UPDATE! There is a reason I put these on stuff

If you are wandering by a machine my crew and I designed, fabricated, and programmed the process controls for and it is behaving poorly for whatever reason please use this:

There is a reason we put it there!  Please note the simplicity of the user interface! If you did I might have made it home after 8 hours instead of 14 today!

Ah ha! Maybe everyone thinks I am putting History Eraser buttons in?

Welcome a shooter!

John was a student last weekend for my concealed carry handgun class. He is documenting his work as a new shooter on shooting and competing in IDPA. I would appreciate it if you gave him a warm welcome. Ex-Navy, and carried himself about smartly during class last week. Blog is here! I cannot offer any advise on IDPA. Anyone out there that can I am sure it would be appreciated! 

Bowling pin shoot today after a day trip yesterday. Be back soon! 

One man media blitz!

Hey I'm on a roll! First local news and now a letter published in the USCCA magazine! Media blitz! You should check it out. It does have some very distinguished contributors. Tam, Oleg, and Kathy for starters! 

Ok, now to scare everyone going to Blogfest in Indy tomorrow. I shot this picture today (click to enbiggen):

Never fear! I will not be able to attend, Zombie Bowling Pin match tomorrow! I have to do that and I have private Handgun instruction before it. Sorry I am going to miss it! I hope y'all have fun up there! I DO have friends in Indiana. So you can actually have a tag that says that? Texas and Indiana are becoming two of my favorite states! 



FTC crap- payed for everything, thanks! 

Old Friend turns 200K!

While tooling around for lunch I notice this:

My beater turned 200K miles. For me this comes as some surprise. Back in 1994 I would have never dreamed of the landscapes I have viewed through this windshield (well, this is the third). Nor would I have stopped and thought about the people that have come and gone in the passenger seat. I felt them in the here and now. They have gone, yet this old friend remains. I know everything about her. I know when she is telling me something is wrong. She has gone on pilgrimages with me to grounds of my youth. I must remember where I came from and the proud, hard working people that took great care to insure I would not forget.

What makes it even better is another car with the same proud pony came to these places before under my hand. Before I took the wheel on that one, my Mother's hand was the one on the wheel. Strangely now she will not drive this car.

It made me stop. Remember. Here is the 1994 resting with her older sister. 

    . 

Time Machines all. You just have to listen closely to hear. Some never will.

Oh look! My 1.8 seconds of fame!

Just when you think you are doing your usual stuff someone with a camera shows up!

I'm in the Red shirt BTW (usually death for the landing party security dude, but makes me more visible on the range)! 

"Would rather shoot guns than sip tea and shop"? Rather sexist in my opinion. However, the new shooter course went well. I am humbled to serve in this capacity. The toll on me however to insure that everyone leaves with the same amount of body openings as they came in with is great. No matter, it is a passion I posses. Congratulations to my newly minted shooters both Male and Female! 

I would however have paid real money for some fellow bloggers to answer the softball questions!    

From The Bench...

The Beretta 92FS is back together. RH Safety lever replaced, cleaned,  and even put the "Red Means Dead" indicators back on the slide. Function checked as much as I could without running a magazine of rounds through it. I could do that here at stately manor, but tomorrow at the range will suffice. Note the dummy round in the trigger guard with the masking tape. That is how I check firing pin function here. This pistol will be back in service tomorrow at the range! 

Click to well, you know....

Tomorrow is a Basic Pistol orientation class and followed on Sunday with a CCH class. 


Hope y'all have a great weekend, I know mine will be!

You're Soaking in it...

Remember this? I personally don't care for it but it needed some TLC. We started here after some Larry dude sent me a care package. Needed a bigger ultrasonic cleaner. 

I did not break the Beretta all the way down. It is a range rental and besides, the new springs have not arrived here. 

Here it is totally degreased and rinsed.

Again, rode hard and put up wet! 

So tonight we had the older ultrasonic cleaner running with the new larger one with built in heaters.

