Notes From The Coffee Pot

The weather weenies tell us that it's hot in the Deep South.  During the summer.  We have a chance of a pop-up thunderstorm later today.    That's the standard weather pattern across the whole south for four months of every year.  In summertime, it's easy to be a weather-weenie.

DeBlasio quoted Che yesterday in Miami.  That didn't win him any votes.

The Democrat clown-car show continues.  I'm not linking any particular story. Take your pick.  I  probably won't pay much attention to this rolling debacle for the next several months.  Except, of course, to ridicule some of the more bone-headed ideas.

Belle is tracking a revolver on Grabagun.  She is a .32 fan, and a revolver fan, and she wants this one as soon as it is available.  Evidently there is a HUGE demand for this revolver.

I have to get some stuff done, so you'll excuse me.  I want to get it done before the hear of the day.

Uberti's Answer to the Transfer Bar

One of the design bugs of the old Colt SAA is that it is basically unsafe to carry with six rounds in the chamber.  For us old aficionados, we always carried five, with the hammer down on an empty chamber.  To carry any other way was to risk and accidental discharge if the hammer was struck, as the firing pin was mounted to the hammer.  We've known about this problem since 1873.

Ruger got around this problem with the transfer bar, and they've been very successful in the trade, but even with my Rugers, I always carried five (Load one, skip one, load four.)  It's an old habit.

Because we live in a litigious society, gun makers are all about saafety.  So, Uberti realized that they had a problem ad set about to fix it, while keeping the gun looking authentic.  Their solution was a floating firing pin that is only able to reach the primer when the trigger is held firmly to the rear.

My current favorite CFDA gun is a Cimoarron Model P, made by Uberti.  I bought it last year.  I noticed, out o the box that it didn't have a safety click on the hammer.  It's basically a 3-click Colt clone.  But I didn't think anything about it until I started a thread on Facebook about it.  Then I went digging through YouTube until I found this video.



That explains it.  And, I'm going to leave that video right here so that I can find it later.  It might come in handy the next time my gun is inspected at an equipment check.

I Love The M3A1

I was issued one as a tanker and lways liked the darned thing.  Simple as a gun can get, it shot the .45 ACP and did just fin for short range work.



It's a fun little gun.  Lightweight, reliable, and effective.

The Next "Trump Situation"

Google is a powerful company who all but controls what we see, hear, share, and follow on the intertubes.  With great power, comes great responsibility, and we all recall the sage wisdom of power being a corrupting influence.  Google powers almost everything we see on the internet, including the host of this tiny blog.

It seems that Project Vertias was talking with a Google executive who said that Google wants to prevent another "Trump situation".

Elizabeth Warren is talking about breaking up Google, like the government broke up the Bell System in the past century.  If Google is trying to prevent a "Trump Situation".

It seems that Google is trying to influence search results.  I know that Facebook and Google scan media that is uploaded to their platforms and target political media.  I am in a Sheriff's race in a small parish in  Louisiana, and I have to jump through hoops to make my campaign ads publish successfully.

Full video is available at the link above.  Don't search for it on YouTube because it has been deleted by Google.

Home

We're home and the van is mostly unpacked.   It was a great trip, and we needed to get away, but it sure is good to be home.  Northern Kansas is a long way from central Louisiana. Total road time home was about 18 hours and I'm glad to be sitting at my desk.  Tomorrow it's back to the world, but for today, I'm going to lollygag.

Mena, AR

We left Phillipsburg, KS this morning, heading south.  We made it to Mena, AR in a blinding rainstorm.  We're now ensconced in a comfortable Ozark Inn for the evening.  I'm bushed and Belle is exhausted. We've piled up in the comfortable room and won't move until morning.

That is all.

Kansas State The Banquet

We went to the banquet last night at Kansas State.  Good times and good people.  The ladies sparkled and the men wore their Sunday best.  In this outfit, I'm known as Major D (everyone in CFDA has an alias) and the lady that you know as Belle, is Blue Eyed Belle).

