...and while the events of this date were not all that awesome, certain battles to follow today's unauthorized invasion of Zululand in 1879 by British Lt. General Chelmsford are some of the most remarkable in history.
Later the same month, on January 22, 1879 the Zulus wiped out a very large contingent of British forces under Chelmsford at Isandhlwana, killing 850 British soldiers, 450 native troops in British Service, and taking nearly 1000 rifles with ammunition. This was the most devastating defeat for British forces in battle against native forces, only about 55 British troops survived the battle, along with some native troops in British service. It was one heck of a piece of fine fighting by the Zulus for sure against better armed British troops, but despite the big win, the luck of the Zulus was about to change later on that same day.
On that same day, January 22, 1879, one of the most awe inspiring battles of all time took place at Roarke's Drift when about 138 British Soldiers defended their position against an opposing force of about 4,000 to 5,000 Zulu Warriors, many armed with British rifles. Should I forget to write about this on January 22, at least I made mention here. You can see more about this at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rorke%27s_Drift, and at: http://www.rorkesdriftvc.com/, http://schwartz.eng.auburn.edu/zulu/rorke.html, http://www.rorkesdriftvc.com/battle/battle.htm, http://battlefields.kzn.org.za/battlefields/about/192.xml. Eleven British soldiers received the Victoria Cross for their actions that day, more such awards than had ever been given for any single engagement in British History; and that record stands through today.
Not only did the British erect a memorial to the British soldiers who fought and fell at Roarke's Drift: http://www.rorkesdriftvc.com/battle/rorkesdrift_monument.htm , but they also erected one in honor of the Zulu Warriors who fought and fell there that day: http://www.rorkesdriftvc.com/battle/zulu_memorial.htm.
It will soon be time once again to sit down with a good beer in hand and watch one of my favorite movies of all time: Zulu (1964) (http://imdb.com/title/tt0058777/), starring Michael Caine and Stanley Baker. If you have never seen this movie, why not find a copy, then wait until the 22nd January, then find a nice comfortable chair and a beer, and plop you butt into it in front of the television and give it a watch. By the way, if you cannot wait to see, oh well what the heck - go for it.
All the best,
Glenn B
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Ammunition Auctions To Help A Good Cause
I was down in the dingier parts of the dungeon my basement tonight, and I came across quite a shocking surprising find when I literally stumbled across a head in a basket some ammunition that I had forgotten all about. Being that I do not have guns in two of three calibers of ammo that I found, and being that I have a good supply of the one caliber for which I do own a pistol, I figured I would put this small ammo cache to good use. So I lugged it all up to my computer desk, took some pictures of the ammo boxes, and proceeded to list the ammo for sale at auction on GunBroker.com.
What I came across is as follows:
5 boxes of Remington 32 WIN Special ammunition, 170 grain core-lokt soft points; and 1 box of Federal 32 WIN Special 170 grain soft points. See GunBroker Auction: 89805969
2 boxes of Ultramax 45 Colt ammunition, 200 grain round nose flat points; and 1 box of Ultramax 45 Colt, 250 grain round nose flat points. See GunBroker Auction: 89806730
5 boxes of Sellier & Bellot 7.65 mm Browning ammunition (.32 Auto), 73 grain, full metal jacket (25 rounds per box). See Gunbroker Auction: 89807557
PLEASE NOTE: I said that these were Ammunition Auctions To Help A Good Cause, I did not just mean to fill my pocket with some extra cash. What could be better than that? Well one thing would be helping out fellow bloggers in need. At least one half of the selling price (after auction expenses) of this ammo will be donated to Chris and Melody Byrne over at The Anarchangel in an effort to help them with their legal fees relative to their custody fight for their children. Now it may not wind up being an enormous amount of money, but every little bit helps; and you get something for your money if you have the high bid. Besides that I already sent a donation to them, so this is icing on the cake - so to speak.
