Respect on the Internet...

...is something that is sometimes easy to find, and easy to lose. I guess it is often easy to find if you find yourself in agreement with someone on a blog, or find they agree with your own blog. The sad thing seems to be that it is just as easily lost, often when one person finds himself in disagreement with another. This often causes one or the other of those involved, sometimes both, to lose respect for one another; and you know disagreements should not necessarily do that.

I usually write out my opinion in no uncertain terms. I do so with respect for the other person whom I am addressing or for the audience I am addressing. In the case of the Internet, that audience could be just about anyone. I expect the same back from my readers, or from other bloggers on whose sites I leave comments. I do not always get such. In fact sometimes you get little to no respect at all if you are not a supporter of whomever you are addressing, or of their blog and viewpoints. I find that makes for such a dull, and boring world , and that usually people who expect you to bow down to their opinions and theirs alone (or at least ones that support theirs) are dull and boring no matter how otherwise intelligent they may be. Differences of opinion make for great discussion and great writing, and being able to respect the opinions of others within reason, even when you may disagree with them, goes to show a great person.

When I comment on a post on another's blog, I truly appreciate it when that person allows me to continue to post even though we maybe strongly opposed to one another on some issues. What I do not appreciate is when that other person twists what I have said, or starts name calling or other childish BS, to make it appear as if I am some person not worthy of a readership, or not worthy to leave comments on their blog.

Along those lines, I can say that without a doubt, I do not read any one's blog with the intent of causing trouble by leaving opposing comments, opinions, viewpoints, and ideas; but nor do I go to any one's web site or blog with the intent of getting down on my knees to bow to them as some sort of guru who is the know all be all of whichever subject is at hand. It would be pointless to do either as far as I am concerned, and all it would amount to is animosity or arse kissing.

Of course, sometimes in the source of reading forums, blogs and such, I come across a site that is interesting, wherein the people are usually respectful, and wherein I can leave comments of my own opinion about the issues discussed without having to worry about offending anyone so long as I remain civil. It is often at these sites that I develop what amounts to an association with the person who runs the site, or with the blogger. Many of the blog sites to which I link over on the right are virtually inhabited by folks like that, and although I do not link only to ones like that, I try my best to link to sites wherein I think you will find a respectful attitude should you post a comment therein whether or not it agrees with the mindset of the blogger in question.

The best thing about trying to link to the sites of bloggers who are like that is that you often wind up making a virtual acquaintance that turns out to be surprisingly amicable; like having made a friend. I can say without a doubt that even though I have never personally met any of these bloggers in real life, a few of them seem like old friends already. That is a nice thing about the Internet blogs and forums, and I'll try to keep this blog respectful to the opinions of others even when we do not agree with one another; and I'll try to keep linked to the sites of other bloggers whom to me seem to do likewise.

In closing I'd like to say, thanks to those of you who are respectful commenters and bloggers. You make the Internet a better place, and I am happy to link to your sites here.

Before I close, allow me to say that this post has very little to do with any previous one, and this one is not directed at any particular person I mentioned in a previous post. This one is directed at you folks who make this blog a nicer place to visit, who have your own blog that is worth a visit, and who can share ideas, and voice differences of opinion, and still respect the opinions of others within reason. Thanks.

All the best,
Glenn B

Jim Cirillo - Another Good Man Gone

Jim was killed in an automobile/truck accident on Thursday July 12th. See: http://www.uticaod.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070713/NEWS/70713003 for more details.

I seem to remember I first met Jim Cirillo back in the early to mid 1980's when I worked for the U.S. Customs Service as a patrol officer. I met him at a firearms range in his capacity of Firearms Instructor. Earlier today when I thought back, to those way back times, I had thought I met him at the NYPD range at Rodman's Neck in NYC, but upon further thinking about it, we may have first met at the FLETC either when I was in the Border Patrol Academy in 1979/80, or when I was there for the CPO academy in 1983. Whenever is not so important, what is important, at least to me is that I met him at all, and that he took his time to make me a better shooter and better law enforcement officer.

When we first met, I was almost immediately enthralled by his feisty, yet gentlemanly mannerisms, and by his stories of his time on the New York City Police Department (NYPD) Stakeout Unit (commonly called the Stakeout Squad). I say almost because if I remember right, I at first wondered who was this crusty older guy who was reprimanding me for whatever I had just done wrong regarding how I was aiming, when I figured I had done it right. Boy did I still have a lot to learn about getting it right regarding combat/tactical shooting, and there I was being chewed out, unknown to me at that moment, by one of the all time most experienced shootists the world has known. He got me to pay attention right away, but what else could I have done than pay attention to him with his slightly antagonistic, self assured, yet pleasantly dynamic personality. Despite my thinking I was right, and despite my wondering who was this crusty old geezer (and he was not all that old but I was all that young still in my twenties) he got me to listen to him that very first time, and not only did I listen, I actually learned something. I got better at tactical shooting with the very next shot. Oh those days of blued steel revolvers and the real men who shot them!

Later on, one of the other range officers told me who he was, and told me about him. I was awestruck, and the reason for it was because I just had been in contact with a living legend, but yet a man who considered himself just a regular guy. He was in fact a living legend because of his time on the NYPD Stakeout Unit during which time he was in multiple armed encounters, and during many of which he shot it out with the bad guys - him always coming out the winner as far as I can recall. If I have it right, while he was on the Statkeout Squad from 1968 through 1973 he was involved in 17 shoot outs with bad guys, 11 of which resulted in fatalities (yes - of bad guys).

I was honored to realize he had just taken some time to pay attention to me. After that we were on friendly terms in the way you are friendly with people at work while at work. Jim always had a good story, a good joke, and a good way about him. Over the years, I saw him at FLETC and also at the NYPD range at Rodman's Neck when he visited NY and stopped by to say hi while we Customs folks were using the NYPD range. He always remembered me and I was nicely surprised by that. Up until just before his death, Jim remained active as a firearms instructor. I am sure that many others owe him a debt of gratitude for the skills he taught them.

I will remember him always, he really was a good guy; and the stuff he taught me is still useful to me today. I have been in a few armed encounters in my career, only one where I had to shoot someone and that was while off duty. I am sure what he taught me at least helped me in part to come out a winner.

My condolences to his loved ones and friends, and to all of you, who like me, will miss him.

I also wish to express my hopes that the other driver involved in the accident recover quickly.

All the best,
Glenn B

Road Trip Photos

I guess I had almost forgotten to post some pics of the road trip that Brendan and I enjoyed a couple of weeks back. I can tell you, and I probably already told you, we had lots of fun. We went fishing, canoeing, hiking, sight seeing, snake hunting, caught toads and frogs, and also caught some crayfish. All in all it was a grand time, but I'll let you judge from among some of the few pictures I took. One of the first things we did after arriving was to go and get some fishing done. On the way to the fishing spot, Brendan caught a garter Snake (and released it). It was a nice sized one, but the picture did not come out well. As for the fishing, well the fish were on the small side and few and far between, although we caught several that first day. Brendan is holding a Sunny he caught, then released. A hook loaded with an earthworm, attached to a line with a float, and you can catch almost any freshwater fish in NY.

