It's All About The People

The annual countdown of sanctioned CFDA shoots is drawing to a close, with the Nebraska State Championship this weekend, and the Fastest Gun Alive compeition in Fallon NV in early October.  The Fastest Gun Alive will bring down the curtain on the competition season for this year and we'll all take a deep breath, roll our shoulders, and start getting ready for the 2017 fast draw season.

The sanctioned shoots are a lot of fun, and I've been to three this year.  Texas State, the Southern Terrirorials, and Kentucky State.  Regular readers have followed my journey this year.

One of our Arizona gunfighers talks about the average shooter, and I'm one of the average shooters.  I don't get to make very many matches during the year for several good reasons, finances, work schedules and family obligations.  Going to sanctioned shoots can be expensive.  And, no, it's not the event fees, they are a small part of it. The event organizers try to keep the cost down, but even a three day shoot with a six hour drive is going to cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $500-$600 to attend when you consider lodging and meals.

At the most recent shoot, Belle and I drove one day, shot four days, and drove two days back.  Six days on the road, five nights in a hotel.  The match fees themselves for both of us to shot every match were less than $150 apiece.  We had a great time, considered it a wonderful vacation, but we won't be able to do another shoot like that until the springtime (in all likelihood, Texas State).

What Belle and I are able to do, is the smaller, unsanctioned shoots, what we call invitationals.  An invitational is a small shoot, where the drive is shorter, normally held on one day, or a weekend.  When all the big guns are shooting in Fallon, Belle and I will be at an invitational in Silsbee, TX with our friends, the Big Thicket Bushwackers.  Then, two weeks later, they're going to drive over to our club and shoot at our invitational.

As to the major events, there are probably several hundred shooters who can be counted on to be at several of them during a year, and God bless them.  I'm glad that they can devote that much time and effort to the organization.  For the vast majority of shooters, such a commitment of time and money is simply not possible.  Our organization is a family organization on two levels.  Most of our members are family members, with kids in school, working in the workaday world.  And, they're part of our CFDA family.  We want to make them feel welcome, we want to get to know them, and the basic fact is that many club shooters can't get away to make state, regional, or national events.  They're pretty much limited to club events.  And nearby invitationals.

Belle and I plan to make two major shoots in 2017.  Texas State and Virginia State, but we also plan to make several invitationals.  We plan to get over to Gainesville and shoot with the North Texas Society of Gunslingers.  We always try to make the Bushwackers invitationls in Silsbee, TX, and we want to go to Pocohantas, AR and shoot with the Randoolph County Rangers.  And, of course, our own club tries to do an invitational.

Invitationals let us make short, weekend trips, get to see other gunfighters and extend our personal CFDA family.  While the big shoots are a lot of fun, the little shoots are just as much fun, less expensive and more available to club shooters on a budget.  Invitational shoots are the best thing going in CFDA.

The Woodpile Report

I like the way this guy turns a phrase.

For a long while I believed interrogating Hillary was part of a larger investigation, probably into the Clinton Foundation, and the recommendation to not indict would bespeak fidelity, bravery and integrity of the highest order. Somehow. Nope. Just another grimy betrayal.

Hillary didn't have to actually do anything at the State Department to corrupt it. Merely walking onto the premises was enough. Corrupt does as corrupt is. Then Director Comey pontificated about how many spoonfuls of sewage is enough to turn a barrel of wine into a barrel of sewage. The answer is one, and always has been. FBI Director Comey said she came up a few short, thereby revealing his own standards.

Commentary on a wide range of subjects.  I may have to put him in the sidebar.

Rule 17

In March of 2016, Quick Cal, the director of the CFDA, published what we in CFDA call Rule 17.  You can go to the pdf linked for the whole story, but the rule is basically simple.  It says:

#17. DISCHARGING THE GUN WITH THE MUZZLE BEHIND THE FRONT HOLSTER POUCH CUT IS NOT ALLOWED.  

I'm an elderly slow shooter, and while the rule applies to me, just as it applies to everyone, I doubt that it will ever be applied against me.  I understand the rule, and I understand how it is to be enforced.  We're fairly familiar with the rule now, as an association, but when it came out last March, it engendered a great deal of comment.

We're starting to get the hang of it, but our sport is unbelievably fast.  The human eye blinks in 300 to 400 milliseconds, and our start times are random, based on a light.  If you blink, you've missed the shot.  And, our rules don't allow for an instant replay camera.  For all kinds of good reasons, we don't  want instant-replay cameras. We rely on human reactions, human judges.