If you would like to take part in this effort, why not plop a bid down on some of this ammo. For more info on the cause for this auction see: http://anarchangel.blogspot.com/2008/01/weve-been-blindsided-and-we-need-help.html
All the best,
Glenn B
What I came across is as follows:
5 boxes of Remington 32 WIN Special ammunition, 170 grain core-lokt soft points; and 1 box of Federal 32 WIN Special 170 grain soft points. See GunBroker Auction: 89805969
2 boxes of Ultramax 45 Colt ammunition, 200 grain round nose flat points; and 1 box of Ultramax 45 Colt, 250 grain round nose flat points. See GunBroker Auction: 89806730
5 boxes of Sellier & Bellot 7.65 mm Browning ammunition (.32 Auto), 73 grain, full metal jacket (25 rounds per box). See Gunbroker Auction: 89807557
PLEASE NOTE: I said that these were Ammunition Auctions To Help A Good Cause, I did not just mean to fill my pocket with some extra cash. What could be better than that? Well one thing would be helping out fellow bloggers in need. At least one half of the selling price (after auction expenses) of this ammo will be donated to Chris and Melody Byrne over at The Anarchangel in an effort to help them with their legal fees relative to their custody fight for their children. Now it may not wind up being an enormous amount of money, but every little bit helps; and you get something for your money if you have the high bid. Besides that I already sent a donation to them, so this is icing on the cake - so to speak.
If you would like to take part in this effort, why not plop a bid down on some of this ammo. For more info on the cause for this auction see: http://anarchangel.blogspot.com/2008/01/weve-been-blindsided-and-we-need-help.html
All the best,
Glenn B
The Floor - and 4 weeks or so later...
...still has my knees, my hips and my lower back all feeling like the icy grip of winter has frozen them painfully in place. I can only wish that I could get some of the glowing warmth promised by the prospect of Al Gore's globally warmed winters, but there does not seem to be much chance of that. It does seem however that I will be enjoying at least another day or two of a warm glow of another sort, that cast by the suns last rays across the richly finished oak floorboards over which I have been kneeling as I hammer away. Yes folks, I still have not finished one small room's (maybe 12x14) worth of flooring. I have been pretty good about keeping at it though, and each weekend over the past 4 or 5 weeks (with the exception of last weekend when I was sicker than a dog) I have been diligently lining up floorboards, cutting them to size, drilling mail holes, then hammering home the nails to put it all together. I may not be doing as good a job as a professional finish carpenter, but I sure am doing as good or better than the fly by night type of carpenter one normally hires from out of the local Pennysaver. I know, I have hired those types before, and my work is better than theirs by a long shot, cheaper too - though I will admit this laying a new floor thing has gotten more expensive than I thought it would be. My latest expense was a new Jig Saw, purchased today for $69. Sure I could have gotten the bottom of the line for $29.99, but that one was obviously a piece of junk. The one I bought may be a piece of junk too, but at least it fakes looking like a fair quality item. All I needed it for was to cut an indent in two floorboards to go around the radiator pipe, and I sure wished I could have found my old one. The fact is I am pretty sure that the old one died a while back and I threw it out. So I needed a new one regardless of doing the floor. Oh well.
The floor is almost finished though. I would have done more than 6 1/2 rows of boards today, but I ran out of nails. By the time I realized that the local hardware store was closed up tight as a clam, and Home Depot was out of the question. Heck I was just at two of them this morning to by the drill, so I would be damned if I was about to go again. Too bad I did not realize I was low on nails, piss poor planning on my part I guess. Oh well, tomorrow is another day. I figure I'll do another 6 or so rows tomorrow. Then one more good day at it and it will be finished. Maybe, just maybe, when I get hoe after visiting my mom at the rehab center tomorrow afternoon, my son will have gotten the nails and finished off most of the job. One can wish.
All the best,
Glenn B
The floor is almost finished though. I would have done more than 6 1/2 rows of boards today, but I ran out of nails. By the time I realized that the local hardware store was closed up tight as a clam, and Home Depot was out of the question. Heck I was just at two of them this morning to by the drill, so I would be damned if I was about to go again. Too bad I did not realize I was low on nails, piss poor planning on my part I guess. Oh well, tomorrow is another day. I figure I'll do another 6 or so rows tomorrow. Then one more good day at it and it will be finished. Maybe, just maybe, when I get hoe after visiting my mom at the rehab center tomorrow afternoon, my son will have gotten the nails and finished off most of the job. One can wish.
All the best,
Glenn B
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