Water

 The water system went down for about an hour this afternoon.  Belle and I moved here in 2004 and this is the first time I can recall the water system being down. Once in 21 years is a pretty good track record.

That is good work.  We are on what is called the Buckeye Water System.  They provide water to the northeast corner of Rapides parish and they generally do a good job.  To find a problem on a Sunday afternoon and fix it in an hour is excellent service.  Good job Buckeye Water.

I bet we'll be under a boil advisory.

Dated, but Funny.

Lighting

 I built my shop in 2017. It's a 40 X  50 with 10' eaves.  Full metal construction.  You've driven past a million of them. When designing the electrical wiring, my boys and I consulted and decided to mount  8, 110 volt outlets in the ceiling.  We felt that this would give me lots of options for lighting.

I went down to the Feed N Seed and got some brooder lights.  Low cost, low tech, and screwed some twisty fluorescent tubes into them. That worked great for a while, but after a time, they started to burn out, and while I was at the local electrical supply store, I asked them what was new.

UFO lights, they said. The latest and greatest.  High bay application, plug and play.  So, I bought one for $150.00.  Lots of light, lots of bright.  Warranted for five years.  Those florescent tubes continued to burn out, and I went to Amazon to see if I could do better than the $150 UFO lights.

Sure enough, I found these.  A two pack for ~$50.  So, I ordered two packs  Four lights in the door for about $100.  This morning, I got out the ladder and tempted fate, climbing up to the ceiling. Took down the old lights, bung up the new lights and plugged them in.

These things are made in China, and I'd rather buy American, but for ~$25 apiece, it's hard to justify going down to the electrical supply and paying $150.  If I need them, I still have the brooder lights.

June 26, 1876

 I am reminded that on this day in 1876, General Terry entered the Little Bighorn valley and found the spot where Custer was defeated.  Several miles awa he found the remnants of the 7th Cavalry, where Reno and Benteen had mounted a defense and successfully repelled subsequent attacks.

Every cavalry officer since then has come to look at the decisions made and have come to their own conclusions.  My conclusion is that several officers were wrongly judged and that one of the true heroes of that battle was an Army contract surgeon, Dr. Porter , who established an aid station on Reno hill and saved many lives.

Now, if you will excuse me, I have a project to complete.

Geese

 The flock of Canada geese that summered over is getting bigger.  The hatchlings are starting to take on the primary coloration of the breed,

This photo was taken yesterday and I mowed today.   I didn't see the geese today, but they generally don't hang around when the machines are making noise.

Opposition

 The opposition in Iran is led by the son of the deceased Shah, Reza Pahlavi. He claims to want to see Iran be free and democratic.  Toward that goal, he seems to be cajoling the Iranian people to reject the mullahs and turn away from extremism.

I wish him all the luck.  The Iranian people deserve better than the mullahs.

Source here.

That Sentry

 We've all been there, sentry at a remote post in the middle of the night. You can hear minimal traffic out on the main highway.  If you are lucky, you have some help.  Maybe another private, or a low ranking sergeant.  But he's asleep in the guard shack.

If you are in the Iranian Army, you are wondering why someone posted you at a place called Fordow. Something about the nuke program, all you know is that it's top secret and your relief should be here at daylight. It's still dark and relief is still several hours away.  Then you hear a sizzling sound, a thud, then a dull explosion. Then another, and another, and another.  Then you think maybe it is time to wake up the sergeant.

You hope they don't blame it on you.  Nobody came through the gate. The gate is still secure.

Transition

 As the Islamic Republic continues to be hammered by Israeli jets, it seems that the Crown Prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, has announced a transition to a democratic government. He is in Paris, so it's hard to know when he will get to Tehran.  There is still a lot of work to be done, but he is premising a democratic government, a separation of church and state, and fair trials to the Islamists.  We'll see how that works out for him.

I would love to see a democratic, parliamentarian style government in Iran. But I'm realistic enough to know that won't happen this week.  I also feely admit that I was surprised to see the Berlin Wall come down in such a hurry.

