Well, It's Almost Christmas

I sit here wishing everyone the joy of this season while also thinking very sad that for some, instead of joy, there is horror and extreme grief. I am talking about those killed or injured in an evident terrorist attack in Magdeburg, Germany by another, by my guess, follower of the so called Religion of Peace - Islam. He reportedly plowed a rental car in a large crowd at a Christmas market, more at https://www.foxnews.com/world/car-drives-idyllic-germany-christmas-market-suspected-terrorist-attack-report. If it was up to me, then hypothetically, it would be quite possible the nukes would rain down on Mecca and several other choice locations in the Middle East. If this shit keeps up, they will win in their quest to take over the planet and rid it of infidels (that would be you and me) if only because one scumbag takes out scores of innocents with each such attack. If inclined to pray, pray for the victims of that truly abhorrent attack.

 

Anyway back to being joyful:

 

My Christmas shopping is done; that is except for whatever I do on Christmas Eve. Shopping on that last day before Christmas day is a tradition for me. One I love and hope to continue for my forever; heck I have been doing it since I was a pre-teenager. While I miss even the outside chance of snowfall on Christmas Eve and or Christmas day, I can live with the expected 65 degree temp expected that day in my current neck of the woods which will make shopping on Christmas a bit easier than if snowed in. Not having to shovel is also a plus, but to be truthful, I kind of liked that chore. Somehow my aching back almost always felt better after shoveling snow.

 

Speaking of shopping on Christmas Eve, I have everything I need for everyone on my gift list except my dog and my son's dogs. Oh yeah, I probably also will get my next door neighbor's three kids something and am likely to pick up something for her too. If I am home and not at my son's place on Christmas Eve, I may ask her to take the kids along and go shopping with me - for them. Nice lady with nice kids and she has done a few favors getting my mail and such when I have been traveling. Other than that - I am done shopping unless I get something for myself. Hopefully you my readers are done with it too; it can be a bit of a hassle but then you see the smile on the faces of those to whom you give gifts, it makes it all well worth the efforts. And what is Christmas all about except the giving of gifts; after all it is the day that God the father gave his only begotten son to humanity as the best gift ever. Then the three wise men and others brought gifts to the Christ child and the tradition has not ended in well over 2,000 years. It is all about gift giving and if everyone was of that mindset, we would be better off by giving to one another than by doing all the nasty shit we sometimes do to other people.

 

This year, I hope to go to Christmas mass, maybe even midnight mass if they hold one locally. I am not very religious but many Christian values were instilled deep within me when I was younger and midnight mass was a tradition I upheld for many years maybe even a couple of decades.

 

I have not sent out a single Christmas card this year. It is not like I cannot afford them, I have dozens from the last three years. The thing is that, it has been two weeks now after my gall bladder surgery and I still fell like I just drank a quart of rat piss or worse. I have been very fatigued and still have some abdominal pains and upset. That has put me in a mood to not do much of anything; although, I have been going to the local dog parks twice a day with my mongrel Skye and I started walking her again a few days ago besides just letting her walk herself in the dog parks. Mostly, she just lies there waiting for a squirrel to appear so she can stalk it but she is always eager for us to go for a walk even if the most I can accomplish with my bum hip now is about a mile at a time.

 

This year, instead of cards, I will just send out Merry Christmas or happy Hanukkah emails. I have a little ditty and a picture of Santa for the Christmas emails:

                                        

                                     Money is tight

Times are hard

 Here's your Bidenomics

  Christmas card! 

 

I guess that may get me a well deserved lump of coal in my stocking. Which, by the way, might not be too bad considering the nights here have been somewhat cold for an old geezer like me.

As for a happy Hanukkah email, it won't have Santa's pic nor my ditty. Just for your info, Hanukkah commences on Christmas night this year. So, if you are sending out Hanukkah wishes by email, I guess do it before or by then.

More about Hanukkah here. More about Christmas (and Advent) can be found here. For the rest of us, there is Festivus. I am certain I can air grievances but also just as certain I am in no shape for the feats of strength - at least not this year.

 

 

Party hearty for Christmas, Hanukkah, or Festivus - just not too much and please don't drive unless sober.

 

All the best,

Glenn B

Been Getting Caught Up For The Five Days Lost Due To My Surgery

 It has been a busy last few days. It was not until, I guess Friday that I really started to feel up to doing just about anything that took any effort. So for the past two days and part of today so far, I have been doing things like Christmas shopping, contacting my senators to ask them to pass HR82 which would eliminate the Windfall Elimination Provision that screws federal civil service retirement system retirees out of 2/3 of their social security, trying to get others to do likewise, bidding on a firearms auction during much of yesterday, catching up on household chores, and grocery shopping.

