Birthday Party

Party came off without any hitches although it was cooler out than we had planned so, no balloon toss!  More info later.

 

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Bad Timing

No one loves the sound of thunder and the sight of lightning more than I do but NOT today, not on the day that my girlfriend has scheduled her 6 year old daughter's birthday!

She took off earlier to stake a claim to the one and only shelter at the park - lay out the table spread, put up a couple of balloons. leave a few camp chairs there to make it look like there is going to be a party starting at any minute and hope that it is all still there at 1:30 when the other kiddos start showing up.

Back-up plans? Yes, we have back-up plans and back-up plans for the back-up plans but the little park is perfect.

I will let you all know how it ends up - keep your fingers crossed!

Over and out.

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Steven Pressfield

Do you want to become smarter, instantly? Do you want to understand what is going on in Afghanistan and why what we are doing there is important and may be futile unless we change our approach?

Steven Pressfield, author of Gates of Fire has a blog that is fairly new, (which means you can get caught up on the reading, watching and discussion pretty quick), where he is discussing the conflict in Afghanistan and exploring the thesis that tribes and tribal interaction are key and he has some ideas on how to win.

Lots of good stuff over there and Mr. Pressfield's book, Gates of Fire, is one of my favorites. Glad to see he is working on a new book too.

Go read and watch: Steven Pressfield: War and Reality in Afghanistan: "It's the Tribes Stupid"

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Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, July 3, 1776

Saw this Twittered this morning by Michelle Malkin and it just about brought me to tears. I have read it so many times now that I was finally just able to read it aloud to Brigid and not get choked up (as much).

John Adams to Abigail Adams, July 3, 1776

Best part:

You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. -- I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. -- Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.


God Bless America


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Honduras

Confused about what is going on in the Honduras? Here is all you need to know…

Young men wearing black T-shirts imprinted with the face of revolutionary icon Che Guevara used boulders, signposts and metal sheets yanked from fences to block all streets leading to the presidential palace on Wednesday, just hours after soldiers took down their own barricades and allowed traffic to flow.

The faces of the Zelaya supporters were covered by bandannas and they had armed themselves with tree branches, metal poles and glass bottles filled with gasoline.

Ahh, good ol’ Che Guevara t-shirts…..’nuf said.

It also helps clarify why Obama is supporting Zelaya and why he didn’t do or say anything of import regarding Iran. He is a POS and November 2012 can’t get here soon enough for me. I just hope the country is still in one piece by then.

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Good joke

Got this from Gramps via email and thought I would share – it’s a good one.

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN GUILTY OF LOOKING AT OTHERS YOUR OWN AGE AND THINKING, SURELY I CAN'T LOOK THAT OLD. WELL.... YOU'LL LOVE THIS ONE.

MY NAME IS ALICE SMITH AND I WAS SITTING IN THE WAITING ROOM FOR MY FIRST APPOINTMENT WITH A NEW DENTIST. I NOTICED HIS DDS DIPLOMA, WHICH BORE HIS FULL NAME.

SUDDENLY, I REMEMBERED A TALL, HANDSOME, DARK-HAIRED BOY WITH THE SAME NAME HAD BEEN IN MY HIGH SCHOOL CLASS SOME 30-ODD YEARS AGO.

COULD HE BE THE SAME GUY THAT I HAD A SECRET CRUSH ON, WAY BACK THEN?

UPON SEEING HIM, HOWEVER, I QUICKLY DISCARDED ANY SUCH THOUGHT.

THIS BALDING, GRAY-HAIRED MAN WITH THE DEEPLY LINED FACE WAS WAY TOO OLD TO HAVE BEEN MY CLASSMATE.

AFTER HE EXAMINED MY TEETH, I ASKED HIM IF HE HAD ATTENDED MORGAN PARK HIGH SCHOOL .

'YES. YES , I DID. I'M A MUSTANG,' HE GLEAMED WITH PRIDE.

'WHEN DID YOU GRADUATE?' I ASKED.

HE ANSWERED , 'IN 1975.. WHY DO YOU ASK?'

'YOU WERE IN MY CLASS!', I EXCLAIMED.

HE LOOKED AT ME CLOSELY.

THEN, THAT UGLY,

OLD,

BALD,

WRINKLED,

FAT ASS,

GRAY-HAIRED,

DECREPIT,

SON-OF-A-BITCH ASKED,

'WHAT DID YOU TEACH ???"

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Scouts and Scouting

James over at The Next Chapter posted a set of links to a series of articles on Scouts and Scouting by ASM826 at his site called Random Acts of Patriotism.

I have just started into them but what I have seen so far prompted me to spread the word and I know that my folks, my brother and my grandfather will all enjoy the Boy Scout memories.

Lordy, just after reading just a couple of those posts, the memories are flooding back...

James has all the posts lined up in order, so go check them out.

