Saturday Song

Driving down the road the other day, my radio turned to a classic country station, I heard this song and was surprised to hear it on a classic station.  A little research and I learned it was released in 2005 by the band Little Big Town.  Funny, I didn't realize that it had been that long.  It's still a favorite.



I'll be running errands most of the rest of the day, and getting ready to smoke a brisket for tomorrow.  Y'all enjoy the weekend.

Blue Jeans and Tenny Shoes

Generally, if I'm not in uniform, I'm in blue jeans and tennis shoes.  No, I don't play tennis, and hereabouts they're called Tenny Shoes  I generally keep two pair of tenny shoes, one pair that's sorta nice and one that could only be described as decrepit.  Just last week I looked hard at my decrepit pair of tennies and threw them in the garbage, so I'm down to one pair, and while they were sorta-nice several months ago, it's probably time to move them into the decrepit category.

My blue jean inventory is in about the same condition.  Decrepit.  I've got one pair that could be described as okay, and the rest of them are falling apart, stained, or heavily worn.  Unlike the young-uns, I don't see the benefit of buying blue jeans that already look worn.  No, I want new jeans to look new, to actually have that color of blue denim.

Yesterday I remarked that I was down to two pair of jeans, and Milady made some comment about wondering when I was going to do something about that.  Milady and I don't get involved in each other's wardrobe, but she has much better taste than I have and I can count on her for good advise.  If she says it's time to buy jeans, it's time to buy jeans.

As much as I hate to spend money on clothes, it's probably time for some new blue jeans and tenny shoes.  I'll take care of that this afternoon.

Dialing It In

I'm home this morning, waiting on return calls for some projects I have hanging, and I decided to give the new smoker a dry-run.  The instructions recommend a seasoning, or break-in cooking with no food, so I hooked the propane bottle up and lit the burner.  It got up to temperature quickly, so I'll spend the next hour or so tweaking the adjustments to see how the oven reacts to those changes.

You can't see it in the photo, but there are little wisps of smoke rising from the joints, which is just exactly what I want.  Low temps (225 to 250) is just perfect for smoking, and it's amazingly easy to maintain those temps with this thing.  That burner reacts quickly to changes on the heat adjustment, and this box does not work like your house oven, where you set the temp and forget it.

I probably need a better thermometer than the one that came with it.  Bimetal thermometers are notoriously inaccurate, and the first upgrade will probably be a better (digital) thermometer that I can hang on the outside of the box with a probe at the cooking grate.

Any pit, from the simplest Weber grill, to the most expensive custom unit, takes learning.  You've got to learn what your pit will do, and how it reacts to changes in inputs.  Simple things like damper settings change the way the unit cooks, and if you want good barbeque, you've got to know your pit.  After I play with it for another hour, I'll know more about it, and the interior paint will be heat-seasoned, and I can start burning meat on it.  It's been a while since I cooked a brisket, and that might be the first go-around on this thing.

It's Here!

It came in today and I got it assembled in about 45 minutes.  Surprisingly, the instructions were both in English and easy to understand.  I'm not used to that.  All the sub-assemblies were packaged with their respective fasteners, so when you open the sub-assembly package, all the fasteners are right there.  Lovely.

Now, I have to buy some meat, and see if it works.  I ordered it from Amazon

Court

During the early part of my career, I spent a lot of time in a courtroom.  Many, many wasted hours sitting in a courtroom waiting to testify or waiting for something else to happen.  It seemed like at least once a week for 20 years, I'd put on a coat and tie and trot down to the courthouse to testify on one matter or another.

Then, I got my current gig, and although I arrest folks, I don't spend a lot of time in a courtroom.  Almost none.  I attribute my lack of courtroom time to the fact that I'm a very experienced cop, I understand what it takes to make a case, my reports are crystal clear, my narrative is sparkling, and after reading my report, the offender's guilt is undeniable.  They all must plead guilty, because I'm almost never called to court for testimony.