The hand-judges sometimes have trouble seeing the front cut of the holster, and the angle of the shot, and humans blink.  So, it is instructive sometimes to have a camera nearby. Our game has three or four very good photographers, and Miss E is one of the best.  She is unobtrusive and many times when a shooter is focused on the competition, he doesn't even know that Miss E is standing down the line with her nice camera and her trained eye.  She catches some really fantastic stuff.

Below (and I've cropped the photo to make the shooter anonymous) we see a really good example of a Rule 17 violation.  The shooter allowed Miss E to post the photo for educational purposes.

As far as the hand-judge is concerned, he or she is located behind the shooter and may not have seen the violation.  In fact, many shooters don't get the opportunity to see themselves shooting and may not know that their muzzle is behind the front of the holster.  Sometimes the shooter himself (or herself) may not realize that they are in violation.

We're learning about Rule 17, it's implications and enforcement.  There is a learning curve associated with it, and we're learning to deal with it.

Culture of Corruption

Many of us know that Hillary Clinton used the State Department to enrich the Clinton Foundation.

And now we're learning that John Kerry used the State Department to funnel millions to his daughter's non-profit.

Are all Democrats crooked, or is it that all Democratic SecStates are crooked?

Good Pictures from Kentucky

My friend, May Ellen Russel, who goes by Miss E, is a first class photog, and last night she put up some pictures from Kentucky.

Major D and Blue Eyed Belle

That shot was taken early Friday morning.  I knew I had to get a photo quick, and I believe it was the first one she took.

Saying the pledge.

We always begin every shoot, every morning, with a prayer and the pledge.  You don't see anyone taking a knee in this group.

This must have been taken during the Seniors category match, because I don't see many young'uns hanging around.  I love the composition on this picture.  If it weren't for the metal folding chair, you'd think that the picture was taken in the mid to late 1880s. Just a couple of old geezers lounging in a doorway.

So, a little judicious cropping

Just a couple of old geezers, lounging in a doorway

Of course, there was shooting, lots of shooting.

That's Big Mark, on the left, bringing smoke.

One final shot of me, watching a match, and reacting to a shot.  My son, the Displaced Louisiana Guy, will notice the leather cuffs.  He made them, and they were a great help during the match.

I love the cuffs my boy made for me.

The cuffs are starting to get a little body oil and sweat in them, and they're taking on a nice patina.

Thanks, Miss E, for the photos.  We'll see y'all next month at the invitational in Silsbee.

Tab Clearing

Clearing some tabs of news stories I read today.

ObamaCare exits being felt in Senate battleground states
Of course it's being felt.  Obama lied to us from day one about Obamacare and the chickens are coming home to roost.  Obamacare is unsustainable, and it has already began the death swirl.

The United States Bars Christian, Not Muslim, Refugees From Syria
 Of course we'll bar Christians. Obama is a Muslim.  He was raised in a Muslim church.  Obama detests Christians.  He's never even been in a Christian church. (Don't tell me about Reverend Wright's church; nothing I've heard from him supports the idea that he's Christian)

Why did Hillary Clinton lie about her health?
Because if she told the truth about her health, the DNC would immediately move to remove her as a candidate.  And, if she told the truth, no one would believe it anyway.

A grim anniversary: 15 years after 9/11, the war against radical Islamist terrorism is not looking good
We've forgotten how to wage war.  If we were really waging a war, Mecca would be gone; destroyed.  Medina would be a ruin, and the Muslim flag would be reviled the world over.  Look at the way we waged WWII, and tell me the similarities to what is happening now.  That's right, there are none. This isn't war, this is something different.  We haven't waged war since we nuked Nagasaki.  If we were in a war, we'd have a 50 division army, a 10 fleet navy, and we'd be chasing Muslim extremests wherever they would be found, regardless of national boundaries or delicate sensibilities.  This isn't war.

CBS News edits out Bill Clinton’s ‘frequently’ remark about Hillary’s fainting episodes
Of course CBS edited it out.  Think of CBS as a Democratic political machine and you won't be far from wrong.

Couric Sued

It's looks like Katie Couric is being sued for defamation, following deceitful editing of a portion of film in the documentary recently produced.

