There I Was, In My Previous Post, Saying I Was Still Waiting...

...for my laptop to be delivered, and truth be told, it had been delivered already but my wife had not clued me in yet. So, when I went upstairs, there it was waiting for me. Seems it got here maybe 15 minutes before I posted my prior post. From what I can gather, they changed the fan, the battery and the base cover of the laptop.
Why they would change the base is beyond me unless they lost or broke mine when taking it off for the other repair.

They also installed a Core Temperature utility which apparently record the CPU's temperature. That is fine by me because my laptop is now out of warranty but the repair should have a 90 day warranty on it. So if it starts overheating again in that 90 days, I will have the temps recorded to prove it. That is a good thing. Of course, with my luck, it will start having the same overheating problem again on day 91. As it is now though, it's nice to have the laptop back and running well (for now) again.

All the best,
GB

Still Waiting...

...for my laptop to be repaired and then sent back tome from HP. Seems like it has been forever and is almost as painful, figuratively, as waiting for Godot.

All the best,
GB

Sadly - All Too Often - No Good Deed Goes Unpunished - Officer Down

LA State Senior Trooper Steven Vincent reportedly has succumbed to fatal wounds he received while trying to help a motorist out of a ditch. Instead of accepting the officer's help, the motorist identified as Kevin Daigle allegedly shot Trooper Vincent in his head with a blast from a shotgun. Passersby stopped their vehicles and one reportedly was able to wrest the shotgun away from him while others immediately subdued Daigle, restrained him with the fallen officer's cuffs, called for help on his radio, and also assisted Trooper Vincent until medical help arrived. Trooper Vincent, who was only 43 years young, later died from his wounds while in the hospital; it is believed that two or three buckshot pellets entered his brain. He leaves behind a wife and a young son and at least two brothers who are also law enforcement officers.

According to published reports, after shooting him, Daigle told Trooper Vincent he was lucky because he would be dead soon. That piece of dirt also wound up in the hospital with what reportedly were minor wounds. He apparently had the audacity to smugly smirk for a photo taken of him while there. 

More here.

My condolences to his family, loved ones and brother troopers. I am not a religious man but have said prayers, first for his recovery and now for his family, in my own way. I ask you do likewise.

All the best,
Glenn B

There I Was In My Previous Post...

... feeling good about catching three mice. That was until I saw this:

http://www.al.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2015/08/near_record-breaking_900-pound.html?hootPostID=30924decc028a5d23a1d7cd6ec6e160b

Now that would really make me feel good and taste good too.

All the best,
GB

So Far I Am Winning - Today's Body Count...

... is three for me and zero for them. That is as long as those worthless bastards have not secretly used biological weapons against me.  Even if they have, at least I have killed three of them before they got me. It gave me a great feeling of satisfaction to see their limp and lifeless bodies.

In as far as that goes, I have done my family, neighbors, community and even my state and country a favor. If I can kill a few more before the day is through though, I will go from just feeling good about myself to being ecstatic. My mother-in-law may be the most pleased of all because she can't stand the sight of them, let alone deal with the fact that they have been trespassing on our property and have been so bold as to saunter around our yard and patio in broad daylight. She hates mice even more than she hates me!

With any luck, they were house mice (Mus musculus as I suspect and don't carry the hantavirus. Plague I might be able to deal with but the hantavirus scares the crap out if me. Then again, they could have been white-footed mice, their feet were partially white or at least the toes had some white. They carry the hantavirus and that could change who won today.

Anyway, three down and only the rest of them know how many more to go but there must be a lot of them with them being out and about in the middle of the day. I am going to enjoy every last snap of the trap and hopefully will get all of them before they find their way into our house. By the way, I use peanut butter as bait in the traps, it is phenomenally excellent as mouse bait.

All the best,
Glenn B

The Marines Were Blowing Their Bugles...