The next day we headed out to Ausable Chasm for some sightseeing. The hike through the private park was about 3 miles long, and ended with a tram ride back to the parking lot. The chasm was well worth the $34 or so dollars we paid to get in to see it. First I'll post a pic of Joe Cool, then Joe Not So Cool, then scenery shots. I'll basically let the scenery speak for itself, but I will tell you a bit about each shot. The pic of Joe Cool show the Falls at the head of the chasm. The same goes for the next pic, that of Joe Not So Cool. What can I say, I used to be young, and thin, like Joe Cool; but now about 50 extra pounds and old age have brought me down.

Oh well, I guess that is to be expected as one grow older, though I must point out I recently started hitting the treadmill and the weights again. Maybe by next summer I will look more like Joe Cool does here in the weight department - yeah right!

The next series of pics are scenery shots. As you can see in some of these pics, there is a walkway that you take to see most of the chasm. This walkway has been replaced several times over the years. When I was a kid it was more of a catwalk hanging off the side of the cliffs and over the water. Now there is more of a path that was blasted into the cliff face. I guess the reason for this was the floods they had in the 1990s.

Look closely and the shots with the bent and twisted catwalk. That spot is about 60 feet above the water level when the picture was taken. You guessed it, the floods caused the water to rise high enough to damage that catwalk, and tear down many others. At some points, they told us, it reached 90 feet above the level of where it was when we saw it. Talk about flash floods, man that must have been awesome.

Can you just imagine a river flooding to 90 feet above its normal levels. I guess I had never thought of such a thing before, but when you look down these narrow gorges, it is not all that hard to fathom. The flood actually brought down some bridges elsewhere on the river, and they had a big chunk of one of those bridges on display. I would have loved to have been there, observing from atop the cliffs, as that show was going on, and I would probably have been scared as anything that the cliffs would give way to that great force. Note that if you click on the first one to enlarge it, you will notice little people on a catwalk, about midway vertically in the right hand side of the picture. That will give you an idea of scale as to the chasm depth from the top to the surface of the water - and the water is about 40 feet deep (or was it 60) in some places at this water level, so just imagine another 40 feet of depth to the chasm.

Remember that if you want, you raft or tube the river through the chasm. I think it is about a mile long trip. We chose not to, but I think Brendan may have an idea of trying it out when he returns there someday. This was my second trip there, I made my initial trip when I was much younger than Brendan, before I was 9 years old. I always wanted to bring my kids there, now at least one of the two have seen it.

You again can see some folks in the next shot to give you an idea of the size of the place. Besides being big, this place was cool, and I mean it literally. It was one of the hottest days of the year so far, and will probably remain one of the hottest ones. Despite that, there were some shady places in the chasm that were almost as if air conditioned. God, mother nature, chaos, luck, whomever or whatever was responsible, certainly figured out how to do it right as far as I am concerned. I don't know if you can see them in any of the pics we took, but there are also a bunch of pigeons in the chasm. Yes those veritable New York City rats with wings live free and wild at Ausable Chasm.

The last two shots are one nearing the end of the chasm but looking back upriver, and another where the chasm ends and opens up to a wider area of river. Since I don't know if you will ever get the chance to see this in person, I thought these were some nice shots to share with you. I don't know about how you feel after seeing the pictures, but if you are not impressed let me say it is still worth going to see the actual chasm. Walking the trail and catwalks while viewing Ausable Chasm is truly a humbling and impressive experience, well worth the trip in my book.

Even when you come to the end of the chasm, or at least this part of the chasm (as I am not sure if it ends here) the view is impressive. This has got to be one of the most scenic things I have ever taken in within the USA, and I have been to an awful lots of places in the lower 48. it is not anywhere on the same scale of the Grand canyon, but it is impressive in its own right. If you ever get the chance to be in northeastern New york state, then a side trip to Ausable Chasm would be well worth a detour. About the only thing I wanted to do while at the chasm, that they just would not allow, was to try my hand at fishing in the river. I was told - no trout here, too swift. The lady who told me that does not know fish, or fisherman; because even if she had been right, a fisherman is always willing to give in to eternal hope and wet a line.

The next day, our last day in the area, we went canoeing in the St. Regis wilderness area. What a nice place, wonderfully crisp fresh air, lots of deep and beautiful forest, crystal clear water, the chance to see wildlife. Maybe not pristine wilderness, but probably as close as you can get to such in New York. Shame on me, I did not take any pictures while out on the lakes canoeing. I guess carrying our canoe to the launching site from the rental store had me huffing and puffing so much I forgot all about taking pictures. We did paddle around on two connected ponds or lakes, and we fished as we did so. Brendan had some impressive hits from big fish, but they both threw the hooks. What we caught were only a couple of small ones each and that was it. One fish he caught was sucker which to me was quite unexpected in one of those lakes. I had only seen them in streams and rivers before. It was about a 12 to 14 incher. I caught a smallmouth bass, maybe 1 pound in weight (if lucky). I also managed to get canoe knees, despite three applications of sunblock. It wasn't too bad, as you can see I survived. Brendan used stronger sunblock, and he had the last laugh on me. Well at least I didn't fall into the water or anything like that, not yet as far as the trip went anyhow.

We left the area that afternoon and headed west toward the Finger Lakes. I'll write more about that in another rant tomorrow or the following day. I figure this one is long enough to have completely bored you by now, much like was our 5 1/2 hour car ride to our next destination.

All the best,
Glenn B

Surgery:

I am all done with my surgery. My guesstimate is that it took almost all of 10 minutes for the whole procedure (15 minutes at the outside maximum but that is probably stretching it) from when the doctor started prepping me, until he had me sewed up. Basically, he removed a tumor about the size of a garbanzo bean, which was about the size I had figured it to be. It was pretty neat thing to see, though I could not really watch him take it out, I could see the doc working on me when I looked down over my chest; and he showed me the little booger once he had it removed. A painless surgery, I only wish my teeth cleaning at the dentist yesterday had been as painless. He, his nurse, and I had a few good laughs as the procedure went on; I figured I may as well have a positive attitude about it all. Now I have to wait till next week, when I see the doc for a followup, to get the results of the biopsy, though I will say he believes it to be a benign lipoma - a fatty tumor. I have got to admit though, it sounds too much like lymphoma each time I hear that word. Time to lose some of that body fat if these things are one of the results.

All the best,
Glenn B

Firearms and Today in History...

...are subjects that pop up in my mind now and again. I am, of course, a firearms enthusiast. Yet I am not much of a buff when it comes to firearms in history. Heck, I would rather shoot em that study them; yet I am curious about some of their history. In addition,even though I am not a true general buff, I also enjoy finding out things about history, especially about U.S. history. Now I am about to tell you all about an event that took place on July 11, 1804, and it involves both guns, and U.S. history. It is an event of which every U.S. Citizen should be aware, at least any of us who went through grammar school and paid any attention at all; but my bet is that most people do not know when it happened, or why it happened.

