I Thought . . .

¶ . . . this was pretty funny:



. . . Courtesy of Stop The ACLU.

Squad - In - A - Box . . .

¶ . . . Two of them!
   Ist MarDiv, with heavy weapons . . .


    . . . and the German 716th Infantry Division . . .


. . . Along with the aircraft, a Corsair and a Stuka, Christmas presents from my sister!
   GET SOME!!

Check Out The Camp Katrina Blog . . .

¶ . . . I got an e-Mail from Spc. Phil Van Treuren, Ohio National Guard, JAG Corps, giving me a thumbs up on my blog! He was mobilized in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and he and some of his chums have started an eponymous blog, Camp Katrina. It highlights many of the U.S. Military's humanitarian efforts worldwide as well as some other fine, interesting, and humorous entries. It is quite well done! Sure to be of interest to those of our ilk! I see that our friend Cowboy Blob has already blogrolled it and C.B. is on the Katrina blogroll . . . !
. . . Spc. Phil, consider yourself blogrolled here . . . !
GET SOME!!

My Seven By Seven . . .

¶ . . . Seven . . .
   Things To Do Before I Die . . .
      · Summit the Sierra Crest at the Palisades
      · Get out of L.A.
      · Learn to play my Stratocaster
      · Learn to ride a horse
      · Build and live in a log home
      · Trace the route of the Corps of Discovery
      · Shoot in the National Matches at Camp Perry, Ohio
   Things I Cannot Do (Presently, anyway!) . . .
      · Remember Numbers
      · Go to the head without something to read
      · Shoot with both eyes open (and I’m opposite side dominant, to          boot!)
      · Own a home in Southern Kalifornia (nor do I want to!!)
      · Visit enough ghost towns
      · Ride a horse
      · Shoot steel plates skillfully
   Things That Attract Me To . . . (The Sierra Nevada and Environs)
      · The whole Comstock Lode thing just enthralls me
      · Lake Tahoe
      · I gauge contentment with an altimeter
      · If I fish and get skunked, so what?
      · Mining!
      · It’s a spiritual thing!
      · Alpenglow
   Things I Say Most Often . . .
      · Dude . . . !
      · That’s weak . . . !
      · What a d**k!
      · There’s nothing to it!
      · Astonishing!
      · That kinda shit doesn’t happen to me!
      · What’s up with that?
   Books Or Series I Love . . .
      · Mail Call (History Channel)
      · Wild West Tech (History Channel)
      · The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury
      · Bonanza
      · Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years
      · Citizen Soldiers, Stephen E. Ambrose
      · The Dirt: Confessions Of The World’s Most Notorious Rock          Band, Motley Crue
         (Yes! Something trashy in my bibliography!)
   Movies I Watch Over and Over (More than once, anyway) . . .
      · Band Of Brothers
      · Lonesome Dove (Original series)
      · The Decline Of Western Civilization: The Metal Years
      · The Outlaw Josey Wales
      · Saving Private Ryan
      · Hang ‘Em High
      · The Wild Bunch
   Suckers I Want To Infect . . .
      · Brother-blog Journal Yellow
      · The rest of my regular Gunbloggers have been infected already!

Can't Live Without It . . .

¶ . . . I broke the one that my buddy gave me, at a match, and soon found I was just too weak to fill my mags all the way! Where I normally load (.45) 17 rounds (and a couple mags I can get 18), I found I could only get 15 into the magazine. Not a whole lot better than shooting Limited 10. Fortunately at the match the week following another chum had one for me to borrow.
Making the Brownells order now . . .

Cheap Or Frugal . . . ?

¶ . . . There's a razor's edge between them. As I enter my fourth year of IPSC/USPSA competition and of course "rolling my own," I have not bought one piece of brass. Until now. Normally I just police (read: scrounge!) the range during the match and just use/re-use what I find. Shooting a .45, the brass appears to hold up well for multiple loads. Recently, however, I've been lazy, so I ran out after loading for last month's outing at Prado. Noticing a few five-gallon buckets of mixed brass that had been raked up off the range that week, I asked the range master if any of it was for sale.
  "Twenty bucks and return the bucket."
  Not really knowing how much of it was .45 but being a gambling man, I went for it, one filthy bucket o' brass. Well, it paid off: their was lots of .45 and almost all of it looked to be once fired, at least 1500 pieces! It wasn't really too bad separating it out, maybe an hour and a half. Still, next time I might go to The BrassMan; it costs more but no filth to sift through and it's already cleaned. For those of you shooting .40 S&W, there really is no need for the filth; The BrassMan's .40 is really dirt cheap!
  GET SOME . . . !

The Stoopid (5 Weird Things) Meme . . .

¶ . . . has been visited upon me, courtesy of Jerry the Geek, so give me some time and I'll punch it out in the next day or so. At first I thought I was getting the 7 x 7, and I started to work that one up, so I'll throw that one in, too . . . !

A Range Report . . .

¶ . . . as requested by my bud Marc at Lay Lines is, alas, none too interesting; without photos, though a fine match,indeed, it's kind of a "you had to be there" type deal. With scoring, taping, magazine loading and maintenance, I'm finding it difficult to "multi-task" with camera and pistol, a la Jerry The Geek. Being my home club, I also am involved in the setup. Plus I need a better zoom . . . I do hope, however, to change this sorry tune as I figure that as I enjoy seeing pics from your guys' matches, you might enjoy some of mine . . .
¶ . . . Here's one bit of positive news: Chances are somewhat good I'll be ejecting from Kalifornia with a transfer to The Battle-Born State real soon . . . Stay tuned!!

The Busy Christmas Season . . .

¶ . . . affords ample opportunity for overtime at my "outfit," so I've not had a lot of computer/weblog time; I still, however, try to read a little from those of you who have become my favorites and have been kind enough to comment on my stuff and send me e-mails . . .
. . . Most recently: I took my son out again for another fine round of IPSC shooting. He did quite a bit better, in my opinion, and I believe that we have yet another participant in our sport. We'll know for sure when he turns 21 and we start to see handgun and gear purchases!! As for now, he has expressed interest in getting a long gun, as at 18 years of age it's permitted. Get Some . . . !
. . . For the time being, he's at the USMC's School Of Infantry, located at scenic Camp Pendleton, California. OORAH!!