...because someone claimed it had been them but it wound up being a member of the U.S. Air Force and another from the Oregon National Guard along with a few civilians who beat the terrorist bastard into unconciousness on that train in France. I love our Marines but they can't always get the glory.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/08/22/3-us-servicemen-describe-terrifying-attack-on-european-train/ 

All the best,
GB

Hillary Supporters

 
Nothing more need be said about them.

Hat tip to Mike McC.

 All the best,
 GB

If Even Half Of Us Think This...,

... the this being that we need to do away with the Bill Of Rights, then we need a revolution more than we did when the last one started back in 1775.

All the best,
GB<

No Doubt I Am On The List...

...and so are you since you read my blog.

See what I mean, your on it too.

All the best,

Glenn B

Another Outstanding Executive Order...

...from the NIC (nincompoop in charge).

My thanks and a hat tip to Mike McC, who emailed me the pic.

All the best,

GB

I Am So Bored..

...without my laptop that I actually did about 2 1/2 hours of yard work starting around 11AM. Usually, I don't crawl outside until about one or two in the afternoon. Probably would have been at it earlier today except that I tied a bit of one on last night and my head was aching a bit this morning. At this rate, I might even become productive and get aome real work done around here in the ten days to two weeks before I get my laptop back from HP. I may just have to build a tortoise pen and put in some decorative edging around different parts of the yard. Who would have thunk it!

Now, I have to put down the art phone and get some more work done. Well, maybe after just one cold one first.

All the best,
Glenn B

Do You Think My Laptop Is Overheating Because...

...I have pictures like this saved on it?

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

Just wondering!

Source of photos.

All the best,
Glenn B

Blogging Will Be Scarce For Awhile

I am sending in my laptop for inspection and repair. It is running hot enough to cook eggs. Literally, it's sometimes been too hot to hold in as much as the temp at one of the vents was above 160 degrees recently. Programs slow or freeze, in fact the whole damned thing froze a couple or few times over the past week or so. Somehow, luck was on my side when I called this in  to HP, I still had a few days left on my extended warranty. Hopefully, they will fix it right this time.

I will try to blog either using my son's antiquated laptop or using my Samsung Galaxy S6 Active smart phone (if not too much of a pain using that very sensitive keypad). So, just letting you know: at least right now, I have not yet met my demise, I am alive and well, but just not going to be blogging a lot until I get the laptop back. That should be 10-14 business days.

All the best,
Glenn B

Road Trip - 2015 8th Annual NEBS (Part Two)

We were up bright and early on Saturday, at least I was up that early; then I went back to bed. Brendan got me up a little while later thinking of course that was the first time I was getting up. Without much ado, we prepared for the 8th Annual Northeast Bloggershoot. That included a plan for breakfast and we again stopped at a local diner. This one, Susie's Diner, was much closer to the motel. I wish we had eaten there the day before too because the breakfast was so much better than from the other diner the day before and so was the service that much better. Of course it also meant we had to have all of our guns and gear ready and that required a brief stop along the way to the shoot.


Most of our guns & gear for the 2015 NEBS. There were two rifles in
the black case that you can barely see in the lower right hand corner and
also a Beretta 92FS that Brendan was shooting and my Glock 26 on my hip.

So, after breakfast, we headed to a local Walmart to pick up a thing or two wee needed. Cardboard shipping boxes make great target backers for my portable stand and we picked up a couple that would amount to four backers when cut to size. Then we headed directly to the Super SeKrit location of the range for the NEBS. We were running late of when we had planned to arrive, which was supposed to have been by 930AM and we got there right around 10AM. That was the scheduled start time for the shoot but somehow we wound up being early since most folks had not yet arrived, or so we thought. As it turned out about half or more of the folks who actually were going to show were there already. This year's attendance was way down from prior years. That was okay though because it meant more shooting time and more of a chance to chat with whomever. I don't recall the time we started blasting but as usual it was prefaced by the big bang from Jack's and Deb's (our hosts) cannon. Yes, they own a cannon, a real, firing, big boomer. What a way to begin a shooting event.