The event was the duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. (The photo is supposedly of the actual pistols used in that duel.) This duel took place in Weehawken, NJ despite the fact that both participants were were New Yorkers, and the transgression that led to the duel was a matter relative to New York. My guess is that New York was even so liberal enough back then to have some kind of anti-gun or anti-dueling ordinance, so these guys went to NJ to get the deed done. That is not all that relevant though to the point that they actually were involved in a duel over honor. Can you imagine that. Heck, if you so much as push someone today you would be arrested for something like assault or battery; and how many Americans even care to defend their honor today let alone defend their own country and no I am not belittling anyone in our military, but rather I am belittling those cry baby leftists who pee in their pants over even the thought of aggression or violence to solve a problem).

Do you know why they dueled? Do you know if both fired their weapons? Do you know the intent of each man during the duel? Do you know if either man was killed or wounded? Do you know who won the duel? Do you know what happened to each man after the duel? Do you know if either man was ever an elected official or political leader? If you are at all interested, here is a link to a brief rundown on the subject:

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/today.html.

Here is a link to a more detailed depiction of the vent:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burr-Hamilton_duel

Read the whole Wikipedia depiction, it is fascinating, especially with regard to the mindset of the people back then.

In addition, for the true history buff, or firearms enthusiast, here is a link to an article that suggests that Hamilton (long suspected honorable guy) and Burr (long suspected dishonorable guy) may have actually had opposite roles in this duel:

http://www.aaronburrassociation.org/Smithsonian.htm

Very interesting stuff, to debunk a possible myth about the character of each man, for both the history buff and the firearms enthusiast. The hypothesis in this article is supported by an investigation of facts as opposed to being supported only by anecdotal evidence from friends who attended the duel. I love it. Were they very different than we are today? Make up your own mind on that point; but rest assured that dueling over such an important thing as honor was part of life back then; and while I do not necessarily advocate dueling today, we should not rule out violence as a proper means, of an ordinary man, to reach a worthy end.

All the best,


Glenn B

Going Under The Knife...

...can probably be a trumatic event for many, but I am looking forward to going under today. I will have a small lump removed from my chest in an outpatient surgery. I am hoping they let me watch and set up a mirror for me to do so. I was always the curious type about such things, and was the same even when I had some serious surgeries in times past.

Depending on how I feel after the surgery today, I will either blog or not blog later on. I figure it is no big deal and will not cause much after-surgery pain, so I'll probably blog. Of course if a biopsy gives bad news which I do not expect, then it will have been a bigger deal than I am anticipating; but I am hopeful.

Allm the best,
Glenn B

A Man With Balls...

...big ones at that, and all filled with helium. Kent Couch amazes me, I think he has truly big balls (multi colored ones at that); and I think he has a lot of chutzpah, is probably at least a bit of a nut job, is pretty intelligent, is methodical, is daring and overall is a true adventurer. I say so because adventurers have the qualities I just mentioned; otherwise they would never go on an adventure in the first place, and believe me he just went on an adventure. I admire him without even knowing him! I have to admit, there was a time, when I weighed less, that I had a fleeting thought of doing something similar but mine were not as big, or as colorful, as were his.

Just look at the picture at the above link, and then try to imagine even half of the thrill, and other feelings, he felt as he soared among the lower environs of the heavens. It must have been absolutely magnificent. Outstanding!

All the best,
Glenn B

Hunting Dreams of An Insomniac...

...and yes insomniacs do dream, sort of like daydreaming but its at night when they can't sleep. So I have been up since I tried to go to bed at midnight, its now 2:38 AM, and not a yawn in my future tonight from what I can tell right now. Oh well, I watched happy Texas, and I have been thinking a lot about a purchase of hunting gear I want to make, so I guess I have been passing at least some of my waking time okay.

As to the hunting gear, I am thinking of buying a two man ladder tree stand. They have two offerings at http://Sportsmansguide.com in which I have a keen interest. The first is a 12' stand, with 13x40 seat, same sized foot rest, movable front rail, steel construction, and a weight of 78 pounds. The other is one with the same seat and foot rest dimensions, but is 16' tall, made from steel and only weighs 73 pounds. Both are marketed as Guide Gear Tree Stands, the brand name for Sportsmansguide.com items, but I am sure they are manufactured by someone else.

I found one that has all the exact specifications of the 12' stand at http://HuntersView.com; so I am pretty sure they made that one for Sportsmansguide.com, but no one at Sportsmansguide could tell me if this was correct, and no one answered the phone at Hunters View. I have no idea who makes the 16" one. The 12' model costs $89.99 for club members (of which I am one), and the 16' model costs $107.97. The 16' model comes with two safety harnesses, I am not certain if the 12' model comes with them or not. If the 12' model does not have them, then the 16' model seems a better buy to me except maybe that is weighs 5 pounds less and that makes me wonder about sturdiness as compared to the 12' model; I mean heck 4' longer yet it weighs 5 pounds less, must be thinner steel.

I am torn between these two choices. I wonder, does anyone out there have either of them? The models I am talking about are: 16 footer: http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=351922, and the 12 footer: http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=356189.

Please, if you have any experience with them, or with the Hunter's View 12' Buddy Ladder tree Stand, let me know in a comment to this blog. Even if you don't have one of them, check them out at the links and let me know what you think. Thanks.

All the best,
Glenn B

From One Dunce To Another...

...is a choice with which voters in California may be faced in 2008. See: Sheehan Considers Challenge to Pelosi. Of course the Republicans probably would not run anyone against either of these women who would truly be a much better candidate being that the race would be in one of the wackier parts of Kalifornia. Egads, just imagine her in Washington, D.C.! If her running does not bring out those in the respective district to vote for a Republican, I guess nothing would work; and being they already voted in Pelosi, I cannot imagine they would vote for a Republican. Then again, nor can I imagine someone more liberal than Pelosi in Pelosi's place - but my bet is that it would be very appealing to many Kalifornians - Great Cesar's Ghost, we are doomed!

All the best,
Glenn B

Okay, back into the swing of things - I guess...

...what with the blog I just wrote on Marksmanship and using your sights while shooting. That one took me quite a few hours to write and illustrate. As you can see by my not so to the same scale drawings, I am no graphics artist - yet I guess my illustrations give the general idea I was trying to convey.

As for my blogging, there will be more of it as usual over the coming days, as opposed to less of it as there was over the past few days. Funerals for good friends are bummers, and tend to take up lots of ones time, if not also frazzle the creative mood needed to blog. Oh well, life goes on and so do I.

Later for all of you,
Glenn B.

Ballseye's Firearms Training and Tactics 5 - Marksmanship & How To Help Achieve It Through Proper Use of Sights

Okay, so you have started off as a new shooter, or you already have been shooting for awhile, and you cannot figure out why you do not, with repeated frequency hit near or in the bull's eye. This is a problem not only of new shooters, but one that often plagues those who have been at the shooting sports for years. Often, no matter how hard they seem to try, they can not accomplish a reliable level of marksmanship. If this is the case for you, well then, it is time to start talking about Marksmanship and How To Achieve It.

