Gun Bloggers Log Hog Candy Dogless Clog

  A buxom woman in a swirling peasant skirt danced barefoot on the pistol-stewn tabletop as the enthusiastic crowd clapped rhythmically.  In the firelight a beetle-browed yet distinguished man plunked a banjo, the notes piercing the smoky air like hellfire missiles descending on two muslims digging a hole near Basra.

  "This must be the place," I mumbled to the Redhead as we shouldered through the door.

  Just back from meeting the analog versions of various gun bloggers who congregated at RanchoRita's dogless domicle.  How do the carbon-based 3-D versions compare to the denizens of Texas firearm cyberspace?  Well, nobody exuded noxious odors or wore pajamas and everyone seemed to have brought something to eat even if many snacks were not bacon-based.

  We had Lawdog, Farmgirl, The Keyboard part of the .45, Holly, Rita, Alan, Old NFO, 2Amusing, aepilot, Matt G, Expert Witness, and other assorted henchmen, minions, lackeys and freeholders .  No lists were made nor photos permitted though Alan did bridge time and space and get St. Breda and Mike on the baby computer from somewhere in storied frozen Ohio.  They couldn't hear the punch lines but nodded happily from time to time.  I think they groked the basics.   If they didn't, there was always another round of bacon.  

  Excuse me while I go update my blogroll with these excellent people.

Update:  Heck yeah, I saw the miracle of the disappearing lipstick! 

The Rangel Rule

  There has been some coverage of this but not as much as there ought to be.  The Rangle Rule, introduced by Republican Texas Congressman John Carter would eliminate penalties for late tax payments to the IRS- just like the penalties for the head of the tax-writing committee were dropped.  I'm for it and more.  Goose and gander laws ought to be adopted to equalize the treatment of American citizens before the law.  There are a LOT of these kinds of things going on.   Either we are all equal, or we aren't, and right now we aren't.  That's just wrong.  Equal protection under the law is THE basic American Idea.

  Update:  Yeah, Carter is an inspiring guy.  This is the kind of thing I wish all of them were doing until government comes to it's senses.  Actualy, it just needs to be scaled back like a fat guy who eats 100.00 wagyu steaks compulsively.  Uh....which it does.  Another reason why Coryn's vote for Obama's tax-cheating Treasury Secretary is so confusing.  What the hell are these people doing?

Recycling

  As a New Years resolution I decided to limit my already small carbon footprint.  It's not like I don't pursue green strategies already: I eat free-range, organic meat that I harvest myself, using vintage tools.  I recycle metal sporting components.  I use the web as a vector for information rather than paper.  I've nearly quit using photographic film and chemistry.  I've got ten year old shirts and 30 year old boots in my closet.  What's left?

  Well, those dang styrofoam cups are left.  The redhead and I go through about four a day at Taco Wacco and Brady's.  It was easy to cut the numbers by rinsing them out and reusing them.  My pledge was to cut my usage by half or more and walk lightly on our Gaia.

  I think I am getting there.  The Starbucks cup went to Brady's all week,  (they give you two anyway), though the first day the coffee tasted burnt.  The girls at Taco Wacco have got the word and after the big cups go bad I use them to haul brass back and forth from the lab.

  I'll go one on one with Al Gore anytime.

Udate:  Heck, yes I've firewalked.

   

Lance Armstrong, Facist.

  I know!  Let's use the power of government to do WONDERFUL THINGS!!!!

  Once we get started- by banning smoking, we should ban drugs.  That ought to work well!  Or let's make folks who live less than five miles from work ride bikes at least twice a week.  I know it sounds a little harsh at first, but wait until they notice the fitness and ecological benefits, plus the camraderie, et, et.  Just focus on how WONDERFUL the outcome would be!

  Payroll withholding, seatbelt laws, felony for not returning library books, trans-fats, heck, there is NO END to the wonderful things we could do to make the world a better place! 

  Lance Armstrong is a wonderful athlete and probably a great team leader, but in this instance he is a tool of evil.  

  We are going to have to fight evil, sooner or later.

  Obama and the Democratic party just maxed out the credit card.  States are tumbling into bankruptcy like dominos.  How is it that a rich, healthy, famous, well-traveled Texan could turn out to be closet facist?  

  I expect Americans, and especially Texans, to support freedom and liberty...I know, let's make a LAW!!!

Bringing the Big Guy home.

 2008, 2000, 1999. 

  I've had my this year's deer up at the studio since his skull and horns came out of the pot.  Nice deer.  Brought him home to hand next to some of the others at the house.  He's one of the bigger ones.  The two oldest bucks measure a solid 11 inches from the base of their skull to the tip of the upper lip.  Their skulls look more solid and developed.  This years is 17 1/4 inside spread.  The previous big, a 1999 138 1/4 deer is 15 inches.

  Fortunate to get him, but there were three other bigger bucks on cam out there.

  No more 2 1/2 year old bucks like the 1999 deer.

Mt. Redoubt, Alaska.

  I'm down here with the deer butts on MY cam.  They have an actual volcano.  Sheesh.

Squirrels/Owl/Coon/Deer

  My inner 12-year old has a hard time resisting a good butt picture.

  Gentle woodland friends.

  The owl looked like he was catching some sunlight after a couple of cloudy cold days.  Tourists only worth one eye.

