life.  And, for a couple of months, everything was wonderful.  Except that occasionally, we'd open our Contacts folder and find that the system had randomly deleted about half our contacts.  Our frequently used contacts.

Aggravating, frustrating, we went to the Verizon store and they told us that it's not a known issue.  That amazes me, because I told the girl at the counter about the issue and now she knows about it.

But, that issue now seems to be solved.  However, there's another issue.  Battery life sucks.  When we got the phones, you could go two or three days between charges, but now battery life is measured in hours.  Less than eight of them.  I noticed it first, Tuesday a week ago (October 20th).  I noticed that the phone in my shirt pocket was warm.  Warm to the touch.  Like the old hand-warmer I'd use to keep my hands warm while hunting as a kid.  Very warm.

And, I've cast about online for a solution, but with not much luck.  This is probably one of those things that's not a known issue.  So, tomorrow I'm going back to the Verizon store and ask them if they've heard about the issue.

Washington Post - ABC Poll

I saw this poll yesterday and got busy with other things.  Jazz Shaw picked it up over at Hot Air, and highlighted the poll.  It seems that Americans believe by an overwhelming margin that mental illness plays a big part in mass shootings.  The graphic tells the tale.

The history of mental health treatment in the US is an interesting one.    As this Mother Jones article relates, for most of our history, we institutionalized people with mental health problems,  In the late 1950s and the 1960s medical research made dramatic strides across all disciplines of medical care and we began to look at mental illness in a new light.  During the late '70s the focus changed to a more community-oriented model of treating mental illness, and in the early '80s, federal funding started decreasing for the large mental health hospitals.

Locally, we had a hospital in Pineville, Central State Hospital, that was a huge mental health facility.  It was a huge, sprawling campus with several residential halls, specialty clinics, doctors and nurses galore, and all the ancillary staff that was necessary to run such a large institution.  But, with the focus on community mental health, it started shrinking, got smaller, and smaller, and smaller, till today it's closed.  There are a few tenants leasing space at the old Central, but the hospital itself is gone.

Medical science has made huge strides in the past 50 years, but we still have the common cold, and we still have mental illness.  As a corrections professional in the decades from 1980-2002, I saw the results of de-institutionalization  Many of the most violent were in our prisons.  I can't pretend to tell you want percentage of our prison population is mentally ill, but my experience tells me that a measurable population is.

Often, as a new offender was being processed, the word would go out around the staff "Watch him, he's crazy", a simple warning that even in our vigilance, we needed to pay extra attention to a particular person. With the decline in large, institutional mental health hospitals, the move toward community-based mental health treatment, and the normal increase in our population as a nation, the simple truth is that lots of mental health issues slip through the cracks and some of the more extreme eamples wind up homeless on our streets, or in our prisons.  That's simply a fact.

We don't want to label people, and I understand why medical professionals are reluctant to do so, but mental illness is a problem inn this country.  The Post-ABC poll showed us that lots of people realize it.  Mass shootings is one indicator of this problem, and instead of blaming guns, maybe we should be honest in identifying those people who need help and get them that help before they go off the rails.

I'm just saying.

Cop Humor

Or, "offender humor".  However you want to look at it.

Hat Tip to my old Lieutenant, who taught me how to do a line-up.

Aw, Hell

Over at Knuckledraggin', Wirecutter posts a picture of a Ruger Blackhawk gone wrong.

Obviously, something went very wrong.  It looks to me like the top round detonated, carrying away part of the cylinder, destroying the top strap, and breaking through the two chambers on either side.  That ruptured case you see seems to be from the destruction of the top chamber,   It doesn't appear to have detonated, simply ruptured in the carnage.

The bullet seems to be the wide, flat-nose that heavy bullet reloaders like to use.  I have some examples of those myself.  Someone must have gotten his powders switched.  Maybe a full case of Bullseye instead of 2400?  I simply can't imagine.

I'd love to know the story behind that pic, but Wirecutter gives no clue.  Just a picture of unbridled disaster.

Tropical Storm Patricia

The hurricane that slammed into Mexico on Friday night has arrived over Louisiana, dumping copious amounts of rain.  No wind to speak of, but rain by the bucket-full.

I've seen a lot of hurricanes and tropical storms come ashore and that's what it looks like.  You can even see the bands and the circulation.  It's supposed to hang around till tomorrow, then move off to the northeast.

The only tropical storm to make landfall in Louisiana this year, and it originated in the Pacific Ocean.  That's one for the record books.  Here at PawPaw's House, the gumbo is eaten, the dishes are washed and ut away, the kids are gone, and Milady and I are enjoying a cocktail.  I suspect that by this time tomorrow, the burn ban will have been lifted.

First Gumbo

Rainy, rainy this morning, and I decided that it was time for the first gumbo of the season.  Gumbo is a cold-weather food, a Cajun stew, and even if it's not quite cold enough yet, it's time.

When making gumbo, I always start with my grandmother's advice.  I can still hear her saying it, "First, make a roux.".  You can go to the link for the whole story.  Roux-making is a staple of Cajun cooking, and everyone has their own peculiar way of making roux.  I prefer a peanut-butter roux, but some make it almost black.  (I'm referring to the color of the roux.  I don't make it with peanut butter).

The roux is made and mixed with chicken stock.  It's that brown gravy that you can barely see i the large dutch oven.I've already added the deboned chicken.  On the front right burner, I have onions, bell pepper, and celery saute-ing We call that the Trinity of Cajun cooking.  No one cooks anything without onions, bell pepper, and celery.  Some folks just refer to it as "the vegetables".  You've got to have vegetables in your gumbo.   In just a minute, I'll add the vegetables to the dutch oven, and cook some sausage.