Knob Noster

 About an hour from where Belle's daughter lives in Missouri is a little town called Knob Noster.  The home of Whiteman AFB, it must be a great place to live.  And a poor place to get TDY.  I don't know how Air Force bomber crews handle it.  For example.

Yesterday, these fools loaded up, flew to Iran, bombed the crap out of it.  Then turned around a flew home. If it was me, an old cavalry trooper, I would have been tempted to have engine trouble somewhere over... I dunno... Italy.  Maybe found a place to eat pasta.

Not these crews.  No, hell no. They flew back to Knob Noster. I've been to Knob Noster, and there isn't much to recommend it. Nice Base Exchange, small commissary. I believe I would have stopped in Italy, or Spain maybe. Or, the Azores?  I hear it's nice in the Azores. Not these crews, we're going to Knob Noster.

Well done, Air Force.

Kudos also to the submariners who showed then how to launch a  targeted missile strike.  Well done!

Crimson Trace

 That new revolver, my new EDC, came to my hand with a Crimson Trace laser grip.

The revolver itself is one I've been looking at for quite a while.  A Smith and Wesson Model 60 in .357 Magnum with the 3" barrel.  Adjustable rear sight, Crimson Trace grips. I'm no stranger to the Model 60 in particular and J-frames in general, having carried them on-and-off for 40 years.

I'm one of those old curmudgeons who think that revolvers are still relevant in the self-defense world. I'm also of the opinion that the most beautiful revolver ever produced is the old Colt Navy.  Sleek lines, beautiful in concept, it is a stunningly beautiful revolver.  I think that the Smith and Wesson classic revolvers come in at a close 2nd place.  This is NOT to say that I hold semiautos in disdain. Quite the contrary, I am an acolyte of John Moses Browning, and I think that Gaston Glock makes some fine pistols.  But, they ain't as pretty as a classic revolver.

I am old enough to t remember when Marshall and Sanow did their research and came to the conclusion that the best caliber to stop a gunfight was the .357 magnum. Specifically, Federal's 125 grain load. I have no wish to get into a gunfight, but if I have to, I choose to go old-school with a caliber known for winning gunfights.

Back to that laser grip.  The biggest problem that most shooters face is trigger control. The sights must stay aligned with the target during the firing sequence. A bit of dry fire with a laser will show a shooter where the problem lie. If you can't keep that laser on the target through the trigger squeeze, then the sights won't be on the target when the bullet leaves the muzzle.

I've been doing quite a bit of dry fire lately, and the trigger squeeze is getting a lot better.

Chaos in Tehran

 The war is going very badly for the Iranian government, which is to say it is going very well for everyone else. The ability of the Israeli Air Force to operate freely over Tehran is increasing and the ability of the IRGC to launch missiles at Israel has been severely degraded.

I've been watching this guy, who seems to be an Iranian living overseas.  His reporting seems to be six or eigh hours ahead of the corporate media.  He reports that the Iranian army is defecting to the opposition, who is aligned with the Crown Prince, the son of the deceased Shah.  It appears that the IRGC has been severely depleted, and the Islamic government is defeated.

Regime change is the dream, but that is and should be the province of the Iranian people.  I would love to see a secular, parliamentarian government in Iran, but that might be a pipe dream.  The simple fact is that the IRGC is going through its death spasm and there will be chaos for a while.

In the US, the news media are idiots, asking the President to reveal whether or not he will bomb Fordom.  Of couse, he tell sthe media that it's a stupid question.  As well it should be.  Let us recall that the Glo bal War on Terror is still a thing, and Iran is the chief exporter of terror in the Middle East.

Memories

 This imag4 popped up on my computer today, and it is one of my favorites.  That is my Belle, dressed in what I call Country Elegant. A well-dressed lady with a friendly smile.  Confident, poised, graceful, she could be at a backyard barbeque, a church social or a town festival.  From the top of her head to the tips of her boots, she exudes charm and friendliness.  Oh, wait... she's wearing a single-action revolver.

