Scary Monsters Indeed - Maybe The Scariest Of All Live Within Us

I read some news over at a fellow blogger's site today, it was news about Monsters. Art, from Home Place - Art's Stuff,  got some bad news, he is facing a monster, one that is inside of him. He has prostate cancer. On the good side, his docs say they found it early.

Why am I telling you this?

Well, last year when I was diagnosed with cancer, it took me awhile to let my secret out to the world, heck - even to my family. I did not want to bring up bad news right before and for a couple of weeks after my daughter's getting engaged (her fiance had us all in on his plan), nor while my aunt was dying from cancer, nor shortly after my brother-in-law's wife had passed on from it. I waited and kept the monster called cancer in the dark from others and also kept another monster inside, the monster called hopeless fear. It was a scary time for me. After I told my wife and family about it, I let some friends know, then let work know, then let the world know on my blog. The response I got, from family, friends and coworkers was to be expected - very supportive, in fact more than I had thought would be coming from them came my way with lots more love than I would have imagined especially from family. The response I got from people out there in the blogosphere was very unexpected. People all over the world were pulling and praying for me, lighting candles for me, sending me emails wishing me well, and so on. It was very humbling but also was very uplifting and very welcome support from people who for the most part are total strangers to me. Without it though, I do not know if I would have been able to keep up the fight, I do not know if family and friends and coworkers and docs and nurses and techs and treatments would have been enough, it was that tough and you guys helped pull me through. 

So again, why am I telling you about Art's condition here on my blog? I am hopeful that some of you, my few but dear readers, will go to his blog and do for him what you did for me: Help him kick cancer's ass!

All the best,
Glenn B

Whoopi Goldberg In The NRA! Should I Cancel My NRA Life Membership???

Yep, you read it correctly. Seemingly ultra leftist, Whoopi Goldberg is, apparently in her own words, a member of the NRA. Since she and the others, on the May 9, 2012 edition of The View, were talking about guns and gun control with John Stossel, I have to imagine she meant the National Rifle Association and not some other organization that uses the initials NRA.

Gosh, it makes me want to reconsider having a life membership with them because I doubt very much that she has had a sudden change of heart from what have appeared to have been, and have appeared that way over many years, her ultra leftist attitude. Have I somehow read her wrong for all those years or did she join the NRA for something like shock value or just as a lark or maybe to be able to fall back on them for support should she ever be charged in a crime involving a gun that she keeps, in the closet (figuratively not literally) for self defense? I am simply flabbergasted. I hope to find out more about her NRA membership and about her views of the 2nd Amendment and the overall right to keep and bear arms.

Watch the video and pay attention to the audio, you can hear her say it herself:



Oh, I have to ask that you please do not start to think that I am a fan of The View. I may have watched 5 minutes of it, 10 at most, over the whole time it has been on television. I saw the news in a firearms forum and decided I had to share it with my readers. The thought of having a video showing Joy Behar, here on my blog, makes me want to puke! I would be willing to bet she is not an NRA member but a contributor to the Brady Campaign or similar organizations but her making me want to vomit has only a little to do with that; in general, I find her, her politics, her attitude and her mannerisms totally repulsive.

As for Whoopi being in the NRA - who woulda thunk it!!!!!!!!

All the best,
Glenn B

Paul Harvey - If I Were The Devil...

This is a great prediction, well a warning at least, originally from 1965 but this may well be a revised version. It makes one heck of a lot of sense today if only becase it fits America so well right now:



I did not always agree with Paul Harvey but he certainly hit it right on the head sometimes! If nothing else, he certainly was an eloquent speaker with unusual intonation and a great voice.

All the best,
Glenn B

Another Gun Blog Added To My Blog Roll

I added Emily Gets Her Gun to my list of linked blogs under the header: TAKE A SHOT WITH THESE SHOOTIST BLOGGERS, Not At Them (over on the right in the blue zone. In the event the link does not work, go to this address to view it:  

http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/.

It is a regular part of the Washington Times online edition. Looks to be a good gun blog.

All the best,
Glenn B

Arthritis - As Old As The Hills - It May Actually Be Older Than Most Mountain Ranges

When you think of arthritis, and that is probably not much unless you, someone close to you or one of your pets is burdened with it in one form or another, you likely do not wonder how long it has been around. The truth be told, or what seems likely to be the truth, is that arthritis has been afflicting creatures on earth since long before most, if not all, of our current mountain ranges were even hills.

