Bragging on my kid a while...

Forgive me, I'm going to play the proud papa for a while.

My oldest daughter was named the Burroughs High School Female Student Athlete of the Year today.

I'm smiling as loud as I can right now.

Kucinich Rolls Over

Democrat Representative from Ohio just held a press conference to announce that he is going to sacrifice everything he has believed and fought for over the last 10 years and firmly attach his lips to Nancy Pelosi's butt.

In announcing that he is going to vote for the health care bill that he opposed the first time.

During his speech he said something that should have everyone of you shaking in your shoes -

"We have to have control of private health insurance companys."

That's right, Kucinich, and the rest of his Democrat toadies is standing up and advocating the government take over of even more private companies.

All of you who think our government is headed towards socialism or communism are wrong. They are not going to stop at socialism - we are headed towards a full out, in your face totalitarian dictatorship.

Where does this all stop?

More Ray Stevens Music

CA State Senate Loses Their Fraking Minds

It's official! The California State Assembly has lost their freaking minds. And that is being kind, I am assuming that most of those twits had minds to lose in the first place.

Today, our illustrious State Assembly voted to make the first week in March a "Cuss Free Week."

WHAT THE HELL?????

Our state is spirialing down the crapper with almost no hope of recovery. We are massively in debt, spending significantly more money than we take in, we are being overrun by illegals and the best thing our state assembly can think to worry about it how much we are all cussing?

In addition to this idiocy. They make it a completely toothless resolution. We are all INVITED to stop cussing for a week, not REQUIRED to stop cussing.

I have a few other suggestions for our state assembly that I think they aught to impliment. How about we declare a:

1. Balance the damned budget week,
2. Stop spending more money than we make week,
3. Stop wasting your time trying to control our behavior week,
4. Start earning your keep and doing your jobs week,
5. Stop spending tax money feeding, educating, healing, and counseling illegals week,
6. Go out a get real jobs you lazy bastards week.


I'm sure there are a lot more ideas floating around out there, but I need to go outside and cuss awhile. But first one more bit of advice for our assemblymen - When you hear someone around you cussing - it is probably a pretty safe be that they are cussing at, or about, you.

RIP John Murtha

Democrat Representative John Murtha from Pennsylvania died today due to complications from gall bladder surgery.

In keeping with what my Grandma taught me about speaking evil of the dead, and if you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all.

That is all I have to say.

Top 20 Movies of all time

According to boxofficemojo.com the top 20 movies of all time - based on total dollars of ticket sales - adjusted for inflation are:

Rank Title
1 Gone with the Wind
2 Star Wars
3 The Sound of Music
4 E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
5 The Ten Commandments
6 Titanic
7 Jaws
8 Doctor Zhivago
9 The Exorcist
10 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
11 101 Dalmatians
12 The Empire Strikes Back
13 Ben-Hur
14 Return of the Jedi
15 The Sting
16 Raiders of the Lost Ark
17 Jurassic Park
18 The Graduate
19 Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
20 Fantasia

With the exception of Titanic, which I have never seen, (even though we own the DVD) I have seen every one of these movies in a theater. Most of them more than once. If you count home viewings on TV or video I have watched almost all of these films several different times. Excepting Titanic, I think I have only seen The Graduate twice - once at a theater in college and once on TV when I was home sick one week. With the exception of the Exorcist and the Graduate I have all of these movies on tape or DVD.

If you are wondering where Avatar is on this list - No. 21. I haven't seen it either. So it's probably my fault that it isn't in the top 20. I've already seen Dances with Wolves several times I don't want to watch it again with blue natives.

Ray Stevens - We the People

It's no Gitarzan but I like it anyway:

(un)luckiest Man in the World

Tsutomu Yamaguchi, the only person officially recognized as a survivor of both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings at the end of World War II, has died at age 93.

Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on a business trip for his shipbuilding company on Aug. 6, 1945, when a U.S. B-29 dropped an atomic bomb on the city. He suffered serious burns to his upper body and spent the night in the city.

He then returned to his hometown of Nagasaki, about 190 miles southwest, which suffered a second U.S. atomic bomb attack three days later.