 

Oh, did I just mention a firearms auction? Why, yes I did. I picked up several items but only had the high bid on one gun. That was an Intratec TEC-9 mini. No magazine but after that auction, I went to GunBroker and hit the buy now option for an offering of two 36 round aftermarket mags and two 32 round OEM mags.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those are my Christmas and get well presents from me to me. Sometimes I treat myself nicely. Should be loads of fun or so I hope.

 

This is the first gun I have ever bought based largely on the fact it is tacticalcool. I turned down an offer to buy one back around 1980 when I was in the Border Patrol. The gun counter clerk at Yellowmart in El Centro, CA tried to talk me into it as a fun gun and one that could be easily altered to make it full auto (could have been a different version of the TEC-9). By the way, converting a firearm from semi-auto to full auto is not anything I recommend doing, in fact I strongly recommend you do not do so as that could wind up with you getting prison time unless Biden pardons you or commutes your sentence before he is out).) I declined because back then, like now, I prefer my pistols to have practical applications and that one does not, at least for me, as far as I can see (unless of course the Zombie Apocalypse befalls us). Thus this one is the exception.

 

 

All the best,

Glenn B

This Just Felt Wonderfully Appropriate After My Previous Post

 

All the best,

Glenn B

Oh My Terribly Aching Back & Belly!

 This past Tuesday morning 0415, I was awakened by severe back pain across the bottom of my rib cage. Took two Alleve and two Oxycodone thinking it was muscular. In about 45 minutes I had chest pains across my chest from one side to the other, about 5 minutes later at most, I had a gripping pain in the center of my abdomen just under my sternum. The pain was excruciating, a seven or eight out of ten sort of a thing and the pain pills did nothing. I headed to the local ER. After several hours there and at least a few tests like an EKG, the ER staff told me they only test for "important things" and then assured me they had done all the "importing testing". The woman then told me to see my regular doctor for further testing because the staff in the ER could not find anything wrong. I was in agony although I do think they gave me a pain medication Toradol or something along those lines and maybe a shot of morphine. They sent me on my way.

 

On Wednesday the pain was still there but had subsided much. I had a previous appointment to see my regular doc that day. I went in and explained to her nurse what took place the day  before. The doc asked me again what was up, then she asked did they do a CT scan while I was at the ER. Maybe they had done one on somebody else but most certainly not on me! She had one done at the clinic in which she works. The result was that she had her nurse wheel me right back to the ER (her office and the ER are in adjacent buildings). I was there quite a while before they ran an Ultra Sound on my abdomen. The result was negative! Yet, the bottom line of one paragraph said they suspected the same disease as noted in the CT scan (cannot think of the name in essence an infected gall bladder). The ER staff said I needed an MRI but it was too late to do one so they would do it on Thursday morning. I was admitted to the hospital. Next day they did and MRI, it agreed with the CT scan my doc had ordered. I was told I needed emergency surgery, then after more hours of waiting in pain, they told me surgery would be on Friday, two days after admission. On Friday, I was none too sure they would operate that day but they said they would at ten AM. They got me to surgery after 1030 AM.

 

All of the rest of Friday, I was in agony. The surgeon spoke to me and told me my gall bladder was "really messy" and quite deteriorated. They gave me repeated pain killers, both Morphine and hydrocodone. The pain meds did a little to alleviate the pain. They had told me chances were I'd be in surgery and on my way home hours later. That did not happen; my white blood cell count was very high and my bilirubin level was also high among other abnormal readings. Saturday was not much better, had a good amount of pain all day and night but it was getting better. By Sunday morning, I had been passing wind and that relieved lots of the pain, apparently caused by air they had pumped into my abdomen to keep it spread wide for the surgery as I understand it. I was feeling miserable but a doc told me my levels were pretty normal so I could go home, where I am right now.

 

During my whole stay and at the ER, I told several medical personnel that I had recently been diagnosed with a low level of diabetes and that I was being treated with fluconozole for a gastrointestinal fungal infection. In addition, I informed several medical personnel of the medicines I take regularly. They refused to give me Synthroid until less than an hour before they brought me to the operating room, then they gave me 25 mcg. less than normal. They never gave me Irebesartan, one of my BP meds but only gave me three of the four BP meds that I take regularly, and I guess that is the reason many if not most of my BP readings were high while in hospital. They also refused to give my fluconozole which I was taking for a gastric fungal infection. Of course, they said it was next to impossible for the fungal infection to be the cause of my gall bladder issues; my gastroenterologist had told me it was outright "impossible" that was a week or to ago. I'd love to see the results if they culture the slop that was my gall bladder. Hopefully benign as for cancer but wondering if it as due to the fungus Candida glabrata. When I told a nurse today that I had diabetes, she said there was nothing in my record about that and all along they had me on a regular diet. Luckily they told me most of my blood sugar readings were normal or close to it.

