...if Kamala Harris is elected president, my guess is this will not be far behind:
Of course, that is not actually the price of gas now at Murphy's in Texarkana, AR where I took the shot. They just built a new gas station after tearing down the old one and this is what their sign shows now but they are not open yet. I suppose they did that to discourage folks from trying to pull in and fill up because no one in their right mind would be filling up at that price. Then again, it is what Dems are probably hoping for to advance electronic vehicle sales while destroying the US of A.
...being held on the same date that Adolf Hitler was officially elected as the president of Germany (more at the source). I believe there are coincidences now and then but that something of this magnitude is not coincidental because it could not have been or at least should not have been overlooked by the Democrats who picked this date for the DNC. That especially in light of the fact they placed Kamala Harris into the running for the presidency by pushing out Joe Biden and thus Harris did not receive even a single vote from anyone to be the candidate before today (in other words there was no primary, in effect robbing other candidates of their chance to run and denying voters there chance to select their candidate as is due process in elections. Does sound at least somewhat Hitler like to you because it does to me?
Lately I have seen videos of Harris saying she will essentially steal patents from patent holders; and that by the stroke of a pen she had people incarcerated and she ruined their lives making them lose jobs and spend their savings on defense lawyers (among other negative actions) and after she did so she then dropped all criminal charges (so she ruined the lives of folks who were guilty of no crimes) and thus she knows about having power (I am guessing it is what we can expect more of if she wins the election). I do not know if the videos were real or faked but they certainly seem to hold true to the Harris we have known over the years.
So as you may or not be aware, I am sort of a gun auction junkie. Ever since March of 2012, I have either attended, in person to bid, or bid online in about 48 Hessney Auction Company auctions since then. So that averages out to about four per year. I note, I just checked my files on my computer to count my auction receipts, I did not check my hard copies, there may be more than 48 altogether. I should note, in the beginning few years, I was lucky to attend one or two per year. After that, I attended at least a few per year and in recent years have bid in just about every firearms auctions (now called Sportsman auctions and Military & Sportsman auctions but I'll just refer to them as firearms auctions). For instance, last year in 2023, I bid in 11 of their firearms & ammo auctions; this year (all online only ever since COVID), so far, I have bid in four of them. In recent years I do not think I have missed miss an opportunity to bid in any of their firearms auctions. I may not always wind up with a high bid on a gun but always wind up getting something firearms related.
Well, those last two sentences above might have been a bit misleading making you think I have bid in every one of their firearms auctions and that I have bought something from every one of them in recent years. I should have said that up until this month I have always done so; this month, their auction was on Saturday August 3rd. and I missed it. As usual, I sent Joe Hessney and his crew an email asking them about several guns and some other things in which I had a keen interest. Then on Saturday morning the 3rd, I got out of bed a bit later than I had wanted and got my car loaded up to attend a local to me gun show. I got Skye in the car and headed to the dog park with her. After that it was direct ton the gun show where I finished setting up. The gun show opened at 0900 CDT, the auction began at 1000 EDT. Same time but in different regions. Well, this knucklehead forgot all about the auction which I had intended to view online by way of my phone. By the time I remembered the auction was running, every firearm had been bid on and sold. Well, because of my forgetting the time, at least there was some money saved; I figure at least a grand, probably more.
As for losing money, at the gun show, I sold three guns & a stripped AR-15 lower, a few to maybe several boxes of ammo, a couple or few rifle magazines & access ores and a couple of holsters. That is where I lost money. The show tables, of which I had two, were $65.00 each, so $130.00 total. Of the three guns I sold, two went at a loss as did the lower. One gun, an Iver Johnson Sealed Eight Target revolver went for $2.25 more than I paid for it (not taking into consideration gas to drive the 310 miles to the auction and then the same mileage for the return trip, the hotel and other expenses). So actually,I lost money on all of the guns. That was okay, I was still happy with how much cash I recouped. I needed to replenish my savings account & other liquid assets because they were below what I want to assure remains in them until I can either buy a house or drop dead - whichever comes first. I sold a considerable amount of things, almost everything at a lost, maybe a few at break even prices and a few at a small net profit. The over all sales wound up costing me a bit more than $200 owed in state sales tax. The little bit of net profit will also cost me in federal income tax when tax time comes around. All in all, I lost money; yet, I recouped some cash that I did not have and that went right into my savings account along with putting back in the $500 I had withdrawn prior to the gun show. I withdrew that in case I would have seen anyone walk in with a gun for sale for that amount of less that I could not resist and I had enough pocket cash prior to that to pay for the tables. All in all, I am a happy camper.The guy who bought an AK (milled receiver) from me (in excellent shape) was happy he got it at an excellent price specially for a gun show where other dealers were asking hundreds more for similar AKs. He came back and I am pretty sure was the same guy who bought the receiver (also at a great pre-China Virus price).
Anyway it all added up to replenish my bank account at least somewhat. If the price of gold and silver stay up there, I'll be set with what I have in the bank account and what I have in precious metals (even if the price falls say by 20% my bullion will hold a good value for me overall). Another show should get me feeling comfortable but only if I do as well. Then again, I am none too sure I have that many more guns I am willing to sell. Most folks would probably want to make a nice net profit at a gun show. I understand that because such shows require a lot of labor, a large amount of time to get ready, more time spent at the tables selling, and time to tear down and head home and then put everything away and do accounting.
Me, I am not very concerned about making a net profit; I am happy to get under but close to what I paid for most things I sell. When it comes to some other things I am okay with a larger amount of loss. Of course if I make a net profit, that is nice but certainly it is not my main objective nor even an important one; I get a decent pension even though 40% goes to my wife. My main concern has been getting money back into the bank to replenish money after I have spent it down too much. I hopefully also will wind up with enough to be able to buy more guns after a gun show and right now I figure I am at that point where I can afford one or two more auctions or a purchase of some more bullion or both.