Major D and Blue Eyed Belle

They gave out awards to this point, to shorten the award ceremony on Sunday.

Major D took 2nd place in Men's Super Senior, losing to my good friend Diamondback Billy, out of Pocohontas, AR.  Billy shot the match clean, and the only fellow I lost to was Billy.  I had him 2-2 on two occasions, but he always managed to get to the target a little faster than I did.

Blue Eyed Belle won third in her category, behind Snake Charmer and Sky Queen, both fine ladies and great competitors.

L-R - Blue Eyed Belle, Snake Charmer, Sky Queen.

Northern Kansas is an interesting place.  We awoke this morning to cool temps and a nice breeze.  We're through shooting this weekend, and all the faster guns are finishing the main match.  We've decided that it's time to pack the van and head home.  Louisiana is 14 hours away and the more time we can spend southbound the better we'll feel when we get there.

Kansas Day 2

No photos today, we were shooting the whole day and I went to the seventh round.  We finished (Belle, Zach, and I) at about 2:0 so we packed up and went back tot he room.  We stopped by a tiny liquor store in this tiny town to see if we could find some of Belle's favorite wine.  The owner thanked us for coming to town, (we were still dressed in gunfighter garb), and I asked him if he had any interesting bourbons.

He walked around the counter and picked up a battle of Weller Antique 107.  I had never tried it, so I told him I'd take it.  He said that his distributor got it very infrequently, and that he only had two bottles.  I dismissed that as retail marketing.  Good retail marketing.  The price was $50.00, which is more than I usually pay for bourbon, but we are on vacation, and this is a special bottle, so I paid the tarrif.

We got back to the room and I did a Google search.  Evidently, this is much better whiskey than I suspected.  Retail prices are all over, from $30.00 to $300.00 with the vast majority in the $100 range. Some reviewers compare it to "Poor Man's Pappy", a blend that came out several years ago to try and replicate Pappy Van Winkle.

I'll take this one home, unopened, and sample it at leisure.

Kansas State - Day 1

We got to the range this morning and shot categories, which is an age-based competition.

Akarate Zach, our grandson took 2nd place in Men's Traditional, (under age 39), typically a very competitive category.  All the young guns shoot in that category.

Zach, in the American flag shirt, trying to get 1st place.  He finished at 2nd.  Not to shabby.

In the Super Senior category (age 65-69) the competition was stiff.  PawPaw shot steadily and consistently, hitting the target well. Toward the end of the day, I was called to the line, and there were two shooters left.  Diamondback Billy and I.  Billy is a friend from Arkansas, and he had shot the match clean (no loses).  I had one loss, in a 3-loss match.  We battled and he prevailed, and I took 2nd place in Men's Super Senior.  Not too shabby for an old man, shooting against stiff competition.

Phillipsburg, KS

We got up in Wichita, KS this morning, drank coffee, loaded up and headed northwest.  We got to Phillipsburg, KS at about noon.  Found the hotel, found the shooting venue, checked in with the match director, and went to get lunch.

We found a nice little cafe, Shelly Anne's on main street and decided to try it out.  There are thousands of little restaurants like this one across the nation.  A place where the locals eat, just down the street from the court house.

Nothing fancy, just plain good eating.  The special today was roast beef, so I tried that out.  Belle opted for a BLT with onion rings, and Zach went for the mushroom cheese burger.

We're in the room now, resting for the afternoon.  Unless Zach wants supper tonight, we're probably in for the day.  Tomorrow morning, they are serving breakfast at the range, and the shooter's meeting is at 8:30.  The elevation here, according to Wiki, is 1946 feet, which I find interesting.  It seems like we climbed a whole lot higher than that today.  There are some long hills in northern Kansas.