Second Amendment rights advocacy organization the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL), along with two of its members, today filed a $12 million defamation lawsuit against Katie Couric, director Stephanie Soechtig, Atlas Films, and Studio 3 Partners LLC d/b/a Epix for false and defamatory footage featured in the 2016 documentary film Under the Gun. The film portrays a fictional exchange in which members of the VCDL appear silent, stumped, and avoiding eye contact for nearly nine seconds after Katie Couric asks a question about background checks. An unedited audio recording of the interview reveals that—contrary to the portrayal in the film—the VCDL members had immediately begun responding to Couric’s question.

Good for them.  It's bad enough that the media tells lies about the 2nd Amendment.  It's worse when they try to make us look like idiots.   Will the VCDL prevail?  I dunno, but maybe more of these suits will make the media step back and take a look at how they portray people.

We're Home

After leaving Kentucky State on Sunday, we drove as far as Memphis, TN, jumped over the state line into Mississippi, and got a hotel.  We drove home yesterday, talking about Hillary's medical problems, and watching the video, over and over.  Milady has her own diagnosis, resting on 35 years of nursing experience, but as a nurse, she's not able to diagnose, legally, but she doubts seriously if it were pneumonia.

I see some speculation, and second-guessing as to what might happen if a candidate drops out of the race.  Fox News is all over it.  Speaking from a short-term perspective I remember hack in August that there was some speculation as to what might happen if Trump dropped out.  It's good that the political parties think about these things.  Nothing is certain in this day and age, and it's good to have contingency plans.

I'm no political prognosticator, but I feel that the only way either of the candidates will drop out, is just as soon as the coroner is through with them.   Between Hillary's health issues and her calling Trumps supporters deplorable, it doesn't look like the race is going her way.  But, we've seen this pendulum swing hack and forth.  Come November, we'll participate in the only poll that matters.

But, we're back home safely.  We had a ball in Kentucky, and in serious planning for a shoot that we'll host in November.

Kentucky State, Day Thee

Yesterday before the end of the seventh round, the skies opened up, the range lost power and we were driven ignominiously from the venue by the might of a Kentucky thunderstorm.

No matter, we wee almost finished for the day, and we had a banquet to attend.  Oh, and the ladies sparkled.  The women have learned that CFDA is a wardrobe opportunity, the occasion where they can dress in Victorian attire and sparkle a bit.  Sparkle they did.

Blue Eyed Belle (left), with Slowpoke, a friend from Virginia.  Slowpoke is also a magnificent competitor who wins championships regulaly.  I met her at Texas State this year, where she won the Southern Territoials.

Left to right:  Miss E, Whiplash, Texas Rose, and Gentleman George.

The banquet was a smashing success.  Good food, good people, and lots of laughter.  The Bluegrass Gast Draw did a great job on the banquet.  And Trophies, did I mention trophies?

We got up this morning and went over to the shooting venue.  Big Mark, our club president was still "alive", and we waited until he was out of the match, then got on the road.

That's the trophy for Mens Senior Category, 2nd place.  That's the one that they let me bring home.  Not too shabby.

Blue Eyed Belle, Big Mark, and I left Hartford Kentucky about 9:30 this morning.  We'e now in a hotel in Memphis, TN and we'll be home tomorrow morning.  Kentucky State is over, and it's time for us to get really busy planning our invitational fo mid-November.

Everyone is invited.  Go to the Thorn Valley Facebook page for more information.

Where Were You?

On Monday, September 10, 2001 I was a shift lieutenant at the Detention Center in Natchitoches, LA.  I supervised a Sergeant and ten Correctional Officers.  All the corrections shifts were on a standard law enforcement rotation, and we were working the night shift.  As I recall, it was a standard shift, nothing notable to talk about.  It was a Monday, after all.  Not a payday weekend, just another night of care, custody and control of roughly 250 adult offenders.  I was relieved shortly before 5:00 a.m. and went home.

When I got home, my kids were getting ready for their day.  One in high school, one an adult who had come home just a few weeks before from the Nashville Auto Diesel College.  He had his first job out of school in a dealership and was headed out to work.  I fried a couple of eggs, ate, and fell into bed.

At about 8:00 that morning, a friend of Milady's (she and I had been dating since January) called me, jarring me out of sleep.  "Wake up, Mr. Dennis!  The US is under attack."

"Bullshit, Chris.  I'm trying to sleep."  I hung the phone up and rolled over.