Yep, that's my Belle.  She knows how to use that revolver, too.  This picture was taken in 2021 and the Kansas State Championship.

Renaming Army Posts

 Renaming Army posts was silly when they did it in 2023, and it's probably silly now.  Fort Johnson will be returned to Fort Polk, Along with Lee, Rucker, Gordon, and several others.

Fort Cavasas will go back to being Fort Hood, this time renamed after some WW1 colonel.  Okay.  I still think that the Army missed a sure bet by not naming it Fort Seguin in the first place.

For those who don't know who Juan Seguin was, he was a true Texas patriot, a military and political leader, and probably the only man to serve both at the Alamo under Travis and at San Jacinto under Houston. They should have named that post Seguin from the beginning.

As for Polk, they could name it Fort Armpit, or Camp Swampy for all I care.  I served there a lot in the 80s and 90s and never did like the place.

Network Down

 This morning, I made a call at 0913 that went through.  About 1300 I went to town to run errands.  At the grocers, I was told that their networks were down, and they were accepting cash only.  At another vendor, I was told the network was down, and an employee told me that her husband worked at a nearby federal prison, and all their networks were down.  Interesting.

I tried to text Belle and call her phone.  Nothing works.  That's weird, even in a hurricane, if voice doesn't work, we can generally get a text message through.  Evidently, something has seriously gone sideways at AT&T.  We're still connected through the cable modem, and the TV works, so that's something.  But,I wonder what happened to AT&T?

Over the Weekend

 I got distracted this weekend with the Isreal/Iran thing, and a club meeting, and family on Father's Day.

Completely forgot about that asshole in Minnesota who posed as a cop and started shooting local lawmakers. It looks like they caught him after a pretty intense manhunt and he's due in court today to start answering for his crimes. Initially, we were concerned that he was a MAGA because he was shooting Democrats, but that seems not to be the case.

The cops found a manifesto in his car, and they haven't released that.  Believe me, if the guy was a right-winger, that manifesto would be all over the news.  Listening to the news this morning, it seems that the guy was a registered Republican, but he had been appointed to some bullshit board by Governor Walz. If I understood that correctly.  At any rate, this guy seems to be simply a garden-variety nutjob. Not MAGA, not conservative.

In other news, I did get a new-to-me revolver this weekend.  A sweet little J-frame and we'll be talking more about that later. I've owned... I dunno, a half-dozen J-frames in my lifetime, and I've given them all away. Younger son took pity on me and gifted me one that he no longer uses. In the initial inspection I noted that it does not have a hammer-mounted firing pin. I thought that was odd, as all my Smiths have the firing pin mounted on the hammer.  A little research tells me that Smith made the switch circa 2015 to frame-mounted firing pins. That helps date the little gun to a fairly new revolver.

I have a holster on order from Simply Rugged.  Let me get the holster and become more familiar with the little gun and we'll talk about it more later.

Watching the Middle East

 Like many of you, I'm watching the turmoil in the Middle East, as Israel exacts retribution on Iran..  From what I've seen, Isreal has launched a series of precise surgical strikes on Iran, targeting military and IRGC leadership and command structure, along with the nuclear enrichment facilities.

As I understand it this morning, the leadership of the Iran Republican Guard Corps (IRGC) has been decapitated from at least two layers. Many of the top nuclear scientists are assassinated, and the head mullah, the Supreme Leader has fled the country and is in Mecca.  

Whereas the Israeli strikes have been precise and surgical, the Iranian response has been to launch area weapons toward Israel, targeting metropolitan areas.  The Houthis have chimed in, but their targeting is even worse than the Iranians.  I understand that some Houthi missiles have hit Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and most recently, have fallen into the West Bank, killing Palestinians. The Houthis are a side-show, if a lethal one.

At some point, Iran is going to run out of missiles. The end-game is not yet upon us yet, but we can hope that is is closer than it was two days ago.  The Iranian military is being systematically decapitated, the mullahs are in hiding, and the Mossad sleeper cells in Iran have been awakened.

