Veterans Day

 Veterans Day.  Yippee.  Originally Armistice Day, to commemorate the end of the Great War, it morphed over the years as a time to celebrate living veterans.  Not to be confused with Memorial Day, which celebrates deceased veterans.

As for myself, I intend to celebrate Veterans Day by staying on my own acre, tending to daily chores.

I am watching the news, and it seems that the newly elected Democrats in Congress want to follow an agenda of retribution rather than the agenda of affordability that they ran on.  Retribution is a poor political motive because the pendulum tends to swing and those in the majority inevitably  find themselves in the minority. What goes around, comes around. I simply believe that the next year will be interesting.

As for myself, I intend to purchase a rifle suppressor fairly quickly.  The window of opportunity has presented itself and may soon close under the new political landscape. Reasonable people may reach the same conclusion.  I may not speak of this again, as silence may help me avoid a tragic boating accident in coming years.

Y'all have a happy Veterans Day.

Battery

 Today Belle's sister came over with her husband and we went to lunch.  We took them to a Mongolian Grill in town and had a nice lunch.  We were in my Honda Odyssey.

My Odyssey is a 2020 model.  It has more bells, whistles and gee-gaws than any vehicle needs.  We got through with lunch and headed for the vehicle.  Climbed aboard, the ladies in the middle row seats.  They  pressed the buttons to close the sliding doors.  The doors closed halfway and stopped.  I got a waring light on the dashboard and then everything went dark.  Deader than Het.

We tried jumping it with a jump-pack and with jumper cables.  Two deputies from a sister parish tried to help to no avail.  Luckily, Grandson Zach was at home, so we called him to come pick up his grandmother while I assessed the situation.  He took his grandma and his aunt home, then returned with tools.  We snatched the battery, went to a parts house, paid the toll and installed the new battery.

I'm home now, poorer, but I have a ne battery in the Odyssey, so I should be good for this winter.  I bought that vehicle in April 2020 and this is the first battery I put in it.

Once the new battery was installed and the car started, I did have to go through some opening ceremonies. For example, it wanted to know if I wanted miles per hour or kilometers per hour.  I opted for mph, because that is consistent with my experience.  One thing that I did learn is that when the battery dies, nothing, absolutely nothing n the car works.  Not the sliding doors, not the tailgate. Those locks are electric. You can't put the vehicle in neutral, the transmission is electric.

That's how I spent my Tuesday afternoon.  How was y'all's?

Water Heater, Redux

 Y'all might recall a couple of weeks ago, the water heater in the shop went out.  It was a small 4-gallon tank heater.  White I was cussing and fretting, Belle went to Amazon and started searching.  We went with a small on demand heater.  I admit that I didn't do the research.  After it was installed, it gave hot water, but it would trip te breaker when I pulled on it hard.  After a couple or resets, I pulled out the specs and learned that it needed a 30-amp breaker.  The circuit it wired with a 20-amp breaker.  Well hell.

I checked with my electrician, and he wasn't sure if we had installed 10-gauge or 12-gauge wiring on that circuit.  So, not wanting to burn the shop down I did some more research.  I spent the money and bought another 4-gallon thank heater from Amazon.  This one.  It will give me four gallons of hot water and only draws 12 amps., which is okay on a 20-amp circuit.

Installation was easy.  It took me 45 minutes, but a good plumber could have done it in 10.  It sits under the sin, plugs into a 120v outlet and gives me hot water for the dishes. If it lasts as long as the first one, it will be a win.

Running Errandds

 I went to Holloway this morning.  Holloway is and unincorporated crossroads down the road from the house.  There is a barber shop there.  An old style, single chair barber shop.  A haircut is $20.  This morning, the conversation was politics, weather, and Houston, TX.  Go figure.  They were trying to figure out if Houston was the 4th largest metro in the US, or if it had been surpassed by DFW?

No one brought out a cell phone, no one tried to Google.  No one in there was under 65 years old.  Just a bunch of old men on a sunny Thursday morning.