About five minutes later, it rang again. "No kidding, Mr. Dennis.  We're under attack.  Get up and turn on the TV."

I rolled out of bed, went into the living room and flipped on the TV.  Sure enough, the first tower was burning.  I watched for a few minutes then walked into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee.  There was lots of speculation about whether it was an accident, what kind of plane it was, the newsies were covering the folks leaving the building, the emergency response,

As I got the coffee going, I walked back in to the living room in time to see the second plane go in. I remember saying aloud, to no one in the house, "That was no fucking accident."

I lived in the country, way out in the country.  On a clear morning, I could see the contrails of several routine scheduled flights.  I knew what time the Houston to Atlanta morning run went past, I knew what the little jet from Baton Rouge to Shreveport looked like, I had four or five routes pegged, morning and late afternoon, because they went over the house.

I spent the rest of the day, lounging on the couch, watching the news.  Soaking it in like a sponge.  I had to work that evening, so I napped when I could, and at 4:00 I got up, took a shower, and pulled on my boots.  When I walked out to the truck, the strangest thing was that there were no contrails in the air.

Where were you when the world stopped turning, that September day?

Kentucky - Day Two

The main match of he Kentucky State Championship was started today.  We made it to the seventh (7th) round before a strong thunder shower knocked out the power and caused us to dash for the cars.  We're happy that the rain held off till the 7th round.  That's where we planned to finish today, anyway.

PawPaw is pleased.  I made it to the th round and was put out of the match in that round.  It's the farthest I have ever been in a state shoot, and lots of folks went out in the 4th, 5th, and 6th rounds.  I was shooting good today, hitting the target consistently with times that are good for me.  When I was beaten, I was beaten by faster shooters on time alone, not because I wasn't hitting.  I feel good about the competition.

Blue Eyed Belle also did good, staying alive until the 6th round.  I'm proud of her efforts.  More importantly, she finished the final exam of the Rangemaster certification. Studying, two tests, a class, and running a live range under the watchful eye of a Regulator.

that's Blue Eyed Belle in the blue shirt, running the line under the watchful eye of Texas Rose.  Texas Rose said that she did fine, and now it's just a matter of finishing the paperwork and getting the card.  I'm proud of my gal.  She's now a certified Rangemaster.

Tomorrow is the last day of the shoot.  Big Mark, our club president is still in it, and we'll see what happens tomorrow morning.

Looking through the SD card, I found a nice picture of gentleman George running the line.

As an added bonus to us shooters from the Southern Territory, that's Skagway Sam out of NTSG in front of George, hand-judging for Blue Eyed Belle of Thorn Valley.  Each of those folks are well known in the Southern Territory.

Kentucky State, Day One

No pictures today, my friend Mary Eileen Russel was there and she's the official photographer for the Bushwackers.  She told me that she'd get plenty of pics, and I'm sure that I'll be sharing these as soon as she posts them.

We shot category matches today.  The categories put shooters of like age into their proper category.  Both mens and womens, Traditional (up to age 48), 49'r (age 49 to 59), Senior (age 60 to 64), Super Senior (65-69), Old Timers (70-75) and Golden Gun (75 up).

So, PawPaw was shooting with a bunch of Seniors, about nine of us in the category.  It was a 3X match, which means that you have to lose three times before you're out.  PawPaw was shooting well, feeling loose, laughing and cutting-up with friends.  When we got to about the sixth round, I realized that I was still in it.  They whittled the last few down, then it came to me and a fellow who calls himself  KJ Kwik.

They called our names and we walked out to the line.  It didn't hit me until the end of the match, and he beat me handily, but PawPaaw is now the second place senior champion for the State of Kentucky.

I'm going to get a trophy tomorrow night at the banquet, declaring that fact.  Ain't that a kick in the ass?

Kentucky State - Day Zero

We showed up at the range today and decided to enter the Early Bird Match.  I mean, c'mon, a bunch of gunslingers standing around? There's liable to be a gunfight break out.  And break out it did.

It's not all fun and games, though.  There's coaching, mentoring, and helping other shooters.  In the photo below, Belle helps a shooter at the dry-fire wall.  Something I learned a early on in this game is that we help each other.

Above, Belle is helping a shooter named Diamond Girl at the dry fire wall.  We help each other, and it's entirely likely that Diamond Girl will give Belle an X tomorrow.

