Dead-Naming

 I heard this term this morning and had to look it up.  Dead-Naming.  Evidently, that is the practice of, when dealing with trans people, of using the name they were born with instead of the name they prefer. For edample.

Lets say you know a guy named Joe.  Went to high school with him.  Joe was always a little bit standoff-ish, but other wise okay.  Ten years later you run into Joe on the street, and he says his name is Sally.  If you keep calling him Joe, you are dead-naming.

So, this leads to problems.  Did Joe go through the process of legally changing his name? Or is he just stage-acting?  How seriously should we take Joe at his word.  Or did I just misgender him?  Oops, did it again.  Did Joe get a boob job, or is he still wearing a beard?  If both, he can get work in a circus.

When I was a single man, both as a young adult and later as a mature adult, I had one iron-clad rule for dating.  I would never date a woman who could display a better moustache than mine.  And I have a very poor moustache.  I'm just sayin'.

It's A Trap!

 Concerning the lab leak theory that was floated recently, some folks are warning us that it might be a distraction campaign to keep us from asking other questions.  Let's remember that this was leaked from a classified report, and that leads to question about the nature of the leak itself.  Who leaked it, and why?

Others have asked why the Dept of Energy was even interested in the question.  Well, the Dept of Energy is interested in a lot of things that we might not surmise.  They run the National Laboratories like Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos.  Which means that we have a lot of geeks asking interesting questions and trying to figure out the answers.

Why didn't the CDC or NIH break the story?  Well, because many believe that they were funding this research in violation of laws about gain-of-function research. If CDC or NIH broke it, then it might complicate Tony Fauci's life with indictments, imprisonment, loss of pension and other distasteful problems.  To have Fauci discredited would be a huge blow to the left.

This story cuts the Gordian knot of the Covid pandemic.  Many of us suspected as much, but now the truth is coming out.  The question is why now?  And what are they trying to distract us from seeing? 

Probable Cause

 The US Energy Department has concluded that the probable cause of the Covid pandemic was a lab leak in Wuhan China.

The U.S. Energy Department has concluded that the COVID-19  pandemic most likely arose from a laboratory leak, according to a classified report recently provided to the White House and several members of Congress.

No shit, Sherlock.  The FBI concluded as much in 2021.  Those of us with common sense concluded that in 2020.  Big lab in Wuhan studying corona virus.  Everyone gets sick with corona virus.   Where would you think it came from??  Probably not the wet market down the street.

Sunday Morning Dawg

 

Random Friday

Belle has been watching cooking videos and she says that a convection oven works the same way that an air fryer works.  I'm not going to argue with her because I know nothing about air fryers.  But, we do have a convection oven, and if she is correct I should be able to air fry a turkey in the oven.  More research is necessary.

I was Googling five-star officers today and stumbled across a name I had never heard of.  I know that Bradley and Arnold, and MacArthur, and King, and Ike and that bunch were five-star officers, but I had never heard of William D Leahy.  Evidently, he was quite the sailor-man, but pretty much let the other folks take the limelight.  My education is now a bit more complete.

Anon said in a comment

I've always understood that "gamey" taste is from meat poorly handled and going bad, so prompt cooling and keeping it cool makes a big difference.

That is generally true, but some animals have musk glands that mist be excised before cooking.  Raccoon, for example.  And some animals eat things that impart a foul taste.  Lile the hogs in LaSalle parish, LA.  Belle calls them piney-woods rooters and refuses to let me bring them home.  She says that if she wants to eat turpentine, she will take it right out of the bottle.  It's true.  The hogs I've eaten out of the pine forest generally taste like pine.

Evangelical Doctrs

Dr. Drew and Brian Klimeade talk about evangelical doctors, those who believe in a particular treatment and stick with that when the science tends to point in another direction.

I've heard other folks talking about this in the past several weeks.  Those well-meaning folks who thought they had the answers and put us on a course that proved disastrous, even as the science was evolving on an answer to a novel virus.

We've learned a lot since then.  That masks don't work, that keeping kids out of school is a bad idea, that some vaccines don't provide protection and may do more harm than good.  These evangelical doctors meant well, wanting to save humanity from disease.  But as their diagnosis began to fly in the face of common sense, what they actually accomplished was to wreck the public confidence in the public health system.  

Let's Talk About This

It's been reported from several sources, and maybe it's time to talk about this.

