Throw the Bums out.

Rasmussen reports that if voters were given an opportunity to throw out the entire Congress, in one fell swoop, 57% would vote to fire Congress and start over.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 57% would vote to replace the entire Congress and start all over again. Eighteen percent (18%) are not sure how they would vote.

Overall, these numbers are little changed since last October. When Congress was passing the unpopular $700-billion bailout plan in the heat of a presidential campaign and a seeming financial industry meltdown, 59% wanted to throw them all out. At that time, just 17% wanted to keep them.

The problem with a survey like this is that most people blindly vote for their incumbent who brings home the bacon. What they really mean is that they'd like to throw out everybody but their own congressman.

That's a damned shame.

Many congress-critters retire from office and some (like Ted Kennedy) die in office. They come to consider the office to be theirs and they like the power and prestige that attaches to being in Congress. They shouldn't like it so much.

For myself, I intend to vote against Alexander, Vitter, and Landrieu as soon as I have a chance. I consider all three of them worthless, for varying reasons.

We really should throw the bums out.

Hat tip, Alphecca.

AARP

From the Grouchy Old Cripple:



I loved that movie. Loved it.

Craft Distilleries

Courtesy of Say Uncle, I understand that Tennessee is going to allow something called a Craft Distillery.

Governor Phil Bredesen signed a measure to allow additional craft distilleries in Tennessee with potential for revenue and tourist development. Sen. Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro) and Rep. Joe Carr (R-Lascassas) sponsored this measure.

Craft methods of distillation means everything is hand-made. Every brand, every bottling reflects the creative individuality of a single human being, working with small, hand-operated equipment: his quirks and insights, his special talents, his innovations.

Craft methods of distillation. Yeah. That's moonshine.

Daddy and Chester used to make moonshine at the body shop on Lee Street, back in the day. I understand that moonshining is legal now, if you're making it for your own use. I guess Gov Bredesenn is going to license moonshiners "for revenue and tourist development." Cool.

Still, it's moonshine. Those boys in Tennessee are good at making 'shine. So was Daddy and Chester, until the revenuers shut them down.

Research

I'm supposed to pick up my .30-30 Handi-Rifle next weekend and I'm doing research on pointed bullets in that caliber. Not surprisingly, most manuals tell me that I shouldn't use pointed bullets in that caliber because it's dangerous to load pointed bullets into a tubular magazine. With the point of a bullet resting on the primer of the next cartridge, recoil might set off a cartridge. That would be disastrous.

I understand all that and only use flat tipped bullets in my Winchesters. The Handi doesn't have a magazine. I can bend the rules a little bit in perfect safety.

I pulled down a Nosler reloading guide that someone gave me several years ago. In the .30-30 section, it told me that I should only use the Nosler 170 grain Partition. It's a round-nosed bullet designed for tubular magazines. Then, in a footnote, it told me that for more choices, I should reference the .30-30 data in the handgun section. Handgun section?

Darn right. There's three pages of data on the .30-30 with pointed bullets, referenced with a view toward using those bullets in the Thompson Center Contender. What amazed me was the powder selections they listed. The usual suspects where there too, stuff like Reloder 7 and IMR 3031, along with Varget and several others. A wealth of data on pointed bullets in the .30-30, from 125 grains to 170 grains.

But, the most accurate powder tested? IMR 4895. I happen to have an eight pound jug of that on the powder shelf.

This is going to be fun.

Sunday Morning Dawg

This morning we awoke to overcast skies and 70 degree temps. Autumn is in the air, this the last couple of days of August.

It's cool outside and the humidity is at about 90%. Milady might need a jacket for the church this morning. After waking for the past six months to the standard "eighty degrees before eight o'clock", the chapel might be chilly.

The dog often sits in the hall while Milady is dressing. Guarding the door, as it were.



We'll be on the way to church soon.

No Danny

It looks like Danny collapsed himself into a low pressure system. He's hammering New England with rain and 10-20 mph winds. He's not a hurricane any more, and not much of a tropical storm.

After encountering unfavorable conditions for development, Danny was absorbed into an extra-tropical low early Saturday morning. Danny continues to play a part in some rough weather across eastern New England where heavy rain and chilly 10-20 mph winds will continue into Saturday evening.

So much for Danny.

Hurricane season isn't over, and we should all continue to watch the weather, either on the internet, or TV, or radio. Whatever turns your crank.

But, this isn't shaping up as a particularly interesting hurricane season.

Saturday at the Lease

We loaded up this morning and I took four grandkids to the deer lease. I put out a salt block on the shooting lane (a huge pipeline) and installed a corn feeder. We met my brother-in-law and went with him to his stands and put out salt. Then we went to the camp, where he had a barbeque pit going. He had been out early and put on a couple of racks of ribs. I brought hot dogs and sandwich fixings.