First off I guess I should start with a definition of marksmanship. If you ask most firearms instructors, a hunter safety course instructors, a military firearms' instructors, police firearms instructors, they may all tell you the same or different definitions. The most common and simple of the definitions of marksmanship that they give is usually: Marksmanship is the ability to hit your target. If that is what they tell you, don't believe it. Marksmanship usually is not an ability, but rather a skill and there is a fine distinction between an ability and a skill, whereas all skills are an ability not all abilities are skills - skills are the more finer tuned of the two. Ability is often seen as a gift for doing something well sometimes learned sometimes natural, or it is described as a natural ability to do something well. Skill, on the other hand, is almost always realized to be the product learning or training, and of continued practice. In almost every case a marksman is a skilled individual; so therefore: Marksmanship is the skill you reliably use to hit your target.

Becoming skilled at marksmanship does not mean that you need to learn a lot of technical things. While physics and anatomy are involved, you do not need a degree in either. As a matter of fact you only need to learn, and then carry out, some basic things, and then practice them over and over, to become and remain a fairly reliable marksman. One of the major things you need to learn, in the actual shooting process, is proper sight picture. Overall this is the picture that you see when you have your sights aligned properly and placed on target correctly. Proper sight picture is essentially described as: the visual relationship between your aiming eye, properly aligned sights, and the aiming point on your intended target. In order to achieve proper sight alignment, you need first to be able to learn how to achieve proper sight alignment. Sight alignment is pretty simple when using both a front and rear sight, as opposed to using a bead front sight only but even then it is not all that difficult to learn - just a bit harder to develop and maintain.

Sight alignment, in essence, is the lining up of the front and rear sights of a firearm in the proper manner to assure you can then make a proper sight picture when you aim in on target. In other words you have to align the sights with one another and your eye, and the target, to give you a good sight picture. To align them correctly is easy. To get it right over and over again is also easy, but for some reason folks who shoot sometimes seem to have a problem with this. So I suggest this be one of the first things you learn in the shooting process to make yourself a skilled and accomplished marksman. Basically all that sight alignment requires with open or peep sights is that you align the front sight with the rear sight so that the front sight appears in the center of the rear sight horizontally, and so that each appears levels with the other on the vertical plane (in open iron sights) or that the front sight is centered vertically in the rear sight in a peep sight. Of course there are some variations and exceptions depending on the type of open sight, but this definition is pretty much the one you will need to know, and your instructor can tell you otherwise if your sight require a different type of alignment.

So as to confuse you least on this, I'll stick with one type of sights for this discussion. This is the square notch rear sight in combination with the post front sight. This is the type of sight usually used to illustrate sight alignment and sight picture to new shooters, as well as to reacquaint seasoned shooters with such. It is also one of the most common types of open iron sights that appear on firearms of all sorts from 22 rifles, to defensive handguns, to high powered hunting rifles, to classic surplus military rifles. The reason the sight is so popular is because it is simple, durable, inexpensive to manufacture, and it gets the job done. Below is an illustration of such a set of sights, that are aligned properly. of course, most iron sights are dark in color. I used red and black to differentiate the front sight (red) from the rear sight (black):

As you can see, there is an equal amount of space on each side of the post front sight and each side of the rear notch sight; and the top of the front post sight is at the same level with the top of each side of the rear notch sight. In order to arrive at this alignment, you need to have the sights lined up in alignment with each other, and the eye with which you aim. If you remember to do achieve proper sight alignment, you are about halfway to proper sight picture, and way along to achieving a fair amount of marksmanship. A way to achieve this is to repeatedly bring your firearm up to eye level firing position, and then to acquire the correct sight alignment. You do this over and over again with an unloaded firearm, but remembering the firearms rules of safety at all times. This is best done at a firearms range on the line of fire; please note, I do not recommend doing this at home, but only at a safe and supervised firearms range.

Once you have figured out how to consistently align your sights properly, the next step is to learn the skill of acquiring the proper sight picture. The sight picture adds something to sight alignment in that it not only includes your aiming eye, and the sights, but now includes the target. Remember I basically described sight picture as: Sight picture is the visual relationship between your aiming eye, properly aligned sights, and the aiming point on your intended target. So once you have taken up the firearm, brought it to eye level, acquired proper sight alignment, you now need to acquire proper sight picture which adds in the target to this equation. For most purposes, you want to aim at the center of mass of the target that presents itself to you. For a bull's eye target this would mean the center of the bull's eye, as it would mean the center of the target area for most "match target" type targets (as opposed to animal targets for hunting). I find this the best way overall to train to to aim at the target if you plan to later hunt, or shoot in self defense training or situations. Allow me to illustrate:
As you can see, we still have the same picture of the sights showing proper sight alignment, but I have added the blue area to represent your target. This is the type of sight picture I recommend for defensive shooting, or hunting; and it can be used for bull's eye target shooting. It shows that you have aligned your sights properly, then have aimed in at the center of mass of your target, the blue disc. (Please bear in mind that if these appear slightly off center to you, I drew them on MS paint, and are centered as well as I could do. For purposes of illustration please assume they are centered properly and not off at all unless I state they are off.) You can also practice this with an unloaded firearm from the firing line at the range; please note that I do not recommend doing this at home, but only at a safe and supervised firearms range.

Now here are some examples, via illustration of what you do not and do want to do regarding sight alignment and sight picture:
Okay so I see this came out kind of small for the captions to be read easily. The top left is improper alignment of the front sight too far left, that would likely cause you to shoot to the left, the top right is low front sight alignment which would likely cause you to shoot low. The bottom left is proper sight alignment of front and rear sight but improper sight picture (or aim point on target) which would cause you to shoot left. The bottom right is looking pretty good for a shot right on target; that is except for one thing you need yet to learn about sighting in with open iron sights. When you have the sight alignment all set up and bring the sights onto your target with a proper sight picture, you will discover that it will go in and out of focus; this is because you can not focus on a distant target, a closer front sight, and an even closer rear sight (as in closer to your eyes) all at the same time. The trick is to try to focus only on the front sight, allowing the target to blur somewhat and allowing the rear sight to blur somewhat. You will come to find you can still maintain good sight alignment and good sight picture when doing this. This is the trickiest part of sighting in properly for many shooters to achieve, although there is nothing really tricky about it. All you need to do is practice this over and over again, then when shooting using your sights, you need to remember to do it for each shot. Here is something like how your sights and target should appear to you when you focus upon them correctly:

Note how clear is the front sight (red) as opposed to the target (blue) and the rear sight (black); yet notice also that you can still see the sights are properly aligned, and that you have the correct sight picture. When you sight in like this with reliability over and over again, you will be well on your way to becoming a marksman. That is of course if you practice proper grip, proper trigger squeeze, proper breath control, and proper follow through - but all of those are for a later lesson.

All the best,
Glenn B

Saturday was a tough one....