That all makes me happy and it makes my buyer's happy because they get good deals. They keep coming back, like the gentleman who bought the AK; he has bought from me at a couple of other shows in the past. Never listen to anyone who says you cannot possibly get a good deal at a gun show - they obviously have never been to any of my tables.
On a gun forum which I sue frequently, the news that the NRA has endorsed a sole democrat politician for this years elections has drawn the ire of many forum members. The thing is that the forum members who oppose the NRA having done so probably are, in my estimation, using the same basic method of how they have gone about deciding to oppose the NRA on this issue; that method was, by my guess, to base their decision on a single issue. In this case that would be that the forum users disagree with the NRA based solely on the fact that the politician is a democrat and thus must be opposed. Of course, I think the NRA's single issue used to by them to decide to endorse her was something different, her support of the right to keep and bear arms, but the method of using only a single issue to make their decision is the same.
The thing is,
it is not a single issue situation, one has to consider all of the other
issues which she supported and voted for in addition to those she
openly opposed and voted against in order to make a wise decision as to whether to support or oppose the NRA's endorsement of her. I am pretty certain though, the NRA
bases the political endorsements they give to politicians on only one
issue, the RKBA or at least in the great part upon that lone issue. In that regard, many in the gun forum's thread discussing this seem to be of the
same ilk, as is the mindset of other conservative who oppose the NRA's endorsement of her, as far as how they are going about judging the NRA. By that I mean they
evidently are basing their dislike of the NRA's endorsement of
congresswoman Mary Peltola, D–Alaska (more at the source) on a single issue when there is no
doubt one issue does not make up the platforms of most politicians nor
the ideals of most voters.At least I think not of logical voters in
most elections. If this lady is consistently one who votes more
conservatively or at least logically and is not woke nor a DEI selection by voters,
then maybe she deserves not only an A+ from the NRA but the support of
those in the Rebooblican Party who currently oppose her, having received
the nod from the NRA, just because she is a registered Demonkrat.
I
had been thinking, just in the last couple of weeks of registering as a
Demonkrat; that just so I could vote in the Demonkrat primaries - the
ones that should have been held with little delay after the likes of Schumer, Pelosi, Harris and others seemingly conspired to boot out
Biden. Let's face it, my (any any other voters) due process as a voter may have been violated by
them not allowing voters the opportunity to vote for their candidate of
choice to replace Biden on the ticket. I would have voted for almost
anyone other than Harris; my vote probably would have come to be a write in vote or Biden (it
would be great if dems did that en masse, voted for Biden in the new
primary (that should have been held) and then Biden would have wound up with more
votes than Harris. You may think it great that she was appointed by the
Dems and is running against Trump but I think a leftist of lesser degree
would be easier for Trump to defeat; and the easiest would have been Biden - easily accomplished, as I said, by
way of write in votes for Biden.
Now,
I am not very religious; although, sometimes I wonder if I am more
religious than I think and at other times ponder whether or not I am
religious at all. Yet, I do embrace several, or I suppose it is actually many, Christian morals, philosophies, ideals and etiquette and live most of my
life with them as guidelines along with some of the same from a few other
religions and or lay philosophies of some who are agnostic or not
religious at all. In general, I think I live my life by trying to do the
right things much more frequently than not. Despite that, I have as of late found
myself sort of praying to God (if there is one), or the Gods if more than
one (the early Christians number one way into the hearts of those of
other faiths to win them over, I think, was mainly the fact that despite
claiming there was only one God, they kind of sort of almost practiced a
religion that was polytheism in a way never seen before because their
one God was also three Gods all miraculously being one and the same), Nature, the Force or whatever powers that may be that Harris does not defeat The Donald and then wind up destroying outr great nation and I base my prayers on several issues. In
the case of the upcoming election while the one issue of the RKBA is
extremely important to me, I still believe candidates need be judged on several issues and have their voting records and their
overall politics scrutinized by a multitude of
examiners, the voters, just to assure their platform and possibly prior behavior agree
with those types of essentially Judaeo-Christian and other religion's
ideals before anyone decides to give them a shining endorsement or their
vote.
It is much the same
when deciding whom not to support and voting against someone, for instance Harris. There are many points I can think of why one should not vote for Harris.
Those being the disaster of the essentially open border, her abject
disrespect for the law when it came to what I think was post G. Floyd
terrorism practiced by BLM and ANTIFA among others, her extreme
disrespect for law enforcers as I see it based upon her thinking
defunding the police was a good idea and I believe she probably still
thinks it, her seeming belief that riots involving those groups were
peaceful protests, an alleged large number of race based convictions of
black men for minor marijuana infractions when she was a prosecutor, my belief she is a racist, her playing all sides against the middle by claiming at
different times to be of different races, her failure as Border Czar, the failing economy, her anti-RKBA stance, her
poor judgement as in her selection of her running mate- even many dems
agree on that, her all too often senseless babble that she repeatedly
regurgitates, her inability to get her point across to make anyone
understand what she actually means when speaking about the issues (this has been a
long time ploy of leftists leaving it to their followers to decide
the meaning of her babble for themselves thus getting self satisfaction
even if their interpretations are very different than one anothers in
the dem party - keeps everyone happy when they all can make believe they
got it right), her seeming frequent inability to finish making a point
about something serious without breaking out into a wild cackle, her
very apparent lack of knowledge on subjects about which she is
interviewed or about which she is making a statement, her evident lies about the competency of Joe Biden.