But today I had to testify on an unrelated, civil matter.  No reports, just tell the Judge what I know.  It came out good, and I came home and swapped the coat and tie for blue jeans and slippers.

Rain

We're finally getting a little rain, the first in several weeks, and it looks like this little weak front is going to stall over us and pump moisture out of the Gulf, then drop it back on us.  That's okay by me, I really didn't have a lot planed this week, anyway.  From Accuweather:

I think that I'll sit inside the rest of the day, and watch it rain.

We're Back. Monday recap

Milady and I are back from our weekend.  We got in last night at bedtime, and promptly fell into slumber.  I have been totally disconnected from the news, the internet, and TV this weekend, visiting family.  Lots of funny conversations on my brother-in-law's back porch.  Good food, good company, good whiskey, a totally off-line weekend.

So, Monday, and we're back.  I opened the interwebs and found that some asshole went on a shooting spree in California, evidently because he couldn't get laid.

A YouTube video posted Friday in which a young man complains of rejection by women appears to be connected to the attack, said Brown, who called the attack "the work of a madman."

Looks like he was doing it wrong.  Rather than posting YouTube videos explaining how you were rejected, try dressing nicer, talking to girls, and build a relationship.  You know, flowers, dinner, laughter, the whole bit.  Shooting at them normally isn't a way to make that happen.  I'm just sayin'.  Of course the usual suspects are blaming it on guns.  Yeah, I understand he stabbed his first victims to death.   And he drove a BMW.  So there.

In other news, I see that Congress is hammering on the IRS kerfluffle about targeting conservative groups.

Issa and Jordan said in a letter to Holder that investigators want to talk next week to Jack Smith, the section head. The request, they said, came after they learned that a Smith deputy met in October 2010 with then-IRS official Lois Lerner at Smith’s direction “to discuss how the IRS could assist in the criminal enforcement of campaign-finance laws against politically active nonprofits.”

Lerner didn't operate in a vacuum, and as she's lawyered-up and taken the Fifth, maybe it's time to talk to the people that she talked to, to find out what was discussed in thome meetings.  If they lawyer-up, then Congress should start looking at applying the RICO statutes.

Finally, we find that a federal appeals court has held that filming the police is a valid First Amendment activity.  Volokh is all over it. I think, generally, that's the right conclusion, although Professor Reyynolds maintains that filming the police is a due-process right.  I suspect that they're both right.  The police should not object to being filmed in public, while doing their job on the public dime.  Once we get home, take off the vest, hang the gunbelt on the hook, it's okay to expect privacy, but when we're on the street everything we do is subject to scrutiny.

As for Memorial day, I'm going to fire up the pit later and cook some chickens and sausage.  Milady is working today and I'm going to piddle around here until she gets home, then feed her supper and a nice glass of wine.

Last Day

Yesterday was the last day for students in our local public schools, and today the teachers are cleaning up paperwork, getting ready for the summer vacation.  This day is interesting for the Resource Officers, because it represents a change of pace.  Some will be off for a while, some will work on other assignments, depending on the leave time they've accumulated.    Our retrainer starts in two weeks, where we maintain the qualifications necessary for POST certification.

For myself, I"m off for two weeks.  Milady and I are going to slip away this afternoon, to spend a weekend at her brother's place.  He's been telling us about a restaurant and we're going to sample it, then spend the rest of the weekend visiting family.  We'll be back late Sunday afternoon.

Don't look for any posting over the weekend.  I'm sure that the guys on my blogroll will provide free entertainment while I'm goine, but I'm not taking the computer with me, and I'm not sure if BIL has wireless set up at his house, anyway.

Y'all be safe.  I'll be back on Monday.

Powder

With the current powder shortage, you buy what you can when you find it, and when family goes on vacation, I drop some cash and tell them to look around.  Second son recently went to Dallas, so I pitched him a little cash and gave him a list to look for.

He came back with some powder, and my portion is one pound of HS-6 and one pound of Win 231, both good pistol powders, and good for about a thousand rounds each.