...even though I slept on and off for most of the day. When I got home on Friday from my friend's funeral, I guess my wife thought I had been drinking too much because I went to lay down and took a nap. Truth was I had had two budwipers at the luncheon the family held after the funeral; nowhere near enough to get me sloshed or even tired, especially since I had them at least 3 hours before I drove home. No, I was just down and out, and needed some rest because I did not sleep well the night before. Then on Friday night, I did not get to sleep until about 0500 (as in 5 AM) on Saturday morning. Just insomnia, which stinks big time. So instead of doing chores on Saturday, I slept on and off all day long. Guess what, now I cannot slept tonight/this morning. It is 0200, and here I sit writing because I got bored watching old movies. Of course my wife was mad at me all day Saturday from what I could tell while I was up in between naps. I guess now she thinks even more that I was drunk on Friday and probably thinks I was hung over all day Saturday. Hard to tell what she was thinking though because she apparently was not talking to me.

Oh well life goes on. I have to be up and at em at 0600 Sunday (later this morning) and I wonder if I'll get any sleep before then; probably not since I took 2 sleeping pills at about 10PM, slept for an hour and a half and have been up ever since. Insomnia is bad when the prescription sleeping pills you have don't work. If I can stay up all day on Sunday, my guess is I'll sleep like a baby Sunday night. Lots of coffee for me today.

All the best,
Glenn B

Wakes - What Meeting Places They can Be

I was at the wake for my good friend Charlie V. last night. Lots of old friends showed up though not nearly as many as one would have hoped for, I guess because so many have moved away, are out of touch with the rest of us, or have already passed on. We all shared a lot of memories about The Mongrel and good times we had with him and each other, and we caught up on a lot of missed news from one another. We sure are all getting old, we who still remain on this earth. All these things give one pause for a lot of thought.

I'll be going to the funeral directly to lay Charlie to his final rest. So for now I have got to go, blogging probably will recommence tonight.

All the best,
Glenn B

Ballseye's Firearms Training and Tactics 4 - Eyes and Ears...

...are two of our most valuable sets of organs. With them we perceive an awful lot of what goes on around us. We should never put them in unnecessary jeopardy of injury or loss, and this is especially true when shooting as each of these organs is quite susceptible to damage while we are so engaged. You can shoot once, yes just once, without hearing protection and permanently damage your ears. All it takes is one bit of ricochet material from a bullet to lose an eye - sort of like why your mom told you you could not have a BB Gun. Now I am not about to tell you not to enjoy shooting because there are some inherent potential dangers, heck there are probably more dangers involved in crossing the street. What I am about to say, to insist, is that you need to make certain to protect your hearing and eyesight when you shoot, or when you observe someone shooting, just as are my wife and son in the pic.

The best, and most practical, way to protect them is, in my opinion, with commercially available hearing and eye protection. While some can be quite expensive, you don't need to spend a fortune to pick up a pair of adequate shooting glasses and hearing protectors. Various types of fairly inexpensive yet fully functional hearing and eye protection for shooters are available a gun shops, sporting goods stores, or online. I'll give you a rundown on some of the most common types of hearing protectors, and will also tell you something about shooting glasses that should point you right on target should you want to pick some up for yourself. Remember if you shoot, you should wear them whenever practical.

I'll start with hearing protectors and why we should use them. Basically there are two types available - those that fit over and fully around (not one or the other but they cover and fully encircle your ears, this is a must) your ears like ear muffs or headphones, and those that fit into your ear canal like ear plugs. All hearing protectors, as far as I am aware, are rated in terms of their NRR (Noise Reduction Rating). Noise levels, or the levels of pressure caused by noise, are rated in decibels, and in general the higher the decibels the louder the noise. The higher the decibels that are protected against, the higher the NRR, and the better the protection level that hearing protectors give to the shooter. Note that the idea is not to cancel out all noise, but rather to reduce harmful levels of noise from damaging your hearing. A typical gunshot from a defensive firearm, at arms length from you, can send about 150 to 180 decibels into your ears. It only takes about 85 decibels to be harmful to your ears and your hearing. Granted with a noise level of 85 decibels it takes about 8 hours of exposure to produce damage to your ears and hearing; however, noise levels as high as those of gunshots can instantaneously damage your hearing and ears. The higher the decibel level above 85 decibels, the less time needed to produce the damage. Typical gunshots come in somewhere between about 140 - 180 decibels. According to the NRA: "Gunshot decibel levels, measured by John S. Odess, M.D., ranged between 143.5 from a .22 short to 174.4 from a .458 Win. Mag (American Rifleman, "Hear No Evil," March, 1996)." (My source for this can be found at http://www.nrahq.org/youth/enews/enews_06_summer.pdf. A good illustration and description of the dangers of decibel levels can also be seen at: Dangerous Decibels. They have a couple of charts showing info about decibel levels, such as what levels are produced by what sounds, and how long it takes certain levels to harm your hearing.

So when shooting, or in close proximity to shooting such as a spectator, it is imperative if at all practical, that you wear hearing protection. Note I did not say if convenient but if at all practical! In a self defense situation, or in the case of a cop walking a beat, it would probably be very impractical, maybe even impossible, to stop and don on hearing protection without risk to your own life. Yet, anytime you are at the range, a firearms sporting event, afield shooting - even as someone just there to watch - you can and probably should wear hearing protection to avoid hearing loss. This includes while hunting even though you want to be able to hear game or other hunters/people approaching. (There are special headsets that allow you to listen to, even amplify, regular sounds, that will negate the effects of high decibel levels.)

As for the actual hearing protectors, as I said there are two basic types. There are those that are of an ear muff or headset design that fit over the ear, and there are those that fit into the ear canal such as ear plugs.

Ear Muff types of hearing protectors come in two basic types: The first type of muff hearing protector are those that are passive, or in other words they do not doing anything other than block sound by the inherent properties of the materials from which they are made and how they are made. The other type are of an active nature, they actually respond to sound to block it out; this second type if battery operated and by some miracle of technology they block out high decibel levels. While muff type protectors look something like ear muffs or like stereo headsets, you should only use muffs actually made for hearing protection from loud decibel levels, and never use cold weather ear muffs or stereo headsets in place of them. These others do not afford proper hearing protection from either high or low frequency sounds, and protection from both is required to maintain hearing.

Muff hearing protectors of the passive and active types have NRR ratings up to about 30dB. This is usually considered sufficient to avoid hearing loss and ear damage. The thing about the electronic ones is that they allow you to hear regular sounds and block out the high decibel ones. The pair at right blocks out sounds above 85dB while letting you hear lower decibel sounds. Passive muffs block out just about all types of sound that a human can hear, regular and high decibel. They do not block out everything but do impair how well you hear normal sounds while wearing them, and this is something the electronic ones are supposed to overcome. Remember though, with either type, the higher the NRR, the more protection for your ears and your hearing. I almost have always used passive muff types of hearing protectors ( and many times also use ear plugs at the same time as muffs). I have tried a pair of noise reduction muffs, but the battery failed. Yes they still offered some hearing protection, but I was not impressed because the guy who gave them to me did not have extra batteries. I am not saying they do not work well, even better than passive muffs, but you do need to remember to carry extra batteries for them. I should try them again especially since I already have tinnitus in my left ear. Mine is a constant ringing very likely caused by gunshot noises at the range when a muff type protector was knocked off by shooting shotgun, and by another time when the insulation was missing from one of the muffs, this in addition to having worked at JFK Airport in NYC for about 15 years and frequently being on the tarmac without hearing protectors - no one told me about this stuff back then. I digress, let me get back on track.