From what I understand, an off-duty police officer (female) in Chicago went outside her apartment to try to mediate a disagreement on the sidewalk.  She successfully mediated the disagreement and some people left the scene, but as she turned to leave, one person tried to grab her gun.  She shot him.

Warning - The video is graphic.  

She said some things during the confrontation that she may have to defend in later reviews, but to her credit, she was under a great dal of stress at the time, and he successfully defended herself against a life-threatening attack.

Some have made the argument that any man who attacks a woman deserves to be shot.  I won't argue with that.  Had the man succeeded, we don't know how it might have turned out, but we know that a woman who is trained in self-defense with a gun is perfectly capable of thwarting such an attack.  In my eyes, she is completely blameless.

Asked and Answered

 There have been some comments lately that deserve an answer, and I think this might be a ghood time to talk about them.

On the blog post about the dash cam, Alan asks:

I'vebeen looking for a simply dashcam since my last one died. What brand and model do you have?

Thanks for the question, Alan.  I've been using it for a couple of weeks and it has issues.  Not insurmountable issues, but I'm not ready to endorse it.   It's an el-cheapo from Wal Mart.  It does okay, but your mileage may cary.

Next, we turn to a question from Howard on the post about the hogs.

Probably a dumb question but what happens to all that meat. Is it commercially processed or just for the group that goes with the club. Sorry but the accent is so strong I don’t know if the guy says in the video. All the hog butchering I have had to do with there has been a lot of stress about sticking to get them bled out. Obviously that is not possible with a .22 group shoot?

I understand that he gives that meat away.  If a family wants a hog, he gives it to them.  He calls it Feeding Families, or something.

About "sticking" the hogs.  In Cajun culture we have something called a boucherie, which is a hog killing.  Generally, the hogs are shot with a .22 rifle, then immediately strucg up on a single-tree and bled.  Obviously, a hog trapper in north Mississippi can't do that, because he doesn't want to taint his killing ground. But, from the dozen or so videos I've watched, he tries to make sure that the protein goes to someone who wants it.

About THem Hogs

Couple of weeks ago, we were talking about feral hogs and the problem that they have become in the South.  Wherever there is a problem, there is also opportunity, and some folks are trying to help make a living while eradicating feral hogs.

I fell down a rabbit hole watching this guy catch hogs.  It's been a few years since I have hunted and I'm surprised at how high-tech this has become.  Hogs are still a problem, but an industry has sprung up around the problem, selling traps and cameras and gear to try to manage the problem.  Folks like the fellow in the video are providing a service to landowners.

She's Baaack!

You remember Susan Rice.  She is the Obama apparatchik who was ambassador to something or other and made the rounds at the Sunday talk shows telling everyone who would listen that the Benghazi uprising was all about some silly anti-Muslim video.  Yeah, her.  Yeah, that same uprising where Hillary wouldn't send support and the Muszzies overran the consulate and killed an ambassador.  That Susan Rice

In the continuing effort to reward failure and the worst attributes of government incompetence, Biden has appointed Rice as his Diversity and Inclusion czar.  Because, you know, Diversity is more important than  actual competence.  In support of this hypothesis, I cite Janet Yellen, Mayor Pete,  Lloyd Austin, the Binder Lady and a host of other incompetents appointed by Biden.

I'm sure that Rice will begin filling the ranks of the bureaucracy with Diversity appointees who are chosen based on identity politics rather than actual achievement.  We used to call these Equal Opportunity hires, but now we simply call them government workers.

The Forbidden .22LR SMG: American 180

Surfing around the intertubes this morning, I come across this video about an interesting bit of kit.  The American 180.. It was a shoulder fire, blowback submachinegun chambered in .22LR.  It fed from a complex pan-style magazine that sat atop the receiver.

It was designed in the 1960s by Richard J. Casull and produced by the Voere Co. With a cyclic rate of 1200 rounds per minute, that gave you 20 per second.  The magazine held 180 rounds. With a weight of just under 6 lbs, that gave you a whole lot of hate in a small, easily controlled package.

At any rate, it's an interesting footnotein American firearms design.  Enjoy the video.

Sunday Morning Dawg

 

Hanging out in the shop, waiting for the heaters to take the chill off.

Saturday Lunch

 It's that season again, andd Belle sent me to the boiler's for a small ice chest full of crawfish.

Mighty tasty, and now my belly is full of crawfish, corn and potatoes.  Belle peeled a few and offered them to the dawg.  He gobbled them down, then headed to the water dish.  Evidently the seasoning is a bit much for his sensitive palate.