The timing is most interesting.  The American team who was conducting talks with Iran had given them 60 days to come up with a plan to end their nuclear ambitions.  The Israelis struck on day 61. That sends a powerful message to not ignore deadlines. When America gives you a drop-dead date, ignore it at your peril.

Stryker

     A new bottle of whisky, courtesy of my daughter and son-in-law. Stryker, a Texas single malt from the Andalusia Whisky Company.  Three years old and bottled at 100 proof.  The heat in Texas does good things to whisky.

It's billed as a smoky whiskey, and I admit that I took a taste right out of the neck of the bottle. I'm intrigue.  Not sure what they smoked the grain with.  Maybe mesquite?  I'm not sure, but the flavors that bounced off my tongue were interesting. I'll have to try this in a Glencairn or maybe in a rocks glass over a little ice. This one ain't a mixer, it's a sipper.

250 Years

 Happy Birthday, US Army.

Bats

 It's common for me to go outside on the back porch and enjoy a cocktail in the evening.  Recently, about the time the afternoon sky loses its luminosity and the neighbors' dusk-to-dawn light comes on, I'm seeing little creatures up across the sky.  Darting, turning, aerobatic creatures, doing impossible flights over the yard.

Bats.  We have bats.  Cool.   Occasionally, when they zoom close to the neighbors' light, I'll catch a flash of brown. Small critters, the common brown bat.  I've lived here for over 20 years and I've never seen bats. Yet, there they are.  I don't know if someone nearby has put up a bat house, or if they have just decided to take up residence.  It doesn't matter.  They are welcome hang out around here.

Senator Padilla is an Asshole

 So, did you see today that DHS Secretary Kristi Noeem was giving a press conference and some asshole comes charging in,, creating a disturbance.  The security detail pushes him out of the room, face-lants him in the hall, and applies the cuffs.  Just like they should have.  You can see the clip here.

Turns out, this asshole is a US Senator, Alex Padilla from California, and he's all butt-hurt about the troops restoring order in Los Angeles.  Now, this asshole is all like, "If this is the way they treat US Senators"

No, dickhead, this is the way they treat assholes who don't identify themselves and disrupt press conferences where the DHS Secretary is speaking.

Alex Padilla, the senator from California, is a dickhead, a complete asshole, and deserves to be treated just like he was treated.  He's a California Democrat and deserves that kind of treatment every day.  Just for being a dickhead and an asshole.

Thunberg Theatrics

 Greta Thunberg, the climate activist, staged another misbegotten stunt, this time to take a relief mission into Gaza.  She and a bunch of likewise underwhelming activists got on a sailing vessel and tried to sail to Gaza to mount a "relief mission". This ill-advised journey was predicably met by Israeli naval forces who boarded the boat and shut down the thing.

Thunberg and crew were taken into custody, processed and deported.  She, on a flight to France.  She is perpetually outraged, but this is the best possible outcome for her little misguided cruise.

What might have happened had she actually beached the boat on the Gaza shore?  One distinct possibility would be that she would be taken captive by the terrorist, forced to wear a burka, and put to work giving "comfort" to the brave Palestinian fighters.  A 22-year-old blonde?  Or, she may have simply been sold to the highest bidder.

At any rate, the Israelis did her a huge favor.  She should be eternally grateful.

New Knife

 I'm one of those guys who carries a pocket knife every day.  Since high school, I've had a knife in my pocket.  Back when we were living on the farm, it was necessary for cutting baling twine and opening feed bags.  I still open the occasional feed bag, for the cats or the dog, but today my knife is more often used to open Amazon boxes.

The knife I have carried for the past 15 years was getting worn. The spring had broken out of the bolster and opening it was sometimes an iffy proposition. It was time for a new knife, so I went to Amazon because I knew what I wanted.