 

For well over a year now, more likely two years, as best I can recall; I have been complaining of abdominal pain, back pain, yellow or yellowish poops, an huge increase from virtually zero to lots of reflux (that a gastroenterologist recently had agreed with me was probably bile reflux). Damn these doctors. When I had told the surgeon how long I suspected I had gall bladder problems, he told me he believed that was quite likely my gall bladder was infected or otherwise deteriorating for that long due to how bad it as when he took it out. Both the surgeon and another doc told me irritation from it had started to spread to other organs.

Feeling much better now but still pretty miserable. Still have pain at two of three incision sites, one of those apparently right through or next to a hiatel hernia I have and that one hurts a lot.Very hard to fall asleep, having hot flashes or long periods of feeling heated, then cold sweats but not feverish. Also feel very restless, and cannot get to sleep although I am exhausted. Feel sort of nervous or anxious as well. I wonder if I have become addicted to the pain meds after only a few days; I hope not but I am not taking any more as the Vicodin made me hallucinate some or so the doc said that is what did it while I was in hospital last night and early today.

I have half a mind to contact a lawyer who can subpoena my medical records and then possibly file a lawsuit over my repeated and numerous complaints of the same symptoms for so long with no one discovering the problem but I hate dealing with lawyers, even ones on my side.,

 

Oh well, at least they got the diseased blob out of me and life goes on for now. Hope to feel better sooner than later. Have never felt this bad after surgery before and have had several in the past. 

That is all.

All  the best,

Glenn B

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving

 Hope that everyone has a truly Happy Thanksgiving. One that is free of politics and such. Keep it happy, keep smiling, or keep stuffing your pie hole with delicious food and keep your mouth shut otherwise if the only thing you want to talk about is divisive.

 

 

That is me preparing the fixings for the stuffing. My son sent me a text when I was napping to get it done. I woke up maybe an hour after he put the bird in the oven without stuffing, well except for a couple of onions. So pan cooked stuffing it has to be. Made with two Granny Smith apples, an onion, two eggs, sliced almonds, poultry spice, salt, pepper, a few different types of bread: bagels, English muffins, a kaiser roll and cibatta bread and butter. I am getting hungry writing about it.

 

Enjoy the day, be happy.
 

All the best,

Glenn B

Christmas Shopping & Christmas Decorations

When it comes to when is the correct time to start putting up Christmas decorations, I am a traditionalist more or less. I think no one should sell or put up anything specifically to do with Christmas until the day after Thanksgiving. Then after Christmas, sale items like Christmas wrapping paper should only be sold up until the end of January. That was the tradition when I was young. 

 

The neighborhood I lived in always put up Christmas lights over the main avenue; while they were put up a few days ahead of time, they were never lit up until the day after Thanksgiving (which was known then as "the day after Thanksgiving - not as Black Friday). On that Friday, all the retailers started to put out items for Christmas, run Christmas sales, the big stores like Macy's and Gimble's had Santa Claus in their stores for pictures with children (in fact those two stores essentially had Santa competitions on their window displays and Santa would appear in each of their windows on a schedule), Xmas tree vendors could be found hawking their trees curbside just about anywhere, the huge tree would be turned on at Rockefeller Center, and Salvation Army bell ringers would be out in any weather ringing the bell to collect donations outside of busy stores. Of course, the memories from my young years through my twenties and then again later in my thirties up until 5 years ago, were formed in NY City and on Long Island. New York City may be a slime hole and be a crime ridden den of thieves, muggers, rapist and murderers but at Christmas time it can also be magnificent and a trip to St. Patrick's Cathedral and to the observation deck of the Empire State Building were almost always things I would do. Dinner in Chinatown often followed. Yes Christmas traditions are a good thing and of course, spending Christmas with family and was the best thing.

 

I think one of the reasons the country is so screwed is because of the loss of tradition. That in my estimation is caused by spoiled brats who have ruined everything by insisting on everything being their way, and they cannot stand traditions or at least good traditions. Once they start whining, it seems retailers follow their lead on just about anything that they can sell (just look at the store with a name akin to Bullseye, they were selling all that LGBTQ type children's stuff when the LGBTQ crowd and the democrats were whining last year about transgender rights and holding transvestite shows in grammar schools (I am also for the tradition of tarring & feathering miscreants😂). Of course, retailers also sell early to make the big bucks before their competitors, again regardless of tradition.

 

As for me this year, I am thinking of getting a small live tree and decorating it. I'll probably do that soon after Thanksgiving (once the Christmas buying frenzy dies down a bit after Black Friday). I hope it to be something my son will replant in his backyard to remember me after I am gone; hopefully I won't be gone for many years yet to come. I also hope the tree, like our memories, will have grown nicely and be a joy to behold for my son's future Christmas celebrations. By the way, he already planted the one I gave him last year (or maybe it was two years ago).