Oh, yeah, the link sausage is cooking nicely.  I'll let it cook for a bit more, then add it to the mix.  In that big dutch oven, I've got roux, chicken, chicken stock, vegetable, and the sausage is cooking.  But, as I look at that big pot, I don't believe I have room to add the sausage.  That's often a problem with gumbo.  As you assemble it, you run out of pot space.  So, we do what we're lucky enough to be able to do.

We get out the big crock pot.  If necessary, we'd get out two big crock pots.  Now that the gumbo is assembled, all that's left is the simmering, and a crock pot does that perfectly.  If I had been cooking over a campfire, I'd have made adjustments so as to not run out of pot-space.

I'll let that simmer for a couple of hours, and closer to noon, I'll make a pot of rice.

Election Returns

A screen shot, taken from  of the Book of Face,   Interesting statistics there, if you look beyond the totals.  There are a lot of folks who choose not to vote, after having registered to do so.

Three races highlighted there.  A state representative race where 33.7% of those eligible pulled a lever, a parishwide sheriff's race, where 33.4% of the folks decided the race, and a smaller, police jury race where 25.8% of the eligible voters decided the race.

Simple match tells the tale.  Rapides Parish has roughly 92,500 registered voters and only 27,712 managed to make it to the polls, either through absentee voting, early voting, or pulling the lever at  the polls on voting day.

Representative democracy isa messy business, and while I applaud the results of these particular races (I work for Sheriff Hilton, support him, and personally like him) the sad simple truth is that there are a lot of folks who just don't give a damn who represents them, as evidenced by the fact that they simply don't show up to be counted.  There may be good reasons for someone not to vote, individual reasons that are totally beyond their control, but the vast majority of the folks who are uncounted are simply apathetic when it comes to government, local, statewide, or national.

For those who voted, thank you.  For those who didn't, shame on you.

Sunday Morning Dawg

It's rainy this weekend, and the dog gets out only when it slacks off.  He's not much on weather.

We did catch one opportunity to get outside and he took the most of it.  He's rather be indoors this morning, though.

Left Side, or Right?

I'm in a quandary, and I'm not sure which way I should go.  It's a fairly simple question for most folks, they don't even have to consider it, but I do. I talked about this in July, and got some good advise.  But I'm still considering.

When I was a stripling, pestering my Dad to go hunting, he did a simple test, to ascertain my eye dominance.  I'm right-eye dominant.  I have been all my life.  So, he taught me to shoot a shotgun from my right side.  Eye dominance is very important in shotgun shooting.

I'm normally left-handed.  I swing a hammer with my left hand, I swing a baseball bat from my left side, I pitch left-handed. If you ask me, I'll tell you I'm left-handed.  But when I learned to shot a rifle in the Army, I went right-handed, because it was easier to do so.  Likewise the handgun, I've always carried my duty gun on my right side.

That confounded my Defensive Training instructors, because we normally carry our firearm on the strong-side and our less-lethal on our weak side.  But, if I come out with my baton, you're getting the full gorilla, the go-for-the-fence swing.  One of my DT instructors told me, after a particularly brutal left-side arm-bar takedown, "You don't have a weak side."

But, I continue to wear my duty gun on the right side.  I'm used to it, and the draw is unconscious.  It works well for me from long years of practice, right-eye dominance, and hundreds of thousands of draws.  I'm not swapping my LEO draw.

But, I come to this fast draw game, and when I talked about this in July, some advised me to wait until after the next match.  I did that, drawing from my right side for the main match.  But, during a fun match where we carried and shot two guns, one of my hand-judges told me that I was faster from my left side.  The quandary returned.

In Cowboy Fast Draw, we don't use the sights.  It's all draw and fire.  So, for the past month or so, I've been concentrating on my left side.  Accuracy is just as good as from the right side, and speed is a tiny bit quicker.  This is a game of milliseconds, and a tiny bit quicker is measurable.

I've got some good left-side holsters, and I believe I'll start practicing from the left side, and go southpaw at the next match.  We'll see what happens.  This might be a permanent move.

Rain, Blessed Rain

Be careful what you pray for, because you might get it.

We've been praying for rain.  Our last significant rainfall event was in July, with August, September, and so far October, far below averages.  It looks like we're on track to get a little rain this weekend, with the mosture from Hurricane Patricia coming across Mexico and the normal southerly flow from the Gulf of Mexico bringing moisture in.  We're on track for an event.  Here's a graphic from Accuweather.

I've never seen a graphic that inclues the phrase "drought erased", but there it is.  A quick look at the radar map shows us what we'll be dealing with today.

It looks like southeast Texas and all of Louisiana is in for a rainfall event this weekend.  I know that I'm high and dry, but folks in low-lying areas should be aware of what's coming.  My cousin is holding an outdoor event in southeast Texas this morning.  I hope he's looked at the weather map.

Buckshot

Over at Tam's place, she is reviewing buckshot, and her observations are pretty much the same as mine.  So, I'll steal liberally from her.

Federal's 8-pellet FliteControl 00B (LE133 00) borders on voodoo. Bear in mind that with this stuff you are essentially firing a single giant Glaser Safety Slug at indoor ranges. You have to aim the shotgun the same way and with the same care you'd use with a carbine or pistol, because no lucky fliers are going to turn a miss into a marginal hit. (But whatever gets hit with that pattern is going to wish it hadn't been.)

That's been my experience with that load.  I've personally used Federal's buckshot load in my Remington 870 (my cruiser shotgun) and at 25 yards, it's entirely possible that all the buckshot will fall within the 8-ring of a standard B-25 target.  The Federal Flite-Control load is devastating, and it's what is loaded in my shotgun at all times.