It has been reported that scientists have discovered the fossilized remains of a pliosaur, a sea roaming, predatory beast, of huge proportions, that evidently had an arthritis like disease in its jaws. They say it suffered from it for years, long enough to put its jaws out of alignment so that the teeth (and some of its teeth were up to 8 inches long in a jaw about 10 feet long) of the upper jaw left marks in the lower jawbone. Ouch is all I can think. I have osteoarthritis and bursitis, have had disc surgery due to a completely extruded disc, and have suffered with Lyme disease twice. I know the terrible pain such maladies can cause even when the diseases are not severe. I cannot imagine living for years with excruciating arthritis pain, as they surmise this great beast must have done, that is until its jaw broke. They think it broke due to erosion of the jaw joint, misalignment and other arthritis caused damage - and never healed again thus maybe leading to its death by way of starvation.

Interesting article, worth a read. See it here: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/05/16/ancient-loch-ness-monster-suffered-arthritis/

All the best,
Glenn B

If You Are Or Ever Were A Gun Blogger...

...now is not the time to stop gun-blogging. Now is the time to continue doing it with a passion while at the same time doing it civilly and with respect toward others who may have differing views on issues like gun control. I am not trying to say that you should show compassion and understanding to people such as those in The Brady Campaign. Rather, what I mean is that you write plenty of positive gun blog posts now, that are supportive of gun rights in a fair and respectable manner I (as in not like raving and ranting in a tirade of invectives), so as to draw more folks to our cause than you scare away from it. You can still call it as you see it and we need you to do just that. We need to get the fence sitters over on our side of the fence and the way to do it is with posts that show respect for them while remembering that maybe they voted for the current guy in office but are on the fence about whether or not they should do it again. This is an election year and we need all the help we can get to overthrow our current tyrannical dictatorship vote in a new administration, a more gun-rights friendly one, and get rid of the sitting one.

I have noticed that some pro-gun bloggers seem to be getting out of blogging or have simply not been all that productive lately as relative to posts that support our right to keep and bear arms and our right to be able to defend ourselves with them. I do not know the reason(s), there could be many of them. I am hopeful that those bloggers have not given up their guns and I am pretty sure they have not. I think though that they have given up, or slowed down, on gun-blogging. 

Come on folks, get back into it - we need to have you stick to your blog-guns, to see you consistent on the draw, to see your gun-blogs blazing away, to see your words accurately and reliably shooting down the opposition with no harm to bystanders and maybe even protecting them and their rights, to know you have our backs at this crucial time in what surely will become an historic election year either way that it turns out. Your blogs don't specifically have to be about gun-rights or gun-politics, heck you can just write about how much fun it is to shoot, about people defending themselves or their families with firearms, about your gun collection and why you collect, about how you hunt with firearms, about your target shooting experiences, about being a woman shooter I (as in a woman who shoots and not as in someone who shoots women), about gun shows, about gunsmithing, about training and tactics, about ammo, about teaching youngsters to shoot, or about how grandpa taught you to shoot and to respect our right to keep and bear arms. Yes, of course, you can and maybe even should also write about our right to keep and bear arms and our right to defend ouselves, our families and innocents with them.

Gun-blogging can do us a lot of good but we need you to get it out of the holster for the world to see it. Otherwise, you will just be shooting blanks and the next thing you might wake up to find are jack-booted thugs government agents or police breaking into your home to take away even your water-pistols.

All the best,
Glenn B

Alcohol Or Mind Altering Drugs And Gunpowder Do Not Mix - It Is A Cardinal Rule Of Firearms Safety...

...and has been around for a long time, long before the so called '4 rules of firearms safety'. The importance of this rule is that the all the others often go completely disregarded once booze and/or drugs are mixed with gunpowder. I would be willing to bet dollars to donuts that booze, drugs or both were involved in this shooting:

http://main.aol.com/2012/05/15/shawn-mossow-shoots-friend-at-request_n_1518270.html

Simply amazing how friggin stupid booze and drugs can make people, then again, some people need no help at all in that regard.

All the best,
Glenn B

The Anti-Gun Mind Gone Berserk - Public Worker Reportedly Fired After Finding Gun And Turning It Over To Police

Let me tell you folks, if this story is true, as it is written right now, then someone in the Wayne County (near or part of Detroit, MI - I think) government needs to have his or her head examined and maybe deserves a good demotion or firing too. You see, a Wayne County groundskeeper was fired for possessing a gun on county property. He found the gun while doing his job and turned it over to the police. The reason the county says he was fired was reported on like this:

"According to a Wayne County spokeswoman and the rules, employees aren't allowed to possess a weapon on work property."

