Kentucky State

 I went out after seven (7) rounds today, against some of the very best shooters in the nation.  Kentucky State is a who's who for the Eastern side of the nation.  I heard that we had shooters from 20 states represented today.

What amazes me about the CFDA is the camaraderie.  Shooters from all over the US having fun and enjoying each other.  No egos, no outsized personas, just folks having fun.

Motels are another story.  Initially, we had reservations at a Rodeway Inn in Owensboro, KY.  We've had good luck with Rodeway Inn in the past, but this one turned into a hell hole.  We packed up and moved to a motel just south of the shoot.  If anyone is ever in Central City, KY, I recommend the Days Inn whole heartedly.  The breakfast ain't noting to write home about, but there is a Huddle House just across the street.  And a liquor store in the parking lot.

Belle went out in the 6th round, and I went out in the 7th.  There is no reason to hang around southern Kentucky, so we're going to head home in the morning.  I'm sure that the dawg will be thrilled to see us home tomorrow night.

Thursday Morning

 The room is serviceable and clean, the TV and internet works.  The bed is comfortable, but this hotel is not one that we would consider luxurious.  When we got here last night, we noticed a distinct affinity for the Spanish language on the walkway outside the room.  This is an older motel where you drive the car up to the door, and the Mexicans were outside, drinking beer.  

The parking spaces were filled with work trucks.  These guys are worker bees, and all they wanted to do was drink a little beer before bed.  I never felt threatened, neither did Belle.  These folks are just trying to make a living.  But, when I asked about the ice machine, they had to get an interpreter.

Shortly after dawn, we awoke and looked outside.  The work trucks were gone, except for the roofing crews.  It's raining, and roofers don't work in the rain.

We will head out to the range in a bit.  We won't shoot today, the main event begins tomorrow, but Belle and I wanted a day to acclimate.  We'll go out and make sure that all the pre-registration is done.  Visit with or hosts and enjoy the morning.

This is an outdoor event and rain is predicted all weekend.  This shoot exactly illustrates why I personally don't plan outdoor events anymore.  We schedule these things sometimes a year in advance and it is impossible to predict the weather that far out.  Alas, the Kentucky state championship is always the first weekend in September, and it is always outdoors.  The specialized electrons we use cost several thousand dollars for a shoot this size, and it does not work well with rain.

We love these people and we keep coming.  And I keep recommending that the event move indoors.

Kentucky

 We are in Kentucky, for the CFDA State championships.

12 hours on the road today, and I am beat.

Going to Wal Mart

 I should have known better.  That store is virtually un-shoppable

I was looking for drawers.  You know, Men's Boxer-briefs.  Yeah, those.  I thought I knew where they should be, and I was wrong.  I wandered a bit, then found them.  Locked in a case, so I went looking for help.  I couldn't find any help, but walked back tot he locked case.  Found a button.  Pushed same.

A woman showed up with keys, so I asked her, "How long have they been locking up the drawers?"

"Since they started stealing them."

I grabbed a 6-pack of Hanes (I buy underwear like I buy beer) and headed over to the blue jean rack.  I found a pair I liked, and the first pair I picked up (regular ol' Wranglers) were my size.  "That", I thought, "Was too damned easy".

I was right.  It was too damned easy.  I spent the next 30 minutes looking for another pair.  No luck.

So, I headed to the register for the final insult.  Wal Mart had three registers open, which I thought was odd.  But I got behind a woman who could not figure out how to work a debit card.  

I hate Wal Mart.  I'm starting to understand why so many people like Amazon.

Spam Callers

 My buddy, a CFDA club member has a home range in his shop.  He practices fast draw out there so that he can place consistently in club matches. Last week, he reported that he was shooting in his home range when He got a spam call. The conversation went like this.

Phone rings, he answers it.  "Hello"

He listens for a few seconds, determines it it a spam call, then speaks in a frantic tone. " Who are you?  What are you doing in here?  I'll shoot you.  

He then fires two shots into a target.  Pow!  Pow! "Oh, damn.  Look at all that blood"

He says at that point, the call dropped.  Imagine that.

Doing PawPaw Chores

 Several weeks ago, grandson Zach told me that his car wasn't starting properly.  We got it into the shop, and I had a son come over and we could not diagnose the problem. When I, with an ace mechanic stood over the car, it started fine.  The mechanic told me that the starter was the original in the car, and when it finally died, replace the starter.

I remember going to my grandad when I was a stripling youth with mechanical troubles.  He would sigh deeply, put on his shoes and come out to the shop where we would fix whatever was broken on the car.  I remember those days fondly.