Take it from Tam, or take it from PawPaw, it's the ammo you want loaded in your shotgun for serious work, but you'd better aim the shotgun.

The Last Global Warming Chart You'll Ever Need

Courtesy of Steven Hayward, over at Powerline, we look today at global warming, as defined by the alarmists, and we find a standard chart.  We've seen plenty of these over the past decade and they normally look something like this.

OMG!  We're all going to die.  Look how fast temperatures are increasing.  But, look at that vertical scale, it's a tiny range, representing about 3 degrees Fahrenheit.  We would probably be better informed if we looked at the same data, using the normal range of temperatures we can expect to experience worldwide.  So, lets do that in the second chart.

That doesn't look nearly as threatening, does it?  I'm really amazed at how stable the average temps have been since 1880.  We can probably attribute that tiny temperature increase to better record-keeping.  It's certainly not indicative of climate change.  In fact, it's not worth worrying about at all.

It's the same data, represented differently.  Personally, I think that the second chart more accurately represents trends, which is to say that there is no trend at ll.

So, why are we having this discussion?

Your .38

Milady and I were watching Pawn Stars the other night and a customer comes in and asks Rick to look at a handgun.  It's a Whitney Navy revolver, a .36 caliber, but the customer insists that it's a .38.

I mention that it's probably a .36, that all .38s are actually .36 caliber, The bore diameter is .357 of an inch.

Milady turns to me "My .38 is actually a .36?"

"Yep". I replied.

"How about my .32?" she continues.

"Sorry," says I.  "It's a .31. It shoots a .313 bullet."

"Okay", she's getting exasperated.  "How about your .44?"

"Wrong again", says I.  "It's actually smaller than .43."

"Well, okay" says she.  "How about my .45s?"

"Bingo," I tell her. "Those are actually .45 caliber."

"You're messing with my pea-brain".  She drains her wine glass and stands up.  "I'm going to bed."

I sat for a while, savoring my bourbon, contemplating the fact that what we call our firearms is seldom accurate.

Safety First, Safety First, Safety First

Some folks might wonder why I've reserved my .45 Colt handguns to only firing wax-bullet ammunition.  It's because I don't want a mix-up like they had in the streets of Tombstone, AZ recently.

An actor staging a historical gunfight in the Old West town of Tombstone was shot with a live round during a show that was supposed to use blanks, leading officials to call for the re-enactments popular with tourists to be put on hold.

The shooting happened Sunday afternoon as two performers from the Tombstone Vigilante group re-enacted a gunfight in the 19th century mining town made famous by Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and the O.K. Corral. A bystander also was hurt but declined medical treatment. 

One of the actor's guns fired live rounds, hitting a fellow member of the group, the Tombstone Marshal's Office said. Ken Curtis fell to the ground and was flown to a hospital in Tucson, where he underwent surgery to remove the bullet.

I've been in scenarios in law-enforcement training where we were using simulated ammunition, and we'd check each other for live rounds.  Of course, on a wax-bullet range, live ammunition is strictly forbidden.  I've gone one step further.  All my wax bullet guns are .45 Long Colt, and I don't allow any standard ammunition of that caliber anywhere on my property.

Of ourse, I have plenty of standard ammunition in several calibers for handguns, from .22LR to .44 magnum and several calibers in between.  But, the .45 Long Colt is restricted solely to wax bullet ammo.  Even so, we strictly push gun-handling safety to our guests and grandkids.  IIf we teach them to be careful with the wax bullet ammo, they'll be careful with the standard ammo.  Safe gun-handling becomes a habit that stays with you all your life.

It's too easy to be safe, and there's no time limit on regret or grief if someone gets hurt.

Sunday Family Shoot

Y'all know my affection for Cowboy Fast Draw in general, and firearm sports of all kinds.  We're able to shoot wax bullets in the back yard, and if the grandkids want to shoot in after lunch on Sunday, we conduct what I call the Sunday Family Shoot.

There are no rules, per se, except common gun-handling rules, and we have a fun, practice shoot.

Here's a clip of the action yesterday afternoon.  Grandson Ethan is shooting on the line with his grandmother, and they're both doing just fine.



There's othing like shooting with grandkids in the back yard, and I'm sure that the gandkids will remember in years after I'm gone that Grandma strapped on a holster and hot with then when they were little boys.

It's one way to make memories.

Sunday Morning

Temps in the low 50s this morning, under absolutely brilliant sunshine.  It made the third cup of coffee particularly enjoyable. Of course, cool mornings made my thoughts turn to biscuits, so I got out the big bowl and stirred up another batch of cats-head biscuits.  I was a little short on flour this morning, so I only got 10 biscuits out of the batch.  It'll be okay though.

The dog and I went looking for the paper.  The cool air has put a spring back in his step and he was moving lively this morning, casting the breeze for scents.

It's a good day to be a dog, and a PawPaw.  Milady is cooking up a big pot of chili for lunch, and we expect that the brood will be over here in a couple of hours.

My Old Mercury

Couple of years ago, I bought this Mercury Grand Marquis from a family member who could no longer use it.  It's an '01, and I love driving the darned thing.  Low mileage, comfortable good gas mileage, good power, and all the gee-gaws works.

Unfortunately, it's been exhibiting a weird problem lately.  It won't hold the road, nor will it hold a line in a curve.  It feels like it's "wandering", requiring constant steering inputs to stay in the lane.  It's quite disconcerting.  Fortunately, my second son is an ace auto mechanic.  I had parked the car over the summer, using the pickup truck or several months to complete summer projects.  Now, though, both my son and I have finished several of our individual projects, and it's time to see what's wrong with the front end of that Mercury.