And, of course, there is bling.  Belle stumbled upon a set of grips she likes, and I had the cash in my pocket.  So, Belle got new grips.

Pretty nice, don't ya think?  Belle thinks so too.  The match starts tomorrow with bracket matches, and we're in the room plotting our revenge for the Xs we got today.

Comey's Disgrace

Roger Simon lays out his case that James Comey, the disgraced director of the FBI should resign his post for the good of the country.  Mr. Simon makes a strong argument that Comey either irreparably botched the Clinton investigation or colluded in its findings.

As the FBI document dump of last Friday shows, Comey's agents failed to ask the most basic questions that might have laid bare what is appearing to be a conspiracy among Clinton and her minions to to totally disregard the security laws of the nation and to destroy evidence of that conspiracy.

More importantly, did the FBI even ask her the most obvious of questions: why in the world did she put ALL her government emails on a private home-brew server (and then have them deleted with the most advanced data eradication software available -- five stars on CNET -- two days after these emails came under subpoena)? Was that because the equally obvious answer -- to avoid any possible public scrutiny of her actions (for a variety of suspicious reasons) -- is itself felonious?

The documents that Julian Assange are dumping periodically can't be a surprise to the FBI.  When they do an investigation, they're tasked with knowing everything.  If there is a surprise coming, they can't claim that they didn't know.  They're tasked with knowing.

If you get to a point where the case goes cold, then you quietly sit back and wait for more information.  After you've played out all the leads, interviewed all the witnesses, processed all the evidence, it's okay to let a case go cold for a while.  Comey didn't do that.  He stood up on national TV and declared that he would not recommend prosecution.  Case closed.

I don't know if Comey has ever been a cop, walked a beat, stood a late night watch, or pored over a crime scene, but as the Director of the FBI, he is the nation's top cop, and he has a duty to the people.  He has a duty to the rule of law, he has a duty to uphold the statutes and let the courts decide.

But, Comey didn't do that.  He pulled the pin, and now he looks like either an idiot or a colluder. Take your choice, it doesn't matter.  The fact is that he's lost his honor.

Mr. Simon, in the link above, gives Comey a way out.

What a coward Comey is. When Julian Assange starts to release his next round of emails, the director may have to commit hara-kiri. It will be the only honorable way to go, failing his resignation.

I'm amazed that long-time cops who work for the FBI haven't resigned en mass, or begun an internal revolt.  The damage that  Comey has done to the institution will last for decades.  I've known good, honorable, hard-working FBI agents and I can only imagine the disgust they feel with their director.

Come to think of it, ritual seppuku may be the only way that Comey can retain his honor.  I'd bet that he wouldn't have any problem finding a second.  And an aide to sharpen the blades.

Arrived

Twelve hours on the road and we've arrived in Beaver Dam, Kentucky.  We've checked in to the hotel, and we're ensconced for the evening.  The shoot doesn't start until noon-ish tomorrow, so we've got plenty of time to rest and get settled in.  Milady is on her Kindle, and I'm on the wi-fi, and we're okay.

After we checked into the motel, we walked down to Denny's for a chicken-fried steak.  The hike was all of about 50 yards.  Very convenient.  We ran into Skagway Sam, Lucky 45, and their ladies.  So, shooters are arriving.  The lady at the desk is pleasantly surprised that her hotel is filling up with gunfighters.  "Everyone seems so pleasant."

Yeah,we are.  An armed society is a polite society.

Murder Capital

Chicago posted its 500th homicide over the Labor Day weekend, but Hot Air is right when they say that the title of Murder Capital might go to other cities who post higher per capita rates of homicidal mayhem.  As CNN reports.

New Orleans – Mayor Mitch Landrieu, Democrat
St. Louis – Mayor Francis G. Slay, Democrat
Detroit – Mayor Mike Duggan, Democrat
Baltimore – Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Democrat (and DNC leader)
Newark – Mayor Ras J. Baraka, Democrat

A death toll of 500 is horrific, but other places fare worse.  What is interesting is the party affiliation of the various mayors in the worst crime cities in the US.

Is anyone starting to see a trend?

Pretty Song

Two of my favorites, Loretta Lynn and Willie Nelson teamed up to do a duet.



That's a pretty song, right there.

Disparate Treatment

Hot Air updates us on a case where a Marine officer transmitted classified data in the clear, with the intent to warn others and save lives.  He self-reported, and is facing discharge.