All
that said, I cannot understand why anyone who is acting rationally
would vote for her. Instead I see a multitude of mindless adherents who
will vote for her because they believe she would be the first woman
president and sex is their one issue, she would be the first black woman
president and race and sex are what does it for them or simply race alone is enough,
she would be the first person of Asian descent and her ancestry, race and
ethnicity does it for other voters. I prefer to base my distaste for her
on multiple issues: first of all that she is the selection of the deep state within
the Demonkrat party and thus her candidacy was not put to a vote and
deprived other candidates of a fair chance and also deprived the voters of the
opportunity to make the selection, that she goes along with how she was
selected as the candidate, she seems to support late term abortion, she
is anti-RKBA, she did nothing to get the economy out of the mess it is
in but supported Bidenomics that caused the economy to falter, that she
evidently lied about Bidens mental acuity, that she apparently lied
about her support of Biden as the dem candidate, that she speaks in
senseless riddles or babble, that she seems very uninformed and unknowledgeable about major issues, opposes Donald Trump and has
seemingly expressed the same hatred for him as other mindless Demonkrats by which they hate him so much they'd do anything to
prevent him from being elected again - even supporting his assassination, that she plays both sides against
the middle in the Israel versus Hamas war... The list goes on and on but
those multiple issues I just presented are more than enough reason for
me never to vote for Harris and probably for me to never vote for a
Demonkrat ever again because it seems the great majority of the party's members are
actually functioning irrationally when it comes to politics.
While
I tend to doubt it, maybe the NRA decided to endorse congresswoman Mary
Peltola, D–Alaska based upon multiple issues, after their scrutiny of her overall politics, as
opposed to doing so based upon a single issue. I certainly would hope voters do so, that is to consider many issues if not all of them even if the NRA maybe did not. I definitely wish they'd do so when it comes to whom they decide to cast their vote for president - Harris or Trump. If they do that, I think there is no way Trump can lose unless the election is rigged.
It promises to be a long boring day based upon my past experience with gun show Sundays.To keep myself amused though, I glide across the web, maybe visit a gun forum, listen to music on Pandora (Samba Pa Ti by Santana as I write), BS with potential customers, talk to other vendors, talk to, feed snacks to and pet my mongrel Skye and I visit Instagram.
I saved Instagram until last because it just gave me a nice but silent laugh. Had I laughed outloud, I am afraid they would have called the men in white coats to come remove me from the venue and place me in the nuthouse, that is how loud I imagine my audible laugh would have been, loud enough to make me seem like a crazy man. Go here for a good laugh, especially if you hunt, camp out or hike.
... one of my favorite outlaws committed his first known robbery when he held up a stagecoach carrying a Wells Fargo strong box. He robbed many more over the years, never fired a shot or hurt anyone as far as I am aware, was a poet of sorts and apparently was a well spoken gentleman. He was Black Bart more about him at the linked page.
I am sick and tired of all the crap in the news. Trump almost being assassinated and the abject failure of the Secret Service (or was it a conspiracy to eliminate him) was & remains truly frightening; Biden dropping out of the race but somehow being seen as fit enough to remain president for six more months is dismaying & quite frankly very scary considering the world situation to say the least; the prospect of the cackling idiot possibly getting the Democrat nomination and maybe even winning the election for the presidency has my head spinning. I needed something to remind me of better days, and these did just that:
The family that shoots together - hoots together! Gotta go shooting again with my son sooner than later. I know you are reading this BBB, so let's get going to a range soon, hopefully on a cooler day but summertime will be fine by me. I'll supply the ammo!
...is what my son is calling Trump! Let's face it, he is one lucky man. An inch or so to the left and his skull would have at the least been creased, more likely would have wound up missing quite a bit of bone. Two or three inches to the left at most and his brain would have been mush!
He is lucky in one other way. Today, just short of four months to election day, Trump has won the 2024 race for the presidency. At least I believe this makes him unbeatable. So, if he lives until November, he is going to win the election. Let's hope there were no poisons on the round that hit him, something like Ricin in a hollow point, could be catastrophic. Let's also hope there are no more assassination attempts or other calamities that befall him.
As my son said too bad they killed the wannabe assassin. Lots might have been learned had he or she (or maybe even he-she) been taken alive.
No matter what, make sure to vote for Trump in November.
...for the presidency, will they keep the cackling buffoon as his running mate. I ask because I have to wonder are they truly idiotic enough to want her to become president. Let's face it, Biden likely will not be able to complete another four years in office because he almost certainly will either drop dead of natural causes, be thrown out due to mental deficiencies or be assassinated by a leftist psycho (not advocating nor suggesting anyone do so, merely predicting). Any of those would make a woman, who seemingly cannot express a whole thought without bursting out in apparent uncontrollable laughter, our next president.
So, what could the Democrat party do. My guess is if Biden actually gets the nomination, at the Democrat convention, Harris will not be his running mate. Instead, I imagine someone, maybe with at least half a brain, will be chosen to replace her. That way when Biden dies or is booted out of office due to mental health issues, someone more competent, at least in the eyes of liberals, will step into his shoes. Of course, I could be wrong, after all, the libs picked the Biden-Harris team last time around as the best they had to offer.
I hope the Republicans have anticipated such and have a plan to overcome such a maneuver.
1776 not just a date, a way of life. So it says on the t-shirt I'm wearing and I believe that 100 percent. Several of the signers of the Declaration of Independence lost their lives in during the revolution, at least one whom the British told that all he had to do was recant to save the lives of his sons said "no" and he then lost his sons, others lost their fortunes and died impoverished. They gave their all for their cause. Let us not forget them, they gave us what we have today.
A brief video showing the unboxing of the latest addition to my pistol collection - a Beretta Model 3032 Tomcat with an Inox finish. I hope to get a bit of shooting enjoyment out of this one. If I decide to carry it, it will serve as a back up to my current every day carry pistol a Glock 26. The thing is though I have the perfect backup pistol to match to my Glock 26, that backup is a second Glock 26. It obviously uses the same mags, has all the same exact controls on it, fits well in concealment and thus makes the perfect backup pistol to my EDC. Anyway, if I ever have a need for a second backup it may well be this Beretta.
Edited To Add: The video was deleted because as my ever watchful son pointed out, I showed the invoice and the invoice showed my home address. I'll post a new video when I get the chance. Now, anyone who saw the address can always come to visit me but I recommend letting me know ahead of time and coming during daylight hours after me telling you it's okay to stop by. Coming in the dark hours unannounced - well you do so at your own risk ;>)
Wow two videos added to YouTube in a single day, I must be on a roll.