Zach drives a 2004 Toyota Corolla that was bought brand-new by my Dad.  He died in 2007 and Mom drove it until they took the keys away.  Now it's Zach's car and he loves it  It's his first car, and we all remember our first car. (Mine was a 1960 Ford Falcon).

Zach came to me today.  His car would not start.  I sighed deeply and went outside to the driveway, where we made room in the garage and pushed his car into it.  Got out some tools, watched a YouTube video and started tearing into it.   In about an hour, we had the starter out, went to the auto store and got a replacement.  While the starter was out, we checked the battery.  Meh.

By the time it was cocktail hour, we had a new starter and battery in the car.  I was pleased to see that his air filter is clean, so he's doing basic maintenance.  He took a shower and now he's off doing whatever it is young men do on a Friday evening.  As for me, I'm having a cocktail and nursing a sore back from pushing a Corolla into the garage.  I think I'll have one more, then go get a shower myself.

That's why this place is named PawPaw's House.  It's all about the grandkids.

In Comments

 As we're remembering Katrina, oddly enough it's raining outside.  A good, old fashoned stump floating rain, I'm looking at comments.

Steve says:

Everyone talks about NO but Katrina didn't actually hit NO. They never had hurricane force winds. Nearly all the damage in NO was due to a defective (due to corruption) levee breaking. The storm actually came ashore in Mississippi and travelled up the middle of the state, destroying almost the southern third of Mississippi.

Yep, you are correct.  Katrina hit New Orleans only as a glancing blow.  They got mild Ct 2 winds.  What killed New Orleans was the lack of planning and a series of levee breaches.  Katrina was a flooding event for New Orleans.  Mississippi got hammered, but the officials there were quick to respond and to begin the rebuilding process.

Bon recalls:

3 things I remember most: 1. Months of finger pointing. 2. Cops looting. 3. The disarming of an old lady in her own home as she was trying to defend herself from the out of control lawlessness.

That is also correct.  Katrina changed Louisiana law in many good ways.  One of the biggest changes was a constitutional amendment making it illegal for cops to confiscate any firearms during a public emergency. The agency can be held liable ad the cops can be held individually liable.

Both the mayor and the police chief were indicted after the disaster, and the NOPD was virtually disbanded. Individual cops were sued and some were jailed.

Remembering Katrina

 Monday morning, August 25, 2005.  A big storm was in the Gulf and they weren't sure where it was going.  The schools were closed and I was sitting home watching the Weather Channel. During the few hours before landfall, it wobbled and looed like it was going to hit Bay St. Louis, MS.  Of course, it was a big storm and the western side of it hit New Orleans.

I was watching the disaster unfold, with pictures of hundreds of school buses, flooded in a large parking lot. The TV went to our governor, Kathleen Blanco, who was crying on national TV and the mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, who was deflecting blame.

I remember telling Belle, "Well, there goes New Orleans."

One of the most iconic images to come out of that tragedy was the fellow stealing beer, who we all called Looter Man.

He's got it going-on.  Waist deep in flood water with a plastic tote of stolen beer.  He's going to a party.

It's been 20 years and I don't know if New Orleans has fully recovered. The governor died of cancer a few years ago, ad Ray Nagin is out of prison.  I understand that he is in New Orleans, still trying to deflect blame

Sixteen Years

 We're learning more about the Minneapolis shooter and what we're learning is disturbing.

He was part of the LBGTQAI community.  He was a full-grown adult and he purchased his firearms legally.

In 2002 our local sheriff spotted a trend and decided to do something about it.  He passed a tax initiative, a one-cent sales tax to fund it.  He promised the voters that he would put a fully qualified in each school in the parish. The tax passed in the spring of the year and the sheriff started identifying deputies to work the schools.  I was one of those deputies selected.

The School Board initially resisted.  To no avail.  The concept had been voted on by the citizens of the parish. We, my fellow School Resource Officers, did not work fort the schools.  We worked for the Sheriff.  We were free to conduct law enforcement to the best of our abilities and training.

In my sixteen years as a school-house cop, no one was seriously injured on my watch.  I  attended a lot of sporting events, wandered the halls of the school, and made a few arrests. Sometimes the principal was happy, sometimes the principal was not.  I didn't work for them.

Would a Resource Officer have made a difference in Minnesota?  We'll never know, will we?  However, having a trained law enforcement officer on scene when the day goes sideways is never a bad thing.