While it is my understanding that any hearing protector with a NRR of 20 or more is sufficient for firearms range or self defense situations, I suggest that if you decide on either type of the muff protectors, get the highest NRR you can find for the type you are purchasing. The ones I use now, a passive set, have a NRR of 29. The passive type usually have ratings between 20 and 30. I would not trust what hearing I have left to less than a NRR of 25, and as I said I prefer higher. Now don't ask me why, when using a hearing protector with a NRR of 30dB, you are protected from hearing loss and ear damage from sounds in decibel ranges of lets say 180dB since the decibels supposedly still getting through, by my figuring and I am no doctor or scientist, would seemingly be about 150dB. This is more than enough to cause damage instantaneously - and you would think that a protector with a NRR rating of 30dB would not work well enough to protect you from those high decibel levels, but yes they do work to protect your hearing, even ones with NRRs as low as the 20s supposedly will do so sufficiently. Go figure!

One other thing about muff type hearing protectors. They produce different results when worn differently. If you wear the head band over your head, as opposed to around the back of your head, as opposed to under your chin they protect you differently depending on how worn. Usually the highest level of protection, at least with muff type protectors I have used, is when they are worn over the top of the head, but make sure to follow manufacturers instructions and suggestions for the most protection.

Okay enough of the muff type, lets get to the ear plug type of protector. There are a couple of basic types of ear plugs that you can get - ones fitted to your ear canal by a doctor, and ones that are bought over the counter that are rubber or foam-like and expand to fill your ear canal when inserted properly. (No I do not mean like shaving foam, but sort of like a foam cushion material.) As far as I am aware, ear plugs can have a NRR up to 33dB. They come in various shapes and sizes to fit your ears better. As for me, I have never used doctor fitted ear plugs since it is my understanding that they do not work all that better, if any, than commercially available foam ear plugs. I prefer to use those they have supplied me at work for years, and they have a NRR of about 29. They are disposable foam earplugs that go just about fully into the ear canal. Unlike some other ear plugs, they do not have a head band or strap to hold them together as a pair. They are individual plugs. They work fine for me, but I usually use them in combination with muff type protectors, using them as a sort of backup for ear muff protectors. In other words, I first properly insert into my ear canals, as per manufacturers directions, a pair of earplugs; then I don a muff protector over and fully around my ears. This affords somewhat more protection than just one type alone. It also provides for continued ear/hearing protection should your ear muffs come off, or become less effective, for any reason.

Now here is a very important point. I just wrote that I wear ear plugs while also wearing in muff protectors in case the muff protectors become less effective. It is very important when wearing either type of hearing protector to make sure they are fitted properly. If they get knocked off or out of place a bit y shotgun or rifle recoil - ouch. Also, anything coming between the edge of a muff type protector and your head - thereby preventing a good seal - can allow too much sound to get to your ears. Even a small break in the seal can let in dangerous levels of sound. So if you wear eyeglasses, or just plain old safety glasses to protect your eyes, and you well should do so as I will soon explain, what to do? They make foam sheaths that cover the ear pieces of safety glasses or so I have heard, and these are supposed to allow for maintaining a good seal. As for me I have never seen them, to my knowledge, in over 40 years of shooting. They also make ear plugs, and you can use them as I said thereby decreasing the risk of a broken seal with muff protectors. Then why not, you may ask, just use ear plugs. Well they too can be fitted improperly, and even fall out. I would rather have one caught inside my ear muffs, than hit the ground, not to keep them clean (and they do need to be kept clean to avoid ear infection) but because it means I also had on muffs to protect my hearing. Another way to get over the seal problems is to buy ear muffs with a good flexible foam cushion seals or liquid filled seal cushions (this is the part that rings the opening of the muff and contacts your head around your ears). One other thing about muff protectors that I have heard but have not verified is that they offer superior protection to plugs alone because they help decrease sound transmitted into your ears that travels through the area of your head around the ear lobe. This because they cover that area. I don't know if it is true but I guess it sort of sounds sensible. As I said though, I prefer to use both at the same time.

The thing you want to do is to protect your ears as well as you can and each of the above types of hearing protection have advantages and disadvantages. You have to make your own choice as to which you prefer. As I said though, get ones with the highest NRR rating you can find for either type. For sports like hunting, or to be better able to hear range commands, you may want an electronic set. Whichever you use, always remember to wear them in accordance with manufacturers instructions, and always make sure to wear them when shooting or at a shooting event if at all practical. In addition, make sure others around you are wearing them, the hearing you save maybe your children's.

As for shooting/safety glasses, what can I say, we are talking about one of our most valuable organs and one of most used senses during waking hours. Protecting your eyes while shooting may not be inherent common sense, but once you know just a little something about firearms, about ammunition, about gunpowder, about bullets and fragmentation and about ricochets - eye protection is basically a no brainer. Yet, shooters often fail to wear eye protection while shooting, and if they do wear some sort of eye protection it is often not the proper type; I just understand why.

The best type of eye protection for a shooter is probably shooting goggles, or in other words, goggles that fully mask the eye area, with a seal to your face completely around the eyes, and with a protective clear shield in front of their eyes (click the pic, wait a second or two, for a moving view). The next best choice is probably shooting glasses, those made specifically for use while shooting or for use in other high risk of eye injury activities. These should afford as much protection as possible to the eye. This means that shooting glasses to be very effective at eye protection while shooting should cover a larger area than do most eyeglasses. Regular eyeglasses are not usually an effective eye protection while shooting, and if you require to wear eyeglasses to see properly, then get eye protection that will fit over them such as goggles or shooting glasses made to fit over eyeglasses.

The reason I say most eyeglasses are not good enough for shooting glasses is that while shatterproof in most cases, they do not cover enough of the area around the eye, in the proper way, to avoid certain types of potential hazard from hitting your eyes while shooting. If you wear glasses, take them off now and look at them - use another pair if need be to see them. Look at the size of the lens, compare this to a run of the mill pair of polycarbonate shooting glasses (I prefer clear to the amber or yellow as shown). Which is larger, probably the lens of the shooting glasses. Now look to the side of the lenses connected to the ear piece. Is there, on your eyeglasses, a sort of shield (or wrap around lenses) at this point on each side to protect your eyes from particles that may enter the eye from the outside corners. There should be on well designed shooting glasses. Now look at the top ridge of your eyeglasses. Does it basically go straight across from outside lens end to lens end, and is it about as thick or a little thicker than each lens? Look at a well designed pair of shooting glasses and note this ridge is much the same on them except that it extends from the front of the lenses back toward the point where the glasses rest along your eyebrows. In other words this ridges is deepened, or thicker, it provides a sort of a platform atop the ridge of the glasses, and this platform helps prevent particles from entering your eyes from above. If you don't get what I mean, pout on your eyeglasses, now place your index fingers behind the top edge of each lens, get it now. That extra thick or wide ridge acts like the top of a pair of goggles acts, albeit not as well because it does not seal against your face. I will readily admit that to my knowledge, most shooting glasses, even expensive ones, do not have this feature, and I think that a shame - but there is a solution and I will discuss it later. Good shooting glasses also have highly shatterproof lenses. Yes they can be broken, but should not splinter into little pieces that could go into your eyes. I think most eyeglasses are like this nowadays, but I prefer shooting glasses or goggle over my eyeglasses while shooting just as a safety measure. Of course, many people shy away from glasses or goggle mad for shooting. They prefer their eyeglasses or sunglasses. If you insist on wearing these as eye protection while shooting or observing a shooter, then at least pick up some side protector shields that fit over the ear pieces and sit at the end of the lenses near the outside corner of each eye.