After the barber sup, into town to the grocers to try and figure out what we're doing or lunch.  I'll fry a mixed bag for lunch, some taquitos, some chicken strips and some egg rolls.  This time of year is my favorite for cooking.  The cool temps let me do things that the hot August weather forbids.  Tomorrow it will be a beef stew.  Basic, with potatoes and carrots.

The politics of the midterms don't bother me, as most Presidents get a shellacking during the midterms.  I've seen this before.  The pendulum is always swinging.  Sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right, but always moving.  Life goes on.

Wow

 Congress changed hands last night, and not by a small margin.  Come January, the Democrats will be fully in charge.  Michigan elected a socialist and Texas turned purple.  That seems to be the over-arching result.

Louisiana elected Julia Letlow to replace Bill Cassidy.  It was not a forgone conclusion as Democrat Jamie Davis ran a credible race, getting within two points of Letlow. It was a near thing.

The House races are another thing entirely.  Predictably, Democrat Troy Carter won his race out of New Orleans.  That was no surprise.  Republicans Mike Hohnson, Steve Scalise, and Cla y Higgins won easily.  Two House districts are in a runoff situation.  Both the 5th and 6th districts will have final elections in December.  I live in the 5th District, which is trying to flip from D to R.  Generally, December elections in Louisiana are low turnout, so the candidates will have to have a good ground game to get their voters to the polls.  

The next two years are going to be interesting and the 2028 Presidential race starts today.

Election Time

 Tomorrow is a state holiday in Louisiana.  The schools are closed and the mail won't run. The polls will be open, though. Tomorrow is the last day for voting in Louisiana.  Early voting was several weeks ago and mail-in ballots are due no later than COB today.  

The Democrats are hoping for a blue wave that will flip the House and the Senate.  We'll see. They have the history of the midterms, but several of their candidates are batshit crazy.  Here in Louisiana we have a machine Republican that not a lot of people are happy with, versus an old-style Democrat.  The Democrat is a farmer from North Louisiana.  The Republican is a white woman; the Democrat is a black man. It is an interesting conjunction, and many people say that the race is close. 

I voted early, which is a lot easier than going to the poll on voting day. I'll be watching tomorrow, paying attention to Michigan, Texas, Alaska and Louisiana. Will Congress change hands tomorrow?

Opening Day

 Hereabouts it is opening day for the rifle season for whitetail deer.  Most deer clubs have one iron-clad rule.  If you see a hog, you put it down.  Feral hogs are an invasive species that we have to control.  Grandson Lucas was on the stand this morning and had a hog walk out on him.  Bang, flop.

Hid Dad tells me that it is 135 pounds.  It will be used, mainly as filler for ground venison unless the hog has been eating pinecones.  Hogs that eat pinecones taste like turpentine.  If the meat is edible, they will use it.

For the record, the rifle is a commercial Mauser 98 that I picked up in 2024.  This is his third season with it, and it has accounted for several whitetail deer.  Today, it accounted for pork.  The caliber?  6.5 Swede, of course.

Vehicles

 Grandson Lucas has been asking me about military vehicles I was familiar with, so I thought it would be a good time to put together some links that he could review when he had questions. My military service spanned from 1973-1998, post-Vietnam and Cold War with one very exhilarating time during Desert Storm.  So, lets talk about some of the vehicles we used.  My list will be those that I am intimately familiar with.

Transport.

M151, Truck, Utility, 1/4 Ton. - This was the "Jeep" of my era. Ubiquitous to the Army, this little vehicle went everywhere. Fun to drive, rugged, dangerous.  The driver sat on the gasoline tank and the vehicle was known for rolling over in a turn.  Produced until 1988, it was supplanted by the HMMWV.

M998, HMMWV.  The Hummer.  Both beloved and despised by my generation, it serves the Army today. I was issued one in 1996 and kept it until I retired in 98.  Mine would run down the road at 55 mph and was as nimble as a mountain goat.   We never stuck it, although we took it into some sketchy places.  Mine was the soft-top with no armor.  Canvas doors and a radio. It got me where I needed to go, and always brought me home.