I just had a discussion with a fellow Eagle Scout on Friday and we talked about how important Scouting was to us and still is to us. It made me realize that I need to give back to the scouts with my time and my support.

Go read those posts.

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Tea Party

Stopped by the Olympia Tea Party today by Capitol Lake. LOTS of people there and some great speeches and great signs. I overheard an Olympia Bike Patrol officer mention that they estimate that there were around a thousand people there today.

Supposed to be an even bigger event next weekend which I will attend and I will definitely take some pics.


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Hunting for a Job?

Saw this over at The Firearm Blog - a job placement firm that specializes in "employee search for the shooting, hunting, knife, law enforcement/tactical and outdoor industry."

Cool.

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Cool Volcano Pics

Awesome volcano pics, you gotta check them out - found link over at SayUncle's place

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Knives

A good reminder from Joe over at The View From North Central Idaho to buy your knives while you can! Got Dad another one of those slick Ken Onion Kershaw knives for Father’s Day and reckon I will pick up one for myself on payday.

More info on the knife ban situation over at Michael Bane’s blog. Basically, they (Customs and Border Protection) want to ban any knife that can be opened with one hand – how many knives on top your dresser or in your pocket meet that criteria? All of them? All of mine do.

Act now while you still can.

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Endangered Species

Keep your damn dirty hands off of my trucks!!!

 

 The bill directs dealers to ensure that the older vehicles are crushed or shredded to get the clunkers off the road.

 

If you like old cars and trucks like I do, this new "Cash for Clunkers" program should scare the crap out of you. Stock up while you can.

 

On the flip side, you can go buy an old 1979 Plymouth and get $4500 for it on trade in....but does that mean that a $400 Plymouth on Craigslist is now selling for $4900?

 

I hope the government doesn't apply the same logic to healthcare because I might be considered a "clunker"!!!

 

 

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Reloading

Brigid has a great post up over at her place on getting started with reloading - You Can't Have Too Many Tools - A Beginner's Foray Into Reloading. I have been collecting bits of pieces of equipment over the years - just some basic stuff - and have been eyeballing the Dillon presses for quite some time. Her post was a good kick in the butt for me to just start with the basic tools and get started!

Commander Zero has some good posts over at his place too on getting started with reloading. In particular, this post on the Minimalist Kit is a great read and some damn good advice.

I have reloaded quite a bit of shot shells over the years and need to get started reloading 45 ACP, 45 LC, 223, and 308.

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Toddy

I have become a big fan of toddy-style coffee.  It is cold brewed for 24 hours and tastes fantastic.  It seems like it should be pretty simple to make at home and I am going to try it this weekend with the coffee press. 

 

I am going to just load up the press with coffee, fill it with water, stir the concoction and put it in the icebox for 24 hours.  Should be able to take it out the next day, press the grounds out, pour over ice or into another container for storage and I will be all set. 

 

The local bakery has been doing this recently and it is great on a hot day.  Talk about a good cup of coffee - it tastes the way you always hope coffee would taste.  The resulting coffee is supposed to have more caffeine and is less acidic than hot brewed coffee.

 

They make fancy gadgets to do it at home but I think the coffee press will work just fine.

 

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Weekend

Getting ready for the weekend here.  With the 4-10's work schedule, it is definitely nice to have three days to rest and relax before doing it all again next week although I spend about two of the three days off working my other job!

 

On the agenda this weekend is an end-of-school-year BBQ for B's daughter L tomorrow at the elementary and that should be enjoyable.  I am still amazed at the high level of math, reading and other subjects they teach in kindergarten now.  L is whip smart for a 6 year old and is going to be a real handful as she gets older.  Summer camp and soccer starts next week for her and she is looking forward to that.

 

Our softball game last night was great - everyone played hard and had fun and we chalked up another one for the win column.  We have two games next week with one of them being a rain-out make-up game.

 

Busy with various things at work, primarily focusing on the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) project at the moment.  Couple of other projects going on also, but the CRM is my main focus at the moment.

 

Ok - had this post queued up last night to go out Thursday so I hope this works!

 

Take care.

 

 

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V27

While looking for some good B-29 images for my computer desktop background, I came across this one (shrunk down from HUGE size to something more manageable for the blog). These are B-29's accompanied by P-51's and they are on their way home - see the tail of the V-25 plane.


It caught my attention because these are B-29's from the 73rd Bomb Wing. My grandfather flew in the 499th group and in particular, flew the V-26 plane. I sent a copy of this image off to him last night and here is the note I got back this morning:

Jason,
Thanks for the B-29 picture. I have seen several paintings of 29's but not this one.

Interesting part is, I flew this airplane on April 11th, 1945 on a weather check to Korea. My little diary said, we took off at 6AM and flew at 31,000ft, and landed at Guam. Probably bad weather at Saipan. We had credit for a combat mission for this trip.

June 6, 1944-D Day Europe. We were in Salina, doing our training in B-17's. We had not received our 29's for our trip to combat.