There was a brief range safety speech given by John D (who stood in for Jay G who was missed this year). John did a great job of getting the word out to participants, organizing the event and getting us off to a bang-up start and as you can see in this brief video, he did a good impersonation of Jay G who usually takes care of business.

 
After that it was shoot as much as you wanted until quitting time. As usual, when Brendan is with me, I probably did more loading than shooting. I let him have his fun with the pistols since he eagerly had been looking forward to shooting them. He does not have a pistol license in NY and thus cannot legally shoot a pistol there. So, the trip to the bloggershoot is his chance to shoot them as much as he wants with inthe span of the event. He fired up a storm with the Remington R1 1911, Glock 26, Beretta 92FS and also a bit with the Ortgies 32 Auto.

As he was shooting one gun, I often was loading mags for the other. I had nine mags for the Remington, eight for the Glock, ten for the Berettas (had two Berettas with me but he only fired one of them) and two for the Ortgies. For some reason, he declined shooting any of the three pistols we had with us in 22LR. I shot two of those, the S&W Model 17 and the Beretta 70S but I never got around to shooting the Ruger Mark II. I also shot the Glock 26 and the Remington R1 and made a nice single hole in the paper with about 21 shots of 45 ACP during one round of my firing. For the most part though, I was loading mags or talking to this person or that one.

We got to shoot some guns that other people had along. For example, Brendan asked Matt P if he could shoot his full auto M16 with 7" barrel (Matt lives in a much freer state than do we here in NY.) We had the ammo for it and Brendan blasted away. Too bad he waited until somewhat later in the day to ask because soon after he shot that, Matt was getting ready to leave, leaving Brendan without a chance to also try some of Matt's other guns like the: G34 with suppressor, MP5, suppressed 45 ACP rifle, suppressed 458 Socom rifle, weird (Matt's own description) suppressed Ruger MKII rifle, and a SBS KSG. Oh well, maybe next time around. Brendan also got to take a shot or two with Chris L and Cher L's 50 caliber rifle.

This rifle was literally a blaster, the shock wave caused by firing it
was awesome and that was from behind it. I'd hate to be in front of it.

Shooting that thing was a blast, literally because you felt one hell of a blast wave if you were anywhere witnin about 15 feet of it when it went off. I got to shoot Chris and Cher's Kel-Tec PMR-30 pistol in 22WMR. That has got to be one of the lightest weight full sized pistols I have ever shot and man oh man did it shoot. It was right on at about 7 yards (maybe a little more or so) and was a pleasure to fire. I think they come with a 30 round mag (but as I am in NY, Chris who come from CT, was restricted to ten round mags for it). Lots of fun in that gun for sure. I bought 100 rounds of 22 Magnum ammo at the local gun store anticipating that Brendan would shoot up what we already had of 22WMR in our Marlin 25MN but he never got around to it. I only fired about 24 rounds out of the Kel-Tec but that was enough to convince me I want one of them.

Speaking of firing only so much ammo, I have to say that at the bloggershoot, I probably only fired about 200-250 rounds in total. As I said, I loaded mags for Brendan and I guess in that regard you could have called me Gunga Glenn. Imagine me as the faithful gun bearer and to hell with being a water bearer. Brendan fired at least 700-750 rounds of mostly 9mm and 45 ACP with some 5.56x45mm, 32 auto and 12 gauge in there too. He fired about 450 rounds of 9mm ammo and also shot up 200 rounds of the 45ACP that we had brought along. Some of the other calibers we brought along make up for the rest of what lead he threw downrange; well, with the exception of a round or two he fired of 50 caliber BMG. He had fun doing it too, who wouldn't! All in all it was a blast that was well worth the expenditure of ammo.

There was plenty of time to socialize too, since there was no need to wait on a line to get a spot to shoot as in previous years when about double the amount of folks showed up. Yes, there is usually a line of about anywhere up to a dozen shooters or so and at least a 5 to 10 minute wait for a turn at s a shooting spot. This year though, as you can see by the following photo, there pretty much was no waiting.

Lots of wide open shooting spaces on the firing line meant no lines.