M39 series, 5 ton, 6x6 truck.  Also known as the M54, this beast was the prime mover for the Army the entire time I was in service. This thing hauled troops, food, medicine, ammo, and fuel. It was the primary hauler between the logistics base and the troops in the field.

Armored Vehicles

M113 Armored Personnel Carrier. If you were in the Army during Vietnam or the Cold War, you knew what these were. It carried a squad of infantry. They were everywhere. I spent many a miserable hour in these damned things. The suspension was terrible. The seats were uncomfortable and the back ramp would fall on you and kill you. 'Nuff said.  It beat walking.

M60 series tank.  My first tank was an M60A1.  I got it in 1975 when I was assigned to Charlie Company, 4th Battalion, 37th Armor at Fort Knox, KY. According to the log boo, that tank was built by the Chrysler Corporation in 1963. It had a 105mm rifled tube, no stabilization and a coincidence range finder. Everything on it was purely mechanical.  The night-vision was the old style infare that required a light source. I kept that tank for fourteen months when I moved from platoon leader to an XO slot in the 4th Brigade.

The last tank I took downrange was an M60A3.  This was a much-improved version, with better suspension, a laser range finder, GPS system, improved optics and true thermal night sights. The M60A3 was a great tank, one that I truly favored.

M577 Command Post Carrier.  This thing was a variant of the M113, designed to accommodate a tactical command post. Generally, you would find four of these in a battalion, one or each of the staff functions.  (Personnel, Intelligence, Operations and Logistics).  They would park together and form a command post.

M551 Armored Reconnaissance Vehicle.  The "Sheridan".  This thing was not a tank, but OhMyGod, it was a lot of fun. Nimble, fast, lightweight, it was just a joy to drive and command. It was designed around the Shillelagh missile system, which frankly never worked and was a bad idea from start to finish, but the vehicle was just a lot of fun to operate. The missiles never worked, but the gun would fire a HEP charge that was effective against bunkers and vehicles.  Of course, it had two machine guns, the 7.62 coax and the big 50 atop the turret. The vehicle was supposed to be "air-droppable" and sure enough, it was.  But only once. After it hit the ground, it became a machine gun emplacement.

We won't talk about the M1 Abrams, simply because I know little about it.  My last unit, 1/156 was an M1 unit, but I was a staff-rat and never took one downrange.  It's a great tank, but not one that I have any experience with.

Thursday Thoughts

 I have not been ignoring y'all, I just haven't found anything that piques my interest enough to write about.  This morning, though, I found an email from Jacob at Wideners.  They have done a deep dive on the .300 Blackout.  For those of you unaware, the .300 Blackout is a niche cartridge designed to run through a standard AR platform.  Some folks really like it.

For those interested, the link is here. It looks fairly interesting, and there is a lot of information there.

In other shooting mews, I'm having trouble with the Winchester 94 I mounted the red dot sight on.  Mainly, having trouble scheduling range time.  Life keeps getting in the way of range time.

Fr those of you, who like me, are not particularly interested in watching the clock, I am reminded that once again this weekend, we are going to do the whole "Fall Back" thing on Sunday morning. I don't recall when this foolishness started, but I would not be averse to seeing it end.  Pick one and stick with it, but don't make me change my clock twice a year.

Water Heater

 I built this shop during the winter of 16-17 and installed the kitchen during the spring f 2017.  I installed a small 4-gallon water heater under the sink so that we could wash dishes. I came in from the range yesterday and found that it was leaking.  Well, hell.

Went online to Lowe's and Stine's and didn't see anything there I liked.  Belle searched Amazon and found a small on-demand heater for less than $100.  Overnight shipping, it came in this morning. I snatched the old one out from under the sink, made a trip to the hardware store, came back and installed the new one. It's different, but it works.  Plug and play. The temperature of the water is dependent on how fast the flow.  Wide open, it's just over body temp, but if you throttle the flow down to a trickle, it gets hot enough that you don't want your hand under it.