 

As far as Christmas shopping goes, I have not always been that traditional. I have been known to start shopping for Christmas, in August, but not for anything specifically geared toward Christmas. I started that many years ago after watching Crazy Eddy commercials. Crazy Eddie was a NYC electronics retailer with some great a bit of off the wall commercials that just got me going out early ad doing some of my Christmas shopping in August. Mostly though, I wait until after Thanksgiving and it is a rare Christmas Eve that I do not go shopping for at least one present at the last minute. I may have misssed one or two shopping sprees on Christmas Eve over all my years since I have been around 12 years old (probably younger) but shopping on Chistmas Eve is a tradition I hope never to stop for as long as I live.

 

 

 

  

   

 

All the best,

Glenn  B

Incredibly Problematic

Incredibly Problemtic is how a retired U.S. Lt. Colonel describes the result of Biden allowing Ukraine to fire missiles deep into Russia. What do you think he means by that! 

 

 

 

I only watched that video shortly after I entered my last blog post immediately prior to this one. I guess the colonel and I kind of, sort of, almost think alike about this issue.

 

My great grandfather seems to have been right when he in sum and substance told me if you want to go to war, elect a democrat.

 

Praying for peace but preparing for war may be the way to go

 

All the best,

Glenn B 

Did Biden Just Start WWIII...

 ...or was his decision to allow Ukraine to fire U.S. made missiles deep into the heart of Russia (more at the source) exactly the type of brinkmanship needed to end that war. Honestly, if Ukraine launches a succesful, and thus a destructive, missile attack deep within Russia, I will be amazed if it does not trigger direct military retaliation against the Unites States or a tactical nuke strike on Ukraine or both. 

Another trip to buy canned food, bottled water and such may be in order. I hope Biden finally got something right but with his track record, I doubt it.

 

Then there is that nagging conspiracy theory in my head trying to convince me, this is part of a plan to nuke Trump's presidency by leaving him a war to fight. Yet, I find it hard to believe that Democrats would be as unAmerican and as stupid to start WWIII for political advantage, that mainly because with the devastation of our military readiness under Biden the odds are stacked high against us winning.

All the best,

Glenn B

Something Must Be Right At Least With My Credit

American Express sent me an email to let me know my credit score went down. So, I checked it. I do not know what it was before today but I can say it must have been excellent. Today it is 832 out of 850. It is nice to know that at least something in my life is going right financally.  

 

 They also said this:

 "Kudos! Your score is too high for an improvement plan.'

 

All I do is pay my bills on time. I guess I am good at that even when I go overboard a bit on spending like this current credit card cycle. I bought a decent amount of ammo in case Trump lost; the price of that plus the sofa and a couple of other things brought my score down. Anyhow, I am happy he won and that my son's and daughter's ammo inheritance has grown.

 

Now if only I could get good news from  FedEx on a sofa that I put on my Amex card. Two deliveries to date had to be returned because FedEx damaged them. They were supposed to deliver a third yesterday but sent me an email saying it would be delivered today instead. Well a FedEx truck pulled up outside my place a little while ago and the driver asked me what I had for her to pick up. She said there was no sofa in her truck and she double checked and said again she was sent here for a pick up. Oh well, business as usual with FedEx they stink in my opinion.

All the best,

Glenn B

 

 

 

 

Happy Veterans' Day

 To all who have served honorably in our military services, I hope your special day is a good one. You deserve more than just one day especially if you were disabled during your service.

All the best,

Glenn B

My Dentist Of Years Ago

 

  

Those are two memorable scenes, at least and especially for me, from the movie Marathon Man, starring Dustin Hoffman. The second one always gets to me when you think there really were monsters like that guy torturing children in similar (as in the first video) and much worse ways during WWII in the concentration camps. In fact there were monsters, anyway at least one, post WWII who did likewise years after the war's end.

Over the years I have met several people who were in those camps including one of my dentists. When I was a kid to young adult - he loved using the pick to enlarge cavities (or maybe even create them in a healthy tooth), then the drill likewise - according to him to get the filling in there really well. He told me that with glee and a smile on his face as he dug the pick into my tooth or went at it with the drill, the high pitched whine of it making me clench the arms of the chair and hold on for life while anticipating the pain.

 

 After I turned 24, when on a visit back home in NYC, I visited him for a check-up. I had one cavity (real or maybe created by his pick). Before going in with the drill, he told me he remembered I did not like pain (yes all of my previous cavities were drilled & filled by him without any pain medication at all) and he gave my my first injections of novocaine. The shots hurt like hell, going into the roof of my mouth and my gum too but I admit the subsequent drilling, which would have been terribly worse without the novocaine, was relatively painless.

 

It was during that visit that I, for the very first time, saw the numerical tattoo on his arm. Until then, his sleeves were always down but not that day. That day he had rolled them up. Before then I had never imagined that he had been imprisoned in a concentration camp and even if I had seen the tattoo before then, I may not have relized the significance - but I knew what it meant by then. Damn, my mother used to tell him how wonderful was Germany and how beautiful life was there (she was of German and Gottschee blood); he would go along with her babble, making as if he was a good little German who loved the old country. 