The new one is LOUD!

The small one is still working on 9mm brass for next month.

So now the Beretta is soaking in Break Free tonight.

This was the first week of "NOT" being at school on the evenings in 11 years. I found it refreshing. I do not miss it at all. Besides, I have too much to do!

Oh Great!

First it was individual VHS tapes, Laser Disc, then DVD's. Then Season DVD packages. Then "remastered" DVD's, then "remastered DVD's with updated special effects". Now this:

Like I don't have anything else to do! 

FTC disclaimer, I have a subscription to NETFLIX, don't really know why though. I do not watch a lot of TV!  

So what would you do?

If a fellow Blogger suggests that while I am in the area next month to bring a couple hundred rounds of this:

My short answer? Hell yeah!

From the Bench..

A rode hard and put up wet Beretta 92FS with a broken right hand safety lever. 

Two roll pins and no big deal. Of course it will get new springs and a "bath" while it is here. I personally do not like the gun, but hey that's just me.

Retro Sunday!

  

 ASM826 at Random Acts of Patriotism brings it to Retro Sunday! Go look! Wonderful story there about a time long lost.

The picture above was taken 4 years ago. I remember going there as a child with my parents.  Pumps are gone, general store turned to dust.

 And I also have this:

Same town, but for some reason this calender was never used and hung in my Grandparents hallway until I took it down 4 years ago. I am thinking my Grandfather (Named Ace BTW) just liked the picture.  

This calendar now hangs in my home office.

I'm Going Green!

I have finally yielded to the logic of going green. Last week I received these from the local power co-op:

CFL's! And they were free (well not really but we will let that slide for now).

They were actually delivered via USPS. I'm sorry, a meter reader runs through here every month, how about THEY deliver them? 

So here is what you do. Give these to your favorite tree hugging Gaea worshiper. It is your duty to tell them that they contain the heavy metal Mercury and if they break one they need to leave the house and call a HAZMAT team. And of course they cannot dispose of them in the trash, they must be taken to some secret location for proper disposal. While you are at it tell them they will not work in any traditional incandesant dimmer circuit. 

After they take them, save the box they came in. It comes in handy.

The box is perfect for holding your reloads before you case gauge them! 








I DO recycle! Tonight's activity? Recycling a metal!

9mm Brass in a ultrasonic cleaner. 

 
 

For phlegmfatale!

She asked a good question on a previous post. So  I took this picture. A small part of my house, but one that any guest comments on. There is much history here. Click to enbiggen:

What's not to like? A Zenith radio, a Western Electric standard desk phone, a kerosene lantern, some Calligraphy, and a painting from long ago. 

  Maybe I do need to make my own background for the Blog, LOL!

I'm Back!

Sorry about that! Last week was full of suck and fail.

Thunderstorms rolled here with more than usual intensity starting last Friday and continuing throughout the week. Smoked electrical stuff at work aside, we start here. Internet connection went intermittent Friday night. Saturday was the scheduled Directv receiver upgrade. I don't get it. 

We can put someone on the moon, let them put up a mirror and we shoot a laser to it and determine the exact distance between the Earth and the Moon. In 1969. The best these people can do is tell me a "Professional Install Technician" will be at humble abode from 12 to 4 pm? 

Well, as expected, "Professional Install Technician" showed up around 4. Hey, I am wasting valuable range time here! Dude showed up, work order said upgrade. Unplug, replug right? Wrong! First thing the new receiver did was phone home for a software upgrade. Sheesh, what's the thing running, Windoze?

 












Then apparently the dish needed alignment. All of this stuff was working before, but OK dude, whatever... Then after he got a picture and sound on the TV he was all about me signing stuff. No copies for me of course, but I would not sign the blank customer satisfaction survey nor the "Protection Plan Plus" agreement. Hey, this is leased equipment! You own it not me! 

So he leaves. Not setting the Dolby audio output. So then I run a system test. FAIL! "Satellite configuration error". Dude. I have degrees older than you. 