Range Time

 Some of the shooters called and asked if they could come over for a few hours after work.  Helly yes, that what I built this place for.

We did a little shooting, a little coaching, a little laughing, and spent a nice couple of hours hanging out together.  Not a bad way to spend a Friday afternoon.

The Water Is Fine

 That's the story, anyway, from the East Palestine, OH, tests that the EPA conducted.

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) challenged EPA Administrator Michael Regan to drink a glass of tap water in East Palestine, Ohio, after the agency claimed the water supply was safe despite the small town’s recent Norfolk Southern train derailment and toxic chemical disaster.

Here's the deal, and Belle and I were talking about it over coffee.  We no longer trust the federal government.  Not since Ruby Ridge, not since Lois Lerner, not since the 51 intelligence spooks.  Every word from Joe Biden is a lie.

Every fourth commercial on my TV is about a Camp Lejune water problem that they had back in the 60s.  Are the folks in East Palestine supposed to believe that those chemicals did not get into the water supply?

With the weaponization of the IRS, the weaponizing or the FBI, the continuing lack of transparency from the Biden administration, the continuing inability of the Justice Department to hold people accountable and the full realization that we now have a two-tiered justice system, it is no surprise that many of us no longer trust the federal government.  They have wrecked their credibility.

Those Balloons

 It seems that one of the balloons shot down last week may have been launched from a hobby club  in Illinois.  I shit you not.

UFO Shot Down Over Canada Probably Belonged To Hobby Group From Illinois

They are a hobby group.  They launch little $12 balloons.   Put a tracking device in them, then track them as they fly, It's something to do on the weekend.

The Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade spoke with Aviation Week, which says the circumstantial evidence is strong that it was their balloon shot down by NORAD, a partnership between the U.S. and Canada to monitor the skies that’s perhaps most famous for tracking Santa Claus. The U.S. was on heightened alert at the time, after a Chinese spy balloon was spotted by civilians in Billings, Montana before it crossed the entire continental U.S. and was finally shot down over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4.

Heh.  NORAD spent $400K to shoot down a club balloon.  Oops.  Much more at the link.

Playing with a Dash Cam

Second son gave me a dash cam for Christmas, and after a while I started to play with it.  

It's fairly fool-proof, as I can attest.  Basically, when you plug it in and start the car, it starts recording.  When you turn off the car, it quits recording.  That is just exactly what I wanted it to do.  It saves little one-minute videos on an SD card.

It records audio, but I turned that off for the purposes of this video.  Y'all don't need to hear my running commentary against the talk radio show I was listening to.  I'm dipping my toe into dash cam use, but I think this thing may be a lot of fun.

RIP, Raquel

 It seems that Raquel Welch has died at age 82.  She was an actress, icon, sex symbol and all-around class act.  The younger set may not recognize her name, but in the 60s and 70s there was not a bigger name in Hollywood.  

Dereliction

 We learn today from PJ Media that the US Supreme Court will decide whether or not to hear a case about the duty of elected leaders to safeguard the electoral system.

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) will consider for a second time whether to hear Raland J. Brunson v. Alma S. Adams, a case that alleges Congress had a duty to investigate claims of fraud and impropriety in the 2020 national election, and that member votes against doing so amounted to treason. While some of the reasoning and suggested remedies in the complaint seem hyperbolic, it is aimed at accountability for those in leadership positions who are derelict in their duty to protect the American electoral system from manipulation.

This might get interesting. 

Something Going On With Blogger

 Something is going on with Blogger.  It's not giving me normal paragraph spacing or blockquote spacing.

We'll work through it and see if we can fix it.

7.62 x 51 vs .308 Win

Widener's has an article talking about the differences between the venerable .308 Winchester and the much beloved 7.62 x 51 NATO cartridge.

I've been a big fam of the .308 Winchester for many years.  And a big fan of the military variant.  It's a great cartridge, and I consider them interchangeable.  The differences can be most accurately attributed to small manufacturing issues than it can to design differences.

I did chuckle when I read this:

Though you can safely shoot 7.62×51 through modern .308 rifles, it’s wise to have a gunsmith check the headspace in your 7.62 NATO rifle before using it to fire .308 rounds. Many newer rifles probably won’t have an issue. But, as they say, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

The .308 Win was designed in 1952 and the 7.62 was adopted in 1954.  I don't think we'll find any antique rifles chambered in either of these cartridges.  Hence, they are all modern rifles.