 

I am guessing that talk by my mom only went to fuel his hatred, that was born as a result of being in the camps. I feel for him considering his time in the camps; nonetheless, I see his time in the camps as no excuse for what he did to me and probably many other kids, as the neighborhood was made up of primarily ethnic Germans. It was nothing more or less than torture. I despise his treatments of me still today and will until the day I die; the bastard had tortured me in that manner several times always making me think it was normal to be in pain like that while at the dentist. Damn I hate the noise of the drill all these years later; it still sends shivers down my spine and to every extremity even though today I know it will not hurt because there is no way my dentist today will drill my teeth without a painkiller.

 

All the best,

Glenn B

Trump Cleaning Up - Such A Nice Photo That I Could Not Resist Posting It

 

 

All the best,

GB

Oh Happy Days Yet To Come

Yes happy days ares soon to come now that President Trump has been reelected for a second but nonconsecutive term in office. He is only the second president in U.S history to have been reelected to a nonconsecutive term. The first was Grover Cleveland. He was a democrat but essentially nothing to very little like those of today as he was a fiscal conservative and had several other conservative ideals. He was more of a Trump than a Biden but still unlike either very much I suppose.

 

My congratulations to President Elect Donald Trump and to VP Elect J.D. Vance. Now all they need to do is avoid being assassinated by leftist loonies or Iranian assassins and my bet is attempts on at least Trump's life are yet to come. If they make it through their term unscathed over its four year duration, plus from now until the inauguration in January, the USA should start getting back on track as the greatest nation on this earth. I wish them only well, the same I wish for our country.

 

I guess it is also proper for me to congratulate all of you in our country who, like me, voted for President Trump and for me to say thank you to all of you. Together we have given our nation a chance at becoming not only great again but the greatest nation on the planet. I give my thanks to you because I cannot imagine having to spend four years under the thumb of that cackling hyena like she-devil of a wannabe tyrant Kamala Harris, that wussy-like twit of a VP Tim Walz and their constitutional republic destroying minion.

 

 

All the best,

Glenn B

I Hope...

 ...that Fox News is not wrong again. In fact I have prayed they did not call the race too soon. Going back to bed soon, got up to walk Skye then sat down to watch election results and just saw Trump's speech. Let's face it, last time the slimeball left pulled votes out of nowhere at the last minute to beat him by hook or by crook. Let's hope it does not happen again.

All the best,

Glenn B

Slow At The Show

I have been manning two tables at a local, to my place, gun show since 0845 or so this morning. Show opened at 0900. So, I have been trying to sell guns, ammo and some other stuff for about 3 hours 45 minutes. So far my gross intake has been $90.00. 

 

I Would have thought, in fact I did think - with hunting season upon us and what with the possibility of an anti rights, especially an anti RKBA,  she-devil possibly winning the election in 3 days - that folks would be hedging their futures by buying ammo today. Truth is, the other dealers to whom I have spoken are not selling much either.  Oh well, I wasted $130.00 on two tables and anothe $20.00 on a raffle ticket and can only hope tomorrow is going to bring many more sales to my tables.

All the best,

Glenn B

You Asked For It - Bill Jordan

If you are as old as me, you probably remember the show ''You Asked For It'. Folks would send in a letter telling the show staff about something they found hard to believe and wanted to see if real or simply about something interesting or amazing they wanted to see on the show. The show obliged by showing one or more of the requests in each episode. Tonight, while reading in a gun forum, I read a post that had the below video linked to it. 

The request to You Asked For It was that the letter writer had read that U.S. Border Patrol Agent Bill Jordan could drop a bottle from his hand, draw his revolver and shoot the bottle before it hit the ground. The guy sending in the request said he found it hard to believe but wanted to see it. Wow, Jordan was pretty fast considering he was no spring chicken when the show had him on. Enjoy.

 

All the best,

Glenn B

PLEASE VOTE - There Few If Any Excuses Not To Vote

The possibility of that beeatch Cackling Kamala Harris becoming president, with Tampon Timmy Walz as her second in command, is looming less than a week away. With that possibility in the back of my mind,  I just finished my ammo inventory to see if there was anything of which I am sorely lacking. In all it amounted to 37,390 rds. in various calibers. That is down quite an amount away from my high of 50K rounds when I was in NY. While it likely will be much more than enough for my future, it will also hopefully become my son's after I have left this earth. 

 

While it as not lacking much, I nevertheless decided to do a little ammo shopping today, not much really just a little. I ordered a case of 1K rounds of PMS X-TAC 5,56x45mm M855 ($551.10 shipped with insurance and adult signature from Target Sports USA with my Ammo+ membership there). I also ordered a case of 1K rounds of Federal 9mm Hi-Shok JHP ( same place, separate order, total for this one was $386.22). On the 25th, I ordered 500 rds. of Magtech Sport .357 158 gr. semi-jacketed hollow point ammo. I am now thinking I should have ordered a full case of the .357 MAG. Oh well, money is tight right now being I also just had the high bids on two guns and other items at an online auction last Saturday and since I paid ny car and renter's insurance last month for the whole year. Even though these purchases put me in a bit of a financial hole right now, and even though I am literally set for fighting as part of the resistance if the US is ever attacked, I still keep getting the urge to stock up on even more ammo. 