This morning I put the car on jack stands.  Tomorrow when he comes or lunch, we'll diagnose it.  It seems to both he an I hat something is worn under there and may need to be replaced.  I've done this job in the past on other vehicles, and generally for a morning wrenching and relatively little money, it's possible to get good results.

Hopefully, in another couple of weeks, I can put the Merc back on the road.  I really do like that old car.  With proper maintenance, there's no reason that I can't drive it for another ten years.  I like driving a car that doesn't have a car note.

Union Dues

I've often been confused about union dues.  I understand why trade unions came about, and I have been a member of a union at times past, but it seems to me that they've outlived their usefulness, especially as they pertain to government workers.  Many government workers don't have the right to strike, and without that right, a union loses it's clout.

So, we come to the time where unions, particularly government sector unions participate in electoral politics, and I'm not particularly upset about that.  Unions these days are simply organizations that advocate for a certain class of people, and there are lots of organizations that advocate for people.  I myself am a member of some of those clubs.  I'm a member of the NRA, which certainly advocates for gun-owners, but they certainly can't have their dues deducted from my paycheck.

No, I have to send those dues in myself.  It takes effort, and if I forget to send the dues, the organization loses revenue.  Likewise the other organizations I support.  If I don't send in the dues, they don't get the revenue.

I see that Pennsylvania has a bill pending in the legislature that would prevent public-sector unions from automatically deducting union dues from the worker's paycheck.  That seems perfectly reasonable to me.  Just as the NRA can't automatically deduct dues from my paycheck, neither should he unions, which lately have become simply  Political Action Committees.  If a member wants to donate, certainly they should be able to do so, but the government at any level shouldn't automatically deduct dues for the benefit of a union.

I'll have to take this up with my elected officials.

Winter Weather

The NOAA tells us to expect a wet winter this year, complements of a strong El-Nino system in the Pacific Ocean.

That's good news, generally, as we've been in a drought for the last couple of months.  The rain can commence at any time, as far as I'm concerned.

Dutch Ovens

With cooler temps and favorable weather, I admit that I'm jonesing to get out my Dutch Oven.  A Dutch Oven is a staple of outdoor cooking.  It's cast iron cookware, perfect for the campfire.  There are two types of Dutch Ovens.  The first type is designed for open fire cooking.  It has legs and the lid has a raised ring around the outside to hold coals, either charcoal briquettes or hardwood coals out of the bottom of the campfire.

The lid of this type Dutch Oven is smooth on the inside.  By simply flipping it over, it becomes a griddle, great for frying eggs or cooking pancakes.

The second type Dutch Oven is mainly for inside use, or for use on an outdoor burner.  I fry fish and other goodies in this type, and indeed, my outdoor Dutch Oven can fry as well.

But, with the cool emps, I'm thinking about the Dutch Oven pictured above.  With a tripod, it can be suspended over a fire for making hearty stews, beans, or other belly-filling meals.  Or, by placing coals under the stove and in the lid, it becomes a camp oven, for biscuits rolls,or breads.

It's been a long time since I hung a Dutch Oven, but I'm feeling the urge.

Fisking David Brooks

The New York Times conservative columnist David Brooks, writes a column bemoaning the rise of conservatives in the Republican party.  (Yeah, I know, putting the word "conservative" in conjunction with The New York Times is an oxymoron, but work with me here.)  Coming from the New York Times, it's unremarkable, but it deserves wider condemnation that it will find if limited to regular readers of The Grey Lady.  The entire piece is memorable in its error, but let's begin with the first paragraph, shall we?  Mr. Brooks writes:

The House Republican caucus is close to ungovernable these days. How did this situation come about?

By design, Mr Brooks.  The House of Representatives is designed as The People's house.  It represents American citizens.  Guys like George Washington, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison designed it that way,  It's supposed to be nearly ungovernable, to reflect the mood and temper of the American people.  I'm surprised that you, as a "conservative", don't recognize that fact.

He goes further, in the second paragraph, with a condemnation of conservatives.

 Republicans came to see themselves as insurgents and revolutionaries, and every revolution tends toward anarchy and ends up devouring its own.

Not every revolution , Mr Brooks, and a conservative knows this.  The revolution that brought us about didn't end in anarchy, nor did it devour its own.  What it did do, and I'm quoting another great American, is to "bring forth a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."  Revolutions need not end in anarchy, Mr. Brooks, and conservatives know this.  It's interesting that you would pen such a sentence.

Mr. Brooks is outraged.  He goes further:

Among people too ill educated to understand the different spheres, political practitioners adopted the mental habits of the entrepreneur. Everything had to be transformational and disruptive. Hierarchy and authority were equated with injustice. Self-expression became more valued than self-restraint and coalition building. A contempt for politics infested the Republican mind.

I thought, Mr. Brooks, that President Obama promised to "fundamentally transform" the U.S.  Transformation isn't a Republican trait.  Indeed, it seems these days to be a trait that the Democrats employ frequently.  Passing Obamacare with a slim window of opportunity, the penchant for increasing bureaucracy and onerous regulation, the unprecedented use of executive authority have spawned a general contempt for politics.  Yet you blame this on Republicans?

I could go on, but I won't.  The general tone of his argument is that he's not thrilled with the way that the Freedom Caucus (or Donald Trump??) are leading the nation down the road to perdition.  I'm baffled as to his premise and even more confused about his thesis.  Evidently he's trying to say that conservatives are the bane of the political world.  Coming from a "conservative" writer at the New York Times, I'd question his bona-fides.