See: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/05/15/detroit-groundskeeper-fired-after-finding-loaded-gun-handing-it-to-cops/.

There are many reasons it is called the Loony Left, this but one of them but this one shows the left at its looniest.

All the best,
Glenn B

A Powerful Yet Brief Video About The Power Of Words And My Commentary On How It Could Change The Political World

Skip the opening advertisement and go directly to the video (which is an ad itself but a great one, maybe the best I have ever seen).

Enjoy this one, it is likely to bring a tear or two to your eyes and/or give you a certain feeling of wonderment in both your mind and your gut. Too bad most people are not really as thoughtfully intelligent as was the lady portrayed in this video, we could change the world if such was the case.



For example, think of the wonderful worldwide effect that changing one word could have if we changed just one word in the campaign slogan: "Vote Obama" to the word "Fuck...". Can you guess which word I would change?

I may have posted on this one before, if I did, well I know I did not give it the same political slant as this time. Anyway, the video is worth watching again, no matter your politics.

A hat tip to Patrick J. S. for the video link.

All the best,
Glenn B

Another Obama First? Obama Unbelievably Dropping Own Name Into Other Presidents' Official White House Biographies

This is beyond arrogance, this is totally incredible, that is until you think of President Obama's nature. Our current president, Barack Hussein Obama, has taken the liberty of, or allowed the, inputting his name into the official White House biographies of all our other presidents, with the exception of Gerald Ford, reportedly all the way back to Calvin Coolidge. See:

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/05/15/obama-drops-his-name-into-presidential-biographies/

He then reportedly claims credit for what he seemingly would have us believe are ongoing policies, that other presidents started, by trying to equate his current policies with those of presidents past. For example, with regard to President Ronald Reagan, Obama is claiming credit for keeping alive President Reagan's turning of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day into a national holiday because Obama says he participates in services on that day. In addition, Obama says that Ronald Reagan called for a fairer tax and Obama is doing the same with the Buffet Rule. Nothing could be further from Ronald Reagan's idea of a fairer tax than the Buffet Rule as far as I am concerned; then again, no president could be further from Ronald Reagan than is Obama. See President Reagan's White House biography here, and look down to near the end under the header: Did You Know. Then try to remember that it was supposed to be an official white House biography of Ronald Reagan (which is always what it was up until recently) and not a campaign advertisement for Obama!

This simply goes to show that the man takes credit for everything he can that others created or stood for because he has little to offer himself. He is little more than a political hack and he ought to be ashamed of himself. My bet is that, he is beyond being able to feel shame because he thinks so highly of himself as to so unabashedly take credit for the ideas of others. He evidently has a problematic and rather a big and very disturbed and perverse ego or so I would think.

A hat tip to Peter Q for this one.

All the best,
Glenn B

Fishing Aboard The Captain Al - Point Lookout, NY

I took a little fishing trip yesterday. Sadly, my uncle who was here from Florida, decided not to come along for the fun.

I went over to Point Lookout, NY with every intention of going out on the Super hawk, for the first time ever but they did not sail. Instead, I had to switch over to the Captain Al at the adjacent mooring. The Super hawk had a total of 2 fares aboard, me and another guy and the Captain Al had about 30 or 40 paying fares. Goes to show you that building a good reputation for yourself goes a long way to assure loyal customers. I usually go out on the Captain Al but wanted to try what I believed was a faster boat, the Captain Al had a terrible reputation as a slow boat, a really slow boat, but a great reputation otherwise. Much to my surprise, i found out they had gotten a new engine installed, last year, and I must admit the Captain Al is now fast, if not a speed demon among local party boats.