Wichita, KS

We pulled over after 12 hours and pitched camp in Wichita, KS.  By that, I mean that we're in a Super 8 motel, which bears a great resemblance to camping.

We will get up in the morning, pack the car, and head north to Phillipsburg, KS.So far, Kansas is just about like I remembered it.  Everyone thinks Kansas is flat, but that isn't so.  Kansas rolls.  It's great tank country, and there is plenty of cover for vehicles and dismounted infantry.  Kansas is really pretty, well watered, fertile, with interesting terrain.

We're in for the evening. Belle is sipping a glass of wine, and I'm drinking whiskey.  Zach is sucking up the wi-fi, and snacking on beef jerky.  Belle always packs a "snack bag" for these ventures, because the noon meal is often a grab-and-go affair.  The snack bag is legendary at these events, with all sorts of snacky goodness, both sweet and savory.  When Belle is finished packing it, it weighs about 10 pounds, and I'm sure that we'll stop at a grocers and replenish it before the weekend is over.

The snack bag could probably feed a squad of infantry over a 3-day exercise.  Whether or not it will hold a sixteen year old boy until Sunday is a mater for consideration

Packing

I've been prepping all day, getting everything ready for our vacation.  Tomorrow, we're leaving for Phillipsburg, KS, for the Kansas State Championship of Cowboy Fast Draw.

I really need to get out o town for a few days and play.  Getting into a gun fight seems like just exactly the right thing to do.  We'll be driving all day tomorrow, and getting to Phillipsburg on Thursday.

Laundry, and Funeral

Monday morning has become laundry day since retirement.  That's done now, but I have to get ready to attend a sad event, a funeral for someone who was lost tragically, accidentally, way too young.  Fathers should never have to bury their daughters and I am going to pay my respects to a father who is in a situation that I pray I will never be in.

Good Shoot

The Cross Branded Peacemakers hosted the Big Thicket Bushwackers today.  We asked them to come over, to help some of our members with the finer points of Cowboy Fast Draw.  They brought five shooters and with our club members had a good turn out, a total of 12 men and 7 ladies.

As things turn out, the practive/coaching session turned into an impromptu match.

1st, Texas Rose - 2nd, Two Step Cookie - 3rd, Blue Eyed Belle

1st, Whiplash - 2nd, Red Rock - 3rd Bi Mark

It was a great day, with food, fellowship, education and gunfighting.  We're all heading our own directions, with a lot of shoots on the near horizon.  Next weekend, Belle and I will be in Kansas, for the Kansas State Championship.  The Bushwhackers are heading to Colorado for that state Championship, and there are some minor shoots in Texas that other folks are headed for.  The competition season is in full swing, and lots of gunfighters are traveling.

Wholesale Politics

Busy day yesterday.  I cut a new campaign video.  It's amazing how much raw video it takes to make one two-minute campaign blurb.  Between shooting, cutting, re-doing the script and trying to make it look consistent, I figure it takes one hour for each minute of usable video.  I'm still not a pro, but I thin I'm getting the message out.



Yesterday evening, the good folks at the Deville/Buckeye Neighborhood Watch group invited all the candidates to a forum.  It wasn't a debate, but a forum to ask the candidates questions.  The local media covered it and you can watch the whole ting here.  It's an hour long, but you can skip ahead to about the 14:00 minute mark and watch my opening introduction.



Tonight, Belle and I are going to another event, one that is billed a purely social, but I'm sure that we'll indulge in a little retail politics.  Some like-minded folks are forming a dance club that will meet quarterly, and we're going to charter members; plank owners, if you will.  She has forbidden the white shirt tonight.  I took the white shirt and white hat as campaign gimmick, and white shirts are cheap.  I buy them by the stack at Wal-Mart.  And she's tired of looking at them.

I have to wear a little color tonight, but it's going to be a lot o fun.

Tracer Burn

Tracers are fun, and very useful from a military perspective.  But, they burn.