Now remember I said that there was something you could do to make up for having shooting glasses that do not have the top ridge of ewhich I wrote. The thing to do is to wear a brimmed cap of some sort while shooting or a spectator at such an event. The brim of a baseball type cap, or oither hats, will effectively keep an awful lot of particles from reaching your eyes from above. I think it best to still wear well designed shooting glasses with that ridge I described, but a hat like a rimmed basebball cap is a good thing to wear while shooting. They also keep the glare from the sun out of your eyes, and can make it easier to see in such instances of glare.

So why wear shooting glasses or goggles while shooting, or while a spectator to shooting? Just to protect those things that allow you to behold you children at play, your lovers smile, and a beautiful sunrise or sunset. Wear hearing protector so when your love whispers sweet nothing into your ears you hear them, when your child cries out for help you will hear that an be there in no time, and to hear the music of the birds as they sing their songs in the srping. You tell me if it is worth it to protect these wonderful senses, I think so.

All the best,
Glenn B

Like A Steam Locomotive Rolling Down The Track...

...he's gone, he's gone, and nothings gonna bring him back... (from He's Gone by the Grateful Dead).

On Monday night, unknown to me until yesterday afternoon, I lost a good friend of about 35 years. He was only 54 years old, and he apparently died of a heart attack, which was sort of surprising to me considering the life he led. No, I was not surprised that he had been a candidate for a heart attack at age 54, but rather that he made it to 54 at all - he lived life hard and fast - his own way - much like a steaming locomotive rolling down the track, and I guess I was surprised that with all his other derailments he still kept on chugging along. He seemed invincible, but of course, he wasn't; now he's gone. His brother Joe, the last surviving of 3 brothers (their brother Will passed away years ago) called me to let me know, and I went right to Joe's place to be there for him because he too is my good friend. (I spent the late afternoon, all of the evening, and some of the night with his family, thus my lack of blogging yesterday.) His name was Charlie Vaughn, or as we often called him - The Mongrel. Despite his looks he was a pretty lovable guy. He had his faults, plenty of them, but he was one hell of a good and loyal friend, and if the chips were down he would stand by you at all costs. He was also an American, a loyal one at that. He had some pretty libertarian views (he liked personal liberties like recreational drug use, the right to keep and bear arms), yet he had some pretty conservative political views too (as in hating commies, being opposed to illegal aliens, wanting stiff jail sentences for some crimes), but no mater his politics on any issue he loved his country dearly. He was also a good loving son, brother, and father.

I was always surprised that he actually encouraged me to go for a career in law enforcement after I told him I was thinking of it. Many years ago, when I went to John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Charlie coined a nickname for me: Legal Aid. When I went into the Border Patrol, to enforce immigration laws, he was thrilled - this despite his own way too often run ins with the law. He thought there was nothing more grand than my busting 'illegal immigrunts' as he called them; and he once gave me a pair of handcuffs (new in the box - so not stolen from a cop) as a present to help me do my job. I am pretty sure those are still the ones I use on my job today. Even when I went over to U.S. Customs and busted drug smugglers he always encouraged me to do my job well, go figure for a guy who was as much a Libertarian as was he!

In the last decade and a half or so, Charlie changed his ways a great deal. He cleaned up his act if not his appearance (he loved his tats), stopped the drugs, and worked regularly. Heck he even went out and got a set of choppers as in false teeth. Throughout his life, he kept in touch with his daughter even though not married to her mom, though on good terms with her too. He had a son by another woman and I suppose he would have kept in touch (and maybe he did unknown to me) with him too if he could have done so. Yes he lived free; and no he was not the perfect picture of morality by anyone's standards, but he was still one hell of a good man; and he was my dear and loyal friend. We had many an adventure together. Our adventures included our other friends, his brothers, his sister and the rest of the family; and sometimes just the two of us out to have a good time. We went to an awful lot of Grateful Dead shows, in at least 4 or 5 different states together, and getting to them were adventures all their own, especially when I was employed as a fed, and I had to make sure he wasn't smuggling any drugs into my car. What a long strange trip its been (these too are the words of the Grateful Dead, from the song Truckin).

In recent years, heck for the last 21 years since I got married, I did not see my old friends as much as I should have. When I moved to Long Island about 12 years ago from Glendale, I saw them even less. I was very lucky that about a month or so ago, I saw Charlie and had a couple of beers with him, and we talked about old times, current times, and times to come. We may have been made of a different cut of cloth - him more of the outlaw, me more of the lawman - but it was the same piece of cloth from which those two cuts had come. I miss him dearly already - He's Gone.

All the best,

Glenn B

Happy Independence Day...

...yes it is the 4th of July already. So it is time to celebrate our way of life, our liberties, and our freedoms; I just wish I could do it as did our founding fathers - with a bang - but here in NY state fireworks are prohibited. Still though one never knows for sure what is in store for the night ahead, but I have a bit of an idea that things will be loud and bright tonight.

Besides a celebration and fireworks, today is a day to really reflect upon what it is that makes the USA a great republic. Take a look at the Declaration of Independence, take a look at the U.S. Constitution, take a look at the Bill of Rights. It won't take long to read them all; then think about whether or not we are the country that our Founding Fathers intended us to be, think about whether or not our current situation is based upon our Constitution; then look up the word constitution. Yes there are plenty of things of which we can be proud as citizens and legal resident aliens of the USA, but there are also many things that need some hard work to get us in line with the foundation, the bedrock, upon which our country was formed - the Constitution of the United States of America. If you agree with me, then make everyday a celebration of American Independence by keeping yourselves informed of current events, current legislation, current political agendas, bogus political ideologies, that are only masked desires of politicians for personal gain, that would erode our rights - and make sure to write to those officials at least weekly, in fact to all elected federal officials, and let them know you will not stand for such. Keeping this country based upon its groundwork, its Constitution, will keep it (us) free and allow us to enjoy our liberties as was intended from day one of its formation.

In other words - be a patriotic American. Stand up for your rights and liberties as did our forefathers, and don't let your government take them away from you, even at the risk of losing life or limb. Those rights and liberties are precious, they are what make us Americans and what make our country the greatest in the world. Yes I said the greatest, and I mean that absolutely. If you doubt it then just ask the millions upon millions of legal immigrants who live here, and ask the 12 million illegal aliens within our borders, why they came here, and why others continue to come instead of staying home or going elsewhere. Confound any of you so called Americans who doubt it.