We'll try this out and see how it works. There may be a learning curve, but if we don't like it, it is easy enough to snatch out of there.

About That Core-Lokt

 A commenter notes:

Ah, another person who finds that the tried and true Core-Lokt is still a very good round, and quite capable of taking care of any problem that the more modern, computer designed bullets can take care of.

I came to the Core-Lokt in 1974 when I bought my first centerfire rile. Up until then, I had been a shotgunner, hutting squirrels, rabbits, ducks and geese.  I came to deer hunting in college and decided that I needed a rifle, rather than shooting them with buckshot.  So, I saved my pennies and bought a Marlin Model 336 in .35 Remington.  Quite a purchase, it cost me ~$100, which represented a week's pay for a pore, starvin' college student who was living in his first apartment.

For ammo, I picked up a box o Remington's 200 grain ammo and never looked back.  I hand been reading all the literature and knew that deer run away when shot.  When I got my chance a month later at a middling buck, I was a bit surprised when he dropped straight down. He was Dead Right There, in the middle f the trail where I spotted him. I hunted with that rifle for the next 15 years and never had to track a deer.  They all flopped.

In 1991 I decided that I needed a new rifle.  While brewing the used gun racks, I found a Remington Model 7 in 7mm-08.  It had a Leupold scope and the tag said $400.  I bought it and the counter guy threw in a box of Remington's 140 grain load. (As I think about it, that rifle also represented a week's pay.) That rile shot that ammo like a laser beam, throwing those Core-Lokt bullets into the same hole with boring regularity. I made some great shots with that rifle.  I lost it during a financial crisis stemming from the Great Divorce. Truth be told, I mourned the loss of the rifle more than the loss of the woman.  Funny how that worked out.  I never bought another 7mm-08.  Too many old memories, I guess.

Don't get me wrong, I have used other bullets.  I'm a big fam of Sierra's whole line, and I like the Nosler Ballistic Tip.  I've used the Barned Triple-Shock  And, I have a load in .243 Winchester that uses the Hornady VLD.  Bullet technology is amazing these days.  But for sub-3000 fps and under 200 yards, it is hard to beat the Core-Lokt.  It just works.

Tuesday Tidbit

 Watching the news while sipping coffee, I notice that the French are continuing their ancient tradition of being overrun by foreign powers. One would think that they had learned their lesson during the first half of the 20th century, but from what I'm seeing, they learned nothing.

I, for one, am not interested in another French intervention.  Belle's father was in the Army during the first French invasion, and I had uncles who served during the second French occupation. They need to save themselves this time.

On a related note, I reckon that anyone who advocates for open borders should at least be morally consistent and leave their hones unlocked which they leave for the day. Consistency, like charity, starts at home.

Now, though, on a more local note, I need to spend some time studying ballistics charts. I need to review the ballistics of the .30 cal, 170 grain round nose Core-Lokt.  Fpr the record, the ballistic calculator I use is here..  You need to know the muzzle velocity, the ballistic coefficient of the bullet, and the sight height.

Sunday Reflections

 We buried Bill yesterday. It was a pretty good crowd.  Bill was a man o many parts, all o them good, steadfast parts.  He was an Eagle Scout, a basketball coach, a competitive shooter, a retired educator. His widow asked the shooting club to wear our regalia and serve as "honorary pallbearers".  Of course, we were honored to do so.

I am a decrepit old man.  A lifelong smoker with a body wrecked by years of service on armored vehicles, along with the attendant bad habits that characterizes cavalry service. Yet, when it came time to bear the pall, there were not six o his healthy friends who could lift a casket. I was pressed into service as a pall bearer.