I do recall that back in the early 80s the government released a batch of 7.62 into the surplus market.  It was made by Lake City in 1968 and we soon learned that it was spectacularly uniform. Wonderfully accurate, we simply could not build or buy bett3er ammo than Lake City 68.  It was magnificent, and fairly cheap.  We bought as much as we could carry.

What Was It?

 The F-16 pilot who took down the object over Lake Huron says he wouldn't call it a balloon.  According to t the Daily Mail.

'I wouldn’t really call it a balloon': Cockpit audio reveals F-16 pilots who shot down octagon shaped object over Lake Huron did NOT know what it was - as Pentagon says $400k Sidewinder missile that missed target landed 'harmlessly' in water..

 I don't know why they haven't come out with the gun camera footage.  That might answer a lot of the public's questions.  This administration doesn't want to answer questions.  Transparency means nothing to them.

Those Balloons

 It's been a bizarre couple of weeks.  First, a citizen happens to notice an object in the sky over Montana.  He takes pictures, sends them to the local news outlet, and suddenly we have a Chinese spy balloon.  Biden catches hell for it, and they decide to shoot it down near Myrtle Beach, He's embarrassed about the whole scenario.

This week we shoot down three more.  What's up with that?

Well, evidently, NORAD cranked up the sensitivity on their radars.  Now they are finding the damned things everywhere. And, the Air Force is taking war shots over the North American continent.

Cranking up the sensitivity means they see a lot more stuff.  Like Canada geese, or the Snow geese that come down from the north each winter.  Some of those geese have been spotted at 29,000 feet.  Well in the range of commercial aviation.  Which is probably why the sensitivity was low in the first place.  Geese fly with the airplanes.  They squawk, sure enough, but they don't have transponders.

The job at NORAD just got a whole lot tougher.

US shoots down third 'object' after initial Chinese spy craft

This makes four.  Myrtle Beach, Alaska, Yukon, now Lake Huron.  Four times in eight days.

Sunday Morning Dawg

 He finally made it to the groomers this week, but naturally a cool front came through,.  He was shivering like a frozen dawg, so Belle put a sweater on him.

Minute of Mae: U.S. "Enfield" 1917

History aside, my experience with the 11917 Enfield came in the 1980s.  My first father-in-law had one that survived the war and was sporterized later when the rifles came out as surplus.  The rear sight was removed, the upper handguard went away.  It was drilled and tapped for scope mounts and the stock was chopped down.  Whoever did the work did a good job, because I had a bit of trouble identifying it until he told me what it was.  The bore was excellent and he took his deer with it, along with the occasional varmint.

When he died, it was passed down to a son, and I hope that it is still serving the family.  While we tend to cringe at such things today, the fact is that thousands of these rifles were released into the civil markets after the war and served as deer rifles for the greater public.  I once passed on a sporterized 1903 Springfield on the side of the road.  We were hunting and a guy stopped his truck and offered it for the sum of $75.00.   I didn't have that much cash in my pocket, and he drove off with it.  Probably heading to a pawn shop.

Third 'unidentified object' shot down over North America

A third one?  Jeez, is everyone launching balloons?

This Is Why

 This is why I built an indoor range.

After two days of beautiful weather, it's going to rain on us today.  But, the range is indoors and we'll be okay.

Another Object Down

Fox News is reporting that the US Air Force has shot down another "object" over Alaska. Yee-Haw.

I wonder if the Air Force is giving credit for shooting down balloons?  Does it count for Ace?

Prepping

 We will be prepping today for the club's first ever jackpot shoot.  Many of our shooters are retired rodeo cowboys and they understand a jackpot match.  Everyone throws money into a hat and winner takes a portion of it.  The club decided to divide the jackpot where the winner gets half, second place gets 35% and third place gets 15%.  The club will not cut the pot, and that means we are doing a full payout.

It looks like it's going to be a lot of fun.  We have two shooters in town from Nevada and they want to shoot, and we have three shooters coming from our parent club in Texas, so we can claim shooters from three states.  Not too shabby for a piddling little club shoot.  The club members are excited about it,

There is not much going on in CFDA during February, with the big matches beginning in March.  This will be a good warm-up for the competition season.  If it is successful, we might make it an annual event.

I Didn't Watch It

 It seems that Biden's TV rating for his SOTU speech were really bad.