As I said, we had time to socialize and jawbone and eat too. That included lots of talk about guns and some excellent eats. We usually order out from a local deli but this time around Matt P prepared and brought along an excellent feast for us consisting of pulled pork, and beef tips, both with all the fixings. He also brought along some excellent chocolate chip cookies. Someone else, I think Teri D, brought along a couple of excellent, and possibly homemade, cakes. I think there was a small line for the food even if no lines for the shooting.

This shot shows most of the shooters who attended the 2015 NEBS.

All in all it was a very good day. The weather was very cooperative with absolutely zero rainfall (which was also very different than previous years) and the temperature was probably in the high 70's to maybe 80 degrees. I can't wait until the next one in 2016. Hopefully there will also be another one down in WV like the one Brendan and I attended last fall. We may get a chance to see Jay G at that one being he lives in VA nowadays. Not that he wasn't at the 2015 NEBS - at least both in spirit and in effigy. Someone, who shall remain anonymous, made up several cut out Jay faces and the result was this:

The many faces of Jay (or should that be the many bodies of...).
Pic lifted off of Facebook, probably taken by Cher L.

Needless to say, if Jay is at a bloggershoot, even if only in effigy, he is going to do some shooting. And so it was that it almost got done, kind of, sort of, just about vicariously.

Savoir Faire is everywhere,
and so to they say is Mr. Jay

In fact, Jay did not know it at the time, but he helped bring the day to a close with the ending cannon salvo. It certainly was not the same without him there in person but would have been a whole lot less fun if he wasn't there at least in spirit if not in effigy too. I am willing to give odds that he shows up next year!

All the best,
Glenn B

 

A Video Of The View...

...from Pack Monadnock (which I pronounce incorrectly in the video, proper pronunciation here click on the speaker icon). I also described it kind of wrong as monadnock evidently means a lone mountain that rises above others in the vicinity. Indeed, Pack Monadnock is the highest peak in its range. Enjoy the video and my apologies for not being fast enough to get a shot of the chipmunk.



All the best,
Glenn B

Road Trip - 2015 8th Annual NEBS (Part One)

It was just what I needed although I could have used another week or two of it. The it to which I am referring is the short road trip Brendan and I took to New Hampshire for the 8th Annual Northeast Bloggershoot this past weekend. Driving there, a day earlier than expected on Thursday, was not bad, at least for me. I had good company. It was the kid (err, young man) Brendan who had to put up with all of his old man's (my) yammering. He did okay that way even if I was a pest with my incessant babble. We got there in fairly good time based on our average trip times there, I am guessing it took about 5 - 5.5 hours or so. We stopped at least twice on the way up, the longer stop at a Cracker Barrel. That first night we did little more than check into our hotel, Motel 6 Nashua South, and watch TV.

On Friday, we were up not too early but not late either. We headed out from a decent breakfast at a small diner in Nashua, darned if I can recall the name. After that we drove up to The Manchester Firing Line Range in Manchester. Brendan had a hankering to shoot a rental gun that for which he passed up the opportunity the last time we were up that way in March. At the rates they charged, I knew why he passed it up - they wanted $18 per hour range time, $75 per hour for the rental gun, and a lot of moola for ammo (they required their ammo in range rentals). So he declined but the desire to shoot it did not disappear. As a matter of fact, I think it ate at him between the trip in March and this one. On the way up he told me he was going to shoot it regardless of the price.

Well, when we got to the store, we rented one and got a whole $3.00 apiece discount for the range time because I am considered an armed professional there due to having an armed guard license. The discount though did not apply to anything else. So, the range fees were $30 total between the two of us instead of $36, the gun he wanted to rent was still $75 per hour, the ammo was $28.50 per box (plus or minus some cents) and we bought 5 boxes ($142.50 worth) knowing it was not really enough but had to be enough at that price. Heck, I can get the same exact ammo at about $18 per box on line. We also picked up three targets at about $5 total for all of them. I guess the fact that the desire to shoot the derned thing had been eating away at him since March was the deciding factor and it won out over price.  In all, he paid about $252 plus change; yes Brendan paid for it all and even let me shoot.