By the way, if you want to read some interesting U.S. History, go to: http://www.foundingfathers.info/. I got the gifs from their site, and they ask that I place a link to the site on my page in exchange for use of them. Sounded fair to me.

All the best,
Glenn B

PS: I am reminded that today is the 231st anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. That is a special number for me, it was my call sign for most of my 4 years as a Border Patrol Agent.

Sorry about the lack of blogging...

...since I have been back from vacation. We got back home on Saturday night, then Sunday was a day full of chores waiting to be done, and Monday was a long day at work catching up. Today will probably be another long day at work, but I am hopeful that later tonight I'll be able to write up something about the road trip, something else on current affairs, and maybe something else in my Ballseye's Firearms Training and tactics series. Working for a living with all of its obligations, as opposed to being a fulltime blogger, makes it difficult to write at times. As much as I like to blog, I do have those other obligations, and I have to keep my priorities straight. Sorry I cannot get it done right now, but I have got to run, duty calls.

All the best,
Glenn B

Home Again...

...the road trip is over, and that is too bad because it was a nice one. We traveled somewhat over 1,000 miles all within in New York, and we got to see and do some really nice things. I don't have the time to fill you in on all of them now, but I will get to that in a later post today as time allows. I will take a little time though to tell you, it went much as I had planned, and we traveled from our home, through the city, up to Saranac Lake where we spent a couple of days. Then we drove onto Geneva, NY. We spent the night there, then off to Niagara Falls, but instead of spending a night there we drove back to Geneva after spending a few hours at the falls. Once back at Geneva, we visited Taughannock Falls State Park. The next day we went to Binghamton, NY. Details will be posted later with some pics. Now I have a lot of chores to catch up on.

All the best,
Glenn B

ROAD TRIP>>>>>>>>>>

>>>>and I was up at about 0530 so we could leave early, but sleeping beauty would not awaken, so I went back to bed. As it is, Brendan awakened at 0730, and we will be out of here within a few minutes. I figure we will hit Saranac lake by about 3:30 at the latest with no traffic, but then again we have to drive through the NY Metro area to get out of here.

All the best,
Glenn B

Little Or No Blogging This Coming Week For Me...

...that is until next weekend. The Road rip takes off tomorrow, and I kind of doubt I will be at many, if any, motels with a computer for me to use. Sorry about that, but I will post about the trip once we get back next weekend.

All the best,
Glenn B

Road Trip Upon Us - Almost Packed...

...for the road trip. I have almost everything in the Corolla's trunk with a lot of room left over in the back seat. If I can get the larger of our two coolers into the trunk, and it is not that large, then the smaller one will come along too but in the back seat. I have about 6 bottles of water in the freezer to use later for our ice. Keeps it neater using bottled water, and when it melts it sure goes down icy cold. If I can find the room, I will put a few more bottles into the freezer overnight.

Right now I am hopeful I remembered anything we might need. The only thing I think we need one or two more of are flashlights. I think I only have one of my mini-maglights, but there are more around to be found in the house somewhere. All our other gear, with the exception of a rifle, is already in the car. That rifle, by the way, will be our Henry Survival rifle as trunk space is a premium and I want it in the trunk out of sight. Hopefully no one steals my car tonight, that would be a bummer; but I sleep lightly, and I will have the dogs and shotgun ready just in case anyone wants to try.

As for the trip route, we will plan it somewhat as we go along, but I have decided on some areas to I would like to visit and to show to Brendan. For starters, and subject to our whims and fancies of any moment, we will head up to Saranac Lake and spend two nights there. From Saranac Lake, we will be close to Ausable Chasm, and the Ausable River and some excellent trout fishing. If we decide to leave, I have some ideas after that, the next stop being Geneva, NY at the north end of Seneca Lake. This would put us nearby to Taughannock Falls State Park, and I would like to visit there to see if Brendan can duplicate his catch of a few years back when he caught a nice Brown Trout there. I am hoping to spend one night in Geneva, then move onto Niagara Falls the following day. Brendan has never had the pleasure of seeing Niagara falls as did his sister some years back. I think he will like it, and we may also take a cruise on the Erie Canal while in the area. Then the next night's stay is yet to be determined, but it has to be on the way back home as this would be Friday night, and we have to be home by late Saturday. We will see where we land on that last night; just the same as on most of the others it will depend upon what we feel like doing and where we feel like going. I guess really not being sure of where we will be going is one of the fun things about a road trip, even if I already have a route planned out. As I said earlier, it could all change based upon our whims and fancies of the moment.

I am figuring that hotels, yes we will probably stay in hotels each night of the trip (I pretty much have ruled out camping), and for the first two nights I have reserved rooms in the Best Western at Saranac lake. For the next night, it will be Motel 6 in Syracuse or Geneva, that is if we go the route I have in mind. Then it will be Holiday Inn (a free night from credit card points, and the last hotel stay I will get for those points in a long time based on how slowly they build up). Then the last night who knows, but something not too expensive. I look at it this way, Motel 6 would be fine again if we can find one on the way back home through NY or PA. I know there is a nice one in Binghamton, and my bet is Brendan would probably like to visit my uncle's old neighbors, and some fishing spots, from when he owned a farm up that way. I have been to some Motel 6's that have been horrendous but now have discovered that if you do not see the ACCOR decal on the door or in the office of the Motel 6, then it is a franchise, and not a corporate run Motel 6. All my bad experiences with Motel 6 have been at franchised ones, not at the ones displaying the ACCOR Motels insignia. I avoid the franchises like the plague. The ACCOR Motel 6's are usually very clean, with small but adequate rooms, a small pool, and free telephones for local calls, and cable TV with HBO. The people working at them are usually very nice. They are priced pretty inexpensively. One other thing I like about them is that they allow pets. Sure other hotels allow pets, at least some of them do, but do they allow these. Motel 6 let me keep this guy in my room after Brendan and I caught him in Arizona near Madera Canyon 4 years ago. It was a Sonoran Gopher Snake, around 5 1/2 feet long (click on the pic for a larger view). Yes Motel 6 does have its good point as far as I am concerned. Besides that, I look at a motel, especially on a trip like this, to be little more than a place to stop and sleep. If clean, safe, dependable, and reasonably priced then I will stop over there if along the way especially since I do not have money to burn on fancy hotels. Yes all I can think about is the washing machine I just bought, the mortgage, the college bills, and such. Yikes, but the road trip goes on, and I will scrimp and save by going to Motel 6.

Well, just a bit more to get packed. Then I have to clean up my animal enclosures. Thank goodness my wife Linda will care for all the critters for 5 days or so. She does not have to do just about anything with the snakes, but does have to feed the tortoises, the turtle, the hamsters, and the mice (5 tanks of mice alone) while we are away. She is a good woman putting up with all of this especially since she does not like any of my choices of pets.

Later for all of you, be back next weekend.

All the best,
Glenn B