It looks like Americans just aren’t that into watching Joe Biden speak. A mere 27.3 million people bothered to watch his second State of the Union address on television, which is “the second smallest audience for the annual event in at least 30 years,” according to Nielsen.

That’s a drop of nearly 28% from the 38.2 million tuned in to his State of the Union in 2022.

For comparison, according to Nielsen, Donald Trump’s second State of the Union address in 2019 received 46,789,000 television viewers.

The speech was entirely predictable.  If his lips are moving, he's lying. I didn't watch it.  THe clips I"ve seen were enough to convince me that I made the correct decision.

Nord Stream 2

 Did Joe Biden order the US Navy to blow up the Nord Stream 2 pipeline?  Lots of people think so.

Tucker Carlson talks about it here.

The article by investigative reporter Seymour Hersh is here.  It's a pretty good read.

The White House says it never happened.  Sure.

Shortages Continue

 Belle and I have noticed that there seems to be a shortage of bagged cat food.  Last week, the Dollar store had very little, as did Wally-world.  Really?

An hour ago, I was at the grocers and they had no instant mashed potatoes.  Don't feel sorry for me, I know how to make mashed potatoes, and there were plenty of spuds in the produce aisle.  But, instant mashed potatoes can be used for lots of things, and I try to keep a box handy.

It seems like for the past two years we've been dealing with localized product shortages of one kind or another.  We can blame it on a lot of things, but over the past two years, the one constant has been Joe Biden and his lackluster cabinet officials.  These are Joe's shortages.

For lunch today, I intend to serve smothered hamburger patties with mashed potatoes.  So, it's time to peel some spuds.  If you will excuse me.

State of the Union

 What can Joe say about the state of the union tonight?  What success can he trumpet?  Let's review, shall we?

Gas prices -  The last gasoline I bought under Trump was $1.97.  It's hovering around $3.00 now.  Utter failure.

Inflation - Under Trump, less than 2%.  Under Biden, over 6% and we're looking at recession.  Utter failure.

Our Military - Disastrous Afghan withdrawal.  And now he is raping our war stocks to send to Ukraine.  Utter failure.  Lloyd Austin is still in charge.

National Security - Chinese spy balloon.  Utter failure.

The Southern Border. - Utter failure.   Montana is reporting cartel incursions.   Unbelievable.

Transportation - Supply shortages.   Mayor Pete.  Need I say more?

In short, Joe has nothing to brag about.  The state of the union is scary under his watch.

When “The Balloon” Comes South

Feral Hogs

 Some folks are waking up to the fact that feral hogs are a problem.

I've known this for years.  Feral hogs have been a problem in Louisiana for years.  Hunting camps routinely shoot any pigs that they see, in an attempt to control the numbers.  Depending on what they have been eating, feral pig might be a fine meal.  The hogs we find in our piney woods normally eat a lot of pinecones, and they taste like pinecones.  I won't eat a piney-woods rooter.  If I wanted my meat to taste like turpentine, I'd use it as a baste.

The thing that most folks don't realize is that a big pig might be considered dangerous game.  A big pig will hurt you, given the opportunity.

Some folks might also wonder what the best caliber for big pig is.  While most deer-caliber cartridges are suitable, you want something that penetrates.  All that having been said, the biggest pig I ever took (he bottomed-out a 350 lb scale) was taken with one shot from a .22 LR.  It was a one-shot kill and the hardest part of that hunt was loading him in the truck.

I'm just sayin'.

Doomsday

 Turning our eyes from the drama of the Chinese balloon, we turn to more mundane matter.  Flooding.  Anyone who has lived through a flood knows how devastating it can be, but it seems that some are worried that Miami might flood.

The Miami-Dade County government has some clever mapping tools to help people visualize the impending climate risks—rising seas, swelling groundwater, flooded buildings. But too much detail can distract from the bigger picture: Miami is drowning.

There is that problem, but people are not nailed to the ground.  They can move, and many folks like living in Miami.  We face the same problems here in Louisiana.  New Orleans, for example, is below sea lavel.  Much of the time it is below the level of the Mississippi river.  They choose to live there, much like the folks choose to live in Miami.

For years I lived in a flood zone.  I chose to live there.  I loved it there.  The middling threat of flooding was outweighed by the other attributes of the land.  Eventually, my life changed, and I moved from there. Nowadays, I live atop a tall ridge.  If this place floods, there will be a lot of people around treading water.  That would be a disaster.