Are you wondering what was the gun? Here is a hint, as Brendan prepared to fire it he said something very much to the effect of: "I'm gonna give you to the count of ten to get your no good keester off my property. One - two - ten" . Then he opened up with a short burst followed by full auto. That was followed by him laughing and then saying: "Keep the change ya filthy animal". If you have not guessed the gun by now, I guess you never watched Home Alone.


 
The gun he rented that we shot was, as Brendan likes to call it, a Chicago Typewriter. In other words, it's known as a Tommy Gun, aka: Thompson Submachine Gun.  The one below is the actual one we shot; well, its a pic of the action anyhow. I wish I had the selfie videos he made by placing his phone on the bench under the gun when he shot it, or the ones I took of him while using his phone, but he won't let me download them now. He is busy going out with his buddies - so maybe later for those shots.



Was it worth the high price he paid for us to shoot it. Yeah, I think so and I am sure he thinks so. Regardless, at least now he has gotten it out of his system and also has accomplished something he badly wanted to do and let me enjoy it too - good kid. I know for a fact he had fun and so did I. Since I had 100 rounds of our on 45ACP ammo with me in the range box, Brendan also shot my Remington R1 but only 50 rounds worth. Somehow that other box of our 45ACP disappeared down range in a few well placed bursts through the 20 round mag for the Thompson. Yeah, all they had was one single 20 round stack type magazine for it. As I said though, shooting it was a pisser.

We drove around for a spell after that and wound up at the Nashua Garden for lunch. It was packed, probably not so much so because the food was all that great,  no one seemed to be really stuffing it in their pie holes with reckless abandon, but because the upstairs was closed during lunchtime. We headed out to look for another place to eat but got momentarily diverted by the place next-door; that was Castro's Back Room, a cigar store. I picked up a few old cigar boxes and Brendan got himself a coffee flavored stogie. Had a nice talk with the guy behind the counter about the planned shoot while there. Then we again were on the prowl for good eats. We spotted a place a few blocks away down the river (I am guessing it was the Nashua River) and got in the car to drive it there. It wasn't so much that it was a couple of blocks away but because I would have had to come back to move the car or feed the meter before our meal was done. So I just moved the car closer to the restaurant - Tio Juan's Margaritas Mexican Restaurant. While waiting for the food, it sure looked like Brendan enjoyed the Margarita that he was inhaling. I had a couple of excellent 16 ounce Tecate beers at the surprising price of only $3.00 each. The food was pretty good too and while it certainly wasn't as authentic as food along the Mexican - U.S. border but it was pretty darned delicious.

After that, we hemmed and hawed about what to do and decided to take the advice of Deb, one of our gracious hosts for the upcoming bloggershoot, and headed to Pack Monadnock (a small mountain) in Miller State Park. I did not have to debate whether or not I wanted to hike or drive up it since my lower back and hips were pretty much killing me right about then so, up we drove. It was a short but twisty and fairly steep (for the east) drive.

The Master of all he sees.

Once up on top we enjoyed a breath taking view of the surround area. Brendan surveyed all he saw as if ready to conquer it, or whatever, while enjoying his cigar. He sort of reminded me of Geroge C. Scott in the movie Patton or maybe of a king overlooking his realm. What he was looking at deserved that kind of a look; it really was that reminiscent of a kingdom that needed to be viewed from on high by its king to see its entirety.

Here are a few pics of what he was looking at and let me say it now, the pics don't do justice. if I can edit a video  shot, I will load it later. This is what he had been looking at:

 



Click it to enlarge it and get a more panoramic view.