Is there an award for the man who was on the receiving end of the two worst butt kickings ever dished out on this planet?

What does it have to say about a guy who lives through two atomic bombings and still lives to be 93 years old?

Mr. Yamaguchi spent his life since the bombings speaking out against the use of nuclear weapons. While I don't agree with him, I can certainly understand his thinking.

Rest in Peace Mr. Yamaguchi, you have to be the front runner for the worlds greatest survivor. Now, lets see Bear Grylls or Les Stroud do that!

Christmas Music

A little Christmas music for you...

Boxer Compromise

"You have both sides criticizing it, which means that we did what we had to do, we compromised in a fair way,"

Senator Barbara Boxer speaking about the Senate Health Care Bill

Just how stupid is our Senator Boxer - the only fair compromise she can imagine is one that pisses off everyone? I have bricks laying in the dirt in my backyard that are smarter than this woman.

County Music

I grew up in South Dakota and Wyoming. I have been surrounded by country music my whole life. I have never like it. I really hated it as a kid, mostly because that was all that was on the radio. The last few years country music has changed, and in many cases is almost indistinguishable from pop music.

But I finally found a country song/video that I like:

Desert Flowers

Excuse the replays here, I was telling a friend about our spring desert flowers and this was the easiest way to get them online for her to see what I was talking about.


Rademacher Hills South of Ridgecrest


Flowers Along Hwy 395


Closeup of the desert flowers


More desert flowers along the highway

First watch this video:



My apologies if you are not a queen fan.

Now! Watch this video:

Happy Thanksgiving

I am thankful for my family, those here and those away. For my dear, kind, understanding wife who puts up with me, even when the stupid starts showing. For my children.

I am thankful for my volleyball club. I have had a lot of hobbies in my lifetime, but this is by far the most rewarding, most fun, way to spend my time I have ever found.

I am thankful for everything I have - freedom, house, job, property, and treasured personal possessions. I just hope that I can say that again next year after my government is going to do everything it can to take it all away from me.

Have a great Thanksgiving

Climategate?

Veterens Day 2009

I feel like I should say Thank You to all the veterens of our Armed Forces out there who throughout the generations have defended our freedom. But somehow, it seems like nothing I could ever write here would be enough.

I have two nephews - Adam a former marine served several tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thank you Adam. Chris is still in the Navy, Thank you Chris.

My father served in the Army and was stationed in Germany when he was introduced through the mail to my mother, by his friend Marlo. Thank you Dad. Thank you Marlo for more than just your service, but also for your meddling in my Dad's personal life.

My Grandfather served during World War I, he was on his way to the ship to be deployed in Europe when the Armistice was signed. Thank you Grandpa.

My great-Uncle Arnie served in the Second World War. He was in the South Pacific near the end of the war. He never talked about his time there, even when I got him drunk. Thank you Uncle Arnie.

I suspect that there were several more relative in my linage that served. Thank you to all of them.

In addition to our family, a huge heartfelt thank you to every man and woman that has ever served to defend my families freedom.

I have spent most of my life working with military men. Almost without exception they have been some of the smartest men I have ever met. They also all remind me of a quote by George Orwell:

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

This is one of the best descriptions of our military I know - rough men/women who stand ready to do what is necessary to defend us and our country.

Thank you to all the rough men and women who now and for all time have stood ready on my behalf.

KaBoom part 2

If anyone every asks you why you should wear eye protection while you are shooting

If you ever start thinking that you do not need eye protection while you are shooting.

Just remember this picture.



This is the safety glasses I was wearing when the two hot loads went off in my M1911A1. The smudge the arrow is pointing to is not a smudge. It is a chip in the polycarbonate lenses of the safety glasses I was wearing when small shards of brass came flying out of the chamber of my gun.

In addition to the chip in my safety glasses, I also had two very small holes in my cheek and chin. But they were actually smaller than most of my shaving accidents and healed up in about a day. The glasses won't heal. My left eye, the one I aim with by the way, would probably not have faired too well if I hadn't been wearing those sacrificial lenses.