I've never used either one, and I wonder how old that 231 might be, I don't believe that it's been packed in a can for several years.  Still, a pound of powder is a pound of powder and it still smells good, so I feel good about it.  That's two more pounds of pistol powder which is more than I had a week ago.

For pistol, I'm normally a Bullseye/Unnique/2400 kind of guy, but it's time to expand my horizons.

Milady and I are going on a mini-vaca this weekend, and in our down-time I'll be sure to hit the stores in the town we're visiting.  Who knows, maybe I'll find a honey hole.

He's Outraged

The president is outraged at the treatment given to our veterans in the VA hospital system, and well he should be.  Secret waiting lists and veterans dying over a lack of care.  He should be outraged, and he should fire someone, yet...he's known since before he became president.

How do you think Senator Obama knew that the problem was “urgent” in the first place? Everyone knows — and yet, given the opportunity to fire Shinseki and vowing that he “will not tolerate” this, Obama once again … decided to tolerate it. Shinseki’s still in command, for now, leaving O with basically nothing to say for himself here except rote expressions of outrage.

So, our veterans have to wait for another report, another enquiry, another investigation.  Our veterans are being screwed and Obama can't even work up the outrage to fire someone.  Pathetic.

This little tragi-comedy is indicative of the regard that Obama feels for our military in general and our veterans in particular.  Don't listen to what the man says, watch what he does.  Right now, he's doing nothing.

Busy Today

Busy today, doing what I'm sworn to do, but I care about my readers, so I've found a nice video by Jerry Mikulek about pistol shooting.  If you know anything about pistol shooting then you know that Jerry is a bona fide expert and listening to him is always a good idea.  So, without furhter ado.



I've got pistol quals next month, so I'll probably be watching it several times.  The basics are always good.

Winchester 94 Scout Mount

Regular readers know that I have an affinity for the Winchester 94 rifle.  It's an iconic lever action rifle, chambered in the altogether useful .30-30 Winchester, and it's been taking game for lots of years.  Both of mine are standard, post-64 rifles, just plain-jane lever guns.  Nothing special about them at all.  They both wear Willaims peeps, but my old eyes are getting softer and I can't see iron sights like I used to.  The peep sight helps, but it's not as sharp and clear as I like.

Because my rifles were made after the '64 switch, and before the Angle Eject models, they're not drilled for scopes and mounting a scope on one is rather a pain in the butt.  They'd be a candidate for scout-scoping, but most of the scout mounts require drilling and tapping.  So, I started surfing around and found Mr. Pearson's no-drill scope rail for the Winchester 94.  This thing looks just exactly what I've been looking for.



One of those mounts, with one of these Leatherwood scout scopes, might be just the key to what I've been looking for.  Maybe come the 1st of the month, I'll order the parts and see if I can't convert one of my Winchester 94s to a scout rifle.  Whaddya think?

Executions

With the problematic execution in Oklahoma recently, (I refuse to say botched, because they intended to kill him and they did, in fact, kill him), some pundits are searching about for other methods to humanely kill someone who has been properly tried, convicted and sentenced to death.

Some argue for the firing squad, and some argue for hanging, both time-tested remedies to the problem, and in either case, it's hard for me to understand how either method might be called "cruel or unusual" in that they're both proven methods of killing someone   I doubt that anyone properly hanged or shot by firing squad will suffer much, if at all.  One wag even argued for the guillotine, but I think that our courts might consider that unusual, because it hasn't been used much (if any) in the United States.

However, if any should want more information on how to properly conduct an execution by either hanging or firing squad, the US Army thoughtfully provides a pamphlet that lays out all the necessary details in how to shoot or hang a person who deserves it.  DA Pamphlet 27-4 lays out the requisite details in how to prepare for and conduct a proper execution, to include engineer drawings in how to construct a suitable gallows, either permanent, semi-permanent, or field expedient.  .  Interestingly, the pamphlet is dated in 1947 and gives a good overview of the manner of execution, to include how to pay the executioner.

Just so you know.