I set the receiver to the correct settings and go to the range. I will be attending a "Aim Fast Shoot Fast" class in a month. I really need to get busy to meet the prerequisites and get familiar with a new Handgun.

After setting the receiver up I go to the range. Recoil therapy some call it. 

So I go at it with this:

S&W M&P Pro 9mm. The instructor does not like SERPA lock holsters. I can understand. I repeated this event here while dry firing. 



So it will be the one of the other holsters for me! 

Get back home. Internet is out. VOIP is out. At o'dark thirty a tech is digging across the street. Says I should be back on line Sunday AM. Wrong! Even after his temp splice:

 




















I still do not have service on Monday morning. Call TWC. They can have a "Technician" at the house. Guess when? Between 12-4 pm. So I show up around 12. There are three trucks around the temporary splice across the street. MY tech follows me into the driveway of my home. He jumps out and says he must inspect my house wiring. I tell him perhaps he should talk to the guys across the street. 

So, things are a bit better here now and looking forward to range time tomorrow!

Please Stand By.....

We are experiencing technical difficulties. We will resume our normal broadcasting schedule as soon as possible. 

A Moment Captured in Time

One of the joys of being here is to unearth long forgotten mementos. Packed away carefully, protected against the elements, all of these objects are slowly seeing the light of day once again. On one hand they are things to sort; to determine if they really require the time and expense to care for them properly or dispose of.

Tonight I found this:

This picture I could immediately recall in time. The Mustang is mine, the pickup is my Step-Grandfathers. I and the young lady are in front of my Grandfather's house. It is 1979. The picture was taken by my Aunt on that side, my Grandfather's Daughter. 

Aside from the old saw that "you never forget your first", I wonder where she is and how her life is going. 

I on the other hand am reminded of a song lyric: "Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then".

This moment in time captured is worth keeping.  

Automation!

Just installed. It is a wonderful thing! 

Case feeder. Hornady forgot to ship two 10-32 machine nuts. I thought, OK there should be at least a pound of those here, but rummaging through the garage was profitless. Then it hit me to try the laundry room. 


I hope my man card will not be revoked, but this saved the day:

I need to get to the hardware store soon! 

OEM Parts

They DO make a difference! Take a look at this. On the left is a new Colt slide stop for a M1911. On the right is the same from Wilson Combat.

Click to enbiggen!

Take a look at the blue lines. The Wilson and STI were both hitting the lower resulting in scratching the bluing.  I don't know if this little ridge results in not doing that, but I had no such issues before.

Take a look at the green lines and the red ones. Remember when I had to file the STI stop for class? The Colt stop seems to have additional contours to facilitate loading of the cartridge with no mechanical interference from the stop.

So now installed, off to the range for testing! I believe that I will have no problems!  

Blast From the Past

LADIES RIFLE CLUB (aka RIFLE RANGE)

Click on the pic to go to the Pathe Newsreel Archives. Lot's of stuff over there!

I have been upgraded!

To "Extra Fancy" at stately manor! Behold the contents of a package that arrived today from the talented and lovely wordsmith Brigid!

See? The Vietnamese Cinnamon is "Extra Fancy"! I cannot wait to try the Cinnamon on some rolls, perhaps some Oatmeal?

As to the Tien Tsin, I am going to try them as well as the Ozark Seasoning in a traditional Lowcountry dish from South Carolina, chicken bog! I don't use the recipe on the link, but it is pretty close! I prefer my recipe given to me by a resident in Lowcountry and more importantly SHOWED me how to make it. I usually bring the heat in this dish with Tabasco or the old standby from my home town Texas Pete. 

I also try to heat up an old family recipe for vegetable beef stew. This recipe was born out of thrift but I do love it and the fact that my Mother and Father each have subtle variations on this old recipe.

Prior to this the only thing "Extra Fancy" around here was this:

Oh, no wait, maybe this:

A thoughtful gesture. Thanks B.!