Oddly enough, my hips and back were feeling somewhat after being on the mountaintop for a half hour or so. Thus, we decided to go for a brief downhill hike. I do mean short too because if my aches came back, I did not want to have to hike far back uphill but as you will soon see we cut it even shorter than I had expected to do. On the hike, we got to see a bit more of the scenery from a different angle and then were in deep woods with lots of rocks both big and small. We walked only about 10 minutes and then had a sit down for five or ten and headed back up top. On the way into the woods, we had passed a fairly young to middle aged woman sitting there. We said hello and kept walking. A few minutes into our hike, I realized she was following us. During the several times I looked back she was pacing us exactly and not acknowledging us, kind of staring off into space as if we were not there or as if she did not want to seem intrusive or whatever but it was weird. 

It seemed more than a little odd and could have meant a several things. Either she was afraid of hiking alone and for some reason figured following two unknown (to her) men would offer her some protection, she was just oblivious to the potential threat that could have been the two strangers she had decided to follow and was in her own version of La-La Land or she had hiked up with a boyfriend or spouse who argued with her and left her there and she was afraid he might be waiting for her in the woods to kick her ass and that we might somehow prevent that. The thought had also crossed my mind that she could have been looking to rob us if she had gotten the chance, with an accomplice who may have been 
further down the hill. Of course, she could have just be an out and out kook who was hoping for an opportunity to say we had tried to rape her or something like that - heaven knows there is way too much of that going around in recent years. The again, she could have been hoping to have really wild sex with the both of us in the wilds of NH but I highly doubt it. I also suppose she could have just decided to start going back down after we had passed her.

Yet, because of her following us, more than being pooped or worrying about my aches returning on the way back up, I decided to tell Brendan I needed a break and we sat down. We talked to this mystery woman (the mystery was why she was following us) as she passed us. She seemed kind of, sort of, almost okay but both of us got the feeling something was weird about her having followed us like that (Brendan mentioned that to me after she had left). So, I bored her to tears with some story of me once getting altitude sickness out west and she was soon off on her own traipsing down the mountain. We then headed back up to the top and to the Corolla. I imagine she was a nice lady and none of the above applied, except maybe she was afraid to hike alone, but as I said it all seemed too weird at the moment to chance continuing on with her tailing us. We were out of there after that.



How could I not post this pic!

That night, we ate at the Tilted Kilt in Nashua. If you are a man who appreciates fine looking young ladies, clad in mini kilts and tiny tops, this is the place. To tell the truth, the ale and spirits selection was good and the food pretty darned tasty too. Besides our waitress, Emily, being on the rather sexy side of good looks, she also was an excellent server. The combination of it all could not be beat. Sadly, all good things do come to an end and it was all too soon time to head back to the hotel. We grabbed some beers somewhere and Brendan imbibed most of them before I had one down. Oh well, such is youth.

The next day would bring us to the bloggershoot and we needed to get some rest and that's I exactly what we got once all the brews were gone. As for the bloggershoot itself, I'll tell you about I in Part Two.

All the best,
Glenn B

No Blogging As of Late...

...and the reasons are twofold. First we were up in NH at the 8th Annual Northeast bloggershoot over the weekend. The second is that I have been having problems with my laptop with it getting extremely hot, so much so that it feels as if it is about on the verge of a meltdown and I smell something burning. That problem has been intermittent but man it sure does get hot when it heats up. In fact, it gets hot enough to leave a first degree burn, like a sunburn, if you hold it at its upper left hand corner of the lower section for more than a second or if you actually have it sitting on your lap. It mostly gets that hot when playing a game, like Fallout - New Vegas but sometimes gets almost as hot just playing chess or solitaire. It can also get very, very hot when I am on the Internet, especially if I open a couple or few different sites at once. When I gets very hot, [programs slow down and some completely lock up for up to a minute or so. Last time this happened it did not get quite as hot and programs did not lock up but they had to replace a fan. This time they are telling me it could be a fan or the processor on the motherboard. Whatever, I have several days remaining in my warranty period - so it will be going in for repairs as soon as I get the shipping box and label from them. Cold have had it done at home with in home service but opted to send it to the factory because last time a tech person came here to repair it, let me simply say, he was a friendly moron I did not think he was as much in the know as he should have been so. 

Anyway, Ill try to post some later tonight or tomorrow and maybe will get some posting done with my phone while the laptop is being repaired.