The Boot Shot

There is something in the wax-bullet Fast Draw game called The Boot Shot.  Our holsters are fairly loose to facilitate a fast draw, almost a simple cylinder of leather, like the top of a boot.  (Holster makers, forgive me, we really like what y'all do.) When we get on the trigger a little quick, the bullet goes down the boot.  Competition shooters will understand the warning:  Keep yer booger hook off the bang switch!  A boot shot results in the loss of that individual match.  However, it doesn't carry forward.  You're still eligible to compete if you have't earned all your Xs.

We have bullet deflectors on our holster for exactly that reason.  Boot shots are exasperating, but they happen to everyone.  That's the reason we only use wax bullets or blank cartridges for fast draw.  A standard lead bullet would be devastating, requiring a trip to the emergency room.  Never practice fast draw with standard ammunition.

Still, the boot shot happens,  And,as the club is hosting a shoot in November.  We're feeding good, and we've got trophies for the winners.  The motto of our organization is Safety First, Fun Second, and Competition Third, so I thought I'd come up with something that would be fun.  So, I commissioned my son to make a small boot out of leather and hang it on a thong.

It's a smallish little artifact, measuring about three inches, It's a stylish representation of a cowboy boot, but it has a blemish on the toe.  Just about where a wax bullet would hit you if you put one down the boot.

I'll wear it the morning of the main match, and if someone shoots his boot, I'll award it to him or her with appropriate ceremony, by hanging around their neck.

The rules are simple.  If you shoot your boot, you get the award.  If someone else shoots their boot, you get to pass it on.  My lady tells me that she'll think on it and come up with an appropriate award for the shooter who is wearing the boot at the end of the main match.Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

  For those interested, the Thorn Valley Shootist Society is hosting a No-X fast draw shoot on November 14-15th, 2015.  Everyone is invited.  The more the merrier.

The entry fee is only $10.00, with awards for First, Second, and Third Place for Men's Women's and Youth divisions.  Plus, we're feeding that weekend.  Good food, good shooting and good fellowship.  It's a heck of a deal.

And, if you're the last guy with the Shot Boot award, you'll get a special prize.

Drought

Mowing grass today, in this middle week of October, I notice that the grass in the yard was mostly dead, and that all I was doing was stirring the dust.  After I turned the mower off, I came inside and started looking at the weather records for the past couple of months.  The last time that we had a measurable rain of over an inch was on August 16th.  In September we had a few rain events, but the entire rainfall for September was measured in three separate events and totaled just 0.68".  No rain so far in October to speak of.

The weather weenies aren't predicting rain in this are until the middle of next week.

We're due for a good drenching.

Tuesday Twerks

Mr. President Obama defines leadership as getting a climate change accord in Paris.  Really?  Putin is handing him his butt in the Middle East, he's totally botched almost everything that he's touched, and the inconvenient truth is that the "science" of climate change is crumbling.  This pretender wouldn't know leadership if it ran up and bit him in the butt.

If the President wants to lead on climate change, he should park Air Force One.  His flying around puts hundreds to tons of carbon in the atmosphere.  When he starts acting like it's a problem, I'll take notice.  Until then, he should shut the hell up.

Planned Parenthood won't accept "reimbursement" for fetal tissue any longer.  Which leads to the question; who pays for the cost of collection?  My tax dollars?  Why are my tax dollars funding this bunch of ghouls?

The Democrats are having a debate tonight.  The money-grubbing capitalist is facing off against the Democratic Socialist.  Too bad Uncle Joe won't be there, but he can't decide if he wants to run.

The steady drip, drip, drip of Hillary's email problems continue.  All of them, I might add, totally self-inflicted.  We learn today that all the remote-control gateways on that server were wide open.  It was total friggin' amateur hour on that server.  Why this woman want to br president; thinks she's capable of being president is beyond me.  Then, I look at our current POTUS and believe that being an incompetent, narcissistic amateur is no disqualifier to a large portion of the voters.

Murdering Baby Rapist

If you consider the title of this post harsh, it's only to remind you what we're talking about.  The Huffington Post is up in outrage about a man executed recently in Oklahoma.  It seems that in January, Oklahoma executed Charles Warner,  Charles had been convicted not once, but twice .  The second trial came, apparently on the issue of technical matters of the first trial.  The jury found him guilty again, and his case proceeded to the mandatory appeals that follow every death verdict.

The facts are not at issue, only the technical aspects of the case.  What we know is that Warner's live-in girlfriend left her 11-month-old baby in Warner's care while she ran some errands.  When she came back several hours later, she found the baby dead.  The child had been sodomized and beaten to death.  Those facts are not pleasant, but they are a medical fact. The fact that Warner committed the crime is unquestioned.

What HuffPo is upset about is that the chemicals used to execute a murdering baby-rapist caused him discomfort. A murdering baby-rapist was uncomfortable as he died.  Cry me a river.

Jazz Shaw over at Hot Air argues more succinctly than I, so I'll quote one paragraph of his.

This coddling of prisoners if a fairly recent invention. With that in mind, I would ask the reader to consider the essential nature of capital punishment for a moment. I understand that many are opposed to it on general principles, but if you accept that it is a valid choice available to the court, then it must serve some useful purpose if we are to engage in it. There are two general schools of thought for justifying the death penalty. One is that it acts as both appropriate vengeance against the perpetrator and protects the public from their creating any more havoc. (The recidivism rate following capital punishment remains at zero.) The other justification is the argument that the death penalty acts as a deterrent to others. Whether you agree with that sentiment or not, I think the idea needs a fresh look.