I meant to bring a camera and take some pictures. Oh, well, maybe next time.

The boys chose hot dogs and sandwiches. We menfolk ate pork ribs, tater salad and beans. One thing about that lease. If you bring something, it'll get thrown on a pit and everyone shares the grub. I left the hot dogs on the cool end of the pit. The guys promised me they wouldn't be wasted.

I'm home now with one more errand to run, then I see a nap in my future.

Some states forbid the feeding of game animals. I probably spend a hundred dollars or so each year on corn alone. I feed all the wildlife that wants to use my feeder. I know for a fact that squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, deer and hogs use the feeder. There are probably a number of birds who slip in and get a couple of kernels of corn every day. I start the feeders in late August or early September and let them run until sometime in late February. By March in these latitudes, spring is coming on and the woods are starting to green.

I don't see any harm in using feeders and Louisiana allows it. I didn't shoot a deer last year for one of several reasons. I don't get out to the lease except on weekends and shortly after the opening of the season, the deer are pretty much nocturnal. Feeding them certainly doesn't hurt.

Honore?

The Peripatetic Engineer tells me of a rumor that retired LTG Russ Honore might run against David Vitter in the Republican primary for the US Senate.

I googled it and found an article from the Bayou Buzz.

In a breaking story, The Louisiana Weekly and Bayoubuzz.com have learned that the hero of Hurricane recovery, General Russell Honore is seriously considering entering the Republican Primary for the U.S. Senate seat against incumbent David Vitter. Honore, a Republican since the Reagan Administration and a registered Louisiana voter from his Zachary home, has spoken to friends and supporters in the last two weeks signaling that he is, according to one, "more than 50% sure that he will run."

That's interesting.

You might remember General Honore as the general who famously told a reporter, Don't get stuck on stupid." during a post-Katrina news conference.

Honore might be someone I could support.

Furniture

Milady's friend, Susan, was in need of a dresser, a chest of drawers.

Milady found one at the local action, a four-drawer chest. It looked kinda rough, but Milady sanded it down and refinished it. I got called in on the project to make a small repair.

It was rough as a cob when she started, but I think it turned out nicely.



There is some really pretty wood in that chest.

Humor

If you've ever worked in customer service, you know that the customer is not always right. Sometimes, the customer is wrong, dead wrong, totally and completely wrong.

I was surfing around and found a site that reports memorable customer exchanges.

Not Always Right. It's over 200 pages of craziness.

Enjoy. I'll be adding it to the blogroll.

Weird Hurricane Season

This is shaping up as a strange hurricane season. The last two named storm targeted... New England. If you look at the forecast cone for Danny, you'll see that he has a chance to hit Boston. It's on the western edge of the forecast cone.

Tropical Storm Bill, just eight days ago, hit Canada. Canada, of all places. Who'd a thunk it?

This is a weird year for hurricanes.

Melancon announces

Representative Charlie Melancon (D-LA) announced today that he'll challenge Senator David Vitter in 2010 for US Senator, according to The Dead Pelican.

Lovely. I'm no Vitter fan and I'm not a Melancon fan either. I'll have to vote in this race with one hand holding my nose.

Annoying

This sumbitch is just annoying. He's held up several banks and the FBI is looking for him. They're putting his picture on electronic billboards hoping someone spots him and calls it in.



I'm happy to do my part. If anyone sees this scumbag, call your local constabulary or the FBI. The FBI number is 423-282-8090. He's described as a white male, about 25 years old, 5 feet 9 to 5 feet 11, 170 to 175 pounds. He has short, reddish-brown hair and an unshaven goatee. He hasn't hurt anybody yet, but we need to get this idiot behind bars.

Now, if you look closely at the pistol, you might notice that the slide isn't far enough forward. The gun won't shoot like that. The specific condition is known as "out of battery" and can be caused by any number of things. It seems to be a Taurus, too, although that isn't a distractor. Taurus generally makes good pistols. All this shows is that this guy is a larger idiot than most. He's giving bank robbers a bad name.

Hat tip to Tam. Lets get this guy picked up quick. BOLO.

Quarter bores

I bought a Ruger last year in .25-06. It was one of those deals that's just too good to turn down. I played with it for awhile, got good accuracy, had fun with it, then gave it to one of my kids. I like the caliber, I really do.

For years, I've been jonesing for a .257 Roberts. The maximum overall length of the cartridge is shorter than a .308, which leads me to believe that the Roberts would fit in a short action, but everything I've read tells me that it'll just barely fit in a short action and if I want to seat 100 grain bullets out far enough to take advantage of case capacity that I'll have trouble stuffing it into a short action.