My safety glasses now have a new task. Tomorrow they will go up B Mountain with my daughter. She is going to wear them while her senior class paints the B on B mountain. I can't wear them for shooting anymore. The chip is right in my line of sight when I shoot left handed only (I blade my body and tend to not get my head turned to be square to the target. It doesn't really interfere with my vision when I'm shooting two handed because I use an isosceles stance, except that I slide my right foot just a little back from square. But it is annoying. Besides, a standard set of safety glasses aren't so expensive that I can't afford to replace this pair

KaBOOM?

I have never had a gun go KaBOOM on me before. Before today that is.

I don't know if this qualifies as a full KaBOOM. First off it wasn't a Glock that I was shooting. Secondly, my gun still seems to be intact, more or less. But I figure anything that destroys a mag, damages the remaining bullets in that mag, splatters gun powder residue all over my hands, and face, draws blood from my cheek and chin and puts a gouge in the left lens of my shooting glasses and blows apart the right grip on the gun should qualify.

I headed out this afternoon to go watch my son shoot at his Boy Scout Troop Shoot Camp Out. Since I had to drive right past the range where I shoot to get to the range that my Son's Troop was camped out at I decided to take along a few tools of my own to get some practice in with on my way home.

I watched my son and the other scouts shoot for a while. My kids is getting pretty good with a shotgun, but still has some learning to do with a rifle. After a while I headed out and stopped by the Ridgecrest Gun Range in order to break in my new Henry 357 Magnum Big Boy Rifle. The rifle shoots like a dream. After 30-40 rounds I decided I needed a change so I hauled out my Rock Island Armory 1911A1. I had 100 rnds of Winchester white box I was going to shoot, but I decided to start with the last 20 rounds of hand loads from the last batch my Father had loaded for me. I had fired somewhere between 80 to 100 other rounds from this batch over the last few months and had no trouble with them.

Things started out smoothly until I fired off the fourth round in the mag. The report sounded normal but the gun kicked oddly in my hands and the mag shot out the bottom of the gun. I don't know if the plastic baseplate on this mag broke during misfire or when it hit the concrete floor. But simultaneously the gun got a lot lighter (missing a mag and 4 rounds), and I felt something sting my face in a couple spots. Out of habit I pushed the mag release to drop the mag out of the gun, that is when I discovered that it was already gone. Next I racked the slide to check for a round in the chamber - there wasn't one.

This is what the mag looked like after the insident.



I still wasn't sure what had happened. So I laid the gun down on the shooting bench and started looking around. I noticed the busted mag and the four remaining rounds on the ground almost immediately. Then out of habit I started gathering up my spent brass. My 45 is pretty consistent in where it throws the brass - about 6 feet over my right shoulder. But I could only find three pieces.

So I took a few minutes sitting in the car and collecting my self. I finally checked my cheek in the mirror. It had a small injury that was oozing a little blood. A spot on my chin was also bleeding. But stopped quickly once I used the last of my water bottle to wash off my face and hands.

I checked out my gun pretty carefully and as best I could determine it was not damaged.

So in a minor fit of careless judgment I decided that the mag was to blame and I loaded up a second (all metal) mag with more of the hand loaded 45s. The first shot I fired acted a lot like the previous shot. This time however the effect was much harder on me. I didn't get hit in the face this time. My right hand, the one squeezing the grip got thumped pretty hard right in the palm. My hand almost immediately went numb. If I had been shoot with only one hand I probably would have dropped the gun.

This time the mag didn't fully shoot out of the bottom of the gun, it stopped about half way out. I assume that is why the grip on the gun broke, the expanding gases inside the gun couldn't exhaust out of the bottom of the mag well so they went out the side. This is what my baby looked like after the second shot.




I don't know why the mag didn't full eject out of the bottom of the gun. When I took a hold of it, it easily slide right out of the gun.

After checking the chamber for a round (and not finding one) then safeing the gun I again stepped back to do a quick inventory and see if I was hurt some more. I wasn't, the numbness in the my hand dissipated very quickly and other than a new coating of owder residue all over my hands I had no new injuries. But as I was checking my hands I did notice something off to the right of me.

I was able to determine which of these rounds was the first and second fired because the second one was still warm.