A fresh look indeed.  I'm no legal scholar, but I took eight-grade English, so I'm fairly conversant in the language,   I know that the conjunction AND connects adjectives, and the Eighth Amendment prohibits "cruel AND unusual" punishment.  Therefore, to my way of thinking, if a punishment is cruel but not unusual, it's okay.  Conversely, if a punishment is not cruel, but it is unusual, it's likewise okay  To my way of thinking, a punishment most be both cruel and unusual before it is proscribed under our Constitution.  Legal scholars may disagree, but the current state of the English language is not on their side of the argument.

To my way of thinking, the states should go back to hanging as a way of executing condemned prisoners.  Done properly, it is not cruel, and being in wide use worldwide, it certainly is not unusual. It has proven, over the centuries, as an efficient and effective way of reducing the death row population.

But, to be uspset because a murdering baby-rapist was uncomfortable?  Please, find a better example.

10 Commandments

Victor Davis Hanson, a noted political commentator, and classical history professor, pens a piece over at PJ Media.  His premise is simple, that most liberals are hypocrites,   They routinely engage in the same behavior that they decry in others, thinking that the rest of us can't see the disconnect.  The entire piece is worth reading, but I'd like to highlight just one.

3. Guns. Gun control is an iconic liberal issue, specifically limitations on handguns and concealed weapons. Too many guns in too many places supposedly encourage violent crime. Again, what better way to make a statement than by having all liberal celebrities, business people, and politicians take the following pledge: “I will pledge that no one in my security detail will ever carry a concealed firearm of any sort”? Surely the pope, of all people, did not need armed guards, with lethal concealed weapons, surrounding his pope-mobile?

When we hear the president decry guns, we know that there are armed Secret Service personnel just out of camera shot.  When we hear Harry Reid decry guns, we know that there are armed police officers on the podium with him.  When a celebrity decries guns, likely as not, there is an armed security detail nearby.

President Obama should immediately tell his security detail to disarm.  Otherwise, he's a hypocrite.  Likewise, all lesser politicians and celebrities should disarm their security details, there protective staff, and the buildings they inhabit for work.  Gun-free zones should be entirely gun-free.

Oh, and Mr. President, if we don't need military grade hardware, then tell the Air Force to stand down when you're flying on Air Force One.   If I don't need military grade hardware, you certainly don't need armed fighter jets following you around.

Meat Pies

Earlier, Milady got hungry for meat pies, so today she made a bunch.  Most of the family was elsewhere, doing other things, and that's okay.  A quiet Sunday is a good sunday.  However, no one knows how to make a small batch of meat pies, so we've got these to deal with.

 There is no reason to feel sorry for me, I'll figure it out.

Her recipe for meat pies is here.  But, after I clean the kitchen, we may slip off an have some fun.

Banner

I wanted a banner for the Fast Draw club, to hang at various events.  As it turns out, I have a graphic artist in my family, my daughter-in-law, Kim.  I have her some general guidelines but left the artistic design to her very capable sensitivities.  Last week, she presented me with this.

 That's a 3 X 5 banner, exterior material, with hanging grommets.  Now when we have an event, or go to an event, we can properly represent.  I think that she did a great job.

Sunday Morning Dawg

It's a little late this morning, but it is still before daylight.  The dog got a trim this week, and he's attending Milady as she drinks coffee and plays on her tablet.

When the sun comes up, we'll start rumbling around.  The sky is clear, the temps are cool, and it looks like it is going to be a completely magnificent day.  Y'all get out and enjoy this Sunday.

A Little Persepective

It's interesting to go to the Way-Back Machine and listen to the arguments used in the '60s during the gun debates that we had at that time.  The civil rights era was in full-throated bloom and the commentator on this interview was complaining about the gun laws in the state of California.  All the straw-men are cited; the NRA, the hunters, the "crazy cannon-collectors" and he bemoans the lack of regulation available to deal with the threat of armed Black Panthers when they held a demonstration.  It's eerily reminiscent of the current debate.  He even talks about a terrorist making bombs and booby-traps.



The gun-banners have come up with nothing new since 1967.  The same tired arguments today as were floated almost 50 years ago.  We tried some of those regulations, they didn't work and we repealed some.  Still, the arguments never change.

I have a business meeting later this morning, then I'm going to the range.

Reid Loses

Harry Reid says that he's going to push for tighter gun control regulations and laws, and he made the argument on the steps of the Capitol yesterday.  But, he lost the argument before he ever started.

Protected by armed policeman, Harry says that we need better background checks and  to shut down the pipelines that supply criminals with guns.

That's an easy argument to make Senator, but it loses all it's punch when you're surrounded by armed men.  Any politican or celebrity who makes that argument while their safety is protected by armed personnel has already lost the argument.  The simple presence of armed personnel makes it extremely clear that politicians need guns, but don't want the rest of us to have the same protections.

I thought the Capitol was a gun-free zone.  There are guns in the Capitol?  Why do you need guns in the Capitol?

Thursday Thuds

Chef Paul Prudhomme died today, at age 75.  A very important chef in Louisiana, he was instrumental in popularizing spicy Creole food and Louisiana cuisine in general.  RIP, K-Paul.

Kevin McCarthy dropped out of the Speaker's race today and reports indicate that the House is in turmoil.  As well they should be. Boehner is talking to Paul Ryan, asking him to step up, and intimating that he might stay on as speaker if no one steps forward. Twitchy is abuzz, rumors are that House members are crying in the cloakroom.  Allahpundit wishes that Vito Corleone were there to tell them to act like men.

Unbeknownst to Hillary, all of her emails were on a cloud server.  Think about that for a minute.  Sensitive diplomatic emails on a cloud server, outside the control of the State Department.  Some of those emails contained TS/SCI information.  Evidently, several countries hacked that account.  Hillary should worry less about running for President, and more about not being indicted.  Orange is the new black.  The IT company is, of course, cooperating with the FBI.  I'm sure that there is a trove of new information there.