As usual, the Captain Al's captain got us to productive fishing grounds. Within 5 minutes of leaving the dock, we were hauling in Sea bass one after the other, most very good sized too. The sad thing was that this year, NYS DEC changed the regulations and the open season on them is not until mid June. Throughout the day, I caught at least 14 of them. I also caught one blackfish, also not in season, two dogfish (both thrown back), a skate or two and a conger eel. In addition, I caught 17  Ling, I threw two of them back because they were too small for me although there is no size limit on them. Ling are very tasty - some of the finest tasting fish the oceans have to offer, in my opinion. At first I was not getting nearly as many as others, when they had ten ling, I had two. Seems my rod was too stiff, a complaint I have not heard much lately at my age! A big hat tip to fisherman John who was next to me at the rail. After he told me that his thought on why I was not catching as many was my rod's stiffness, I decided to ask the crew to set me up with a boat pole that was lighter action than my own. I started to catch immediately and surpassed some others who had had more than me before the switch. I had one other keeper fish, a 5-6 pound bluefish. I had a ling on the hook and the bluefish took the second hook on the way up. The sudden change in action from the almost nothing slight tug of the ling, to the zig-zagging run of the blue was pretty exciting.

I cooked all the ling shortly after I got home last night. They were delicious and we have leftovers. As for the bluefish, if the rain lets up some later today, it is going on the BBQ for tonight's meal.

I have to say that the mates aboard the Captain Al, yesterday, were exceptional. They were 100% attentive to the fares and did not fish themselves. They were there to help, such as to refill you bait cup or with a gaff hook or net if you needed it, even when you did not call them over. That is truly attentive. They work mostly, if not completely, for tips and they acted accordingly. The captain was also very good, he did not spare the diesel fuel but moved from spot to spot to assure a good long day of reeling em in. I am going to estimate that the average catch of keeper fish was about 20 fish per fare. Some probably had up to 30 keepers. If you include the sea bass that had to be thrown back, double those figures. Besides the ling, sea bass, bluefish (mine was the only one), blackfish, dogfish, conger eel and skates that I caught, others also caught the same as well as a lone codfish (the pool winner and I think my blue was bigger but blues are not allowed int he pool), some winter flounder, and some porgies (scup). I think, in all, I had about 37 fish. It was a great day and the only disappointments were that my son (he had school) and my uncle were not along to enjoy it with me. My son's absence being the bigger disappointment by far.

All the best,
Glenn  B

A Review of: TheSurvivalistBlog.net

As you will soon be able to see, I got a little creative in a review of  TheSurvivalistBlog.net, one of the blogs to which I link and that I read on a pretty regular basis. Since they are holding a contest and offering some nice prizes for the best review they receive, I figured I would try my best at doing a realistic review of the site, while being creative, and making it fun to read. So I wrote it up from a post-apocalyptic perspective:


Journal Entry - June 24, 2013, Day 408

I've just been thinking of how we made it this long, remembering that first day, a month after the first one went off. Staying put down in our basement bunker for a month wasn't easy. Then coming up out of the rubble, of what I had once thought of as my beautiful home, and seeing the almost total devastation was really tough. Those terrorist bastards must have set off nukes. The world had come to an end as far as I could see - it was TEOTWAWKI  (the end of the world as we knew it).

What was to follow was tougher than that first day back above ground. The skies remained gray and somber for months, the air heavy and acrid with the scents of decay and lingering smoke. The survivors, what few we encountered, were ill prepared and in need. We helped whom we could with what we thought we could spare, even took in a few neighbors. Then the real bastards showed up, worse than the ones who set of the bombs. These were our fellow Americans, the ones trying to take, by force, what little we had for ourselves and our neighbors who needed our help. Dealing with the marauders to protect my family, our few surviving neighbors and our supplies was the toughest thing I have ever faced in my life. So how did we make it through this far?

We owed a lot to something I had taken for granted before this all came down. A blog called TheSurvivalistBlog.net. All the information needed to survive right there on every page. How to stock up on food and water, what emergency supplies to keep on hand, how to grow a garden and what seeds would be best, how to reinforce a basement or build a bunker, info on guns and ammo, tactics to protect us from marauders, whether to bug out or hunker down, and on and on. It was all brought to us by one blogger and his loyal readers whom he allowed to enter guest posts on the site. The amount of knowledge they shared was tremendous. Heck, the site even had links to retailers who sold most of the survival supplies we have in stock. So, not only did they let us know how to do it but also where to stock up on equipment and supplies.

Without the know-how that I gained, from TheSurvivalistBlog.net, we would have gone the way of most of our community and most of them went the way of the dinosaurs - extinct.  My wife, daughter, son and I (and a few of our neighbors whom we helped)owe our lives to the fact that we knew how to survive and were well prepared to do so. We owe that all to TheSurvivalistBlog.net, the most complete how-to survival guide I have ever seen.