Later that afternoon, stirring a roux, I was struck by the irony that I have recently carried three healthy men to their grave. I'm not complaining, you understand, simply stuck by the irony that "healthy" friends are dyeing off. The last two did it right.  They had a good day, enjoyed a pleasant evening, kissed their wives good night, then rolled over and went to sleep. No lingering, no drama, just went to sleep. That is the way to do it.

I hope, when my time comes, that is the way I'll go.  I also hope that I have enough chain-smoking, semi-alcoholic friends to carry me to the hearse.  Those "healthy" folks can't seem to carry the burden.

Resource Officers

 In the post below, where I said that every school should have a dedicated Resource Officer, one commenter made a common mistake.  

 If a bank can pay one or more individuals to be present during business hours, a public school with resources vastly more precious should be under protections as well.

The public school system should not pay one red cent for Resource Officers.  The funding should come 100% from the police agency.  There are several good reasons for this.

First, school administrators have no idea what cops do for a living, and frankly, most of what a Resource Officer does is sit on his ass. The good ones are moving most of the time, learning the school and keeping watch.  Wandering through the parking lots, or judging the fencing around the perimeter.  But, there is a lot of sitting on your ass.  Administrators hate this and will try to put the Resource Officer on duties that are not related to law enforcement.

Second, administrators hate bad press.  When a cop does his job, it generates reports.  Administrators don't like it when the cop assigned to the school actually makes an arrest in the building or on the school grounds. They think it reflects poorly on the school.

The Resource Officer needs the authority to make arrests in accordance with the law.  I worked in a high school and my basic yardstick was that if any other person could be arrested for the crime at Wal Mart, they could also be arrested for the same crime at the school. I did not arrest for every school yard tussle, but I had broad discretion to do so. The students knew this, and so did the faculty.

My assignment was in a high school.  I normally wrote 110 reports each year, and made 25-30 arrests per year.  Sometimes the principal like it, sometimes he didn't.  I always worked well with my principals, but they knew that I worked WITH then, not FOR them.

Third, cops cost more than teachers, at least locally. If the administrators had the option of hiring an additional cop, or an additional teacher, what might they do? We estimated that it cost the Sheriff's Office $75K per year to put an officer in a school. At that time, they could get a new teacher, fresh out of college, for about $45K per year.

Our Sheriff was smart about funding.  He asked the people for a 1-cemt sales tax to fund the Resource Officers. The voters approved it in a parish-wide ballot.  The school administrators didn't want it.  They were aghast at the idea. But the voters approved it and the school-house folks knew better than to resist. 

Casual Violence

 The news is buzzing with reports of a school shooting in Band, Oregon yesterday.  Three students and a teacher are dead, along with the suspected shooter.  This is a tragedy, but one that might have been amplified if not for the courageous action of a community member.  According to CNN:

A community member who saw the teenager entering Silver Rail Elementary School at about 1 p.m. followed him in before engaging him in gunfire, killing him before responding officers arrived, Krantz said.

Well Done, community member.  What we have here is a "good guy with a gun".  My thoughts and prayers are with the victims, along with deep respect to that "community member". Without that intervention, this could hae been much worse.

I spent the last 15 years f my career as a School Resource Officer.  It is my considered opinion that every school in the nation needs at least one Resource Officer, trained in this very demanding specialty of law enforcement.

Ruger Discontinues

 Belle clued me in to a rumor today that Ruger is going to discontinue a big part of their product line.

Guns.com has the skinny ,but if true, then the revolvers are gone, the 77 series rifles, the Ruger No 1, many of their carbines, and some others.  They list the Ruger Vaquero as gone, and those of us who play Cowboy games are wondering if the New Model Vaquero is also on the chopping block?

Wow.  It looks as if Ruger's catalog can now be printed on a leaflet.  What's left?  A few pistols and ARs? I guess we will have to wait and see.

UPDATE:  The American Rifleman says this about that.