It looks like Russia launched some cruise missles toward Syria, and they went to Iran.  Oops! I hate it when that happens

It's been a crazy day.  In another hour and a half, I'll go home and have a shot of good Kentucky whiskey.

Biscuits

So, while everyone else is talking about gun control, Obama's power grabs, Hillary's emails, and the Republican nomination, lets talk about something that is truly important.  Biscuits.

Any fool can go to the store and buy biscuits.  Whop biscuits or bag biscuits, they sell them by the ton.  Or, you can make biscuits at home.  My mother, who I love dearly (and she'll tell you herself, if you ask her) never had a reliable biscuit recipe.  Nor does Milady, who has never made biscuits in my presence.  Some folks can't or won't, and it's not for me to judge those folks.  Both my mother and my wife are wonderful cooks who an do magical things in the kitchen, but biscuits ain't one of them.

And, there are as many different styles of biscuits as there are regions in the US.  Some are light and flaky, some are smooth and buttery, some are dense and hearty.  I  admit that I like a light, flaky biscuit as much as the next guy and for that I buy them from the store.  Even I enjoy those sometimes.

Back in the early '80s a good friend of mine, Brenda Joyce taught me to make biscuits.  These are dense, hearty breakfast biscuits, deserving of cane syrup or white sausage gravy.  Biscuits that will stick to your ribs and give yo fuel till lunch time.  And, they're pretty simple to make.

They're not pretty, but they're filling, and they're good.  Real good.  We call them cats-head biscuits because they're not uniform in size, but they're about as big as a cat's head.

So, without further ado, here's the recipe.

Cats Head Biscuits.

Self-rising flour (get a 5 lb bag.  You're not going to use it all, but that's a starting point)
Vegetable oil.  Any will do.
Milk.  I use 2%, but any will do.  I suspect you could use half/half if you wanted to.  Only sissies use skim milk.

In a large mixing bowl.  (Not that  one, the big one) put about half that  bag of flour into the bowl.  We're not going to use it all, but that's a starting point.  Wallow out a depression in that flour.  We're going to fill it with liquid.  Preheat your oven to about 350-375F.

In a 12 oz water glass, fill it 1/3 with oil, and 2/3 with milk.  Pour the liquid into that depression you made in the flour.  Then, I use an index finger and start swirling at the edge of the liquid/flour border.  Work the flour into the liquid forming a dough ball.  It'll be messy at first, but in a minute or two, you'll have to use your hand to mix as the dough hall stiffens.  When it looks about right, you'll have a dough ball in the flour.  Don't over-work it.  Pinch off a piece of dough about as big as a cat's head,   Flatten it slightly and put it on a greased (I use Pam) baking sheet.

Bake for about 30 minutes, give or take.  Look at the picture above  They might not get brown, but they'll get done.This recipe makes about a dozen, depending on the size of your cat.  They're dense, hearty biscuits that go well with butter, jelly, cane syrup, or gravy.  They also cook well in a dutch oven over a campfire, but that's advanced-level camp cook stuff.  We may get into that later in the winter.  We'll see.

Blood in the Water

After the President's speech last week the liberals think that they smell blood in the water over gun control.  It's the new cause du jour for the liberal/progressive machine.

Hillary Clinton vows executive action if she's elected.

Harry Reid thinks Republicans are puppets of the NRA.

The Brady Campaign is demanding that the sheriff in Oregon be fired for opposing gun control. (Note:  The Brady Bunch should go back to high school and re-take the civics class.  The Sheriff is elected.)

Numerous op-eds are calling for new gun laws.  I linked one, google it yourself.

Some are even calling for confiscation and mandatory buy-back programs.

While dancing in the blood, they act like they've got carte-blanc to make dramatic changes.  It's like they sense a reset button, or something.

The only problem with their line of thought is that the Founders also thought about a reset button, so they wrote it into the Constitution.  Everyone should be very careful about pressing it.  It'll be messy when it's pressed.

Fisking Johathan Alter

Jonathan Alter (over at The Daily Beast) puts up an odious post, exposing both his ignorance and his bias.  While I won't take iti apart line by line, it's certainly worthy of fisking because he cites so many of the strawmen that seem to become animated in these articles.  Let's begin, shall we, in the headline:

Time For a Showdown: Why Obama Needs to Debate the NRA President on Live TV

Mr. Alter is proposing a debate on national TV about gun control, yet in his headline he uses the word Showdown, a metaphor for an old-time gunfight.  Fitting?  I'll leave you to judge.

Then down around the seventh paragraph, we find:

I can hear the objections now: Why should the president lower himself to giving an equal platform to the odious head of the NRA? Why would Obama—who despises campaign debates—ever agree to it? Why do I imagine it would do any good in getting the bill passed that failed narrowly in the Senate in 2013?

 Wayne LaPierre, the long-time head of the NRA is odious?  Methinks you are exposing your bias, Mr. Adler.  Yes, the gun control bill failed in the Senate, largely because it wouldn't have done any good.  None at all.  You can review the various provisions of the bill here, and how they failed.  Interestingly, two provisions got widespread support.  The proposal to increase the privacy of law-abiding gun owners passed with at 2/3ds margin and the provision affecting federal mental health treatment passed with 95% of the Senate.

Let's move on, shall we?

But in the last two decades, not even the most heinous mass shootings have led to closing the gun show loophole that evades background checks, much less major new legislation. Instead, we get a dreary and familiar public narrative:

Allright, Mr. AAlter, explain to me the gun show loophole.  When I buy a gun at a gunshow, I have to pass a background check, just like I do at any retailer.  What gun-show loophole?  Expalain that to me, please.  I suspect what you want is full, universal, background checks for all transfers, whether I'm giving a .22 caliber squirrel rifle to my grandson for Christmas, you want the kid to trot down to the store and go through a background check.  You're a Grinch, Mr. Adler, who wants to destroy Christmas for much of America.