Hat tip to Mike G about the info on this model having problems with cracked slides, current info is that the problem was resolved but as you learn in the video Beretta is still recommending against higher velocity/higher muzzle energy ammo.
This is a video I made, according to my info on the file on my laptop back in December 1979. I only got a Glock 17, the pistol shown in the video in December 2017; so either the date is wrong or I traveled back in time without knowing it to make the embedded video. Regardless this shows three different ways to activate a Glock slide (and many other pistol slides) to load or unload it as necessary in a combat situation or even merely at the range or at home. There are many other ways to activate a slide, the ones are show are common methods used when both of your hands/arms are fully functional. Someday I may do a video on various ways to operate the slide when only one of your hands is functional (for instance the other hand is badly injured) but I'll need to recruit someone, like my son, to film when I handle the pistol for that type of racking the slide. Anyway, enjoy the video at hand (no pun intended or was it);>)
Last weekend, I bid in a Hessney.com online Sportsman Auction. I know this may come as a shock to some but I almost did not bid on any guns. Yes the word almost was in there so of course I bid on some guns and I had the high bid on one of them. That one was listed as a High Standard - 12 Ga. 2.75" Pump, 28" Mod. Barrel. It is probably a Flight King Field grade model. No clue do my little gray cells have as to why I bid on it except maybe that the auction bug bit and bid on it.
It is a nice looking slide action shotgun. Not exactly anything for which I had a need but it is something I can use for trades or whatever if I decide not to keep it. Chances are though, I will keep it at least until I, THE Great Procrastinator, take it to the range to see how well or not well it functions. I probably would have made a wiser move had I bid on a couple of 22 LR rifles that were up for bids at around the same time. They were less expensive, would have been much easier for me to shoot considering Arthur I. Tis is my constant companion and me not needing anything to rile him up as a 12 gauge will do.
Then yesterday, I decided to treat myself to what I guess I should consider a Father's Day gift from me to me even though Father's Day was not taken into consideration when I bought it. I had been thinking about, somewhat frequently, getting myself an Inox Beretta Tomcat 3032 in 32 ACP. Don't recall exactly how or why it came to mind yesterday but when it did I just happened to stumble across one going for a few cents under $400.00.
This is not the actual one I am going to get but was a stock photo of it I found online.
Since they usually go for around $540.00 plus shipping I jumped right on that one and ordered it. I almost ordered two of them but being I had almost 8K of credit card debt last month, I figured I had best take it easy and purchase only one of them. Tonight I ordered a couple of spare magazines and a couple of boxes of ammo for it (already have about 1K of 32 ACP for it). The mags I ordered are not the seven round mags that normally are in the box with the Tomcat 3023 model; instead they are 8 round mags with a grip extension for the new Tomcat 30X model but are backwards compatible with the older model 3023. The new 30X model comes with a threaded barrel, the higher capacity mags with grip extension and the mag release on the new model is on the frame behind the trigger as opposed to being in the lower rear portion of the left grip panel as on the 3023. I'd prefer the new mag release but the ne 30X model is going for about $650.00 and I was much more comfortable with mine costing just under $400.00 shipped to my local FFL. As for the extra mags I ordered for it, I ordered them directly from Beretta because Beretta was nice enough to be giving a 25% Father's Day discount on them.
I like my Berettas, this new one will be the 20th Beretta pistol I have owned and will bring my current number of them to 11 more than any other brand that I own right now. The ones I currently own, including the new one not yet delivered, are: a Beretta 92SB pistol, two Beretta 92FS full size pistols, two Beretta 92FS Compact L Type M pistols, a Beretta Model 70S in 22 LR, a Beretta 70S in .380, a Beretta 84 in .380, a Beretta 87 Target in 22 LR, a Beretta 950BS in .22 short and the new Beretta Tomcat 3023 in .32 ACP. The ones I already have are all very good to excellent in the accuracy department, are very reliable (the 92 series pistols feed any ammo I have ever put through them and I love them all with the possible exception of the of the model 84 which is not quite as accurate as the others but is still more than good enough in that department. I am pretty sure that the Tomcat will make an excellent backup pistol - one that I can pocket carry in the Texarkana heat without worrying that it will wind up being corroded by sweat since it has an Inox finish (Beretta's trade name for stainless steel). If I like it as much as I like my others, I may also have to pick up the 30X model. Time, my bank account balance and uncontrollable buying impulses will tell. So much for my New Year's resolution to stop buying any guns this year; I have bought at least seven of them so far.
... is how they list information about ammunition that they have for sale. They list not only the brand name, the caliber, the amount of rounds, the cost and normal stuff like that which you would expect to see but they also include information about the ammo that most other retailers do not include. Specifically they include a chart showing the following information, if not for every type of ammo they sell then at least for most of them.
What I particularly like about that is the information about the muzzle velocity and the muzzle energy. Normally, I'd expect both of those to be higher for JHP ammo (self defense ammo) as opposed to FMJ (target ammo). The thing is when it comes to certain brand of ammo, like Sellier & Bellot, their numbers seemingly are always higher as compared to other brands. So their ammo is hotter or performing at a higher velocity with more muzzle energy for each round. As it turns out Sellier & Bellot FMJ (target ammo) ammo winds up being faster and more powerful than most other manufacturers JHP and FMJ ammo in 32 auto. For instance, the above listed Sellier & Bellot FMJ ammo compares to Prvi Partisan JHP (self defense ammo) like this:
The Prvi Partisan ammo is within SAAMI standards (Sporting Arms & Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute) for muzzle velocity and muzzle energy; however,
the Sellier & Bellot ammo seemingly exceeds those standards as I understand
it after reading this article by Chuck Hawks. Thus, it seems to me, the Sellier & Bellot 32 Auto ammo may be unsafe to fire in most if not all of my pistols. Who woulda thunk it! I don't know about what you would expect but I would not expect a major ammo manufacturer to make ammo that might blow up my pistol. I am none to certain that what I just wrote is correct but it seems to be a genuine concern to me; so, I intend to check into this further. Sellier & Bellot has been one of my go to brands when I can get it and that is all because it is usually more powerful than any other brands I can find but I'll be damned if I continue using it if I find out it is unsafe. Here is what Mr. Hawks had to say about it:
"Almost all .32 ACP and .380 ACP semi-automatic
pistols are blow-back operated, not locked breech designs. In these pistols
only the mass/inertia of the breech bolt and the pressure of the recoil spring
keep the action closed during firing. These are carefully calibrated to the
anticipated pressure of the cartridge for which the pistol is chambered. Any
increase (or decrease) in the cartridge's MAP can create an unsafe and/or
unreliable condition.