In fact, the differences in Brezler’s case makes the disparate treatment of Hillary and the Marine major even more egregious. Brezler self-reported his mishandling, and expected some kind of punishment for it, but he (inadvertently!) committed that act in an attempt to save lives and assist the US military in distinguishing what turned out to be a deadly threat. Brezler did all he could to promote transparency, both of his actions and of threats that emerged in his absence.

The officer is facing discharge, and Hillary skates free, suffering no penalty whatsoever.

As others have said, we've turned the corner on being a nation of laws, and we're now a nation where there is one law for the politically connected and one law for the rest of us.

Cast Bullets in the .30-30

The family was sitting around the back porch on Sunday, waiting for the pork chops to finish roasting, when second son asks me,  "Pop, do you know anything about shooting cast bullets in rifles?"

I gave him that mysterious smile that old men give to young'uns, and he continued.  "I've been thinking about the .30-30.  That long neck should give plenty of support."

I chuckled, left the porch and went into the shop.  When I came back, I had two white boxes of .30-30 ammo. I dropped them in his lap.  "Yeah, I've thought about it."

Back in 2001, Junior Doughty and I started a website called The Frugal Outdoorsman.  Junior died a couple of years ago, and his daughter is keeping the site alive, and there is a wealth of information on that site that she wants to keep as a legacy to her dad.  I applaud her for keeping the site alive.  It's still a well-sourced website for shooting, hunting, and some of the more archaic facets of our game. Like shooting cast bullets in rifles.

Junior loved the .30-30, he loved cast bullets, and he tried to wring all the accuracy possible out of his Buffalo Bill commemorative with his favorite cast bullet, the Lee C309-170F.  He thought it was the cat's meow for the cartridge and did good work with it.  Junior was able to get groups of under two inches with his commemorative, using iron sights.  Junior's magnum opus was a piece called "Optimum Accuracy with Cast Bullets in a 30-30 Winchester Model 94.  It's still online and well worth the read.

For the record, I have just exactly two cast bullet loads that I like in my .30-30,  The first features the inestimable Lyman 311041.  It is a gas checked, bore riding bullet that weighs about 170 grains when cast from good alloy.  I double-dip it in liquid alox and load it over 27.0 grains of IMR 4895.  It's good for about 1750 fps,out of my Model 94 and I can get an honest 3" group with that ammo at 100 yards when I do my part.  That's the bees knees for deer and hogs in the thick woods.

One day I watched Junior Doughty shoot a 3/4 inch group with that ammo in a scoped Handi rifle.  It's good ammo, and I see no reason to change a thing.

The other load I like in the .30-30 is something I stumbled on when looking at very light loads for plinking, training youngsters and general fun.  I happened to show it to a buddy who used it quite successfully to quell a possum problem he was having.  Hence, we call it the possum load.  It features a hard-cast 115 grain bullet and Blue Dot powder.  It runs out the bore at about 600 fps, very low recoil and low noise.  More of a !pop! than a bang.  No, I'm not going to tell you how many grains of Blue Dot.  You'll have to do your own research.

But, yeah, to answer my son's question, I've thought about cast bullets in rifles.

Labor Day

Originally a holiday promulgated by labor unions in the late 19th Century (New York City, 1882??).  Now, 134 years later it has devolved into a holiday mostly observed by government and schools as a general school holiday.

I remember as a child, going to Labor Day cookouts, sponsored by the CWA, the union that the telephone company argued with.  Dad was a Telephone Man, and was in the union until he went into management.

When I was a kid, lots of places closed on Sundays and holidays.As a cop, I learned early that weekends and holidays were a "sometimes" event.  Oh, I got plenty of time off, but it wasn't the regularly scheduled Saturday, Sunday, Holiday.  Nowadays lots of places are open in our 24/7/365 economy and I wonder if we haven't lost something by adopting an anywhere/everywhere economy.

Our regularly scheduled garbage pickup is on Mondays and I was considerably surprised this morning when I went out to get the paper.  The garbage container has already been emptied, a couple of hours ahead of schedule.  Evidently, the folks who collect my refuse decided to get started early, get off early, and spend some time near a barbecue pit.

Belle and I don't have anything particular planned for today.  We've got to hit the workaday world tomorrow and leave for Kentucky bright and early Wednesday morning.  Today will be spent packing and preparing for the trip.

For those of you working today, thanks for your service.  For those of you relaxing today, Enjoy.