Your history lessons for the day,

Love,

Gramps

If you are interested in B-29's, their history and the men that flew them, you can find just about everything you need to know over at Sally Ann's site B-29 Superfortress Then and Now


While at that site this morning, I found a great spreadsheet on her site listing all the groups of the 73rd, info on the tail codes, nicknames of the planes, their final disposition and more.


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What is the dealio with Chicago?

The United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in Chicago ruled that they are "bound by earlier Supreme Court decisions which held the Second Amendment applies only to federal laws".

 

The article continues with this little gem:

 

Judge Frank Easterbrook said that "the Constitution establishes a federal republic where local differences are to be cherished as elements of liberty rather than extirpated in order to produce a single, nationally applicable rule."

 

I am sure glad that we can "cherish" slavery and that Amendment XIII doesn't really apply if any particular state thinks slavery is A-OK - we need to respect those local differences!  And that whole women voting thing?  We don't really "cherish" that one either so scratch Amendment XIX.  Freedom of speech?  That whole bit shouldn't really apply to some parts of the country.  Need I go on?

 

We will all be tracking the NRA v Chicago, 08-1497 case pretty close - it seems so obvious to us what the Second Amendment means as well as all the other Amendments, so I sure hope those guys and gals in the black robes get this one right.

 

If you haven't signed up, you can join the NRA for free

 

 

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Hot Hot Hot

Another HOT day here in the Pacific Northwest.  Supposed to be 90 today and no matter where you are, that is hot! 

 

 

Social Media

Found this in my mailbox this morning and thought I would share. From the great folks at Despair.com. Click to bigginize.

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Dillanos Coffee

I have been following Dillanos Coffee CEO David Morris's Twitter feed for some time now and I am a big fan of his business philosophy and his perspective on life. His company has several blogs (here is his) and I am going to be adding them to the sidebar tonight so I can keep track of what they are up to.

I like this quote that he posted a few days ago:

What a profound short little paragraph that says it all!!!

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."
~~~~~ Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931 - 2005 ~~~~~

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Awesome Office Prank

This would definitely teach you to lock your office when you go on vacation....they even tinfoiled the plant! Click the images to bigginize them.

I should mention that this was done by some co-workers to their manager's office...he will be back in on Monday...

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New Favorite

Found another great site via Commander Zero and his Notes From the Bunker site - Total Survivalist Libertarian Rantfest. Lots of great discussion over there about the kinds of things I like to think about! Glock v. 1911, home defense, getting the spouse involved, etc. etc.

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Eagle Cam

Have you been checking in with the Sutton Center Bald Eagle Cam? I check it almost every day and was able to grab a great image of one of the adults dropping in to the nest and giving the baby some kind of an afternoon treat. The baby is not much of a baby anymore - not sure how long it will be before the eaglet takes wing, but it can't be much longer.

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Memorial Day 2009

Heading up town in a little bit to pay my respects at the state capital. I will take some pics and post them later today.

Beautiful day here and it has been a beautiful and wonderful weekend. Weekend started off with a trip to Cabela's, and continued with a great hike, a trip to the ocean, a wonderful time at a local park, the Farmer's Market, batting cages, some grown-up time with my gal, a couple of satisfying trips to the gym, several great cups of coffee and touching bases with a couple of old friends.

None of that would be possible if it wasn't for the ultimate sacrifice that our men and women of the armed forces have made for us. Thank You.




Update:



B and I went up to the capitol to pay our respects at the various memorials and monuments. There was a large crowd there at the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial and we listened to several speakers and a Huey performed a couple of flyovers. Lots of vets there from Vietnam and many from Desert Storm and probably 400 - 500 motorcycles.




It was a gorgeous day outside, a perfect day for remembering and for honoring those that gave it all.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend.

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Free NRA Membership

Got a note from my old gun pimp Bob with a link to the free NRA membership page. Sign yourself up or sign up a family member or pass it along to a buddy.

Click here: Free NRA Membership


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Ammo

Made the rounds today to Cabela's and the Sportsman's Warehouse and there is hardly any ammo to be found in popular calibers. Cabelas has a couple of pallets of Wolf steel case 223 at a relatively decent price and lots of 20 round boxes at $10.99 a box but there was no 45 ACP, 3 boxes of 9mm, and the only .22 ammo they had was a couple of boxes of CB.

I looked for some 38 Super for James over at The Next Chapter - none to be found. Cabela's had a few boxes of Winchester 7.62 x 51 and that was about all that was interesting to me so I picked up a few at $16.99/box. (just found it cheaper on the Cabela's website -doh!)
I was also looking for a box or two of 7x57 Mauser - zilch at Cabela's but I did find one box at Sportsman's Warehouse which I grabbed too.

Beautiful day here and the weather for the weekend looks to be great too. We are headed out to the beach tomorrow for a quick road trip - probably going to Westport.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day.

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