Motor Voter

Voter registration is a big deal.  If you're not registered, you can't vote and participate in our democratic processes.  Around the country, we see that there is a big discussion about Voter ID, and that mystifies many of us in Louisiana because we've had a Voter ID law for years.  We call it Motor Voter, because you can register to vote at your local DMV office where you go to get a Driver's licence or a state ID.  It works like this:  When you get a driver's license they ask you if you want to register to vote.  If you say yes, you fill out the form and they forward it to the Registrar of Voters.  Easy-peasy.

Not so fast, kiddo.  Motor Voter has it's problems.  Not the least of which is that there is sometimes a disconnect between the DMV office and the registrar.  When my son and daughter-in-law moved back to Louisiana from Florida, one of the things they did was to get a Louisiana driver's license.  They registered at the DMV, but when they went to vote in a local election, their names weren't on the rolls.  Ooops, and oh, shit, they got hit by a bureaucratic snafu.  SO, a quick trip to the registrar's office the next week and they were registered to vote as well.

Still, Louisiana has had a Voter ID law for many years, and it works fine.  Frankly, we're a little bemused at the folks who are fighting it in other parts of the country.  Especially because a recent poll shows that 70& of people everywhere think it's a good idea. (Scroll down to question 37).  If you don't want to read the raw poll, there's a nice re-cap at The Hill.

Seven in 10 registered voters are in favor of identification laws in order to root out fraud at the ballot box, according to a Fox News poll released this week.
The survey found majority support in every major demographic, including black voters and Democrats.
The 70 percent who support voter ID laws remains largely unchanged in the past few years. Another 27 percent believe the laws are unnecessary.

If seven out of ten believe it's a good idea, then it should be a no-brainer.  Yeah, there will be problems and bureaucratic snafus, but protecting the electoral process is good business.  And, here in Louisiana we've been requiring Voter ID for years.  We really don't see what all the fuss is about.

Sunday Morning Dawg

We're dog-sitting this weekend.  My second son is taking a mini-vacation and they'll be back on Wednesday, but they needed a place to keep their dog, and we were happy to accommodate him.  Keeping this dog is a pleasure, because he's a gentleman, and elder gentleman, and as long as he knows where his food bowl is, and has plenty of water, he's perfectly happy to find a place in the sun, or shade, as his tastes dictate.

Hiis name is Harley and if I have the story right, my daughter-in-law found him in a pound ten years ago as an adult dog.  She adopted him, brought him home, and he's been altogether a wonderful dog ever since.  He's protective of the kids, but other wise is simply happy to hang around the porch.

Beau-dog, of course, is a bit confused.  Harley is an older dog, and doesn't want to play doggy games.  Harley tends to ignore Beau, so Beau has his feelings hurt.

He'll get over having his feelings hurt, simply because Harley isn't here forever and by this time next week the kids will be home and Harley willl be home as well.  In the meantime, it's good to have a polite, well-mannered dog in the yard.

Why Does the USDA Need Submachine Guns?

That's the question over at Hot Air, and it's a darned good one.  It seems that the USDA is seeking bids on submachine guns.  From the solicitation:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General, located in Washington, DC, pursuant to the authority of FAR Part 13, has a requirement for the commerical acquisition of submachine guns, .40 Cal. S&W, ambidextrous safety, semi-automatic or 2 shot burts trigger group, Tritium night sights for front and rear, rails for attachment of flashlight (front under fore grip) and scope (top rear), stock-collapsilbe or folding, magazine - 30 rd. capacity, sling, light weight, and oversized trigger guard for gloved operation.  NO SOLICITATION DOCUMENT EXISTS.  All responsible and/or interested sources may submit their company name, point of contact, and telephone.  If received timely, shall be considered by the agency for contact to determine weapon suitability.

I can't imagine why the food safety organization has any need for submachine guns.  I can imagine that submachine guns might be used by SWAT teams conducting high-risk dynamic entries,  but I can't imagine that the USDA would need a SWAT team.

This bullshit is getting out of hand.