A Case Sod Buster. It's a good knife with nice steel, easy to sharpen.  The handle is as smooth as a lightly used car of soap, no sharp edges to damage the pocket.  At this stage of my life, it is the perfect gentleman's pocket knife.  Nothing fancy, nothing outrageous, just a simple bit of steel to open bags and boxes.  The price is right, too, at about $35.00.

It's a great design, it's been in production for over 50 years, and there is a reason for that.

Ordering Primers

 The big match has been over for two weeks, and I'm just about done putting stuff away. It doesn't matter how closely you plan or organize, when the math is over and the trailer is being loaded, at some point, you're just throwing stuff in boxes.

The first few days after the shoot was spent sorting boxes. Extension cords in one box, Cat5 cable into another. S-hooks back into another box. Untangling the Caat5 cable and coiling them neatly.  You get the idea. Putting stuff away, storing things, then begin the process of putting together the home range.

Inventory.  I'm about out of primers.  We go through a lot of shotshell primers in this silly game we play and I'm down to about 4000 in stock.  So, it's time to call the vendor and order 20K, which is my standard order.  I buy for the club and re-sell to the members at cost.

I can remember a time, not so long ago, that I could get primers shipped to my door for $20/1000. It's not like that anymore, although it has come down considerably from the $80/1000 that it was during the Covid debacle.

Los Angeles Burning

 I see that the migrants are rioting, for whatever reason.  I doubt that they are rioting for the reason advertised. Some riot out of misplaced anger, others just show up to watch the spectacle. Either ay, it's dumb. Like a child throwing a tantrum.  

If the mayor of Los Angeles had used half the energy she uses to protect migrants and used it instead on fire prevention, Los Angles might not have burned to the ground last year. The governor o that great state is useless.

Frankly, I'm tired of hearing about migrants. I'm a grandson of migrants, like most of the nation.  I know current, first-generation migrants who did it right. I have lots of admiration for those who did it right and absolutely no sympathy for those who snuck in illegally, or who rushed the border under Biden.

I'm really tired of hearing about the plight of the poor migrant. I didn't ask them to come here.  If they don't like it, they can go home.  If they are here illegally, they should be sent home. Either as a family, or alone.  I care not. Sympathy falls in the dictionary between shit and syphilis..

M3 and M3A1 Grease Gun SMGs

One of my favorite military weapons, I was issued an M3A1 in 1976 when I took over my tank platoon at Fort Knox.  I qualified with it as a personal weapon.  Crude, unbelievably simple, it matched my personality completely.  It was also a blast to shoot.. 

Produced by GMs Guide Lamp division, for ~$20, it gave a lot of bang for the buck.  I wish I had one in my personal collection.

Yardsticks

 Growing up in Alexandria, LA in the latter half of the 20th century, I remember the old-time lumber yards before Lowes and Home Depot.  In Alexandria, we had Martins and Handyman.  In Natchitoches, it was Natchitoches Lumber. Every small town had a lumber yard.

In each of those places, there were a couple of constants. Somewhere, normally near a cash register, was a barrel full of yardsticks. Complementary yard sticks. If you needed one, take one.  If you needed two, take two. If you grabbed three, they looked at you like you were a thief, and they would talk about you. These yardsticks were advertising with the company mane emblazoned on them, normally with a catchy slogan.

Grandpa had a work bench.  Along one edge, he had routed out a slot and screwed a yardstick into the surface. He also had a supply of yardsticks near the shop door, and the grandkids were forbidden to mess with his yardsticks. They were used for more than measuring. Often for discipline, with the bunch of rowdy boys I called cousins. Many times, if he needed a lath for a project, he would snip a yardstick rather than rip a piece of dimensioned lumber.

Several years ago, when I was working at the school, they were throwing away some old supplies, and part of the discards was a bundle of meter sticks that someone had bought for the curriculum.  I salvaged them from the trash and took then home.  I have used them up, and I miss yardsticks.

There is one old joke about how they are not making yardsticks any longer.  No, they are still 36 inches.