Well, that's my review, based on what I think would be our experience after TEOTWAWKI. I hope you liked it and hope it has you heading over to check out TheSurvivalistBlog.net.

All the best,
Glenn B

Pretty Lady With Quite The Gun Collection

Wow, I wish I had most of them!

All the best,
GB

Happy Mothers' Day To All You Moms and...

... yes that goes for all you mother f  lovers too. Hope your day is as nice as I am hoping mine turns out to be. Going to take my uncle (my mom's brother) to go see my mom around 1PM or thereabouts.

All the best,
Glenn  B

Blindness And A County Prosecutor In NJ Have Not Stopped Gun Collector

Just because you lose your sight, then years later get convicted of being an unruly drunk (once) and just  because you once unintentionally shot yourself (not the same incident as the unruly drunkenness) does not necessarily mean that the Morris County Prosecutor's office, in the State of New Jersey, has grounds to revoke your firearms permit.

See: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/05/blind_rockaway_township_gun_co.html

I am pretty amazed that a NJ court, anti-gun as NJ is known to be, has decided in this man's favor. Of course, there is a standing restriction on when he can fire his guns and I think it fairly reasonable that the state is requiring that he follow that earlier court imposed condition. He has to have a trained adult with him if he wants to actually shoot his guns. Even being the gun enthusiast that I am, I can see that perhaps being blind could be a major impediment to safe shooting without a coach by your side.

A hat tip to Steven Hopler for wanting to keep his collection and fighting for it and a hat tip to his lawyer Gregg Trautmann for putting up a winning courtroom battle.

All the best,
Glenn B

A Couple of the Biggest 'Ifs' In History

Speaking about the recent discovery of gold and other precious metals, a potential source of phenomenal wealth for poverty stricken Haiti, a Haitian official, Bureau of Mines Director Dieuseul Anglade, said:

"If the mining companies are honest and if Haiti has a good government, then here is a way for this country to move forward,"

I think honest mining companies and honest government in Haiti have got to be a couple of the biggest 'ifs' in the history of the world!

All the best,
Glenn B

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/05/11/prospectors-ready-to-tap-haiti-buried-gold/#ixzz1ufsHGloh

There Are Some Things In Which The State Should Never Involve Itself

High school pranks, in which no one is injured, are a good example of when the state should not be involved. Nope,  am not talking about Mitt Romney's alleged HS prank, I am talking about a case of video voyeurism. It has been reported that two high school students apparently conspired to do an up-skirt video of one of their teachers, then posted it online and told others where to view it. This amazingly enough is a class D felony and both have been arrested and charged with the crime.

One of the reasons the current condition of our society is so messed up is that we, or many of us, seem to have a need and an overwhelming desire, for the state to control everything. Thus a high school prank carried out by evidently immature teenagers has led to their arrests on felony charges for something as petty as them taking a video of their teachers panties, then giving others an outlet to view the video. (Note: As I have not seen the video, I am assuming she was wearing a pair of panties. However, the article reports: "According to police reports, the video was pretty graphic and showed the teacher's buttocks and genital area."  Te article also said: "Police say the video showed a "clear view" of the teacher's "private areas." To actually see her private areas would mean, at least to me, that they were uncovered. Egad, wasn't she wearing panties and if not why not and was that already known by the students because maybe she had been exposing herself! It is something to think about if her privates were exposed in the video. Panties are not usually considered private areas, that term is usually reserved for body parts. I also am forced to wonder how short was the skirt she was wearing and if this was in any manner encouraged by the actions of this teacher. Note, I said I am wondering, I am not accusing, I am not blaming the teacher and would not do so unless there is blame that is due her. It is just that  the possibility for such should be investigated, considering the fact that police said her genitals were clearly visible and that certainly would seem to be rather scantily clad for a teacher with teen boys in her classroom. I simply have to wonder why she was so scantily clad, if that was indeed the case, since the classroom is not the place to be attired in such a manner.)

A shameful act, yes indeed. A very bad thing to have done, yes again. A disrespectful act, most certainly. One that should rise to the level of a felony and thus that quite possibly ruin the lives of these two morons youths, I think not. Don't get me wrong, I think they should be punished if they actually did it. However, I believe the state should have no part in it, unless it was a state run school in which instance the state would have a part only by way of school officials having a part. First of all, if they did it and the evidence was clear and convincing, such as a confession, then I believe that school officials should have given them both a good amount of detention, and have had them removed from the class the teacher in question was teaching, and have them repeat the class next year. If they were seniors, tough noogies, they will be seniors again next year. I think the school should have also called in the parents immediately and the parents should have showed up post haste. Then I think the parents of the two boys should have beat the ever loving dog piss out of them, well - maybe not quite that severe but a good arse whooping certainly seems in order. A belt to the backside, pants down, even on an older teenager would do wonders to assure they learned a lesson that what the did was wrong and should not be repeated. Chances are, they would cease and desist from any such further behavior after some corporal punishment.