And yes, we had fun at the bloggershoot; I will try to post on that before I send it in for repairs.

All the best,
GB
 

I've Got Ants In My Pants...

...almost literally. Ran some errands today, including bringing empties back to the beer distributor for my $4.45 (gas money). As I was taking bottles out of one of the bags, I realized in was teeming with big black ants. They started running all over the countertop with me winding up smashing several of them. When I got back out to my car, I found they were in the car too. Not as many but a few had gotten out of the bag and into the car. Got most of em. Seems they had been enjoying what little beer was left in the bottles or soda that was left in the cans; and yes, there were quite a few inside beer bottles.

While I snuffed as many as I could, I still have ants in my pants but of another variety altogether. I am itching o get on the road to NH, and so too is my son, but am in the end stages of roasting a leg of lamb on my grill. There is no way I am leaving before that savory hunk of mutton is at least partially in my belly. Man does it smell good out there right now. It's just going to be a very simple roast, rubbed down with salt, seared quickly to seal in the juices, then roasted for about 2-2.5 hours on the grill while being basted now and again with excellent Spaten Optimator (an excellent German double Bock bier). My mother-in-law is sitting outside an watched me just douse it with beer, so there is a good chance she will not want to eat any. She detests anything cooked with any seasoning, well she actually likes most of it if she is fooled into thinking it is not seasoned but she refuses to eat stuff she knows has seasoning (unless she decides she wants to eat spicy suff). It's probably something to do with her diabetes, blood pressure and insanity. Doesn't matter, if she does not eat it, there is more for me.

I love lamb. it is one of my favorites. I like it so much, I could probably push aside pork to eat lamb. Not that I would want t because I love my schweinfleisch too. Some corn on the cob and asparagus, that my wife is preparing, probably along with a garden salad, will compliment the meat. There may be some left over potato salad too. One can hope because it sure is good.

After that, a short rest, then on the road to NH to attend the 8th Annual Northeast Bloggershoot at a super-seKrit location up in that direction. With us going to be there all day tomorrow, we plan to hit an indoor range and maybe rent some of their guns. I know my son is aching to shoot their Thompson submachine gun. I guess I am too. After that, who knows what we will find ourselves doing for the rest of the day tomorrow. The bloggershoot is on Saturday and that will take up most of the day. Sunday will be a leisurely drive home.

All the best,
GB

We Will Be Leaving A Day Early For...

...the 8th Annual Northeast Bloggershoot so, I have been filling ammo cans with what we will need for the guns we are bringing and then some. I figure have at least two calibers of ammo for which we are not bringing guns but have it because someone else will have something interesting to shoot in those calibers. It's like BYOB but for this shoot it's BYOA (the A standing for ammo). Sadly, one of the guys who brings truly neat guns to shoot each year will not be able to make it this time.

I have also been filling gun cases.The guns we are bringing this year will be:

Savage Axis in 308 WIN
Marlin 25MN in 22 WMR
Stevens Model 320 12 Gauge Shotgun
Mossberg 500 12 Gauge Shotgun
Remington R1 1911
Beretta 92SB 9mm (the Ballseye Gat)
Beretta 92FS 9mm
Glock 26 9mm
Ortgies Pocket Pistol 32ACP
Ruger MKII 22LR
Beretta 70S 22LR
Smith & Wesson Model 17 22LR

Well, I am bringing all of them if I can fit them and the ammo for them in my car. Besides ammo for the bloggershoot on Saturday, I also am bringing enough ammo for a range day on Friday. We are hoping to rent a Thompson and shoot a bit with it. I don't know if we have to buy range ammo or can use our own but I have about 1K rounds of 45ACP that I am bringing along. If they let us use our ammo, I figure to use 500 to 750 rounds of it with the Thompson.

More to do, so I have to run.