People, generally, will do the right thing, based on their own unique circumstances.  Some folks like living in a swamp.  Others don't.

Transparent Failure

 So, now that we have watched the epic failure of the Biden Administration over the drama of the spy balloon, we need to ask a few questions.  Its remains lie across the ocean bottom off the Carolina coast, reportedly in 45 feet of water, and the Navy will soon be sending a salvage crew out to gather the wreckage.

No one told us about it until a citizen in Montana happened to notice it and took some good photos. The Biden administration was like "Yeah, we knew it was there.  We've been tracking it for a while."  Yet, they didn't bother to tell the rest of us.  Very transparent.  Joe told reporters that he ordered the Pentagon to shoot it down, but they wanted to wait until it was over water.

From what I've read, it came in over Alaska, then traversed western Canada, thence into the lower 48.  A quick check this morning tells me that Elmendorf AFB still has planes.  Why was the balloon allowed to get this far?

The Chinese say that the balloon was a civilian weather balloon that strayed off course.  Sure it was.

We do know that the CCP has paid Hunter a lot of money, with 10% for The Big Guy.  So, it is fair to assume that Joe has already been paid for his silence.  We can add this drama to the long list of military failures under Biden's watch.  The larger question is whether this drama was an accident, or by design?

Sunday Morning Dawg

 Low resolution, taken at dusk.  He has a grooming appointment for Tuesday, and we'll be able to tell one end from the other.

Chinese spy balloon shot down over the Atlantic Ocean

Looks like it is coming down off the Carolina coast.  It will be interesting to see if we can recover the sensor package.

Explosion

People are reporting and the government is silent about what sounded like a large explosion in the skies over Montana late yesterday. 

Did they shoot it down?

Edit and Update**  Whatever the explosion was, it wasn't the spy balloon.  Fox News is reporting that the spy balloon is currently loitering over Missouri.  I'm sure that it is hoovering up lots of data.

Spy Baloon?

 Evidently, there was a balloon drifting over Montana.  A Chinese balloon.  Whut?

WASHINGTON – A Chinese spy balloon has been spotted drifting over the northern United States, and Pentagon officials have considered shooting it down, Defense Department officials said late Thursday.

Okay, so why not just shoot it down?

 The decision not to shoot down the balloon was made because of concerns that debris could injure Americans on the ground or destroy property, according to a senior Defense Department official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity

 Okay, this story is officially weird now.

Deployment

 Belle and I went to Quinton's deployment ceremony this morning at Camp Beauregard this morning.  His outfit, the 3673d Support Maintenance Company is headed to Fort Hood for February and heading downrange early in March..  

This will be our last opportunity to see him before he goes wheels-up.  His grandma wanted one last hug before he left.

Godspeed 3673d.  Watch after our troops.

Groundhog Day

 This morning, as is tradition, Puxatawney Phil emerged from his burrow on Gobblers Kob to predict the weather.  He saw his shadow, and we're in for another six weeks of winter.

He wouldn't have seen his shadow in my front yard.  Three days of miserable, misting, cold weather have everyone in a grand funk.  Belle  and I have to get out today, to attend a military ceremony.  Grandson Quinton's unit is taking the first step on a deployment.  They are leaving Camp Beauregard to meet the main body at Jackson Barracks in New Orleans, thence to Fort Hood for pre-deployment training. Eventually, heading to Kuwait.

I am more concerned about him being at Fort Hood during February than I am about him going to Kuwait.  Fort Hood can be miserable this time of year.  Still, he is off on a grand adventure and I wish I were going with them.

Still Winter Storm

 On this first day of February, I got out early as I normally do on the 1st.  I took a non-driving buddy to do his banking and some shopping.  The weather is miserable, rainy, drizzly, with temps in the 30s.  According to the weather-weenies, it will remain so all day long.  Thankfully, no ice in the forecast and this morning the roads were wet, but passable.

Watching weather videos, I feel sorry for my friends in central Texas.  I hope y'all stay warm and safe.  Likewise my buddies in Arkansas.

While running errands this morning, my friend wanted to stop by the smoke shop. While there I noticed a bottle of whiskey I have been wanting to try.  Redbreast 12.

It is what they call a Single Pot Still Irish whiskey, and I understand that it is delicious.  That will have to wait until the weather moderates and I am able to give it a fair assessment.  This morning, I'm sipping hot cocoa and pondering lunch.