If I'm going to have to use the long action, I'd just as soon have the .25-06.

The plan is one project down the road. My next project is already in process, so this quarter-bore fixation will have to wait. What I plan to do is to find a good used Savage action in a pawn shop somewhere and build a rifle. A light, short, hunting rifle. Shilen makes replacement barrels for the Savage platform and I can get one in any number of chamberings.

I guess what I'll do is see what type action I can find at the best price. If it's a short action, I'll have it chambered in .250 Savage. If it's a long action, then I'll have to decide between the Roberts and the .25-06. At any rate, that's a decision for the late winter/early spring.

Dead

I understand that Ted Kennedy died. Senior senator from Massachusetts. Liberal Democrat.

Mamma always told me that if you didn't have anything good to say about someone, say nothing at all.

Condolences to his family.

Pork chops and rice

Slow day today on the news front. Our President is on vacation and he left the lunatics running the asylum. It was a busy day at work and I'm happy to be home. Every police officer judges a good day when he returns home safe at the end of shift.

So, my thoughts turn to supper and rifles. Two subjects near and dear to my heart.

Tonight, it's pork chops and rice with blackeyed peas and cornbread.

Milady seasons the pork chops, rolls them in flour and bakes them in margarine (oven-fried?). Then she takes them from the oven, sprinkles onions and bell pepper in the baking dish, adds rice and chicken broth and puts the chops back on top. She bakes the whole thing until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed.



The blackeyed peas are cooked with tasso, a cajun salt pork.

Cornbread is just cornbread.

Add a glass of iced tea and you've got one of the finest Deep South suppers imaginable.

I'll think about rifles later, but quarter-bores are on my mind.

Canada Geese

Last winter we had a flock of Canada geese winter over on our pond.

This afternoon I watched a gaggle of Canada geese, six to be exact, fly over the neighbor's house and land in the pond. We've got a couple of resident grey geese who live here year round, but the Canadas are transient. Milady has a bottle of Grey Goose in the whiskey server, but I digress.

I wonder what's happening up north that those geese felt compelled to head south?

Lawmakers and the Public Option

The Washington Post puts up an admittedly unscientific poll this morning, but one that asks a question that lots of folks would like to weigh-in on.

Do you think lawmakers should be forced to use the public option if it's left in the health care reform legislation?

Oh, absolutely. I think lawmakers should be forced to be subject to any law that they legislate.

Right now, it's running about 83% thinking that lawmakers should be forced to use the public option. I'd like to expand that to everyone who draws a paycheck through Congress. Staff, aides, everyone who goes to work in a Congressional Office. Let's give them the opportunity to ride that donkey.

Sunday Morning Dawg

We awoke to mild temperatures in Central Louisiana this morning. 65 degrees on my back porch. Milady is completing the crossword puzzle on the back deck and the door is open, letting the cool fresh drafts into the kitchen.

The dog, who is normally on the wrong side of the door (whichever side he's on, he wants to be on the other side), has free run of the place this morning.

Here's a shot for the sisters.



In a few minutes I'll have to start moving, putting on socks and a better shirt for church. Yesterday was extremely busy, but I got a lot of work done. We did some mowing at the deer lease, then on the way home Milady called me and asked me to come to the local auction. She had made some purchases and needed the truck. We went to the auction, loaded her plunder and took it to the step-son's house. Then I came home and mowed the yard. Supper and bed, I didn't move until almost seven o'clock this morning. Decadence!

This afternoon, Milady has a project with friends Pat and Jerome. I'll be without adult supervision. Unless something pressing comes along, I'll probably gravitate toward the range.

Y'all play nice today.

Sales Tax Holiday

Louisiana is having a 2nd Amendment Sales Tax holiday during the Labor Day weekend. All guns, ammo, hunting and shooting paraphernalia will be tax-free (state tax) that weekend.

I ordered a rifle yesterday and told the counter guy I'd pick it up on the Labor Day weekend. For the past couple of years I've wanted a .30-30 Handi Rifle. I've got two Winchester 94's and I love to shoot them. They both wear Williams peep sights. One rifle is sighted for a load that duplicates the Remington green box 170 grain load and the other is sighted for my 311041 load. The bead front sights on those rifles subtend 6" at 50 yards, which is fine for general shooting, but doesn't generate a whole lot of benchrest accuracy.

I'm going to put a scope on the Handi rifle and load pointed (spitzer) bullets. I've always been curious about how well a .30-30 could shoot and I intend to find out. I intend to load some 130 grain spitzers, some 150 grain spitzers and play with loads a little bit. I'm sure that I'll run some of my 311041 loads through it too.

When I'm through satisfying my curiosity, it'll become a grandkid rifle. We can decide if it gets a low power scope or a Williams peep sight.