One of the big headaches with tracer burn was that, dropped into dry ground, they might ignite dry fuel laying on the ground.  Leave, twigs, etc.  And the unit conducting the firing was responsible for putting out the fire.  So, you'd have this cool live-fire going one and suddenly you'd be in fire fighter mode.

The tracer from the .50 BMG was notorious for this because it carried such a big tracer.  For some reason, tank-gun ammo, which carried a huge tracer, set a whole lot fewer fires than .50 BMG ammo.  Perhaps because when you're shooting the machine gun, you get so much more chances to start a fire.



Sometimes, it comes down a ong way from the range area.  As I recall, the tracer burnout on a .50 was 1600 meters.

Tuesday Tires

The brake issue yesterday turned into a non-issue.  Everything works, everything is fine.  The noise vanished, and I believe that it was simply the new shoes getting comfortable in the calipers.  My grandad was a firm believer that disk brakes needed a sort "break-in" period.  He may have been right.

I went to my tire dealer today ad bought new shoes for the van.  We're leaving on vacation in about ten days, and I wanted good brakes and tires.  I've been dealing with this tire store for a decade or so, and he treated me right.  While I was there I did some retail politicing.   That's my life, recently, talking to everyone who will stand still about my candidacy.  I think I picked u a few votes today.

Went to Harbor Freight while I was on that side of town, and got a couple of items  One impulse purchase was a new American flag.  Mine was tattered and faded, and it's time to retire it.  It will be July 4th pretty soon, and I generally change out the flag on Independence Day.

Long may she wave.  Tomorrow, I'll get up and do it all over again.  I believe we'll be mowing at the church tomorrow.

Monday Brake Job

I did a front brake job on the van today.  We're going to Kansas in ten days ad with almost 70K miles on the van, thought that it was time for a new set of pads.

The job went easy-peasy.  Almost too easy.  But, doing the test drive I heard a sound that I didn't like.  I had my mechanic drop by after work to diagnose it, but he was unable to nail it down.  We're going to meet at his shop in a couple of hours and put it on the lift.  Hes not even concerned that it's the brake job I did, but he's focused on the rear of the van.  We'll see.

If it ain't one thing, it's another.

Sunday Cooking

We decided to cook big today, so Belle set the menu.  Pork chops ad rice, purple hull peas cooked withh tasso, Cole slaw, okra and tomatoes, and cornbread.  We figured we'd be feeding a dozen people, ad wound up feeding thirteen, so there was plenty.

Belle working her magic on the pork chops.

Around here, we feed from youngest to oldest, and the grandkids are first in line. 

That's grandson, Lucas, building his plate with assistance from Dad.

Now, early in the afternoon, all the dishes are washed and the leftovers are put away.  We're getting ready for Moday.  It's going to be a big week, with lots to do.  Wed best get at it.

Already Planning

We're in the middle of the CFDA competition shooting season.  As I type this, over 100 of the top guns are shooting in Amarillo, TX, for the US National Championship.

Here in Louisiana, we've been looking for a better venue for Louisiana State next year, and it looks like we might have found a spot.  The downtown event center in our hometown of Pineville, LA.

Belle ad I went and measured it today, ad while it might be a little bit tight, we think we can make it work.  Originally built as  a bank, the City of Pineville has it now and uses it as an event center.

It's never too early to book a good venue.  It looks like we'll hold the 2020 Louisiana State Championship indoors, the first weekend in April next year.

History Made

Seventy-five years ago, the Allied Expeditionary Forces waded ashore in Normandy.  Many individual stories have been told, and each has its place in history. We have grown accustomed to these stories of heroism and resolve, but we can't forget that success was not a foregone conclusion.



It could have all gone horribly wrong.  But, it didn't.