 

I guess that urge is lingering mostly because I dread the prices that will come should that she-devil gain the presidency or even possible firearms and ammo bans that she will initiate. I would not vote for her for all the gold in Fort Knox. I have no qualms about voting for a woman for president - I'd vote for Sarah Palin or Kristy Noem in a heartbeat. I'd also have no problem voting for a so called person of color. Now, even though I dropped out of the RINO party and registered as an Independent voter, what I have a problem voting for is any leftist, liberal, democracy professing, communist wannabe, anti-Constitution, rights hating democrat/progressive (and that includes any RINO) all of whom, as far as I am concerned, are United States hating scum.

I already voted on the second day of early voting here in Arkansas; I took no chances that something might happen that would prevent me from getting to the polling place on November 5th. So, if you are a U.S. citizen who loves this country, who loves freedom, your rights & liberties I implore you to PLEASE VOTE and vote straight republican in every race for office. There are many ways you can do it, it takes only a very little of our time, but if Trump wins it will go a long, long way to secure our future and the futures of our children and grandchildren. A potential voter who does not vote, and yes I mean for The Donald, is giving that much more help and support to the archenemy of these United States and to all of our rights, especially the RKBA as enumerated within the 2nd Amendment.

 

Just in case, you may want to consider buying some ammo too. I truly fear that is she wins this nation will devolve further into an abyss of lawlessness and retaliation against Trump supporters much worse than it has been under Biden. They have made their evil intentions known time and time again in sum & substance calling for Trump's assassination even after two failed attempts. They have called us deplorables, garbage, and Fascists and some like Hillary Clinton (source) and John Kerry (source) have in essence called for the abolishment of the first amendment and other law(s) so they can have unimpeded total control! Imagine how much more emboldened the lefties will become should Harris be elected. It may devolve to utter chaos in our land and become a fight for our lives and I do not say that lighty. I mean, if they are bold enough to say the anti-Constitutional things they say now, just think about what they will do should Harris become president and if, somehow, the left winds up controlling both houses of Congress.

Vote, VOTE, VOTE!!!

 

All the best,

Glenn B

Alternate Use For A Firearms Cleaning Rod & Bore Brush

There I was, finally doing some needed cleanup in my apartment today and I was almost happily pushing furniture out of the way to vacuum the floors. That was almost happy untiI I realized that the vacuum was blowing around the dog hair, human hair, lint, dust bunnies and whatever else was on the floor instead of sucking it up. So, I took off the roller brushes, cleaned them and started again. Still the problem persisted; so, I took off the main hose and the tube that it is attached too and took a look - all clear. Then a look down the extension of the tube, that is permanently attached to the body of the vacuum cleaner revealed what looked like a blockage. It was a pain in the neck getting it out. I tried pushing it out with some long skinny things to no avail; then I tried a cleaning rod with a shotgun bore brush attached to pull it out - also no go. Then another try with the cleaning rod this time attached to a 38 caliber bore brush which gave it enough room to slide past the side of the blockage. It all came out fairly easily over the course of fives or six twirling swipes. First I got a small piece of paper towel, then a few more larger pieces with dog hair & and dust, then what amounted to what could have been a full toupee's worth of hair for a bald guy but made up of dog hair, human hair, lint, dust bunnies and other filth. Damn, it was packed in there, in all it was about a time and a half larger than my fist. Now though, the vacuum, a 5 year old Shark brand, works just fine again.

 

All the best,

Glenn B

If Only We Had Known Sooner...

 ...think of all the heartaches that would have been prevented and all the money that would not have been spent on marriages & alimony.

This needs to be taught in grammar school or at least in freshman year of high school! In fact this is my kind of woke.

Hat tip to Mike M for sending me the link to the video.

All the best,

Glenn B

Beretta Serial Number Lookup

I just mentioned the Beretta Serial Number Lookup in my blog-post immediately prior to this one but figured it important enough to allow for a separate post about it. Beretta now has, since at least June 2023, a serial number lookup feature on their website. it is located at this link: 

 

https://bcrm.my.site.com/busa/s/get-firearm-info?language=en_US

 

That is a very good thing for Beretta owners; at least for certain of their Berettas. I said that last because the Beretta serial number lookup feature is good for pistols imported to or made in the USA and only after 1988. Here is what Beretta noted about it when I ran the number on an older gun made in Italy:  

"Firearm Info

Your Serial Was Not Found, What Does That Mean?"

Our Serial Number Database is comprised of serial numbers imported or manufactured in the United States by Beretta from 1988 forward.