Instead, we have the state butting in, making arrests, now having to do an investigation, possibly incarcerating the youths prior to court proceeding, oh yes there will likely be court proceedings, if they plead not guilty they will most assuredly be entitled to a trial and that trial can be by jury if they so desire. There may even be two trials, if they can arrange to be tried apart from one another. Then, if found guilty will come the punishment if any. That could mean jail time. This could cost in the tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars and all over what. All because of two horny, disrespectful, young bucks who do what boys have been doing for ages, looking up women's skirts (yes they did in in a modern age way with a video camera/phone) and maybe, and I only say maybe because it was reported that her privates were clearly visible, in part because a teacher was not wearing undergarments. If such was the case, is she going to be charged?

All of the actions, expensive actions that we pay for as tax payers, mentioned in that last paragraph, could be avoided if parents were allowed to parent and teachers were allowed (as they were when I was young) to knock some sense and fear into kids and thus creating some honest to goodness sense of respect for others in those same kids. Does it work for every child, every time? No it does not but it worked a whole lot better than what we have now. If you doubt me then look to the percentage of the population of our kids now compared to kids 40 years ago as to how many of them are doing poorly in school, are truants, are in gangs, are on drugs, and or are in jails. I bet the stats will support me. 

I think that if this is the first time that these two boys have done something like this, then they should not have been arrested and charged by the state, they should have had the board of education put to their asses. But oh no, the majority of us now seem to prefer to be whiners to defer to the Nanny State instead of being ass kickers tough but fair parents and have allowed the state to step in and take over in a job that should have been accomplished by parents (95%) and by teachers (5%). The Nanny State really needs to take a break and once again allow parents the power and control they need to be parents and parents need to 'man up' and take over the responsibility for rearing their youngsters!

All the best,
Glenn B

No Fishing Tonight...

...my plans have been foiled by Backus acheatitis! My uncle is coming up from Florida tomorrow. I am hoping he will be here long enough for us to go out fishing on a party boat, maybe Monday or Tuesday for Ling and Scup (Porgies) and maybe a Bluefish or three.

All the best,
GB

Breitbart Autopsy Results

I had not checked online to search for the autopsy results on Andrew Breitbart over the past few weeks, got it done again this evening. I don't recall who was questioning why the results had been taking so long, one of the other bloggers to whom I link had posted something to that effect. Well, it seems the results came out in late April. If you have not heard, he died of heart failure due to heart disease. A small amount of alcohol in his blood, no prescription drugs and no illegal drugs. Of course, if you look now, you can see, by way of an online search, that many are questioning those results looking for a deep and dark conspiracy.

All the best,
Glenn B

The Aching Back

As good an excuse as any to call it quits working in the garden and on the lawn. Got less done on the lawn than I thought I would but I have learned enough over the years, by my age and with my past afflictions, to take it easy if the back or other things start to act up. The back is truly aching and I therefore have had enough. I will continue tomorrow or Sunday and yes I realize Sunday is mother's day. What better a present to give to the mother of my children than that I do some work around the house and yard for a change. Yep, she will get a nice gift too. 'll also take out a few hours to go see my mom on Sunday but not too many that I cannot get some work done. A couple of hours at it should get most of the front lawn done. Thing is I can only go at it about 45 minutes to an hour at a time, then have to take about a half hour break, then get back to it for another 45 minutes to an hour. It is taking more time than I had thought it should but I am keeping at it and getting some fair amount of exercise while I do it. I hope it will all have been worth it, by which I mean to say, I hope that I get the lawn to look like a lawn instead of a weed patch.

Oh well, today I got more of the lawn torn out in front of the house, mowed the back lawn, weeded my vegetable garden, piled all the weeds and grass cuttings onto the compost heap, planted new plants in the vegetable garden, cleaned up and bagged a pile of twigs from our backyard, conveniently forgot to clean up the dog doo, washed to sink loads full of dishes, unclogged the basement slop-sink's drain and blogged in between. I still have to vacuum the basement/man-cave so it is clean for my uncle when he arrives tomorrow (more to make the wife happy than to make my uncle happy, you can be sure). After that, I am pretty much free and clear and may get to go fishing tonight if the Aleve, that I am about swallow, takes the edge off of my aching back.