All the best,
GB

The New Rifle Blues

The new rifle I ordered from Sportsmansguide.com arrived at my FFL dealer today right on time. I knew that not because my dealer called or emailed me as they were supposed to have done but because FedEx sent me a tracking notification. The reason the dealer did not call me was because Sportsmansguide (and the dealer who sent it to my dealer for Sportsmansguide) must have thought it unnecessary to include my name on the shipping label. Anyway, I knew it was there and gave Volko Supply a call to see if I could stop by to pick it up and they said sure thing.

When I got there, I explained which rifle it was and Ron (who, I think, is the owner) got it for me. As I saw him walking to the counter with it I thought to myself "OH SHIT". I asked if they received it like it looked, which was smashed in and sort of peeled open like a sardine can lid at one end and he said "obviously". I hoped, just for a wee moment there, that they had opened the box like that for some reason, maybe to make sure of what was inside. No such luck! I said I did not want to accept it and Ron said okay but then I thought why not at least take a look inside. So, Ron opened the outer box and it was immediately evident that the inner box was also damaged.

Too bad I did not think to take a photo of the outer box, it was much worse.
 This box mattered more because if it was damaged there was a good chance
so to the rifle. As will be seen, that presumption was correct.

Upon further inspection it became woefully evident that the barrel had also sustained damage at the muzzle end. There was no way I would accept that and Ron was very understanding.


I might do that myself while hunting or otherwise afield but I'll be damned
if I pay almost $500 for a brand new rifle (and box) damaged like that!

Ron called the FFL holder who had sent it out for Sportsmansguide but that guy wanted nothing to do with it. I called Sportsmansguide (SG) and spoke to Shelley in customer service. She told me that SG would contact their FFL and arrange for him to contact Volko to arrange for the return. She also told me that once that was accomplished, SG would refund my credit card and I could order another one; they would not handle it as an exchange. She did not tell me to contact FedEx, so I am assuming (I know - that's dangerous) that SG will contact them about the damage. ( I later found out I need do nothing more.) How I wish they would have used UPS, I have had better results with them overall.
What utter disappointment. I really had hoped to surprise my son with this rifle up at the 8th Annual Northeast Bloggershoot this weekend. I knew he would love it and have a lot of fun with it, then again, so would I. This sucks.

All the best,
Glenn B 

BFF

 

 

Saw that and had a good belly laugh but now I'm hungry. Hat tip to Ed S for that one.

 

All the best,

GB

Who Cares

I care and plenty of others do too. For the most part though, I imagine the hippy, dirtbag, grunge, never want to work skanks who protest just about everything not only don't care. They probably applaud the suicide rate among veterans all while bemoaning that friggin cat as the greatest loss of the century.

All the best,
GB

A Devout Man Of God...

... is often truly awestruck by, and spends time in adoration of, God's finer creations.

All the best,
Glenn B

Summertime Range Fashion

I like the look but those hot shell casings sure have a way of zeroing in on the cleavage.

This photo posted here for firearms safety educational purposes. Why else
would I post a photo like this unless for that reason and that reason alone!

Ladies, if you are going to the range in the hotter months, you want to avoid wearing anything that pretty much invites shell casings to burn your tender parts.

All the best,
GB

Sent The Taurus PT145 To The Factory...

...last night from a local FedEx location near my home. It could not have been much easier than it turned out. The woman behind the counter at FedEx did not even ask what was in the package, I imagine because I had a preprinted shipping label that was supplied by Taurus and am guessing they input all the required info. As I already mentioned in my previous post, things went well with Taurus in setting up the recall return. Now all I have to do is wait for its return.

If I get lucky, they will trash it and give me a newer and better model. In all fairness to Taurus, I should not say that without qualifying that remark. It most certainly is not the highest quality made pistol that I own but I am quite satisfied with my Taurus PT145 Millennium Pro pistol. I only say I'd b lucky to get a new one because as I understand it, if they cannot repair it they will be supplying owners with new pistols of a newer model. New and better would be okay, that is if the newer ones are better. Then again, it would quite aright by me to get the old one back. For all I know, it does not even need repair and is in perfect and safe operational condition. Time will tell. 

All the best,
GB