In other words, these cartridges are intended to be
loaded within a narrow range of pressures that cannot be exceeded if the guns designed
to shoot them are to operate correctly. Since any handgun used for personal
protection must, above all, be reliable, I recommend against the use of
ersatz "+P" ammunition. Stick with ammunition loaded to SAAMI specifications."; (source). I am hopeful I can contact Mr. Hawks to determine if the S&B ammo is safe to use in my pistols or if I should avoid it. For now, I am going to order some of the Prvi Partisan ammo.
Dazed & confused about this am I but I am willing to learn more about the subject especially with the goal of preventing a catastrophic failure in any of my pistols and preventing possible injury should such a failure take place. So, if you are truly in the know about this subject - please be so kind as to clue me in with references if possible. In addition, if you are aware of contact information for Chuck Hawks, I would appreciate you letting me know how to contact him. Thanks.
You know she was having fun; just look at her smile:
I have to add that I love the way she reacted by turning to whomever she was with to give that awesome grin while at the same time keeping the pistol pointed in the right direction - downrange. Someone apparently taught her well because many folks wold turn not only their head but the gun as well and it would wind up pointing in a very unsafe direction. No problem with that here though, good discipline on her part. Plus she is one heck of a good looking lady and how can I not appreciate that!
Subsequent to the Trump administration's ban on bump stock with the ATF falsely claiming they turned a rifle into an automatic weapon, and that bump stocks themselves were machine guns (source), Michael Cargill, the owner of Central Texas Gun Works in Austin, TX filed a lawsuit against the federal government to fight the ban. Well, on Friday June 14, 2024 - the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) found the ban to be unconstitutional by a 6-3 vote ( more at the source). This is not only excellent news relative to bump stocks but will likely become extremely important case law in future cases of all sorts in which a government agenc (like the ATF) attempts to write the laws themselves which is in sum & substance what ATF (a member of the executive branch of government actually did relative to bump stocks. Only the Congress can legislate new federal laws and much of the findings in this case if not all of them were based upon that Constitutional restriction on the government. So, ATF and other federal agencies will not be able to change or create federal law relative to anything.
Thus I imagine the pistol brace ban will also be found unconstitutional. Other devices banned by ATF such as a trigger crank - once popular for rifles like the Ruger 10/22 may also be found to fall under this SCOTUS ruling and thus become legal again.
I think all gun owners owe Michael Cargill a lot of thanks. In fact I went to his business web site intending to send him a thank you message but the Contact Us capability on that site is temporarily out of service. I am guessing because many folks must have overwhelmed it with thank you messages. Anyway, if you want to try to send him a message, this is his business website address: https://centraltexasgunworks.com/. Listen to what Mr. Cargill says about it here.
Now for the sharks to smell the blood in the water and file a class action lawsuit against the government for all those who followed the law and destroyed their personally owned bump stocks by order of the Constitution violating ATF.
...at my son's house about 150 miles from my apartment. Skye, my beloved mongrel is with me. So too are Winnie & Hilda my son Brendan's puppies. At what I am guessing is around 50 pounds each so far, they are more than a handful. Chubbs, who is Nikki's dog (my son's girlfriend) is absent being cared for by a relative of Nikki. Brendan & Nikki are in Germany as are my wife, daughter & grandson. Brendan & Nikki have left me here to care for their home, protecting it from all sorts of ruffians like thieves, burglars, squatters and other scoundrels. I'll be here for around ten days until they return; the rest of the clan will stay there for something like another few days to a week longer.
The only things I have to look forward to - besides the puppies being a pain in my arse (actually more in my lower back and hips) and a pain in Skye's back, as they constantly jump up on us - is not having to do much of anything. I like that last part, as it says on one of my favorite shirts 'I'm not lazy, I really like doing nothing' or very close to that. So, I will feed & water the dogs, let them out to do their necessary stuff, let them back in walk without taking any of them, except maybe Skye every couple of days, for a walk. I'll clean my messes and do the dishes and stuff but that is about it; oh yeah, I'll take out the trash and put it curbside as needed. I'll also take care of my two Hermann's Tortoises which accompanied Skye and me on our trip. Other than that, I will be a couch potato for the duration. I am surprised I am even writing this.
Right now all three hounds are doing what I like them to do most - sleeping. That is a very good thing and Skye likes it as well. I prefer the peace & quiet. Me, I have been eating a couple of oatmeal-raisin cookies and watching television on Amazon Prime. The specific show I've been watching is Monsieur Spade - Season 1. It's a show about the infamous fictional detective Sam Spade who gained a huge following due to the one and only story in which he was featured by his creator Dashiell Hammet. That story was a novel called The Maltese Falcon which of course was later brought to the silver screen starring Humphrey Bogart in a masterpiece of film noir and character acting. It is possibly the most enjoyable and best film noir ever. Certainly one of my favorite Bogart films and probably my favorite of all I have ever seen of his movies, with each The African Queen or The Treasure of the Sierra Madre a tied as a close second.
The current series depicts Sam Spade years after retirement, or at least years after he has fled San Francisco and relocated to a small town in, of all places, the French countryside. The lead actor Clive Owen is not the character actor that was Bogart - Bogart properly and marvelously portrayed the character of Sam Spade of the novel (even though in the original story he had blonde hair as I recall - yes I read it - and it & the film are true to one another in most other regards). In fact, my guess is that Clive Owen never once read the story or watched the movie because his portrayal of Sam Spade misses the mark by a million miles in my estimation.There are no other references from which to copy the character of the Sam Spade that was created by Hammet; sadly he only wrote 5 novels and Sam Spade was only in that one and sadly it seems to me that Owen does not have a clue how to mimic Bogart as Spade. Yet, the show Monsieur Spade is pretty good nonetheless if, but only if as I see it, you can get over the fact that this character no matter what he is called is not much at all the Sam Spade of infamy that was portrayed in The Maltese Falcon.