Finally Friday

It's Finally Friday, and I've got nuthing. There's no real news fit to comment on, it's been a boring day, and I'm tired.  Something about a boring day that saps my energy.  After a boring day, I feel drained.

But, I understand that we've been invited over to Brother Bill's to eat chicken wings.  Bill makes a helluva chicken wing.  I've really got to pay attention to his technique, because it does't look too hard, and if I learn how to cook them, I can crank up the fryer on the back porch and have chicken wings a lot more often.

Milady's brother Bill is a helluva guy.  He worked the carney business for many years, traveling the country with a traveling show, working the Midways all over the US until he settled into southern Florida for twenty-odd years and worked for Coca-Cola in a bottling plant.  He's retired now, and back at home, probably one of the few people in the world who lived in Florida and after he retired, he left the state to move home.

And he makes great wings.

I gotta pay attention tonight.  Wings is one thing I've never tried to cook.

America's New Security State

That's the name of an essay at Defining Ideas, an excerpt of a book by Angelo Codevillo, which describes the use of state power against its citizens.  In the article, he defines how America has gotten less safe during the administrations of the past several presidents.  And, lest we forget, President George W. Bush gave us the Department of Homeland Security.

Childhood in the “land of the free, the home of the brave” must now include learning to spread-eagle and be still as government employees run their hands over you. Patriotism is now supposed to mean obeisance to the security establishment, accepting that the authorities may impose martial law on whole cities, keep track of all phone calls, or take whatever action they choose against any person for the sake of “homeland security,” and that theirs alone is the choice whether to disclose the basis for whatever they do.

Like many Americans, I chafe at the very idea of Homeland Security.  In their hunt for "domestic terrorists", they watch us all.

 Inevitably, then, apolitical policing is a pretense. By 2012, a Rasmussen poll showed that 64 percent of Americans were more afraid of terrorist attack from other Americans than from foreigners. No surprise. That had been the ruling class’s message for a decade. The focus on “homeland security” had succeeded in adding the suspicion of terrorism on top of all the reasons that Americans had to distrust and to blame one another for their troubles. But of whom should we be afraid?

I'm less afraid of terrorists than I am of the idiots in the various Homeland Security departments.  Eternal vigilance makes us less free and more distrustful of government.  Many of my fellow citizens don't remember when you could walk into an airport, pay for a ticket, and climb aboard an airplane with no government intervention.  That hasn't been the case since 2011 and may not be the case for a few more years.

With the drawdowns in the military and the troops coming home, it might he time to look toward drawing down the security apparatus.  I've always been taught that we can have security or freedom, but not both.

Smokers

I've been thinking about acquiring a smoker, but the ones I've seen don't really do what I want it to do.  Most backyard smokers won't get the temps up past 250F, and that's fine for pure smoking, but when we have a big gathering here, it's nice to have extra oven space for things that we might like to bake or roast, and being able to crank open the valve and get the temp up to baking is a big help.

So, I've been casting around and I found this one.  The Camp Chef Smoke Vault.  They come in both 18" and 24" widths, and they run on a propane tank.  Temps are adjustable from 160 to 500 degrees and that would add a lot of baking space when we've got the whole crew over.

This thing might be just what I'm looking for.  I can run the heat down low for smoking brisket and ribs, yet crank it up when Milady needs extra oven space.  Better yet, Amazon sells them with free shipping.

What do you think?

Flip the Senate?

Larry J Sabato is a political writer that I've paid attention to over the past several years.  In his newest article, he looks at the chances of Republicans taking the Senate in the mid-terms.  He wonders if it's going to be  a ripple, a wave, or a tsunami.

Some of these scenarios have virtually no chance of happening, particularly the ones where Democrats play even in the Senate or even gain a seat. The Democrats have only a couple real chances to play offense, and their odds in either case are not great.

Professor Sabato sees a wave coming, and I've come learned to listen to his political prognostications.  Go read the whole thing at the link.  It's great reading.

And you can see his regular blog at Sabato's Crystal Ball.