Effective immediately, Ruger is ceasing production of its LCR, SP101, GP100 and Bearcat revolvers. The company plans to complete its final production runs of the following models for 2026: SR1911, LC Carbine, PC Charger, PC Carbine, LC Charger, Redhawk, Super Redhawk, Blackhawk, Super Blackhawk, Single-Series revolvers, Vaquero, No. 1, 77-Series rifles, Hawkeye and Ruger Precision Rifle.

That is two sources.

Eley Target

 I was ordering some cleaning brushes and decided to go see what was available in .22LR.  I found some Eley Target at a pretty fair price. It's about a third the price of Tenex.  What the hell, I dropped a brick in the cart and checked out.

When it came in yesterday, I was a bit surprised at the packaging.  I've bought a lot of .22 ammo over the years and bicks o .22 generally come in cardboard boxes.  Not this stuff.

Next time I take the .22 out, I'll give this stuff a whirl.  If it groups well through by barrel, I have a winner.  IF not, it will serve r plinking ammo.  I just thought it was weird, wrapped in plastic rather than cardboard.

Anyone have any experience with this stuff?

As a young Dad, raising sons and cattle, I remember buying Peters .22LR at the farmers Co-op for $10.00 a brick.  With three young sons, I bought a lot of that stuff.  It shot well enough for taking squirrels, rabbits, and the occasional stray cat.  That is a story my boys tell and we will leave that one for later.

UPS, Please

 I get packages, just like everyone else.  Sometimes UPS, sometimes FedEx, sometimes Amazon.

UPS is problematic.  Their drivers are lazy, ignorant, or both.

Today, for example.  I ordered some ammo and some cleaning brushes from MidwayUSA.  UPS sent me a delivery notice. "ON THE PORCH".  I have two porches, so I went out to the front porch.  The one by the front door.  No package.  I went out to the back porch. No package.  Honestly, I doubted that the driver would have left it on the back porch, because that requires opening a gate. Still, no luck.

Belle and I started looking, and she found it leaning against the garage door. Which is not a porch, nor is it near a porch, nor is it where they said they left it. So, the driver is either lazy, ignorant, or both.

When I picked up the package, I found a hole in the box.  Luckily, nothing had spilled out, but I doubt that Midway shipped it with a hole in the box.

MondayNotes

 It's been a wild weekend.  Belle got home late Friday afternoon. Her brother survived surgery and is doing well in recovery.  We hosted a club practice on Saturday. One of our oldest friends was there to shoot.

Bill is a founding member of the club.  If the doors are open, he is there.  He had a scare with prostate cancer a couple of years ago, but beat it with treatment.  It slowed his draw down a lot and he has been working on his speed. On Saturday, he was showing his old style, and making hits in the high 4s.  About one o'clock he took off his revolver and went home.

Bill's wife called on Sunday morning. Saturday night, Bill had a heart attack and died.  Just like that. Gone. It's been two days and I'm still processing the news.

It was a cray weekend.  I need to take my suit to the cleaners, and I'll do that tomorrow.  I'll soon have a funeral to attend.

Execution Date Set

 I'm only going to use his name once, so listen up.  Do you remember Nidal Hassan? He was a US Army officer and psychologist who perpetrated a mass casualty event at Fort Hood in 2009.  He killed 13 people and injured 32 before he was captured.

Yeahh, this is the asshole who abrogated his oath both as an officer and as a physician and decided to go all Aloha Snackbar at the Fort Hood reediness center, a place where soldiers and dependents get ID cards and register vehicles. So, he brought a pistol and started shooting people, because Aloha.

Well, it seems that the War Department has decided to Aloha his ass by firing squad at Fort Hood on December 3rd.  Rumors are that it is going to be a public execution. We're talking livestream here.

If they are thinking about a good old-fashioned stand-him-up- and-shoot-him, that is too good for him. I'd get a bit more creative.  Maybe a couple of kneecap shots just to start the party.  Or, maybe after a quick coup de grace, feed him to a herd of hogs. They could stake him out somewhere and eh would be gone in three days.

A standard killing and burial is too good for this asshole.