So, for the rest of America, there is no gun show loophole.  That's a false-flag red-herring that (to use one of Mr. Alter's adjectives) is odious on its face.  It's a damned lie.  There is no gun show loophole  What they want is universal background checks.

So, Mr. Alter, tell us what you really want.  Don't couch your rhetoric in the fashionably political.  Unleash your dreams. I've been playing this game for over 20 years, and the wish-list always looks something like this:

1.  Universal background checks.  Not the "gun-show loophole" that doesn't exist, but full-blown universal checks any time a firearm changes hands.

2.  Federal retention of ownership records.  By law today, NICS checks can only be retained for 24 hours.  After that, they're purged.  The fed.gov has no idea who owns what, or if if they do, they are in violation of federal laws.  One of the wet-dreams of the banners is to know where every gun is at all times, which historically leads to;

3.  Confiscation.  Turn them all in.  Regardless of criminality or intent, or whether the gun has ever been used in a crime.  Mr. Obama alluded to such last week during his address, when he brought Australia's experience into the debate.  However, if you go to the Wiki page, they conclude that the Australian law has been a failure.  The final paragraph of that article states:

The law has been judged a failure by The Liberal Democratic party, which has a policy to scrap the National Agreement on Firearms and allow law abiding shooters to once again legally own semi-automatic centrefire rifles. [30]

It doesn't surprise me that our president and Mr. Alter want to enact a law that the liberals in Australia have judged to be a failure.  I'm convinced that most of Mr. Obama's tenure will be judged by history to be a failure.

But, Mr Alter should be honest enough to tell us what he really wants.  I suspect I know the answer, and shame on him for being obtuse.

Saturday

Got up early, before daylight.  Drank coffee with my son, who is visiting for the weekend.

Piddled around with him until noon.  He went his way and I went mine.  I went out to the shooting club for the weekly meeting.  He went to his brother's house for some palaver and some chooting.

Came home, went to dinner with Milady, son, grandson.  Lots of good quality time.

Came home, built a fire in the fire pit outside.  Son and I drinking Vermont maple whiskey, on the rocks.  Youg'un has hot cocoa.  Milady sipping red wine.

It has been a very good day.  Milady put eight pounds of beef tips in two crock pots to cook overnight. Tomorrow, we'll feed the crew, then do a little wax shooting in the back yard.

This has been a very good Saturday.

Promises

For a long time I've been looking at J-frame Smith and Wesson revolvers.  Several months ago, my son and I were discussing that particular frame and he told me how much he liked them.  A week or so later, I happened to find one in Jimmy Deramus' shop, so I put it on layaway.  It's a Smith Model 36 in factory nickel, .38 Special, with a 3" barrel.  I've been looking at Model 36s for years and very seldom have seen the 3" barrel.  It's a 36-1, which indicates the 3" heavy barrel, which was introduced in 1967,

I got it off layaway today.  It's got that old-time silky-smooth feel of a hand-tuned revolver, and the single-action pull must be felt to be believed.  I've promised this one to my son in exchange for some holster work. Promised kept, and he can pick  it up this weekend.  He's a cop, and it will make a great little off-duty or plainclothes revolver.  Perfectly suitable for serious social work.  I'll let him figure that out.

Another promise kept today.  In that same shop, I've been looking at a Ruger (Old) Vaquero in the glass case.  Deramus had it priced too high, at $750.00.  But, it's the old model, in .45 Long Colt, with the 7.5" barrel.  Bued steel, but the blueing is very nice.  Case-hardened frame, it's really a pretty revolver, but he wanted too much for it.

However, if you look at the Ruger website, they're not making 7.5" Vaqueros right now.  Of any flavor, so if you want a Ruger long gun, you either hit the pawn shops, or you try to find new-old stock.  I had promised myself that if Deramus dropped the price any, I'd put it on layaway as well.

When I walked in the shop today to get the Model 36, the counter guy put the 4473 directly over the Vaquero.  I, of course, noticed that the price had been reduced to $600.  Crap, crap, crap!  I put it on layaway as soon as the first transaction was complete.

Hey, Joey.  When I get that one off layaway, you've got one more holster to make.

Active Shooter in Oregon

It's still breaking and the story has yet to develop, but we're seeing reports of an active shooter at a community college in Oregon.

CNN BREAKING: Preliminary info: 10 deceased, 20 wounded at Umpqua Community College in Oregon -Oregon State Police

I won't get a chance to do much on this story for the next several hours, but i bet that there will be continuous coverage on all the news feeds.

My initial thought is that this is impossible, but I'm not sure if this is a gun-free zone or not.  

Fastest Gun Alive

This weekend in Fallon, NV, the Cowboy Fast Draw Association is hosting its World Championship, The Fastest Gun Alive.  All the big names will be there, but PawPaw is stuck at home.  Duty forbids my attendance, and the club has a shoot planned in November.

However, I  know several gals and guys who are there and from all indications, it's a heck of a party.  Maybe next year.

It looks like it will be quite a colorful event.  With crafts, vendors, and even a classic car show.  This thing gets bigger every year, and more colorful.  And, of course, shooting.  Lots of shooting..

But, Milady likes the dresses, and intends to start "upping" the wardrobe.  My question is how do these gals shoot with a holster that's not tied down?  More research is certainly in order.

It looks like quite the show.  Maybe next year we'll get to see it.  If this thing gets much bigger, it might become the Sturgis of Fast Draw.