Overlord

 On this day in 1944, Allied forces entered the continent of Europe through the beaches at Normandy. As in all military operations, by the time the ramps dropped in the English channel, the generals had done their planning, the logisticians had obtained supplies and now it was up to the privates, corporals, sergeants and the junior officers.

We all know now that the landings were a success, but only because of the sacrifice of blood from the boys on the beach. Some historical revisionists find it fashionable to say that Overlord was only a sideshow, that Germany was doomed to defeat from the Russians.  There may be some truth to that but Stalin had long begged for a western front, if only to relieve the pressure on his forces in the east.

Overlord was absolutely necessary to extend Allied influence in the postwar period.

Mowing Grass

 Here in central Louisiana, the mowing season starts in March. I refuse to start a lawnmower in February, even if my neighbors choose to engage in such madness. With the wet spring in March, April and May, I have been unable to get into the ditches until today.

I have two close neighbors.  One across the street, one next door. They tend their lawns.  The next-door neighbors lawn looks like a putting green.  Across the street, the lawn looks like a well-tended fairway. My lawn is the rough.  I'm okay with hat.  If Belle doesn't complain, I'm good.

I am reminded that 83 years ago today an outnumbered American fleet surprised Kido Butai north of Midway in the Pacific. At 10:00 that morning, the Japanese fleet was the preeminent naval force in the Pacific.  By dark, it lay shattered on the ocean floor. This afternoon with my evening cocktail, I will raise a toast to McCluskey and Best, along with the sailors of the Yorktown.

We've all seen the movie, and there were a lot of sailors and airmen who did not come back from Midway. When your plane explodes, or your ship sinks beneath you, it doesn't matter if you are an admiral of a non-rated sailor. We need to remember to honor the loss, along with the victory.

Operation Spider’s Web: The Ukrainian Drone Attack, Explained | WSJ News

Did y'all see this?  It looks like Ukraine loaded some drones in commercial shipping containers and had then strategically delivered to Russia.  Then, the remotely launched them and used then to target Russian Air Force assets.

Just dam.  That is inventive.  Why invest in a long-range bomber, when a $5K drone will do the same job, cleaner, cheaper, and with less collateral damage?

Valid Target

 I'm sure by now, you have all heard about the incident in Boulder, CO on Sunday. A group of people meet regularly in Boulder to take a walk on Sunday afternoon in support of the hostages in Gaza.   Not that anyone needs a reason to take a walk on Sunday, but that is as good as any.

Then comes this illegal alien from Egypt, throwing Molotov cocktails. Shouting "Free Palestine". Bare-chested in jeans.  Odd behavior. Twelve people inured.  Youve seen the video. I have some questions.

Why did no one put a bullet into this motherfucker? Bare-chested guy holding a Molotov? Shouting "Free Palestine'? That is the trifecta of self-defense.

From the video I saw, there were several able-bodied males holding phone cameras, taking it all in.  What is up with these pussies? Citizen journalists?  I doubt it. I don't understand a person whose first instinct is to capture and incident on video rather than influence the outcome through personal action. Sure, have one person video it.  Even the Marines do that.  Everyone else should be acting to preserve life.

The police should never have had the opportunity to take this asshole into custody. He should have been dropped by someone with a handgun.

Barbequed Chicken

 Belle told me last night that she has been hankering for some barbequed chicken, and that sounds like a good idea.  I haven't cranked up the charcoal pit in about a year, and it's time.

First order of business this morning was to evict the red wasps that tend to homestead a pit when it is left unattended for months. I gingerly removed some grates, dumped in some charcoal, and lit a fire. That generally accelerates the eviction process. While the wasps were packing, I went to the grocers and picked up two medium fryers. I like a bird running between 3-4 pounds for the process.

Returning home, I got out the poultry shears, spatchcocked the birds and seasoned them well with Tony's seasoning.  They will go on the pit, indirect cooking, in a few minutes.

I'm not a big fan of putting barbeque sauce on chicken, but Belle likes it.  One bird will be sauced, one won't.  We will put together some potato salad and lunch will be served at noon.