Prior to Beretta USA, some Italian manufactured guns were imported by other lines of distribution.

If your firearm is an older classic, please refer to our FAQ database "When was my firearm produced?".

Please call 1-800-BERETTA for additional assistance."

I wish it was for all their guns no matter where made or when but it is still a help for those with guns that fit the criteria. I hope that is as helpful for fellow Beretta owners as it already has been for me.

 My thanks go out to user BrokeDaddy of the Handgun Forum.net who posted about it at this link: https://www.handgunforum.net/threads/beretta-serial-lookup-is-back.173067/ this past June.

All the best,

Glenn B

Guns, Guns, Guns - It's A Way Of Life - My Life

 Well, another month, another Saturday in that month and another Hessney.com firearms auction or as they now call them another Sportsman Auction this one was actually a Military & Sportsman Auction. Yes, of course, as is not always but usually is the case, I bought some guns.

 

Today's latest acquisitions (not in hand yet but I had the high bids and eagerly await delivery) are the following:

 

A Colt Model 1903 Hammerless in .32 Auto; this was made in 1907 as per the Colt website's serial number lookup feature. It will become the oldest firearm that I currently own. As per the folks at the auction house, of whom I inquire about almost all the firearms I bid on through them, this one is in 90% condition and is functioning properly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have a bit of a liking for 32 Autos, this will be the third in my current collection; although, I have had others before these. The other two currently are a Beretta Tomcat and an Ortgies pistol. I should point out that the Colt 1903 Hammerless was used by one of my favorite actors in at least a few to several films and I was willing to bid quite a bit more on this one because of that but got it at lower bid than I expected and that was a nice plus or should I say a nice minus. Back to the  actor, that would be Humphrey Bogart who was in some of the best films noir ever. he surprisingly only was awarded an Oscar for two of his films and was nominated for another. He received one for Casablanca an excellent film noir but not his best which I think was The Maltese Falcon (he was robbed not getting and Oscar for that) and one for what was a comedic adventure film - The African Queen - one of his best movies and showed his wonderful adaptiveness to be able to play in a comedy). He was also nominated for his role in The Caine Mutiny another excellent film and wonderful bit pf character acting. He used this model Colt in Casablanca, The Big Sleep, Key Largo, and The Desperate Hours (more at the source). Many other actors and some actresses (what they were called back then and what I prefer) such a Lizabeth Scott, who used one in Dead Reckoning, used this same pistol in similar films noir back then in the 30s & 40s. In fact Colt 1903 Hammerless pistols have been used in films from 1918 all the way up to the current (as I write this) year 2024 (more at the source). They have also been used in television from at least 1961 through 2024, in video games and Anime (go figure).

 

I had the high bid on one other pistol from today's auction, I stopped bidding on the guns after that as I need to ease off a bit on how much I spend at auctions being they are usually monthly from this auction house and they have been putting a wider and wider hole in my pocket book out of which my gelt keeps flowing. That second high bid was for a Beretta U22 NEOS with a 7.5" barrel. It seems that the 7.5" barrel models are somewhat less frequently seen than are those with 6" & 4.5" barrels. I base that on me doing some checking to see if I could nail down the prices that they sold for on GunBroker.com but the 7.5" model did not show up as being sold even once through GunBroker over the course of the last year; although, those with shorter barrels were sold frequently. The one I had the high bid on today has a nice looking set of blue grips. 

 

 

Me buying another Beretta should not come as a surprise to anyone who knows anything about my pistols; I have several of them going on many. I think this one will make it an even dozen. Before doing some research, I had not realized that the NEOS were discontinued by Beretta several years or so back and are now considered legacy Berettas (more at the source). Of course, at least a few of my other Berettas would also be considered legacy models such as the 950BS, 92Sb, 87 Target, 70S in 22 LR and 70S in .380 Auto. As for this one, I checked the Beretta serial number lookup feature (had not known they had this feature until writing this post when I read about it in a forum post from this past June). Well, I found out it is a deluxe model NEOS and that it was manufactured on June 02, 2004. So it is 20 years and most of 4 months old. It does not look to have been used much and the auction info indicated it is "as new". I think this one could become a very fun gun for plinking and maybe for getting the main ingredients for a Brunswick stew and by the main ingredients I mean the traditional ones in the USA - bushy tailed rats (aka: Gray Squirrels) and or rabbits although I'd prefer squirrel for the Brunswick Stew and rabbit for Hasenpfeffer. 

I have only had squirrel, I think, twice and never in a stew as best I recall; it was yummy. Rabbit in stew and otherwise as in fried, I have eaten several, if not many, times. Squirrels are easy to clean but not always so easy to find & hunt; I will have to try my luck with them this season (with this pistol) if I can find a stand of productive mast trees (in which case I may not only find lots of squirrels but turkeys, hogs and deer among other critters of the forest. Honestly, when it comes to the squirrels, I figure four would make enough stew for me and my pooch for two or maybe three meals and yes she will get some - at least the meat anyway.