All the best,
Glenn B

Law Enforcement Officer Safety Alert

The linked video shows a trick of which LEOs should be aware.

Remember, not getting to close to a bad guy with your vehicle is something you were taught, or should have been taught, in your basic academy training. Additionally you should have been taught to control the situation. While there is no audio from the video of he incident, my guess is that the bad guy voluntarily approached the officer's vehicle and put his hands on the hood - what do you think!

As an officer making a stop, you need to be in control of what is going on and able to observe the suspect, especially his or her hands, at all times. These officers made some mistakes that easily could have cost them their lives. Luckily the officers were not the only ones concerned about their own safety. An alert Walmart employee was watching from a store video surveillance camera and informed the officers of what had taken place virtually in front of their noses. Stay alert, watch the hands, stay alive. 

Embedding was disabled so you have to go to the link:

http://youtu.be/-u3PQkSU-kU

Short video but quite educational, wasn't it.

All the best,
Glenn B

And Now For Some Gardening and Lawn Work

It is high time I get mine arse in gear and get out to rip up the remainder of my front lawn in preparation for reseeding it. I also need to mow the grass out back and clean up the dog doo. I am hoping the lawn mower will scoop most of it up but I know better. Then I have some work to do, of a more enjoyable nature, in our vegetable and flower beds.

Lots of work and not all that much time to do it if I want to go striper fishing tonight and you can bet I do want to if I have the time.

Later 4 U,
GB

A Quote Worth Mentioning About Self Defense

"And regarding police patrols and deadly threats, as this incident clearly demonstrates, when seconds count, law enforcement assistance is only minutes away." (Mark Alexander · Thursday, May 10, 2012)

That was said relative to an incident described in the article at this link. It makes for good reading about self defense, home defense and the defense of others. A hat tip to The Wandering Minstrel for this one.

All the best,
Glenn B

Some Ladies From Various Nations' Military Units Around The Globe

That was rather interesting. I think, if a female army from the Ukraine invaded the USA, I might have to surrender to be interrogated by them, just to do a little behind the lines intelligence gathering as to their methods - of course - what else!

All the best,
GB

Range Report - The Stevens 66-B

Wow, what a good rifle the Stevens 66-B has turned out to be, I hope I don't wind up losing it (see previous post if you are wondering what I mean by that). I took it to an indoor range this afternoon and shot about 30 rounds at 25 yards, 2 sets of 15 rounds apiece since that is what the tubular magazine holds. The first target was nothing to write home about but then I was shooting about 4 or 5 different brands of ammo that were mixed in the tube and I was firing with the rear sight step installed backwards. When I got the gun at an auction recently, that part was missing, so I ordered one from Numrich Gun Parts Corp. and put it in yesterday. I was a little uncertain if I had it in correctly but figured I would find out at the range. When I fired another couple of rounds, this time on a target at 50', I saw that the step was canted and had obviously not been installed properly by yours truly. So I flipped it around and then shot these groups at 50' (about 16 2/3 yards): 1 1/8" with Remington Golden Bullets (two way out fliers but that was caused by the rear sight step being in wrong because once I corrected it the group was in there), 1" with CCI Standard Velocity 40 gr. round nose solids (would have been a 3/4" one hole group except for last shot), 1 1/4" with CCI Blazer and 1 1/8" with American Eagle High Velocity round nose solids. I had also shot the NEF Pardner shotgun before the Stevens, and by the time I shot those groups at 50', I was out of time so I did not try again at 25 yards. No failures to feed, to fire, to extract or to eject.

I was pretty happy with those groups. I look at it this way: I shot them with a gun that is probably older than me, with my old eyes, with varying ammo, seated at the bench in a chair that was way too low for the height of the bench, with foregrip resting on my fist for support and my fist resting on the bench. I think I did pretty good and any squirrel at that distance would have been meat for the pot. I certainly got a pretty decent rifle for $90 plus about $8 or $9 (including shipping) that I spent on the rear sight step. Probably more accurate than any new rifle you could get today at $150. Made in the USA too, what more could I ask.

All the best,
Glenn B