Ex-Resource Officer Indicted

It seems that Florida has indicted the school resource officer who did nothing last year during the horrific school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement have charged Peterson with seven counts of child neglect, three counts of culpable negligence, and one count of perjury after a 15-month investigation, the agency said.
"The FDLE investigation shows former Deputy Peterson did absolutely nothing to mitigate the MSD shooting that killed 17 children, teachers and staff and injured 17 others,” FDLE Commissioner Rick Swearingen said in a news release. "There can be no excuse for his complete inaction and no question that his inaction cost lives."

This is the correct conclusion.  I was a resource officer for the last 16 years of my career and the message was plain, from the Sheriff through the trainers, from our command, even among the peers.  You Go In. 

A resource officer has just one job.  End the threat.  I knew that my buddies would be along shortly, but that it was my responsibility to move toward the threat, engage it, and end it.

This may be the first time that a police officer has ever been charged with a felony for failing to do his job, and I'm sure that the police unions all over the country are going to have a collective aneurysm, but it is the proper conclusion.

Seattle Grapples

We talked, in March, abut Seattle's homeless problem.  It seems that the city's uber-liberal city council was trying to make Seattle a beacon for compassion for the homeless.

Compassion is easy at at distance, but it is hard up close.

The piece also profiles a tech industry worker who says he’s a fan of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. But he is bothered that he can’t take his kids to the local park anymore because it has become a tent camp.

 [Austen] Ruf uses the city’s Find it, Fix it app to report problems, but more often than not, he says, the requests are closed a few days later with the problems unresolved. Rather than walking their three daughters down to the spray park in the summer, Ruf and his wife load them in the car and drive to a park in another neighborhood.
“I’m an environmentalist,” Ruf said. “God that’s frustrating, that’s so frustrating.”

I dealt with the homeless issue during my last duty assignment.  It's frustrating, because we don't want to be stern with people who are down on their luck, but sometimes  you just have to tell them to Move Along.

Seattle is dealing with it on a massive scale because they've become they've subsidized it.  When you subsidize something, you get more of it.

Bureaucrats

Years ago, one of my bosses had a needlepoint on his wall.

Never Let The Bureaucrat Win

Belle has been fighting a bureaucracy for the past several months, getting more frustrated b the day.  It seemed like a Catch-2 involving two bureaucracies, and it was wearing her down.

This morning I took that bull by the horns, (metaphorically) and ran it in the squeeze chute.  In the space of two hours, I had it gentled and neutered, and it's ready for the slaughter pen.

I was not rude to anyone, but I was,,, assertive.  Bureaucrats exist to serve US, and occasionally they should be reminded of such.

Concerned Citizens

I was privileged to meet last evening with a group of concerned citizens to discuss law enforcement challenges in our parish.

This group encompasses leaders from the black community who are concerned about community safety, education, and are trying to make their neighborhoods a better place for their families to live, work and play.

There was a lot of discussion about local concerns, many of which impact the law enforcement community.  It was a very productive meeting.

Ribs

Belle decided to cook ribs today, thinking that we'd have a small crew.  We cooked seven racks of baby-back ribs, with beans, tater salad, garlic bread and lemon cake for dessert.  Of course, we wound hp feeding fifteen people, 10 adults and five kids.

It's over now, everyone is home and the leftovers are put away.

We're inside, taking advantage of air conditioning, and getting ready for tomorrow.

Road Trip

Belle ad I  took a little road trip over to Natchez, MS.  Her brother and his wife met us here and we drove over, matting her other brother and his wife.  So, six of us i Natchez, MS, d of course, the first thing I wanted to look at was the river.

We went down to the Magnolia Bluffs casino, which I knew was on the water.  We were able to get in, but the casino had a rubber dam holding the river back, over the access road.  The security guy at the front told us that if the river cme up another six feet, it would be in the casino, but from my perspective, if it comes up another foot, it will take the access drive and  the casino will be stranded.



We played for a little while then wet p the highway to Roux 61 and ate seafood.  We're back home now, safely on our side of the Big Muddy.  It was a very nice day hanging out with Belle's siblings.