 

 All the best, 

Glenn B

 

 

 

Last Night's Dinner

 

That was dinner last night - a nice boneless choice rib eye steak with two cans of mushrooms (steak & shrooms cooked in salted butter, same pan, with some onion flakes, sea salt, black pepper & a bit of garlic powder - somehow I had no fresh onions, I guess due to my essentially bachelor type lifestyle or my aging little gray cells). Added the shrooms & onions when steak was cooked about half way, which was medium rare edging on medium (it came out a bit overcooked for my preference but still excellent). Both I and Skye (my mongrel) loved it. She got a few chunks of the steak (about 1/4 of it, I ate about 1/2 of it) after her regular dinner of dry dog food; I wiped off the onion and shrooms from her portion. I also had a Sam's Club Caesar salad kit (romaine lettuce, shredded cheese, croutons and dressing) and I added a bounteous amount of Ken's Greek dressing (not their Greek vinaigrette and a good amount of feta cheese to it.

There is about 1/4 of the steak and the same fraction of mushrooms remaining. So, my breakfast will have an extreme likelihood of being: steak & shrooms, three eggs, two toasted & buttered slices of Dave's Killer Bread - 21 Whole Grains & Seeds, a large mug of very strong unsweetened black coffee, 5 ounces of OJ mixed in with black cherry flavored carbonated water. Skye will get about 1/3 of the remaining steak minus the shrooms and one or two scrambled egg(s) microwaved in a bowl. I think she likes the eggs just as much, or at least almost as much, as the steak.

Most of the add-ons:

This one:

Ken's Greek salad dressing is the only bottled salad dressing that I have bought over the course of the last 7 years or so.

Not this one (this one sucks in my opinion):

Will be added to and toasted for Breakfast:

 

 

It was delicious. Only one drawback, and it is a painful one; I cracked and chipped a tooth on what I am guessing was a bone artifact in my boneless rib eye. Hope to see a dentist today. 

All the best,

Glenn B

 

What Did This Cowboy Eat When On The Trail?

 I ask that question in the title because I am listening to Johnny Cash singing Ghost Riders In The Sky and it just dawned on me, several decades after first hearing it, that the old cowboy must have been on one hell of psychedelic a trip. 

 

 

 

So what do you think it was induced by, him chomping down on a  cactus as in ingesting mescaline or was it fueled by him frying up some shrooms, as in psilocybin, to add to his chili? Whichever he  definitely was flying high.

Heck, now I've got a hankering for a nice thick rib eye steak (which I just pulled out of the freezer) along with some mushrooms (of course, I mean the canned variety) sauteed in butter.

 

Yeeha! 

 

All the best, 

Glenn B

Gunbroker. com Is Getting Tedious

I am getting pretty fed up with the absolute bullshit one has to go through to sign onto their site. The latest pain in the neck, as of my third time logging into their site today (was not required the first two times so must be brand spanking new) is that they now require an access code that they send to the site user in an email so you can sign on. They also require you to attest that you are 18 or older - wake up Gunbroker, I have an account with you - you already know how old am I (and know likewise for the rest of your users I think) and I do not live in Commiefornia - so tell the state of California and Governor Newscum to shove that requirement where the sun does not shine when it comes to U.S. citizens outside of that shithole of a state. Then there is checking off the box as to whether or not one accepts cookies or not - damn it, just put a notice on your site that signing on means you agree to that like the notification that comes up on my blog if viewed in Europe. 

 

Yeah, I know,it is like this on most websites. The thing is - it is long past time for those affected by these ridiculous rules to stand up against them. Companies owning websites can certainly come up with better security than requiring user verification codes. State laws should NEVER affect everyone in the nation - only state residents of the state enacting the law or people visiting those states but even ridiculous laws like CA's age verification for firearms related site should be obliterated as a violation of the first amendment. The cookie thing is totally ludicrous; who that owns or users a computer does not know that cookies are used nor how to get them off of you computer with applications like CCleaner??? What do sites like GunBroker do instead of fighting these ridiculous requirements, they bow down and kiss the governments arse. No wonder we are losing our liberties & rights left and right.

 

Now, I admit, I will keep using GunBroker because I know of no better website on which to sell guns but mind you, I will contact GunBroker and express my disappointment with the policies of theirs that I just mentioned. Hopefully so will others - enough of us to get rid some of this absolute BS.

 

All the best,

Glenn B

I Am Not Religiois For The Most Part...

 ...but I do believe in freedom of religion and think mocking it as Harris did is possibly a violation of our Constitution or at the very least something done in extremely bad taste as she is a government employee and she should be upholding that right to the fullest extent. So when I saw this meme on X, I knew I had to share it:

 

 

 

Source: https://x.com/GringoSuave84/status/1848436790635757713/photo/1

 

All the best,

Glenn B