Maybe, if the mood strikes me strongly enough, it will get mine arse in gear to head to a local range to shoot the Remington Model 81 on which I had the high bid in an auction at the end of April. I brought it and about 40 rounds of 35REM ammo for it along with me. I also have an AK,a Remington 870 12 gauge with rifle sights and two Glock 26 pistols. One never knows when the zombies might become restless or when civil war might break out. About the only other things that might get me out and about away from my house sitting duties are food shopping; although, there is plenty here for at least a week I think, going to Costco to stock up on supplies to bring back to my apartment when I leave here and maybe a trip to the G&S gun show in Conway, AR this coming weekend. Wish I had known about that before leaving my digs; I maybe would have packed a few more rifles & pistols and then would have tried to sell them at the show. As it stands now, all I can do is buy something because I am not selling any of the guns I have with me and the chances of me buying any guns is almost zero because I am strapped for spending cash.
I titled this post "Here I Sit..." but that is about to change because I am about to lay me down and take a nap.
How she hit any of the targets is amazing but maybe she actually got that stuffed whatever once she lifted the muzzle a bit. I will readily admit, I'd love to be her firearms instructor.
When I drove home yesterday from my son's house in Sherwood, AR, I reset my average miles per gallon to zero as I drove up the entrance ramp to the highway. I reset it again as I got to the top of the exit ramp in Texarkana, AR. I had driven about 145 miles at that point, I maintained a speed of 65 mph in the right lane for almost all of the trip, although when I passed a truck or two, I got it up to 75. I was in no hurry and wanted to see if I could beat my old best of 40.5 mpg.
Turned out I got 43.9 mpg this time around. My car is a Toyota Corolla, 2016 base model, that has never had a tune up (one is due in about 8K miles or less). I thought that was good enough mileage to mention here. At 75 mph, I get about 37 to 38 mpg. Quite the difference but man you gotta be patient to drive 65 mph on a 75 mph highway. Of course, I am retired so why hurry! Also, there was almost no traffic; so, it did not inconvenience anyone; had there been traffic, I would have been driving the speed limit or very close to it.
If I had been driving a bit faster, I am certain I would have annihilated the coyote that sprinted out of the darkness just several feet in front of my car and maybe also would have hit the very young fawn that was on the shoulder and had apparently been headed into the roadway until its mom called it back. It was just turning around to head back to mama doe when I saw them both and could see the concern on the mom's face and in her posture even while I was moving along that fast. Lucky for them, great mileage for me and no damage to the front of my car either.
I flew into Laguardia Airport in NYC last Wednesday and was expecting a nice vacation of 10 days. I stayed at a hotel for two night; I was planning to stay at my daughter's house for the remainder of my trip and only stayed at a motel those two nights to surprise her at her graduation.On Friday she graduated from Nassau County Probation Officer training. That was nice but she saw me walk in the front door. I would have been more stealthy had I known she was in the 2d floors hall overlooking the entrance. Of course I had expected my wife, who was inside already, to let me know if the coast was clear and all she said was they were inside. So no surprise. My wide daughter & grandson seemed happy to see me that day.
After the graduation we went to a restaurant my daughter had planned on celebrating at before she knew I would be there. That was fine by me until I saw the bill which I had offered to pay, almost $400. That seemed a bit much but oh. well. Things seemed to be going okay although there was some friction coming from my daughter since that Friday in the form of snide and or sarcastic remarks that she made to me. I considered just leaving on Saturday because I anticipated worse was to come. Sometimes I have to listen to myself.
On Sunday, she asked me to help look up pricing & availability online for a washer & dryer because her dryer went out of commission and the washer as old. So I got on the net and Consumer Reports and looked them up. The number one listed with the best score of all washing machines cost about $650 as per CR. I told my daughter that the next best was between about $900 & &1,000. I recommended the less expensive one because it had a better rating across all things tested. Shortly after that she went bat shit crazy saying things like who was I to be telling her how to spend her money, she would buy the most expensive because it had to be best because only the best costs the most in her mind - and so on. Then she started ranting about topics that had nothing to do with washers & dryers. After ten minutes or so of that I finally said 'why the fuck did you ask me to help you if you obviously do not want my help' or something extremely close to those words. That was it, she went to the washer & dryer getting place. Even my wife was utterly gobsmacked as to that exchange. Regardless, I also looked around at different retailers and the best price by far was at Costco for the one but it could not be delivered and installed until June 5th at which time she'd be away on vacation. So she went to PC Richard where she asked for a specific set they supposedly had in stock and they talked her into something else and then asked for $500 apiece for an extended warranty on each! She declined but my bet is they did the bait & switch and talked her into getting a much less expensive washer of lessor quality that they overpriced.
While she was out I sent her a text message asking if she wanted or needed anything from a local supermarket I was about to go to because my wife told me she needed some things for that evening's barbecue. My daughter texted back saying: "don't go to HMart just leave my NY". So that evening I checked into a motel near LGA after changing my airline reservation and I Monday, I returned home. I had hopes of having some time to spend with my grandson - maybe a saltwater fishing trip, coming back to Arkansas with a lot of German cold cuts & smoked meats from a German butcher, of eating in Chinatown once of even three times, of going out with friends I have not seen in 5 years and of seeing my brothers-in-law in upstate NY. None of that happened. While I could have stayed and paid a fortune for motels in NY, or gone to by BIL's place upstate - I was in a sour mood. So, I just left. Having to explain to others why I was no longer staying at my daughter's and wife's house (co-owners they are) each time I saw someone new on my trip would have just ruined it much more for me so I went back to Arkansas because to be frank it was already ruined more than enough.