I'm pretty sure that these were the culprits in my little escapade

Culprit 1:



Culprit 2:



After this I decided to put the 45 away for the day, and I headed over to the rifle range to shoot there for a while. I have cleaned up the 45 since getting home and I still don't see any visible damage to the gun. I think I'm going to take it to a gunsmith and have him give it a once over anyway. I also called Dad and told him what happpened. He is going to check his hand loads and see what he loaded that batch with. We'll check out the rest of the batch in a few weeks.

Eight Years Ago...

Eight Years Ago....

I was 43 years old. Today, I'm over 50, feeling it, most days. I keep getting junk mail from AARP (which I don't even open). What used to be a daily list of aches and pains that annoyed me have become a regular part of my life. I have officially now lived over half my life with aching knees.

Eight Years Ago....

My oldest daughter was in 5th grade, the twins were in first grade. Today my oldest is a senior in high school. She is making college plans. She drives herself around these days. (When did that little pickup truck that I drove for 20 years stop being my truck?). The twins are in middle school and just two years short of being in high school themselves.

Eight Years Ago....

I hadn't looked at a volleyball game, or a ball for over 5 years. I had limped away from the game when my knees wouldn't let me play anymore. Today, I have been coaching middle school volleyball for 7 seasons. I am the director and a coach at my own volleyball club. This sport has taken over my life in ways that it never could have when I was a player. Eight years ago I didn't even miss the sport. Now, a week without spending time on the court with my players is a bad week.

Eight Years Ago....

I was feeling pretty good about my family's future. My wife and I were doing the right things - living within our means and saving for college and retirement. Today, I'm not so optimistic. Where I used to make plans for retirement, now the only plan I have is to hope I can keep working until I die. Because I don't beleive that our current government will ever allow our economy to recover to the point that the average guys like me will ever be able to retire and maintain any sort of comfortable lifestyle.

Eight Years Ago....

Our president was comic fodder. People made jokes about him. Called him names. Drew comical cartoons depicting him as a monkey. The media loved to ridicule the way he talked. After the 911 attackes the nation ralley around him for a few months. But then rapidly reverted to their old ways. But then some in this nation who didn't think we should fight back against the terrorist who attacked us carried things even further. They started blaming him for the attacks. Then they started blaming him for everything bad that ever happened in the world. Today, our president is an empty suited, smooth teleprompter reading chicago thug who got elected solely on the basis of his skin color. This president and his admiring throng of state controlled news media do not tolerate jokes, ridicule or derision of any kind. If you do not toe the line, smile and agree with every thing he says you are immediatley labeled a racist, a hater, or a domestic terrorist.

Eight Years Ago....

Our national debt was $5,773,172,068,291.89 that rounds off to about 5.8 trillion dollars. Today our national debt is $11,784,424,784,049.61 or 11.8 trillion dollars. (you can get those numbers here.)

Eight Years Ago....

Shortly after the 911 attacks our nation finally woke up and went to war against global terrorism. Today our leaders won't even say the word terrorism, unless it is used to describe staunch conservatives, former military, or anyone else who does not agree with them politically.

Eight Years Ago....

Our military has spent the last 8 years battling against terrorism and the despotic regimes in the world that support terrorism. The line you often here is 'Our military went to war, or nation went to the mall.' Unfortunately this has become too true.

It has been a long 8 years. Many of us swore to never forget the events of 911. I don't believe I ever will. The memories of the anger and frustration I felt on that morning mixed with the concern for the future of my children I don't think will ever fade. My grandparents used to tell me about how they heard about the bombing of Pearl Harbor and how that day changed their entire lives. I feel that way about 911.

Eight years ago...

I didn't care that much about politics. I didn't follow world events that closely. I voted and occasionally read the paper. But I knew I was a little fish is a huge fish bowl. So I concentrated on just taking care of my little corner of the bowl. I didn't really believe that my life and livelyhood could be that effected by world events. I was wrong. I still concentrate on my little corner of the fish bowl. But now I watch and pay attention to the rest of the bowl also. 911 and the eight years since then have taught me one thing. I may be just one guy. I may not be able to do much to affect the big old crazy world out there. But if I turn my back on that world and don't keep an eye on it. It can, and probably will, squash me like a bug.

The Government Can

From Tim Hawkins :