  Even town squirrels remember that there is something a little suspicious about humans when they start paying too much attention to you.

  I've seen six at a time eating buds in this tree.

  The usual suspects.  The squirrels are 60 feet up in an elm tree in the side yard eating buds.  Very acrobatic, hanging from their back feet and doing lots of twig work.  They remind you that they occupy the same ecological niche as monkeys do in the tropics.

  One of the raccoons in the photo couldn't resist the trap.  He's on the buzzard pile now.  (I guess you could say he got suppressed.)  Pileated Woodpecker in the woods, Horned owls.  Usually something to see.  The local rancher says there is a herd of about 8-9 does up on the north end of his pasture.

  

Nosler Integrity

  UPS brought replacement bullets for the jacket-shedding 69 Noslers that I had on hand.  (Two 250 count boxes out of a bulk order we put together from the Panola Club)  Nice.  I'm going to shoot the old ones as blasting ammo for new shooters.  I'll cut the powder charge and shoot them on one of the carbines.  That ought to do it.  No problems, no arguments, they just replaced the bullets.  

  Going to buy more Noslers in the future.  I've been strictly a Sierra customer up to now.

  New berm up at Panola.  Can't wait to shoot hell out of it.

Ice day

  Feels like a January.  Ice on the metal spiral staircase but really not anywhere else.  Had the air conditioning guys come by today to check the central air unit.  Everything normal including the stack of dessicated dead roaches that accumulate in the bottom of the unit.  Too bad they don't have ivory tusks.

  Making ammo but trying to slow down.  I have plenty of brass already waiting and a thousand rounds of match ammo standing by.  Instead of going through whole buckets and trying to do it all I'm thinking about shooting the same 100 cases over and over for a bit, say all this spring for me and the Kid, then tossing them.  Probably six reloads on top of what there is now.  Might get a feel for how things are wearing.  LC 97, for instance, seems to crack necks more than any other.  The neck will break off and stay in the chamber.  Takes a rod and brush to get them out.  Strictly practice cases, even if they look fine.

  Doing the brass myself means it goes through multiple steps in my hands.  Quite the process.  Sort from the mixed brass in the big buckets, tumble clean at the studio, lube, size and deprime, clean primer pocket, clean or de-burr flash hole inside, champfer and bevel the case mouth, brush inside of neck, prime, sort by headstamp.  Ten steps....just for brass.  No wonder I liked RVO.

  It doesn't feel like work at all any more than reading does.   Just a process.

  You would think I would find every flaw.  I drop a sample in the case gauge every now and then, especially if they don't go into the Sinclair Priming Tool without any problem.

  Broke two flash hole deburring tools.  I had an plastic green RCBS, saw a wood-handled Lyman and liked it better and bought that.  The Lyman has a cutting tip swaged into the end of a rod.  It started spinning.  No remedy.  I switched to the older RCBS, which shows a lot of wear and broke the guide end off when I thought I could use it to tap out a stuck primer.

  And nobody has these.  Not Academy, not Gander, not the gunshows nor the gunshops.  I gave everyone a chance and finally ordered a Lyman from Midway last night.  Twelve bucks.

  Not the sort of thing you would ever thing you would break and I killed two in a week.  I've been limping along with the crippled RCBS.

  Stacking up the slightly-waxy ready-to-load brass. (Universal Sizing Wax)  Thinking about adding some more dies so I can load a few other calibers.  Nervous on that 30-06 Garand ammo.  Like to load some Swede 6.5.  Thinking about making my own M1 Carbine load.  Promised someone I would load some .308.

  Xavier having a sick day so he is blogging like mad.  You might check by and see what he's up to.  I'm having a lazy middle of the day but going to pop quiz and work my two classes tonight at the college.  Usual classroom dramas up there.  Kids texting & surfing in class.  I think one student is turning in a print tonight that she didn't shoot.  The usual stuff.  Constantly trying to find ways to motivate and inform.

  

Mary's Birthday

  More owl photos.

  Winter storm warning.  Flat sky and the air has an expectant feeling.  Townsfolks are hustling around stocking up and keeping an ear to the radio for sleet, freezing rain and school closures.

  The woods have every color of brown and grey in the planet's palate.  Nothing across the creek and nothing on the near cam.  Just coons, smart enough to stay out of my trap.  There was a HUGE deer track, solitary, in the center of the field.  You couldn't tell where he was going, but big.

  Corn sack is empty.

  One of the Screech Owls appeared in their nest hole around the corner.  We watched them all summer as the young ones grew up.  They were usually out one window or another at Mary's house.  Kept her sitters alert.

  Tomorrow is Mary Burtons 95th birthday.  She hoped she wouldn't make it, back when she is talking.  She'll hold your hand a bit now, kind of look at you and move her lips, then drift off.  Not much left to be said.

  Owls are the harbinger of death for many cultures.  Maybe he is just here for her birthday but either way, we are just about done. 

Daily Deercam

  Just.....go in.

  Not always happy and gay in coonville.

  Out of catfood for bait I just plopped the trap down right on top of the corn scatter.  They didn't go in.  Seven different coons and one yearling buck fawn were by.

  Might try catfood in a can next.  That's a sure-fire catch for something.

Want Hope and Change?

  Can't let the Good Doctor off too easily..