I wasted about $1750.00 on that trip and am sure I will never do so again, at least not to visit my daughter. Oh well, life goes on but it is somewhat worse than anticipated without at least a couple of weeks worth of wursts, schinkenspeck, landjager and some Lithunian rye bread or corn rye bread.
So, I have to wonder, did the Trump campaign read my blog post about Trump challenging Biden to submit to a drug test at their first debate. They are demanding Biden submit to one before each debate (more at the source). If they did read what I said, in my blog post at https://ballseyesboomers.blogspot.com/2024/04/trump-versus-biden-debate.html?m=1, then it is too bad they are not springing it on Biden as a surprise requirement either as the debate commences or better yet a half hour or more into the debate to assure whatever the Dems hype him up on will be morelikely to test true in his urine sample. My guess is have a great idea but have made it public early through way of piss poor planning. If they had sprung it as a surpise test, Biden probably would have stuttered & stammered, would have refused and probably would have walked off the stage in his usual lost and demented state. Now, if Biden's handlers agree, they can give him something undetectable in a normal drug test since they have time to prepare and know Trump's plan well in advance. It may be outside the rules to spring it as a surprise but it would have hadvthevdesired effect, Biden being dumbfounded by it andvangriky refusing. That would have convinced folks he was high as a kite fir the debates.
It may wind up that it has never been truer: Proper planning prevents piss poor performance or piss poor plannjng propagates piss poor performance. In this case someone in the Trump campaign is almost definitely guilty of piss poor performance.
As you may have read in a previous post, I found a stray dog while out walking my dog Skye on April 3, 2024 in Spring Lake Park Texarkana, TX. He was by my judgement about 4 to 6 months old, too skinny & obviously hungry, probably dehydrated and in need of some love. When Skye and I walked passed him on the first leg of our walk he was laying in the grass taking it easy but barked some at us. About 20 minutes later he again was barking and growling at us when we came back the same way but we got a bit closer and he sat up favoring a front paw as if it was hurting. I spoke to him and he calmed down and we got close enough for Skye and him to sniff one another. Then we headed toward my car near the dog park and he followed us a half to three quarters of a mile limping all the way on that front paw. Well not quite all the way, once close to my car the limp disappeared. I figured either he worked out a sprain or cramp or was a really good sympathy seeking actor. I thought I had a can of dog food in the car to give to him but it was nowhere to be found. As it turned out, I brought him home and the saga of Knucklehead (the name I gave him after deciding Bozo did not fit him) commenced.
He was a beautiful dog strongly resembling a giant sized Manchester Terrier.
I did not intend to keep him and emailed & called around to find a no kill shelter. Not one returned my messages! I decided not to give him to the local government run pounds because they would put him down after only a few days. So off to my apartment we went wherein he ate like a horse and drank was if he could have swallowed an ocean. He also peed and pooped - yes on my floor. Thank good no carpeting in my apartment so it was easy to clean up.
I tried to find his owner(s) posting a notice of a found dog on lost & found pet site. A gal at one of the local dog parks posted on a similar local site and I posted his mugshot at my vet's office. No one claimed him. I also tried to find someone to adopt him but the only person who showed an interest wound up declining. On day two of him living with Skye. my two Hermann's tortoises and myself, I took him to the vet for an exam. He was given his shots including rabies and whatever else they gave him. The vet told me that my concern about him passing yellowish brown loose, et ad some formed but soft poops was due to me feeding him grain free food.urns out the food I fed him and have been feeding Skye is not grain free after all. I was told that despite him eating double the amount that Skye ate, he was not parasitized like I had thought.
After three more visits in the course of a few weeks, during the fourth one (as I recall), I was assured by the vet that he was "completely parasite free" but regardless of that the vet prescribed 5 days of Panacur (an anti-worm medication). On the fifth visit, I think a five days later, I brought in a video of Knuckleheads poops showing two white worms (as it turned out probably tape worms) on it. The vet tried to infer that the worms may have crawled up out of the dirt onto the poop at the dog park but I had been only 10 feet or so away from him and went to clean it up with a few seconds. So that vet, now the third to see him in the same office, gave me Praziquantel and more Panacur for him to take. He got very sick after the third dose of those two meds. He stopped eating or ate just a tiny bit. I brought hi in for a sixth visit before a week was out. The vet that day finally did a blood test and told me the result showed extremely low white blood cells and he thought Knucklehead had one of either three things: cancer, distemper or parvo. He referred me to a vet clinic in Shreveport, LA, 73 miles or so from my apartment. We went there the next day.
Now before, I move on and get to the new vet in Shreveport allow me to say that even though Knucklehead had worms he was a happy puppy. For about three and a half to four weeks he was the most happy, playful and lovable dog I have ever taken care of. Somewhere in there, maybe week two or three, I was pretty sure I'd be keeping him. My other dog Skye usually just slept at home and only was at all active on walks or during trips to the dog park on an almost twice daily basis but she grew to love him too. He kept pestering her until she finally started to play with him a few times a day in the apartment and at the dog park; it was like Skye was a different dog when with Knucklehead.
He was good too, often barking to let me know he had to go out to pee or poop. In the last week or two he was apparently fully housebroken. He played fetch, something Skye does not do; if she fetches she plays keep away and does not bring a ball or stick back but has other dogs chase her, then drops whatever and when another dog tries to grab it she does so first and runs off with it to again tease the other dog. She does the same with people. Knucklehead loved a thick knotted rope to play with in the apartment for fetch and tug of war. When he retrieved it, I'd say put it in my hand and with a week or two it is what he did; of course only to play tug of war. He would also bring back a ball and give it to me after a bit of chewing on it and my finger when I grabbed it. He also loved to chew paper towels and chewed up a beloved book I had since the early 1980s, a gift from a past girlfriend that I treasured. He had good taste in literature!
He also loved to teethe and liked to do so on my hands and arms but when commanded "no biting" he'd stop almost immediately. He knew how to give me his paws, how to sit, ho to lay down, to come and to ease up when I told him easy to put on his leash. He pulled a lot when walking (but was getting better) and barked and growled at anyone we passed including cars when out for a stroll but he never attacked anyone. In fact if he got right up to someone at whom he was barking and they stood their ground, he would just lick their hands. I figured he was being protective of me until he found out that the person was a friend not a foe and then he just wanted to be petted. He was great with kids and adults and was playful with other dogs at the dog park. He liked drinking water from the spigot too. He gave Skye and me a whole new outlook on life. He truly was a joy to have in the family.
His last visit to my local vet was on last Wednesday. Then on Friday it was off to the vet in Shreveport. Then opened the front door for us and immediately escorted us to an exam room. With just a couple minutes or a few at most a vet tech came in to interview me about what was going on. Within another 5 minutes at most the vet came in. Once the vet was in the room I asked her to confirm something she had told me on the phone the day before which was that one of my local vets, the one who sent the referral, had told her he was concerned that Knucklehead might have something other than distemper, parvo or cancer. I wanted to confirm it because when she told me on the phone I almost fell over because he never told me on this particular suspicion. I the referral he said he also suspected that Knucklehead may have had rabies. Can you imagine your vet, heck any vet, not telling the dog's owner tat he thought the dog might have rabies. She confirmed that yes he included that in the referral. I was furious. She could not understand why he did not inform me. She was also quite amazed, not in a good way, that in the 6 visits knucklehead made to my local vets' office, they only did one test and repeated the same exact test at least three times - a fecal float, maybe four times. Even after they saw the worms and believed them to be tapeworms, they never did any other test to my knowledge to confirm tapeworms - just the third fecal float (or maybe the fourth). What should have been done, as is my understanding, was a fecal sedimentation test because many types of worm eggs do not float but sink in water as do at least some species of tapeworm eggs. There were also other blood tests and parasite tests that she said should have been done.
The vet in Shreveport ran as many applicable blood tests as she could in office, ones for which they got the results in her office without having to send them out. She was concerned about his WBC count and about other tests that would show how his immune system was working. Knucklehead at lost about 3.5 pound over the course of less than week, the time span of his last two local vet visits. By Friday two days after the last local vet visit he was obviously emaciated; while his ribs showed a bit on Wednesday, they were obviously showing on Friday. She told me he was "a very, very, very sick dog". The test results were all low for any indicators of how well his immune system was functioning and his WBC count seriously lower than on Wednesday when my local vet said it was extremely low. She was of the opinion that Knucklehead had leukemia and probably also had a bacterial infection in his Gastro-intestinal tract. Thus why he was not eating and drinking almost anything. She also thought he may still have had worms or other parasites. She then told me that a bone marrow test could be done but it had to be sent out to a lab and that it would take a week or two to get the results. Then she gave me the bad news again repeating tat he was " a very, very, very sick puppy" and the bad news was that he most likely would not survive until the test results came back and even if he did he would be extremely unlikely to survive treatment for leukemia which would probably be over 10 grand with him in the hospital for weeks to months. She also added that he would suffer miserably and unnecessarily just waiting for the test results.
Right after telling me all that she said: "I have to ask you a very tough question". I immediately replied "Don't ask, I know what it is". Then I said please just put him down. She excused herself and left the room. A short while later she came back into the room with a hypodermic, as she was about to give him a sedative, Skye, who had been laying down unconcerned, suddenly jumped up putting her paws on the exam table and began to lick Knuckleheads face as the doc administered the sedative. It was eerie, as if Skye knew what was happening and was showing him love and saying goodbye. All my imagination, I don't know - maybe but maybe not. As soon as the injection as completed, Knucklehead who had been calmly laying down on the exam table sat up, he looked right at me and moved his snout right up against my face. I could see in his eyes that look a puppy gives you when they think they did something wrong - the same look they get when they get a sedative - a questioning look like: "what did I do wrong (yes I am sure that was just in my head but it certainly looked that way even though I know it must have been the effect of the sedative). Then he laid down again with me petting him and me sobbing. A few seconds at most later, the vet administered the fatal shot and he was gone with me still petting him and I kissed his head too. I was left feeling the agony of the moment and now am left with good memories but also with the eternal sorrow that I am sure I will feel for the rest of my life every time I think about my lovable little buddy and how I knew him for just a wee bit of time before losing him forever.
Then the vet told me she had another very tough question, I knew what it was because she had explained earlier what had to be done to test him for rabies. I told her go on with it which meant decapitating him and sending his head to the state infectious disease lab.
Damn, I am crying again - he was the first puppy I ever had. Sure we had puppies when I lived with my wife in NY but all of them were hers and picked by her. He was also only the fourth dog I ever picked out to bring home. Holley from a shelter on Long Island (our first family dog - also put down early because she became extremely aggressive toward our children, Mimi from the ASPCA in NYC a true sweetheart & psycho as the second, Skye here in the Texarkana area was the third (all adults) and Knucklehead the last one and only male that I picked out and as I said the first puppy; although, I guess he actually chose me and Skye by following us back to my car the first day we found him.
So far, I have sat through 4 or five other of our dogs being put down, all in NY before my wife and I separated, None were easy, and they do not get any less hard to sit through after the previous ones. They all brought tears to my eyes but this was the toughest. I think that was because not only was he truly the most lovable of all the dogs that ever owned but was the most lovable of all dogs that I have ever known. Everyone who met him, at both vet offices, my neighbor and her kids, all the folks I know at the dog park have told me they knew not only that I loved and cared for him but that he loved and only wanted to please me and Skye. I will probably never even think of taking in another stray not even temporarily; losing him so soon was an emotionally traumatic experience that I would not have thought possible for me but I have to add - knowing Knucklehead (and him living up to his name), caring for him, playing with him, watching him and Skye play together while short lived; yet, was one of the most joyful experiences of my life.
All the best,
Glenn B
PS: I guess I should add that the vet from Shreveport called me yesterday, the rabies test was negative.
